SNOW!

School is cancelled today because we got about 6 inches of snow. It's still falling now, too. And blowing. Our huskey is in snow dog heaven!! She loves the snow!

Alison left last night for Florida w/ Thornton's brother and his family. They asked if Alison wanted to go down a few days early and she jumped at the chance. I miss her already! She would have loved this snow and would've been outside playing in it all day. Ah well...sunny Florida will be nice too, I'm sure! :-)

I guess Rachel didn't get a part in The King and I. They were supposed to call last night, but we didn't get a call. She's really cool about it. She knows she did awesome!

Sit Still!!

I took Rachel and Alison to see Springfield Ballet Company's "Cinderella". It was a great performance. But...Alison can not sit still to save her life. It is so frustrating to see all these little girls who are so well behaved, while I sit there saying, "sit still...stop kicking the seat...keep your legs still" the whole dang time. And after every show I take her to I tell her that I won't be taking her to any more shows, and yet I always do. I really want her to be exposed to the arts, but it's killing me...it really is!

At the call backs yesterday, they sang again, did a little scene w/ the King and then cut the group again down to 20 kids. Rachel made that cut! Then they lined the kids up by height and just stared at them for close to 20 minutes. It was so unnerving to have these directors just staring down these kids and then talking and whispering amongst themselves. Thornton said that at least Rach made it that far on talent. Beyond that, they are just looking for whatever "look" they want...and there's nothing you can do about that. She should hear tomorrow night if she got a part.

Callback

Rachel auditioned this morning for our local Summer outdoor theater. She did great! She got a callback for The King and I, so we go back at 2:30 for that. Thankfully she was in the first group of 50 kids to audition, because when we left at 10:30 (after getting there at 7:45), they were up to 288 kids who were wanting to audition!

Green

Well, it's St. Patrick's Day and I don't own anything green. Actually, I have a limish green shirt, but it's in the wash and I didn't feel like doing the load just so I could wear it. Alison, however, was absolutely not going to school today unless she had green on. So, she's wearing a green t-shirt with a green sweatshirt over it and jeans w/ green stitching. Patrick, had his St. Patrick's Day shirt on from Old Navy. I really want to make a shirt for him some year that says "St. Me Day", because that's what he used to call it when he was little. Rachel didn't care about wearing green, so I'm sure she'll get pinched.

Rachel is auditioning for our local summer outdoor theater (The Muni) tomorrow. Last year she got call backs for 2 shows, but didn't end up getting one of the few parts for children. This year they are doing 2 shows that have lots of girls in them (Annie Warbucks, the sequal to Annie, and The King and I), so I hope she has a shot of getting cast. She's got an awesome singing voice and can dance, so that seems promising. Keep her in your thoughts!

BLARGH!

Good grief...I typed out a whole post earlier this morning and just before I hit Publish Post, the power here flickered on and off. I lost the whole dang thing! Meanwhile, I ran to the store and I have completely forgotten what I even was typing about. I've wracked my brain and I cannot think of it. I thought I'd at least be able to remember the title, but, nope...I can't. I'm not that old...really I'm not. But, I sure can't remember stuff.

This morning I was confusing David Crowder (a Christian singer) with Dave Matthews (not a Christian singer...lol). Thornton thought I'd lost my mind.

Ah well...maybe I'll remember what I was going to say and I'll type it out again later.

Test anxiety

The kids are all taking their ISAT tests this week and next. These are the standardized tests all Illinois kids have to take. Apparently funding for the school is somehow based of of performance. Plus there's the whole "No child left behind" Act thing of the Presidents. Either way, all I know is that they really freak these poor kids out about these tests. We had to take standardized tests as a kid, but they didn't make such a big deal about them. Now the kids have sessions geared towards helping them learn how to be a better test taker. Patrick's school even had a pep rally of sorts about the tests. Rachel was in charge of bringing in plastic cups because her teacher read that studies show drinking a bit of apple juice before each test raises test scores by 10%. They let them chew gum during the tests because that has been shown to raise test scores. Thankfully all our kids do well on tests, but I really want my children to know that they are more than a test score. I worry that we're overly worrying these kids. Rachel has night terrors when she's stressed. I'm sure it's no coincidence that she's had 2 in the past few nights.

Rachel had her 10 year old check up yesterday. She grew 4 1/2 inches and gained 3 pounds since last year. She's now 4' 10" tall!! I told her I could gain 3 pounds in a day, let alone in a year!!

Amazingly lucky

We had terrible storms blow through the area last night. Springfield, which is just 5 miles north of us, sustained terrible wind damage. Lots of businesses and houses are completely destroyed. In our town, the sirens went off 3 separate times, yet we had absolutely no damage. We are so lucky. It's really scary to see the devastation in Springfield. We're still checking on many friends of ours. So far, some have some damage, but no one has been hurt.

School is cancelled for today, due to all the widespread damage.

5 inches??

Patrick had his yearly physical yesterday. He grew 5 inches since last year!! He'd grown 3 inches the year before, so that's 8 inches in 2 years!! The doctor said he's on track to be over 6 foot. He had to get the meningitis vaccination, which I honestly didn't even know about. I told him that he wouldn't get a shot. When the doctor told him he needed a shot, he looked at me like I had lied to him. Even the doctor explained to him that it was new and I didn't know about it. So, Patrick sat in the room all nervous for the 10 minutes it took for the nurse to come in with the shot. He *really* doesn't like shots. The nurse told him to look at me, count to 10 and it would be over. He didn't even get to 2, and the nurse said, "all done". Patrick said, "Really?? I didn't feel anything at all!!" He practically kissed the nurse, he was so happy! He told her that he was always going to ask for her to give him his shots.

Ducky love

There is a small pond across the street from our house. It seems like more and more ducks and geese make this pond home each year. Springtime is, of course, duck mating season. Normally there are far more male ducks than female. These ducks literally accost the poor female ducks...it's quite a violent scent. This year, however, I've noticed that there are many more female ducks. In fact, several of the males and females appear to be paired off. So, my hope is that all the ducks will find a mate on their own and won't have to resort to the violence of past springs. A girl can hope, right?

Rain

It's raining. That causes big problems in my life. You see, our dog doesn't like the rain. So, she doesn't want to go out to go to the bathroom. Of course, I'm not crazy about taking her out in the rain either, but since it's a necessity, I do it. We both better get used to it since it's supposed to rain the rest of the week and through the weekend. That also means the kids won't be able to go outside to play....blech.

Better go get to work!

Amazing Race

I love The Amazing Race, but I decided yesterday while watching what a joke it would be if Thornton and I were to go on that show. We'd laugh the whole say through it! We're pretty lame at navigating around places we're not familiar with. When we were in Boston w/ the kids, we got lost so many times that the minute we'd get in the van, while we were still in the parking lot, the kids would ask, "are we lost?" Funny kids. Then this morning, Thornton and I took our cars up to the gas station to fill up. I'm driving my FIL's car since we still haven't bought another car. I pulled up to the pump, got out, and realized that the little door (I'm sure it has a name...but I'm drawing a blank) was on the other side. I got back in the car and drove around to the other side of the pump, got out and realized that I hadn't accomplished anything...the little door was still on the other side. At this point, Thornton is laughing his head off at me. So, I get back in the car, finally pull up to the pump on the correct side, hop out, go to the pump, only to realize that you have to hit the lever inside the car to open the little door. I'm in a full on laugh by this point, too. I go back, hit the lever and am relieved that Thornton then took over and pumped my gas. So, yeah...can you imagine us on The Amazing Race? We'd be the first contestants ever to not arrive at the Pit Stop.

"Those children"

This morning I was rushing to get the kids out the door for school. Alison was ready, standing at the front door in her coat w/ her backpack on her back. Patrick then yells, "wait...I have to put my contacts in" and Rachel says, "I can't find my shoes!" Alison just looked at me and deadpanned, "those children". I about wet my pants laughing. She's so cute.

Of course, she's also such a handful. It was watch week at Rachel's dance school. Thornton had a meeting at church, so Alison and I were watching Rachel's pointe class. Alison could not sit still. Ugh...it ended up being such a long class trying to deal w/ her when I just wanted to watch Rach. I'm so pleased w/ Rachel's progress in dance. She's so beautiful!

I just heard about Dana Reeves passing away. That's so sad. Some families just seem to have to deal w/ far more than their share of tragedy and grief. I pray for comfort for her and Christopher's son and the rest of their family.

Carded!

I just got back from the grocery store. I had to buy a bottle of wine for a book signing event I'm going to tonight. I got carded! Ummm....I'm 38! Honestly, I don't know whether to be flattered or annoyed that I look like a kid. I'll go w/ flattered!

Our cat is obsessed w/ packing peanuts. Of course, I have a plethora of packing peanuts in my house due to all the shipping I do (and receive). It's so funny, because the peanuts stick to the cat's fur....he's so adorable!

Oscars

So, here were are again...the Oscars are tonight. And, yes, once again, I haven't seen any of the movies nominated. I'm just not a big movie buff. I do like watching the awards, though...and of course enjoy the red carpet stuff before hand. Gotta love the "what were they thinking?" dresses!

Went to church today. Two of the praise songs we sung were written by Thornton...that's SO cool!! He is such a talented man and I think more people need to hear his music. Hopefully he will get a CD recorded sometime soon. After church Patrick and Rachel each went to a friend's house, so Thornton and I had Alison to ourselves. We went to breakfast and then she said she wanted to go to the park. Ummmm....it's 35 degrees and raining out! So, no...we didn't go to the park! The rain stopped a little while ago, so she and her friend went out moss hunting again.

Her father's child

Alison had a book fair at school yesterday. I sent her w/ $15 and a written note that she was only to buy books, not posters or trinkets. She came home w/ 2 books. One of them was decent. The other was "101 things you can do to gross people out", subtitled "Things your parents will barely approve of". It came complete w/ a miniature (yet completely functional) whoopie cushion. Yes, she is most certainly Thornton's child through and through. Why the school had this book available for purchase by a 6 year old is beyond me. It is completely inappropriate and full of jokes that I would never let her repeat. So, sadly, the book is going back on Monday and she will get to pick something else. OK...I'll admit, you gotta smile at a kid who would pick that book...don't you?

Patrick had a sleep over last night for a friend's 13th birthday. Alison has a skating party today to go to. Birthday parties are expensive! Maybe I should wish for unpopular kids! HA!

TV for Dummies

This morning Thornton was laughing at this piece of paper on which Rachel had written the direction for how to work the On Demand portion of our cable remote. He said, "isn't that cute...Rachel wrote out directions for Alison". I said, "yeah, it's cute, but those directions were for me!" Technologically advanced I am not!

We went to pick up Patrick's new contact lenses today and to pay for Thornton and Rachel's new glasses, along w/ my new contacts. Grand total? $640. Cough.

What are the chances?

Yesterday I wrote about trying to remember the title of Aaron Copland's work "Appalacian Spring". Well, get this.....last night I went to pick up Rachel from ballet and they were working on their new recital piece. The music they are dancing to is "Tis a Gift to Be Simple", which is from "Appalacian Spring"! What are the chances of that? I sat in the lobby just smiling from ear to ear!

deep recesses of my brain

It's so strange how the brain works. I designed this great new scent that combines fresh fruit notes (apples, pears and grapefruit) with fresh air accords. I *knew* what I wanted to name it, but I couldn't think of what it was. Does that make any sense? I remember being on a High School church retreat at Camp Stronghold. I remember all of lying in the dark listening to a piece of music. We were supposed to listen to the music and come up with imagery that the music invoked. All I could remember was how much I loved that music. I was wracking my brain last night trying to come up with the name of the piece of music. Finally I remembered it was by Aaron Copeland (who I love...so I should've been able to remember the music!). My brain was just refusing to let me remember the title. I knew I could look it up on the internet, but I felt like I'd be failing myself and that memory if I did that. So, finally, I woke up this morning with the title: "Appalacian Spring"! And, it *is* the perfect name for this scent!!