A Penguin's Holiday

December was a month of many activities. One of many activities was Colin's second grade play, "A Penguin's Holiday". We learned from experience last year when Colin had a first grade play and we stood in the back of the cafeteria, unable to see him even ONCE. So, this year we arrived at the play 45 minutes early. It still wasn't early enough. We sat about 10 rows back and still the pictures I got of him are not very good. I felt sooo bad for all the inexperienced moms and dads who came 15 minutes before the play only to find they were crammed in like sardines unable to see above the heads in front of them. Since we were in for a long wait we kept ourselves busy by handing the camera over to Connor. Here is a sampling of his photo shoot.

Here I am lookin' mighty fine...well, not exactly fine...more like exhausted, haggard, skanky. It was December, what can I say. (What's my excuse this month?)

Here's Todd, posing so handsomely. A face only a mother could love. Boy, what a great looking couple. HAHAHA!!!

Now, here's a fine lookin' group. Kess, Rhiannon, and Helen. At least they had each other to help the minutes tick by faster. (Notice the people in the background. Those are their seats, back against the wall! YUK! Can't these schools afford a few more chairs? Or how 'bout we just forego the Christmas program altogether?)

Awww, and finally it was time for the show to begin. The program was actually really cute. The kids and teachers did a great job. Colin played one of Santa's reindeer. He was Vixen. He delivered his part beautifully. We were so proud of him! He had entertained us for weeks before the show singing his songs, and doing a little dance. He's quite the performer!

I'm With the Band

Sixth grade is an exciting year! Finally the kids get to pick a specialty at school and take an extra class. The choices are things like choir, orchestra, band, art, etc. Rhiannon and Kess both picked band and they both chose the clarinet. Oh, how I stressed over purchasing that blasted clarinet. Hours...I mean HOURS spent pouring over clarinets on ebay. I was a nervous wreck. All the band teachers said, "Don't buy a clarinet on ebay." Being a rule follower made it so hard to take the plunge. But with some help from another band mom, Ayreann, I found two perfect instruments. We bought them from two retired band teachers who were very helpful and did a great job cleaning up the instruments.

The girls were so excited to start band and they've done an EXCELLENT job! It's been so fun to listen to them playing around the house. I love it when they have a song test and they play it over and over again. I love the sounds of one of them upstairs, the other one downstairs, constant repetition and echoing of the same song. Oh, I wish they would play it every day. I never could understand why my parents enjoyed hearing me play the piano, but now I know.

They had a very brief band concert in December. It was at the high school. We got seated in the auditorium and the curtains on stage were closed. As soon as we heard them warming up behind the curtains I got goose bumps. Then the curtains opened and I started to cry. I know, I know, but it was just so exciting. I'm so proud of them. I love that they are doing something that I've never done. I love that it's something they can teach me! I love seeing their independence and love of learning something new. Just one more reason I'm so grateful that I sent them to public school!

Unfortunately during the concert I never could see Rhiannon. So, I got a few shots of Kess, and a picture of their friend Helen. Helen's the only girl trombone player. That makes her "extra" cool.

On a side note: Helen is the sister of Colin's friend Virginia. We sat by Virginia and her family during the concert. Colin and Virginia giggled and played. They were so cute!

Stolen Moments

You gotta love a kid with style...and this kid, well he's got style!

Lemme explain the outfit. Indiana Jones hat from his Halloween costume, listening to "Fish Heads" on his CD player (yes, I introduced him to that song..."roly poly fish heads, eat them up, yum!" ), red soccer jersey, green random shorts, reading the comics, and probably chewing the inside of his mouth, like his Grandma! Oh, I LOVE this boy!

NWAKC Dog Show

On December 6th Georgie and I entered our first Rally competition. Rally is basically a way to ease into the Obedience ring. Traditionally in formal Obedience competitions, only one command can be given and the commands can either be vocal or hand signals. In Rally you can talk to your dog as much as you want, give encouragement, give hand signals and vocal commands together. It's basically a way to get used to the distractions involved in competing and get rid of some of the jitters associated with the obedience trials.

I really didn't prepare Georgie very well at all. She's never been to any formal classes, but she's incredibly intelligent, okay...not according to Todd or Sarah....but she IS and she's very attentive, too. Plus she loves to work and she's so stinkin' happy and bouncy that I just had to enter her in the show.

My friend Diane, who is also my training buddy, entered her dog Zelda, (who happens to be Georgie's half sister).

Rhiannon and Kess also went to the show to give us their support and to watch us strut our stuff. They gave us lots of love and encouragement. Just when the day couldn't get any better, imagine my surprise when Sarah showed up...in Fayetteville, with her 3 small children in tow, just to support us and cheer us on. Imagine her surprise when I told her to please not yell, "Go black bitch", when it was our turn! I was so touched by her sacrifice and support. It was a really, really great day. Sarah made it extra fun and entertaining. She even blogged about it...a dogumentary, as she likes to call it.

Georgie did well. She got kind of distracted with all of the barking dogs. It wasn't a clean performance, but she did what I asked and it was a great first time. She and Zelda tied with 97 points. Zelda's time was faster, though. So Diane and Zelda took second place, and we took third. It was great to finally be back in the "dog world" again, and we're looking forward to the spring and attending a few more shows!

After it was all over I was so happy, not that you can tell from my cheesy grin...thumping heart, sweaty palms, but Georgie kept her cool and just looked for more bums to sniff!

A Blog Re-Evaluation

It's almost February. Wow, a whole month in the year '09 is almost gone. I'm so sad that I haven't blogged in a month. I'm sad that it's almost February and I still haven't blogged Christmas. This feeling has led to some serious self questioning. Why am I avoiding blogging? Is it really a lack of time? Why does it feel like a chore everytime I think about blogging? Well, like all good self conversations, there came a very defining answer. THE REASON: I don't want to blog because I'm thinking about blogging for the wrong audience....which brings unnecessary pressure.

There are great blogs on the internet. Friends blogs, funny blogs, entertaining blogs, awesome inspiring blogs, organizational blogs...and blogs that are all of the above and so much more...yeah, you know who you are....and once again I was feeling pressure to be like everyone else. My dearest friend has a beautiful blog, but she blogs for the right reason, for her family. It just so happens she has real talent and her blog is entertaining and I look forward to every new post.

So, questions to self: What do I want out of my blog? What's my purpose?

Self answers: My purpose is to record memories. To not feel guilty about the buckets of unused scrapbook stuff I have. To know at the end of the year I will have something I can print and give to my children. To know that I'm recording our family history, our ins and outs, ups and downs. I want something for my children. I want my blog to be for them. Does it matter if it's just a lot of pictures and boring dialogue? It might matter to some, but it shouldn't matter to me, because those words, those recorded moments, will be so precious to my children. Just like every other "good" thing in life, I can make blogging better and more meaningful with a "better" attitude. So, alas...here I go....again. Oh, and I'll try not to be discouraged that after such a short time of blogging, I'm already re-evaluating my intentions. Alas, that tis who I am...so most importantly, I want my kids to know who I am...not "who" I'm trying to be.

Are You Kidding Me??

I've just got to pose a question. Is there some kind of internal rule book that tells girls that when they turn twelve it its mandatory to primp for an hour in the bathroom before attending a YW's activity? Because my newly turned 12 year olds are primping...they don't even wear make up...what is there to primp?

They are primping before their first YW Wednesday night activity. They've never even been to an activity. How do they know that's what girls do before a Wednesday night activity? Well, I mean, that's what other girls do..I never did that! Oh boy...here we go!

By the way...I've got tons of Christmas stuff to post. It may not get posted until July, but it will be blogged about, eventually.