Friday, December 29, 2006

for sam

this is what we found:
"What species is Yoda, and where is he from? Who trained him as a Jedi?No one knows the answers to these questions except perhaps George Lucas himself. He has intentionally left out this information, and it probably will never be revealed, because he prefers to keep it a mystery."




In other news, we got down the potty chair for mark (because he is obsessed with the bathroom) and he sat down and made pee in under thirty seconds.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Thank you so much guys! I miss you all. The gifts were a big hit! after matthew opened the spiderman action figure, he didn't want to open anything else until he got some string for a web. I was very excited about the books and cds. marky loved all the wrapping paper strings..... The boys loved the play food very much. Matt about died with the chefs knives - he has been eyeing those very knives with longing for some time and he bragged to his brother about them..... I'm reading the tom pynchon book TOMORROW! Everything was perfect, guys! thanks! You must come and visit soooooon. (This is a very walker-y post, I had to restrain myself from adding a few hundred more exclamation points!!!)

look at what I got for christmas - a camera!

Rosie is crazy in me dreams!

The other night, I had a dream that we were looking at puppies in the kitchen, while Rosie was cooking. She casually began cutting off their tails, so I told her to stop. "That hurts them," I said. "How would you like it if someone started cutting off your fingers?" In response, Rosie took the knife and slowly sliced off the tip of her own thumb bellow the nail. "Stop that!" I cried, catching her thumb and frantically putting it on ice. "So?" she said, unfazed.

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Saturday, December 23, 2006

Walker family party

The hustle and the bustle and the squeels of joy...
are overwhelming.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

matthew's work



matthew is really getting into the computer. He likes paintbrush, although he's not to rosie level yet. he also enjoys typing his name over and over again. he has achieved perfection in this task, although if you leave a document open it will be found full of matthew matthew matthew scott. marky loves to play food. he says thank you very well and loves blues clues and stories now.

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Wednesday, December 20, 2006

30 seconds

Well Gwen, the problem you mentioned on MySpace about needing 30 second actiities intrigued me. I've had a lot of experience in that department., but I have asked others for their input as well. Some ideas:

Eating popcorn
kick boxing practise
light, light mystery novels: eg Nero Wolfe
Sudoko
Oprah Winfrey
Magazines
Doing paper projects with children...making time machines and the like
1/2 a minute waltz (Dad)
memorise the dictionary--can be done a little at a time
writing limericks
writing haikus (even better- they don't rhyme..maybe you could three)
wiping counters (Mom's fave)
write christmas card notes
yoga

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Our new black belt.
I'm very proud, even if it does embarass Rosie to post this. The promotion was actually a lot of fun to watch, all the way from the whole class doing the lower forms together to Rosie doing advance forms, to some nasty-looking self defense.
Dad

rosie, I finally watched it

So I watched rabbit proof fence last night. I was sobbing, like mom would. Wow.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

How does the future look?

Hey all,
I haven't posted anything in a while, so I thought that I may as well.
So, what's going on in my life? I'm going to Virginia after Christmas to have a Christmas party with Jenny and Elena. That should be really fun; it's been a long time since we've all three been together. From there I'm going straight back to school.
Next term I'm going to be taking Drawing 310, Human and Animal Relations (Bio 297?), and Modern Philosophy: Kant through Nietzsche (Phil 303). It should be pretty fun, though the philosophy class may be a little dry. I'm sick and tired of Nietzsche! I've already studied him at least three times in three seperate classes, and let me tell you, he's a complete pig!
Other than that, I haven't got too much planned for the immediate future. We'll see how things turn out. Until then, take care and much love!

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delecious cookies

This makes delicious shortbread cookies. Pure butter. yum. I got these from the NYT magazine a few years ago, so I've had to translate into normal ingredients from their bizarre foodieisms ("high-fat plugrà butter to butter, or virgin fine ground sea salt from Jupiter's moon europa to salt...)
sablés
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup conf sugar
1/2 tsp (sea) salt
2 egg yolks at room temp
2 cups flour
(optional decoration: 1 egg yolk, crystal sugar)
cream butter, sugar, salt, beat in egg yolks until blended. Add flour with minimum of mixing. dump dough on surface, gather into two balls. Shape into smooth logs 9 in long, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours.
preheat to 350, brush egg yolk and sprinkle with sugar. slice into 1/3 inch cookies. bake for 17-20 min. (you can add lemon zest to the dough with the sugar, if you want)
the GOOD ones - chocolate sablés
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup dutch cocoa powder
1/2 tsp b soda
1 stick + 3 thbs butter, room temp
2/3 cup packed brn sug
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanila
5 ounces chopped chocolate or chips
sift flour, b soda, cocoa, together. cream butter, add sugar salt vanilla, beat. mix in dry ingrds as liitle as poss, toss in choc, mix. make two logs 1 1/2 in diam. wrap and fridge for at least 1 hour. heat ovn 350 - slice 1/2 in rounds ( I rolled the logs in sugar - can't have too much!) bake 1 sheet at a time for 12 minutes on center rack.

HIDE THE COOKIES

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Sunday, December 17, 2006

Bredon and Madie are talking in the kitchen, they're making food and talking about random, pretty interesting things. Christmas is cool, people stay up late and there's plenty of movies to mooch off of college kids.
HEY BREDON, what do you want for christmas? I don't know what to get- tell me. You too Dad.
So I want to cook some African food, like Baboti, some sort of egg-meat-weird pie.

Madie's making something with pepper, so I decided to draw her.
Hi Matthew, hi Mark, love you.

marky



Well, I've been out of school for four days now. It's been nice. Christmas shopping is done, the house is sparkly (at least befor matthew and mark wake up) and I'm thinking up some ambitious baking and maybe refinishing projects. Matthew is in his tent having an imaginary sleepover with Luke Skywalker, so I have to be quiet. Mark is recharging - passed out so that he can wake up and discover weaknesses in our saftey and security perimiter. I miss all of you guys. The pictures are of Mark reclining on a patio chair, and of young peter parker removing his spider-man mask while slinging some web. Our oranges are almost ripe!
PS: the picture of matthew didn't load. Matt opened the box from home and we were delighted to find delicious cookies!!!! yum yum... And beautifly decotrated gingerbread men! Now I am doubly homesick!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

December Life

Daily life in December is chaotic. Ben and Sam are now doing their math in front of the television while Rosie is watching a video of all the forms for TKD...she is going for her black belt tonight and everyone is excited. It was R's birthday yesterday....a day full of fun and food. We had a trip to the sledding hill and the Dr....Ben's rash is getting a lot better. In the midst of advent and rashes and black belts we are on constant call to clean the house perfectly because we are selling it! No wonder the routine of Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe on 35th St. is such a comfort to me right now. Mom By the way B and S are now relegated to the kitchen and get a reward of peeking at the TV every 5 problems.

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Saturday, December 09, 2006

home haircut, and needs one



Friday, December 08, 2006

bob dylan contest

http://www.slate.com/id/2155056/fr/rss/
there's a pretty cool dylan contest there on slate...
"Contestants should e-mail their entries to slatedylancontest@gmail.com. Entries must be received by Dec. 15, 2006. A complete entry includes: a numbered list, from 1 to 20, that identifies the year in which each of the below images was shot; an alternate verse for "Thunder on the Mountain"; the contestant's name, date of birth, address, e-mail address, and phone number. " [video link]

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

ok, mom - here's my lists

gwen
-earrings
-canvas messenger bag
-lotion/bubble bath
-the decemberists cd or other sibling music that is good

mark
-play food
-plastic animals
-anything edible

matthew
-little plastic guys
-a harry potter robe?/ other dress ups
-matchbox cars
-character twin sheets

matt
-guitar strings
-action figures
-candy

thank you, thank you!

Dear mom and dad,
Thank you so much for helping us buy a NEW car. We feel very fancy.....

We put up our christmas lights today. Thank you again. We love you guys and miss you.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

This is Callie's dream guy:






This is who she'll get:







This was posted by Rosie, my account won't upload pictures, why?

More pictures!
















Pictures!












There are a lot more pictures on Facebook. Here are some highlights.

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Holidays

I think that we need to slow down this year for the holidays. I already feel the frenzy coming upon me....any ideas on how we can do that? By the way I need more lists!! Don't worry everyone, falcons will not use this as yet another way to nag you! Mom

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Monday, December 04, 2006

quote

"Books to the ceiling,/ Books to the sky,/ My pile of books is a mile high./ How I love them! How I need them!/ I'll have a long beard by the time I read them."
- Arnold Lobel

Saturday, December 02, 2006

London

Well, I'm in London now, visiting Perrie. He grew a big bushy beard! I saw double decker buses and red phone booths. I got a picture of the phone booths, but I still have to get one of the buses. Everything is very quaint and very expensive here. The underground is easy to navigate and a very quick method of travel, though.
That's all for now. Pictures when I get back.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Written by Ben:

my christmass list
army men toy cars toy guns the blue toa inika
fun whith fungis magic deck