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The boys are on Spring Break this week, so I branched out a little and invited over a couple of women from Church with their kids. Between the three of us there were ten boys and two girls, and it just happened to be our tough luck to wake up to a rainy day. Bother. Several of their toddler boys eat legos so our house was a death trap, and of course, my children fought with everyone. Just when I think it's safe to go out in public...

In other news, Jane and Joe have been practicing up to compete with the Cooks for the Dancing with the Stars title. Notice how neither one of them are willing to admit that they know they're being filmed:



We had a nice visit with the Husteds. Dad said he looked in on the boys while they were playing cars on the "road" carpet. They all drove their cars to the Church and went in to go to Mass.

Daniel: "OK, they're all at Church: 'Jesus, Jesus, blah blah blah, Jesus, Jesus, blah blah blah.' OK, now they can go to Kroger."

Dad suggested I work on more formative activities with Daniel. He seems to have missed the message--though, I'm just pleased they saw fit to make their cars go to MAss.

Wounded warriors

This weekend Ben and Joe and Dan went camping with the boy scouts. They were out west of here a ways for the Mountain Man Rendezvous, one of those events where grown men play dress up and have log chopping contests and sell squirrel stew and big turkey legs. The boys were really looking forward to it, but just after breakfast, Ben fell while on a hike. Fortunately, Dan was able to take him to get 8 nice new stitches. They delighted in telling me that they could see multiple layers of Ben's leg: epidermis, fat layer, bloody tissue beneath... I thought we might have to return to the ER tonight when Claire fell off Joe's bed. She cried a little, then settled down, but when I went in to get her to brush her teeth, she said, "Blood." Sure enough she had a cut on her head, but it was pretty small. I called all the kids in to say, look, this is what you get for jumping on the bed.

So we didn't get around to our list of house projects (painting baseboards, repairing some screens, patching the hole in the laundry room door that John made with a light saber) this weekend. Dan and I escaped on the couch Saturday night to watch Moulin Rouge. Loved it. Our life is pretty much a musical, too; we'll be looking for a place with a little more of this.

dancing with the stars

Another Birthday

Joe is officially a pre-teen now. He turned 12 on Monday and did a great job being sullen and grumpy today in preparation for adolescence. Tonight was his and Ben's last basketball game in the Y league. Dan has been coaching, and they have lost, badly, every single game. So all day he was grousing about his game. In a moment of generosity, one of the teams loaned the Cook team their best player, so they weren't trounced as badly as they have been - they only lost by a few points, and Joe scored a couple baskets, so his mood had improved by bedtime.

Last weekend was absolutely beautiful, but we spent the time inside at the bowling alley at a fundraiser for Birthrite. Claire met a beauty pageant queen who is supposed to post her picture at www.freewebs.com/missvirginiaaq08. So this week her mind has been full of princesses, and with Annie's help, she is already planning her purple princess birthday party, to which she is going to invite all her friends from co-op. I'm wondering if she is going to invite her friend "Alex" who supposedly she met at the Y. "Alex" is a princess and, according to Claire, she has a baby brother who died. I'm wondering that, if addition to cussing, Claire is also becoming a liar. She seems to be good at making up stories and at tattling. When I asked her yesterday why she was telling on John, she told me to go spank him. At least she's not hitting him so much herself.

Perhaps Claire should have given up tattling for Lent. Ben, Dan and I gave up sweets, and Dan gave up beer in addition. Joe and James gave up Wii and Joe also gave up chocolate while James also gave up cookies. John supposedly gave up fighting, and Annie gave up gum and picking her nose. We are trying to get John to give this up, too, but he told us he likes the taste.

Lately John has been dressing up to go to the library. First he was a knight, and then a cowboy, and last Tuesday he wore his astronaut suit. I think he enjoys the appreciative stares that he garners from the other pre-school boys who attend at the same time. He also entertained the librarians with the easy one-button operation of his helmet at check-out time.

Ben has yet to love Taylor but today he shared a couple of things he has been learning. First he got a 100 on his reading test, and he also learned a poem: "This is my pinkie, this is my thumb, this is the peace sign, and you're number one." Or something like that. It has hand motions that I'm sure Garrett G., the Duffy's friend, would appreciate.

Here are some recent photos: The Seabee ball was last weekend. I'm looking old and wrinkly in basic black after sporting hot pink last year. We won the centerpiece: A coconut cake with candles perfect for Joe's birthday celebration.

James got artistic with the camera while he was supposed to be doing math. The glass is reflecting on Claire's first representational drawing: a baby. If you look closely, you can make out eyes, nose, and many arms.

John wanted Luke to see this picture of him in the bath because he so enjoyed Luke's bubble suit photo. He has not worn this outfit to the library.

Snow

Kate, sorry I can't help you with the fox painting - but if cute is what you're after, you'll be surprised by the realism of my art. I think that piece is missing from the portfolio I have with me, so John must have put it with all his other valuables.

Today the kids were thrilled to wake to SNOW. The week before the Inauguration we kept hearing all this news about a snow storm, and in fact schools were cancelled Jan 20 on the threat of snow (or because everyone wanted to watch the inauguration?) that never arrived. This time we heard nothing and so were pleasantly surprised at the dusting, which has stuck around. We have about 6 snowballs in our freezer, and so consequently very little is left in the front yard. Ben was disappointed to find that school was only delayed 2 hours. So far he's not loving his public school experience.
Last weekend our party seemed to go well - didn't need conversation starters. In fact the conversation was loud enough I didn't notice, and hope that no one else noticed, that the computer played the same song over and over all night. Fortunately, it was a generic "Mardi Gras Party!" song that no one could identify. Wish we could have had some of those cayenne cheese biscuits - they sound delish - especially since my stromboli was dry and my bacon cheese cups overcooked. Fortunately, the spinach sausage balls and the stuffed mushrooms tasted okay, the desserts were good, and we went through 2 pitchers of plantation punch, so everyone seemed in high spirits. The next day we had the Cub Scout Blue and Gold banquet, which I had to help with, so we had another busy day. We were so tired that night that we couldn't peel ourselves off the couch away from the Oscars, even though we soon realized that Slumdog Millionaire was going to win everything. Has anyone seen this movie?

This week was much quieter. Dan was in Greece, and I did a lot of reading in bed. I have been rereading Pride and Prejudice for my Brit Lit class and loving every witty line. Why can I come up with such clever comebacks? I used to think that I didn't have time to reread books because there are so many good books out there, but this is like a visit to an old friend's house. Anyone have time for a trip to England this summer?

We watched "Lars and the Real Girl" this weekend and loved it. How can the funeral of a mannekin make you cry? I was expecting something else - a little more bawdy humor - and so was pleasantly surprised.

Fox painting?

I bought a book today so that I could rip out a couple pages to frame for the boys' bedroom, and when I told John, he remembered a fox painting -by Emily- that he had in his room growing up. Is that still around anywhere?

Maybe this should have been an email! Oh well, I haven't posted in forever.

We had fun at Rachel's birthday party this weekend! I have a couple recipes I need to get... some spicy cheddar cayenne biscuits, and a delicious lemon pound cake with fudge made from scratch. Ahhh, so tasty.