When it Rains it Pours

This week we have had to call the exterminator, the kitchen faucet leaks enough that I have had to turn the hot water off, the toilet seat upstairs is broken and can't be used, and the dryer has quit drying the clothes. Abbey has a cold (she is the worst sick kid I have ever had) which means she is up all night and crying most of the day plus my plans of weaning this week have been postponed. Sadie still isn't potty trained and carrot cake is ruining my start at eating healthier this summer. The lawn also needs to be mowed (seriously, again...didn't Ben just do it last week?) I haven't heard back from the publisher I e-mailed a month ago and the birds are eating my tomatoes from the garden while snails destroyed our chances at squash before I saved the plant. The registration and emissions and safety are overdue on both cars, the sky is light blue instead of deep blue, and our cat is missing. (Whew, I feel better)

On the upside, the rest of the garden is big and doing well. We have used fresh herbs and bell peppers for most of our meals lately. My new phone came in the mail and I got it up and working last night. The house is clean for once due to us taking a break from home school, the swimming pool opens next week, and the electricity bill came from this last month and was only 99 dollars (which is a pretty low for a hot month in Texas). The exterminator cost less than I thought he would, I found a new brand of mint tea that I really like, and the rest of the kids haven't gotten sick yet. The flowers are all blooming in our yard, the carrot cake really does taste good, and I actually kind of like mowing the lawn (weird, I know). All classes the girls were in are over for the summer which means I have had a little extra time and so have organized and gotten caught up on my coupons and saved a lot of money at the store yesterday and a fairly good amount last week. I got to go see the new Star Trek recently and I have a new favorite shirt.

And so you don't have to just hear me complain for this blog post, here are some pics and maybe a video of Eliora's voice recital (if I can figure out the video part). I love Eliora's attitude. The kid has no fear about performing for people. She is at that perfect age too where she still sounds like a little kid singing. We were so proud.

Eliora right before voice class. I seriously think the kid could model. Check out the 'look' and pose she has!

Sadie modeling the back of her hair. We all got dressed up for the special night.

Audrey, who is beautiful enough to model but would never pose for the camera.

Eliora's voice class and her awesome teacher.

The elusive 'Pat Gray'. A local celebrity who has his own radio show. His daughter is in Eliora's class and I think the possiblity of him being there was Ben's reward for sitting through a voice recital. I actually did not mean to take this shot. I was taking one of the general after party and he stepped in the way. He did apologize.