I can not believe it is already May. This year is going by so fast. I guess I have been the busiest I have ever been before. I love my job, but working full time sure makes me realise how much time I had before we moved.
After we came back from our Tenerife vacation it was my dad's turn to go on his trip to Rome. I had to open the store all week PLUS do my normal job. Needless to say I was beat at the end of the week. Then, a week later, my brother left to Spain so Will took over his job after his normal job, and I had an extra daughter for the week. Three is for sure a lot more then two :-)
Both kids are getting so big and I have truly become the taxi mother. They are involved in so many activities and since the schoolyear is coming to an end our daytimer is filled with dance recital rehearsals, ballet exams, gymnastics performances, pffffffff. I told the girls next year they should only pick two activities each but I have a feeling this is only a reality in my own world since I saw the list of things they wanted to sign up for.
I guess I am glad they like to be involved, unlike me as a child. I always wanted to be home. Most people think this conflicts with my social character now, but as a child I just did not like group activities. I have been part of gymnastics, ballet, basketball, horseback riding, track, piano and guitar lessons and girls scouts....all for about 2 month. Ofcourse I needed all the gear for these sports I absolutely HAD to be part of. I think my parents finally gave up. I have to say I did learn a lesson (besides the self discovery that I basically can not stick with anything). My parents always let me quit right away. Now, I do understand where they were coming from. They came from a generation where the child's input did not matter and they were forced to do certain activities because those were socially expected of respectable families. I think they did there best to make sure we never felt this pressure by overcompensating and letting us join whatever we wanted and in turn quit whenever we had a bad day. So here we are, the next generation. What to do? Will and I try to find the way in the middle so we basically agreed to let the kids pick a few activities they want to join and then stick with it for the entire schoolyear (in Belgium the season of any activity is from september until june). Then they can decide if they want to rejoin or pick something else. The kids know this and I have to say they are a lot better then I was already. They certainly do not like to go to all their activities full of joy all the time, but they know the rule. It is funny though, sometimes they ask me: "is it June yet?" When I ask them why, they simply say:"oh, no reason, just curious". But they do not complain.
They performed their first acrobatic gymnastics performance and did awesome. I do not understand how they are so flexible. They did not get that from either of us. They were dressed up as clowns, and showed their skills. Even though they probably will not continue this next year, they learned a lot and enjoyed the season.
Mothersday was lovely. I got spoiled this year. Will and the kids treated me to a lovely brunch dowtown on saturday. It was so nice to have my girls be big enough to start enjoying things us grown ups do aswell. Chloe asked me to go to a spa and get a massage for her birthday???? Where is my baby??
The kids created some beatiful artwork in school including a poem they performed at my moms on sunday. I got flowers, chocolate AND a Swarovski chrystal treasure chest! (For those of you who do not know, I collect these figurines...and my birthday is Januari 2nd :-).
Last weekend Will and I joined our friends Jens and Tanja to see the Alisha Keys concert. I didn't really know many of her songs, besides New York, but man,...she is talented! Not too many special effects, just the piano and her voice. I know you can not know much about a person from a concert, but listening to her sing and speak, she really seemed to be such a genuine sweet, loving person. I really enjoyed the concert and so did Will. He did not even want to go at first, but he really appreciated her talent afterworths. Next week I have to return the favor and join him at a Eric Clapton concert. Lets hope I will be equally appreciative.
Little children of mine did what????
I came home from work on wednesday to find Lainey's front tooth loose and her lip bruised. For some reason we always seem to direct our anger towards the person watching the kids (even though we well know it could have easily happened under our own care). So I turn to Will with THE look and ask him what happened?
They had gotten dish washing soap and water, poored it on the kitchen tile floor and were practising ICE SKATING?!!
Little child of mine say what????
Will got mad at Lainey for something, and raised his voice. Lainey looked at Will and said: "You always yell when you are mad". Will felt bad and sad: "I am sorry Lainey, does it hurt your feeling when I yell?" As Lainey walks away she responds: "No, it just hurts my ears"
Lainey's bed time prayer: Thank you Jesus for everything, please help the people that are hungry, please help the poor kids, and please help Chloe not to be so selfish, amen.
Until the next time,
Lesley
