Brad was reading to Alyson from "National Geographic Kids" and there was a picture of a robin on one page with the question " Why do you think some birds fly away in the winter?". With out hesitation Alyson said " Because it is too far to walk.".
Keep in mind that because Alyson is autistic she is also a very logical thinker and this was not a seven year old being a smarty it was the most logical answer. I thought it was cute.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Homecoming
The Question:
Michal received a note and a sadly mistreated flower from a friend. The card read...
"Will you go with me to Homecoming? Please answer before the last petal falls."
-Richard Thomas
The Reply:
"Be your guest, Be your guest, I will gladly be your guest."
This is cute because they are both in the ensemble for the school musical of "Beauty and the Beast".
The perfect dress:
$$$.$$ more than I intended to spend, but when she walked out of the fitting room and Alyson said, "Wow, that's the one." I couldn't resist. She will be wearing this dress for the rest of the year. (maybe her life)
The Shoes: What can I say. I love Payless and I'm glad we went there first.
The Accessories:
Hair bling from Claires and Justine's jewelry box.
Up-do by a good neighbor.
Make-up by Justine
The End Result: Stunning!!
Michal received a note and a sadly mistreated flower from a friend. The card read...
"Will you go with me to Homecoming? Please answer before the last petal falls."
-Richard Thomas
The Reply:
"Be your guest, Be your guest, I will gladly be your guest."
This is cute because they are both in the ensemble for the school musical of "Beauty and the Beast".
The perfect dress:
$$$.$$ more than I intended to spend, but when she walked out of the fitting room and Alyson said, "Wow, that's the one." I couldn't resist. She will be wearing this dress for the rest of the year. (maybe her life)
The Shoes: What can I say. I love Payless and I'm glad we went there first.
The Accessories:
Hair bling from Claires and Justine's jewelry box.
Up-do by a good neighbor.
Make-up by Justine
The End Result: Stunning!!
The perfect picture. 
Family: Priceless
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
I recently took a trip to Seattle. In fact, my trip got off to a good start before I ever left the ground. While going through security the agent checked my drivers license and instead of giving it right back to me he held on to it long enough that I started to get a little bit nervous.
" Is there anything wrong?" I asked, hesitantly.
" This can't be your real birth date. I would have guessed you to be closer to my age." He said.
" Oh really, and what is your age?".
" Twenty-three".
I am a firm believer that you are as old as you feel, so right about now I am feeling pretty good. Don't get me wrong, I know he was lying. I haven't been twenty three in, lets just say, 10-???...
a long time. But, I did like it.
I floated along on this happy bubble until a couple of days ago when I came home for lunch and saw a letter addressed to me on the counter. I opened it and read.
Dear Becky, We would like to extend to you an invitation to participate in a new and exciting study on...hot flashes.
"Pssssssst" slowly the air from my happy bubble escaped and I hit the ground. I do not yet have nor have I ever had hot flashes unless of course I was standing close to the oven.
" Is there anything wrong?" I asked, hesitantly.
" This can't be your real birth date. I would have guessed you to be closer to my age." He said.
" Oh really, and what is your age?".
" Twenty-three".
I am a firm believer that you are as old as you feel, so right about now I am feeling pretty good. Don't get me wrong, I know he was lying. I haven't been twenty three in, lets just say, 10-???...
a long time. But, I did like it.
I floated along on this happy bubble until a couple of days ago when I came home for lunch and saw a letter addressed to me on the counter. I opened it and read.
Dear Becky, We would like to extend to you an invitation to participate in a new and exciting study on...hot flashes.
"Pssssssst" slowly the air from my happy bubble escaped and I hit the ground. I do not yet have nor have I ever had hot flashes unless of course I was standing close to the oven.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Shame on me.
I was driving Alyson to school, and an inattentive driver nearly hit us. "Damn Moron!" I yelled. Alyson immediately said "Daddy!" with her voice full of reproach. "You aren't supposed to say 'moron'. It's not nice."
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Picture Day
Picture day in elementary school is always an adventure...always. It reminds me of the cartoon "Recess" when the class had to go last after every other class and long story short everyone in the class but Gus got messed up because they all sacrificed themselves so that he could finally have a real picture day.
Take a look at the knee. I think this might be the best picture ever.
We got plenty of picture day notice with Aly. She is still at that age when we check her backpack daily and for at least two weeks before picture day we recieved reminders almost daily. On picture day we got up early so I could get her dressed and hair curled before I left for work from that point on it was up to Brad. Getting Aly ready for school is normally quite routine and so leaving her in Brad's hands just didn't concern me at all. I don't know if it was because it was picture day or what, but apparently the morning was anything but routine. It started with her trying to improve her hair and ended with her spilling juice on her pretty pink sweater just as they were walking out the door. Brad took a deep breath counted to 10 or maybe 100 hoped for the best and headed to school where he was told her class wasn't scheduled for pitures until after lunch. 
Needless to say in spite of it all we ended up with a priceless treasure, and something to tell her dates when we show them her photo album while we wait for her to finish getting ready.
Nathaniel's school pictures are a different story, always funny, and there is always a great story behind it. It really started in the second grade when they all ran home with their pictures. Justine and Michal were okay with their pictures but not overly enthusiastic, you've heard the dialogue in one context or another. "Yeah, I like them, they're okay". Nathaniel, however, came running through the door shouting "You've got to see my pictures Mom. They are the best pictures ever". From his backpack he pulled the best picture ever with eyes opened wide and focused ever so slightly to the right and the biggest cheesiest smile possible and until last year they were the best Nathaniel pictures ever.
Last year we stopped going through his backpack and trusted that he would "Tell us everything"; not alot to expect since the girls did it. He forgot to tell me that he had picture day until hours be
fore he left for school. We had to run through the house trying to find the best clean shirt available and making it look like new. He walked out the door the perfect subject for a picture day photo lens. On the day he brought his picture home before I ever opened the envelope I asked how he felt about them. about them. "Great!" he said.
fore he left for school. We had to run through the house trying to find the best clean shirt available and making it look like new. He walked out the door the perfect subject for a picture day photo lens. On the day he brought his picture home before I ever opened the envelope I asked how he felt about them. about them. "Great!" he said. Take a look at his left knee. There is a grass stain the length of his shin. He said he had to play soccer at recess.
Then, this year I was determined that this wasn't going to happen again. Beginning in February I started asking him "Have you heard anything about pictures yet?" I asked him this about once a week. Last week I came home from work to see his class picture laying on the table. He knew what was coming because before I could even ask he started the explanation. "I forgot about picture day until just before school. I spent extra time on my hair and combed it just the way you like it. I went through my closet and I picked out this shirt because I know you like it, Dad helped me iron it so I think you are going to like it Mom." I was hesitant. Slowly I pulled the picture out of the envelope. Everything looked good, until. I will just let you see.
Take a look at the knee. I think this might be the best picture ever.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
For Heather...and the rest of you too.
From Nathan and Melanie Barnes:
These are too good not to share.
Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual similes and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's winners:
1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E.Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie,surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. i stead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are known to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for awhile.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with powertools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.
These are too good not to share.
Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual similes and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's winners:
1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E.Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie,surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. i stead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are known to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for awhile.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with powertools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
The Force will be with you, always.
I am still a Star Wars geek. I realize that I've always been geekily excited about silly things for a very long time now, and that I am already drawing eye-rolls from Mom and Heather (at a bare minimum). But I just want you all to know that I am aware of my own geekiness. Self-awareness is a good thing, I think.
I have raged at times at George Lucas' inept handling of the Star Wars universe that I love so well, but I still like to go and play there. Today, the theater at Hill AFB (which shows movies for free on the weekends) had a Star Wars marathon. Due to other commitments, Nathaniel and I were only able to see one movie, so we chose Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. This movie is my favorite of all the Star Wars movies. Seeing the movie in a theater again allowed me to view it with the same sense of wonder I had when I was 15. I didn't worry about the bad acting or the special effects which now appear slightly dated. My anger and cynicism towards Mr. Lucas were strangely absent. I just had fun.
It reminded me of taking the bus downtown to the Center theater in the summer of 1980 with George Rivera or Nathan Barnes to see it (again and again). I remembered the endless debates with school mates over whether Darth Vader really WAS Luke's father. I remember swooshing Lego ships through imaginary asteroid fields while listening to the soundtrack. I also remember (15 years later) when the internet was a much less complicated place, and I played Star Wars trivia on AOL every friday night with a bunch of people who like Star Wars as much as I did. Can you name the order in which the Rebel Pilots checked in before their attack on the Death Star? I still can. So could all those online friends. I wonder what happened to them...
The Star Wars juggernaut continues to roll along, making money hand over fist for GL. That's fine. I'm just glad that he made a movie as good as Empire, so that I can fondly reminisce about a skinny kid who spent so much time in a galaxy far far away.
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