Second Party!

And that makes two!  Yesterday, I got to do my 2^nd Elsa appearance/birthday party.  This time, it was at a preschool in West Seattle – a Spanish immersion preschool.  (Sadly, this Elsa doesn’t habla espagnol…no one seemed to mind though).  When I started the whole princess party biz, I was picturing being in people’s homes with maybe 12 little kiddos at your standard birthday party.  Funny that my first two events have been much bigger than that – my debut was at an arena with 20ish kids plus parents (including beer-drinkin’ dads) and then yesterday was at a community center preschool with 30 kids, 5 teachers and all of the parents.  Sheesh!

A classmate of mine from high school had contacted me on Facebook to see if I could come.  Her daughter was one of three girls being celebrated for having a May Birthday.  (I had to refrain from telling the girls that I, too, have a May birthday…as I’m not sure when Elsa birthday is).  The students knew that I was coming and many of the girls had dressed appropriately in Frozen attire.  The teachers had even decorated the classroom!

While my first party’s attendees were chatty and full of all sorts of Frozen enthusiasm and the desire to interact with Elsa and tell me all sorts of information and hug me and admire my dress and my hair and my ice-power cold hands, yesterday’s party kiddos were the complete opposite.  (Granted, they were at school and not a sports arena where they’d been jumping in big bouncy houses).  Yesterday, the kids sat at my feet in complete shock and awe.  They were shy and tentative and most didn’t want to come get a picture with me at the end.  They sat there like Elsa is in my preschool. Mind. Blown.   After I did my few short snow songs, sang Let it Go and blew bubbles, they sat at tables for their snack.  I waited for kids to come up to have individual photos taken with me.  When one of the moms or teachers asked if they wanted to come see me, many of them vehemently shook their head but then coyly glanced at me and shyly smiled and waved every few minutes. 

One thing I’ve GOT to do is figure out my hair.  Despite having a wig cap on covering the majority of it and attempting to use temporary ‘platinum’ spray to lighten the edges, too much of it shows under the wig.  I’m like trashy Elsa who needs to get her roots touched up – like big time.  I’ve ordered one of those bald head wigs that will hopefully fit super tight like a swim cap.  Oh my gosh, it’ll look amazing! Ha!  But, ideally, it’ll cover the hair that the wig doesn’t.  We’ll see.  I know the kids don’t seem to care, but I don’t want the parents thinking they’ve hired lame dark-roots Elsa!  

First one down!

I DID IT!!!! 

I did my first birthday party as Queen Elsa of Arendelle.  And for my first character appearance it was a real doozy – it was at an indoor sports complex/inflatable/bouncy house place.  Talk about being thrown into the deep end. 

The birthday girl is one of my students and her mom caught me after class on Monday (yep, just several days before the party) and inquired if there was any chance I was free to be Elsa.  This turned out to be a good thing because (rarely are we open on a Saturday) and it didn’t give me too much time to be stressed and freaking out about it.

I spent a good long while getting ready for the gig.  Kayliana got a little jealous of mommy’s costume and make-up so I did a bit for her too.  (She still wasn’t thrilled when I left without HER to go to this amazing sounding birthday party). 

I arrived in the parking lot with a few minutes to spare (which provided just enough time to readjust my wig and also get even more nervous and excited…and to question my sanity).  I texted the mom and she met me at the door.  (I was anxious about going into this huge complex, being lost Elsa and being potentially mobbed by children).  As I started walking toward Bday Mom, she said, “Wait! I’ve got to get pictures of Elsa walking across the parking lot!”  Uh, OK.  Not sure if I did the Elsa-walking-across-a-parking-lot walk correctly, but I did my best.

When you first enter the building, there are all these tables set-up along an indoor soccer field.  The tables were full of people.  A bunch of soccer games were happening.  It was a crowd.   I followed Bday Mom hearing “That’s Elsa” and “Is that Elsa?!” the whole way.

As we approached the inflatable toy area and party rooms, Bday Mom said, “Oh, Elsa, let me introduce you to my husband.”  I met Bday Husband and then Bday Mom said, “I gotta get a picture of you with the dads.”  Thus – my first photo op: Elsa and a bunch of beer-drinkin’ dads.  Kind of awesome. 

Next, I was escorted to our party room.  I set down my basket and was immediately swarmed by children (including the birthday girl and her sister.  I’ve had both girls in music class for a while…I really wondered if they’d buy my act).  They sure did.  The girls all immediately started asking questions  and telling me things.

“I love your sparkly dress…Your hair’s so pretty…Where’s Anna?” 

“She’s in Arendelle. Someone has to look after the kingdom while I’m here for Bday Girl’s special day!”

 “Do you have your ice power?”

“Well, of course I do!  Unfortunately I won’t be able to use it inside though.  I’m not allowed to make it snow.  Can you imagine the mess they’d have to clean up?! And these floors would get terribly slippery!”

Then, one of my students, looks at me and loudly says, “I know who you are! You’re the music teacher!”  There was a half second of silence as the kids all studied me carefully.

“Does your music teacher have long blond hair like mine?”

“No,” she says.

“Well, there ya go,” I say.

Another little girl asks, “Are you the REAL Elsa?”

“What do you think?” I ask her back.

“I don’t know,” she answers doubtfully.

“Do I look like Elsa?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Do I sound like Elsa?  I will, of course, be singing later too,” I say.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Then one little girl reaches out and touches my hand.  She gasps and says, “Oh my gosh, you guys! Even her hands are super cold!”  (I honestly don’t think they were THAT cold, though I had just come in from outside).

They all immediately begin feeling my hands and, of course, not one of them wants to admit that they don’t think my hands are all that cold.

I take pictures with some of the kids and then Bday Mom ushers them out for their last 10 minutes of playtime while I set-up. 

I’m getting everything ready, when I hear, “We just wanted to come say hi,” behind me.

I turn around and see about half a girls’ soccer team standing there grinning.  I chat with them for a little bit.  (I point out that they look all hot and sweaty and, well, I prefer it cold.  One girl tells me not to try soccer then).

Eventually, all of the party kids are in our room, in their seats and being served pizza.  I mingle with a couple of the kids and wait for my cue to start.  Meanwhile, Bday Dad sidles up to me and says, “So, Frozen.  That was a big hit for Disney!”

“Yes,” I say, wondering if he’s making small-talk with me or Elsa.  “Disney’s even coming out with a Frozen 2.”

“That’s great.  Congratulations! You must be super excited!” 

I’m waiting for him to ask, “So, do you play a big part in the sequel?” and decide it’s time to get this show on the road.

 I get the kids’ attention and we sing a few short snow songs.  Between each song, the kids like to tell me things like “You hit your sister with your ice power and she got hurt.”  I respond with obvious remorse and gratitude that she’s OK.  Then another child will replay an entire scene from the movie and I’d say, “Yes, true story,” or “You’re exactly right.  That IS what happened to us!”

Eventually they serve cake (we sing Happy Birthday) and then I invite Bday Girl to come up to sing “Let it Go” with me. 

This was the moment I was MOST nervous about.  “Let it Go” is a monster epic ballad.  It’s right on my break.  It’s a challenging song for me on a good day and I’d – no shocker – come down with a cold two days before the party.  (NOT awesome).  Of course, we know, that the cold never bothered me anyway….BUT I was really nervous for singing it.  I’m (humbly) happy to say that (in my ever so humble opinion), I think I rocked it.  It went REALLY well.  One little 3 year old boy, Ethan, came up and stood next to me while I sang it – just gazing at me with such love and admiration.  It. Was. Awesome.  There were about 20 kids plus parents (and many of them took video) – so I’m hoping that Bday Mom will get me some of the pics and video.

I finished the event by blowing bubbles for them (SO not as cool as making it snow inside, but the kids seemed happy with the bubbles).  And then, finally, it was time for me to go.  After a last few photos, I said goodbye to the Bday Girl and all the kids and left the party room.  As I was approaching the exit, the two teenage boys sitting at the front desk said, “Elsa! Bye Elsa!”  Quietly (so only they could hear) I said, “Peace out, boys.”  It caught them totally off guard, and I could hear them laughing as I got close to the door.

Just as I was about to exit, a little girl – about 6 years old – was walking in with her parents.  She glanced up at me and her jaw nearly hit the floor.  I smiled and waved at her.  She waved back at me, still obviously in total shock.  Mind. Blown.

I got in my car, drove down the street a ways, pulled off into a shady spot and removed my wig and wig cap and felt SO incredibly relieved.  If I can handle that scene; I got this!

With my mini-Elsa

 Ready to rock...let's do this thing!

Little League is upon us

Baseball season is in full swing (slight pun intended).  Unfortunately, we’ve gotten off to a bit of a rough start for Matthew this year.  We think he sprained his wrist a while ago.   (Or he at least somehow tweaked it  – just did a ‘lil something to his right hand/wrist).  So that certainly hasn’t helped.  We’ve wrapped and iced it off and on, but we probably just need to take him in and have it looked at as it doesn’t seem to be getting a whole lot better.

We thought things actually started off great.  At game #1, Matthew was the very first batter of the entire season!  First pitch, he made contact with the ball (though hit it close to the pitcher who was able to snag it and get Matthew out at first).  Later that game, Matthew walked and then proceeded to steal 2^nd, 3^rd and then home too!  I gotta say (totally braggy-pants for a second); Matthew IS a smart, solid base runner…when he gets on base.  That’s where the roughness comes in.  Since that very first at-bat, Matthew has yet to get a hit.  We’re talking five games now of either striking out or walking.  What’s so frustrating is that his swing looks fantastic – like better than ever – but his timing has gotten completely wonky when he even swings.  And that’s the other problem.  This is kid pitch, people.  You can’t be that picky waiting for a perfect pitch as they don’t happen all the time.  We’ve also go kid-ish umps (teenagers) who are also learning the ropes.  They don’t call perfect games, but, for the most part, they do a pretty darn good job.  But Matthew’s just standing there watching decent pitches go by.  I’m not sure what’s going on, but we’re all getting frustrated. 

All Mike and I can do is encourage him (to swing the stinkin’ bat)!!  But I’m praying – PA-RAYING – that things start looking up or it’s going to be a.) a long season and b.) probably his last (since we had to strongly encourage him to play one more – with this different league). 

The different league that we switched to is fantastic though!  I wish we’d made the move years ago.  They have so many rules in place that don’t allow for all the drama, politics, and crap that we had to deal with through our smaller local league.  We definitely miss some of the families and Matthew getting to be on the same team with classmates, but so far everyone at the new league is great.  If only our kiddo were playing better.  Look, we all know it’s about having fun.  Totally true.  But we also know that it’s really hard to have fun when you’re just having a rough go of it. 

So, while I know there are way bigger issues out there – WAY more important things for God to be dealing with – I’ve selfishly begun praying for Matthew’s baseball playing skills.  And I miss being able to vent to my dad about Little League season.  Sure, I can still ‘talk’ to him about it, but it’s just not the same.  At all.

Easter 2015

Happy Easter!  We had a really nice Easter weekend.  Matthew and I attended the Easter Vigil on Saturday night.  One of his best school buddies Owen (along with his two little sisters and their mom) got baptized!  It was such a beautiful service and so special to be there.

Mike, Zach and Kayliana went to Mass on Sunday and then we all headed to my brother Timothy’s and his wife Rebecca’s house for Easter goodness – a hunt and delicious food.  I’m just disappointed we didn’t get pictures of everyone!

Matthew's New Job

Matthew’s been gel-ing his hair for a while now.  He’s pretty meticulous about it and wants it to look a certain way.  He’s recently added a new accessory to his ‘look’ – he even calls them his “trademark:” shades.  He’s got about three different pairs of sunglasses and claims that his friends can’t wait to see which pair he’ll be wearing each day. 

It seems Spring Fever has reached these 5^th graders and the crushes and giggling and pointing and general pubescent carrying-on is in full swing.  Evan, a friend of Matthew’s has – apparently (I’ve been told) – become quite popular with the ladies and several little gals are BIG fans of Evan’s.  Evan – Mr. Supercool Big Man on Campus – has decided he needs some back-up in fending off these girls, and he has ‘hired’ Matthew to be one of his ‘bodyguards.’  Well, you can see just how perfectly Matthew’s wearing of shades fits into his new role as Bodyguard/Secret Service detail.

I’d discussed with Matthew how he – under no circumstances – can wear the sunglasses IN school.  I explained that it’s disrespectful (not making eye contact with people – especially adults, etc.), people might think he’s blind (or at least pretending to be which is also not cool) and, well, um, it’s also just a little odd.  He assured me he only wears them at recess and on the bus.

Well, last week, I helped put on a baby shower for Zachary’s 3^rd grade teacher.  At the end of the day, I see Matthew walking down the hall – of course dutifully protecting Evan.  Matthew is easy to spot.  At 5 foot 3, he towers over 99.9% (rough estimate) of the kids in the school.  Matthew is – as I figured – totally rockin’ his shades IN the building.  NOT OK.

I head outside and run into my friend Tiffany.

“Where’s Matthew?” She asked.

“Oh, he’s too cool, you know, with his shades ‘n all, to ride home with me.  He wanted to take the bus home with his buddies.”   Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that Tiffany’s 5^th grade son overheard us.

“Yeah, what’s with Matthew and those sunglasses?  He wears them all the time.  It’s super weird.”  More confirmation of my fears.

You can bet your bippy that later that day, Matthew and I had a little chat.  I eventually got him to admit that yes, he’s wearing the sunglasses (not in the classroom, but definitely in the hallway) and – as I suspected – the sunglasses are becoming a bit of a crutch for my shy boy.  He can look at people without them knowing it and he doesn’t have to make eye contact, etc.  He goes on to tell me that – as Evan’s “bodyguard” – one day, he was assigned “lookout duty” and had to count how many times Maggie looked over at Evan during lunch.  (53). So, he HAD to wear the sunglasses then…

“You realize that in staring at Maggie, she probably thinks that you like her now and…that’s kind of weird with the sunglasses and all…”

“Yeah,” Matthew admits, “Zach and his friends all say that they’re creepy.”  Well, um, yes!  If you’re wearing them so you can look at girls without them realizing….uh…a little stalkery!  For sure. (Of course, I say all of these things to him in a kinder, not-quite-as-blunt-but-you-need-to-stop-the-weirdness mom sort of way). 

He promises he’ll ONLY wear the sunglasses when he’s outside.

The next morning he finds an old broken cell phone Bluetooth and starts wearing it on his ear – for playing, at recess and at the bus stop.  (The ear piece – that doesn’t work – totally makes him a super legit Bodyguard). 

Friday afternoon, when the boys get off the bus, I can tell something’s wrong. 

“I got puked on at school.  I need to get home NOW to shower and change” Matthew quickly tells me.  Yeah, gross.

Later I find out that some poor kiddo –at the very end of the school day – suddenly got sick and Matthew (and one other kid) took the brunt of the impact.  Turns out, Evan was behind Matthew and was essentially blocked from being showered in the nasty.

“Are you telling me, that you jumped in the line of projectile vomit - fire to protect Evan?!” I asked.  “You are taking this WAY too seriously.”

“No,” Matthew assured me.  “Not on purpose really.  But…” he adds proudly, “I did definitely block him!”

Leprechaun Hunting

Dear Over-achieving Parents:

 I don’t appreciate you.  With your nonstop crafting, your way over-the-top-excessive gift-giving…You make my already difficult job (as a self-proclaimed Slacker Mom) even more challenging! 

Sincerely,

Jenny

It’s just gotten to be too much.  Enough!  Stop the madness!  The kids come home from school with stories about what the Tooth Fairy brought their classmates.  And I’m not just talking about the money (which is, in my opinion, always too much).  The Tooth Fairy leaves notes and fairy dust and little tiny sparkling footprints and on and on and on.  But now the madness has carried over to St. Patrick’s Day. 

On St. Patrick’s Eve, Zachary calls me into his room and excitedly shows me two notes.  He’s written one for Matthew and one for Kayli.  They are from leprechauns and each note has a quarter attached to it.  Zach points out how he ‘disguised’ his hand-writing so that Matthew and Kayli wouldn’t realize who they were actually from.  Well, he kept the secret for all of 4.8 minutes and then brought Matthew into his room to show him.  So, together, the boys stealthily left the note on the floor of Kayli’s room while she slept.

St. Patrick’s Day arrives and we’re greeted with two emotional extremes – Kayliana is beside herself with excitement that she got money and a note from a “what are the little guys called?” – she kept having to ask.  I look at Zach to see if he’s thrilled that his plan worked.  His face, on the other hand, is the epitome of depression mingled with angst.  After Kayli goes upstairs, Zach starts crying.

“Even though I did the notes.  I thought leprechauns were real, but I didn’t get ANYTHING!  I think it’s just parents and you guys probably do the Tooth Fairy too!”  Fearing that the downward spiral was about to begin (and having just gone through our first Christmas with Matthew knowing ‘the truth’ (http://www.jenny524.blogspot.com/2014/11/growing-up.html , I was very quick to nip it in the bud. 

“You know, I’ve lived my whole life and never saw a leprechaun and certainly never received anything from one.  They’re sneaking little guys.  K, time to get ready for school!”  Thankfully, my distraction tactic managed to work for once.

After school, Zach gets home and is the walking opposite of his morning-somber-self.  “Mom!!  I was wrong!  Leprechauns wouldn’t have come last night!  They come ON St. Patrick’s night!  I’m going to work on building a leprechaun trap!” 

Crisis diverted….I guess??

While he worked on his trap, I found some info on leprechaun folklore to read to the kids.  Stressing the parts about leprechauns being tricky little guys…rarely-if-ever seen by humans. 

I also pointed out that not one article said the leprechaun would leave money or presents.  (The story goes, they only leave gold IF they have the bad luck of actually being spotted by a human).

I asked Zach if he’d still believe in leprechauns even if his trap didn’t work again (he’d built one last year).  “I don’t even know if they actually come inside our house,” I pointed out.  He assured me that a.) Yes, they come in houses because, of course, kids at school had reported finding all sorts of treasure and b.) Yes, he’d still believe even if there was no leprechaun proof.

After Zach built his trap and got it all set up, Matthew came downstairs and quietly said, “Mom, I’m concerned that Zach’s believing in this so much.  We don’t want him to be disappointed when there’s nothing in the trap in the morning.  Can we like write him a note or explaining ‘the truth’ or just leave him some money so that he keeps believing?!”

I explained my genius plan: Do Nothing.  He looked at me incredulously.  (I feel like after having me as a mom for years now, he should be unsurprised to my ‘set their expectations as low as possible’ approach to parenting.)

“Matthew, the more we do, the more involved we get and elaborate this becomes, the harder it is to maintain.  We want him to keep believing because of his imagination and faith…And we (I) certainly don’t want to make more work for (myself) in the future!”  So, he dropped it and we did nothing…or so I thought.

Mike told me later, that he snuck into the trap (through the ‘decoy trapdoor’ that Zach had put on top) a little Lego leprechaun that he’d made.  I wasn’t sure if I liked this plan or not.

Come morning time, Zach woke Kayli up and the two eagerly inspected his leprechaun trap.  He very quickly decided that the trap door had definitely been messed up a little bit.  He was quite certain his ‘gold’ (a.k.a. gold duct tape wrapped around a scrap of paper) had done the trick in getting a leprechaun’s attention in the first place.  He looked down into the trap (where glue had covered the floor of the box in the hopes that poor Mr. Unsuspecting Leprechaun would get stuck) and saw the little Lego guy. 

I held my breath, sure that he’d immediately jump to a “Mom! YOU did this!” conclusion.

“That. Sneaky. Little. Guy!”  Zachary declared, shaking his head in utter disbelief.  “He totally snuck in my room and made a little leprechaun Lego guy to leave as a decoy!  Ha!”

And then we moved on.  He just accepted this with complete childlike wonder and faith, never for a second questioning.  PHEW.

The leprechaun trap is still set-up on the stairs.  I think he’s still hoping for a catch.

Saint Joseph

So, I’m a pretty big Saint Joseph fan – and by that, I mean the man, not just the church (although that happens to be our parish too and I like it as well; I’m just currently discussing the guy).  I’ll admit that, selfishly, my pro-St. Joe-ness started when we were trying to sell our house.  Desperate for a sale, I finally caved under the pressure and suggestions (the last one coming from a priest!) to do the ‘ol hokey – bury poor Saint Joseph (a small statue version) in your garden deal.  And, yep, it did work, although, I think a.) the house would’ve sold eventually anyway and b.) it’s faith and trusting God’s plan that helps, not the belief in some superstition. But praying is always comforting and asking for prayers from friends – and friends in high places (Saints!) – is never a bad thing!

Once a month, we have Adoration at St. Joe’s – keeping a round the clock vigil in church with the Blessed Sacrament.  I like to sign up for a butt-crack-of-dawn time and this month scored the 5am-6am time slot meaning I was up at the ungodly (sorry) hour of 4am.  Kayli actually had me up at 3, and I didn’t sleep much after that knowing that I’d have to get up soon.  I think, honestly, being tired adds to the experience.  Once I’m in the quiet church, with only the sound of the holy water font bubbling behind me, and the darkness coming through the windows enclosing me, it’s very easy to get into a slight form of “St. Joseph’s Prayer.”  Through His angels, God chose to speak to St. Joseph when he was asleep; therefore, nodding off while praying is merely slipping into prayer the way St. Joe did!

Friends of ours from Engaged Encounter, go to Adoration weekly on Mondays from 4-5am.  Maureen said that because it’s so stinkin’ early in the morning, she often feels like she has ‘God mostly to herself.’  I love that. 

There are supposed to be two people signed up for every hour – that way you’re never alone in the church or there’s at least someone else there, if the other person oversleeps/can’t make it.  When I arrived at 4:50, there were three people in the church.  Shortly after 5, they all left and I had the church – and Jesus – completely to myself for nearly an hour.  I feel like saying ‘it was magical’ is pretty lame, but it basically was.  (Movingly spiritual or spiritually moving would probably be more appropriate.)

Towards the end of my hour, I started thinking about St. Joseph…which now, so often, makes me think about my dad.  After dad died, the boys even commented that ‘D-dad’ was like St. Joseph – he was a worker.  As I thought about it I had a sudden image of St. Joseph and my dad – sporting his ‘work clothes’ (old paint-splattered jeans, grubby sweatshirt, blue coat) – working together.  Side by side.  Just chillin’ in Heaven building stuff like total buddies.  I couldn’t help but smile.  After a bit, I pulled out my Kindle – and went to one of my faves – some of Pope Francis’ homilies from Lent last year.  (Um, pretty much love that guy more than life itself.)  I just started at a random one and what was the whole thing about?  Yup.  Saint Joseph.

I read: “Jesus is born and lives in a family, in the Holy Family, learning the carpenter’s craft from St. Joseph in his workshop in Nazareth, sharing with him the commitment, effort, satisfaction and also the difficulties of every day…St. Joseph also experienced moments of difficulty, but he never lost faith and was able to overcome them, in the certainty that God never abandons us…”

Stuff I love about Joseph: I love – especially as an adoptive parent – that St. Joseph is the foster and adoptive father of Jesus.  I love that Joseph is called “the terror of demons.”  (Boom! Take THAT scary stuff!)  I love that St. Joe is a worker and, in his example, we should see our work not as monotonous chore, but as a gift that we’ve been given and that we can perform with a happy heart. 

In most any St. Joseph prayer, we ask him to pray that we might have “the grace of a happy death,” that he “assist me at the hour of my death;” that “I might merit to die as you (St. Joseph) did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.”  Obviously, I can’t help but think of my dad and – knowing how devout he was – and feel such comfort.  My dad had a beautiful, grace-filled death.  He was working for the church (WORKING – in his grubby work clothes).  Thank you, St. Joseph.

All of these thoughts were swirling in me as I finished my hour of Adoration.  I could NOT stop thinking about St. Joseph and feeling this strong connection to him and between him and my dad.   There’s a stand in the back of the vestibule that has audio books/presentations.  I always check them out after Adoration to see if there are any good ones.  In the very middle of the CD’s, one just happened to jump out at me.  In huge bold letters it said, “St. Joseph.”  Ha!  Guess that’s the one I’ll pick up this month!  Next to the CD stand, there was a basket full of prayer cards: “Solemnity of St. Joseph, March 19^th” with a picture of St. Joseph and Jesus.  The back of the card has the beautiful prayer that starting on – oh! March 10^th – can be said for 9 days as a Novena.  As I finally made my way out of the church, there was a big sign for the “St. Joseph Feast Day – Parish Dinner!”  OK, I hear ya. 

I was telling Mike about this and said that I’d really love to have a small St. Joseph statue for in the kitchen.  He pointed out that he knew where one was buried!  Rather than, under the cloak of darkness (and an act of total weirdness), digging up the guy we left in the backyard at the old house, the Easter bunny will be bringing me a new, fresh St. Joseph.  I found one that I love and that will, of course, also remind me of dad.  St. Joseph even has on HIS work clothes – robes and apron – and is holding a couple of tools.

I’m a big fan.  

Spring!

A momentous occasion is upon us: my blog (the word document in which I type before posting here) has reached 500 pages.  FIVE HUNDRED SINGLE SPACED PAGES…all about me.  Narcissistic much?!  Plus, it’s nearly 9 years old.  I started my hospital bed rest to keep Zachary cookin’ on March 12^th, 2006.  And thus, this blog was born.  (And the kid was born seven weeks later). 

My, a lot has changed in our lives during these last 9 years, these 500 pages.  I should probably print it out since it’s my journal that our children will – I’m sure – cherish someday.  But printing 500 pages of my mental diarrhea seems like a pretty hefty amount of tree-killing to embark on.  (EmBARK…trees…Dad would be proud – or embarrassed – of my horrible pun-attempt.)  Besides, I’m sure by the time I’m dead and gone, the kids can just have my blog scanned into their brains or something.

So many changes.  Mike and I have talked a lot recently about how we feel like we’re right in the middle of massive change.  We’re entering a new chapter in our lives.  The kids are almost all school-aged, mostly civilized humans and somewhat-sorta-a-little-bit-more independent.  (Kayliana still acts like a wild animal half the time, but she’s cute and house-trained at least).  Mike’s just (one week in) – started a new job, his dream career of software engineering for video games.  He came home the first day, grinning from ear-to-ear like a kid in a candy store.  My music class biz and silly attempts at being a princess (lame plug: www.littleditties.us ) is starting to pick up.  I will soon have three Montessori schools (with multiple campuses), Kayli’s preschool, a community center and a library gig all underway.  And I have 3 birthday parties tentatively scheduled – one as me (doing my dinosaur-themed music for a 2 year old boy’s birthday) and two as Elsa.  Exciting times!

Matthew – our 5 pound baby peanut – is now 5 foot 3 ¾ and checks almost every morning to see if he’s finally met my whopping height of 5 foot 4.  We wear the same shoe size now.  He leaves tomorrow for three days of 5^th grade camp, and while the boys bicker on a daily basis, Zachary has already said several times, “I’m going to miss Matthew.”  And Kayliana cried when Matthew told her he’d be gone for a few days.

As I write this, I face our living room window and our pink blossom-filled cherry tree.  The daffodil bulbs my dad brought back from our beach house a couple of years ago are up and open, BOBbing in the breeze.  (That one is totally for you, dad.)  While it's not officially here, Spring has sprung super early in Seattle this year, and a season of change has definitely come for our family as well. 

Just another Friday afternoon...???

The whole time I was a little bit questioning my sanity.  I mean, it’s not every weekday afternoon that I dress up as not one, but TWO, princesses and have a photo shoot. (I swear, this is not normal for me).  Am I really doing this?  Is this for real?  Is this really like a thing? That I DO?!!  But I did it.  It’s done.  I’ve put it out there.  It’s on my website (www.littleditties.us) and it’s on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/littledittiesmusic ).  There’s no going back now!

I’ve also just landed a new gig as THE preschool music program for the city of Renton!  I’ll start this May teaching two back-to-back classes on Friday mornings.  One class will be a 2-3 year olds with parent helper class and the second will be a 3 ½- 6 year olds drop-off class.  When the center director was looking over my website, she saw the princess stuff and squealed.  “Um, we were going to be booking an Elsa for an event in December.  And we do birthday parties all the time.  Maybe you can be our in-house Princess!”

So, while I’m launching this new career-venture of mine, Mike has been busy making HUGE changes as well.  After 13 years with the same company (the place he’s been since graduating from college), he’s moving on.  It’ll be a bittersweet move for sure.  His current company has been so good to us through the years.  I’ll miss the flexibility and the fact that two days a week, he worked from home.  But, I’m so excited about his move.  He’ll be getting his foot in the door of the videogame-programming world at a software company called Wargaming.  It’s been his lifelong dream to program for games, so we’re super excited about it! 

Big changes a-happening here, for sure!

Character Party #1!

And we’re off!  I worked yesterday afternoon.  Most people wouldn’t be super pumped to have to work on a Saturday, but I couldn’t wait!  And, the job did not disappoint!

One of my dear book club friends – Kendra – asked (when I announced about my birthday party plan) if I might be willing to be Crysta (a rain forest fairy from the movie Ferngully) for her daughter’s birthday.  I accepted the challenge and immediately began pulling a costume together and all of my rain forest/jungle themed music.  It went really well (in my humble opinion) and was tons of fun. 

Their girls didn’t know that I was coming, but when I walked in Kendra’s younger daughter looked at me and without skipping a beat goes, “Oh, hi Crysta.  Can I try on your wings?”  She also wanted to touch my pointy elf ears and try on my shoes.  I had to turn down those requests because a.) I was worried my prosthetic elf ears would pop off (and they were difficult to get on – practically had to fold the top part of my ear in half and shove ‘em in) and b.) I didn’t really want to take off my shoes since this fairy needs a pedicure.

I began quietly setting up my stuff when all of a sudden birthday girl Lennox walked in.  I knew Kendra wanted to see Lennox’s reaction to me, but I couldn’t exactly be unseen.  Lennox’s eyes got huge, her jaw dropped but she kept walking towards me almost in slow motion.  It. Was. Awesome.

I said, “Happy Birthday, Lennox! Do you know who I am?”

She slowly nodded and said, “Hi Crysta!” And proceeded to give me a huge hug.  Super the cutest!

The 12 party attendees (mostly 5-6ish year olds) did great. They were so good!  We sang a lot, danced with scarves, played egg shakers, passed the musical instruments, played with the parachute and I blew bubbles. 

My friend Megan (also from book club) said that her daughter’s post party commentary was, “Mom, I didn't know fairies were real, but they are, cause Crysta is a fairy and she is real! And she flew all the way from the rain forest to play with us. And she has instruments that she let us play with, only you can't throw them or she will take them away.”

Yep, I’m a fairy with rules!

3am

At 3am this morning, Kayliana started yelling urgently, "Mommy! Mommy! MOMMY!!!"  I rushed in to her room to see what the problem was.

"What?!" I panted half-asleep and also a little alarmed with the urgency with which she'd been yelling.

As calmly as could be, she said, "I love you so much."  Like this is a totally normal thing to scream for at 3am.

I half-chuckled-groaned and responded, "I love you so much too, but let's not yell at 3am to tell me that, k?  Let's have you go potty since we're up."  I toss back her blankets and my hand hits something kinda hard.  Huh?

On top of her footy pajamas, Kayli was wearing the still-too-big-but-she's-desperate-to-wear-them pair of pink cheetah-print boots she'd received as a birthday present.  Also, perfectly normal at 3am on Wednesdays, apparently.  (For the record, she hadn't been wearing them when I'd put her to bed.)

My mom has told me the story of when I was four and had gotten a pair of shiny black Mary Janes.  When she tucked me in for bed that night, something told her to take a peek and, sure enough, I was sporting my new shoes in bed.  Like mother, like daughter.

2015, here we come!

Christmas has come and gone.  New Year’s is over.  I’m still kind of in denial though.  The Martin home has yet to be de-Christmasified.  But that’s allowed – it’s just Epiphany today!  I’ll probably slowly start tomorrow, but honestly, for some reason, this year, I did NOT get my fill of Christmas music and magic.  I may keep on keepin’ on with the music for a while yet.

We had a good Christmas.  I think maybe my expectations (as often happens) made it a bit of a letdown though.  Last year was so horrible (seeing as my dad had died just a month previous).  Obviously this year was better than that, but it still wasn’t totally awesome.  The kids – well, the two younger of the three – were insanely cranky.  Like terrible grumpy aliens took over their bodies cranky.  I don’t know what was going on there.  It’s hard not to let that start to get you down.  You want to scream, “It’s Christmas, for crying out loud! BE MERRY!!!”

Post Christmas, things did look up.  Mike and I took my mom to see, “A Christmas Story, the Musical” at the 5^th Ave Theater.  It’s my parents’ all time fave Christmas movie (they even received a leg lamp one year that my brother had made).  That was super fun.  Then on Sunday, our annual Camp Christmas began.  Jason, Rebecca, Jason’s daughter Adrienne and their 4 kiddos moved in for four nights-five days.  Most people think this is nuts.  Most don’t understand.  When we told the kids that they’d be staying for four whole nights this year, Zach whined.  (‘Cuz that’s still not long enough.)  When it was time for them to leave (after five days of togetherness, playing games, hanging out), one of their kids cried, “But we didn’t get to play!”  This is just how we roll, these two families – no time together is ever time enough.

New Year’s Eve was party central.  Adrienne stayed here to put all of the kiddos to bed (and did a great job) while Jason, Rebecca, Mike and I went with Rebecca’s family on a party bus in Seattle.  We went to a bar (that we proceeded to OWN) and then went up Queen Anne hill to watch the fireworks at the Space Needle.  We ended the night at Dick’s Drive-In and an insane amount of burgers, fries and milkshakes at 2am.  We partied like rock stars. 

What will 2015 bring?  We’re already off to a good start.  Mike and I had a date night courtesy of dear friends, Jason and Julia, on Saturday.  We used the time (sans kids) to talk about the upcoming year.  We’ve got to figure out Kayliana’s next school year’s pre-Kindergarten plan SOON (which seems crazy and as if I’m figuring out who she is as a human being…like now. No pressure).  She got to start the year with a beautiful new bedroom set that we got from friends!  Matthew just started baseball (we finally bit the bullet and bid adieu to our local drama politics-filled league and moved to the bigger one in Bellevue).  They do an awesome job of providing equal prep/practice time for all kids at the local batting cages with all coaches helping all kids equally - what a concept!  Zachary starts an acting class next week that he is SO insanely excited about.  Mike’s busy with some work projects and continuing to get my website ready for on-line registration for my classes and birthday parties!  I’m excited with my new found life plan to be the princess I was always meant to be.  I need to get my Elsa dress altered and schedule a photo-shoot with my friend Andrea, and then I’ll really be ready to rock the 2-6 year old birthday party scene.  We’re working on some house projects – including getting a gas fireplace insert in the next month or so (which I’ve always wanted and is abnormally exciting to me).  We’re hoping to go to Spokane in April to see Mike’s family (and attend an Engaged Encounter meeting).  We’ve got a trip to California planned for the end of June and a camping trip scheduled with Jason and Rebecca for August.  

All good things!  And thank you, GOD, for getting us through 2014 and that it's behind us!

Introducing: www.littleditties.us !

So, we’ve had a little project that we’ve been working on.  Remember post-Halloween when I might have implied that I was a little more into being Snow White than is normal?  It wasn’t just a standard Halloween-costume wearing night for me.  It turned into a game-changer…or possible career-changer (or adder on thingy or something).  In a nutshell: I AM going to be a Princess when I grow up!  Mike and I have been working on getting my website ready to be released to the world. 

Every few years, we’ve looked into starting a website for my music class business – primarily so that I could accept on-line payments.  However, dumb website-squatter peeps have been squatting on littleditties.com and wanted nearly $2000 for the domain.  Forget it.  We decided – because of my increased number of students and my goal to branch out to the princess market (especially for birthday parties) – to go with www.littleditties.us .  It’s a work-in-progress.  Let me know what you think – I’d love feedback!  jenny@littleditties.us We still need to add some features and details (like pictures for my other princess characters), but it’s pretty exciting (and also slightly terrifying)! 

I have my first character party scheduled for January 31^st – it’s actually a custom character!  For my dear book club friend Kendra’s daughter’s birthday party, I’ll be Crysta, the scantily clad fairy from the movie Fern Gully.  Never fear, there will be no mid-drift baring for me!  I found a super cute one-shoulder (short-ish, but not TOO short) red dress that’ll work. 

I’ve been busily collecting my other princess paraphernalia as well.  Probably most important of all (and likely to be the bread and butter of the princess biz) is Elsa, the Frozen queen (though I have to be careful when advertising since she’s a licensed character).  Did you notice how about 98% of girls ages 8 and under were Elsa this Halloween?  (Our own little princess asked Santa for an Elsa dress and wig for Christmas!  Then again, she probably feels weirdly left out seeing as her mom has them!)  I have a feeling Elsa will be my money maker.  (Which is a little bit of a bummer since she’s my character that will be the trickiest to pull off – the dress, the wig, etc.) After extensively researching other Elsa’s in the greater Seattle area, I’ve learned that they are all pretty much booked through March already.  I still need to find good Elsa shoes and get my dress altered a little, but I’m fairly ready to go.  But holy poop, it’s frustrating that – of all the Disney princess songs out there – Let it Go – is by far one of the most challenging.  Let’s just saying, I’ve been practicing it A LOT and every Martin knows every word (though most Martins wouldn’t admit it).

I’m trying to take my time really putting it all there – I haven’t advertised with my preschools yet – as we’re not quite ready to launch on-line payment.  I know once word gets out, I really need to be ready to go.  I plan on donating a party (or two) to our school auction which is coming up in a few months.  It’s exciting but also scary and then, let’s face it, it’s a little bigger than just adding to my existing business.  I’ve not forgotten that dad – months before he died – wanted me to go back to school for my masters so that I could teach full-time in a public school (for the purpose of job security and long-term retirement planning).  I’m well aware that Bob would not be pro-my princess plan.  But, for now, with our kids being the ages they are and (honestly, financially) it makes more sense for me to do this.  And I want to do this – at least give it a shot.  I figure I probably only have a few princess years in me anyway as no little girl wants a middle-aged wrinkly princess singing and dancing at her party, so I better give it a-go now or it’ll never happen.  Plus, it gives me motivation to (get in and) stay in-shape.  (Though with holiday sweets and treats, I need to start doing a better job!) Sad, but true, there ain’t no chunky princesses out there!  Hmmm, Disney, maybe it’s time…they’ve had princesses of different races, is it time for a plus-sized princess?!  

Our Best Story

Something’s been very cool since Kayliana turned four – she’s been asking a lot of questions about being adopted.  Last week, when we were driving to swim lessons, she asked me, “Where was I before I was here?”  I wasn’t entirely sure that I understood her question, but I went with it.  I told her some details about how she came to be.  I won’t lie, I may have told her story in a way slightly similar to the birth of Christ – listen, I’m not saying she’s the Messiah, but she’s pretty dang special.

I told her that there was a family – a Mike and Jenny and a Matthew and Zachary – and they heard God tell them that their family needed a little girl.  Meanwhile, there was a young woman named Mia, who found herself with child.  She so loved that child (and God so loved that family) that God told Mia that little baby would be the baby for this family…

“Daddy and I couldn’t wait to meet you.  We went to the hospital when you were two days old.  We got to see you for the first time.  We loved you so much right away, but we actually loved you before you were even born.  Before Birth Mom Mia chose us to be your family, we loved our baby girl.  When Birth Mom Mia put you in my arms…” 

This is Kayli’s favorite part of the story and she will tell anyone interested.  She took over and said, “When Birth Mom Mia put me in mommy’s arms I FIRST TOOTED!!!”  And then she laughs and laughs.  Yep, ‘tis true.  The first thing Kayliana did was pass gas the moment I held her…she’s been full of surprises ever since.

I went on to tell Kayli how we put her in her car seat and drove to the bus stop.  We picked up Matthew from school in the afternoon.  It was a super rainy day and everyone at the bus stop had umbrellas and they were all crowding around to see our new baby girl.  Matthew got in the van and looked at his new baby sister and just grinned from ear-to-ear.  

A little while after we got home, Grandma and D-dad came to see their new baby granddaughter and they had Big Brother Zachary with them.  Zach took one look at Kayli and just started laughing and laughing and laughing.  He couldn’t believe that the baby girl we’d prayed about for so long was finally here.

That night, the boys sat in the big cozy rocking chair (the one still in her room).  They rocked her and sang a lullaby and then Matthew said the thing that I’ll never ever forget, “I like Kayliana MORE than love.  Like I don’t even know the word for it.”

I love this story.  I love the fact that now Kayliana can really start to (try to) understand how amazing it is.  I love her favorite part and that she loves telling it to people.  And believe me, if and when you see her and you want to hear what she did when Birth Mom Mia first put her in Mommy’s arms, she’ll be SO happy to tell you!

The Cemetery

Well, we buried dad yesterday – did the interment of his ashes at Tahoma National Veteran’s Cemetery.  It was a dark and stormy day – no exaggeration – it absolutely POURED and the wind cut right through you.  Mom made a comment that we’d camped in worse weather than yesterday’s.  Poor dad, we always gave him such a hard time about the terrible camping weather we so often got stuck in – as if it was his fault.

It was a beautiful service – I was deeply touched by the fact that most of the honor guard and people who work at the cemetery are retired veterans and volunteers.  They saluted our cars as we drove to the shelter for the service.  The trumpeter played America the Beautiful and, of course, Taps, and one other song though I can’t remember what it was.  Deacon Jack and Father N were there and both spoke.  One of the Veterans gave our kids some of the empty shell casings from the Rifle Salute which was very cool.  Several of mom’s and dad’s close friends braved the elements to join us and a few came to mom’s afterwards for lunch provided by my brother and sister-in-law.

We got through it.  Kind of like the last year.  People have said that doing the cemetery service would be “good” and would bring me “closure.”  I don’t love that – I don’t see how it can bring closure – though, yes, I am thankful that there’s a place where we can go to visit dad.  There have been a couple of places during this last year that have been places like that.  I can’t drive by Father F’s house across the street from my parents’ parish without staring at the spot where my dad fell on his knees and died.  The Port Ludlow beach house was the other place where I felt so close to dad and his spirit.  Man, he loved it there. Maybe the Cemetery will bring comfort, who knows; maybe it will even bring closure.  All I know is there was such finality in their taking his urn away that I didn’t love.  That urn stayed with mom for the last year, it was always there and sure, yeah, it wasn’t DAD, but it was a very visible reminder of his presence and now that’s gone.

We came home yesterday after the cemetery and lunch and attempted to start our traditional day-after-Thankgsiving festivities: “Christmas Decorating Day.”  It was a joke.  What a flop.  What a lame-ass attempt to pretend we hadn’t actually spent the morning doing something VERY unfestive.  I laid down and took a short nap – hoping that would help.  I was an emotional hot-mess.  Zachary was cranky and had a total meltdown.  Kayli had a total meltdown.  Matthew saw their meltdowns and had a meltdown.  Mike was cranky.  We were a disaster.  We managed to rally and put up some of the decorations, but eventually gave up and watched Home Alone hoping that maybe the first Christmas movie of the season would lift our spirits.  It helped a little.  We went to bed telling ourselves today was a new day.  We would wake up ready to embrace the spirit of the season.

We woke up to a soft layer of snow on the ground and more flurries floating down.  Perfect for Christmas Decorating Day round 2.  Perfect for lifting our seasonal-spirits.