A crazy week

The first week of June... Miss A. started her summer school and Miss F. started her school drama week and I started one of the busiest weeks of the year!

Monday, May 31: the week started with a free day. So what am I complaining about!! It was the memorial day weekend. It was fine having P home especially since his parents arrived the Thursday before memorial day.

Tuesday, June 1: Brought Miss F. to Gorton center and Miss A. to school. Then I went home to assist - read following all over the place like a little nosy old lady - Anderson Pest Solutions. Haha, he found 4 dead mouses, probably trapped in before he closed the hole. That's what he and I and all of us are hoping. Those dead mouses can stink!!

Wednesday, June 2: I this was the day I stayed at the Gorton Center to help with the costumes. It was so much fun being there, seeing Miss F. with her friends... She saw me and I could see the excitement in her expression. I smiled and then ignored her. I didn't want to be a distraction. I think she understood it. We smiled each other each time I saw her, and that was it. It felt so good to be involved and be close to Miss F. I know she'll never forget that. That's the reason I love being home with the kids.

After picking up Miss. A, I took her home, left her with my in-laws and went back to the Gorton Center for a short while. After school, I brought Miss F. to Charlie's b-day party and went to LifeTime for Miss. A's swimming lesson. Tristan didn't show up and there was an older busy boy in her class. Miss A. decided that she didn't want to have a lesson. Meester Tom did every thing he could, I used all techniques including the bribes I knew, but no way!Too bad for the grand parents who came to watch her. After the struggle, we left he lesson and went to pickup a happy Miss F. From there, the grand parents brought me to my Chiropractor and left with the kids. P was supposed to come there, too. Unfortunately he changed plans. I had to walk from the chiropractor to Barnes & Noble in a cold weather with light rain, to my SCBWI meeting. I had a story with me, my first story in the States actually, version 25. I have a love/hate relationship with the story. The readers had the same, too - different though, some liked it, some hated it. At 9pm sharp. P came to pick me up!

Thursday, June 3: Thursday was the day of the technical rehearsal for the ballet. After F's pickup, we went to the Rec Center. I was the room mom for F's group, with 2 other moms. I ended up staying with another group which had no room mom. Ballet tech rehearsal is nothing exciting. All the kids practice the grand finale, twice. this means a lot of waiting. At the end, they do their routine once, and they are done. The whole process tool like 2 hours, way too long for the little ones. I was tired at the end, the little ones were exhausted! Oh well, it was one down, two to go.

Friday, June 4: Shweta, the new girl from school invited couple people from school for a little morning coffee. Always fun! Close to the 3 pm, we went to the Lake Forest Library with my in-laws. It's a beautiful building, very nice to see. After Miss F's pick up, we went straight to the Lake Forest High School for the dress rehearsal. It's the first time the kids do their ballet routine on the stage. It's so much fun to see. The confusion, the overwhelmed look on their faces when they see the big room... They did so well, all of them. That same evening, I went out with Shelley to chill out at bit. We had a very nice evening, I had never talked to Shelley so much, I'm glad I did!

Saturday, June 5th: Miss F. had drama rehearsal until 1pm. We had strict instructions from school about the following hours. The kids were supposed to rest. At 6pm, they had the real thing! Kids from 5 year and older are allowed to go to the school drama. So Miss A. had to stay home with a sitter. For weeks, each time I mentioned her this, she started crying. I was really worried about it. I remember how upset she was when we went to see Mary Poppins. She had cried for the whole time we were gone and she had slammed the door on the sitter's face - poor Kerrie! I was waiting for the same reaction!

Well, after crying many times, she told me that she was afraid the sitter wouldn't understand her. She is so much used to have her sister as the talk! It's easier for me when I know the exact thing she is worried about. I said to Miss A. that she can watch a movie (we got a movie at the library the day before), and she might even see another one. She wouldn't have to talk at all. Somehow, this seemed to sound good to her. She actually had something to look forward to! When the sitter came - Veronica -, she just went off with her. She was totally OK - they did watch movies for hours, but well, she wasn't slamming doors or crying!

The play was at 6pm. We all got prepared, P wore his leather slippers against all my objections, and we went to see the play. The whole production was so well done, so cute... Miss F., who was saying that she will not go on stage, took her place and sang her songs as confident as a person can be! The little ones were in a choir, they sang 3 songs. The older kids had real parts with words. It was amazing how those kids put on stage a whole production in three weeks of partial repetition and then one week full time practicing! We saw the movie of Miss F. probably 15 times already.

oh yes, at the intermission, Duncan said "P should let me know when he will wear his flip flops again, I will do that, too!" Just too funny!

A little note about the play: the school does this for couple of reasons:

• the kids build confidence for being on stage - think about giving speeches, talking or performing in front of a crowd of people.
• it's a good experience to work together and produce something together. The older ones help the younger ones, the younger ones see the process the older ones go through.
• The kids get to know each other in a different way, in a different environment than the normal school.

I love our school!

Sunday, June 6th: We had the seats right in front of the stage for the ballet recital. Some people said the seats were too low and too close by. They probably just wanted those seats and couldn't get it. We were basically nose to nose with the kids. We could perfectly see them, and they could see us.

Miss A. was too occupied with Miss Sarah, her ballet teacher. She didn't see us at all. Miss Sarah was on the stage with the them and Miss A. was, as usual fully focused on her. They didn't present their best performance, some kids got a bit confused, but with the little ones, everything is just too cute!! After the intermission, Miss F. came on the stage and her class put on stage their best performance. The ballet movie is also watched many many times!

And this was the end of the crazy busy week!

Miss A's book club

Miss A is doing "Book Club" at the park district. It is the cutest class and she loves it! They read a book and then do activities related to the book. They made kites, petted a Guinea Pig, and all other fun stuff. She feels so big and she is so proud that she goes to her "Book Club." I love the enthusiasm!

In Bartlett with Dave and Tena

I keep on saying how much I miss Dave and Tena. Luckily, they try to keep in touch as well. They were staying with Dave's sister Anissa and her husband Todd. They invited me and the girls. Of course they would have invited P, too. However, he was out of town. What's new!!

When I left home, I had no idea where Bartlett was. I was actually thinking I would go to Wisconsin. At this kind of moments, I love my GPS! It send me to the opposite direction, right to Anissa's.

In a second, the kids were best friends again. The girls played most of the time with Tamsen, but I could spot Beck and Miss F playing as well. We went to the swimming pool - which gave me a lot of itch the day after - and then to some dinner at their church. Nothing religious, it was for scouts or something.

On the way back to home, I realized that the reason why I miss Dave and Tena so much: there is no other couple here that we like both the wife and the husband and vice versa and hang around together. There are families we like, but somehow I see my friends, P sees his friends, we hardly ever see couples. I don't know why, it's just he way it is. Well, enough about these deep thoughts, I hope to see Dave and Tena soon, the rest of the family likewise!

Caroline's birthday

Such an exciting day for Miss A. She was preparing for the party for three weeks. She draw, she wrote letters, she made me do crafts. When we arrived to the party, we had one bought present and a big bag full of Miss A creations. So much fun! The party was nice. A managed to sit next to Caroline during the pizza and cake. The look on her face was telling "see, this is my best friend's birthday party".

I should just mention that the same day in the morning was the parent teacher conference for Miss A and her teacher said she was doing beautifully! Of course Miss F is doing just fine, too. My little happy lady!

Miss A loves her friend!

Miss A's new friend Caroline celebrated her b-day today. (the party is this Saturday, this was the school celebration.) I spent a big part of the afternoon singing for Caroline. Not that she was here, or we were with her. Miss A decided to have a "pretend" party for her in our living room. We also wrote letters to Caroline. One goes like this:

Dear Caroline,
I love you. Can you come to my birthday party. Do you love me? (all told in English by Miss A!)

We'll give the letter on Saturday. I wonder what Caroline will say!!??

We are jinxed!

If you need a new job in a new, cool place, come and be our friend. Check this list:

Ale and Martin - to Uruguay (we knew that, though!)
Anne - to Germany (OK, we knew that one, too)
Dave and Tena - to Denver
Leo and Carla - New York - oh so unexpected!
Padraic and Anitra - Boston - we were just becoming friends

All happy to be gone, all to a new challenge. If you become friends with us and you have ambitions, we somehow - don't know how - make it possible for you! And we were supposed to be here for a short time. We were supposed to leave and have everyone wave us good bye! What is happening here?

Someone said to me today how wonderful it will be to visit New York and Boston and all the other places. Yes it's true. Denver was great. Still, it's not the easiest thing to find new dear friends in a new country. Then they keep on moving so far away. The only thing I can say is: we are jinxed!

Oh mine! What a week!

Spring break is fun for the kids, a bit of a stress for mothers. i decided that I will have as much fun as the kids this time. We are staying home, so I need planning.

The week started with a party at pump it up. Brook just invited a bunch of people from school, for just fun. The kids and some grown ups jumped around. Miss F won twice at the obstacle course from me. Although I did like I let her win, I stood no chance.

The next day, I met with Jacqueline and Hester from the Netherlands. We had a "Dutch party". We met at the Old Orchard Mall and had lunch. The shopping before and after with Hester was really fun! The kids got along so well. It still amazes me how the language makes them feel comfortable. Miss F is very fond of Koen and vice versa. She sure likes Dutch guys!

Wednesday was the only regular activity that did go on. We went to the pool for the swimming lessons. On the way to the pool Miss A kept on saying that she has a surprise for us. The lesson started as usual. She said right away that she doesn't want to put her head in the water. The instructor threw her couple times in, and she didn't cry. this was already quite a surprise for me. But after the lesson, while waiting for her sister, she went to swim at the shallow end of the pool and... there she went right underwater, she started swimming. it was so funny to see her trying free stroke, but the arms turning the wrong way round. Her friend from the lessons, Tristan saw Miss A and guess what. Before we knew, he had his head under water. What a wow evening!

We finished the spring break in the city. The four of us got a hotel room and spent 2 nights downtown. Thursday, we took the train and after checking in, we just cruised in the city till my feet were hurting like crazy! We had dinner at South Water Kitchen at Hotel Monaco. I had great expectations after the review in our guide book. The entourage was very nice, just what we imagined it would be. The food, though, missed the final touch. It was OK, but not great. We were disappointed.

We spent Friday at the Lincoln Park Zoo. The first time I was there with the kids was two years ago. We went with my in-laws. I remember the animals looked sad and neglected. It reminded me to the old zoo in Izmir. I used to find those animals sad and neglected, too. But recently I hear many people talking about how much they like the Lincoln Park compared to Brookfield. So I thought we will give it a try. Well, the difference of this experience to the first one was like black and white! The zoo looked fun, nice and well kept. (I always find the zoo animals a bit sad, even if they have space and friends.) I don't know what was going on last time, but I remember that a part of the zoo was closed because of some event. We probably didn't get to see the nice stuff then. P enjoyed the day, too.

In the evening, we had dinner with Padraic and Anitra. I was first thinking that it was too bad to go to somebody's home for dinner. How often are we in the city anyway! Of course, Anitra had prepared a lot of nice Indian dishes and the dinner was delicious. The kids played nicely. After dinner, we went to this cookie place that was open till late and bought cookies. We sat at the patio of a bar. I really had a great time. It felt like tasting the city life!

Saturday was the museum day. My choice was the Field Museum. After feeding P to some coffee - otherwise he is unbearable - , we walked through the African and Egyptian exhibits. We will have to return to see more. That museum is just huge. We will never be able to see everything or get bored!

I forgot to mention that we went to the pool at the hotel for a couple of times. honestly, P went with the kids, I just joined them for once. Miss A was excited to show her swimming to P. We also found out that she is very dangerous around pools. She just jumps in and thinks someone will take her out of the water anyway. I just couldn't watch it too long, I left the pleasure to P!