she is probably wondering why she keeps seeing my grubby thieving hand reaching up over her fence…

my sister told me there was an episode of i love lucy that involved stealing from over the neighbor’s fence. well, i think i channeled that yesterday.
it was kind of my fault for trying to teach them colors.
see the pink flowers and the bright orange fruit?
ihave?
no, say pink! orange and PINK!
ihave.
then they started with the toddler fingers pointing at the oranges and flowers.
uh oh.
oh yes, preeety…now look, ball!, (in my best “let’s acknowledge and then deflect” voice.)
then came the toddler demands.
i have. i have. i have. I HAVE.
i tried to explain the morality of the situation. that was met by screaming.
I HAVE! (in her best “this is not going to end well for anyone” voice.)
so naturally, i reached up and grabbed the flower.
the fence is tall. i had to jump. a few times. the flower, like the orange her brother wanted, did not come off. there was a lot of waving of branches, but the flower stayed securely attached. at this point i was screwed. the kid knew i had caved and her screams and my tugging on the tree were as close to a burgler alarm as you can get in the backyard. finally the flower came free. the orange took a few more yanks. the neighbor either ignored me or was completely unaware.
lucy would have been proud.



we took the orange right off the neighbor’s branch that overhangs our backyard. i am sure she would not mind and the adventure of it all made it even sweeter.
i am going to like this warmer weather. so are the twins.
photo details: taken with an old love, the nikkor 60mm f/2.8 D micro on my d3. all it took was two frames and i was ready to run in slow motion on the beach at sunset into the lens’ waiting arms.
so when i was 12 or so, i loved the movie, war games. loved it.
and it was so absolutely absurd and unbelievable that you could play games with strangers on a computer somewhere else in the world.
totally science fiction.
that was only 21 years before gemma was born.

last night, like most nights, gemma played math games online. she played against kids in other places in the world. it is normal.
no big deal.
totally mainstream.
yet, it is mind blowing when i stop to think about it. what is the world going to look like in another (mere) 21 years?
cause look at what i can do.
no hands!

i have been taking pole dancing fitness classes for 6 months now, and i love it. i feel stronger than i have in my life and i have met some amazing and powerful women. not to mention, the class is a blast. it may be hard to get motivated to leave the house at 8:30pm after all are fed and the kids are sleeping. usually, i just want to get into jammies and collapse on the couch with my laptop, husband and tv. i have to remind myself that i have not been anything but inspired as soon as i get to class.
so out the door i go and challenge myself to do things that look impossible. like hanging upside down with no hands, for one.
i never thought i would ever do anything with a pole. really. poles are only for strippers (or firemen), right? wrong. very wrong.
pole dancing is the little secret that i carry around behind my smile. it counteracts all those preconceived notions that go along with the title (that i proudly wear) of an almost 40 year old mom of 3.
i finally remembered to ask someone to take a quick photo tonight. can’t wait to see what i never thought i could do next.
what about you?
warning: the twins pick out their own clothes now. my apologies to your eyeballs.
impromptu dance parties. that is what keeps us sane during the day with 2 year old twins at home. usually (like i said in the last post) it is a request for “the nienies” which is what they call the chipmunks (and i have no idea why.) now, it was funny for the first few times to me, the next couple (hundred) for gemma still, but the twins have YET to tire of it. we listen to a lot of my favorite music, but sometimes it is nice to pop in something just for the kids. since the gleam has worn off the actual chipmunks cd from over-play, we were THRILLED to find some new music that the twins would dig and i could not only stand, but actually like!

released yesterday and already charting on itunes, you can check out some snipits of the songs and click on the link to buy the album right on dofunstuff.net with 100% of the profits going to a great cause. if you have ears and kids, you will love this album.
sesame ellis’ kids approve.