Percussion!

Last Friday at Adlani's school, the PTO sponsored a visit from Eguie Castrillo, an awesome percussionist who happens to be the dad of Adlani's classmate Diego. Eguie kept the almost-300 preschoolers, staff, and parents tapping, clapping, wiggling, and stomping along with the beat for about an hour and everyone LOVED IT! He had instruments from all over the world and showed the kids how they made different sounds. My favorite was an instrument made of keys (for obvious reasons). The highlight was a guest appearance from Diego, who is amazing on the drums.



http://www.eguiecastrillo.com/
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ZZZZZZZ......

In case you're wondering whether I've been abducted by aliens or have been leading a completely unblogworthy existence, I've not been taken to the mother ship and I have a big backlog of stuff to post. It has been a rough few weeks with waaaaaaay too much to do and not nearly enough sleep. I had a dentist appointment a couple of weeks ago and fell asleep in the chair twice! I woke myself up by snoring! The dentist told me that they once had a woman fall asleep in the chair at 2 p.m., and they turned off the light and left her there. She woke up at 6 p.m.!!! All I could think about was how many people would be affected if I took a 4-hour unscheduled nap. I paid each of the kids $5 to let me take a half-hour nap today, and it was well worth it. I snuggled up under two blankets on the couch with a big smile on my face and was asleep within a minute. I ended up sleeping for over two hours which is why I'm awake and typing this now.

Here's what we've been up to...
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Happy Birthday Billy!!!

Today we celebrated Baby Billy's 1st birthday with a costume party at the Moose Lodge in Marlborough. Billy is such a big boy and has learned to walk so he can escape from Norah. We all had a great time and Adlani reaffirmed his love for Isabel (his future wife). Ben, Ginny, and I were Popeye, Brutus, and Olive Oyl, and the kids were the Glow Fairy, Red Power Ranger, and Rainbow Bear. Happy Birthday Big Buy!!!



(Coincidentally, the Moose Lodge is the location of Saturday-night karaoke with $2.35 Heinekens served by one of my moonlighting coworkers. Let's check it out soon, Karaoke Queens!)





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Portrait Simple

I got proactive this year and booked our appointment at Portrait Simple for this morning. It was already pretty busy with everyone having their holiday portraits done, but the kids were more cooperative than last year and we got some good shots. Here's a preview...watch your mail for a copy in our holiday card (Notice I didn't say WHICH holiday...could be Christmas, New Year's, or Valentine's Day. Don't wait by the mailbox.)

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Adios Delia!

Last week we had a retirement party for our admin, Delia, who has worked in our office for 10 years. She will be moving to Mexico City after her retirement, so I thought Acapulcos would be a fitting location for her big goodbye. I obsessed about getting her there without spoiling the surprise. I told her that Ben and I wanted to take her out for dinner with the kids, and when I invited her for the 14th (after making all of the plans and getting my coworkers on board), she said she had plans! Yikes! I felt bad but I asked her if she could change her plans and I figured she'd think I was a selfish schmuck but would get over it when she found out it was a party for her, not a dinner at my convenience.

When we arrived at the restaurant the parking lot was FULL of Dodge Magnums and Jeep Laredos, our company cars. I just kept walking and hoped she wasn't paying attention (Hey! There goes Elvis!). We got inside and everyone was too busy eating, drinking, and talking to notice us until I yelled SURPRISE!!! and she realized that she was there for a fiesta. Acapulcos has a mariachi band on Tuesday nights and Delia wowed us with her dancing. The rest of us played Share the Sombrero (somebody order a case of Lice-Away). We gave Delia a New England book that we signed on random pages, and a diamond necklace. After we gorged ourselves on cake we called it a night and rolled home. Good luck Delia!!!

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Camp Closed

We sadly said goodbye to camp for the winter and had our last breakfast at Cracker Barrel until Memorial Day. Brady will be closing the place any day now that it's getting colder (Thanks Brady!). We had planned to spend Columbus Day weekend there but ended up with too much to do at home. We're going to really try to get there next year at this time because it's so beautiful and nice and quiet without much boat traffic. We had great times there this summer and we'll miss it and look forward to going back in the spring.
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Clown Car of Hot Babes

Last week we took Jenny out for her birthday, along with some of the teachers from the Pearlman Family's day care (it was Teacher Stacey's birthday too). I have to say, I haven't worked that hard to have fun in a long time but by the end of the night a good time was had by all. We packed into the Toyota Hot-essy to go to the Mad Raven in Waltham for some snacks. It wasn't mad or ravin' so we continued down route 20 to Asiana Fusion on the hunt for karaoke. The Red Sox game was on and even Pam's calls to friends in high places couldn't get us a microphone, so we headed to Joy Asia in Marlboro, singing along to the Samba Faves at top volume. We arrived at Joy Asia and that's when the evening got a little "frightening" (as Jenny repeatedly commented). Honestly, even after living in Vermont for 20 years, I have never seen as many mullets and bandanas in one place. Nevertheless, we embraced the locals and ended up having a ball despite the drama, girlfights, and vomiting. Happy birthday ladies!!




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The Mango Muse

Part of the posse signed up for a few cooking classes at Keefe Tech this fall...the first one was ok but the second was even better. Our teacher for Class 2 was the famous Rosa Menard, aka The Mango Muse. Rosa has a cooking show on local TV called The Melting Pot Cooks. She did a great job of keeping us in control, going so far as to ban the consumption of wine during class. Luckily, Locker 19 held a jug of the magic elixir...Licor 43, pineapple juice, and club soda. I'm too much of a rule-follower to go against Rosa's mandate and visit Locker 19, but I polished off the leftover elixir when I got home. Yummy!

http://mangomuse.com/



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