Life with the Taylor Kids:

A couple of weeks ago Rachel and Noah were talking and Rachel asked Noah,

"How many people have threatened to slap you?"

Noah looked up and to the side thoughtfully then replied, "...carry the 5...A LOT!"




*************

Rachel started Drama Camp today at the local high school which her father graduated. As we were leaving she read, "1980." That was inscribed on some marble pillars next to the parking lot. I said, "You know your dad graduated in 1985, so that is really old."
Rachel remarked, "So, no wonder they were writing in stone."

Can I get a...badum dum?!

"I Love to Laugh...Loud and Strong and Clear...

Last night after family reading time Rachel asked Michael, "Do you know how a Venus flytrap closes?"
To wit he replied, "Quickly?"
Rachel says, "Ugh... I didn't ask for an adverb!"
She went on to explain how the cells on one side grow to twice their normal size, then close up overlapping the meal.




(After this point is Rachel writing. I was going to just write and pretend that I was mom, but it's too weird to write in third person...)
Noah recently had his 11th Birthday and while he was laying down on the floor in mom's room and he said "The skin on my hand is really dry and peeling off." And because Noah is especially fun to mess with I responded,
"Noah, you're going through your eleven year molt! Ahh... I remember my eleven year molt. Cleared it away before you knew about it had to keep it a secret." And then mom began playing along and it was much fun!
Rules of the eleven year molt:
*It happens overnight when you are eleven.
*Much like pulling teeth the parent clears it away and leaves behind a dollar under the pillow.
*It happens to everyone. Much like puberty. ;D
*You can have it pulled, but it hurts.
* Kids below eleven aren't allowed to know about it until they turn eleven.
(Going to put some money under Noah's pillow now!)

Weekend Noahisms

Last night as we were talking in Rachel's room I was recommending to Noah that he would make more friends if he didn't constantly interject as if he were a cop about what every one else is doing.

Me: "My only point is that you would make more friends if you weren't policing other people."

Noah: "I don't like policing. I only do it when they do something wrong."




The conversation this morning started out with Noah playing "Ben 10 Ultimate Alien game" on the WII. He noted that a company called Papaya made the game.

Noah: "Papaya is a cool name."

Me: "I think your dad likes papayas."

Noah: "Sometimes I just assume it's a guy lazy with sounds."
(Later on he said...)
"He might as well have said Hiya and added a P."

Observations of a Librarian

On Friday I stopped off at our local branch of the public library to return some books and pick up some on hold. Michael sent me his card information, so I could pick up his books, as well. I grabbed the books off the shelf and chatted with the librarian as I checked out my books, then his. I noticed that we had the same book checked out. I laughed and told the librarian that often he would check out I book that I liked and I would take it from his pile to read, or that we sometimes checked out the exact same book. She looked at me smiling and said, "That is so romantic." I think she is right.
Here is the book we checked out:

*******Problem Solving**********
This is one of my favorite people. He speaks to learning math and science as a basis for problem solving, even if you are not going into a technical field.



*********Poem Project with Noah (age 11)*****
(Noah would point out that he was technically 10 years-old when he wrote the poem because today is his birthday.)

I have been helping Noah brainstorm ideas for his poetry book due Monday. Here is one of my favorites:

"There once was a boy who liked to mope
Then, one day he got a telescope.
He learned to watch the wonders of space.
He yearned to help the human race.
And now the Mope had hope."


*****Noahism*****

As we continued the poem brainstorming session Noah was working on a Diamante poem about a video game. I was trying to clarify the rules of the particular style of poem, so I asked if it needed to start with one word, if so "video game" is two words and wouldn't work. His response, "I think of it as a compound word with a space in the middle."


Later, Noah decided he needed a break from writing poetry and wanted to watch a movie with Rachel. I yelled downstairs, "Noah, you better be working on a shape poem!"
He called back, "I'm helping Rachel pick out a movie."
I reiterated that he needed to think up a shape poem.
He yelled back, "Circles are fun!"
"I came up with a shape poem. Are you happy now?"


Happy Birthday, Noah!!!! I love you, dude!!!

Game Changer

Sometimes a book is going along just peachy until the author pulls a Crazy Ivan and makes what I call a Game Changer and that is just what happened with our book club reading for school:

*******************Book Reviews******************


This was one I did not read as a kid, but got the opportunity to read with my daughter and her second grade book group. The story is about Peter and the antics of his 3 year-old brother Fudge. Peter is the long suffering son who tries to be polite in awkward situations and comes to the rescue of his parents when they need Fudge to cooperate. I thought the book had several discussion worthy moments about growing up and some of the silly stuff kids do. Especially having to deal with doing group projects (which I always hated). The game changer for me was the completely callous ending. The book went from something that I liked okay to something I would not recommend. ** SPOILER ALERT:

Fudge swallows Peter's pet turtle and at no time did anyone see anything from Peter's perspective. I expected a moment that one of the grown ups, hospital staff, neighbors to step up and say something about the loss of your pet, but it is good that your brother will be okay. Instead nothing is said and they throw a puppy into the mix. I had this scene run through my head of a cheesy commercial (Peter's dad is an ad executive) that had a boy, his dad, and new puppy complete with an artificial smile and gleaming white teeth. It reminded me of a scene in the movie Better Off Dead when Lane says, "I'm real sorry your mom blew up Ricky." That kind of crazy sympathy would have worked for me.
I wasn't expecting deep literary meanings in this book, but a decent ending with a bit of compassion would have been better.

As an aside, I brought oreos for our snack because they used them to help get Fudge to cooperate for a commercial.

What an approachable book for lay people to understanding the intriguing nature of genetics. Richard Kowles has a writing style that doesn't overwhelm the reader with scientific language that might send one slinking off feeling that they could never understand the concepts within. Genetics makes up everything about us and around us. It influences what is inside us and what we express on the outside. Genetics determines how we function and influences how we act. The importance of enzymes in all of us. Explaining that there are more blood types out there than the A, B, O that we think about most frequently. Kowles explains that everyone has the same number of melanocytes, but the variation in skin color is due to the number and distribution of the pigment in the upper layers of skin (p 247). He also explains the Hayflick limit (p. 264), which is the fifty cell division limit. He dispels the eye color misconceptions of dominance saying that eye color is expressed from more than one pair of alleles (p. 289).

One of my favorite stories is one about the varied jobs taken on by bees in a hive. Due to Mendelian genetics there are bees who will uncap the wax, but not remove a dead bee, others refuse to touch the wax, but will remove the dead bee. Others that will do both jobs and ones that won't do either job (p. 187).
A favorite quote from the book, "It needs to be pointed out that many geneticists are convinced that race is nothing more than a social and cultural issue, and not a genetic concept. They believe that race has no biological meaning; that only one race exists, and we call it the "human" race." (p. 256)

He discusses the "discord between evolution and creationism" by saying, "Evolution is a scientific theory, and creationism is not. Evolution is not religion, and creationism is religion." (p.274) Basically, that creationism is not testable, but rather a matter of miracles and faith, whereas evolution has risen above a guess or hypothesis to a theory through rigorous tests and gathered data that can be peer reviewed.

His final chapter entreats the reader to become educated about issues in genetics. Critical decisions that effect society in regards to genetic research and applications could be far reaching. Excellent book.

This was an eye-opening opportunity to see how the brain is tricked, even when you think you are concentrating and aware. Two neuro scientist realized that they could learn from magicians who can control an audiences' attention through different forms of misdirection like pattering speech, touch, sound, and color. There is honor among scientists and magicians in each chapter because there is a section that clearly states a warning if you do not wish to know how certain magic tricks are performed. There are a few self tests to take (I fell for them all), so that adds a touch of fun to the text. I loved learning how our visual sense is interrupted by the brain. If you want to learn more about yourself and like the flair that magic brings, this book is right up your alley.

The title is strange, but is finally explained about 3/4 of the way through the book and it makes sense. In a small community college in Maine, Robert Klose teaches biology. What comes through in his writing is his genuine concern for his students to learn the material and how to present their findings in a succint manner. I loved the story of the 70 year-old student who loved learning and the other students looked to for assistance in the class. I also enjoyed how he decided to use cassette taped comments to his students to help them correct their papers because he felt that just writing red-marked comments in the margins would not get across his full meaning and encouragement to the struggling writers. Inevitably, in his class he has students who want to answer biological science questions with biblical verses. He answers their questions, but explains that they will fail the class if that is how they choose to continue answering the questions. Since many students in college have to take one science course for their degree program they often choose biology because it seems like the softball science. He does what he can to explain the situation and he comes across as a compassionate teacher. He always has to incorporate a bit of chemistry to explain some of the biological functions. He anthropomorphises the chemistry to have it make more sense to the non-scientists in his class. The strict scientists would be annoyed, but most every one else would find it a hoot. Professor Klose brings teaching, science, and story-telling together in a very humorous way.

***********************Harry Potter and Pippi***********

***************************WHEN I GROW UP**********

Eve informed me last week that when she grows up she wanted to be a scientist and one of the things she would do is explain how pianos work. That sounds cool to me.

Rachel wants to teach 4th grade because she says they are still enthusiastic learners and not so end to worrying about their hormones.

We aren't sure if Noah will be a purveyor of chicken nuggets, or still contemplating world domination. We don't have a basement, so we assume he will be doing this at his own place.

Read on my friends, read on.

Boys and Their Toys...

********************End of an Era**********

Noah and Michael have been working on Noah's last Pinewood Derby car:

****************************Cupcakes and Book Club************

Book Club time, again, for Eve's 2nd grade class. Here is a sample of the book mark I made for the kids to remind them of our meeting dates:

I used some fun graphics and alphabets from Lettering Delights .

Last week I took a box of Whole Grain Goldfish for a snack because in the book Peter goes to a birthday party where the kids get real goldfish as a present. I warned the kids to NEVER give pets as a gift at parties because the animal might be injured, or inadequately taken care of if the parent has no warning when the animal is taken home. This week I made cupcakes with homemade chocolate frosting because in the book Peter's little brother, "Fudge", celebrates his third birthday with a chocolate frosted cake with yellow roses. I decided what to make at 10:30am and had them baked and frosted by 11:45am. I put extra frosting in containers and grabbed my spatula, then off to school. When I got there I promptly banged the container into my steering wheel as I tried to exit the car. They all toppled over...not pretty. I also managed to drop my bag with the book and containers of frosting in a puddle next to my car. I grabbed the book and wiped it off, then the containers and through them in the bag. I opened the container and righted all the cupcakes. Luckily, the flavor doesn't change when the frosting is mushed. I guess the moral tale to tell is take a photo before you travel.

Michael said the frosting tastes exactly like his Granny Vone's. That is a compliment, people.

********************Piano Lessons**********

Eve and I just got back from piano lessons. Her teacher was pleased as punch that she decided to memorize all 3 pages of her recital piece. She has been trying really hard. We are pleased as punch too.

Later, gators.

The Wheels on the Bus...

Rachel likes to ride shotgun in Pippi:





(digital pieces from Cinzia Loosemore's Celebrate Life, template by Paislee Press, and Word Art piece by Kate Hadfield)

Checkmate

Noah's Cub Scout leader called and asked him to bring his chess set for their activity last night. Noah wanted to get in some practice before the evening, so when Michael came home he played some games with Noah. Out of those games came this exchange:

Noah: "You want to play again?"

Michael: "That was 4 games, Noah."

Noah: "It was? (pause) It felt more like 4 losses."

Don't Tell Time By A Twin...

That is your Noahism fortune cookie of the day. The back story for this little tidbit of wisdom goes like this:

In second grade Noah had one of a pair of, very identical, twins in his class. "If we were outside and to make sure the whistle hadn't been blown I would look around for a classmate. If I saw one of the twins I would say is that the one in my class or her sister. I would say, "Oh, for the love of Pete!" and give up and look for someone else in my class.

I hope this public service announcement helps someone.

Smiles!

I Soak Up Information Like a Sponge...

Unfortunately, that sponge happens to be something akin to Spongebob. I am continually frustrated by my inability to remember specifics about things that I read,or hear. I can vaguely recall if something is on the right track, or if something is bogus. I all too often have to tell the kids to ask their dad, who has an amazing ability to recall information. I really love to read non-fiction books and listen to history and skeptical podcasts. I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Wait Wait, when they were making a joke about the size of the human brain shrinking. I can't remember their take on the joke (no surprise that I can't remember), but I did remember enough about the article I read that theorized that the shrinking of the human brain relates to diminished aggression. I was shocked that I could recall that. Michael was proud of me too. Anyway, here are a couple of new book reviews and some of my favorites from 2010:



This book is the story of Calpurnia Tate and her discovery of her grandfather and his discovery of her. It is told about a well to do family in Texas in 1899. Callie Vee, as she is sometimes called, is the middle child flanked by brothers. Callie's mother often has to take some of her Lydia Pinkham's tonic after dealing with her rambunctious family. Calpurnia's grandfather and his library, and shed are quite an enigma to the family. Calpurnia begins to ask questions about some observations she has made about the differences she sees in the grasshoppers in her yard. She asks her grandfather who encourages her to figure it out for herself by observing and writing detailed notes. She uses the journal given to her by her oldest brother. As the summer progress Calpurnia becomes closer to her grandfather and becomes his partner in an experiment and a discovery in botany.
The characters throughout the book are interesting and well written. I found myself as anxious as the photographer to find out if the botanical discovery was, indeed, new. I also wondered if Calpurnia's grandfather's pecan distillery would ever produce anything decent. Most of all I was intrigued by the story of a girl who wants to use her mind and make an impact on her world through science in an age where that is uncommon and frowned upon. She does have a grandfather who supports her, but a father, mother, siblings, and house staff that have an all together different idea about the place of women. There is the spark of hope that she goes on to be able to make her discoveries in the world, but I know enough about the nature of humans to oppress each others' spirit of discovery to feel like she will end up sipping Lydia Pinkham's tonic with her own passel of kids. I harbor the idea that her grandfather leaves her a trust fund in his will that instructs it to be used only for her university education. That last idea gives me hope.
This book was thoroughly fantastic and I have it on my wishlist.



This book was one we just finished for family reading at the insistence of Noah who had already read it. Rachel also had finished the book. The story explains that there is a place called The Seems that actually controls what we perceive as reality. In The Seems there are people to help us sleep, create our dreams, and try to manufacture ways for us to meet the people we are destined to be with. Some people are born in The Seems that work for these purposes, but sometimes there are problems that try to circumvent The Plan. To help counteract problems there are people recruited from our side called Fixers who have a seventh sense. In this book their is a glitch in sleep that threatens to tear the fabric of time.
Noah was enthusiastic about this book, but the rest of the kids were rather blandly listening. I thought the authors' use of word play was funny and great for kids. The story was just fantastical enough and the age of the characters gave younger children a hero close to their own age. If you want a pretty cool fantasy, sci-fi, alternate reality book I think this would fit the bill.


*************************Books of 2010...Some Stand outs*****
My shelfari.com account shows that I read 65 books last year. No wonder people at the park think of me as the book lady. Here are some that I particularly liked:

The entire Tripods series by John Christopher a sci-fi collection of stories about human natures ability to become easily herded and the handful of people who use their brains to overcome. The constant battle to save people from themselves, too.

Extremely well written and thoroughly fascinating:
The Poisoner's Handbook
Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
by Deborah Blum

Fascinating history and would love to understand more than just the basic math concepts:
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
by Charles Seife (Author)

Historical fiction that hits a lot of the right notes:
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (2009)
by Jamie Ford

Full of gorgeous illustrations and a great folktale akin to The Wizard of Oz. Also a great read aloud:
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (2009)
by Grace Lin

An upstanding gentleman that I would love to meet:
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (2010)
by Helen Simonson

I still cook atrociously, but this book is put together like a masterful recipe:
The School of Essential Ingredients
by Erica Bauermeister

Totally fascinating look into why malaria is so hard to erradicate:
The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years
by Sonia Shah


History is written by the victors and sometimes by those impertinent enough to try and set the record straight:
Lies, damned lies, and history : a catalogue of historical errors and misunderstandings
by Graeme Donald

I like to call this one the time traveler's wife without all the smut. Really cool science fiction:
When You Reach Me (2009)
by Rebecca Stead


A classic doctor Seuss that I waited entirely too long to read, but so glad I got around to:
Bartholomew and the Oobleck
by Dr. Seuss

If you are looking to donate time, and or finances to charity give this book a read:
The Power of Half One Family's Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back
by Kevin Salwen (Author), Hannah Salwen (Author

Fascinating history:
Troublesome Young Men (2007)
The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England
by Lynne Olson

Fascinating history + pithyness:
The Wordy Shipmates (2008)
by Sarah Vowell

Assassination Vacation (2005)
by Sarah Vowell

The Partly Cloudy Patriot (2002)
by Sarah Vowell

Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities
by Paul Yeager


Absolutely love this entire series. This is a definite read aloud:
The Inside Story, The Sisters Grimm Book 8
by Michael Buckley

Dystopian at it's most fashionable:
Uglies, Pretties, Specials, & Extras ( 4 separate books)
by Scott Westerfeld

******************WII Just Dance****

I just finished showering after a head to head dance competition with Eve. We did 11 songs and I one 4. I totally kicked it on Pump Up the Jam. Rachel played once, but wasn't feeling to well. She had been playing out in the snow with her friend Lydia.

Now to just chill...I suppose literally and figuatively.

Hey, You Bought A Bunch of Milk...Why Not Order...

Some Girl Scout Cookies to go with it. And if you buy Girl Scout cookies it will make you want to walk off the calories. If you walk off the calories you will feel good about yourself. If you feel good about yourself you will want to help others. If you want to help others you think about organizations that inspire people. When you think about organizations that inspire people you might think about young girls. If you think about young girls, you may think about being a kid yourself. If you think about being a kid yourself you may have fond memories of milk and cookies. If you have fond memories of milk and cookies you may think about Girl Scout cookies.

If any of these are you, please consider ordering Girl Scout cookies from Rachel, or some other fantastic girl.






Trying to stay safe and warm this chilly evening and I hope y'all are too!

Noah's Evening Epiphany

"Have you ever noticed that when you think about anything it makes more sense."


Noah Taylor
age 10 :)

It Makes a Momma Proud...

...when her ten year-old asks for help on coming up with a jingle for class about suffrage. First we watched this for inspiration:



He made it clear that we could not plagarize anything (proud, again!)

When we asked for Michael and Rachel's two cents they broke into this song, separately:

This was the final product:

You trust us with your house.

You trust us with your kids.

So you should trust us to help the government.

:::::::::::::::You are What You Read::::::

I was in the waiting room while Aaron had his dental cleaning yesterday and picked up the January 2011 issue of The simthsonian and was introduced to the painter Guiseppe Arcimboldo. I was surprised and intrigued by his use of still life objects...fruits and vegetables to great portraits. He used other objects, such as, sea creatures and books. I am completely enamored with this one:



Time for Girl Scouts...later, gators!

Naivete...Taylor Style

Adventures in Conversations with my kids:

First:

Noah came in after watching some show we picked up from the library and started explaining how someone might survive a fall from 100 stories. It entailed standing on top of a plank of wood and jumping up at just the right distance from the ground to avoid a deadly impact.

My response: "Your superhero days await you."

Noah's reply: "I wouldn't try it...I'm not sure what a survival distance from the ground is?

Michael then explained to him that no one would survive a fall from that height. Apparently, Noah couldn't figure out how he would be able to jump up from the board during the fall.

Second:

We will be selling Girl Scout cookies by the end of the week and I was picking Rachel's brain for some ideas for the annual ad. I thought a retro, or vintage style ad may be fun. Eve was hanging out with us by the computer.

I said: "I need to find a vintage Girl Scout picture."

Eve matter of factly: "Go to vintagegirlscout.com"

Rachel quipped: "Like that would work."

I googled the terms and got a link to vintage girlscout.com.

Eve said: "I told you."

New Year Noahism...

We plied Eve with 2 tsp. of Advil and she and Noah went down to watch Dr. Who. About an hour later Noah came into the room and very matter of factly said,

"Hey dad, the way I see it ...if a guy takes out one of your eyes and you take out one of his eyes eventually all you will get is a lot of blind people!"

Michael asked Noah to come over and stand by him because he wanted to show him something on his laptop. Michael pulled up this quote by Gandhi, "An eye for an eye, only ends up with the whole world blind."

Hear, Hear!

Happy New Year!!!

Clever Idea of the Day from Rachel...

You see Noah has a natural tendency to give really tight hugs, so Rachel excitedly told me of the name she came up with to describe her little brother...Here it comes...Wait for it...

"NOAH CONSTRICTOR"


I love it!

Hugs to y'all!

Snow and Ice(ing)

*********************************

Noahism of the Day






There is a tradition at the kids' elementary school to create Dicken's inspired snow villages. Rachel made a beautiful inn she called "The Out Inn" when she was in 5th grade:


While sitting at the table Noah lamented that he couldn't use this box design that he created on Sunday for his snow village:
Noah said, "I guess they wouldn't want a Fusion Reactor Core Generator at School."



***********************************************
Haley's 13th birthday

Rachel was invited to Haley's birthday party held at an awesome place in Senoia called Cutie Pies and Cakery;


The girls decorating their cake boxes. Each girl iced and decorated their own cakes:





Rachel loves to design with circles and the color blue:














************************************

These are photos from the day before Thanksgiving when the girls baked and decorated cupcakes:









Here is a mash up of two of my favorite pics of the cousins:


Off in a little bit to take photos of this year's snow village.

A Pinch of This and That:

The tree lot has been set up since the day after Thanksgiving. The proceeds go to pay for a portion of the boys' camp costs. Pippi has garnered a lot of attention on her trips around town, so Michael had her hang out at the tree lot to help get some attention for the tree lot.

Aaron next to a load of trees:


Eve helped unload trees because she loves to help with stuff like that (cleaning her room is a big NO, but she is eager to carry trees):


********************************************

Zoo Atlanta with my sister, Tracy, nieces, Jessica and Haley, and with the Taylor kids:







Noah wanted to be helpful by reading the map:

The birds were very skittish. After 10 minutes, Jessica was the only one who could get a budgie to eat from the seed stick we bought:


Eve loves to hang out with her big girl cousins:



Rachel and Haley...Beautiful:


Komodo Dragon:


Komodo Dragon and a boy that probably tastes like chicken:


Dead mice...nom...nom...nom:



Jessica gets a close up:


Eve gets to pet a hedgehog:



The second time around the budgies are a little less skittish:

Rachel worries that mom is not around to get the photo. (Oh ye of little faith):


*******************************************

Baking Braided Christmas Bread:

Sister Weiler pouring salt. (I love how the salt granules are suspended in the air)


Rachel was an enthusiastic participant:










This song kept going through my mind as the girls worked the bread:



*******************************
Music education

Rachel was busy switching channels when I heard this amazing voice throw out a few words and made her go back. I love the voice of Lou Rawls and this song makes me remember listening to the radio as a kid, so I offer this great youtube video (it also uses the word "need", so I see a running theme in my own twisted way):