Macy was so happy yesterday to find that Kennedy and I had picked up a huge stack of books about cats while she was at dance. We had to stop and get some cat food after her class, but she refused to come in the store with us. She insisted on waiting in the car so that she could read through them all. Since the shop is in a tiny strip mall and it wasn't too hot outside, I had no problem with this. One of Macy's favorite cat books is "Mrs. Crump's Cat" by Linda Smith. One other recent library book (suprisingly not about cats) that I had to read over and over was "I Had a Favorite Dress" by Boni Ashburn; I think Julia Denos might be my favorite children's book illustrator.
Books make Kennedy happy, too. We just finished "Babe: The Gallant Pig" by Dick King-Smith, which she loved and I can't wait to watch the movie with her. It's always been one of my favorites! Next we started on "The Racketty-Packetty House" by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I didn't realize that it's over 100 years old, but she loves it and says that my old dollhouse is just like the racketty-packetty one in the book. Kennedy has big plans to work on fixing it up this summer. She already has a project list in her mind: paint, carpet, wallpaper, repair and install the stairs, fix the broken furniture, glue the porch railings back on, maybe lighting...we'll see. For now the dollhouse gets lots of play, just the way it is. We had to take book eight from the Sisters Grimm series back before we could get through it, but that will be on our list again soon. Part of the storyline takes place in Oz, which is a nice tie-in to the dance concert and the old Wizard of Oz VHS I found at my parents' house, which we also will have to get to.
I found an adorable book at the library with embroidery patterns for dogs and cats. I think I may have to try to make something for Andrew and Toshiko's baby who will be born next month. We can't wait to meet her! If it works out, I imagine I'll be ordering the book on Amazon and will have to make something for Kennedy and Macy, too. I'm going to sign up for a sewing class. The idea was somewhat inspired by the "I Had a Favorite Dress Book" but it's also something I've wanted to learn for a while. The few lessons I had in my junior high home economics class did not stick at all. Then I can start checking out books on sewing patterns.
In my book group, we read "The Man Who Loves Books Too Much" by Allison Hoover Bartlett. I don't think I will ever be drawn to collecting rare books like the guy in the story, but I do love books. Novels, non-fiction, and short stories I enjoy in the moment, but tend to forget much too quickly. I have way too many cookbooks, but looking through them makes me happy. In fact, I love books that make me feel like I have untapped talents (and who knows, maybe I do) waiting to emerge if only I had more time and energy to pursue them. I can spend hours flipping through books (with pictures!) on home improvement, gardening, decorating, fashion, sewing, stitching, cleaning and organizing, etc. It's my low-tech version of Pinterest. I'm not looking forward to the day when the girls don't want me to read with them anymore. Cuddling together in their bed and reading bedtimes stories is one of the best parts of my day! Even if I'm tired or cranky, it's so easy to get lost in the magic of the stories, especially seeing it through the eyes of my children - even when they constantly interrupt, argue over who is sleeping where or with which stuffed animal, or demand the same book over and over and over.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
In it for the snacks
I think we have figured out Macy's motto: in it for the snacks!
Really, this statement describes her personality, her motivation, her passion to a "T".
She is always saying that she's hungry. Well, that's because she doesn't like meals. She'll eat a few bites then want to be done...unless it's something she loves like pancakes, chicken noodle soup, mac and cheese, or cheese quesidillas. When I pick her up from school I get a hug, then I get: "Mom, did you bring me a snack?"
She is perfectly content to not be playing soccer this season - until the end of the game comes and the snacks get handed out. I feed her right before we leave just so she won't be hungry. If I bring along her own treats, she can't wait until the end of the game to eat them, and then she's sad to not be eating with Kennedy (who always shares with her anyway.)
Friday night was the big opening show for the girls' dance performance. I helped them get all ready at Grammie and Pamp's, taking out the sponge curlers they had worn all day at school and putting on makeup before heading over to the theater. The girls looked so cute in their curls, costumes, and makeup (not to mention grown-up!) I met our family and friends in the lobby and found some seats in the sold out theater. I was so exited to see the production of The Wizard of Oz and especially my beautiful dancing girls! Macy's class was doing a ballet to "What a Wonderful World" and was about the fourth number. Seeing those tiny little girls skip out on stage was so cute. I scanned the line, looking for Macy - I had seen the dress rehearsal the day before so I had an idea of where she was supposed to be standing - but she was not there. At least I didn't think so. She really did look different with her hair all pulled back and curly. But, how could I not recognize my own daughter? Maybe it was that one? I don't know. Finally Jake and I were certain that she just wasn't on stage! I was so sad, a little mad, and a tiny bit worried. What had happened to Macy?
Kennedy's class came out a few songs later, doing a jazz dance as munchkins to "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead." Very cute! Kennedy was well prepared and looked great up there! Her class had a quick costume change in the hallway (not even enough time to make it back upstairs to the dressing room) before coming back out as Lollipops for a tap number. This one seemed to be every one's favorite, but Kennedy and I couldn't decided which we like better. She really seems to love performing, and it was a treat to look out into the audience to see her friends Amelia and MaeMae sitting with their moms in the front row!
By the time the show had ended, the girls had been there over three hours. When I made it to the dressing room to pick them up, Kennedy was in tears and the volunteer moms looked a little panicked about her distress. I guess she was just wanting me to come get her and was feeling lonely, tired, and sad. She tried to come into the theater after her dances, but was turned away - kids had to stay in the dressing room until picked up by a parent. Where was Macy? She was happily sitting in the hallway eating the snacks I'd packed for them, of course. Macy said she didn't dance because she was afraid of the mannequin backstage and also afraid that she would fall off the stage. We joined up with Grammie, Pamp, Dad, Aunt Beth, Eliza, Grandma Sue, Sara and her mom, Amanda, Caitrin, and MaeMae, and Misti and Amelia in the lobby. The girls were so happy to see everyone and get flowers and more treats! There was some funny discussion about if Macy had actually been dancing - I wasn't the only one who wasn't quite sure.
Both girls danced beautifully for the remaining two shows. It helped that I volunteered in the dressing room and could go backstage with Macy before her number. I also brought along some Wizard of Oz coloring pages and bingo with skittles candy to pass the time. Macy is already looking forward to the performance next year, and has decided that she won't be afraid of the mannequin anymore.
Really, this statement describes her personality, her motivation, her passion to a "T".
She is always saying that she's hungry. Well, that's because she doesn't like meals. She'll eat a few bites then want to be done...unless it's something she loves like pancakes, chicken noodle soup, mac and cheese, or cheese quesidillas. When I pick her up from school I get a hug, then I get: "Mom, did you bring me a snack?"
She is perfectly content to not be playing soccer this season - until the end of the game comes and the snacks get handed out. I feed her right before we leave just so she won't be hungry. If I bring along her own treats, she can't wait until the end of the game to eat them, and then she's sad to not be eating with Kennedy (who always shares with her anyway.)
Friday night was the big opening show for the girls' dance performance. I helped them get all ready at Grammie and Pamp's, taking out the sponge curlers they had worn all day at school and putting on makeup before heading over to the theater. The girls looked so cute in their curls, costumes, and makeup (not to mention grown-up!) I met our family and friends in the lobby and found some seats in the sold out theater. I was so exited to see the production of The Wizard of Oz and especially my beautiful dancing girls! Macy's class was doing a ballet to "What a Wonderful World" and was about the fourth number. Seeing those tiny little girls skip out on stage was so cute. I scanned the line, looking for Macy - I had seen the dress rehearsal the day before so I had an idea of where she was supposed to be standing - but she was not there. At least I didn't think so. She really did look different with her hair all pulled back and curly. But, how could I not recognize my own daughter? Maybe it was that one? I don't know. Finally Jake and I were certain that she just wasn't on stage! I was so sad, a little mad, and a tiny bit worried. What had happened to Macy?
Kennedy's class came out a few songs later, doing a jazz dance as munchkins to "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead." Very cute! Kennedy was well prepared and looked great up there! Her class had a quick costume change in the hallway (not even enough time to make it back upstairs to the dressing room) before coming back out as Lollipops for a tap number. This one seemed to be every one's favorite, but Kennedy and I couldn't decided which we like better. She really seems to love performing, and it was a treat to look out into the audience to see her friends Amelia and MaeMae sitting with their moms in the front row!
By the time the show had ended, the girls had been there over three hours. When I made it to the dressing room to pick them up, Kennedy was in tears and the volunteer moms looked a little panicked about her distress. I guess she was just wanting me to come get her and was feeling lonely, tired, and sad. She tried to come into the theater after her dances, but was turned away - kids had to stay in the dressing room until picked up by a parent. Where was Macy? She was happily sitting in the hallway eating the snacks I'd packed for them, of course. Macy said she didn't dance because she was afraid of the mannequin backstage and also afraid that she would fall off the stage. We joined up with Grammie, Pamp, Dad, Aunt Beth, Eliza, Grandma Sue, Sara and her mom, Amanda, Caitrin, and MaeMae, and Misti and Amelia in the lobby. The girls were so happy to see everyone and get flowers and more treats! There was some funny discussion about if Macy had actually been dancing - I wasn't the only one who wasn't quite sure.
Both girls danced beautifully for the remaining two shows. It helped that I volunteered in the dressing room and could go backstage with Macy before her number. I also brought along some Wizard of Oz coloring pages and bingo with skittles candy to pass the time. Macy is already looking forward to the performance next year, and has decided that she won't be afraid of the mannequin anymore.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
I can't keep up!
Days, weeks, and months have just flown by lately, and I can't seem to keep up. People sometimes mistake me for an organized person because I generally know what's going on - appointments and scheduling stuff, projects, due dates, and the like. I can generally stay on top of these things, but still I tend to be a last minute kind of gal. Happenings in the world? No clue. I don't watch the news, listen to NPR, or read the paper. Occasionally I scan the headlines of the local papers or the New York Times when I'm at work. My house? Always a mess. I try to make the bed and empty the cat box every day. Other things I get to when I can and then spend most of my weekends cleaning, only to have it feel completely undone within a matter of a few hours. My list of to do items? A mile long. And usually I forget half of them before I get a chance to write them down, or my many little scraps of paper holding ideas (that seem important when I do write them down) surface months later when I clean out my purse. No, I am not an organized person, but I do aspire to be one someday.
I've missed a lot of things that I wish I had taken the time to capture - in photos or written down. The girls continue to do and say funny/cute/crazy/amazing/brilliant things that I appreciate in the moment, but can't quite cement in my mind for later. It makes me sad to think that I'm missing it - important, big, silly, or little things. They happen every minute. My girls keep growing and changing. But, I'm not really missing it - I'm living it, and loving it!
Kennedy -
She is about to finish kindergarten and seems quite grown up in so many ways now. She is working on reading in English and Spanish (but gives up too easily and gets frustrated when she comes across an unknown word.) She loves when I read to her, especially the books from The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley, and we are on book number eight right now. Trips to the library are one of her favorite adventures, and she has started a weekly trip to the downtown library with the kindergartners every Friday to pick out a book in Spanish. Kennedy gets excited by cleaning and organizing projects. She loved helping me sort through all the hair ribbons (arranging them by color on the new hanging rods we installed) and clean out the bathroom drawers using the new sorting trays for clips, elastics, and other hair stuff. She loves to help with things around the house, although occasionally our requests are met with a huffy response. Cooking, gardening, watering plants, laundry, running errands, she likes to help with it all. She is so excited to start up the job board again! I get a daily request to tell the girls stories - Kennedy likes me to make up Nancy Drew mysteries, fairy tales, or stories about our whole family going to Disneyland together. In one of the latest, I was joking that Eliza (an older and more mature version) decided to wear sandals with high heels to Disneyland, in case she saw any cute boys. Kennedy took right to this and started dancing around saying, "Eliza, we're not at Disneyland to go struttin' around looking for cute boys! We're here to have fun and go on rides!" She told me the other day that I'm not a very fancy mom because I don't wear high heels. True dat! I would never call myself fancy, but Kennedy likes to dress up with Macy and pretend they are princesses. She's picking out her own outfits almost every day, and often doing her own hair. Sometimes I object to her her choices (weather considerations, too small), but I try to go with it. She's getting better at soccer, but still not aggressive enough to really get after the ball. Jake said the other night that he's turning into his mom with the way he cheers for the kids - Sue did the same thing at our swim meets! Kennedy is a hard worker and somewhat of a perfectionist. She will do things until she gets them right. I got frustrated with her when she was filling out her library card application because she was writing some of the numbers backwards. I had her practice 0-9 on another sheet of paper, and later she was writing row after row of 0-10, checking off each line if it was all correct. She is trying to work on French to get ready for next year. I think she's a bit nervous about a new school and new friends, but thankfully she's not nearly as shy as I remember being as a kid.
Macy -
This girl is a handful! Just like Betty Bunny (currently one of Macy's favorite book characters) whose parents tell her she’s a handful all the time, and because they love her so much Betty assumes being a handful is a very good thing! Well it can be a good thing, but it can also be exhausting! Macy loves routine. Once she finds something she likes, or that works for her, she wants to stick with it...and if our plans don't jive with what she has in mind we get a glare (man, she has that look perfected!), sometimes dramatic crying, and usually some version of "Then I won't be your friend anymore!" or "You just don't like me!" At the moment, her morning routine goes something like this:
Get in bed with me in the middle of the night; Get up at 5:30 when my alarm goes off to get ready for a workout; Drink hot chocolate and play in the workout room with a) the magnet cat, b) the magnet pet set, or c) her stuffed cats, rat, or dog, while my friend Sara and I are doing Insanity; Eat pancakes with syrup for breakfast, while watching a) Backyardigans, b) My Little Pony, or c) Busytown Mysteries on the iPad with Kennedy; Not get dressed or have her hair done until the last possible moment; Play with the cat family before school. If any of the above steps are missed or she feels like she doesn't have enough time - TROUBLE! Macy hates all cleaning. She says she'd much rather watch while Kennedy cleans up their room. She also refused to help plant our new flowers - it turns out that the reason was because she is terrified of worms (and Jake can't resist holding them right up to her face which makes her scream and run away in terror!) She does love going to dance and zumbatomic classes, and Thursdays are her favorite day at school when she has music and dance and outdoor classroom specialties. She doesn't like meals, but prefers snacks. Sometimes she will ask for something to eat within 15 minutes of leaving the table - something different from what was just served, of course! She loves movies and has no problem watching the same one day after day. In class, she likes to do the "playing" works with the tiny animals
I've missed a lot of things that I wish I had taken the time to capture - in photos or written down. The girls continue to do and say funny/cute/crazy/amazing/brilliant things that I appreciate in the moment, but can't quite cement in my mind for later. It makes me sad to think that I'm missing it - important, big, silly, or little things. They happen every minute. My girls keep growing and changing. But, I'm not really missing it - I'm living it, and loving it!
Kennedy -
She is about to finish kindergarten and seems quite grown up in so many ways now. She is working on reading in English and Spanish (but gives up too easily and gets frustrated when she comes across an unknown word.) She loves when I read to her, especially the books from The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley, and we are on book number eight right now. Trips to the library are one of her favorite adventures, and she has started a weekly trip to the downtown library with the kindergartners every Friday to pick out a book in Spanish. Kennedy gets excited by cleaning and organizing projects. She loved helping me sort through all the hair ribbons (arranging them by color on the new hanging rods we installed) and clean out the bathroom drawers using the new sorting trays for clips, elastics, and other hair stuff. She loves to help with things around the house, although occasionally our requests are met with a huffy response. Cooking, gardening, watering plants, laundry, running errands, she likes to help with it all. She is so excited to start up the job board again! I get a daily request to tell the girls stories - Kennedy likes me to make up Nancy Drew mysteries, fairy tales, or stories about our whole family going to Disneyland together. In one of the latest, I was joking that Eliza (an older and more mature version) decided to wear sandals with high heels to Disneyland, in case she saw any cute boys. Kennedy took right to this and started dancing around saying, "Eliza, we're not at Disneyland to go struttin' around looking for cute boys! We're here to have fun and go on rides!" She told me the other day that I'm not a very fancy mom because I don't wear high heels. True dat! I would never call myself fancy, but Kennedy likes to dress up with Macy and pretend they are princesses. She's picking out her own outfits almost every day, and often doing her own hair. Sometimes I object to her her choices (weather considerations, too small), but I try to go with it. She's getting better at soccer, but still not aggressive enough to really get after the ball. Jake said the other night that he's turning into his mom with the way he cheers for the kids - Sue did the same thing at our swim meets! Kennedy is a hard worker and somewhat of a perfectionist. She will do things until she gets them right. I got frustrated with her when she was filling out her library card application because she was writing some of the numbers backwards. I had her practice 0-9 on another sheet of paper, and later she was writing row after row of 0-10, checking off each line if it was all correct. She is trying to work on French to get ready for next year. I think she's a bit nervous about a new school and new friends, but thankfully she's not nearly as shy as I remember being as a kid.
Macy -
This girl is a handful! Just like Betty Bunny (currently one of Macy's favorite book characters) whose parents tell her she’s a handful all the time, and because they love her so much Betty assumes being a handful is a very good thing! Well it can be a good thing, but it can also be exhausting! Macy loves routine. Once she finds something she likes, or that works for her, she wants to stick with it...and if our plans don't jive with what she has in mind we get a glare (man, she has that look perfected!), sometimes dramatic crying, and usually some version of "Then I won't be your friend anymore!" or "You just don't like me!" At the moment, her morning routine goes something like this:
Get in bed with me in the middle of the night; Get up at 5:30 when my alarm goes off to get ready for a workout; Drink hot chocolate and play in the workout room with a) the magnet cat, b) the magnet pet set, or c) her stuffed cats, rat, or dog, while my friend Sara and I are doing Insanity; Eat pancakes with syrup for breakfast, while watching a) Backyardigans, b) My Little Pony, or c) Busytown Mysteries on the iPad with Kennedy; Not get dressed or have her hair done until the last possible moment; Play with the cat family before school. If any of the above steps are missed or she feels like she doesn't have enough time - TROUBLE! Macy hates all cleaning. She says she'd much rather watch while Kennedy cleans up their room. She also refused to help plant our new flowers - it turns out that the reason was because she is terrified of worms (and Jake can't resist holding them right up to her face which makes her scream and run away in terror!) She does love going to dance and zumbatomic classes, and Thursdays are her favorite day at school when she has music and dance and outdoor classroom specialties. She doesn't like meals, but prefers snacks. Sometimes she will ask for something to eat within 15 minutes of leaving the table - something different from what was just served, of course! She loves movies and has no problem watching the same one day after day. In class, she likes to do the "playing" works with the tiny animals
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