Not Quite Prepared

M assured me over dinner that he didn't need help packing for his Boy Scout trip tomorrow, and that he would be the one to suffer if he forgot anything. I had to butt in, though: after he "packed," I looked at the pile on the living floor and saw:

• frisbee
• boomerang
• sleeping pad
• tent

That was it! I suggested to him that he might want to consider a sleeping bag and a change of clothing...

Back in the Swing

After a relaxing January, February is off to a rather hectic start. DH has been gone for nearly two weeks (one of the longer trips he's taken). Tomorrow, the kids will be home for exactly an hour after school, and they each have a thirty-minute piano lesson during that time, with the other thirty minutes spent getting ready for fencing/ballet. (They usually have lessons on Tuesday, but their teacher had a conflict this week.) About the time we take off to pick up T for fencing, DH should be landing at SFO. The plan is to take B to ballet, drop M & T off at the fencing school, have DH take the BART to the station nearest the fencing school, pick him up there, and drive him home so that he can attend the Boy Scout parent meeting at 7:30 while I pick up B from ballet.

A good chunk of today was spent trying to organize the weekend. M signed up for the Boy Scout ski trip, but I didn't have it on my calendar. When I realized that it was this weekend, and that the scouts who don't ski well (M has never skiied before) need to have an adult with them, I convinced DH that he should go on the trip. The poor guy will be home for less than twenty-four hours! Once we sorted out who was going, I rented skis for them online, and will be making a trip tomorrow to pick up the gear we don't have (ski gloves for one of them, ski pants for M). Oh, and I have a choir retreat all day on Saturday, so B is going to have to miss her pre-ballet class assisting this week, as I don't have time to drive her home during the middle of my retreat. (For some reason she wasn't very excited by the idea of spending the entire day sitting in a church listening to us rehearse...)

Tomorrow is also Chinese New Year, but we're putting off our celebration until Sunday evening. Kung Hsi Fa Tsai!

Be Prepared

Current mental soundtrack: "Be Prepared" by Tom Lehrer

M has been enjoying the Boy Scout meetings, and is headed out on his first camping trip this weekend. DH and I went shopping today to pick up some clothing and equipment for him. I'm very thankful that we already had a lot of backpacking stuff at home (sleeping bags, cooking gear, etc.), because we spent a small fortune at REI today (and a bit less at Target). Both of our backpacking tents bit the dust several years ago, so we had to buy a new one. And a good day pack (I think we have a dozen backpacks now, of all different sorts). Every piece of clothing M owns is made of cotton (jeans, T-shirts, and sweatshirts), so we bought a pair of convertible hiking pants, some synthetic T-shirts, and wool hiking socks. Plus a fleece jacket: we live in California, so he hasn't owned any sort of jacket for years.

September Stuff

We survived Orinda Idol--they didn't win (although they did the hardest piece and performed it beautifully), but the girls had fun rehearsing all summer. So much fun, in fact, that three of them (A has moved to LA) are going to keep rehearsing and learning new music. We (the moms) think that we can find them little performance opportunities once they learn a couple of songs, and it will be a lot less stressful for all of us than competing!

M has decided to join the Boy Scouts. All of his friends are Boy Scouts, and apparently there's a merit badge to be earned by recruiting another member, so they've been inviting all of their friends. M was amenable to the idea (we did warn him to keep his atheist thoughts to himself), so we went out and bought him a handbook and Scout shirt this weekend.

B has a role in the school play, and M is running the light board, so they will both be busy with rehearsals. The play is "Snow White," and B has been cast as "Duchess Dahlia." The plays are always double-cast, to give more students a chance to participate, and her counterpart in the other cast is none other than her best friend L!

I'll try to post a little more consistently from now on--the last week of Orinda Idol prep completely wore me out, and it took me another week to recover!