Spring Break fun, part one.

Whew, what a Spring Break week we had!+

I started off my week with a fun Girls Night Out at the movies.  Audra, Jana and I went to see Oz, the Great and Powerful.  I liked it, but thought that the main players tremendously overacted.  I had a renewed respect for the subtle but powerful performance of Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch in the original film, after seeing Mila Kunis scream out, "Seize them!!!" for the tenth time.  The side players (especially the sidekick flying monkey, voiced by Zach Braff) stole the movie, in my opinion.  But I'm trying to remember that this is aimed more at kids than adults.  I think.  I wish the good folks at Disney could figure out that they don't have to dumb down movies at all for kids.  They don't do it for their animated movies, so why do it for the live action ones?  But we had a great time, as we always do when we get together.  We even had Abner, our mascot, at this get together.  He especially liked when the sidekick flying monkey pretended to be a cow.

Saturday night we went to Family Movie Night at Gabriel's school.  It was the first time they've done one, and it was fun.  They need to work on getting a bigger screen, though.  They wanted everyone to bring blankets, pillows and sleeping bags, but there wasn't enough room for everyone to see really well.  But the movie choice of Brave was a good one, even though I was amused that a Catholic school- sponsored event showed a movie with a bit of Celtic lore and a witch in it.  Way to be open-minded!


Sunday morning we decided to take the boys out for breakfast, something we don't do very often.  We ended up at Marquez Bakery, a favorite of ours.  One day we'll try someplace new, but since Joel had actually eaten a breakfast taco for the first time the week before, we were emboldened to take him somewhere and see if the miracle could happen again.  We also let them pick out one item from the pan dulce selections as a "dessert", something we never let them do after breakfast.  Then we went to Half Price Books so they could use their gift cards they got for Valentine's Day.  They picked out a huge Transportation book together.  I got a Louis Armstrong CD.  YAY!

Monday morning, my brother dropped off Cade and Macy to spend the night.  After I planned it, I was telling Jav about it and he informed me I was on my own that night because he was going to Sherman for business that night.  So I decided to just think of a bunch of fun things to do around the house and in the backyard.  I thought I would let them eat all kinds of great junk food, let them watch movies and stay up as late as they wanted.  

I made up an invitation, even, and listed some of the things I hoped to do with them.  They were so excited when they got it in the mail they called me right away.  I decided to name it the first ever Tri-Annual*** Cousin Indoor Campout and Lock-in.  Tri Annual because if it went well I was already thinking we should have one during Spring Break, one in the summertime, and one sometime in October to celebrate Halloween and all things spooky.  

First up, I started teaching them poker.  Just 5-card draw (the only kind I can remember now), but for prizes.  We played with our cards turned up, and everyone got a price on this first learning day.  Joel wasn't into it so kept sitting on our poker table.

Then we had a jam session.  Gabriel, Joel and I have been listening nonstop to the last Foo Fighters CD that came out.  It turns out that my brother, Cade and Macy have been listening nonstop to the Foos CD that came out before that one.  Who knew they were just as big fans as we are?!?!  My niece and nephew are both musical, and I hope one day will get to pursue some music lessons or something a little more.  They both have great voices.

Next we played outside with one of their prizes:  a giant bubble wand.  What fun!!!  Tucker even played along, romping around the yard trying to eat bubbles.  For our first fun lunch, I had them pick out toppings for individual pizzas.  Then for dessert, I had icing and sprinkles so everyone could decorate their own cookies.  This really went over well and we'll be doing it again.  Then I had them each pick out movie so we could get them all watched while they were visiting.  They watched the first one while Joel was taking his nap on Monday.

Monday afternoon we went back outside for our Backyard Decathlon, something I made up during the Summer Olympics last year.  It ended up being a Septathlon, since we got tired after seven events.  But it was still really fun!  Shown are the Jumping on a Trampoline, Running Across the Backyard, and How Far Can You Throw This Stick? events.  

I forgot to take any pictures while the Decathlon was going on, so I had them reenact the events. These pictures crack me up.

My parents came over to join us for dinner, which was grilled hot dogs (go me - grillin' by myself!).  We also tried to make S'mores for dessert on the grill, but it had cooled off too much so I cheated and used the broiler.  But they were still yummy, ooey gooey.  The kids took turned being pulled around the yard in the wagon afterwards.

Isn't this picture fantastic?  

Then it was time for quick baths and showers and PJ's so we could watch a movie or two.

I had borrowed sleeping bags from my friend and neighbor Helen.  I laid them open and let the kids camp out with blankets and pillows on top.  I had to separate the sets of siblings because, of course, they kept bickering.  We watched Night at the Museum.  They all seemed so tired I thought I would get out of making the popcorn I had promised.  But Macy remembered and shouted it out, so everybody caught a second wind just for popcorn.  I've started making it on the stove top in my good Calphalon saucepan.  I add my own melted butter and Parmesan cheese.

After the movie, they all wanted to go to bed.  I think I finally collapsed on my own bed a little after 11.  I was going to go to sleep, but started checking just a few channels and caught The Breakfast Club, only about 30 minutes in.  Well, it's against the law to turn off certain movies if you catch them towards the beginning like that, so what was I supposed to do?  I didn't make it far, though, before nodding off.

I had promised chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, but I'm not sure why.  I've never made them before, but thought it couldn't be anything too tough.  I managed to pull it off, even though they were sloppy with melted chocolate chips all over.  I figured out that next time if I stir them in the batter ahead of time instead of just dropping them onto the cooking pancakes, I won't have such a mess.

Our fun thing to do Tuesday morning was to go on a walk down to the neighborhood duck pond and do a Scavenger Hunt while we walked.   I was going to give everyone the same list, but at the last minute changed my mind and gave them all different lists.  This ended up being a great idea because the kids helped each other to find things on his or her list.  It was a beautiful day, and we all enjoyed ourselves.  More playing outside when we got back, then lunch and another movie while Jojo napped.  I made them wait until he was sound asleep before they put in Willie Wonka, because he would have gone crazy about them watching his favorite movie without him.

They had another hour or so of backyard bubble time before my brother came to get them around 4.  I had done it!  And even though we made so many happy memories and all had a great time, I was TIRED.  A couple of days at work all of a sudden didn't sound too bad!

Lent. I finally get it.

I have shared my confusion about Lent on this blog before.  I always found it kind of silly to see people give up cokes or dessert for six weeks, in a strange effort to emulate the suffering of Jesus on the cross.  And don't get me started on the "no meat on Fridays" thing.  As I watched people pigging out on the wonderful meal at the Knights of Columbus Fish Fry we finally made it to this year, I did not see anything resembling fasting.

But, I did feel the fellowship of getting together with many other families and members of our parish to share a meal.

I also understand now that the fasting has another facet:  What would it be like to suffer hunger as a poor person?  This one hit me really hard this year.  I have been trying to do something I've never done before in my life:  only eat when I get hungry.  I've realized that I am a compulsive eater.  I eat more out of habit than I do because of hunger.  I sometimes would eat so that I wouldn't get hungry later.  What kind of sense does that make?  I have stopped eating so much between meals, and I've cut down on the size of my regular meals.  I fasted a little for the first time on Ash Wednesday.  I can't do full-blown fasting because I have low blood sugar and you will find me in a crumpled heap on the ground if I go more than about 6 or 7 hours without eating.  But I wanted to feel hunger.  I wanted to experience what someone feels when they don't know where their next meal is coming from.

And as a family, I'm trying to get by with less food each week.  Jav and I (and Gabriel most of the time) have given up meat except for on Sundays.  I've been trying to use up ingredients that have been in the pantry awhile, like canned beans and tuna fish.  It's worked so well, and I've made such good but simple meals lately, that I think we may continue this even after Lent.

I told the boys that all through Lent I will not be buying them little gifts at the grocery store, like I usually do.  Instead, I've been using the $3 to $5 I would've spent on them to buy food for the canned food drive the 1st grade is having at Gabriel's school.  We've donated something every week.  Joel has been dropping pennies in the giant penny-drop jar that the 1st grade also placed in the foyer of the school.

And I am finally sorting out and bagging or boxing up Joel's outgrown clothes, crib sheets and blankets, and toys.  I've also been working on old things of mine I've been just throwing in the top of my closet for two years.  I also found FIVE boxes of boys clothes, sized from  3 to 18 months, up in the attic yesterday that I had forgotten about.  So I will have a nice big pile of things to take to Eastside Ministries soon.  I used to take things like this to Goodwill, but then decided that it would be more meaningful to donate things that will help out residents in the neighborhoods closest to us.  I will be taking both boys with me when I drop all of it off.

I hope all of this, along with what he's talked about at school, is giving Gabriel a sense of giving to those less fortunate. We have SO MUCH.  I think we've been doing a really good job trying to live on just a little less.  I'm very happy that the Lenten lightbulb finally went off.

V Day, fun and woes

We decided to decorate a little more than usual for Valentine's Day this year.  We put red ribbons around the front light post and the columns on our porch.  We wrapped a red garland and pink lights around the lamp post, and hung red sparkly ornaments in our little tree.  Only one other crazy family put up any form of Valentine's decorations in our neighborhood.  This helped to keep us in a Valentine's mood, and boy did I need help!

I just think the day has become a little overdone, shall we say.  Shouldn't Valentine's Day be mostly about your significant other in your life?  Throughout the week before the actual day, I had Gabriel make a card for his teacher, my Uncle Dave who was in the hospital at the time, his cousins and his dad.  We made the requisite Valentine's Box to hold all of his cards.  We also made cookies and were going to ice and decorate them for the neighbors, but we just ran out of time.  The day before I made Gabriel sign all 21 of his cards himself, but then taped the chocolate hearts to each card.  (Did you know that you can't get away with just giving people a card these days? ) After they went to bed, I got Joel's 12 ready, and taped a lollipop to each one.  I'm sure many, many moms (and dads for that matter) were doing the same thing I was that night.


When we were getting everyone ready to go the next morning, Jav asked me if I'd had a chance to get Gabriel to make a valentine for his mom.  I sort of lost it.  Well, not sort of.  I went on a 10-minute rant about all the stuff we HAD done and why I didn't think grandparents needed to get cards too.  But in reality, I felt bad that I didn't even think of it.  The boys always get cards and little presents or candy from their grandparents, and from Tia Sandie, and from the neighbors.  But I could literally work for the entire week before the holiday and still not cover everyone.  People, do you not realize that Hallmark and Whitman's have us all eating out of their hands?  As Jeff Bridges so eloquently says in "The Big Lebowski", "This aggression will not stand, man."  I refuse to let any holiday run my life.

Jav and I got over our Valentine's morning "discussion".  When I got home from work, I found a beautiful bouquet of daisies and tiny red roses, and some great cards.  We went out on our Valentine's date the following Saturday, with Tia Sandie and Michael coming to watch the boys.  We went to see "Argo" at the Angelika, and even though that movie's been out for a LONG time, we were shocked that there was not an empty seat in the theater.  It is really good.  It reminded us of "Apollo 13", in that even though we knew the outcome of the story, it was still a fascinating story to tell, and extremely suspenseful.  My stomach hurt after it was over, just from holding myself so tightly all through the last hour.  After the movie we went to eat dinner at Kuby's Sausage Haus, which is part German meat market and deli, part restaurant.  Jav's sister had been telling him it was really good for YEARS, and she was right.  There was an accordion player which added just enough ambiance to the room.  And the look of the meat market brought to mind the pictures I have of my great grandfather, who was a butcher in Fredericksburg.  It was a very fun night.

I threw away most of the candy the boys brought home, only keeping the chocolate.  Every once in awhile I let them have a piece after dinner.  I bought a few more sparkly red foil hearts to hang up somewhere next year.  Maybe I'll start having the boys make cards at the beginning of February to get everyone this time.  Or maybe I'll really rebel and just have the boys hand out Valentine's with no candy.

Aggression.  Won't.   Stand.    Man.

Drums!!!

Gabriel is changing drum teachers.  We got a little fed up with Mr. Weldon at the music store because he was trying to work two jobs AND was flying to New Jersey every two or three weeks to perform.  We were stood up completely two lessons in a row with no phone call or anything.  Not acceptable.  Plus I didn't like that Mr. Weldon refused to listen to, talk about, or teach any type of music other than rock. And he never really wanted to take time to teach Gabriel to read drum notes on a page.

 

Very young Gabriel playing a practice drum.

So we switched to a place called Stage Notes which had been recommended to me by Joel's teacher from last year.  They teach piano, voice, guitar, violin, and drums.  It was a bit of a scramble to find someone to teach him drums, and when I saw the teacher looked like a 20 year old college student I had my doubts.  As it turned out, Miss Kristen was great at teaching Gabriel the beginning steps towards reading notes.  He had a book, and he practiced the songs she assigned, which were basically just rhythms repeated over and over.  The thing is, he didn't even touch a drum until the third lesson.  And only to play the songs from the lesson.  She never even bothered to see what he could already do.  When she came out and told Jav that she wanted Gabriel to practice on his legs with his hands instead of his drums until he got a little further along, that was the last straw.  We started putting feelers out to find a new local teacher who would both teach him to read music and let him play like crazy if he wanted to.  How else are you going to keep a six-year-old engaged and excited?  Sheesh.  There HAD to be a happy medium.

One of the people we asked was my brother's best friend from high school, James.  He is a drummer in a band, and had taught me guitar lessons for six months when Jav and I first started dating.  I didn't think he taught any more because he has a 5-year-old daughter now.  But the words I had been hoping to read came in the email, "Well, I'd love to teach him if ya'll are game for it."  I did the happy dance around the house for about 10 minutes.  James is a wonderful person, VERY funny, and super talented.

G with his first drum kit.

When we got to his house last week, Mr. James just wanted Gabriel to play for him so he could see where his skill level was.  I think he was pretty impressed.  It's something that has always come easily to G.  And I know Gabriel is going to love learning from Mr. James.  He has a full-size recording studio in one of the rooms of his house, a rack of guitars, and a brand new HUGE drum kit that he had just put together himself.  He does all of the music for the church where Gabriel went to and Joel currently goes to preschool.  I think his official title is "Technical Director".  Of course, all of his work there keeps him busy, and sometimes unexpected things come up.  Yesterday was supposed to be G's official first lesson, and Mr. James had to cancel on us.

BUT, already things are moving forward.  Mr. James had mentioned about wanting Gabriel to learn the Standard Drum Rudiments, which caused a big cartoonish question mark to appear over our heads (meaning that Mr. Weldon never even mentioned them).  James said they are the kind of thing that band directors eat up, and would be useful to Gabriel all through school for Stage Band and the like. So I looked them up and discovered they are 26 standard beats that every drummer should know.  I printed the first 13 out, and showed not only the printed page but a demo someone did on You Tube to Gabriel.  He was inspired to go and practice for about 45 minutes today!

We took a trip to Guitar Center last Sunday to get some new drumsticks for G.  We looked at guitars first, and the boy was practically drooling.  He wanted to hold several different electric ones, a mandolin, a ukulele, a dobro (kind of a steel guitar), and on and on and on.  When we got to the drum room, there was a set in the middle of the room that a guy was playing who was VERY good.  After he got done, I asked Gabriel if he wanted to play, not really expecting him to.  He said, "Sure!"  We got some demo sticks and Gabriel started playing.  The store clerk rushed over and said we had to switch to brushes, because he had no idea Gabriel was going to play them so hard.  The group who was with the original drummer formed a little crowd and wanted to know how old G was, and were all saying he was good.  Then more and more people started coming into the room and looking at each other.  He just kept playing and smiling.  I told Jav later that night that it was my favorite moment of that day.   G played in front of an audience with such confidence!  I was NOT like that at his age.  I was so shy and convinced that I wasn't good at anything.    I was really, really proud of G for knowing he is good at something and enjoying himself doing it.  And we gave ourselves a little pat on our backs too.  A small parenting success!

Music is always playing in this house.  When the boys were younger, if they had any spare time before going somewhere they used to ask if they could play with their little cars.  Now they ask if they can listen to music or play drums.  Both of them, two or three times a day.  And I almost always say "Yes".  When they become famous, and they're being interviewed because their band has had 12 top ten singles in a row, and the interviewer asks the wonder brothers the question, "When did you know you wanted to be musicians?", I can't wait to hear the answer:  "Growing up, from the time we were very small, our house was always filled with music."