When G. told me she wanted to try a dance class when she was 6-years-old, I signed her up for one. My mother, who had earned her living for a number of years dancing, was thrilled that the dancing gene made its way to another generation. I was a dismal failure at ballet and only lasted through one dance recital before I begged not to do it again when I was little.
During G.'s first year of dance classes, the studio owner suggested I join a family tap class. She assured me no previous dance experience was required and there were several other moms and dads taking the class with some kids. Since it meant I could get some exercise time in while my kids were already busy with their classes, I gave it a whirl.
At the end of my first year, which was no more than combinations of ball-changes, flaps and shuffles, I somehow found myself faced with the prospect of performing in the recital. My own kids begged me to do it while my husband had a hearty laugh that lasted longer than I care to recall.
I decided to do it even after catching wind of the hideous costume I would have to wear (lime green polka-dots - I kid you not!). And even though I knew I'd feel like an idiot getting up on stage to perform a beginner tap routine, G. was relieved to know I'd be with her every step of the way on the big recital day. She was nervous and didn't want to get on stage with an audience watching her dance.
I knew EXACTLY how she felt.
So we made a deal. If she did it, I would too.
G. handled her first performance like a pro while I was a nervous wreck. And truth be told, I hated every minute of it.
But the next year I agreed to continue tap with an adult-only class and informed the teacher there was NO way I was going to be in the recital. It was just exercise for me and I was well-aware that I didn't really have a talent for dance.
Lighten up my teacher told me. You've got a good memory for the steps and your body will follow with practice. You played a musical instrument in a marching band for years, the rhythm of the tap steps will come.
Yeah, right.
But I stuck it out that second year and found that not only was it good exercise for my body, learning dance steps was good for my brain. It gave me a new appreciation for what it was like to be a kid again.
Learning something new is not always easy. It's a plain and simple truth adults have a tendency to forget.
Learning requires you to pay attention to your teacher, practice a skill, accept criticism when your teacher tells you that you aren't doing the skill correctly and then practice some more until you think there's no way you're ever going to figure it out.
After my second year of tap, I could do a ball-change while swinging my arms in an alternating pattern with my feet.
Oh, it takes most people with an iota of talent two or three tries to learn. For me it took about a year.
Humbling? Oh yeah.
But here I am, nearly six years later and still tap dancing with a bunch of great women (many of them have danced together for years and have grandchildren in the audience watching them).
I still break out in a cold sweat when the teacher adds an arm movement to a tap step. But since I'm almost always in the back (an instance when I LOVE being tall), my constant screw-ups are not usually too obvious.
And the, "What the (insert colorful expletives here) was I thinking when I agreed to do this" thoughts before every performance?
Alive and well.
But it boils down to my girls. They have benefited from my tap classes whether they have realized it or not.
From those times I have been able to dig deep down and find that little extra bit of patience to help them through their schoolwork.
Those moments when they tell me, "it's just too hard!"
Yup, I know what they mean.
My tap group performing a number from "Happy Feet" recently.
During the week we eat meatball sandwiches because the meatballs warm up quickly in the microwave and it takes less than 5 minutes to have a meal on the table. We also enjoy pasta dishes and adding a few meatballs to those meals makes it more interesting and nutritionally balanced.
If you've got some good recipes that could easily be doubled for leftovers (I prefer the term "bulk cooking" because my kids think it sounds better than leftovers ;), tell us about it.
To make this project you just need strips of fabric. It doesn't matter what width the strips are as long as they are at least 12 inches long. Actually, using a variety of sizes and fabric patterns makes this project more interesting.
And if you've never ripped fabric, you should try it. It's the fastest way to cut fabric into strips and what makes this project so easy to do.
Once you have a bunch of strips, the kids then sew them together on a sewing machine until they have about 12 inches across the width. Since the strips are all different widths, it doesn't show as much if the seams aren't exactly straight.
Once the kids have the approximate width, just iron the seems open and use the a rotary cutter to cut to the square size you want (L.'s making 12" squares).
Once the kids have enough squares, they can lay them out both horizontally and vertically to make an interesting pattern before sewing all the squares together.
I thought this was a great project to not only teach kids to sew, but to also use all that old fabric hanging around the house.
"Swiss Family Robinson" made with Swiss cheese, chocolate cake, icing, sprinkles and jellybeans.
"Salty Dog" made with pretzel dough, food coloring markers and lots of salt.
As for the edible portion of our creations this year ...
* G.'s cake tasted the best
* L.'s fruit roll-ups made a good topping along with the icing for the cookies but they stuck together too well so we ate chunks rather than individual cookies
* My salty dog was -- surprise, surprise -- too salty.
It was a good thing I saved my old Charlie's Angels dolls because it helped me explain the reference to G. after Fino and I had a good chuckle about it.
The girls' 4-H shooting sports club has been meeting every week since early November and the other night was one of the last meetings of the season so they put away the .22 rifles and broke out a pistol for the kids to try.
I heard all about this experience as soon as the girls walked in the door after their meeting.
"Mommy, daddy got burned from a flying bullet!"
"Yeah, my pistol thingy went crazy and hit daddy! He burned his knuckles."
(Daddy is still working on expanding the girls' knowledge of gun terminology.)
Fino confirmed he wasn't really shot or seriously burned and I didn't think much about it until this morning when I was sifting through the photos and video he took that night. It seems the incident happened while he was recording.
He said the LCD screen wasn't big enough to see a flying shell casing. I saw it coming just fine on my computer though.
I love downloading photos and videos that my family members have taken. I really never know what gems - or incriminating evidence - I might find.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Mallows See more photos from last year's festival
Two years ago my kids' edible books were based on picture books. Last year they ventured more to cake decorating with Rainbow Magic and Jewel Kingdom chapter books.
The girls came up with their entries for this year's festival and I'm under specific orders not to share their ideas on my blog until after the event.
But you don't have to make an edible book to enjoy the event though; browsing is free. If you want to feast on the books and cast your vote for the best 'book,' it will cost you $5. Buying a ticket is a great way to support the library's annual book fund and be dazzled by the creativity of book lovers in Maine.
I should qualify my recommendation of this event however with the fact that although children are welcome to make an entry and/or attend the event, it is not child-oriented (i.e., if you've got a kid who likes to touch everything and lick frosting, you might want to skip this event until they're older because that is definitely NOT encouraged or considered cute). My kids have always felt welcomed but I just wanted to offer a heads-up to parents thinking about attending so they know what to expect.
Here are the event details if you're interested:
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
10:30 - 11:30 a.m. - Drop off your Edible book at the library
(get your entry form here)11:30-12:30 - Browsing and voting
12:30 p.m. - Prizes are announced
1:00-2:00 p.m. - 'Eat your words' (time to dig in and eat the creations!)
Check out the International Edible Book Festival website to see photos from other festivals.
