The Third Worst Boy

Yesterday was Grace's end-of-the-year piano recital.  She kicked ass:

It's a good thing she's musically inclined, because physical coordination seems to elude her, a trait inherited from her mother.  Last night was a big festival in Brazil, called Festa Junina. I'm not entirely sure what it's all about, but it celebrates farming and country and cowboys.  I think.  Anyway, all the girls wear big, colorful dresses and have fancy pigtails with ribbons.  There are a bunch of traditional dances to go with, but more on that in a minute.  Grace tried four times to ride the mechanical bull.  She didn't stay on for more than about one-third of a second.  But she WAS wearing shorts under her skirt, so not a total loss.

Olivia, on the other hand, dropped out of piano lessons after a few months due to hatred of said instrument.  Apparently, her special skill is in bull-riding.  The bull could not throw her.  She rode it all night without falling off, at least until I closed my wallet.  Total cost of bull riding: $40 USD.  Fortunately, we paid in reais, and reais are really more like play money. Or so I keep trying to convince my husband.

A few days before the Festa Junina party, I got a note from school reminding me to make sure the girls had Festa Junina dresses for their folk dance performance.  What the what?  Needless to say, you could tell which kids were mine because: Screw That.

Typical Festa Junina costume and hairstyle.

Crap my girls pulled out of the back of their and their brother's closets to wear.

That may or may not be my red drink cup on the table.  It may or may not be full of wine.

Two of these girls have good moms who provide the right costumes.  The other two have a mom who makes sure her kids at least have the most kick-ass boots at the thing. Sorry I didn't get any good photos of the boots, but trust me, their boots were the best.

Anyway, the fourth graders have been rehearsing their dance for the past month in PE.  I've been hearing about it a lot from Olivia, who was paired with the "third worst boy" in the class.  That description killed me.  How much would it suck to be the "third worst boy"?  You're not even bad enough to be the worst or even second worst boy.  Anyway, as luck would have it, the "third worst boy" did not even show up, which is why Olivia ended up having a pretty fun night, between that and conquering the mechanical bull.

See these kids?  They have good moms, too:

Henry came to Festa Junina with us, but I didn't see him all night, so I didn't get any photos.  He was prowling the perimeter with his posse.  Jack stayed home to study for finals.  

School ends in just a few days, so help me gah....