1st days of school

Yesterday was our first day of school.  It was kind of a mixed bag.  I am doing a new curriculum this year-- well, actually going back to an old curriculum, but it is still new because essentially it is a do-it-yourself curriculum in which I purchase all the books and develop all of my own lesson plans.  I think it will be great, but I have been so, so busy that I am not as prepared as I should be.  I thought about waiting a week, but figured there was no harm in starting now, it's not the end of the world if all my ducks are not in a row and we end up making adjustments as we go along.
Anyway, the first half of the day yesterday went surprisingly well.  The last half, not quite as stellar.  A couple of meltdowns from a couple of my boys, and I was feeling discouraged.
But, today went much, much better.  After a couple of heart-to-hearts with various children, it went very well.
Tuesday/Thursday will be science days, and we started off the day by breaking open a chemistry kit I bought online, assembling our alcohol burner, and unpacking some test tubes and other equipment.  We then spent the next 45 minutes satiating my boys' innate pyromaniac tendencies while ostensibly doing some "science."  Science reports were written, so I guess it counts.  :-)
Today was also the first day of seminary.  I was up way too late, of course, as I kept remembering last-minute things that I needed to do.  And then I was paranoid about sleeping in, so I woke up every single hour on the hour.  Oh, well.  At least I did not sleep in.  And I think the first day went well.  It's so hard to judge my own performance.  I will have two sessions-- an early class at 5:40 AM-- yes 5:40 in the morning, and a later class at 7:00.  I have some good ideas for how to do things differently this year, and I hope I can pull it off.

3 things 08/25/2013

I want to reinstate the 3 things on my blog, so here goes:

1.  There is something in our attic.  I have never heard it, but Ben says he has.  Ben and the boys put our traps up there (Joseph has 2 humane traps he has used to trap squirrels, and, on occasion, skunks), and each day the traps remain unsprung, but the bait has gone missing.  We can't find any evidence of animal droppings, which is good, but clearly there is something up there.  It is freaking me out just a little bit.

2.  There is a new family that has moved into our ward with a boy around Joseph's and Brigham's age.  They played with him at the new member meet-and-greet this evening, and Brigham excitedly told me that he is into airsoft, too.  I like this family, and I hope our boys can be friends.  I know my boys are excited about the upcoming airsoft season, as soon as the temperature manages to get down below 95 degrees on any sort of consistent basis...  :-)

3.  Yesterday the boys and I played at the baptism of the daughter of some good friends.  I was touched that Andrea asked us to do it.  We played an arrangement of A Child's Prayer, with Joseph and Brigham taking the two melody lines on the flute and violin, and Mosey and I taking the treble and base accompaniment lines on violin and cello.  It was a little painful getting everyone to agree to participate, then to practice individually, and especially to practice together, but we did it!  Even after a last minute freak-out by one of my boys who shall remain nameless, but who plays a string instrument that is not a violin who decided he was not ready and he wasn't going to play.  He changed his mind, and I think maybe we even sounded sort of good.  I sure love playing music with my boys.

family letter 08/25/2013

Hi everyone,

First of all, congratulations Naomi and Dave on your first house!  I just wrote Naomi a gushing email, but I have to say again how much I LOVE their new house.  When I think back on our first house... well, let's just say that Naomi and Dave have found a gem.  

This past week was our last week of summer vacation.  I thought I was going to be able to really focus on school, getting my lesson's outlined and my books in order.  But I thought wrong.  I did get all of my books reorganized in my schoolroom, which was much needed, but somehow every single day was filled with other pressing things, and other not so pressing things but necessary things like music lessons and practicing and chores.  I had a couple of seminary meetings that lasted several hours each, which were productive, but still I did not make the progress for school that I wanted to make.  But, it's OK.  I don't have to have all of my ducks in a row before school starts.  Maybe it's better to start off a little slower anyway.  After all, in most schools the first week is about getting to know the teachers, getting an introduction on what the class is going to be about, maybe doing some review.  

The biggest news of the week was Brigham's and Joseph's birthday on Thursday!  The night before they went to the church to be interviewed by the Bishop for their priesthood ordination on Sunday.  They went with their suits and ties on, ready to answer any question the Bishop had about D&C section 84.  :-)  They did great.  On Thursday morning, all the boys were up really, really early.  Mosey was just as excited as they were.  We have a little tradition of counting down until their actual birth time, when they are "officially" the next year old.  It works out because they were born at 7:23 and 7:28 AM Utah time, which corresponds to 8:23 and 8:28 AM here.  After that it was birthday breakfast which meant Golden Crisp for Joseph and HEB chocolate filled squares for Brigham.  Brigham went for taste, and Joseph went for sheer sugar content.  Seriously.  He chose the cereal with the highest grams of sugar per grams of serving.  Oh, well.  :-)  They had a pretty good day, I think.  I didn't make them do any practicing at all.  In the evening we had a party with some friends who came over for swimming, pizza, and the first Percy Jackson movie, to get ready for the 2nd which has just come out.  It was a fun night, even if it did start positively pouring rain almost as soon as the kids got into the pool.  :-)  It didn't seem to deter the kids.  

Yesterday we continued the celebration by going to see the 2nd Percy Jackson movie (better than the first), and going out to eat.  I have to record the restaurant decision making process for posterity.  I told Brigham and Joseph they needed to decide together.  I threw out a bunch of suggestions, but every one that Brigham wanted, Joseph said he did not want.  Brigham said he didn't mind going to Carinos (Joseph's first choice), but since Joseph hadn't shown any willingness to compromise at all, he wasn't going to agree to Carinos.  Oh, man...  Finally Joseph agreed that Cheesecake Factory was acceptable. As soon as he said that, Brigham said, "Ok, we can go to Carinos.  I just wanted to make Joseph agree with something else!"  I'm not even sure what I can say to comment on this.  It isn't easy being a twin sometimes.

I think Brigham and Joseph got some good presents.  They got wonderful compasses from Grandma Frandsen, a blow-dart gun from one of their friends (yes, really-- it is very cool, but dangerous.  I told them the first time a dart is aimed ANYWHERE but at the archery target in our garage, the dart gun gets put away for a very long time), and cash from some other friends.  Ben and I got them some camping backpacks they can use for scouts.  When I asked Brigham what he wanted to do for his birthday, he said he wanted to go backpacking!  Sadly, there aren't too many super awesome places to backpack around here... :-)  They also got a good deal from us for buying their own school computers-- we will pay half of whatever they choose.  And then Joseph got a really nice pair of star gazing binoculars with a tripod and astronomy book, and Brigham got an IOU for his own violin, which he was completely thrilled about.  So, it was a *big* birthday for them-- much bigger than we usually do, but 12 years old is a big birthday, after all.

Today was a busy day!  Brigham and Joseph officially graduated from primary and went up on the stand to recite their favorite articles of faith-- Brigham chose #13, and Joseph #8, which I think says a lot about their personalities right there.  I had to speak in church along with the other seminary teachers in our ward, which meant I was up on the stand, so I didn't even get to sit by my boys on their last Sunday before their Sacrament duties take them away from me forever...  As far as my talk went, I was told we would have 6-10 minutes each, so I woke up early this morning and prepared a talk-- a good one, I think, based around several scripture mastery verses we will be studying this year.  But I was 3rd on the program, and the first speaker took a little extra time (it was really a wonderful talk, so I'm not resentful), and the 2nd speaker took a little extra time, and so by the time it was my turn, there were only a very few minutes for me and Kandis.  So I was glad this wasn't a talk I had spent many hours on during the week.  :-)  Then during the 3rd hour, Brigham and Joseph were ordained.  Ben gave a sweet blessing to each boy, and I tried not to cry as I watched them go into Priesthood for the first time.  I am so proud of my boys, and it is exciting to see them growing up, but I really can't think too hard about it.  How do parents stand their children growing up??  After church we went home and immediately got to work getting the house ready for our back-to-seminary meeting at 4:00.  Most of our seminary students came with their parents, and I hope it was a good meeting.  Seminary officially starts on Tuesday morning, bright and early at 5:40 AM!!!!  I better be receiving some serious blessings, that's all I can say.  :-)  Finally, a half hour after that meeting ended, we all headed over to the bishop's house for a new member meet and greet, not getting home until nearly 8:00 PM.  Phew!  I am tired.  I decided to give up on doing any more school prep for tomorrow...

So, that was our week.  I still have not had time to edit any pictures from our trip, and at this point with school and seminary starting, I'm wondering if I ever will...  

Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful last week of August!

Love,

Gabrielle

Happy 12th Birthday to my boys!

I love you!

dipping my toes back in

This is the longest break I've taken from my blog since my transplant, I think!  We were gone for 3 weeks, and ever since we've been back, I feel like I've been scrambling to get things organized for school and seminary, plus dealing with a trip to Houston, and an overall feeling of rebellion against the tyranny of the internet.
Anyway, it's been a great summer, although far too short.  Our trip was wonderful and I have an absolutely, crazily, absurd number of photographs to go through.  It's going to take me the next year to get through them all.  :-)
Here's just one.  Aren't we a great looking family?!

My trip to Houston was OK.  It's over, that's the best part!  I have to go one more time for a repeat MRI in September, and then I never, ever have to go back again.  And I just might not.  At least this trip was fairly quick.  My mom came with me which made everything much easier and less stressful for me.  I had a bunch of appointments, but my nurse was able to schedule them into just 2 days.  On Monday I had an echocardiogram, then a full pulmonary function exam, then bloodwork at the fast-track lab (where they made a mistake and only drew half the number of vials, resulting in them calling me back and sticking me again for the rest...), then a check-up with Dr. Popat at the stem cell clinic, then a bone marrow aspiration and biopsy (hurt much more this time than last time, but again, it's over, so all is well), and an MRI at night.  Phew!  The next day was easy in comparison-- bloodwork (16 vials!) and questionnaires with Dr. Hutton, then the timed walking test, hand dexterity test, and mental cognition test-- the math test which is my favorite since I can ace it, and finally a general MS physical.  Dr. Hutton is such a nice man and I will miss him.  But I will not miss the anxiety and stress that always surrounds visits with him.  :-)
My mom and I talked seminary, went to the Houston museum of fine arts, ate Thai food, and saw a great documentary about back-up singers-- all things that wouldn't have been huge hits with my husband and 3 boys, so it was really great having her there.
Since coming back, my cousin Deborah has been staying here for a couple of weeks until she can move into her apartment down by UT where she's going to grad school.  I love all of my cousins, and it has been great getting to know her.  She is 10 years younger than me, so I didn't know her as well as her older siblings, but she is awesome.
I reorganized all the books in my schoolroom (a big job!), and have been trying to get things organized for school starting next week.  It's complicated because I feel like now that the big boys are going into 7th grade, I need to be working according to a master plan to get them prepared for college.  So I'm trying to figure out exactly how to organize our studies for the next couple of years so they can be ready for AP exams and such when they are in high school.  I'm not doing Sonlight this year, since I think they need something a bit more rigorous, so it's been a lot more work for me.  But I'm excited and I hope it will be a great year.
The boys have been enjoying their last few days of freedom, doing entirely too little practicing and too few chores, but you know, that's OK.  My sister Rosalynde introduced me to the musical "Mathilda" while we were at our family reunion, and I got the soundtrack and we've been listening to it constantly.  Mosey loves it and has lots of the words memorized, including a big chunk of one of the best monologues I've ever heard onstage.  I need to video him for sure.  :-)  Brigham and Joseph had their last day of Primary on Sunday, since they are turning 12 on Thursday.  I get too emotional if I think too much about that, so I won't.  But it was fun staying up late with Brigham on Saturday night helping him master those last few articles of faith so he could pass them off before graduating from primary.  I have some really good boys.
I'm going to try to get the boys up early(er) tomorrow to start adjusting to our school schedule which is coming up in less than a week now.  Which means that I really need to get myself to bed earlier too.

07/08/2013

Summer is flying by.
The boys had some friends over on Saturday.  They used to be in our ward until the ward split, and then they moved to Utah.  Jacob is 1 month older than the twins, and Andrew is 1 month older than Mosey, so they match up great.  We miss them a lot.  The kids have been in Austin visiting their dad, and so they've been able to get together with our boys a couple of times.  They played airsoft (donning thick jackets and face masks, even in the heat!-- that's dedication), went swimming, and played Tanki and World of Tanks.  Before bed I let them watch an hour or so of Netflix.  Joseph chose an episode of X-files which I hope did not scar the other boys forever.  My boys have a pretty high tolerance for dark drama, being my sons and all...  :-)  Then the Anderson boys chose an episode of  "Jessie" which I guess is a Disney show.  It was a pretty cute show, but I think went largely over the heads of my boys, since it was so full of pop references and jokes that my boys don't really get.  I was kind of happy to see how uninterested my boys were in that show, but it also elicited the familiar anxieties and second-guessings about how we're raising these boys...
Anyway, here is a video of the twins and Jacob sword-fighting in the front yard.  My boys take it extremely seriously.  :-)

Happy Independence Day!

Don't you think this holiday should be referred to exclusively as Independence Day?  It might help us remember a little more of its pretty cool origins.  I mean, we don't celebrate "December 25th," do we?  Anyway, I hope everyone had a fun Independence Day!!  We sure did.
I got up before anyone else was awake (these late summer nights lend themselves nicely to some quiet, peaceful mornings around here!), and ran to Walmart for some groceries.  Back home, I made a 4th of July brunch of bacon (a serious treat at our house), pancakes, and whipped cream, blueberries, and strawberries.  The boys were especially excited about the whipped cream (from a can! also a serious treat at our house).  :-)
Afterward, we went outside to put up our American flags and pose for the yearly obligatory 4th of July pictures.  I managed to offend 2 of my 3 boys during this process.  Maybe next year I'll get all three...  Are the pictures worth it?  I think so.  Being mad at mom lasts a little while, but a picture is forever.  :-)

(Joseph and Mosey are in serious need of a haircut)

Joseph requested that his picture be taken with our Texas flag.  It's red, white, and blue, so close enough, right?  And we are pretty patriotic Texans. :-)

This picture was taken before I really offended Mosey.  I should have just stopped with this one and saved him the aggravation, because it is definitely my favorite of the bunch.  Sorry Mosey!

Anyway, after the picture-taking ordeal, we headed down to Lady Bird Lake to go kayaking.  A couple of my boys were lobbying for the liberty of unrestricted computer-game-playing (hey, it *is* Independence Day!), but I was adamant-- we are doing something *real* today!!  And it was a great success.  Mosey, my main computer-game-playing-supplicant, told Ben and me over and over again how he wanted to buy a kayak so he could go kayaking way more often.  :-)  We rowed almost all the way up to the dam, to where the current got a bit too strong (this is one of several lakes damming up the Colorado River, so the dam was actually the one holding back Lake Austin and releasing water into Lady Bird Lake).  Ben and the boys stopped at one point at what we thought was an island (turned out to be a long peninsula) to swim to shore and take several jumps from a rope swing into the water.  Overall, it was great fun.  Next time I'm going to put my little camera in a waterproof bag so I can take a few pictures along the way.  That part of the lake is incredibly beautiful with sheer limestone cliffs rising up out of the towering, almost tropical trees and lush greenery lining the shores.

Back at home, we had a barbecue, and went swimming.  We discussed the Declaration of Independence and our favorite Founding Fathers, and enjoyed the fairly mild weather we've been having the past several days.  We were pretty beat from kayaking all afternoon and decided to forego making the trek downtown, braving the traffic and the crowds to listen to the symphony and watch fireworks.  Instead we watched Lost, drank root beer floats, and then drove up to watch the Cedar Park fireworks from the roof of the van.  Not as exciting, and the music was definitely not as good, but you can't beat the 5 minute drive to and from!

My fireworks pictures left a lot to be desired this year.  Oh well.

And, that was it!  A good day.

07/03/2013

I've been on a computer strike the past several days, trying to get some "real" stuff done.

Summer is going well.

Brigham loved his strings camp. I only had to go down there once during the week to bring him his dress shoes which he forgot on the bathroom floor. On Saturday we went down to San Marcos to listen to the final concert and take him home. He ended up 2nd chair, 2nd violin in the 2nd highest orchestra, so he was very happy. Yes, this is very mom-braggy, but he deserves it. Most of the kids in his orchestra were much older, and that was also gratifying to him. He took a fiddling class and composition class, as well as advanced theory. His composition was chosen as one of the pieces highlighted at the electives demonstration. But, they didn't give it back to him to take home!! Oh well, it's not like he has any lack of compositions floating around in his brain. He got along with his roommate, told us that the kids at camp were well-behaved and respectful, and that he definitely wants to go again! At least, until he discovered that his brothers got paid (WAY TOO MUCH) for dog-sitting our friend's dog. Then he told me, "If I would have known Hannah was coming, and they'd get paid so much, I wouldn't have gone to camp!" I'm guessing he'll probably re-think that conclusion. Still, it's interesting to see the innate human tendency to resent other people for "unearned" gain.

Joseph and Mosey had a quiet week without Brigham. Not too much practicing and schoolwork got done... This is hard for me. I'm such a productivity-driven person-- I tend to feel extremely grouchy with myself after a day without much to show for it (hence my computer strike). But it's not necessarily fair for me to project that onto my kids. I gave them the choice to do their schoolwork and practicing in return for screen time. If they choose not to do schoolwork or practicing, that's their choice. I guess what really gets my goat is the whining and complaining about doing chores (very simple, easy, fast chores) after a day spent doing pretty much nothing. But, I guess this is pretty normal for kids. And to be fair, there have been plenty of days when practicing and schoolwork have been completed, and chores have been done uncomplainingly. I know I need to relax.

I've been able to accomplish a few things. Not enough! I'm working on seminary stuff most every day. I'm making some new scripture mastery mnemonics. I've been practicing my violin as well-- almost every day. I want to join the Austin chamber orchestra-- the one Brigham's teacher is in, but I'm guessing that would really push me over the edge. Still, it's more fun to have a reason to practice. It's funny how much more enjoyable practicing is as an adult. I try to tell Joseph this, but he's not buying it. :-)

I have several books I was hoping to finish this summer. Not sure it's going to happen. But I need to finish these before I let myself buy more on Amazon! I completely blame my dad for my book-buying addiction.
(Here's the proof:  These are only 2 shelves out of at least 10 that stretch floor-to-ceiling in my dad's "library.")

Like I said, we've done some dog-sitting. Hannah is a great big golden-doodle with oodles of hair, but she is so, so sweet. My boys love her. However, she did not love our cats. Or maybe she loved them too much. In any case, the cats hid out in Mosey's room most of the week, and have just now started venturing out.

Well, here are some pictures from the past few days:

06/24/2013

The house sure is quiet with Brigham gone. It is interesting to see how the dynamics around here change with one of the three of them gone-- Mosey gone last week, Brigham gone this week. We all miss him! Joseph and Mosey and I had a pretty quiet day-- Joseph and Mosey went to tennis in the morning, I spent a few hours doing chores around the house, then Joseph and Mosey got some schoolwork and practicing done while I worked on curriculum stuff for next year. Joseph and I went to the library and the grocery store in the afternoon, and then home again for piano practicing (Joseph) and cello practicing (Mosey), before taking Joseph to archery at 6:30. Mosey took the dogs on a bike ride/jog with Ben (we're dog sitting a great big golden doodle, so it is dog central around here), and then we watched part of an episode of Sherlock Holmes before calling it a night. I had another walking dream last night. This one was particularly painful because it was so vivid. I had myself almost convinced that it wasn't a dream, until I realized it was. :-( All of these dreams are the same-- I figure out some way to move my legs, and suddenly I can walk again! I'm always amazed at how simple it is, and I can't believe I hadn't figured it out before! In my dream last night, I discovered if I stood on my tip toes and took very small steps, I could walk with no stiffness or weakness. It was so wonderful! In my dream I kept walking up and down the driveway, so excited that I was going to get to tell my neurologist that I could walk again! Then I started having a niggling thought that maybe this wasn't real, maybe it was just a dream. But it seemed so real that I stayed in the dream a while longer, so happy for the miracle! But then, I woke up. I'm not sure if I love these dreams or hate them. I miss walking so much, and I love that feeling of walking freely, even if it is just imaginary. But the let-down, realizing it isn't real, that I have to go back to the way I am, is pretty awful. In other news, I completed my book wish-list for school next year. Well, almost completed it. I haven't included any literature yet. My running total on a grand total of 64 items, using the cheapest used prices on Amazon, is $702.32. And that doesn't include the new bookshelf I will need to house all those new books. I think I'm going to have to pare down my wish list. :-) This is the academic equivalent of my eyes being bigger than my stomach, I think. I'm pretty sure my visions for exactly what we will be able to accomplish in a school day are vastly inflated...

Roasted Bananas

Here is a really yummy treat that my family and I have been loving the past few months-- roasted bananas.  Really!
Here's how you do it:
Start with really ripe bananas-- they need to at least have brown spots on them, even riper is fine, too.
Cover a cookie sheet (with edges) with foil and spray with cooking spray.
Cut bananas in diagonal slices 1/2 inch thick.
Put under the broiler and broil until the tops are caramelized and bubbly.
Take out, and turn over each slice using tongs.  Sometimes there is banana "juice" that you can spoon into a bowl and use for syrup over ice cream-- yum!
Broil again until the tops are caramelized and bubbly.

These are so, so, so good.  Even my non-banana-lovers love these.  If you want to be especially extravagant, put a few over vanilla ice cream.  So good, and such a great way to get rid of over-ripe bananas (much easier and lower-calorie than banana bread).  I can slice about 4 bananas onto my big cookie sheet, and they are scarfed down in about 2 minutes.

just some pictures

This is a picture of something in our house. Can you guess what it is?

Here is Brigham practicing intently before his audition today at the Texas State Strings Camp.  He said it went well!  He played Vivaldi's violin concerto in A minor, 3rd movement.  It was fun to hear and watch all the kids practicing so hard in that room.  It gives me hope for the rising generation.  :-)

This is Joseph playing Battleship with one of the little children he and Brigham babysat on Thursday.  Their mom was in the hospital with their new baby sister, and their dad went to go pick them up, so we had a 6 year old, 4 year old, and 2 year old in our home for a few hours.  Joseph and Brigham are good babysitters. They played "Zombies" with them (a complicated game involving going outside into the forest with swords and leaf blowers to scare out and defeat the zombies), engaged in many sword-fights, played Battleship, drew pictures, and washed the dog!  Washing the dog was a particular hit and resulted in our lending them all dry clothes while their clothes went through a cycle in the dryer.  :-)

Yes, another cat picture.  This is Luna who was lying so peacefully hidden under some foliage in the back garden.  Cats have a knack for finding the cutest places to hang out.

family letter 06/23/13

Hi family,
I'm here, and still alive!  It's been a long time since I've written a family letter.  I'm trying hard not to let the computer suck away my time, especially at night.  Sometimes I wish I could just turn it off entirely and go back to the pre-internet days of no email, no ebay, no youtube, no facebook, no blogs, no online games...  But then I log on and get to read letters from my family and see pictures of my nieces and nephews and I'm not sure I would give those up.  I guess it's a good thing I have no choice in this matter.
I spent most of the day in San Marcos today, taking Brigham to the Texas State Strings Camp down at Texas State University.  He will be there for a week of intensive rehearsals, practices, master classes, sectionals, and private lessons.  This is the first time I have ever had a child away from me for more than a couple of nights away from family.  It is also the very first time in Brigham's life that he will spend a night away from his brothers.  
I have had such mixed feelings about sending my children away to sleep-away camps.  But, I think this will be a good one.  I wonder if the orchestra world for young people has changed all that much from when I was a kid?  It seems like maybe not as much as the rest of society.  In any case, my Brigham has a good head on his shoulders, and he can handle himself well in any situation.  
But it was sure a strange feeling to watch my little boy walking off alone into the dorm, turning back to wave at me every 10 feet or so, and stopping to blow me kisses before going in through the front doors, and then to drive away without him.  Maybe it would seem less strange for me if I were used to seeing him off to school every day?  Maybe not.  But I am used to always knowing exactly what he is doing every minute of the day, and now for this week, I won't.  He did call me tonight just before bed to check in.  My boys are not that used to phone conversations.  I need to teach them some phone etiquette.  He basically had a few things to say to me, and then it was just, "Bye!"  :-)
Anyway, it was a long day for him.  We got there at 9:30, stood in line for 45 minutes to check in, went to sign in for auditions, left to check into his dorm room (which ended up being on the 2nd floor of a non-ADA compliant building, so I couldn't go up and get his bed made up and his room set up with him :-(.  Then back to the music building on the other end of campus where we waited for THREE HOURS for his audition.  Seriously, they need to streamline that process.  But eventually he got that finished, then we ate a hurried, very late lunch in the car an I dropped him off at the dorm and drove home by myself!
The past two weeks of summer have gone by very fast.  Last week Mosey had cub scout day camp and came home exhausted every afternoon.  I think next year a 3-day day camp will be plenty for him.  He had a good time, though, canoeing and swimming and bb-gun-ing, and archery and all the fun scouting stuff they do there.  Brigham and Joseph went to a tennis camp for an hour and a half on Mon., Wed., and Fri.  I tried to enforce some school work/practicing, but I'm trying to be laid-back about it this summer.  They have 2 hours of homework/practicing that they need to do in order to get 2 hours of screen time (only 1 hour of gaming/TV/movie watching).  For a few days I tried to get them to do all 2 hours before they got any computer time, but I think it's going to work better to do a pay-for-play kind of thing.  Of course, it's not working that great for one of my boys who is not as motivated by screen time-- Brigham.  He spent most of the day reading, reading, and reading.  It's hard to get too upset with that, however.  That was my favorite summertime activity, too.  He is on a quest to read the whole Book of Mormon in a week.  He got all the way through Mosiah in 2 days, so I think he can do it.  We're not counting this week of music, camp, though.  
We've spent a fair amount of time in our pool.  I really love our pool.  I got sunburned on my first day of summer vacation-- the first sunburn I've had in more than 5 years!  I haven't been able to spend enough time out in the sun to get sunburned until we've had this pool.  The boys have been out swimming almost every day.  
The twins also baby-sat for 3 little kids at our house for several hours on Thursday while their dad went to the hospital to get his wife and baby girl after their discharge.  This is the girl I visit teach with-- she usually leaves her kids with the boys while we go visiting teaching, so the boys have some experience.  It was fun to see my big boys playing Battleship, and "Zombies" and sword-fighting with these little ones.  They'll make good babysitters in a year or so. 
I've also spent a lot of time researching curriculum for next year.  I've liked Sonlight the past two years, but now that the twins will be in 7th grade, I feel like we need to up the rigor a little bit, so I may do a blend of Sonlight and Well Trained Mind.  It's so hard to decide!  I know I always overestimate what is really reasonable to expect from my kids, so I'm trying to stay realistic.  I have begun my book-purchase list, and it's already ridiculously long.  I'm going to need a new book case.  :-)
It looks like my Houston appointments won't be until August.  I'm kind of relieved, because I can push it further away and not stress so much about it now, and also I will have more of an uninterrupted stretch of vacation time, but it also would have been nice to have it all done with before the family reunion.  Oh, well.  It is the last time I'll have to go out there for evaluation, and that is a huge relief, anyway.
Ben is staying busy at work and with Bishopric stuff.  He spent ALL day yesterday finishing our taxes which we deferred back in April.  We are ending up having to send a pretty hefty chunk of change to the IRS.  I guess it's good to be in an income bracket in which we are heavily taxed, but man, is it ever painful to write that check.  Poof.  I have no confidence that this money will be used to any productive purpose at all.  He did manage, after a good bit of finagling, to reduce what we owed by a few thousand dollars, so I guess his time yesterday was well-spent, but it was not a fun day for him.  We went to see Man of Steel in the evening as a sort of reward for him.  If you go see that movie, keep track of how many Christ-references you see.  I wish I had told my boys to do this before we saw the movie!  Afterward we talked about it, and I was able to point out quite a few references that they remembered, but it would have probably made the movie a more meaningful experience if they had been watching for it in the first place.  Anyway, we did enjoy the movie.  Afterward we were walking to our car and Ben discovered he didn't have his wallet.  He happened to have my debit card, plus a few extra corporate cards he generally doesn't keep in his wallet, plus more cash than he usually carries, in addition to all the other stuff-- insurance cards, drivers license, etc..  He couldn't find it for quite some time.  In fact, he had just decided to give up and leave the theater and accept that someone had taken it, when he happened to see the bare edge of it wedged under one of the arm-rests.  The boys and I had said a prayer in the car that he would find it, and so it was very gratifying when he came out with it in hand.  I have to say some of my most consistently-answered prayers have been for help in finding important missing items.  I guess that is one way in which God doesn't mind intervening so much.  :-)  
OK, it is time for me to head off to bed.  I hope everyone has a great week.  I love you!

Love,
Gabrielle

06/16/2013

OK, I'm waiting for my long, unscheduled summer days when I can sit down and read a book for a couple of hours at a time.  It's not happening yet.
This morning I got Mosey up at 6:15 so he could eat breakfast, get dressed, and head off to Cub Scout camp at 6:50.  Then I was off to the grocery store, then home again to get the big boys ready for their tennis camp.  They had tennis from 8:30-10:00.  After dropping them off I did the watering outside and then some chores inside.  I did practice my violin for about 15 minutes or so before the boys came home, the only personal thing I did all day.  Then I helped Brigham with his practicing and schoolwork, and tried to supervise Joseph with his, only to find him collapsed on his bed, sound asleep.  I found out he stayed up ALL NIGHT last night!  Aargh!  Then I cleaned the kitchen, got the dishwasher going, installed two battery charger/vacuum holders so I can hang up our Quick-up vacuums in the rooms in which they will be used, instead of stashing them in the laundry room. And then Brigham helped me make a batch of mini cheesecakes for my seminary students.  After that I took Brigham to the library, and then to the grocery store again for a few more items I had forgotten this morning. Then home again to wake up Joseph, make one more batch of mini cheesecakes, and supervise Joseph getting dinner ready.  After the boys ate they came with me to deliver the cheesecakes and my Book of Mormon reading challenge (I'm challenging all the kids to read the whole Book of Mormon this summer-- I will take anyone who completes it out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory-- hence the cheesecakes) to my seminary students.  Then home again to watch Lost before getting the kids in bed again, the kitchen cleaned (again), the lizards fed and medicated (T-Rex is still on antibiotics), and my computer de-bugged.  Well, Ben did that part and I helped watched.  And now it is 12:04 AM and I have to wake up early again to get Mosey off to Cub Scout camp.
Tomorrow we've got piano lessons in the morning for Brigham and Joseph, and flute for Joseph in the afternoon.  I hope it feels a little less busy!
Other notes from the day:
Mosey loved Cub Scout camp.  BB guns, archery, and canoeing-- what boy could ask for anything more?
When Joseph told me he stayed up all night, I responded exactly in the wrong way.  Man, I wish I had a rewind button sometimes.  He told me he laid in bed for a really long time-- until 2:00 AM, and then gave up and got up to work on the story/book he is writing.  I immediately got upset and told him how bad staying up all night is for his body and how he MUST get more sleep and how he ought to have done this and that and the other thing instead of what he did.  Which is going to do nothing except make him less likely to tell me anything.  I should have instead asked myself *why* he was even telling me.  Was it so that I could get on his case about it?  Probably not.  I should have been sympathetic and told him how sorry I was that he had trouble sleeping, how I have insomnia sometimes, too, and know how frustrating it is.  I should have told him I was glad he worked on his story instead of playing computer games.  I should have asked him what I can do to help him sleep better, instead of jumping all over him and telling him what he should have done.  Ugh.
Joseph, if you're reading this, I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have gotten mad at you.  And I'm certainly the pot calling the kettle black when I get annoyed with my children for staying up too late.  :-)
OK, I'll end with a picture of Brigham that I took Sunday afternoon.  I enjoyed hanging out with just him this afternoon.  He is a cool kid.

06/16/2013-- Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the two best dads I know-- my own, and my kids'.
It wasn't too spectacular of a Father's Day for Ben, but I hope he liked it anyway.  Regular church day-- he even had meetings before church-- no breaks for the dads on Father's Day.  But after church I made him a variation his favorite meal, meat loaf, baked potatoes, and corn.  At least, it used to be his favorite, I haven't asked him recently if it still is.  In any case, it was what we had on hand, so I'll stick with it still being his favorite meal.  :-)  We had meat loaf, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, salad, and watermelon.   And roasted bananas for desert.  I am going to make a blog post on its own about roasted bananas.  It has become my family's favorite treat.
I also managed to get some pictures of Ben and the boys, which I realize are more for my benefit than his, but someday he'll like looking at them.  :-)

The boys look particularly thrilled to be there, don't they?  :-)  They were wanting me to hurry up because the mosquitoes were biting them, and they wanted to get back inside to finish a computer game before they "died."  Priorities, right?  :-)

I talked to my dad on the phone as well, and spent an hour or so looking back through old pictures of my childhood finding ones with my dad in them.  There aren't a whole lot because he was almost always the one taking the pictures.  It reminds me to ask Ben to take pictures sometimes, and not just posed I-set-up-the-shot-Ben-snaps-the-picture shots.  I don't think he has ever picked up a camera on purpose to take pictures just because he wanted to in our whole marriage!  I really need to work on that.  :-)
But my dad did, and I'm glad, because I so love looking back on those pictures.  Here are a few of my dad.

 Daddy with his 1st baby, Rosalynde.

 Daddy with his 2 babies, Rosalynde and Gabrielle.

Daddy with his 3 babies, Rosalynde, Gabrielle, and Naomi.

 Daddy with his 4 babies, Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, and Brigham.

From here on out I could no longer find any with just Daddy and all of his kids.  I think it took at least 2 adults to manage all of us in a single picture.  :-)  Anyway, this is Daddy with his 6 babies, Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, and Jacob!

One of my favorite pictures of our family of all time.  This was the 4th of July in 1988.  Daddy and his 7 babies, Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Jacob, and Benjamin (right to left).

Daddy with his 8th baby, Abraham.  This was just a couple of months before my brother Jacob died, and a hard time for our family.  We did get some family pictures with all 8 of us kids before Jacob died, but I don't have those scanned in.

And here is Daddy with his Rachel on her baptism day, and his 9th baby, Christian.  I love little Abraham looking on from the edge of the frame.  I couldn't find any pictures of our entire family with Christian before Eva was born.  That was the year Rosalynde left for college, so occasions for all of us being in a picture at the same time were limited.

And here is Daddy with his 10th baby, Eva!  This picture is a little blurry, and I'm sure Mama loves pictures of herself minutes after giving birth, but I do love Daddy's expression in this picture.

And, one of the last pictures of our entire family all together in our scanned slides.  This was when I was being dropped off at Rice for my freshman year.  Not a great look for me that year, but we were still a pretty impressive-looking family, I think.  I'm not sure what the other freshmen families there that day made of us, but I was always pretty proud of my family, and took special enjoyment out of listing all of my siblings to my new college friends-- Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Jacob (we all wish he were in this picture), Benjamin, Abraham, Christian, and Eva!  :-)
Isaac was born 2 years later, and now he has the honor of bringing up the rear in the litany of Frandsen names: Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Jacob, Benjamin, Abraham, Christian, Eva, and Isaac.
Thank you for all of my siblings, Daddy!

06/15/2013

Last night at around 10:00 I had one of those especially serendipitous moments where you suddenly, from out of absolutely nowhere, remember something very important.  I was on the computer, editing some photos when I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to be putting on a brunch for the ladies I visit teach this morning.  My visiting teaching companion had scheduled it, and had been reminding me periodically, but for some reason it dropped utterly off of my radar until last night.  Oh, my, it would have been so extremely embarrassing to have people knocking on my door at 9:30 this morning, to find no one here but Mosey and Brigham.  Ben was going to help with a move, and I was going to take Joseph to archery this morning.  So, I said a quick prayer of thanks for making me remember this, and scoured the refrigerator and pantry for food to make a brunch this morning.
As it was, two of the three ladies we visit teach bailed on us at the last minute, but it was still a nice brunch with just the three of us.  I made blueberry muffins and quiche, with strawberries and grapes and orange juice.  And the fact that 2 of the 3 couldn't make it meant that there were enough leftovers to feed my family afterward!
The rest of the day was spent doing yardwork and housework.  Ben took the boys to play tennis again, while Kandis and I finally got our grades done for seminary.  I took the boys to get some fathers' day presents, and afterward we had a barbecue in the backyard and then watched a couple of episodes of Lost. A pretty good day!

Here is Joseph mowing the lawn.  He did the whole thing himself today, and did a great job.  He was not excited about me taking a picture of him.  However, it seems to me like it should be a mother's right to take pictures of her children whenever she wants (within reason).  After all, I gave birth to you!  And I pretty much spend my life right now devoted to you.  So I'm not going to feel about about taking this picture or putting it on my blog. This is the record of my life-- what I will look back on years from now to bring back the best memories of my life.
Joseph, someday you will be a father and you will understand the breathtaking swiftness of your children's childhood.  I need these pictures as anchor points so I can look back and remember where I've come from.  To transport myself back, just for an instant, to this one moment in time.  You look like such a big boy to me here, but I know in a few years I will look at this picture and my heart will ache a little for that almost-12-year-old who right now is still a boy.  I need to remember you like this (scowling face, and all).  Pictures are the only things I get to keep of your childhood.

After all, it feels like only a couple of weekends ago that we were spending another Saturday afternoon mowing the lawn at another house of ours.  Only you were 2 years old.  You look almost as scowling in this picture as you do in the one above.  :-)  Do you remember that plastic play lawn mower that Brigham is holding?  We had two of them, and you and Brigham both liked to go out and "help" Dad mow the lawn on Saturday afternoons.  And look at that-- you and Brigham are holding tennis balls.  How is that for coincidences?  You spent that Saturday nine years ago doing exactly what you spent this Saturday doing-- mowing the lawn and playing tennis!

In another 9 years you will be a man, perhaps almost ready to come home from your mission.  Your childhood will be over, and all I will have left are photographs.
I love you and your brothers so much, it physically hurts sometimes.  You were all I ever wanted.  The hourglass of my time with you here with me in my home is more than half empty, and it is emptying faster and faster every day.  I'll never get these two year olds back, ever again.  And I'll never get this wonderful afternoon back, either.  So don't begrudge me my pictures, and I won't begrudge you growing up way too fast.  :-)

06/13/2013

Summer so far:
I'm mostly happy with the schedule my kids have got going.  I had started with everyone needing to finish their chores/practicing/schoolwork by 12:00, but was met with universal protests by the 3rd day.  So now they have to get all their stuff done before they get any screen time.  If that works, fine.  I just can't handle having practicing and schoolwork spread out through the whole day.  As of now, I think only one child has done his piano practicing, and it is 12:24, so I may say practicing all has to get done by 12:00, I don't know.
I'm also letting the boys practice by themselves.  This is really hard for me!  It's liberating not to be tied to the violin or piano or cello or flute for 3 hours a day, but also very hard for my control streak.   We'll see how that goes this summer.  Brigham was doing most of his practicing by himself before, so it's not so much a new thing for him.  I told the boys I reserve the right to yell out corrections from the other room, or come in and request that they play some part again, but that mostly they're on their own.
Yesterday my car refused to start and we were stranded at the piano teacher's house.  Wonderful.  My car had done this on Saturday night/Sunday morning as well, but then "fixed itself" by Monday morning.  Well, it was not fixed, apparently, and I was just glad we were somewhere safe where we could wait inside for Ben to come rescue us.  He ended up calling a mobile mechanic, which was awesome.  They were there within an hour and a half, and within 2 and a half hours, the problem was fixed!  We needed a new fuel pump, apparently.  I'm never again going to drop my car off at the mechanics and have them keep it hostage until they feel like getting around to it!
But it wasn't done on time for me to take Brigham to violin lessons, so he walked.  He didn't want to take his bike because he doesn't know where his bike lock is, and Joseph's bike lock is really hard to use, so he put his violin case on his back, his music bag over his shoulder, and walked through the blazing hot 90+ afternoon sun.  But it was done in time for me to go pick him up, and we stopped by Burger King to get him a frozen lemonade as a treat.  He told me he'd rather walk to violin 10 times and get a frozen lemonade, than be driven.  Hey, this kid must be mine-- highly motivated by treats.  :-)
I went to a Relief Society activity in the evening-- a swim party with the young women in the ward.  I actually did get in to "swim" (if you can call what I do swimming :-)), although most of the women did not.  It was fun and I'm glad I went, even though I really don't love those kinds of social scenes.  Too many people, and yet somehow not really anyone to talk to.  The dilemma of the introvert, I guess.  I did have a good conversation with one of the young women about good YA books I can look into for our road trip this summer, so that was something.
OK, here's a cute picture of Mosey in the pool yesterday.

06/10/2013

First full day of summer vacation.
It went pretty well, I think.
The deal I made with the boys is that if they finish their chores/practicing/schoolwork (we're doing just an hour's worth each day) by 12:00, they can have 1 hour of entertainment screen time and up to an hour of non-entertainment screen time (writing stories, designing buildings on Home Designer, composing music on MixCraft).  They were able to finish mostly by noon, with not too much whining.  Now I need to set up controls on the computers so that they can only stay on for an hour at a time.
We went swimming in the afternoon, and I got sunburned!  It's the first time I've gotten sunburned in more than 5 years.  I normally can't stay out in the sun long enough to burn.  We have 3 pool floats that the boys decided were ships.  I was on the U.S.S. Lazybones and the boys basically pushed and pulled me around the pool in the game they were playing.  It was so great lying there in the cool water, looking up at the trees and the blue sky.  But I got sunburned.
The boys are pretty creative in the pool.  The strung a long rope from the diving board to the railing by the step, using it as a barge line and barrier and whatever else they need it to be for their games.  And they rigged up a big bucket that they filled up with bricks and rocks and tied with a rope to the diving board.  One kid stands up on the diving board with the bucket, and another child is down in the water hanging onto the rope attached to the bucket.  Then the kid on the diving board drops the bucket of bricks down into the water, and it sinks "like a rock" to the bottom of the pool, dragging the kid hanging onto the rope along with it.  Apparently this is very fun for the boys, and they took turns sinking to the bottom over and over again.
I am loving the pool so far this summer!

Weekend report

We had a great weekend.  Friday was our last official day of school.  We crossed the finish line sort of gasping and staggering, but we crossed it.  :-)  It was also the last day of the boys' lego camp.  They ended up having a fun time-- their battle bot won!  I spent the rest of my kid-free hours over those days cleaning the house, going grocery shopping, and giving my friend a Photoshop tutoring session.  It was fun!  On Friday afternoon we went swimming with Natasha and Desiree to celebrate the last day of school, and then after taking them home, Joseph and I swung by Little Caesars to get pizza for the boys, and I drove as fast as I could down to the movie theater to see "Gatsby" with Ben.  We liked it!  I had serendipitously just finished listening to The Great Gatsby on audible, and that made the movie that much  more enjoyable to me.  The movie followed the plotline of the book very closely (except for the whole premise of Nick Carraway writing his memories as part of a psychological treatment regimen-- but it was an effective way to establish the narrative voice of the character, so I can forgive).  It was well cast and had a really interesting soundtrack that added a lot to the movie.
Saturday was a beautiful day.  We all did yardwork, Ben and I went to Red Barn and bought some plants to hopefully finish out the half-circle flower bed at the very front of our house.  Ben took a huge load of junk to the dump, since our area hasn't had any bulk pickup for 9 months-- what is going on??  And we got the rest of our moving boxes out of the carport, broken down, loaded into the van, and taken down to the recycling center downtown.
Around 6:00, Brigham and Mosey and I drove down to San Marcos to Texas State University where we had tickets to a live taping of "From the Top," one of my favorite NPR shows.  It was really fantastic.  The show will air on September 2.  There was a wonderful trio-- 13 year old pianist, 11 year old violinist, and 11 year old cellist, and I could almost see my boys up there!  :-)  There was also another piano duo, a 16 year old piano soloist-- such an impressive piece!! (Which I can't remember the name of now...), a 13 year old composer who wrote 3 vocal pieces with piano accompaniment-- also just so impressive, and great fun for Brigham, my budding composer, to hear, and a finale of 5 pianists playing an arrangement of John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever."  The program was heavy on the pianists since it was taking place during the international piano festival happening that week at the university.
Ben took Joseph to the Elders Quorum video game party, so my boys all got a good dose of "culture" that evening.  :-)
On Sunday we had the missionaries over for dinner.  We're getting sister missionaries in our ward this week, and the elders will be working only in the Cypress Creek ward, so that is a little sad-- I like my boys to see and know the elders in the area.  I was once again astonished at how much teenage/early adult boys/men can eat.  The two of them ate as much as the five of us put together.  But it won't be long before my boys will be there!  Mosey impressed them by giving the dinner prayer in German.  We had a good discussion about the Book of Mormon musical that is coming to Austin.  They will probably be going down to hand out Book of Mormons (Books of Mormon?) to people as they come out of the theater.  :-)
So, that was the weekend!

06/05/2013

Brigham and Mosey did a surprise dinner tonight.  This is my genius plan-- I am so, so sick of making dinners.  Sometimes I try to pass it off to Ben, but his solution is always to make peanut butter sandwiches or eat cereal.  So instead I asked the boys if they wanted to be in charge of a mystery dinner that they could plan for, shop, and prepare all themselves.  And they did it!  Joseph was finishing schoolwork, so Mosey and Brigham huddled in the playroom making their game plan.  Then I took them to the grocery store where I went around and did my normal shopping, and they went around and did theirs.  I gave them cash so I couldn't see what they were buying.  Then we went home, and the boys unloaded and put away ALL the groceries by THEMSELVES so that I wouldn't see what they purchased.  I lay on my bed for 20 minutes until they hollered for everyone to come and eat, and here is what we found:

The bought two different kinds of freshly baked bakery bread which they sliced themselves, roast beef, ham, cheese slices, sausage, pepperoni, and lettuce for sandwiches.  They had plates laid out nicely, and then an ice cream sundae bar on the other side of the island:  Oreos ("Double-stuffed, mom, they were the same price as the regular!"), cherries, strawberries, rasberries, skittles, Reeces Pieces, strawberry sauce, hot fudge sauce, and chocolate shell sauce.  Now that is quite a spread.
I happened to see their shopping list as I was cleaning up after dinner.  They told me as they were shopping they decided not to get a lot of things on their list, and I could see that was true.  Items for sandwiches they did not buy:  bacon, chicken, peppers, onions.  Items for ice cream bar they did not buy: sprinkles, cookie dough, yogurt, marshmallows, m&ms, jelly bellies, and "what's it called" cookies (I'll have to ask them about that one).  You can tell my kids take their desserts very seriously around here.
I think I'm going to make mystery dinners a regular occurrence around here!

06/04/2013

It feels like summer time is here, although we still have three more days of school.  We're trying to finish strong, though!
Last week was my last week of seminary for the year.  I'm excited for next year teaching the Book of Mormon, and I'm hoping to use the summer well to get ready for that.  I'm still trying hard to figure out a better place/time to meet.  I can't please everybody.  Some kids will always have something that conflicts with any time we choose, I guess.  But, the attendance in my class over the last month or so was really pathetic.  This calling is much too hard and time-consuming for it not to be of real value to these kids, and I just don't feel it happening at 6:15!  One morning last week I had Mosey come in and sit in on my class (he's always up playing on the computer, anyway).  If only my students were all as alert and attentive and eager to participate as my 9-year-old!  :-)
We had a nice weekend.  Friday night found me in bed at 8:30, recovering from my last week of seminary.  Even though our last day was supposed to mostly be a breakfast party, I still wanted to do something meaningful, so at the last minute I came up with a game-- guess the new Scripture Mastery verses (since they are changing this next year!).  So, between getting that ready, and making blueberry muffins, and the general cleaning up and chores that have to happen after the boys' bedtime, I was still up way too late, and then battled insomnia.  I won't miss that part of seminary this summer!
But on Saturday night, Brigham and Mosey and I went to the Austin Symphony's final concert of the season. I love going with these boys!  Ben is not a symphony kind of person, and so it is really awesome to have sons old enough to be appreciative dates for me.  :-)  It was such a great concert, too, with an incredible soloist playing Tchaikovsky's violin concerto.  It was thrilling and inspiring and such a fun thing to do with my boys.  I wish Joseph would have gone!  I really think he would like it, and I'm not sure why he didn't want to go.  But, he and Ben had a good night, going to Academy to buy some tennis rackets, and then going to play tennis at one of the country club courts.  I want the boys to go to a tennis camp for a couple of weeks this summer, because I think it is a great sport they might really like.
This week the boys have a Lego "Battle 'Bots" camp in the afternoons from 1:00-4:00.  This is the first time I have had 3 hours of kid-free time during the day in... I'm not sure.  Years?  Anyway, I spent my three hours yesterday folding laundry, and my three hours today researching curriculum for next year.  I have no life.  :-)
Joseph and Mosey and I went to the library late this afternoon after Joseph's flute lesson and we came home with a stack of books after renewing my card.  Summertime for me as a kid meant library books!  I walked to the library from our house on Chevy Chase and came home with 5-10 books every week, which I would systematically read through until it was time to take them back and come home with another 5-10 books the next week!  I remember sitting on my bed in my cool, dark bedroom, devouring book after book.  No computer games, no internet!  Those were the days.  :-)
I'm listening to an audio book right now that was written in 1992.  I was a sophomore in high school in 1992, which was a long time ago, but still doesn't seem that long ago.  But listening to this book makes me hyper-aware of the massive changes that have occurred in our society in the last 20 years because of technology.  Lots and lots of good, and lots and lots of bad.
Well, off to bed now.  After I go clean up the kitchen.