Greetings from Lovely New Jersey

*waves*

 

I'm here at the Bailey's, enjoying a quiet Sunday Afternoon after going to KidlitCon all day yesterday. It was great, it is restful now. I love it when I get a chance to run away.

 

The big highlight of the week, though, was going to see Lion King the musical on Thursday. Since Russell, Megan and I have seen it before (in Memphis, 9 years ago), we intially were just going to take three younger girls, but Megan put up a wee bit of a stink, and so we made an event of it, and went to a Thursday matinee. The girls got out of school and everything! The performance was fun -- there were some flaws, and being in nosebleed meant we missed some stuff -- but overall? It was wonderful.

 

Everything else pales in comparison.

 

Except, that this coming weekend, we've convinced Russell (I hope) to come with us girls/fans as we drive to Dallas then Austin for a Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson guy) event next Monday.

 

Yes, we really are insane.

The Idea for Our Next Family Picture

Involves a DC/Marvel mashup, something like this:

("Because I'm Batman!")

Let's Hear it for the Carbs

Not carbs, but still funny.

I’ve spent the afternoon baking – cookies and rolls – for a book-release gathering for the Austins this afternoon. In addition to the cake I ate all week (it took all week to eat it, which must be a record), plus the treats I have to refrain from buying at work (but, but, but, I have to spend the café money I earn writing reviews somehow), plus the lemon poppyseed cake Megan craved (and so made)... it’s a carb-filled week. I know that I shouldn’t eat so many, but it’s so GOOD. (And yeah, I know. We do eat our veggies.)

 

I do need to lay off the good stuff, though: I banged my knee rollerskating back in August, and didn’t think much of it. Sure, it hurt, but I figured it was a bruise. But, week before last, after I couldn’t walk after a zumba class, I realized that maybe I pulled something in banging my knee up. It feels a lot like the injury I had a few years back when I pulled my hamstring really bad, and so I just need to Stop. Going. To. Zumba. (HORRIBLE) and running and all that for a few weeks and let the dang thing heal. *sigh* It’s HARD because I feel so much better when I exercise.

 

So, the children?

 

Megan’s keeping her head above water for the most part. She said she’s decided that if she could have Wednesdays off to catch up, things would be better. But she’s staying on top of everything, for the most part. It’s a tough load she has this year, and her life basically is get up, go to seminary, go to school, do homework, and crash. Though she does find time to watch a wee bit of Dr. Who and to text her friends, so maybe it’s not all work and no play.

 

Caitlyn spent the week putting together a commercial for her creative writing class (as part of learning to write a screenplay; she also has to do a silent movie, which is kind of odd, if the purpose was to write a screenplay, no?). She came up with this super-creative idea to sell a “ultraviolet radiation telephone” that included the line “now, if you buy two for the price of three, you can get one absolutely FREE.” Sometimes, I think I’ve done all right by my girls. 

 

Alison spent the week gushing about her long-term sub (her teacher’s still out with a newborn; she’s due back in October), and how much she’ll miss Mrs. Fish when she’s gone. I think mostly because Mrs. Fish lets them watch movies (most recently The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) and is generally a very easy-going person. That, and it’s been nice enough for everyone to get outside and play! (It did get a bit warm in the middle of the week, but I am NOT going to turn the air on, so people can just grin and bear it.)

 

And Kristen has missed having her dad home (he was gone on Monday with Constitution Day, Wednesday with youth meetings, and Friday because we went and saw an all-female version of Julius Caesar at Shakespeare in the Park), because she doesn’t get to read their book. Though she is quick to inform me that I’m the best mom. I’m just not dad.

 

I’m off to New York City next weekend for KidlitCon (and to see the Baileys. Woot!), but I’ll still try to write a letter. Until then, enjoy fall!

40 is the New 30

There comes a point, I think, in every parent's life when their children are more excited about opening presents than the parents are. Especially since I had two cards, two rolled up pieces of paper (pictures from Alison and Kristen) and a lone gift bag.  I also had helpers.

In the lone gift bag was a Les Miserables piano book from Caitlyn. A brief story: Megan has recently decided that she LOVES the Phantom of the Opera music. Since that was a love of mine back when I was her age, I figured the best thing I could do was introduce the kids to the other great musical love of my teenage years: Les Miserables. So, on our trip west, we listened to the Broadway soundtrack that I had (and still plays!), explaining the story as we went along. The girls -- especially Megan and Caitlyn -- fell in love, and have been listening to it on and off since we got home. (Their verdict is that the 10th anniversary concert cast is the best.) I mentioned, offhand, a little while ago, that I used to have the piano music for that, and kind of made a mental note to call my parents and see if it's still kicking around. Then the Saturday before my birthday, Caitlyn snuck off on an errand. And, when I opened her present on Sunday, I found out what she did: she went to the nearby music store and spent all of her saved money on a Les Mis piano book. What a wonderful girl.

So, of course, we had to play it! (And I'm a bit rusty, it seems.)

Story number two involves my wonderful husband. But I think you all know that. At any rate, I got tickets, and a piece of paper with everyone's names who helped out, and I'm looking very much forward to spending the weekend after Thanksgiving at the White Lotus yoga center.  California in November, even in the mountains, sounds lovely.

He's a keeper.

And then, to paraphrase Marie Antoinette: Let theme have cake!

The inside is chocolate ganache and cookie dough. YUM. (Very rich.)

Maybe 40 isn't so bad.

Some Happy-Making (Sundayish) Things

Thanks to my wonderful nieces and nephews, I am  now HUGE fans of these guys:


This amazes me every time.

And I love what they do to Pachelbel:


and Caitlyn says this one is her favorite


And I found this one trolling the blogs today. Love this version. Bonus: man scarf. *double love*


And Caitlyn says that if I'm doing cool music, I have to put Lindsey Stirling here.

That Blissful Moment

When you get up in the morning and realize that you can turn off the AC because it’s actually cool outside. It’s heavenly. Especially since the day before it was 95 degrees.

 

So this week was much like last. I worked, the girls went to school, there were meetings and piano and homework. We probably watched more TV than is good for us (but it was the Master Chef finale!), and didn’t hang out enough outside (in our defense, it was Thursday before it cooled down, and then it rained all day, but we did get outside this weekend a bit). And survived a mild stomach bug that worked its way though.

 

Friday, however, was a bit of a party. It was Homecoming (really early this year; no idea why), and Russell and the girls went to participate in the parade. Caitlyn marched for the first time with the 7th and 8th grade band, Megan (a pro at this by now) was in the band as well (she says their halftime show is terrible, because the director is expecting them to memorize the music this year, something which NO ONE has done. Yet. Thankfully, they don’t have a game for another month, so they can really work on the whole show thing), and Alison and Kristen went to show “Peterson pride” and marched with the elementary school. From there, Alison took off for a sleepover (“I’m glad I don’t have to go to the game. I don’t understand football so I wouldn’t have watched it ANYWAY.” And when I say, “You could learn,” she says, “Oh WHATEVER.” I love her....) and the rest headed to the game. 

 

Where was I? Well... I was at work, being the “YA expert” at the Literary feast, which is their pay-money-for-dinner-and-a-discussion book group. I was a bit intimidated; who spends $25 a ticket for a book group other than well-off East-side residents? But, after a bit, I decided that even well-off East-side residents could be pretty dang smart and quite interesting to listen to. It was a great discussion, and I managed to hold my own as the “expert”, and even knew the answers to most of their questions that they had about the genre. I came away thinking that maybe after 8 years of blogging, maybe I kind of do know what I’m talking about some of the time.

 

Yesterday was pretty low-key again. We cleaned, there were children to come home from sleepovers (yeah, Caitlyn ended up at the Dumlers after the game on Friday; she practically lives there), and Megan went to the Homecoming dance (a bit of a shocker, there, but her friends talked her into it, and were her “dates” for the evening). 

 

Today was stake conference. Megan and Caitlyn sang in the choir, which was nice (they sounded nice, it wasn’t just a nice thing to do), and Alison and Kristen managed okay during the long meeting. The talks were good – the stake president addressed the whole boundary change with “the church is still true” and “get out there and serve people” – but mostly it was nice to have a stake center here in town, and not have to drive across town to Derby to go to conference. We’re celebrating my birthday today (because tomorrow is Constitution Day; curses upon Congress for passing a law which requires universities that get federal funding to do something for Constitution Day. Russell and Megan will be gone to the presentation at Friends tomorrow night), and the girls (well, mostly Alison) have been after me to unwrap my (three) presents all day. We said after dinner... that can’t come soon enough.

 

Here’s to starting another decade!

Homecoming 2012

For some reason, Homecoming was REALLY early this year. Really. The football team has only had 2 games before this. But, Homecoming it was, which meant The Parade. Alas, because of a work thing (I had to go be a "YA specialist" at a fancy schmancy book group), I missed it all, but Russell managed to get some pictures of him and the girls walking with the elementary school crowd.

As per tradition, the 7th and 8th grade band members also got to march in the parade. And because the Wilbur band went after the elementary school, Russell was able to nab a picture of Caitlyn. (Not so of Megan marching; the high school band went first.)

The things I like about this picture? That Caitlyn waves at the camera (still!), and that she's surrounded by guys. It's tough being the only girl in the low brass section. (Though I suppose the trumpet there in the front giving the thumbs up isn't low brass..)

Megan actually went to the Homecoming dance this year (she's helped set up for the past three as part of the Student Senate; she's just never really had a desire to go). Her friends decided that since she's graduating early, she HAS to go, and they convinced her. (They're going to drag her to Prom as well.) She refused to let us take a picture of her on the way out, but they took some photos at her friend's house beforehand, and thankfully there's Facebook, and I can nab them from there.

I love this last one. Totally cracks me  up. (I do love Megan's sense of humor; she has told me that's one thing she'll miss about living at home: I laugh at EVERYTHING. It's because she makes me laugh.)

Magical, by Caitlyn

This nine weeks she has a creative writing class. For their final project, they are supposed to write a story. She was working on this epic fantasy thing, originally titled "The Demon Princess from Hell", but decided she'd never finish it before the end of the nine weeks. So, she sat down the other night and wrote a picture book.

Keep Calm And...

For Megan, who has discovered
the amazing 10th Doctor.

 

 

 

 

My former go-to saying has been “Life Sucks, and then you die,” but I’ve been told (by my family) that it’s much too pessimistic and we’re trying to be more optimistic around here, in the face of ALL that is going  on. So, I’m going to stop spewing Keep Calm slogans. (If that’s okay with you.)

 

The week has been, well, busy. Homework (LOTS of homework), school, (no piano), work, missionaries over for dinner (I like our new missionary; he laughs at EVERYTHING), church, Marching Band season has started (first game was on Friday!), and then we went to the Fair.

 

We decided that since it was the 100th Kansas State Fair, and because we hadn’t been for three years, that we needed to go. So, we ponied up the money (man, you can spend an arm and a leg on the Midway), and headed to the fair. It was crowded, and I was afraid that we’d lose Kristen (and we did once, for a short bit), for the most part we had fun. We wandered around and looked at things, watched a sea lion show (sort of; it was packed, and we were late to the show, so we snuck in where we could), rode a bunch of rides on the midway (and found out that Alison and Megan are a LOT more adventuresome in their ride choices than Caitlyn and Megan, so it makes more sense to split up by desired adrenaline rush than age), saw the pigs race, and came home. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it took five hours! The girls had fun, though, and we’re glad we went.

 

Today’s been okay... we’re getting used to our new Sunday schedule with Russell’s meetings and all, and the girls continue to be good sitting (mostly) by themselves during Sacrament Meeting. So, maybe everything will be okay.

 

And onward (and upward) to another week!

The Things That Go Through Alison's Mind

So, Alison came into Sharing/Singing time today (after her lesson) nearly in tears. When she came up to me to give me a hug, she tearfully asked, "Mom, is it true that I can't take my blankies to Heaven with me?" Tell me: what is a mother supposed to say in this situation. Yes, you can? (Which would possibly be a lie?) or No, they're right, you can't? (And watch your daughter's heart break?) I chose the latter -- and am wondering if Alison's going to need a therapist, eventually -- and held her while she cried. So when she came home, she made a "shrine" (her words) of all the things she can't take with her to Heaven, but that she will Sorely Miss and Doesn't Want To Go To Heaven Without. It's simultaneously very, very sweet and very, very heartbreaking.

She does love her comfort items.

Meet Me at The Fair

We haven't been to the fair in a few  years (and to tell the truth, we've only been twice before), partially because it's hard to find a free weekend in September, and because it's (all the way!) in Hutchinson, and mostly because it's expensive, but this year is the 100th Kansas State Fair, and we figured we couldn't miss it!

We bought our discount tickets beforehand, we got our chores done bright and early, and we headed (all the way!) up to Hutch to go to the fair. (Along with a million other people. Well, maybe not a million. But it felt like it at times.)

We saw:

Clowns on stilts

Sea lions

 Scarecrows (it won the "celebrity" category)

Giant pumpkins

Butter sculptures (it's not quite done)

And we did all the other fair stuff, like

Rides!

Those two were are adventuresome pair. They went on the daring, crazy rides. Caitlyn and Kristen took it less insane and went on less "scary" rides

And they convinced me to go on the Ferris Wheel. I was, um, thrilled.

 We also went to the petting zoo (and saw pig races as well!)

Played in fountains

And ate funnel cake.

It was a great day!

The Tooth Story

On Friday, when I picked Kristen up from school, her tooth looked like this:

Can you see it barely hanging on by a thread there? She said it'd getting progressively looser all day (event though it took "15 weeks" for this one to get this loose), and by the time she got home, it was barely hanging on. In fact, right after we took the picture, this happened:

She was very happy to have lost another tooth.  (So, I wrote this post because I thought I'd missed her first tooth picture, but OBVIOUSLY my memory is going the way of the birds, because I found this. I'm not as neglectful a mother as I sometimes fear I am.)

September is TOO EARLY to be breaking out the Neti Pot

Alison's "dime-in-ring", instructions here

And yet, two days in, and three of us have had colds already. Obviously, the germs were just waiting in the wings to spring on us, the second we thought things were getting back to normal. 

 

Also: WHAT IS UP WITH THE HEAT? Doesn’t the weather know that it’s not supposed to hit 100 degrees in SEPTEMBER??

 

Obviously, being sick makes me cranky.

 

The week, however, was its usual busy self. There was school and piano and homework and work and yoga (finally!) and TV watching (Master Chef, and we’re almost done with season 4 of The Big Bang Theory) and friends sleeping over (Caitlyn had her friend Meagan over, which was really quite confusing. Also, it turns out that Meagan’s older sister’s name is Caitlyn (spelled the same!), which means that Meagan and Caitlyn are destined to be great friends, right?) and yard work and I think that’s about it. 

 

It doesn’t sound as busy when I type it all out.

 

Either that, or I’m having trouble remembering because my head is ALL STUFFED WITH SNOT. (Sorry. Overshare.)

 

Church was good today; maybe things are finally settling in, though I’ve realized that with the changes, the piano situation has gotten more desperate: I’m one of three pianists, and one is the chorister and the other is nursing still, and so there is no one to cover for me when I’m gone. Maybe I’m just not ALLOWED to leave anymore? I feel like I need to put an ad in Utah papers that basically says, “HEY musicians. Feel like you’re under appreciated in a ward FULL of people who can play piano and sing? WE NEED YOU IN WICHITA, KANSAS. Desperately. Okay, sure, there are no jobs out here for you, but would you just consider moving out here anyway so I can go on vacation once in a while and my ward will still have an organist???” 

 

Nothing like a few challenges to make one’s life interesting. (On the upside, the girls are liking their teachers on Sunday, for the most part. Which is a good thing.)