In the country

Saturday we spent the night at York and Elizabeth's compound in Timberlake. Anne and Jon joined us (and brought massive steaks).




York and Wiley




Lucie discovered root beer


Anne got a new tattoo


Jon did, too


While the steaks were cooking, some of us went on a walk

Anansi the Spider Man

Lucie's YPPC theater class performed "Anansi the Spider Man and the Sky God Stories" this weekend. Lucie played the part of one of Anansi's many children.


Anansi tells his children that he will go to the Sky God to get some stories to tell them.


"If you're hungry, why don't you eat that big green frog over there."


"And they all lived happily ever after."


After the show

Dirty white boy

It's always a pain getting the lawn mower started.

Boys and girls

People are always asking me, now that I have a boy, how that experience is different from having a girl. This movie pretty much sums it up.

Achoo

Here's Milo imitating me sneezing.

The great outdoors

C and I took turns seeing movies at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival today. While I watched In the Shadow of the Moon, Milo enjoyed the great outdoors with Dad.

Below, Milo digs one of our new garden beds.



Milo gets very excited about bumblebees.

Good dancers

Lucie and Milo are both very good dancers. Unfortunately, Milo was more interested in playing with trains when I shot this video.

Pretty creepy

In reference to a particularly strange caterpillar...

L: How creepy would it be if you saw a live ghost, a mummy, your dead soul, and a spider that was poisonous?

K: That would be pretty creepy.

L: Well, it was just a little less creepy than that.

Mortality rate

Overheard backseat conversation:

Sadie: ...but it'll be a long time before we die. [pause] Unless there's a terrible sickness...

Lucie: ...Or we get shot.

Sadie: ...or murdered.

Lucie: ...Or run over.

Balls out

Balls out, the movie

Shout out to Anne and Jon for the continued enjoyment of the Ball Hut.

Every while and now

Among Lucie's charming and creative uses of language are "every while and now," as in, "Every while and now, I get this really great feeling in my foot. I thought it only happens when I take my socks off, but it happened just now, and I'm not wearing socks."

Another would be "not in the world," as in, "I am not in the world going to wake up an hour early for Daylight Savings Time," or, "Milo, you had better not in the world come over here."

And although it is unrelated, it is worth mentioning here Lucie's reaction to a passage from the Wizard of Oz. While reading aloud to Lucie that the wizard "ruled the Emerald City wisely and well," she interjected, "Not like George W. Bush!"

Spring is here

Art Linkletter is dead. Long live Art Linkletter*

C [noticing L's new heart-shaped crafted purse]: "That's a real nice purse, Lu."

L: "Thanks. Sadie gave it to me. [Somewhat sternly] She made it from a kit, so don't think she's more talented than me."

*Surprisingly, Art Linkletter is, as of this writing, still alive.

Bad baby

Milo's starting to talk now. We'll have to get some movies of this, because it is so darn cute. He loves balls, and his first definite declaration, besides "Ma ma" and "boo" (for boobie), was "ball." It sounds like, "b alll." (Interestingly, Lucie's first word was also "ball.") He also makes a panting noise whenever he sees a dog, which is surprisingly often.

I've warned C often about a particular game he plays with Milo, which we will call, "bad baby." Milo will take off doing something mischievous, and C will make a game out of it by saying, "Bad baby!" (in a mock stern voice). Of course this is lots of fun. So it should come as no surprise that tonight, when I was warning Milo not to run off with a cookie, he turned around and growled, "Bad baby!" It sounded more like, "Baa ba ba!", but we all recognized the intonation.

Museum visit

Saturday, while K went on a botany field trip (ask me about the longleaf pine), C took the kids to the Museum of Life and Science.

Car trip

We took a car trip to Alexandria this weekend for our friend Adam's surprise 40th birthday party. Here the kids are looking out for Adam's car coming up the driveway.


Milo playing with cars on the piano. (Adam and Shelly: send us the bill for the scratches.)


Naturally we had to stop at IKEA (more photos in the Boo Annex).


IKEA movies:
Testing out the furniture
Spinning tree

Movies

Siblings -- a pain in the ass
Getting his ya yas out

The Sneetches

Today was the Young People's Performing Company's performance of The Sneetches. Below, the star bellied sneetches ignore the plain bellied sneetches. (Lucie played the part of a plain-bellied sneetch.)


"When the Star-Belly Sneetches had frankfurter roasts... They never invited the Plain-Belly Sneetches."


"Neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew whether this one was that one or what one was who."


"That day they decided that Sneetches are Sneetches and no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches."


Macey and Lucie after the show.

Miscellany

Everyone likes ice cream.



The papasan chair is good for napping.


Lucie has become quite the card shark. Here we're playing Go Fish, but she also beats us regularly at Animal Rummy and Hearts.



Here Milo's reading about the Pilgrim Fathers. (Lucie wants to know, "What about the Pilgrim mothers and children?")


And here are a couple of movies for you:
Blanket game
Blanket game, part 2

Busy day

This morning, while Lucie had her play rehearsal, Milo went for a walk with Daddy.


Later he had to make a phone call.


Lucie learned how to skate today.




This place -- Wheels -- reminds me of the roller rink from my childhood. Lucie liked it best when the lights were off.


The birthday girl, Ziah (in the pink hat), is a friend of Lucie's from Morehead.


The girl on the right twisted her ankle and was in terrible pain.


Here's a movie of Lucie skating.