Actually . . .

After re-reading my most recent post, I've come to the horrifying realization that I overuse the word "actually." I will try to remedy this in the future.

Also, I forgot to tell you the one name that Forrest has decided he likes after our conversation last night:

First name Jimmy.

Middle name Dean.

This is the main reason why we can't come to any baby naming conclusions until a tangible human being is involved.

And, yes, I'm using Andrew as inspiration for inserting charmingly illustrative clipart in my posts.

A Rose by any other name . . .

So today I've been thinking a lot about baby names. I made Forrest stay up a good ten minutes past his bedtime last night and fired away with my name ideas--and very few of my name ideas actually hit the target. Both Forrest and I aren't very good at picking names before the baby comes. It all seems like so much speculation until you actually see the kid and can put a name to the face, so to speak.

It's also funny to think of what our children could have been named. Ethan could have been Noah. Elise could have been Emma. Jonas almost was Zachary, but they brought us the birth certificate to sign the second day we were in the hospital and by then we'd chaged our mind. So instead of signing our Christmas cards Forrest, Angie, Ethan, Elise and Jonas it could have been Forrest, Angie, Noah, Emma and Zach.

Now, whose family is that?


(Speaking of "whose family is that," I've included more soccer shots--that my mom actually took--because I know pictures are more fun on blogs than the actual blathering. Unfortunately, I still haven't taken any new pictures lately, but I PROMISE I will on Halloween. I'm at least good for major holidays, especially ones that take some preparation on my part. I want hard evidence that I actually did something. Which, I think, is part of the reasons moms take pictures. For proof.)

Which reminds me--I went and picked up Elise from Lauren's birthday party today, and I hope that Cindy and Tony took pictures for proof because it was SO CUTE. They'd set up a whole spook alley in the basement with (I'm sure) every blanket and sheet they own hung from the ceiling to make a scary maze. They had spooky music, a freaky pumpkin headed scarecrow guy, and even a STROBE LIGHT. So hopefully when Laruen is a teenager she'll remember that her mom cared enough about her to go to Pary City and buy a strobe light and spend all day hanging sheets from the ceiling in the basement.

So--back to names. I want to invite any and all of you to suggest names that you might like. Anything. Go crazy. Because, as of right now, I'm completely clueless. I was liking Owen for a while, but Ethan absolutely hates it (there's a mean teacher at his school named Mrs. Owen, and that can ruin it for anybody.) When he says it, he even has this certain disdainful inflection "Ow-uuun." So for now he's kind of rained on my Owen parade. I was thinking about posting a lits of all the names I DO like, but then they might be Owenized--you'll tell me why you don't like them and I'll be outta luck. It's best sometimes to keep your names to yourself, because once the baby's got the name, all people can do is sigh and roll their eyes behind your back.

So, final random thought of the day: SATs, cheerleader handwriting, and soccer. (See, I'm bringing the soccer pictures full circle.) I've been grading the essay portion of the SAT online (yes, I'm crazy, and I don't know when enough is enough. I realize this.) At any rate, for those of you who have children who have yet to take the SAT, or any other standardized writing test, a few helpful hints:

-If you have a daughter, encourage her to stay away from cheerleader handwriting. It's the puffy, captial-letters-are-the-same-size-as-lowercase, and (more rarely, but still surprisingly often for the SAT) i's dotted with stars variety that I'm sure we've all come across. As much as we are told as essay graders not to be influenced by handwriting, and I try very hard not to be, cheerleader handwriting is surprisingly ubiquitous and very rarely is it associated with what we in SAT grading land call "outstanding critical thinking."

-Teach your children one or two vocabulary words like "ubiquitous." Yeah, I know you thought I was just being presumtuous when I used it before, but really it was calculated. But a word of caution: if your child doesn't know exactly what ubiquitous means, then he/she should avoid shooting himself/herself in the proverbial foot by using it incorrectly. But, I'm telling you, two or three impressive vocabulary words go a looooong way.

-This isn't a suggestion, more like an observation. Due to the oath of secrecy I signed before agreeing to sell my soul for $17 an hour, I can't discuss the actual prompt I've been scoring. (As a matter of fact, I could very well get in trouble for this very post. But I doubt the SAT people know about my blog. Or do they . . . .?????). Anyway, sports comes up a lot, and in the context of sports, soccer comes up a TON. I mean, every other prompt mentions playing soccer, I swear. You'd think with what seems like a solid majority of American children participating in competitive soccer, it would be a more popular spectator sport, like in the rest of the world. See, Drew, this part of the post is for you (if you've been able to hang with me this long, that is.) So, what are your theories as to the lack of support for professional soccer in the USA? I've also read three essays so far that mention competitive rowing. Who knew there were so many rowers out there?

Now I'd really better go. Forrest has gone to Target and come back in the amount of time it has take me to write this . . . time that I should have spent grading essays and earning my $17 an hour.

I'm sorry, baby no name! That's one less outfit for you!!

Busy Days

It's Friday morning, and I thought I'd sit down and blog a bit . . . just so those of you who have actually gone to the blog don't think I've given up on it completely. I've just been busy, busy--and I'm not complaining, because I get myself into these things. As soon as I get the next issue of Irreantum out the door (and finish the grant proposal, and the AML writers' conference presentation . . .) I'll be able to breathe a little bit more. I also decided, before Laraine (the Irreantum editor) passed away and I suddenly became temporarily in charge of Irreantum, that I would do a little grading for the SAT essay during October to earn some money, mostly for baby stuff. I graded the SAT last year and it's a little mind-numbing to sit and read essay after essay by high school students on the same topic--but the pay's not bad and I want to buy one of those cool new papasan baby swings :-).

So, the kids are off track for the next 3 1/2 weeks, and I'm spending an inordinate amount of time in front of my computer. Which is why I haven't posted on the blog--I have computer-guilt.

Right now Ethan and Elise are at piano lessons. Ethan's memorized his simplified version of "Fur Elise," and Elise (who, obviously, will have to learn "Fur Elise" at some point as well) has memorized her latest song, too, a number called "Grandmother" that uses BOTH HANDS at the same time, and she sits down and plays it just about every time she passes the piano. We all go around humming, "Grandmother, Grandmother, will you make some pumpkin pie?" (I think that's how it goes. Could be wrong. But Elise has the book at her lesson, so I can't check!). I also made the kids wake up this morning and finish their reflection contest stories before piano at 10:00. There was some grumbling, but then it got eerily quiet for about a half an hour and they all produced some really good stuff. Ethan's is about a magical tree of "infinite space" in futuristic England that everyone takes refuge in after the air becomes unbreathable. (He's still not finished. I'll keep you updated.) Elise's is about a runaway horse named Butterscotch and a mean sister. Also very compelling. And Jonas has written a poem about Minnesota. Here's an excerpt:

"We had good friends in Minnesota
and we played with them a lot in the cul de sac.
But sometimes, they weren't home.
But we still had more friends, and we could see if they were home."

I think the line breaks are particularly effective. And the pathos! :-)

And, finally, because a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some shots of the kids playing soccer and flag football. I feel terrible because I don't have any pics of Jonas. I waited until the last game to get pictures of all of them, but unfortunately Jonas's last game was the night of Grandpa Ranquists's funeral. But he knows we love him. I'll include another cute shot of Joe doing karate, just so he doesn't feel left out.



Jonas, the karate master, literally breaking a board with his bare hands!



This was Elise's first year playing soccer. She did a good job, and had more fun than I thought she would. She preferred playing "defense." And cheering.




And this is Ethan, his first year doing flag football. He's learned a lot--and had a really good time just so long as the ball doesn't get hiked over his head!

That's it for now! Gotta run and pick up kiddies.

Thought the kids deserve a little face time!

I realized that the kids haven't been getting a lot of (well, any, yet) attention on the blog and I thought I'd post a few cute pictures we've taken lately.

This is a shot of Ethan and four of his friends taken on his 10th birthday. He was a really lucky kid because not only did he get to have a sleep-over (and they stayed up until, probably, 2 a.m.!), but he got to have dinner at Famous Dave's, his favorite. He's a lover of meat, particularly barbecued meat, just like his father. I love this picture because there's nothing like 10 year old boys, still kids but almost not. In this group, you have the quiet, cool one; the rowdy, slightly naughty one; the well-adjusted, polite one; and the clown. You can decide which one Ethan is :-).

This is a picture of Jonas and Hanshi (not his real name, I'm sure, but some kind of honorable karate title) after Jonas received his yellow belt in karate. Both Ethan and Jonas are taking karate and like it a lot. Jo has been doing such a good job that they let him come at the same time as Ethan and train with the "big boys."

Elise looking good on the first day of school. She's wearing black gauchos that Grandma Sweat bought for her. Grandma Sweat has since discovered that all the granddaughters have black gauchos, and she wants to get a picture of them all wearing them together (and if Whitney can't come, she'll photoshop her in!).

Going through these photos makes me realize that, if I am going to be a good blogger at all, I'd better take more pictures. I am ashamed to say that it's been over a month since I've taken any new ones of the kids (gasp!). It is hilarious to think that letting a month go by without taking a picture is a bad thing, isn't it? Think back to our own childhoods and how many pictures we have. I think Forrest has, maybe, eight. No kidding. I obviously have more than eight, but still, our lives weren't documented in such meticulous detail as they are now in the digital age. I wonder what kind of effect that will have on kids' memories down the road? With so many pictures and so much video, don't you think it will be even harder to separate out true memories from things you see in photographs?? (This qualifies as my blogworthy thought of the day).

Help, you blog savvy folks!

Okay, so Amy/Dave/Andi . . . how do I make my photos so they get bigger when you click on them? Just curious. Anything else I'm doing wrong, let me know!
Ang