Let's Go To The Park!

Ara at the park today. Yesterdays Itty Bitty Soccer day was.. interesting. I am having a hard time convincing her that playing soccer is more fun that sliding or swinging on the playground. I don't want to force her to play soccer because then I can pretty much kiss that goodbye. So I tried all kinds of other tactics. I finally got her on the soccer field through the help of another Mom and her 3 year old son. They raced us over there and Ara was down with that. Once I had her in the practice she did nothing but twirl like a ballerina and completely ignore everything her coach asked her to do. Every drill they set up requires the kids to wait in line. Ara has NEVER waited in line. An oversight on my part, I'm sure daycare kids wait in line all the time. I tried to imagine practicing that at home with her. I imagined lining up the cat, Ara, and myself and then I laughed. We will try a few pretend games with her My Litte Ponies waiting in line for things I think. So back to soccer... Ara was perfecting her twirl-while-looking-at-the-sky move when she took a sudden dive face first into the dirt. She scraped up her forhead and check pretty dramatically. She hardly batted an eye lash over it though, she kept on moving. She eventually ran off to the playground about a 15 minutes before practice was over but since she had yet to even touch a ball I followed her across the park and cut myself a little slack. Her face wounds look pretty bad but she hasn't complained at all about them. I took her back to the same park today. My new plan is to overexpose the park so that it won't seem quite so exciting on soccer days... well SOME plan is better than no plan I suppose!

Terrible Threes?

Ara did this painting with watercolors and I think it's amazing. She still switches hands like it doesn't matter which which she paints with. She seems equally good with both hands.

I look at her development and I am amazed at what a change a birthday can bring. She is three. No doubt about it. She has irrational fears, amazing communication skills, she runs faster, is more curious, and her fits can last for so much longer.

What Kind of Bug is This?

I have found a few of these in the house and I've never seen a bug like it. It has wings although I have never seen it fly. The antenna seem to have 3 segments. It has 6 legs which remind me of a cockroach leg. I have never seen one larger than a ladybug. I has a lot of beetle characteristics but it seems to act more like a roach, scurrying when it knows it's been discovered, and hanging out in the bathroom where it is moist. It just looks sinister to me I hope it isn't a baby roach! Let me know if you recognize this little pest please!

Proceed with Caution

The warning label being slapped on my forehead post-production!

Pumpkins and Apples and Nerdfighter

My pumpkin carving.

I made caramel apples! Fun and delicious. Plus food that can be eaten on a stick is always a good idea.


I just found this You Tube channel by author John Green and his brother Hank. They are funny and I am excited to read his books. What a neat opportunity to read an author that has put himself so much in the public eye.

Ara at Church

Ara and I went with my Mom to her church last Friday to hang out while she cleaned. Members of the congregation take turns cleaning and it was my Mom's turn. I originally wrote that last sentence with "Woman of the church..." then I changed it because it sounded sexist. The sad part is that "Woman" was more accurate. Damn this world we live in where both woman and men perpetrate the stereotypes and pigeonhole all of our potential to live as equals! Lol.

What an outburst.
Sorry.

Ara is cute thought, right? Wow, I need to work on shorter picture descriptions!

On the bus after many schedule mishaps!

I'm in Like with You

"Draw my thing" it's an online game like Pictionary. I just stumbled across it tonight and I like it, although it's difficult to draw with the laptop mouse pad thing.

Puzzle

Itty Bitty Sports

Last night was the first practice for Ara's Itty Bitty Sports league. When we got to the park I had trouble even getting her to walk with me through the park to join the group. She sped off in every direction except the one I wanted her to go in. I had to pull her off of the play ground and then the second we got withing range of the team she dissolved into a screaming fit where she proclaimed to not want anything. After a while she and I approached the group holding hands and one of the coach's' introduced herself.

Ara screamed.

Coach Lizzy and Coach Dave were kicking soccer balls and the kids would run out and dribble them back to the starting line. We watched a few other kids do this then Ara's name was called.

Ara screamed.

Then we chased the ball out into the field. (still holding hands)

Ara was doing really well kicking it back until coach Dave blocked her path and yelled, "You gotta get by me!"

Ara screamed..
...and ran away.

The rest of the night went pretty much like that but she did warm up and she finally let go of my hand.

Ara would do hilarious "ara" things when she was supposed to be kicking. She would be feet from the goal with a ball and suddenly decide she would rather be running to the swings. Once, she stopped mid-kick to pull up hand fulls of grass and throw them into the air like confetti. She learned how to do spitting raspberries in her team mates face curesy of one bleach blond little boy with an ornery streak in him. She refused to kick any ball except the pink soccer ball. She started pretending to fall flat on her back..

After practice she was completely unwilling to cooperate in anything that meant leaving the now dark park and I had to strap her into her car seat against her will.

While she screamed.

Then she screamed some more.

Then, after she had scarfed down a surprising amount of food, she declared that she would like to do soccer again tomorrow! Haha. It's so hard to keep up.

Go Team Toddler Tigers!

Woo

M&M day! Fondue yum

I can't figure out how to rotate this picture because it was sent from my phone but the general idea is there right?  Delicious melted chocolate is all you need to know.  M&M day was really fun and the food was amazing and I am feeling a lovely mix of full and relaxed.  The first part of the meal was melted white cheeses with garlic and other amazing flavors.  We speared bread and vegetables with our long forks and dunked them into the melted cheese.  The only thing I can't figure out is why I don't do this with everything I eat on a regular basis.  Melted cheese makes everything so much better!  Seriously, I would dip my cell phone in if I ran out of dippers and still had cheese... Fortunately it didn't come to that.  Next was a salad.  Which was really good but in hind sight eating lettuce and tomato's was just a waste when I should have been saving room for the chocolate!  Strawberries, rice crispy squares, bananas, marshmallows... It was like heaven.  No really Megan and I agreed this was actually like HEAVEN.  The Melting Pot is officially my new favorite restaurant, sorry Pei Wei.  How can you compete with a bowl full of melted chocolate?  You can't.

 

Happy M&M Day everyone.  Yay!

(Next year Vegas, baby!)

Shoes

Wonder-Fall (or is it summer?)

This morning I played a fundraiser for the Community Food Bank with the Flute Club. I had no instruments (again) so I ended up borrowing 2 different flutes and a piccolo. One of the things I really like about this city is that there is a thriving pool of community musicians. There were several groups donating their time and talents today and that is a wonderful thing to see.

In the afternoon Ara and I were picked up by my family caravan. It took three vehicles to transport all of us to the Pumpkin Patch Farm. All nine of us! The weather was unseasonable warm 94F made the whole day sort of hazy and dusty and HOT. We browsed the stands of crafts and fruit and I bought Ara a marionette puppet. Then we checked out the petting zoo. It was actually really nice. Each animal was held by it's 4H volunteer and they just seemed like really sweet natured, clean, happy farm friends. Ara was enchanted, she loves animals as much as I do, actually probably more. After the petting zoo part of our group wanted to try the corn field maze. I wasn't excited about the prospect. Last year we wandered aimlessly in there for 2 hours and that was before Ara learned how to throw the worlds most annoying fits every 5 minutes. I was going to opt to wait outside but my Dad paid my brother and soon to be brother to carry Ara on their shoulders. Ara is going through a phase that makes her scream ear piercing screams if she finds herself more than a few inches from me... so off I went into the maze. Ara refused to let anyone carry her so she actually walked with us for more than 3 miles. It took a long time and it felt like the sun was so intense. My Sister bought a map this year and successfully led our slow moving group complete to all the check points and out again. I was grateful to say the least. It's funny how I saw the maze as a tiresome duty but Ara.. well she was talking about it when we got home, she will remember it as something wonderful. So I'm glad I went and I'm also glad I kept my negative comments to myself because in the the end the fact that Ara had a great time is all I really wanted. After the maze, I wanted to sit in the shade and drink gallons of water but it was finally pumpkin patch time! We hopped on a horse drawn carriage and were transported out to the fields. The hot dry fields. I sounds like such a complainer but that is my exhausted frame of mind, at the time I was happy and excited. Everyone spread out looking for that special pumpkin. Ara found these little plants that grew pods with little green fruits in them and was very satisfied with unwrapping as many as she could find. I took a million pictures and chose 3 big pumpkins for carving next week with Alison and Charles. My Dad found the perfect little weirdo pumpkin for Ara that had a perfect handle for her. Then we hauled all of our pumpkins back on the carriage, paid, and left! It was a good day for family and memories. Next year Ara and I will go again, and hopefully it will feel less like summer!

Ballerina Inturrupted

I finally found a leotard that was small enough for Ara... or she finally grew big enough to fit the smallest one..

Either way I found one!

We had a lot of fun today playing dress up, taking pictures, dancing, and laughing. She is just the cutest (and clumsiest) ballerina ever!


Ara has been testing me lately. She acts as
though she can't even hear me when I ask her to do something she doesn't want to do.. or stop doing. Actually it feels like she is especially testing my patience and possibly my sanity. Sometimes it's about something small, like putting her plate in the sink when she is done eating. Other times it's scary, like when she decides to make a chase game out of "don't go in the street!". I have honestly been beside myself in frustration. Today was better though. I have been cracking down on the small stuff, I think I let too much slide usually. I have reinvented the time out punishment. Instead of sending her to her room (filled with toys) she has to sit on a kitchen chair for 3 minutes with no talking. Every time she gets up the time starts over. I can see that my struggle is not over by a long shot but even some small improvement is welcome.

Tomorrow we are going to the corn field maze! I am excited. I took Ara there with my family last year for the first time and there are horse drawn carriages and a huge pumpkin patch and over priced hot dogs and fun fun fun!

I took my flute to Bill (the flute fixer) and he gave us a pretty nifty tour of his piccolo factory I will take a camera when I pick my flute up because I want to talk more about it!

Ara says I stink.

From fluteloop

Italian soda

To do

Bank, target, flute repair, safeway.. Boring but so much easier with a car!

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I forgot what my original topic was.

The weather has been so amazing! It feels like fall finally and I feel drawn to go outside as often as possible. This is really like spring as far as the plants are concerned, everything is green from the monsoon rain and happy with the sunshine and mild temperatures. Yesterday my Mom, Joey, Ara, and I took a $5 pizza to the park and had an easy picnic. I helped Joey put together his new lego sets on a picnic table and the sunshine felt like a warm blanket while a slightly chilly breeze kept us cool. Ara ran my Mom around the park playing soccer, sliding, swinging, exploring. It was a very nice day and we found a creepy giant moth dead in the grass. I took a picture with my phone and uploaded it yesterday but I don't think it looked like much in the picture.

Usually on Tuesday I take Ara to the YMCA and either do the elliptical or afro aerobics but we have been home bound since the car died. I could take the bus but I never have any cash! I think tomorrow I should look into a bus pass. So, just to get out of the house and enjoy the weather I strolled Ara down to the park again. We had the whole place to ourselves which is really rare expecially with the schools around here on fall break. Don't the kids go outside anymore? I sound like such an old fart saying that lol. "Why, when I was your age young wipper snapper..." But seriously it was nice not to worry about the dog people, and the sports people, and the creepy guy people. My aim was to tire Ara out for nap time, I ended up only tiring myself! Still, it was fun and although it was no afro aerobics I did get in some excersize.

I still don't have an oven but I am still considering making a Batman cake for a co-worker of A's. The landlord said he would get us a working oven about 6 weeks ago and last week he mentioned he had been 'looking' for one on craigs list. Comforting. I plan to gently remind him again in a week. I would like to be able to bake something for Thanksgiving at least. The oven hasn't worked since we moved in May.

I am still excited about the cake, practice for my Dad's wedding! I even discovered tonight that You Tube has a bunch of 'how to' video's on cake decorating. Of course, what DOESN'T You Tube cover? Awesome.

I am going to bite the bullet tomorrow and call Bill (the flute fixer). My poor flute has been in terrible shape for waaaay too long. I am hoping it isn't going to cost a ton but I'm afriad it will be a complete overhaul situation. It will be lovely to have flutey in good working order again though! Oh how nice it will be. I may have a cheapy flute but it's mine and it has served me well! I borrowed a student's flute for the Stravinsky concert last Saturday and that was nerve wracking. Trying to feel comforatable on a different flute in a few hours.... Reminds me of my piccolo fiasco last year on the Finko Concerto. Everything was fine though and I am de-stressing as we speak.

Going to the park

Giant dead moth

Ara Playing at Church

Went with my Mom and Joey to church on Sunday, I have mixed feelings about it but Ara did enjoy their swing set!

Rehearsals TCO

It's been a tense and hectic week of rehearsals. The concert is tomorrow and really hope that there will be an audience full of optimistic supporters. Losing our director/conductor so suddenly at the end of last season has put the orchestra in a difficult position. Luckily it has some dedicated members that are working to ensure it's survival. I really enjoy playing with this group. I thrive in a chamber music setting and I want to play, damn it. What? That was me being optimistically supportive!

My flute has crapped out on me, I can feel the thousand 'I told you so' coming from the thousand people who have told me I needed to have it fixed. It was still semi-playable until about.. last night. There is just simply no more mileage in my pads no matter how hard I mash down my fingers... and the foot joint has been broken into 2 pieces since last year. (gogo scotch tape) I know, I am so ghetto. I just hate to have to be without my flute for any length of time.. but it's time. This Stravinsky is difficult enough without having to compensate for leaks. I make life so much harder than it has to be sometimes!

I've got my eye on you!

Beads

Ara and I did some bead work today. She likes to pick out the beads and then I usually string them although she is getting pretty good at it! We made this bracelet and a book mark (which I was really excited about).

We also played a board game today. My sister gave it to Ara for her birthday and I put it up in the closet. I thought she wasn't ready for such an advanced game. She noticed it today up on the top shelf! I didn't see any harm in giving it a try and although we didn't 'exactly' follow the game we did have a lot of fun. It was so cute, I would say, "Ara it's your turn to pick a card" and she would carefully pick up one ladybug card. We would read the number on the card. If it said something like, "move ahead 3 spaces" she would move 3 spaces.. and then 4, and 5, and 6... all the way to 14! She is enthusiastic if nothing else.

WoW treadmill race

I thought this was an interesting little experiment. Wouldn't it be a perfect world if we LIKED doing things like running on a treadmill to power a game character! When I used to play FFXI I tried using an exercise ball as a chair. Not quite in the same league as these guys but, hey I tried right?

Speaking of, I haven't been to the YMCA this week.. and I feel it. I am missing the freedom that having a working car gives you. Not that it's life or death but it's so much more of a hassle! I missed flute club rehearsal tonight because I couldn't get there. I would have had to leave early to get to the TCO rehearsal but still it would have been good to go since I think it's the last chamber rehearsal before a couple gigs. I don't know.. I am terrible with remembering dates. I ended up practicing the Stravinsky which I REALLY needed to do anyway. I am frustrated that it is taking me so long to understand this piece. I feel like I am cramming and my brain isn't processing the information! The last two nights I have gotten less than 4 hours of sleep, so tired. Sleep. Soon. I hope.

Blurry but cute

Areon Flutes

Areon Flutes, I am so excited about this group! They won bronze at Fischoff and are really paving a path for professional flute ensembles. Check them out!

TCO Concert this Saturday

Ara needs wings

So we are in the car late afternoon and driving west facing a setting sun.

Ara says, "the sun is over there, mama you want to drive past it?"

I say, "it does look close but the sun is actually very high up in the sky"

Ara says, "but the birds could reach it!"

I smile at my brilliant girl and say, "that's good thinking, they might be able to fly so high"

I know thats a fib, but I don't want to shoot down her ideas all the time.

Ara says (more to herself than to me), "I need wings"

Five Friends "vote while you poop"

"You can literally register to vote while you poop, if you have a laptop"


I'll admit it, I registered today. Go ahead and judge I deserve it!

Ara

Just so pretty

Red dress

Purple Car Oh Purple Car

The purple car is sad...


...the transmission is dead now and it's worth more than the car so that is that.

Time for something new(er).

I have always had hand-me-down cars (I'm not complaining) but this is totally new territory to me to be looking at cars. I have a choice? Well, not really but in this situation I have more choices than I have ever had in the past.

So I have seriously weighed my options, and I've decided I would like a sparkly kinda silvery blue color! Hahahaha....haha...hah....ah.