Christmas Album 2011

Let us present our second-annual Wood Family Musical Christmas Card! This is our biggest self-imposed project of the year and so we happily share with you a selection of holiday music that we have performed and recorded as well as arranged, composed or adapted to fit our abilities. Much of it will probably be new to you. This is not your every-day holiday album. But we love the music that we selected and hope you'll give it a listen and feel our best Christmas greetings coming to you through the sounds. 

(and be gentle with us. This is by no means a professional recording and if you listen hard you'll probably hear lots of squaks or squeaks or other little things that would embarrass us if we didn't love you so much. So listen, but don't listen too hard. okay?)  

Link to playlist

1. Christmas Day I’Da Mornin’  traditional......fiddle, Nate
2. I Sing of A Maiden  Patrick Hadley......vocals, Leslee; piano, Nate
3. Lo How A Rose  trad./arr. by N.Wood, L.Wood......violin & cello, Nate
4. That Yonge Child/Balulalow  Benjamin Britten.......vocals, Leslee
5. Hark the Herald Angels Sing  Felix Mendelsohn......bass, Nate
6. In Dulci Jubilo  trad./harm. by B. Gesius and J.S. Bach......vocals, Leslee
7. The Shepherd’s Carol    Daniel Lyman Carter......cello, violin, Nate
8. Star in the East  traditional......guitar, Nate; vocals, Leslee
9. In Natali Domini  L. Wood......violin, viola, cello, Nate; vocals, finger cymbals, Leslee
10. Silent Night  Franz Gruber.....bass, Nate

Leaves, Sand and Cardboard

These boxes are Happy's firetruck (with Chubbles in the trailer).

and yes, he is the coolest fireman ever (note his snazzy helmet).

It's started to get quite cold here, but the sandbox has never been more popular with Boy-o.

Happy was even willing to wear gloves and hat in order to play at 8:00 a.m. amid

and sweet little Girly loves to be outside too. 

How these two tiny people can be so much tougher in the cold than I am is beyond me. 

and they are such good helpers too!

Autumn Update

Here are a few little treats from our Halloween and other fall-time fun:

swinging at the kiddos' new favorite park

Just before Daddy took the little dragon out on his first time trick-or-treating.

They both decided to jump into my bed first thing this morning (notice the clock?) Yep, the fun starts early at our house.

In other news, Happy is just about potty-trained (yay! and now that I realize cleaning up poopy undies is easier than cleaning poopy cloth diapers, I'm wondering why we didn't start this months ago).

We've had about enough of sleep-deprivation, so Chubbles has had a rough week as we've started just letting her cry when she wakes up (many times) during the night. Our sleep has not improved yet, but it can only be a matter of time, right?

Curmudgeon had his first school orchestra concert last night and received many compliments and encouraging words from parents and fellow staff members. I think the first year is pretty rough for every new teacher, so I'm very glad that folks around him seem to appreciate his efforts...even if his students can sometimes be stinkers. Am I allowed to say that?

Anyway, we're all settling in very happily and enjoying life now that things have calmed down a bit. 

Coming soon will be more house updates and Monthly Movies in December. Excited? You should be.

HOME! SWEEET! HOME!!!

We made it FINALLY! The kids and I (accompanied by my parents) finally got to go home. Curmudgeon too, though he'd been in Kansas for a while, still hadn't been able to live in our house until we came just 2 weeks ago.
Major renovation has been going on since we closed and just as soon as the place was liveable we moved right in. The basement/foundation had to be completely shored up, all the wiring redone, various and sundry other things throughout the entire house. Almost all of it happened before we arrived and now we've got major projects to look forward for the next several years. I've got a few pictures here to show what's been going on since we arrived.
With all the rewiring every single room has big plaster spots all over so we'll end up repainting everywhere but have only tackled the living room so far.

It may be hard to tell because the angles are so different, but the living room used to be a fairly neutral fawny brown. It was actually a pretty nice color, but I felt it made the room feel too dark so we chose a light blue to brighten the place and give it a bit more air. Eventually--one of those long-term projects--I plan to do a William Morris-esque stencil in an opalescent paint over the blue...but that'll probably be a long time coming.

My dad was able to stay with us for a week so I put him to work. He built a sandbox for Happy in the back yard, fixed our uncloseable front door, and built these beautiful shelves for the living room. We ran out of time, lumber and paint so we weren't able to finish them, but he's planning a trip back soon so I'll post new pictures when they are all finished.

Do keep in mind that we just moved in, so boxes are still everywhere and we're still living in a bit of a mess, but things are looking better everyday. I kept getting requests for photos so I figured I could't wait until the house looked perfect or you'd never get to see any of it!

I'm pretty excited about the new floor in the bathroom. Obviously we need to repaint (the workers repainted the trim around the window and medicine cabinet but didn't bother to use tape anywhere so we've got these white halos around the trim in every room. Looks pretty bad right now, but the floor is great!

As for the rest of life, we're SO happy to be back with Curmudgeon. The kids and I had a great summer with my parents and seeing so much of my family, but it was really hard to be separated. Chubbles is walking all over the place now and has eight teeth (half of them just popped out in the last two days!) Happy finally speaks English--no more nonsense syllables for him. It's words all the way now and it's been so great to see him learn and process things then talk about them. 

All for now and happy to be back to normal life. 

new month, same story

Well, it doesn't seem like we're any closer to our home and normal life, but the contractor assures us that it should only be about two weeks before we can move in. Hope it's true this time.
Curmudgeon has been in KS for about six weeks now. School has been in session for nearly a month and he's enjoying his classes very much. I know the learning curve for first-year teachers is a steep one, but he seems to me like a fish in water and just as happy with them as can be. (correct me in your own post if I'm wrong, C)
The babies and I are still bunkering with my folks in UT. It's been great for them to get to know our little ones and we've had a wonderful summer together, but I'm definitely feeling a bit crazy for my own home and especially to be reunited with C again. Also, I only brought summer clothes with me and it's starting to get uncomfortably chilly here on the edge of Wyoming. sigh.
Happy and Chubbles are growing incredibly fast. Happy seems to add new words and more sophisticated concepts to his vocabulary every day. To give you an idea of his favorite subjects and the very cute way he talks about them, let me share some of his most common words:
funt-a-woda (frontloader)
dosus (bulldozer)
crane 
dump truck (also, "daddy" dump truck and "baby" dump truck to delineate their sizes ;)
tractor
haybale
kangwoo (kangaroo, obviously)
ri-sus (rhinoceros)
efunt (elephant)
monkey
horse and cow (which are still interchangeable to him and both say "moo")
It's amazing how sharp he is about some things. He absolutely knows the difference between frontloaders, backhoes and bulldozers and makes sure I get it right.
A couple of days ago he got mad at me because I wouldn't let him draw on my paper--don't worry, I wasn't intentionally stifling his creative development. He had a whole stack of his own papers. After a brief and firey tantrum, he stormed up the stairs to his bedroom and slammed the door. I went up to check on him a few minutes later and he was happily playing by himself on his bed. great, right? So I just left the door open a crack and went back downstairs. About 30 seconds later I hear him get up, go to the door and slam it shut again. I never knew it started so early!
Chubbles is so close to being completely mobile. She has taken lots of steps by herself but hasn't quite gotten the confidence to just let go yet. Maybe today. She crawls like a champion. We haven't  actually clocked her, but I bet she could win any baby race.
She's also an impressive mimic. She and Happy have hilarious "conversations" as they copy each others noises, each louder than the other until it escalates into possibly unsafe decible range. She has taken to making kissy noises at us, she claps and dances all the time and last night she repeated "night night"many times before I put her to bed-- well, it was more like "na na"--but she was definitely copying us.

One of my family traditions is to the famous "sailor suit" picture when any baby turns one. All of my siblings, myself and all of the grandchildren have gone through this little ritual. Chubbles just barely squeezed into the suit and it barely covered her diaper. She has cousins on whom the dress hung loosely down past their knees at the same age. Oh, my hilariously huge babies.

 And her first birthday cake. Happy had a very healthy, low-sugar pumpkin bread cake for his first birthday. You see how my resolve has been worn down... 

We took a brief visit to see my grandparents. So here's a four generation shot of the kids and me with my beautiful mother and grandmother.

Well, if all goes as planned, we should be able to move into our new home by the end of the month. Then regular posting will begin again, as will our monthly movies and music posts and whatever else we can think of.

Back for Real This Time? Hopefully!

It's been so long I wonder if anybody even bothers looking anymore! We do have a good excuse, however, since we've been living in limbo for the past two months.
We made our plans to move from Ohio at the end of June based on the original closing date for our house. As it happend, the closing got pushed back (and there's a long and frustrating tale. stay tuned) after Curmudgeon had already given notice at work, we'd already told our landlords when we'd vacate our rental house, and we'd already reserved the moving truck. We decided to just go with the original plan, put our belongings in storage in Kansas and spend a month or so with my parents in Utah while we waited to move into our new home.
Apart from a few "adventures" and way too much time in the car, we've had a pretty good summer. We've had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa Roar as well as seeing most of the rest of my family. We even got to spend several days with my long-missed Okie family. Here's Happy with one of his sweet Okie cousins. I think he was in love and would have followed her to the ends of the earth!

 And here's Chubbles sharing a story with my brother.

and again with Grandpa Roar.

 The kiddos doing their best impressions of prehistoric beasts facing off at the dinosaur museum near my parent's home. I love that the dinosaur scuptures in the background are basically a mirror image of my children!

 And speaking of dinosaurs, Happy's favorite food has become dinosaur chicken. My parents have a stockpile of grandkid-friendly snacks including some frozen chicken nuggets cut in the shape of dinosaurs. When he wakes up in the morning it's "di-sus CH-KUN!" When we get back to Grandma's house after a trip to see cousins we hear "di-sus CH-KUN!" before we've even parked the car. And at any random time of day when he thinks of it: "di-sus CH-KUN!" (including right this second).

Happy has lots of fun when it's Daddy helping him to play the violin. There's not as much enthusiasm when I try to help. I guess that's ok since I'm not the expert!

But when it comes to music, Chubbles is the real avid fan. She is our little dancer and if there's even a hint of music playing she's rocking, waving her arms, shaking her head and bouncing.

 (Grandpa Roar likes to decorate the babies.)

 Happy won't get near the water, but he likes playing in the sand at the beach. 

We don't have any pictures of it, but Chubbles is a total fish. She has no fear of water whatsoever and loved every swimming pool, lake and bath she's been in.

We're glad to be back and we'll be more glad when we can get settled!!

in an upcoming post: the frustrating and convoluted story of our quest to buy a house, our too-long separation from Daddy, and the continuing saga of our move to Kansas.

.                    

...And we're back

It's always when the most is going on (when you really should be keeping a good record and keeping your family and friends in the loop) that journals, letters and blog posts go by the wayside. I won't attempt to get you up to speed on all our recent happenings in one long post because it would be too long, too boring, and would take me such a long time to write that it just wouldn't get done and you'd never get the update.
So here's the concise list version:

• I went out to KS to scope out a place for us to live. Not a lot of success in the rental department and some really awful foreclosures for sale. Then this gem:

It's also a foreclosure, but it's in great condition, a well-made "Prairie Box" house built in 1930. It was love at first sight. So we're on the road to owning our own home. Exciting!

• Curmudgeon is in his last week of student teaching! YAY! A couple of weeks ago the school had their final orchestra concert. I wasn't able to find a babysitter so I didn't see it firsthand, but C made a recording of it. Sounded good! Here's a clip: this is the high school orchestra playing C's arrangement of "House of the Rising Sun".

• Happy and Punky just keep growing bigger and bigger and bigger! Happy loves tractors, trucks and busses more than ever. He's also a modest boy and won't move unless he's got pants on. Honestly, when we change his diaper, he'll lay on the floor for ten minutes waiting for us to replace his pants! He's talking more and more all the time. Some notable additions to his vocabulary are "ga-goof" (tractor), "gee-kees" (pancakes) and "shirt" (he doesn't say his 'r's yet, so we get a big kick out of that one and as we laugh gleefully he says it over and over with great emphasis. I know, we're terrible).

• Punky is 10 months old now! She doesn't win any awards for sleeping through the night. In fact, her brother was a horrible sleeper but at least he started sleeping through the night around 8 months. Girly, not so much. But in every other way she's a complete peach! She laughs and claps and coos and generally enchants everyone she meets. She seems perfectly content to sit immobile on her bottom and play with anything in reach and ignore anything out of range. No sign that she'll be crawling anytime soon. Maybe she'll walk before she crawls.

Anyway, that's the news from our end of the world. As things slow down we hope to get a little more consistent again. We also look forward to resuming our weekly movies...and boyo have we got some good ones in the dock! Just you wait...

music, music everywhere

Happy will have his first "official" violin lesson tomorrow. The teacher Curmudgeon is student teaching with is a Suzuki guru and has kindly consented to meet boy-o and give us some further tips on how to teach him at this early stage.
So in the spirit of that lesson, here's a cute video I took of him playing the other day:

Also, if you're interested, I promised to post some of the music from our Easter Program a couple of weeks ago. I'll refer you to my other (dedicated music) blog: singlikeanything.blogspot.com. So you'll know what might be most interesting to you, I'll give a list of what we were involved in:

Choir Numbers (I'm the director and C sang in the bass section)

• "In the Upper Room"
• "Mid the Stillness of the Night"
• "Dona Nobis Pacem"
• "Abide With Me" (I arranged and sang on this one. The balance is a bit off because the mic wasn't exactly in the middle so I'm louder than I should be, but you can still get a bit of a feel for it)
• "He is Risen!" (C arranged this one and sang too. Ditto about the balance issues)
• "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth" (C on bass)
• "Who is this Jesus?" (C on violin. But I feel I should mention that he didn't feel great about how this one went, so just bear in mind that this may not be a fair representation of his skills)

By the way, on a totally unrelated topic, you may have noticed that we've gone two whole weeks without any movies! Worry not, the weekly tradition will continue...probably next month. Or maybe when we're settled into our new place.

What a crazy week!

It's been a whirlwind around here for the past little while. Easter (more about that in an upcoming post), a fast trip to the prairie, a new job and then back to home and business as usual without a breather. Can you blame us for neglecting you for a little while? I thought not.

Congratulations (and a deep sigh of relief) are in order as Curmudgeon has accepted a position as orchestra director at a middle school (with a couple of elementary classes too) in Overland Park, Kansas. So we're headed west after he finishes student-teaching in June.

whew. For having said we had such a crazy week I feel like I should have more to say right now! Guess I can explain a little of why it was so busy. Last Sunday we had our Easter Program in church (which I planned, directed, and wrote. So yeah, it was a big deal for me) and it went very very well. Immediately after sacrament meeting was over we jumped in the car to drive to Kansas. Happy wasn't with us at this point--he spent the weekend with C's parents (thank you Grammy and Gramps!!), but Punky was a pure trooper through the whole trip. I hope all of our kids will be as good at traveling as these two are. They can't sleep, but they sure are good in the car (usually).

here's our cute girly in the hotel room late at night after riding in her car seat for many hours across many states. So happy!

Once we got into Overland Park C had a great interview with the other music staff members and principle. They seem like a great group to work with and he felt very warmly welcomed. He was offered the position almost immediately and that was that! I am quite relieved that we don't have to fill out any more online applications! Those are a complete mess! To my siblings, remember the "place that sends you mad" in Asterix and the 12 Tasks? I think online job applications are that place.
Anyway, now we have the happy task of finding a place to live, packing up our belongings and readjusting to a new place. Stressful though those things may be, I was serious when I said "happy task". We're blessed to know we've got a job lined up in a great place and we're excited about the possibilities ahead of us. The only downer is leaving our family behind. And I don't even want to think about that yet so I'm going to stop talking about it.
One last parting shot...

it's been rainy-rainy all week, but somebody is so prepared. I know it's blurry and you can't even see his face, but somehow he still manages to be so cute! (yes, it is sunny with no sign of rain and yes, we are indoors. whatever.)

April: Cons & Capers (4 of 4)

The Sting!!

One of the gems of my childhood. I don't know how many times we sat and watched this movie as a family or listened to the record (Joplin piano rags). Robert Redford and Paul Newman are one of the great duos of hollywood history and they don't disappoint one moment in this classic.

Redford is a small-town crook who goes to learn "the big con" under the tutelage of Newman, a drunk has-been who hasn't run a con for years. Together, they set out con one of the most powerful, dangerous and vengeful gangsters in Chicago... and get away with it? You'll have to make it to the end to find out.

Enjoy!

And by the way--no comments this month? What gives? Surely somebody watched something with us! (Especially after the long spiel I gave in favor of Brothers Bloom! Come on, I want to know what you thought of it!)

A Little Update

Well, things have been pretty busy here in the woods. Curmudgeon is in the midst of student teaching but he's still working full-time (nights) as well as trying to apply and interview for prospective jobs this fall. He's incredibly busy but still finds time to play with his babies, write music--including a new arrangement for our upcoming Easter Program at church as well as an orchestral arrangement for the high school he's student-teaching at, teach a few lessons and do the shopping when I just can't face it (the grocery store with two babies is my own little private hell). We are fortunate enough to have some paternity leave time left over so that he can take a couple days of (unpaid) leave each week which gives him a couple of extra nights at home with us.
I've been measuring my life by deadlines lately...tax day, easter, art show submission dates. I am the music chairman and choir director at church so I've been planning for the Easter Program for several months and am now in the last few days of pulling it all together. The choir has been just wonderful and very willing to step out on a limb with the very difficult music I've thrown at them. Now I've just got to finish writing the narration (haven't I ever heard of delegation? sheesh) and we'll be all set. C and I are both premiering new pieces in the program too. I already mentioned his, it's another men's quartet, this time of the hymn "He is Risen". Mine is a ladies trio (hmm, it kind of looks like we're trying to segregate the genders. I'm not sure what that means) of "Abide With Me". We'll record them both--actually, I'm hoping to record the whole program as I'd really like you to hear the choir too.

We mentioned before that Happy has graduated to a big-boy bed. I wish that bedtime really was as idyllic as this photo implies. The reality is more than a little frustrating to this mama. Sometimes I'm ready to pull all my hair out. Today was one of those days. A giant dent in the wall (from a flying dump truck thrown down the stairs), the coat-rack knocked over and a dozen coats all over the floor, an upturned and broken file box with all our personal documents, tax files for the past 3 years, receipts and notes from teaching and gigging, my business documents and receipts scattered all over the floor. And a small happy person who doesn't take naps or eat vegetables or follow directions behind it all. We're lucky babies are so cute...evolutionary protection? I think so.

But it has been a pretty good week for girly. She's been a bit happier, a bit cuter and a bit less fussy than usual. She's learned to clap her hands, she's getting to be an impressively mobile wiggler, and she is already trying to climb out of the crib. Her brother still hadn't gotten to that point by the time we took the crib away! She continues to rake in the compliments about her mohawk and has added to the praise with oohs and ahhs about her big beautiful blue eyes.

all in all, though it's busy and frustrating and stressful and tiring, I think life for us is pretty good and there's not a whole lot we would change. 

April: Cons & Capers (3 of 4)

And this is it...the one I've been waiting for!! I know that many of you will not have seen this movie and I've been so anxious to introduce you to it that I got up early so I could write this post before the kids wake up.

I saw the trailer for this film some time ago and was intrigued by what appeared to be a clever and twisty plotline, snippets of lighthearted and funny dialogue and by the fact that it stars Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo. Are you kidding me? AWESOME!! Love them both to bits.

Then, because we never go to movies anymore, I forgot about it until it showed up on our Netflix recommendation list. Within a few days I was holding in my hand a little red envelope filled with as-yet-untold goodness.

I watched it once. I watched it twice. I watched it three times. Then I decided I had better get up off the couch. Ok, not really. I didn't actually watch it three times in a row, but I wanted to! And I did watch it probably 4 or 5 times before returning it to Netflix. Then we went and bought it and I've watched it several more times since then.

It's charming, hilarious, confusing, convoluted, heartbreaking, and feel-good. The characters are all completely compelling and zip right into your heart within their first few moments. Of course Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody are fantastic, but the two ladies are just as good. I think the real standout of the cast might be Rinko Kikuchi, who, despite a role with almost no lines, just about steals every scene she's in. 

I'm not going to waste time telling you the plot. It's clear enough that you can get it as you watch and confusing enough that I just don't want to go into it here. I'll just outline a few of my favorite things:

1) one of the best movie openings I've ever seen. The introduction is clever and cute and sets up the main characters brilliantly.

2) after having seen it now probably 10 times, I still see new things with each viewing. There are so many layers in the imagery and story that you just never get to the bottom of it. It's not like it makes any claims to be some deep, philosophical treatise and I'm not making that claim either, it's just that the filmmakers and writers were extremely clever and thoughtful about what they put into the details. It's a pleasure to watch each new time.

3) my number one, all-time favorite romantic movie moment. It's not a love scene per se, just a small moment of hand-holding, sunshine and utter happiness. You'll see.

Ok, enough said. I love everything about this movie and wholeheartedly recommend it to you.

things to be aware of: I don't recall any language, there's a bit of mock-violence (they are con-artists, after all) and a somewhat embarrassing moment on a train. If you want to know specifics, you should probably look the movie up on one of those "ratings explained" sites. Again, I'd let my kids watch it, but you know me.

up next week: The Sting

What's Up These Days?

Curmudgeon is in the midst of student teaching, and yes, he's still working. So the man is busy, tired, overworked and still manages to come home cheerful and happy to play with his children. Wow. I love him so much! He's in a great situation with his mentor-teacher. She has allowed him to jump right in and he's had many opportunities to teach and direct. He's even writing an arrangement of "House of the Rising Sun" for the High School orchestra to play for their end-of-year concert. We'll be sure to record it and share it with you all.
Happy has had lots of excitement in his world lately. He experienced his first major injury. Ok, whatever, as far as this exceptionally healthy household is concerned, a chipped tooth is a big deal. But he survived like a champ on oatmeal and applesauce for a couple of days. I could tell he was feeling better when he returned to his status quo--peanut butter sandwiches.
He has also graduated to a big-boy bed. We're not really convinced he was ready for the change, but little Punky is not so little anymore and she was cramming into the corners of her cradle. So now she's sleeping in the crib. Happy however, is not sleeping so much. He hasn't had a real nap since the change and bedtime, though still begun at the usual time, ends at least a couple of hours later for him. He exhausts himself playing with his toys (or throwing them from one end of the room to the other) then falls asleep in a lump on the floor. Then, as has happened for the past three nights, he wakes up whimpering until I come in to put him in bed and tuck his blankets around him. I sure hope he gets used to his bed soon. And I REALLY hope that this is not the end of his naps. He may think he's ready to stay up all day, but I am definitely not!!
Punky hasn't had as much excitement. The new bed is about the extent of it. We're still trying to help her figure out how to sleep. I do think the crib has been an improvement (at least, once she got a fluffy quilt to sleep on and a quilted bumper around the perimeter). But we're still up 3 to 4 times a night. But believe me, that is an improvement.
Someday we'll all have normal schedules. Someday our children will be able to sleep by themselves and someday their parents will be able to sleep at all. Someday.

April: Cons & Capers (2 of 4)

Ok, so we missed a day, but Robert Redford is as good on a Saturday as he would have been on Friday, so never fear, the con-fest continues.

Look at that cast list...how could you resist, right? Ok, let's just be honest, I can resist the Akroyd and McDonnell, but the rest are (picture me kissing the tips of my fingers like a French chef) superb (obviously said French-ly). Well, ok, that's not true either because as superb as Ben Kingsley normally is, this sure isn't his best performance. But all that aside, it's a great movie. Lots of fun.

For any unfamiliar with Sneakers, Redford plays Martin Bishop, head of a rag-tag team of ex-professionals who do contract work testing security systems...which just means they break in like thieves then report back system vulnerabilities to the clients...blah blah blah. The story really takes off when they get involved with a certain little black box that may or may not have the power to take down the whole system. You know, the WHOLE system. Full of humor, action, suspense and--most important--quotable quotes, we give this our hearty recommendation. 

Full disclosure: may be some language and mild adult situations. I think we'd let our kids watch, but you know what we're like.

coming next week: The Brothers Bloom

Another NIght

Punky, aka Chubbles, is a giant baby. Alys has suspected that part of her getting up every two hours during the night now is due to barely fitting in her crib/bassinet. (Who knows why she didn't sleep a few months ago when she fit just fine?) So, after a particularly bad night, Alys made the executive decision today to put Happy in the toddler bed, and put Punky in his crib.

Happy was pretty happy about the bed. He sat contented on his bed with a pile of colored pencils while I read stories, sang him a song, and held hands for prayer. That was a little past 7. He continued to make noise for another 90 minutes. A little past nine I heard a loud THUMP from his room. I went upstairs and heard nothing from his room but his white noise machine. When I quietly opened the door to look in, he was sitting on his bed, silently sorting some toys. He wasn't facing me and didn't look when I looked in; I closed the door and went back downstairs. No noise since, nor have I checked in again. Chubbles has also not made a peep, but the night is young (11pm).

April: Cons & Capers (1 of 4)

Welcome to another month and another theme! Conmen, tricksters and grifters will populate our Friday nights for the next few weeks as we delve into Cons & Capers

First on the docket is the 1966 "How to Steal a Million" starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. Hard to go wrong with those two, right? They're both as gorgeous, witty and delightful as you'd expect. Tiny teaser to the plot (for those of you who haven't seen it yet...if there are any of you). Miss Hepburn catches Mr. O'Toole red-handed picking off one of her father's priceless Van Goghs and subsequently hires him to steal the precious Cellini Venus currently on display at a Paris Museum. The Venus which, by the way, she already happens to own. Sophisticated, Givenchy-clad hilarity ensues. Enjoy!

Up next week: Sneakers

A Word About Girly

Our little punky girl is almost 8 months now and has made the leap that separates slug-babies from cute, interactive, sparkly babies. (She is the latter now). She still has her mohawk but has added to her punk look with two tiny little bottom teeth. We haven't gotten a picture of them yet because she only displays them for very special occasions.

She rolls around like a champ, sits up straight and tall with no help and can wiggle an impressive distance when our backs are turned. She loves her brother even when he's a little bit rough with her. She also loves to listen to her daddy's fiddling and her mama's singing. Books are another favorite, though she's as fond of eating them as of listening to the stories.

Her favorite game is peek-a-boo with blankets. Pretty simple: she lays on her back and pulls the blanket over her head, slaps her belly a few times, then pulls the blanket off and looks around. This adorable video is of said game. Her parents, of course, do not get bored with it, but we won't be offended if you do. Just don't tell us.

She doesn't sleep very well and we haven't figured out how to fix that one little flaw yet. I guess nobody is perfect. But she's pretty close.

March: I Heart Ireland (4 of 4)

Is it Friday again? Then you're in for a treat because this weeks film is the best of all! (It's also one of Happy's favorites and comes with his strong endorsement.)

Ok, I know this isn't actually a poster for the movie, but the real movie poster is kind of lame. This is much better.

The Secret of Kells is an animated film that gorgeously imagines the creation of the Book of Kells. For those unfamiliar with said book, it is a 9th-Century Irish manuscript containing the four Gospels. It is famous for its elaborate illuminations and is a great masterpiece of early Christian art. I was mildly obsessed with the Book of Kells for about six months in eighth grade and spent hours trying to create celtic interlace myself.
Ok, on to the film. The animation is simply beautiful. You'll be completely transfixed. It received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature in 2010. Nothing like the current trend of digital, almost-3d-creepy cartoons these days, it is painterly and artistic. Of course, it uses digital animation...why not, right? But it's not gimmicky or video-gamey. Such a relief!

The story is great too. There's so much to love about this movie that I think I'll just leave you to watch it and get your own impressions. 

Up next week: How to Steal a Million

March: I Heart Ireland (3 of 4)

Another week, another flick.  This time, it's "The Quiet Man" starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.

Wayne stars as a man returning to his roots. Irish-born, American-raised (I don't think he could handle an Irish accent, do you?). He returns to the village of his birth and within 5 minutes falls in love with fiery spinster (their word, not mine) Maureen O'Hara. Made in 1952, this film brims over with every quaint Irish stereotype short of leprechauns. As it is John Wayne, it's also full of brooding tough-guyness and an ever-so-slightly misogynistic love-story. But it's a fun classic and worth a watch. 

up next week: The Secret of Kells

A Very Happy Saint Pat's Day to Ye!

Maybe we've got Irish-envy. Maybe it's that we love all things green. Maybe we wish we could find a pot-o-gold. Whatever the reason, we're feeling especially festive this year and wanted to share a musical Saint Patrick's Day greeting with you.
You'd be right in guessing that we don't have a lot of time to play music together these days, but we were both able to record a few things individually. Curmudgeon has been entertaining us all with his Irish-fiddle-playing and I still like to sing the old sad songs. Don't mind the noisy pub-goers in the background. We thought they were so cute that I didn't want to cut them out during the editing process. I also (apologies to Curmudgeon) enjoyed the little warm-up sounds and squeaks of the fiddle. And since I was in control of editing, I left those in too. Because they're charming.

Enjoy!

A Man and His Art

We've been treated to a few glimpses of Happy's burgeoning creativity:

You might wonder why in the world his parents let him take crayons to bed with him... it's a good question. He only recently became interested in drawing with them. Mostly he just plays "dump them out and put them back into their jar". 

Actually, though it means we'll be doing some painting in his room before we move out of this house, I think the room's look has improved.

This is our fridge and the magnet-drawing he created one morning. I thought it was pretty cute.

March: I Heart Ireland (2 of 4)

It's another Friday and time for another movie in our series. This week we present:

I had seen this movie around and heard of it, but really had no inclination to watch it until Curmudgeon enlightened me to a few facts:

1- It's Irish and since we're lovers of all things British (especially when it comes to entertainment), that's an immediate plus.

2- It's hilarious. Also a plus.

3- The "waking" refers to a funeral wake, not awakening. You wouldn't think that would matter at all, but for some reason I was immediately more interested.

The story follows the townsfolk of one small village in rural Ireland. One of their citizens, Ned Devine wins the lottery--and dies of the shock.  Not about to let a good thing pass by, his friends and neighbors devise a scheme to fool the lotto executive who comes to town that Ned is indeed alive and well and ready to claim his winnings. Funny, touching and lighthearted, this is a pleaser in any crowd.

Hope you're ready for some good Irish fun.

up next week: The Quiet Man

We're one week into cloth diapers.

We were fortunate enough to inherit a great collection of diapers and supplies from one of my friends when Punky was born. Though I have thought cloth diapering would be a great idea for some time, it's taken us seven months to take the plunge. Of course, there were some good reasons for that:

1) fear.  

It's amazing just how intimidating a simple little pile of rags can be. 

I had never even seen cloth diapers in action, so I had no idea exactly how to do it and felt flummoxed by the many online instructions, blog posts and advice columns. They didn't make any sense until I actually got my babies into the things. Then it all became clear.

2. laundry. 

It's already hard enough for me to keep up with all the clothes to be washed, not to mention the towels, sheets and blankets that don't get washed nearly as often as they should! It seemed completely foolhardy to add another load that would HAVE to be washed everyday. But you know, the laundry has been a non-issue so far. I still can't keep up with the clothes or linens, but like all things of necessity, the diapers get done because if I slack off on that then my babies will have to run around naked all day. So I do laundry.

A problem that I have not solved, however, is that my babies are huge. We're using large and one-size (at their largest) for both of them and Happy is just barely squeezing in. For the most part it's fine during the day, but nighttime is a nightmare.

Last night Happy went through 4 diapers and 2 pajamas before 1:30 a.m. Then I caved and just slapped a disposable on him because I could see it was a battle I'd already lost (I'd consider getting up 6 times--including a couple times for Punky--in 3 hours losing, wouldn't you?)

But they sure look a lot cuter than the old paper ones, don't they!