Strictly Ballroom?

Last night was Ari's ballroom dance performance at her school.  The plan was to make cookies to take, go to ballet and then go straight to the school after.  When I dropped off Ari at ballet, she was already wearing her choir outfit, denim and a white shirt.  Great!  She's so responsible!  (You are probably wondering why Ari was wearing her choir outfit instead of her ballroom outfit.  I was not wondering that.  I was wondering if the movie Ptolemy was watching in the car would end before Golda came out of her ballet class, and also thinking about whether the cookies would still work if I got home soon to turn the oven back on, since we had to leave when they were only half cooked.)

The cookies were unfit for public consumption, so we ate them for dinner and I had to stop at the store for more cookies on the way to the performance, after already having dropped of Ari at the school and returned to ballet to get Xanthe.  Every minute counts and I didn't have store time.  That's why we got to the school while I was still pulling on Tziporah's tights, carrying Ptolemy's shoes in my arm.

Once everyone was dressed, I looked up and was surprised to see kids demonstrating ballroom dance at a choir concert.  Hmm.  All the girls were wearing skirts, too.  I couldn't find Ari because she was wearing the same outfit as all the boys: a white shirt and denim pants.  Well, this didn't bode well for Ari's Middle Child Syndrome.  I finally spotted her, shyly shuffling back and forth with a boy two feet taller than herself.  It was a cute recital.  Ari pulled both Scott and Freestone out of the audience to dance with her.  I would show you pictures, but my computer is being a baby.

After the performance, the ballroom dancers descended on the refreshment table like a pack of Cookie Monster's rabid cousins.  In the melee, I felt we were lucky to make it safely to our car.  When we got home, however, I suddenly noticed that Ptolemy wasn't there.  I called my parents to see if they had taken him home while the ENTIRE family raced back to the school to look for him.  He was sitting with two women and telling them, "I think I wost my famwee."  He later explained it like this:  "That gwill said I think I wost my famwee and she sat by me."

I don't know how we could have forgotten everyone's favorite person, but we all just left him.  I know my cousin Emily was left at a gas station in Montana, :) so being left a block away in a school surrounded on all sides by PTA moms isn't so traumatic.  But how does it sound to you that I went to an event that I thought was going to be a choir concert but wasn't, and left one of my kids there?

Once ALL seven kids were home, I left to catch the end of the Relief Society holiday dinner.  I missed the food but got there in time to completely relax and bask in some Christmas music.  My neighbor Julianne Bradshaw is in a band with for "old guys," and they are awesome!  Every piece they chose brought tears to my eyes or a smile to my face or both.  By the time I went home, the craziness of the ballroom scene was completely washed away by the spirit of Christmas.  Music has that power.  I hope to experience the same peaceful joy NEXT Thursday at Ari's choir concert.  And I will make sure that she is wearing the right outfit, and that we count heads when we leave.  We don't want anyone to get wost.