Weather - To borrow an overused expression from "The Darling Buds of May", today was almost "perfick". We've had such ugly weather for nearly a week. It was starting to drive Michelle crazy because the kids were often trapped indoors. Yesterday was decent but really windy. Today was sunny, 70'ish, and just enough breeze to keep the mosquitos off you. Besides Sunday morning Mass (celebrating the Feast of Pentecost), we played a lot outside in the yard, took the kids to the park, and ate barbecued steak and chicken on the back deck. Claire and I also took the boys down to see the river while Michelle and Abigail went to buy some more flowers. While the boys and I took an early afternoon nap, Michelle and Claire did some painting of exterior trim near the doors. I jokingly chastised her for not resting but she said the quiet time painting was very therapeutic for her. I sometimes think that she does know how to rest before 3 p.m.
Daniel - Daniel was rather proud this weekend because he got to wear "big boy underwear". To quote one of his favorite training books, "bye bye diapers!". He practically has it memorized. We just need two more things with him: a) use other toilets outside the house b) learn to aim without a deflector shield. If you've used one of the training seats on the market, you know what I'm talking about. Having only dealt with training Claire and Abby until recently, training boys is a new experience.
Media - We got the last Lord of the Rings in the mail Friday and I watched it Saturday. Man! 3 hours, 20 minutes! Who could believe one DVD could require that much endurance?! I also introduced Claire to Mr. Bean humor as together we watched "The Best Bits of Mr. Bean". Also this weekend the kids watched "Thomas and the Magic Railroad". Pretty big names in acting for a movie about Thomas the tank engine. After a strange bit of reminiscing with Michelle, we decided to put that 1980 movie, "Xanadu", at the top of our rental queue. Tomorrow I might even buy/download the soundtrack from iTunes. When I was in college, my friend Zach had it on vinyl (remember vinyl?). I used to enjoy listening to it. What a period piece the movie and album were. Disco on it's way out, roller skating/boogie, Electric Light Orchestra, Olivia Newton John, punk music getting on the scene... It didn't win any awards, nor should it have. Nevertheless we thought it would be a fun and safe movie for Claire.
Scott,
I'm glad you started Claire on Mr. Bean. It will set the building blocks for the Monty Python marathons we will have when the girls get here.
The Kyle shingles story is as follows; Two years ago Alyssa got sick, she was having terrible head pain. For a short time we were very concerned she might really be sick, like terminally. When she finally went to the doctor it turned out to be a rare case of head shingles. After she got better we were so grateful she was OK, and had a very upbeat view on life I brought up the idea of having another baby. The rest, as they say, was history.
It's either a touching story or a long winded one. I can't decide.
Tom
Posted by: Tom at May 31, 2004 11:23 PMWow! I don't recall ever hearing about the head shingles. I just remember that when Chris and Katie were getting married, you two kept the pregnancy quiet. I was in Chicago all that time and didn't find out until we got back to NH.
I ordered Claire another Mr. Bean DVD that should arrive late this week. Four DVDs go back in today's mail. Michelle and I still have yet to see the movie 'Paycheck'. It seems like the movies that we rent for ourselves (no kids) take forever to get watched because we are too tired to watch them by the time the kids go down. If our kids stayed up as late as yours, I don't think we'd ever get to see any grown up movies.
Posted by: Scott at June 1, 2004 05:54 AMXanadu is one of my favorite DVD/Soundtracks thanks to two of my favorite artists. I've probably got every CD they ever made. It reminds me of the old MAD magazine joke: "How come the seventh game of the World Series always airs at the same time as the Alice Cooper/Mick Jagger concert?"
Posted by: Mr Russell at June 5, 2004 12:12 AM