Veta promptly told me that the coupon book was already
invalid and I shouldn't try to get her to do any of the chores
that there were coupons for.  I guess the coupon book was
her teacher's idea.

Veta and Hazel woke me up on Mother’s Day with breakfast in bed.  They had been planning the details for a week in advance!  They did make some effort to keep it a secret, but from their not-so-subtle questioning about what kind of breakfast I would eat that they could make, to the frantic cries of “Mama!  Don’t come in here; we’re planning a surprise for you!” I knew what they were up to.  However, it didn’t make it any less sweet on Sunday morning when both of my girls were presenting me with my breakfast (oatmeal, a cup of milk, and my vitamin) and a bag of little gifts (paper flowers, a coupon book for household chores, a cute little purse that opened up into a list of reasons of why I was so loved, a letter telling me why they think I'm such a great mom, and a tiara with a matching bracelet and ring!) for Mother’s Day.  How I love my daughters!

Gemma can use a straw!  Who knew?

The weather has been growing continually warmer, allowing us to go on our “daily” walks on more of a daily basis.  After one particularly warm afternoon walk, Danny decided he was craving Jamba Juice, and it didn’t take him long to get the girls to help him persuade me that we should go get some.  We drove all the way across town and then paid $12 for three smoothies, one of which was a small.  While the smoothies were quite tasty, it seemed that we should be able to make something similar for a lot less effort and cost.  When we got home, I found a site online that had six recipes of Jamba Juice’s most popular classic flavors.  The next day, the girls and I went shopping and that night we had our own smoothies!  Veta and Hazel loved to measure and pour things into the blender, but Gemma didn’t like the noise it made.  All in all, it looks like these smoothies will be in high demand this summer!

Frank L. Cole, author of the Hashbrown Winters series.

Veta was happy to participate; Hazel was bored.

Veta attended a Young Author’s Conference last Thursday.  One child per class was selected by their teacher to attend, based on their writing skills and enthusiasm for writing.  Veta was so excited to go!  There were three sections in their program.  First, the kids made bookmarks with lots of stickers and sparkly glue.  Next, they moved into a different room where they learned about drawing characters for their stories from the art teacher of a local high school.  Lastly, author Frank L. Cole gave a presentation on writing.  He showed the kids how to brainstorm characters and stories to write about and told them a bit about his own writing experiences.  At the end, the children were presented with a book selected for them by their teacher and a little bag of goodies from companies that sponsored the event.

Veta and her certificate.