Wrapping up the school year

In the last few weeks we have wrapped up:

1. Soccer. Brian coaches all three kids' teams at Hancock. He is such a good coach and they all really enjoy it. A lot of their friends from school play on their teams. I am not the best soccer mom, but I'm trying.

2. Autry's dance recital and preschool. Our first real dance recital with the over the top costume, etc. They did Cinderella. It was very cute. Autry and her class were the hours of the clock, Autry was number 5. Luke was her biggest fan, cheering "Number 5 is awesome!" really loudly. She almost didn't make it, she fell and scraped her leg at Granny's birthday party, and screamed at the top of her lungs all the way from Martindale to the Austin city limits. I had to get her dressed while we were sitting in traffic on the highway. She finally managed to calm down with the promise of dinner at Serrano's, and did a great job. Autry is a very graceful dancer, she is going to keep dancing at Dance Discovery. They want her to be on their dance team, whatever that means...

3. Sierra's gymnastics. At the end of the season, they do "Gymkhana" where they show off what they have learned. Sierra enjoys gymnastics and it seems like it is a really good workout. I don't think she'll be competing in the Olympics anytime soon, but she can bust out a really good handstand, like her dad.

4. Piano recital. Sierra did a piece from Carmen and "Eleanor Rigby". Luke did a piece called "Tick Tock" and music from "Star Wars". They both did a wonderful job. The piece from Carmen, I think it is called 'Habenero', was very tricky and Sierra practiced and practiced. I was very proud of her... Their teacher's name is Karla, and they both like her a lot.

5. Sierra's art show and last Ukelele performance. Sierra was chosen to participate in the "Big Artist/Little Artist" program, where she was paired up with a professional artist and worked with her after school once a week for about six weeks. Her big artist was Diane Barney, who taught her how to make art out of crotchet. She made a bunch of super cute owls and an awesome purse, which she gave me for Mother's day! They had an art show to show off everyone's hard work downtown, and the Maplewood Ukelele choir performed. It was great, except that Sierra had a panic attack when we were slow to find parking, Luke dropped his bright blue cupcake on the nice carpet, Autry managed to take an accidental flying leap into some bushes and then later to have a complete meltdown and we had to leave somewhat prematurely...

I feel like I'm missing something, but I think that's it. Now we just need to wrap up swimming lessons, track and field days, award ceremonies, talent show, final class projects...

Top 5

After much serious deliberation, Autry's top 5 favorite cars:
1. Punch Buggy
2. Monster Truck
3. Cadillac
4. Police Car
5. Black Rosy (our black Mazda 5)

Birds and the Bees

Driving home from Martindale, Luke asks me how come people can have babies even if they are not married.
Me - Do you remember how babies are made?
L - Yes.
Me - Well, you don't have to be married to do that, although we think it is good to be married before you start a family.
Luke - But some people do that before they get married? They probably just lose control.
Me - No. You always have a choice in life.
Luke - How do they do it again?
Me - The daddy puts his penis in the mommy's vagina and his sperm meets with her egg to make a baby.
Luke - WHAT!? No! Are you serious?!
Me - Yes, remember that's what sex is. We've talked about this before.
Luke - No way. You are kidding.
Me - Nope.

Luke is quiet for a minute. It is important to note that during this entire conversation Sierra is turning beet red, screaming and threatening to jump out of the car.

Luke - Mom?
Me - Yes?
Luke - I can't WAIT to do that!!
Sierra - AAAAHHHHGGGGG!!!!!!!
Me - Well, when you get married, you can do it all you want.

A few more minutes of pondering...

Luke - Mom?
Me - Yes?
Luke - I think a really good place to do that would be the shower. Or maybe the bathtub.

Otis

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The eleven year old.

Sierra turned 11, which means, of course, that we have now been parents for more that 11 years. All those annoying people who tell you how "it goes by so fast" (which has pretty much been neck and neck with "wow, you have your hands full" over the years) are right. I have found myself sneaking in her room at night quite a bit lately, just to marvel at how her limbs fill the whole bed. The way she sleeps, with blankets strewn everywhere but on top of her, has always been the same. When she was in a crib, she would completely rotate every night, so her head was where her feet were supposed to be. It's funny, my memories of her as a baby are the strongest. The moment she was pulled from my abdomen and whisked away to the NICU. Limping out of the hospital three weeks later with our four pound baby, Brian on crutches, me stooped over with a slowly healing c-section scar. Bringing her home to our so not sterile home after weeks of her being attached to tubes and wires and beeping monitors. How the house smelled soft, like clean wood, after the soap and alcohol smells of the hospital. How an apple was bigger than her head. Pumping for months until she was strong enough to nurse. Pacing the little narrow hallway in our Robinson house for hours in the middle of the night. The daily long walks we took through the French Place neighborhood with the airedale puppies. Sophie and Carla next door the only other baby and mama I knew in the universe. She was so intense from the very beginning. Talking in sentences and singing the alphabet before she could walk, or even crawl. So attached to me, and I was even more attached to her. I could truly never imagine the day when she would be out of my sight for more than a moment. And now she is 11. As I (lovingly) refer to her, "my surly tween". She has an entire life outside of my gaze, school and friends and books and a world all of her own. She will start sixth grade in the fall, and we've applied to the magnet schools. Sierra is an awesome defender in soccer and is in gymnastics. She plays the piano, ukelele, and African drums. Sierra is brilliant, beautiful, funny, sarcastic, messy, loud, and strong. She still is an obsessive reader, loves making things, puzzles, riding her bike, swimming, surfing and paddleboarding, babies, all types of art and sketching. She and Brian also became scuba certified right after she turned 11. She is becoming more and more social, her closest friends are Mia, Lily, Aydan, Ally, Juliet, Caroline, and Skylar. I can't wait to see what the next 11 years bring, just please don't tell me how fast it goes - I already know.