Archive for July, 2007

Potter Mania Sweeps the House

July 22, 2007

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It started with the release of the latest movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and has been building steadily ever since. I suppose the climax was midnight Friday night at our local bookstore, waiting to pick up our copy of, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Right now Aaron and Kennedy are both wearing white Oxford shirts and ties they’ve scrounged from somewhere in my closet. For weeks now they’ve been waving around bits of wood, shouting out spells at one another. Yesterday morning, I got Aaron to bring me coffee in bed by waving my index finger and saying, “Accio Coffee!”

The kids started reading the series just this year.

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Don’t Act Like That

July 16, 2007

I am participating in a local Youth Theater production with my nine year old twins. I have never tried to act before, but Kennedy, who has been in three different productions so far and is really coming into her own as an actress, roped me into this.

I couldn’t deny her.

We’re doing the Three Musketeers. There are some very good teenage actors as well as a bunch of children (age 7-10) and a few adults. The play itself is not very much like what Dumas wrote, but it’s filled with intrigue, sword fights, and the occasional damsel in distress.

One interesting thing about this setup is that, on stage, I am on equal footing with my kids. The director is the boss. This is kind of cool if my kids are goofing off because I can just ignore them and let the director be the heavy. If, on the other hand, I’m the one goofing off, then it’s just kind of pathetic. The other thing that’s interesting has to do with relating to teenagers. It’s hard to describe, but I realize I haven’t had much to do with teenagers since I was one.

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Fort Project: Update Three

July 8, 2007

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Even this latest photo doesn’t capture the current state of the project. I’ve got tar paper on the roof, all the siding attached, and rope ladders hung. I’ll get a picture of the finished project as soon as I get everything done.

We actually had a surprise visit from the building inspectors from our town. Apparently one of my neighbors snitched me out, but the inspectors said they didn’t have any codes for tree forts and we weren’t violating any other rules. I am glad. I would have been very disappointed had they asked me to demolish my work!

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