This is the birthday card L wrote out for E to open at her party. How sweet!
E had two of her best friends, A & A, over for a mini-birthday party today. Andy took them to do laser tag (B went along) and then they came back here for pizza and a sleepover. A small group of sweet girls.
Tonight was E's eighth-grade dance. Her date, M, a boy she's known (I think) since kindergarten, asked her to go with him a couple of weeks ago. He came over to pick her up a little after 6:30 p.m. He forgot his dance ticket and had to run back home. Fortunately, he lives just a block away.
We took some pics of them and of E's friend, A, who stopped by before the dance with her date, J. The girls looked gorgeous and the boys were handsome. I wanted some outside pictures but it was drizzling all afternoon. 
E said they had a good time. She was home a little after 10 p.m. E says she and M are just friends. M's little brother, L, is one of B's best friends so anything else could get a little awkward - more so than it was already. And she's only 14 - plenty time for the mushy stuff later. M and his family are moving out of state this summer for his dad's new job so it was nice they were able to go to the dance together. He'll be back a lot to visit and I'm sure they'll keep in contact via the computer. You just never know. They do look pretty cute together. 
L's dream is to become a rock star. In kindergarten, she dressed up in a pink outfit as a rock star for Halloween. She loves to put a streak of pink dye in her hair and she sings on the playground at school. In art class, she recently created this picture. She says it's her idol, Avril Lavigne.
The eighth-grade dance is two nights away. Instead of playing with makeup and practicing different hairstyles, E chooses to spend her time on the computer. Here she's playing a game where you try to spread a pandemic around the world. Another one she played is about drilling for oil. Apparently, she retired from that one as a wealthy oil baron.
Today was L's awards ceremony at Irving. She's in the middle of the picture, holding up her folder. She received nine awards: Character Education (for demonstrating outstanding character throughout the year), You're Wonderful (because of how well you participate in class discussions), Bookworm Award (for demonstrating a love for books and reading), Spelling Super Star (for showing off sensational spelling skills), Egg Drop participant, Young Author (for writing well-written and creative stories), Academic Fair participant, Student Council member and Circle of Friends member.
Of all of these, L said she's most proud of the Young Author award because she never received that one before. L really enjoys the time she spends in the Circle of Friends. It's a club that brings special education students (including her friend Mila) together with the rest of the school population. They play games, eat lunch together, create skits. L's career goal as of third grade is to become a special ed teacher and I think a lot of that has to do with the time she spends with Mila and how accepting her teachers and L's teachers have been of her helping Mila since kindergarten.
I never played softball on a team, but it must be hard to sit around while you're waiting to be called to bat. L joined one player's three little sisters playing in the dirt during tonight's game. Soon, she had convinced her fellow teammates to join her in creating holes in the dirt. 
L's team did win and L had two hits, making it to first base twice. She was on third base when the third-base coach told her to run home, but the ball landed just in front of home plate and she was tagged out. Guess you have to do what the coach tells you. The coach even apologized for telling her to run.
L came home from school today with her latest sculpture she made in art class. She says it's called "Bird in the Nest." She loves that the bird actually can come out of the nest. Nice work, L!
I love the T-shirt she bought at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame Museum.
The weather has been cooperating and today was a beautiful sunny day for L's softball game. The game started at 11 a.m. and she invited Grandma Barbara to come along. After the game (the girls lost), we all went down the street to Salerno's for a pizza lunch. L was surprised to see her school friends, L (her future husband, she claims) and A at the next table. I think she spent more time watching the boys and listening to their conversation than she did ours.
