Tuesday, April 28, 2009

I cannot become that woman!

While Dustin and I were out this evening, I noticed a woman who didn't seem to be concerned how she looked. Is that a good way to put it? I'm not obsessed with my appearance, however, I am vain enough to care how others will perceive me. We caught her just as she was leaving the store. She may have been tired from shopping, but she breathed out of her mouth and I could hear her from a good 10 yards away. She wore a moo-moo, flip flops and a very messy pony-tail. Needless to say, she wasn't a very attractive woman. I always notice these women because, secretly, I fear that I will become on of those women that everyone points and laughs at. So, I turned to Dustin and said, "If I ever get that lazy, would you please shoot me in the face..." Without hesitating, he answered, "Yes." But I wasn't done. I continued, "If I don't die, then at least I'll have an excuse." Is that not the funniest thing I've ever said? Please say 'yes' because Dustin didn't even try to laugh to make me feel good. :-\ I'm still laughing at it!!!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Okay, last one...


We've had a lot of visitors this year! Rebekah came (and brought the taxi), Mom came (and brought the red-race-car) and Phil and Judy are expected in any minute! We love seeing family; I just hope Sean doesn't get too used to getting toy cars at every trip! :) They are all his favorites, though. Thanks, guys!
PS - the other toy is a bus that Beth brought back from Malta for Sean. Anything with wheels - and he's a happy camper!

Sean's Easter Program


Sean's a pro at his preschool programs now! He participated the WHOLE time and didn't whine AT ALL!! :) I also have pictures of his trip to the Fire Station... he didn't do as well there...

Easter Sunday


Mom bought the kid's Easter outfits this year and they're wayyy cute! I love Sean in orange now! I have better pictures of them, but I left my camera at Great-Grandmas house. I'll upload those later. Cuties!

Teacher Appreciation Project



Next blog - Teacher Appreciation Week! Reilly's class has a few moms that are not very motivated to help out in the classroom, but I'm so excited when I meet another mom like me! This mom has kids that are Reilly and Sean's same age and her oldest and Reilly are both of our firsts. (Maybe that's why were so involved??) She signed up to help with this project and the other moms bailed on the last minute, so she was looking for help. I didn't even know it was going on when she approached me about it. Our ideas for the door-decoration were off the wall, out of control! Neither of us had ever done it before... so we got some help and this is what we came up with. You can't tell from the pictures, but we had all the students come up with something they're thankful for and the 'speak'-bubbles have what everyone turned in. Our kids even helped with the clouds. I was very happy with how it turned out.

Catch-up Blogs

The next few blogs are short, but I just transferred all my pictures from my camera and found some events that were documented (shaky, but documented nontheless) that are very blog-worthy.


First one - Reilly's family birthday dinner!


We had it at Great-Grandparents house. We had pizza and cupcakes. I totally forgot about the cake for her friend party, so I'm glad I found this picture. Plus, she's still toothless in it! :)

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Fun with corn starch!


I remember learning about cornstarch and water when I was in elementary school. I used to do it at home... and got in trouble for using up all the cornstarch. :\ So, I taught the kids about it last week and we played for over an hour. Sean was especially into making his hands sink into the bowl, so he got considerably messier than Reilly.

Last time I checked...

Winter's over! Good grief... the snow is never ending. This is what I saw when I took Maya outside this morning. It's really pretty, but also very wet and cold!


Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Revisiting Radiohead


I heard a very cool song recently and couldn't tap my toe to it without noticing that it's not in the typical time signatures. I had to search it to hear it again and found that it was Radiohead. I always liked them, but I guess I forgot that they exsisted... and that they were very inventive with their music. The song 15 Steps from the In Rainbows album is awesome! It's got a great driving beat, but it's in 5! I'm a sucker for individuals in a sea of poser-faces. Love it! Go listen for yourselves.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

What a performance!!

We are a family of performers! This past week/month (sorry for the delay), we've had a number of grand performances by the children. From Reilly's desperations for dropping out of school, to Sean's emense hunger that would soon take his life, I think we should be up for Emmy's! Okay, but seriously, I performed twice at the string masterclass. The first was pretty good, but nothing special. I had only been playing Vitali's Chaconne for just over a month and hadn't mastered much of it. I only played half the piece and none of that was from memory. The second time I played it, with accompaniment and without music, it was significantly better. For the most part, I think my biggest weakness for live performances is that the audience can tell where my 'trouble spots' are. Just by watching my facial expressions, I give it all away. So, this time, my teacher encouraged me to focus on the song, style and movement of the piece instead of section, after section, after section... it's a long piece with a lot to listen to. I tried my best, and successfully (for the most part) managed to pull the wool over the eyes of my fellow string players. I focused on how I wanted the sections to be expressed and didn't give myself time to get nervous. I struggled - that didn't change - but I managed to do something with the song. Hooray! My best performance ever! I guess the kids have helped me with that!