A Quintet of Vignettes

Thursday was the only day last week without a snow delay or school cancellation, so to balance things out, we got several inches of snow dumped on us last night and everything is shut down today. I feel like I'm never going to get anything done at work ever again.

But at least we have food and everyone is safe in the house this time. The big kids spent part of the morning playing "spies" with Cora, which seemed to involve them sneaking (or, "sneaking;" they're not particularly stealthy) around behind corners while Cora stalked around after them and screamed when she found them. Being home all day with a toddler is awesome when you have big kids on tap to play with her.

After the spying was done, we piled in JP's 4WD car (best purchase we ever made) and headed to the mall because google told me it was open and Landon desperately needs new shoes. But when we got there we discovered the only things open were a few department stores and Great American Cookie Company. So we ended up with 4 double-doozies and 0 pairs of shoes. Productive!

Now Cora is sleeping and the big kids are building a snowman with a neighbor, and since JP and I finished House of Cards last night, I thought I'd do some quick updates on all the members of the LL house.

~ ~ ~

First up, Lanman at 7.5 years of age.

He loves going on runs with JP dad on Sundays and is a seriously incredible swimmer. He has a huge heart for his sisters and pretty much everyone else, and is quietly confident in a very non-Type-A/oldest child way that I am almost envious of. He likes doing well in school- and he is doing REALLY well in school, but the grades aren't what motivates him. He shows us his 97's and up report card because he knows we'll think it's great, but not because he needs us to think it's great. He's creative and a great little artist. His current obsession is animals, and his artwork and GT research projects have all been on different species of large jungle cats. We all now know a LOT about large jungle cats.

He and Claire remain a tight pair and are always playing or working together when they're both at home. Last week I overheard the following exchange while Claire worked on a beginner maze book:

Landon:
No, Claire! You can't go over the lines!

Claire:
But they were in my way Landon.

Landon:
That's why it's a maze!

Claire, with a sigh:
Well I guess you're just going to have to do it for me then.

It was basically Claire at her Clairest and Landon at his Landonest (he totally started doing the mazes for her) and captures them both quite well.

~ ~ ~

Clairebear, 4.75, is suddenly such a big kid to me.

She remains her unique mix of aggressively affectionate and aggressively... Claire. She adores being near her family, is a patient and generous big sister, but is also wily and has the memory of an elephant and knows how to use it. She starts Kindergarten in the fall, which is blowing my mind a bit, but I'm excited for her- she's ready and I think she's going to love being in big kid school. These day she enjoys playing games with Landon, playing school, and drawing abstract shapes and coloring them using every color and no pattern. I love it and my office wall is littered with her creations.

She is also very on top of the social scene at school. This was one of our convos on the way home from school last week:

Claire:
Mom. Did you know I have SIX boyfriends.

Me:
What?!

Claire:
I know! Isn't it CRAZY?!!

~ ~ ~

Cora is nearly 16 months and VERY busy.

She is into everything and loves to clean up (except when she wasn't the one who came up with the idea); read books (except when it's the wrong one; there are only three acceptable books in our extensive collection of children's books); take baths/showers (always); eat everything (no cake); and do anything her big sibling idols are doing (except touch snow). She joins in the big kid games and loves hiding and being chased. When she sees me holding "Brown Bear Brown Bear" she gets so excited she screams and starts to cry. It's like a mini Bieber concert in our living room.

She really does remain exceptionally easy and happy and pretty much the center of the Lag Liv universe.

~ ~ ~

And in my news- I have a new job! My barre studio has asked me to become a part-time barre teacher! I'm so excited. Slightly terrified, but SO excited. I've almost approached the lead teacher multiple times to ask if they could use more instructors and if I could be a candidate, but I kept chickening out- I don't have any dance background and have only been going (albeit, obsessively) for about two years, but it turns out they could use some help and she ended up approaching me! I'll start out as a sub- someone to jump in when another teacher can't make their class, but it's both our hopes that as I get more training and practice, I can take on a permanent class.

Thanks to Spring Break vacation schedules, my first self-taught class will actually be next Friday morning, but I'm training tonight and next Sunday and I spent most of this morning working out portions of my choreography. I made JP go through the leg series with me, which was fun, but then I have to get annoyed when he lifts his leg higher than me (he was born with all the flexibility I've worked my butt off- literally- to gain). I'm also working on my music list, which is more stressful to me than the choreography. I am a complete plebian when it comes to music. I like whatever is popular and never buy songs because I'm an old-fashioned radio listener, so picking out songs that probably aren't cool weirdly stresses me out. But I suppose that's what Pandora will be for until I can build my playlist and I'm going to have everyone's legs shaking too hard to care anyway.

Getting my yoga certification is my real dream, but until I have 200 free hours and a couple thousand dollars to spare (retirement maybe?), I am thrilled and honored to take this one. Barre was first fitness love after I lost swimming and went a decade without any fitness at all and I am so excited (did I say that already?) to take it to the level.

I'm going to need a new workout outfit before my first class right? It's like the first day of school. I will probably take pictures. (Excited!)