Not too tiny dancer …

#2 had her spring dance recital last week.  They performed six shows of the ballet Alice in Wonderland between Thursday night  and Sunday afternoon.  #2 had five dances to perform at each of the shows: bumblebees, looking glass, poppies, “tap dancing cards”, and hours.  There were lots and lots of costume changes backstage.  Each of the performances was preceded by a warm up class held at Johnson Hall on the Winthrop Campus.

The classical dance training has helped #2 with poise and grace, which judging from all appearances otherwise could be a challenge.  She has worked incredibly hard this year on technique.  We were amazed at the number of dances, and the difficulty of some of the choreography that she was able to keep straight … especially since she missed all but the first rehearsal due to illness.  We aren’t promoting a career in the professional dance world, but are glad that she has found something she at which she excels and enjoys.  We are promoting hard work, discipline, and cooperation … all of which the dance instructor requires too.

After Sunday's matinee holding the flowers from G & G.

… and now she’s already talking about next winter’s Nutcracker.

“I didn’t know they made them that big?”

Me: “#1, would you please go pick up the Crocs Grandma got you?”
#1: “Okay.”
#2: “I didn’t know they made those THAT big. Huh.”
Me: “Well, they’re not so much Crocs as they are two small fiberglass water crafts fashioned by Grandpa to look like Crocs.”
#2: “Really?”
Me: “Seriously.”
#1: “Aha … Ha ha … Aha ..ha ha ha. Very funny, Mom.”

:-)

Summer Reading List ’11

Despite the fact that summer is officially several (five) weeks away, I’ve planned my slightly overly ambitious summer reading list.  It contains some new material, some classics and an old favorite.  I am hoping to make it through the stack before the end of August.  If you know what a typical day here entails for the family of six, one-room school house, that doubles as an organic mini-farm in the summer … you won’t be at all surprised if I am still at the top of the stack as the calendar turns over to September.  :-)

The Summer 2011 Stack

So, what’s in the Summer Stack 2011?

  • Watership Down, by Richard Adams   #1 will be reading this for a literature analysis during the 2011-12 school year.
  • The Ministry of Motherhood, by Sally Clarkson  This is the one I started today.  I won’t be reading this in order.  I’ve read others of Sally Clarkson’s books and am looking forward to this one.
  • A Girl of the Limberlost, by Gene Stratton-Porter  This was my grandfather’s favorite book growing up.  I never thought that I would actually find a copy, but the IU press printed it a few years ago because G. Porter was a native of Indiana.  I started this one last year, but I am looking forward to learning a little more about my grandfather and enjoying his favorite story.
  • Boys Should Be Boys, by Meg Meeker M.D.  Obviously this is true.  I think I bought this one to help me figure out exactly how that works … ha!  Good luck.  Never having been a boy, I feel I’m at a disadvantage here.
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Orczy  #1 will be reading this one next year too, and I’ve always wanted to read it.  So, this year … I will.
  • The Vanishing Comrade, by Ethel Cook Eliot  This is one of my all time favorite books.  My sister found a copy for me several years ago.  When we were growing up, we only had one copy in the house and it was my mom’s.  The book was written in the ’30’s, but it is a wonderful story.  I am looking forward to reading this one again and may even read it out loud to #2.  I think it’s right up her alley.
  • The Windboy,  by Ethel Cook Elliot  Imagine my surprise when I found another book by Ms. Eliot.  I bought it on the spot at the consignment store; I don’t think the previous owner even read it.  Love the picture on the front, it reminds me of passages in The Vanishing Comrade.  Looking forward to another good story from Ms. Eliot.

Local Organic Dining

Saturday night we were invited to a dear friend’s 40th birthday party. (Happy Birthday, Robin!) Her husband planned an evening at a local restaurant that is only open Monday-Saturday evenings, and serves the meals with a european family style approach.

I highly recommend Erin’s if you are looking for a unique dining experience, and still want to be able to have a conversation. The menu is generally predetermined, but everything we tried was delicious. Amazingly enough, I actually ate “greens” … because they were still green, and not the gray pile of non-descript goo that has previously been offered me under the heading “greens”.

Early in the season 2010

The ingredients for her dishes are selected from local growers, and the menus prepared based on what is available and in season.  Having maintained my own organic garden last spring and summer, I enjoyed experiementing with some recipes myself.  It was fun to see what Erin’s approach was with her dishes.  We will be going back.  :-)

Young Fan Base

So we’re riding in the car the other day and Sam decides to put his new CD into the CD player.  Now I bought the CD, so you know I’m probably okay with it … and we had been listening to “my” radio station most of the day.  He skips around and finds the song(s) he’s looking for, and then we hear this in the back seat where Sophie and Claire are sitting.

Claire: “Hey Sophie, do you like this song?  Do you know it?”

Sophie: “Yes, I like this song.”

Claire: “Me too.  I like it.  It’s Bon Jovi.  <insert big smile here>  Have a Nice Day.”  At which point Claire begins to dance, as much as one can in a car seat, like she’s at a live show.

Sophie: “So, Claire … where’d ya learn to do that.  That’s some pretty amazing dancing.”

Claire: “I had a dance party in Sam’s room while he was working.”

I’m thinking that there may not have been too much working going on that afternoon.  :-)  Ah, … the ramblings of a 3-year old.

18,691,447 seconds …

So, when I opened the laptop and it said (in five languages in the unusual text box) “You must restart your computer” … I knew I was in trouble.

I did restart the laptop, and waited. Then I got a strange and ominous flashing “file” symbol with a BIG question mark in the middle. This did not look good. So I turned the laptop off again.

I decided to remove the battery, and give ‘er another try. Thankfully, this time it worked and all is well. I did go ahead and click the “report” option on the error info screen. I laughed out loud when I read the top line of the error message going back to Apple.

“18691447 seconds since last panic attack.”

LOL!  That’s very interesting.  How does it know?  It seems like it hasn’t been THAT long (216 days), ha ha … or maybe I just have a slightly neurotic laptop.  :-)

Today’s Holiday Shopping Tip

Found this waiting for me on Facebook this morning. How did I miss this the rest of the week? Amazon is running a special promotion on line each day. There are 15 “deals of the day” offered at significantly reduced prices – each for only an hour. You can only purchase the item during the assigned hour, and you can’t see what’s coming up next. That didn’t stop me from finding a few things today. The promotion is called the golden toy box and is available on their website. Deals change at the top of the hour.

Note: As of today (12/4), you can look ahead and see what deals are coming up. You just can’t see a photo of the item until it’s listed during it’s time slot. Today seems to feature several musical items over the day.

Update: 12/4 – As an aside, the website is also featuring a day long deal of 60% of cashmere sweaters sold by & shipped from Amazon. If you spend $25 on qualifying items, you can get free shipping. All of the daily deals, and most of the sweaters listed qualify for this shipping deal. Happy Shopping!!

Cool Gift Picks

Check out the latest in gift ideas from Cool Mom Picks.  A great assortment of ideas and several discount codes too.  Click the button below. Do your shopping from the comfort of home and avoid the rain and the traffic.  Stay home to drink hot cocoa and build gingerbread houses instead.  I am ….

Holiday Gift Guide

… and it’s more quiet too.