Hidden Treasures

We moved into our new house in November, long after all the perennial stems had withered away.  So, we really don't have any idea of what (if any) fun bulbs or plants have been hiding all winter under the snow. 

Today I noticed the first little treasures poking up!  Snowbells!

And So the Peer Influences Commence....

Yesterday, our neighbor kindly asked if Caroline could go next store and play with her daughter Ruby for the an hour or so before dinner.  Seriously, I thought?  You want Caroline in your house for the "witching hour" as we like to call it????  Yes!!!  Try not to let the door hit you on the way out, Honey!

So, about 90 minutes later Caroline walked back into our house.  Took her coat off, and then belted out:

"IF YOU WANT TO BE MY LOVER"

Uh....what?

"IF YOU WANT TO BE MY LOVER"

I only wish you could have seen the corresponding hip and arm movements.  Yes, that is part of a Spice Girls' song from back in the 90s.

Caroline, eyes shining with excitement, then started a run-on sentence that lasted about 5 minutes describing all the glories of Wii, how we need one, how you can dance to it, how they are available in stores, and showed me some sweet dance moves.  I think she might have drawn a breath in there, then started screaming, "WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?  WOOF WOOF WOOF" and then left the room without me even replying.  I'm pretty sure I just sat at the table with my mouth hanging open.

So, Caroline is now just dying to get a Wii.  I have many fun video game memories from my childhood (Brian,  how about the summer playing Legend of Zelda?) so we're not opposed necessarily.  Of course, we're not just rushing out to buy it just yet.  I just thought we wouldn't get peer-based requests until she was a little older, you know, like when she's 6 or 7. 

And so, to top it off, Ben spent dinner and breakfast singing, "IF YOU WANT TO BE MY LOVER," over and over and over again. That just doesn't sound right coming out of a 2-year old's mouth.

Capturing Small Moments

Last week was one of the most hectic weeks we've ever had.  After hibernating for most of the month of February, all possible work and volunteer activities re-commenced and/or were re-scheduled for the first week of March.  Somehow we ended up with a total of six evening meetings, including two separate 3-hour training sessions, between Sunday and Thurday night + kids activities + Scott traveled for day +  Read Across America event at school  + full week of regular school + a birthday. The week was so crazy that we called in reinforcements.  (Thanks Grandma!)  'TGIF' didn't really begin to cover it when we collapsed at the end of the week.   

With all the craziness or perhaps the nostalgic feelings that accompany birthdays, I was feeling more sentimental than ususal.  On Wednesday morning when I came downstairs to my family sitting around the kitchen table, I was serenaded with a very, very precious Happy Birthday. Abby and Caroline sang heartily in full voice.  Ben's cheeks were still rosy from sleep, the morning sunlight was shining on his face and red railroad pjs, and he was so excited to sing for me that he could barely stay on the chair.  Between the dimples and the 2-year old cute boy voice, I could have stayed in that moment forever.  But, even as they were singing I felt a little sad that the moment would end and we'd have to go back into the Move-it-People-We-Have-to-Get-to-the-Bus-Morning-Frenzy.

Later at the playground this weekend, I wish you could have seen how big the smiles were on the kids when they sprinted down the hill and headed for the equipment.  Huge, happy ear-to-ear smiles when they started swinging.  Heads tilted back, hair flying, jackets off, just pure joy for the love of finally being outside in the sunshine.

How I wish I could capture these moments forever!  Even if I had had a camera, it wouldn't have been enough.  I guess I will just write them down and hope they will jog something in my memory later on.  Better yet, I have to enjoy them completely in the moment, which is a surprisingly hard thing to do.  I wish these special moments weren't so fleeting!

Old Lady

I had been feeling pretty good about my birthday this week until I got my AARP membership card in the mail this afternoon....

No, I'm not kidding.

First Victory for Turkey

The country of Turkey has never won a medal in the winter Olympics. However, that didn't stop Caroline from selecting Turkey as the country to represent in the preschool winter Olympics held over the last two weeks. While Germany was a close second choice, Turkey was selected in honor of our friends Geoff and Fritzie currently living in Ankara.  Caroline is holding the Turkish flag that she and dad made together at the recent Donuts with Dad event held at school.

Caroline is proudly wearing her gold Olympic medal, which is Turkey's first ever winter medal! I haven't gotten a very clear answer about for which event the medal was 'won'. It was either for the luge event held on mini-scooters or for ice skating (singles, free skate) held on a large plastic sheet.

Caroline is very, very proud of her Olympic medal (she has long been jealous of Abby's paricipation trophies for soccer and field hockey). She is so proud of her medal that she wore it over to the District Office for Kindergarten registration earlier this week. When we arrived we were surprised to find her close friend Sanya at registration also sporting her gold medal. Apparently, the recent Olympics were quite a hit! Sanya represented India, which is another country that has never won a winter olympic medal. Great job girls!

Flower Show 2010

Yesterday I made my annual pilgrimage to the Philadelphia Flower Show with my mom.  I really enjoy looking through all the exhibits, but my very favorite part is to stand near a large display of hyacinths and just inhale the smell of spring.  Ahhh....

This year's Flower Show was delightful as usual.  There were impressive large exhibits (including a stand of bamboo that nearly reached the convention center's ceiling), creative smaller exhibits, beautiful orchids, and (my favorite) lots of crazy cactus and succulent specimens.   Overall, loads of fun and a lovely 6-hour parenting break and some much-needed "quality" time with mom.  You know, you never get too old to need quality time with mom. 

This year's theme was "International" so the larger exhibits featured different countries:

INDIA

CHINA

NEW ZEALAND

SOUTH AFRICA

 

And a few other things that caught my eye:

Arrangement Suspended from Ceiling

Rainy Day Flowers

Crown Made from Dried Plants and Nuts

Modern Arragement 

Pressed Flower Postcard

Grand Entrance

Fun Succulent

Specimen Displays

Weirdest Afternoon of Exercise Ever

Yesterday afternoon I was was coerced into trying a new exercise class at the gym (called 'Drums Alive!') as part of a kickoff event at the local gym for a cancer awareness program. The kickoff event featured four 25-minute classes on a rotation. While the other classes in the rotation were pretty typical (e.g., cycling, body pump), the drumming was definitely way way outside my comfort zone.

Try to imagine what it would look like to have 30 full grown adults hitting large rubber exercise balls with wooden drumsticks while doing aerobic movements -- in a small room.  Now, superimpose some heavy drum music and an overly enthusiastic instructor and it make for a really...um...interesting experience.  Keep in mind we're all in our workout clothes, so I was doing this in spandex pants.  Have you ever seen the Saturday Night Live skit with Will Farrell hitting the cowbell?  THAT was the instructor with the drumsticks over her head.  MORE DRUMSTICKS!!  It was completely surreal.  I really can't put how bizarre it was into words.  I'm typing this about 20 hours after the class ended and I'm still shaking my head. 

I have to draw the line at a group of people doing jumping jacks with drumsticks.  Does that seem like a good idea to you??  Fortunately no one got impaled.  Although one of the other paricipants sassily noted, "This class would be a lot better if we were allowed to run people through with the drumsticks. Now that would be a class." 

A couple of people really, really got into it though.  I was happy for them and also for the instructor, or otherwise I would have felt bad for her.  I honestly attended with an open mind but the unsatisfactory fwap-fwap noises on the rubber ball were very undrum-like. 

Maybe another time I'll describe the hip-hop dancing warm-up that preceeded the drumming...