Out and About

Life has been jumping here in our corner of the world.  When there is so much going on like right now, it actually makes it harder to blog because you don’t even know where to start!  So, I’ll just give you little updates on life.

We took the kids last weekend to an outdoor symphony concert with friends.  It was a collaboration between the Orlando Symphony and the theater where Chris works, so we knew a lot of the people there.  And I even ran into some teachers that I teach with, too!

We packed a picnic dinner, and the kids had a really great time. They were mesmerized by the orchestra, especially when they played a few songs from Frozen. Which was perfect because Gracie had decided to bring her Olaf tea set to the picnic, and served everyone pink lemonade in tea cups. The music complimented her dinner service quite nicely.

Speaking of Gracie, her ballet recital is this weekend and I am equal parts excited for her and excited because the ballet season is over! She’ll take a few summer months off after this and will restart again in the fall. She has been practicing really hard and seems ready, but I keep thinking of her Christmas recital and the epic meltdown that took place backstage. We’ve been having some pep talks this week about exactly what will happen when we get to the theater, and I’m hoping that helps prepare her a little better this time. Otherwise, I’m going to be the biggest ballerina out there on stage with her…

She has been an all-around hoot lately. She asked me at dinner last night, completely out of the blue, “Mommy, can I take my baby book to school tomorrow so that I can show my friends how big my head was?” I told her no, but we did measure her head with a tape measurer and she was satisfied taking that to school instead. What a weirdo!

I am just about to finish my very first crocheted baby blanket. Who knew such bad language went into such dainty little keepsakes?! I actually took my little project out in the public for the first time the other day and I crocheted in the lobby at Gracie’s ballet lesson. I don’t think I’ll do that again, though, because I kept having to bite my tongue to keep from cursing in front of little ballerinas. “DAMN THE BORDERS!” is all I have to say about that.

Bean caught a worm in the front yard this week, and since I had already used up my “no, you can’t keep that” credit, I gave in and let him have a pet earthworm. He named him Hairy Baby, from Big Hero 6. I thought it was pretty clever, myself. Hairy Baby now sleeps in his little plastic box next to Bean’s bed every night, and both he and Gracie run and check on him first thing every morning. Bean even said the other day, “He just kissed my cheek!” And then we had to have a conversation about hygiene and why earthworms were not clean enough to put near our faces. These are the conversations no one ever told me would come with parenting…

Speaking of pets, this guy has just about talked me into getting a puppy. Actually, we’ve already decided to get a puppy. We are going to wait until I’m out of school for the summer first, but after that, we’re ready to roll. We are going to use a rescue society, like we did with Big Molly, so it might take a while to find a puppy, but we’re willing to wait. Big Molly needs a friend. She has aged so much since Lucy died, and we think a little friend might keep her young. So, really, MOLLY is getting a puppy…

And that’s really about it around here. I’ll check back in soon, but until then, hope you are having as much fun this spring as I am!