absence

We've experienced a lot in the 2 weeks since the last posted entry!

Here's the short list:

We took 2 trips to Washington (6 hours each way).

Attended Grandma's funeral.

Celebrated my 36th birthday.

Enjoyed grandparents staying with us a few days.

Fought a cold virus. (Mom and Dad have come through it, 2 little boys still battling.)

12 loads of laundry.

5 hours of Meals on Wheels deliveries.

Started the remodel of our front porch.

Plus the requisite everyday school-laundry-cooking-groceries-dishes.

life is busy, but blessed.



To endure the boring drive we checked out several audio books from the local library. They always make the time fly by and I highly recommend these three we enjoyed-

"Gideon the Cutpurse" by Linda Buckley-Archer. 2 children from the 21st century accidentally travel back to London, 1763 via an anti-gravity machine. They are befriended by a cut-purse, or pickpocket, named Gideon and have lots of adventures. John really enjoyed this one and the cheers went up from the car when, on the last, and 10th disc, said "this book is #1 in the trilogy." Sam yelled "That means there are THREE! Al-right!" One warning-this is an english author and setting, and uses the word "damn" a few times. We have discussed why some words are unacceptable to us but ok in other cultures but if you have children under 7, you might avoid this one.

and "The Tale of Desperaux" by Kate DiCamillo. Winner of the 2004 Newberry, this one was my favorite and we are all still quoting funny parts to each other, 3 days later. It's a fairy tale, of sorts, and has wonderful lessons in it and lots of humor. You wouldn't think a story about a mouse, a princess, and soup would hold 3 boys interests...bit it's THAT good.

Finally, we enjoyed "The Giants and the Joneses" by Julia Donaldson. It's a twist on Jack and the Beanstalk and really cute. The author uses a made-up language for the "giants" and we enjoyed figuring out what the silly words meant and which were the "real" giants? Their were several discussions among us about the children in this story, their choices and why they made those choices. Sam felt they "just didn't think things through" (this is his peace-loving believe the best of everyone self shining through!) Sam's brothers felt the two main characters, and especially the brother, weren't just thoughtless but cruel and even (in Caleb's words) wicked. We were all relieved to see them learn, and change their ways, by the end of the story.