John Paul

Refined Defined

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Maria, Johnathan, and Alexander were going to an Irish Caeli dance, and were getting ready to leave. John was wearing a polo shirt neatly tucked into his pants. As his favored apparel is a sloppy T-shirt and jeans with holes in them, I commented that it was nice to see him looking refined. John simply stared at me, glanced down at his clothes with a confused expression, then replied with slight annoyance: “Well, of course I’m going to put on socks!” Realizing he didn’t know what refined meant, Mom and I began to try to explain it to him. However, he persisted, “No, she meant stupid!”

Tea Time

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It’s snowing. Again. Winter was fun at first, especially with the ice skates I got for Christmas, but now it is beginning to drag. I have found, however, that a nice, hot cup of tea really helps to warm up the whole day. Apparently the rest of the family thinks so, too, because no sooner than had I made a cup a few days ago than everyone decided they needed to have some as well. Even Daniel was in on it, saying ‘tea’ in sign language over and over again until we got him his very own cup.

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Daniel signing "Tea".

Daniel signing "Tea".

Why You Never Tell a Secret to a Six Year Old

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Alexander (trying to get onto the computer): “Mom, how do you spell Boba Fett? That’s the password on my settings.”

Mom: “I think it’s B-O-B-A F-E-T-T.”

Alexander: “But I tried that already and it didn’t work.”

Johnathan (who had been standing nearby the entire time): “Alexander, I know how to spell Boba Fett.”

Alexander: “Hey, how do you know my password?”

Look What was Munching . .

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In my carrot patch! I’ve wanted one of these guys for years, and I’ve planted several dill plants in the last few years hoping to catch one. (Dill is in the carrot family.) This year, Landon and Johnathan were digging up carrots and they found this beauty, which will turn into an impressive black swallowtail butterfly next spring. (He’ll overwinter in the fridge.)

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He has a pair of orange-ish horns that he sticks out when he’s mad. They make a pretty disgusting smell as a defense mechanism.

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“Oh, no, little teeny tiny caterpillar, I will not eat you. You are so scary with your eency-weency horns that smell bad. Even though I am a many, many times bigger than you are, you are very, very scary!”

Again, Not Quite, Johnathan

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Monday night our family watched the movie The Night at the Museum, which is about a night guard in a museum were all the exhibits come to life after dark. In it, Abraham Lincoln commented that, “It was a promising future.” Johnathan perked up at this, and said proudly, “I know why Abraham said it was a promising future: it was because God promised him that he would have more children than there were stars.”

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Not Quite, Johnathan

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John Paul: Mom! Mom! The baby is climbing up the stairs!”

We run to look in disbelief, and find that Daniel only has one hand on the bottom stair. He notices us watching him and innocently shines one of his adorable smiles at us, as if to reassure us that he is much to little to even be thinking of climbing stairs. We shake our heads and laugh at Johnathan’s large exaggeration.

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Halloween

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Sadly, this year there was no All Saint’s Eve party  so we decided on Oct. 30 that we would be going trick or treating. For lack of ideas, the boys immediately decided that they would be exactly what they were last year. So, I set The Illustrated Book of World History on the kitchen table and asked Alexander if he wanted to be King Tutankhamun. “Is that a mummy?” he asked, very concerned.

“No, no, of course not,” I answered.

“But he got to be one when he died,” John Paul (who talks too much) put in.

Alexander’s eyes grew wide. “Uh-Uh, I’m not being him,” he firmly announced.

I questioned him about several more historical characters, including Caesar, a viking, a king, and Sitting Bull. He didn’t want any of them. So, I handed him the book and said, “You look through it, I have to go clean the kitchen countertops.” Not five minutes later, he told me he had found something, a Roman Centurion. I though it was a great choice, and began to form a plan in my head as to how to do it.

I wasn’t able to work on it until the afternoon of Halloween, and Alex pestered me every five minutes until then. Finally, I collected materials I thought I would use: a red tunic from past All Saint’s Eve parties, a red turtle neck, a red cape, and cardboard. I put the turtleneck and tunic on him, and then went to look for some string in the  All Saint’s Eve box. Instead, I found some shiny grey fabric left over from  Maria’s Joan of Arc costume. I knew this would be a perfect substitute for the cardboard. I cut it to the right size, made a head hole, and put it on him. Alex began to ask when I was going to be done making the costume, even after he had been so excited to make it. I told him to give me five more minutes, and put a belt around his waist, a sword in his hand , and a helmet on his head. Voila!

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Joseph decided to be Robin Hood, and his costume was easier. Here he is with Johnathan, who made his own costume:

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I wasn’t planning on dressing up this year, but after making Alex’s costume, I decided I had to because I couldn’t stand watching the other kids in their costumes for the kids who came trick or treating to the door. With the bed-sheet tunic I used for Shakespeare camp, a piece of brown fabric, one of Mom’s shirts and an hour’s work on the sewing machine, I had a costume! (And I was so glad I did, because it turned out some of my friends were trick or treating in the neighborhood and they invited me along!)

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I am dressed as Éowyn from the Lord of The Rings books, which I read this summer before watching the movies.

Maria made her own princess costume.

Maria put together her own princess costume.

This is Landon in his own homemade Darth Vader costume.

This is Landon in his own homemade Darth Vader costume.

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Heated Discussion

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John: “Landon, in the sixth episode of Star Wars, did Boba Fett die by rolling sideways down into the pit?” (Here he laid down onto the ground and rolled sideways to demonstrate)

Alexander: “Or did he fall down like this?” (bending his head down almost to his feet to indicate somersaulting head over heels)

Landon: “I don’t remember.”

John: “I am really sure he went sideways.”

Alexander: “No, I think he went like this.” (Again bending up and down.)

John: “He went like this,” (rolling on the ground) “and that’s final.”

Alexander (not satisfied): “Mom, did Boba Fett go down into the pit like this?” (bending) “Because in the sixth I thought I saw him go like that.”

Mom (While making supper): “Why does it even matter?”

John: “Because we’re playing Star Wars, and Alex really needs to know, because he’s pretending to be Boba Fett!”

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