Stuff This Week

Hello, World!

We just finished our "Winter Break" week. We did NOT plan any trips to the Bahamas, but well, you know, we made it to some other fun places.

Like...the Library! The Grocery Store! Ok, we did make it over to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts one day. Friends came over, the kids went to other people's houses. Kara would go to or have her own sleepover here, every other night. She loves those.

And Frank worked. Isn't that just how it goes! The kids get off school, and Dad goes in to work, business as usual.

Nothing earth-shattering. Just a break from the routine. I did not have to set the early-morning seminary alarm in the morning, and rush everybody out the door. That was the best part.

This morning we awoke to 5 inches of fresh snow on the ground. Just when we thought we'd start to see our grass again! Well, not really. The edges of the lawn, maybe we can see a little grass. Most of the lawn still has a foot of ice and snow covering it.

Oh, and here is Kara, playing the saxophone--her photo was in the local weekly newspaper, as she got ready for their Bandfest concert about 10 days ago.

Movies of note:

"Unknown" -- action-packed, keeps you guessing.
"Ella Enchanted" -- her stepsisters are pretty nasty.
"Social Network" -- I really hope Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook founder/boy zillionaire) isn't as unstable as the movie makes him out to be. Kind of a sad story, what he did to his best friend.

Back to setting an early alarm tomorrow. Have a wonderful week! Kari

The Mexico Chapter

Hola!

I used to like to take pictures. One drawback was, that I couldn't see the picture before I took the film in to be developed...I would have high hopes, thinking the lighting was just right or that I captured a wonderful expression on someone's face. Then I'd get the photos back, and ... not so much.

THEN...some genius came up with digital cameras. I can LOOK at the photo, seconds after I take it, and if it's a bad one? Delete! No wasted film processing fees or materials. Wow. Could this be real? If I miss a perfect expression or snap the photo too late, NO BIG DEAL! Now I REALLY like to take pictures.

I also used to like scrapbooking. But I got a little burnt out of it: it's messy, lots of materials to keep organized in drawers, and I could never get "caught up."

THEN...some genius came up with digital scrapbooking. I can do it all on the computer, and there's no mess to clean up and put away when I finish my session, whether I worked on it an hour, or just 10 minutes. I can not BE a professional, but my results look professional. I really like scrapbooking again!

Notice that I did not say I can be "caught up" with digital scrapbooking. I have accepted that it is simply an ongoing hobby. Even if I only do a few pages a year for each of my kids, it is more than they would have had otherwise, right! Those few pages look pretty cool.

OK: all that, to get to my drumroll please...we have been back from living in Mexico, for about 3 1/2 years now.

I finally finished our Mexico Book! (And there was much rejoicing.)

I have quite literally been working on pages, off and on, between other projects and life, etc., for 3 years.

Shutterfly lets you upload pages and they will put them in a bound book for you. We received it yesterday, and we like it very much! (Probably nobody likes it as much as I do, but...the rest of the family still likes it.)

I can't send you the book. I only made one. But I can give you the website, so you can page through our book!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AatGrVo2ZMWLrw

Try it: go to the site, then click the yellow "View Photo Book," then click "Full Screen" in the upper right. If you also click the single square: "Single Page View" above the picture, it makes it a little bigger. It will play the slide show, or you can turn pages at your own pace.

Happy Wednesday! Kari

Old South Meeting House

Hi!
I have to say: one perk about living in New England is that the kids really go on some fabulous field trips.

1) The sixth graders study Henry David Thoreau, writing and reading and learning about nature, then one day ride their bikes the 8 or so miles up to Walden Pond.

2) The 8th graders study law-making, government and the details of democracy all year, and cap it off with a trip to Washington D.C. in the spring.

3) The 3rd graders study the Revolutionary War, walk part of Paul Revere's Ride, and go to the North Bridge in Lexington: the Shot Heard Round the World.

4) And this week, Kara (5th grade) went downtown to Boston. They were each assigned to be Loyalists or Patriots, and they each had a different character part. Kara was a Patriot, a Leather Dresser. Her business had benefited from the boycott on English goods, and she thought men should live free, not under the harsh rule of a tyrant like King George!

They went to the Old South Meeting House, where in actuality they DID hold this meeting in the late 1700's, cramming 5,000 people into this small building, and they debated on the blessings and curses of living under English rule.

Here is Kara in her "period dress." They made cool black paper hats, too, but it was also raining a little so those didn't last the whole day.

It is pretty amazing to be so close to the actual places these things happened. It really brings it all to life!

Kari

Surprise: Another Snow Post!

We spend our time digging ourselves out, waiting for the next storm. the snowplows pile it up higher, higher, higher! I took photos of Teresa in front of and on top of the pile on the corner.

Here is a fun winter poem for you.

"Too Much Snow" by Louis Jenkins

Unlike the Eskimos we only have one word for snow

But we have a lot of modifiers for that word.

There is too much snow,

which, unlike rain, does not immediately run off.

It falls and stays for months.

Someone wished for this snow.

Someone got a deal, five cents on the dollar, and spent the entire family fortune.

It's the simple solution, it covers everything.

We are never satisfied with the arrangement of the snow,

So we spend hours moving the snow

from one place to another.

Too much snow.

I box it up and send it to family and friends.

I send a big box to my cousin in California.

I send a small box to my mother.

She writes, "Don't send so much. I'm all alone now.

I'll never be able to use so much.

To you I send a single snowflake, beautiful, complex, and delicate,

Different from all the others.

Have a wonderful week! Kari

Round 4

Hola--

This time, it's not just a New England storm! Newscasts show a monster storm that stretches from Arizona to Boston, covering the midwest and reaching up to the northeast corner of the U.S. Snow, Snow, and more Snow! And rain. And ice. And sleet. Don't forget the sleet.

For the past 2 years, we have had NO snow days where school is cancelled. This year, however, today makes number 3 for us! (And actually, most districts around here have had 4--we just had a "delayed start" last week when every other district cancelled school.)

The first snow day is fresh and exciting. Yippee! A day off! The next time is also kind of fun.

Then the kids start listening to the parents complain about the shoveling and driving in it. Then they look at the calendar and realize that every day we get "off" because of snow, they have to attend school further into the summer.

So, while this will not deter most school kids from getting out in it and having some fun with the white stuff, there are also a few disappointments that other activities are being cancelled.

Frank's cousin has a theory: every 7 years, New England has a very snowy winter. Her recollection (she lives in Rhode Island) is that during the 2003-04 winter, they got many, many inches and even feet of snow. Since then, just a couple of storms a year, not all that impressive.

And here we are now! Winter of 2010-11. It just keeps coming.

Not a whole lot has changed. We're still carving out the mailbox after the snowplows come through and cover it up. The snow still comes down white. And we still have to rake the roof. Again.

Happy Snow Day! Kari :)

Chauffeur Duties

OK, my friend just reminded me of the importance of ... journaling, actually, and how you forget about the little things and if you journal, you can go back and remember them. So now and then I may post a small post, just to remember a little thing.

CHAUFFEUR. I never really knew what that word meant until this period of my life. Each child wants to be involved in different things, at school, church, or in the community. I am grateful that there are so many choices of activities, and so many opportunities for them to experience.

David's been going to the Robotics group--NASA has an annual national competition where high school students can create a robot to complete different tasks. They meet almost every day.

Teresa is in this year's musical at the middle school: "The Wiz." As the performance gets closer (March), they practice more and more.

Kara is in Destination Imagination (like Robotics, a little, or Science Olympiad), and she's in a gymnastics class this term.

They each also have church activities and meetings.

These are all good things. Here's my point: I am in the car a LOT! No, really. A LOT. And we even live close to schools and the church.

So, I am thankful for transportation, and that we have the funds to pay for the gas it takes to get places. I go crazy with calendaring and pick-up times and trying to arrange carpools.

People say I'll miss it when I don't have to do it anymore! (Well, they also said that about the little-kid messy-runny-nose-no-attention-span-preschool-stage-where-you-wonder-why-you-go-to-church-each-week-stage. I have yet to cry that those days are past...) I think I'm more of a "enjoy today some, and look forward to the next adventure" type person. I rarely become sad because stages are over.

OK. Having said that, I think I WILL be sad when each child leaves for college, and they're not in our house all the time anymore.

I'm rambling now. More thoughts later, Kari