Sweet Weekend

BIRTHDAY GIRL: Saturday afternoon the kids had a birthday party to attend. CJ's BFF from kindergarten has turned 9 now. I'll admit that made me feel a bit old. Before you know it, they'll all be in high school.

One of the activities at the party was decorating either a gingerbread house or train. Annabelle opted for a train. Everyone else at the party went for the traditional house. 

CJ was one of the first decorators done. His design (below) was rather austere. Apparently he's a minimalist when it comes to architecture and landscaping. At one point I heard him explaining to the other kids at the table that some element of his design "is defying the laws of physics." Nice. :)

ROADIE: Right after the party, we hit I-5 southbound, for a special cookie delivery. It was an uneventful drive, and Kirby enjoyed having everyone in such close quarters. :)

We delivered about four dozen Christmas cookies to G&G in Vancouver. 

It was nice to see the cookies go to new homes. These snowmen were starting to look at me funny. ...

REHEARSAL: Today, a lot of our time and energy was spent having CJ run through his lines. His big "Theater of Possibility" finale is tomorrow evening, complete with a live show for friends and family.

I was pretty pleased with how well he knew his lines today. I think it probably helps that the character is so close to him (a young boy who would rather be playing video games than doing just about anything else).

Other educational endeavors included work in their new math books (reviewing place values mainly), and watching a video from the library. Last week when we were there, CJ implored me to check "What's in the Bible" out. So, I did. He asked to watch it today. So, we did.

I'm trying to think of some nice things to say about it. By VeggieTales® creator Phil Vischer, it was more current than I thought it would be. One of the puppets, sitting in the backseat of the family car, made a crack to his mom about Carrie Underwood and letting "Jesus, Take the Wheel."

I also appreciated that the video shared that the Bible's 66 (give or take, depending on your religion) books had 40 some writers, and that it was written over the course of 1,600 or so years. I think this kind of info about authorship and era is important when you're pondering the nature and historical accuracy of a document.

Oddly (IMHO), much of the DVD was narrated by puppet pirates. And cowboys. And a humorless old 'woman.' I guess the producers thought pirates, cowboys and humorless old women would appeal to kids. And since they've made mega bucks making Christian-centric videos for children, I definitely have to assume they are right. But to me, the pirates and cowboys just seemed odd choices for narrators of a Bible-themed presentation.

CJ gave up on the video rather quickly, declaring it a disappointment. Annabelle hung in there for about 40 minutes or so, until Christian and I pulled the plug at 5, since the Seahawks were on Monday Night Football. (Insert crack about our priorities here.) 

BEAUTIFICATION: We are *finally* getting some Christmas decorations up around here. Today, our beloved vintage aluminum tree went up. Annabelle enjoyed hanging baubles from its branches.