Mother's Day

I was awakened at 8:00 am. The boys (E especially) have been anxious to give me their Mother's Day gifts since they created the first ones at Craft and Swim on Thursday. So after I brushed my teeth and settled back into bed, I opened them all. All three cards were lovely. B's especially.

The gifts from Craft and Swim were teeny coffee cups, painted, with tealight candles in them, and little potpourri-filled sachets. B and the boys had also painted tiles at a pottery place in town. I love them both. Finally, a pound of Dunkin' Donuts decaffeinated coffee, which I am pleased to have received. DD coffee is really good. So B prepared some for us.

We sat in our pajamas and watched Ice Age, which the boys had received in their Easter baskets but hadn't watched yet. It was very funny and we enjoyed it. B made breakfast for us all.

I wrote a list of all the things I have to do this week, and put each item somewhere in my date book to be sure they get done. I did a load of laundry, and spent some time watching TV before doing a stretching video. B made us all some hamburgers for lunch. Then I showered and read a magazine for a while, while the boys played outside in the rain.

We headed out to India Palace in New Haven for dinner. (You know, the place E had gotten sick in last time?) Everyone enjoyed dinner. The boys both enjoyed the samosas, and of course, naan. Who doesn't like bread, after all?

Back at home we had some coconut pudding. During that the conversation led to haircuts, and where they could be fit into the list of things I need to do this week. Oh yeah, and when would I be getting to Kohls to exchange all those pants?

Mother's Day is officially over.

The YMCA Birthday Party

On Thursday after Craft and Swim, I was handed a flyer inviting us to a free party to celebrate the birthday of the YMCA. It was today from 3pm till 6pm. We arrived just after three, and spent over two hours there. They had three different bouncy houses, music, games, cake and apple juice. It made for a cheap and enjoyable Fun Friday.

We spent the morning pursuing different things at home. E made a list of games he wants to play at his birthday party (his list is still in progress.) Right now we are all about his party around here. Every day we count how many are left, first thing. E is also having a party for family this year, but he doesn't seem overly excited about it. He is really looking forward to having a costume party with his friends. He is also very excited that Grandma is coming to both parties, and will be bringing him two presents.

R listened to audio books, and I spent a nice chunk of time scrapbooking. Taking all those pictures at my brother's wedding gave me the urge to make a wedding scrapbook for myself. I gathered up all my photos and have been working on it for two days. I'm so enjoying it. It was nice to go back and read all the vows we had written. It's also been incredibly wonderful to ignore all the things I have to do and all the people waiting on me for things, and simply do something for myself. I need to take time for myself more often.

Going to the movies

A while ago I was one of the lucky people to get a 30% scratch-off coupon for Kohls, and B wanted to stock up on pants. Well he is difficult to buy pants for.; he's a 32/34 and they just don't make pants for skinny people anymore. It is so much easier to find 34/32. In fact, it's easier to find 42/32. The buyers at Kohls feel that CT is full of short fat people. Who knows, perhaps they are right. However, it's quite frustrating for those of us who shop for tall skinny people. Anyway, B chose several pairs that he liked, and we bought them in the wrong size, with the aim of me exchanging them at another store in the future. And the future was today.

Right next to the Kohls I selected is a movie theater. So I combined chores with some fun today. First we had McDonald's. I even let the boys get Happy Meals, which I rarely do, because the toy was from the movie.

After lunch we saw Disney's The Wild. It was really enjoyable. A few laugh out loud moments. Fart humor is always fun. The boys had a great time, and can't wait for the DVD to come out so they can buy it and watch it a million more times the way they did with Chicken Little.

The movie I must say, was beautiful. The technology they are using these days is amazing. I don't know how they do it, but the hair looks so touchable. The most gorgeous part though, was the opening scene, which was traditional drawn animation (as opposed to the computerized stuff that made up the rest of the movie.) Gosh, I was so excited to have the movie open that way, and disappointed to have it switch over when it did. The shadows and colors were amazing. Too bad the art of traditional animation is going by the wayside. It was just total eye candy.

I've looked at animation completely differently since having taken The History of Animation in college. I especially love the backgrounds. Next time you watch Aristocats take a look at the backgrounds and you'll know what I mean. Animation might be fun, but it is also, truly, an art.

I'm glad there is more of a selection of G rated movies these days. It's a recent phenomenon. Over the last few years they've been disappearing as producers try to attract a more diverse crowd. I don't' know what changed it (maybe the computer stuff?), but I'm glad it did. My only wish is that they could see that movies don't need words like "idiot" or "stupid" to do well.

For those of you considering going to see it, the first scene is very scary for kids who are sensitive. I'm so glad R is through that phase. E has never been afraid of much movie-wise. His mantra is "the good guys always win in the end." I'll have to make sure to keep it so until he is old enough to deal with the reality.

There were lots of commercials beforehand. Lots. Too many. Soda and credit cards and cars. Quite annoying. We enjoyed the coming attractions though. It was a good way to see what the boys will enjoy in the future; laughing or no laughing. The new Garfield movie looks like it's going to be hysterical. Hopefully it will be rated PG and the Screen It folks give me a thumbs up. Totally love that reference site; one of the best on the internet.

After the movie we headed to Kohl's where I discovered that the Plainville store is a complete mess! It was quite annoying to look through it all. Of course they didn't have B's size in anything, so I'll try one more store before returning it all.

B and I have been enjoying The Sopranos. I borrowed it from the library. We weren't impressed after the first episode, but my sister told me we'd be hooked after the third, and to keep going. Well, we have just finished season two. My sister was right; we are totally enjoying it.

I have season three of Queer as Folk coming in the mail; I won it on ebay. I can't wait! That's another show I'm totally addicted to. I'm also loving the music and have downloaded quite a bit of it.

I got tickets to see Madonna on June 26th. I totally can't wait for that. I love Madonna for the same reason my dad loves John Lennon; we grew up together. Madonna is two years older than me, and many of the phases of her life parallel my own. What she sings about with each new CD is almost always relevant to what's going on in my life. One of my favorites right now is I Love New York. Sometimes I do miss my life there.

I was actually dancing to Madonna songs in Studio 54 when she was giving her demo tapes to DJ's back in the 80's (she got her first record deal that way.) I do often miss those days...it's probably why I love Queer as Folk so much.

The start of art class

Well for whatever reason, my computer has decided to function properly again. I'll take advantage of it while I can, and try to catch up on all I'm behind on.

E was happy to receive $10 from the tooth fairy this morning. He and R were overheard speaking yesterday; seems R thought the tooth was worth $20 since he had to endure the pain of having it pulled. However the toothfairy must've thought that was excessive, and probably thought even the 10 was. Yes, E had a tooth pulled yesterday, due to an abscess. Everything went very well though, and he is $10 richer.

I'm teaching an art class to some friends' children. I have this terrific book called Teaching Art with Books Kids Love and it really guides the reader through the whole process. It's terrific. I taught a class when we belonged to a homeschooling co-op, and the kids really responded well to it, so when my friend asked me to teach this new group, I agreed immediately. I am doing different projects though so that R and E don't get bored. So that's where we spent our afternoon.

R was spotted reading today. I got a copy of A Kids Guide to Building Forts out of the library last night. I accidentally came upon it and knew he wouldn't be able to resist it. He has already taught himself how to make a knot which holds two sticks in a + pattern. He practiced with some string and two pencils. No help from me; he figured it out himself. He will read when he is ready!

R has recently discovered the joy of Clue and we all enjoyed playing as a family after dinner; E was on B's "team". It was lots of fun.

I have a friend who has a cool function on her blog. You can type in your email address and it will send you an email every time the blog is added to. This way people don't have to check it every day. When I have some time I'll have to look into adding that to my blog too, since I fully expect that my computer functioning is temporary.

I have really missed blogging, and am glad to be back. It's a great way of reflecting on what's going on each day.

Philadelphia

Our trip to Philadelphia was totally amazing. The drive was not too bad, and once we got there we started at the Information Center, where we learned it was pretty much too late in the day to do much except see the liberty bell. So that's what we did. It was the first time B had ever seen it and his excitement was contagious, although the fact that E wouldn't smile for a stranger holding our camera doesn't really demonstrate it all too well. We stopped into a restaurant for some sandwiches, then at a candy store, supposedly, according to the sign out front, the country's first.
E and R got a gummy snake and worms, respectively, and we took a picture of them enjoying their snacks so we could send it off to Grandma and gross her out. E especially loves "upsetting" Grandma with snakes, since she is terrified of them.

We also stumbled upon the location where Franklin's home once stood, and visited the printer who currently demonstrates there. And we came across the cemetary where Franklin's body is buried. Later we found out that it is good luck to throw coins on his grave, so we had to return so E could do so. Luckily it is pretty central.

Finally we headed to my cousin Christine's, and her fiance Nate's house. They were gracious enough to allow us to crash there for the couple of nights, which we really appreciate since we saved a couple of hundred dollars. They live about 45 minutes west of the city, depending on the time of day we drove it. It was really wonderful to stay there. Christine is such a super person and B and I have always enjoyed her and Nate's company. I probably wouldn't have invited myself if I didn't like them both so much.

The old country house they rent is totally charming, and their pets are loved as much as any babies could be. Christine was an excellent hostess and made us some yummy broccoli calzones for dinner one evening. I brought the recipe home. Nate is a veterinarian and works long hours, so R and E actually never had the chance to visit with him. But B and I did. I must say visiting with Christine and Nate really added to the enjoyment of the trip for me.

On day two we went right to the visitor's center to get tickets to the Franklin Exhibit at the Constitution Center; the whole reason we journeyed to Philadelphia. We also got tickets for the tour of Independence Hall, where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written.

We headed over to Constitution Center and started with Signer's Hall. It had life-sized statues of all the people who signed the Declaration of Independence. We enjoyed walking around hunting for those from Connecticut, and R took a picture of one of the reps from Mass wearing his Red Sox hat. We also enjoyed having the opportunity to sign a copy of the Declaration ourselves.

We saw a little bit of the main exhibit hall before it was time for our visit to the Franklin exhibit. They let new groups of people in every half hour, but I don't know why because we were in there an hour and a half. I don't know how E managed so long, unless he was complaining to B and I didn't hear about it.

In any case, it was an excellent exhibit; lot of his personal belongings were there, and several items written in his own hand. We also enjoyed seeing the armonica; the musical instrument he invented. The curators did a great job keeping it interesting for all ages, there were lots of hands-on things to do. We really learned a lot. I so wish they would have allowed photos to be taken. There is a inkling about it on the website, but not enough to do it justice.

We headed from there to see the multimedia presentation in that building. It was designed to inspire us before heading into the main exhibit hall. The boys seemed to enjoy it, but at that point had had enough, so we skipped seeing the rest and headed out.

We headed over to Independence Hall next. They make you arrive so early for security, but this time of year and that time of day it was not at all crowded, so we hung out in the park before our tour began.Our legs were getting tired and we really needed that time to rest, so it worked out perfectly.

We enjoyed seeing the halls where the important documents of our country were written. But E finally lost patience in those rooms, and our day was over. I was really proud at how he had managed to stay attentive, and at least not disruptive throughout the whole day. I could certainly appreciate the potential for that happening, since his interest in Franklin nowhere near matches that of his brother. On the way back to the car I saw a sign for ice-cream in a dollar store so we stopped and got some. It was probably his favorite part of the day.

On our last day we headed to the Franklin Institute. We were happy to get in free with our membership card from our own Science Center here in Hartford. I have to say that this place is hands down the best science museum we have been to thus far. It was so totally amazing. We did not manage to do it all in one day, despite the five hours we spent there. It was so hands-on and incredibly done.

The section for younger children was disappointingly not well maintained, but there was still lots to do.
If my computer cooperates, I'll post a link to the rest of the photos I took on our trip. I cannot emphasize enough how phenomenal this place was. We are so looking forward to going back.

Our drive home was loooong. I had begun to catch R's cold during the day and B was kind enough to drive the entire way. It took a long time. Mostly because it was hard after a full day of activities.

Our trip was really wonderful. The only thing I would do different is the time of year. We rushed down to see the Franklin exhibit before it closed on April 30th, and I'm so glad we did. However, next time we will be heading down in the autumn when all the kids will be in school, and no field trips are planned. Every place we headed there were swarms of school students without enough supervision.

It made us so sad to see them being torn from exhibits they were really interested in because the class was moving on. We really appreciated being homeschoolers, especially during our tour of the Franklin exhibit. During the hour and a half we took to see it, we witnessed many many different school children being rushed through. We are blessed.

To be continued....

It's so hard to not blog! I can't believe how much I've grown to enjoy it, and I'm really missing it. Blogspot does not work from my Macintosh though, so blogging will be on hold for a short while.

I am buying a new computer very soon. I've had enough of my stupid HP, I am getting a Dell this time. So please keep checking in to see if I've gotten it yet, or if I've simply had the patience to work with my old machine. Hopefully it will hang in there long enough for me to post this...