And here it is!

Life has been busy so far this summer. So busy in fact that I haven't had a chance to get in here to write about the play structure! I suck.

So, uh, yeah, we have this fantastic play structure in our back yard now! I'm not sure who loves it more . . . the kids or their Dad.

I may have already mentioned this, but Vivian's favorite thing to do is to climb UP the Turbo Tube slide. She's too afraid to slide down the thing. It goes too fast and she loses control at the bottom. I was worried that she would never go near it again after slip-sliding miserably a couple of times . . . but after cousin Paul visited and taught my two girls the miracle of climbing up the slide (and on top of it - but Audrey and Viv have yet to try that death-defying technique) Vivian is ALL about it. Of course, she says, "Mommy, I go down the slide!" when in reality she's just climbing up . . . but it's still cute as hell.

Audrey is learning how to do flips on the trapeze-y thing between the two swings. That's pretty cool for a girl who was horribly afraid of the balance beam in gymnastics a few short years ago (the same beam that rests an entire six inches off of the floor or something ridiculous like that.)

Daddy's favorite thing to do after a long hard day of yard work is to perch on top of the 7 foot platform with a beer and a cigar. The platform literally sits in the tree branches. He said he considered trimming the branches . . . but it is truly magical to be up that high in our favorite tree . . . without actually being in the tree. It's a nice spot to hang out.

Which, reminds me, I need to buy some cup holders for the platform. We have a party coming up!

Curt tells me that this has completed Phases 1 and 2 of the play structure. There's a Phase 3 but that is being saved for another day (or year).

Thanks honey. It's truly wonderful. Nothing pleases me more than to see people enjoying it. I can't imagine what that must feel like for YOU.

A tribute to Audrey's kindergarten class

This post will seem a little past it's prime, but I've meaning to put this up here. Just little over a week ago, Audrey finished her last day of kindergarten. Curt and I went to the luncheon held in her classrom . . . and then had to go grab lunch afterward. Because well, I don't know about you, but apple slices and cheese cubes just don't make a lunch for me.

Anyway, Audrey's teacher (Mrs. Magos) gave out little awards for the kids. Audrey was voted "Most Likely to Sing." That touched our hearts!

She also made a video that she dedicated to the class. Audrey gets tears in her eyes when she watches it.

Quality time is exhausting

Portions of my family came to visit over the weekend. Because that's what my family does, I guess . . . the wives leave their husbands to fend for themselves on Father's Day. Curt seems to like this idea. I'm not sure I do. But it was nice to hang out with my family anyway. That is, until the adult members left me with nearly all of the kids for a few hours.

I jest. The kids were fine together. If you call constant "can I have some chips? cookies?, another Popsicle?, fill-in-the-blank?" every few minutes or so . . . along with cries from the littlest members of the tribe for being abused in some fashion, a "fine" time. Then it was fine.

Curt was busy with his friend Tiff finishing the second phase of the play structure (YES! It's complete! A separate blog entry for that one) so I was on my own to entertain the brood. Curt thinks I'm too accommodating. Perhaps he's right. I do know that I was exhausted Saturday afternoon and was wishing they would watch a movie or something, dammit. (And isn't it nice that Curt chose Father's Day weekend to finish the play structure for his girls. What a guy!)

The big hit of the afternoon (with the exception of climbing UP the Turbo Tube) was the Slip-n-Slide. I was very surprised that Paul (who's 6) didn't know what I was talking about. He had NO idea what a Slip-n-Slide was. Of course, that didn't stop him from exercising his "male-ness" on it. He was definitely the most aggressive. Vivian was only slightly amused. Much like Audrey used to be, she's not a fan of splashy things. If something sprays water, she's running the other way. She did enjoy the little pool of water that forms at the end of the slide, but that's about it. My favorite part was watching the smiles on people's faces as they drove by and saw the kids playing on it. I'm sure it brought back memories for everyone.

What really caught me off guard this weekend was how mature Audrey seemed to be. No . . . not that she's more mature than her cousins, but that her interests are changing. She's still her bossy, sometimes whiny self so that's not what I'm talking about. Once the intrigue of the Slip-n-Slide wore off, she decided that it would be a fine time to do some sun-bathing.

Sun-bathing??? Where did she even learn about this?

For the record, I HATE to sun-bathe. Although, I must admit that even I (with my red hair, white skin and freckles) used to lay out in the sun with baby oil when I was in high school. Oh man. I cringe to think about that now.

So, Audrey pulled out her towel and got comfortable in the sun. I must admit that it did look relaxing. What's happening to my little girl? Where is she going??? After a brief snooze in the sun, she got out a stack of fairy books to read while Paul played on his Nintendo DS. Hollie and Vivian decided to watch Cinderella.

Whew. Finally. A moment of peace. I get to sit and chill for a minute.

And then . . .

"Can I have some more chips?"

Happy Father's Day!

No more pencils, No more books

School's out for summer.

Today was Audrey's last day of kindergarten. I was WAY more emotional about today than I was about her first day of kindergarten. Who knew? I cried real tears when I was talking to Mrs. Magos (Audrey's teacher) today at the class party.

Mrs. Magos was telling me how much she enjoyed Audrey this year, will miss her next year and how Audrey is probably going to enjoy her new school next year. And then I tried to communicate to her that Audrey has been crying whenever the subject comes up because she already misses her friends. Tried I say. The words wouldn't come out. Instead I found myself welling up with tears myself.

Damn. That was a surprise.

Thank goodness Curt was there to crack a joke or something. I honestly don't remember what he said.

So, school is out and I'm sad. Like mother, like daughter.

Summer camp starts on Monday and I couldn't BE more happy about having Audrey go to summer camp this year. I can't wait for the field trips, the rehearsals for the musical, the performances, the week she goes away to camp and we just hang out with Vivian, the parties on the deck.

Geesh. Will there be more tears this August? I assume so.

Step, together, step, brush

We had a very busy weekend.

I think I'm still in recovery. Between a retirement party an hour away, a wedding that I sang, a very fun birthday party (Happy Birthday Molly - we loved it!) and a whole lotta' ballet, we were spent.

Did I mention ballet?

This weekend was Audrey's third-ever ballet recital. For some reason recital weekend always feels all-consuming. I think it's the hair. I spend quite a bit of time getting that helmet head ready. And then there are the costume fittings and fixes . . . plus an inappropriately-timed dress rehearsal in the middle of the day on Saturday. I couldn't even go to the dress rehearsal since I was singing the wedding I mentioned above. Curt tackled dress rehearsal without me. I heard he did fine.

I honestly can't imagine life without this recital. I look forward to it every year. For nine months, we trek to the studio every Saturday morning and it all culminates to about three minutes on stage. But it's SO worth it.

And Vivian was a CHAMP sitting in the seats with us. She even "danced" along sitting on my lap and thoroughly enjoyed clapping for each and every piece.

Audrey and her best friend Nicolas were an adorable pair. I already can't wait until next year! Do you think that has anything to do with the celebrating we always do after the recital?

one, two, three, four hundred thirty-seven

On the way to school today, Audrey counted to 437. For no reason. She just started counting. I'm not sure how or why it began. She only stopped a couple of dozen times when she got distracted by something shiny. But other than that . . . she just kept counting.

Between that and the announcements of every traffic light we saw from Vivian, my head was a little scrambled when I arrived at work this morning.

Thank goodness for my venti soy latte from Starbucks. It kept me sane. And thank you to Starbucks for putting in those drive-throughs.