And the winner is ...

M won a coloring contest! She won Albertson's 4th of July coloring contest for her age division in Bend. They told her they picked her picture because she had made it so uniquely hers. That nobody but her could have colored that in that way. They could possibly be referring to the purple bear with pink paws and a half-purple, half-orange bow tie. Good thing she didn't listen to her mom who kept trying to encourage her to use red, white, and blue (which all the other kids did)! She was so stinkin' cute when I told her the store had just called and said she won. We were down by the river and her eyes went from side to side a few times as she tried to figure out what I was talking about. Then the light bulb when off and she remembered. It was like a dog perking up when it sees a squirrel. On second thought, perhaps I shouldn't compare my daughter to a dog. But she suddenly sat straight up (picture the little doggie ears going up), and her eyes got all huge and sparkly. And she gushed, "I won?! I winned da prize?!" And yes, she might have gone to the store to collect her prize in her jammies. And they did indeed take a picture of her that way to put on the wall next to her drawing (Does that make me a bad mom?). J had a bit of trouble initially with the whole thing since she had entered as well (in the 5-8 year category where an 8 year-old won that colored better than Cooper. By his admission. I didn't say it.) and had not won. But after lots of parental attempts to talk her through it and after the inevitable tears and after some more tears anytime she thought about it or it came up, she was very happy for her sister. We even caught her giving M a spontaneous hug later and whispering I'm so happy for you! Aahhh. And she was especially happy when her sis shared her loot. So way to go M! Mommy's so proud.