Beyond Binkies, Code and Make-Believe

It's upside down!

As we are revving up for Halloween tomorrow, we had quite the schedule.  It started with teaching Art Lit - Salvador Dali (see:  http://www.artlit.us) and then onto preschool sing along followed by lunch and a Halloween parade at the elementary school.  By the time we were all home we realized we hadn't carved pumpkins.  We have four this year. We broke out the kit from Michael's with the very complicated an anal designs and were on our way.

Franklin & Lucy: President Roosevelt, Mrs. Rutherfurd and the Other Remarkable Women in His Life

Excerpt from the NY Times:

In an era of well-publicized “bimbo eruptions” and gubernatorial call-girl visits, the main lesson here is one we’ve been taught before: that in the old days politicians — with the help of an obliging press and retinues of discreet enablers — did a better job of keeping their private lives private. They faithfully observed what Gladstone, complaining about the morals of other prime ministers, called the 11th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Get Caught.

Nor were we necessarily worse off back then for not knowing — not even suspecting — the kinds of things we think we know now. The Mercer relationship did not materially alter the Roosevelt presidency. The person it changed was Eleanor Roosevelt. But in the mostly grubby history of presidential liaisons, the persistence of the Roosevelt-Mercer connection suggests that this one was a genuine love affair — a meeting of soul mates, perhaps. For once, everyone behaved pretty well. And not just the guilty parties, but even the betrayed spouse gained a little something. In this last respect the Roosevelts may even remind us a bit of a more recent White House marriage.

Monster Cake and the Tool Belt

Our son has been having nightmares.  Most of the time we know it's the body's way of waking him up to go to the bathroom.  Sometimes he just can sleep and wants company.  Sometimes he really has honest to goodness nightmares. He needs to sleep, we need to sleep.  We solved it with some solutions that seem to work. Perhaps they'll help you.

3 + 3 + 8 = 30 Bink-A-Thon

Today was the first Bink-a-thon in Beaverton. It's the 12th for the nation.  Binky Patrol Comforting Covers for Kids is a national non-profit, all volunteer organization dedicated to making and giving binkies to children and teens in need of comfort.  Today is National Make a Difference Day and it is celebrated by gathering as many people as each chapter can to make as many binkies as possible on this one day.  We made 30!

Shrek 3 - a favorite

We haven't been doing much in the theaters lately, but I did have a delightful evening with a frient recently.  A friend is a client that I like a whole bunch and enjoy spending time with.  I met one recently and we were both exhausted after a big day and just wanted an easy evening in her home.

Wildlife Safari Winston Oregon

Our daughter saw the website for Wildlife Safari 10 months ago and decided that was how she wanted to spend her next birthday.  Instead of a party with a bunch of children at our home - YOU BET!  I'm all for it.  The attraction was the fact that she would be able to feed giraffes - her favorite animal!

Treasures on my camera

I never know what I'll find when I clean out the photo disc in our Sony Cyber-shot.  Yes, we have the big, fancy, professional camera; but it has so many rules - no rain, no sand, no vigorous activity.  Takes all the fun out of taking fabulous pictures.  I cleaned of the camera tonight and found an odd selection of night shots. I must have been out somewhere - I don't remember.  Our daughter got hold of the camera and here we are.

Junie B Jones - I just don't get it.

I'm all in favor of fun silly books for children learning to read, but why do the children speaking have to be grammatically challenged?  Our daughter and her friends rave about the Junie B Jones series.  I didn't have them growing up so I needed to catch up.  I got caught up tonight - or should I say, "I got catched up."?

It was painful to read.  The underlying story was funny and endearing but reading through this child that no one has taught how to speak properly was maddening.  It threw our daughter off as she was trying to read aloud.  She asked me to finish, I had to correct as I read - it just hurt to read them as they are.

Evening Prayers Make Me Smile

As our children's awareness of others continues to grow, I take greater delight in evening prayers.  They each like their own separate turn. It also gives them a stall I can't argue with.  Her prayers went on for 25 minutes tonight.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

As a parent I'm subjected to more than my share of kid movies.  Many of them are dogs.  This one was, but in a good way.  Beverly Hills Chihuahua was a lot of fun. It was a bit slow starting out for us adults, but then we just sat back and had a lot of fun.  The children - we took three - were dancing in their aisle and laughing throughout the movie.