Thursday, May 26, 2011

I'm Ridiculously Excited!

Tonight I'll be taking my 13-year-old daughter to an event that will put me back in time to when I was the 13-year-old. If the following picture makes your heart skip a beat like it does mine, I'd love to hear about it! Who was your fave?

Woo Hoooooooooo!!!!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Spring Band Concert


Last night was Lin's 2nd, and last, band concert of the year. She did great! She plays the flute and is in the beginning band. She has had the luxury of being in class with only woodwinds this year, so each section gets a lot of personal attention (the brass and drums have a different class time). Her teacher said that next year the beginning band might be lumped in with the 7th & 8th grade band, and that would be unfortunate because they would lose all that special learning time. Ah, school budget cuts. Good times.


Every couple weeks, it seems, Lin indicates that she really doesn't want to play the flute. I keep telling her that if she's really serious about switching to a different instrument she can, we just need to know so that we can get her in some private lessons to catch up. But then she always says "It's okay," and I think it's because she's worried that we spent a lot of money for her flute and she feels obligated. We've tried to tell her that the money can be worked out with the store if she wants to switch, but she always sticks with the "it's okay" line. I think she really struggles sometimes with asking for something she wants, then thinking that doing so makes her a "bad daughter." I can almost see the wall go up in her eyes when she shoves down her feelings and says "it's okay." Ah, Chinese children's home upbringing. Good times...

Hmmm, I was going to make that the end of my post, but it ends on such a down-beat. So here's some positive stuff. Lin got her 5th of 6 report cards for this school year and continues to do absolutely great! Four As and two Bs. And her teachers tell us that they really are NOT modifying the work for her that much. She's doing the exact same work as all the other students, just sometimes she is given longer to complete an assignment or some other slight modification like that. She likes to talk about what she wants to be when she grows up. Depending on the day we've heard hair/makeup artist, lawyer, teacher, police officer ... she even said she wanted to be a pro tennis player after our last tennis lesson! She also really toys with the idea of going back to China in some capacity and I think she's surprised when we say, without hesitation, absolutely! We will support her unconditionally.

Ruby posing by the Chinese New Year display Lin made at school
Ruby's first-ever school year wraps up next week. She took a field-trip to a nature center this week and had a great time. By far the biggest thrill was that she had to take a sack lunch, just like a big kid. She and I are going to Mommy and Me camp in two weeks. It's just one night away from home, but we're going to have so much fun!

Ruby triumphant after making it across the tire course
We're looking forward to summer, but the reality is that summer will be every bit as busy as the school year, and probably more so. Bring it on!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

I spent the majority of Mother's Day with my mom and with Dave's mom. We spent the night at my parents' house on Saturday and came home yesterday afternoon, and stopped on the way home to visit Dave's mom. After that we went to a restaurant of my choosing, and I chose Mexican food. Unfortunately, Lin just does not like Mexican food. She insisted it was fine because it was Mother's Day, but when we got there and she said "I'm not hungry, I'll just have french fries." I felt so guilty! She did eat the chips and salsa, and we convinced her to try a shrimp dish which she did kind of like.

We ordered Ruby a small smorgasbord of food from the children's menu and I think she ate about 5 bites total. I'm really going to try to reign-in our dining habits. We eat out WAY too much and I know we're just throwing money down the drain. Ruby especially ends up wasting a lot of food. I need to be better about getting control of her portions. If I could just get into the habit of putting 2-3 bites of each item we're having for dinner on her plate, then telling her she can have seconds of anything she wants AFTER she has cleaned her plate. She really isn't that much of a picky eater, she likes a lot of food and we certainly don't serve her chicken nuggets and/or mac n cheese for every meal. But we end up throwing a lot of food away.

But anyway, my Mother's Day was very nice. And I have two beautiful daughters that any mother would be proud to call her own!