FULL

Full of food. Full of laughter.

We went to THE buffet.

At one point BBD asked the quintessential question of buffet dining...

"Mom, will that fit in my mouth?"

And no, it did not.

Upon us leaving our server caught sight of BBD, who was well beyond the aid of a wet napkin , "Awesome! Did you enjoy it?"

Yes. Yes we did.

CB said that her favorite part of the buffet was the nap. I didn't know what she was talking about.

But I soon figured it out.

That deep, contented sleep that comes from a nice full belly.

That Street

May 2010

The children and I enjoy the little jaunt down to the mailbox on fine weather days. (We have not had too many of those lately.)

After retrieving the mail, I turned to head home, but BBD said with great excitement, "I wanna go that street!"

So we took off for a good ole walk around the block. It is a pretty big block, but no big deal. We have gone for this very same stroll countless times before.

But this time was different. I realized, too late, that we had never gone for this walk with the children actually walking. As in not being passengers in a stroller or wagon.

Clearly, they are not ready for such a trek.

Now, technically we live in a desert, but the weather was delightfully gentle. However, watching our excursion, it may have appeared that we were stumbling our way through the blistering Sahara.

CB picked me some, er, flowers near the beginning of our walk. Later, it felt like much later, she says, "These flowers are getting thirsty". To which her brother replies, "I'm getting thirsty too." And then began the listing of what we would do when we got home. You may have been led to believe that we had been separated from our home by natural disaster or incarceration. There would be eating, drinking, and general merry making with the reunion of much missed friends and tv shows.

They each tripped over their poor, overworked feet no less than 4 times--each. I felt this may appear to reflect poorly on my mothering skills- clearly these children have been drugged or are never let out of the house. It's not like I could pick them both up and carry them. The Wii fit tells me I am "still in pretty good shape" (thanks for throwing in the still, Wii, thanks a bunch), but lets face it, I would snap like a twig. And then where would we be? Overheated in a heap, half a block (aka a world away) from home.

The sighting of the house brought rejoicing. From all of us.

Lesson learned:

Ballet School

April 2010

CB has begun taking a ballet/tap dance class.


She refers to it as Ballet School. The teacher is very laid back and parents are welcome to hang out and watch. CB was delightful to watch-and listen to. She entertained all of the other parents. She had them laughing. A lot.

She is, shall we say, vocal. She repeats all the directions. Up, down, point your toes...

She stage whispers to the teacher, "You're supposed to spin." Teacher smiles down at her, "Yes, that's later."


CB pointed out to her teacher, "I'm a very fast learner." Modest, I know, but apparently true. I was confused when the teacher asked me after class, "Did you guys just move here?" When I answered no, it was her turn to looked confused and she asked, "Who did she take dance from before?"

They do a ballet style Hokey Pokey-it was super cute to watch. At the mere mention of Hokey Pokey, CB went into monologue mode.

After a drink break, CB asks her teacher, "Are we going to do more dancing, Mary?"

When the teacher said they had just a moment before they did their next thing, CB ran over and told me, "I have enough time to give you a quick hug."

About halfway through the hour class, CB declared, "I'm tired. I need a nap now." Fortunately it took less than a minute for her to get her second wind.


There is a recital at the end of May. CB is all over it. She turns and says loudly to me. "Do you want to be in the audience?"

"I want to go to this school all day!"

I would like to say

that this is the kaleidoscope that CB made with a little help from me.

I would like to say that the 4 year old put it together incorrectly.

I would like to say that I provided useful guidance for the young children at the workshop.

But the truth is-

CB lost interest in this project rather quickly. It was not long before she went from this:

to this:
And I managed to stress out my share of small children.


Notice the 7ish year old girl looking on as I hammer away.

Girl: Here's a hint. If you lift the hammer up higher, it will go in faster.
I continue on and a few minutes later she says in a surprisingly stern voice,
"I can help you."

She eventually gives me up as a pointless cause and wanders off.

Before I have finished, Em offers to help me "clean up" and tries to hand me my bag.

I look around for the little blond girl. I'm having a heck of a time with the last nail.


P.S.
Don't worry little blond girl, we probably won't be back for a Lowe's Build and Grow clinic for a long time, or at least until we can talk Daddy into coming along.

And I will be sticking to projects more of the glitter and glue variety.
CB eventually became interested in the kaleidoscope and told her brother to "look in here and see the magic" so I guess it was worthwhile in the end.