A Quick Run-Down

So I just noticed that I haven't posted in a few days so here's a quick run-down:

1. We got our new kitchen table on Tuesday. In case I forgot to mention it, we bought a new kitchen table the other weekend. I had been campaigning to get rid of our old one for about two years now and finally managed to convince Joel. The new one is not fancy but hopefully sturdy enough to put up with the kids' abuse. Most happily, the new chairs do not have any padding on them, which means they won't get disgustingly dirty like our old ones did.

2. Rebecca spent the day yesterday home with me with a fever, albeit a low one, and after a dose of motrin she was her usual happy and pesky self all day which made getting any work done rather difficult although I managed. I was worried she might be getting the flu, but her fever never really spiked... the highest it got was 100.7 and it was back down to 99.9 this morning. I took her to preschool this morning, but made an appointment for later this morning to have her ears checked, since now I think the culprit might be an ear infection.

3. Ben has been doing well, among his activities this week have been school spirit day at Chick-Fil-A, which he dragged me to for dinner Tuesday night so that he could get his attendance taken and hopefully win a treat for his class... the place was mobbed with kids from his school, and of course when asked what he wanted to eat Ben said, "a hamburger." I patiently pointed out the name of the restaurant to him, and explained that they only have chicken. As if he has not been to Chick-Fil-A 50 times. He also had his school book fair this week, and came home yesterday with some predictable titles -- a Ben 10 book, a book on dinosaurs, a book on spiders, and a book about all different animals' teeth and what they use them all for, which we read last night and was actually pretty interesting.

4. Joel is in Chicago for a conference, he left Tuesday and comes back tonight. So he has missed items 1, 2, and 3 above.

5. Go Phillies! Though I will admit I fell asleep at the beginning of the 7th inning... though the Phillies seemed to have everything in hand at that point... I woke up just as the trophy thing was being awarded. On to the World Series... Maybe I can make it through some of those games without falling asleep... but probably not.

Chuck-E-Cheese, Where Joel Can be a Kid

Yesterday we were supposed to go pumpkin picking but the weather did not cooperate so we met a friend at Chuck E Cheese for the morning. I think at some point I did inform Joel that those ceiling tunnels are not supposed to be for grown-ups...

Dinner At The Movies

Last night Joel's mom awesomely offered to babysit and Joel and I went out to dinner and a movie. Or more precisely, we had dinner at the movies. We went downtown to the movie theatre at The Epicentre, which is really cool because it's got this fancy restaurant inside it called The Mez and you can order from the bar and then go into your movie with a pager, and they page you when your food is ready, and you go get it and bring it into the theater with you. The theater has bigger than normal seats with a little tray built into the arm rest that you can put a plate on. Now, I wouldn't order something that you needed to eat with a knife and fork, because that might be a little bit of a challenge technically, but I ordered a pressed cuban sandwich and Joel ordered a barbecue chicken pizza, both of which were perfectly suited to eating while watching a movie. And delicious I might add.

So, it was a neat experience to get to eat dinner (and drink beer!) at the movies... and it is a good solution to the problem that when we go to dinner and a movie I usually either feel rushed during dinner, or feel like I am going to be out way too late. So... now I know I can do both at the same time :) The movie we saw was Zombie Land, which was a bit gross in parts, but very funny. And I hate zombie movies. But zombie comedies are I guess OK in my book.

We also walked around The Epicentre a bit, which was the first time we'd been there. It's a three-story collection of restaurants, bars, the movie theater, a bowling alley, and some retail stores located right in the middle of downtown. Pretty neat. We found a fancy asian restaurant there called Enso that we want to try when we have a chance-- we stopped in and checked out the menu. $21 for orange chicken -- that better be some mighty fine orange chicken!

Anyway, it was a good date night place! I am sure we'll be back.

Soccer Returns

Ben had soccer again today after a long hiatus because of all the Jewish holidays over the last month - every one of them fell over a weekend, so the JCC was closed pretty much every weekend of the last month. Today was picture day, and I have rarely seen kids looking less thrilled to have their picture taken... Here is Ben and most of his team (there were a couple kids out sick this week).

The last time Ben had soccer we were all sweltering in the heat; today we did not have that problem since it was about 55 degrees and cloudy. Becca got to skip her nap to cheer on her brother, but she kept trying to run onto the field and kick the ball. Fortunately Nanny and Papa were along for the game as well. There was a Family Fitness Fun Day thing going on as well, so Nanny and Becca checked that out during the second half of Ben's game. Ben's team lost to Nazareth United, but it was a good game. Ben had a couple of long drives down the field (do you say drives down the field in soccer?) but no goals.

Ben's cheering section:

All's Quiet on the Western Front

Okay, Southern front.

Rebecca, Joel and I do not have the flu yet. Now that I have written that sentence, I am quite positive that within the next five minutes one of us will get sick. But shouldn't we be almost out of the woods, since Ben's last fever was a week ago today? One would think... No... mustn't think... thinking will just jinx it some more.

Joel's parents and I attended the Richard Dawkins lecture at Queens University last night. It was quite entertaining. Since it is his book tour, he mostly read some passages from his latest book (The Greatest Show on Earth) and took questions from the audience. We did not hang around for the book signing, though we did buy his book, because the book signing line was so long. It was really quite a treat for me to attend, since I have been a fan of Dawkins since high school, when I read The Blind Watchmaker.

Of course, no lecture by an atheist/ evolutionary biologist would be complete without at least one Creationist outside the lecture hall handing out leaflets. Now, I didn't read the leaflet from beginning to end but some of the highlights suggested that believing in evolution will make teenagers commit suicide and encourage them to have homosexual thoughts.

It really doesn't deserve comment, so I won't...

For Those of You Who Think I'm Falling Behind On The Blog Because I Skipped One Day

(And you know who you are)...

Here are some Monday highlights:

1. Ben went back to school today. He seems back to his usual self, and has had no fevers since Thursday. We stopped at school Friday and picked up a folder of assignments he'd missed, so we've been working to get caught up. We did a few assignments last night and a few more tonight and I think we only have two left. He's been a good sport about doing his missed work. From what I understand, a lot of kids in his class have the flu -- six kids were out today. The rest of us are flu-free so far but every five minutes I tell Joel I think I am coming down with something. ("I think I am coming down with something.")

2. I took my car to an auto-body shop to have it photographed for the insurance company. The guy estimated the repairs to cost $115. Considering that my car took most if not all the damage, you can see this was a serious accident indeed...

3. Rebecca was a bit of a feisty girl tonight. She got put in time out twice, first for throwing a cup across the room and then for throwing her food on the ground and stomping on it. When she got sent to time out she didn't even cry. She just marched over to the corner by the front door (which is where we send her for time out), plopped down with her back against the wall and stared at the Phillies game on TV until we told her she could get up. She also colored all over her arms with magic marker even though when I handed her the markers and paper I told her SPECIFICALLY to only color on the paper and not on herself. When I scolded her for coloring all over her arm she looked mystified ("how did THAT get there?") She of course was ridiculously cute despite (because of?) the orneriness.

Daddy and Becca

They both have barbecue sauce on their faces but aren't they adorable??