Stagefright? I don't think so!

Chihuly Nights Concert - Dallas Arboretum

When I heard there was a "blown glass exhibit" (by the "renowned artist," Dale Chihuly - of whom I had never heard) coming to the Dallas Arboretum, I have to admit that I was not initially impressed.  When I heard how much $$ the Arboretum was shelling out for this thing, including a $22M insurance policy, my interest was peaked, but still, it's glass .... how exciting can it be??  Well, just take a look at the pictures below!  Oh.  My.  God.  This is some d*mn impressive stuff!!!  

On Thursday nights, the Arboretum has outdoor concerts so, not only did we get to see the surprisingly cool blown glass exhibit, we went to the concert as well!  For a kid who didn't want to go on the stage for her dance recital, Kendall was ALL about going up there and dancing with the (really impressive and very kid-friendly) disco band.  I'll post a video separately of her intermission performance.  

She even took a bow!  Several, actually.

Temperatures were still in the 100's when the sun went down and there was no breeze so it was slightly miserable for the adults in attendance (myself, Grandmother, Nana, and Saza).  But Kendall had a blast!  The child stayed up until 10:30 at night, which gives me great hopes for fireworks this year!  

Here are a couple more Chihuly ("Chihula" as Kendall calls it) pics after it got dark.  Even more impressive!  

We did A LOT of walking .... and when I say "we," I do not mean Kendall.  Must be nice, kiddo - enjoy it while it lasts.  Before you know it, you'll be pulling your old mother around in a wagon!  :)

Goggles!

In an attempt to encourage happy thoughts about her otherwise traumatic swim lessons, I purchased Kendall a pair of pink goggles.  Accessories make everything better, right??  She LOVES her goggles! Wears them everywhere.  The first few days I had to fight her to get them off for naptime and bedtime.  Swim lessons, however, are still brutal.  But at least now she's a bit more hesitant to cry lest she "fog up her goggles."  Swim lessons may be my undoing as a mother .... but the goggles are pretty darn cute!

Little Things I Want to Remember - 12

1.  Kendall asked me for a "car without a lid on it" this morning.  I think my 3 year old just requested a convertible! 

2.  Chris:  "I have no idea why I'm SO tired?"
     Kendall:  "Maybe you spend too long at the office, Daddy." 
     Me:  Speechless.

3.  Kendall and I were watching the Sprout Goodnight Show and a brief Barney song came on. She grabbed my hand and said, "It's ok Mommy. It's just a short Barney. But I know he creeps you out so you can hold my hand if you want!"

4.  At the Sleep Experts store (upgrading our new Tempur-Pedic mattress to something a bit softer), Kendall looked at the man who was helping us and said (loudly), "Awwwww, he's SO cuuuuute Mommy!  And SO nice!  I wish we had enough money to buy him!"  Had there been a bed high enough off the floor, I may have crawled under it.  All I could say was, "I don't think Daddy would appreciate me buying a new man to go with our new mattress."


5.  The other night I was in the kitchen and heard "Mommy - HELP ME!!!" from upstairs, followed by several intense screams of panic. I flew up the stairs to find Kendall stuck in the toilet. Yes, STUCK, in the toilet. She had fallen in (pretty much had taco-ed herself) and only her arms, legs and head were sticking out and straight up.  I did not take a picture (although that is the first thing that crossed my mind and had my phone and camera both not been downstairs there would be a picture!) but I'm still trying to convince her to reenact the scene with me standing right there so I can get a picture.  So far, no luck.  Will keep trying!  (Aside:  Chris was very upset with me for laughing about this and told me that I was being irresponsible and that "she could've drowned!"  Ummm, last I checked, neither she nor anyone else of whom I am aware, breathes from that end of the body.)

Father's Day 2012

Father's Day was nice and low key this year!  Chris got up at 4:30AM (he said "to work" but I found him asleep on the couch at 7 in front of Sports Center) and Kendall and I got up at 7.  After I made a big pancake and bacon breakfast (and cleaned all dishes by hand because we've spent the better portion of 2 months without a functioning dishwasher due to an incompetent repair man ... but I digress), Kendall was hot to trot to give Daddy his gifts.  She barely waited for him to open his card before she opened the baseball coaster she made for him at Smashing Times. 

The next gift (also opened by Kendall) was no surprise to Daddy - a dark blue polo shirt to replace the several year old, well worn, very faded one he already has.  But inside the shirt was a surprise!  A gift certificate for a 90 minute "flight lesson" that includes an hour of in flight instruction with an instructor.  Chris had his pilot license before I met him but it has expired.  I'm not sure I want him to have his license again ... in fact I'm not sure I want him to even use this gift!  But I know that he loved to fly so I had a few glasses of wine and purchased the gift certificate.  Now I need to decide if I want to go with him and stand on the ground willing the teeny tiny plane he'll be flying to stay in the sky, or if I want him to go entirely without my knowledge. 

For some reason, her attire of choice was her ballet outfit.  Could've been worse ... and I no longer have the energy to argue with her over what she wears (or doesn't wear) when we're home. 

Kendall had the most fun throwing the tissue paper in the air. I think this may have marked the very first gift giving occasion where she has inquired about the whereabouts of her gift!

After we all got dressed (one of us re-dressed), we headed over to give Pops, who is recently home from the hospital and recovering from a quintuple bypass surgery, his gift card to Calloway's nursery.  Pops has to eat healthy now and we thought it might be easier to do that if he's growing his own veggies.  Gardening is also very relaxing for him.  He's doing really well and Kendall is getting less and less afraid of going near him for fear of hurting him.  

My little diva is perfectly capable of safely going up and down the stairs in our house on her own now, but for some inexplicable reason, she has of late been requesting that I carry her up and down every time.  My back can no longer take this (although I'm sure I could use the exercise) so I've been adamant about gently firmly refusing these requests demands.  Daddy is a sucker. 

My husband is not a low maintenance man by any stretch of the imagination, but I have to admit that his holiday dinner requests are pretty easy on me!  

Finally, some daddy time with each of the fur kids!  

Gardening for beginners

I think I said I'd give the flowers we "planted" last week 2 weeks to survive before I moved on to other gardening endeavors.  But the flowers managed to survive not only 1 week but also a very destructive storm that pelted down baseball (yes, I said baseball) sized hail .... and we found ourselves at a gardening store getting a gift card for Pops, so we purchased some strawberry and tomato plants to kill try to keep alive in some pots.  I am definitely not yet ready to try to plant anything in the ground!  The tomato plant came with several almost ripe tomatos and one strawberry plant came with a very cute tiny little berry.  We already had a mint plant that did not fare so well in the hail so that's out there as well, trying to recover in Kendall's little "potted garden."  If you look at the yard in the background of these pictures (and if you could see the poor plants in my house), you'll get the very correct impression that I do not do well with legless children.  So far (knock on wood), I ahave been able to keep the fur and skin variety of children alive, but plants and fish don't fare well.  By the way, Kendall is also campaigning for a fish.  Maybe if the plants stay alive for a bit longer ....

Salad lovers unite!

Because Chris is never home in time to eat dinner with Kendall on weeknights, I split my time and eat some of my weeknight dinners with her and some with him.  But I always sit at the table with her and have at least a salad while she eats.  Recently, my little mini-me has started to request salads with HER dinners too!  Romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, avocados, and cheddar cheese.  I suppose the salads could be healthier, but it's a good start!