Lana is 6 months old today. Awwww.

Sam turned 5 years old yesterday so there was a birthday dinner in her honor the night before. Her mommy had just returned from a trip to the Philippines so the poor woman was exhausted with jetlag. But everybody does everything for lil Sammy, even my own mother, but that's besides the point.

A new addition to the regular type of festivities was the newly purchased/imported videoke machine. Sort of like karaoke meets Star Search with a bit of American Idol. The crazy machine doesn't know what talent is, unfortunately.

I don't usually like singing in front of people, so I hovered around with the little cousins until all the "grownups" had migrated downstairs to converse. First selection of the nite for me: Total Eclipse of the Heart. Lil cousins had no idea what that song was (made me feel old) but I totally ripped into that one. Or at least I felt like I did really well on it. My sister recognized the song from my choir days and participated with the requisite "turn around" to my lines. Imagine my disappointment when it rated me with a "76 Practice more please." Apparently my choir voice was not good enough for this stupid machine. Sam's older sister said I had to sing louder for a better score. That was going to be a challenge since my choir voice is quite soft.

Next selection: Underneath Your Clothes. Little cousins go "Ew" as they read the title, until they realize that it's the Shakira song. I tried to sing louder this time, and to make it easier I brought the mic even closer to my lips. Success! "100 You're a singing superstar!" Applause all around from the little munchkins.

The spell was broken when the grownups returned upstairs to join in our lil fun. I had no intentions of having them hear my singing voice (although I knew my mom was listening in at the bottom of the stairs) so for the remainder of the evening I sang with my sister in my normal voice, belting out the tunes. Still maintaining the 99/100 scores 'cuz as we had all learned, it was the volume and not the quality that was important. Bye Bye Bye, Tearing Up My Heart, A Song for Mama, boy band songs galore, and me and my lil sis kicked ass in each and every one.