Genevieve and Violins, not Violence

I shall write more about my child, as I seemed to have lost my own identity.

Just kidding.

Kind of.

There has not been a lot of personal Betsy excitement recently, but life with G continues to be entertaining.

She had her 5 year checkup and she was not short on drama-

Being the stellar mother that I am, I had promised her that she would not receive any shots at this appointment.

Why did I make such a ludicrous promise?

I have no idea.

I do not make a habit of promising things that I have no knowledge of, but for some reason in my mind it made perfect sense that this appointment would be shot-free.

I was wrong.

Drama!

She did handle it well and I learned a valuable lesson.

Don't talk about something I know nothing about.  I'll probably forget that lesson in 10 minutes.

We had a family date a few weeks ago to see the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in concert.

It catered to children and we crafted a fish to use during the performance.  

Trinity took his ladies for our first experience at Fogo de Chao, the Brazilian Steakhouse.

They should just call it, "Bring da Meats."

We discovered our child is a serious carnivore.

She continuously flipped her "overeating pass" to green so the waiters would bring her more meat.

Her father was in heaven and I was appalled as I stuck with the salad bar and various cheeses.

Exhibit A: my precious girl gnawing on some sort of meaty bone like she's a rabid dog.

Not unlike her father, she finally stopped by groaning, clutching her stomach and exclaiming, "oooooh, my meat belly!"

For shame.

We finally accomplished our annual tradition of her birthday picture at the IMA. 

Genevieve and I started taking violin lesson at the Indianapolis Suzuki Academy in August.  I say I am taking lessons as well because the Suzuki method is rooted in serious parental involvement.  Now I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but I'm putting forth my best efforts in hopes that my child will be performing on a cruise ship in the Bahamas in 20 years and her father and I can travel on the Carnival Cruise line for free.  

I kid.

She loves it and these people are serious!

She attends a private and a group lesson weekly.  I fastidiously take notes and try not to look like a rhythmically challenged doofus.

Her teacher is very focused on the correct posture, so she practiced her posture using a cake box with a ruler attached for 2 months.  

This really isn't a joke.

It was adorable.

Last week Miss Rachel told her she was ready for an actual violin.  

She sized her after her lesson and instructed me to get a 1/10 size violin, which I added to my notes.

It is approximately the size of the violin that Chester Cricket would play if he didn't already have his amazing cricket legs.  If I confused you, go read the classic children's tale, The Cricket in Times Square.

You're welcome.

We celebrated that her (our) daily practice with a cake box violin had paid off with dinner at The Cake Bakeshop.  

We went on November 1st, so it was the first day with their Christmas decor all aglow.

We had the place to ourselves and it was magical!  

G made out with the mechanical reindeer.

On Saturday morning we trekked to Indianapolis Violins to get her instrument.

I loved the owner/violin maker/Geppetto.

He was so kind and explained the proper care of G's delicate violin.  

He actually makes the instruments here, and it was like stepping back in time.

I told T I felt like we were in an episode of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood from 1972.

I was Lady Evelyn.

He was Mr. McFeely.

I am also totally normal.

She proudly took to the streets of Indianapolis to panhandle with an open violin case.

I think I've hit my quota of sarcasm for today.  I'll stop.

She was so proud!

We practiced her posture with the real thing!

That evening Trinity and G attended the Rootin' Tootin' Hoedown Father Daughter Dance at St. Jude.  

They had a ball and so did I.

I hung with my friends Will Truman, Grace Adler, Karen Walker, Beverly Lesley and Woodchuck Cider.  Woodchuck is my favorite.  

Wellie's Birthday visit

We wrapped up our Pennsylvania road trip with a 2 night visit to Wellie.  We blew in the day after her birthday, so we brought the party!

G was disappointed that we couldn't put 94 candles on the cake.  

Wellie was decked out for Halloween, including balloons and spookies.  

I glittered hair to keep things festive.  

Wellie loved her new unicorn pink hair.  

G and Wellie are two peas in a pod.  They play so well together.  Wellie could be a 5 year old or Genevieve could be 94.  

The next day we played games.  

The angle of this picture makes me look like a circus sideshow act.  

G trick or treated with all of us in Wellie's living room.  Rose got all of the candy and toys for her.  

The girls spent a lot of time outdoors too.

They crafted and colored quite a bit.  

We do love our precious Wellie!

Pittsburgh 2017

Woo hoo!

We know how to party!

For fall break this year, we said "no go" to California and Florida.

G turned two in San Diego and we visited Disneyland, and then we went to Florida when she was 3 for fall break.  Last year we partied it up in Newport Beach and Anaheim on fall break.

This year we didn't pull any punches.

We charged right to the Steel City.

Nothing says sun and glamour like Pittsburgh.

Now all jokes aside, T had a conference the first week in Pittsburgh, so the ladies decided to tag along and see all that PA had to offer.  Wellie lives less than two hours from there, so we embarked for a week in the grand state of Pennsylvania.

We made a pit stop at Jeni's Ice Cream and the Lego store in Columbus, Ohio.

I don't love ice cream, but I do love Jeni's.  I had dark chocolate, T had some horrible expresso flavor, and G had vanilla.

We stayed at the William Penn hotel downtown.  It is old and traditionally pretty.  G told us she wanted to pretend she lived there like Eloise at the Plaza.

On Tuesday morning we visited the Heinz History Center and there was a lot to see.  

I love a good museum, and G does too.  

My grandmother is originally from McKeesport, PA, so Bob has many childhood memories of visiting Pittsburgh.

He was excited when I sent a picture of G in this old Kennywood racer car.

Howdy Doody welcomed her aboard.  

One of my favorite exhibits was the history of Pittsburgh.  We learned about canaries in coal mines and just how dangerous that industry was.  Again, my Polish ancestors were coal miners.  Just call me Sissy Spacek, as I'm the coal miner's great-granddaughter.

They had a typical home from the 50s, and G took a picture.

It reminded me of my grandparents' home in Anderson, Indiana.

There was a Mr. Rogers' exhibit as well.  Fred Rogers was such a gem.  

G watches Daniel Tiger on PBS and she has watched a few episodes of Mr. Rogers.  

I'm a blurry giant next to the tree!

G said, "why do you like this old man so much?  He just changes his shoes!"

Shut it, kid, before I give you the backhand.

He defined my childhood!

Her little floral belt was all cute when I tied it like an empire waist.

After tromping through the museum it slid down and she kind of looked like a tiny Rasputin.

If I have not mentioned this before, G and her father get Joe Pesci hangry at the most inopportune times.  I packed granola bars in my purse for the likelihood of a hunger meltdown, which occurred.

We relished the Charlie Tuna exhibit.

Get it?  Relished?  Like pickle relish in tuna salad?

That was another original Betsy pun.

I tried to explain to my child that tuna fish was a childhood staple.  It's a wonder we didn't die of mercury poisoning, as Jane served it so often we probably ingested more on a weekly basis than if we had crushed up antique thermometers and ingested their contents.  

G lost her marbles after 2 hours in the history center.  She took the health challenge that was offered and we climbed 6 flights of stairs rather than the elevator.  By the time we left she was claiming she was unable to walk!

Total meltdown in the elevator of the hotel:  

On Wednesday we dolled up for tea at the hotel.  

I don't enjoy traditional tea, so I had a champagne cocktail instead.  The waiter brought G her own sparkly ginger ale.  

That evening we took our working man to a restaurant called Meat and Potatoes.  

It lived up to its name.

Now there's nothing sexier than watching your man consume a whole side of beef.

Oh wait, there is.

Not watching this spectacle.

I had a salad and G had macaroni and cheese.

On Thursday it rained.

Genevieve was ready.

We ate lunch at S&D Polish deli.

Genevieve had pierogis, T had kielbasa, and I had golabki.

Again, I had not eaten food like that since I was probably around 6 when my grandma made it.

G had a hilarious encounter at the National Aviary.

I like birds, but this was crazy.

They were everywhere.  Flying around your head.  I nearly shat myself a few times.  

Does this not look like a damn Muppet?

It was very real, let me assure you.  

We enjoyed lunch on Thursday at The Commoner restaurant.  It was good and if I was cool I would redo my kitchen in marble, brass, and lacquered green.  

We stopped at a fabulous spot called The Farmer's Daughter for flowers for Wellie, the birthday girl.  

On Friday we went to the Pointe park, where 3 rivers converge.  

We rode the Incline for views of the city.

Pittsburgh isn't exactly California, but it was fun and we learned a little bit!