Finn's Van Gogh Night and Ashe's Science Fair

Finn, Ashe, Cade, Granny (l to r)

The boys had some big things going on in school for the last couple of months. Both have worked on them for quite some time before the actual presentation of each occurred. For Finn it was a cool thing called Van Gogh Night. His teacher, Ms. Martin, has done this for four years now. She teaches the kids an enormous amount about Vincent Van Gogh -- his life and works. She talks about his mental illness. She talks about him cutting off part of his ear and sending it to a woman. She laughs (but is serious) when she says that she's managed to teach it all these years without mentioning that the woman was a prostitute. It culminates in a presentation to kids' families at Science and Art Night at the school.

Finn's knowledge has impressed me. He knows things all the way from recognizing several of his paintings to his art dealer being his brother to his tragic death and the location of his residence during each of those significant events in his life. I'm so thankful for Ms. Martin's furthering Finn's love of art.

Finn in middle, blue shirt

The video is footage of the amazing recreations the 1^st graders did of Van Gogh’s pieces. Finn is at about 15 seconds giving his Van Gogh quote, which was quite difficult as the teacher acknowledges. :)

Ashe has been working for about six weeks on his science project. He was to design an experiment to test a hypothesis of his choosing. His interest is almost entirely in basketball, so he chose a basketball-related hypothesis: I will shoot more baskets when I am rested than when I have exercised for a half an hour. He proved himself right, but was hesitant to say he came to a conclusion. I thought the results were statistically significant – overall rest won three of the five trials. In addition, in total he made 52 baskets after rest and 46 after exercise. I think I computed that as a 13% difference. Ashe insists this is not statistically significant. :) Photos of Ashe's work below.

Ashe's Highlight Reel? (Lions game 2/27/2010)

Last Saturday, February 27, 2010, Ashe had a basketball game...he plays for the Lions (formerly the Chargers). He's been on this team since 2nd grade...there have been a few roster changes but not many. As with most kids, his goal for every game is to score as many points as possible. He's a good hustler, and he tends to get more rebounds than anything else. I love to watch it when he's on top of his defense (he has a near steal in the third play in the video below 0:19 seconds in). No matter how well he does defensively and helping in other ways on his team, he's disappointed with only two points a game. He had the best time scoring *eight* points :) in this game, so I put together some highlights. Ashe has #2 on his jersey - dark blue on white. Please excuse my poor camera skills!!

Finn the Bush Deer in "Anansi the Spider"

Thanks to Run for the Arts (where kids run laps for pledges per lap/or a flat amount), the boys have had some fun, art-related activities in the years at school. Most recently, Finn participated in a puppet show at school. It was on February 12, 2010. It included everything from casting, puppet-making, rehearsal, and, finally, presenting the play to family members during the school day. The video shows a clip of Finn's "part". He was a Bush Deer. There were several of each animal in the play, except for the main character Anansi the Spider (just one Anansi). The artist who helped them in the play is the voice talking throughout the clip. He thanked Run for the Arts for keeping artists like him at work.

It's sort of cute. I had a much longer clip, but truncated it a bit, just to give you a flavor. Finn is in the purple Lakers shirt, 2nd from the left.

A Few of My Favorite Things.

We had a mellow, mellow Christmas. Everyone was out of town, so Christmas morning Granny (Elaine) came to our house, to watch the boys open stuff. We had Christmas dinner at Granny & Grandpa's...it was so nice that Grandpa came up for dinner.

I got a Flip video camera for Christmas. I've been wanting one, because I feel like the boys' life is passing me right by. I thought the Flip would be a wonderful way to capture little snatches of it.

I asked Ashe, Granny, and Finn what their favorite gifts were. Here they are (as filmed with my new camera):

1. Ashe's favorite thing:



2. Finn's favorite thing:



3. Granny's favorite thing:

Senator McCain's Priceless Senior Moments

Me resisting is futile. Everyone knows who I'm voting for. Actually, I already voted on my Oregon mail-in ballot.

I've said for months that I hate all politicians. I like Obama fine, but he's a politician like the rest of them. He's not my ideal either. I figure I'm not going to be happy either way, so I've been sitting back and enjoying the show. Saying all of that, McCain's had some priceless senior moments lately and here are a few.

#1 is him accidentally agreeing to nasty things about the people of Pennsylvania and telling the people of Pennsylvania that.
#2 is him meaning to say "cut", but he added another consonant saying (we're all adults here) "rates were CU*T IN THE BUSH years".
#3 is him accidentally saying "my fellow prisoners" instead of "fellow Americans".

You are old, but my god, dude, figure out how to talk. You are running for President.

The Big O

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(The show aired today and here's Caver's 3 seconds of fame. ;)



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I went to Chicago for the October 8th taping (air date = October 14th) of The Oprah Winfrey Show. I know that sounds nothing like me. I think most people respect Oprah, as do I, but in recent years I haven't had much more than respect for her. Put in her position, I think a lot of us would be like her. Being a billionaire, by definition, puts you out of touch with most of the world.

I like Oprah, though. My love of pop culture has always made me curious about attending a taping of her show. More than that: she's a historical figure really. She will go down in history as a very significant person. All of those are reasons I was excited to go to Chicago for the show...

Not to mention that I am a complete freak for large cities. Chicago was literally next on my list of places I wanted to go (Austin's the next one). I don't know what it is about large American cities that makes me so giddy, but I LOVE them. Although I love Vancouver, B.C. as well...

My mom knew of Oprah - of course - way before she was famous. My uncle lived in Cleveland and called my mom once to tell her about this "wonderful woman named Oprah who was going to be famous some day." My mom loves ("deifies") Oprah. She adores her. When mom turned 70 yrs old (2004), we tried to get tickets and never could. Caver finally did this year.

The show was a depressing subject: Proposition Two in California. It's about the housing of animals. Basically - "Where does the food you eat come from?" You can research it yourself (see the link), but needless to say, it just adds more fuel to my fire that the way our food (animal-based food) is treated is reason enough not to eat meat. Of course, I still eat it but it's gross if you think about it.

There is so much to tell about going to the show. It's a well-oiled machine, as you can imagine. The security is impeccable. There is lots of waiting at the beginning. They place people in the audience based on look, color (of clothing), and filling out rows. After placing the rows that get lots of camera time, they called the rest of us by number, and we were allowed to choose seats.

Oprah was very low energy. She was not rude, but it was as if she was just putting in her time. Probably how you and I feel when we go to work every day. She was gracious and did engage for quite a few minutes (20?) after the taping, but didn't ask for questions. My theory was that people love Oprah so much: if she gives an inch, they will take a mile - and they did, somewhat.

I loved that she was candid with us about her thoughts on the Presidential candidates. She said she regrets saying she wasn't going to have any of the candidates on her show and not have a political show, until AFTER the election. After she endorsed Obama, she's vowed not to talk about it. She says she's itching to talk about the issues. She also said she's never received more hate mail than when she wouldn't have Sarah Palin on her show. She's not having her on, because she vowed to have NONE of them on, but still people were upset with her. She said a couple of times: "Only 27 more days and I can talk about it."

Overall I'd say an underwhelming experience. It could have been better if it were a happier topic. I think the tone from the beginning was that we were to be somber. We were.

Oh yeah - and Lisa Ling was the Investigative Reporter for the subject. I was never a fan of her's on The View - I got the impression she was full of herself. More and more, seeing the subjects she does on Oprah, I love her. She's so brave. She'll do anything. Seeing her in person - gorgeous. A pretty, pretty girl.

I can't thank my sister enough, though, for thinking of me and getting tickets for me. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm so glad I did it. During the pre-show prep, you hear some of the stories from people and how hard it was for them to get tickets. We were very lucky. Thank you, sister. :) Oh yes...and, Caver also made sure we all rode to the show in style. Isn't she wonderful?

in line at harpo studios - no cameras once inside.

You Oughta be in Pictures

I didn't have a post for today, so, in the spirit of posting video, I am including video of Ashe in the third grade play from May 2008. I wasn't posting then, so thought I'd include it here. I was so proud of this kid. I should have had more faith in him, but I didn't think he had it in him.



I should give equal time, so here's video of Finners (August 2007). While I could include footage of him graduating from preschool this year, this one is him watching a youtube video of Tegan & Sara, and is much more entertaining. I guess he proves that "real men don't (admit they) like Tegan & Sara". Also, it's a youtube video of someone watching a youtube video. It's cool...like a thing within a thing...o.k., I'll stop now.

My Mommy

I have the best mom in the world. Gosh, what a life she's had. Tonight she was on the local news being interviewed about her experience at the 1963 March on Washington/"I Have a Dream" speech. I am so proud of her. Here's the footage:

Link to KOIN video of Elaine interview

Link to KOIN video of different Elaine interview (includes Dennis)