Autumn arrived at 8:32PM, last night.....

Yes, it's a few days late, but I still feel it sneaked up on me. According to my calendar, it should have arrived on Sunday. I know it's here now because I was sitting in lawn chairs, having a beer with a few friends when it arrived. Yesterday was a warm day, around 81 degrees I think. It was certainly warm enough to sit around outside well after dark. There I was, laughing at something ridiculous Janet or Tiffany said when a chilly wind blows across us. Everyone shivered, joked about the temperature change and wished that Jody had gotten out the fire pit already. There is was, the death knell for summer. You don't need the fire pit in summer time. The kids starting back to school wasn't enough to convince me or even a few changing leaves. It took the need of a smoking external heat source to convince me that Autumn is here. Yea! I get to pull out my leather boots!!

My friend Maren has a lovely blog, Maren's Musings. If you haven't checked it out yet, there's a link over to the left somewhere. I read hers a day or so ago where she referenced Autumn. I had to laugh when I read her description of geese flying South in a V formation. All through my childhood, I waited to see that. I couldn't wait to see geese flying further south, to a warmer climate. It was in movies, in cartoons, all birds went South. I waited patiently for many years, for the birds to disappear when the weather got cold.

I didn't realize until I was a teenager and pondered it once more that I WAS the South. Geese didn't even fly as far south as Alabama. I saw my first Canadian Goose in Northern Virginia when I was almost 30 years old. It wasn't doing anything spectacular, just standing around near the edge of a field. I made my friend pull over to the side of the highway so I could get a better look. It looked like a goose I'd seen on TV. It wasn't quite the highlight I'd expected.

So now I see them flying in the V shape, year after year. They aren't going anywhere for there winter. They're arriving. I guess I had to move North, to be South for the winter.

Evie turns 6 years old with flair!

I don't think I've told you all of the party plans this year. She's currently infatuated with Angelina Ballerina. So, that's the theme. We had her party in one of the studios at her dance school. It was a combination ladies tea and ballet lesson. The invitations told the little girls to come prepared to dance, leotards welcome but not required.

Friday night, I set up the tables at one end of the classroom & covered them with pink tablecloths. I laid out the pink plates, flatware & cups. I draped pink & white streamers over the "dining area" and entrance to the room. Instead of cake, she's having cupcakes where the icing looks like pink & purple tutus, each will have an Angelina themed pick stuck in the top. I do still have to pick up all the pink & white balloons to place around the room. I made centerpieces from white, light pink & dark pink carnations for each table.

Saturday morning I made finger sandwiches, fruit & crudites'. Of course 6 year olds probably don't like cucumber or watercress sandwiches, so they have pb&j or cheese from which to choose. When I arrived to pick up the balloons she was only halfway finished with them. I'd arranged for them to be ready at 10:30. I finally walked out of the store at 11:10. It was so frustrating just standing there, waiting when I had so much to do.

The gift bags were all ready to go but thankfully not that big a deal. They have bags of candy with custom Evie & Angelina Ballerina packaging (too cute!), 18 Angelina Ballerina stickers, bendable ballerina toys, sidewalk chalk, bubble necklaces, big pink super bouncy balls, etc. We had a ballet slipper shaped pinata, but since we weren't sure where to secure it, we opted not to use it. Of course after the lesson, lunch, cake & gifts, the 2 hours was up and parents were arriving. She got some great gifts from her friends & family. She oohed & aahed for everything and remembered to tell them thank you without being reminded.

Evie was over the moon excited and I think I was too. I have the pictures from yesterday posted on flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mom2evie/sets/72157601066987447/

Where to begin...

So, it's been a while since I last posted anything here. Life has just been running at 100 mph and I can't seem to get the conductor to let me off this train. I've been putting in some really long work weeks that include fielding calls and running processes at 1, 3 and 5am some mornings.

My best friend from college visited over Memorial Day weekend. We spent the weekend alternating between busy-fun things and nothing. Both were fun enough. The nothing often involved margaritas, beer or vodka Collins on my patio while Evie played in the backyard. Evie wept most of Memorial Day when Kandi had to fly home. The saving grace is that we're planning a trip to Disney together in September. I'd read about this great deal where rates were low and the dining plan was free. We booked the reservation and have now all booked our plane tickets as well. Guess that means we're really going. It's going to be a great, great time. I got reservations for lunch at Cinderella's castle, breakfast at the Crystal Palace, Dinner at Teppanyaki in Japan, Wolfgang Puck's Bistro in Downtown Disney and a surprise for Friday night. I'm sure Kandi is dying to know what it is, but I'm not silly enough to put it in my blog.

Kevin's band concert was a week and a half ago, so that stressed has passed. His concert band did a really good job. I really like the march they did and I hate marches. Specifically anything by Sousa, but Kevin, being a proud Jacksonville State University Marching Southerner Alumni wouldn't play Sousa.... would he? At least he didn't this year. Evie was better behaved than normal. Maybe that's getting better with age? I'm not holding my breath. She looked beautiful as always. You'll find pics at Yahoo!

Last week was the class picnic and field day at Evie's elementary school. On Wednesday, the picnic was held indoors to "keep the bugs off of me". At least that was Evie's explanation. I came by to help the teacher and the classroom had food on every flat surface: chips, pizza, doughnuts, cupcakes, candy goodie bags, pb crackers, fruit & veggie trays, soda, and juice. After they'd committed one of the seven deadly sins (gluttony), we headed outside. They played with all sorts of outside games: Frisbees, balls, badminton, wiffle balls, etc. They whacked a pinata and trust me when I tell you that the girls seemed to have some frustrations to work through with that aluminum baseball bat. They'd have made Tony Soprano proud. We ended the day with a big water balloon fight. I burst balloons on Evie's head & then upon request on the heads of several of her friends. Of course, I then got nailed right in the back by a girl named Gabrielle. Field day was Thursday. They ran three-legged races, potato sack races, kicked soccer balls played with the parachute we all loved in gym class as children and a variety of other fun activities. The best thing is they were racing each other or other classes. No one got upset when you weren't fast enough. They just did it for fun and all the kids cheered for every one. I'm not one of those parents that doesn't think you should keep score in a baseball game or that 3 outs doesn't mean anything because everybody gets a chance to bat. I just really loved the way this was run, fun for even the clumsiest of children. I'll be loading up pictures & videos soon.

We received the results of her PALS testing and she did excellent, of course. How Mrs. Gray got her to sit down and stay focused to do it is beyond me.

I've spent most of the last 3 days working on costumes & props for the dance studio. The recital is coming up the third weekend in June and each year, I donate a bulk of my time to it. Saturday was costume picture day. Evie looked adorable in her white stiff tutu for ballet and her pink panther costume for her tap class. I should have those scanned in soon enough.

Some new pics are in the 5.5 Years Old album at http://photos.yahoo.com/riebie

She sings... she dances

Evie's Spring choral concert was last night. Man, you gotta love 50 kindergarten students singing together. It melts your heart. You can see a few videos of Evie on YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=szVFRXICmDo She’s the second child in from the girl in the pink dress, front row. You can’t see her really well, but it’s too cute. The soloist is her best friend Victoria.

There’s another video on my list where she’s in the front, holding the “fake salad”. Did you bring that salad? Yes, I brought the salad! www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfQikgtk4KU

And my personal favorite, Evie just jamming and being Evie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSGUElEEfo4 Please note that she's actually dancing to music that none of us can hear. The sound track was added later.

Spread this number 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
This number is incredibly expensive. Or at least it could be fot http://www.digg.com
It’s the HD DVD processing key that allows people to watch HD DVD content. With it you can watch HD content and decrypt it from it’s media, even though ‘The Industry’ doesn’t want you to. Oh, and apparently it’s copyrighted so under the DMCA my posting it here is illegal etc etc.

Digg.com is a web 2.0 site depending on users to act as contributors and editors. They are being sued by an anti-piracy group for posting this number, discovered by a hacker, as part of a story on their website. Originally, they took it down upon receiving a cease and desist letter but put it back up after protests from contributors. Company founder Kevin Rose said in an online statement, "You'd rather see Digg do down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won't delete stores or comments containing code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be."

Take The Long Way Home

This past Friday since I was working from home, I had lunch with Kevin. We discussed picking Evie up right after school instead of letting her go to after care. Kevin said that he'd intended to do that anyway, so I called the school to make arrangements. After Care is in the cafeteria but so is Parent Pick Up. The walkers & riders are the first students dismissed from class, then bus kids, then finally aftercare. If I didn't call ahead, Kevin would be standing in the cafeteria for 15-20 minutes longer than necessary. I speak to Mrs. Dennis, the school secretary. Now, I'm positive I said "Please send Evie with the walkers & riders instead of aftercare." I'm less sure that I added "because her father will be picking her up right after school." (chance 1)

Kevin arrives at 3:20 in the cafeteria just as the bottom falls out of the sky. A squall line of thunder storms rolled across us dropping almost an inch of rain in about 30 minutes. He calls me from the cafeteria to bring he & Evie umbrellas. While he's on the phone with me, the first wave of kids enters the cafeteria. Kevin tells me that Evie isn't among them. No big deal, I tell him, Mrs. Gray must not have gotten the message and she'll be in with the after-care kids. I hang up, finally locate umbrellas & rain coats and head out of the house. Just as I'm pulling into the school, Kevin calls me back. Evie isn't with the after care kids either. He heads to her class room. Now, I'm assuming something has held her up in the classroom but I was wrong. Evie isn't with Mrs. Gray either.

I come into the school and speak to both to the teacher in charge of parent-pick up and the woman in charge of after care: neither have seen Evie. I check the girls bathroom and a couple of her friends that I see in the hallway: no Evie. It's now been easily 20+ minutes since school first dismissed. I'm still assuming Evie is somewhere inside the school, maybe the library or an older kid distracted her and she's talking in the hall. I haven't panicked or even gotten upset yet, but it's getting closer to that with each passing minute. Finally, I see Mrs. Gray emerge from the office and she says, "We found her." Granted, I'm wondering why I don't see Evie with her but okay. She tells me that a parent just called to let the school know that she has an extra child at her house.

See, my message to the office wasn't quite clear. Walkers & Riders is what they were called at my school, I guess. At Langley Elementary, they're two distinct groups. Walkers go together out one end of the school and the "riders" are called Parent Pick Ups. They leave from the opposite end, the cafeteria. The school principal had spoken to Mrs. Gray over the intercom telling her that Evie would be a walker today. (chance 2) Now, when it came time to leave, Evie understood what we wanted. She got in the parent pick up line. Mrs. Gray was just following instructions when she corrected Evie and told her that she should be in the walker line. (chance 3) Why my daughter chose 3:20pm on April 27th to start obeying her teacher without resistance, I'll never know. Now, Evie could have said, "Walk where?" but she didn't. She's only 5 years old, after all.

A teachers assistant walks to each classroom, collecting the Walkers in a group to escort them out of the school. This woman asks Evie, "Are you supposed to be a walker today, Evie?" Evie replies for reasons I'll never know, but she's still five years old, "I'm going home with Jorie." (chance 4). I'm sure that was something she & Jorie were giggling about in line, that Evie would just walk to her friends house, so that's the answer Evie gave her. She could have told the lady that she didn't know where she was walking to, but she didn't: still 5. This teacher's asst. and another lead the kids out of the school and a couple of hundred yards through a deluge to the road. She's soaking wet in a sleeveless dress, big backpack and espadrille sandals that now weight 5 pounds from all the water they've absorbed. She's afraid to cross this big street, having never done it before and not knowing where she's supposed to go. She's apparently thinking to herself that Mommy & Daddy want her to walk home. Since she's afraid, another teacher's assistant carries her across this three lane road and deposits her on the sidewalk. (chance 5) The woman could have asked why she was scared or Evie could have told her that she didn't know where to go. Neither does that, so Evie just starts walking along with the other kids. They walk into their subdivision and all head to their houses. We are incredibly lucky that one little girl, a couple of years older than Evie notices her or speaks to her and then takes Evie home with her. The grandmother calls the school to let them know she has an extra child & she's bringing her back to the school.

We joke with her teacher & the teachers assistants about how of course this would happen to Evie, or why she picked now to start following instructions. They've all stayed right with us while we were waiting for her. I think they were as concerned as we were. Then I see them, walking up the sidewalk so we head out to meet them. The only other time my daughter has looked so tiny, helpless & pale to me was coming out of anesthesia when she had her adenoids taken out. She gave us both big hugs, told us she was scared and asked if we could drive her home.... she was tired of walking she tells us. It didn't really hit Kevin & I until later how horribly this could have turned out. She ended up at a house easily over 1/2 mile away from the school door she first exited.

What if this little girl hadn't taken Evie home? How long would she have wandered that neighborhood while we stood at the school? What if someone else had noticed and picked her up? What if she had stepped out into the street & been hit by a car? All the chances everyone involved had where this could have been avoided and we all missed them. I should have used the phrase, "parent pick-up" when talking the the secretary. She could have asked me, "Walkers OR riders?" and explained they were two different things. Teachers or assistants could have followed up because it was obvious (in hindsight) that Evie didn't think she should walk. None of us did that and it turned out alright in the end.

We're going to keep an eye on her over the next week or so. We didn't have much time to talk to her last night because she'd had a scheduled sleep-over with her friend Erika. I want to make sure she doesn't have lingering fear or trauma because of this. But knowing Evie, she'll think it was an adventure and all will be fine. I'm heading out now to pick her up from Erika's. I can't wait to give her another hug.

Tragedy at Virginia Tech

33 people died on the campus of Virginia Tech this Monday. Only one of them made the choice for himself. We watched the news, waiting to hear and hoping that none of my husband's former students were among the dead. None were his students, but it still breaks your heart. Then those who weren't there start questioning the character and bravery of those that were. John Derbyshire http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzllOTU0MDUzY2NhZDE2YmViYmRiNmE5ZjM1OWQxYTU= and Nathaneal Blake http://www.humanevents.com/rightangle/index.php?id=22093&title=where_were_the_men seem to think that they've have been brave enough to tackle this armed angry man and save countless lives. I say lock them both in a room with me, give me two semi-automatic hand guns with full clips and we'll see about that.

One of the students that died at Virginia Tech was from Hampton, VA. She and her family lived 3 doors down from our old house. We lived there for 5 years and I'd been in that house many, many times before her family bought it.

I didn't know her and I didn't know her family. I think I'm probably lucky in that regard. It's just strange, ships passing in the night... it's odd how closely we pass in our orbit to people but never know they exist until something like this happens.If it hadn't really hit me before, it's landed like a ton of bricks now.

We did research projects on mass shootings in public places in grad school. Some of the ground work we laid down later became part of published works and graduate thesis. For a while, we'd all find ourselves thinking, as we shopped or ate dinner, how easily we could be picked off by some angry ex-employee. We had to distance ourselves from the humanity of the victims as we read about case after case. I'm ashamed to say that after a while they were just "3 killed in shopping mall" instead of mothers, fathers, daughters & sons of someone.

In the Virginia Tech case, I haven't been able to compartmentalize it in the least. I've been rocked back on my heels by the randomness & senseless nature of it all. Maybe its because I'm now a mother of a school age daughter. I've seen how easy it would be to walk right in to her school, into her classroom or cafeteria. Kevin teaches at a local high school. His class room is the first door as you enter the school from the student parking lot. Kids are forever coming and going. They prop the door open because it stays locked during the day, totally negating the safety net the administration has tried to cast. His band room and the chorus room are separated from the rest of the school by both the cafeteria and the auditorium.We worry about how long it would take any one to notice or respond if there was trouble at his end.

Say a prayer today for the families of those lost and for the futures of those that survived, desperately leaping from a classroom window or pushing on a doorway to keep the gun man outside. I don't envy them their dreams in sleep for years to come.