So this years pumpkin entries have arrived. We got a good deal on some huge pumpkins from a local plant place, and the kids did MUCH more of their own pumpkins than ever before. Katie pooped out after about half of the doggie, but Ellen poked and cut and did a really nice job on…
This is an example of why my 8 1/2 year old is so special. While reading stories tonight (we’re reading “The Amber Spyglass”, part 3 in the “His Dark Materials Trilogy” by Philip Pullman), we get to a part where one of the characters meets up with an alien species of things like deer. Ellen…
This report comes from Kim, via Katie’s teacher. Apparently, there’s a new girl in Katie’s class–Dinaye (or something like it), who speaks very little English. So the other day, Katie’s music teacher notices that every time that she says something to the class, Katie turns to Dinaye and says something. She listens more closely and…
Growing up, I had a number of friends in the neighborhood, most of which were just friends of convenience. I had very little in common with many of them, most of them tended to be pains in the ass, and some of them drooled. However, they were nearby and I was young, stuck where I…
Greg used to send me and Emily and lots of other people the weirdest shit ever. If it was Japanese, bizarre, sudo-cutsey, or just overall insane, it would have come via greg. Now, with greg gone to the great anime in the sky, Emily has found a few very surreal things and I look forward…
Last night at dinner, Ellen had all sorts of questions about alternative fuels, asking if we could use oil from corn, or olives, or meat fat, or all sorts of other types of oils to power cars and house heating, etc. After dinner, she heads upstairs, and on her own wrote the following letter to…
This conversation was reported by my mother a few months ago when Mom and Dad were looking for a house in the area: Nana. Gee look at those beautiful houses I would love to live in one of them (the ones on Wyoming Avenue) Ellen: Nana those are nice but you should live in a…
Overheard this morning: Katie: Mom, remember when we were born, Ellen was hanging upside down and I was tangled up in the invisible cords?
We’re on vacation on Long Beach Island today for a week, and Ellen is sitting at the table earlier, playing an online game called “Runescape.” To say she gets involved to the exclusion of all around her is an understatement. She’s sitting there and apparently Dad tells her some dumb joke and she doesn’t even…
Kim and I were having a conversation in the kitchen. I’m standing there, with my cel phone and bluetooth headset on, we’re talking about something, and my cel phone rings. I look at the caller ID and see that it’s not just a telemarketer calling my cel phone, but it’s a known religious zealot calling…