The Joy of Singing

Since June, Allie has been taking a group singing class over at the Henegar Center in Downtown Melbourne. My friend Rosie from the Chamber Singers teaches the class. Yesterday morning, the kids had their recital, performing the spirituals they had learned, as well as the hand bell pieces. The recital was also a variety show, showcasing special numbers the kids themselves had prepared. After two weeks of mulling it over, Allie decided on "Castle on a Cloud" from Les Miserables. She sang it beautifully! And I give her a huge "kudos" for having the courage to get up and sing it in front of a huge group of people. But we had a talk about how the gift of singing is meant to be used to bring joy to others (as well as ourselves), and performing for others is how we can do just that. We prayed that she would just have fun and do her best. And she did! Yea, Allie! For some reason, though, she was a bit softer on her solo than she was during the group numbers, but she still did fantastic. What a great kid!

Allie and her singing teacher Mrs. Cocker

Pixie Hollow

Allie and Sami have an obsession with anything girlie. Barbies, princesses, dresses, the color pink... and fairies. Well, perhaps I need to be more specific-- excuse me... (a-hem) Disney fairies. You know, Tinkerbell and all of her fairy friends from Pixie Hollow that the geniuses at Disney created to milk even more money out of the families whose daughters are also already obsessed with the Disney princesses.

Last Sunday, after spending a good hour after church coloring in a Tinkerbell coloring book, Allie came to me as I sat on the couch glancing through my Cooking Light magazine.

"Mom, can we make Pixie Dust?" I looked at her, and she proceeded to explain how she and Sami wanted to go to Pixie Hollow, but they had to jump into the picture in the book, and couldn't do that without Pixie Dust to sprinkle on their heads. Honestly, my first instinct was a big fat "No way! What a mess!" but I decided not to respond that way. After listening to her explanation, I thought I would humor her. "Okay, Allie, let's go in the kitchen."

I poured salt in a bowl (I figured salt would be less sticky and messy than sugar), dyed it golden yellow with food coloring, and finished it off with a bit of glitter. Voila! Pixie Dust! The girls grabbed their magic wands, and cast some spells and did some dances to make the Dust "work." Then they grabbed the coloring book and went out to the driveway (which is where I banish the children who want to sprinkle Pixie Dust--- I don't want that nasty stuff in my house).

They placed the open book on the ground, sprinkled themselves liberally with Pixie Dust, held hands, counted to three, closed their eyes, and jumped onto the book. Naturally, nothing happened. They opened their eyes and peeked out. Then their shoulders slumped, and Allie's face scrunched up. "Maybe we need to more Pixie Dust..." So they each put another tablespoon each on their heads. Sami had the brilliant idea to pray. Kevin made the comment after viewing the pictures, that he's never seen them so reverent. Can you blame them? This is serious business! Another count to three and a leap on the book and... nothing. They were overcome with despair... until they realized that (duh!) they needed to be in "nature clothes" to go to Pixie Hollow. So into the house, off with their dresses, and into their "nature" dresses.

For good measure, they went about the house gathering any fairy books they could find, as well as their Tinkerbell and Queen Clarion (the queen of Pixie Hollow) dolls. Once they went back outside, they piled their fairy objects on top of the book... perhaps to let the fairies know that they were friends and meant them no harm. Actually, I guess I'm not really sure what they were doing. All I know is that they were desperate. Allie yelled, "We're coming, fairies!" And again with the sprinkle of dust (the rest of it, actually), the holding hands, the count to three, and the jump. After the third failed attempt, they tried one more time...

Sami wasn't really all that surprised it didn't work, but she pretended to be upset. Allie shed some tears as they gathered their things and walked back into the house.

We then sat on the bed and had a discussion about what the scriptures say God really created. I pointed out that the book of Genesis doesn't mention fairies, letting her draw her own conclusions. She wasn't too thrilled with that...

... until I offered the girls an ice pop. Then all was water under the bridge.

A Sami-ism

I just walked into the kids' bathroom to find Sami and Allie in there brushing their hair. Sami's hair was unusually parted down the middle, and she was smoothing it behind her ears. I said, "What are you doing to your hair, Sam?"

"Making it look like a Rock 'n' Roll star."

Ah. I see.

Blah

Yesterday was one of those days when I felt, well, blah. Some might define that as "discouraged" or "frustrated" or lethargic," but I think "blah" is much more descriptive, don't you?

It all comes down to our girls.

Their bickering infuriates me. But their complaining exhausts me.

In the afternoon, Allie came running in the kitchen from the porch with Sami trailing close behind. "Mom, can we have ice cream?" I looked at her with a raised eyebrow and reminded her that we had finished all the ice cream last night.

"That's great..." She jumped up in the air, "...because the ice cream truck is coming! Can we get some ice cream?"

Now let me preface my response with my usual policy with ice-cream-truck ice cream... I don't buy it. Granted, I have actually done it once, maybe twice, but no more than that. And the ice cream truck has come around our street dozens of times.

I continued to wipe the counters. "No, Allie. No ice cream right now."

Sami responded perfectly. "Okay." And she walked away.

But not Allie. She folded her arms and scrunched up her face. "That's what you always say! You never buy us ice cream! It's not fair!" I stopped and looked at her like she was crazy, especially since we had just finished up a half-gallon of ice cream the night before! And then Sami came back to get in on the action. "Yeah, Mom, you never get us ice cream!" What the--?

I told them to either leave the room or be quiet about it. They actually stopped talking about it, and I could continue with my work in the kitchen.

In the evening after we finished dinner Allie piped up, "Can we go to an ice cream shop?" Kevin sighed and responded, "No, Allie, we're not going to an ice cream shop."

"Dad, I wasn't asking you!" Right. If I had responded, I'm sure she would have had the same comeback ready for me. And like my answer would be any different! So she looked at me.

"No, Allie, no ice cream." Again, her arms folded and she stomped around. We tried to explain to her why ice cream was a special treat and why we didn't feel it necessary to eat all the time.

At bedtime, after we had said family prayers, I said, "Okay, get in bed." Allie asked why no books before bed. I said, "Look around the house... Does it look clean to you?" There went her arms and face again. Yes, it's our family policy that if their toys aren't cleaned up by bedtime, they get no bedtime stories.

Honestly, after the kids were in bed, I went back to our room and sat on our bed. Blah. I told Kevin that in many ways I felt terribly emotionally abused. On a daily basis I will hear both "I love you, Mommy! You're the best mom ever!" and "I hate you, Mom! You are so mean! You're the worst mom ever!" within hours of each other. And as much as I love roller coasters, being on an emotional roller coaster is torture.

Sigh.

This is a time when I wish I could send them off to Grandma's house for a day.

Thyroid

I realized I never mentioned anything about the results of my thyroid biopsy in May... which basically was like getting blood drawn... three times... out of my neck. I roped Kevin into coming with me to that appointment. But it ended up not being as debilitating as I had imagined. The results came back a week later.

All three samples came back clean. No cancer. She left it up to me regarding whether or not to surgically remove it. I chose to watch it for another six months.

I am grateful for all the prayers that were said on my behalf. I really am blessed with wonderful family and friends!