'Cause you're so smooth...

Driving home from dinner the other night, this song came on the Pop2K channel we randomly had on...

And to my surprise, Reed was singing along!

Me: "How do you know this song?"

Reed: "Because I have taste."

Well then!

Happy Mother's Day to me

Mother's Day is tough for me. Well, actually all of May is, though it's gotten easier in the nearly 9 years since my Mom died. This year I even made it through the Race for Hope without a lot of trauma – the rainy, miserable weather actually helped because we got in and got out without a lot of time to reflect. Then Mother's Day comes, and then the anniversary of Mom's death on May 26.

I'm always glad when we flip the calendar to June.

This year I told the family I didn't really want any gifts. The only thing I wanted was for them to make me my favorite coffee cake and to watch a movie with me. Tod took care of the coffee cake (so good!). There weren't any good movies in theaters, so I had to choose something to watch at home.

I came the realization recently that somehow we'd never shared this classic with them...Wayne's World.

So that's what I picked! And the movie holds up surprisingly well, 27 years (WHAT?) later. Both kids laughed through the whole thing, but I think Reed especially found it entertaining. It was so nice for all of us to enjoy something together – that's really all I wanted for Mother's Day!

Amy did a drawing for me to hang in the kitchen, which is lovely...

Oh, and Reed went grocery shopping on Mother's Day to hang out with me. I'll take it.

French Toast

Sometimes Reed goes to the grocery store with me on Sunday mornings, when he's really super bored. He's not too bad about asking to get a million things, but he does ask for a thing or two sometimes.

A couple of weeks ago we were shopping and he asked what was in French Toast, so I told him the basic ingredients. All we were missing was a good bread to use, so we decided to get some and plan to have it for a "breakfast for dinner" that week. He'd had a ridiculous order of French Toast when we were in Virginia Beach over spring break, so that's probably why it was on his mind.

But then there was an evening when he was on his own for dinner, with Amy at play practice, and Tod and me out wherever. That night when he went to bed, he very proudly told me he'd made himself French Toast for dinner. He's a good cook, and willing to try new things...which always impresses me.

Boss lady

Last year Amy was co-stage manager with Lily, but to hear Amy tell it, Lily really didn't do much. This year, the role was all hers as her middle school put on Disney's Little Mermaid. It was a bit of a tough row to hoe, but she persevered.

Amy with some of her crew, and CJ.

The teachers who run the play, Ms. Reardon (home ec teacher) and Mr. K (art teacher), are basically volunteers in their roles with the play, and the rehearsals last for months and months. Reardon, in my opinion, overreached with many aspects of this production, which made things far more stressful than they needed to be. By tech week (the week before the play), Amy was so very stressed, she basically fell apart when she got home after rehearsals. They hadn't even rehearsed the show in its entirety before opening night, so obviously stage crew hadn't had a chance to run through their responsibilities, much less get good at them. It's not like one of the actors, who can run through their music and lines basically anywhere, anytime....they need the whole kit and caboodle in order to practice their "stage crew-ing." She also felt really responsible for her crew, one of whom was her good friend Molly who she'd talked into participating – no one was having fun. The stage crew wasn't getting breaks, and they were afraid to ask for one for fear they'd get yelled at (which was apparently a reasonable thing to worry about).

It's tough when your kids get in a situation like this. It was hard to restrain myself from getting involved, but I'm glad I didn't. Instead we listened with a sympathetic ear, talked her through it, and did our best to help her think of solutions that she felt comfortable trying. Ultimately she was able to stand up for her crew a little bit, and felt good about that.

Ultimately, I think the teachers knew that stage crew could use an adult hand, because one of Mr. K's friends (CJ) jumped in on the day of the show, and he helped out for all four shows – I think that was a huge help to them.

In the end, there were some bumps for the stage crew, and Amy felt it went better than she feared, but not as well as she wanted it to. There were some minor mishaps with big set pieces being left on stage, which meant Amy had to run out and retrieve them even though the next scene had begun. Oopsies. All the actors did a great job, so I guess they didn't need as much rehearsal time as it seemed!

I think the other kids clearly knew Amy was stressed, and her old friend Morgan decided on the last day that she'd get a poster board to have all the kids write thank you messages to Amy. She nearly caught them before the final show, but they managed to keep it semi-secret (which made her very anxious, not knowing what was coming). It was a very sweet gesture.

After it was all said and done, these kids were all so emotional, they cried through their entire cast party. They all acted as if they'd never see each other again, not like they'd be back at school together in two days! During the party, Morgan stood on a table to make a big "thank you" to Amy, which ended with all the kids chanting her name.

I think Amy is partly relieved it's over, but probably a little sad too. And now that it's been a success, she somehow has forgotten how very miserable she was. (Meanwhile, I'm still mad at how she was mistreated!)

Amy's old Girl Scout leader Jill would always tell me that Amy is a good leader, and that seems to be true. She certainly took it to heart for this play, and tried to always give her crew the positive feedback that they weren't getting from the adults. And she had us give each of them "star grams" (little supportive notes parents pay to have delivered to the cast/crew, along with candy and/or a flower). She is very concerned that the younger kids didn't have a positive experience, as she really wants them to continue with theater next year.

So now we're working on getting back to a more normal schedule, which is a relief to all of us!