Recently

Evan helped me put together Christmas cards.

He drew his first “realistic” picture (that I’ve seen). This is me. It has a head with eyes, eyebrows, and hair.

I bravely let Evan sit on my lap and use scissors to cut out this mouse, and a few more like it. It was awfully time-consuming, so only a few very special friends got them.

It snowed…just barely. Most likely, the reason we’ve had a dry winter is that I got snow suits for the kids. When we did get a half inch one morning, I took advantage of it. June was unsure.

I don’t think we stayed outside for more than half an hour, but Evan had a lot of fun. Afterwards we tried having hot chocolate and marshmallows…are you surprised that Evan just wanted to eat the marshmallows and refused to drink the chocolate?

Plus, we had Christmas vacation in California and got to visit with friends and family. June has started growling deeply whenever someone says “Dinosaur!” Evan is getting to be more fun; when he isn’t tired, he likes to play games with me and run around. Thankfully I have a little more energy now than I did last semester.

Other than that, just life as usual! Lots of reading playing, and time outs (for everyone).

Sorry I don’t have any other pictures. We didn’t take a camera with us on our trip at all.


Open Me

by Sunshine O’Donnell | 230 pages, published 2007

I must have put this on my list because of the description, “Mem is a wailer, a professional mourner hired to cry at funerals. One of the few remaining American girls in this secret, illegal profession, Mem hails from a long line of mourners, including her mother, a legendary master wailer hired for the most important funerals in her hometown of Philadelphia.”

It does sound intriguing, doesn’t it?

But the whole book was just bizarre. Almost like The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus bizarre (but not quite). I felt as if the whole book were meant as an allegory, or was actually about prostitution or something? No? I almost wish one of you would read it so we could talk about it, but life is too short. Let’s discuss Pathfinder instead.

I feel odd after reading this book…

Buy Open Me on Amazon


Stardust

by Neil Gaiman | 256 pages, published 1998

You’ve seen the movie, right? True to form, I liked the movie more because I saw it before I read the book. I thought it was a great adaptation and the added drama/conflict was well done. The book seemed to end abruptly. So, here’s a rare stick-with-the-movie recommendation from me.

Buy Stardust (the book) on Amazon

Buy Stardust (the movie) on Amazon