BFF Babysitting

34 years ago, on my 8th birthday (September 13th), my friend Renee Cannon approached to me on the playground.  She had another girl with her, I had never seen her before.

"Isn't today your birthday?" she asked me.

"Yeah."  I replied.

"It's her birthday too!" she pointed to the other girl.

This was the beginning of a 34 year friendship.  The other girls was Tracie Dowdell.  It was a little quirky...we were both named Tracy/Tracie and we were born on the same day, September 13th (I always have to let people know that she is the oldest of the 2 of us).  The teachers couldn't call one of us Tracy/Tracie "D", because we were both Tracy/Tracie "D", Drummer/Dowdell.  I think at some point my mom started calling us Tracy 1 and Tracie 2.  My dad always called Tracie by her full name, Tracie Gardell (yes, he pronounced it wrong for 30+ years).  We were so inseparable, that many people just assumed that we were sisters (we had plenty of stories of why we were both named the same name).

I believe that Tracie may know every one of my secrets and understands me as if I were truly her twin. We have only had 1 real fight in our 34 years together.  It lasted a few months and I believe we were both miserable without each other. 

I was the first of the two of us to have children, in fact I had already popped out my 2 by the time she decided to have children.  So, there is a significant difference in age with our children.  She has always been there for my girls and has watched them grow up, attended concerts, plays, birthday parties and graduations.  Now that her children are getting a little older, it will be my turn to show up for the games, plays, parties and stuff.

I am their Tia.  Tracie decided when her first child was born, that she did not want me to be an "auntie" so, I got a more creative, fancy name...Tia (aunt in Spanish).  It may be that it is the only word we remembered from high school Spanish, but has stuck with me for all 3 of them.

Today was Tia's  first time EVER babysitting Tracie's children.  Her little girl cries every time she sees my face.  The boys adore me slightly more.  I get plenty of hugs and kisses from them when I see them.  I was pretty nervous about this gig today.  When was the last time I had a babysitting job and when was the last time I was responsible for small children?!

Well, everyone survived the day!  I must say, I'm a pretty cool Tia and a pretty awesome babysitter!

First I made some lunch for the kids while they played Wii and Barbies.  We all ate lunch together at the table (they had buttered or cheesy noodles with apples, I had a salad). Then I prepared our ingredients for our dessert...homemade ice cream!  We went out into the yard to mix up our ingredients and get to shaking out ice cream up.  20 minutes later, we were sharing a batch of vanilla ice cream and sipping on some chocolate shakes (ice cream we lost patience with). 

"Can we go to the park now Tia?"  "Of course!"  I gathered up the stroller, some trucks and a few bottles of water and off we went!  Our park trip lasted about a half hour before there were some yawns and tired faces.  We returned home for a pull-up change, a nap, snacks and a few more Wii games.

The time went quickly...thank goodness.  Although they were perfect little children, I am no longer the mother of little ones.  I do not have the energy to entertain all day, it's hard work! I don't know how Tracie

does it! 

Where are my children at right now?  listening to music, writing in their journal, on facebook, entertaining themselves in their rooms...ahhh!

Balance

A few weeks ago, my niece Ashley (shout-out to Ashley!) graduated from middle school.  I asked Gabby for a few ideas about what to get her for a graduation gift. 

"I don't know, everyone is different...the gift has to fit their personality." 

"What did you get?"

"A unicycle!"

I had forgotten all about that unicycle. It is one of Gabby's most prized possessions.  It's housed at the Actors Gymnasium, where Gabby has taken circus classes for the past 8 years.  During these 8 years (almost 9) Gabby has learned a variety of skills that have boosted her confidence and self-esteem (You have to feel fairly confident to hang 20 feet in the air by your foot or from fabric).  She can perform some feats that many cannot or will not do.  The circus community is not a big one, but those who are a part of it fall in love with it forever. 

So, yes, Gabby knows how to ride a unicycle.  I hope this skill will look good on a college application or her resume.  They may ask her "how well do you balance things in your life?"

...and she can send them directly to my blog!

ps...Gabby is the brown girl in the videos!

Coming soon!

http://www.actorsgymnasium.com/coming-soon.htm

A Few Tricks Up Our Sleeves

We started "Father's Day Weekend" by making sure that Eric knew we were all flat broke. "We couldn't afford to get you anything this year."   "You understand, don't you?"  "It doesn't mean we don't love you."  "We'll take you to the Custer Street Fair, that will be fun!"

We all agreed (Gabby, Sinobia and myself) that we would go along with this charade for the entire weekend.  We would let Eric think that he was getting "played" on Father's Day. 

So Saturday we took him to the Custer Street Fair.  We bought him some lemonade, sunglasses, and incense. We bought him some deodorant and undershirts from Target. We gave him hugs and told him "Happy Father's Day"...that's it. Sunday rolled around and we kept up with the charade. He wasn't looking too sad, but I was beginning to feel a little guilty about making him feel unappreciated on his day. We sent him to the grocery store later that afternoon and then staged his gifts. He was surprised and had a look of relief as he began to open his gifts.

"You didn't really think we were not going to celebrate your day, did you?" 

"No, I know you guys always take good care of me."

"Yeah, we do.  You deserve it.  We love you very much dad!"

Is It Summer Yet?

Summer doesn't officially start until tomorrow, June 21st.  The girls have only been out of school for 1 week and we have already had 2 summer injuries!

Last Wednesday, Gabby was injured at gymnastics summer conditioning.  She was attempting a trick that didn't go so well...she was not properly fitted into straps and came out of them mid-air.  She landed on her head.  Gabby says her life flashed before her eyes and when she hit the ground, she heard a crack or two in her neck.  She quickly jumped up to make sure she was still alive!  We were unaware of any of this action until she came out to the car wit a huge ice pack in her hand.  She was walking, talking and eating, but this was a scary accident for her and Eric and I.  It was equally as scary for her doctor when she heard about it the next day.  She could have been seriously injured or dead. 

So, with a diagnosis of Torticollis, some prescription pain medicine, rest and a few days out of the gym, we found Gabby back to her old self again on Sunday evening (Father's Day) doing tricks and flips on the trampoline with her sister and cousins.  Eric and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and agreed that she was back in the game.

Well, a few hours into the trampoline fun, everyone stops jumping to stare at Sinobia.  She is crying and saying that she came down weird and hurt her ankle.  I make her climb off the trampoline, hobble into the house and soak it in the tub.  It's huge!  She's crying and her aunties are babying her, she's loving it.  I give her an ice-pack, some ibuprofen and send her off to bed.  This morning, her ankle was still a little swollen and she was insisting that she could not walk on it.  "Can I use daddy's crutches?"  I knew that was coming.  She has been dying to use those crutches!  Another call to the doctor and we are off to the hospital for x-rays. 

By this point, I'm feeling like a bad mother...2 kids, 2 injuries in 1 week!  What kind of mother would allow such nonsense in her house?  I walk into the radiology department feeling a little inadequate...I am greeted  by a deep sigh of relief and a huge smile from another mom who has a child limping around too.  We exchange friendly salutations and agree that it's summer, kids always get hurt in the summer time!  We sit and wait.  5 minutes later, another mom comes into the office, she's pushing her daughter in a wheel chair!  She smiles a relieved smile to see other moms waiting with their "summer injured" children.  "Oh no, what happened?" I say to her daughter. 

"I was jumping on a trampoline and came down on it wrong."  Can you believe it?  I smile the biggest smile ever!  I am not so terrible after all...plenty of mother's let their children play on trampolines and some get hurt.  "Me too!" says Sinobia.  This girl's mom whips around with a smile that equals the size of mine.  We have connected, there are others out there like us.  We chat it up, both of us showing signs of relief on our faces.  The doctor comes out to inform us that there are no broken bones, just a lot of swelling.  Yahoo! 

"Will you get back on the trampoline?"  the girl asks Sinobia as we are walking out the door.  "Yep!" answers Sinobia.  "Me too!" replies the girl.  They tell each other good luck and give a final smile before we are hobbling out the door on our crutches.  I shoot the mom a smile too.  "Enjoy your summer!" I call out.

I guess summer is in full swing at the Aiden house!

Happy Father's Day!

Eric is on a roll today.  He has declared it "Father's Day Weekend" and wants us to serve him and be super nice to him all weekend long!  We'll see what we can do...

We are going to enjoy the beautiful day and take him out to the Custer Street Fair in Evanston.  I've agreed to buy him a fresh squeezed lemonade, some fried rice and sunglasses (they're 3 pair for $20!) as his "Father's Day Weekend" treat.  Who knows what else may be in store for him this weekend?  The Aiden clan is always full of surprises!

Happy Father's Day Eric!

***check out my previous Daddy Eric blog post a few months ago:

http://abundantlyaiden.blogspot.com/2011/04/natural-wonder-for-sure.html

Been Waiting All My Life For This!

On June 10th Sinobia graduated from 5th grade at Dawes Elementary School.  This was more than just a graduation for Sinobia, this marked the day that we would depart from Dawes after 11 years!  I started crying before we even left home...11 years of love and nurturing for our whole family.  Dawes is and always will be a safe place for our children.  I went to work every day, knowing that there was a team of faculty and teachers that would do all that they could to take good care of my children, and for 11 years, that is what they did.  Dawes has held our hands, collaborated and joined forces with us in raising two beautiful,

smart and independent girls.  Dawes has prepared them for the world outside of elementary school.  They are risk takers, individuals, good friends, active in their community and ready to take on the world!

Most of my tears were for the mourning of my little girl, who isn't a little girl anymore. She's officially a Middle School Girl!  Sinobia was proud and confident all day during graduation.  I asked her later that day if she felt at all sad during the ceremony.  "No way mom...I'm ready for middle school.  It's time for me to leave Dawes, I've been waiting all of my life for this!"  Yes, she has been waiting for this moment all of her life, as she has spent all 11 years of her life at Dawes either as a student or as the little sister of a student. 

Sinobia graduated in classic "Sinobia Style".  She refused to wear a dress and insisted on accepting her certificate in one of her famous tutus!  For 2 or 3 weeks she fought with Eric about the appropriateness of a tutu for graduation...as you can see she won!  Eric had no legitimate argument.  Everyone he tried to engage in the tutu discussion simply told him to let Sinobia be her true self on her big day, thus a grand sugar skull tutu!  Sinobia did compromise and made Eric happy by giving up her insistence to wear her knee-high all star gym shoes, and settled for cute little purple flats. 

Also in "Sinobia Style" was her entourage.  Eric, Myself, Grandma, Grandpa, Nana from Louisiana, Uncle Earl, Auntie Nikki, Uncle Kenny, Auntie Stephanie, Auntie Rachel, Ashley, Terena and KJ.  Gabby had finals on this day, so she sadly had to miss Sinobia's big day.

So, my tears have dried, summer camp has started and Nana has returned home.  Now we are off to Chute Middle School in August!

Congratulations Sinobia!

The Sound of Music!

I have a piano in our dining room that my dad gave to me.  He bought it for me when I was about 7 years old.  He sent me to Mrs. Johnson's house once a week for piano lessons for a little while, then had a piano teacher come to our home for lessons for a little while. 

I never learned how the play the piano! 
(although there is one song I play over and over and over again)

When we bought our house in 1999, by dad told me to come get the piano.  "See if you can get your kids to play it, since I couldn't get you to play!"  Those were his words 12 years ago. 

The piano sat in a room, in the corner, in the basement of our house for 11 years.  It was never played.  We moved in October and Eric tried to convince me to give the piano away or sell it.  I couldn't bring myself to part from this gift from my dad.  So Eric reluctantly agreed to have it moved and let it take up space in our dining room. 

Our dining room is also our music room...there are 2 Guitars (we don't know how to play them), a Harp (that Sinobia thought she REALLY wanted to play), a Cello (that Gabby has played since 4th grade) and an Upright Bass (that Sinobia  has played since 4th grade and pretends to play at school concerts) (yes, I'm on to you Sinobia!) and my lonely Piano! 

So, it is funny to me that I spent most of the last week at musical performances for my children.  They don't want to play my piano, but they do seem to have a little bit of musical talent.  I'm not sure where they got their Musial appreciation and talent from, but the sound of music has been ringing in my ears!

Sinobia playing the Bass at the Dawes/Walker/Oakton Spring Concert.  She's the only "advanced" Bass player, so she thinks she's hot stuff!

Sinobia playing the Bass at the Dawes/Walker/Oakton Spring Concert. 

 

(Finale in D ....George Frideric Handel)

Gabrielle Playing Cello in the E.T.H. S. Orchestra Spring concert.  She's in the second row/second chair.  You can see her little bun sticking up!

(March to the Scaffold from Symponie Fantastique...Hector Berlioz)

Gabrielle Playing Cello in the E.T.H. S. Orchestra Spring concert.

I Think We Make a Great Team!

This weekend Eric and I attended our last Dawes Elementary School Sol Fest event as Dawes parents.  We have been parents at Dawes for 11 years. 

Gabby trotted off to Kindergarten in September 2000.  I had Sinobia (5 months old) in the backpack, stroller, wagon or sled each day.  Sinobia learned to walk on the Dawes playground, hanging out each day with her big sister.  Then, in September 2005, Sinobia entered into Kindergarten at Dawes kicking and screaming all the way and every day (this is not an exaggeration). 

I am a lot like my dad. My dad was always involved in the community.  He believed in serving your community, reaching out to others and letting your children know that you are invested in them, their futures and their schools.  Eric is a lot like my dad too.  He is a firm believer that parents are a huge piece of their child's education experience.  He believes in having a presence at our children's schools, being involved, taking ownership in their education and school experiences. 

11 years later...we are honored with the Bonnie Silverman Award for Dawes Community Service.

It all started with Eric agreeing to be a Daisy Leader for Gabby's Daisy troop.  3 women and 1 great dad.  He became an instant celebrity on the playground.  All the moms loved him.  Who wouldn't? Who doesn't love a dad that is invested in his daughter's activities?

Then it began to become addicting....hot dog griller at Dash-about, cotton candy maker and more hot dogs at carnival, field trip chaperon, visits during lunch with Happy Meals and Taco Bell!

It was then my turn...becoming the Market Day chair.  "It's so much fun, you'll love it!"  It wasn't fun and I didn't love it, but I did it for the school and my children. 

Next, Eric took on the position of PTA Co-President!  At that time there were 2 dads filling the co-president positions.  Talk about climbing the playground social ladder!  Eric served 2 years as PTA co-president

At the end of Eric's 2 year term, I fell for the same old line again "It's so much fun, you'll love it!"  I took over his position and became the 2nd Aiden to be PTA co-president.  Yahoo...celebrity status on the playground, my own mailbox, a tax exempt letter in my wallet, and check signing privileges (I don't think I ever signed a check though).  This I did enjoy, but it was 2 long, hard working and tiring years!

At the end of my term, I decided I was done with PTA meetings, but not done with being involved.  So, I took on some lighter jobs; noodles night, TV tune-out week, Teacher Appreciation Week, selling meals at carnival, running games, recruiting more African American families to attend the PTA meetings and have a voice in their children's school and education.

This year, my last year at Dawes, I just took on Teacher Appreciation Week.  I went appreciation crazy, but the teachers deserved it.  We have had 11 magnificent years at the very best school and with the very best faculty in Evanston...Dawes Elementary School!

We will miss everyone at Dawes.  I will remember and cherish all of the love and attention that everyone gave to my 2 children.  The teachers were amazing, thoughtful and caring.  The staff became my friends.  The Principal will hopefully be a great buddy of ours when we are no longer principal-student/principal-parent. 

We promise to visit often and possibly show up at next years Sol Fest!

To be continued...

It was a great Mother's Day for me!

As you can see, the trampoline went up today.  It took Eric and the girls about 2 hours.  Lucky for me that he agreed to my Mother's Day trampoline deal, as the box did say "no tools needed", but what they failed to say was that none of my tools were needed, just the tools inside of the box! 

So, Eric raked the yard, mowed the lawn and prepped everything for the installation.  He and the girls are outside working away, with the radio blasting.  Everything is going smoothly.  They get to the very last 2 pieces and sure enough one of them is the wrong piece!  One piece is supposed to fit into the other to complete the trampoline enclosure (a male and a female part), but they are the same 2 parts!  Some innocent customer service person is going to have to deal with me tomorrow! 

But, my Mother's Day wish was granted by my sweetie and my girls.  I'm a lucky mama!

What am I doing during all of this fun?  I went to get my nails done, munched on the breakfast that Eric cooked for me, took a nap, watched a little TV,  got myself some Starbucks, peeked out at them a few times and folded and put away a load of laundry.  ahhh...such a glamorous life I have! 

I hope everyone had a fabulous Mother's Day Weekend...I sure did!

Happy Mother's Day!

 I am a MOM.

I am a proud mom, a content mom, an annoying mom, a loving mom, a fair mom, a fun mom, a goofy mom, and a mom of 2 beautiful girls.  There are many days that it is hard for me to remember all of these things.  There are plenty of days that I am also a make lunches at 5:30 am mom, a grumpy if not in bed by 10:00 pm mom, a tired from all of the carpooling mom, a pissed because I have to walk the dog in the rain mom, a always broke from paying for all the lessons mom,  and a "when will they be old enough to move out" mom.   

My family takes REALLY good care of me most days...it is especially grand on Mother's Day.  They are kind, loving, generous and extravagant on this holiday.  They do complain that I have managed to make Mother's Day into Mother's Day weekend, but they indulge me for this one weekend of the year. 

Today Eric and I went to pick-up the trampoline that we ordered for the girls for Easter (Easter baskets or trampoline was the difficult question for them this year).  Eric has been reminding me all week that he WILL NOT put together another trampoline (this is the 2nd on that we have owned).  I told him it was no problem, that I would put it together myself.  The box says "no tools needed"...I've got this covered!

"I just want to see my little girls happy, laughing and smiling on Mother's Day weekend" (and occupied enough to not be fighting with each other).  Eric gives me a side glance, he knows I'm up to something.

"How about for Mother's Day, you put the trampoline together for me?"  "You know...save some money, make mom happy?" 

"Nope!" 

"Come on Eric, this is all I want this year.  I just want to see the girls happy.  That will make me a happy mama."

"Nope!"

"Think of all the money you can save this year!  No stores, no lines, no worries.  I'll even help you!"

"Hmmm..."

To be continued....

I'll keep you posted!

Happy Mother's Day to all the great women in my life. 

Mom or not, I cherish each and every one of you!