Thanks Swimming!

I love t-shirts and would love to have one that says "I brake for symmetry".

I am always looking for book ends to catalog my life .  One such moment of symmetry appeared to me when our family was picking up my oldest niece in South Bend to bring her back to the Chicago area for Thanksgiving.  I invited our niece to go swimming with us in our hotel.  This was on Tuesday, two days before Thanksgiving.  I realized that my younger sister had invited our niece as well as our family to go swimming with her 2 days after Thanksgiving.  So I', thinking swimming, Thanksgiving, swimming and it came to me, Thankswimming.

Here's A Recap . . .

Thankswimming Day 1

 

Then after drying off,

leaving the hotel,

inspecting the dorm,

Catching The Muppet Premiere,

 

Eating,

and waiting

for the tryptophan to kick in.

We were ready for . . .

 Thankswimming Day 2

This summer, my older kids started going off the diving board.  The problem was, every time I tried to take a picture of them, I would get this . . .

and then this . . .

This year, no doubt due to the miracle that is Thankswimming, I got this . . .

and this . . .



and even this . . .

All this  while Puppy paddled.

In short Thankswimming

made a big splash!

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Today's featured HSBA category is Best Homemaking or Recipes Blog.  This years winner, The Happy Lil' Homemaker seems to have a lot of great recipes like the one I saw today fro Spritz Cookies.  I was surprised that they didn't have any Thankswimming recipes.  Although this  Sample Post does look delectable.

Sunday's Cool HOF Edition

Sunday's Cool!
A Link Up and A Look Ahead

A Link Up: Crazy Uncle Dave's sports blog had some exciting Ron Santo news this week.  I hope you enjoy 1 down 2 to go.

A look Ahead: Another busy week in real life life that will culminate with Spider Droid's Robotics tournament.  Here on the blogosphere will be busy as well with some posts featuring the carnivals and meme's I participate in.  I will also continue featuring HSBA winners at the end of each post.

For instance, today we will look at the Laugh With Us Blog which was the winner of funniest home school blog.  As another blog, that gets it's bread   and butter from quoting family member's crazy sayings, I must say I heartily approve.  Here is a sample post. 

Next Time:Thankswimming

Six Word Saturday @ Show My Face Dot Com

Starting today, for the next week I will feature posts for all the meme's and carnivals I participate in, whether I have a horse in the race, or not.

I do have 6 words today they are . . .

Why I bring books to Library.

The reason I do this is because I am a chronic over-packer. I always bring along more things than I could possibly accomplish. Today, I brought 3 books that  I am supposed to be reviewing for this blog. I will probably not get to any of them, since that was not the purpose of this trip to the library. Come to think of it, neither was making this post, so I best be going. Before I do let me tell you about my HSBA featured blog. Today's category is . . .

Best Homeschool Methods Blog.

The winner was 1+1+1=1

Aside from the mathematically challenged title, this is an excellent blog which I generally carry around somewhere in my sidebar.  If you are looking for fun preschool home school ideas, this is definitely the blog for you. 

Click here for a sample post, and click here for more 6 Word Saturday.

Next Time: Santa comes early for Santo?

War Horse: A review of a prescreening

I received an e-mail  invitation from a group called Grace Hill Media to attend a free preview of a new movie called War Horse. I didn't have time to open the e-mail let alone respond to it. However, my wife got a similar invitation from our churche's home school support group. She went ahead and reserved two tickets for Spider Droid and me to attend.

The theatre where they were showing the movie is in one of my old stomping grounds. The theatre has particular meaning to me because it is where I took Bunny to see her first movie at the tender age of 3, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. Now I have never been to a special screening of a movie before and did not know exactly what to expect. Amy had kind of got the impression it was a will call situation. The crazy girl got that impression when the person she contacted asked for the names of the people who would be attending. When we got there, 10 minutes before the movie started, they said the theatre was almost filled, and that if they did have seats available, SD and I would not be able to sit together.



SD was not thrilled by that, and wanted to turn around back then. I was able to coax him to at least go in the theatre and check out what was available. The closest seats were 5 or 6 rows between them, and we were right about to turn back when a very nice Mom offered to put her youngun on her lap for the movie so SD and I could sit close to each other. This was very kind of her, considering that this is a 160 minute movie.

It turns out that SD sat in a Captain's Chair type seat that was just in front of the first full row of seats and I sat diagonally behind him. We were able to switch popcorn and soda back and forth between us for the course of the picture.

The movie, which opens on December 25th, was incredible. Steven Spielberg directed this film and it is well worthy of the buzz that is associated with a Spielberg film. The movie is not wholly unlike Spielberg's WWII movie, Saving Private Ryan. It is just mostly unlike it. SPR was very deserving of its R rating and I am not sure that War Horse was as deserving of its PG-13 branding. After seeing Saving Private Ryan, Amy said it was like being in war. After seeing War Horse, you get an inkling of what WWI was like, but you don't feel like you participated in it. This is due in part to the cinematography which brings a regal and haunting beauty to almost every scene of The War Horse. The film is actually much more like A Little Princess or Heidi in that you see the main character, which is definitely the horse, interact with a variety of people and bring out the best in almost everyone it encounters.

Heidi similarities not withstanding, this  film is not for everyone. My son and I often  discuss whether his sisters will like a film we have seen together. War Horse pretty much has 2 acts: pre WWI and WWI. We are agreed that Bunny would like Act I but not Act II. While there were children Puppy's age (6) or younger, I don't think she would have enjoyed it. This is a war movie and there is plenty of violence to go around. Yet much of it is done off screen. This does not take the power away from it. In one scene ,a significant character dies in a battle and the viewer figures it out without even seeing a single blow.

The acting is first rate. It is great to go to a movie and recognize an actor or actress who plays one of your favorite characters in another movie. If there are any fans of Miss Potter, you should like the casting of the main human character's mother.

One aspect of the movie that I discussed with Spider Droid on the way home was how the movie handles the topic of war. It neither glorifies it or demonizes it. It also doesn't result in stereotypical portrayals of the "enemies." The filmmakers show goodness on both sides of the trenches.

War Horse is a great film that I look forward to seeing it again. I also hope to attend more prescreenings of movies in the future. Next time, I'll just arrive a tad earlier. ******************************************************************************************************************************* My current HSBA feature blog is Frontier Dreams which won for Best Crafts, Plans & Projects.  It is a gorgeous blog with precious pictures of darling children.  Click here for a sample post.
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Next Time: Obligatory Christmas Tree Post

Misbehavior and Consequences

Rod Blagojevich was sentenced today.  Rod is the 4th former Illinois governor, in my lifetime,  to be convicted of a crime.  His crimes were many.  He, essentially, abused his power in order to make life easier for him and his family.  During the 3 year ordeal between arrest and sentencing, he maintained his innocence and offered no type of apology until today.  The apology appeared to be too little and too late, as he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

When Bunny heard the sentence, she wondered, if what he did was so bad as to earn 14 years.  I explained to her that yes, I thought the punishment did fit the crimes.  Here was a man, who had promised to change the culture of corruption in Illinois when he ran for governor.  (He sure kept that promise.  However, we thought he would change the culture for the better, not the worse.)  Instead, He sullied the  already tarnished reputation of Illinois politics.

He betrayed the trust of the people he was supposed to govern, and engaged in criminal acts without any sign of remorse, until today's grab to earn a reduced sentence.  I thought the firm sentence was a very good strong message that business as usual, look the other way, what's in it for me politics will no be tolerated. 

I was not only an observer of the justice system today, I was also a participant.  One of my daughters, I wont mention names, but the one with the birthday yesterday, did something she knew was wrong today.  She then lied about it several times before admitting her guilt.  It was very Blago-like.  Except we didn't have to go to trial.

Like Bunny with Blago, I also had to question whether the consequence (which I chose and administered) fit the crime.  The consequence for the misdeed was actually quite light.  The consequence for the cover-up was very strict.  Like the Blagojevich sentence it effected more than her it effected the whole family.  The Awana Grand Prix  was tonight. She had been planning on going and was working hard to prepare for it. 

Puppymobile Grounded

I had been assisting her and not only was it a fun event but it was also a competition that we thought she had a pretty good chance of winning a prize at.  Because she missed the event, Amy also had to miss it as well.  Meaning she could not watch Spider Droid and Bunny compete.  I will write another post tomorrow about how the event went.

I was tempted to make her nonattendance the only consequence.  The cars had been entered last night, so it was logistically possible for her car to race and be judged without her there.  I decided against that because:

A) That would not be fair to a kid who had not misbehaved to lose out to someone who did.
B) It would treat her misbehavior like it was an illness or a scheduling conflict.
C) Regardless of whether she won or not. allowing the car to race would be less of a deterrent for her not lying the next time.

My opinion on Blago's and my daughters sentencing are very similar:  The punishment fits the crime and acts as a deterrent for future misdeeds.  Whether it be politics or parenting justice can be served by following that pattern. 

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In totally unrelated blogging business, I am going to feature 1 HSBA winner in each of my next 20 posts.  Today's featured blog is  the winner of Best Home School Dad Blog, Families Again.  This fantastic blog is very deserving.  Here is a sample of  his fine work
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Next Time: Race Night Roundup