RAIN!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, finally it is raining again! It hasn't rained since the last time I posted about it at the beginning of October and we were getting desperate.

In fact, it's a day late, because there was another smoky pall over the area again today. I don't know where the forest fire was this time, but my lungs were not happy. I hope the rain is putting it out and clearing the air.

I really hope that it doesn't rain tomorrow evening, though. Just from say 5 until 9, OK?

The story that DS2 wrote

"The mouse ate the cat and the mouse went back home. He ate lunch and he ate the cat for lunch. And he went out for more cats."

LOL!!!!

baby and kid PICTURES

Godzilla versus Thomas the Tank Engine (coming soon to a theater near you)





(I asked the boys to pick up their toys the night before and it didn't happen...)

Then Godzilla is defeated when she underestimates the size of her body...

Almost ready for Halloween!

DS2 suddenly decided that he was not going to be a ninja again (though last year he wore a ninja costume and a cape with skulls) and instead he is going to be Tremendous T, his very own superhero. So he needed a cape. I bought some cheap, black satin and ironed on a big red T (wonder under rules, y'all!) with a T made of reflective tape sort of under it and stuck a length of leftover bias tape through a channel at the top for a tie.


I got a yard of shiny, hot pink tulle and folded it over twice and ran elastic through the waist for a tutu for DD. I got some matching organza ribbon and made a ridiculous hair flower and attached it to another bit of elastic. She's a flower fairy ballerina princess. Diva. Prima donna. Something.



DS1 is a samurai again this year and I finally figured out how to make a helmet for him. I used a yellow play hard hat and taped foil to it, then made horns and covered them with foil and stuck them on there, too.



If the boys insist I need a costume, I guess I'll be a pirate again.

Gold medal in the Mom Olympics!

Goes to Tami! With an able assist by Deirdre!

She drove her daughter, her friend's son and my DS1 to Lake Tahoe on the class field trip to see salmon run and to run around in the woods up in the mountains. (An awful long way to see salmon, since they're running in the river about a mile from school, too, but anyway)

I warned her before they left that DS1 might get carsick, as he has a tendency toward motion sickness (witness his pukage into Monterey Bay last year) though he's usually OK as long as the roads don't twist and turn too much. Then within an hour, she had to stop the car so he could throw up. Deirdre pulled up and suggested they stop for mint lifesavers and some ice and they got back on the road and DS1 was fine after that. Apparently, putting ice packs on the side of your face and your stomach, along with mint helps control nausea.

So after that, DS1 got to ride up front (I'm not positive he's tall enough, though he's getting close) and she kept a good eye on him.

Honorable mention to the other kids who had to ride with him.

Well, except for the part about philosophy.

Thanks to Jennifer R.!

Your result for Howard Gardner's Eight Types of Intelligence Test...

Intrapersonal

4% Logical, 24% Spatial, 55% Linguistic, 69% Intrapersonal, 6% Interpersonal, 16% Musical, 14% Bodily-Kinesthetic and 39% Naturalistic!

"This area has to do with introspective and self-reflective capacities. Those who are strongest in this intelligence are typically introverts and prefer to work alone. They are usually highly self-aware and capable of understanding their own emotions, goals and motivations. They often have an affinity for thought-based pursuits such as philosophy. They learn best when allowed to concentrate on the subject by themselves. There is often a high level of perfectionism associated with this intelligence.

Careers which suit those with this intelligence include philosophers, psychologists, theologians, writers and scientists." (Wikipedia)

Take Howard Gardner's Eight Types of Intelligence Test at HelloQuizzy

Bleak hardship, strict rationing

of NAMES in 18th and 19th century Germany. Ober Mossau, Odenwald, Hessen, Germany to be precise.

Every single blinkin' boy for 5 generations has been named Johan. The girls are all Anna or Eva or maybe, if the parents are going crazy and living large, Elisabetha.

And this isn't even in the direct male line, these are the female relatives' parents and brothers and sisters, too.

So Johan, son of Johan, father and brother of Johan... Ah. SO yes, we need to follow the middle names, but yeeeeesh.

ETA: Hold the phone!!! Anna Mueller wasn't from Ober Mossau. No, she's positively a foreigner. She's from UNTER-Mossau. Rock on, girl!

Can you tell that this part of the research is a bit... repetitive?

But PHEW! When you get back to the 17th century, some of them have their own names!