Halloween Prep

This year, I went a little domestic.  I offered to MAKE Rory's costume.  So, thank you to Rebecca for loaning me her sewing machine!  My kid had a unique mermaid tail that she loved.  What more can you ask for?  I'll post pics of her costume soon.

Jason and Rory (read: Jason) carved a pumpkin.  Rory thought it was pretty boring, except for getting to put her hand inside.

Rory also got mail this Halloween, which for any 4 year old, is thrilling!  Thanks to Grandma and to Aunt Leslie for the packages.  You can see Rory tearing through this one and salivating at the candy.

Pumpkin Patch

Here are a couple of pictures from Rory's annual class trip to the Pumpkin Patch!  Jason went with them and they had a PERFECT weather day for it.

Princess in Training

Watch out, Ariel Voice Lady.  There's a new girl in town.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GILMORE GIRLS!

The first episode of Gilmore Girls aired 10 years ago today.  Why do I care enough to add that to my family blog?  Because, in case you've never seen Gilmore Girls (though I doubt that applies to anyone reading this because I wouldn't be friends with you), the daughter's name is Rory.  Yes, this is where we got Ro's name.

And Jas, thanks for being the nice person I get to hang out with until we drop dead!  I love you.

So, for fellow fans of the frantic-dialogue comedy, here is the piece from CNN today:

'Gilmore Girls' turns 10

“Please, Luke. Please, please, please.”
And with that very first line of dialogue, the premiere episode of “Gilmore Girls” aired exactly 10 years ago today. Our heroine, Lorelai Gilmore was - as she often did throughout the series’ seven-year run – begging for coffee.
Although “Gilmore Girls” ended in 2007, it still experiences renaissances on a continuous loop due to daily airings of re-runs on ABC Family and SOAPnet. With DVD and iTunes sales going strong, it’s no wonder there’s so much buzz about a possible “Gilmore Girls” movie and demand among fans for an eighth season.

I've waxed poetic about the brilliance of the "Gilmore Girls" before,  so I’ll try to stop gushing so much. But earlier today, I spoke to actress Keiko Agena, who played Rory’s BFF Lane Kim.
On shooting the pilot, Agena recalled “being away from home and so excited and loving the script and just filled with hope that everybody would love it as much as we did. We knew it was good but that doesn’t always mean that everybody’s going to like it and that it will be a successful show."
It turns out they filmed in Toronto, "which was just beautiful and really, actually cold instead of the balmy southern California weather which is how we shot the rest of the episodes," Agena said. "That was the only time we had real cold air, the rest of the time it was just snow machines.”
As for what she’s up to these days, the actress said, “Today I’m actually at NASA. We are filming ‘Transformers 3’ and I get to play Frances McDormand’s assistant so that’s been a lot of fun.” She's also apparently channeling her inner Jim Henson, and is taking puppetry classes at Puppet School and gearing up for a December show. Calling it her “new obsession,” Agena said she’s “crazy in love” with puppetry.
I also had a chance to speak to Aaron Berman, author of the upcoming book “The Gilmore Girls Companion,” which is an unauthorized behind-the-scenes look at the making of the show and features 40 interviews with cast and crew members.
“Lauren Graham was the last one to be cast,” said Berman. (At the time, she was contractually obligated to a series called “MYOB” which wound up not getting picked up.)
According to Berman, a “light day” for the main actors was 14 hours. “Sometimes cast members were on-set for as long as 21 hours, and the crew even longer.” Sleep was so scarce that when crew members had an hour to themselves, they ran to the sets that had beds (Lorelai’s room was a favorite).
Berman also provided some other fantastic details:
● The character of Kirk was inspired by Amy's father, Don Sherman, who used to turn up on “Gimme a Break” (and occasionally “Barney Miller”) because he was friends with the producers. He would play a different character each time.
● Most of the jewelry you see Emily Gilmore wearing is Kelly Bishop's own, in particular the gold necklace she often wears. The actress is allergic to costume jewelry and bought the necklace herself for the role. She's only worn it twice since “Gilmore,” both times in stage plays.
● Though "Gilmore Girls" is known for its fast delivery of dialogue ("Life's Short. Talk Fast" being the strapline for the show), a lot of that speed is a result of the editing. As one of the editors said, "if there was a breath of air between Luke saying 'Tomorrow' and Lauren saying 'I’ll be here,' I would take it out."
● Warner Brothers studios' proximity to Burbank Airport resulted in having to halt the taping of scenes so as not to record the sound of passing planes.
● The motor oil that Gypsy deals with on set (and occasionally gets on her) is steak sauce.
“In the end,” said Berman, "‘Gilmore Girls’ remains beloved the world over today because it addresses the absurdities of life, and the imperfections in our relationships with one another, with humor and an understanding of what it is to be human.
There are stereotypes, certainly - Kirk's cluelessness, Taylor's scheming, Emily's disapproving - but every character is also presented as decidedly human. As Lorelai observes of Kirk, ‘it's all any of us wants - to find a nice person to hang out with 'til we drop dead. Not a lot to ask." Amen.

Sydney's Bat Mitzvah

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY TO THE WORLD'S MOST EVIL CAT!  I know you all wish her lots of joy and happiness.  Jason asked if he could buy her a big, big dog as a present, but I nixed that idea.

L'Chaim! (google it if you don't speak Hebrew)

House updates

The last week or so has included a few house updates.  We definitely aren't done, but I wanted to share a couple pics of the work!  First, we painted our entryway purple!!  We have a LOT of things to hang on that wall, so it looks VERY purple right now, but I'll post another picture when everything is hung. 

Secondly, we finally changed out the lights in the dining room!  Thank you to our friend Leslie who did an AMAZING job making our vision of this lighting happen.  He is a lighting master, so if anyone needs a referral, call me.  It's hard to get pictures of lighting, but here is the "lovely" chandelier that was up when we moved in... (ok, it's sideways and I can't get it to turn for some reason... sorry):

And here is the new lighting.  We'll be adding a couple more spotlights to the track soon. 

Rain, Rain, Stick Around!

Sometimes, you just have to embrace the rain and go have some fun!

Playdate

Rory had her friend, Hana, over for a playdate.  We baked scones, and of course, they dressed as princesses. 

First Day of The Last Year of Preschool

Here's Ro on her first day of school yesterday. 

A few notes about what she's up to these days.

• She took swim lessons all summer and LOVED it.  She can float on her tummy and her back, and swim about 5 feet by herself.
• She started gymnastics last week and the world is a joyous place when she goes to gymnastics!  She's happy all night, just glowing!
• Her favorite thing to do right now is puzzles.  She's up to 150 pieces.
• Ariel is her favorite princess.  Ro's voice is being worn out by singing "Part of That World" at the top of her lungs.
• I'm always suspicious when it's too quiet in her room, but usually what I find is Rory pulling stacks of books off her shelves to read.  She's reading on her own.

Aimee Thomas - Awesome Zombie Food!

My friend Aimee is famous!  Below is a link for the commercial she starred in for the SXSW Film Festival.  The commercial aired over and over at the festival, so Aimee was a celebrity, with people spotting her in the grocery store, etc!  The commercial is on the bottom of the page (click on the play button under the flower). It's about a minute and a half.  Way to go, Aimee!!!

NOTE:  DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK WITH KIDS IN THE ROOM, AS IT'S A BIT GORY.  FUNNY, BUT TRAUMATIZING TO A PRESCHOOLER, FOR SURE.

What could there possibly be to say for this picture??

School Musical

Ro's school has an annual musical.  This year's theme had to do with nature, so Rory's class had to dress as gardeners.  Poppy was just hoping for a shout-out in the middle of the performance, like he got last year!

Rory and Addison

Rory and her friend, Addison, at a playdate at Addison's house.

 

Rory gets the camera

Here's an evening at our house from Rory's point of view:

Field Trip to Botanical Gardens

For the first time, I was able to go with Rory's class on a field trip.  We had a great time at the Botanical Gardens! I love the picture of Ro with her friend, Campbell!  But I would like to know how a 4 year old girl can look like Jim Carrey (pic of Rory and I close up)!!

Writing

These days, Ro is all about writing. Her name, words, anything! She loves to sit and draw and write. A year ago, everything she wrote was backward, with the letters backward (like in a mirror) and the letters written from the right side of the page to the left. (If I haven't noted it before, Rory is a leftie.) Now she gets it right most of the time and loves to write notes and mail them to people, really hoping she gets something in the mail in return.

UPDATE:  Rory is sitting here with me right now, looking at the new blog posts.  When I showed her this picture of her and Olivia working next to each other, she said, "Oh, that's the day we cut our hair!"  Yep, they cut their hair at school that day for the first time.  When Olivia's dad got the call (Olivia's hair had a chunk missing; Rory's was not noticeable), he said, "Well, I guess better now than right before the prom!"

Ro at school

Catching up

I am a bad blogger.

I am actually writing this on May 26, 2010, having apparently taken an unintended 5 month absence from this blog.  So, now I am going to catch up.  You'll see some back-dated posts as I fill in the gaps!  Happy catching up!

Text Message From Jason

Jason is home with Rory today and I am at work.  Here is the text I just received:

"Five yrs ago, if someone told me I'd be in a pink tent in my blue house w/ a lap harp on my lap, I'd have them committed.  Now I'd call them a fortune teller."

Sledding

Somehow, Kendall knew intuitively the only good 30-minute slot for sledding of our whole trip to Dubuque for Christmas, and we got to take advantage of it.  Ro was only going with me on the sled at first, but by the end, she was jumping on and going down solo!

Holiday Party

We have a lot of blogging to catch up on, but here are a few pictures from my work holiday party. 

What Everyone's Getting for Presents

At dinner tonight I asked Rory to help me think about what to get everyone for presents.  Not to ruin the surprise, but here's what Rory said everyone would want, in Rory's exact words:

Mimi: a picture of me
Poppy: a picture of Ishkabible and Albequerque
Grandma: a  snowman
Papa: a hat
Ella:  a snowman hat
Ruthie: a pair of shoes
Grandma Cam: a tutu, ballet shoes and a magic wand
Grandpa:  the same thing
Kinsey: a picture of Kendall
Kendall:  a picture of her cat
Aunt Theresa:  a princess thing
Uncle Jeff:  a bad guy thing
Daddy: let me whisper because he's in the next room ... a race car!
Sydney (the cat): a bone
Sharon and Davey: race cars for them
Eleanor & Myron:  glass flowers that are purple and pink
Baby Olivia (Mike & Melissa's daughter):  A Signing Time DVD and some food

What do those golden arches mean?

As many of you know, we have gone out of our way to make sure Rory gets healthy food.  She is 3 1/2 and she has ever had fast food.  I'm not saying that to say in any way that we are better parents than those whose kids have had fast food, just as context for this little story from this morning.

Driving to school, Rory decided today that she wanted to know what everything was that we were passing. 

"What's that, Mommy?"  "A phone store."
"What's that?"  "A bank."
"What's that?"  "Starbucks."  (I will note, she DOES recognize Sbux, thanks to Mommy!)

Then we come up to the golden arches, which in this morning's gray rain, seem to be glowing like a landing strip! 
"What's that, Mommy?"  "Um, that's McDonald's, honey.  It's a fast food restaurant.  And look, there's a school bus!" (trying to distract)

And I am interrupted by "NO Mommy!  That's is NOT a fast food restaurant.  I know because I've been in there!"

And then I remember ... "Oh, you're right Rory.  That's a place where we return movies, isn't it?"
"Yes, Mommy."

Thank god for RedBox.