My name is Robyn and I've known the McKinneys from the time they moved next door in Modesto, when we were little girls and would spend summer nights playing games like horse, memory on the trampoline, radio theater, british bulldog, sardines, little orphan Annie, and try-to-hit-the-street-lamp-with-a-rubber-ball. Actually, come to think of it, we weren't all that little. And did we ever actually hit the street lamp, Kirsten? I seem to recall that we had to hit the lamp off a bounce, and the circumstances where we did manage to hit it weren't in accordance with the rules of the game. Ah, technicalities. We would also have acrobatic stand-offs with the drug-dealing Filipino neighbors across the street. Katy always dazzled them with her gymnastic skills and they would request (i.e. shouted from their lawn) for Katy to "do da flip!" which meant a roundoff back handspring (or several in a row, talented as she was). Good times.
I live now with my husband and our three daughters. I am a cellist and teach about ten students from my home. My husband is also a musician. We love going to the beach. I love to sew, read, bake bread, sing, watch movies, swim, and anything else that will give me an excuse to not do the dishes. It was nice of Katy to invite me to this blog and I've already enjoyed reading the posts from all you incredible supermommies.
17 comments:
We're excited to have you on the blog. You forgot about how we pretended to be famous gymnasts and have vaulting competitions of the top bunk. Good times.
Kim Zmeskal and Shannon Miller. Oh, I remember! And Kirsten was the judge because her wrists didn't bend that way, or something. I believe we regularly got perfect 10.0 scores on the vault. Katy, we should have been gymnasts for real with scores like that!
Geez... where was I during all these athletic adventures? I'm glad to know that my girls (and their shared best friend) were participating in wholesome, imaginative activities. Nothing wrong with pretend and make believe! It beats me and Cheryl (my high school best friend) playing "General Hospital." Yes girls... as in the famous soap opera. Yes again... I was in high school! I would tell you other make believe stories we acted out, but Katy and Kirsten would be mortified!
It's good to have you in the group, Robyn! I post comments every once in awhile, but mostly I just read all the amazing things these young women are doing!
P.S. Robyn... you're hilarious!
What about making the weeds from the side yard into spinach?? And mom you don't remember cause we did all the crazy stuff at Robyn's house. I don't think you would've let us- or TAUGHT us how to- make a bonfire in the back yard so huge it scorched the overhang. Wow, that seems like a long time ago.
I'm glad you're hear, Rob, I like it when we keep in touch.
Gosh....it sounds like you had loads of fun together. I'm impressed! Welcome to the group Robyn!
Well, in my mind, the weeds were part of the little orphan Annie game. Poor orphans that we were, it was the only thing we could find to eat. =) And the best part of the whole bonfire bit was what my mom's reaction. Remember? She knocked on the window and said, "It's too big..." I still laugh about that.
Welcome Robyn! I play the cello too. Well, I used to. Aside from a couple times playing at church and funerals, I haven't kept it up since high school. :( I miss it. So it is inspiring to see another young mom of three who makes time to keep up on it. I think I'll go tune mine up and see what I can do.
Yay! A fellow cellist! Thanks for the kind words. I'm really lucky to have a husband who supports my cello "career" like he does. He's always referring students to me and buying me new music (I got this really great unpublished Telemann sonata for my birthday that's kicking my butt) and watching the kids for me during my lessons. I think he feels bad for asking me to marry him instead of moving away for my masters, so he tries to make up for it. I'd rather be doing what I'm doing now, than being a full-time musician. My desires for being a wife and mom came first and I knew my cello would have to take a backseat for just a little while. Being a mom is eternally more important.
Amen.
Robyn, welcome and that is a really great picture of you. It is really amazing that you can have three kids and still pursue your own talents and interests. You should celebrate by making a bonfire.
I too loved to play with fire. My neighbor and I used to light a candle and spray it with hairspray or perfume to create a ball of fire. Another time we wrote something in gasoline on the road and lit it and then a car drove over it (we didn't know it was coming). This same friend also would experiment with lighter fluid (we didn't know that it leaves a flamable trail from the can to wherever you squirt it). I also set a toaster oven on fire 5 times with vegan-rella, vegan cheese, (we actually bought and ruined 8 toaster ovens in total) and my stepmom always said I would burn the house down. It is completely ironic that it was she that set the kitchen on fire with a pot of oil left on high on the stove and left the house. She came back to a burn out kitchen, but somehow the house was still intact. Ahh . . . pyromemories.
Tara, you would have loved hanging out with me and Kirsten in our journalism class in high school. There were bottles after bottles of rubber cement at our disposal. I pretty much don't remember a thing about that class other than the multiple ways we lit things on fire with rubber cement. Flaming rubber cement balls? Check. Flaming rubber cement words on the table? Check. Decorative flaming rubber cement polka dots? Check. Attentive teacher? Not to be found. It was a good combination of circumstances.
Wow! I can't believe I never tried flaming rubber cement. How much more fulfilling my teenagehood could have been if only I had known.
Fire. What wonderful memories. We lit everything on fire huh? It was awesome.
Yes, many things were sacrificed to our fire fascination. And the things didn't end up on fire were probably tie-dyed instead. I don't think I had any white articles of clothing growing up. It was all hippified.
Well when one rit box makes so much dye, what do they expect?
Stuff I tie-dyed: scrunchi (remember those?), 6 shirts, underwear (for me AND my fiancee, he wears it to play sports, ok?), socks, long johns and a really ugly hat made out of a long john pant leg.
Speaking of tie-dye, I bought a kit from Wal Mart and am going to have a tie-dye party this summer for my kids and their friends. The kit says it can accomodate 20 adult size shirts so I think I will have everyone wear play clothes and bring a white item to tie-dye. I think I want to make a casual skirt for myself this time.
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