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My home town

My sister Ann-Michael, who lives in London, sent this video article from The Guardian newspaper (UK). It is supposed to be an example of how average American’s are approaching the upcoming presidential election, and to find average Americans in a swing section of a swing state they went to my hometown of Roanoke, Virginia. I have to say I find it a bit scary, especially the woman who says Sarah Palin has God’s word and that only God can solve our problems. Eeesh. The Guardian reporter will be in Roanoke for several weeks trying to get the scoop on what America REALLY thinks about McCain and Obama. I’ll post the updates as I find them.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/sep/30/roanoke

(I’m having a hard time embedding the video clip. I’ll keep trying, but in the mean time here is a link to the video on the Guardian site.)
http://uk.truveo.com/Virginia-voices/id/982465047

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

Getting ready for Halloween

Yes, I realize it is not yet October. But our next door neighbors put up their Halloween decorations today, and the kids and I needed a project while Raymond was out of town, so I thought what the heck. We pulled the box of Halloween goodies down from the attic, and the first thing out of the box was our favorite dancing ghost. It took me a while to get the camera, so I missed some of the best dance moves. Between Fletcher’s crazy boogie moves and Lola Gray’s fairy twirling dance, they had me in stitches. Too much fun.

Notice that in this second video Lola Gray is wearing a different outfit. The first one is (possibly?) her Halloween costume, the second is just an everyday costume. She refused to wear real clothes all day – we went to soccer, the mall, out to lunch and to the grocery store all in costume.

The places we are not

It was a beautiful day in London, according to Aunt Boo. Wish Flat Fletcher and Flat Lola would hurry up and get there already – we should have packed more sandwiches!

It was a great day in Tallahassee yesterday as well, when Uncle Raymond got to meet his new nephew Benjamin for the first time. Wish we all could have been there!

Lunch in the park

The weather has been so mercifully cool lately I can hardly stand it. It is a little crazy just how happy the cooler temperatures make me! We decided to enjoy being outdoors today, and had a picnic in the park with friends. The photo above is (from left to right) Polly, Anina, Lola Gray, Beck, Mina and Fletcher. Tristan, Francie and Max were around somewhere as well, but didn’t make it onto the swing for the photo.

In addition to visiting with everyone and getting to run around in the park, the kids got a HUGE treat when the street sweeper came around the park and stopped to hook up to a fire hydrant for more water! Are all preschoolers awed by street sweepers, or is it just this group? You would have thought a circus elephant had come wandering down the street! Tristan is particularly taken with street sweepers, so I imagine he is still talking about this one!

The man operating the sweeper was super nice to the kids – I’m sure it made his day as well. It’s not often any of us get treated like a rock star by a gaggle of 3 and 4 year olds!

This afternoon the kids and I went to the mall in search of fall clothes. We didn’t find any, but the search was fun. We wrapped up the trip with a visit to the soft play area. As we walked in, I commented to Fletcher that it wouldn’t be long before he reaches the maximum height and is too big for soft play. He looked up at me, a little surprised but a little excited, and said “Then will I be able to go to the ROUGH play area?” Cracked me up, but I guess it would be a logical progression in the mind of a 4-year-old!

Looooooong walk

This afternoon, Fletcher, Lola Gray and I took a long walk. No strollers. Just us walking in the neighborhood. The weather has been so lovely this week, it seemed like the right thing to do. Plus, I wanted to make sure everyone slept well tonight – LG took a short nap yesterday and then stayed up until nearly 9:45! No way we can let that continue!

Anyway, we walked about 10 blocks down Bull Street to the Victory Feed & Seed, and bought some plants for our winter garden. We bought broccoli, red leaf lettuce, collards (that is a treat for Raymond – I loathe collards) and red, yellow, and white onions. I have no idea what we will actually get to grow, but it was fun to pick out the veggies with the kids, and they are excited about getting them into the ground tomorrow.

I should have known better than to leave the stroller at home though. Fletcher was a trooper. He never complained and even carried the bag with the plants home from the Feed & Seed. Unfortunately, the same can not be said for Lola Gray. I ended up carrying her most of the way there and back! The girl has gotten FAR too heavy for me to carry her that long. Next time I’ll remember the stroller.

Gospel Brunch

Today we went to the Jepson Center, along with friends Melinda & Stu, for the monthly Gospel Brunch. The food was good, the music was great, and the kids had a ball. Ollie slept through most of it. Fletcher, Lola Gray and Anina spent most of their time in the children’s area playing, so the grown ups got to sit and eat and listen to the music. Not a bad arrangement! Our table was at the top of the stairs in the atrium, which made it easy for the kids to play without bothering the other diners and definitely cut down on the normal stress involved in taking kids out to eat. The photo above is precious little Anina enjoying the music. I wish I had been able to snap her dancing at the top of the stairs before venturing down to the landing! The second photo is from the first floor looking up; that is our table right at the top of the stairs. All in all it was lots of fun, and something I think we will try again in the future.

Soccer!

Today was Fletcher’s first soccer practice! (After all that agonizing about a week night activity, they changed the practices to Saturday mornings!) Fletcher had a fabulous time, and actually did a better job staying with the ball than we expected. Audrey’s father, Adam, is the coach and Raymond volunteered to be his assistant.

Lola Gray and Valerie (Audrey’s little sister), though too young to officially play, were both right out there on the field with their big sibs – just try and tell them they aren’t actually on the team!

Everyone seemed tuckered out a bit before the practice was technically over. (Looks like endurance is one of the things we need to work on!) Good thing there were snacks! I signed up to bring snack for next week, and asked Fletcher what he thought I should bring. He thought for a second, and then said he thought I should make my yummy homemade bread and orange juice. I’m flattered that he likes my bread so much, but I’m not sure that would be the best soccer snack. Maybe muffins?

Sid the Science Kid

I know all the studies say any screen time of any sort is bad for kids. And I definitely think too much is, well, too much. Raymond and I make an effort to keep the kids away from the TV and the computer as much as possible. But I have to say some of the shows on PBS are really, really good and I honestly think they are helping my children learn. First it was Super Why, a great show about storybook super heros with “the power to read.” We love Super Why. But the newest show in the PBS lineup may be even better!

Sid the Science Kid is a Jim Henson show about a little boy who wants to “learn everything about everything.” Every episode covers a science topic on a level that really seems to resonate with Fletcher. Already he has learned about charts and collecting data, magnification, estimating, and the difference between standard and non-standard measurements! He ran around this morning with his tape measure, measuring everything he could find, then measuring them again using cups or hands instead of inches. It’s hard to see how letting him watch a show like that could possibly be bad!

To Nap or Not To Nap

Lola Gray is trying to give up her nap, and we have been fighting really hard to keep it – to the point where most days she spends an hour closed in her room pulling every book and toy off the shelves, trying on every costume and pair of shoes she can find, and making more noise than you would think possible from one very small girl. I’m generally ok with this, as it at least allows that brief period of time where we are all in separate rooms, no one is fighting, and I don’t have to talk to anyone (not that I don’t like to talk to my children, but they talk a LOT.)

Anyway, today we had lots of things to do so I thought we would just skip the nap altogether, not even try to force the issue. After school we had lunch downtown with Mel, Anina, Ollie, Linette, Tristan and Beck. Then the kids and I went to the grocery store. By the time we got home it was nearly 4pm and I guess it was just more than poor Lola Gray could handle. She had a massive meltdown over nothing, and then she fell asleep on the sofa in the playroom. I let her sleep for 30 minutes or so, then woke her up because it was already so late and I didn’t want her to be up until midnight. That wasn’t a good idea. She cried for a while and then fell back asleep on the floor!

Meanwhile, Fletcher and I played in the backyard. It was a beautiful day; finally a little relief from the heat! Lola Gray eventually woke up and joined us, and she was in a much better mood once she had slept. I guess she isn’t REALLY ready to give that nap up just yet.