Caterpillar Fun

Laura's TRRFC!

Today we went to Laura's school to watch her get an award for the TRRFC student of the month. (TRRFC is an acronym for...something.) Here's a picture of her in the crowd somewhere:

This is what Isaac thought of the whole thing:
Noelle was just excited to get out of the house:
Steve was in mild agreement with Isaac. (When he asked me how many other kids were getting awards, and I told him that each teacher picks one kid from her class to receive it once a month, he paused and then said, "That means that half the kids in her class will get this award by the end of the year." "Yup," I said. "Well, that's not very special then." "Nope," I said. Except we ARE really proud of Laura who always works her hardest!)
Here's Laura, sporting her cool TRRFC award, or uh, dog tags:

Lincoln Practicing...(This one is for Aunt Marci.)

The piano is getting put to good use! Thanks!

Killing Time

(Random picture of my most recent favorite flower. Impatiens.)

Steve's at the hospital all night. It's 9:30 PM and I am bored. Don't have any new pics of the kids or of bugs or of any recent catastrophes. The inner Julie Andrews in me was thinking along the lines of a "few of my favorite things" (Confession...I recently saw her in an ABC Family showing of The Princess Diaries. And...yes. I watched the entire thing, like a ten year old.)

So here are a few things on my mind that are making me happy these days:

1. I am rereading Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera. As it has always been one of my favorites, I suggested it as October's pick for a book club I go to. (A good Halloween book!) When I began reading it this week, I started feeling some qualms. It is a little wordy...maybe a little slow at the start. I started to worry that everyone in the club will think I selected a dud. But now I am caught up in it once again and can't put it down! There is something about that book that makes me really, REALLY want to visit this place:

The Paris Opera House! Everytime I open the book, it makes me want to learn ballet or take singing lessons, or something else that is completely unsuited to me.

2. Along those lines, I just finished September's book club pick:

...and I LOVED every word of it! I highly recommend this book to ANYONE!

3. I am an arbitrator for vital records that have been transcribed online...which means I get to review the transcription work of two indexers (volunteers) and fix any discrepancies between the two. I am obsessed with old documents! This week I had fun working on some old french marriage, death and birth certificates. It was a blast! Of course, Steve had to sit beside me the entire time and translate, but I just go nuts for old handwriting and dates!

4. Sean Hannity. Just finished watching him. I get a kick out of this guy. I know he claims to be "fair and unbiased" and I don't believe that for one second, but I still like to hear a good conservative who manages to sound intelligent without getting hostile. (That's a shout out to Bill O'Reilly, in case you didn't catch it.)

Well, I think I'll turn in now. That was fun...Jenn.

Magical 10th Birthday

The butterfly Laura caught on the way home from school today.

Unwrapping presents: stuffed dragons, dragon novels, how-to-draw dragon books, and anything "butterfly" seemed to be the order of the day.

Making a birthday wish.

Dividing the spoils with the neighbors (one of the other girls in this picture lives in our cul-de-sac and is also in Laura's class at school...and is also named LAURA!!! What is that about?! Do you have any idea how much time I spent trying to pick out a classic name for my daughter that was not currently being used? I mean, I thought the last time someone chose THAT name was in the 1960's). Anyway...

Happy 10th Birthday, Lu! We love our magical bug-catching, dragon-loving bookworm! Can't even remember what it was like before you came upon the scene. (But it must have been a pretty dull existance--in fact, I think it was, come to think of it!) Have a great day!

Coincidence? I think not!

Look what I found clinging to the glass of our patio door:

(It made me lose my appetite.)

Later on that night, I found them doing this:

Rainy day kids

This is for Grandma Kim who lives in Las Vegas, and therefore, never gets to parade around in flashy yellow rain slickers, such as these (which--correct me if I'm wrong, Mom--she would have us all be doing up in Heaven if the choice was up to her).

Happy 5th Birthday Isaac!

May all your 'clones wars' dreams come true...