Advice wanted

A quick question: We are having our annual Mardi Gras party this Saturday and have about 30 people coming. Some are Navy friends, some from Church, some from co-op, some from book club. Most know somebody, but most don't know everybody. Should we have some kind of game? Not something everyone plays all at once, but like conversation starters around the room? If so, what?

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Ben turned 11 on Friday the 13th. This is the happy time of year for him when he and Joe are the same age. We had a small celebration Friday night with angel food cake with crunchy frosting. (Messed up the fail proof 7 minute boiled frosting.) Then Dan took Ben and a few of his friends to see the movie version of Inkheart, which was a good read even for grown-ups. The movie apparently is not as good as the book, as usual, but it appeals to book lovers. It already seems to be leaving the movie theater, pushed out by Coraline, which we also read. The book was exceptionally creepy and gave Ben nightmares. Yet again, from trailers, it doesn't look like the movie will capture the darkness of the book, but it looks well done, and is getting a lot of attention.

But not as much as the octoplet mom. I feel sorry for her, not only because she has to care for 14 babies, and because she's getting death threats, and because she must have some mental issues that made her think having 14 kids under 7 without a dad is a good idea, but also because her publicity hopes have been doused. No TV show for her. I read today she had to fire her publicist and get a new agent. The vitriol directed toward her is somewhat surprising - if this death threat person carries out the threat, then those babies really will be wards of the state. Baffling. She must not have been the one actually caring for her kids, if she kept going back for IVF treatments.

Other news: we have the verbal confirmation that we are going to Gulfport this summer. Another great place for a beach vacation! We are already planning to make a Texas tour, so get ready John and Kate - soon you'll be plus 8, heh, heh! You can see our for sale ad on Craigslist by searching Norfolk real estate and then West Ghent, I hope. I have been trying to publish it all day, in addition to de-cluttering. Anyone need some Legos? We'll try to sell by owner for a couple of weeks, and then look for help if we don't get any calls.

I also just finished Toni Morrison's newest book, A Mercy. Dr. Cowan at UD was a big fan of Beloved, but this one doesn't seem to measure up, although it did have some lyrical moments. I just never cared about any of the characters: a trio of slaves and their owners, set in 1690. A quick and different read, if you're looking for something. Next I'm going back to Bill Bryson's, A Short History of the World, which is on loan from Pop Cook. And I have to reread Pride and Prejudice for my Brit lit class.

Also news: Ben started school at the little public school down the street. The first couple of days went well: his math was geometry and his reading tested out at 12th grade level. They had a sub the first 2 days, but on Wednesday the regular teacher was back. She spent the day yelling at the class for bad behavior, so Ben was in a bad mood that day. Thursday went a little better, though, with a trip to the Opera to see "Oh Freedom" for African American History month. And this week, he has Monday off and early dismissal on Thursday. We're hoping the routine and the extra stimulation of being in a class will help him be more interested in learning, but he already informed Joe about all the bad words people use. Look out Garett G.

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:

Day Four at Home...Off Tomorrow, Too

At least we know how to have fun!

Happy Birthday Uncle John!

Hope you have a great day! Love, the Cooks

Latenight reading and Famous James

Remember Kate asking about The Namesake? I don't know if the movie is any good, but last night I finally got around to picking up the book and never put it down until I turned the last page at 1:30 AM. I am paying for it today - grouchy and squinty-eyed - but the misery is worth the few hours of being transported into someone else's interesting world for awhile. I can see how a movie made from this book might end up seeming shallow and being poorly acted - the loss of the language would definitely be detrimental. And there are plenty of books that outshine it, but it explored the nature of family and identity in an ultimately affirming way, unlike The God of Small Things, which made you feel like life is brutish, nasty and short, and so is everyone in it. Now I need to go read some Nikolai Gogol to catch the significance of the namesake's name.

Here are recent photos:
James is famous! He is now advertising the virtues of the Y all over town! Can you find him?


Here are my math gnomes. I can't decide whether or not to give them eyes. They are not quite as cute as the ones online, but they are fun to play with.

And I just couldn't resist Claire's legs yesterday. While y'all are suffering from ice and snow, we are enjoying temps in the high 60's.
Did you find James? Here's some help:

Snow Days and Pop Getting Knocked Out

We've been off school for two days now...yesterday only Emma & Jake were off, but today EVERYONE is out of school (and off work).

The girls came over this morning and between pigs in a blanket, making chili and hot chocolate they all played outside. Julia and Jake lasted about 15 minutes but the others stayed out until they had ice on their hair! And that was even with hats on! We have a large hill in our yard and the girls and several neighbor kids went sledding down the hill. It was hysterical to watch them! I'm going to try to post some photos, but I am miserable at it.

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Also, we had a nice dinner with Nana & Pop on Sunday filled with good food, good conversations and good Wii fun! Nana and Pop jumped in on the action and played Jake and Sarah at boxing. Jake knocked Pop out in the first round and Sarah knocked Nana out in the first round. It was pretty darn funny and I have photos to prove it. Again, for some reason I CANNOT get the hang of uploading these silly photos, getting them in the right place and the text not ending up in strange places! Oh well!

We hope everyone is doing well!!