Eliza for President, new instruments, art, and a serious sock problem

Eliza decided to run for president of the elementary school. 

She made posters with help from friends and family.

She wrote a great speech. She did a really excellent job presenting her speech in front of the whole school without even looking at her notes.

And she didn't win.

She was up against some pretty stiff competition. Ten people ran for president (only 4 for VP, 2 for Secretary and 2 for Historian - I suggested she might want to run in an area with less competition but this is a girl who knows what she wants and I respect that.) They got her name wrong on the ballot which probably didn't really help (it said "Eliza Harris" instead of "Eliza Loosli" because the lady making up the ballots knew an Eliza Harris from way back when and that stuck in her mind).

But she was a great sport about not winning. She was pretty sure she'd win and it really did hurt not to win. But she congratulated those who won and decided to apply to be on Year Book staff instead. And I promised to steal her away from school today to take her out for a special lunch - that always seems to make everything better.

Eliza's just experienced her first big life lesson on winning and loosing. And she's sailing through quite nicely.

In other news. The kids and I were shopping at Costco on Saturday and Ashton started jamming out with an electric guitar they had on display. He got the hugest smile I've seen in a long long time when he applied his guitar knowledge to that electric guitar and heard such pleasing results. He decided he wanted to use the money he's been saving towards the new Google Tablet to buy the guitar instead. It was really a great deal and came with the amp, strap, case, picks, DVD, everything. Since he's already attached to the old Droid phone he bought from his dad that he uses like an ipod touch and the Kindle Fire we've got and the computer, I was quite pleased for him to use his money for something that was his idea but that didn't involved another screen to suck him in. (I have a great video of him playing but I need Ashton to get home from school and show me how to put it up - check back later for that...)

While Ashton jammed out, I fell in love with the ukelele next to the guitar. It was beautiful, made of native Hawaiian wood with mother-of-pearl trim. It made a lovely sound when I strummed it. I've had this thing for ukele music for years now and I've been itching to bring music back into my life. I wanted it. I needed it. And I haven't bought anything fun and exciting just for me since - well, I can't even remember the last time...

The kids danced around in the aisle when I told them I was going to buy that ukelele.

I came home and taught myself some chords (thank you internet) while Ashton and the other kids rocked out with the new guitar. After several short practicing sessions, I can now play my favorite ukelele rendition of "Over the Rainbow" pretty decently. My fingers are sore but I'm happy to have something new to work on after essentially abandoning music for many many years after being brought up playing the violin and piano. Practicing something and getting better at something feels great (especially something like the ukelele which is relatively easy if you've got some music training already). I'll have the kids video me playing something when I get a bit better and I'll put it up on this blog.



Another fun thing we did last weekend was visit this amazing "Art in Bloom" exhibit at the art gallery down the street. They invited florists to create interpretations of award-winning paintings and it was fascinating to see what they came up with. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts did an "Art in Bloom" exhibit while I was at Wellesley College and my mom and I got to go to it one year when she was visiting. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. It was wonderful to have a similarly gorgeous and interesting exhibit go on right down the street from me and be able to experience it with my kids. As we looked at the art and flowers together, it made us notice details and look for themes and connections and really analyze the art in a new way. Yeah art!

And finally, something totally unrelated.

I really really really dislike socks (we try not to use the "H" word in our house).

After a summer of blissful non-sock wearing thanks to flip flops and sandals, we're back to socks and I'm not happy about it. I don't like how they're always looking their mates. I don't like how they always seem to be in short supply even when I seem to be constantly buying them and constantly doing laundry. I don't like how they always get left everywhere! I'm not sure why socks would need to be left in the car like this. Did they inexplicably need to take their socks off before heading into school or the house or what?