Adventures of Ariel

Last weekend was "The Adventures of Ariel" show for my studio! Both students and teachers worked very hard during tech week and the show was a wild success! Sampson was a real trooper as he was strapped to my back for the first two hours of rehearsal and then went home with Dad or stayed with Auntie Colleen (thanks Auntie Colleen!). He was ready to swing in if any of the cast members were injured. I ran around back stage, fixing hair and getting my students ready to perform. Here I am with my clipboard of organization and my favorite pen.


They made me a delightful teeshirt, with a beautiful collaged Ariel icon (Melissa does art) and a personalized title on the back. I heard that the girls were up until all hours of the night working on these and their work certainly paid off. Not only am I impressed that they spelled "Captain" correctly, I found it very touching that they gave me something to remember the show by. Thanks girls! Love it!

I am so very proud of my students! It was so rewarding to see my little ones doing their routine in their pretty costumes. They really enjoyed themselves up there! Thanks to my assistants, Miss Jessica and Miss Lindsey who went up there and danced with them. Here is my Kinder A class who danced to "The Octopus's Garden" (original Beatles version of course).


Jessica and Sherrie played Flotsam and Jetsam and I made their costumes to complete their looks as Fosse eels. Way to go with the awkward walks and hip circles girls!


We had a fantastic cast of parent dancers during "Under the Sea." They were sharks, complete with sharp teeth and maracas. At the end, they busted out the Old Bay and Tabasco sauce and attacked Sebastian! (He escaped, completely unscathed.)


Mr. Jon was a marvelous Prince Eric (all the ladies agreed!) and the this is Friday night's cast of characters with Sarah as Ariel, Ellen as Ursula, Melissa as Mother Ocean (King Triton's wife... which makes her Ariel's mother...), and Nicole as Flounder. This photo is fondly referred to as the "Albert Einstein and Amelia Erhart" picture because of the costumes. The burlap sack is for when Ariel first turns into a human, before she goes shopping.
All of the students have grown so much since I first met them. I can't wait to get started on next year!

Molly's Birthday

Our good friends the Kellers came over for dinner so Don and I could celebrate our birthdays which are a day apart... in December. So we're a little late, but we've been saying we'd get together for, oh, about six months now. We finally got it together and had a wonderful meal. This week also happened to be Molly's first birthday so we visited their house this morning for a little party. Happy birthday Molly!

Molly had a couple of her closest friends over to help her celebrate. Sampson enjoyed meeting some new friends and playing with another baby close to his age. These are our new friends Riley and Mady.



There was lots to do at Sampson's first birthday party. We played with play-dough with cookie cutters and textured rollers. He really liked the squishiness of the dough in his fingers and toes.



It was also delicious! (Don't worry, it was home-made and eatable!)


The older kids enjoyed a kiddie pool, complete with a slide. The little ones stood at a little water table and played together. Besides the bathtub, this was Sampson's first experience with a body of water. He seemed to like it, even though it was chilly! Molly taught him a skill she apparently picked up from her big brother, Joshua... how to make big splashes by slapping the water. He also really liked playing with the little sailboats (probably because he knows how much Papa likes them), but he did not figure out that they would float in the water. Buoyancy will be another lesson...



He play so long in that little pool that his fingers got pruny for the first time. This is, in fact, one of his Oma's biggest pet peeves, but Sampson did not seem to mind.


Instead of a cake, we had beautiful butterfly cupcakes with sparkly sprinkles. Joshua was there to help her blow out her first birthday candles. Sampson looked very interested in the bright little cakes, but settled for a piece of his first cookie. She opened her presents and played with her new musical instruments and push-cart. I think the little birthday princess had a great day.


It won't be long before our Sampson turns a year old! In Korean culture, the first birthday is a huge celebration with lots of food and a beautiful outfit. His birthday is on a Monday this year, so we're planning to have a big picnic the Sunday before at Lums Pond. Keep your calendars open!

I will not slack on my blog... I will not slack on my blog... I will not...

Phew! I'm very sorry, dear readers, I have been neglecting the blog! We have been very busy and wild Vees in the last few weeks... and things are not about to slow down! The weekend after Mother's Day, Nana Jo and Aunt Laura visited us and we had a wonderful time. Last weekend was Dann and Danielle's wedding so we spent the last two weeks preparing for that. We found that events are more difficult to capture now that we have Sampson because one of us has to be with him, and the other is getting the food or running an errand. We must rely on others to take pictures of us. I am still gathering photos from various events to blog about. For now, here are some fun photos of Sam's antics... Samtics if you will.

Aunt Janice always picks out the best toys for Sampson. She loves animals, and apparently, he does too. This little set was a Christmas gift and Sampson is really into it right now. It has a polar bear that roars when you hit its head, an icicle, and a small puffin that squeaks as he bounces (PS icicle is a strange word to spell). He especially loves the little puffin and hardly lets it go these days. Tonight, he fell asleep with it in his hand. I am really impressed by how coordinated Sampson is becoming. He fiddled with this little ice cave until he opened both doors and emptied its contents. We call it reverse engineering.







I can't believe how tall he's getting! Here he is taking a nap on a hot Delaware afternoon.



Pound of dirt before you die? Sampson has a head start on his. This weekend, Jimmy was cleaning the porch and Sampson was exploring. He likes the pull himself up on the planter and play with the lettuce. I heard Jimmy exclaim, "Oh Sampson, no!" and ran out to find a dirty-mouthed little baby. He was actually chewing on something.


The scene of the crime.

And here is Sampson with a diaper on his head.

Mother's Day

Sampson's chompers are coming in in full force! His two bottom teeth are in almost all the way, and two top teeth are coming in now too. He has bit his lip once and didn't really like the taste of blood! He also sometimes grinds them together which really creeps me out. So far, I've been lucky and he understands not to bite me when he's nursing. Despite the pain of teething, Sampson has been very jovial lately. He's happy now that he can follow us around the house and peek around corners. We've been going to for walks and playing in the grass now that the weather is warm. He uses everything he can find to pull himself up. He even goes from a crawling position to a push-up position with his butt way up in the air. I'm certain that one of these times, he's just going to stand right up. But my favorite thing he does is scrunch up his nose, just like I do. Here are some close-ups of the cheeks with teeth.




It was my very first Mother's Day! Thank you to all who sent me warm wishes. Jimmy and Sampson surprised me with some beautiful white roses.


Some of my students gave me Mother's Day cards. I thought I would share their charm and good grammar. In the middle of the photo shoot, Sampson decided he wanted to be the center of attention. And then he saw his spatula and took off.






SEEKING: LONGER BATH ROBE
Sampson was in the shower and I asked him to bring me one of Sampson's towels. He could not find one, so he grabbed a bathrobe that was hanging in the closet. Unfortunately, one size does not fit all! I put it on him and could not stop laughing! Look at those cheeks! (Sorry Sammy... I know you will see this many years from now and be embarrassed that all of cyberland saw your deriere!)

Ballet

This is a good example of why I love ballet. This is the lovely Polina Semionova and she is an artist. I could watch this over and over again. I found this on my cousin Meg's studio in Framingham, MA called The Ballet Space.

Pulling Up

Here he is in all his standing up glory.

The Couch
Testing its stability
Reach first...
Are you getting this?
I can see the top...
the hardest part...
Roar! Almost there!

Yes.. victory!
See? It was nothing.
Just this morning he took a few steps to the side. He's cruising along very nicely. It won't be long before he's running cross country with his Dad (while his Oma reads in the shade!).

May Days

It's soccer season here in Delaware and Jimmy is joining his work league. Sampson and I picked out some sweet socks for him. Sampson tried them on, grabbed the skin guards, and kicked the ball around a bit. All those other soccer-playing babies better watch out for his slide tackle.

Sampson is fully mobile! If he sees something desirable from across the room, he makes a bee line for it. He also knows enough to follow me around the house as I dart into the kitchen to check on dinner. He is very proud of himself when he crawls around the corner to find me. Here he is crawling around in his favorite Guns N' Roses onesie.


While he is very good at getting around, he is not quite coordinated enough to get himself out of the little predicaments he gets himself into. He's getting quite good at pulling himself up on things... the couch, Jimmy's leg, the wipes box, pretty much anything higher than the floor. He thinks he can let go and shake his rump, and it's a good thing there's so much padding back there. He also likes to play with doors by opening and closing them over and over again. The problem is when he crawls into the bathroom and closes himself in, and then sits right in front of the door. He likes to crawl under things and look up at them. This is Sampson under the bench.


This is Sampson stuck under the bench.

In other exciting news, I got a new job! It starts this summer and goes at least through the next school year. It is with the ArtsBridge America program and I'll be teaching dance in the public school system. I'll research and theme this summer and compose a piece to perform at the nation conference in August. Then, I will work with middle school students and teach them about basic modern dance, researching a topic, creating a movement vocabulary, and composing a piece. It's the job of my dreams! And don't worry, I'll continue teaching at Stage Lights in the evenings. I interviewed last week and Grandma and Gramps came up to watch Sampson while I was gone. Turns out, though no surprise, that Grandma knew the woman I was about to interview with! It was a great way to break the ice! It was really fun to get dressed up in "work" clothes and carry important papers again. And when I returned, I found Sampson sound asleep in Gramps' arms.