Spring Show

Tis the season for performances!  Poker Hill's Spring Show was this week.  Apparently, Cally and her classmates have been practicing for this for some time.  All we were told was that she was a Robin and she needed to dress in "earth tones".

I was really surprised when I saw Cally in her first "show" this past December during the Senior Sing.  I was surprised by how shy she was.  At home she belts out her songs, but in that show, she hardly smiled, let alone sung.  However, this time was different.  She knew her moves, she new her songs, and she had a ball singing and dancing to "Robins in the Rain".

Even Hazey had a fun time watching his sister (and all the babies that are there-- he's a huge fan of babies right now). 

 

On another note about performances.. The little guy in the picture above.......... I think he's on the road to win "best actor" in the Oscars by 2028!  

I usually don't bring the little man to Poker Hill for pick up.  Whenever I do, we spend an extra half hour there seeing the animals and playing on the novel play equipment.  Over the weekend, Cal mentioned that she loves it when Hazen comes to pick her up with me.  So, I decided to pick him up first on Monday and bring him with me to pick up Cal.

He immediately jumped out of the car and went running for the playground.  Cal spotted him from across the vast area.  I'm not sure who was happier to that he was there-- Cally or Hazen.  We played for a while and right when we were headed out, Cal requested "one more run on the zip line".  So we headed up the hill and Hazen was limping.  I hadn't seen him fall, but he did have a small cut on his lower leg.  When he tried to take a step, he crumpled to the ground and asked for "uppies".  At the grocery store, the same thing happened:  he'd take a few steps and fall down crying.  However, he wasn't in pain when he didn't walk.  

Being completely perplexed as to how he could have come up lame without doing anything traumatic, I called my most trusted  nurse friend, Medora, and asked her if there was a leg equivalent to "nursemaid's elbow" (a common dislocation of the elbow caused by swinging a kid from his arms).  She asked if he had a fever or tick bite, ruling out septic arthritis and Lyme's disease.  

When John saw him, he too was really concerned, so we called the doctor.  Our amazing doctor said he'd stay at the office and see Hazen that night.  As long as Hazen wasn't walking, he was happy and seemingly pain free, but he continued to crumple if he tried to walk.  The doctor mentioned something called a "Toddler's Fracture" which effects the fibula.  Because he wasn't in a lot of pain, but kept pointing at a very specific spot on his leg, Dr. Parker gave John a referral for an X-ray at the hospital and said to go for it if Hazen wasn't better in the am.

The next morning, Hazen didn't come into our room with the usual pitter patter in the morning.  He was lying in his bed and said that his leg hurt and he needed "uppies".  He didn't even want to stand at the Learning Tower when I made pancakes in the morning!  So, John brought him to the hospital for an x-ray, only to find out that his leg was not broken. 

Because he didn't seem to be in pain, we dropped him off at Tammy's and told her to just let him be the guide in terms of moving around and pain.  When we picked him up, he was playing by himself in the sandbox and not moving very much.  Tammy said he crawled around a bunch and didn't seem to even try to walk.  

That night, Nurse Medora happened to come over to our house for a gathering.  When she saw Hazen, she wondered if he was milking this and that he wasn't actually very hurt.  She was able to distract him and asked him to show her where the cat was.  He immediately marched up the stairs to our bedroom.  I do think that he had a hurt leg, but when he realized how much attention it was bringing him, he milked it!  At 2, he had it in him to fake it! 

The next morning, when he attempted to pull the same act about his leg hurting and needing uppies, I told him that the doctor told me that he was, in fact, better and he could walk.  He then got up and said, "okay" and he's been good ever since!

Are we in trouble, or what?

Benny the Magic Bunny

 

Here it is...... Cally's first stage appearance.  In January, the guilty working mom in me, asked around to see if there were any fun classes Cally could take on a Tuesday when she's home with her dad.  As it turns out, a bunch of her friends from Poker Hill had been taking classes at the "Birds Nest" in Jericho-- it's a low key (and inexpensive) little dance studio above the garage of a women's home.  When I called to see if Cally could take the class, the dance teacher was a little hesitant.  She said she could take the class, but that it was likely that she'd have to sit the recital out because they had already ordered the costumes.  We didn't care about any of that, it was more about getting out to try something new.

Fast forward five months and Miss Sue did end up ordering Cally a costume.  On the day that they arrived, John helped Cally into her outfit and she was thrilled about the whole thing. 
.

You might notice that her dad got something backwards.

Miss Sue talked the performance up a lot!  Cally couldn't wait to wear make up-- which, fortunately, only entailed getting wiskers and a black nose.

At times, during the dress rehearsal, I worried that we were headed to the world of "Toddlers and Tiaras", but fortunately, we live far from that culture.

Despite practicing this one dance weekly for four months and playing the song fairly regularly at home, Cally never seemed to show us any choreographed moves.  She jumped around a lot, but we weren't expecting much on the stage, given the gene pool (or lack there of) she received.

She definitely didn't know all her moves, but by watching her friends, she was able to hold her own.

In the end, the two and a half minute performance was one of the cutest things I've ever watched.  Granted, it was my child up there, so I may be a little biased, but seriously, they could not have been more adorable!

 

Cally had a ball!  She loved the flowers she got, having so many people who loved her show up, and she had no problem being on stage.

 

And she had so much fun with all her little bunny buddies.

And the best part of being in the recital, was having an excuse to have Nana and Grandpa visit.

Nana saved the day by doing last minute sewing of the bunny tail and bunny "cuffs"

Grandpa played with the kids

The kids got snuggles with Nana, Grandpa, and Lobby every morning

We had an excuse to go get the best cremees ever!

We visited the "Funky Chicken" Market (getting ready for our own chicks to arrive too soon)

Having someone to read, read, and read some more

We have no idea where Cally stands in terms of a future with dance, but we certainly enjoyed watching her up there and hope it gives her the confidence to perform in whatever way she chooses to in life.

My Recipe for the Perfect Mother's Day

For the perfect Mother's Day:

1. Sleep in the guest room (so that no one can find you in the morning and get upset because you don't want to play and snuggle at 6:30am)
2. Put a pillow over your ears until 8am when your husband takes the kids with him to get fresh made donuts and the New York Times
3. Wake up to your daughter bringing you coffee, a fresh made donut, a card, and the New York Times.
4. After sipping coffee, eating donut, and reading your favorite parts of the NYT, head down stairs for a delicious breakfast prepared by that awesome aforementioned husband

 

5.  Head out for a family adventure in Lincoln.  It may start as a bike ride up the Natural Turnpike and turn into a hike in Lincoln Gap

6. Watch kids act like monkeys in the trees 

 

7. Visit your best friend who now has 3 foster puppies and 2 baby goats (to add to the 9 dogs, 3 cats, donkey, chickens and miniature horse)
8.  Have a delicious salmon dinner at neighbors house so that you officially get out of all meals for the day!

If recipe is followed according to the steps above, you will feel like the luckiest mother alive! 

Spring Break!

Can you imagine spending a week in a North Carolina forest in the Smokey Mountains with this cast of characters?  Pretty darn cute!  From left to right we have Henry Kelsey (16 months), Isaac Aubin (4 years old), Hazey, Cally, and Oliver Aubin (2 years old).  We all convened at the Davidson River Campground after 17+ hours of driving on a Sunday night.  We had a blast.  Here's a photo summary of a really fun adventure:

2 year old buddies

finding and climbing on magic rocks

counting tree rings

Finding a make believe stage and forming a band

lounging around and reading books

smores

Special guests Sherry and George Westerfield!

Quiet moments of drawing

Smokey the Bear Club

hockey, lacrosse, soccer.....

Learning about the forest with Sherry and George

Getting ready for kids hike-- "one for all, all for one!"

Awesome little hikers!

rest stop looking for birds

Fun bouncy bridge

Sitting in the gutter tree

Barefoot stream exploration

Good friends

Feeding Henry

Lots of Scooter Time

Biking on a boardwalk at the kids loop

Teeter Totter!

Cheering on big sis!

Buddies

 Best date ride ever!  Thanks to Sherry & George

A scare at the Transylvania County Hospital-- nothing broken!  Phew!

After four days in the Pisgah National Forest, I packed everyone up and we headed back to Vermont on the slow train, making some fun stops along the way.  The kids were troopers in the car.  Their patience in the car amazed us.

We got to stop in Baltimore on the way down and on the way back home.  The kids love hanging out with their cousin (and aunt and uncle).

Will even got a scooter between our visits, so the kids had a ball playing in the back alley of Roger's Forge.

Next stop was Rosendale, NY to visit with Beckett, Iris, Tim and Sophia. 

Running Race

Keeping up with the big kids!