Leaving Mindy & Raleigh's, we drove east to where Josh and Laura have a wonderful fixer-upper on 12 acres. It was the camping part of the trip! (When a Blackman girl turns 3, she gets a camping trip.) We pitched a big tent for sleeping and a little one for playing and basically enjoyed the great outdoors and the greater company. Josh & Laura will be featured in Part 3, but for this part I'll focus on my RVR friend, Rebecca, who drove down from Buffalo with her beautiful daughter, Bela, to hang out. We had so much fun! Tea parties, "journaling", exploring the property (watch your step--no indoor plumbing yet!), making dandelion crowns, and catching up. It's great to have friends with whom you just pick up where you last left off, and cousins who let you camp on their property to do so!
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Last week the girls and I headed north through PA for Amelia's birthday present from us--a trip to the country! The girls were amazing in the car (Annie soundtrack and Heidi on tape: repeatedly), and we arrived at Mindy & Raleigh's NY dairy farm by 11pm. Mindy & I were so giggly & silly when we saw each other, we put the girls in the guest room & stayed up two more hours talking and laughing.
At 4:49 a.m. Evelyn arose & said "I think I see some light in the sky, Mom!" I assured her it was NOT light yet and that she needed to go back to bed. 10 minutes later I heard Raleigh get up. How is it that Evelyn got up earlier than the dairy farmer?? I kept the lid on her for another hour & a half, then we got up & explored the farm.
What a day! Evelyn & Owen played for hours on the wrap-around front porch, we all went to the Amish salvage store (salad dressing for .10 and cereal for $1.50 a box!) and her local resource reclamation lady (Wegmans' castoffs are used well by local farmers w/children), and shared some hearty laughs around the kitchen table with Mindy's mom, Clarice (seen playing Star Wars w/Owen in the yard.) Mindy's daughter, Anneke, played her piano recital pieces for us, and we drove off as friends joined them for dinner. It was so good to be inserted into Mindy & Raleigh's farm life for one gorgeous, joy-filled day.
The Thursday after Mother's Day was our turn to host Hamiltopia, and we sang happy birthday to Amelia around a pan of brownies even though it was a couple days early. What an addiction that Hamiltopia night has become for us--comfortable fellowship and the joy of loving one another (and one another's children!) together.
On her actual birthday, Aunt Di took her out for a donut, then we had a little family party with an art and movement theme. Aunt Becky and cousin Casey brought a moonbounce and some paint, and I diluted it in spray bottles and the cousins squirted it onto sheets of art paper. (No kudos for the idea--"Real Life" magazine.) Casey & Aidan were in HEAVEN--finally another boy cousin! It was like a little present for Aidan, who shares Amelia's b-day but is a year older. He'd had his party at a park the night before!
I'll have to get pictures off Mom's camera to capture more of the group--Shelley, Aunt Lisa, aunts, uncle, and grandparents--I must have been preoccupied! I'll post later my thoughts about our little "Meme," who is, amazingly, three.
The last two weeks have been so full that things just kept slipping through the cracks right and left, including new posts. Our Mother's Day gathering here included my parents, Joan & Steve, Joan's mom Georgia, Esther, Shelley, and of course the ones who call ME "Mom." It was good--lovely weather, relaxing moments in our back yard, gardening advice from Uncle Steve, and the joy of just being together. My mother's day gift to myself was to scrub the kitchen floor the night before. I do love a clean kitchen floor! I get that from my own mom, whose house, from my earliest memory, was always clean and tidy...and that's only ONE of the things I love about her!
On the way to the Farmer's Market this morning, we pulled up next to a tricked-out hearse with windows open. The driver was covered with mostly insect-themed tattoos and facial piercings, had a big plastic spider hanging from his rear-view mirror and his steering wheel was decorated like a big web. The girls noticed this right away, of course, and I couldn't help but smile thinking how often we come across people who express themselves individualistically and run against the grain.
Seems the road to the Farmer's Market is full of these types. There was a big group of black leather-clad folks who would have been intimidating were it not for the flaming "Moped Maniacs" emblems on their jackets. (Now you know what they were riding.) We passed an elderly lady getting out of a car on which had been hand-painted an underwater mermaid scene. And, once at the market, we enjoyed the entertainment of the warm-weather musicians: old guy playing accordion and young, angst-ridden dude singing the blues and playing bass and harmonica somewhat simultaneously.
And then, as we drove home and I contemplated the self-expression and beautiful determination of individuals blazing their own trails, wouldn't you know it--we pulled up again next to that tricked-out hearse. He had NOT been going to the Farmer's Market. He was now sipping a Starbucks Frappaccino.
The girls are standing directly under some doves that nested in the underside of our back porch. They're very tolerant of our noise, but I guess they know we're not going to devour them the way the city hawks would. And look how well camouflaged that baby is! You can hardly distinguish him from the nest. It's our personal nature channel.
During a recent clean up session (I should say "training session." You know, pick up an item, hand it to a kid and say, "Please put it away.") Anyway, after all was tidied, I noticed this display. Perhaps Evelyn thought I'd mind a lot less that she'd picked the heads off two more Daffodils if Barbie was holding them in an artful arrangement.
After a week of not-so-great parental experiences, I was determined to start this week fresh. My determination was fueled by a beautiful concert I went to last night at my parents' church, which was one of their BEST. (Some people go to their kids' concerts. I am blessed to go to my parents'.) I'd like to post some more thoughts about the concert later...it was just that good.
I'm a teacher, right? And what's one of the biggest keys to success? PREPARATION. State the expectations and rewards clearly, give lots of positive encouragement, have creative content, and be ready to improvise.
So today I had a BIG agenda which did NOT include kid-centered things like a trip to the zoo or Science Center. I had flat-out errands to run, and I had to take the girls. So I went into teacher mode. I made behavior charts, with a block for each of the four stops we were going to make. I stated the expectations for each stop and said if they met those expectations they'd get a sticker in that block. 1 sticker= hugs from Mommy, 2=candy hearts, 3=Princess snacks, and 4=ice cream. Then we were off.
Stop #1, the Post Office. My prayer for a short line was answered. There was one window open, one lady at the window, and one lady in line. Perfect. Until I watched the lady at the window do what I'd never seen done before (and I've been to the Post Office a LOT)--she mailed over $1,000 worth of packages. I let the girls play "surprise me" (they "hide" beside the display and "sneak up" on me) and "snake" (they hold hands and "snake" their way around the room. This only lasts as long as there are few--and good-natured--people in the room.) With gentle reminders and re-statements of the expectations, they maintained good behavior and good moods. Hugs from Mommy!!
Stop #2 was CVS to buy a card--a breeze. Nobody was there, that was done and sticker #2 was earned. What I hadn't prepared for was in-the-car behavior, requiring improvisation. They'd earned candy hearts for 2 stickers, but Evelyn lost hers for repeatedly attacking Amelia with her blanket en route to stop #3. (Who knew that yellow blanket could be a weapon? Mothers of boys are saying, "Tina, ANYTHING can be a weapon!")
Stop #3--I can still hardly believe we did this one. My good friend Tamara, PE teacher, was a finalist in Baltimore County's Teacher of the Year search, and the awards ceremony was this morning. It was a packed room full of TV cameras (every major network & the education channel), lots of people in suits, and local politicians & celebrities. What was I thinking??? We sat in the back (of course), where Amelia enjoyed turning around and waving at the cameras and smiling while eating her bag of candy hearts. I'd brought my own (literal) bag of tricks and it is of the Lord that it lasted the length of the program--over an hour. I was even able to enjoy the inspiring speeches, which were definitely worthy of the ovations. My shining moment? When cousin Kate's mom Barbara, (who is the Director for the Office of Professional Development) hugged me and said, "I didn't even know you all were here!" The girls ate some food, hugged Aunt Tamara, and added sticker #3 to the chart.
Finally, stop #4, (doesn't THIS sound fun) the Office of Vital Records. I needed copies of both girls' birth certificates to register them for pre-school. The office is in a mall, and of course, the line was OUT THE DOOR. More improvisation. We played "I spy", "Race to the ____ and come back to Mommy," and I untied the sashes on their dresses and let them take turns "driving the horse." They played "Ring Around the Rosie" and I made up a guessing game using the cards in my wallet. I was feeling empowered by this point, and I KNEW they were going to get that ice cream. And they did. There was a Rita's in the mall, and as they sat their eating their kiddie cups, I felt like I'd just aced an observation. I also felt in love with my kids. Did I mention we did all this in the pouring rain? :)
So, five hours after leaving home, we returned, Amelia took a nap, and Evelyn helped me prepare dinner. She and I watched the Disney version of "Annie," and when Alan came home we ate our family dinner and bragged about how they earned their rewards today. After dinner we worked on the Letter E, played dollhouse, read books, and read on the Starfall website together. Sigh. I didn't do any work for my "job," but there's tomorrow, and right now I am feeling incredibly thankful!
The pictures here? They're from about 10 days ago when our cherry trees were still in full bloom. We were blissfully eating dinner on the porch swing and feeling pretty much the way I feel right now--so I thought they were a good pairing.
The challenge: design a man-powered vehicle that can move on land, deep water, sand, and mud. Give it a crazy theme, power it with people who can peddle for 15 miles over the hills & harbor of Baltimore, and enter it in the annual Kinetic Sculpture Race.
The girls and I perched this morning where the sculptures plunge into the harbor, paddle around a short pier, and try to get back out (without getting off , tipping over, being tugged, pushed, etc.) It was hilarious! While there was a lot of waiting and it may have been better for the girls if we'd stood on one of the streets and watched all the sculptures peddle past in a row, it was VERY entertaining for me. A bonus was that the spectators traditionally wear costumes, which put my kids' typical outfits in the "normal" category for the day. I dressed as--what else?--a cowgirl.
Check out the Star Trek sculpture peddling out as the one titled (my apologies) "Go to Hell" plunges in. They both made it out. Others were not so lucky. During all the waiting prior to the sculptures' arrival, I was grateful that they started playing music (albeit "Love Shack.") A lady came around handing out smiles-on-a-stick, and one of the cyclists tossed atomic fireballs (still my favorite hard candy) into the sea of spectators. There was a dance sequence prior to the plunging of the "Rocky Horror Picture Shoe" (a gigantic high heel), and the girls' favorite, Fifi the enormous pink poodle (which we photographed last week at the American Visionary Arts Museum), dove in just as we left. There's rarely a dull moment here in B-more, hon.
