Cinco de Mayo

I was thinking on my run tonight about how it was Cinco de Mayo and how, even though I took years of Spanish in high school and college, I never really got "into" the culture . . . you know, never got the urge to visit and/or live in Mexico or Spain, never explored the fashion, never watched the Spanish channel. Except: I love a siesta. And today, on Cinco de Mayo itself, the girls and I took a good, long, cozy nap after lunch. Also, I drank a few margaritas on Saturday night. So, cheers to the random holiday.

Other recent cosas buenas:

Jemma spent today being completely adorable. We did our Monday morning grocery trip after Annie was at school, where she took off her shoes 75,000 times and charmed the checkout woman for 10 minutes with her waving and clapping and singing. Then we walked to get Annie at school. We were early so she got to play on the playground all by herself. By the time the preschoolers came tumbling out, Jemma had mustered the courage to go down the slide by herself. She was just as pleased with it on the 10th time as she was on the first. Annie took a turn catching her - exponential adorableness. On our way home from school, I declared an impromptu stop at Jersey Junction because it was so sunny and warm that it would have been a shame to NOT have ice cream. We all shared a strawberry cone. Then, later this afternoon, Jemma ate a lot of sand at Cook's sand table. Still adorable.

I had to post a picture of the favors from Kelly's shower. I am inappropriately proud of how cute they are, probably because my usual craft projects involve Disney princesses and a lot of glitter glue. When Jason saw them (read: helped me make them under duress during Thursday night TV), he asked what they were going to have inside them. Do you see them??? Do they even NEED to have anything inside them???? (They did. Chocolate truffles.) I highly recommend the Martha Stewart stuff at Michael's.

Jason took the girls to the football field/track tonight after dinner so I could clean up and have a few moments alone. (Their new favorite place to hang out? The pole-vault pad.) I had the chance to talk to an old friend from my teaching days whose son is graduating from high school. I met Andrew when he was in fifth grade, and now he's graduating from high school! I got the announcement in the mail and immediately called Marilynn, who said the usual things about time flying and kids growing up so fast. It's true; it's true, I know. Certain moments of my days don't always go quickly, but overall, it's hard for me to believe that I have kids (!) - two of them! - and they are doing adorable, independent things. After I got off the phone and finished the dishes, I walked outside. Annie came running towards me from down by DeKoker's, and as she got closer, I thought, I can't believe that this child was inside me a mere four years ago. And now, she is larger than life - throwing fits, kicking soccer balls, vacuuming in her Cinderella dress, wanting her toenails painted, singing the same song roughly 42 times in a row without stopping . . . time flies.