Back in from the Cold...

Haven't posted in awhile. Work was super busy and we had the run of family events. Liliana, my youngest turned six, and we had a birthday party for 19 girls at the rec center. Isabella, my oldest, had her First Communion with 8,000 associated events and family in town. Once we got through that, I had the Kindergarten field trip to Great Country Farms. 100+ six year-olds at the farm was awesome but a little fraught. I was in charge of four kids and I probably counted my four 150 times in the course of the day.

Right now I am also updating this blog since I had to find something to do before I strangled the children.

Avatar

J_ and I went to see James Cameron's Avatar a few weeks ago. I didn't write about it because, though the effects were great, I'm not sure I really had anything to say about it. I mean, the 3D effects were great, and I love the motion capture. Whatever Cameron did with the face-rig and "the Volume" worked because I did lose track of the computer generated characters v. the human actors. I can't wait to see what directors do with this in years to come. Spielberg is already using it for his new TinTin movie.

That being said, is all of that worthy of a blog post? No.

And yet...

who knew that the Na'vi would protest the division of the Palestinian territory? Or deforestation and loss of orangutan habitat?

Is this going to be a thing now? For the rest of our lives are there going to be people dressed as Na'vi at every environmental protest? I fear for this year's Earth Day. I can only imagine. What am I supposed to say when I_ or L_ comes to me years from now and says "Seriously? Blue skinned people at protests? Why did you saddle us with this one? Was  GWB not enough?"

Long Night

L_ has an ear infection and was up all night crying. Poor thing. I hate it when you can't do much to make them feel better. She's been full on sick for a few days now, but I thought we were getting on top of it.  :(

Frustration

Today was not a good day for the offspring. There was yelling. Anger. Recriminations. Tears. Shame and guilt were defined at a seven year old level.

(sigh)

New Year, New Resolutions

Happy New Year 2010!

After the Snowpocalypse of a few weeks ago, we actually had a white Christmas this year. Unusual but really nice. As for Christmas morning, the offspring went nuts. All I can say is Barbie Camper FTW! I actually used I_'s digital recorder to capture the sound of Christmas morning, so I'll try to post it here once I figure that out.

For my resolutions in the new year, I want to continue to get control of our bills and debt, get serious about writing the L_ story and lose some weight. J_ has offered to do the P90X with me, but I have to be more fit before I start. S_ and I have also talked about having another baby this year. I really want one. The other two are getting too big.

A Merry Christmas Cricket?

So we are basically done for Christmas shopping. I have one more thing to pick up for S_ tomorrow and we are still thinking about something else to get J_. At least we have until he returns to the area after new Year's to exchange with him. Maybe I can pick him up something good in a post-Christmas sale! (half-off FTW!)

Went to I_'s second grade class the other day for her holiday party. Here's how the scam went. S_ is one of the room mothers and since the second graders are studying crickets in science, the teachers were all like "can you do a craft with crickets?"

O.o  wtf?

So S_ and the other room mothers freak out about it for a few weeks and finally they tell me about it. I had the misfortune of having a great idea immediately about using a clothespin and some pipecleaners to make a cricket. Flash forward a few weeks and now we have a few crickets on our tree.

Snowpocalypse

So we got about 2 feet of snow in the last two days. School and government are closed tomorrow. (yea).

Yesterday we watched the blizzard from the cozy warmth of the house. This morning we dug ourselves out and took the girls to see The Princess and the Frog. It was a great movie and the girls really liked it Facilier was really creepy with his spirit minions. Halfway through, S_ turned to me and said, "Look! A Dreamspeaker barabbi." So true.

We managed to finished most of our Christmas shopping before the blizzard hit, so we are still pretty OK. I'd like to get S_ one more thing for under the tree, but the girls are done. J_ is going home to his family in Atlanta. I know he would rather be here with us, but oh well, the rest of his family has to get him some time.

Getting on with it

Offspring #1 is getting stronger. Today she started to use the baby walker we got for her. S_ attached her bike basket to the front, and Offspring #2 is playing on it. I will take a picture and send it out to friends and family. I will be going back to work tomorrow and that will be hard. Today, for all the craziness with Offspring's cast and medication, seemed really normal. The problem is that there was nothing normal about it. I slept until 7 (2 hours later than normal) and we were finished eating dinner at 6 (before I get home usually). It just really brings home that the commute I have is really having a negative impact on my life. I'm not sure what to do about it, but I will have to try to do something.

In other news, I found the cutest nerd art I have ever seen. They even have a giant squid! O.O drool...

I also am geeking out over the early reviews of the new Star Trek movie. I know it comes out in a few weeks, but the reviews here and here are making me feel really confident that it's not going to suck. And let's be honest, after all the crappy scifi (or syfy) / fantasy / superhero movies that have sucked over the years, our first reaction is usually "how much will it suck? - hopefully, not too much" rather than "this should be awesome". Those few genre movies that rock - Iron Man, The Dark Knight, LOTR - that are great just make it that much more agonizing for the others. Clearly, a good genre movie can be done, it just takes the will to do it correctly. Dare I hope for Star Trek?

Home Again

Offspring #1 is home from the hospital. Hard couple of days, but it will be better now. I'm trying to get S_ to take a nap, but she is being characteristically stubborn. Thanks to all who sent prayers and good thoughts. We needed them and they worked.

Science Can Be a Lucrative Career Choice...

OK, so 6 days into Blog Everyday April, and I've already missed a day. I take a pass this time around. Today, offspring #1 had her surgery, so it was an emotional roller coaster. More on that later, but before I crash, let me tell a story that happened yesterday.

I was elsewhere in the house when this occurred, but S_ and a friend were sitting around before dinner, chatting about the day. Offspring #1 comes into the kitchen carrying (very carefully) a small tin full of water. She was slowly making her way across the kitchen so as not to spill the water. S_ asks offspring "What are you doing?" and Offspring replies, "I thought I would do an experiment about evaporation. Because I'm a scientist."

O.o

So, S_ and friend help Offspring set up the experiment outside and dissuade her from checking on it 5 minutes later to see if anything had evaporated yet. Offspring does not appreciate that science may not work on her preferred timetable of right now. Later on that evening, we were discussing a pie recipe, and I mentioned it needed a cup of evaporated milk, to which Offspring #1 said, "Daddy, a cup of evaporated milk would be NO milk."

Touché.

It's hard when your six year old looks at you like you are retarded.

And the Clouds Lift Briefly...

I'm sitting here with both the offspring eating breakfast. We are getting ready to go to swim lessons. It's a beautiful day outside. A big vase of yellow forsythia sits on the table in front of me and my paycheck hit the bank this morning. With sushi planned for lunch today, life is good...