Gray

I don't wanna do school.

Math is boring.

Language is dull.

AWANA is tedious.

I've already been through beginning reading and math twice before.

The toddler isn't napping.

The four-year-old is whining. (And she's a champion whiner.)

It will be a battle to get the bathroom cleaned up and the laundry put away. Let's not even mention loading the dishwasher, which I didn't even get done yesterday.

But we'll soldier through and get it done!

And then...

Nobody goes anywhere because we homeschool, so we're still all stuck in the house together because it's a gray and rainy day.

It's one of those days. Is it Christmas yet?

-- SJ

A Parody to Launch Your Week

We saw HP7-1 this weekend. (Please write the term in expanded form: "Harry Potter #7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.") I haven't been excited about the HP movies, but this one was good. Probably because it streamlined the first part of the seventh book, which has its high points but tends to drag.

But I mention the movie here just so I can link to a "preview" that ran before the movie. It's a spoof spinoff, and I laugh every time I watch it. I don't think you have to be "in the HP know" to like it... but I wouldn't know because I AM in the know, if you know what I mean, you know?

My favorite line is the last one: "Sometimes the best defense against the Dark Arts is caring."

Dangerous Wands

-- SJ

Eight Years of Stuart

2002
Arrival by c-section, looking very small, red, and serious. It was a misleading first impression.

2003
"Ba!" By which he meant "bottle," "ball," "birds," and "bear."

2004
Favorite color: Blue
"Stuart, what color is this?"
"Boo."
"No, it's red. What color is this?"
"Boo."
"No, this is yellow. What color is this?"
"Boo."
"Yes! Very good!"

2005
He'd had a very long day yesterday and was up bright and early this morning. He threw a fit when Daddy couldn't understand that "chocowon" meant "chocolate one" which meant "chocolate graham cracker. Please."

2006
"Mama, I love you, especially Daddy."

2007
"I'm an Indian Cyclops!" So much for historical accuracy. He turned to Addie. "Hey, let's go hunt some buffalo. I want some new clothes."

2008
Stuart has developed a taste for trash-talking. Fortunately he doesn't have access to any real insults, so he makes them up. He and Daphne play the Trash Talk Echo Game: "You cuckoo bird!" "You cook bird." "You lamp smasher!" "You lamp mash." "You magnet cranker!" "You magmumble ker!" Yesterday he was calling her "You Monopoly butt!" but he got in trouble for that.

2009
"Where do Biblical eggs get together? At the syn-eggnog."

2010
Stuart, when I teasingly offered him a piece of mushroom-olive pizza: "No thanks. I really don't care for plants on my pizza."

He makes us laugh, dazzles us with his mental agility, and whatsoever he does, he does with all his heart. Happy birthday to Stuart!

Pride and Prejudice

I just rewatched Pride & Prejudice. For dedicated Austen fans, that sentence does not contain enough information. Which P&P are we talking about? The old BBC Masterpiece Theatre one? The A&E six-hour one? Or the new Keira Knightly one? Actually lots of dedicated Austen fans don't really want to credit the last one, so it's with apologies that I admit that, yes, it was the Keira Knightly one.

I'm predisposed toward Keira. If not to actually like her acting, to smile indulgently at her. To begin with, the first movie I saw her in was Bend It Like Beckham, and I liked that whole movie. Secondly, she looks like my niece Courtney -- strikingly like Courtney -- so I feel warm family feelings when I watch her. So I'm more forgiving of Keira than some of my fellow Austen fans.

But it was hard to be forgiving enough for this version of the movie.

Let me clarify that I've seen it three times. The first two times I liked it. In fact, there was a lot to like this time, too. I still think it's a decent adaptation of the story for modern moviegoers. Of course it doesn't touch the A&E version, but it also doesn't take most of a day to watch. Following are my impressions, good and ill (and if you're reading this with any attention I'm assuming you know the story well enough not to need explanations or worry about spoilers):

Good: They condensed the story neatly. The best was where Darcy explained Wickham and Georgiana -- Wickham ingratiated himself into Georgiana's affections, then found out he wouldn't be able to touch her thirty thousand pounds even if he married her, so he deserted her. Slightly modified from the original, but serves its purpose.

Bad: Wickham? Who's he? Oh, right, that guy who gets like four minutes of screen time at the beginning and then shows up at the end. Surely they could have fit more Wickham in.

Good: I like this Darcy, even if he does come off as Colin Firth's little brother.

Bad: Fine eyes. I understand they had to cut out a lot for this adaptation, but did they have to drop the Fine Eyes?

Good: They trimmed extraneous characters (Bingley's other sister, Mrs. Bennet's sister in Meryton).

Bad: They kept in Colonel Fitzwilliam for the sole reason of having him tell Lizzie about how Mr. Darcy "rescued" Bingley from Jane. Granted, that's pretty much his function in the book too, but at least there's room in the book to flesh him out a little more.

Bad: This revelation about Jane and Bingley came during a church service, so they whispered the whole darn thing. I hate whispered dialogue.

Good: Charlotte explaining to Lizzie (but really to the audience) why she accepted Mr. Collins.

Bad: Charlotte ending with, "Don't judge me, Lizzie! Don't judge me!"

Good: Lady Catherine.

Bad: Lady Catherine rousting the family out at night? Please.

Good: Sorry. Apologies. I know. But I liked Darcy's first proposal in the rainstorm. I liked how the dialogue included a lot of what he actually wrote in the letter afterward. Lizzie shouted too much., though.

Meh: Darcy's second proposal.

Bad: Bubbly, precious Georgiana Darcy.

Bad: Keira's Lizzie was supposed to be spirited and independent. But she just came off as a snarky teenager. It was hard to relax and enjoy the scenes because I was always on edge, waiting for Keira to open her mouth and let something snide fall out. Austen herself could outdo any modern teenager for snark, but her characters generally didn't indulge.

One constant annoyance was the time spent -- dare I say wasted? -- on artsy ambiance. If Lizzie had spent less time gazing at herself in mirrors... or gazing out over valleys... or gazing at nude sculptures at Pemberly... there would have been room for Fine Eyes and Wickham.

Overall, there are too many jarring moments for me to lose myself in the story. But it still gets me in a romantic mood at the end.

Maybe that's why Darren bought it for me.

-- SJ

The Cuteness of Pip #3

I thought, "I'll post something on the blog that isn't related to my children." And then Pip did this the other night at supper, so the non-child-post will have to wait.



-- SJ

People, Parties, and Places

My friend Melissa dropped in for a visit last weekend. We've been friends since fourth grade, and it always feels good to be with someone who knows, without explanation, that I've hated Doritos since middle school. Usually in situations like these, a mother dreads that the old friend will talk too much about their wild youth. In our case, we were dorks who never did anything particularly shocking. Makes life easier as a parent.

**
We held our Ninth Annual All Saints' Day Party on Saturday. Our ninth, wow. For past parties, we've asked guests to bring a food related to a certain saint, and provided cards for them to write it down. We forgot the cards this year. Rest assured that the food was good, varied, and connected to the saints by only the most tenuous threads.

One of the fun parts of this annual event is the ever-changing guest list. We had a great turnout this year, many of them newcomers. On the other hand, Leah Garber and Charlessa (Gates) McConnell have come nearly every year.

Next year is our tenth. Maybe all our old friends can return, along with our new ones. We'll call it The Homecoming. On second thought, considering that we're talking about saints and martyrs, a party called The Homecoming rings a little ominous.

As a final note, I realized when planning this party that All Saints' Day Party can be shortened to ASDP -- our children's initials. It's made me laugh all month.

**
Stuart missed the dinosaur craze (about age 4 through 6) the first time around; he was too interested in mythological beasts then. Well, now he's caught it. So today we took the grand adventure of going into Washington D.C. to see the dinosaur bones in the Museum of Natural History. We've been saying for years (nine and a half, to be exact) that we can't wait till the kids are old enough to enjoy day trips to D.C.

Addie and Stuart are finally old enough to enjoy the displays and information. Daphne admired everything on her way past to something else. And Phillip was thrilled with the open layout that let him run as long as his short little legs would carry him.

This picture is a good visual interpretation of respective attention spans.

But for all four kids, everything in that museum paled in comparison to the utter joy of riding the Metro.





What was more fun is that Dana was able to meet us there. Sixteen years of friendship, four kids on one side, and a dissertation away from a Ph.D on the other side. It made the day special.

**
And finally, I would like to take this opportunity to announce that, last week, I took all the kids to the dentist, and they all came away with good reports. Medal please?

-- SJ

Time Change

1. Time changes. What more needs to be said? Lots, apparently, considering that we still have to do it two times a year. Whoever came up with this idea didn't have small children. Or at least didn't have to take care of small children. Look, here's a secret about ages infant to four: They don't switch with the clock. So while all you non-caretaking policy-setting people are setting your clocks back and sighing about that extra hour...

... or preparing to go to bed an hour earlier so you can get up an hour earlier and feel rested...

... those of us who repopulate the world for you are dealing with children who always wake up at the same hour. Meaning that in the falltime, we have to get up an hour earlier. And in the spring? Well, here's another secret about children: you can't move their bedtime forward at night to make up for the hour you'll lose the next morning. So in the spring, we lose that hour of sleep too. See how that works? See? We LOSE SLEEP TWICE A YEAR. This means that, because of a policy of mysterious origins and dubious benefits, there's a bi-annual infestation of monster mamas who have lost sleep for no good reason. Are you really prepared to live with that on your conscience?

Apparently so, because we're still doing it twice a year.

2. In related news, I got a migraine this weekend. That happens when I don't get enough sleep.

3. And don't exult over the "extra hour of daylight" in the summer. It's nice, but who needs extra daylight in the summer? I'm a budgeter: I know how to allocate resources. And it's obvious that it's WINTER that needs extra daylight, not summer.

4. Time changes make me cranky. Darren forbade the children from complaining about it, but he couldn't forbid me.

5. I guess he could forbid me, and I could obey him and drop in a pebble of obedience, but I'd rather just make him ice cream for the same effect.

6. This post was going to include several things that have annoyed me lately, but I seem to have expended most of my creative energy on the time change.

7. Stupid time change.


-- SJ

Edited to add: Do you, time-change people, even imagine what it's like to spend a week with a toddler whose naptime is now an HOUR LATER THAN IT WAS LAST WEEK? Can't you feel the agony of looking at the clock and realizing that it says "12:30" instead of "1:30," putting 2:00 an hour and a half out of reach? I think you need to spend some quality time in daycare centers next fall.

Apples!

We have a tradition here in our home. We've done it every year since last year. Yes, that's only two years, but where children are concerned, traditions get established pretty handily.

A nearby farmer's market sells a variety of apples. Every fall (last year and this year) we buy one of each type and have a Tasting Time around our kitchen table. Everyone has a chart to rate the sweetness of the apples. Before cutting them into bites, we always slice the apples width-wise to admire the star-and-dots pattern inside.

This year we had more varieties than last year, although I think the dry, dry summer affected their taste: some of the apples weren't as tart as we remembered, and some were downright bland. But there were some nice surprises, too. In all, we sampled 14 bits of apples last night.



Only eleven apples are shown here because I overlooked the last bag until after the picture. Notice the apple right in front of Stuart: an enormous Crispin that was bigger than my two hands together.

(Pip didn't join us for the Tasting. He went to bed after he started chunking apples off the table.)

The varieties we tried (not in order of the picture above, sorry) were: Arkansas Black, Cameo, Crispin, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Empire, Fuji, Granny Smith, Nittany, Pink Lady, Rome, Stayman, York, and Gala.

It was fun. We ate lots of apple. I have lots left over -- there's obviously apple bread in my family's future.

-- SJ

Bonus picture: Last year's Tasting!

More Pictures

When Darren's parents visited in September, they got new bikes for the kids. Meanwhile, we served them an Indian meal from recipes that we got in some cooking classes we're taking.

Miss Bev thought the division of labor was funny, and documented it:

Slaving away over the hot stove:


Busy with wrench and instructions:

It was a warm fall. The kids' ingenuity (when it involves something potentially messy) amazes me. Here we have: Trampoline + Hose = Well, obviously!


This was a big neighborhood draw until it doubled in size and Mama hit her muddy-clothes-per-day limit. It got covered over with the old trampoline mat and is designated as The Place Where We'll Plant a Tree One Day. The kids refer to it as "the Lagoon."


-- SJ

The Cuteness of Pip #2

This evening, we sat Phillip in a booster seat for supper. It was the first time he's joined us at the table. I think he enjoyed himself. The other kids certainly enjoyed him. I thought the grandparents would get as much of a kick out of this one as we did while it was going on.



-- SJ

The Cuteness of Pip #1

My mom was saying today that the last time she saw Phillip, he was a baby. So she doesn't really know him as a little boy. So these two videos are for you, Mom. (And for Grandpa and Nana, who saw him when he was just barely a walker.)

Here, Addie is chopping onions -- with Pip's assistance. They're using the new chopper that Darren got for his birthday. He's used it only once, but I've used it lots more than that... as is obvious by the fact that Pip knows exactly what to do with it.



-- SJ

Really really

I just took a load of pictures off my camera, so will be posting some favorites on occasion.

Like this one:


Phillip really, really loves his siblings.

He really, really loves waking them up in the mornings.

He is really, really happy in this picture.


-- SJ