Graduation / Recital Weekend

Shae graduated from kindergarten on June 14th. I've been trying to write about it since then, but I haven't really been able to, because this happened ...

... and it promptly (and repeatedly) made me lose my ever-loving shit.

"Tomorrow" is totally my jam, you guys. It is dorky and irrational and whatever, but this song has gotten me through SO MUCH in the last 39 years. I saw "Annie" on Broadway way back when I was somewhere around Shae's age, and it's stuck with me all that time. Formative years, and whatnot. "Tomorrow" is not just adorable when sung by a bunch of adorable little moppets -- it's practically anthemic.

No, seriously. I know my soul has become blackened and singed and poisoned with snark over the years (SPOILER ALERT: this is what happens to optimistic idealists who forcibly become cynical realists over time) but when stuff is bad, I mean REALLY bad, I still stick out my chin and grin and say, "The sun'll come out tomorrow." It doesn't make everything better, not right away, but it keeps me from self-medicating, a lot of the time.

Related: had I known that the class's performance was going to be SO MOVING (shut up I'm a sap we all know this already don't you judge me), then I would have left her hair in its natural state, because COME ON. Her curls are PERFECT for singing songs from "Annie."

They are not quite as perfect for fitting under a graduation cap, however. (I just realized I never posted any pictures from last year's preschool graduation, probably because we had that tragic, tragic haircut and then we left pretty much right away for Chicago, but here's a link for reference. We have about 33% fewer teeth this year, not that you can tell, but we're offsetting that by about 500% more hair, so I'd call that pretty much a wash.)

As if graduation wasn't enough of an emotional wringer, Shae's first official dance recital was they very next day. She's already been in a Christmas pageant of sorts, but this was the first Big One: costumes, lighting, tickets, flowers, etc. Her class danced to "I Feel Pretty," which was another emotional rollercoaster for me, because one of the greatest times of my life was being in West Side Story in college, so of course the entire thing was fraught with DRAMEMORIES!

Everybody came to see her -- mother-in-law, parents, my sister and niece and even my brother-in-law -- so my kid was pretty much over the moon about all of the attention. She's already talking about next year. We ordered official pictures and the performance DVD and whatnot, and I'll figure out how to include that stuff later without violating copyrights (no lie, I am SCARED of the lady who runs the dance school and I DO NOT want her to come after me), but here is a little behind-the-scenes footage in the meantime:

(By the way, ALL the girls in her class did that, for 45 MINUTES, while they were waiting to go on in the second half of the show. I got dizzy just watching them.)

Nuttin' For Christmas

Merry Christmas, Internet.


See you in a few days.

Frosty the Snowman

I can't speak for anyone else, but my week has been absolute BUTT, except for my niece's impromptu birthday bash at Chuck E. Cheese's yesterday -- I KNOW -- so I am sharing this with the world because it gives me so much joy.



I hope it does the same for you.

In Praise Of The Park District

One of the things that always impresses me when I visit my sister is that the city she lives in has lots of really nice public parks -- including a REALLY AWESOME water park.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Exhibit D:

Exhibit E:

If my sister's kids were not cute enough to entice me to the Midwest, the Parks District might do it.

What Part Of "Party" Don't You Understand?

G and I took about eleventy bajillion pictures yesterday (okay, maybe closer to 400, but STILL) but we got home so late that we didn't have time to offload them. So in the meantime, I hope that these cellphone videos will amuse you until tomorrow.

First up, Shae singing "Raise Your Glass." You can LITERALLY see the point at which the jellybean sugar high wears off and she gets distracted by domestic waterfowl.

And also: "Dog Days Are Over." I assure you, she is usually much more energetic and dancy when she sings this, but at this point in the day she's a wee bit tired, so let's give her a pass.

I promise that by the end of the summer, I will have incriminating video of her rocking out to Lady Gaga (or worse, Ke$ha) and then my husband will get his wish and she will have no choice but to join a convent to save herself a lifetime of embarrassment, courtesy of her blogger mother.

Three Minutes

Man, Christmas is the longest damn day of the year, isn't it? And yet there isn't enough time to do everything and see everybody and eat all the things, especially when it comes to cherry cordial flavored M&M's, amirite? AND YET. We're going to be cleaning up shreds of wrapping paper for like the next week and a half, at least, and that's just the stuff we know about. (We do have cats, you know, and God only knows what they did with all that balled-up paper. Oy vey.)

But I'll be darned if the longest damn day of the year isn't one of the best, though.

Happy Birthday To My Sister

We have a little message for you:

And some CAKEFACE! pictures, because of course we had a cupcake in your honor:

Hope your day was great. The cupcake sure was.

Happy Birthday To My Hero

Today is my husband's birthday. He's 36. He'll probably get mad at me for saying that, but too bad. He wants to lie about his age, he can get his own damn blog.

Last night he stayed up until 4:00 am bailing water out of the basement so I didn't have to, because he is awesome that way. This video has nothing to do with anything, but it's cute. Just like he is.

Happy birthday, babe. I love you.

Off The Deep End

Still trying to figure out how to make movies. Well, not make them, exactly -- that's basically "point and shoot and let iMovie sort it out" -- but, you know. I can't always edit my clips to be the right length to go with music I have in iTunes because (1) I don't always get much footage because (2) I am trying to keep my kid from accidentally or intentionally setting things on fire and also (3) if I did that, some members of the peanut gallery might complain when, say, birthday movies are over five minutes long.

Also: sometimes when I am filming, I am doing something "not typical," such as treading water in the deep end of the pool where it is 8½ feet deep while my kid repeatedly, constantly jumps directly at my face for like 5 minutes and I am trying to keep both her and myownself from drowning. Plus, my grandparents' pool has this vacuum that makes these sort of weird helicopter-esque noises that always get picked up by the camera and makes it sound like I have secretly replaced the actual soundtrack with something from The Terminator.

All of this is to say that I have replaced the original backing track from this film with generic "swimming pool" noises that came with the editing software. Nobody needs to hear the Vacuum-Copter, or me trying to direct my kid while she is happily diving into the deep end, sans floaties, showing off for her mama, who is ever so proud of her because COME ON. Apple, tree, falling, etc.

I don't think I will ever get tired of watching this kid being eleventy kinds of awesome. EVER.

Up Up And Away

Not sure if I mentioned it or not, but I got a new computer for my birthday (an iMac) and I haven't yet figured out how to make good movies yet -- well, not that I ever did, really, but I had finally managed to learn how to work Windows Movie Maker just before we got the Flip camera, and that came with its own Magic Movie software (see example movie here) which doesn't run on the Mac, either because of Operator Malfunction or because it just doesn't, and while I think that iMovie is pretty easy to figure out eventually, I still haven't mastered it yet.

SO. ANYWAY.

Here is a movie of my kid doing her favorite thing in the world right this second -- or perhaps it is more precise to say, she is having her favorite thing in the world right this second being done to her. (That sounds potentially questionable, but it isn't, I swear.)

(Sometimes music seems like a weird choice, but it just somehow fits, you know? Timing of splashes is totally coincidental, because as I might have mentioned, I haven't figured out how to make proper edits yet.)

Makayla's Baptism

On Sunday was my niece Makayla's baptism. She was baptized by Fr. Lamb (tee hee!), a priest who has known my family for something like 30-plus years. He used to visit my grandparents and go swimming in their pool and I swear to God (tee hee hee!!) he used to wear a Speedo. No lie. It is jarring to see priests and nuns out of their habits, but what is even weirder is seeing them in bathing suits drinking beer on your grandparents' back deck. (It really happened! There were WITNESSES!)

Anyway. Makayla. She looked like a little angel, one of those cute ones from all those Renaissance paintings, a cherub, with the white robes and the wings and the trumpets and the delicious melon heads. And she did great during the ceremony -- she hardly made a peep and didn't make a sound at all during the holy-water-poured-on-her-head part. The crying you hear in this video is some other kid. And of course you will recognize the voice of My Anonymous Mother.

(Yes, I know there are probably technical terms for whatever that part of the rite is called. Whatever. I can't remember all those fancy words any more. I called the tabernacle "the apse," and then I called it "the reliquary," and to be completely honest with you, I don't even know what either of those words even means any more, but I know I can spell them correctly.)

Good heavens, that kid is adorable, isn't she? I find her equally as beautiful as my own kid, and my nephew, except they're all lovely in different ways. You can tell Makayla and Joey are related, though, because they both look so much like my dad.

And then there was cake. DUH. My kid was invited to the after-party - cake was pretty much a requirement. If Shae had her way, The Right To Always Have Cake would be added to the Constitution or something.

My cousins Meg and Jessy made the cake, and they did such a great job. Everything was positively delicious (and I know from delicious cake with that kid of mine), and everything was edible except the pearls in the middle of the flowers. (And yes, OF COURSE I got pictures of Shae eating cake. She made sure I did.)

Happy Birthday Pop-pop!

We interrupt our riveting and action-packed Disneyland coverage (which will go on for longer than the trip did, AS USUAL) for this important Special Public Service Announcement:

Keep calm and carry on. (And better late than never.) (And yes, that is Shae, not Joey, not that you can necessarily tell the difference on "Happy Birthday," but you should hear this kid sing Adele or Cee-Lo.)

Wordless Wednesday: Turkey Lurkey

Bonus Link

Celebration

Dear Cupcake -- Now you are four. Holy crap. I am the mother of a four-year-old. How did this happen?

I just ... can't even ... you amaze and astonish and astound me, every day, always and all ways.

Happy birthday, baby girl. I love you.
-- Mommy.

Aloha 'Oe

My kid is many things: stubborn, bossy, far too smart for her own good. She is also: loving, kind, surprisingly gentle and tender with animals and babies. She is a lover, a fighter, a brat, an angel, a pteranodon ballerina, a mermaid, a pirate, a princess, and everything in between. In just about every way except for maybe the hair and the freckles, she is a mini-me, with all the awesomeness and awfulness that comes with that.

So we might have our really bad days, she and I, but we also have some really really great days together, too.

I originally picked this song for this video because (1) she's dancing a hula, and "Aloha 'Oe" is one of the first things that I think of when I think of Hawaiian music, and (2) she and I both love Elvis. (Hello, mini-me!) (Also, she loves Lilo & Stitch, and we love to dance around together to the Elvis music in that movie.)

It was only after I finished this movie that I actually looked up the lyrics to this song, and I realized that it's completely perfect. It's kind of a sad song, about a lover who is leaving, but it's also ... hopeful, somehow. The chorus goes:

Aloha ʻoe, aloha ʻoe
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo
One fond embrace,
A hoʻi aʻe au
Until we meet again

Translation:
Farewell to thee, farewell to thee
The charming one who dwells in the shaded bowers
One fond embrace,
'Ere I depart
Until we meet again

I interpret the chorus like this, in this particular case: Goodbye, little girl. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but sooner that we both realize, than either of us is ready for. It's almost your birthday again. You're getting older and bigger and different every day, and before we both know it you'll be grown up with a life and kids and a blog of your own, and we'll never have a minute exactly like this again, but we'll always have this one, which I will remember forever and ever and always hold close to my heart.

I knew that parenting was going to be hard, that it would hurt and bruise and scar and break my heart sometimes, but I just didn't think it was going to happen already.

Out From Under

So we continue to be snowed in around here -- I think the grand total was 13 inches of snow in 24 hours, which is not as much as what we got last year when it snowed like the End Times were coming, but they were only expecting about 8 inches, so we got quite a bit more than was expected. We spent two hours digging out today and only got one of the cars uncovered, but fortunately my husband doesn't have to work tonight, because his plant is closed due to the "weather event."

We've been watching tons of movies and TiVo'ed shows, and eating granola bars and peanut butter sandwiches, and we did go out to play some, but the snow piles are so deep and unruly and our yard is so small that we're kind of limited. Not that I let it stop me from taking over 300 pictures because hello I am insane.

Yesterday we went outside while it was still snowing -- it was between the morning snowfall and the big afternoon-into-evening storm -- and all Shae wanted to do was catch snowflakes on her tongue and make snow angels.

I also managed to take a whole bunch of little video clips which I spliced into this film, which is one of the best ones I've ever done, somehow, even if I did put the wrong date on it. (Okay, wait, maybe I didn't -- what day is it again? How long have I been here? Have I always been wearing these long johns as pants?)

Today Shae mostly kept us company while my husband and I took turns shoveling the walk, or sweeping the snow off the cars, or salting, or whatever we were doing. Shae and I went for a walk at one point because she kept managing to be right where we were throwing the snow. She made herself a little snow fort that she called her "private baby school" (?) and she sang and yelled and basically had a grand old time all by herself.

And she tried to eat as much snow as possible, even though we kept telling her to not eat the snow because it's gross. She pretty much doesn't care. At least we don't have dogs, so the snow wasn't yellow.

I hate the winter, but it's been a pretty great couple of days.

Happy Holiday

Been a good Christmas so far. Shae slept late and we got to wake her up to start the festivities. That's always nice.

Longer version later. For now, I'm off to enjoy some cranberry swirl French toast and then I'm going to put on some new socks and new Crocs and pig out on ham at My Anonymous Mother's, just as God intended.

Be careful out there, everyone.

Bust A Move

We went to my cousin AJ's 40th birthday party last night, and we have one of the best times we had in a while. Seriously. I had ONE WHOLE DRINK -- a rum and Diet Coke with lime wedges -- and I felt like I was going completely off the rails. It was AWESOME.

I managed to piece together this video, which ... does not feature or even PICTURE AJ at all. Just my kid, totally busting a bunch of moves. Just my kid, dancing with everybody in the place.

Nothing in the world -- NOTHING -- is better than watching a bunch of people losing their minds over loud music and bright lights. And I was one of these people. I'm not in the video, but I was out there shakin' my groove thang.

And you better believe that I'll do it again first chance I get.

We Did It! We Did It!

You might not be able to tell what these pictures are about, just from looking at them, so let me draw your attention to the yellow thing with the rainbow belt on the side of the pool to give you a little clue.

At the beginning of the summer, Shae told me that by the end of the summer she wasn't going to need her swimmies any more, and as God as my witness, she's actually done it. I won't leave her alone in the pool without some kind of flotation device, but every weekend she swims without her bubble further and further, more and more.

I think the music is appropriate, somehow. And God help us all, but someone is getting proper swimming lessons over the winter. She might be on the swim team by this time next year, carrying on the family tradition. Tell me: are any 8 & Under Thunder relays currently recruiting?

Parting Shots

A couple of last pictures. My "other" sister and brother-in-law are sorely under-represented, but they were there, and as far as I know they had a nice time.

And this is maybe that rarest and most precious of all pictures, ever: the one where everybody is shown, and we're all looking at the camera at the same time.

Last, but definitely not least, one last movie of the kids digging in the sand.

So ... when is our next adventure?