jubyred

Scooby Dooby Doo

Somehow I got talked into the family group costume.  Given the amount of time that my children have spent watching Scooby Doo, it's no surprise that this was their request.  Also no surprise that GirlChild got to be the cute one.

We learned quickly to stick together because no one knew who were were individually without the other three.  Our neighborhood is full of families with kids.  So, in many cases, the grandparents gave out the candy while Mom and Dad took the little ones trick-or-treating.  The funniest thing was to watch the grandparents try to figure out who in the hell we were as they dropped Tootsie Rolls into the kids' bags.  Their eyes would dart from one of us to the next in total confusion.  Pretty funny.  People either got it and asked us where Scooby was or they really didn't get it and just stared at us.  Honestly, it was pretty fun both ways. 

 

     








 

Fall Shots

In spite of my insane schedule, I have managed to find some time to enjoy some time with the fam recently.   

Some recent shots are here.

Happy Fourth

Since having children in 2001, I have not seen real fireworks.  It simply got dark too late, they were too loud, or the kids were too little to handle one or the other.  But last night, we finally got back into it.

We spent a good chunk of time drinking mojitos at the pool then hung out in our culdesac for a little sparkler action.  GirlChild spent most of the actual firework portion of the evening with her hands/my hands/Daddy's hands, and eventually purple fuzzy Dora earmuffs, over her ears to muffle the loud sounds, but eventually she acclimated. 

Shots from the day are here.

Fun Day. 

Wild West

Yee Haw.  Girls night at the local watering hole.  I should mention, there was tequila involved which might explain some of these shots. 

Fun, fun night.

High on the High

When I was in high school, my dad came home from a business trip with a gift for me.  he bought me Linnea in Monet's Garden, the book and the doll.  And even though I was too old for them, he said it reminded him so much of me that he had to get them for me. 

For years, I had them basically in pristine condition until my daughter came along.  And, like my Barbies and some other girly toys I had hung onto, I gave her the doll and read her the book and they became hers.  Linnea's hair recently was loved off and had to be hot glued back on.  Her hat has been lost.  Her pinafore is stained and tattered.  But she has loved it in a way that has meant a lot to me. 

This weekend, the Monet exhibit opened at the High, on loan from the Louvre, and we went so she could see the paintings from her book up close.  She brought Linnea and dragged her around by the foot as we wandered around the museum.  Now I'm dying to take her to Paris to show her the gardens for real. 

Cap n Gown

We did this two years ago when BoyChild "graduated" from Pre-K so this time, I knew what to expect.  The mothers who didn't stood there bawling as the little ones marched forward to accept their certificates of completion.  I fell for that ole trap last time.  This time, I was armed with tissues.

I'm not a big believer in applauding everything my children do.  I think it only serves to make them feel entitled or makes them think the world owes them some sort of special recognition for simply completing what they agreed to do.  So, I could really do without the whole cap and gown thing, however cute it is. 

What's moving to me, as it is to most of the parents, isn't little people dressed up as big people.  What gets us is just the marking of time.  There she is, five years old, suddenly.  It kills me.

So they waved as their names were called and hugged their teachers as they were handed their mini diplomas.  They said the Pledge of Allegiance, sang the national anthem and some other songs, and sat in a line of chairs trying so hard to be still and quiet.  Some did better than others.

We had our last Parent/Teacher conference last week as well. Probably in spite of us, she thrives. Of course I want to take credit when the teacher shows me her academic assessment.  She said she's quiet when she needs to be and speaks up when it's appropriate.  She is independent but a very adept leader among her peers.  I sat there and glowed hearing it.  But I guess my favorite thing she told me was that my daughter is a Whole Person.  In the end, that's all I really want.

The Pics from the day are here.

Two From Saturday

Gert

My dear friend, and Jubyred reader, Maria came down from Nashville last Sunday to spend the day with me.  I've known her since I was seventeen or so I suppose--since shortly after moving back to the States, feeling a little disenfranchised and disconnected.  I suppose I felt that way for a long time.  God, I look back and now and it seems it's been only recently that I DIDN'T feel that way. 

My relationship with her has always been tangled up in all of that.  Maybe it was the timing.  Or maybe it's because we are both, at heart, such seekers.  Maybe we think too much or demand too much.  Of ourselves and of the people we love.  I'm not sure. 

A series of events, some good, some terrible, changed us both in big and small ways since then.  We didn't speak for almost a decade.  And then she called me one day, out of nowhere and I got to spend the day with her and have some real time with someone who has known me and accepted me as I was then and as I am now.  Time is so funny.

Like me, she shoots a lot of pictures documenting everything.  She took these:

 

Apres Diem

Here's where I was last night.

Even though we've gone from over 40 two years ago to now five (count 'em, five) recruiters, we managed to schmooze it up. 

Pre Thanksgiving

Friday afternoon, I attended GirlChild's Thanksgiving party at school.  Now that I'm working again, I don't get to spend as much time in her classroom as I was able to for her big brother.  I communicate with her teacher and send in supplies when they are needed and make Halloween cupcakes, but it's not very often that I get to see her in that element. 

Here's what I learned:
-She is in desperate need of a haircut
-She's so tall.  I didn't know that until I saw the lineup
-She's good at the choreography
-She still won't try pumpkin pie
-She doesn't know how to sit demurely in a skirt

The class lined up and sang some Thanksgiving songs alternating between Indian feathers, Pilgrim hats, and Turkey Dances, accompanied by their awesome teacher on the guitar.  I am a total sucker for this kind of stuff.  These performances are such a reminder to me of how they've grown.  She rocked the turkey dance.