Staycation

 With a Thai holiday on Thursday, Claire and Jonathan both got Friday off, as well.  J was starting to plan another family trip and was asking my opinion of where to go. It all sounded exhausting to me, and I said, "You want to know what would be a real vacation for me?--if you took the girls away for a few days and left me home to work on projects." So, my hero husband did just that. He and the girls (and another family) went to a fairly close beach for two nights. I was able to spread my things out on the dining room table and not worry about putting them away for meals. I ate left-overs all weekend and didn't leave the house. I finished Sylvie's baby book, made a year's worth of birthday cards, and started to edit family movies (daunting!). Of course, with Paul and his needs, it wasn't completely uninterrupted time, but by the end, I was happy to see the girls again and have a little noise in the house. Apparently, J and the girls had fun until the last day when Claire got stung by a jellyfish, but I can't share any pictures because J's hands were too full all weekend to get even one shot!

Queen's Birthday

Claire wore makeup for the first time and requested a special hair-do for her performance.

In Thailand, Mother's Day is celebrated on the Queen's birthday and Father's Day on the King's. Many schools have class performances on these days, and the mothers and fathers are invited to attend, respectively. My expectations of a preschool performance were minimal, but this school Claire attends always seems to strive for "above and beyond." Claire was a part of three separate numbers (of the 16! on the program). The outfit pictured above had to be purchased for her class performance. It luckily fit the white dress requirement for her music class performance, but we had to rent a ballet costume, as well. She was expected to wear makeup and have her hair in a bun. The program started with an awards ceremony, a little like graduation, where each kid had to walk across the stage, bow to the principal, receive their certificate and get their photo taken. Then came the 16 different performances. Claire's music class one was the most entertaining. I had asked her what she would be playing, and she told me, "the pinano" [sic]. Turns out she just stood by a keyboard while the teacher played the melody to "Twinkle, Twinkle" and the rest of the kids pounded or blew on something. Afterward, she confessed to me that she "forgot the notes" but that she "didn't think anyone saw." I had brought Sylvie because she was so excited to see Claire perform, but about half-way through, I knew we needed to get some fresh air and a snack. One of the other mothers saw me downstairs and was worried I was leaving before the finale, so I returned, only to have to sit through five mothers' speeches. Sylvie fell asleep. I can say that I am proud of Claire for going to school each day and not comprehending almost all of what is being said, because I could hardly take half a day of it.