Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Dutch Blitz

It’s become a family obsession. And it’s all Larry Joe’s fault.

Once a month, or whenever possible, we go over to Larry Joe’s house for a Game Night. Larry Joe is rather fond of games. He collects them and plays them and talks about them. And he likes to get together with other people who enjoy playing games. Adam loves to play games. So Adam looks forward to the monthly Game Night so he can go over to Larry Joe’s house and play lots of games.

We play all sorts of games on Game Night. Not video games, mind you. These are board games. Card games. Games of thought and strategy and skill and chance and scheming and cooperation and collaboration. Games of laughter and frustration and intensity. Games of passion.

We’ve purchased a few games for ourselves that we found particularly enjoyable. Like Sabatuer. And Dutch Blitz. Cheryl especially enjoys Dutch Blitz. She’s very good at it. This game requires a very fast, multi-tracked brain (unlike mine, which is slow and ponderous and singular of focus).



The kids enjoy it as well. They’ve been playing it whenever they get the chance. Over and over again. Mary’s daily plea has become, “Anyone wanna play Dutch Blitz?” And usually she’s able to find at least one other taker.



Cheryl is still the Master at the game, although Adam's deftness is increasing rapidly. They both have the same ability to track multiple piles of cards at the same time, which is an absolute requirement of the game; and they both have fast reflexes. You don't want to get in the way of their arms as they are flying towards their objective.



Mary will play the game by herself if no one else is willing or able. Like when her sister is too sick (here seen "supervising" from the reclining position). It's good that she practices. She'll need as much skill as she can muster in order to keep up with her highly aggressive elder siblings. So she plays a few rounds before heading off to school in the morning.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

A Valentine Dinner Portrait



We had a marvelous time at the Valentine Dinner, which was put together by the High School class as part of their fund-raiser for the Dominican Republic trip.

Wish you could've been there! (And no, I didn't save you any of the yummy chocolate cheesecake...)

Friday, February 12, 2010

Band Concert



I keep forgetting that this is the first year Deborah has been playing the flute.

We've had the kids in piano lessons forever, so they've been surrounded by music since they were little teenie popkins, and when they got older and started branching out into different instruments, it just seemed natural. I was glad that Deborah picked a beautiful instrument like the flute. Somehow it seems to fit her.

She sounds wonderful when she's practicing in her room; the notes flow smoothly and the tunes are always recognizable. I was looking forward to hearing her play together with the rest of the band, although my expectations were not high. After all, instant harmony in the first year of band is not a foregone conclusion. Each student is learning at his own pace.

At this stage of instrumental education, the students practice together in their sections primarily, and only occasionally do they come together to form "the band". The focus is on individual familiarity with the chosen instrument, and learning to play a simple score.

It was apparent that the kids had been practicing quite a bit. Each section sounded good when playing their own pieces. When the entire band played together, it did not sound quite as good.

For sixth grade, this isn't a bad thing. For many students, it was their first experience with reading or playing music. Some are picking it up quickly; others are still struggling to get the correct sounds to come out at the correct time. Some of them are ready to switch to something else. Especially the clarinet players. The clarinet is a standard "base" instrument; it is used as a springboard to other instruments, like saxophone; one of the teachers mentioned last night that those who were interested could now swap their clarinets for another instrument.

He urged the students to remain in band, though, regardless of their experience thus far, because the payoff doesn't come overnight. Indeed, most of my friends who play instruments hated the first few years because they were dull and repetitive. Only when the note-playing became automatic, like breathing, did the magic occur. Only then did they find joy in making music.

I enjoy having children who play instruments. It makes me wish I had the time to pick up another instrument and play along with them. But I'd need to do it like Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day", because time is at such a premium nowadays.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Projects

Our Busy Family working on various projects:




Project Valentine
Mary and Mom create Valentine's Day cards for her classmates










Project Shakespeare
James creates a poster for "A Midsummer Night's Dream"










Project Fairy Tale
Deborah writes and illustrates a Fairy Tale












Project Latin Test
Adam prepares to take the National Latin Test






Project Cross Stitch
Cheryl works on her cross-stitch






Project Snack
After a hard day's drawing, James stops for a snack!

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Disco Night!

The annual Elementary School Disco Night was held last night, and Mary, our resident dancer, was excited about it. Her parents went along to assist with the concessions.

There were a million people in attendance (just a rough guess). The place was packed! With all that crowd, I would've expected to be busy behind the counter all night. But, in fact, while Cheryl was able to enjoy some fun selling food tickets, there were far more than enough volunteers to handle the other concessions (pizza, soda, candy) so Disco Dad got to "hang out" on the dance floor with the kids and practice his smooth moves.

It was cool. I was wearing my disco duds.

Mary danced, ran, chased, tagged, and generally had a wonderful time. Her face was bright red when we finally left after two hours, and the freezing cold outside temperatures were, oddly enough, refreshing.




The DJ played several classics, including "Thriller" (was that really a Disco song??), and mixed in some modern Techno pieces, but neglected to play a single BeeGees song; and I got very confused when he put on "The Hokey-Pokey" and "The Chicken Dance". I thought those were roller-skating songs.

Friday, February 05, 2010

New Beds, Better Sleep

The boys got new box springs and mattresses. Now they seem to be sleeping better. But have you ever known teenaged boys who couldn't sleep at the drop of a hat? Especially in English class?

The odd thing about these beds is that they are much higher than they were before. We didn't realize when we were looking at the mattresses in the showroom that they were quite so tall. The old mattresses were somewhere in the neighborhood of eight inches; these are eleven. And the box springs are another eleven inches. That makes beds which are nearly two feet tall, plus the height from the floor to the base of the rail, which is about eight inches. So that's nearly thirty inches!!

Adam's New Bed
James's New Bed

James's New Bed
Adam's New Bed



Alfred Checks the Schedule

I'm not exactly sure what he's looking for, but he was checking out the folder that contains the weekly schedules. Perhaps he's checking to make sure it has his daily feedings in it.