A Recorder Recorded

On one of the last days of school, right before I was set to leave to take the kids to school, Sis told me that she and the rest of the 4th graders were having a recorder concert at 8:30, and did I want to come???

Ugh.

Really????

A RECORDER concert?

I mean, I haven't even been letting Sis practice her recorder in my hearing... I make her go to another floor on the opposite end of the house when she needs to practice. It's musically PAINFUL to listen to a recorder, in my opinion. So, I totally used work as an excuse politely declined to attend.

So, on the way home, both kids were ladened with all their year-end paraphernalia (dried-out markers, pencils with the erasers gone, etc.), and Sis also had her recorder with her. She nonchalantly asked me if I wanted her to play Mary Had a Little Lamb. Feeling slightly guilty for missing her "concert," I agreed. Then I turned and looked at her, and laughed the rest of the way home.

Once Don got home from work, I had her "re-create" her mini-concert for him. And I had the presence of mind to record it from Don's phone:

The one look of Bub

So, yesterday I showed you all the MANY MANY looks of Sis. She's very artistic, and has a desire to create herself different looks constantly. And then there's Bub. While he's the athletic one in the family, he inherited his artistic talents (or lack thereof!) from his parents (we're STILL not sure where Sis got her talent... not from us!).

Here is Bub's end-of-the-school-year self-portrait:

Looks just like him doesn't it? :)

Along with his self-portrait, he filled out a "Spotlight on Me!" paper...

Here's the close-up version....

I love this format of keeping these memories for them, so they'll have them when they get older (funny drawings and misspellings and all!).

The many looks of Sis

So, as the end of the school year approached, I started going through the kids' paperwork that they brought home. Sis's paperwork consisted LESS of actual schoolwork and MORE of her artwork. I especially loved the 2 pages I found where she drew her (I'm assuming it's her) many looks. Here are her looks...

I highlighted a few of them: Here's her "normal look." Note her pose... she "normally" does that all the time. :)

And her Twilight looks... (which is especially funny to me, as I've not allowed her to read the books or watch the movies yet... yet she knows who the "players" are!) If I had to guess on Sis's real leanings, I'm guessing she's more in the Team Jacob camp. The Team Edward Sis looks mean and haughty, doesn't she? And the Team Jacob Sis looks approachable, friendly, and almost "normal."

This is the look that she likes to wear most often (in real life). In fact, she has those exact same knee socks! I'm guessing she feels SASSY when she wears them! And I've got to admit, she's also got the fingerless gloves.

I may have mentioned this before, but I have a REAL LOVE for making up words... apparently so does Sis! I love Casuality (not to be confused with Casualty... that look would be COMPLETELY different!).

The next two looks are looks that Sis would LOVE to have... if only she didn't have such a mean mom! I mean, can you believe that a 10-year-old's mom won't let her dye her hair black??? Although based on the "models'" expressions, I'm guessing that Punkified is more of a desired look than the Emo... just look at how sad the Emo looks (maybe her mean mom won't let her dye her hair blonde... maybe her secret desire is to be a bubbly cheerleader, and her mom just won't let her!).

This next look makes me fear for the future... it's a night out (or "nite out") and look who is flirting flirting flirting! She's finger waving AND winking! AND the sassy fedora seals the deal, doesn't it???

And for night time fashion, there's the PJ play version. Although she has cute PJ's and a cuddly stuffed animal, look how sad she looks. I have a couple of theories of why PJ Play Sis is so sad... One, she just doesn't feel tired! She's not READY for bed! Or two (the real reason, I'm surmising) is that Nite Out Sis is right next to her winking and finger-waving and making PJ Play Sis feel inferior and maybe a bit frumpy. That would just make any girl feel a little down, dontcha think?

The power of marketing

Yesterday morning while I was getting ready & blow-drying my hair, Sis walked into the bathroom.

"Wow, Mom. Your hair is really messy today."

"Yup. That's the way it normally looks, because it's curly. Unless I spend time to straighten it."

"Huh."

"You don't like it?"

"Hmmmm... well..."

Last night, then, as she & I were sitting at Bub's baseball game, she looked at my hair again.

"I really like your hair messy like that, Mom."

"You do? I didn't think you liked it messy."

"Well, I was reading in one of your magazines today about a hair stylist whose salon is in HOLLYWOOD. And she says when she fixes her hair, the bigger and messier, the better."

So, thank you, mystery magazine, for making me okay-looking in Sis's eyes! :)

Storms

My kids are afraid of storms. Well, and I am, too, a little. But it's mostly been Sis. As she'll tell you, we were stuck in a really scary storm in 2006 in our car. The kids literally screamed most of the way until we got to church. Once we got there, I told the kids to stay in the car until I (or someone else) opened the doors. But Sis panicked, and opened her door. She lost control of it, and it swung (swang? swinged?) around and hit my front door. Our pastor's son finally came out and got each kid one at a time. I was too afraid then to park the car in a regular spot, so I parked it (I drove a Suburban at the time) right next to the church, then ran in. It took my mom and three other ladies to get the church door opened for me. So, yeah, it was scary. And Sis can't get it out of her head every single time she sees a cloud.

And this year, Bub has become afraid of storms as well. It could be because his guided reading group just read a book about tornadoes. (duh!) But anyway, I actually took them to see a counselor about their fears this year. And the counselor, in terms I think they "got," explained to them how worry does NOTHING to stop the events they are worried about. He had us all try to "worry" a pen from falling to the ground after it started rolling down hill.

Believe it or not, our worries didn't stop the pen from falling!

So, as we're in the season of stormy weather (and facing our fears of storms), I have been thinking about other storms in our lives. And boy, does it ever feel like I and the people around me are facing some MAJOR storms these days!

Just in the last 6 weeks, I had my ruptured appendix. Yup, I dealt with that. Then we got a contract on our house (it's been on the market for some time now)... and the people wanted to close in two weeks! And did I mention I was barely post-op? So, OTHER PEOPLE (not me) started packing our house up. Then (long story short), the people backed out. So we had to UNPACK. In our own house. Then I contracted a bacterial infection that made me contagious (from being on antibiotics for so long). And I couldn't touch my family for 2 weeks (this was while we were unpacking, so OTHER PEOPLE did that, too). That's been my storm...

And others' storms:

There are marital storms going on around me

There are MAJOR health-related storms going on with those I love

And financial storms

And spiritual storms

Relationship storms

Family storms

BOOM! CRACK! The thunder & lightning of these storms are all around.

It can be so discouraging.

Except...

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

and

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:7-9

and

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalms 73:26

As discouraged as I've been lately (and I HAVE been discouraged), I'm comforted to remember that God's in control. And He's not surprised AT ALL about any of these storms. And not only that... He's got my back!

By that, I mean that I FIRMLY believe that God sees the Big Picture that I'm not able to see right now. Even looking back over the last few months, I can still see His light shining through some of these storms. While there are marital storms going on, I've seen marriages restored. While there are health storms going on, I've seen (and experienced) God's peace. When I have felt alone and afraid, God's sent some people along who really, really have comforted me.

So, while the storms are still there... I'm still choosing to NOT worry, and instead, praise my Creator, who can carry me through this and any storm.

Weekend Snippets

How was your weekend? Mine was great! I was finally out among the living (not sick anymore! THAT'S another post for another time!), so I had lots and lots of fun social time.

Friday night, Don and I went out to dinner with our friends T&J for T's birthday. I wore a new necklace AND I curled my hair! :) I'd say I was excited to get out!

Saturday was spent cleaning house, folding laundry, planting flowers, graduation parties, and THEN Don and I (see a theme? Two nights in a row, I had a semi-date with my hubby!) went to some MMA fights with some friends. Yup, the ultimate fighting. Gruesome and violent sport that it is... it's AWESOME! :) It was too dark at the fights for pictures, so I made Don take a self-portrait on my phone of us when we got home.

Yesterday was Mother's Day. I had the privilege to not only be with my children, but to see both my grandmothers, and hang out with my mom (& the rest of my family), my grandma, and my mother-in-law all afternoon. I loved the day... lots of laughing and eating. Oh, and game playing. My niece, Little Sissy, decided that we should ALL play Duck, Duck, Goose... so we did... even my Grandma. I don't believe I've laughed that hard in a long time! :) I also downloaded a new app on my phone (Hipstamatic), so I played with it for some of these pictures...

My Sister, Elissa, and Sis...

Bub

My grandma, my mom, and the sisters

My dad and Little Sissy, my niece

My grandma and Little Buddy, sporting his new robe

My Bub

Another group shot...

Happy Mother's Day!