Month: December 2011

Fa, la, la, la, la!

The other day we went to the elementary school winter concert. I was amazed by how many parents (both moms and dads) were in attendance at 2pm on a workday. I guess when you put such a high value on education that you’re willing to pay big bucks for it, you take advantage of every opportunity to see if your investment is paying off.

The hour long concert featured songs performed by each grade, plus a few group numbers at the beginning and the end.


2nd grade


4th grade


combined choirs

Their singing was better than our camera work, but I’ll blame it on the squirmy baby who was not nearly as fascinated by the concert as we were.

And for those of you who either can’t or don’t want to sit through the videos (I don’t blame you — there’s something about sharing DNA that magically makes these events tolerable) the following photos are for you:

He totally knew I was taking a picture of him even though I was all the way across the gym. Love that smile.

Wearing cousin Mia’s dress — can’t believe she was ever this small!
Singing his little heart out. I loved watching him sing with so much energy that his entire body moved. 

Carter was pretty far away from me so all of the photos I took of him had large balding heads in the foreground. This is the best of them.

And if you made it this far, your reward is another nausea-inducing video. No really, you might want to slap one of those seasick patches on before you watch this since the swaying of the kids plus the swaying of the camera is quite a combination. Maybe next time we’ll spring for a tripod. No, we won’t. I’m not going to be that parent. (I’m also not going to be the parent holding an iPad in the air to film it — there were several of those too.)

sick II

The boys are better, but now I have a cold. You know the kind that makes every bone in your face hurt? Yeah, I have one of those. On top of feeling like my head is stuck in the middle of a fog bank I’ve been busy going to Christmas concerts, decorating for a Christmas party at school, finding an appropriate teacher gift . . . all these things that I never had to do or was able to do as a homeschooling mom. When I’m sick they feel more like “have tos,” but most of the school holiday stuff has been fun.

But it’s hard to write when I can hardly think. I’m not only sick, but sleep deprived.  I thought Camille outgrew her need for meds, but she was ok for only a week or two before she started screaming at night and at naps again. If you want to know how she’s been acting, just read my blog from this time last year. Deja Vu. I started her on meds again 2 days ago (I think — remember, I’m in a fog) and I’m hoping by the time my parents come visit (2 weeks!) that she’ll be back to her happy sleeping self. Otherwise I may hand her over to them at the airport and then run off into the desert.

But then she does stuff like this and I almost forget that sleep is vital to my survival:

I don’t know why, but she loves to dance on the coffee table. I promise I didn’t teach her that and I’ve already started telling her that this is not a future career option. But for now, when she hears music she runs straight to the table to strut her stuff. Hysterical. Also, probably somewhat dangerous, but that’s what happens by the time 3 and 4 come along. I need to save my parenting energy for the really dangerous stuff like cleaning chemicals and busy streets.

For those of you confused by the music: It’s a parody of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face, not the real thing. 

Lost in Translation again

Josh had the day off today so we went to the 1 rial store in search of stocking stuffers — everything in the store costs between 25 cents and $2.60. My favorite part of shopping in these kinds of places is seeing the things that are trying to be American, but aren’t quite right. 
Who needs to go to Santa Cruz when we can buy O’neil products right here in Oman? 

Points for correct comma placement or this would look like a plea to engage in child trafficking. 


Ah, Disney Princessrs, the lesser-known family of Disney characters.

I didn’t buy these glasses, but I was tempted to get them as a gift for one of my sisters. Only funny if you have a mango allergy.

When I need inspiration, I look to the cover of my Miley Cyrus notebook. 
(enlarged below)

Now you can smell like the POTUS too.


“Be Queen?” Yes, because every queen drinks out of a plastic cup.

We caved and got a basket for all of our “treasures.”

For those times when you can’t decide if you want to play hockey or go hunting . . .
Yeah . . . no comment.

sick

Early this morning we were awakened by the sweet sounds of vomit being spewed from somewhere down the hall. Josh raced out of the room to help the unknown victim (although odds were on Caleb since he had thrown up the night before and Calvin, while feverish, hadn’t displayed any signs of puking) and I heard a loud thud and a small voice ask, “are you OK?”

So I dash out of bed and see Josh lying on the tile at the end of the hallway. He slipped in the vomit in the hallway (as Caleb had almost made it to the bathroom before throwing up) and landed hard, slamming his foot into the doorjamb, cracking a toenail in the process.

The commotion woke Carter, who immediately wanted to know if he could go open his Lego and chocolate advent calendars (really?!), and the baby who had been sleeping next to me. By the time Caleb and Josh showered off I had gotten the baby back to sleep, but then I was wide awake.

So much for a relaxing weekend spent sleeping in . . .

winter concert

The other night we all went to see Calvin perform at the middle school band and choir concert.

Calvin is in beginning band — they won’t be ready to perform until spring. Judging by the sounds I hear coming from his saxophone as he practices, that’s a wonderful Christmas gift to us all. The advanced band played Lady Gaga’s Poker Face and Taio Cruz’s Dynamite, along with a few other typical band pieces. They sounded way better than anything I ever heard from our middle school band.

Stretching her legs during intermission . . .
There’s my singer!

Hmm . . . don’t the shorter kids usually stand in the front row? In this case there were several tall boys in the front row completely blocking the kids behind them. I got a lot of awesome pictures of Tall Boy standing right in front of Calvin. Too bad I don’t know Tall Boy’s parents. I could have been their official photographer for the event.

7th & 8th grade combined choir

They sang a few songs that had nothing to do with holidays or winter, but they sounded nice. I spent most of my time zoomed in with my camera trying to time the swaying bodies to get a shot of . . .

this smiling guy.