Friday, I was supposed to work with my friend Olesya, but she got sick :( so I took advantage of this blessing in disguise. After driving Ky to school, the girls and I left for the West side to get Talia's 3 year pics taken. Along the way, I noticed she had a black fingernail. (She had had them painted earlier in the week and each nail was a different color.) Well the black REALLY bothered me! REALLY! I was just thinking it would look like her finger was dirty in a full body picture--so I did what any obsessive mom would do. I stopped at Walgreens and bought remover. Surprisingly, Talia took it very well. And she did awesome in her pictures. I put her hair in "Elsa" braids--since that is all she wants done with her hair.
I also stopped at the West Side Sears where I had shoes waiting for Kylan. I LOVE their Shop Your Way Rewards program. This is the fourth time since I have joined (at no cost or any commitment) that they have sent me FREE money to spend at their store. So with my latest money, I was able to score shoes for Kylan for $3! AWESOME!
Alaina's dress rehearsal was at night. Alaina was ELATED to be wearing her costume and to get to wear makeup. Did I mention I had to go to the Dollar Store to get her makeup? Yeah, I don't carry much of that around here. I was VERY careful in explaining to her that this was JUST for being on stage. And it helps the audience see her face better. Yeah--I am pretty sure she didn't hear a word I said.
Several of the other girls had their hair curled. I asked Alaina if she wanted here curled. Thankfully she said "no". (Boy, I dodged a bullet there!) I was able to record her dance at the recital and I loved every minute of it. I am so proud of her. She is the youngest in the class and has learned much. Her performance was FAR from perfect--but it was beautiful. And she was smiling. She LOVED it! And she told me so. "Mom--I love being on stage. I'm not scared! It's so much fun!" and then she said, "I want to keep doing ballet and I want to do tap!" EGADS!!! After all the whining this past year I have been ready to be done. I reminded her of her whining and not wanting to go--and then she said that now that she knows how a recital goes she wants to keep doing it. I don't know---I think Rob and I have some talking to do. It kind of sucks that you have to do their program for a whole year before the recital I think if they had 2 recitals (one per semester) it would help those kids that need the rewards of a recital AND parents from going through the agony of a full year with a child that doesn't want to be involved.
Well--everything was fine and dandy and Alaina and I watched several more performances after hers before she decided she wanted to go. I unlocked the car and got buckled and realized that I did not have the key to the ignition. It fell off the key chain. Now Rob's key had been broke for a LONG time. And I have told him more than once that the key was going to fall off the chain. And go figure it happens to ME! The one who drives his car MAYBE once a week.
After searching, retracing my steps, and asking anyone I could, I was close to giving up. I called Rob on my dying cell phone. Talia answered--yeah, I was not happy about this since my phone was dying. After some yelling on my side and silence on the other side the phone was finally given to daddy. (Yeah--I lost my cool...) So Rob drove all the way to the recital instead of putting the kids to bed. We figured we should stay until the end of the recital when the lights went up and search for the key in the seats. Little did I know--there was A LOT of rehearsal left. It was almost worth the wait when I saw an older group of ladies (60's) dance to the song "It's Raining Men." That was pretty funny.
After all that waiting we did not find the key. So if you find a Toyota key with duct tape on it--it's mine. Thanks...
The next day we had a lazy morning until Nana came. Nana, Alaina, and I then went to Alaina's first performance together. I was the backstage mom, so I didn't get to see this performance, but Nana said it was good. Alaina did not want to stay after that. (Probably because I reprimanded her for asking her mentor for a present when I told her not to. She's in this jealous phase where if she sees someone else get something she wants it too. She was literally in tears because she saw another mentor give her class a rubber duck. Ugh! I will be glad when this phase is over.)
Leaving early was pretty good though--it gave us more time to get some things done and relax (yes, we did both.) We also looked at a house in our neighborhood that went on the market. We aren't actively looking for a house, but we are keeping an eye out and thinking about our options. At some point we need at least one more full bath--one shower is not going to cut it with teenage girls. I love where we live, so it kind of bums me out to think that we may need to move at some point. Anyway--I loved the house--however, not enough for us to put an offer or want to put our house on the market. I'm just not ready--and there are a few things that didn't quite make it worth a move.
Rob and I had a nice dinner out at Bunky's Cafe. The hummus was FABULOUS! We then went to a bar for some drinks and cards. I beat Rob in 21 and won 2 chickens. I'm just waiting for him to pick them up. When we were leaving, I noticed a little local bar--called "Ideal Bar". It advertised color tvs. :P I noticed the pool tables and challenged Rob to a couple rounds of pool. It was fun. He won a game and I won the second game--yup, scratching on the 8 ball always helps me out! We had a great time chatting and figuring out Ky's b'day. It sure is coming up soon!
On Sunday we went to help cleanup the highway with our church family. It was nice to see everyone again. It had been a while since our old church family (prior to our current church) had gotten together. And I still consider them family after all the time we spent together. We had a nice meal and Alaina loved that Mei was there and she was able to sign with her. I loved catching up with my friends and finding out that one was pregnant with twins! EXCITING! What a blessing!
We left the gathering early enough to make sure the family had time to shower before Alaina's last recital. This one the whole family had picked up tickets for. We were excited--and so was Alaina (especially about the make-up part!) Once again she was just wonderful to watch. It was kind of sad to see the whole thing end. After the recital we came back in and watched the rest of the recital. It was really neat to watch--and more enjoyable than Friday night when I had lost the keys. Even Ky was into and wanted to watch until the end. Rob had bought Alaina flowers and she was excited.
When we arrived home we saw many families in the cul de sac. It turns out someone had stolen a tire out of a neighbors garage IN THE DAYLIGHT! They simply rolled it away down the street! CRAZY!
Anyway--Ky ended up playing Ghosts in the Graveyard with the neighbor kids and Rob and I took Alaina and Talia home for bed. I was excited for Ky--this was one of his first "late night outdoor play times". He is finally getting to the age where he is big enough. Then to make things even better he had a sleepover at their house. How fun!
Monday was Memorial day and we enjoyed sleeping in and lazing around. I was determined to relax and enjoy the day and that is what we did. There were a few scattered showers so we carefully timed a bike to a new ice cream place in our area and played at a park on the way back. I LOVE family bike rides. Even when Alaina is continually chattering away when I just want her to pedal on the trail-a-bike.
That night we had a nice bonfire on the driveway. The kids made some s'mores (except for Talia who refused to eat her dinner--stubborn child!) I was excited that we were able to break my fire pit in. (It was a present from my last birthday.) We will definitely need to do more fires this year, maybe it could be a Sunday night thing. Hmmm... The kids played baseball in the cul de sac. Even the neighbor kids came out and play. It was just a nice and relaxing day. What a wonderful start to the week. We should have 3 day weekends more often!
Ooh--before I forget--Alaina told Kylan that a girl in her class had a crush on a boy. And Kylan said--"Well then they have to get married!" He went on to inform Alaina that when you have a crush on someone then you have to marry them. Yeah--I didn't correct him. It was too funny to listen to. And perhaps they will be more careful about who they have crushes on if they really think this way! HA!
Tuesday morning it was back to business as usual. After sending Ky off to school the girls and I went to a friend's house to watch her daycare kids while she went to an appointment. Alaina was such a big help! I was so proud of her. We went on a walk and she held one little girls hand and talked to her the whole way. She acted like a mommy--being so kind and loving and explaining to the kids how to share. I was very proud of her. When we left, I gave her some money (this was a paid gig) because she had been such a big help. I told her I was so proud of her and felt she had earned the money as well. WOW! What a wonderful young lady she is turning into. I am so blessed to have each of theses kids in my lives. I am excited that someday I will be able to share this blog with them--but once again I am getting behind. With summer coming, I am spending more time outside at night and less time on the computer. I have to take advantage of it. I will continue to update, but it may be more of a bi-weekly blog entry. And boy--do I have a lot to catch up on in the next blog entry--Alaina breaks her arm! Yes she did! I hope to get that typed up tomorrow.
But for now I want to remember how we ended Tuesday. It rained and a beautiful rainbow came out. I yelled at the kids to come outside and we played in the gutters as the water rushed down the curbs. We had stick races. We built dams. We splashed. It was wonderful. Sadly, Talia did not join us. She didn't want to get wet. But Ky and Alaina and I had a blast and I hope I always remember Alaina in her soaked dress and Ky discovering how the shape and size of the stick matters when stick racing in the gutters.
John 15: 1-2
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
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