family

My Birthday Girl Woman

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Hello Friends of Melissa (hereafter FOM),

This is the DH writing (I believe that’s what she calls me, right?). Why am I writing here? Why am I intruding upon her personal cyberspace? Because tomorrow is Melissa’s 35th birthday, and sneaking onto her blog and posting a birthday note to her, and to all you FOM, is one of the few things I can imagine that might, just might, surprise her. And Melissa loves surprises, even though they also drive her nuts.

I’m not going to embarrass her or anyone else here. Melissa’s done a few of those “five things you never would have guessed about me” memes after all, and thus there probably isn’t really very much left unsaid that I could scandalize her with here anyway. (Well, no, that’s not really true; there are some things about her which I suspect haven’t been mentioned on this blog, and I suppose I could write about those. But I won’t because, this is a family-family website and all. I mean, her and my Mom are both regular readers.) So instead, I’ll go the maudlin and appreciative route.

Melissa’s been writing out her thoughts and opinions of books on this website for nearly three years now. She started out thinking that blogging was just a somewhat more efficient way to do what she was already doing on our old website–namely, just keeping track of books she’d read, maybe including brief reviews of them for the sake of reminder her of what she thought. She never imagined she’d ever have, y’know, readers herself…and when all you FOM started to show up, she really didn’t know what do with you. But she caught on soon enough. And she caught something more too: a vision of herself, of her future, and of a contribution she could make to others. She’s mentioned this before here, but let me just say it again: this blog helped her, as we slowly brought the whole “growing family” stage of our lives to an end and started working on just keeping the kids growing and adequately fed, figure out what she loved to do, what she was good at, what she had to offer as her 30s and 40s loomed before her. For some reason (maybe because of all the time she spent hanging out with my friends when we were first married and went off to graduate school) Melissa spent years often feeling like the young and inexperienced one in any given crowd; this blog, and all of you, helped her see her own grown-up and educated and competent self a little more clearly. So thanks for all that, on this auspicious occasion.

And 35 is fairly auspicious, I think. Maybe not as auspicious as turning 40, but it’s getting there. Halfway to the Biblical three-score plus ten, anyway. I hit that mark a few years back, and just about every day I’m reminded of all the reasons I have to be grateful for Melissa for being my companion up through that point, and now beyond it. There’s been some rough years along with the good ones, that’s for certain; but through it all she’s been kind, loving, (mostly) forgiving, and my best friend, as well as still the most attractive woman I know. I don’t want to even pretend to be able to predict what accomplishments and insights her next 35 years will bring to her, but I’m excited by them nonetheless, because I know she’ll share them with me and our children…and knowing her, probably with all of you, too. Because that’s the sort of person she is.

Melissa doesn’t post many pictures of herself here, I don’t believe, which is too bad, because she’s a looker. Anyway, here’s a recent photo of her, as usual maintaining her dignity even as her DH unceremoniously mauls her. Sorry if it’s a little fuzzy, Melissa; it’s 11:55pm, and I can’t quite figure out how to work the scanner.

Oh, and happy birthday.

Love,
Me

Guest Blogging Princess Power

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I got this book from Andi as a review book for Estella. When the book got here, I looked at it and though, “Huh. Not what I was expecting.” The back of the book said for ages 9 to 12, but M (our resident 9 to 12 year old) looked at it and said, “It’s a bit young.” So, we passed it on to C (our resident 6 to 8 year old). I told her that if she read it, I’d let her review it for Estella.

Turns out, though, that it really is youngish for the readership over at Estella. But, I did promise C that she could do her review. So, without further adieu, here it is:

Title and author of book: Princess Power: The Stubbornly Secretive Servant, by Suzanne Williams. It’s Book #5 in a series.

Fiction or non-fiction? Genre? Fiction.

What led you to pick up this book? It looked cool. Like you were going to solve mysteries, have adventures.

Summarize the book: The plot was Jonathan, who was supposed visit Princess Gabrielle and Prince Jerome, went missing. The four princess friends decided to figure out what happened to Jonathan.

What did you like most about the book? I liked that the princesses were always ready for new things to pop up. I liked that most of the time, one of the princesses (Tansy) played her magic flute so they could hear each other’s thoughts.

What did you like least? That the plot was all about Jonathan, a prince that was coming to the royal ball. (He’s also a magician.) I also didn’t like that Thomas, Jonathan’s servant, did all the dumb stuff. It got boring after a while.

What did you think of the main character? There were many main characters. Gabrielle and Jerome (her husband) didn’t do a lot of cool stuff, but Gabrielle had a baby in the last chapter. The other princesses were all different. Fatima rocked; she was adventurous, and had a magic carpet. Lysandra was Gabrielle’s sister, so got to be an aunt. She was also the one that figured out the mystery (Tansy helped). I thought Tansy’s magic flute rocked. Elena was pretty boring though.

Any other particularly interesting characters? No.

Do you recommend this book? Yes, for girls who like princesses and adventures.

My note: I think this book is in an odd category. It was a bit difficult for C to read, the names especially being difficult to pronounce. (She would call Fatima, “fat-ma” and Jerome “jer-um”) But, unless M is unusual for her age (which I concede that she may be), I can’t see a 10-year-old liking an underdeveloped and simplistic princesses adventure/mystery book. It really is a glorified beginning-reader chapter book.

A bit of Fluff

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I’m just a little bit proud of this email I wrote to my family this week. Thought I’d share.

Twas the night before New Years,
And down on the street,
We all were talking
About what happened last week.

Christmas Eve went well;
It couldn’t have gone any faster.
Except for the Quaker service,
Which was a bit of a disaster.

The morning came early
For poor Mom and Dad.
At six-thirty sharp
Three girls got us out of bed!

We unwrapped the presents,
Excited to see:
A castle, books, dolls
And a Harry Potter DVD (game).

Candy, doughnuts, Eggs Benedict;
The day started well.
But the dinner roast was dry,
and Melissa fell ill.

All the next day
Melissa was in bed, sick.
So R rustled up
Friends for the girls, quick.

They spent the whole day
Playing games, doing crafts.
Though we were just a little glad
When they went home at last.

The next day was boxing.
We were only off by one.
Time to put away decorations
Now that Christmas was done.

Friday — Exploration Place,
We were all impressed.
There were airplanes, Miniature Kansas,
And a castle we liked best.

And just when we thought
We couldn’t have any more debts
We spent lots more money!
Oh, and Baby K took her first steps.

We watched lots of movies:
National Velvet, Sword in the Stone, Camelot,
Cars, Alice in Wonderland, Over the Hedge.
Some were good. Some were not.

We hung art, we cleaned house,
We spent time with our friends.
We had sleepovers, and great fun.
Every night late to bed.

We celebrated R’s 38th birthday
With presents (ties) and cake.
And there’s still a few more days
Left in this winter break!

And so you hear us exclaim
As 2006 fades from sight,
“Happy New Year’s to all,
And may it be bright!”

What I’ve been doing

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Kristen Dorothy (all 8 pounds 15 ounces of her) was born at 4:27 a.m. on Tuesday the fourth, about 40 minutes after I checked into the hospital. I did it al natural, something I wouldn’t readily recommend to anyone. (I asked for an epidural when I got there, they told me, no, but I could have a baby…) I’ve never lost it so completely as I did while pushing this lovely girl out. Thankfully, it wasn’t my first. If it was, I may have never done this again.

Incidently, the book I ended up taking was American Jezebel, a biography of Anne Hutchinson by Eve LaPlante. I’m only half done, but I’m enjoying it. I’ll post a review when (if?) I get around to finishing it.

For now, I’m going to take a nap (though the wonderful girl slept for 5 hours last night!), since my mom’s here to play with A, and the baby’s sleeping!

Books for Birthing

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I’m about two weeks away from my due date; the fourth girl we will have brought into this world. Don’t ask. We don’t do boys.

I’ve found myself thinking lately (along with the usual WHEN is this baby going to FINALLY come?) about the book I’m going to bring to the hospital with me. I’ve never thought about this before, yet I’ve always ended up wtih a book in the birthing room. And hubby’s either read it to me, or it’s been there for me to pick up afterward. And, yes, I remember each of the books. The Chosen, by Chiam Potok for my first, Megan. Is God a Republican or Democrat?, Tony Campolo (it was a book group selection) for my second, Caitlyn. And Lonsome Gods, by Louis L’Amour for Alison, my third.

So, being the person I am, I’m actually giving some forethought to this rather than just grabbing any book off the shelf. Though, given that labor is what it usually is, I might just do that anyway.

Any suggestions?