This month is flying by, mostly because we've been BUSY and my house is a disaster to show for it. Hopefully that will be changing this weekend, which is the most logical time to do this deep cleaning as the next couple of weekends are booked. The run-down of the first 2 weeks of March go something like this:
My boy had his band concert on the 2nd. It's so fun to see the band getting better at every concert. However, the audience is another story. Can someone explain to me why, if you are going to your child's band concert, you feel the need to talk throughout the concert? It drives me INSANE to hear all the chatter in the audience DURING SONGS!! Seriously... Makes me crazy. The band director starts off every concert asking for the common courtesy of silence while music is being performed. If your baby/child is crying/screaming or just a loud talker, please take them out to the lobby. He proceeds to repeat this plea, mostly focusing on the talking, every 3-4 songs finally practically pleading with the audience to SHUT UP. I realized that I was so distracted by the noise, I missed a whole song. I just don't get it...
The kids have been rehearsing for the Spring Musical for months now. It started out as 2 days a week, until 5:15. Not a big deal as I work very close to their school, so I'd usually get there right at 5:15 to pick them up and we'd be home around 5:45. As the date of the performance approached, these rehearsals grew to 3 days a week, then 2 days until 5:15 and 1 day until 6:00, each week. The last 2 weeks have been Monday through Thursday, until 6:00 each night. It has made for late dinners that usually ended up being either fast food or something quick to prepare since Shell leaves for work at 8:45. The kids love being a part of the musicals, so it's all worth it. But I sure missed the brief time I had to spend with my wife each night. And when we miss too many days in a row, it shows.
My boy and I went to see Bon Jovi in concert on the 8th. We've had our tickets since November, so the anticipation had been building and we were crazy excited by the time the actual day finally came. Dana's mom bought tickets so that she could take Dana, her sister and Jeannie too. They got seats on the floor, but I think we had great seats too. We were first row just up from the floor, a perfect view of the stage. The plan was for me to pick up the boy from rehearsal and then we would head downtown to the venue. UNTIL..Dana called me that afternoon to say that they were taking a limo and we could ride with them. No fighting traffic, no dealing with parking, no paying for parking, no super long line of cars leaving after the show. Perfect! So not only did my boy go to his first real rock concert, but had his first limo ride too. All in the same day. He was beside himself with excitement. The concert was great, better than I even imagined. I have loved Bon Jovi since the 80's and my boy loves them as well. We sang, danced, shouted and whistled and basically had perma-grin the whole time. What a night we had. The limo picked us up right after the concert ended, right around 11:30. By the time we got back to our house and in bed, it was 12:30. To say that my boy had a hard time getting up the next morning would be a gross understatement. But he made it and now it's just a great memory. Shell is taking our girl to see Taylor Swift next month which they are very excited about. It's on a school night too, so we'll see how she fares the next morning. I'm so thankful that we can share these experiences with them, and that they are still excited to see a concert with their parents. I wonder how much longer before that ends?
The performances for the musical were on the 12th and 13th. I went alone on Friday night so I could scope out the best seats to watch from. My parents and Dana & Jeannie went with us on Saturday night and once again I was impressed at how well the kids did. The production was Metaphasia, a radically updated retelling of the Tale of the 12 Dancing Princesses. My boy was the only boy who auditioned, so he played two roles, the dad of the main character and the King. My girl was Trishnakov, the ballerina princess which meant that her brother played her dad. Hehe.
After the show, my parents took the kids home with them since we had plans. It was Shell's birthday and we were going out! The plan was for us to ride with Dana & Jeannie so I could drink. Usually I'm the designated driver, so this would be a treat for me. They told us we'd have to run back to their house because Dana forgot her ID, and then moments later a limo pulled up. They got a limo so that everyone could drink and not have to worry about it. Awesome plan! The limo dropped us off at the Mongolian BBQ restaurant we were eating at. It wasnot only Saturday night, but we were downtown on the weekend before St. Patrick's Day. The streets were packed with cars and people. We were VERY glad not to be dealing with that. Dinner was awesome, as always. It's quickly becoming one of my favorite places to eat. After dinner, we took a cab to the bar that we always go to. It's perfect. There are 2 dancefloors, one where country music is played and the other is hip-hop/dance music. One of the most appealing aspects of this place is that there is a covered smoking area. 3 out of 4 of us smoke and although I'm the one who doesn't, it is nice that we have somewhere to sit and drink and talk and they don't have to go outside when they're smoking.
As usual, we spent most of the night either in the smoking area, on the patio or around the country dancefloor. Towards the end of the night, we made our way to the "dance" side and as soon as we staked out our seats, a Janet Jackson song came on. I LOVE JANET JACKSON! My wife, who typically does NOT dance, pulled me on the dancefloor to dance with her. It was great. Dana & I danced after that and we all people watched the dancefloor, which really is so much fun. The bar closed at 2 and our limo pulled up soon after to take us back to Dana & Jeannie's. Jeannie didn't drink as much as the rest of us, so she drove us home. Thanks to the time change, it was 5am when we climbed in bed and I had to get up at 10 so I could pick up the kids and take them to the wrap party for the musical. It was REALLY hard to get up, but thankfully I was just really tired, not hungover.
After their party, we met up with Dana & Jeannie and the kids and we headed to a early dinner at a yummy pizza place near us. It was really good and we had entertainment in the form of a girl making balloon animals. We were pretty impressed, possibly more so than the kids. After dinner we went home and the kids finished up their homework while we watched the most recent episode of Ghost Whisperer and just relaxed for the first time all weekend. Oh yeah, that's what else we did this month: bought a new bed! Ours was over 14 years old and it showed it's age. We bought a really nice one that has an adjustable foundation so we can raise the foot and head of the bed. And it vibrates. We really spoiled ourselves with it, but we think it's a good investment and who can argue a good night's sleep?
The plan for this weekend is to clean our house. It's so bad and the only other plans are to have dinner at my parents house on Saturday, so we should be able to get a lot done. Next weekend the kids will be staying overnight with them again, as we'll be celebrating Dana's birthday and alcohol consumption is part of the plan. I think we'll end up staying over at their house, so I don't have to drive home after. March is the only month we drink this much and to be honest we probably won't drink again until it rolls around again next year. Spring Break is next week, so I think that this weekend we'll focus on the common areas of the house and then whatever is left to be done in their rooms can be finished while they're home during the week. I'm really looking forward to a clean house, it's been too long!
