New Beginnings...

No matter how hard we try, these events just get big and labor intensive.  

One cute Alice and Wonderland theme idea (specifically the Cheshire Cat "if you don't know where you are going it doesn't matter which path you take") turns into 11:00 pm hanging chandeliers in the church and making rabbit holes to crawl through.  Those weren't my contribution however...I just made the fruit cups....

brought flamingos, roses, and played the role of the Cheshire Cat.

It was the least I could do...literally (just look at the Tea Party)...the least I could do.

All of the egg-free, and gluten free foods aren't even pictured.

The night got Miriam's stamp of approval.

YOPPP!!!

 Finished my Seuss Week just as Dr. Seuss Week at the kids school begins!

It was fortunate timing that the play took place right before the school celebration so we didn't have to strike the set Saturday night and I could go eat cheesecake with my parents instead.

The cafeteria will be like Seuss-Prom for those kiddos!

6 days of frantically painting animal faces and Who-cheeks then running between the "covered courtyard" to the stage doors a dozen times, pinning fish tails, and huge feathered tails.  

So much fun!  Byron Soren and M were with me 3 of the nights which was the best part.  Watching the kids sing their hearts out...all the anticipation and big smiles with the applause.

Just. So. Much. Fun.

The clean up afterwards...hanging costumes, putting away props, general clean-up...not as fun, but I was working alone side really wonderful women.

Miriam played the part of Gertrude McFuzz.  She played the adorable nerd-bird with so much spunk and heart, she definitely won over Horton...and the crowd.  Very proud of her hard work, and courage. She had the time of her life up there on stage!

The boys were Jungle Animals, and although practices became tedious they hung in there with me. They were darling leopards with lots of spirit! Proud of these guys perseverance and courage as well!

Stage Mom's view of Seuss....

Friends and family who came to see.

The principal was the surprise elephant bird for the first 2 shows, then the director Bri took the job but for the last show we surprised Miriam by having me come out as the bird! Only Darin knew about this so we surprised all our family and friends as well.  

Loved working with these ladies.

And now that Seussical is over I need to turn back into a functioning adult, dealing with all the things I have put off until after Seuss....blah.

It's Sunday night and I am breathing easy. Monday the madness starts again so until then I am enjoying the peace.

Last week we survived daily Seussical dress rehearsals...

and nightly history fair practices that ended on Friday afternoon with the competition. 

No results as of yet...

Darin and I + some friends snuck in a quick Saturday morning bike ride. The kids thought I looked like my Dad and/or Uncle Mark. I value comfort over fashion any day...if I look like a man so be it.  

(this photo doesn't even show my army green pants and bright blue and pink shoes, I think I am going to claim eccentric as my fashion statement)

We had frantic morning piano practices all week getting songs perfected and memorized for a Saturday afternoon recital.

This was Byron's first parent recital and although he said (many times over and over) he didn't want to do it, he did a fabulous job introducing himself, remembering the bow...not to mention the 4 songs he played great! 

Both kids did a fantastic job.

Saturday evening friends invited us over to their annual potluck Chinese New Year party.  

Weekend #2 of yummy fat noodles + homemade potstickers and egg rolls.

I don't serve Chinese food very often and certainly don't make it from scratch so this was a treat.

We are excited for the upcoming performance week and the chance to have family come visit!

Heart and Kisses Month

I have let some balls drop this month.  Just when I start to think I am all efficient and smooth a birthday, extra play practice, and history fair come due and I am missing my Gymbuck dates, and free calendar offers (on a calendar I spent so much time making on Shutterfly...boo) 

New Years resolution...write EVERYTHING down in my calendar and check it daily. I swear my brain just doesn't hold as much as it use to.

Miriam and her friend Viv have been working so stinkin' dang hard on their history fair play.  So hard, that Miriam has missed 2 weeks of ski group to finish the script, learn a song on the ukulele, and create props.  In everything but the props they were 100% on their own. As for the props/set, the parents took the girls grand ideas and brought them down to a manageable level.  The girls drew pictures of what they wanted (or printed an image from the internet) the dads set up a projector so they could enlarge and trace their work onto painters drop cloth canvas.  It took 2 - 12 year olds, 2 dads,  2 moms making treats and an 8 year old to finish them before midnight.

The girls were so happy with how they turned out.  They have been working ever since to be able to get the scenes set up in the 5 min time allotment before their performance.

The competition is THIS Friday (which is also the dress rehearsal for Seussical).

Byron and Soren's Chinese classes are getting ready for the big Year of the Monkey New Years Celebration. Unfortunately, the night of their performance is opening night of Seussical so they won't be able to perform with their classes (February is dreadfully over scheduled).  I wanted to make sure the boys still got some semblance of a cultural celebration so we invited some friends to Boba World on Friday night. All the kids ordered in Chinese so they can get extra credit in their Chinese class.

We left up Miriam's Beehive welcome because it fit right into Valentines week.

We loved getting this julehjerter in the mail from Darin's parents.  I especially love it because I remember making paper versions of them at my Dad's mission reunions as a little girl. My family made them a few other times at primary activities and such, but I don't think my kids have ever made them. I need to rectify that soon!

Sneaky secret valentines were delivered throughout the week. I love how the kids took advantage of school treats and crafts to think of each other. The boys helped me make baked cinnamon french toast with berries for breakfast.  They so love to help in the kitchen, I need to make more time for that.

Luckily Darin and I drew each others names in the drawing.  That made it nice since we both wanted the same thing...dinner out together.

So we made that happen,

and then Darin let me take a nap while he played board games with the kids AND he did over an hour of yoga with me. Thats pretty much sums up my perfect day, so yeah, pretty killer Valentines weekend!

The "12 is a pretty big deal" Party

Thats what Miriam told me..."12 is a pretty big deal" and it feels like that is true.  This is the last year Miriam will be with the group of Spectrum girls she has been with for the last 4 years...they all head off to different jr. highs next year!  Because of that, Miriam asked if she could invite the whole female side of her school class to her party.  We added in her other closest neighborhood friends and ended up with 15 girls in the basement last night!

We settled in on a game night theme and it turned out fantastic! The girls all participated, and were kind and inclusive to everyone. There was lots of laughter, funny banter back and forth and spontaneous group singing....the closest thing to a real life musical I have ever seen.

We divided the group into 2, survivor style (closing your eyes and picking a starburst..rather than a buff).  They switched off making memory wire bracelets and playing UNO Dare/Spoons.

Then we combined into one big group for the dice gift swamp game. I bought 15 different little take home gifts; lotion, sparkly hand sanitizer, water flavoring, mini chalk boards, glitter pens...stuff like that they opened and then had taken away when someone rolled doubles.  Miriam and I were worried there might be hurt feelings when gifts got switched but everyone was a good sport and generally pretty happy with whatever they ended up with...the swapping was a hoot!

2 Rounds of Werewolf which is Miriam's favorite party game.

It's hard to keep that game rolling with chatty girls but they got 2 solid rounds in before we had to move on to the Krispy Kreme donut cake and gifts.

Then it was crazy party time till everyone got picked up!

We played reverse charades and then the girls played some game I have never heard of which involved squealing with laughter every few sec.  I was greeting parents and rounding up coats and shoes at this point so I didn't see what the excitement was all about.

I just have to stop and be so grateful for Miriam's friends.  For the most part they are low maintenance fun to be around girls! They take school seriously, they are active, they love fun and adventure more than being noticed by boys (although I did overhear a bit of that...).  No makeup or high fashion, no drama, no leaving people out or being "kardashianesk" in behavior.  So nice. 

If this is 12, I will take it and hold on for dear life.

12

Oh this girl has grown too much this year!  I usually look forward to the next phase in my kids life with some anticipation and excitement but, 4th-8th grade were a hugely awkward time for me.  I had plenty of wonderful moments (the best being when Mark was born...the high point of my adolescence), but there are so many memories of feeling uncomfortable in my body.  I felt huge, but desperately wanted to shrink from view.  Luckily I had a very loving family (my mom especially pulled me through) and crazy fun friends. I try not project my experience on Miriam, but those uncomfortable memories linger in the back of my memory.  Hopefully I can be for Miriam the lifeline that my mom was to me if it does turn out to be as tough for her as it was for me.  And hopefully she has crazy fun friends that help the awkward moments fade away.

 However....so far so good with M!  I can tell she sometimes feels unsure and uncomfortable, there have been unexplainable tears and back-talk, but she seems to be doing this pre-teen stuff with far more ease and grace than her mom.  Miriam is just slightly shorter than I am at the moment, and we now wear the same shoe size, which is so nice...hope that doesn't change.  It probably will though, I don't think she is destine to stop at 5'2". (I could be wrong and often am).  She is still anxious, and contentious.  She is intense and fun and has a huge heart that pours out of her eyes multiple times a week. Miriam is a wonderful mix of strength and sensitivity.  She honestly wants to save the world, and if she also has time to read and play with friends when she wants to, she just might do it!

Groundhog's Day 2016 started out with croissants, berries, and Nutella ganache sauce. Miriam and the boys wake up 30-45 min earlier than Darin and I these days so I had the table set waiting for them to dig in. We did the traditional gifts throughout the day thing....Miriam really digs anticipation so we try to drag it out as much as possible!

She had made Ground Hogs (or Whistle Pig's as we prefer...look it up) for her class treat the day before.  Thank heavens it's early out so this girl can do all the craft things she wants!

The hogs or pigs were put in chocolate pudding. We have done this treat before but she made them 100% on her own this time...that is a pre-teen perk. She was unsure about her new army-esk jogger pants but got so many compliments at school she was happy...mom for the win!

She requested sushi for her birthday so I brought her take-out for lunch.  She said some of the kids "yucked her yum" but she is pretty good about ignoring that kind of stuff.

Her play practice was cancelled but we still had her SEP after school.  I am so so so grateful we have haven't had to worry about Miriam and her school work.  She is really great to keep on top of things....if we can mellow out the anxiousness about making mistakes things would be perfect! 

When Darin got home we made a quick stop to Home Depot for History Fair prop supplies.

Then Arella for brick oven pizza, 

and zeppoles for dessert.

Miriam was greeted with some Beehive cuteness when we got home.

This birthday is put on hold until Friday when she has her friend party.