Grandma and Grandpa have arrived.

We're keeping Grandma and Grandpa busy this weekend.

At dance recitals...



























Trips to Mount Vernon...





















And a First Communion...






















It's been grand at the Roussel Roost.

Save the drama for your Mama.

The title of this post is a favorite saying of my office mate. I wish Lexa would heed this advice sometimes. Alas, she shares the drama with everyone. She was in performance mode again at the wedding she attended with me yesterday, doing several solos in the dance area and asking the d.j. if she could sing. Blissfully, he said there would not be enough time. So instead, she pestered some horses (the wedding was at a ranch) and then joined the flower girl, Grace, in creating potions to ward off monsters. Well, you know there must be monsters lurking around a country wedding.


The photo I've included was taken with my phone camera moments before the horse tried to eat the ribbons off of Lexa's dress. And, yes, I'll be taking the dress to the cleaners tomorrow because she's supposed to be wearing it to her brother's 1st Communion. I'll have to ask the bride if her dad and his wife still give riding lessons. For those of you who haven't heard, horse riding lessons are Lexa's incentive to quit sucking her thumb. Every morning following a full day and night of no thumb sucking, she receives a miniature toy horse; she'll get the riding lessons when she gets 3 weeks' worth of toy horses. So far this has kept her pretty motivated, especially since the horses get to dance on a daily basis in their disco play set. I'd love to explain what possesses someone to make such a toy, but I feel like I have no right to judge since I purchased the toy in the first place. Whatever...if it takes disco horses to get the girl to kick the thumb habit, I say keep the mirror ball spinning.

Noah was in a bit of trouble this weekend, so there's not much to report about him. However, I can say that my friend Caroline was impressed with his Wii guitar skills. Lexa was moody to the 100th power by the time we got around to Guitar Hero World Tour, so she did not join us as a band groupie like she usually does. She did compose a few songs today, though, including one titled "Help Me, Jesus, That Girl Is Crazy." 

Amen, Lexa, amen.

It was a typically dramatic day at the Roussel Roost.

I dreamed a dream...

In case you can't make out ye olde English, Noah is paying "The Cost of an Untidy Chamber" while Lexa is in the stocks "for Want of a Quiet Tongue."

Be sure to check out the rest of the pics at Photobucket.

It was a dreamy Mother's Day (in Busch Gardens-Williamsburg) at the Roussel Roost.

P.S. Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the mothers we love.

Laissez les...well, you know.

We attended Okras's Jazz Fest in Old Town Manassas this weekend. After about 3 crawfish, Noah decided mudbugs were not for him. He still had fun, though, utilizing his hula hooping skills.





Lex and I enjoyed ourselves as well. Note that Andy is conspicuously absent from the photos since he was called into the hospital as we were pulling into the festival parking lot. We brought him home some crawfish, but he missed out on the entertainment...especially the dancing and prancing and parading of Alexa and her friend Helena.



It was a festive day at the Roussel Roost.