In Retrospect

Sometimes, it's only obvious that something is a bad idea after it's to late. Let me explain. Saturday night we went to a concert at KidsQuest. Tim Noah was performing. Now I LOVED Tim Noah as a kid and now that I'm older and have kids I still love him. His music is fantastic. It has all the right themes.

This was the only pic I could get from his website.
(He's won Emmy's! Impressive!)

His songs from my favorite CD In Search of the Wow Wow Wibble waggle wazzie Woodle Woo include:

Zoom
If I Only Knew
If I Was
The Monkey Song
Big Booger
Tears On My Toes
Little Miracles
Sunshiney Mornin’
Musty Moldy Melvin
Friends With A Song
Wow Wow Wibble Woggle Wazzie Woodle WOO
I Can Do Anything

When I was in first grade this CD came out and Tim Noah did a tour around our area. Now I thought that he was HUGE, a rock star. Just huge. I believe it was really the first concert I ever went to and it was great. I remember listening to my tape and jumping on my bed and singing, 

"Teacher, teacher, teacher can’t you see
That Big Booger’s pickin’ on me"

 

From his song Big Booger. I was picked on a lot when I was a kid so it really resonated with me. Now as an adult I listen to the lyrics from Sunshine Morning or If I Was and all I hear is positive reinforcement. The best one though is I Can Do Anything. I love it. I think it's so important for our kids and us to remember, we can do anything. 

 

We went to the concert and it was a great venu for it. KidsQuest is a children's museum that really appeals to toddlers. It has water tables, toys, sand boxes and a thing that swallows up scarves and blows them out again. I made sure Jason sat down in front and got us a good spot before the show. Tesla had about 15 minutes of playtime before the show and she was loving it. I kept telling her okay, see the guitar, Tim Noah is going to come out and sing to us, and we're going to sit and listen okay? And she'd say, "No, I want to play." Okay fine, but when he comes out we'll sit and listen. Okay??? OKAY?? Why oh why do I try to reason with a 2 year old. Two things I forgot to mention, one was that Tesla did not get a nap. She usually naps for 2-4 hours and that day she hadn't gotten one. She stayed in her room for quiet time, but didn't actually nap. The second thing was, that I was really excited about meeting Tim Noah and didn't know if we'd be able to or not, so I made Tesla a t-shirt to up our chances. I thought about having it say, "my imagination takes me high" which is a great lyric from his song Zoom. But then I thought that sounded a little drugy or anti-drugy, it was just confusing out of context. Instead I chose, "I Can Do Anything". 

 

 

 

This is where the in retrospect part comes into play. Tesla sure did prove that shirt. She was everywhere! EVERYWHERE. Now she's a super super friendly not shy kid as it is, so for her to talk to everyone and give them toys is not unusual, just with the shirt on it was pretty funny. At one point she is in a pit of stuffed animals and she is giving all the adults sitting around it a stuffed animal, and she fixates on this one guy, and keeps giving him stuff and touching his leg, and he's looking like, what does this kid want. She just wants to make friends and play. Several times people looked around for her parents. We were there just standing watching her, it's not like she was screaming on top of being friendly (which some kids were doing). Another time she was in the tree with a woman and her daughter and you could tell by her face that she was having a blast playing with them, and when she saw me she hid behind the mom, playing. It was pretty funny. Other kids were so shy they wouldn't look at Tim Noah or others if you looked at them they were terrified. But not T.  Perhaps her t-shirt, should have said, sometimes I can be timid. Just sometimes. Do you think putting the behavior you want on your kids t-shirt would do it?

So after the concert I wanted to get a picture of Tim Noah and Tesla together. This was the best that I could do.

Good shot, no? Well fine, how about me and Tim?

See that wasn't so bad.

We also bought his DVD, which is so good, and totally works today, even though it's over 20 years old. Jason and Tesla watched it yesterday while I sewed and he was really impressed. It's really a fun DVD and so cleverly done. Tim Noah also does a children's theater up in Snohomish, and I think we're going to have to go to it. It should be fun!

I've posted a bunch of links to Tim Noah's website. Just so you know, although I encourage you to get the CD and DVD for your kids, I have no vested interested in it, other than you also enjoying his music.

Portland Bound!

We're heading to Portland here soon for the purpose of fabric shopping! I read the blog by the store Bolt and have been wanting to go there, also there is Fabric Depot. But where else should I go for fabric and other sewing items? Any suggestions???

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Washington has so many beautiful views. I love going over to the Olympic Peninsula and wandering around the rain forest. I have to admit I love just driving up our road, with the beautiful giant trees hanging over. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is one of those events that is just stunning, and until you go, you just can't fully appreciate the millions of tulips lay out in front of you.

Earlier this week my mom and I went up with Tesla to see the Tulips. It's nice to go during the week. I'm not much of a crowds person so now that I'm a stay at home mom I prefer to do all these types of things on the weekday. When we first got up to Mt. Vernon which is inside Skagit Valley we went to Roozengaarde. Roozengaarde is a beautiful display garden. You can also pick up a catalog from them and as you walk around you can mark off the tulips you love and order them before you leave for the day. They then get mailed to you in the fall. Just amazing!

We didn't order any bulbs. I am still a bit bitter about the deer tearing the daffodils I planted straight out of the ground. My favorite tulips were a beautiful purple and white tulip by the name of Zurel, but I really loved all the multi-colored tulips.

Tesla had a wonderful time. Although we had to leave the display garden as soon as she got out of the stroller because she is very interested in picking up all the rocks and putting them in the stroller. I have been working on gentle touches with her and amazingly she did not hit any of the tulips and actually touched them softly.

As we walked around the tulip festivals we had to dodge quite a few puddles. It was very very muddy, fortunately we brought the jogging stroller, thanks to my sister, which has large wheels and holds Tesla up higher. I saw a little girl that was wearing a very cute light pink outfit from head to toe with a pretty little flower in her hair and she was completely covered in mud. I'm happy to be more practical then that and put Tesla in jeans. Although she didn't get dirty that day. Now yesterday, that's another story.

Firestation Tour

We went on a great tour of the Derry Firestation yesterday. The kids had so much fun meeting the firemen and sitting in the trucks. Most of them were a bit young for it, but you know a free activity is totally worth going to no matter what! Here's a couple of pictures of Tesla at the firestation. I should have one more coming from another friend who took pictures. When you don't have a camera patience in getting the pictures is something you have to learn.