Coraline

Coraline comes out next weekend and that means we got Maya right where we want her. We can get her to do about anything so long as we dangle in front of her the promise of seeing the movie. We made up a list of tasks for her to get done this week and if they are not completed - no movie. Ahhh it's good to have leverage. Hmmmm - Being that it's supposed to warm up tomorrow maybe I should have her wash the car....

Scones

At the end of every month Maya's class holds an auction where the kids buy and sell personal items with their "Kortuem Cash," which is currency doled out by her teacher Mrs. Kortuem, and is money they earn by meeting certain requirements; i.e., perfect attendance, turning in projects on time, etc. Maya had some scones that Zaheeda had made for her lunch and sold them to another kid for $600 in Kortuem Cash. Those were either some mighty fine scones or Kortuem Cash is devaluing faster than the British Pound.

Playing the Coffee Can

Maya's thinking about trading in the violin and focusing entirely on her coffee can playing. Her compositions pull heavily from her immediate thoughts feelings and experiences.

Too Cold for the Bus Stop

Cold temperatures have meant no morning wait for Maya at the bus stop. Instead I've been dropping her off at school so she doesn't have to stand out on the sidewalk and freeze her little bones. Looks like temps will be warming up tomorrow though so it should be back to her old morning routine.

Changeafication

Recording Violin

Saint Joseph requires that before graduating from one book to the next you have to record each piece for approval so we were hard at work getting Book 2 down on tape. Maya really did an excellent job of playing and we whipped about half the book down without a hitch. Hopefully tomorrow after lessons we'll be able to get the remainder of the pieces recorded and be done with it. Once we get it all mastered we'll have a fantastic violin cd available for sale. In fact, you may want to get your orders in early because Maya is very popular on the retirement home circuit and we suspect demand will be very high.

Eating Lunch

Maya eating her tuna melt and Annah eating her dissolvable Gerber cereal things - Mmmmm.

Clutz

Lately Maya has been having a hard time going through the day without hurting herself.  A couple days ago she dumped hot tea on her lap and today she badly bit her lip and banged her head on the wall.  We're reaching the point where we don't really know what we can do for her - we give her cool tea (her safety tea), but if she's going to continue to walk into walls we may have break down and get her knee pads and a helmet.   

Getting Ears Pierced Again

Maya got her ears pierced for the second time last night. Annah seemed to look on with much concern.

Daddy Daughter Daughter Day

Took the girls to the MOA yesterday for our first ever Daddy Daughter Daughter Day. It felt a little strange being out with both girls without Zaheeda, like I was an ex-husband who got the bad end of a custody arrangement and was spending my every other weekend "quality time" with his children - but we had a good time. Annah was a little fussy early on but eventually fell asleep and Maya kept the nagging to minimum - although she did manage to convince me to buy her a giant tube of Pucker Powder which she contends I had agreed to buy her months ago. I don't remember the exact details of this supposed agreement, but...

Day Off

Maya has no school today and this is what she looked like after dragging her sorry little candy carcass out of bed this morning/afternoon. Somehow I envision a day of strained relations with her mother.

In Print

Maya was pictured in her school newspaper this month with her science project turtle. She was pretty excited being in print and we are always happy to see her being in paper as long as it's not in the court news section.

The Party is Over

We successfully went the whole day without watching any inauguration coverage and let me tell you it wasn't easy.



We did manage manage to find this clip outlining some of his policy proposals though.

Gearing up for Inauguration

We have been beaten into submission by the week long inauguration celebration and like Popeye, "We's taken all we can take and we can'ts takes no more." So we are going all day tomorrow with the t.v. off and our hands over our ears repeating, "Lalalalalala!!!" We realize it's an historic day and that Obama, even though he's hasn't had a full day in office, is without question the greatest president we've ever had. We've heard that he is going to be sworn in on Lincoln's Bible which is obviously a great honor, I mean how many Bibles can say they've actually been touched by Obama. But we chose to read about the spectacle on Wednesday once it is all over. So if he is going to baptize people in the reflecting pool or part the Potomac River while holding only a staff, we'll have to catch it on the repeat feed.

Unfortunately Maya, who is a victim of compulsory education is being forced to watch it at school and she's none too happy about it either. She gets upset when everyone raves about him being the first black president when his mom was white - she contends he's only half black. I told her she better keep these ideas to herself, that its that kind of critical thinking that can land a kid in trouble these days. You don't want to be on the wrong side of the "Yes we can!" crowd.

What Doesn't Belong?

Remember in the children's Highlights magazine when they'd draw miscellaneous items scattered about in a picture and you would have circle the items that didn't belong? In this picture can you identify the item that doesn't belong?

Olive Garden

Friday night we stopped at Olive Garden in Roseville and Maya had the fettuccine alfredo which she said was very good.

Suspicious Salad Eater

Here Maya is doing a little character acting. This portrayal of "The Suspicious Salad Eater" raises several questions such as:

Why is she suspicious?
Why is she eating salad?
Is she suspicious of someone else or are we to be suspicious of her?

I guess like all great art it really raises more questions than it answers.

Boobs N' Fruit

We came up with this little song about all the things that Annah likes to eat. After much rehearsal (two minutes) this is Maya's performance.

Here are the Lyrics if you want to sing along:

She likes the boobs and the fruit and the pizza

She likes the boobs and the fruit and the breadsticks

She likes the boobs and the fruit and the cheesecake

And that's what she likes to eat

Ray Charles

Maya's hard at work on a big project at school for Black History Month she had to pick a prominent black figure on which to do a report, she chose Ray Charles. Not only is she learning a lot about Ray Charles but so are the rest of us in the family because Maya really likes to share what she's learned. Tonight we had a conversation that went like this:

Maya: Did you know Ray Charles had a four-year-old brother who died?

Me: No

Maya: Guess how he died.

Me: Polio

Maya: No

Me: Car accident

Maya No. Would you like a hint?

Me: Sure

Maya: Okay... Let's see... Well, I can give you a hint but I think you'll probably get it.

Me: Okay

Maya: Bathtub

Me: Hmmmm..... Did he drown in the tub?

Maya: Yes.

As you can see we are learning so much about Ray Charles.

Family Guy - Star Wars Couch Clip

Too Cold for Sledding

Tonight I came up with the not so brilliant idea of going sledding with Maya. Earlier in the evening I was outside shoveling the driveway and it was cold, but not unbearably so - however, what I didn't realize since I was shoveling on the east side of the house was the wind blowing at an ungodly speed from west. We headed over to the sledding hill, but after about five seconds we both realized that the sledding idea was not a good one - the wind made it nearly impossible to even climb to the top of the hill. So we packed up the sled, went to Starbucks at the Barnes and Noble, got a mocha and warmed up.



While at the bookstore Maya talked me into getting her a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. Actually, last night I was reading this article about these books in the New York Times and was feeling a bit guilty as it described the passion kids Maya's age have for them and yet I've repeatedly told Maya she couldn't get one because they seem kind of silly to me. Any book that has Fart Police who go around and arrest people for farting is not what most would consider high brow literature - even for kids - but I gave in and got her the book anyway. Even though we didn't get much sledding in we still had a pretty good night.

Home From School

This is Maya returning home from the bus stop this afternoon. It crossed my mind to drive her back and forth to school and spare her from having to endure the harsh winter elements, but then I figured having her tough it out would build character. Whether she is gaining any character remains to be seen however since she didn't bother to put her gloves on I'd say she could stand to get a little more common sense.

Her other New Glasses

We got these frames for free since apparently the previous pair that broke were under warranty. Who knew that running over your glasses with a sled was covered under warranty?

First day with new glasses

Maya said the kids really liked her new glasses.

New Washing Machine

We got the new washing machine delivered today and just in the nick of time too, we were all running out of clean clothes to wear. It was getting to the point of eying up the best fitting potato sack for Maya to wear to school.

New Specs

Maya got her new glasses tonight. She actually has two pairs but one of pair was not ready for pickup yet. This pair, though kind of hard to see in this picture, are purple and are more traditional looking. Her other pair are the thicker horned rimmed ones which are in line with her regular look.

Less

Looking over the Blog post numbers I noticed that in 2007 I did 384 post on Maya's site compared to only 305 for 2008. In discussing this with Maya I suggested the numbers were lower because I had to dedicate time and effort into updating Annah's site as well - She understood. It's not that since Annah came along I no longer love Maya, however the numbers suggest I'm only loving her at about 74% of what I used to. I want to take this opportunity to let Maya know that I still love her... Just maybe a little less that's all.

Broken Glasses

Last weekend Maya was playing outside when her glasses fell of her face and broke, and oh how the tears began to flow. I told her it was no big deal and that things break all the time when you least expect. A few days earlier for example the washing machine stopped working and we had to go to Home Depot and buy a new one and now we have to buy new glasses. You add this onto doctors visits for Annah... Suddenly I feel like crying.

Back to Viloin Practice

Getting right back into the swing of things Maya had her first violin lesson of the year. She did a pretty good job too especially considering she hadn't been exactly diligent about practicing over vacation. Annah seemed to enjoy sitting in as well and really kept the beat with her clapping.

Back to School

After a two week hiatus Maya is back to school today and dare we say not a moment too soon. Frankly we begin to tire of her after several days around the house. Violin lessons resume tomorrow and we can once again have a nice life based on a firm foundation of routine.