Happy Birthday James

James turned 9 on Sunday: Now the boys are 9, 10,11 for a short span before they are 9, 11,11 (Ben's favorite time of year). Illness in 3 of 4 families (including our own - Annie had had a fever of 103 on Sat, but seemed fine on Sun) invited to James' party on Sunday caused us to cancel, but we still celebrated with a trip to spread our germs at the zoo. Then we dined extravagantly on spaghetti puttanesca, salmon cakes, salad, and bread, with ice cream sundaes and marble Lego cake for dessert. This was one of our easiest cake creations EVER. No need to contact cakewreck.com

That night we watched the last part of the very exciting football game. Dan thought Dad played for John Madden, but I have never thought to ask.(Dad? And were you a blackjack dealer before you played football or after?) Then we watched "Henry Poole Is Here" with Luke Wilson (could he play Dan in the film of our lives? A little resemblance?) and the beautiful Radha Mitchell. We had mixed opinions of this movie: I thought perhaps it was a little too sentimental; Dan thought it didn't go far enough. The plot is this: Sad man (Henry Poole) buys house next door to sad girl on one side and sad, religious Hispanic woman on the other. Hispanic woman thinks she sees the face of Jesus in the water stain on the side of the house. Does it work miracles? Watch to find out. I thought the message was good, but I also thought it was going to have more humor. Nonetheless, I am still thinking about it 2 days later, so even though it's not an "You've got to see this" movie, it's worth seeing to critique an attempt by secular filmmakers to make a movie about religious themes. Anyone else seen this?

Inspired by some of Elizabeth's comments about boys, I thought I would share this link we watched recently. (Be sure to watch the second video for some real lessons on what it means to be a man.) (I just saw that it copied on this page.)We are gearing up for the Pinewood Derby, another opportunity to drive parents crazy in the attempt to give their kids something to do. Pictured first is Ben's car. James' is Mr. Frumble's pickle car (very easy paint job, but still a work in progress).


To close: Another thing I've observed in boys is that they like to pose for the camera. Here is a self-portrait by James that I found on the memory card: