A Letter

Dear Readers,

Hi! How are you doing? I'm sorry it's been a while since I've written, it's just that, well, you see, I've been busy. I know, that's no excuse! I need to make the time for you in my life. I've had to add a lot of practicing to my full schedule recently, and something had to give. It's not that I don't care.

Today, much to the chagrin of the preschool carpool, I was able to get the bulk of my practicing done in the car. (That's the nice thing about singing - you take your instrument with you wherever you go. Try doing that with a piano! ha!) So, it turns out I have some free moments to jot a note down to you.

So, catching up. Let's see.
Adam has spent a lot of time fixing our pool. You know when you get to the point when everything breaks because it hits that 13 year mark? We've slammed into it with the pool. I tried to convince him that "Going Green" could include the pool as well, but he insisted we buy all kinds of tubing and levers and filters and things. I guess hot-glueing pieces together won't cut it anymore. Under Adam's watchful care, the pool is slowing turning blue again.

Lizzie played kickball with her friend Dallin on Friday afternoon, and when Adam got home from work, we all joined them. Lizzie forgot to drink water. She overheated/dehydrated. Later, she threw up in the flowers outside of Subway. Poor Lizzie.

Eli had his first soccer game. He scored a goal! Do you know how? He threw it in from the sidelines after it went out of bounds, then the ball bounced off another kid and went right into the goal. I love 7-yr-old soccer.

But even more exciting than that was last Wednesday, when I took Eli with me to a seamstress in our neighborhood who's helping me with my dress for the concert. We were there for a total of 19 minutes. While I was changing clothes, he found some Silly Putty and wondered what would happen if he put it over their remote control. Have you wondered that? I haven't. Well, I can tell you, (and I hope it won't take away the suspense for you), but it looks really cool to have blue sticky stuff all over the remote, and even cooler to try to figure out which buttons to push when you can't see them, but man, it's a beast to clean up. Go straight for the acetone, that's my advice. And make sure to write a nice note to go with it when you give it back to the owners.

Ivy had a darling birthday party on Saturday with 6 little girls and is still trying to get through all the sparkly gifts that were given. Watch out, though, if Ivy sees you unoccupied for more than a few minutes, she will insist on painting your nails and applying Tinkerbell makeup on you.

Me? Well, like I said, there's been a lot of singing going on. Curiously, Adam's been really into his ipod lately, especially when I practice in the evenings. Hmm. My mind is a jumble of French/Russian/English phrases that are tumbling around in my head all day. I really don't know how Erin does this kind of thing all the time. I mean really! Standing up and singing Alone in languages that I don't even speak while everyone is watching me gesticulate?! What was I thinking when I said yes to this? I'm just a carpooling, remote control cleaning, birthday party throwing Primary chorister, and somehow I've got myself in pretty deep here. I'm pretty sure that someone will stand up in the middle of the concert and call me out as a fraud. Ack! And I'll have to give it to them...I'm posing as a Singer! Yes, I've worked hard and studied for years and practiced endlessly, but that doesn't give me the right to this! At least I have comfort in the fact that the concert is free. Free, people! That means you can't ask for half your money back (because my mom is half the concert, and she's going to be amazing).

Why is it so hard? I think it's the monumental task of having 8 solo pieces performance-ready at the same time. It takes some planning to make sure they're all at their peak on performance day. So, if I start singing Russian phrases in the middle of the French piece, you won't walk out on me, will you? Will you just smile and say - "I understood every word! Lovely gesticulating!"? oh, and also, "You can't even tell you're 5 1/2 months pregnant in that dress...wait, is that blue Silly Putty on the sleeve?" Well, you can leave that part out.

Look at me - I've spent so much time talking about myself! Tell me, what's new with you? How's the weather where you are? Are your families healthy? I hope so. I'll try not to let it go so long in between correspondence again, truly I will. Know that I am thinking of you!

Regards,
Aimee