Is It Naptime Yet

My niece Shauntae is having a girls weekend in Vegas with some friends. She flew down Thursday so she could visit with family. I had the pleasure of picking her up at the airport, which I got there at 10 am, just like she had predicted, even though her flight came in at 8:30 am. She brought reading material and people watched while she waited.

We tried to surprise my MIL since Shauntae hadn’t told her that she was coming to town, but Rawlin, Shauntae’s father, had told Grandma so our devious plan to just show up and surprise the grandparents was short lived. (We called ahead to make sure they were going to be home and me just dropping by wasn’t working since she knew I was suppose to pick Shauntae up.)

So we first swung by my in-laws and then I took Shauntae to her dad’s. After that I went home to clean, so my house was in a more acceptable form of organized chaos. We just have so much stuff that it always feel somewhat chaotic to me even after I’ve cleaned or organized.

Friday Jon and I had a lunch date with Shauntae. She wanted to see her favorite uncle, though I don’t know if Jon is her favorite, but he sure is my favorite out of the Blake boys.

My MIL brought Shauntae by Friday morning and she got ready here. When I gave her the tour of our small, humble, abode the girls ran around like crazy people. I really don’t know what gets into them when people come over, but they act very silly.

I dropped the girls off at Beth’s, then we picked up Jon and treated Shauntae to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Lindo’s.  We stuffed ourselves and then it was time to return Jon to work. There was a motorcycle cop hanging out where we dropped him off and I’m sure it must have looked odd to have Jon receive a kiss from me and then get out and hug Shauntae.

We then got the girls and took Shauntae to the house that she and the other women were renting for the weekend.

I’m happy I got to chat and talk with her in all our driving together. It’s fun to see her since our relationship has mostly grown because of us both blogging. I wish they lived closer, as does Lilah who was so sad that we don’t see her more often and wanted to go to lunch with us, even after she learned she was going to the Jewitt’s, which shows you how much she loves you if she’ll skip her favorite babysitter.

Before I took Shauntae to her house I had Lilah take a picture of us and took one of them with their oldest cousin.

Aunt Lacey with Niece Shauntae. I can’t help but laugh when she calls me her aunt.

The oldest grandchild with the youngest grandchildren.

Well, I got an e-mail today and…

… Lilah and I are in the play!!

But…

… Poor Eden did not make the cut.

Her shyness was just too much, which I knew would be a factor, but I did not want to discourage her and have her fail because I said she would fail. I wanted her to fail or succeed on her own accord.

I knew the dancing portion was going to be the hard part and it was. Eden hates dancing for some reason and I tried to prepare her the best I could, but she did not want to dance and combined with being soft spoken and not making any eye contact in the singing portion she was not put in the play.

Eden’s pretty saddened by the news, but I hope that after growing and having more experiences she’ll be better prepared for next years audition if she wants to still audition. In a way I see a lot of me in Eden. A desire to want to be on stage and perform, but too shy to actually perform, though she is just 3 1/2 and has many years to grow so I’ll keep encouraging her and helping her the best way I can.

I was hoping last nights casting calls was mostly for the main people and not everyone, but I couldn’t help but feel rejected since I hadn’t heard anything and it seemed all arrows pointed to no.

I’m happy we weren’t rejected, but I went through so many emotions and I hope to really learn from it. I hate to go out and try something unless I have a surety that it will happen. I just hate taking risks, but for two days I felt like I had failed both me and Lilah and it was heartbreaking.

Lilah may not get her pool party till July, but we will still have a pool party for the cute little munchkin! ( And I’m a Ozian if anyone cares.)

As far as I can tell we’re not getting callbacks to be in the play. I haven’t received any e-mail and tonight is callbacks. The Lee’s received a phone call on Sunday and though they plan on telling most through e-mail I figure they would have done that yesterday. I really wish they would send a ‘thanks for coming but you’re not in the play’ so I can have some closure. We were 65, 66, and 67 in the process so they had a lot of people this year. I don’t know how anyone could not want my girls to be in their play as munchkins, but I am partial.

I am also so disappointed, I’m sure more so than the girls will be when I tell them.

I really went out of my comfort zone to audition. I thought there might be a chance that we didn’t get in, but Judy kept saying they try to take everybody so I had hope that it would be true. I prepared the girls that we might not be in the play,  but I didn’t prepare myself. I feel like a young girls dream as been smashed, so I’m very sensitive and acting a little young and am very sad. I was up last night crying at the disappointment for about an hour. I really wanted this for Lilah and I really wanted to become a part of a wonderful community of people.

I might try to see if there are smaller things that Lilah can be in. She really wants to be in a play or on stage and I want to encourage her to get out there and do things.

There’s always next year for the girls. Maybe one year older and being less bashful will help them both, if they both want to audition again.

Note:

I just told Lilah. Her first reply was she must not have done good enough, and of course I comforted her and said she did wonderfully. She cried for a few seconds and was sad, but then her remark was, “Now we can have a party at the McKenna house?” The play would be intensely practicing around Lilah’s birthday and I had told her a party was not going to happen this year. We’ve done a pool party at the McKenna’s house the last two years, really Zurflueh, McKenna is the wife’s maiden name and the real estate team Carolyn works for. Carolyn house sits for the Zurflueh‘s and they’re out of town each year around Lilah’s birthday and they’ve let us, along with Carolyn who has to help with the fiasco, have a party there for Lilah’s birthday. So I’m happy that she can look forward to a party, at least a small one, if it helps with the small disappointment of not being chosen.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Toilet.
Toilet who?
I’m gonna kill you and flush you down the toilet.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
gas tank.
gas tank who?
I’m gonna cut off your head and smash you and stuff you in the gas tank.

Eden and Lilah love making up knock knock jokes, and Eden’s all have a theme. The above two are made up by Eden and are not so gruesome when she’s telling them in her cute little Eden voice and is smiling and laughing because she thinks she’s so clever.

I’m not sure where Eden got the idea that all knock knock jokes involve killing the person you’re telling it too but she did and it’s the only time she uses the words kill or dead and refers to doing someone bodily harm.

A part of me feels that I should correct her in a solemn voice and let her know it’s not nice to say you’re gonna kill someone, but I also feel like it’s overboard policing of my children. If she were yelling it and being mean hearted I would correct her, but she’s just playing and not meaning anything by it and I’m positive won’t act upon it. To her it’s just a funny word and thing in a knock knock joke. To me it’s my daughter exploring speech and possibly trying to get attention, but overall just having fun.

I do correct her at times, but I don’t feel the need to say she must never say kill or talk in a way that means you’re going to kill someone. I want her to express herself and she is, just in an unusual way that I know some people might find offensive.

1. Love note scavenger hunts.
2. Wedding anniversaries.
3. A wiggly tooth on an excited little girl. ( I think it will fall out by the end of the week.)
4. Cloudy mornings.
5. A little girl obsessed with catching bugs, even though it’s slightly annoying, I think she’s too cute. (Lilah would be the obsessed one.)

Well today was the much anticipated day of auditions for the Wizard of Oz play. I think they girls will be happy that mommy will not be repeatedly singing the lyrics from Lullaby of Broadway, though they have been known to sing along with me.

We got there a little later than planned, but the Lee’s were still filling out applications, so we got there at the right moment and were directly behind them, which was the plan.

They took our pictures and Eden was being a little bashful. I was worried that she wouldn’t sing.

After waiting they took us to a room to sing for the directors.

I went first and did alright. I was very nervous and made no eye contact that I can remember while singing, but I think I stayed in key and hit the right notes. I mentioned I sewed and had been attending the plays for the last 12 years since I’m good friends with the Lee’s.
Sewing is definitely a plus and I admit I’m hoping between sewing and knowing the Lee’s that the girls and I will get cast.

Lilah and Eden were next and they were very quiet with telling their names and ages. I just remembered I forgot to have them say something they enjoy doing but I think we were all nervous. Kelsey accompanied them and they both sang very well, though Eden made no eye contact. I think she takes after her mother.

After singing we went to learn dance steps. Eden was too bashful to learn with the other Lee kids and Lilah. Lilah did pretty well and I was very happy for her.

After the kids danced it was the adults turn. I was in a group with the Lee’s so it helped me feel a little more comfortable. I think I did pretty good for not ever dancing and the instructor said this was one of the stronger groups, though she could have completely been referring to the older Lee kids.

My legs are hurting from kneeling and I will definitely need to get in shape if I have any dancing to do. I plan on trying to lose weight anyways for the play, though I’ve yet to lose any, I just haven’t gained any.

I’m excited and so is Lilah. Eden said she was too nervous to dance, so we’ll see if they still allow her to be in it. I’ve prepared her that she may not be in it, but she can always audition next year if she wants.

I guess now all we can do it wait.

Jon planned for a package to be delivered today, so I had to stay home till it arrived. I knew it would be lavender roses, since those are my favorite and it has become the tradition.

I waited not so patiently and teased him around noon that he’d have to come home early if they weren’t here soon so I’d be able to shower for our date.

They arrived shortly after lunch and I opened them.

They were beautiful but not what I expected.

I was instant messaging Jon at the time and I teased or asked him if he had changed the order to have them match the roses we already had. (The girls and I got red roses on Sunday for Valentine’s day from our ward.) He played along like he had and I mostly wondered why he would get me a red, pink, and white rose bouquet, with baby’s breath. It just didn’t seem his style or mine.

He came home and looked at the roses and told me those weren’t what he ordered and now he fully understood what I meant by the roses matching because red would not have matched lavender.

He promptly checked his order and called costumer service and I should be receiving my intended bouquet of lavender roses on Tuesday, which will make our table very crowded.

I still love them  and I’ll love having two dozen roses on Tuesday.

To celebrate our 7 year anniversary we went to a restaurant called Fuduka, a Japanese sushi bar and grill. Carolyn mentioned how good it was while we were passing it on our Black Friday shopping trip and I made a mental note of it. Jon thought it was funny that I’d wait three months to go to a restaurant, but it’s a little more pricey that what we would normally spend on a date especially when we get appetizers and desert, which is a must on our Anniversary. The food was delicious and the chef superb. We sat around a grill where they cook the food right in front of you. The chef did fun tricks and it was nice to have piping hot food.

We enjoyed a lovely meal and free babysitting, since the girls had a birthday party to attend and the parents planned for the other parents to go have date time.

It was a wonderful night and I’ve really enjoyed celebrating our 7 year anniversary.

I love you Babe!

We made popcorn a week ago to eat while we watched Nature. This is what the girls were doing for the entire three minutes it was popping. I only got the last minute of it.

I’m excited for a few reasons.

1. Our anniversary is coming up. 7 years I’ve been married to Jon. Plus, we don’t have to pay for a babysitter since a friend is holding her daughter’s birthday party Friday night and has told the adults to go out and have a date.  It worked out perfectly!

2. My niece Shauntae is coming to town and I get to see her! Well, she’s Jon’s niece and he’ll get to see her too when we go to lunch, but I’m excited to get to see her while she’s here.

2. My brother Scott and his wife Fallon are coming town soon too. It’ll be fun to see them and have the girls see their aunt and uncle whom they haven’t seen in two years.

3. March is becoming a very busy month with one of the Homeschooling groups. We’re going to the Shark Reef and the Dolphin Habitat, all for only $6 a person for each exhibit and 4 and under is free, so I only have to pay for Lilah and me and Lilah has been asking to go back to the dolphin habitat so this will be exciting for her.

I’m really looking forward to the next 6 weeks!

Lately school has been nonexistent at our house. Unless you count watching Nature each Sunday night on PBS and Nova on Tuesday and reading a couple short books about President’s day. We’ve just been so busy and it seems like I’ve been so tired and have not wanted to deal with school. I was also at a loss of what to do lately so that hasn’t helped.

Last week we received a book in the mail that I’m using as a guide of what to teach Lilah. I plan on supplementing it because it is not all inclusive and has a very white, conservative, male dominated view of history, which I find to be OK, but at the same time not very diverse or up to the current political view I want to teach my girls. I see the book as a good guide of things I can be teaching the girls, without having to rack my brain for ideas or use a set curriculum, because I really want to introduce ideas to them and see if they’re interested in learning more and go from there for each topic.

This morning I decided to just read some poems and then fables from the book while the girls finished breakfast. They seemed to really enjoy it, but they really enjoy almost anything you read to them and it got a short discussion going. I think this week in literature we’ll focus on poems and fables and maybe we’ll write our own.

I also bought a math workbook for Lilah. I just can’t think of everything to teach her that deals with math, or creative ways to do things. I really needed something to help me and she can read well so she can do a lot on her own. Most of this Kindergarten math workbook she knows just by everyday things, which I suppose is the point, to teach them everyday things and patterns, but I bought it for it’s introduction to money and adding money together. This is not the only thing I’ll use to teach her math, but it gives me ideas and helps me feel like I’m at least teaching her what she might learn in the classroom and in a way she would learn in the classroom, so if she ever wants or needs to attend public school she’s prepared for it.

Today we started our new schedule and the girls missed the make up class for gymnastics. I needed to clean my soda stickied floors and do school and take them to gymnastics. I knew only two of the three would happen so gymnastics was cut and school won out.

I’m still not as disciplined as I want to be with a homeschooling schedule, but I keep trying and when the girls are excited or engaged in what we’re learning it’s a lot easier to do school and be willing to come back to it the next day. I don’t feel as though I’m failing at homeschool just because I’m still inconsistent.  I’m just hoping to find our grove by the time Lilah’s 8, which is a long time, but I think it might take that long to gain a full knowledge of what we want and do it.  They’re learning and I’m learning and as long as they continue to learn I don’t care about anything else.

I’m not sure how long these new things and techniques will last, but I know an ever changing perspective is needed and I know that the girls want to learn and do learn, despite my inconsistencies and impatience sometimes.