The Amazing Lula

In April we attended Stef's daughter's birthday in Austin. Right in the middle of the entertainment portion of the celebration, the clown/magician held the audience to rapt attention as he performed a particularly crowd pleasing trick. Just as he was about to wow us all with the big reveal, my kid piped up with an ear splitting "HEY!!!!! I HAVE THAT EXACT SAME COLORING BOOK!!!!!"

It was equal parts amusing and embarrassing for both me and the clown.

After the party as we were leaving, Stef's mom said something to the effect that she wished that "her grandkids had one-tenth the outgoing-ness of mine."

Later, Erik and I laughed that if you flip that phrase it could be taken to mean that our kids are about nine-tenths too outgoing.

I'm not sure if I mentioned that Lula performed in the school talent show this year. She was the only first grader to do so. Here is part of a post I never published just before the big day:

Lula announced that she wanted to audition for the school talent show about three months ago. There was much talk, planning and a rotation of friends vying for assistant positions. The audition was followed by a series of "call-backs" which I later learned was more about not being prepared vs. being one step closer to getting the role. Wednesday, I snuck into the dress rehearsal and nervously watched as every trick was in some way a fail.

Lately I've had to bite my tongue and sit on my hands when it comes to the girls' different endeavors. It took everything I had to resist the urge to edit Hazel's animal report on lions. But having 12 hours to fix Lula's magic act is a far cry from knocking off the cheerleading or ice skating competition. So I switched it into stage mom mode. A few home rehearsals an the all important set list that outlined her act, whipped her into shape. She ACED the show