An Evening at the Opera

One of the great things about Ginger's 3rd grade teacher this year is that she's affiliated with our state's youth opera program. As a result, every year her class writes and performs an opera. Perfect for Ginger the music lover.


The kids wrote the entire opera and made the scenery, with just a bit of assistance from some specialists. The title of the opera was "The Video Game"-- it was about some kids who are playing a video game too much and get sucked into the game. They manage to escape in the end, but come to the conclusion that playing video games too much isn't a good idea. Ginger was one of the narrators. 


I hate to say that I didn't get any pictures of the entire stage of performers and set-- I got stuck up front with only my telephoto lens. But, here's what I managed to capture.

I have to admit, I teared up a little. It was just so much better than I expected. Seriously, it was great, and what a fabulous experience for Ginger to have! Way to go, Ginger!

Right On Track

Ginger is giving track a go this spring. I am a firm believer in introducing kids to as many activities as possible early on-- that way they don't focus on just one thing too early, and if they do eventually decide to do so I won't feel as though they are making an uninformed decision. It's kind of the same reasoning behind trying to get my kids to try new foods-- they might be missing out on their new favorite food. I don't want them to miss out on their new favorite sport. 


I don't know that we'll ever be doing it again, so I made sure to take a few pictures at her last meet. Ginger's really enjoying it, though, so you never know.


One of the races Ginger ran was the 100 meter dash. It was hilarious. The gun went off and almost immediately the girl in the lane next to Ginger cut into her lane, disrupting Ginger's momentum. So I have these funny two-girls-racing-in-one-lane pictures. See?

Pretty funny, huh? I have to admit to being glad that they had to rerun the race due to the timer not registering the gun at the start. And the girl made sure to scoot over an extra lane so as to stay out of Ginger's way. I think she was afraid she might drift again.


One good thing about Ginger not being terribly fast is that it allows for unobstructed pictures for the most part (unless someone decides to share a lane, that is). I mean, she really is pretty quick, but I think that right now her concentration is all going to her form. In these photos you can see that she's really working on it. I imagine that once it becomes second nature that her speed will pick back up.

With that girl giving Ginger an extra lane between them, it's almost like she's not there. 


Almost.

Cowboy Fred

"Hey, Cowboy Fred."

"Huh?"

"I'm not Cowboy Fred."

"You're not?"

"Okay."

"Hey there Cowboy Fred."

All Big

I left the kids to their own devices while I stepped out for a few minutes yesterday. It was an experiment. A trial run. I've been doing that a bit lately-- quick runs to buy milk or go to the pharmacy at the bottom of the hill. It's looking good so far. Rophone and I might even be able to go on a quick daytime date one of these days!


Anyway, when I got back home it was to find the kids chatting and laughing together while they played games and ate a snack. No blood. No tears. It was like they were a bunch of mini-adults enjoying a game night. Quite fitting if you know my kids-- in their minds they are adults.


As was illustrated by the conversation I had with Big after I thanked the girls for baby sitting.


Big (looking shocked): "Wait... I was baby sat?"


Me: "Yeah. The girls were baby sitting while I was gone."


Big (looking at me as though I was obviously mistaken): "Baby sitting. Baby sitting me?"


Me: "Yup. Baby sitting you."


A minute or so passed with Big looking speechless and a bit disgruntled. Then, 


Big: "Mom. (He said my name so patiently and patronizingly, as though I clearly don't get it.) I wasn't being baby sat. I was baby sitting myself!" 


It reminds me of when Pen was about his age and I had to go somewhere, leaving her and Ginger with Rophone for a bit. Pen, clearly not realizing that Rophone was home, started reassuring me that she would take great care of her sister while I was gone. That she would be a great baby sitter. As though it was totally normal for me to leave a 3 year old in charge. Not surprisingly, she was quite disappointed to learn that she wasn't actually going to be baby sitting.


Yep. A bunch of mini-adults. 


(Just in case you're wondering... no, they don't always respond to being parented very well. They are my equals, you see.) 


The kids are most certain that they are pretty much always right. Take this morning for instance-- I was getting Big dressed when he started to sing his favorite song, 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz--


Big: "...look into your heart and you'll find glove, glove, glove.."


Me: "Are you sure it's glove? Do you think he might be singing about love, not gloves?"


Big (hums the tune, obviously singing the words in his head): "Nope. It's glove."


No arguing with that kind of certainty. 


Before putting the boys to bed tonight we knelt down for family prayer. As the prayer was being said, Big suddenly announced,


"I'm going into pigeon mode!"


Now I'm just confused. I don't know any other adult, mini or otherwise, who would say a thing like that. 

The Binky Fairy Is Insane

And brilliant! Seriously. I never in a million years would have thought that the Binky Fairy would bring Big a 4-wheel drive truck, but he did.


See?

It's such an insane thing to trade for binkies but, considering that Big asks for a 4-wheel drive truck just about every day, it was just the right thing. It isn't the real truck he was hoping for, but it will have to do.


The Binky Fairy knew that there was no way Big would risk throwing a tantrum about his binkies at bedtime for fear of losing the truck in a trade-back. Big has had a little trouble settling in at night, but nothing like we expected. The truck was brilliant, I tell you. 

Never mind that I swore we'd never own such a toy for the children. Sacrifices have to be made at times, you know. Plus, it's not like I'm the one who got it-- that was all the Binky Fairy. So, my conscience is mostly clear (I say mostly just because I'm a guilt-ridden middle child). 

Big is just such a guy's guy. He's all about worker trucks, balls and digging. When I told him the other day that he'd be going to preschool soon he said, "I don't want to go to school. I want to drive an excavator." 


My explanation of the importance of school and how he doesn't need to skip preschool since he isn't even technically old enough to drive an excavator fell on deaf ears, I fear. We all know that he thinks age is just a number-- most certainly not a determination of what he can or should be able to do. His mind is made up.

Yup. Big is a total guy's guy.

Don't let the polish fool you.

The Hit and Run

This post really should have been before the last few posts, I suppose, but it isn't. So sue me. 


Well, please don't really sue me. I don't think I could take the stress. Thanks.


Mother's Day was truly enjoyable. Last year I did a lot of work on Mother's Day because it was Big's birthday and the year before that we were sick and I think Rophone worked... anyway, this year was just nice and low key. I relaxed. It was heavenly.


We just really enjoyed being together as a family. Well, except for the hit and run.*


Rophone and Big were playing basketball...

Bud was helping Big practice putting up three fingers for his birthday the next day...

The girls decided to play frisbee with a paper plate...

..with Ginger not realizing that she looked just as funny as Pen. (Oh, there were tons of embarrassing looking photos I could have published, but didn't. They'll thank me later.)

It was when the girls started messing about on the lawn that things started to go south...

I'm pretty sure it wasn't a pre-meditated act. 

Perhaps past unkind treatment by his sister just made something click in Bud's brain, but he definitely has determination in his eyes (and slight glee on his face) as he bears down on his goal...

The alleged culprit.

Okay, so maybe not so alleged since I have pictures of him in the act. Perhaps they'll go easy on him once they take a look at those big brown eyes. He should probably plead temporary insanity just to be safe, though, because he may have a tough time looking remorseful. I think he enjoyed every second of it. 


The harshness of his punishment will probably depend on how much damage he caused.

She looks fine enough. 


Okay, maybe not...

Just kidding. Pen's fine. And smiling. That isn't something that happens every day. 


It was truly an awesome day, and although wearing each other's shoes for the day sometimes felt like they were on the wrong feet, I could definitely get used to it.


Like some other people.

*Okay, to be truthful, it was really such a small blip on the radar that no one even got mad when it happened. I mean, that's how perfect of a day it was-- the kids just continued to play, delightfully, as if one had not just run down another with a motorcycle. This was one hit and run that didn't even make a dent. Fabulous!