-
Site Sponsor
Mar
10
Lucy’s vocabularly is exploding right now. She busts out new words every day. In a thick Boston accent.
She’s always asking for “wahta” to drink.
Yesterday she asked me to, “Putah in da gahhbage!”
(Translation: “Put it in the garbage.”)
Later, she told me she, “faahhhhted.” And while I abhore the word “fart,” particularly when it comes from the lips of my dainty daughters, I couldn’t help but catch it on video.
I blame Boston for making it funny.
Mar
7
Julia participated in her second Ribbon Festival on Saturday.
(And guess what?!?!?! THIS WOMAN was there! Her daughter played Lightly Row! We didn’t speak! It was awkward! For me! Because I don’t think she even saw me! Unless she did but pretended not to or something!)
Julia wore a pretty pink dress and played Cuckoo.
She earned a yellow ribbon. For some reason we spent most of the year thinking it was going to be purple but whatever. On the way home, Julia held her ribbon and said to it, “I love you and I’ll tell you why. First of all, you’re yellow…” Purple schmurple. Yellow suits her fine.
The judge had this to say about her performance:
What a beautiful performance! You played so confidently with a lovely smooth touch on the keys. I especially liked your very careful hand position - you obviously have listened to your teacher very well.
You played every note perfectly and kept a steady beat. I hope you will always love the piano and that you will continue to practice and learn. Thank you for playing today. I really enjoyed hearing you!!
Yeah. There are TWO exclamation points at the end.
The whole thing made me cry. I’d blame pregnancy hormones, but the truth is, I’m like one of those parents on American Idol who closes their eyes when their kid performs and cries over how proud they are. On the inside (because outwardly, I roll my eyes at those crazy parents). Except on this occasion where I really cried. Let’s just call it pregnancy hormones!
Lucy wore a NOT PINK dress to The Ribbon Festival.
And she was sufficiently proud of her sister.
Oh, and one more. Because I’m just a little bit proud of my girls.
Feb
10
I always tell myself that if I just had one day off to catch up on things, my house would be clean. It turns out, that’s not true. We’ve been pretty much snowed in since Friday and it’s still a wreck. I manage to find just about anything else to do but clean.
Here’s how I avoided the dishes yesterday.
Feb
2
She’s Gonna Love Godzilla
by Leslie
This is what happens every Tuesday at lunch.
Me: “Lucy, would you like to go to Story Time?”
Lucy: “NO!”
Me: “You don’t want to go to Story Time at the library?”
Lucy: “NO!”
Me: “Are you sure? We’ll read books! And do a craft! And HAVE A SNACK! Lane will be there!”
Lucy: (quietly contemplates the cheesy macaroni noodle on the end of her fork)
Me: “Let’s go to Story Time at the library after lunch.” I say this with much authority and decisiveness.
Lucy: “NO!”
Me: “Do you want to go see the iguana?”
Lucy: (goes and gets her coat and hands it to me) “Help me? See iguana? LET’S GO!”
The library’s pet iguana is Lucy’s favorite thing about the library. She LOVES the iguana.
I tried to get video of her saying “iguana” because it’s pretty much the cutest sound on the planet. But she was busy being a monster -
- which is still pretty cute if you ask me.
Dec
31
We spent the last day of the year at the local roller rink where Julia learned to skate and I pretended to be Olivia Newton-John.
Here we are.
I’m singing Xanadu to Julia. My camera battery was going dead, too, so everything’s a bit fuzzy.
See how she’s trying to get away from me? Probably because of the singing. Or because when she fell down moments ealier and reached out to me for help, I ran over her pinky.
Here she is skating with Dave. He may be her preferred roller buddy, but I’d kick his ass at roller derby.
That video is a perfect metaphor for 2009. Let’s all hope that 2010 finds us a bit steadier and a little less screwed up.
Nov
16
Under The Moonlight
by Leslie
Today in piano class, Julia began to learn Au Clair de la Lune. Once we got home, she worked furiously through frustrated tears, refusing to stop until she could play the melody perfectly.
“She’s just like you,” my mom told me.
When I tucked her in bed this evening she said, “Mondays are special because I have library at school and then piano class. Mondays are blue.”
“They are?”
“Yes. And Tuesdays are yellow, because I have art and ballet.”
“What made you pick those colors? Are those the colors on your calendar at school or something?”
“No, those are the colors in my mind. Wednesdays are white. Thursdays are orange and Fridays are purple. That’s just how I see them in my head. It’s kind of like when we do color by number, but it’s not a number, it’s a day,” which made perfect sense to me, because I did the exact same thing when I was a kid.
That girl and I are so alike.
My Mondays were red, though.
Her choices may be a little more inspired. I think mine had something to do with my day of the week undwear.
Nov
9
I belted this out into my broom handle last weekend for my kids. They thought it was lame. So, I searched YouTube for a video of the artists performing it. They thought that was lamer.
I think lame-with-the-little-accent-doodad-over-the-e is the word they were looking for. Check out those gold outfits. They.Are.Awesome. If I ever become rich and famous or even just rich, I’ll make that the required uniform for everyone in my entourage. I’ll call them my Glam Fam.
I had a major crush on that singer - Johnny Contardo - in the early 80’s. He bears a striking resemblance to the boy that taught me to pop and lock. His name was Moses, and I spent the summer of my eighth year playing Special K to his Ozone, Breakin’ fans. I wish I could find him on Facebook. It’d cancel out that guy I never should have friended because he makes me remember ugly things from junior high school. (A sidenote containing advice about Facebook: If there is a person you’d be happy never to see again, do not friend them on Facebook, because chances are, you’ll see their ugly mug every damn day telling you stuff like which part of the body some quiz says they are most like when you already know IT’S THE ASS PART OF THE BODY.)
If you want to read more about music because it’s Monday, the party is here: Soccer Mom in Denial.
Nov
2
The wonderfully inspiring Soccer Mom in Denial hosts this thing called Music Monday, which is pretty much the best idea ever because 1) you write about music, 2) alliteration! and 3) you write about music.
I’m totally jealous that I didn’t think of it.
I’ve decided to take part in Music Monday. I’m not telling you what to do or anything, but if you wanted me to, I’d tell you to do Music Monday, too, so I can come to your blog and quote song lyrics in your comments!
Now, on to the music.
This is the music video that comes up after you finish The Game that the rest of the world calls Plants vs. Zombies.
It’s a wily little earworm that will eat your brain. But you’ll like it. And it’s the kind of song my family and I would make a crazy video for if someone hadn’t already done it.
Nov
1
A Long Time Coming
by Leslie
and lots and lots of practice
she plays “a real song”
P.S. I realize our piano is out of tune. Sorry. It’s on my list of Things To Spend Money On (when I get some). It’s #54. But I can only do that after I get to #1033 of my To Do list, which is Find A New Guy To Tune The Piano. The last guy was allergic to cats. And while he never actually tuned the piano, I still had to pay him, because I think it’s a good idea to pay someone you almost kill (accidentally, of course). That’s just good manners.
P.P.S. You may just want to skip any of the related YouTube videos that pop up after Julia’s video. Particularly anything involving that 4-year old playing Cuckoo, because Julia is 5 and the 4-year old kind of makes her look like a slacker.
Oct
9
My Biddy Cheerleader
by Leslie
After practicing all week, Julia joined the high school cheerleaders at the varsity football game this evening to Cheer For A Cure. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her so excited.
She had so much fun with her friends. The girl you see her with here is pretty much her best friend from school. I know this, because Julia actually knows her name. And they play Unicorns together every day at recess. What is “Unicorns,” you ask? According to Julia, it’s AWESOME. That’s all I know.
The high school cheerleaders were really incredible with the little girls. They were sweet and attentive and patient and behaved like good role models. Their mothers should be proud of them.
The biddy cheerleaders helped make the tunnel for the football players to run through and then cheered for the first half of the game. They also performed a pregame dance.
(I loved that little cheerleading kick Julia did at the end. She was really, really into the whole thing.)
It was a great night, in spite of the rain. The high school marching band played Blitzkrieg Bop during the pregame show. And at half-time, the majorette twirled a FIRE baton - that’s a baton that someone has SET ON FIRE - while they played Hot N Cold as made famous by Katy Perry which was the double-freaking butt kick.
See?
FIRE! And look!
SHE THROWS IT IN THE AIR AND CATCHES IT.
Maybe I’m easily impressed, but I gave the child a standing ovation. That was FIRE, DUDE.
Oh, and there was football.
I couldn’t tell you who won except that my family doctor won an autographed football.
-
Stuff I Dig
-
You Should Do This
-
Ooooooh. Aaaaah.
