Jimmy Fallon does Neil Young does Fresh Prince…….

I wish I could embed this video, but you’ll have to go here to see it.

Yay!  My mom will be here tomorrow.  Everyone is planning to go to the airport with me to retrieve Grandma.

That means….. one more day after that until I have the baby!  If I say it enough, it will happen, right? Right?  Well, anyway, since I want to be prepared to have a baby in a couple of days, the usual morning routine of word lists, definitions, cursive writing, printing, math, etc. went out the window.  Instead I opted to make sure everyone was bathed, for starters.  It was overdue.  And I don’t want that to get too lost in the bustle of having a baby.  Of course, I might have to go through this at least a couple more times before I actually have the baby, but nothing like a good excuse to get four fresh smelling kids.   Other than that, there was some pretty intense paper airplane engineering going on.  There are piles of them – many without any redeeming aerodynamic features – but they all need to be saved for future instruction writing for a future book of paper airplanes.  (Coming to a bookstore near you! I’ll let you in on an insider tip, though: one volume is going to be the “not so good flyers” and the other is going to have the good ones.  I’d skip the “not so goods”.) There was a lot of precise measuring and cutting going on for some airplanes being made from an already published book (by some other author though).  All good.

The dog got his walk.  The pelvis split apart a wee bit more.

I slipped out to the grocery store and the nearby Home Depot.  (It’s amazing how two new light bulbs have given the kitchen a whole new look.)  While I was out I thought I’d like to start carrying a small camera with me on these outings to take pictures of all the things I find ridiculous.  A couple examples, you ask?  How about the floor mats with a scene of all types of toys and reading “Dear Santa, I want it all”?  Or the Girls Night Out Wine Feature poster reading (maybe not verbatim), “It doesn’t matter how much a pair of shoes hurts, as long as they look great”?  Maybe I just really hate shopping so these things seem more ridiculous than they really are.  Maybe I’m just such a hick (in my patched up sweat pants and rubber boots…. ask the neighbors) that I can’t appreciate sophistication when I see it.

That’s the day.  Time to wind up bed time.

Noah (very seriously):  Mommy, Mommy…. do babies wear pants?

A few days ago I started reading The Deniers: The World-Renowned Scientists Who Stood Up Against Global Warming Hysteria, Political Persecution, and Fraud.  I’m not very far into it, but I’m definitely enjoying it. I’d recommend it already.  This reading was prompted by a new wave of alarm I’ve been noticing across the blog world and Facebook.  After being clued in by a friend (because admittedly I’m totally out of the world news loop), I did a little online reading about the University of East Anglia’s leaked emails.   What can I say?  The content isn’t really all that surprising…. is it?

Well, as much as I’d like to…….. I’m too tired to put any more thought into this post.  Thankfully, lots of other people out there have written more eloquently and coherently on the topic than I will be able to do at this point.

Here Zach is working on exposing a real fossil!  After each of the boys had spent the money they brought to the gem and mineral show, we spent some money on this stone fish for Zach and Gabe to work on.  It is supposed to take 15 to 35 hours to completely expose it.

After a stop at the XC ski swap, we went to the Christmas tree farm.  The boys had been in the straw bale maze last year when Graeme took them out.  I’ve been hearing about it ever since.  They had a lot of fun running around the maze and the other fun things there were to do there, not to mention they met up with good friends.  We had a fire, roasted hotdogs and marshmallows, and other treats.  The weather was great.

We figured we could just throw a tarp over something like this and – voila – a house.  So easy!  (I’m only kidding.)

Two little people nodded off on the way home, and they had no intention of waking up.

But we woke them up for a pancakes and smoothie supper….. don’t they look happy?  Unfortunately, I let Noah sleep too long and he took a long time to finally settle down for the night.  I had to get out of  bed and sleep with him until he finally gave in and I could sneak back to my own bed.  A bed which, by the way, is new and absolutely wonderful!  I am now waking up only to pee and not to rotate from hip to aching hip multiple times in between bathroom breaks.  Time to crawl into that bed now.

Originally uploaded by Joshua7018.

My brother photographed this snake in far Northwestern Ontario.  It definitely looks like a garter snake, but a very, very red variation. (And I’m almost certain the only species of snake that lives that far north in Ontario is the garter snake.)  He said it was about three and a half feet long.  I haven’t been able to find any variation of any type of garter snake online that looks this red.  Anyway….. thought I’d share it in case any herpetology experts frequent my blog!

Some time ago – maybe a year – Zach and I watched a program on TV at my parents’ place about a supposed portal into a third dimension, a passage-way for alien entry.  I can’t even remember many specifics about the show.  However, it did ignite a lot of interest and questions from Zachary.   Encounters of the third and fourth kinds have always caught my interest, but I had never really taken the time to learn more about it.  It was time.

I mentioned this summer that we listened to Alien Intrusion on CD during our road trip.  It was an excellent listen, is an excellent and informative book, and I would highly recommend it for anyone curious about alien encounters.  Since listening to it, I’ve followed any alien stories with a little more interest – as time allows (which isn’t a whole lot).  With the new movie The Fourth Kind out, I’ve also been following some reviews/critiques of it.  It has received generally unfavorable reviews and holds a 16% “rotten” standing on Rotten Tomatoes.  The deceptive marketing campaign has also received some flak.  Yet, many comments reveal an emotional and passionate resonance with the movie, whether from personal experience or from wanting to believe.   (Sorry no links for now…. I might find time to re-find them later.)

Anyway, as I already said, I highly recommend Alien Intrusion if you are at all interested in a rational look at the alien encounter issue.  Especially if you plan to see the movie (which I haven’t yet seen).

A couple other interesting things to note:

A survey of belief in the paranormal author, Jan Walsh observes:

“The minds of the British public are open to all kinds of other-worldly phenomenon.”   Although these results do not fit with a range of other surveys which consistently show a much higher belief in God, this survey and others do show that  for many Britons, belief in the supernatural or in aliens appears to have taken over from orthodox beliefs.

And two surveys that, when compared, reveal:

“As people attain higher college-education levels, the likelihood of believing in paranormal dimensions increases.”

Yes.  I’m so there.

I’ve got this project, from Filth Wizardry, saved in my Google calendar for next September.  We have a LOT of leaf rubbings, but with the additional paint/wax-resist idea and done on the tile floor  - wow!  I love it.  I want one on our wall.

(Found on Crafty Crow)

……. what do you want to know?

• we went to Cirque du Soleil (Grae, the big boys, and I) – entertaining…. a strange mix of funny, freaky, and freaking awesome
• the computer died last night and revived this morning – weird
• I’m still managing to make the loop with the dog every day – some days more comfortably than others (two more days to go and then I’ll let my hubby take over, I think)
• my dear hubby has been deer hunting this week with his relatives
• eight days until my mom arrives
• nine days until I give birth (I don’t actually know that, but I can hope)
• Ben is nearing five years old, which, for some reason really blows me away
• Noah is making progress with the whole toilet training thing….. we’ve got a ways to go, but I’m encouraged
• I am very thankful for Charlotte and all the things she does to make my days much smoother than they would be without her
• Noah runs around the house “on guard” – forward and back – using steps that Zach has taught him from his fencing classes (really, I must get a video of it)
• I had a dream the baby was so tiny she fit in the palm of my hand.  We couldn’t decide on a name.  The name I liked, nobody else liked.  Graeme and the boys didn’t think the name they liked still fit.  Graeme said he had decided we would name her Niatrea (?!)(and call her Nie-Nie or Tiri for short).  I laughed.  I don’t remember how the dream ended.
• my bed is calling to me…. but first…. some toast

Was that everything you wanted to know?