While I'm at it - pictures!

A little glimpse of our summer....

Sunset on Donner Lake, July 4, 2010

How we watch fireworks every year - over Donner Lake

6th Birthday Family Party July, 2010

Her present from her brother.  SO excited!

She wanted the same cake as last year.  I think it turned out great!  (Yes, I made it)

Danish roll lesson with my Grandma

DS took a nice picture of us!

The true test... Dad said they were perfect! He hasn't had them in years and my mom could never get them right.  DD sure loved them too!

The Cast

DD doing her solo part during "So Long, Farewell" ("I leave and heave a sigh and say Goodbye. GOOOOODDDDDD BYYYYYYEEEEEEEEE")  Aug 1, 2010

Swimming with her BFF.  My dad put the big fountain in for the girls and they had a blast!

Kid's performances

I am knee deep in the kids' performances!  It's made for a busy time this summer.  But they are doing awesome. I'm quite surprised at DD.  She can be shy, which is fine with me.  She's not immediately trusting like DS can be.  So I don't push too much when she pulls a shy routine at people she doesn't know.  Safer that way!  But put this girl in a performance and dang, she can belt it out!  Barbara, the girl who organizes all of this, introduces herself and then has the kids introduce themselves to the audience.  DD has been told that these people are old, they don't hear so well.  So I'll be damned if she doesn't get up there and proudly and loudly declare her name, that she is 6 years old and going into 1st grade.  Then her solo part in "So Long, Farewell" she belts that one out too.  It's shocked me every time! 
Today is #5 of 6 performances.  Last weekend while my grandma was still visiting I had my parents bring her down to one of the retirement homes to watch the kids.  DS did amazing during "Who's on First?"  He gets it, which is so funny and he really gets into doing his roll of Abbott.  My dad liked it so much he wants to come back and see them again so he's coming today, so is my MIL.  Initially, Barbara's mom said they would do a "Friends & Family" performance but I just think there's no time.  Barbara is literally running from one performance to another with all she has going on. 
That leads me to what I've been working on.... there's still a journalist in me somewhere and a girl who knows how to put together a tv package.  I emailed my old college friend who is now a big-time anchor on our local CBS station.  I told her about Barbara and all that she's doing with the kids and setting up the performances at the nursing & retirement homes.  She also performs in our area's Young Shakespeare troupe and next week leaves for Ashland Oregon (Or-eh-gun, not Ore-ahh-gone for those of you in the East).  She was selected as one of 20 kids from across the country to attend a Shakespeare workshop.  Pretty impressive for a 17 year old!  Anyway, I have our big camera that I'm taking to the performance today in case the news camera can't get there.  The reporter/co-anchor of my friend emailed me back and said she definitely wanted to do a story on Barbara and was hoping to send a camera to today's performance.  I am taping it for our own use and just happen to have the quality camera we do.  I told her I can provide her some footage if she needs it and it is broadcast quality.  Producing a TV show has it benefits in personal life sometimes in that my kids home videos will ROCK! hee hee hee. 
I am sure Barbara will go on to do impressive things in life.  She is a terrible babysitter - we did that ONCE last summer and it was awful.  The artistic do not always make great housekeepers.  (My house was disgusting when I got home. Thank goodness I had a few glasses of wine in me so I didn't freak out about all the food left on my kitchen counters or the paint splattered all over the chairs, table & floor.)  I can't wait to see the news story on her.  She definitely deserves some regcognition!

Update.

We're tired.
Worn out.
Sleepy.

We had a heck of a weekend and are not trying to reign in this week.  Two days in a row we've happily cancelled plans to stay home and not be so on the go.  That's unusual but that's how worn out we are!

Last week was fun.  We swam with friends on Tuesday.  DS had his golf lesson & played 9 holes with the kids in his class.  They have been practicing for their upcoming performance.  It's a community theater thing that DD decided to participate in this year too.  They go to retirement homes & nursing homes and the old people just adore seeing the little kids do just about anything.  So I'm not pushing it too hard as far as being perfect. I just want them to have fun.

Thursday DS had a real audition.  For an actual paid job for a toy company commercial.  He did well.  He's excited at the prospect.  I'm happy that there was finally an audition.  I was going to let the contract laspe with the talent agent because they just seem to harp on wanting him to take this $$$ class and that $$$ training. I get that they need to practice and keep up with training but the $$$ just isn't there for us to do it right now.  We'll see what comes of the audition.  I was very pleased with his performance though!

Friday we took the boat to the lake.  We met up with friends who have a cabin there.   FG had the funniest line of the weekend.... while nervously watching two of his children get on our boat, the BIL of my friend asked FG a ? about the kids going on the tube or something.  FG, completely normally says, "Yeah we've got it. We've been doing this for 2 weeks now."  O.M.G.  I about died seeing the guy's face!  Poor guy!!!  Needless to say, he hoped onto our boat fast because his kids were already on there.  We finally put him out of his misery when we explained that we've had the boat for several years and we knew what we were doing.  His kids, who had never been on a boat and certainly not a tube behind the boat, LOVED it!  They asked to go again and wanted to go faster.  Another highlight of the trip, DS fell off the tube going over some bumps.  Now, this could have gone two ways.  He could have come up swearing his little head off at us, because naturally, it would have been our fault (as a parent, isn't it always?) or he could have come up and realized that was kinda fun.  THANK GOD the latter happened and he came up shouting "That was AWESOME!"  whew!  My little fearful guy who does not like cold water enjoyed it!  And he's the only kid who fell off the tube the whole day so that was a bonus. I always get nervous we're gonna make our friends pissed off at us because their kid gets dumped in the lake.  I have got to remember to take a camera sometime too.  We have so few pictures of our boat time!

Saturday I had to work.  Slowest. Day. Ever.  I cleaned shelves. I hate cleaning shelves.  Next time you are in a toystore or even Target, look at the shelves of toys and imagine having to take the product off and clean everything.  ugh. I'd rather be super busy with customers.  The only people we did have in the store were super-needy too.  So I was either cleaning shelves or trying to find the exact right thing for someone who shot down the first 300 things I suggested.  I don't mind helping people but a little info from them is nice, like what age they are looking for, if they don't like puzzles/messy things/art kits.... how much they want to spend so I don't recommend the $40 toy when they want to spend $15.

Bonus part of Saturday... two actually... my mom wanted the kids so FG took them out there to swim, watch a movie and enjoy time with their grandparents.  FG and I did a lot of driving in two different directions that afternoon.  One to pick up new chairs for our on-location shoots and two to visit friends camping.  We crashed their dinner (I made & brought some dessert so we weren't empty handed) and enjoyed a nice kid-free evening with friends. 

Sunday I had a killer migraine.  We're talking dark room, pillow over the head, didn't care what the kids were doing migraine.  I managed to kick it and just deal with the "migraine hangover" just in time to leave to visit OTHER friends at the lake where we watch the fireworks.  We picked up our bucket of chicken and piled everyone and everything into the Mini (easy to find a parking spot!).  On the way home, I think FG was about to have a breakdown.  All the driving we had done, the little sleep we had gotten... all of it just hit him and he was DONE.

Monday we planned to take the boat out again and I woke up at 8 and told FG, nope, don't wanna go!  He, who normally is up & going well before me on "Boat Days", rolled over and said, "Uh humph guh." which I think meant, "me either".  No one in the house got out of bed until after 10 am. 

Today I nixed taking DS for golf and DD swimming.  I have to work, they are happy making a mess in their rooms and hanging at home for awhile.  My wonderful friend offered to take them for the afternoon & take them (with her boys) to play rehearsal and drop them back home so FG can come home at his normal time. 

This week, this little princess turns 6.  Wow. 

Monday rambling

Let's go with some bullets, shall we?

• I am feeling very inadequate! I realize there are 3 gazillion food blogs out there and I don't really consider mine one of them. Sure I share some recipes and show some pictures but I don't classify myself as a "food blog". But I like to read them for ideas! However, they sure do make a girl feel inadequate! I love love love to bake and cook but I look at their stuff and realize mine can be Hamburger Helper next to some of those! Slice & bake cookies from the tube! #1 problem. We don't eat enough of it! DS is so damn picky (more on a new development later!) FG and I try not to gorge ourselves on sweets. Those chocolate chip cookies I made last week? Even after sharing some with our dads, I still ended up throwing 4 cookies away. ACK! That kills me! Maybe I'll shoot for once in awhile stepping out of the basic recipe box and going for it. That's a start.
• I am loving the new kitchen. My family is loving the food!
• I've been pretty much sticking to my menu plan from last week. The only changes are that after work and DS's first REAL audition on Saturday, I didn't feel like a big meal. None of us really did. So we went out and that altered things. We'll have the stuffed chicken breasts tonight.
• I mentioned that we went out on Saturday. I was hungry for sushi even though FG and I just had it recently. DS has been asking to try it. The kid loves shrimp and now likes rice (especially with soy sauce). So we went for it. He was so excited. I was thrilled he was going to try something new. What is the first thing he tries new? A big glob of wasabi paste and no drinks to be found on the table to wash it down. Uh huh. The kid now says "I HATE wasabi!" Can't blame him. But he ate his shrimp, crab and fried tofu. He tried a piece of my crystal shrimp long roll. I was proud of him! DD wanted to try too but she just ate the shrimp and said she didn't like anything else. She stayed hungry because sushi ain't cheap!
• Last night DS also decided to finally try my pulled pork sandwiches and the potato pancakes. He asked for seconds! I've made both of these several times and every time he has turned up his nose at it. I finally told him that the meat is just like ribs but with no bone and the sauce is bbq sauce. I didn't tell him it's my own homemade bbq sauce though. I let him douse the potato pancake with applesauce (because really, who the heck cares! It's APPLESAUCE with no sugar, pile it on kid!). He gobbled it down and requested another immediately. Yay for him finally trying new things AND eating a lot!
• He also had two helpings of the chow mein I made. Don't ask me for a recipe. I have no idea what I did and if I'll be able to do it again. Dang.
• DS is frustrated because his younger sister weighs more than he does. There is a 3 1/2 year age difference. Oops!
• DS also had his first REAL audition on Saturday. Now we wait and see. I am nervous. I think it would be awesome for him to get a part but right now he's got a nasty snaggle tooth. I fear that will keep him out of the running.
• I need to get the kid to a dentist. It is soooo expensive without insurance. Insurance is sooo expensive in itself and as far as dental, not really worth paying it! But I have to find something for this kid and get his tooth pulled. The adult tooth is coming in in front of it and going forward. We even traumatized the poor kid and tried to get it out ourselves this weekend. Didn't work. I have to find a way to pay to have it done. I fear the bill and the terror for DS.
• It's been hot here. Now we will have a 30+ degree drop in daytime temps. So fun to go from shorts & sandals and 95 degree temps to 58 - 68 degree temps in the span of 2 days. Yes, yesterday we were swimming in my parent's pool and Wednesday we'll be in sweatshirts and long pants. Today, mid 80's, tomorrow, upper 60's. Lovely.
• The weather makes me want to make soup. Any favorite recipes that don't involve carrots, mushrooms or tomatoes? Please, pass them my way!

Whew!

Goodness. See what my silly mind does to me?!
I was right all along.... she has another kid who is a bit older and has the same name as my son (it's not an extremely common name).
He liked his class ok. He did well. It's every Saturday for several weeks for only an hour. That's just a bit too short to drop him off and come home so I sat in the car and waited.
I'm just glad it wasn't him right now. I'm just not prepared for that possibility yet.

How my day started out with torture

DS lost a front tooth at school the other day. It makes his sweet little face look funny!

FG got a Mini Cooper. Did I mention that already? It's fun! DS loooovvvves cars and he's been in love with Mini's for awhile. He loves to go on their website and design his own. So when FG got a Mini, DS was so obsessed he would go out in the garage and just stare at it. freaky.
Today there's a "Mini Rally" at a little cute mountain town less than 2 hours of winding 2-lane road away from us. FG planned to go and take DS for the afternoon (after his golf tournament of course). We haven't told DS because he would be so excited.
Then I realized last night that DS starts his acting class today with his casting agent. Damn bad timing. There's only 1 Mini Rally a year. shit.
But I've been trying to teach DS about COMMITTMENT and when you say you are going to do something, you follow through. So blowing off a class he's committed to taking in order to further his acting skills because it's something HE really wants to persue isn't exactly a shining example of committment.
I called his agent's office this morning because I realized I hadn't heard any confirmation on the class. Maybe it was cancelled. Maybe they didn't have him signed up and it was full. I held onto a tiny glimmer that maybe we could find a valid excuse to blow off the committment and do the fun stuff. Nice huh?
His agent happened to answer the phone instead of one of the staff. I was kind thrown off. So I identify myself and ask about the class. She says it's on and yes, they are expecting him. OHHKAAYY, that answers that one.
THEN she tells me, "I needed to tell you something because I was talking to an agent about him so we need to talk. Except I'm in the middle of a makeup shoot so I can't right now." Uhhh, ok what the hell do I do with that?!.
I'm sitting here thinking maybe she is speaking of the wrong kid. Maybe she mispoke. HOLY SHIT she is the only agent in our town so she must mean somewhere else and what the hell does this mean for him and us and oh my God what are we going to do is he really going to do a movie or a tv show or what the FUCK?!
Thus is my torture. I am not a "I've got something important to tell you later" kind of person. I do not wait well. My mind goes all over the place and I freak out.
I'll let you know. Right now I must go keep busy until it's time for his class and continually remind myself he's never actually done anything except his plays so the likihood of anything major is really minute. It's nothing, I'm sure of it.