I have christened the past 2+ days The Weekend of Too Much.
Too much activity; too much playing with friends (yes, there can be such a thing!); too much staying up late; too much standing and moving (that part was mainly me) versus sitting and resting (or sleeping). It was (mostly) fun, but there can even be too much fun.
My introverted children are just like me: They can go-go only up to a point; then they need at-home quiet time to recharge. Even my "spirited" (another word for intense and challenging, yet brilliant) child is an introvert. (There really are distinct personality types known as "spirited introverts" and "spirited extraverts.") Unlike some other children who can go-go-go all day every day, mine have always had a finely calibrated stamina limit. Since toddlerhood, I have had to be constantly watchful of and firm about balancing social activities, family fun, and lessons/classes/etc. with bedtimes, naptimes, and at-home downtime.
This weekend Genevieve had a (super-fun, completely amazing) playdate/birthday party event on Friday afternoon/evening. On Saturday we had various friends over (read: constant stimulation, activation, and social fun) from just after lunch until late afternoon, while Daddy was off biking in his 100-mile race for the entire day. Both girls were up very late both nights, and we kicked off Sunday morning with brunch for their pals and a dance practice/playdate at our house. After a brief break, it was off to their final swimming lesson of the school year.
When friends headed off for our ritual Sunday Picnic Dinner (at the park right now, until the pool opens in June), Genevieve said, "NO!" And it was a good thing I agreed with her: After coming home from swimming and eating a giant hot dog, Waldorf salad, and some chocolate pudding for dinner, she curled up on the sofa with a blanket and fell asleep. WHICH HAS HAPPENED PRETTY MUCH NEVER in my years as a parent.
We've got to rest up--official Talent Show Rehearsal is this week. May the force be with us.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Famous Americans
Oh, friends, so much going on. As I type this, Christopher is in a small southern-Minnestoa town a couple hours away, preparing to ride in a 100-mile gravel road bike race. He left at 4:40 a.m. and will return sometime tonight. I am glad I am not him, but he is excited. Rumor has it that Greg LeMond is going to be there! For reals! (He's from Minnesota.)
The girls and I are at home, where will be busy doing chores and homework, making banana bread, practicing their upcoming talent show dance routine, and having playdates.
This week was Julia's big "Living Wax Museum of Famous Americans" program at school. The entire third grade does this project ever year, and it takes weeks of research, work, and preparation.
Each child is assigned a famous American to research. The children prepare speeches about their people and create life-sized pictures of each (by tracing each other's bodies). Julia was Abigail Adams.
The culmination of all this work was the program at school on Thursday. The giant figures are taped up in the school commons, along a timeline that stretches around corners and down halls and all around the perimeter of the space.
The children dress up in costumes (which have been assembled by the kids and parents during the week or two prior; families are encouraged to use things around the house or things they can make or borrow), then they stand in groups of three at different stations in the classrooms and pretend to be wax figures in a history museum.
Each group has a cardboard "button" for parents to press. When the button is pressed, one of the children "comes to life," steps forward, and gives a speech about the famous American they are impersonating, in the voice of that person.
Julia was with Daniel Boone and Betsy Ross.
They take turns giving their speeches, and do this repeatedly for 45 minutes while parents wander through the exhibits. It was hot and crowded and noisy, and still the children did an amazing job. My daughters' school is incredible.
As for me, I had a minor panic attack last evening when I realized that Julia's birthday party is getting a little...um....large. We are inviting eight little girls, which means that with my kiddos included, we'll have 10 children in a small house that day. Yikes! What happened to my original idea of keeping things small this year?
Ah, but fellow moms understand. Once you've decided on a group party, there are just certain friends that must be included. Maybe they are long-time BFFs. Maybe they are neighbors with whom your children play frequently. Maybe they are your best friends' children. It's almost impossible to just choose three or four. They are all important, cherished friends.
But it's OK, because (weather permitting) the party will be largely outdoors. It's going to be a garden tea party. No, I haven't yet planned or bought anything for said party. (OMG!) Hence the other cause of my panic attack. I just don't have time to plan or prep for this party right now, because I am HELPING SMALL CHILDREN CREATE AND MEMORIZE A DANCE ROUTINE TO A NEW DIRECTION SONG. Seriously, God, help me. How did I get into this?
Panic aside, it is a good May so far. Well, since May 10th or so....whenever the snow finally melted and the temperatures reached more than 40 degrees. It's been a good eight days? ;)
Two weeks and two days left of school. Can't believe it. Time marches on.
The girls and I are at home, where will be busy doing chores and homework, making banana bread, practicing their upcoming talent show dance routine, and having playdates.
This week was Julia's big "Living Wax Museum of Famous Americans" program at school. The entire third grade does this project ever year, and it takes weeks of research, work, and preparation.
Each child is assigned a famous American to research. The children prepare speeches about their people and create life-sized pictures of each (by tracing each other's bodies). Julia was Abigail Adams.
The culmination of all this work was the program at school on Thursday. The giant figures are taped up in the school commons, along a timeline that stretches around corners and down halls and all around the perimeter of the space.
The children dress up in costumes (which have been assembled by the kids and parents during the week or two prior; families are encouraged to use things around the house or things they can make or borrow), then they stand in groups of three at different stations in the classrooms and pretend to be wax figures in a history museum.
Each group has a cardboard "button" for parents to press. When the button is pressed, one of the children "comes to life," steps forward, and gives a speech about the famous American they are impersonating, in the voice of that person.
Julia was with Daniel Boone and Betsy Ross.
They take turns giving their speeches, and do this repeatedly for 45 minutes while parents wander through the exhibits. It was hot and crowded and noisy, and still the children did an amazing job. My daughters' school is incredible.
As for me, I had a minor panic attack last evening when I realized that Julia's birthday party is getting a little...um....large. We are inviting eight little girls, which means that with my kiddos included, we'll have 10 children in a small house that day. Yikes! What happened to my original idea of keeping things small this year?
Ah, but fellow moms understand. Once you've decided on a group party, there are just certain friends that must be included. Maybe they are long-time BFFs. Maybe they are neighbors with whom your children play frequently. Maybe they are your best friends' children. It's almost impossible to just choose three or four. They are all important, cherished friends.
But it's OK, because (weather permitting) the party will be largely outdoors. It's going to be a garden tea party. No, I haven't yet planned or bought anything for said party. (OMG!) Hence the other cause of my panic attack. I just don't have time to plan or prep for this party right now, because I am HELPING SMALL CHILDREN CREATE AND MEMORIZE A DANCE ROUTINE TO A NEW DIRECTION SONG. Seriously, God, help me. How did I get into this?
Panic aside, it is a good May so far. Well, since May 10th or so....whenever the snow finally melted and the temperatures reached more than 40 degrees. It's been a good eight days? ;)
Two weeks and two days left of school. Can't believe it. Time marches on.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
So Excited for Hot.
So, today it's going to be 93 degrees where I live. Yes, you are remembering correctly: we did have a very large snowstorm within the past two weeks. What the what?? The weather here is insane and mind-boggling.
If it seems that I am always writing about, and ridiculously preoccupied with, the weather, that is because the weather here has become so nutso that it makes one worry about the sustainability of the planet. Maybe the weather is this crazy where you live, too, and you're all like, Yeah, whatever, that's the way it is everywhere now, and thus you're tired of hearing about the crazy weather. Sorry about that. It's just that it is so crazy.
However, having said that, in Minnesota it generally leaps up to 90+ degrees all of a sudden one day in May. That part happens pretty much every year. It's just that usually it's not preceded by A RECENT SNOWSTORM.
Between the last time I wrote here and now, I have remembered a whole bunch of other stuff going on in May in addition to the stuff I was already feeling frenzied about. Yesterday I woke up at 4 a.m. and never went back to sleep because I was so busy frantically worrying about all the things that need to happen and places I need to be between now and June 4th. Most of these things happen every year, so you may be tempted to say, Shannon, obviously you get them all done every year, so shut up already. However, I'll tell you what doesn't happen every year: my children do not decide, with their two pals, to do a dance routine to a One Direction song at the annual school talent show in two weeks' time, forcing you and their pals' mom to devote several hours to helping them come up with choreography and then practice and memorize it. Which obviously will all be worth it in the end, because come on---two 6-year-olds and two 8-year-olds doing a synchronized homemade dance routine in front of several hundred people, outside on the summery lawn by the elementary school? Priceless.
Also: Why did I volunteer to help out at Field Day? WHY. I have no time for that. It happens two days before my daughter's birthday party. What was I thinking? I tell you: I had forgotten my daughter's birthday party was coming up when I signed on to help. I may have even forgotten about the birthday itself at that point. Because it was probably snowing at the time.
Oy vey, mamas. It's a wonder my head is still on straight. Half the time if I'm not reading it off a handwritten list of my own making, I've forgotten it even exists. I even write "make dinner" on my daily to-do lists, so that I remember to think about it before five p.m. each day.
How about you? Are you crazy busy too? (Silly question.) Do you rely on lists?
If it seems that I am always writing about, and ridiculously preoccupied with, the weather, that is because the weather here has become so nutso that it makes one worry about the sustainability of the planet. Maybe the weather is this crazy where you live, too, and you're all like, Yeah, whatever, that's the way it is everywhere now, and thus you're tired of hearing about the crazy weather. Sorry about that. It's just that it is so crazy.
However, having said that, in Minnesota it generally leaps up to 90+ degrees all of a sudden one day in May. That part happens pretty much every year. It's just that usually it's not preceded by A RECENT SNOWSTORM.
Between the last time I wrote here and now, I have remembered a whole bunch of other stuff going on in May in addition to the stuff I was already feeling frenzied about. Yesterday I woke up at 4 a.m. and never went back to sleep because I was so busy frantically worrying about all the things that need to happen and places I need to be between now and June 4th. Most of these things happen every year, so you may be tempted to say, Shannon, obviously you get them all done every year, so shut up already. However, I'll tell you what doesn't happen every year: my children do not decide, with their two pals, to do a dance routine to a One Direction song at the annual school talent show in two weeks' time, forcing you and their pals' mom to devote several hours to helping them come up with choreography and then practice and memorize it. Which obviously will all be worth it in the end, because come on---two 6-year-olds and two 8-year-olds doing a synchronized homemade dance routine in front of several hundred people, outside on the summery lawn by the elementary school? Priceless.
Also: Why did I volunteer to help out at Field Day? WHY. I have no time for that. It happens two days before my daughter's birthday party. What was I thinking? I tell you: I had forgotten my daughter's birthday party was coming up when I signed on to help. I may have even forgotten about the birthday itself at that point. Because it was probably snowing at the time.
Oy vey, mamas. It's a wonder my head is still on straight. Half the time if I'm not reading it off a handwritten list of my own making, I've forgotten it even exists. I even write "make dinner" on my daily to-do lists, so that I remember to think about it before five p.m. each day.
How about you? Are you crazy busy too? (Silly question.) Do you rely on lists?
Thursday, May 09, 2013
The Merry Month of May
May is the month of busy moms.
It's barely begun and I'm already feeling frazzled, planning and scheduling things like both girls' birthday celebrations at school (Genevieve's is early since we'll be on summer vacation when her birthday rolls around), a big third-grade project and program for Julia--which involves a parent-obtained or -created costume! oh my--, the school Field Day (for which I am volunteering), the annual Talent Show (my daughters think they are singing a One Direction song with their pals, oh my, again), Julia's birthday party at home and visits from grandparents, and just the general chaos and craziness of the end of another school year.
In the middle of all that I'm attempting to plan a small family summer trip; clean/refresh/prep the house, garage, patio, and front door area for spring (a week ago it was all still covered in snow, remember?); schedule the kiddos' summer activities; get the kids to the park and on bike rides after school now that it's finally spring; finish up their spring-session swimming lessons; and work around (i.e., "plan some playdates or other forms of distraction to get through an entire Saturday with no parenting-partner and no car") my husband's upcoming annual 100-mile bike race.
It shouldn't seem all that frazzling, but....well, it is. It's all (mostly? not the cleaning house part) good, fun, spring-y, happy stuff, but it's a bit much, all at once. Because of having snowstorms into May, it has basically seemed like February around these parts until just last week, so now we're all trying to catch up on two months' worth of life in the span of a few days or weeks. Yikes!
But yay! I got my oh-so-cute wedge espadrilles, the ones my husband is giving me for my Mother's Day gift. So summery! So cute! I don't know if you can tell here, but they are navy-and-white pin-dot fabric with a knotted bow at the peep-toe. They are also 3.5 inches high so they will not be playground, pool, farm, or grocery-shopping shoes. They will be school program, out to lunch, date night, or casual summer party shoes.
Sorry I didn't take any close-ups of the shoes. Trust me, no one wants to see my feet close-up. But can you tell that the shoes are adorable? Thank you, dear husband, for the cute shoes that I will not be wearing to the pool, the farm, or the park, which are the places I frequent the most in the summer. You might say "impractical" but I say "cute and utterly necessary for the OTHER occasions that might arise, and also, on an incredible sale."
OK, mamas! I'm off. I may be harried and busy, but there's no rest for the weary, and anyway, there's a lot of spring weather out there to enjoy! (Well, not today exactly, because it's rainy and 60 degrees, but believe me, compared to a snowstorm in May this is heaven.)
Have a good day, and don't forget to put your feet up this Sunday. It's Mother's Day, and we all know that SHOULD mean "leave Mom alone so she can read a novel in peace" day. Good luck with that!
It's barely begun and I'm already feeling frazzled, planning and scheduling things like both girls' birthday celebrations at school (Genevieve's is early since we'll be on summer vacation when her birthday rolls around), a big third-grade project and program for Julia--which involves a parent-obtained or -created costume! oh my--, the school Field Day (for which I am volunteering), the annual Talent Show (my daughters think they are singing a One Direction song with their pals, oh my, again), Julia's birthday party at home and visits from grandparents, and just the general chaos and craziness of the end of another school year.
In the middle of all that I'm attempting to plan a small family summer trip; clean/refresh/prep the house, garage, patio, and front door area for spring (a week ago it was all still covered in snow, remember?); schedule the kiddos' summer activities; get the kids to the park and on bike rides after school now that it's finally spring; finish up their spring-session swimming lessons; and work around (i.e., "plan some playdates or other forms of distraction to get through an entire Saturday with no parenting-partner and no car") my husband's upcoming annual 100-mile bike race.
It shouldn't seem all that frazzling, but....well, it is. It's all (mostly? not the cleaning house part) good, fun, spring-y, happy stuff, but it's a bit much, all at once. Because of having snowstorms into May, it has basically seemed like February around these parts until just last week, so now we're all trying to catch up on two months' worth of life in the span of a few days or weeks. Yikes!
But yay! I got my oh-so-cute wedge espadrilles, the ones my husband is giving me for my Mother's Day gift. So summery! So cute! I don't know if you can tell here, but they are navy-and-white pin-dot fabric with a knotted bow at the peep-toe. They are also 3.5 inches high so they will not be playground, pool, farm, or grocery-shopping shoes. They will be school program, out to lunch, date night, or casual summer party shoes.
Sorry I didn't take any close-ups of the shoes. Trust me, no one wants to see my feet close-up. But can you tell that the shoes are adorable? Thank you, dear husband, for the cute shoes that I will not be wearing to the pool, the farm, or the park, which are the places I frequent the most in the summer. You might say "impractical" but I say "cute and utterly necessary for the OTHER occasions that might arise, and also, on an incredible sale."
OK, mamas! I'm off. I may be harried and busy, but there's no rest for the weary, and anyway, there's a lot of spring weather out there to enjoy! (Well, not today exactly, because it's rainy and 60 degrees, but believe me, compared to a snowstorm in May this is heaven.)
Have a good day, and don't forget to put your feet up this Sunday. It's Mother's Day, and we all know that SHOULD mean "leave Mom alone so she can read a novel in peace" day. Good luck with that!
Monday, May 06, 2013
Oh My, May.
The other day I was looking through my iPhoto archives and found the above photo. Last year at the beginning of May I was out chalking on the driveway with my five-year-old while waiting for the afternoon kindergarten bus. This year everyone was off school while my town was buried in a HUGE snowstorm. Ugh!
Ah, but everything passes, and over the weekend it got warm(er), and the snow melted, and now, for the first time so far this "spring," the weather forecast includes the number "70," or close to it, and a sun icon for the entire upcoming week. The fact that it took until MAY 6TH for this to happen is not taken lightly by my fellow Minnesotans and me. In effect, yes, we lost spring this year. There are four weeks left before summer vacation--just four weeks without snow pants and snow boots and parkas, before the pool opens. How crazy is that?!
But all I have to say about the weather now is, THANK GOD. Yesterday I took my kiddos and their buddy to the park, and they all wore shorts (it was 54 degrees) and rode bikes (finally, no snow on the sidewalks!). Later, after their swimming lesson, I ventured up to the Arborteum--a.k.a. my running happy place--to test (again) the trails, and was able to run/hike for an hour despite having to climb over, under, or around four fallen trees (from the heavy, wet snow last week) and being forced to turn around at one point where the trail was underwater. The sun was out and it was 65 degrees, so I really didn't mind. I was just glad to be there.
Oh, May. Such a conflicted month. On the one hand I'm excited, because summer is almost here, and we all know how much I adore summer. On the other hand, we also all know the crushing sadness with which I experience the end of every next school year: the kidlets another grade older, another period of their childhoods over. Gah! It's torture. So what can you do? You focus on the happy, sunny, warm, good part. You try to put the other out of your mind.
Thursday, May 02, 2013
Serenity Now! Or Maybe Much, Much Later When This is All a Distant Memory.
One day, many days hence, perhaps even years hence, we will look back on May 1-2, 2013, and laugh. We will marvel at the fact that we delivered our May baskets on May Day that year amidst giant, falling snowflakes, so many snowflakes that it looked like Christmas and, for a second, my daughters got mixed up and almost thought we were delivering "Christmas Elf" surprises.
We will reminisce with awe about how the snow came down steadily and thick all evening , and then the power went out at 2:30 a.m.--we knew this because the white noise machines and nightlights all went out and woke us up immediately--and when we got up to investigate, we could see that outside everything was covered in what ended up being nine or so inches of snow, so heavy that it bent trees sideways and broke power lines. And about the fact that at five a.m. my cell rang and we knew it was the school district's automated voicemail telling us that the schools were closed again. On May 2nd.
Oh, and remember how the power stayed off for 6-1/2 hours, so there was no heat, and no coffee, and no TV to park the kids in front of? And then how when it came back on, it only stayed on for 45 minutes before going out again? AND IT WAS MAY 2ND???
This will all make a really good story someday. When I am not actually living it.
We will reminisce with awe about how the snow came down steadily and thick all evening , and then the power went out at 2:30 a.m.--we knew this because the white noise machines and nightlights all went out and woke us up immediately--and when we got up to investigate, we could see that outside everything was covered in what ended up being nine or so inches of snow, so heavy that it bent trees sideways and broke power lines. And about the fact that at five a.m. my cell rang and we knew it was the school district's automated voicemail telling us that the schools were closed again. On May 2nd.
Oh, and remember how the power stayed off for 6-1/2 hours, so there was no heat, and no coffee, and no TV to park the kids in front of? And then how when it came back on, it only stayed on for 45 minutes before going out again? AND IT WAS MAY 2ND???
This will all make a really good story someday. When I am not actually living it.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
What is May Day, Anyway? I've Got You Covered.
courtesy parentella.com
So yesterday I was Facebook-chatting with a fellow-mom friend from another state, and it came to my attention that she, too, was in the dark about May Day and May baskets. So of course I schooled her. Every year I write here about May Day and every year someone says, "What the heck are you talking about?"
It seems not everyone was lucky enough to live in an area of the country where May baskets are a normal party of May 1st each year.
But you are lucky! Because it's not May 1st yet. And I'm here to teach you about May Day. So if you've got little kidlets in your house, and you want to do something fun, festive, and kind to celebrate the arrival of spring tomorrow, you still have time.
As I've written in the past, when I was growing up in northern Minnesota, it was a tradition every May 1st to deliver homemade May baskets to the doorsteps of our neighborhood friends, ring the bell, and then run away before they could see who had left the surprise. We always used flowered Dixie cups for the baskets, used pipe cleaners to make handles, and filled them with popcorn and perhaps a few candies (see above).
More creative and/or health-conscious types fill their baskets with paper or real flowers (which I believe is the original tradition).
images courtesy skiptomylou.org and mayday2013.com
While I'd like to say that we deliver flowers to our friends on May Day, my children and I actually fill our "baskets" with things like candy, Goldfish cracker packs, and fruit snacks. And I admit, in my circle, May baskets have morphed from the very simple Dixie-cup-and-popcorn of my youth to, often (not always), more extravagant versions that sometimes feature, in addition to sweets, such treasures as sidewalk chalk, bubbles, or a pretty hair clip or two. Seriously!
Anyway, today is April 30th, so the girls and I will be making May baskets tonight. Sometime after school and playtime with friends tomorrow, we'll go delivering. We generally get caught, because we have strayed (as have our friends) from the original tradition of keeping May basket delivery a neighborhood thing, and we actually drive around town to some of our closest friends who live farther away. Of course, they see our car. Oh well! It's still fun.
There you have it. You still have time to run to the store today for Dixie cups and candy, make "baskets" tonight with your kiddos, and participate in May Day tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe you'll start a new tradition in your neighborhood! Have fun!
(p.s. The radio just said it may snow up to six inches in southern MN--where I live--in a couple days. If that happens, I will seriously cry right into my May basket.)
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