The weather being highly untypical for TX was not conducive for playing outdoors which used to be our usual activity in daylight hours. However, the trio had a special gadget that more than made up for that loss. Santa was generous this year bringing the children a gorgeous Apple computer to share - which if I had let them, would have captivated all their waking hours.
After a full 24 hours of cabin fever that was relieved only by going to the next rehearsal or the basketball game, the sun came out and we escaped to the Brazos River Park. This park is not for the feint of heart. Children like to climb and these three did. They love the rope pyramid and climbed to the top countless times intimidating the other children who obviously were novices. The 'treasure' had to be carried to the top. We acted out our own version of "Annie" with me deciding which 'orphan' to adopt.
We stayed up late watching the Ladies' downhill slalom and the luge events at the Vancouver Olympics. Aedin was really involved critiquing the runs and rooting for her favorites. I don't know what criteria she used as her favorite wasn't always the USA. = ) When the night's broadcast was done, they went compliantly to bed (after brushing their teeth and one last visit to the loo, of course) with me reading first to Olsin, then Dylin, and stopping in Aedin's room lastly. We played a number of 'Connect the Dots' games on her chalkboard. Then she read to me and decided to call it a night. It was nice to have the one on one time with her. But silly me thinking that if they stayed up until 11pm, they'd sleep later in the morning. Right? Nope. Dylin has an internal alarm that wakes her right around 7am although I had beaten her by 15 minutes and was already in the kitchen.
Sunday was a dual holiday being Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year - the Year of the Tiger. Erika had left instructions as to where the goody bags were so I could put them out before they awoke. Dylin waited for her siblings before tearing into her bag.They all got some great books and a few other goodies. One of Olsin's gifts was a Lego kit labeled for ages 7-12 yrs. Well, I've never assembled a Lego kit toy and knew this project was mine in the near future. But, we had some other projects to accomplish before that. The girls found some pink and red paper to cut out hearts. Aedin then glued the smaller hearts on the larger hearts and put conversation hearts in the center of each small heart. Then she laid them out how she wanted to attach them on a ribbon. Next we found some patterned paper to make Chinese lanterns for the new year. Aedin carefully designed her arrangement of hearts and lanterns to hang from the top floor railing so Mommy and Daddy would see it when they walked in the front door. Time was a-flying and it was time to assemble the shooting car. I was dreading this. Following directions isn't too difficult...but there weren't any written ones - only pictures. It was easy going at first with Olsin showing me where to put the pieces but as the car neared finishing, the photos would show more than one step and it wasn't always evident what one was supposed to do. I heaved a huge sigh of relief as I finished this, Olsin put it in the shooter, stepped on the shooter and the car flew forward. Yippee! We did it!! Fortunately I took a photo of the assembled car. By now it was time for lunch and I still had to change and be ready when Sneed came to pick me up at 1 to go to "Romeo and Juliet".
Miss Lizzie arrived and I made sure she had my cell phone number in case of emergency. Aedin was to go across the street around 130pm and ride with her neighbors to rehearsal. Olsin had been feeling poorly....and you know he is pretty sick when all he does is lay on the couch huddled under a blanket and sleep. Didn't like leaving him like that but all Lizzie had to do was call and we would come home. So actually, once Aedin left, she would mainly be watching Dylin. Sneed and I hopped in the Saab and headed downtown. When I started checking my purse for my cell phone, I couldn't find it and asked if he would turn around so we could get it. He did and for some reason I decided to check again and there it was...and darned if it didn't ring shortly thereafter. Aedin's ride wasn't there and no one was home. Horrors - did they leave without her? While I was calling another of their neighbors to see if they could take Aedin, Lizzie called back to say that they had gone out for lunch and were late getting back and Aedin was safely ensconced in their car and on her way. Whew, crisis averted.
Erika gave us the tickets for Christmas. We had excellent seats - 4th row dead center. Even though we both thought we knew the story of "Romeo and Juliet" seeing it enacted through ballet with no words and no idea who the characters were, we both were in limbo for awhile with me dozing off a bit. I wasn't the only one though. A woman behind us told her husband to go back to sleep. It was easier to follow in the second act as we had figured out the characters. But let me tell you, Act II had all the death scenes and it seemed to take a ballet dancer (is that what you call a male ballerina?) forrrrevvvvverrrr to stop twitching and finally give up the ghost. Even Juliet closed out the show twitching. It was an interesting performance. Can't say we will ever darken the doors of that realm of the arts again though.
Back on the road with a stop to pick up Aedin. Remember the shooting car? Well Olsin put it away in the box and it broke all apart. Couldn't find the instruction booklet again. After dinner, we stayed up again watching Olympic triumphs and the agony of defeat. This evening though both Dylin and Olsin fell asleep watching and had to be carried upstairs to bed.
Monday, being Presidents' Day, was a school holiday. I cooked some soft boiled eggs and they wanted hard boiled. When Aedin said, "These eggs aren't like Mommy makes" (I didn't think one could mess up hard boiled eggs ), I knew the gig was almost up. This final day has always been my morning to recoup and tidy up after all have been taken to school. I didn't do much recouping but I got the other stuff done after we made some Welcome Home brownies. Of course we had to taste test to see if they were OK. They enjoyed some more sun while they were outside playing with the others who were lucky enough to be off (private schools didn't have the day off).
Erika and Terry came home around 230pm. Erika brought everyone gifts. I received a lovely turquoise and amethyst necklace. I made my way out the door leaving the children the way they like to be...crowded around the Apple. Until next year, y'all!
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