Mama's Got a Big Back Porch and Other Tales

This last couple weeks has been pretty crazy. 

It all started with Emily's being awarded the "Super Sabercat" award. It means she lives by the Sabercat laws. 

She was also awarded a Million Word Reader prize, which consisted of a skip day at a place called "Fort Fun". (P.S. Each Harry Potter book has around 200,000 words. I now know this information.)

Jane graduated Kindergarten. She says when she grows up she wants to be a dance teacher. 

Then they had their last day of school, a grueling hour and a half. (notice the new sidewalk they are standing on - more on that later).

The last day turned out to be rainy, giving us plenty of time to spend at the library. 

That night we went to go see the girls' new cousin, Mila. She is Chris' brother's daughter and she is beautiful. She has the longest limbs I have ever seen on a baby. She clearly is related to me by marriage only. (Again, I apologize for the hobbit legs that you may or may not inherit from me, Emily and Jane)

They loved their new cousin. By all accounts, she will probably complete the cousin lineup, so the girls are drinking her in. 

Jane needs a lesson in personal space. One which Mila is happy to give her.

Chris is fondly remembering his days as a new dad. The memories of the sleepless nights get fuzzier as you get older. 

And lastly, we have a new big back porch. The contractors have been here for 2 weeks while the scope of the project gradually creeped away from us. First it was just the porch, then it was a pad in the side yard, then it was the cracked sidewalk out front. Our neighbors are properly annoyed, and so am I. You can see we haven't done anything with the new big back porch yet (save putting a tacky blue bucket on it and letting Emily park her hammock there). We have plans for a pergola, but right now, we are tired and broke. Concrete is expensive. 

As a postscript, I am now the primary president in our ward. I am so out of my league here. Our primary is enormous, over 100 children if you count nursery, which I do. Heaven help them. Heaven help me. But I have some great counselors and a very understanding husband. Alone I'm a lost cause but together we have a shot.