The Peanut Gallery Update

Someone asked me the other day if this was our family blog. I felt guilty telling her "yes" when I rarely update with pictures and cute stories about my kids. It's been a noteworthy week, so I figured I'd actually post a family update.

I never understood the phrase "A face only a mother could love" until I had kids. My kids could be the ugliest ducklings around but I really can't see that. Conversely, I see some babies whose parents call them "gorgeous" and I can't see that either. However, I do love my kids; I think they are each amazing and adorable. I refrain from telling every person I meet all the cute things they do and say because I feel like I should have something more interesting, or at least interesting to the listener, or intelligent to talk about. Everything that follows is what I've been dying to tell the people that stand in line next to me at the grocery store or check my ID on Post or refill my drink at Chick Fil A.

Sydney had her first volleyball game last week. Volleyball is difficult for young children to play. It takes not only coordination, but muscle strength to power the ball all the way across the net. (When your arms are only so long, it is a long way across that net.) None of the girls on her team have previous volleyball experience, but they are lucky to have good coaches. Unfortunately for Sydney, they lost all three games of their first match. The other team outserved them. In fact, in this league, once you score three unanswered points with your serve, you have to scoot farther back on the court to serve. If you win five unanswered points, the ball automatically goes to the other team. My mom and I were going nuts until we figured these rules out. The only comment that I will make about the other team was that our team looked malnourished next to them. Some of their opponents' forearms were almost as big as mine, and I could stand to lose a few pounds. I explained to Sydney the importance of a first game as it provides a measure of focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the players as individuals and as a team. Syd is excited for this week's game and her coaches told me that she has improved and "turned a corner." She does miss her good friends from San Antonio. Yesterday she told me that her old friends wouldn't have mistreated her or hurt her feelings ever, as compared to the girls in her class now. (She's wrong about that, but I don't want to point out how many times her friends made her cry last year.) Currently, Syd is working on a group project on the weather. I tried to help by making enlarging maps and dropping them off at school. They weren't large enough for one of the girls, so her mom drew a poster size map, cut, colored, and mounted it on poster board. It's now ready for the girls to draw a cold weather front on it. There is such a fine line between teaching your child how to properly do an assignment and letting them figure it out on their own. Sydney started playing the cello last week for her Strings class at school. She loads that cello onto her back twice a week and carries it to school as she walks. Sydney has looked forward to participating in Strings for many years and she enjoys practicing Hot Cross Buns.

Zachary had his first soccer game last week. He did a great job at goalie. I only caught him climbing up the inside of the goal netting a few times. As the ball was at the other end of the field, no one was there to score on him. Prior to the game I reminded him that he should not touch any other player, no using his elbows or pulling on jerseys, he should not do sommersaults anywhere near the field, and he shouldn't trip anyone. One of out the three isn't bad: as he walked off the field at half-time, Zach walked over to a boy bigger than he is and tried to trip him. It didn't work, and the boy just looked at Zach as if he couldn't figure out what Zach was trying to do. I had hoped that a referee would see him try do this; getting caught would have made quite the impression on him. Zach doesn't like to go to school-he doesn't like to sit still for so long. He got on Red today because he wouldn't sit in his correct seat. Yesterday he tried to tie his own shoes together. But since he can't actually tie, he just knotted them all up. He face-planted when he stood up. The teacher told me it took her 15 minutes to get the knots out. Zach told me today that she had to use a pencil to help her. He likes to watch the tree frogs that live by our kitchen window. At dinner time, Zach counts them in Spanish while they hop around. His class went to the county fair last week, but the animals weren't as interesting to him as the roller coasters. Too bad they didn't get to ride any roller coasters. Zach loves to play Indiana Jones on the Wii as often as I will let him. Tonight, he was pretending to be a dog, crawling around the house and barking. When it was time to kiss me good night, he grabbed one of Audrey's stuffed dogs and dropped it on the floor at his feet. He said, "Mommy, I laid a puppy." I kept waiting for the rest of the sentence, as in where he laid the puppy, and then he said it again. At that point, I realized he meant to tell me that he had a puppy. Wrong on so many levels, but I didn't tell him that.

Ainsley loves her teacher and her teacher seems to return the sentiment. It turns out that, according to herself, Ainsley is the genius of the class. And the class angel. I know you are all laughing with me as you imagine Ainsley's teacher eating out of her hand, so to speak. Ainsley thinks she's the class angel because, unlike the rest of the girls in the class, she doesn't have any boyfriend trouble. She stays away from that mess, she said over dinner tonight. Apparently this fall sometime, her class will spend three weeks learning the times tables and then move on to division. I remember the times tables taking slightly longer than three weeks, so we are starting next Monday writing out the times tables every day after school. Ainsley is going to hate, hate it! Maybe if I convince her that is the only way to remain the class genius she will go along with it. To get her energy out, Ainsley takes ballet once a week and tennis three times a week. At the first tennis lesson, Ainsley couldn't hold the racket properly, but today she was learning how to hit an overhead shot. She enjoys tennis because she can wear a skirt. Golf is next on the list because she can wear a skirt for that, as well. Ballet gets a skirt, too: a sheer black wrap to cover her little bottom. Notice a theme? Ainsley finished reading her longest book to date: The Penderwicks. You may not know that when Ainsley was in Kinder, I emailed our wonderful school principal to enlist her aid in convincing Ainsley that learning to read is worthwhile. She took Ainsley out of class and held her hand as they walked around the school noticing all of the ways reading is fun. That ten minutes changed her life and she's never looked back. Apparently she is on a fourth grade reading level right now. After school, Ainsley loves animals. Usually it's either stuffed animals from Build a Bear, which we call Stuffies, or Littlest Pet Shops. Ainsley enjoys being Audrey's roommate; they play in the doll house together often. At night, she likes to listen to books on CD when she goes to bed. The Drama club at their new school requires auditions, and, after auditioning, Ainsley was accepted into the Drama Club's spring session. She is nervous about it, but I know she will have fun. I taught her how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the piano, so she practices that sometimes.

Audrey is fun to have around all day. My days would be so lonely and quiet without her there to talk to and to laugh with. Her pacifier and Pull-ups are gone for good now that she's a big girl. We have the cleanest hands in the family because she likes to stop at the potty often. Audrey doesn't play with toys unless her brother or sisters are playing with her. She likes to pretend play or do puzzles instead. Today she planned on driving her little Jeep to pick the girls up from school. Then she gave her Chihuahua stuffie a ride on the scooter. Audrey wanted to put a helmet on Chiwawy (that's his name), but when it didn't fit, he rode in it on top of the scooter. I take her for a three mile walk at the Cape Fear River Trail a few times a week. To her, it's the Animal Forest. We saw a snake one day. Today we saw a black lab. She told me it looked just like Max, Uncle Dan's dog. It's originally Sam's dog, so, sorry Sam. Fortunately for Audrey, she doesn't have a sense of how long Neil has been gone. Every time she sees a helicopter, she thinks it's Neil on his way home. She has plans to build a roller coaster and a haunted house with him. They'll also be having a party with a huge cake and playing on the playground together. I just remind her that Daddy's not ready to be picked up yet, but soon. And then I distract her with something, anything, and she moves on. Her lack of an inner calendar makes my life so much easier. My older kids know it won't be until March, so they don't ask. Audrey asks but doesn't realize how far away March is, so there are no tears. Rubber bands in her hair give her "a headache" and I think she often looks scraggly. When I told her today that I didn't want her to look like a ragamuffin, she commented about looking like a cinnamon roll or some other pastry that matched her interpretation of a what a ragamuffin could be. Nick Jonas used to be her imaginary friend, but she's outgrown him. Now she tries to be like Phinneus and Ferb.

That is probably my all-time favorite tv show, btw. Thanks to Phinneus and Ferb, we're not searching for a cure for antidisestablishmentarianism anymore and we can stop wearing our puce-colored ribbons. Seriously, is that not the greatest word you've ever heard on a Disney cartoon? I could go on for hours about the tremendous writing on that show or how the brothers always take care of their sister. But that's my problem and the reason behind why I don't write about my kids every day: all I do is hang out with my kids (and some adults mixed in at soccer or tennis practice). I only watch kid tv, I only listen to Hannah Montana's Pandora radio station, I read teen and young adult fiction sometimes, and I only see kid movies. I do this because I love my kids. I love spending time with them and I happen to love the Jonas Brothers and Taylor Swift as much as they do. (FYI, the girls think the Jo Bros should be their older brothers, so you can relax.) I am at one with re-experiencing my childhood . I take time to recharge my batteries by talking with Neil, working out, taking advantage of free childcare on Post, teaching, and writing. That is why this isn't our family blog as much as it is my blog. When Neil gets back, and I go back to acting like an adult sometimes, maybe my blog will change. Maybe not.