Long post, lots of pics!!

My poor computer needs some TLC because it took me 2 whole days to get this post up...SLOOOWWWW!! But, now it's up, so here we go! Let's see...well, surprise, surprise, Luci lost yet another tooth! My 6 year old has now lost more teeth naturally than her 9 year old sister!! The lone difference with this tooth is that she actually pulled it out herself, rather than let me yank it!

I'm wondering how she manages to eat with this many teeth missing!! Remind me to put some chapstick on this kid!

Well, Dean and I took some foster care/adoption classes 2 years ago in the hopes of adopting at least one more, but our journey had to wait until our house was done to pass the home inspection. The longer we waited, the less I really wanted another child! Dean would still love to go through with it, but I'm pretty sure I'm done. So, that back bedroom we had on reserve for kid #3 was now designated for Drew as she had been asking to have her own room for a while now. She is a neat freak and Luci, well, she's not! Drew was very annoyed that her room was never clean because she refused to pick up after her sister! Ahhhh, the joys of sisterhood! So, we got to work on finishing that back bedroom which has been sitting in its unfinished state for 3 years now. As it was a clean slate, Drew got to pick out colors and the theme. I don't know about moms of other 9 year olds, but apparently peace signs are all the rage!! So she got a bright, groovy peace room! Here's Dean mudding the sheet-rock.

We put the girls to work scraping sheet-rock mud off the floor with scrapers.

Finally! The painting can begin!!! Drew starts with the primer!

I got busy and made this headboard all by myself!! Lowes cut the sheet of plywood down to my dimensions, and I got out the jigsaw and cut this wavy design in it. The rest was easy stuff, fabric, foam, batting, staple gun......and voila! I think it turned out fantastic!!!

Here is the color Drew picked out for her walls! Warning:sunglasses required!! Drew and I made the artwork on the wall.

Window trim up, ready to be painted!

The floor is just a sub-floor as we intend to put hardwood in eventually, but that's low on the priority list, so we just painted it for now. Again, Drew chose the color!! Yikes! But it is now done!

The fish tank now resides under the artwork in this bare spot, but it hadn't been moved yet at the time of this picture.

Drew loves her new room!

Once we got Drew settled into her new room, we started right away re-doing Luci's. It is all but finished, but I haven't taken any pics yet because there are just a few last minute additions we're waiting for before I do. But here's a little hint...Luci made this sign for her door!

On Friday, May 20th, Drew turned 9 years old!!!! I cannot believe I have a 9 year old!!!!! We had a small family party for her on Friday evening and a friend slumber party on Saturday. Here is the cake for Friday. AGAIN with the peace signs!!! (Earlier that day, I sent 24 peace sign cupcakes to school!)

Papa had to get his "peace sign" in, too!!

The birthday hat!

Meema's gift of Orbeez was a big hit!!

Darcy giving out the kisses to Meema!

My dad has successfully turned my girls into Yankees fans!

Mazin' Hamsters, we got her 3 of them.

And a Webkinz Hippo with what else, a peace sign on it's butt!

Grandma and Grandpa filled a card with $$!

Ha ha!! I HAD to include this hilarious shot! She was having a really hard time breaking the tape on the gift from Dan, Tina and the kids.

When she finally managed to open it, inside she found a pair of cool peace sign earrings!

Saturday afternoon, the girls had their recital, but I'll post those after all the birthday pics. Moving right along, here are a few shots from the beginning of her slumber party Saturday evening.

One of her cards played the song Happy Birthday using barking dogs. Monty is definitely interested!

The next five pics are the girls' dance pictures. Drew and Luci had a ballet duet and were dressed in Chinese outfits.

Both groups. The older girls in white and the younger set in pink. Drew is on the left 2nd row, Luci is in front, standing in the middle, and my niece Sonja is in front on the left kneeling.

The girls wait in the auditorium before the recital.

This little cutie-pie is Brynn. She is here because her parents fell right in love with Drew when we brought her home! They decided to start the process and brought her home a couple years later! She is tiny, just like Drew. You'd never know she is 5! She looks 3 at most!

Here are the younger girls, minus one.

The older girls, again minus one.

Drew's group on stage during their first number.

I LOVE this shot of Drew! She is simply stunning!

This shot was taken by another audience member and posted on facebook. She tagged me in it, so I stole it for the blog! That beaming smile remained on her face the whole time she was on stage!

Luci in her first number. Her ballet teacher pulled me aside and absolutely insisted that I keep Luci in ballet. Apparently, not only does she have the perfect body type, the perfect feet and perfect timing, but she's got the heart for it as well! She told me that Luci has the potential to go very far in ballet if she sticks with it! Good thing she loves it so much!! Just wish I lived someplace closer to a decent ballet school! Though, at her age, she's fine in her current dance studio for now. If she sticks with it, we'll figure out our options when the time comes.

Luci doesn't smile nearly as much on stage, but it's because she takes it so seriously and is concentrating on perfecting her steps. (She's a bit of a perfectionist...just wish some of that perfectionism would transfer into keeping her room clean! Ha ha!)

Another of Luci's costumes. She danced to "A, You're Adorable" in this bunny outfit.

Part of the dance was shaking her cotton tail! Very cute!

Drew and Luci in their "Tea" number.

In other news, my scale informs me that I have now lost 62 pounds!!! My workout partner, Sue and I changed our gym time from after-school to 5:30am before school. I never thought I'd really enjoy it as I am NOT a morning person, but I'm surprised to find that I actually love it!! I go before the girls wake-up and when I arrive home, they are already dressed and doing their hair! The schedule is perfect! UNFORTUNATELY, last week Sue broke her ankle!!!! Oh no!!!! But, I still go to the gym all by myself as there is a selct group of the same people at the gym every morning that I talk to. One of those is actually a former physical education teacher of mine from high-school! She and her work-out partner give me every incentive to keep going by giving me shit if I don't show up! Ha ha!!! Love it!! This weekend is our first camping trip of the season!!!!! Yay!!!! I SOOOO love camping and this long, cold winter and long, wet spring have given me camping fever very badly!!!! Rain is forecasted for the entire weekend, what else is new, but that hasn't "dampened" my spirits!! I'll love it rain or shine!!

Today's Quotes:

Your birthday is a special time to celebrate the gift of 'you' to the world. ~unknown

I think most dancers would agree that the art of ballet chooses the dancer, not the other way around. ~Kevin Mckenzie