Ruler of the Elves

It was a sad moment for me when I learned that the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, had died today. Although parts of his life were more than questionable, I have always been a huge fan of his music. (In fact, I actually did my senior dance solo to the song Thriller.) Michael, you will be missed.

Today, Pinky stayed home from school and spent some quality time with me getting stuff done around the house. Of course, I worked in a few super fun little projects, including Noodle Dogs (via Plum Pudding) for lunch. Not only do they look pretty crazy, but they actually taste pretty good.

To make these tasty little treats (which resemble jelly fish, wind socks and people with lots of wiggly legs according to Pinky) all you need are some spaghetti noodles and the hot dogs of your choice. It’s really a no brainer. We chose whole wheat pasta and fat free franks.

Cut the hot dogs into bite size pieces and gently push the noodles through the hot dogs in any which way. I liked a more linear pattern, while Pinky preferred to haphazardly shove them in. Boil all in a large pot until pasta is finished. Easy peasy.

The taste tester was somewhat skeptical at first, but after delicately slurping the noodles into her mouth and rolling them around her the inside of her cheeks, the outcome was victorious and she finished the whole plate!

Well, this year’s absolutely magnificent dance recital was here and gone before I even had time to notice. Let me break it down for you…

• The dress rehearsal was kind of joke, but I guess at age four, you don’t really plan on everything being perfectly perfect, ever. Seriously, we frantically raced through rush hour traffic (is that possible?) to get to the venue on time and after showing up 15 minutes late, Pinky was dressed, corralled and up on/off stage in less than 5.

• The night before the recital, we made sure everything was laid out and ready to be thrown on in a minutes’ notice, since the actual recital started at 9:30 am. (Not the greatest timing for us night owls.) Pinky insisted that Rita the Cat, whose voice sounds oddly similar to Uncle Christopher’s, be included in the line up.

• The big day arrived and we were there on time. Whew. Chris & I took Pinky back to wait with the rest of her class and TRIED to leave to get to our seats. I say tried because suddenly, my normally happy and super social child became overwhelmed that we were leaving her behind and turned into a blubbering mess. Finally, she became distracted and we were able to comfortably tip-toe away.

• The preceding 12 dances leading up to Pinky’s were absolutely amazing and the students all did such a great job. This included a crazy surprise performance from some of the dads. Funny stuff.

• When Pinky’s turn was up, Chris whipped out the video camera and I pretended my own camera had enough lighting to function properly without a tripod. Pinky was awesome and the group did great overall. I even cried a little.

And then it was over. I think the highlight of the entire day was when Pinky walked up to me and said “Mommy, I love to be on stage,” and I thought to myself “this explains sooooo much!” I was/am so proud of my little girl.

Yay! I’m done with school, at least for 2 weeks. Although I would love nothing more than to stare at the wall or the back of my eyelids, life just doesn’t slow down. Something is always keeping us going.

Tonight we have dress rehearsal for Pinky’s recital. I always love watching the little kids attempt to dance. One will be crying, one picking her nose/butt, and about 3 walking aimlessly around the stage in some sort of stupor, while the rest try to emulate the instructors guiding moves, but they are 7.3 counts behind. It’s too cute. I wonder which lucky mold Pinky will fall into. Any thoughts/ideas?

This past Thursday we celebrated the end of spring quarter classes by going out for a nice dinner with a few of our best friends. Of course, I took the opportunity to document the get together, which was filled with lots of laughs, fun and memories. So, sit back and take a moment to meet our friends…

This is everyone’s best side backside. We hoofed it to the pub right down the street in an attempt to burn the calories off that we were about to put on from the delicious, yet fat laden food and beer.

Here is my bestie, Higgles. She always makes me laugh and our unplanned sychronized talking gives many people the chills, sometimes. Notice how she is trying to be Lauren Conrad-esque with her big bug glasses.

During our journey, Pinky found a giant weed dandelion that she had to carry and periodically shake at some unsuspecting passerby.

This is a young chap we like to refer to as Jimmy Pickle. No clue how the name came to be, but it stuck. He is the baby of the adults we hang out with and sometimes I refer to him as my other child. Sometimes he acts like it.

Also, there is Ma-tay-tay and his daughter, baby A. Like father, like daughter, these two are always the comic relief. I’m not really sure what they were doing in this photo, but it sure made us laugh.

Oh, and I leave you with my wonderful hubby, pretending to be all cool with his weirdly, and unexpectedly, shaven head. Again.

Just to let you know, my posts may be waning this week due to finals, but I promise to be back asap with some fun stuff!