Summer Shower

He's Home!

Camp was fun. Better than okay, but not really, REALLY fun. He'd go again, maybe. It rained a lot, but only at night. He had swimming, and crafts, and hiking, and they were supposed to go camping but they didn't. And he made me a bowl in crafts, but he couldn't bring it home. (Reasons unclear) And they confiscated both flashlights, and only returned one. Everything else seems to have made it home. And he just found his sleeping bag and pillow today, on the way home. And he lost two teeth while eating Starbursts. (I think they were ready to come out anyway) And one of his counselors broke his arm playing soccer during camp, but could still play the guitar. He spent half an hour telling me about "Allegheny Idol" night, and Sledge-o-matic (smashing watermelons with sledgehammers), and the swimming pool, and how the bathroom stalls didn't lock, and what they had to eat. Now he's playing cars with the neighbor boy. (Still in yesterday's clothes...but he really doesn't smell too bad, considering.) Apparently, operation sleep-away camp was a success.

Today's moments

Cinderella: Mommy, while you were sleeping I saw a bug in your hair.

*************

Cinderella: When I was cleaning under the table, I bumped my head. It still hurts.

Tarzan: I can see the red spot.

Cinderella: May you please pray for me?

Tarzan: Okay. God, please make E..'s head better. I pray this forever. Amen.

Cinderella: Thanks, T...

*******************

Cinderella: I saw a feather fall from the flowers. Oh...(giggles) I said feather!

Tarzan: You mean petal.

Cinderella: Yeah.
*******************
Later:

Cinderella: You are a disgrace!

Tarzan: On the contrary.

Cinderella: You're not on the contrary, because I'm the Queen!
***********************
Later Still:

Tarzan: You're cute. (Goes over and hugs Cinderella)

Tarzan: (after about 20 seconds) Stop hugging me.

Cinderella: (Lets go) Was I choking you?

Tarzan: No. I just couldn't breathe.

I got a letter from camp

Dear Mommy
I really, really, really, really, really, really, really miss you. I am writing at 7:25 because they woke us up at 7:00. I am really tired. You are the best mom in the world. Please write back.
Love,
(Scooby)


Aargh.

They like us! They really like us!

Here's a review from the Pittsburgh City Paper about Urinetown. I like the comment about singing and dancing without apparent effort. They must have been sitting far enough back in the audience not to be sprayed with sweat!

All Clear

So yesterday was Scooby's first day at sleepaway camp. We had to meet the bus at 6:45am, so I planned to get up at 6:00. He came in our room at 5:00 saying he couldn't sleep, and spent the last hour not-sleeping in our bed. He was happy and excited during breakfast, although he didn't eat much, and fine while we sat in the car in the rain waiting for the bus, which finally came at 7:10. He was fine until he actually got on the bus, then the tears came. He wanted to be sure I'd packed kitty and pillow, which I had, although he didn't want to hold them right then. He was in tears when the bus left, although I'm sure he was fine by about 10 minutes in. We wrote him a letter in the afternoon, and mailed it for him to receive tomorrow or the next day.
So all day long I'm talking to myself, convincing myself he's having a great time, or at least learning how to survive in a difficult social situation. Then last night, a swath of tornado warnings, funnel cloud sightings, dangerous lightning and golf-ball sized hail passes right through where the campsite is. Don and I spent an extremely anxious hour in front of the tv watching the weather. When it had passed by the camp area, we called the emergency number and requested a call back letting us know everything was okay. Five minutes later someone from the camp called back and assured us everything was fine - that it didn't even rain there. Which I don't get, but which made me feel marginally better.
So, it's day two, and we haven't gotten a phonecall to come and pick him up, or any teary homesick pleas. We sent him with some stamped envelopes and blank pages to write us, and I really hope he does. Tarzan and Cinderella miss him, mostly at night, but it has been a lot quieter around here.
If you're praying people, keep him in your prayers. Or good thoughts, or vibes, or whatever. My baby bird is growing feathers on his wings, and it hurts. It might be a little uncomfortable for him too.

Here, look at these!

Lots of pictures from Urinetown...I'm very scary!!!

Looking at Steve's inserts reminded me of these...





I was looking for John-John counting his penny, but couldn't find that one.
Boy, am I old!

Opening Night!

Opening night went great! We had a blast and got a lot of laughs. Larry Cervi, my old dance teaching boss was there...I haven't seen him in about 8 years. I'll post some pictures soon. They're pretty scary!!!
Yawn!!!

Friday

Today was Cinderella's last day of theater camp. She portrayed a "totally cool" zebra in the story "A Rumble in the Jungle." It was a smash hit.

Afterwards we went and trimmed Scooby's hair - the hairdresser showed him that by cutting his bangs on an angle, he could push them out of his face when Mom was looking, then shake them down into his eyes when she wasn't. He was tickled pink.

Then we went and got him some booster immunizations. He wasn't as happy about that. But then we got cookies. Iced Spiced Oatmeal for Cinderella, Snickerdoodle for Scooby, Dalmation for Tarzan (chocolate chip cookie with vanilla icing) and Gingersnap for me.

Then we read in bed, swam in the pool, and now I'm procrastinating making dinner before I head off for a set construction night for U-town. We open next Thursday! Yay!

What's going on out there?

Late Rehearsal

So much dancing. So much singing. So much rolling on the floor. SO MUCH SWEATING.

Monday

Got up this morning at 6:00 to go running, because when I have to be at work by 8:00 there's no other time to do it! The distance wasn't as far, but there was more actual running involved. My ankles are really sore today. I pulled a pectoral muscle last Thursday at dance rehearsal for Urinetown. It's better now, but still stiff if I bend the wrong way.
Cinderella enjoyed her first day at theater camp - she's playing a zebra in the showcase on Friday. I had a really fun day with the little kids age group. I'm pretty experienced with knowing how to talk to them.
The two neighbor kids are over again. Sigh. I like to be hospitible, but it's hard when it's too wet to play outside. I think pretty soon they're going outside, wet or not!
Quiet out there - is anyone home yet?

Not much new...

Had a couple of family centered days...Don actually had off work Thurs - Sun so we spent some good family time together. Missed the annual trip up to Norwood, but just couldn't afford the gas this year.
Friday we went to Leetsdale's very lame Noisy Candy Parade. The candy's not noisy, but the parade is. The entire parade consists of firetrucks, ambulances, and police cars slowly driving by, sirens blaring, and candy raining out the windows. The kids liked it, except Cinderella didn't want to take her hands off her ears (neither did I!) so she made her brothers collect candy for her. Then we had a picnic in a nearby park, and went home for a dip in the pool. That night we watched fireworks from a parking lot across the road from the field where they set them off. Perfect view, and a decent show.
On Saturday we went to Uncle Joe and Aunt Barb's pool. Heated pool. Like, 90 degrees. All three kids swam like otters and stayed wet for about four hours straight. Don and I just ate WAY too much great food. Another nice relaxing day.
Today we went to church, went to a carnival at Granny's church, then cleaned the dentist office, then I went to rehearsal. Not quite as relaxing. Tomorrow I start teaching again at theater camp. Cinderella is coming with me this week and the boys are going to "camp Granny". Next week, I keep Tarzan and sent Scooby and Cinderella to Granny. God bless her. I saved the toughest week for last!
Scooby's on book six of the "Unfortunate Events" series. I don't think he's going back to Jack Sparrow until all the Unfortunate books are read. See, I knew when the right time was to give them to him!

Birthday parties

Here are some long overdue rundowns on the birthday parties!

Tarzan had a Webkinz birthday party. Webkinz, in case you don't know, (which probably means you don't have any children under the age of 10) are stuffed animals that come with a computer code which opens up Webkinz world online, where the stuffed animal has a virutal identity. You can play games to win kinzcash, with which you can purchase online furnishings for your pet's home, clothing and food for the pet, etc. We used some of the online games as models for our party games. For example, we had a Wheel of Wow, which the kids could spin to win "Timmycash" or small prizes.
We also had a Wishing Well, where Timmycoins attached to paper clips could be caught with a magnetic fishing rod.
I scattered some plastic "jewels" on the front lawn and let the kids have a gem hunt. They collected their gems in little paper bags and took them home to attach to their foam crowns (purchased at Michaels) to make their own "Crown of Wonder."
When the kids came in, they brought their own Webkinz or other stuffed animal, which we set up near their take home bags in the Beauty Contest area. Each pet was awarded a prize such as "nicest pet" , "bravest pet", etc. These bags were where the kids collected all their Timmycash and prizes throughout the day.
We also had a Quizzy's corner, where the kids could earn more Timmycash by answering trivia questions. It was a nice break for them to sit and cool off, and have some quiet time before jumping in the pool! Finally, they ate and opened presents. At the end of the party, they collected all their Timmycash and used it to redeem prizes from the W-shop (in the kitchen). The prizes were gently used or leftover Happy meal toys, recital prizes, small books, etc. The kids really liked getting to choose their own things - just like Chuckie Cheese! The party was pretty inexpensive - the biggest expenses were the jewels and crowns. In retrospect, I would have bagged the crowns and had the kids do whatever they wanted with the jewels at home. Tarzan and co. had a great time and it was an overall success!Scooby had a party based on Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman - a show on PBS. I arranged a scavenger hunt with some of the local business and public places in Sewickley and had the kids follow clues from place to place. We ended up with pizza and cake. It was the most fun party I've ever had with the kids, although it did require a LOT of advance preparation by me, and it was on the more expensive side as well. But we had a blast! Watch the video and see...

Click here to watch the video I took at Scooby's birthday party. If I can figure out how, I'm going to make DVDs for all the kids as thank yous.