A Morning at Minnehaha Falls

Minnehaha Falls has always been one of our favorite spots. While trying to find a name for our youngest daughter, we hit upon a naming ceremony as a way to celebrate and confirm the name once we had chosen it.  So while our older kids played we had a short, private naming ceremony, more of a prayer than anything, for Charlotte Magdalen.          

The Charlotte Song

We've finally settled on a Charlotte Song!  Here's a little background for those of you who are not familiar with the kids' songs. 

When Nova was a baby, I was singing lullabies when Solomon, then two and a half, requested the Nova Song.  I didn't know the Nova Song, so we made one up.  We tried a few variations till we found one that stuck.  From there we went on to the Solomon Song (the melody of which, I pretty sure I swiped from some classical piece--not sure which one though).  

Once upon a time I thought I might make all of the songs work together to create harmony, but that has proven to be beyond my talents.   

As it turns out, adding audio is a little more complicated than photos, but hopefully we'll have recordings up soon.   

Charlotte!

For all of you who have not yet seen her, this is Charlotte, Charlotte Magdalen.  The photo was taken at five days old.  

Lillian Moller Gilbreth

The kids and I have been reading Cheaper by the Dozen.  As a result, Solomon is now the proud owner of an ancient typewriter.  

My current research project is the thoughts and life of Lillian Molller Gilbreth, known to the wider world as the mother in Cheaper by the Dozen and Bells on Their Toes.  She is a fascinating woman, but so far I have not been able to track down as much as I'd like about her.  Born in the Victorian era to a wealthy Californian family, she got a PhD in psychology and became an expert in motion study while raising a family of twelve children.  

I DO NOT recommend the book Making Time; a life beyond Cheaper by the Dozen, a rather poisonous biography aimed at reappropriating Lillian Gilbreth's history for second wave feminists (the woman who wrote it has no idea what it is like to be a mother--she acts like reading while nursing is a major chore!).  Right now I have several books by Lillian herself on request from several libraries around the state.  We'll see what they turn up!     

Hello

Hello all!  This is meant to be a better way to stay in touch, share thoughts with friends and family, and (hopefully) create a meaningful record of what we were up to way back when the winter of 2009 finally gave way to spring...or whenever we happen to be blogging.