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December 17, 2007
happy merry
Here's this the photo that's going into the mail this year to family and far away friends.
Getting a decent pic of the 5 of us is quite an ordeal. While H is always pristinely groomed, the boys are not. I had to send Big J upstairs three times to change his clothes, and when he finally came down with shorts on I gave up. Little J was not in the mood to be asked to oblige anyone anything today. One thing that sometimes does cheer him up is his Power Ranger costume, so I told him that he could leave it on (he's worn it all day--my attempt to cheer him) if he would sit still on my lap for a moment. Apparently, it half-worked (he sat on my lap, but not still--see the blur of his hands?).
Also what you don't see in the pic: the box of baby wipes I used to clean dinner off the boys' faces; the hairbrush at my feet that I touched only briefly to each child's head (but somehow missed my own); and the 4+ feet of snow in the yard that I, for some reason, despise more this year than any year we've been here thus far. It might have to do with the small detail that we are not in possession of a working snowblower right now. Not that I mind the shoveling too terribly; in fact, I welcome the workout now that I've been truant from running for so long. I simply dread the day when the precip count is too much for my small scoop and that trying to shovel the drive would be like digging a garden with a teaspoon.
So, my plate for the next several days is full full full: an invited talk at a local retirement community, H's production of the Nutcracker tomorrow night, finishing and turning in grades, last minute shopping, finishing chapter 3, and leaving for Virginia. Blogging here will be, needless to say, light until the end of the year.
So happy merry everyone!
Posted by mryonker at 10:52 PM | Comments (4)
December 12, 2007
help! I'm drowning in kids!
Other things I'm drowning in:
Student projects and papers.
Dance rehearsals and recitals.
Hockey practices and games.
Dunkin Donuts coffee.
Books about narrative theory.
Laundry.
Bad hair days.
Holiday mint hershey kisses (and their byproducts: red and green little foil balls).
Posted by mryonker at 01:49 PM | Comments (2)
December 11, 2007
my eldest
I posted about "my middle," Big J, a few days back. Today, a couple words about my eldest, H.
This child is somehow JUST. LIKE. ME. Most people, when they see us side-by-side, remark how much we look alike. I am fortunate in that H still takes this as complimentary. (Although, people still think my mom and I look alike, and I still take it as a compliment.)
But similarities between H and me run far more deeply than the shape of our eyebrows (poor child). She has, at eleven, already developed a penchant for over-extending herself. As a (quite talented, IMO) dancer, she has managed to audition and place herself in two major holiday productions: her studio show, called the _Magic Toy Shop_, and as a party guest in the Moscow Ballet's _The Nutcracker_. You can imagine what my weekends have looked like since October rehearsals have started. She lucked out in that the rehearsal and performance dates for those shows did not overlap. Then, her elementary school music teacher encouraged her to audition for the school Christmas show. She brought the letter home; I (absentmindedly, I'll admit) signed it. She auditioned.
Heh. You know where this is going, I suspect.
So just this past weekend we got the dress rehearsal schedule for the _MTS_. Seems the final dress for the MTS is on the same evening as the performance for _Christmas at the OK Corral_ in which H is--surprise--the lead as "The Candy Cane Kid." And they are in completely different parts of the state. Well, I exaggerate; the Toy Shop is at the fairgrounds, and the school show is in Parish, about a 35 mile trek away.
::heaving heaving sigh::
I spoke to the director of Toy Shop and explained the mess I'd made as a half-aware mother. Luckily, the director was not unkind, and said if H could make the FIRST run-through of the dress rehearsal, she could sneak out and make the school show performance.
I'm not even trying to think of what that will look like in terms of driving for me.
::sigh::
You'd never know that she was so far extended, though. Her homework is always done; at my conference with her teacher last month her teacher gushed and gushed at what a great kid she is; she's got the highest average in her class**.
Part of me wants to discourage her from working so hard all the time. She's at the studio 4 nights a week and at least one weekend day; when she's home she's in her bedroom with her pointe shoes on at the barre that B installed for her. Working.
But then I remind myself that I am happiest when I have work to do. And I'm most productive when I'm extra busy. And that I like my busy life. Truly.
So now she's got a little planner that we're writing her schedule in, so that she doesn't have to rely on me to figure out what she's got time for. Because clearly I can really only do that for myself.
And just today we picked up her first pair of glasses; she's myopic just like her mama. I'll post a pic when she slows down long enough for me to snap one.
**(Big J's got the highest average in his class, too, I should mention. Lest I leave the post about him to simply talk about his gorilla arms.)
Posted by mryonker at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)
December 09, 2007
12 years
12 years ago today, in a tiny church in Pungo, Virginia, B and I got married. I wore a dress I designed and my mother made using recycled wedding dresses and a $100 piece of lace. (Something old, something new.) I might be exaggerating about the cost of the lace, but I remember thinking that the cost per yard of that stuff was ridiculous, and mom had to talk me into letting her buy it.
Posted by mryonker at 08:29 AM | Comments (5)
December 03, 2007
reasons the snow is halfway OK
1. I don't have to weed my garden.
2. I can run the dryer and the oven and not worry I'll overheat the house.
3. Little J can climb into bed with us in the middle of the night, and I don't immediately start sweating because of his extraordinary body heat.
4. I have a whole bunch of excuses to not run.
5. The switch back to hot coffee from iced.
6. When the refrigerator dies, as its clattering and groaning indicate it will shortly, we'll be able to move the frozen goods into the garage.
7. It, um...looks pretty. Kind of.
8. I don't have to look at the ugly hydrangia that I mangled last spring.
9. I have a great wardrobe of hats to wear. My wonderful mother, the shepherd, spinner, weaver, and knitter extraordinaire, gave me a whole box full of hats for Christmas, some of which you can see if you click through.
10. Soon, the kids will be able to sled off the roof. They are looking forward to it.
Me... Not. So. Much.
Posted by mryonker at 03:27 PM | Comments (5)