Lily at ballet

One of things I love about Ballet Austin, where Lily has taken dance class for the past three years, is that they don't have recitals. Instead, parents, siblings, grandparents and other friends are invited to attend class several times a year.

This past Saturday was watching day, so Elizabeth and I sat in on the class. Unfortunately, we didn't last very long because Elizabeth wanted nothing more than to run out on the dance floor Lily. I ended up taking her out into the hall and watching through the glass door.

We weren't allowed to take pictures during the class, so we had to be satisfied with getting some photos of curtsies afterwards. Lily loves to curtsy - she takes it very seriously as you can see by her expression.

Elizabeth was so happy to be allowed back in the room that she ran to Lily. Such sweet sisters.

Emotional Blackmail

Last night, when I tucked Campbell into bed, he asked for a cup of chocolate milk. When I told him (for the umpteenth time) that he doesn't get chocolate milk in bed at bedtime, he said:

But I thought you loveded me.

I maintained my composure long enough to say that I loved him very much but he still wasn't getting chocolate milk. Then I went to the living room and collapsed laughing.

I have no idea where he would have heard this. My girls have never said it to me; although, they have been known to tell me that I obviously don't love them.

It's amazing how quickly little kids pick up on tricks like this. Not that it worked for Campbell.

Science Fair Win

Last year, I wrote about how I don't like science fair projects much, and I still don't. So when Ella came home in January talking about a project, I groaned.

This year's project, however, went much better. And it was a real communal effort. Ella and two partners decided to test which solution cleaned a penny the best. One family hosted the girls while they did the actual experiment and created the display board. For the experiment, they used vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and soap to clean pennies with a tooth brush and a cloth.

The girls did a great job recording their results, taking lots of pictures and creating a beautiful display. And they won second place out of the third graders at their school. Much to my surprise, they advanced to the regional science fair, which was two weeks ago.

Since the one family had hosted the girls while they created the project, I volunteered to take the display to the Events Center the day before the fair to set up the board and then to take the girls to the judging the next morning. During the set-up, my hopes for an easy morning vanished.

The Palmer Events Center exhibit hall was an immense zoo, with hundreds of kids and parents and projects every where. When Ella and I got home from setting up, I received an e-mail from a friend warning me about what would happen on Saturday, namely that parents are locked out of the exhibit hall while the judging is going on and that judging can last anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours, depending on how long it takes the judges to talk to each team.

So Saturday morning, I packed for the worst-case scenario, cramming my knitting, a good book, and my iPod in my bag. When we got to the Events Center, however, I was amazed at the efficiency and organization of the whole thing.

The kids were ushered to their displays by volunteers, and the parents were gently nudged out of the exhibit hall, even those who were having fits at leaving their baybees behind. There was a huge waiting area with tons of chairs for the parents, and the kids were brought out to the waiting area by volunteers as soon as they had talked to the judges. Everything went like clockwork. While I was waiting for my little crew, I hung out with a friend and chit-chatted. The time flew.

Once I rounded up Ella and her partners, we headed for home, stopping for a special treat of McDonald's for lunch. One of the other moms took the kids back down to the Events Center for the awards ceremony later that afternoon.

Amazingly, the girls won first place in their division, whatever that may have been. The mom who took them said that it looked like every project got first, second or third, so who knows how the organizers divided things up.

Divisions didn't matter to the girls, though. They came home with big blue ribbons and even bigger smiles. The mom who drove them took the girls out for ice cream, and then the third family hosted a celebratory slumber party. As far as Ella was concerned, it was just about the best weekend ever.

The whole process was a good learning experience for me. Ella obviously loves science and doing experiments; she comes up with them on her own during school holidays. There are going to be lots more science fairs and science projects in our future. I need to get over myself and turn Ella loose. The world needs more girl scientists, and Ella may just become one.

Where did we go wrong?

Growing up, my sister and I never played in our parents' bedroom. It was off limits to us, not so much because we were forbidden to go in, but more because we were never invited to play in there.

Somewhere along the line with my kids, I've gone wrong. I don't remember giving my kids permission to play in my room, but they seem to have taken it over completely. My bedside table is stacked with their books, and the floor is littered with toys of various kinds. If I don't do a quick clean-up before bed, I'm in danger of injuring my feet on legos and Little People if I get up in the middle of the night.

Sunday morning, I stripped all the sheets off my bed, put them in the wash, and grabbed clean sheets from the closet. In that amount of time, this collection appeared on my bed.

I don't know how Lily and Campbell managed to set these critters up so quickly, but there they were. And when I asked the kids to move the menagerie so that I could put sheets on the bed, they told me I had to wait because they were going to the moon to have a party. Lily was already dressed in a party ensemble, complete with lacy socks and dressy shoes. Campbell was in underpants and a t-shirt. They have very different ideas of what constitutes formal attire.

So I let them have their "Moon Party" and waited until later to put sheets on the bed.

Guilty, guilty, guilty

The other day I noticed that my camera was not in its usual place. Once I stopped hyperventilating at the thought of my preshus being missing, I searched the house and found it in one of the kids' bedrooms.

I scrolled through the pictures to see if I could figure out who had played with it and found this series of pictures.

(notice the graffiti on the dresser, thanks to Campbell)

Aha. I think I know who the culprit is.

Olympic Knitting Gold

Eighteen days ago, I signed on for the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics. The goal of the Knitting Olympics is to cast on a project during the Olympic opening ceremonies and then finish by the closing celebration.

I cast on a pair of socks out of Franklin's gorgeous Panopticon wool. As I knit, I noticed that the colors in the wool closely matched the greens and blues in all the Olympic signs and banners, which was really cool.

Now some knitting snobs purists might argue that working on a pair of socks for the Knitting Olympics isn't enough of a challenge, but I beg to differ. Given my time constraints, finishing a pair of socks in 17 days was going to require world record knitting speed from me. I once knit a pair in 14 days, but that was back when I only had three kids.

Et voila! Completed socks. I finished them up on Sunday and wore them to bring the US hockey team luck. Whoops. Maybe I shouldn't have worn them after all.

Then I wore them to watch the closing ceremonies, which was really one of the oddest things I've ever seen. We laughed hysterically during the entire last half hour, and I'm not sure that's what the organizers were going for. I mean really, giant inflated beavers and flying moose? A terrified kid dressed as a hockey puck? Shattner performing poetry? It was a spectacle, for sure.

I will miss the Olympics, though. I'm the biggest geek about watching them. I love watching young, earnest athletes putting it all on the line to fulfill life-long dreams. So few win medals, but for each and every person there, just participating in the Olympics is the culmination of a life spent training and sacrificing in the name of their sport. It's a beautiful thing to see.

It's chilly here today. So I think I'll wear my new socks in honor of the athletes who are now headed home.

Answering the Hard Questions

Whooo - some of you northerners didn't like yesterday's post about our "Blizzard." But don't worry. I'll be suffering through the summer when it's 100+ here in Austin for days on end and you're out having nice summer evening barbecues and such.

On another note - I'm answering hard questions from my girls over at Deep South Moms Blog. Take a look.

Blizzard 2010 - Austin style

I know everyone in the north has had to deal with months of bitter cold, horrible winter storms, and snowfall that's being measured in feet rather than inches, but we've had it bad down here in Austin, too.

Take this week - Sunday was sunny and 85 degrees. We had to turn on the air conditioning in the car on the way home from Cirque du Soleil. And then yesterday - it snowed. It was practically a blizzard. Some schools in Austin closed early, and others opened late this morning. There was a run on marshmallows and hot chocolate at the stores. It was chaos!

All for a whopping half inch of snow.

I mean, you can hardly see across the street for all the snow coming down.

It was so deep that Campbell could barely walk in it.

And we nearly lost Elizabeth in a snowdrift.

Ella and Lily and the neighbors were able to build a giant snowman with all the snow in the yard.

The snow lingered for hours after the sun came up this morning. You can't even imagine the mess on the roadways. Thank goodness TXDoT sent out sand trucks.

We'll be talking about the Blizzard of '10 for years to come.

The Ballerina Basher

Lily's birthday was a few weeks ago, and we had a roller skating party for her. The kids all had a grand time, and I was impressed with how well they did on skates. For some, it was their first time on wheels.

Ella was ready to skate first, but she decided to wait for company before hitting the rink. She was a little unsteady at the start but improved greatly at the end of the hour of skating.

B's mom and aunt decided to put skates on Elizabeth. They got the smallest pair the place had and laced them up. Elizabeth had a blast and did two laps around the rink. By the end of her first lap, she was getting frustrated with her grandmother and aunt for holding her hands because she wanted to take off all by herself. She's showing a streak of stubborn independence that's worrying me a bit.

When a friend heard about the skating party, she started coming up with Roller Derby names for Lily. Her suggestions were Lightning Lil and Ballerina Bomber. I said I liked Ballerina Basher better because it sounds a bit more violent. I can just picture Lily out on the derby track - pink tights, a tutu, a black helmet with a skull and crossbones.

The roller rink had a poster advertising a junior Roller Derby team. Perhaps I should sign Lily up. She's already got a good name for it.

B*tox report

It's been two weeks since I had my B*tox injections, and they seemed to have worked. There have been two days when I could tell I was having a migraine - I had the weird visual disturbances, nausea, tingling in the back of my neck - but I couldn't feel the usual migraine pain. I was able to get past yucky side effects by taking some advil and drinking half a Coke.

Hallelujah.

As for the visible signs that I've had B*tox - you can't tell unless you know where to look. I can't furrow my brow anymore, which means I can't give the kids my patented stern look. B laughs at me every time catches me trying. Apparently I make a funny scrunched up face when I do it.

I know I said I'd do before-and-after pictures, but I just can't bear to put my goofy face out there for public ridicule.

My doctor said the effects of the injections should last for about three months, which means I'll be ready for another set right before the summer. The miserably hot weather here always makes my migraines more frequent and more severe, so the possibility of spending a summer without pain makes me not dread the coming months quite as much.

I'll just need to remind myself of the benefits of the injections while I'm lying there waiting to have the needles jabbed in my head again.