My kids are pretty good readers, in that they enjoy sitting down and reading, you know, when they have to. Or when Mommy hid the Legos and Barbies. OK, I don’t do that — those legos are very small and difficult to pick up, you know, and when I pick up Barbie, I am overpowered by the need to style her hair.

So no, seriously, they do enjoy books and have always enjoyed books. Jocelyn has taken to reading in a scary way this past kindergarten year, and many the time James and I have looked at each other with eyes wide and said, “Did she really just read ‘Transcendentalism?’” I know you’re not supposed to compare your children, but dude! She is *way* better at reading at this age than Ethan was at this age!

Reading has been a little trickier for Ethan, mostly because he prefers to look at the first letter of a word and then take a while guess if he doesn’t know it, rather than, you know, that pesky sounding it out and all. This however, hasn’t dampened his love of reading at all, and this past 2nd grade year when the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movie came out and the craze swept the elementary school, he read through all three books within, and I swear I’m not making this up, 15 minutes.* There just may have been a few words in there that he took wild stabs at, and when asked, he has no idea of the names of the characters — this is due, I’m sure, to just not having heard them said out loud.** Don’t worry. He can tell you word for word the fart joke told by said character.

*OK, I made that up.
** This coming from a person who pronounced, in her head, the word ‘gigantic’ as “guy-gan-tick” all the way up into jr high because she had only seen it spelled. Not judging here!

I have actually totally longed for this. I have always had a great love of books, and growing up, always had a book in my hand or in my backpack waiting to be in my hand. I devoured children’s literature and then young adult literature and never really outgrew any of it. I still have many of my books from my teenage years on my shelves, and steadfastly refuse to get rid of them — especially not NOW, not when we’re RIGHT ON THE CUSP of our own children being able to READ them!!

A lot of my favorite books are geared a tad more for girls than boys, Noel Streatfield with her “Shoe” books (Ballet Shoes, Dancing Shoes, Skating Shoes are my top 3), Frances Hodgeson Burnett with “The Little Princess” and “The Secret Garden” and of course the complete works of Lucy Maud Montgomery, of “Anne of Green Gables” fame. Jocelyn, while a great kindergarten reader, is still a few years away from these.

But there are plenty children’s books that would be perfect for Ethan, and for years James and I would say, “Is he old enough for X?” “No, probably not quite yet.” And so we’ve stuck with the Junie B and Magic School Bus, and Nate the Great. Oh and Star Wars, let’s not forget the 1,472 Star Wars EZ readers that grace our shelves.

Until we introduced Harry Potter.

We drove out to Utah in June, a decision that must have been made in delirium for all the sense it made. My brother and his family were going out, and when 1 member of a 6 sibling family decides to go visit (that’s right! I am the 2nd youngest of 6 children!), a mob mentality often kicks in and other siblings will try to make it as well. We didn’t really have the time to go for very long, which makes this decision to DRIVE TO UTAH even MORE daft, but there you have it. We drove to Utah, spent 4 days, and then drove back. That was 6 days of driving, for 4 days in Utah. Like I said. A decision made in delirium.

Another decision I made, which actually turned out OK, was to forego the portable DVD player. It always has cords everywhere and switching DVDs is a pain and Jocelyn always gets bored of it after 10 minutes anyway. We didn’t forego movies all together, we just skipped the VISUAL of movies. I played movies from my ipod over the car’s audio instead. They have all the movies pretty much memorized anyway, so it worked out fine. I think I did hand over my phone once or twice to let someone who was particularly irritable watch a movie to “just watch this and quit asking Mommy where the hotel is already!”

It was when we were about a day away from Utah that we decided to put in the audio version of Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone. At first, we had no cooperation from the pipsquirts in the back seat.

“Mom, there’s a MOVIE of this.” Ethan informed me.
“Yeah, so?” I replied.
“Don’t you know, it’s better to WATCH something than to have to READ. You can see it better in a MOVIE.”

Oh, words have never cut me to the heart quicker! Luckily, I think he’s since seen the error of his ways.

“Have you seen the movie?” I asked gingerly.
“Parts of it. At daycare.” he replied.

I’ve shielded him from my favorites all this time only for him to catch parts of it at daycare? Oh, my tattered heart! Next someone will just show Jocelyn the good parts of The Last Unicorn!

We listened to Harry Potter, and the kids slowly grew more enthusiastic and enthralled in the story. We listened as the troll almost got Hermione, and Harry got troll bogies (British for boogers! See, it’s educational!). We learned how to “swish and FLICK!” and of course, “ALOHAMORA!” and witnessed a dragon being hatched in Hagrid’s hut — Ethan and Jocelyn went from bored to tears to on the edge of their seats. We reached the beginning of the climactic ending of the first book late at night in the car, and I stopped the tape and informed everyone we’d listen to the ending the NEXT day, as I didn’t want to worry about Jocelyn waking up at 3am being scared. (The girl has watched The Nightmare before Christmas over 100 times, but you never know how she might react to something scary for the first time.)

There was MUCH protesting and whining and promises to not be scared, promise! Which was a far cry from when we had started the book! We finished it the next day, re-listened to bits and pieces whenever we were in the car through our days in Utah, and then went through book 2 on the way home.

That was in June. Since we got home, Ethan has commandeered the CDs to book 2 (we only have book 1 on tape) and has been playing them NONSTOP. The second we get in the car and before I even have my seatbelt fastened, it’s, “Mom, can you turn on Harry Potter?” I will pause it to ask how something went and it’s, “Mom, can you turn on Harry Potter?” We get home and second Ethan’s set down his bag he’s turned on Harry Potter. At night after reading time, he goes to sleep listening to Harry Potter. And in the morning? How I know he’s awake? He’s downstairs playing legos and … you guessed it. Listening to Harry Potter.

I think since June, we listened to book 2 approximately 1 meeeeellion times. You know. Approximately.

Now, let me make sure this is clear. I love Harry Potter. I’ve purchased the books the minute they were released and read them in 24 hours. I’ve seen every Harry Potter movie. James and I even attended a midnight party for the release of book seven. I even listened to a Harry Potter podcast for a while! Sh*t, JAMES AND I listen to Harry Potter when WE fall asleep and have for YEARS!

All this and I never thought I would ever say these words….

I am totally SICK of Harry Potter!

Ethan has even started to read through book one each night during our “reading time” — OK in my book, even though he’s heard it on tape already. We own the movie to the Sorceror’s Stone, which has been on repeat as well, mostly on the weekends.

Finally, in response to book 2 brain overload (it’s been playing every day since JUNE!) I ordered books 3 and 4 on CD so we can listen to them as well, and got Netflix to deliver the book 2 movie. Maybe now we can finish up our Harry Potter summer without Mommy and Daddy going batsh*t crazy

I only hope that this is only the beginning, and someday Ethan and Jocelyn will be just as nutty over some of my other favorite books as well.

We’ve always been big fans of legos in this house, so after attending the last 2 years as the “public”, we decided to do the whole registration, as exhibitors, for this year’s BrickFair 2010. It has been awesome!

This year, they moved from the Tyson’s Sheraton, to the Chantilly Expo Center, a move I thought was a little dubious, as which would you prefer to hang out in? A lovely hotel, or a concrete warehouse? However, it was always totally jam packed at the Sheraton during public hours, so the expo center was definitely the best move.

Public hours are on Saturday and Sunday from 11-4. the public pays $10, enters, looks at all the awesome displays, watches a few Brick Films, builds their own at the Stay and Play, maybe take the little ones for a bounce on the moon bounce, watches the Mindstorms competition, maybe a little Bingo for Lego prizes. All very awesome.

So what do you get if you go the full registration route? Well, first, you pay about $50, instead of $10, and there are no discounted registrations. If you are over 6, you register, and if you’re under 18, you must be accompanied by an adult, who must also register.

But oh the awesomeness you get as a full registrant!!

First of all, you don’t just walk through and look at everyone’s creations. You get to bring your own MOC — “My Own Creation”. Ethan registered his “Pokeball Factory” and a very awesomesauce “Missile Launcher”. Next year, we’ll have to see about ALL of us bringing MOCs!

Here are some of the seminars: Historic Architechture, Teaching Math with The Brick, Landscaping, Lights! Camera! Lego!, Arduino Processor, Bloggers’ Roundtable, and more.

You get to participate in The Running of the Bulls, which is a Lego Store sale – after the store closes, they reopen and sell damaged boxes (barely noticeable damage!) to Brickees for a significant discount. SIGNIFICANT!

There are lots of awesome games – Bingo (the registrants only bingo has the big lego prizes, unlike the mini bingo that the public is allowed to play), Minotaurus Tournament, Combo Build, Speed Build, & Dirty Buildster. After 9pm on Saturday night, they kick out any kids and have BYOB time, with a LEGO Hold’em Tournament, Dirter Brickster, and of course, the Drunk Speed-Build.

There is a charity auction, and a yard sale — where folks put out the stuff they want to unload, and the lego market is open! I saw some vintage legos, still in the box, from the 70s. It was incredible!! there is also opening and closing ceremonies, and awards given for the best MOCs from each category — which registrants get to vote for, and enter, of course!

James went to the Running of the Bulls while I went home with the kids, and the next night, he went home with the kids and I stayed to play Hold’em. (I totally won, came heads up with another guy who lives not even a mile from me, that it turns out I’d met at some other poker events in the area.) James and the kids should have stayed long, because Ethan would have rocked the house with the Dirty buildster (each entrant is given a cup of assorted legos and makes the best creation they can). I was walking around oohing and ahhing as the Dirty Buildsters were creating, when I got tapped to be the co-judge! It was very tough, as they were all so awesome, but the other judge and I didn’t pull each other’s hair too much to decide on the winners.

It has been just incredibly awesome. My only sadness is I keep thinking, “Next year, we need to do that.” or “Next year, we’re definitely doing THIS!” But alas, next year, we will not be in the DC metro area anymore — we’ll be moving to Denver next summer. Maybe we’ll come back for a vacation for BrickFair 2011 — We’ll definitely be making plans for some of the other lego festivals going on around the country (sadly, none in Denver).

If you like Legos, and want to feel what’s it’s like to dock with the Mother Ship and meet more of “your kind of people” — I can’t recommend registering as a full exhibitor at the BrickFair any more — it is just awesome – awesome folks, awesome MOCS, awesome fun.

http://www.brickfair.com

I will post some pictures this week of some of the awesome MOCs on display!

-amy

My lovely girl is always, ALWAYS, writing, jotting, drawing, coloring. She is our little arteeest!

Here is a fairy tale by Jocelyn that I found on the art table in the last week:

The Princess

Once upon a time, there was a princess LOCKED IN A TOWER! Cause a witch locked her in it!

A prince came and rescued the princess!

And they lived happily ever after.

Yes, we need to work on the stereotypical damsel in distress and how there’s no stopping damsels from rescuing THEMSELVES, but still, pretty cute.

I thought about writing about all this snow, but I’m so sick of the subject, I am not even going to think about it! I will just say that my kids have now been out of school since Thursday, Feb 4th. THE FOURTH. IT IS NOW THE SEVENTEENTH.

I KNOW. TRUST ME I KNOW.

School is on tomorrow, but on a 2 hour delayed start all the rest of this week. It absolutely boggles the mind. Along with the fact that Target is/has been selling SWIMSUITS since January 1st.

I HAD TO ORDER SNOW SHOVELS OVER THE INTERNET. So many chain stores missed the opportunity to make a killing by getting more winter stuff in stock, but no. They insist on putting out spring fertilizer instead. Thank god for local hardware stores (I love my True Value!)

Anyway, on to happier subjects!

I really enjoy the Olympics, but it seems like I just never get to sit down and watch them the last 2-4 years. They make me somewhat nostalgic, because I remember watching as a kid, seeing Mary Lou Retton get that 10 — what a ride! And also, my husband James and I first met 1996, and he came down to Atlanta where I was living at the time the summer of the 1996 Olympics. I remember it as such a heady time of new twitterpated love, my first experience truly away from home as an adult, and to top it all off, Olympic fever in the city — it was an exciting time!

So I was determined to get some Olympics in and when Ethan asked, upon arriving at home this evening, if he and Jocelyn coudl watch some TV, I immediately replied, “YES!” with such vehemence, that he instantly knew something was up! I flipped on some Tivoed figure skating/skiing, and let it run as I got some dinner ready.

The Olympics are pretty exciting on their own, but seeing through my kids eyes made it even more awesome!

here’s pretty much how it went all night:
from them:
“WHOA!”
“WOW!”
“MOM! YOU HAVE GOT TO SEE THIS!”

(I was right there, by the way!)

Jocelyn was especially taken with the figure skating, as I knew she would be. She instantly starting dancing around the room and talking about how SHE could be in the Olympics when SHE was grown up. I tried to tell her that some of these athletes started training and practicing at HER age, and she instantly took it up.

“Mom! I’m going to do it! I’ll practice every day after school, see? Like this!” (Jump. Soar. Run. Twist. All in my living room.)

“Mom, I am going to need a dress like that when I’m grown up. Can you sew me one? How about Grandma? Can she sew me one? Look mom, the skirt only comes down to here. Are you sure we could find one when I’m big?”

Ethan wasn’t planning and plotting his Olympic wins, but he was still extremely impressed. He hasn’t been tainted by male machismo and thought the figure skating was just as impressive as Jocelyn did, and the vice versa – Jocelyn thought the mogal ski runs & jumps was spectacular as well.

At one point, at their outbursts and gasps at these seemingly death defying feats, I replied with a mild, “Yes, I know, it’s neat, isn’t it.”

Ethan instantly corrected me: “MOM. IT IS NOT NEAT. IT IS…. A W E S O M E !!!!”

I’m glad I’m not the only one in this house not to have Olympic fever!

Ahh, hello blog!

It’s been busy around Casa de Panders. Monday was Columbus day, and I had it off… but no one else did. It was quite nice to lounge around the house doing nothing all day! I debated on what I would do, but with my car at the shop (it needed a new radiator, sniff) I was stuck at home and ended up cutting rings and chain mailling all day.

Here’s what I made:

Celtic Visions in copper

Jens Pind in 14 gauge (ie: HUGE) sterling silver

And here’s another Jens Pind, in 18 gauge sterling that I made last week. It’s listed in the shop now.

So, it was a pleasant enough day – unfortunately, I think I overdid it and the joints in my right forefinger and thumb are kind of aching – this is really kind of pissing me off, as I just bought new pliers that I really quite liked. I hope it wasn’t the pliers that did it.

Oh, and here’s one more picture: Any guesses as to who Jocelyn is going to be for Halloween? Someone from one of my FAVORITEST movies!

-amy

My child. She slays me.

I KNOW that if I had stepped in and “helped” her with this project, they would not have turned out as AWESOME as they did.

She said, “I’m making some paper dolls, Mommy!” And make them she did.

Behold! The dolls!

#1: halloween (note the ghostie earring) #2: rocking out with headphones (note the music note) #3 ROBOTS! OMG SHE MADE ROBOTS!!! #4 normal girl

Behold! The clothing she made for the dolls!

And here are the dolls with their clothes on. I laid the clothes on the dolls and scanned them “dressed”:

#1: halloween girl now has ghostie shirt too! #3 That robot girl is lookin’ pretty boobtastic!

If you click the images, you’ll go to my flickr page where I have added a few notes to the first and second page.

Oh man. These just kill me. KILL me. I am going crazy in the best way, when I look at these! That girl. I love her.

-amy

I am basicly holding the phone next to my ear to get these shots of them laying on top of me.

They were very sad when it was time to say goodbye three days later. We miss you Clara and Mary!

Taken by Ethan.

I haven’t posted any kid art in a long time, but now have I got some good ones! Ethan came home from school today with this treasure tucked away in his folder. You can tell he really spent some time on it!

It is a worksheet he made for Jocelyn. The first part is a “matching” section, where she is supposed to look at the first shape and then circle the matching shape in the next 3 columns. The next is a simple counting question, complete with multiple choice (!!! multiple choice! oh god, it kills me!) And then he also has a blank for the answer (asr). I almost flipped when I saw this.

Next up we have some beautiful ladies drawn by Jocelyn, in fancy upturned dresses. I asked her if they were doing the splits or something, but no, those are their DRESSES. I absolutely ADORE the first girlie’s face. I don’t know if you can really tell in this picture but it is just the sweetiest little face EVER! I have had the urge to sew something lately and this little gem is pushing it over the edge – I simply have GOT to make a little dollie with that face!

Oh man. I can’t even tell you how much these feel me with GLEE! I just love them and HAD to share!

-amy