Musically Gifted...

A week ago, oldest kiddo & I were getting ready to go toot our horns with friends at our Monday night jam session.  I guess Little Guy got excited about so many trombone players gathering in one place.  Labor started fast and furious about half an hour before we would have been leaving and the little guy was born three hours later.  No worries, though... he made it to the next session and celebrated his one-week birthday surrounded by trombonists!

While still at the hospital, one of the nurses commented to oldest kiddo that the baby had her lips.  YES!!!  I *knew* he was going to be a trombonist!  We tried him out on a little trombone last night.  He looked pretty cool, even if all his tooting came out the back end. 

All through the pregnancy, Little Guy enjoyed jazz band; boogeying and summer-saulting through oldest kiddo's rehearsals.  We were curious how he would react to a bit of live music.

Oldest kiddo sat with him about four feet from the bells of the goofy group. 

He was very impressed.  Guess he'd rather be playing!

it's a boy!

Guess who's 15 1/2?

Second child is very glad that oldest kiddo hasn't given birth to grandbump yet.  This kiddo has been waiting about 13 1/2 years for the chance to drive!

Meanwhile... grandbump is misbehavin' already!  Oldest kiddo had contractions 5 minutes apart for 30 hours earlier this week (yes, that is THIRTY hours).  We finally got her checked into the hospital and called in the waiting-room-cheering-squad.  Our two large families took over the waiting room, hall way and we were eyeing the elevators.  Kiddo was making great progress!  And then... nothing.  Nadda.  All done.  Bump decided to stay put for a few more days.

One of my friends commented, "stubborn baby, must be a boy."  Ummm...hmmm...  Must be.  'Cause NONE of the girls in this family are stubborn....  (Fearless Leader is not in agreement over that bit of information.)

Oldest kiddo is back home and getting rested up for the second half of labor.  Whenever Bump decides to make his or her entrance into the world...

Have a happy day! 

Concert!

Miss Sassy and youngest kiddo had a concert tonight.

Sassy Girl started playing the drum-pad this year.  As of concert time, she has advanced to first-chair-desk-drummer!

Ok... techno-nerd at the keyboard.  I couldn't figure out how to turn the video, so she's drumming sideways.  But I cried happy tears right-side-up!  I'm so proud of her!  When she was tiny, we didn't know if she would learn to walk.  Now she's keeping up a steady rythm with her band.  And lighting up the place with that 1000 kilowatt smile!  (Youngest kiddo plays the flute and both kiddos sang with the chorus, as well!)

Oldest kiddo is faring well with the pregnancy.  Grandbaby-bump is due two weeks from today.  Gulp!  I'm hoping grand-bump stays put a few days past the scheduled arrival time since my school year goes a bit past the 21st...

My crazy family had a shower for oldest kiddo last weekend.  I use the word "crazy" in the nicest way possible.  Over 60 people gathered to wish the kiddos and wee one well.  Three days of camping, bonfires, swimming, wagon rides, and general chaos ensued!  It was wonderful.

Here's a little taste of the goofiness.  Gadget girl greeted guests with, "ballet parking."  That's hospitality, our big, goofy family-style!
And the cake!  Our skinny little neighbor bakes like she should be twice my size!  White cake with raspberry filling and lemon frosting.  I shouldn't even try to describe the cake.  The description falls far short of the taste!

Well... other news... it's hot, we have just over two weeks left to school, the little guys in our class have had a guest teacher and guest aide in their class for the last three months of school.  Oh yeah!  We are feeling the end of the year wiggles!  Today's little escapade was a humdinger....  Rest time involves little nap-mats and quiet activities with the lights low and music playing.  It would be very relaxing if it didn't involve 12 squirmy kidlets.  We've offered to switch places with the kids.  Someday they can tuck us in, rub our backs and make sure we don't chat with each other for a half an hour or so....

But I digress...  One wee one had rubber stamps and was working industriously on a picture.  But apparently the stamp pads were not quite wet enough.  So while I was passing out snack, she went over to the sink and wet the stamp pads.  Did I say wet?  I meant saturated....  Small child then walked across the room with her ink pads, dripping across the floor, a book, a snack, and one of her classmates.  And since four pads were a little too much for her hands, she just tucked one against her tummy.  When the trail of purple dots was discovered and traced to the blotch on the belly, we also discovered that the ink pads are permanent dye ink.  Diluted with water, but, nevertheless, permanent.  Oiy!  My apologies for sending home stained children tonight...

Well... I hope something in this post has brought a smile to your day!  Have a happy day!

    

20 years...

Hubby and I have been married 20 years now.  Friends of mine sent their condolences to hubby...  but added that he certainly can't complain about the years being dull!

Sooooo... how do you celebrate 20 years with a houseful of teens?  We solved that dilema.  Gadget Girl cut her hair.  REALLY cut her hair...  Ten minutes before hubby arrived home to head out for dinner, I had a hysterical, crying child with a funny looking head of hair.  What to do?  Walk out on the crying child or postpone 20th anniversary dinner?  Ok... I'm a sucker for tears.  And hubby didn't cry when I told him we'd be leaving a little late.  He did stomp around a bit and mutter my name in vain under his breath, but no tears.  I can handle stomping.  A couple hours later, the hair was reasonably mended, the kids were fed and we finally got to leave....  Hmmmm... yeah.... Never a dull moment around our house!

A few days later, the long anticipated prom arrived.  Oldest child looked beautiful!  In all her preadolescent dreams, she never anticipated going to her junior (or senior) prom 8 months pregnant.  Boy... I sure didn't either!  But she had a wonderful time.  Her feet got tired from all the dancing!

Gadget Girl helped out with the horse-drawn carriage rides as a groom.  She's on the far right with the new hair do... 

As we were snapping photos at the prom, hubby and I did a quick kid count.  Youngest was sleeping over at a friends house, Sassy Girl was spending the night with Nana and Boppa and oldest two were busy with prom.  We had a second chance at going out for our anniversary!  The second celebration was relaxed and unhurried.  I guess 20 years comes with plenty of time for second chances.  Or, perhaps, without second chances, we never could have made it 20 years...

A few more quick things that have made me smile in the past weeks...

One day, the teacher I am working with left early for a class.  A few minutes after she left, a child came back from the restroom with an answer for me.  (An answer?  I didn't remember asking any questions....)  But she had a very serious message to relay.  Miss G. was still in the office and she wanted this kiddo to tell me that I was "mag...ni...fi...cent!"  Love it!  What fun to see the utter seriousness of a child trying to pronounce such a long and wonderful word :o)

Our family almost always eats dinner together.  Sometimes it is rushed and busy with people heading off in different directions.  But last week, we had an evening with all 4 girls sitting around the table for half an hour after everyone finished.  Laughing, talking, sharing.  Sassy girl was giggling & giggling at her sisters and adding her cheery, "bo!  bo!  bo!" to the chatter.  It was wonderful!

And oldest child sorted all eight loads of clean laundry one day.  Without being asked!  She just wanted to give me a hand!

And, band.  On Tuesday, our conductor stopped mid-song to laugh at the trombone section.  (I know we're goofy, but most of our joking around is between songs.)  This song was a doozy.  I guess our looks of extreme focus and utter determination to hit the right notes was pretty commical....  Gotta love a band that can laugh together!

Well... I have to run!  Have a good day!  Enjoy laughs about little things!

A very content Mother's Day weekend!

My brain is fuzzy and content... not up to the task of writing a mini essay about happy thoughts.  So, today is just a happy thoughts outline! 

Family... I love family.  My parents stopped in unannounced at about 6:30 Friday night.  Dinner was almost ready.  It was hot and tasty.  There was plenty.  Whew!  A little pat on the back here.  It looked like I was organized and on the ball.  They could just have easily caught us pouring cereal into bowls...

Oh... and my parents absconded with our youngest two children since they were there and the kiddos were clamouring to visit!  Which just happened to leave me free to sneak out for breakfast Saturday morning with a buddy.  Actually, since we already had breakfast plans, it left Saturday morning free for second kiddo to sleep until 11:00.  Hmmm... I tried calling a couple of times to ask her to shut off the coffee pot.  I guess 9:00 is a little early for 15-year-olds...  (Oldest kid was taking SATs.)

Saturday night we collected the kids from my parents and celebrated Mother's Day/Dad's Birthday.  Mostly we goofed around, ate too much, played some vicious games of cards and talked half the night.  And second kiddo got to drive the tractor for the wagon ride!

We drove to youngest  kiddo's favorite place, the pond.  This kid could spend HOURS catching salamanders and polliwogs.  She was popular with the boys in 3rd and 4th grade.  When I got to school to pick her up at the end of the day, I only had to look in the center of a knot of boys to find her.  She was the kid in the middle holding the amphibians. 

Today was beautiful!  Sunny and bright!  A great day to strip all the sheets, blankets, comforters and bed spreads off all the beds.  Right before heading to church.  What was I thinking???  Eight loads later, I am still working on that little project.  Which puts me behind on the REST of the laundry before the work week even begins...  But the sheets smell wonderful after hanging outside to dry.  I love the first hung-outside load of the year!  Who am I kidding?  I love any hung-outside load of laundry!

Somehow, I got roped into Acolyte training on Mother's Day.  Probably because the guy I work with is.... ummmm... a GUY.  But it really was a wonderful morning.  I visited with the moms and ran little-kid-intervention.  ("Hey, Little Buddy!  Let's move out of the aisle before we trip a newbie acolyte and someone gets impaled by a cross...") 

The afternoon was relaxed and wonderful.  I'm a little hokey, but I love the peaceful monotony of hanging laundry.  And all four kiddos wanted to spend some time hanging out with me.  Maybe they were humoring me for Mother's Day.  But each of them wound up just hanging around chatting with me at some point.

And hubby cooked.  That needs no further details.  He could feed me hot dogs and beans (ick!) and I would be thrilled not to have to cook them.  'Course, I wouldn't actually EAT them either...  But I would be thrilled to have dinner on the table without banging the pans around myself.  And he actually pulled off spaghettii.  Impressive!  The kids even managed to convince him that Mother's Day would be a great time to go to the Real Twist.  (Funny logic since I am not a big fan of icecream :o)

Well... I hope all my mother-friends had a wonderful day today!  I am still loving kindergarten.  My days are full of kids in my lap and hands to hold.  Love it!  Love it!  Love it!

Have a happy day!

Foolin' around

I spent April Fool's Day with my sister.  Did I mention that we fell off the same branch of the family tree?  (Our family tree is full of funky branches...)

On the first day of my visit to California, I sat innocently reading a book when my sister pulled out costumes and asked if I was going to be a fairy or a pirate for the day.  Apparently, she thinks that I have no inhibitions about making a fool of myself.  And the giant bunny costume I sported a couple of years ago did nothing to dispel the myth.  So she thought I would enjoy a jaunt around San Francisco in a tutu, wings and a crown.  Or maybe she was just getting back at me for previous pranks.  Gaurgh!  (At least MY kitchen isn't infested with gummy worms...)     

 We had a blast!  We climbed Telegraph Hill and toured Coit Tower.  Then we sought out fellow fools at a St. Stupid's Day parade through San Francisco's business district.  Parade "Moronitors" kept the unruly crowd of 300 or so headed in sort of the same direction.  I even got trombone lessons from Superman.  And more lessons from someone playing half a trombone.  Now I can impress my NH buddies with big city trombone methods!     

Day #2 was quieter.  Just a little 8-mile hike to Alamere Falls in Port Reyes...  Oh!  And a cliff-drive back.  It was gorgeous and I would show you photos if I had sucked up my fear of heights, unclenched my fingers, unsquinched my eyes and stopped screaming....  My sister has aclimated to California driving and considers 60 mph a reasonable speed for cliff-hugging roads.  I am still from New England.  Cliffs???

 Since I lived through days #1 & 2, dying neither of embarassment nor cliff diving, my younger sister slowed down a little.  We went for a lovely 3 mile walk through the Marin Headlands, visited the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park and ate Thai food.  It was a fantastic visit!

Well... other news!  I finally caught up with my coffee buddy and snagged a photo!  She claims I stalked her, hunted her down and gave her no choice...

Miss Sassy found the goofy trombone hands and LOVED them!  She giggled and giggled while she posed for a photo with Gadget Girl.

 Hubby had a playdate with our neighbor.  These two like to blow things up on playdates.  Last time they knocked down a shed (I believe they called it remodeling).  This time they splintered wood.  I think I will keep my car away from them.... 

 And grandbaby bump continues to GROW!  Original Oddball is healthy and happy even if a bit apprehensive about the coming summer.

Sooooo... those are the happy thoughts for today!

I'll be spending the rest of my spring playing in kindergarten (long-term sub position), but I'll keep updating!

Have a happy day!