Keeping Track of the Instruments

Seriously, who knew? that keeping track of your kids' instruments could be a full time job?? Is it only my kids?

On Tuesday the girls came home and I asked them to put away their instruments. Catherine immediately came to me and said she was pretty sure hers was still in the orchestra room at school. Julianne said nothing to me and since I didn't see her instrument lying around the house somewhere assumed it was put away.

Today, Wednesday is another day that Julianne has to take her flute to school. I reminded her (like the good mom I am) to get her flute. She looked in all the usual places and then announced that she thinks she left her flute in her locker so that she didn't have to bring it back the next day (something she has done before). I casually mention to her that I thought I saw her at home with her flute yesterday and she assures me (in her special way) that I am crazy and that her flute is happily sitting in her locker at school.

At 10:30, she calls from school to inform me that her flute is not in her locker so she is "certain" she left it on the bus.

I am not so certain, so I search the house. I did not find it. At 11:45, I headed out the door with Adam and Owen to find the instruments.

First I went to Catherine's school just to make sure her violin was there. It was. I grabbed it and told Catherine I had it.

Then I went to the bus barn lost and found (which is in the parking lot of the high school). The flute was not in the lost and found and they suggested I search the bus itself since it was just from the day before. As I got to the bus the fire alarm at the high school started going off. They were having an unplanned fire drill. All the students started pouring out. I searched the bus (despite the crowd) and did not find the flute. I got in my car eager to head to the middle school to look for her flute there, only to realize that during an "unplanned" fire drill the premises are secured and no one can come or go until the facility is all checked out by the fire department.

It was fun for Adam to watch all the fire trucks roll in. For me??? Not so fun. Finally, an hour and a half after arriving we were able to leave. I headed to the middle school. I searched high and low. You name it . . . I looked there. With just a few minutes left in Julianne's class I pulled her out to help me retrace all her steps.

Finally, I came to the realization that it was not there. Perhaps someone accidentally took her flute home (since we found LOTS of other people's flutes). I drove home.

At home, I started thinking -- I am still pretty sure I saw her with her flute and when I asked her to put it away she did not tell me that she didn't have it (like she usually does). So I started thinking like Julianne . . . ("where can I hide my flute so that mom will think I actually put it away?"

I found it. Hiding underneath the back cushion of the overstuffed chair in the living room.

I was a MAD MOM. She has now "lost" her ipod touch for a while. I told her I just can't remember where I put it???

Julianne doing the dreaded "Math Homework"

Things they love --

Today I am documenting some of the things my kids love so that I will always remember them when they outgrow them.

First, Julianne -- she loves bunny. This bunny was a gift from Deann and Jason Moore when Julianne was born. For about 2 years it sat on a shelf in her room and went relatively unnoticed. But then one day, she just had to sleep with it. . . and she has slept with it ever since. She loves it. One day while walking through town she spied an identical bunny in the windows of the whitney store only it was 10 times larger. She has said she would never replace bunny -- but that she wouldn't mind if bunny had BIG bunny around too!




Next, Catherine. She loves stuffed animals and books. She has never been able to settle on just one favorite. Her bed is a constantly shifting arrangement of as many stuffed animals as her mother will tolerate. These ones have been there since Christmas and her birthday. The pillow pet dog, the porcupine webkinz, and the fureal penguin.



Then, there is Madelyn. She has had this littlest pet shop stuffed penguin on her bed for a couple of years. But the newest addition to her favorite things is the silly yellow minnion from Despicable Me. She loves the movie and loves this plastic blow up minnion.




Adam is the first of our children to become attached to a blanket. His original blankie was finally moved to "museum" status (meaning it resides in a drawer for safekeeping and emergencies. We have been able to find acceptable replacements so that blankie can be appropriately cared for (laundered). It never goes anywhere with him, but always resides on his bed, crumpled by his pillow waiting for bedtime. Adam also has a new love -- DINO DAN on nickjr.com. HE IS OBSESSED. He watches the webisodes, prints out the pages, draws and tracks imaginary dinosaurs all over. He doesn't however appreciate me calling him DINO ADAM.





Owen, is just getting into favorite things. His first toy that he shows any interest in are these little linkies that I can hook on his car seat, swing, stroller, etc. . . He loves to eat them. I even keep a pacifier hooked on -- but don't be fooled he DOES NOT like his pacifier. If you try to give it to him, he will get mad. REALLY MAD. Just ask the ladies at the gym this morning who tried. Now if he puts the binkie in his mouth all on his own he is happy as can be just chewing all over it (but not sucking on it).





Next, there is me. I am loving my new lens -- a 50 mm f/1.4. I traded my 35 mm f/1.8 for this one (and some change) and I am loving it!!!!




Last of all is Trent. He currently is loving the sun. He has gone 7 days without shoveling snow. I found him on google the other day looking up "how long does it take for snow to melt" Our 10 day forecast does not predict any snow. So he may have time to pursue some other things. He is also loving BYU basketball games with Jimmer Fredette and reading articles like this one.

Another fun filled snowy day

The kids headed off to school this morning with the BIG storm looming. It was supposed to start around 4:00 this afternoon. Imagine all of our surprise when it started snowing heavily around 9 am. I abandoned hope of making it to the gym and headed down to the basement for some quality treadmill time. By the time I got back upstairs (exactly 42 minutes later -- which is the length of one episode of 24 that I watch on my iphone's netflix app while on the treadmill) it was apparent that the snow was not going to stop for a while. The phone quickly range informing me of an early dismissal day. I don't mind delayed starts or early dismissals because those don't eat away my summer days.

The boys and I hung out at home. Owen was so cute. He was so smiley and happy that I just had to take his picture. Adam thought he was so cute too and would lean in to kiss him. As soon as Adam got a little close to Owen, Owen would start to cry. It was so cute. Adam tends to be a little "in your face" with Owen. We are working on helping Adam understand boundaries a little better.







The girls got home and we just hung out. I saw the mailman drive by so I sent them out to get the mail. It was already starting to get dark so I sent both Julianne and Catherine. They quickly brought me the mail and then went right back outside. They had decided to surprise their dad by doing all the shoveling. Madelyn was not about to miss out on the shoveling fun. All 3 girls shoveled for nearly 2 hours. Trent was so happy for all their help. He got home around 7:30 and the girls were so excited for him to see all their work.













Of course by 7:00, the "big" storm had finally arrived. All their shoveling efforts have now been sufficiently undone by mother nature.

The only question that remains . . . will we have school in the morning?

this feeling that I am getting old (er)

I am walking down memory lane lately -- so here is a photo right after Julianne was born. She was born in June. I made both her and I these matching dresses for Trent's sister's wedding in August (back when I had time to sew???). I really do like sewing, I just don't seem to have the time, energy, or . . . fabric stores around me to inspire me to do any of it. I have some high ambitions for a crazy quilt or two -- hopefully soon.

I laugh at the picture -- first, I had bangs back when bangs weren't "in". And now that bangs are "in" I don't have them -- I suppose I will always be trend "reversed".

Sisterly Love

I was trying to get a photo of Owen (because he was looking so cute) and Julianne was helping me hold him and reposition him. She was trying to get him to smile and being so entirely sweet. I caught this moment right at the end. Owen had had enough. Julianne was loving him anyway.

The Soccer Team Photos -- Fall 2010

Beautiful Day, Beautiful Kids, Happy Mom

Here are some more pictures taken with my new lens on a stunning fall day here in Connecticut.

My poem

I have a love-hate relationship with the fall --
I love how it looks, how it feels;
but I hate that each day means our winter draws near
oh the dark, oh the cold, my heart reels.

Starting School

In the midst of all the business I wrote about, school did start. And I did take pictures of it. And I meant to blog about it. But it has now been a while, but I am going to catch up!

Julianne has matured into a beautiful 5th grader. In our town, that means she starts middle school. (that makes Trent and I feel old) Her school starts earlier than the elementary school. So in this first set of pictures you will see that while she is all dressed and ready to go, everyone else in still in their PJ's.


Roughly an hour later, Catherine and Madelyn get on their bus. We follow that bus to school and walk them to their classrooms. (Middle school is too cool for Mom and Dad to do that!)

Julianne's room re-decorating project

When we first moved here to New Canaan, there was some room shuffling. Before (in TX) Julianne and Catherine shared a room and Madelyn had her own room. Here Julianne had her own room and Catherine and Madelyn shared. As it was, Julianne inherited all of Madelyn's room decor that we just sort of made work for her. She liked it OK, but didn't love it. On the contrary I loved it! Madelyn's room had always been my favorite. Over the past 2 years everytime we walked by the bedding section of any store, Julianne has asked and asked for new bedding. We FINALLY did it.

Here is the room before. So sweet and cute.


And here it is after. Definately more Tween than before. But very fun and she LOVES it!

Swimming Fun

The kids love swimming. I have a love/hate relationship with swimming right now. I love being in the water. I don't feel pregnant. I don't feel huge. I just float and float! I hate being in a swimsuit out of the water. I do feel pregnant. I do feel huge. I do look huge. I do feel heavy. Oh well!

The kids are really getting good (and fast!). At the end of each day they can race me and see if they can beat me. For the first time, I am actually having to really swim in order to win. One of these days, one of them will beat me!

Enjoy this collage of their fun!

Julianne's 10th birthday

Can you believe she is this old??? We can't either. Double digits!

Julianne's 4th Grade Graduation

Here in our town, elementary school ends in 4th grade. Middle School is 5th - 8th grade. So Julianne has arrived at Elementary school graduation. It makes her parents feel VERY OLD.

She looked so beautiful. She had a speaking part in the program. We are so proud of her. Enjoy the photos!

Karma???

So . . .

to recap for the sake of this story

Julianne got glasses in October (frame A).
Catherine got glasses in November (also frame A -- because her mom can't be trifled with such small details)

Julianne got new glasses in April (frame B) (meaning I have an extra frame A pair of glasses lying around the house)

On Monday, Catherine came home from school, having been tackled at recess by a group of boys who wanted a ball she was holding, and her glasses were broken in the incident. (maybe at some point I will write about the "incident", but I am still too mad about it.)

However as luck would have it, despite her frames being completely ruined, the lenses were somehow unscathed.

I called the glasses place and they said since the frames were identical and I had purchased both of them there that they would put the good lenses into the good frames (julianne's old frames) for FREE!!!!

So my little lack of attention to detail saved me $250 bucks!!!!

It made the "incident" not quite as bad.

Spring Soccer

3 kids playing.
4 practices a week.
3 games each Saturday.
. . . and the kids love it!!!!

April 22nd -- Bring your daddy home early from work day!!!

also known as "Take your daughters to work day"

This year both Julianne and Catherine were old enough to attend the program. This year the "official" program started at 9 and ended at noon. So Trent took the girls in to the city on the 7:09 train (later than his usual 6:21 train) took them to work, took them to the "official" program, picked them up at noon, grabbed some lunch, ate at Bryant Park, enjoyed the beautiful spring weather we have been having and were headed home on the 2:07 train.

Catherine even made it to her afternoon soccer practice! We loved having Daddy home early!!!