Graduation Day!

Today was a very special day... Kindergarten Graduation!!! I can't believe my baby girl is going to first grade already. She is so excited! The best part is Clint was able to come home for her ceremony. He flew in last night, went to graduation, and left again this afternoon. What a great Dad! On our way to the cafeteria we ran into a very special Cat in the Hat girl... surprise!! She was bringing her class's attendance to the office just as we were walking by.

We had gotten to school right at 9am thinking we'd be early - wrong! Most of the seats were already filled. Clint stood in the back to video. Each class sang a song on stage. Val's was "Numbers Rock."

Family picture!

Their self portrait class shirts!

Her graduation gift... excited, eh?

El Paso for a special lunch!

So proud of my little graduate!!! She has accomplished so much this year... learned so much... and how she has grown!! Love you, Val Gal!!

Valerie's nightmare

As told by Val:

"Momma.... I had a nightmare!! I dreamed we went walking around the block and the Photo Monster was chasing us. We walked alllll around the block and he was following us trying to get our picture. He was blue. And had big horns like a bull. I think it was a blue bull. We walked really fast and he just kept trying to get our picture. So we hurried up and came home. Shut the front door. Shut the back door. And shut the garage. And the Photo Monster got out his sleeping bag and spread it out on the driveway and laid down. But you know what? It has a happy ending!!! The next day he was still there. And when we got in the truck, and backed out the garage, one of the tires rolled over him."

The end.

Valerie's Jazz

Check out my center stage girl on the box!

My shining star

Not the best quality in order to YouTube it.... but here's my star - Veronica!!

Busy weekend!

We spent part of the weekend moving some of my Dad's things to higher ground at our house. We are hoping all goes as planned and all the preparations for floodwaters are successful. Better safe than sorry though since some things are irreplaceable!! I brought over tons of old photos and a box of my Mom's things. If I get around to scanning them, I may share some for kicks.

The rest of the weekend was focused around Valerie and Veronica's dance recital!!! The chaos sure can make for a hectic day, especially with two girls and five dances AND costume changes between them. I literally was RUNNING from the auditorium to the backstage entrance to switch costumes and/or kids. Whew. It was so awesome to see them dancing on stage. Both Val and Roni did GREAT and I was so proud!!! Valerie especially has come a long way from the baby dance class. Veronica tried so hard to do all her steps, and of course she was the cutest of all the little ones!

Video clips to come once I can figure out how to do it. I have to work around ZERO hard drive space on my laptop and my PC is ancient and incredibly slow to do any video editing.

Rising Waters

It's open.

The Morganza Spillway has been opened.

Most of you probably have no clue what I'm talking about or the significance.

Water. Lots and LOTS of water is flooding the Mississippi River. So the Morganza was opened today to relieve some of the pressure. The water still has to go somewhere, so many places will be flooded. Much of the water is heading towards the Atchafalaya River, which passes through my HOMEtown of Morgan City, LA. I haven't lived there in going on 9 years, but it is still home to me. Preparations have been underway.... but is it enough? Will the seawall and levees hold?? Will it flood?? Will the entire city be washed away?? I'm worried about my Dad and his house.

We will probably get some of the back flooding here around Houma, but it shouldn't be too bad. We're preparing though, just in case our water supply is contaminated.

If something goes wrong and the Morganza is compromised, the Mississippi could change course permanently. This would be very, very bad for my HOMEtown.

I don't think anyone really knows what will happen until it happens.

For now, we watch and wait for the water to arrive around Tuesday.

I miss my Mom

I miss her today as I do every day... but especially today. Mother's Day is not quite the same without your Mom. Be sure to hug your Mom today because you never know when she will be gone.

I am not sad though. I am happy that I have two awesome little girls who call me Mom.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies out there!!

Breakfast by Valerie!! A heart shaped PB&J sandwich with "invisible" love sprinkles from her heart!!

Isn't this the cutest thing EVER??? "Happy Mother's Day" my little flower says!

Me and my Mom, 1979

My two dancing princesses!!!

Here they are in their dance costumes.... can't wait for the recital!!

Back in time...

It's 1982!! I'm ten in the fifth grade at Sacred Heart School. My teacher is Mrs. Pennison. We wore blue and white checkered jumpers with a white shirt under them. White socks and boys' Nike shoes. Fifth and sixth graders ruled the school!! Friendship pins and unicorn purses were all the rage. I collected stickers in a huge sticker book. And kept count of how many I had. We loved getting smelly stickers from the teacher on our worksheets. There was that mean group of girls who didn't like me, but that's ok because I didn't like them either!! I played with barbies. Roller skated in the driveway. Listened to "Thriller" for hours on end. Our dog's name was Benji. Cats?? Muffett, Buffey, Mouse, Puff, and... I think that was all. Parakeet- Mickey. I went to Dancing at Dance World.

My other obsession was this:

So, hooray!! It's here! It's here!! Today I get to be ten again. At least for a little while.

Sunday Snapshot

One of our many photopass pictures from our Disney vacation!

Summer time.....

Summer has officially arrived in the Galliano household!

The water is still a bit too cold for me, but I will get in with the girls from time to time. A big thanks to Daddy for spending the hour and a half setting up the pool!! How easy are these pools to set up? I had an above ground pool when I was nine, and I swear it took my Dad a week to set the darn thing up. Of course he went through the trouble of leveling the ground, killing the grass, etc. etc. Most people just stick them on the ground just like it is.

Val and Roni were out of school this past week for spring break. It is nice having them home and spending time with them, but the inside of my house is a disaster!! What cleaning I did do did not last for more than a few hours. I guess I will be catching up around the house next week.

Yesterday was the official dance recital picture day. We had the first appointment and arrived right on time. Unfortunately, the electricity was out all over on that side of town. Once a generator was brought in, pictures went underway just about an hour late. The photographer kept going on about how beautiful Val and Roni are. Of course, I think so too! Can't wait for the recital and to see them dancing on stage!

As a surprise, we took the girls to see Toy Story 3 on ice in New Orleans yesterday afternoon. It was a last minute decision. I bought the tickets the day before the show! We told them Daddy had a meeting and we were just going along for the ride. No questions asked, they went right along with it. In the parking lot, Val kept talking about ALL the kids that were there. (heehee) Once we were inside the arena, both girls were excited to see all the Disney merchandise for sale. "look at this! look at that!" So I took them aside and told them why we were really there. They looked at us in disbelief and I think it took a while for it to sink in. We had perfect seats and the show was really good. The girls had a great time!! I'm so glad we went.

See how close we were? Pics taken with my very poor quality camera on my iPod touch - with no zoom feature!

my two Jessie the Cowgirls