Pictures - finally!

Dressed for church







Seyda the Alaskan Malamute and Wallace the Beagle










Genni's funny camera smiles!













Genni and her cousin Emily














Genni and Emily at Grandma and Grandpa's

Old McDonald.....

So I had a rehearsal last night for the Bath show - and daddy put Genni to sleep. I came home to mom and dad sitting on the couch and my husband telling stories - the one of Genni going to bed was so funny! So Eric said, well she didn't really want to sleep so we sang some songs and she wanted to sing old McDonald, so I sang - Old mcDonald had a farm EIEIO and on the farm he had some....well of course he expected her to say "dogs" or "cows" no, my daughter says "poop!" with a cute little giggle - daddy says, not poop, how about dogs! "dog poopie!" Oh my gosh I almost feel down laughing - it's terrible but so wicked funny! So this morning we are cuddling in bed (for far too long, we should have been getting dressed, but she is so cuddly in the morning!) and she starts to sing it again - doggie poop! and moo moo poopie! It was awful, I laughed again. Poor Laurelyn is going to be hearing it all day long and she'll have to make her stop so that Graham doesn't start it too - but seriously, it was really funny.

So before the whole milk and soy allergy thing started (we tried milk again last weekend, still an issue) Genni loved eating chicken nuggets at McDonalds. In my husband's storytelling time last night (he didn't make it clear when this happened or with who) my daughter obviuosly misses her chicken nuggets, but understands why she can't have them. She must have been in the car passing McDonalds and explains "there's Old McDonalds, I can't have nuggets because they have milk in them and milk makes me itchy, byebye Old McDonald!" hahahahaha oh Genni you crack me up.

Document

I just want to document that last night I slept from 10:30-6:00 without being awoken by little feet or little cries - she slept all the way till 6! I have never been so rested before - it's so refreshing. I'm usually happy with 5 hours in a row - it's been so long since 71/2! I know it won't happen again so I have to document it...

By the way - I decided to try milk again with Genni, she had some last night and there doesn't seem to be any reaction. Maybe she only had a reaction to the AMOUNT of milk she was drinking before - that would certainly make life easier if we could have cheese again. Let's hope for a succesful experiment!

Imagination-nation...

We have entered the world of imagination...my daughter said to me this morning "Mommy, we're balloons!""oh yeah? what color balloon are you?""red""and what color am I?""green!""what about daddy?""purple!!". Then at the restaurant the other day we were waiting for our food and one minute it was "mommy, there's a birthday cake coming! it's really big!" and the next "mommy I'm a frog!" - I just can't keep up, it's so adorable and fun, you just never know what is going to come out of her mouth and you always have to stop and think - is it pretend or real? Also - did this happen yesterday like she said or like 2 weeks ago? She loves saying what day of the week it is - yesterday I woke her up and she yelled at me and said "mommy it's Saturday I don't have to get up!" I thought that was my line... (By the way I can't wait to sleep in Saturday morning, how much you want to bet she's up before I usually wake her up on weekdays). I can't wait till the weather gets warm again, Genni really loves playing outside and I've had to hold her back lately cause it's a bit chilly, well really she probably would have not cared about the cold and played anyway, but it's too cold for me to be outside when there is still stuff to be done inside. Tomorrow it'll be almost 60 so I'm hoping for some yard time when we get home. We are going up to Watkins Glen with the Lori Virkus to see Suessical though - I think Genni will have a blast if we can keep her quiet enough.

So an update on stuff since last I wrote - it's been nice to have some relaxing time, last weekend was the Festival, which went very well. I got lots of compliments from parents and teachers alike on the sound of the band and how I worked with them, so that was very gratifying. No more word on staffing at Bradford, still holding my breathe there. It's generally been a nice week - so I have no idea why I'm so tired. Looking forward to a nice "free" weekend...hope the weather is nice for it!

Do I Make You Happy?

It has been so nice the last two evenings to spend time with my family. The weather is so beautiful. We got to work outside for a long time yesterday, took down Christmas lights, cleaned out some of the flower beds, got chairs out of the shed, Genni played on the swings and in her sandbox (well once I bailed all the water out of it). It's such a change from last year when I had to be with Genni every second she was on the slide/swing set because I was afraid she would get hurt. I wasn't just being an overprotective mother, she really did hurt herself a few times so I knew I couldn't go far if she was playing on it. Now she keeps asking me to swing her faster (she really means higher). And then she giggles the whole time. We really had a blast. Wallace played too (really he jumped on us a bunch) and it' so nice that he stays in the yard without any trouble. Eric even shut off the fence the other day so he could go back to the shed with him and Wallace wouldn't go. Success! Maybe we'll try getting a collar for Seyda for when we are all outside.
Anyway, I digress. So Genni pointed to this flower she made for me (with the babysitter) for mother's day last year that was on the fridge and was like "I made that!" "yes you did Genni" "It made you happy mommy?" "haha, of course it did Genni!" Then later we were picking up her toys and she was as usual not paying attention to me when I asked her to do a particular task. I generally get very annoyed twice every day - once in the morning when we are getting dressed and she fights me the whole way, and then at night when she is supposed to be cleaning up and she plain ignores me or plays dumb. So I was annoyed and all of a sudden Genni said "I will put away the toys mommy, I will make you happy". Gosh what am I supposed to say to that! Boy do I feel guilty for getting annoyed! It is super cute though, she has been making more comments about making me happy or things that make her happy lately, I guess this is a sign that she is starting to figure out words for feelings and how to express them. That and she will say "I love you so very much mommy" - melt. It's moments like those I'm sure I want another child. However it was nice to work outside last night without having to keep such a close eye on her - I'll be losing that freedom of course, and I'll miss it, but it'll be worth it. Of course frst I have to actually get pregnant...

A Return to Semi-normalcey

The show is done - I can't believe it. I am really going to miss the kids, but I confess I am happy to have my life back and make my family a priority. I am so happy I was involved with it and hope to be for many years, but now that we have done such a huge production everything else should seem easy:).

The kids did an awesome job, every night was very good. I think Saturday was the best all around performance, but there were certainly highlights every night. I had a good time with the drill yesterday dismanteling the set too. I feel so much more relaxed already, and although I haven't exactly caught up on sleep, I'm not as tired as you'd think. Although that may be the coffee I made this morning...

So now we focus on the next small project, County Band this weekend. Eric is hosting it at his school, and I am conducting the 6th grade group. I'm very excited and somewhat nervous about that. No matter how long I do this I will always be nervous in the time preceding working with a new group. But since it has always worked out in the past, I'm sure it will be fine this time as well. I'll at least have one of my own students in the band rooting for me:). But without the show schedule looming over us, this Festival should not be such a difficult task.

Now I'm looking forward to Spring - spending more time with my daughter - and having a few moments to just relax....

Set Sail! Drama....

Well we are on our way, one down 3 to go. The show went very well last night, a few little things but overall a great performance. It was a fantastic crowd for Thursday night. Sometimes Thursday night crowds are unresponsive and don't clap or laugh as much, but this one was great. We are almost sold out for the next 3 shows so I'm sure the kids will just feed off of the energy from a packed auditorium. Of course we couldn't get through opening night without a bit of drama though....

So we are at home, getting things around to leave, an my husband goes out to the car to look for his shoes. He has the hatch up on the minivan and as he's trying to close it Wallace starts to jump on him and get into the car - well as he's holding the handle and trying to keep the dog out and yelling at him because he's being annoying, he pulls down really hard on the handle to slam the door shut. Unfortunately the door is still over his head (who puts a handle so far inside of the car anyway?) and he brought it down on him HARD. Well he comes into the kitchen and calls for me - and takes his very red hands off the top of his head. So my first thought is, Ok washcloth to stop the bleeding and clean any dirt. Sit dwn before you fall down - now what are w going to do? They need us both there for the show. So we decide to go to school and see if the bleeding will stop - of course I drive for once. Mom called Dad (she was with Genni) and he met us there in case we needed to take him to the ER. So my husband is walking around doing tech stuff with his hand clamped to the top of his head with a piece of gauze and bedodine (which just happened to be on the table from a recent dog paw cutting incident) and he finally sits down to let me look at it. The bleeding stopped, but it looked pretty deep so I sent him and dad off to the ER. Of course we called first to see how long the wait might be, cause he was going to wait till after the show if they were busy. So he gets there, waits a little bit, then gets 3 staples in his head and a tetnus shot (he is usually a big baby about needles) without any numbing or anything, gets discharged and is back by curtain. Leave it to my husband...

Anyway - hopefully that wasn't too graphic or anything, we were all quite calm through the whole thing - Genni wanted to kiss daddy's boo boo this morning, but Eric talked her out of it. Last night was the first night in a while that she didn't wake up at all. Thank goodness for 6 1/2 hours of uninteruppted sleep. Tomorrow we get to sleep in!

A Sigh of Relief

*sigh* the last week of the musical! I'm so excited to see them perform this - I'm not saying rehearsal last night was spectacular, but the potential is there. Can't wait to spemd Wednesday evening at home.

*sigh* I think we figured out my daughters allergies! Her face looks normal again! Soy seems to be the biggest culprit right now. I still think milk is an issue too, Eric doesn't really agree with me though. I want to make sure her face stays clear for a few more days before I try the dairy again though. I'm just so happy things are looking up, I was getting very frustrated.

*sigh* another week has begun.....

That's all I have for now...

Almost there!

I am of course refering to the end of the play - it's almost here! Now don't get me wrong, it's been a fun ride and I'm so looking forward to the show, but I am jealous for the days of a clean house - coming home after school - seeing my daughter - cooking meals - all those things I haven't had in a while. Now you're thinking, hey you just had a week off what more do you want - well the week off was great - except that Eric had to go in and build set all week, but really what I need is a return to the routine. I haven't had routine in so long - or a clean house *sigh*. The basement is still a total wreck after the dog escapade...oh I didn't tell you about that!

So Thursday was the typical rehearsal after school, we grab a bite at the Central with mom and dad, then I go to choir and they go home. Except near the end of rehearsal my cell rings - and I actually hear it - Eric says "you need to get home right now!" "why whats wrong?" "Wallace got out of his crate and cut his foot and there is blood everywhere!" well I took off home, we called a vet when I got home and took him in - after the $90 emergency fee and $6 bandage....he cut the pad of his foot and they don't usually stitch that up, so they just bandaged it up and sent us home. Very nice though! Anyway, not only did he bleed all over the basement rug, and I mean everywhere, he also demolished the door to the basement so there are pieces of wood everywhere too. A normal household would probably have cleaned it right up...but we don't have any time. It's still all there, waiting for us to have time to steam clean it. I honestly don't know if we'll have time till the play is over, how sad is that!

Anyway, my parents were up this past weekend, and we went to lunch with Scott and Carli and Darius - so that was Friday night and Saturday, then Sunday was church and then rehearsal. Luckily Eric's mom is willing to babysit during our rehearsals, otherwise we would spend more on childcare than I make on the play. I'm starting to get a lot more pit people at rehearsal and it sounds so good! I'm very excited to get this show in front of an audience, it's going to be good...despite some people.

Now my daughter, she is the cutest thing ever - just yesterday I realized again how much more she was communicating to us. It's amazing how much she remembers from past conversations and what comes out of her mouth when we talk. It's so cool to see her mind at work and to enjoy the ever lengthening conversations. She is a little chatterbox and very opinionated, so sometimes I just roll my eyes when she gets into an "I don't want to!" mood, and think, "you have got to be kidding me!" but I'll take it for the joy she gives us all the other times. I mean when she is in a good mood it almost impossible to be with her and not be happy. It's like a little mirror into the future, seeing the kind of person she might grow up to be. I can't wait to take her to the zoo this summer and to museums - she will just eat it all up. My little treasure.

Well on with the day - the week's halfway over!