Category - Family Life

Gung Hay Fat Choy!  Happy Lunar New Year!

2012 finds us once again in the year of the Dragon, which is fun for our family because our very own Pumpkin Girl is a Dragon (as is her uncle and her grandmother).  Which also means that she will turn 12 this year and I’m not too sure how I feel about that.  The most recent Years of the Dragon are:1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988 and 2000.  Are you a dragon?  If so, how well does this description fit you…

Those who are born in the dragon year are innovative, self-assured, brave, enterprising, conceited, passionate, and quick-tempered. The Dragons are often referred to as the free spirits of Chinese Zodiac. Their creative sparks get destroyed when they are restricted. Hence dragon people always look to be free and uninhibited.
A beautiful creature, Dragon happens to be flamboyant and colorful. Dragon personality traits range from being energetic, irrepressible and gifted. They are fearless and confident and ready to take up any challenge. In most cases they happen to be successful.

Helping others is something that they find pleasure in. One can always count on the dragons for help. They make friends very easily because of their generous personalities. Yet they can be solitary reapers at heart. Those who are born in the Year of the Dragon have a love for outdoor activities and nature. They are extroverts who have a deep love for nature.

Having an explorative spirit, the dragon people are very imaginative. They are suitable for any occupation owing to their adaptable nature. They like spending money for charity. When it comes to finances, they are ready to take up risks and big chances. They are very straightforward in their approach when it comes to matters related to financial dealings and can therefore be trusted.

In a fun little twist, if you were born early in the Western calendar year, in January or sometimes February, before the Lunar New Year occurred, then you  go with the sign of the previous year.  Take me, for example.  I was born in January 1970, so I am a Rooster (17 February 1969 – 5 February 1970) rather than a Dog.  I am eternally grateful for that.

I’ve got Chinese chicken wings (my MIL’s recipe) in the crockpot, with bok choy, rice and pot stickers for dinner tonight, plus almond cookies for dessert.  Not really traditional Chinese New Year fare, but it is authentic and homemade, so it’ll suffice.  I might even make the kids eat with chopsticks!

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Most days I am caught up in the swirl of family life. Ballet, scouts, soccer, school, cooking, cleaning, lather, rinse, repeat. I try not to focus too much on feeling overwhelmed, but honestly, I find myself falling behind on *life*.

An unusual Thursday rehearsal was called for the Nutcracker battle scene, thus requiring Pumpkin Girl and some of her classmates to stay until 8:15 PM. Thursday is my regular carpool day – and when I say “my”, I mean Phil’s. It wasn’t a really big deal, except on Wednesday night Philip got sick. The kind of sick that takes you completely out of the game and into bed.

Still, not a big deal. It would be tricky picking the girls up at the very time Pipsqueak would be wanting to nurse himself to sleep, but we’d manage. That is, until I attempted to get him to nap a bit earlier than normal in order to get him up in time to pick up all the girls and get them to class. He slept all of 40 minutes, thus setting him up to be extra crabby just when I needed to be heading back out to pick them all up again. Oh well, can’t be helped.

And then as I was picking up one of the girls, her mom came out to talk to me. She said, “I know you have little ones, would you like me to pick up the girls tonight?” Yes, yes I would! I know I could have asked for help earlier, but I hate to be flaky. I don’t like saying, oh I know I made a point of saying I could still drive after rehearsal, but now I can’t. It sure was nice to have that off my plate.

Then on the way home from running the Ballet Express, I was sitting first in line waiting for the left turn arrow to turn green. I was looking off to the side, kind of day dreaming. I was looking at the Walgreens on the corner, thinking about all the things I needed to get there. I snapped out of it and turned my head back to the front to see the light had turned green. And in the small bit of time that it took me to react, someone in the cross-traffic – in the lane closest to me – ran the red light.

Note that sequence. Daydreaming, notice light already green, car runs red. Had I been paying attention and had started moving my car a moment earlier, I would have been t-boned by the car screaming across the 4 lane intersection. At best, he would have clipped the nose of my car. At worst, my door would have taken the full brunt of it.

Somedays you are caught up in the details that make up your life. You chug along, hoping for a break. Other days, God shows you small mercies, letting you know that He’s got you covered.

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My life is totally dominated by ballet.  Ballet auditions, ballet rehearsals, ballet clothes, ballet buns.  Not to mention regular ballet classes.

August started so peacefully, in spite of the fact that Pumpkin Girl moved up a level in ballet and so is now up to 3 classes a week of an hour and half each.  Then she auditioned for and was offered a spot in her school’s pre-professional company.  That came with a requirement to take one other dance class, plus company meetings and rehearsals.  She chose her additional class to be one that happens immediately before company rehearsals, so we drop her off on Saturday after lunch and pick her up sometime around dinner.  It depends on what they are rehearsing.

Of course, there were additional clothing items needed for being in the company, including another black leo, another uniform leo and a company warm-up suit.  The company warm-ups are optional.  Well, to the studio they are, but not to the dancers!  How can you possibly make the company and not buy the warm-ups? We smiled understandingly and wrote the check.

Her place in the company guaranteed her a role in their Nutcracker, taking place in December.  She was happy to be given a party girl role.  I quaked in fear of the natural-hair boingy curls for her straight, straight hair.

Then she auditioned for and was given a role in the Nutcracker that is performed with our city’s philharmonic orchestra and a professional ballet company from out of town. She was also given a party girl role.  More boingy curls! She was slightly disappointed because she wanted to be a baker.  Bakers get to bounce on a mini trampoline disguised as a cake, no curls needed.

Then last week she was given an additional role in the company Nutcracker as a soldier.  The trick here is that she will perform the party girl role and the soldier role on the same day, in different shows.  They require different hair.  If – and I PRAY this happens – she is a party girl in the first show, then in between shows I can wet down the curls and slick them back into a simple bun that will tuck under her soldier hat.  If it goes the other way, soldier in the first show, party girl in the second, I will have to curl her hair, by hand!!! with a curling iron.  Woe!

She’s putting 12 hours in the studio this week.  She is dancer, hear her roar.

And me?  I put her hair in a bun, decipher the rehearsal schedules, write the checks, drive the car.  I don’t mind, I’m get to be the proud ballet mom.

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*Pumpkin Girl finishes up the last of her dance workshops today. She danced 85 hours over 5 weeks and discovered muscles she never knew she had.

*We’re starting school again next week. 7th, 5th and 1st grades!

*Pipsqueak requires my presence during naps. I’m not sure how this will work for school.

*I got permission to use my own religion curriculum at home rather than having to send the children to faith formation classes at church. It irks me that I need “permission”.

*I started a new watercolor class – an imaginary trip to Italy!

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*Pumpkin Girl has been going to dance workshops for the last 3 weeks. First it was ballet focused, with 3 hours of dance every day plus stretch and conditioning classes. Some new muscle on her ached every day, including her arches! They also had classes on good nutrition, how to make a ballet bun and short talks by the guest instructors on their professional careers.

*Getting a lunch and snack together and driving to and from the dance studio every day sure takes a lot of getting used to. You know how people always tell homeschoolers, “I don’t know how you do it!” ? I don’t know how they do it!

*Boo went to scout camp last week. He left as a 2nd class scout and returned as a first class scout. He earned his wood working, leather working and swimming merit badges. It was tough having both him and Pumpkin Girl gone.

*Bip and I watched a lot of movies together during the week.

*Pipsqueak is very into eating solid food. He’s enjoyed everything I’ve offered him, but he loves blueberries in particular. He cries when I just get up to get him some more.

*I’m loving me some air conditioning in the afternoons! Not as much as I loved it when I set it around 70 and ran it from May to October. But that was back when we weren’t paying for electricity. But still, it’s nice to be able to say, “OK, it’s too hot. Everyone close the windows and turn your a/c on!”

*The weather is actually quite nice. It gets hot, clouds over, rains,clears and cools. Every day.

*I’m a little more than halfway through my second watercolor class. More pictures to come.

*My children are begging me to let them buy ice cream from the ice cream man. It’s just so expensive! I’ll probably let them this week since it’s going to be so hot. But just the one time since we can buy the same ice cream at the store for much cheaper.

*I actually don’t like summer. The only thing to love about summer (for me) is knowing that as soon as it’s over, Fall will be here.

So how about you? What’s your favorite thing about summer?

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