Friends and Weddings

The wedding of a good friend from graduate school brought us to that southern California city known for palm trees and movie starts--Los Angeles.  The wedding was gorgeous,  the food was amazing, the weather was fabulous.  The toasts and speeches were heartfelt and genuine.   And best of all, the bride and groom really seem to be a perfect fit.

Charles was a groomsman, the first time he has been part of a wedding party.  Similar to the wedding I was in more than a decade ago, this wedding had a groomsmaid, or groomswoman.  My spellcheck doesn't recognize these words, but it should, because I suspect we will see more of this in the future. Good friends come in both genders. He and another close mutual friend from graduate school both stood up on the grooms side, along with friends of the groom from undergrad, high school and even kindergarten.  Both the best man and maid of honor were siblings of the couple.  There was a bit of an age range (given that people find themselves in grad school at different stages of life),  and earlier on Charles was a little worried he wouldn't fit in with the mostly younger group.  There was no reason for concern.  All were pals by the end of the weekend.  They hung out together after the wedding and by the time Charles got back to our hotel room, it was more or less morning. (I retired at the 'early' hour of 2:00 am).

In fact we got to meet delightful people of all ages during our long weekend in LA.

Charles and I both got to chat with the groom's grandfather at the rehearsal dinner.  He told me a little about his children starting out in business, watching his grandchildren grow up, and what it is like to be old.  When he found out we had four kids, he insisted I bring Charles over.  I wasn't sure if he was going to get scolding or congratulations.  Whatever the case it must have been good--they talked for some time.  

During the wedding dinner I was seated next to a former professor and mentor to the groom and his wife.  What a delightful couple to talk to!  As it turns out, he had had a dual carrier, working as an engineer and a professor concurrently.  She had worked as an RN.  They told me about staying at the Bel Air back in the 1960s, about starting second carriers well after the 20s, and even a little about raising their daughters.  It is fun (and helpful) to get a window on what is coming next--like dropping our kids off at college.

Awhile back, the kids had suggested I be a goddess of the kitchen in some sort of game we were playing.  Charles had worried that this comment would send me running back to school for a MFA or PHD.  He should not have worried.  The kids like my cooking--end of story.  The real worry should have come from me sitting next to these two at the wedding.  When I mentioned that I was a lot older that most of the couple's friends--35--he  replied that that was when he started his PHD program and that his wife had gone back for her nursing license in her fifties.  I can dream again....(I say this tongue in cheek, but it is honestly refreshing to be reminded not all career moves are made in the first half of life).

Music included Minuet Two by Bach, What a Wonderful World, and at the appropriate time, Here Comes The Bride.  During dinner there was laid back Sinatra-era music. Once the dancing had begun the tempo picked up a bit, and the DJ cross faded the songs, carrying the dancers into the next dance, and the next.

I talked Charles into going back for what turned out to be the last two dances.  The first of these dances we circled round the bride and groom and others taking the center of the dance floor.  The second, everyone broke off into couples. Then it was time for sparklers and farewell.

Ariadne Turns Three!

   

Aria at three.  She asked to get her hair cut, see the ducks and go to a museum.  We managed two out of the three and planned to do the last one the next day.  That solo museum date has proven elusive, though we have gotten there with siblings.  

The next weekend we had Grandparents and Uncle Matt over to celebrate.  Once again, Ariadne's birthday fell close to Easter.  When the cake I was baking literally disintigrated (bad gluten free flour?), Charles walked up the block to the bakery and picked up an Easter cake.  Ariadne was tickled.  Months later, she still reminds of the caked with the rabbit in it now and then.  

This year Ariadne was very clear about her birthday meal--cheese pizza and baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese.  We also had punch, as you can see.  Such a change from last year, when I had to more or less guess.  Conicidenally, three was also the age when Solomon declared he wanted a specific birthday dinner--brown chicken and parsnips--and started the birthday meal tradition.  

Gift opening followed dinner.  Below Nova is reading a book from Aunt Marianne and Sylvain.  They ordered two books with an Ariadne in the story (Ariadne is a name that does not show up in children's literature by accident!).





From there Aria blew out her giant 3 candle (also used for Solomon's 13th) and we all had cake.



 

Nova's 11th Birthday

Nova grew up so much between 10 and 11. The day of her birthday we had playgroup, and brought brownies to share with her friends.  A few days later we had our family party, with grandparents and Uncle Matt (both aunts are living out of state at present).  The dinner request was lasagna, along with a strawberry layer cake covered in white chocolate frosting.  

The cake didn't quit cooperate, so we got a little bit creative. The two cakes came out of the oven sunken like bowls. One did not survive transfer. We filled the sunken center of the remaining cake with the white chocolate frosting an swirled in the jam that was supposed to go between the layers.  

Ariande and Charlotte hanging out with Grandpa John. 

Grandma Roberta helping Charlotte a birthday gift from a few weeks before.  

Towards the end of March we had a sleepover birthday party with her friends.  They did some jewelry making to start things off.  Using beads and copper wire they fashioned rings, earrings, and bracelets.

Nova made a pair of treble clef earrings.  We ordered cake pops from a nearby bakery.  Nova ordered them with blue frosting, dark chocolate swirls and white and yellow sugar sprinkles--to look like the night sky.  

The Pinata has been too popular to retire.  Charles made it harder, by swinging the "branch" (broom handle) a bit here and there.  

After jewelry making, dinner and the pinata, the girls settled down to watch some movies.

The movies kicked off with Big Hero Six.  Charles took the late night shift, with his kindle. I covered the breakfast/dawn shift.

By the next morning there was some truth or dare going on, climaxing in singing while scootering around the block in pajamas (which I considered a tolerable amount of 'trouble').  Aria happily joined the pajama party.  With in a couple of hours everyone had rolled up their sleeping bags, eaten breakfast and were on their way.    

Charlotte's Sixth Birthday

Charlotte's birthday was the day after I returned from New York.  Charles took me the the ER to address my broken arm, and Grandma Roberta came and spent the day with the kids.  She was prepared!  Along with her came chocolate cupcake mix and some lovely pink frosting, and presents. As far as I can tell, Charlotte had a great birthday, despite the fact that Charles and I were tied up at the ER for what felt like most of the day.  That evening we opened some presents--games, Legos, and a 'ginormous' coloring pad. 


We celebrated with the rest of the family the following weekend, on what Charlotte affectionately called her ValenBirthday, because it was Valentine's Day (having been born within a week of Valentine's Day this may have been inevitable).  So, as we did with Ariadne's first birthday and Easter, we split the day.



Morning was Valentine's--breakfast was oatmeal with raspberries and chocolate chips.  We had tea and a big bouquet of tulips on the table as well.  I'd ordered them online along with the rest of the groceries (an adaptation for having a broken arm), and luckily they'd sent red. Getting this all together with a broken arm was a little tricky, but not too bad--I wanted to surprise everyone else.

Solomon helped me frost the cake for later on in the day, as frosting a cake one handed was beyond me.  He did quite well.  Once we got to Granne and Grandpa John's house, Charlotte did the rest of the decorating.  It was based on the Spirit Cake from the Avatar Kora cartoon series.  We found a recipe here.  Grandpa John had the meal all ready to go.  I believe Charlotte requested broccoli cheese soup and ham sandwiches.

  

Ironically, Charlotte had requested a skating birthday party back in December, long before I knew I would break my arm ice skating.  We found a rink with a party room, skate rental, and an weekend open skate not too far away.  This time around Charlotte wanted a junior mint cake.  Again, she decorated it herself.  The frosting was mint flavored and the cake chocolate, with junior mints and mint leaves on top.

Charles and most of the other parents skated with the kids.  I hung out in the penalty box and did my best to take pictures.  

Some of Charlotte's friends came from seasoned hockey families.  Others were more or less new to ice skating.

Charles was our on-ice parent, helping Aria around the rink.

 We wrapped up the party with cake, hot chocolate and gift opening. A figure skater took the ice just as the party was ending.  A number of the kids watched transfixed from the bleachers.  Then out came the Zamboni to resurface the ice, which they also considered a worthy spectacle.

The Start of School Year 2015-16

School is off and running.  This might be our last year homeschooling everyone, as the plan has always been to do something a little more traditional for high school.  The picture above is from the evening of our first day.  All that grad school in the History of Science came in handy in convincing Solomon that there really is a point to factoring radicals.  Thinking big ideas is one of the best parts of high school mathematics, and Solomon, Charles and I are all looking forward to that for Solomon this year.  

These are our unofficial school uniforms for the younger two.  They each have the same dress in purple and matching leggings (Aria is wearing her purple leggings).  Both dresses are reversible. They each have a pullover for when the weather gets colder. Why have uniforms when we homeschool?  My point is not to be controlling, it is to make them more comfortable and reduce friction about what to wear.  My kids often get comfortable in what they are wearing and don't want to switch. Different seams and closures feel uncomfortable.  This way switching only means switching colors, nothing else.  The necklaces were their idea.  We rarely go shopping for new clothes, they were both pretty thrilled with the whole thing.    

Charlotte has been asking to learn Chinese for years.  I blame Aunt Brynn, for giving her a Gordon and Li Li Learn Animals in Mandarin board book back when Charlotte could barely speak anything--that and maybe the Avatar cartoon series.  I say blame only because Chinese is notoriously difficult and we have zero experience with the language.  I am actually pretty excited about it now that we have found a more comprehensive curriculum.   It turns out Charlotte is most interested in learning the characters, though she has been spending a lot of her free time listening to the books on CD and repeating the words too.  Up until this year all the curriculum I could find for young kids ignored written Chinese.  She is excited to get going.

Ariadne's first day of preschool began quite wet but ended in sunshine (both atmospherically and emotionally).  Though she was sad to see me go, she was all smiles when I returned.  Ariadne told me excitedly about her new friends, Libby and Juliette.  Though Juliette and Aria had spent an entire year in the same Sunday School class, it seems they did not notice each other until the first day of preschool.  Libby couldn't help but remind me of my own dear friend Libby, whom I also met in preschool.



Solomon and Nova are both taking fencing at their co-op this year and it has become a fast favorite.  Nova is in the foreground poking her saber at her opponent's stomach and Solomon is in back wearing dark pants and facing the camera.  Their instructor is quite a character, which makes it extra fun.



The girls posed for a picture when playgroup took an impromptu trip to the zoo.  Volunteers were stationed around the zoo to field questions and offer educational enrichment.  The boys (all being older) had gone on ahead.

Charlotte is reading without sounding out the words--her new big thing in reading this year.  It was all her idea too.  She is just at the cusp of taking off.  I remember when Solomon learned to read.  He went from reading the fifth and final set of Bob Books (which Charlotte is reading from above), to reading Lion Boy by Zizou Corder, a long and complicated children's chapter book that even throws in a few phrases from other languages.  He had received the book as a gift from my mom, neither Charles nor I would have guessed he could read it.  We were floored.  Nova, always a determined child, powered through an abridged version of Anne of Green Gables, sounding out the words all the way.  Shockingly she was still able to follow the story.  She got through it all and still has fond memories of reading her first chapter book at age five.  This one had been a gift from my aunt, who also homeschooled her kids.

And now for a little science!  Solomon is taking Biology at our co-op.  His teacher assigned the kids to design their own experiments.  Solomon's involves a classic rat maze.
 

This is Heimdall, running the maze--well, exploring the maze, he never reached the end.  His brother Dasher finished in 3 minutes 24 seconds.  Too bad for Dasher, he will now get played with for half as long as Heimdall for the next week to see if playtime affects results.

We also had some fun with non-Newtonian fluids this week (a.k.a. oobleck).  It is amazing what fun cornstarch and water can be!  Plasma, liquids, solids and gases all came up in conversation as we watched this bizarre matter clump and ooze, depending on how we handled it.

The little girls and I also read Dr. Seuss's Bartholomew and the Oobleck.

Other things going on that don't photograph so well include learning Italian (Solomon) and French (Nova), lots more math, and a whole lot of writing on Solomon's part.  He is working on a novel and it is really coming along.  Nova is taking a combo electronics/mine craft redstone class and ballroom dancing along with fencing.  Solomon's third co-op class is History of Rock and Roll (I am jealous). Suzuki music lessons continue with a slight change--Solomon is now playing viola.  Circus classes have just kicked off and soccer is in mid season.  Never a dull moment!

These transition times always get so full and go so fast.  Fall is my favorite season, I must admit.  I just have to remember to take a little time to enjoy it all.  Kids, while they keep you busy, are also good at reminding you to slow down.  On one of the last days of astronomical summer (Sept 21st?), Charlotte and Ariadne were adamant that we take some time to play on the swing set.  And could pass up recess when it looks like this outside?