Margo Timmins Rocks My Soul

First of all, if you don't know who Margo Timmins is, you should be ashamed. Bad internets! Margo Timmins happens to be the fabulously talented lead singer of the Cowboy Junkies. And I got to see her and her awesome band last night in concert with my awesome daughter, Saskia.

From the top...

The concert was held at an adorable little folk music theater called The Ark. When I say little, I mean it. I bet they only fit a few hundred people in there. It was a sold out show and they had clearly shoved extra chairs in every aisle. Still, it was cozy, homey and a great atmosphere. Saskia and I got really good seats in one wing, she could see the stage fine which was my main goal.

The opening act was a bit over the top for Saskia. It was a band called Lee Harvey Osmond. Honestly I thought the music was great, I really liked it, it was just a bit dark and sad for Saskia. She actually cried during the first song. Said, "I feel sad and I don't know why." After the first song the beat picked up and she started to enjoy the music better... but neither of us enjoyed the lead singers stories about the first time he did LSD or how he threw away all his money on booze and women. But eh, I take her to a grown up show, I gotta expect she may see and hear some things I'd rather she didn't. We'll consider it a learning experience. Later I can tell her, "don't do acid or you'll end up like that scary guy at the Cowboy Junkies concert.". So it all works out.

When the Cowboy Junkies came on I was blown away. You know how most bands sound better on their albums, because of all the digital stuff they do to enhance the music and vocals? Well the Cowboy Junkies sound better in person. Margo's voice is so unbelievably pure and strong and beautiful. And the band is phenomenal, the guitar players in particular created sounds that I can't even begin to describe. Pure, haunting beauty. About half way into the concert I just closed my eyes and listened to the wave of sound washing over me. It's the kind of music that can transport you to another place and time. It's the kind of music that can elicit a spiritual rapture.

Before the end of the night Saskia became tired, and as we had an empty seat next to us I was able to move and let her lie across the seats and rest her head in my lap. I sat there in the dark theater, stroking my eight year old's hair and letting myself be absorbed by the haunting music, while also remembering those many nights I sat in a dark room, rocking my babies and singing them Cowboy Junkies songs. "Misguided Angel", "Cause Cheep is How I Feel", "Crescent Moon", "Ring on the Sill", "Sun Comes up, it's Tuesday Morning".... I sang these songs and more, hour after hour, night after night, nursing and rocking and just being with my babies. They still request that I sing them "The Mama Song" (i.e. Misguided Angel) on a regular basis. As I sat there holding my girl, remembering holding my baby, I felt the thread of our lives from that moment to this. I saw it stretching off into the future. I saw that no matter what, my girls will always be my babies and we will always be bound together with a thread as strong as it is invisible. That bond is love, and song is how I often choose to express that love.

I am grateful that I was able to have this experience with my daughter. It was a magical night, and I will never forget it.

8 years old part 2, The Sleepover

The day has come for the much dreaded anticipated sleepover party. The girls and I spent the day running errands, shopping, baking and cleaning. Paul also did his fair share of grocery shopping and cleaning. By 5:00 pm the house was shiny clean, the decorations were hung, the crafts were prepared and the cupcakes were baked. As the guests started to arrive, they immediately went into hyper drive. Something I always forget (until the next party that is) is how very LOUD pre-pre-teen girls can be. There is probably a scientific formula which explains it, my guess is something like (girl + girl) * (volume)4

Once the last girl had arrived I set up an assembly line for them to make their own pizzas, which they found far more hilarious than pizza making normally is. I won't repeat the conversations I overheard during making, baking and eating those pizzas but lets just say I have at least 40 new gray hairs on my head.

Following pizza was more running/screaming/jumping/screaming/chasing kittens/screaming. At one point I heard sirens and was sure that the police and fire department were on their way to rescue the poor children being murdered in my backyard, but thankfully they had somewhere else to go. In deference to my poor ears, we quickly proceeded to the friendship bracelet making. This went fairly well, although it took far longer than I expected and I had to provide a LOT more help than I had expected. Whatever, it was fun, except for Fiona's minor breakdown because "everyone else is finished before me!"

Next came cupcakes (thanks Sharon for the awesome vegan recipe!) and presents. Saskia got three Webkinz. Which of course produced another Fiona breakdown because, "Saskia has more Webkinz than me and hers are cuter and I want one!". Note to self, if I am ever crazy brave enough to host a sleep-over party again MAKE FIONA TAKE A NAP BEFORE THE PARTY.

After presents I made popcorn ON THE STOVE! (note, I did not think this was remotely possible) and marshmallow goo to make popcorn balls. 3 of the girls helped me form the balls (note 2, butter lotion is VERY funny when you are 8) and all of them chowed down. As and aside, my grandma used to make popcorn balls whenever we went to visit her and I lurved them. Now, not so much. But the memory was a good one.

Now the girls are settled down watching "Hotel for Dogs". Well, 4 of them are, 2 of them are rampaging through the bedrooms upstairs but I'm too tired to go see what kind of mayhem they are causing. When the movie is over, we still have make-up bags to decorate and make-overs to do on each other, as well as a pajama fashion show to host. Should be fun, if I don't collapse. Thank God for beer... root beer that is. I'm on my third. SUGAR!!!!

Part 3 of the birthday saga to continue if after I survive the night.

8 years old, part 1

Saskia turned eight this week. Because most of her friends are out of town right now, her party has been scheduled for next weekend. Consequently her actual birthday was pretty low-key.

She started the day by waking us all at 7:30am. This is a kid who will happily sleep until 10 or 11 if we let her. So we all trudged downstairs at this horrific hour to watch her tear into her presents. She got:

An American Girl Doll (Rebecca)
Books
Earrings
A Taylor Swift CD
Clothes
A Jonas Brother's Backpack and Lunch bag
Clothes for her doll
A gift card to Rhapsody to buy music for her MP3 player
A kitten named Zack

The kitten and the doll were the big hits of the day, while the books, clothes and school supplies didn't even register except as mild disappointments (I'm sure she was thinking, "cheep ass mom, I would have gotten these anyway for school, why did you give them to me as presents?!"). The fact of the matter was, after plopping down a shit-load of money on her doll and the kitten, I wasn't prepared to buy much more that wasn't going to serve a dual purpose. Sorry hun, you should have been born in May if you didn't want to get clothes for your birthday...

After opening presents she and I went out to IHOP for breakfast. She'd been looking forward to the free ice cream since her sister went there on her birthday. Sure enough, by 8:30 am the staff was coming out singing and presenting her with a huge sunday, which she gobbled down appropriately.

The rest of the day was spent playing with her new stuff and generally lounging about unproductively. Oh, I forgot to mention that Fiona presented Saskia with a trip to Build a Bear (which mommy paid for of course) as a present. We went on Saturday and of course I ended up buying both girls a bear and outfit... for a total of $60! Damn, I had no idea that BaB was so friggin expensive! Guess there was a good reason why we never went there before. Anywho, now-a-days BaB has it's own website where you can register and play with your bears (someone feeling the Webkinz heat?) so Saskia spent a lot of time on there as well.

We didn't get around to actually having cake until about 9pm. Since Fiona is now on a dairy free diet we made two cakes, and can I say my dairy free cake kicked serious ass. It was awesome. From now on that will be the only cake I make.

All in all, it was a decent day, although I felt very guilty for not spending more time with the birthday girl or doing something special for her. Hopefully I can make that up when I have her friends over for their very first sleep-over party!, and all the fun stuff that goes with that.

Fiona's birthday and other news

I think we'll go with a bullet list today:

• Fiona's birthday is coming up in a little over a week. I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a good theme that 1) is appropriate for girls AND boys 2) we haven't done before (last year was circus) and 3) is something Fiona is actually into. Last night the girls were helping me brainstorm and somehow we came up with an underwater theme. Yes! Fiona's really into the ocean, sharks, jellyfish, boats and all that good stuff (thank you Spongebob) so this will be great for her. And we've already come up with a ton of good ideas. We're going with a blue and green color scheme. The living and dining rooms will be decorated with streamers to look like seaweed going up the walls, with lots of fish, crabs, and jellyfish pasted to the walls. When the kids arrive, they will make "seascape" pictures. We will use these for a fishing game by dumping fish on top of the pictures and having the kids fish them into their goodie bags. Then the pictures will be taped to one wall, together, to form the seascape. Next we'll do a craft, either building boats or perhaps a sea creature mobile. Then we'll play "stinging jellyfish" (aka "hot potato") and learn the "Fishies in the water" song and swim around the living room for a while. Next come cake and presents, and we'll finish it off by moving outside for the "shark and fish" game (aka tag). It should be a blast, I'm so excited!
  



• The Girl Scout year is coming to an end, and we're planning our closing ceremony for two weeks from now. I'm wrapping up financials and reports and getting ready for our camping trip the first weekend of June and our summer party at the end of June. One of the co-leaders is stepping down for next year (although she still plans to help out where she can) and I'm stepping up the the leader position. I'm very excited as I've already got a lot of great ideas for next year.



• The girls are doing really well in the theater troop they joined. They are preparing for a "Series of One Acts" play for the end of June. They will be doing a scene from Annie, Jack and the Beanstock, Rapunzel, and a shortened version of The Wizard of Oz. Saskia will be playing Molly in Annie and the giant's wife in Jack and the Beanstock. Fiona is an orphan in Annie and the cow in Jack (she's going to be SO cute). They will both be munchkins in the Wizard of Oz. It should be a great show! Saskia is doing really well and has memorized all her lines. She's definitely got a future in theater!



• I've been spending most of my time on the weekend working outside. Our yard has SO much work that needs to be done. We've dug up the front lawn and reseeded it and the grass has started to grow. I've also cleared a lot of lily of the valley and ivy from various flower beds. Next weekend I hope to have the bed running along the driveway, next to the house, totally cleared out and replaced with river stones. I love seeing progress being made, but I sometimes wish it was going faster (and that it made my back, shoulders, legs and hands hurt less!)



• I'll be going to see Blue October in concert with a friend on May 16th, woo-hoo!

That's all for now. Take care everyone!

Concerts and kids

As most of you already know, my two daughters and I attend an Indigo Girls concert last night. It was a unique experience. I don't regret having done it, but I know now that four is too young for a formal concert experience. Boredom or tantrums I could've handled better than the emotionally distraught and disappointed. But first things first...

The concert was set to start at 7:30. Being a very anxious person (an anxiety which I unfortunately seem to have passed onto my youngest to a high degree) I was worried about parking, lines, etc, so we left the house at 5:30. It was an easy 30 minute drive to the town where the concert was held, and we found parking right away in the garage next to the theater. With 90 minutes now to kill, we decided to look around town. This was easy, since we were smack downtown with a Borders across from the theater and a Biggby Coffee next to it. We spent 30 minutes in Borders and each of the girls got a new book. This turned out to be a great decision, as Fiona's book came with one of those cheep magnetic drawing boards and this kept her entertained while waiting for the Indigo Girls to go on.

After Borders we went over to check out the theater. There was no line at all, so we went to Biggby's for hot chocolate for the girls and a much needed cappuccino for me. It was much needed mostly because the girls were practically having panic attacks as they were so worried about being late for the concert. My reasurances that we had an hour to wait fell on deaf ears though, so we ended up going into the theater and finding our seats a little before 7. The girls were still being really good, if anxious, and sat playing with and reading their new books.

We were in the fifth row from the front, great seats. We were also right in front of the speakers, good thing I had ear plugs for everyone! Actually, a really nice bouncer offered to give us all ear plugs, but prepared mama didn't need 'em.

Waiting for the opening act Fiona got more and more wound up, until she was in a frenzy of impatience. Thankfully the show started on time, and the opening act was nice, but Fiona wasn't into it at all. So we abandoned our seats after a few songs to go and get snacks and drinks. I should mention, at this point the theater was less than half full. I couldn't figure out where all the people were, as clearly the seats were sold... that is until we walked into the lobby. It was packed, you could barely move. See, there was a BAR in the lobby. Everyone was getting toasted, and it was not a cool vibe with kids. About half the women had that "mom" air about them, and smiled kindly at us. The other half looked at the kids as if they were dirt on their shoes. That sounds harsh, but it was a pretty clear attitude from a large number of people we encountered as we wound our way to the kiosk.

Another thing I'll throw out here, several people came up and asked me at various times how old the girls were, did I think they could handle it, wouldn't it be too loud for them, etc. Honestly I was surprised by the negativity. My memories of Indigo Girl's concerts on the West Coast in my twenties were of lots of happy, smily, girl power types. I don't know if it's a Michigan thing, or if it's just that we've all aged and the fans that were hippies back in the day (a whole 12 years ago!) are hardened now, but the vibe was not the same.

So, back to the story line, the girls and I got our snacks and headed back to our seats. Of course, right then the opening act ended, and we had to sit for 20 or 30 mintues waiting for the Indigo Girls to come on. At this point Fiona had enough of waiting and was starting to get vocal about it. Don't get me wrong, she was still doing fantastic for a kid who'd been waiting for something for 3 hours and was now at her bed time. Finally they came on and started playing songs off their new album. Uh oh. This is where the disappointment comes in. More like total heart break. Fiona started sobbing uncontrallably because they weren't singing anything she knew. Even when they played older songs, they weren't her songs. She was crying so hard she was shaking, it was awful. Consequently I didn't get to pay much attention to the show. Saskia at this point was polite, but also I think disappointed that she didn't recognize the songs. Still, she was interested and enjoying herself. But Fiona... after 6 or 8 songs, I'm not sure, I took her to the bathroom to calm down. Thank goodness, as we came back in they started playing her all-time favorite song, "Get Out the Map." She grooved to that, but started crying again when the next song was unfamiliar. At this point I pulled out my secret weapon, a massive bag of M&M's. Unfortunatley she just kept sobbing as she ate.

I guess we were at least half way through the show at this point, maybe more. This drunk guy kept screaming at them to play "Chickenman", so they did and Emily went into this really long, really awesome jam seassion on her guitar. It was so great. Everyone was standing at this point, so I went out into the aisle and started dancing with Fiona in my arms. Finally, she stopped crying. After the song the nice bouncer made everyone else go back to their seats, except us. He asked if I was okay and said we could stay there as long as we liked. The guy must have kids.

So that's how we watched the rest of the show. Me standing in the aisle, rocking Fiona. Towards the end they played two of our other favorites, "Shame on You" and "Closer to Fine" and Saskia got up and the three of us danced in the aisle. It was great, and just the experience I had been hoping for with them!

We took off after "Closer to Fine", it was 10:30, the show was clearly winding down and we were all exhausted. Driving home was awful, I was so spent emotionally and physically that I wasn't sure if I could get us home. In fact, a couple of times I seriously considered pulling over and calling my husband to come get us. Somehow we made it home.

To wrap it up, if you've made it this far... I don't regret taking the girls. Yes, Fiona was too young. I feel bad that the experience ended up being painful for her in some ways. I feel bad that Saskia got nothing from me during the concert, no girl bonding, because I was so focused on Fiona. But if we hadn't have gone, who knows? I've regretted not doing too many things in my life to have passed up on this opportunity. Hopefully it will come again, when they are older (and know more songs!) but if not we will always have their first concert, with me and a band that has been very influential on me. I suspect this entry reads as being very negative, but really it wasn't. I cherish this experience and I think that both the girls and I will look back on it fondly in years to come.

Retail and music therapy combined!

I could bore you with tales of all the stress I'm under, the emotional rollercoaster I've been on and the number of people who've ticked me off lately. But instead I'll just tell you about my latest bout of retail therapy: I just bought tickets for me and my two girls to see the Indigo Girls in concert! Ever since Saskia was a baby, I have dreamed of being that cool mom that takes her kids to an Indigo Girls concert. I've seen them live three times, and each time was an amazing, energetic experience. To be honest, the idea of taking an almost five year old and seven year old to a concert where they are expected to sit for many hours is daunting, but the recent death of my Aunt is reminding me that we never know when a postponed opportunity is our last opportunity to do something. Every time I've skipped something I really want to do for reasons of money, inconvinence or whatever I've really regreted it. So this time I'm taking the chance, and taking my girls to see one of my favorite bands ever perform live! Wish me luck and lots of fun. Regardless of what happens, it will be an experience to remember and surely a balm to my troubled spirit.

Camping, pirates, and other fun stuff

We've been busy lately so I thought it was time to give a little status update...

Today Fiona went to see a pediatric opthamologist(which is apparently better, or at least snootier, than an optometrist, at least if the Doctor's reaction to being called the wrong term is any judge). Despite the snooty factor, I liked this Doctor and her staff. They were very nice and great with kids. Happily, Fiona doesn't need glasses yet, although with a diagnosis of "nearly normal" vision that may change eventually.

While discussing the family history, and in particular Saskia's vision problems, with the assistant I found out that her one really bad eye is actually a treatable medical condition... if it's treated before the eye stops developing, which happens around the age of 7. Shit, she IS 7. Sure wish that optometrist at Lenscrafters had mentioned this before. So Saskia has an appointment in late February (this woman is so overbooked) to see if there is anything that can be done for her. Of course I'm kicking myself for not finding out about this earlier, when her vision might possibly have been improved to the point where she wouldn't need glasses except for reading. The worst bit though in Saskia's opinion is that the treatment involves wearing an eye patch over her good eye. Can't imagine much worse for a self-conscious pre-pre-teen than going to school looking like a pirate. I can only imagine how awful the tantrums are going to be if she does need to wear a patch. Argh.

In happier news, yesterday we booked our first REAL vacation since 2004 (not counting weekend camping trips with friends). I am so excited, we rented a cabin up near Traverse City, in the Sleeping Bear National Forest area in August. We are going to be right on a lake, with canoes, boats and swimming a few feet away as we step out the door. Some very good friends went there last year and had a great time, they went to a different place each day and all were gorgeous (trust me, I've seen the pictures). Oh yeah, and the best part? OUR FRIENDS RENTED THE CABIN NEXT DOOR! I'm so excited, and so are the kids. The thought that they can get up each morning, run outside and jump in a lake with their best friends has got them screaming with glee. And that they get to spend a whole week with their friends is better than any present I could come up with. I can't wait to sit out in the morning with my friend and watch the kids play, or watch the men barbecue something while we toast our toes in front of a campfire. Vacation here we come!

Let's see, in other news, we celebrated the induction of 3 new girls into our Girl Scout troop last Saturday, and rededicated the 11 girls who were with us last year. I must say, I grow to love Girl Scouts and in particular MY scouts more each time we do something like this. It's great to watch our girls grow up, becoming more thoughtful and more patient. It's great getting to know them and know that you are an important person in their lives. I truly care about and enjoy the company of ALL of my troop members and I'm so happy to know that the work that my co-leaders and I do for these girls is valued by them and their parents.

Lastly, I joined a "small group ministry" at my church which had our first meeting this past week. It was very interesting, a little intense, but thought provoking too. The best part was carpooling with a neighbor and getting to know her better, I'm very happy to find a kindred spirit close by and look forward to more thoughtful conversations with her and other members of my church.

That's probably more than enough for one post, besides, the nasty, messy kitchen is calling.

Bragging Rights

Saskia brought home her first second grade report card yesterday. I wish I had it in front of me so that I could copy word for word what her teacher said, but it went something like this: "Saskia is a joy to have in class. She is helpful and considerate. She is reading well beyond her grade level and her writing is very imaginative and well formed. She has mastered all the basic math concepts and is progressing well towards higher math skills.... " And I'm not exagerating people, it really read like that, it was awesome! She's totally beaming and so proud of herself!

As for grades, they don't give A, B, C, D, F here, at least in elementary school. What they rank them on is 1="well below grade level expectations" 2="progressing towards grade level expectations" 3="meets grade level expectations" 4="high achievement of grade level expectations" and 4*="excedes grade level expectations". They also rank them each period based on what they should know by the end of the school year. Saskia already has a 3 in every subject, except science, writing and reading where she has a 4! Woo-hoo, go smart girl!

You love her more than me!

That's what Saskia said to me last night, in regards to Fiona. They had a fight, Saskia threw a toy (which hit Fiona in the face) and I put her in time out for it. Honestly it was a mild punishment, she should have gotten something more severe, like being grounded, for lobbing a Polly Pocket house at her sister's head, but I wasn't in the mood. So she got a lecture about expressing her frustration in a more productive, and less violent way, and had to sit on the stairs for 5 minutes. Not exactly a harsh punishment.

A few minutes later I find her crying, saying that I would "never be as nice to her as I was to Fiona". Just because I was comforting her sister after she was hit. We talked, I told her that I love them both equally because they are both my daughters. That they each have unique, special qualities and that I love those things about them, but even if the things are different the amount of my love is the same. And that no matter what happens, I will always love them both with my whole heart.

She nodded as I spoke, but I wonder if it really sunk in? Does she really believe me? Was this comment a passing thing, said in the heat of the moment or does she really believe that I love her sister more? I can understand where she'd get that idea, since Fiona is so needy I do end up spending more of my energy on her. I just don't want her to grow up feeling unloved. I want her to know, with every fiber of her being, that I love her with my whole heart and soul. I don't want her to ever doubt that.

Hi, my name is Christina...

and I'm a Webkinz addict.

It started off peaceably enough. My daughter got her first Webkinz for her birthday a couple of weeks ago and has been hooked ever since. I started out hating the place, all the errors, breakdowns and things not working would have her crying hysterically because she couldn't do what she really wanted to do. But tonight I saw the other side.

Saskia recently bought some kitchen appliances in order to cook. I kept trying to convince her to buy a kitchen to put them in, but she didn't want to spend 500 Kinz dollars on a room. Then she discovered that she could buy her pet a garden. She was so excited to grow her own food and "get out in the fresh air". But it cost 1000 Kinz dollars. And so it began. I started answering questions for her to earn money. After about an hour I had enough to buy her a garden. But I was hooked. I then played for another hour, bought her a kitchen, a sink and some food. Then I found the arcade games. Lord help me, I finally forced myself to log off after about the thirtieth time my ant was killed in the picnic game. At least I now understand her addiction, let's just hope it's a minor one for both of us!

Saskia's birthday party

Yes, I'm a lame mom. My daughter's birthday was almost 2 whole weeks ago and I am just getting around to blogging about it. I have a good excuse, as I just started a new job, but I still think I'd better get these thoughts down before they leave my flighty mind.

Unfortunately this post will have to consist mostly of text, as I'm not willing to publish pictures of other people's kids on my blog without their permission. Especially in light of what happened to my friend Cristina with some perv viewing her flicker photos I'm leary of posting any pics at all, but I figure pictures of a kid on a bike should be pretty safe. Then again....

Saskia's birthday fell on a Saturday this year, which was nice. She woke us up around 6:30 am (this is the girl who I normally have to force out of bed at 11:00 in the summer) to open her presents. Coming downstairs she found a pile from us, Grandma & Grandpa and Great-Grandma. The bear, named Chloe, was a big hit, thanks Great-Grandma!



Barbie Mariposa was something she's been wanting for a long time; she was thrilled to finally get it.



But the best present was her bike. Her last bike was for 2-4 year olds, and at 7 that just wasn't cutting it anymore. I think she likes it, despite the haughty, "what do YOU want?" look on her face.



We spent the day shopping, baking, cleaning and decorating. The party was a "Girl's Night" theme. The girls came in their p.j.'s and had pizza to start. Next we played a "Getting to Know You" game, where the girls filled out these questionnaires about themselves, then they were passed in a circle and read out loud so that everyone could guess who the cards belonged to. The girls had fun, although the game was a bit tough for 7 year olds to keep their patience through.

That game was followed by "Hot Potato". Since it was a night theme as each girl got "out" of the game she got to pick a stuffed animal to take home (thank you Party Store for going out of business and putting your Beanie Babies on clearance!)

All this took considerably less time than I thought it would, so we were left with about 45 minutes to kill. BIG mistake. 45 minutes of free time plus 9 6-7 year olds (and 1 4 year old) equals insanity. The girls screamed. And ran around. And screamed. And jumped on things. And screamed. And screamed. Think "Hannah Montana" meets "Animal House". Oh yeah, fun times.

Wrapping it up... we eventually brought out cake and ice cream, Saskia opened her presents (she got killer loot, thanks everyone, you rock!) and then they played "Musical Chairs" (and screamed) until their parents got there. Her favorite present was the "Project Runway" designer paper dolls. She wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up and is already busy creating her own designs. Tim, Heidi, what do you think?



All in all it was a fantastically fun time, but so very different from her six year old party which was very princess-y and sweet. It is yet another reminder, among many, that my little girl is not little anymore. She is growing in so many wonderful ways and becoming so wise, yet so tween-difficult at the same time. Sigh, I miss my baby, but I love my young lady. Happy birthday, dear Saskia, I love you.

Just checkin in

I used to write these "Just checking in" posts on MM fairly regularly, to keep my friends caught up on the daily stuff going on in my life, and I figured I'd continue the trend here. As I'm not in the mood for a lot of verbiage (shocking I know) I thought I'd give you just a bulleted list today:

* Yesterday was my birthday, nothing special happened, although I did enjoy a nice surprise today when I dropped my kid's off at my best friend here in town's house and she had a cake and mini-party ready for me. Thanks D, that was so sweet!

* School is going the same as always. Busy, lots of projects to work on and not enough time to do them. I'm currently working on a research proposal to study the usefulness of information literacy programs in technical college settings, an essay on a controversial topic in collection development (I've yet to pick my topic) and generally trying to catch up on readings and quizzes as I'm a few weeks behind...

* The kids are over summer vacation, or at least they are over being with each other 24/7. They are constantly fighting and screaming at each other, and Fiona has a major breakdown at least 3 times a day. When does school start?

* On the plus side, Fiona is back in gymnastics and doing great, and I found a new class for Saskia called "Cheernastics". It's gymnastics with a little bit of cheer thrown in. Since cheerleading is the one sport that she is interested in, this seems like a good way to trick her into doing the workout she'll need in order to gain the strength necessary to one day be a cheerleader.

* That's about it. For the weekend we have no big plans, just grill something and maybe hang out at the park for a bit.

Wishing all of you a great 4th of July weekend, love and hugs, C.

Our Girl Scout camping adventure

As many of you know, my six year old daughter and I went camping this weekend at a Mother/Daughter event through Girl Scouts. Here's a little photo chronicle of the trip...

Friday night we arrived way early because I was the OPF (Outdoor Program Facilitator) for our troop house. I met "my" First-Aider and one of her friends, both of whom rocked and made the weekend 1000 times better than it would have been had they not been there. I was supposed to build a fire for our house that night, but it kept storming, then stopping, then starting again. So no fire...

Several of the people staying in our house (36 in all) arrived really late, which threw our schedule off a lot. One mom came in late and had a huge fit over the bunks that were left for her and her girls. I hadn't even met her yet and she was in my face, screaming, saying someone had to move or she would be too hot, that we had to give her our fan (as OPF I was allowed to bring one to set up in the main room, but this mom was so late all the beds in the main room were taken and she was in a seperate room), that she was never coming to camp again (like I should care?!) etc. So the first night was very unplesant, stuck in the cabin as we were.

I'll just stop to say a little something about being "in charge" here. I kind of liked it because I got to make the rules and set the tone of the experience. So no stewing privately because I didn't like how others were behaving, I got to tell them exactly what to do and when to do it (talking about things like light's out, cleaning etc). On the other hand I had to deal with all the shitty problem people and ended up doing way more than my fair share of work. It was pretty exhausting.

Saturday morning we walked the 1 mile or so down to the dining hall for breakfast. Almost the entire day was spent here. This is a picture of Saskia with some of her new friends before breakfast.

After breakfast was scrapbooking, which Saskia really is in to, a good choice for her.

During this time the girls got to go out in small groups for a 45 minute long planetarium thing (they had one of those portable ones). The theme for the weekend was two-fold, partly "tea party" and partly space and stars, another good fit for my little astronomer.

After that Saskia and I went on a 30 minute hike and visited the camp store. Then came lunch, followed by Try-It work. She earned the "Space Explorer" Try-It this weekend. At this point mom was so sick of crafts, but there were more to come! Try-It work was followed by a teapot painting party. Actually they were teapot shaped coasters. Then we had a tea party, here's my munchkin enjoying her petits fours:

Then, finally at 3:00 (what do you mean it's only 3:00!!!! It feels like I've been up for 15 hours at least) we went boating. We didn't know it until we docked, but we rowed a field mouse all around the lake. It jumped out of it's hiding place when we hit the dock and ran up the boat, under all the girl's feet, causing them to scream and jump and nearly tip us over. It's amazing that no one fell in. We tried to convince them it was cool, after all how many girls can say they've given a mouse a boat ride?

Here's a really horrible picture of me with my girlie and a cute one of her rowing the boat:

After boating was dinner, then the Ford Amateur Astronomy Club came out and gave us a presentation about the Solar System, planets, constallations and the like. They brought 5 massive telescopes (which I forgot to take a picture of, bummer) for the girls to star gaze. We were supposed to be able to see Saturn and Jupiter, but the clouds were way to thick, no one could see anything. I did find out there is a free planetarium in the town next to ours though, so I promised to take my daughter there soon.

Minus the star-gazing we spent the rest of the evening around the campfire.

We sang lots of songs that I remembered from my days in Campfire as a girl, it was very sentimental I admit I nearly cried. I'm a dork, I know.

We were back at the cabin around 10pm and started cleaning and packing for the next day. Interestingly 6 of the moms in our house bailed, some with legit reasons others not. So the last 7 moms were left to do all the cleaning (Girl Scouts always leave a place cleaner than they found it!). In the end it was probably good that some of them left, as one was the b**** from Friday night and her bff and I found out Sunday morning that the rumor in their troop was that they were bringing alcohol to the event, which is strictly forbidden. They did pack in a huge cooler so I bet the rumors were true. Just what I would have needed after that long day, drunken loud-mouths to kick out.

Sunday we had to finish cleaning, had breakfast, loaded the car and checked out.

All in all it was an awesome weekend, despite the responsibilities and the few difficult people I encountered. Saskia and I had some great bonding time. I am so greatful to the moms of these 3 girls, they and their daughters were so welcoming and kind to us and included us in their group without a second thought. That's what Girl Scouts is supposed to be! I'm also thankful to the awesome volunteers, especially the older girls who did a great job entertaining and working with our little ones. I hope to have such grounded teens!

It was a trip to remember forever.

Pajama Rama

Saturday night was our big Girl Scout event, The Pajama Rama Skate and Slumber party. My troop has been looking forward to the event for months, it's what we raised funds for while selling cookies and the girls ask about it at every meeting. My daughter was on pins and needles all of last week, she couldn't focus on anything, she was so excited.



We met at the roller rink at 10:00pm. On the way S and I stopped at Target, to buy her a pair of her very own rollerblades. After the other leaders and I got the troop settled in, I went off to rent some skates. I probably haven't skated since I was 13 or so, I was nervous but it came back to me really quickly. From then on it was just fun! All of the girl's moms came with them, so I didn't have to worry about anyone except my daughter. We skated, played air hockey, and goofed around. At 1am they had a make-over, and at 2am was the pajama fashion show, followed by dancing until 3. At 3 lights went out and we were supposed to sleep on the rink, but it was way too loud and the girls were way too hyped to sleep!

S was actually tired and getting mad that she couldn't sleep, so I bribed her with donuts and we took off at 4am. The event was over at 5am anyway, so we didn't miss much. We came home and crashed until 11. When we got up she clearly didn't want our time to be over, as she asked me to read to her in bed for nearly an hour.

It was fabulous, we had so much fun! At one point the DJ played "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and I nearly cried, it felt like I was the 6 year old!

Normally S and I butt heads a lot, we are way too much alike personality wise! But this night was special, no fights, just lots of love to go around. I'll remember it forever.

My daughter's new do

I took my 6 year old to the hair salon today. She has had her hair trimmed many times, but this was her first time in a "real" salon, getting a new style. She was so excited! When we got there she flipped through the books and found a very cute cut. I was skeptical that it would work on her fine hair, but said we would ask the stylist. After all, her hair, her choice.

It turned out SO cute! She looks so grown up *sniff* I just love it!

for one more day

My daughter, S, and I went to a book signing by Mitch Albom, author of For One More Day, The 5 People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie tonight. We had to wait over an hour because Mitch was delayed by an accident on the roads. Most of the people waiting (and there were a TON of them) were really nice. We had talked and laughed and it was so nice just to revel in goodness for a while. My daughter was AWESOME, she was so well behaved and so sweet to everyone, but she did get tired after a while.

We were probably about 30th or so in line. When Mitch Albom finally got there he made a short speech then asked that everyone let the elderly people and people with small children come up first. S was sitting on the floor in front of his table, looking sleepy, so he pointed to her and asked that we be allowed to go first! I let another woman who was probably 90 go before us though.

Of course, when I got up to the table I turned into a slathering idiot. I told him "I'm a big fan" and The 5 People You Meet in Heaven was life changing for me. DUR, talk about dorky. But he was nice and signed my books (got one for my mom too) and told S she was a good girl for being so patient.

Afterwards I told S that she is FOR SURE on Santa's good list now after behaving so well tonight!

One of the big impressions I took away with me is; It's all about attitude. A few people were complaining about the lines, the wait, the people (i.e. ME and the elderly) getting to cut to the front. They looked so sour, so sad. What did they get out of this night, except a signature and bad feelings?

I got love. Love of my daughter, love of the kind people around me who kept shunting us forward in the line. Appreciation for all that is good and kind in this world. I am so glad my daughter was with me to share in this special evening, and I will remember how I felt every time I read my book and look at Albom's signature.

My first day "teaching" and my sweet daughter

Today was my first day teaching religious education at our church. I'm working with the 2-4 year olds. My sweet daughter greeted me this morning with a big smile and a "Good Morning, Mrs. Sunday-school teacher!" Then before I left (she needed a day off so stayed home with dad) she gave me a hug and said "You'll be a great teacher, because you're the best mom that was ever born." Awww. She is such a sweet-heart!

So my first day went really well. Only about half the kids I was expecting were there, but I was glad because it made it a lot easier to work with the group. The kids were great and followed my directions well. The lesson plan went off without a hitch. It was such a welcome change from the first day working at my daughter's co-op preschool, which I wrote about last week. I'm looking forward to next Sunday!

The best big sister in the world

Today was DD1's school book fair. I only sent $12 with her, as last year that was more than enough for her to buy two books. One for her, one for her little sister (this was her own idea). So this year apparently she picked out her sister's stuff first. A book, a pencil and an eraser. She ended up spending ALL her money on her sister, so she couldn't buy anything for herself. It's so sweet and so sad at the same time, it makes my heart break. I couldn't ask for a more loving and thoughtful child, this girl is always giving to others, sometimes to the detriment of herself.

Back to school blues

Tomorrow my 6 year old will be starting 1st grade. She is very excited; she made her new teacher a present and has been practicing reading for the last couple of weeks to get ready. She wants to ride the bus, eat at school and learn lots of new things. I'm happy that she is so excited, but I am sad to see her take this big step. To me this year is 100 times worse than when she started Kindergarten. For me it is one more blow towards her becoming an independant adult. She keeps telling me, "you'll be sad when I'm gone all day in school". Yes, darling, I will!

What makes the whole situation worse is my job requires me to work 4-10pm. That was great when both girls were little, as they had either mom or dad taking care of them most of the day. But now she will be in school until 4, so I won't even see her before I leave for work. I can't help her with her homework or ask about her day. If anything bad happens I won't be there to see her face when she comes home and talk to her about it (getting info out of her can be like pulling teeth, it takes great care and understanding plus a lot of time). I have Tuesdays off, so I've promised her that will be "our day"; when dad gets home to watch the little one she and I will go out for a walk, hot cocoa or whatever else she wants to do.

It is just so sad to see my precious little one, the girl who was permanently attached to mama's hip until age 3, make these transitions to independance, even though I am fiercly proud of the girl she has become.

MM 8/23/2007: My daughter rocks!

First of all, let me say I don't want to offend anyone's beliefs, just share a story I love about my daughter.

I have to say I love, love, love my daughter. Both daughters actually. They are so awesome, but for different reasons. This post is about my eldest.

A few months ago she asked where the first person ever came from. She knew that dinosaurs came first so she thought that maybe a dinosaur mommy had a human baby. So I explained how the dinosaurs died out then the whole evolution thing, which she thought was pretty cool. Tonight, she asked where EVERYTHING came from, like the Earth and all living things. So I told her that people believe different things, told her about the Christian Creation and the Big Bang Theory, then asked her what she thought. (I'm a UU, we always try to present EVERY side of the debate). After a long time she said she thought it was all magic. How cute!

I just love it when she asks these big questions, even though I often don't know the answer. I wonder where all these thoughts come from, are they typical of a 5 or 6 year old? No matter, I still think she rocks!