promised land

So last weekend these two darling little girls performed in the Christmas pageant at our church.




Did you catch that? These *TWO* girls.

Maya loves going to practice, but almost never performs with the choir. In fact for last year's pageant she wouldn't even rehearse with the rest of the kids. This year she told me she was going to get up on stage, but to be honest I remained skeptical. Then we got all the way to dress rehearsal and there she was on stage, in her costume and I switch from skeptical to cautiously optimistic, but I wasn't going to be surprised if she bailed at the last minute.

Abby is Abby... loves to sing. She sings all the time at home and she's been up singing with the choir for years now. I knew she'd be right up there singing her face off, but Maya... oh Maya... you just never know with that one.




You guys.... when she walked out on that stage with the rest of the kids I could have put my head in my hands and wept. Make no mistake, there was more than a tear of two that worked it's way to the surface and that was despite me holding my shit together. I said to Mike later I was just overwhelmed to see her up there, smiling, relaxed, having fun because I feel like everything with Maya has been the hard way, the long way around, the slow boat and finally here was something easy even if we did take our time getting there. She's just changing so much so quickly and bit by bit I can feel it getting easier. I can see her getting comfortable in her own skin. She's finding her place and I am so relieved.




Not only was she up there singing like it was her job, she came down to sing to the people in the pews. I was pretty sure she was going to balk at that point, but she shocked me again.

The pageant was an original production, music and lyrics were written by our neighbour. The kids and the senior choir sang the heck out of it! I was thrilled that I had the chance to see the kids perform it four times over the weekend (2 dress rehearsal run throughs and 2 performances). It's going to rank up there as one of my best parenting moments. One I have played over in my head a million times already along with the music, that I still can't stop humming. I'm so thankful we got to share it with family and friends. Lots of pews full of our nearest and dearest.




You know I was already thinking this was going to be the best Christmas ever.

practice

Tonight the kids got to practice their bits of the Christmas pageant on stage. It still looks like a bit of utter chaos to me, but I know it will all come together in the end. Can't wait to see the whole thing.

I'm still very shocked that Maya got up on stage to practice with the rest of the choir. Last year she refused to practice on stage or take part in the actual production. It will be interesting to see what happens on Saturday night. Will she or won't she? She continues to be a riddle, that one.

Lent

Today in Sunday School, Lent was a big topic of conversation. Or so I hear from Abby, who came back up declaring we all had to give something up for 40 days.

Me: Well what do you think you should give up?
Abby: Not TV! Please don't say TV. I couldn't give up TV.
Me: Ummm you have to decide what to give up. I'm not telling you to give up anything.
Abby: Well, that's good because I really couldn't do it.
Me: Okay pick something else then, but remember it should be something that's a bit of a challenge.
Abby: Okay, chips. I'll give up chips.
Me: That's a good idea.
Abby: But I'll start tomorrow because we're going swimming with Grandma and she'll probably have some as a treat for after swimming.
Me: Ummm
Abby: I guess now she'll have to bring cupcakes instead.

There you have it folks... Lent and my 8 year old.

Are you giving up anything for Lent?

i'm gonna shout

The girls are still singing at church every Sunday... well Abby is. Maya sings about 12% of the time. She's a champ at practice though. We are very lucky to have an incredibly talented choir director at our church. She's presenting lovely music every week with both the junior and senior choirs. Pretty much every week I die from the cute when the little ones sing.

So in what may become a regular feature I've decided to video their weekly song. This week I just have the Abster singing. Maya ran off set just before we started to film. Yeah, she didn't sing in church either today, so no shock there. I've toyed with the idea of filming the actual performance, but there is more than just my kids up there.... so....

I do know there will be a small market for these types of posts if nothing else... I'm looking at you Granny, Uncle Dave, Auntie Mel and TLP.

Enjoy.

I'm Gonna Shout

still loving it

So I do realize it was almost a whole week ago, but I've finally got a moment to talk some more about the fabulous pageant the girls got to be a part of. Not surprisingly, Maya refused to take part in the evening show. She watched from Nikki's lap and sang along from the front row.



Abby was just as excited to perform again in the evening, especially since it was a full house and she had all her grandmas there, plus Papa, her godparents, a couple of great Aunts and some really great friends to cheer her on.



I know I've told you this a gazillion times, but it was just so lovely. I want to see it again and again. I am so proud of my Abby girl and so incredibly thankful that we were able to share it with so many of our favourite people. It was an overwhelmingly crazy busy weekend, but definitely can be counted as one of my best weekends ever.... even with the migraine.



And now, a clip... it's just about a minute of the finale, when the kids joined in. I wish I'd kept my camera going for another few seconds to catch their very adorable bows at the end of the show, but what can I say I was distracted by all the kerklempt-ness I was experiencing.

angels calling

I promise I haven't fallen off the planet, it has been a busy and amazing few days here in Blogmotherland. Abby and Maya have been rehearsing for a Christmas pageant at our church for weeks and weeks and weeks..... and weeks. It's an incredible show, I can say that now that I've seen the whole thing. Up until now I've only seen the parts the kids were singing. I should mention that the entire production is sung and it's completely original... lyrics, music... the whole nine yards. Written by the incredibly talented father of our incredibly talented music director. I should mention that she, herself, is still in highschool. It's just..... wow.

I got through much of my life feeling overwhelmed.... not in a stressed way, but overwhelmed by the good things I have in my life. It makes me prone to tears and general weepiness. Today at church we sang Christmas carols that we used to sing at my Grandmother's on Christmas Eve. Oh boy, did I miss her a ton this morning. She would have LOVED to have been at church today to see her great granddaughter perform in such a beautiful show. And then the show.... the musical is so beyond beautiful. The singers are incredibly talented. More than a tear or two slipped down my cheek this morning because I was just overwhelmed with love and pride and happiness and maybe a titch of melancholy for those who couldn't be with us to see it today.

Maya, not surprisingly, has refused to take the stage..... you never know, she may this evening because she's nothing if not a riddle, but I highly doubt it. She did, however, have lots of fun during all the rehearsing and that seems to be good enough for her. Abby, though, performed the heck out of her part this morning. The junior choir sings a large part of the production and all the kids were just so impressive. I can't wait to see it again this evening.

too much

Today at church the reading was about Jeremiah and when Maya heard our Minister say the name she turned to me with a big smile on her face and said....

She's talking about me.

Get it?

Jer-a-*Maya*!

family fun fair

Recently our church held their first family fun fair. We had plans to go, but they were somewhat derailed. I give big thanks to my Michael for getting everything back on track. It meant a whole lot to me. Love that guy!

Anyway the folks that worked on it put together a nice little event. It was hotter than hades, but we still managed to have fun....




The girls played games and then got to collect a goodie bag at the end.




They waited in line for face painting, balloon animals, and temporary hair dye.



She wanted a dolphin.



MyPie wanted a butterfly.



Abby wanted red hair. Maya didn't want them coming near her.



Then this guy showed up on his old timey bike.



Abby looked for a needle in a haystack. No real needles, but there was lots of candy and whistles hidden in there. Yay for the candy, boo for the whistles!



And MyPie got to shoot a water cannon.

Big kudos for the volunteers who put that all together. Can you imagine something like that was happening in my 'hood and I managed not to volunteer myself. Shocking! It was super awesome to attend something like that as a guest! Mike & I also won big at the silent auction, Scoring ourselves gift certificates for 2 restaurants and another one for an evening of bowling with the kiddos.

the play

The Sunday after game night the girls were supposed to be playing angels in our church's Christmas play. I heard through the rumor mill that they wanted me to play one as well, but me... on the stage? HA! You must be joking. Anyway after such a late night laughing with my besties the night before I can't tell you how much I hated the idea of the play. There was no way I wanted to get out of bed, get me and the girls into church worthy attire and head on over to our little church around the corner. And Mike does Sunday morning chores at ML & T's dairy farm, so I would be on my own.

So I grumbled and complained and whined about it a whole lot little bit, but since ML's boys were playing shepherds we decided we'd wrangle our kids there together while our men dealt with the livestock.

We arrive at the church and I head the girls back to the hall to find out where they need to be and to get them into their halos. Maya, not surprisingly, refuses to participate. I think it had something to do with her dressing room. Perhaps the Perrier wasn't chilled to her liking or perhaps they accidentally left in a green M&M. Either way she was having none of it. Instead she spent her time doing this....



This play was a little different then the usual Christmas Story production. It was told by the animals, so the humans were just set dressings in this one. It was incredibly cute and well acted by the members of our congregation. Abby, of course, was the cutest angel there. For all my complaining I had a really great time and enjoyed the service immensely. And to make it just that little bit worse the service was filled with the hymns we used to sing at my Grandmother's house on Christmas Eve. We sang carols every year after dinner. I'm sure it was an exercise our parents invented just to distract us kids from the gifts for an extra 15 minutes while the after dinner tidying was going on. So I was all misty eyed through the entire thing and so glad I went.

in the manger

A few years ago my Mom passed along to me a Nativity set. It was not my style. The pieces are really dark and depressing, but I didn't have one so I took it.



Given it's close proximity to the love seat the girls cannot keep their hands off it. They move the people around and have grand conversations with each other as the people in the Nativity. It doesn't bother me if they want to play with it although it's not exactly child friendly. Joseph suffered the loss of his hand last holiday season and as time goes by the set gets chipped away at little bit by little bit.

And cue Granny......

I knew Little People made a nativity set, but had never actually seen it in store. Either had Granny, but that didn't stop her from ordering one straight from Fisher Price. And since she was, she picked up the wisemen, the inn at Bethlehem and a stable with the little drummer boy. With all the prime decorating spots taken this late in the season we set it up under the tree, which has made post Christmas gift storage a pain in the arse, but you can't just shove the nativity to one side because you don't have anywhere to stick season 7 of Seinfeld on dvd.



So the girls have pretty much abandoned the dark drab original nativity set for the more child friendly set in front of the tree. Abby was concerned by the fact that we had four camels when there were only three wisemen. Luckily I managed to convince her that the fourth camel belonged to the inn keeper and his wife. As for Maya her main interest is the inn, specifically the ladder that allows the little people access to the second floor of the inn. It's an inn that, I feel I must point out, has remained without guests this holiday season despite the inn keeper telling Mary and Joseph there was no room for them. Very suspicious. Perhaps I should rustle up the zoo keeper, farmer, princess and pilot from the toy room to fill the beds. You know, just for authenticity.

who would have thought

A couple of weeks ago Abby attended Vacation Bible School at our church thanks to Papa rearranging his schedule so he could take her. This year the theme was Walking With Jesus. And really if you're going to walk with Jesus you need to dress the part.



Made from cardboard and leather laces. Abby put them on for this picture, took one step in them and said, "these aren't comfortable at all!"

kaboom

It's that time in the service when the children gather at church. I'm in the back pew, but my two little angels are up at the front. Maya wearing her turquoise blue butterfly sunglasses and attempting very hard to ignore the Minister and Abby sitting with her friends eager to take part. The Minister is talking about giving our worries to God and asks the kids what kinds of things we worry about. Abby's arm shoots up in the air and I am interested, but wary, about what's going to come out of her mouth.

Finally Margot calls on her and she says.......

When I yawn I'm worried that my mouth will explode.

And as if we hadn't given them enough to laugh about, this is what Maya HAD to wear to church today....

on my own

This morning Mike decided that he was going to play hooky from church. We had plans this afternoon with Auntie Yoli and we needed groceries. So he thought his time would be better spent at the grocery store. Abby was singing this morning, so she had to be there, but Mike offered to take Maya with him. Not a bad deal, really. Then I got to thinking. About the disastrous shopping trip with Maya on Friday, which ended up with me carrying her out to the van in full temper tantrum mode before we were even finished checking out. I took pity on the poor boy, knowing that Papa and Grandma Linda would be on hand to give me a hand I offered to take the girls to church myself. No sooner had these words come out of my mouth when the phone rang. It was Papa just wanting to let me know that they weren't going to church today either.

I'm not going to lie to you, my first thought was to renege on my offer to take Maya with me. She is a handful and I knew there wasn't a chance she'd go out for nursery care if Grandma Linda wasn't there. She'd be with me the entire service. This was going to be a train wreck. Plus I was going to church with no social support system. The shy girl inside me was dying at the thought. I would never make it on my own. What if someone actually talked to me. Ack! And yes, it is completely irrelevant that I have been attending this church for over a decade. So many reasons not to do this, but you know what? I made myself do it anyway.

Maya and I walked while Abby rode her brand new scooter we got for a steal this weekend at Wally. I settled Maya in the pew beside me with a colouring book, crayons, vegetable thins, a drink and a story book. Abby doodled on a piece of paper while waiting for her turn to sing. Maya was even less disruptive than normal. Abby scampered off to Sunday School and Maya stayed with me, sitting quietly (more or less) through the rest of the service either colouring or sitting with her head tucked under my chin. After the service during fellowship Abby's Sunday School teacher stopped by to say that Abby's antsy in class, but she was the only kid who had all the answers. It was nice to hear because I often wonder how much of the service she's getting since she's usually colouring. After that we walked/scootered home. And I'm still amazed the whole thing went so easily.

what i love about sunday #3

The first barbecue of the season. Mmmm. Burgers Mike grilled in the driveway after he dragged the barbecue out from where we'd stored it for the winter. That's how desperate we are to pretend spring is on it's way.

Finished knitting another hat, even if it did end up being too small for Abby. Again. Into the donation box it goes, so all was not lost.

Watching a movie with Mike that my secret boyfriend, Luke Wilson, had a cameo in. Mmmm Luke Wilson.

Hershey's kisses, the New York Cheesecake version. They are delicious. No, I will not share. I've hidden them, so don't bother looking.

That our junior choir appears to be growing. We had 6 kids singing this morning, triple what we usually have.

That attending church service this morning was uneventful. Sure Maya still chatted through some of the service, but nothing was broken, nobody cracked their head, there was no screaming, no crying and no shouting out - "where'd Gamma go" through the entire service. Hallelujah.

where did he park the mystery machine

This past Sunday found Mike and Abby heading off to church on their own. The end of our church service is in the area of Maya's nap time and, honestly, most times we do end up taking her we're really pushing our luck.This particular morning we could tell she just wasn't going to make it the whole way through, so I decided to stay home with her. I did feel bad about skipping this week, especially since Abby was singing. When she arrived home, of course, I wanted to hear all about it.

Me: Hey! How was church?
Abby: It was good.
Me: And how was singing?
Abby: It was good too. Margot wasn't there. (Margot is our Minister)
Me: No?
Abby: She's on vacation.
Me: Oh, well who was there?
Abby: Some guy named Fred, but he didn't have a gang.
Me: He didn't have a what?
Abby: A gang.
I blink at her, not understanding why in the world a Minister would need a gang.
Abby: (clearly exasperated) He wasn't the guy from Scooby Doo.

Okay, so just to clarify here, our supply Minister last Sunday was not, I repeat, was not Fred; leader of those "meddling kids" on the Scooby Doo cartoon. Which didn't really surprise me since our church is neither haunted nor has had any unexplained monsters just hanging around trying to distract us from finding the gold we didn't know was hidden in a crawl space in the basement.

gamma

Maya's vocabulary continues to grow daily. It's always interesting to see what's going to pop out of her mouth next. Like this morning we discovered that she could finally say Grandma, which sounds a bit more like Gamma, but it's closer than she's ever been before. How we discovered this was at church. Grandma Linda is in the choir and is only really visible to us when she is standing and singing. Her seat in the choir puts the organ directly between us which is what prompted Maya to ask loudly and repetitively, I might add, "where'd Gamma go?" Grandma Linda helpfully, whenever she heard Maya, would peek around the corner of the organ and wave turning into one heck of a fun game for Maya. Thankfully we have an extremely tolerate Minister and an older congregation who look about my noisy little girl with indulgent smiles. At least I think that's what they're doing and if they aren't, I don't want to know about it.

You see we are "that family" at church. The ones who's kids talk through the service. The one who's kids bust the bulbs out of the electric candles during candlelit services. It causes me mild anxiety because our kids are the youngest ones there any given Sunday. Meaning if you're hearing a little voice in church you know exactly who's responsible for it. The first thing I always do when I arrive at church is scan the program to find out how long I'll be sitting anxiously on the edge of my seat before the girls head out for Sunday school/nursery. Then I say a quick prayer that we'll get there with few disturbances from our pew. Turns out I'm not the only one longing for the children's portion of the service.

This morning our Minister announced that following the next hymn she was going to invite the children up to the front. An announcement that brought a very loud YAY! from Maya and some hopefully indulgent laughter from the rest of the congregation.

happy ho ho

Well it's official. We're "that family". You know the one I'm talking about. The one who's kids talk, loudly, through the entire service at Church. The one who's kid falls off her pew, mid service, bringing a symphony of screams and a good deal of blood. Oh and the one who's kid smashes the light bulb out of her candle during the candle lit singing of Silent Night. Yep, that's us.

And on that note, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

maybe I'm amazed

I am in awe of Abby. Being in awe of Abby today is in no way the same as the awe I had for her as a newborn. When she would be stretched out on my lap and I would spend hours gazing at her and marveling at the fact that Mike and I had created her. Now she's five and she has her own thoughts and opinions. She has a life that is separate from ours. She has friends that I've never seen. People in her life that I only hear about. Interests that are her own. She is the best of Mike and I times ten. Times a hundred. And I continue to be in awe of the person she is becoming.

Yesterday we had tickets to the ham supper at our church. We always take tickets for the early seating (5 pm) despite the fact it leaves us less than an hour turn around time from when we get home at the end of the day because the late seating (6:30 pm) is just too late for the kids. To be honest, none of us really wanted to go. Mike had a later lunch, I was already not feeling well, Abby was worn out from a day of playing at the sitters and Maya regards her winter boots as some sort of medieval torture device. And still we pushed on and managed to get us all to the dinner on time, not that any of us ate much and Maya actually ate nothing and instead conned Grandma Linda into taking her down to the nursery room to play. Abby did make us our money back on the buns she ate, which numbered four or maybe five and they were whole wheat too. Who would have thought?

Now I'm not sure if this is true for all church fundraising dinners because my experience is limited to what we do at our own church. Prior to opening of the buffet line the diners sit and wait in the church pews, so if you're at the early seating it's likely the next seating is already out in the sanctuary patiently waiting for you to finish your meal. Last night we lingered with Papa and Grandma Linda near the pulpit as the church hall emptied of the full and the church pews filled with hungry. As I chatted with Grandma Linda I kept one eye on Abby who was sitting at the organ, facing those waiting for the next seating. I watched her sitting there at center stage and I realized she wasn't just sitting there, but she was singing. She was singing a song from Cinderella, Sing Sweet Nightingale. From there she moved on to songs more suited to the setting like, Jesus Loves the Little Children, Give Me Oil in My Lamp and Jesus Loves Me. And when I say she was singing, I don't mean she was sitting there singing quietly to herself, but loudly, facing the crowd with a smile on her face. With complete and utter confidence and entirely of her own volition. When she had completed a song she would come around the side of the pulpit and offer a bow before resuming her seat at center stage to sing another. I'm quite certain she would have stayed up there and sang until the next seating filed out if we hadn't said it was time to go home.

I'm not sure where this love of singing comes from. It goes well beyond the singing along with the radio her Dad and I do. I have often said living with Abby is like living in a musical. It seems she is always singing. She will sing her part of conversations with Mike and I, "Mom, can I have some juice please?" She sings songs she's heard on the radio, at choir practice or learned at school. She will sing words from one song to the tune of another. I asked her tonight if she liked singing on stage to the people and the smile on her face was answer enough, but just to seal the deal she added, "Mom, I just can't stop singing."

how does she know we talk about her at work

It was just Abby and I at church today. Well the rest of the congregation was there. And the Minister. Oh and Grandma Linda in the choir, but in "our" pew it was just Abby and I. Papa is away and Mike was home with Maya. We stretched out a little bit taking up most of the pew. Abby skipped the colouring she usually does and opted, instead, for the magnetic "paper dolls". I sat listening to the announcements and idly snapping magnetic skirts and handbags onto one of the two "dolls" Abby had out. It was then I heard it. The sound was rapid and loud, almost like machine gun fire. It took a minute for the realization to hit, my daughter just farted (while wearing a Cinderella tiara, I might add). In church. And it was so not quiet. She whispered and "excuse me" with a bit of a grin on her face and the rest of the service passed with no further embarrassments.

Later that day I told the story to Mike. When I finished Abby looked at her Dad and said, very seriously, "Don't tell your friends at work that I farted in Church. Okay, Dad?"

Blogging about it though, that's okay.

no rest for the omnipotent

Mike is currently outside attempting to de-junk the garage. Abby is currently outside and being "helpful". The step ladder is off to the side and while Mike and I are busy with something else Abby climbs up it until she can touch the ceiling.

Abby: Hey! Let's play God.
Mike & Shan: Whaaa?
Abby: Let's play God.
Shan: How do you play that?
Abby: I'll be God and you be the humans down there.
Shan: Okaaaaaay.
Abby: I'll say Hello and you say who is that, okay Mommy?
Shan: Okaaaaaay.
Abby: Hello!
Shan: Who is that?
Abby: It's God! Are there any problems down there?
Shan: No, I think we're okay. Thanks for asking.
Abby: I'm going to come down there.
Abby climbs down the ladder and walks over to Mike and I.
Mike: Hi God.
Abby: Hi. Okay, I'm going back up to Heaven now.
Abby climbs back up the ladder
Abby: Hey, are there any problems down there?
Mike: Nope.
This entire time Mike has been attempting to remove a bicycle tire from it's rim with little success.
Abby: Well that looks like a problem.

Folks I wasn't sure whether to laugh or to explain to her what blasphemy was.

Okay, that's not really true. I laughed. A lot.