Memorial Day weekend

this weekend officially marks the beginning of summer for us. the pool opens, the weather is (hopefully) warm, and...Brat Fest!! it was a busy weekend for us. as soon as the sun came out, we dashed off to the pool and the girls swam even though the water was ice cold. i refused to go in - just my toes felt the water. no matter how much i love my girls, i refuse to turn into an icicle.

warmer weather means friends outside, so my girls are forever asking, who's that? whenever they hear someone outside. then they rush to the window to see if one of their friends are out playing. it is almost impossible to bring them back into the house, but i suppose this is what summers are for.

every year, i forget about Brat Fest. and then it is upon us and we as a family collectively agree to go without thinking. in fact, i look forward to it. and then when we get there, i wonder what on earth i was thinking. the crowd is unbelievable. they charge so much money for the little rides for the kids. the brats themselves don't cost much, but everything else that comes with it does. Claire wanted the carousel ride. Skye wanted the gravity storm ride (please see the movie of her on the bungee cords). ice cream. etc, etc. BUT the girls love it for some reason and we go back every year. without fail.

Skye's Golden Birthday

it's hard to believe that my little girl is getting so big. i know people say this all the time about parenthood, that the first years fly by, but i can't help marvelling about it just the same. i guess because i'm not growing or changing at the rate my children are. i'm sort of walking along at a tortoise pace while they are hopping ahead like little bunnies.

while Skye's official party isn't until this saturday, we did manage to squeeze in some celebrating last wednesday. it ended up being a FULL day. Skye was the "Fantabulous Friend" at school last week and her teacher asked her to bring in her violin to play for the class. i was supposed to do that on tuesday but was sick as a dog, so i went in on wednesday. Skye was so proud of herself, to get up in front of her friends and play her many variations of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. then, after school, she had her ballet recital. they did the "Firebird" this time. i'll post some movies of their dance. it was lots of fun to watch.

personally for me, i had another celebration going on inside. i'd started my novel shortly after Skye was born. now, near her 6th birthday, i'm close to being finished with it. i have a final meeting with an editor and then i'll be sending it out to an agent. i feel really mixed up inside, sort of like seeing the children growing up. i'm happy that they are growing up so well and growing more and more independent, yet with each year, i'm letting them go more and more. and while i'm happy the novel is coming to an end, there's a sadness there too.

this saturday, we celebrate Skye's birthday at her ballet school with 10 of her friends. all the girls will dress up, dance and eat cupcakes. i did try my best to convince Skye to have a party at home, but she was quite firm about having her party outside this year. she wanted a fairy party, just the kind they have at her ballet school. :)