Another Upstager

 With Scott and Freestone in the audience and the four girls in the recital, we had some left-overs:  Ptolemy and Tziporah.  I thought I could sneak Ptolemy into the little theater with the 500 dancers and nobody would notice.  There's a magician who does a show for the kids during the recital, so he would be thoroughly entertained from the comfort of Ari's tulle-covered lap.  When we walked into the Browning center and Ptolemy caught a glimpse of the dancers he exclaimed gleefully,  "Gwills!  Lots of gwills!"  And girls, or gwills, mean attention!  I handed Tolly to Ari and told her to keep a low profile.

The way Ari told the story later, it seemed inevitable that Ptolemy would end up onstage as the magician's assistant.  I'm sure Ari tried to keep a low profile.  See, it was during the Lost Boys dance, when every boy in the school was performing.  Ptolemy was the only boy in the magician's audience, and the magician needed a boy to help him.  He singled out Ptolemy and Ari took him onstage.  When asked what his name was, Tolly said "Chip!"  That got a laugh, so he said it again.  "Chip!  I'm Chip!  My name is Chip!"  (This Chip thing happened a couple of weeks ago.  PT suddenly assigned everybody nicknames, and he is adamant that we use them.  I'm Truffle, Scott is Skittles.)  So Chip did some tricks with hats and went back to his seat, an instant celebrity with the gwills.  Way to keep a low profile, Chip.

With Chip as the magician's assistant, I just had Tziporah.  There were plenty of "gwills" willing to take care of her, but she was nice and comfy in my arms, watching her sisters from backstage.  She didn't make a peep other than her quiet chuckles, signifying approval.  I handed her off to Ruby while I watched my class, though, in case there was anything to contend with, like someone going onstage in Crocs or a missing dancer.  These things happen.  Not this time, though, and all my daughters, dancers and friends did wonderfully.

 Look at Xanthe's little leg.  She loves to dance.  She had one hundred percent attendance this year.  In fact, she has only missed one class in her three years of dance, and that was because she had a high fever and slept for 24 hours.  She was so mad when she woke up that she had missed ballet!  She wanted to dance forever tonight, but even ballerinas have to rest...

...unless you're Ruby.  We stayed up late to watch Breaking Pointe, the Ballet West reality show.  I think Edgar Degas had it right when he painted dancers.  Quite possibly, there is nothing more beautiful.

Let It Rip! Freestone's Birthday Festivities

Freestone's birthday started with a stop at McDonald's early in the morning on the way to violin.  Since it was his birthday, he got to give his violin teacher a gift. That was fun, but oddly enough, it wasn't necessarily the thing he was looking forward to the most about his big day. There was more to come...

June 19th included a special delivery from Aunt Jennie: her famous giant birthday donut!  Thanks, Jen! 

Scott took Ptolemy and Freestone to lunch and to play at the new Farmington Station playground and fountain while the girls were at recital staging.  After lunch, it was the moment Freestone has been waiting for all year:  Boondocks!  Scott took Freestone and Henry and let them run wild while Tziporah kept him company.  Scott has all kinds of pictures on his phone, but I don't have access right now, so you'll just have to imagine two awesome boys playing mini golf, laser tag, bowling, or whatever they have at Boondocks.  Scott's only complaint was that Freestone wanted to play some game where you have a chance to win an ipad.  Try as we might to explain to him that you would have to spend a fortune to win an ipad, he was still determined that he would have the best luck in the history of the universe and earn 10,000 tickets on his first try.  Five bucks into it, Scott put his foot down.  Good thing there were other activities to try!  That night, Coco and Bill brought quite the collection of Beyblade paraphernalia in preparation for the big party the next day...

For the next day, Freestone had planned a Beyblade tournament/waterslide birthday party.  It sounded to me like a little much for one party, but it ended up being a lot of fun for the boys.  However, one kid announced that it was "the second-worst birthday party" he had ever been to because he hated Beyblades and forgot his swimsuit.  Just wow.  Normally a very polite kid, just honest.  I found him a swimsuit and after that, he wanted to stay all day.  I never heard what the final ranking was for this party, but he didn't want to leave at the end.

 Beyblades are spinning tops that "battle" each other until one stops.

 I thought the cookies looked like Beyblades, kinda, but apparently my kids have no imagination.  They didn't get it.

For the better part of the two-hour party, Ruby and I laid on the couch eating frosting or making videos of Tziporah.  The 16 boys were easy.  The party, however, had its snafus.  I'm mad I didn't get footage of the moment Henry came to me with his leg dripping blood.  I was filming Tizzy at the time, oblivious to the cries for help coming out of the gully.  I guess Henry slid down the cliff when he was hunting for a snake, got pretty banged up, and couldn't climb out.  Oh, I didn't tell you that the Beyblade-Tournament-Slip-n-Slide-Birthday party included a snake hunt?  Don't worry, the kids were armed with pocket knives and glass jars.  The snake kept getting away, though.

Anyway, the camera ran out of memory right before Henry limped in, hyperventilating and gushing blood.  After we cleaned the wounds (both legs and a gash across the chest) he felt better about the situation.  Invitations to our house should include a caveat like, "You are cautiously invited to a party.  We do have a rough idea of what we'll be doing, but circumstances are subject to change and may include sharp objects, being locked outside, snakes (probably not rattlers), steep ravines, access to messy and potentially toxic materials, expeditions outside the boundaries of the party and, if you're very lucky, wild things being brought home in jars.  There will be an adult there, but you'd have to be bleeding pretty badly to get her attention.  RSVP at your own risk."

Now doesn't that sound like a party?  You know it was a rager because it ended with me shouting, "Dallin, put down that stake and GO HOME!!"  What.  You don't have three-foot long wooden stakes at your birthday parties?  What if a vampire showed up?

Dance Videos

Golda's Virgo Dance The orchestra stops at about the two minute mark and you can see Golda goofing off backstage.

Circe's Level One Class, Cancer  
...with me in the wings barking at the girls.  The orchestra took the music waaaaay faster than our practice CD, so the girls had some counting trouble, but they did OK.  I am proud of them.  I have two hard-working classes of beautiful girls.

Xanthe's Pirate Dance
Xanthe is the first one onstage with her little broom.  She takes her role as "leader" VERY seriously.  (Read:  She is a basket case.  But not as bad as last year, so if she stays short and continues to be the first one in line all the time, we should be just fine.)

 Araceli's Dance, Scorpio
Ari comes in in the back left corner.

Golda and Ruby's Modern Dance, Shadows
It's so blurry!  Man, I'm bad at recording.

Two Days In

 Clytie speaking to the children in front of the Darling House

 Staying focused...unlike the camera

 Pirates don't smile too much...

 But constellations do, apparently

 Six of Clytie's teachers had or will have babies in 2012.  These are not your typical expectant moms.  These women have moooooves!  Marianne and Kenzie; if my girls grow up to be exactly like them, I'll be happy.

Ruby and Kate.

Aaarg?

This is darling.  Xanthe said Esmae did her hair for the recital when they were swimming.  Almost perfect!

Beautiful girl at the end of the night

Nothing perks a kid up like an opportunity to taunt a younger sibling!

The Upstager

In 2003, before I started teaching for Clytie, I was very pregnant during recital week.  The baby was due on June 26, and I knew I didn't want to have him on Golda's birthday, the 23rd.  No way!  My PLAN was to watch Golda and Ruby dance in the recital on Thursday night and go to the hospital and have the baby Friday morning.  The 21st.  My doc was on board with my plan, so what could possibly go wrong?

Uh, anything.  At any time.  Wednesday afternoon at the girls' staging rehearsal, you could have found me curled up in a fetal position on a lobby bench groaning and crying.  I went into freakin' labor, for cryin' out loud, during recital week!  Only I didn't know it then.  I just knew I was miserable, so I drove down the street to Karen's office so she could check me out.  She reassured me that if my body was telling me something, I should listen, and to come to the hospital that night if I didn't feel better.  I wanted to meet that baby, but I didn't want to miss my darling girls' ballet recital!

At home, I fell asleep on the couch in the TV room because I just couldn't hike up the stairs to bed.  Around 2:00 in the morning, I heard my grandmother Golda's voice and she said, "It's time."  Big Golda had found out I was pregnant with Freestone the night before she passed away, so I bet she was watching out for him.

When Freestone was born the next morning, the cord was looped over the back of his neck, causing him distress.  My grandma was right; any longer and he might not have made it.  Hours later, my sweet daughters danced and I didn't get to see it, but it hardly mattered.  Freestone was here!

Now, forever and always, Freestone will have to share his birthday with the ballet recital, not to mention Fathers Day and Golda's birthday the same week!  I don't think he minds, though.  He has a generous nature, a sweet spirit and a lot of determination when it comes to planning plenty of party time into the mix.  He will not be overlooked!  Of course, we should have realized that the first time he upstaged the recital.

Happy birthday, Freestone Boy.  We love you!

Ruby Said it All

Yep, it's RECITAL WEEK! (click for stories!) The first day was great, but we're ready for more!

Just a Sandwich

Everyone knows that Scott is amazing.  You know I love him, Felshaw, Bruce and all our brothers and uncles, and that they are all 100 kinds of perfect.  For Fathers Day I will tell you a story about another father whom I admire.

I remembered this man recently when we had a little incident with a lunch lady.  One of my kids acted disrespectfully and I was disappointed.  I started telling the kids about how hard it is for teachers and school workers.  One teacher came to mind and I was crying by the middle of the story, much to my kids' horror and delight.

At my junior high, we had the choice of an entree or a hot ham sandwich.  Everybody thought the sandwiches were gross and people would hurl them across the room, or just toss them in the trash.  One particular teacher was always on lunch duty and he would humbly ask students for their sandwiches.  I remember him putting them in a plastic bag.  We knew he had a ridiculous number of kids, maybe five or six, and those sandwiches went home and were eaten for dinner by all those kids.  You would think that knowledge would sober the junior high kids and make them a little more respectful of the teacher.  Unfortunately, kids that age sometimes have no regard for the feelings of others.  The teacher was ridiculed to no end for saving those sandwiches.  I can only imagine it from the teacher's point of view:  all those immature, nasty, zit-faced know-it-alls mocking him for his efforts to provide for his family.

It can't have been easy, raising a family on a teacher's salary.  I imagine this guy scrimping and budgeting, never having quite enough for food.  Certainly never having enough for the luxuries some of his students enjoyed.  Let's face it, kids who were so cavalier about throwing away good food must have lived in the land of plenty when they got home from school.

I admire a man who was willing, day after day, to be the object of derision, to put aside his pride, to humble himself before such an unworthy crowd, simply to provide for his children.  He did whatever it took, and he put food on their table.  In a world of entitlement, this teacher only asked for what others would throw away.

I hope that when he walked away from the junior high each day with his bag of sandwiches, he went home to a happy place where he was admired for his efforts.  I hope his children grew up to possess the same strength of character as their dad.  I bet they did.

Here's to all the dads who are making unnoticed sacrifices because they know what's trash and what's not, what's just a sandwich and what's much more.

Welcome to Our Cafe

It all started when Ari said it would be fun to move in downstairs with Xanthe.  Scott moved all her furniture out, including the light switch covers.  Yep, it was time to repaint.  The walls were pretty hashed, and we all needed a change.  Since Coco had bought so many cute accents for the red-black-and white Paris room, we kept the black and white and painted the shutters yellow so we could use all the same things.  I mused over colors for a few days, trying to get excited about grey.  Grey is hard; I didn't want blue, pink or purple undertones, and I didn't want to go too brown.  I think we found two colors, a light one for me and a dark one for Scott, that are pretty true to black-grey, with just red and yellow oxide in the recipe.  I'm happy; it looks so tailored and sophisticated, the rest of our house just looks silly now.  (Uh oh!)

Now that the room is empty and adorable, everyone wants to move into it!  I still have a lot more ideas for the space, (songbirds...Holland...tulips...trees...bicycles...) but for now it's our spacious cafe.  It's so fun to hang out in a new, clean, empty space.  We just need a small fridge, a black love sac and a yellow couch.  Maybe Ari can move back in someday, but she's going to have to battle everyone else for the honor.

So for the summer, we have a new hangout.  Come on over to our cafe!  This morning, we're serving bread and hot chocolate...just like in Holland.  I'm still thinking about that theme...

Pineview

If it weren't for this list of ours, we would have missed a beautiful day at Pineview Reservoir.  The kids make fun of my list and ask me why we have to do everything on the list right now.  I say why wait?  I'm really conscious of not saying, "If we can just get through this, then..."  As if our lives can start at some later date.  Not true.  This is it!  Life is not a dress rehearsal, as they say.

So we spent most of the day at a quiet little beach with Nikki, Grandma, some cousins and a little lobster with one claw.  Who knew there were little lobsters in Pineview Reservoir?  We brought a bag of sandwiches and some cheese puffs for lunch.  Grandma and Nikki brought chicken salad, croissants, a fruit salad, a cooler full of drinks and a chocolate cake.  We could have stayed for three days! 

Marlene told us stories about her youth, spent at the lake waterskiing and meeting up with friends and cousins.  She said she and her cousin Norma would hitch rides on boats, or ride on Uncle Elmer's boat.  The lake is a great way to spend a day.  Our mountains are full of wonders.

By the way, Pineview was where Scott and I got engaged in 1995.  Well, it's where Scott found out that I had the wedding date set, the temple reserved and the rest of our lives planned out.  Scott was in shock, but I knew where we were going in life.

See, I had a list.

Sitting in the shade today with Scott's mom and his little sister, it struck me how utterly thrilled I would have felt, fifteen or twenty years ago, if I had known that my future included a day at the lake, with Scott Dopp's mom and his seven kids!  All my dreams came true.  I just didn't realize back then how amazing it would all be.

The Dish

A byproduct of summertime that I hadn't thought of before is the volume of dishes in the sink increasing.  With nine people in the family, we run the dishwasher twice a day now that everyone is home more.  I could use a lot more paper plates and cups, but then we'd be taking out the trash eight times a day and I'm not OK with that.  We generate enough garbage as it is!  And it's insane how many paper cups one kid, let alone a dozen, can go through in a day.  Complete insanity.  Yes, we could write our names on the cups.  Do I want a bunch of semi-clean plastic cups sitting around with names on them all the time?  No.

So anyway, we do a lot of dishes and everyone complains.  And on an unrelated topic, I always forget to water my flowers.  So I came up with an ingenious system.  I told the kids that whoever gets up early and waters the flowers doesn't have to load or unload dishes at all that day.  Now the flowers get watered early every morning and if I ask a kid to unload the dishwasher, there are two possible responses.  One, "I watered the flowers."  Fair enough, no dishes for you.  Two, "Why me?"  To which I respond, "Because you didn't water the flowers."  You should see how empty our sink is and how healthy our flowers are!