Piñatas can be beautiful things. Nanna arranged to sneak a few of the boys’ comic encyclopedias to a professional and came back with a wonderful Flash, in full sprint, for Archie’s fourth birthday. Amy filled it full of treats, and I found a nearby tree to hang it up over a limb. I was proud of my handiwork until I took a step back and realized what was about to happen. By then, it was too late.
Zzzz
It is 4:47a, and I am typing. I just spent the past three hours up and working on tweaking the plug-ins of this blog. My head hurts, and I’m ready for a nap. But first, some thoughts on sleep.
Play is not a luxury
On Saturday, Amy and I spend the day at St. Mark’s Methodist Church attending a workshop on early childhood education. Along with Tom Hunter and Michael Leeman, Bev Bos sang some songs, told some stories, and evangelized about a better way to engage young children in learning. The two biggest take-home messages of the day: (1) Play is not a luxury, and (2) We don’t change because we’re under a spell.
Boys will be Simpsons
The train of thought went like this … Daddy leaves computer for a moment to start heating some frozen pizza. … Archie sees my Facebook avatar, an arrangement of Makices as Simpson’s characters. … Archie wants to do another one. … Carter hears the Simpson’s theme and joins in. Instant blog.
Of Monkeys and Men
It was the last night of the summer before I had to head back to DePauw for my sophomore year, and I probably wasn’t very anxious to do so. My dad came down after he and my mom returned from some dinner party, with the latter heading to bed. We talked a bit and bonded over the TV. When the little monkey in the dress started lunging for Dave, my dad and I started guffawing. Thanks to the miracle of YouTube, I can relive that moment with Carter and Archie.
The Last Lecture
Randy Pausch is currently a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He is well-published and a leader in pushing the development of virtual worlds. Randy Pausch is also dying of cancer.
Dead-Buffalo Gal, won’t you come out tonight …
In the hour or so of footage AJ showed us of the last two days of Bloomington High School South in 1987, there was at least one gem that had YouTube written all over it. Congrats to all the Panthers who returned to reconnect. I grew up in Woodstock, so my eyes will be vicariously misty.