Glimpse of Normal

It's eerily quiet in this house. Forest is at work, and all four of the kids are at school--a seemingly normal scenario that has never happened until this morning. Ramona, Mika, and Paula are on a hybrid learning schedule that allows them to go to their school buildings twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays. Wylie is at preschool until lunch. I haven't had this much time and space to myself in a long time. I used some of it to exercise, clean my face, read, and make a phone call. Now I'm here. Hello, blog.

Mika, Wylie, and Paula off to school

Perhaps I will dive into some old photos from March 2019 . . .

October 2020

It's been over two months since I posted anything on here. I am still woefully behind on my backlog of photos I've wanted to include from last year. There are so many happy moments I want to preserve and remember through images and include some journaling to go with it. But it is hard to sit down and reminisce about more peaceful times when the current world is in so much turmoil. We are months into a pandemic that has turned everyone's lives upside down--there are weekly battles with anxiety and depression. The civil and political unrest is horrifying, and more than once I have had nightmares where the president of our nation is a despicable villain from whom I had to protect my family. To top it off, our side of the country has been on fire for weeks, causing it to rain ash, painting the sun an eerie red, and leaving an inescapable scent of smoke in the air.

But there are some silver linings.

I have recommitted myself to my family. Being pushed to my limits as a wife and mother has forced me to reevaluate my priorities and determine how I can move forward to best preserve and improve these relationships. Despite the brutality of 2020 and all of us seeing each other at our worst, we are still together. We have found ways to better support each other in moments of weakness, and, perhaps out of necessity, have learned to trust each other more. It is still hard--sometimes the kids just desperately crave space from each other, which isn't always easy to provide. Schools are only partially open (as of this week), activities are still limited, and restrictions abound. We are home a lot and get on each other's nerves a lot. But I like to believe that most of the time, love still wins in this house. Even when it's a sore battle, and she wears the scars to prove it, she still comes out on top more often than not. And maybe, because she's had to work so hard, she is stronger than she was before. 

I miss playing in orchestra. I miss that big sound that surrounds me and fills our performance space. I miss weaving different fabrics of symphonic sounds together with my musician friends. But I have learned to appreciate other instrumentations, too. String trios with my students. A quartet for a wedding. A double trio that performed at church a couple of weeks ago (Ramona played her violin and was by far the youngest in the group, but kept up just fine). Of course, unaccompanied Bach for cello. 

. . . and solo piano, although I wasn't the one playing (thank goodness). Last Friday, Forest and I went to our first live musical performance in months. I got an invitation to a faculty recital by pianist Adam Zukiewicz at UNC and was thrilled that we were able to go. There were only about 12 audience members in the entire performance hall, all of us socially distanced and clad with face masks. He opened with the solitary, brooding notes of Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata, and I felt my eyes get a little wet. It had been too long.

I asked Forest if he would drive us through a Culver's on the way home to add just a little more sweetness to the evening. He was happy to oblige.

Boulder Date March 2019

Dinner at Sforno Trattoria

 Hike at Mount Sanitas

Vietnamese noodles for lunch

Dessert at Scrumptious in Longmont

Candy for souvenirs

 Thank you, Shanna, for babysitting!

"Frozen" Ballet

I almost forgot to write about a very fun opportunity Ramona had through her dance studio in January 2019--she got to dance as a snowman in a ballet-adaptation of Disney's "Frozen." 

I took Mika to the 1pm show and Forest took Paula to the 5pm show. Wylie was a little upset to miss it, but we tried to reassure him that he was happier at home. When we got our program, we were laughing because they mistakenly listed Mika as one of the Olaf dancers. We had just registered her for ballet, and they probably used the class roster without checking for errors.

Here is my snowman at Windsor High School before the show:

. . . and here are some photos from the first performance:

Forest and Paula got to sit a bit closer for the 5pm show:

All-in-all, Ramona seemed to have a great time, and it was definitely more enjoyable than the typical dance recital :)

February 2019

Mozart Birthday Concert (Also Maestro Louie's birthday)

Although I didn't play this concert, I arranged for the orchestra to surprise Louie by playing "Happy Birthday" instead of the overture that was supposed to open the show.

Our second bassoon player ordered a giant cookie with Louie's face on it (made to look like he was in a Mozart costume), and we asked our patrons to leave him a birthday note at intermission.

Pinewood Derby

Park time afterward:

Paula and Snowball:

Wylie and a starfruit slice:

Paula's Valentine Party

Snacks

Some crafts

Pin the hearts on the emojis game

Valentine bingo for a valentine rubix cube prize

Face painting, of course

Valentines for teachers:

Classroom Valentine parties

Preschool:

Mrs. Haselby's second grade class had a small party without parents, but I got a selfie with her to make up for it:

Mrs. Drage's Fourth Grade Valentine Party:
I volunteered at the jump rope station

 

April visited from Mrs. Wilson's class

It was about this time that my two-year old Wylie was doing some pretty wild things, some of which is documented in a separate post. 

His antics included: 

Spraying most of a bottle of sunscreen all over the laundry room while I was teaching lessons. I didn't get to wiping it off the washing machine door before realizing the chemicals in the sunscreen clouded the plastic in the window, so now it has a permanent foggy look.

Moments after the sunscreen incident, he dumped an entire tub of Oxiclean on the floor.

All of that was on Valentine's Day--and I have to tell you, I did NOT feel loved when it happened.

He also took a nap in his closet one day, in a plastic bin full of socks. I'm just glad I was able to find him!

Another day, he got into Forest's bag of Lindor truffles, unwrapping most of them, eating several, throwing some of the chocolate on the floor and leaving chocolate smears everywhere.

At least the chocolate was better than the other substance he smeared around his bedroom a few weeks earlier.

He also took up the hobby of pulling stuffing out of one of our couches. This little boy was full of mischief at this stage, and it made me a little crazy! But I guess you are only 2 once . . .

Wylie and Paula were such great companions a lot of afternoons following morning preschool. She almost always brought home a fun craft or something they could play with.

When she wasn't playing with Wylie, she often curled up with a book. Already, she was plowing through chapter books, and it was a challenge to keep enough of them on hand. "Weird School" was one of her favorites that year.

She also loved playing with her stuffed animals.

Here is second-grade Mika:

Here is second-grade Mika on a Wacky Wednesday:

This is how Wylie and Paula spent their Wacky Wednesday:

They played some kind of horse game with a stable under a table.

In the evening, we celebrated Forest's birthday early. He was going to be in Taiwan on a work trip for his actual birthday.

We gave Wylie an icing-covered candle to lick after Forest blew his candles out. It appeared that he actually ate some of the candle, maybe missing the memo about just "licking."

He wasn't shy about the cupcakes, either.

That was February 2019.