it's been a little over a month since rachel died and i think about her and miss her every single day.

the actual spring music concert! it was so cute and the girls were quite proud of themselves for learning all the difficult secrets of the recorder. they wowed us with some pretty sweet music, both instrumental and vocal, and just looked dang cute up there on that giant stage. a great night of free entertainment.

emma's school had its spring music program this week, which was fabulous. all the 1st graders learned how to play the recorder and all the 2nd graders learned how to play a string instrument. this was their opportunity to show off their awesome skills, and awesome it was. plus, they didn't have to wear their normal uniforms...they got to wear plain jeans and the school-provided t-shirt. emma's class got the periwinkle, which i am told was the coveted color. :)

poor, sick emma. at least she got to finger paint on her day off. i remember always watching "the price is right" when i was sick, but finger painting seemed more age-appropriate.

we went to emma's french program at school. the girls did lots of songs for us and it was so fun to see what they've been learning all year! un, deux, trois...

the real reason we were so excited about a gas stove.

does it really get any better than breakfast at school with your daddy? this was the annual dad's breakfast that all the girls look forward to all year long. the sad reality is that it starts at 7am, but alas, that is a small price to pay for cafeteria bacon and eggs with your favorite guy.

the best christmas gift. ever. uncle jay got each little darling a big 'ole honkin' piggy bank and a ziplock bag full of change to put into it. and, as one of five children, he understood the importance of having each ziplock bag contain identical contents (same number of pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters, just in case some anal retentive little girls happened to notice inequality of any kind).

see what happens when they dress themselves?

this was our annual gingerbread house! we always have a blast building a little, eating a little, building a little, eating a little. okay, who am i kidding? i'm shocked there were any skittles to put on the house, and then we all kept walking by on the sly once the thing was built and lifting them from the house. shane and the girls even like those nasty little necco roof tiles, so our house didn't stand a chance.