Well, it was a triumph, that's all.  A triumph!  

The show was wonderful, and it turns out Bethany's verse wasn't part of a group effort, but her alone...well, okay, there were four of them, each with a verse to say.  This means Bethany was right up front the whole time:





In this photo, Brianna is on the second row, far right.  Bethany is, of course, to the right of the girl in red.



Here's a photo of the Gruesome Twosome , prior to leaving for the church:



It was a heck of a week, by jingo.  The girls already indicated they want to take part in next year's MusiCamp. 

Today's the last day!  This afternoon at 5:30 is the performance of the MusiCamp show the girls are in, and afterward Kirstin and Matt will take both of 'em home with them.

Considering how their recurring joke of "Auntie Dima!" has outworn its welcome with its target, it's probably just as well, else Dmitry would be hitchhiking back to Russia. 

BTW, only on the first night did they actually sleep in a bed, and even then they scorned the real bed in favor of the fold-up cot; on Monday night Don tickled them to pieces by setting up an Alternative Sleeping Arrangement in their room:

Now why someone would prefer to sleep on the floor in a tent when there is a bed with a mattress three feet away beats me, but they surely did.  They'd zip themselves - along with dolls and stuffed animals - into it and sleep quite soundly. 

Sometimes it's hard to feel sorry for someone.  What's the old saying about stupidity being the one sin always punished?  Something like that, anyway.  Believe it or not, yesterday evening at a hospital over in Dallas (they grow 'em dumb in Dallas, apparently), a man wearing an oxygen mask managed to light a cigarette.  

Oh, that worked well:

Somehow I don't think Methodist Dallas Medical Center's going to be willing to have him back.

[pleased]  Well, it's a start.  Sent in a photo (the one of
Benjamin with the balloon dog from Brianna's party)  to the Dallas Morning News amateur photo section
and it was selected for publication.  Of course, from what I can
tell that's no great trick but hey....I'll take whatever itty-bitty bit
of fame and recognition I can. 

Brianna has swimmer's ear, precluding her from going swimming, but the girls do so love water play, therefore I bought a mat that squirts water.  They were delighted with it, changing into swimsuits as soon as they arrived home from the music camp.

After a little while, however the action moved over under the crepe myrtles, as they asked....in their most beguiling manner....if it would be alright if they played in the mud a bit.

I'm easily beguiled so agreed.  Not one of my brighter moves, as it turns out.  They happily played like little piggies in a puddle as I read.

Notice how they'd dragged the water source over to where the dirt was?  They were covered in mud, gaily telling each other this was the "most funnest day" they'd ever had! 

Before they could even come into the house to get into the tub they had to be hosed down, and when in the tub I heard an excited exclamation of "It's a beetle!  Look, there's a beetle!"

When I went to let the bath water run out so I could apply the shower head so as to properly wash their hair, doggoned if there wasn't another little beetle in Brianna's hair. 

I found it rather appalling, but the girls were positively enchanted, with Bethie anxiously hoping Gran would find a little beetle in her hair, too.  She was out of luck, though I pointed out it's quite possible the initial beetle had ridden in on her.

Upon soliciting permission to do it all over again tomorrow, I fear I declined.

Still, apparently I've raised the bar on fun to a level which the other grandparents will find hard to meet.  

You know, fond as I am of SuperTarget, it's clear they are not on a quick-response inventory system for if they were, this would not be such a common sight:

I have rarely seen a store that so regularly runs low on or entirely
out of merchandise.  Heck of a way to run a business, sez I.

This afternoon was Bethie's cheerleading class, and the instructor kindly permitted Brianna to be a guest-participant:

Learning back bends, you see.  ;^)  Up above is Bethie, down below is Brianna.

The
instructor made the first steps toward teaching them to perform
handstands, which entailed pushing themselves against a wall upside
down; here's Brianna managing it:

A large part of the class is running in place, bunny hops, cartwheels, etc.:

And
so another generation of cheerleaders is born.  Tell you what,
though....it's just not the same as it was when I was a young'un going
to the Arlington Heights High School games with my friend, Susan. 
Her sister, Barry, was a cheerleader, which gave us a definite caché at
the stadium, or so we liked to believe.

Mainly, I recall the cheerleaders actually leading cheers,
if you can imagine such a thing.  You know, "Push 'em back, push
'em back....WAAAAAYYY back!" and the like.  It was a lot of fun
when the opposing sides would try to shout each other down.

Nowadays
cheerleaders mostly just put on a show.  Not the same thing at
all.  I'd think it's a little depressing for the players, not
hearing raucous cheering from the stands, as the fans urge them on.

[sigh]  Those were the days. 

Lemme tell you something that is SO frustrating!  I've got a Boggle game for the Nintendo DS, right?

You wouldn't credit which words it's dictionary refuses to recognize.  Prepare yourself:

Dinner.
Goon.
Soon.
Pallet.
Mallet.
Era (though it accepts "eras")
Cad (though it accepts "cads")

And there have been several other perfectly ordinary words.  Of course, sometimes I accidently hit some keys and create a three-letter word I've never heard of before, and it takes it.  

Doesn't accept "dinner"?  What lunatic created the game's word list, anyway? 

Photos of Bethie from her dance class; last ones, as she's elected to drop dancing in favor of cheerleading.  Nothing wrong with cheerleading, heaven knows, but she was so precious as a dancer.

Hmmmm.....need to get the photoediting program after that white spot on the second picture.  Still, isn't she gorgeous? 

Some of the eBay phishing messages are better than others, no doubt about it. I just this minute received one that must have taken maybe three minutes of someone's time, if that. Mercy Maud, *I* could do a better job trying to con someone!

First off, the return address is definitely phishy: eBay-US.484004608.611871.3@ebay.ca

Oh yeah. That looks legit.

Dear Value Customer,

There is a problem with the card you used while bidding at one of our auctions.
A communication problem with the bank server might have caused that problem too
but we are unable to collect our commission.

Until the problem is solved you would need to use a different card so, please,
log into your account and enter the new card details.

Sincerely,

Sherrie Beard

eBay inc - Security.

I regret to say Ms. Beard will receive no 'good co-operation' from me, 'value customer' though I am.