Hey... Mom?

The words "I need a costume for Friday" have precipitated many sewing frenzies in our house. But this one might take the cake. 1920's, flapper-style, sequins and fringe, purple dress. Oy.

You gotta admit, though... she's definitely the "cat's pajamas" in this cute outfit for a music video at school!

Jenn to the Rescue! Sort of...

I made a quick trip to New York to watch Faith when my sister had her baby. Luckily, she went into labor on a day that let me be there, with only a little finessing! Baby Julianna is SOOO adorable, and I had lots of fun with big sister Faith, too. I was really glad to get home to my kids on Sunday, though... I forgot how nice it is to have kids who are old enough to follow directions (and not need diapers!) Plus, Scott and the kids really missed me - and I missed them! It was my first time in 10+ years sleeping without Scott next to me!

Field Trip... Fun?

Well, okay. It wasn't really as much fun as I thought taking 200 kids to the Franklin Institute. Too many logistical problems kept getting in the way. But the kids had LOTS of fun, so that counts! Plus, I got a really nice preview for when I take my own kids this summer - our vacation plans are to see Philly and visit the Outer Banks.

The kids in my group especially liked the Sky Bike, and anything that blinked, flashed, or made noise. Yup, 12 year olds are still very young in some ways! We also got to see the King Tut exhibit, see a really amazing IMAX film, and teach students about why we don't buy from street vendors. (sigh)

Since the students learned and enjoyed, and we didn't lose anyone... we'll call this a success! (My headache at the end of the day notwithstanding!)

Dance Like Nobody's Watching

10 Things I Learned While Watching My Kids At Dance Class Visitation Days:

1. Nicky loves to dance. He really does, and is not just doing it because he thinks we want him to, or because his sister does it.

2. Kairi is very focused and professional about her dancing. She listens intently to all of the teacher's directions. I hope she loves it... but it wasn't quite as clear to me.

3. Nicky likes tap and jazz MUCH MUCH better than ballet. But he's got serious talent in ballet.

4. Kairi likes tap and jazz better than ballet, too. But her classes are back to back, and by the end of ballet, she's kind of dragging.

5. My kids can speak French. Who knew? Apparently, you just have to rattle off about 20 French words, and they can follow a complicated sequence of moves without even glancing at the teacher.

6. Kids look adorable when they are dancing, but they don't always look happy. And when they do look happy, they're moving WAY too quick to catch on camera!

7. Both of my kids have RHYTHM. Some of the kids in the class know the steps, but not how to keep them in time with the beat. Some can do both. Kai and Nick are option B.

8. Classes have more warm up and floor exercises and barre time than actual practice of their recital dances. They work HARD.

9. I don't really like some of the other parents. Particularly the ones who think Nicky doesn't belong in their daughter's classes - cause he does. Or who think I'm a whiner because when I saw Kai's costume for this year, I insisted that she be allowed to wear a body liner underneath it - she's 10, self-concious, and doesn't need to show belly.

10. Despite all of the hassles, expense, and frustrations, dance is worth every penny.

Coloring Away the Midwinter Blahs

Been a couple of weeks since I posted. Work has had me buried up to my eyeballs, and we've had a lot of sickness in the family, too. Fortunately, we did take a weekend for family time not too long ago. I kidnapped Scott for a night out and saw Music and Lyrics, a really quite sweet romanticomedy. Then, we took the kids to the Crayola Factory. It was great, because we really took our time and enjoyed the day together. Also, since it was the day after Read Across America, we got to meet the Cat in the Hat!

Here's some highlights. First, gotta love this sculpture over the back entrance:

Kai and Nick posed with a few "celebrities". The Cat made it clear he liked Nicky's shirt!

Of course, we created LOTS of artwork:

And we visited the canal museum upstairs, which turned out to be QUITE good. The kids loved the huge model of a canal that let them float boats through locks and under tunnels:


We actually managed to follow all the directions for hitching this mule, too. Although, had he been a REAL mule, he probably would have kicked us several times before we were done!


Why is it that putting laundry in the basket is a chore at home, but they can scrub it for fun at a museum??

The train room was also a big hit...

And all the rest....

Not that I think anyone is still looking at these... but I wanted to finish the blogging of them, since I finished the making of them. I was the only scrapper to finish all 28 layouts... and I won! Which was really neat, but the best part was just getting so many memories out of my camera files and on to paper. I scrapbook because I want to remember things. But someday, I hope my kids will look at these, and remember, too. I'm glad to be done with such a BIG challenge, though, because I don't want them to necessarily remember that I was ALWAYS scrapping, lol!