Here are a few fun kid stories from the past couple of weeks ...
Story #1
Ethan and Parker were waiting by the front door one morning waiting to be picked up for pre-school. The following exchange took place between them:
Parker: "Are you wearing your race car shoes like me?"
Ethan: "Yes."
Parker: "Are you wearing you're yellow shirt too?"
Ethan: "Yes!"
Parker: "No one will be able to tell us apart!"
Ethan: "That's right ... but we will know!"
Story #2
Robin was showing the kids pictures from the latest ultrasound and explaining about the new baby boy growing in her belly. She was pointing out in the pictures where the kids could see the arms, the head, and the kids were really eager to see the new baby. Robin came to the part of the picture that tells us that the new baby is a boy.
Robin says "this is the baby's boy part, this is how we know the baby is a boy." Parker got really excited and, pointing to that part, said "He's got a belly button, just like me."
Robin replies, "No, that's not his belly button, that's his ... 'bummy'" (we really haven't discussed the proper vocabulary for male anatomy with the boys yet). Parker got this scandalized look on his face and Ethan pipes up, "You mean the baby's naked?!?"
Story #3 [the continuing saga of Rachel's terrible fears of dinosaurs]
The fallout continues from letting Rachel see Jurassic Park 3 about a month ago. At various times, she has informed us that she wants to move from this house because it has dinosaurs in it, and she wants to get a new t.v. that doesn't have dinosaurs in it.
The other day Robin was telling Rachel how glad she is that Rachel came to our family. Rachel responded by saying that she's glad to be in our family and that if she had come down to another mommy and she say Robin on the street then she (Rachel) would want to be with Robin. Then she thought for a moment and, apparently having a change of heart, said that if she had come down to another family then she would not have seen the dinosaur movie. :(
But then Robin, wanting to help Rachel achieve a little perspective on the situation, said to Rachel, "you know what, some day you will not be scared of dinosaurs." Rachel seemed to take courage at that thought and voluntarily decided to sleep in her room last night. She has been sleeping in the boys room across from our room most nights. And on those nights that we do convince her to sleep in her room, it has to be with the light on and with the understanding that when she gets up in the middle of the night she can come upstairs and sleep in the boys room.
So things appear to be improving on that front.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Scary Movies
Note to self: never let Rachel watch scary movies ... especially any with dinosaurs or any other kind of monsters that she may believe are actually real and are coming to get her in the middle of the night.
We watched Jurassic Park III with the kids over the weekend. Even with my judicious fast-forwarding through obvious scary parts, Rachel is freaking out. She's spent the last two nights in our bed; the first night she was awake most of the night ... she literally could not fall asleep because she could not stop herself from thinking about the dinosaurs.
so, Rachel + scary movies = bad idea.
We watched Jurassic Park III with the kids over the weekend. Even with my judicious fast-forwarding through obvious scary parts, Rachel is freaking out. She's spent the last two nights in our bed; the first night she was awake most of the night ... she literally could not fall asleep because she could not stop herself from thinking about the dinosaurs.
so, Rachel + scary movies = bad idea.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Cute Little Boy Saying
The other day at church, Ethan turned to me and in all seriousness said "Daddy, when I turn five I'm going to miss being four."
We all miss being four, Ethan, we all do.
We all miss being four, Ethan, we all do.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Xanadu
We saw Xanadu on Saturday night. Yes, Xanadu. Really. It was a staged musical version of the cult classic from 1980 that effectively destroyed Olivia Newton John's film career. (or so I've been told)
It was crazy and so funny. The whole production was a self-parody. It began by making the point that the ancient Greek muses are on a mission to inspire great art in Venice Beach, California's 1980 pop culture, and posits that the pinnacle of great art at the time was that fusion of art, music, dance, and theatre: a roller disco.
need we say more?
The actors had sooooooo much fun with their performances. The actress playing the Olivia Newton John character, Clio the muse, affected this awful Australian accent and spent almost the entire play on roller skates and in leg warmers as her mortal disguise.
The actor playing the mortal love interest, Sonny Malone, was like the character, Kronk, from the Disney animated movie "The Emperor's New Groove." He had that California surfer dude accent down and wore really short cut-offs (not that Robin noticed or anything). She says he was adorable.
Two other performances we should mention: the two muse sisters plotting to ruin Clio's chance at receiving the gift of Xanadu by cursing her to fall in love with Sonny contrary to Zeus's strict rules for muses. They were awesome. There was much giggling and cackling and actual attempts to chew the scenery.
The singing was amazing to the point of making us liking those cheesy old 80's pop songs. We're even going to buy the CD.
At the end of the play the actors held an unexpected auction as part of a Broadway Cares fundraiser - they auctioned off the sweaty scarf headband worn by the lead actor. Two guys got into an actual bidding war and it finally went for $1,200.
It was crazy and so funny. The whole production was a self-parody. It began by making the point that the ancient Greek muses are on a mission to inspire great art in Venice Beach, California's 1980 pop culture, and posits that the pinnacle of great art at the time was that fusion of art, music, dance, and theatre: a roller disco.
need we say more?
The actors had sooooooo much fun with their performances. The actress playing the Olivia Newton John character, Clio the muse, affected this awful Australian accent and spent almost the entire play on roller skates and in leg warmers as her mortal disguise.
The actor playing the mortal love interest, Sonny Malone, was like the character, Kronk, from the Disney animated movie "The Emperor's New Groove." He had that California surfer dude accent down and wore really short cut-offs (not that Robin noticed or anything). She says he was adorable.
Two other performances we should mention: the two muse sisters plotting to ruin Clio's chance at receiving the gift of Xanadu by cursing her to fall in love with Sonny contrary to Zeus's strict rules for muses. They were awesome. There was much giggling and cackling and actual attempts to chew the scenery.
The singing was amazing to the point of making us liking those cheesy old 80's pop songs. We're even going to buy the CD.
At the end of the play the actors held an unexpected auction as part of a Broadway Cares fundraiser - they auctioned off the sweaty scarf headband worn by the lead actor. Two guys got into an actual bidding war and it finally went for $1,200.
Cyrano de Bergerac
On Friday night we saw Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner in "Cyrano de Bergerac." It was amazing.
Robin says:
"Kevin Kline's performance was so riveting that it became easier to admire all the performances around him; I became lost in the eloquence of the words and the conflicts within the character; I stopped intellectualizing and just felt the role; every moment was precious; to enjoy such clarity and depth of emotion on stage was irresistably exciting; thrilling. Each performance in the ensemble strengthened and built the next; working individually to create a complete character; even the seemingly smallest smart worked to create a magnificent whole."
Matt says:
"I agree."
"no, really. I liked it."
"For me, it was nice to see a somewhat understated performance in the role of Cyrano. (Robin agrees) The role of Cyrano seems perfect for chewing the scenery, but Kevin Kline eschewed that path and decided to focus on creating a superbly nuanced and layered character. And Jennifer Garner was a revelation. I hadn't seen much that she had done, so was surprised at what an assured and vivacious stage presence she had."
Robin: "It was more than stage presence, she had truth and energy and every choice was large and clear and focused with a freedom and a playfulness that was engaging and contributed to the whole production.
"sometimes with an outstanding performance, you focus more on the performance than the overall production. It goes to what I said already about Kevin Kline's performance."
Matt's description of the Set:
It was a mostly bare space no-set-change play. The proscenium was huge; they had a back brick wall with a staircase descending from left to right. Various props were brought on to represent different scenes, such as tables/chairs for a bakery, a single tree used by Cyrano to distract the Vicomte de Guiche in one scene and then tipped over on its side for the battle scene later on, and a descending balcony surrounded by billowing curtains down stage.
Robin says:
"Kevin Kline's performance was so riveting that it became easier to admire all the performances around him; I became lost in the eloquence of the words and the conflicts within the character; I stopped intellectualizing and just felt the role; every moment was precious; to enjoy such clarity and depth of emotion on stage was irresistably exciting; thrilling. Each performance in the ensemble strengthened and built the next; working individually to create a complete character; even the seemingly smallest smart worked to create a magnificent whole."
Matt says:
"I agree."
"no, really. I liked it."
"For me, it was nice to see a somewhat understated performance in the role of Cyrano. (Robin agrees) The role of Cyrano seems perfect for chewing the scenery, but Kevin Kline eschewed that path and decided to focus on creating a superbly nuanced and layered character. And Jennifer Garner was a revelation. I hadn't seen much that she had done, so was surprised at what an assured and vivacious stage presence she had."
Robin: "It was more than stage presence, she had truth and energy and every choice was large and clear and focused with a freedom and a playfulness that was engaging and contributed to the whole production.
"sometimes with an outstanding performance, you focus more on the performance than the overall production. It goes to what I said already about Kevin Kline's performance."
Matt's description of the Set:
It was a mostly bare space no-set-change play. The proscenium was huge; they had a back brick wall with a staircase descending from left to right. Various props were brought on to represent different scenes, such as tables/chairs for a bakery, a single tree used by Cyrano to distract the Vicomte de Guiche in one scene and then tipped over on its side for the battle scene later on, and a descending balcony surrounded by billowing curtains down stage.
New York Trip
Robin and I are in New York for the weekend. It's been really fun.
We're pretty tired out right now from all the walking around that we've been doing. A sizable portion of our walking around has been from trying to figure out the New York subway system. What we gain in saving money by using the subway (instead of taxis) we lose in time trying to figure it out. But we've almost gotten the hang of it. And it's been an added cultural experience as well. We've heard a variety of different musical performances in the subways from African drum beats to Mexican mariachi to authentic Chinese string music.
We're pretty tired out right now from all the walking around that we've been doing. A sizable portion of our walking around has been from trying to figure out the New York subway system. What we gain in saving money by using the subway (instead of taxis) we lose in time trying to figure it out. But we've almost gotten the hang of it. And it's been an added cultural experience as well. We've heard a variety of different musical performances in the subways from African drum beats to Mexican mariachi to authentic Chinese string music.
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