“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”

--Oprah Winfrey

We had much to celebrate today. First of all, it was Friday--which is always worth celebrating. But today was a special Friday because it marks the beginning of Spring Break for Ruth. We all attended a cookout at her school today to kick off the special week. I think that's the first time I have ever had a hamburger at 10:25 in the morning! But it was a fun time, and Ruth was thrilled to have us all there--and her friends were almost as excited to see us as she was!

This evening was also the official celebration of Ruth's reading--a big party for finishing Black Beauty and Heidi. Ruth revised her original tent-camping plan in favor of the more practical living room camp out. We picked up Peproni RollsTM* from Double Dave's, popcorn and Ratatouille** from the movie store and then set up our beds in the living room. We just love celebrating these little moments, and we feel like the kids will remember them fondly even into adulthood--at least we hope so!***

*I don't know if I'd be alive today if it weren't for Peproni Rolls. Thanks to Aggie Bucks and Double Dave's "Two for Tuesday" special, I ate them at least once a week when I was in college. I ordered them so often that the people who worked there knew me by name. This was before the reality of counting calories ever even occurred to me. Since I've been out of college, I have had the rolls a few times but certainly not often, so tonight was a real treat.

**I can't think of when we have all enjoyed an animated movie so much! It was really fun! And it didn't have a super-evil bad guy like so many of the children's movies do these days. We would definitely recommend it!

***I do have pictures of all this celebrating, but my camera and my computer are not speaking to each other and cannot be persuaded to work out their differences tonight. Perhaps if they can put their disagreement behind them tomorrow I will post some pics.