Archives for January 2010

Jack and Annie

Allison loves her Magic Tree House books. She is now the proud owner of four hard-bound books, specifically the later Merlin Mission editions. She knocks the hard-bound cover and says, “These can’t get hurt.”

Today Allison acquired the Sea Serpent adventure. She read aloud several chapters this morning, while I attempted a crossword puzzle (half-listening to her). So, before bedtime, she and I sat down to really read the book–which uses surprisingly complex words and is fairly suspenseful for a children’s book.

For instance, when Jack and Annie met the “Spider Queen,” Allison just stopped and pushed the book to me. She sidled away from the book, covered her eyes and listened as her heroes escaped from the queen’s cave. Several chapters later, Katherine crept in. Ostensibly reading her Rainbow Magic Fairy books in the other room, she had been listening to our reading. Allison and I then alternated pages and chapters until we finished the adventure.

At several points, the suspense grew, and we just had to laugh. For instance, Jack says to the Sea Serpent, “Don’t come any closer. I have the sword.” Next sentence intones, “The sea serpent moved closer.” Or, after Jack sees the Spider Queen with eight red beady eyes and eight hairy legs which is as big as him, Jack says, “Whatever you do, Annie, don’t look up!” Annie then looks up and screams, “AHHHH.”

Needless to say, Allison and I are a little hoarse. I think we must have read for over an hour. 🙂 

We might also convert Katherine to Magic Tree House from Rainbow Fairies. She has managed to collect all but one of the Special Edition books; Allison has the one book that she doesn’t own. Katherine says she likes the Special Editions because they are really three books in one. She is also reading her Encyclopedia Brown books and A to Z Mysteries.

Tired…Cold

The kids really needed some exercise today, and Allison in particular. Due to rain on Friday, her classroom had indoor recess, and she’s been a bit antsy all weekend. Early this afternoon, while it was sunny, Allison looked out hopefully and asked if she could go outside. She then enlisted Katherine to roller-skate and us to accompany them around the neighborhood.

Katherine can really skate. She zipped around the neighborhood with no issues. Rollerskating with Allison is a bit more exciting. She did the wild arm wave thing and landed on her bottom several times. She also tried to accelerate going downhill, while Katherine was perfectly happy to just roll down the hills. Allison is a bit hampered by her clamp on rollerskates, unlike Katherine who has full-on leather skates with nice brakes. However, Allison is at least a couple shoe sizes too small for real rollerskates.

After rollerskating, we then biked to a coffee shop several miles away for kids hot cocoa. The weather turned colder and more windy. Five minutes into the ride home, Allison simply stopped. She sadly said, “Tired….Cold” With a bit of encouragement, she stood up and started pedaling again.  

It’s the Economy…

Katherine is an amazingly observant child. A couple days ago, she had been playing “Katherine’s Sweet Shop” in the playroom. This involved providing one of several handwritten and typed menus to guests, serving them food, billing them and providing change from her plastic cash register. She even had donned an apron, with notepad and pen to take orders in her apron pocket. After both Steve and I had “breakfast,” Katherine announced a few times that “Katherine’s sweet shop is open….” No one came. Then, we heard massive activity, followed by a glum silence. Katherine had taken down her handwritten sign to the playroom. She replaced it with another stating, “Katherine’s Sweet Shop – Closed – for Lease” and “If you want your last meal, you should come today.” Apparently, not only did she not have a line of customers out the door, but she also looked in the cash register and had only $1 left. 

She said that she had seen the “Closed For Lease” sign in many empty storefronts here and in Boston.

The sign has been taken down, as Katherine has decided to re-open and try her business again.

One of our New Years traditions is to crack open a bottle of Martinellis, sit in front of a fire and discuss what we’re grateful for. As always, its an interesting discussion. Perhaps the most fitting for 2009 was Allison’s comment: “I’m glad Dad didn’t get laid off.”  That said, she followed it with, “If Dad did get laid off, then he’d spend more time with his kids.” (Admittedly, we’ve tried to explain that lots of people lost jobs and $ thru investments this year. But, seriously, where does this stuff come from?!)

Boston

I’ll have to go thru and find pictures to post. But, here’s a quick rundown of highlights from the trip:

• Lots of ice cream – Toscaninis and Rancs
• Dim sum
• Legal Seafood
• State Street House & Museum (Tea from Boston Tea Party!)
• Children’s Museum