sing it!

We sing a lot at our house (which is no surprise, since we are both musicians). Sometimes actual songs, sometimes actual songs with new words, sometimes totally improvised things. So it is also no surprise that Monkey has picked up on this habit. It is, of course, exceeding cute to hear what he sings about. Sometimes he sings nonsense words until he finds some syllables that strike his fancy and then he repeats them over and over. Sometimes he sings about what he is doing or thinking about.

Yesterday in the car he started singing in the back seat. This is what I heard...

"Jesus is in Heaven. Jesus is in Heaven" (repeat)
"Jesus had to carry the cross
it was very heavy
and he fell three times
on his way to the gallery."

Be still. my. heart.

and Amen.

camp sad

I'm feeling camp sad. You know - the feeling when you come home from summer camp and regular life just doesn't cut it, and you only want to hang out with your camp friends and no one at home seems to "get it". That's how I'm feeling today about Fiddler being done. Just like that - a few days ago it was opening night and now it is all over. So I was a bit mopey yesterday, and will probably be today too, but then things will get back to normal and I can look forward to the rest of summer.

We had a really great show though. Well, aside from the fact that on opening night a really heavy pine table landed on my foot in the last scene of act 1 (In the wedding scene when the Russians come in and cause a ruckus. They knocked the table over and my foot was in the wrong place at the wrong time. No broken bones though, I went for an x-ray Friday morning.) Now I have a really spectacular, perfectly rectangular bruise on the middle of my right foot. We had to delay curtain on Friday and Saturday nights to make sure everyone got in. The show went great. Of course, Sat (closing) night was the best and if we had had more shows it would have gotten even better.

So today I'm doing laundry and being a bit mopey. But how can you help being mopey when the forecast calls for 18 degrees on the August long weekend...

Opening Night

Tonight is the opening night of Fiddler! I am excited, and not nervous (yet!) We only have a three night run, so by closing night on Saturday, we will just be getting into the swing of things.

[The pictures are from dress rehearsal last night. (The Music Man and Monkey came to watch last night, but they only stayed for the first act.) The first one is during Sabbath Prayer. I am in the centre beside Motel (in the hat/glasses). The second picture is Tzeitel (me) and Motel trying to convince Papa that we should be married.]

New. and News.

I did a few things today that I've never done before...

* I cooked greens for supper. This may sound weird, but we just don't eat a lot of cooked greens around here. Fresh greens, yes - we've been eating lettuce and spinach from the garden on a daily basis for a while already. But today I fried up some greens. Swiss Chard from the garden in a little bit of olive oil. And man, was it tasty.

* In the line of homey-things-involving-garden-produce, I blanched and froze some spinach. In spite of our aforementioned daily spinach eating, the stuff is getting a bit out of hand. So, hopefully I was able to follow instructions well enough and we can enjoy some garden spinach later in the year.

* I washed the supper dishes. Okay, this is not the first time that I've ever done this. But it is the first time in, oh, say, 10 weeks that I've done it. You know, since I started feeling like crap when I was 5 weeks pregnant.

* Oh yeah, did I mention I'm pregnant! Yay! A baby sibling for Monkey is expected to arrive on or around January 1st. So, that's one of the reasons I haven't been blogging much lately. I haven't been doing much of anything lately. But things are looking up, as evidenced by the fact that I washed dishes this evening without gagging.

I've also been busy with rehearsals for an upcoming community theatre production of Fiddler on the Roof. I'm playing Tzeitel and I'm super excited about it. We're just getting to the point when we realize that opening night is only a few weeks away and the thing is still a total mess. But that means it will really start to come together this week. I'm having lots of fun. I haven't done anything like this since high school and I'm realizing how much I have missed it. As long as I don't look *too* pregnant by the end of the month. (won't the seamstress love me if she has to keep letting out my costume...)

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Wishing you all perfect beach weather and no mosquitoes.

June!

here's the rundown of the haps at whitekirk...

~the Music Man joined facebook. grrrr.
~I baked a rhubarb pie today.
~Monkey is potty trained. Yay!
~It's finally warm out around here. And our apple tree is only just blooming now.
~Bren and her family moved to town. Yay!
~we planted a garden. Hopefully it grows.
~umm, that's about it for now.

Hope you are all having a wonderful week and enjoying your version of beautiful June weather.

*me singing in an affected Rogers and Hammerstein voice*
"June is bustin' out all over, the feeling is gettin' so intense, and the young virginia creepers have been huggin' the be-jeebers out of all the morning glories on the fence...Because it's June (June June June) just because it's June! June! Ju-u-u-u-une!"

This makes me happy.

Nanking Cherry blossoms on our neighbour's tree, which overhangs our yard. Ahhh.

Little Boy Blue

Heidi is a sweet blogging friend. She always comments and is very friendly and positive. She has two sons, one of which, Little Boy Blue, has Cornelia de Lange Syndrome. I had never heard of CdLS before I started reading about Blue, and coming up this week on May 9th it is CdLS Awareness Day. So Heidi has asked her blogging friends to help spread the word about CdLS.

You can find any information you need about CdLS at the Cornelia de Lange Syndrome Foundation website (the following is from that site). You can also read about Little Boy Blue at Heidi's blog. He's a sweetie and he'll melt your heart! If you would like to help Heidi inform others about CdLS, read about her contest. And now, some of the CdLS basics...

CdLS is a congenital syndrome, meaning it is present from birth. Most of the signs and symptoms may be recognized at birth or shortly thereafter. A child need not demonstrate each and every sign or symptom for the diagnosis to be made.

As with other syndromes, individuals with CdLS strongly resemble one another. Common characteristics include: low birthweight (often under five pounds), slow growth and small stature, and small head size (microcephaly). Typical facial features include thin eyebrows which frequently meet at midline (synophrys), long eyelashes, short upturned nose and thin, downturned lips.

Other frequent findings include excessive body hair (hirsutism), small hands and feet, partial joining of the second and third toes, incurved fifth fingers, gastroesophageal reflux, seizures, heart defects, cleft palate, bowel abnormalities, feeding difficulties, and developmental delay. Limb differences, including missing limbs or portions of limbs, usually fingers, hands or forearms, are also found in some individuals.