Our Graduate!!!!

Adrian officially graduated yesterday with his masters degree in computer science from Johns Hopkins University!! We are so proud of him! It has been 3 1/2 years of classes (a few that were REALLY hard) and homework all the while balancing family, work, church callings and everything else. He did a fantastic job!! Adrian you are awesome!! Congratulations!!His commencement ceremony last night was a very crazy and memorable event. It took place at the university's campus on Homewood Field (outside, with no kind of covering) and yes it rained!! And rained!! At 6pm it was just beginning to drizzle when Adrian went to check in and I went with our 3 kids to sit in the audience seats on field, but then about 10 minutes later there was a full on down-pour. A very sweet older couple sitting in front of me and kids gave us an umbrella (we didn't pack one because it sounded like the commencement would be held inside the field house if it rained, but we were very wrong). So we sat in the pouring rain under an umbrella for a few minutes and then because it was coming down so hard I took the kids and headed for the area under the bleachers where lots of other people were running too. It was very comical really all the friends and families of the graduates huddled together under the bleachers. The sad part was really that we weren't dressed at all for the rain. The girls both had on sweaters over their dresses and Ben had on a light fleece, but what we really needed was sweatshirts and rain-coats... I was feeling so bad for not preparing better. I had our activity bag or "commencement survival kit" stuffed with snacks, toys, quiz books for Sophie, and coloring/sticker books for Ben and Nina, but I hadn't brought any warm clothes or umbrellas.

(Us before the down-pour:))

Well we hung out in the area under the bleachers for about 45 minutes during which time I entertained the kids with lots of toys and snacks from our survival kit and they were really well behaved ( an answer to many prayers). I tell you, the tubes of little pirate and knight figures that I bought at JoAnns worked wonders for Ben and Nina. They played happily with those for a long time while Sophie worked on her Hannah Montana quiz book. Adrian called me on my cell phone to let me know that they were still planning on having the commencement ceremony and that the powers that be suspected the storm to pass in another 15 minutes. That was kind of hard news because I was still hoping that they would decide to hold the ceremony in the field house so we could all warm up... I looked out from under the bleachers and realized that all the seats were filling up with people sitting with umbrellas and since it was just drizzling again I ventured out with the kids to sit out on the field again. We found a spot much further back than our previous seats, but after using Nina's taggie blanket much to her chagrin to wipe off all the seats we were fine and there were big screens set up projecting the stage. Another man behind us took pity and gave us an umbrella so we all huddled together under one umbrella and all the graduates started walking out onto the field. As soon as the second speaker started speaking it did stop raining all together and the sun came out so we did get a little warmer. The kids again did great (with Dum Dum lollipops being consumed at an incredible rate) and before we knew it the graduates started walking across the stage. I saw Adrian lining up and got a few pictures of him in line. Then when he walked across the stage the kids and I yelled "Yay!!" as loud as we could and I took a picture of him projected on the big screen (I couldn't seem to get my camera to zoom in and take a picture of him actually shaking hands with the Dean so I guess we might be buying one of those "commencement photos" from the professional photographer there). It was such an amazing moment and I'm so glad we were there to share it with him and cheer him on. He worked so hard for that chance to walk across the stage and have his name read as a graduate with a masters degree!After most of the graduates had walked the kids and I headed to the field house. Nina's teeth were actually beginning to chatter and Sophie had written "I am very cold" on her magna-doodle a couple of times so I thought we should go indoors to get warm. I called Adrian on his cell to congratulate him and let him know where we would be and he joined us after the final commencement address about 20 minutes later. It was such a neat night and even though we got rained on and were cold we were so glad we could all go and celebrate this very special event together!! Congratulations to our graduate!!

Dishing at Let's Dish

About a week and a half ago I went to a wonderful place called Let's Dish and it was fantastic!! This is one of those places like My Girlfriends Kitchen and others like that were you go and put together freezer meals at a store. Honestly, I can't believe it took me so long to try it out because I love freezer meals and it made making freezer meals so easy!! I went with a friend and we shared a 12 meal package (so we each got 6 meals). I thought it was reasonably prices when you consider all the time it saved just going and dishing up the meals there rather then spending hours making freezer meals at home. So these are the meals I made:

- Chili Lime Marinated Pork Chops with Black Bean Salsa (we just had that tonight and it was yummy)

- Skewerless Chicken Satay and Cous Cous

- Pulled Pork (yes this is the pulled pork that Adrian mentioned in his mothers day post, so I'm coming clean and grudgingly giving credit to Let's Dish - hey I did put the freezer meal together though and everything so I can still say I cooked it right? ;))

- Calzones (these really didn't turn out very great, so I won't be getting them again - the calzone dough was almost rubbery after baking)

- Thai Marinated Flank Steak

- Apricot Chicken Tenders and Brown Rice

Don't those all sound yummy! We still haven't had the steak, apricot chicken, or chicken satay but so far I've been really happy. The calzones weren't great, but I'm not a huge fan of calzones in the first place (the kids liked them). Adrian said to me as I was leaving to go the Let's Dish, "Hey,this is like going to mecca for you isn't it?!" and I have to now say oh yes it was!! There is just something so satisfying about all the measuring and scooping and zipping up freezer bags!! I know I'm weird! I also love the feeling of having my freezer all full and my new 20 meal menu all planned out. A few days after my Let's Dish session I also made a few of our favorite freezer meals to top off the freezer (2 lazy lasagnas and 2 chicken tetrazzini). So I really enjoyed the whole dishing experience and I'm sure I'll be back to my freezer meal mecca again!

A Dirty Job

Today I did some cleaning that quite frankly I've been avoiding for quite a while. I scrubbed down my fridge and cleaned all the windows and window sills in the house, including the tracks of the sliding glass doors. Both the fridge and the windows were so bad and I just couldn't stand it any longer... So while Nina was taking her afternoon nap and Ben was having quiet time I donned my stylish Ikea lime green cleaning gloves and set to work. And can I just say the tracks of the sliding glass door were so darn gross!! ICK! The gunk I cleaned out of there reminded me of episodes of "How Clean is Your House"!! Have you ever watched that show?? Here's a link to a snippet on youtube. All the time that I was scrubbing with my bucket of hot soapy water I kept hearing in my head the voice of Kim from "How Clean is Your House" saying, "I can't believe you've let these windows get so filthy Jenni!!" As you can see it might be a good idea for me to lay-off the reality TV shows if I reenact them in my head! Well, in this case though at least a favorite reality TV show was egging me on to clean my house and not sing Neil Diamond songs horribly out of key (that was American Idol a few weeks ago)!:)

Mother's Day

My mothers day was really great! Not only did Adrian write that really sweet post for me (aww thanks Babe!), but he also pampered me all day long yesterday and on Saturday. On Saturday we went out to Olive Garden as a family (everyone loves the food there, even Nina). I got my favorite portobello ravioli and the kids couldn't get enough of their breadsticks. Then yesterday Adrian took care of all meals and even tidied up the house and did laundry. In the morning the kids brought me a bowl of Special K in bed (my favorite breakfast) and Adrian got the kids ready for church pretty much all on his own. I did help out with Nina's hair, but other than that Adrian did it all. At church there were really wonderful non-guilt inspiring talks and then after church I got to take a lovely nap while Adrian made an AWESOME dinner!! He made herb roasted pork tenderloin, Moroccan fingerling potatoes, and roasted asparagus. Oh it was SO good!! And Adrian came up with the menu and went shopping for all the ingredients completely on his own (and a bit secretively:)). It was one of the best home-made dinners I've ever had and I told him he completely ruined his "I can't cook" facade!! Thank you so much Adrian!! I am a lucky girl! And thank you to my very sweet children who made me cards, presents, and even tried hard to be quiet during my nap. I think yesterday is one of those days I'd like to sign up for the "groundhog day" treatment - I'd be happy to relive it over and over!:)

Our Jenni

One of the benefits of helping Jenni with her computer issues is that I happen to know her blogging password. So I am going to take advantage of that to share with the Internet world of what a wonderful person she is.

Jenni is a good driver. This may sound like an odd thing to start out with, but in running our errands today, we had two near misses that would have easily wrecked our car and caused everyone in the car physical damage. It may sound cliche, but her alert and safe driving is a sign of love to me and each of our children.

Jenni loves our children. There are a number of funny instances that happened today, however, they're the kind of stories that could be used for blackmail when our children are between the ages of 13 to oh, say the age of 60. Used improperly, they would definitely ruin someone's chances of getting a job. I am beginning to recognize that I am somewhat short sighted when it comes to these issues, and would have immediately posted the story, however, in our children's best interest, Jenni pointed out the potential consequences of sharing the story. I'm planning on our kids supporting us in our old age, so they need the best jobs they can. So I guess the really good stories will have to stay within the family.

Jenni is an awesome chef. I have the good fortune of being able to take left-overs for lunch. I usually don't keep track of how many people covet my food. But in the last two weeks I've had 3 times strangers casually tell me that my food smelled good as it was being reheated, 5 team-mates complimenting me on what good food I have, and even once, a coworker warned me not to leave my food out of sight because it looked so appealing. It's true, I have really good lunches, I like my left overs better than what most people get as they go out. Not only is it healthier (not to have fast food), but checkout some of what I've had recently:

• pulled pork sandwiches
• swedish meatballs
• pot roast
• and to top it off, home made ice cream

The home made ice cream was just a side, although that day I have to admit, I don't think I came out ahead with regard to making healthy food choices :)

Jenni is a great mother. Every child has his or her own issues and has their own special needs. Jenni gives each of our children the love and nurturing they need. She is their advocate. She has endured insolent pencil pushers and administrators, as she recognized before any doctors that Benjamin had torticollis and that Nina needed speech therapy. Her care and attention caught the torticollis early and minimized any long term development delays. We have similar story with Nina's speech therapy. Jenni is actively engaged in taking care of our children, not just changing diapers, which she does, but she is also looking out for them in every other dimension of their lives.

Jenni is self sacrificing. If any of you don't know by now one of Jenni's favorite bands is "The Cure". She absolutely loves Robert Smith. Jenni also loves going to concerts. Now, I've been to a total of one concert in my life, so you can imagine that I'm not really into the goings on of the concert scene. So I was driving home from class on Tuesday, when on the radio they announced that The Cure was having a concert on Friday. Wow! So I immediately call Jenni and tell her the news. She was SO excited. After I got home we looked into what it would take, and with the short notice for babysitters, and the fact that Nina is having some breathing issues, she suggested that it wouldn't work out. Now I know how much Jenni loves "The Cure", so I look to see where else they are touring, perhaps we can catch them at a different city. As luck would have it, they will be in a neighboring city while we are on vacation -- just over an hour away from where we will be staying (actually closer there, than where they were this past Friday). So I was all excited -- what better activity could you do than go to a concert on your vacation. Jenni, thinking of the kids first, and that we'd have to cut some of the kid's activities that day short, passed on going to the concert.

I am so lucky to have found Jenni and to have hood-winked her into marrying me. Happy Mothers Day.

Like Father Like Daughter

First off this is Adrian ... lest anyone be confused.

Last week I spent a lot of time finishing up my paper for my algorithmics class. The title of my paper was "Simulated Annealing Attacks on Stream Ciphers". As you might guess by the title, it's kind of a specialized subject. The only times that I've talked to Jenni about it are a few times when she's had trouble going to sleep she asked me to tell her about my paper so that she would be able to go to sleep. Sadly enough, it appeared to work.

With that in mind, I was pretty sure that I hadn't talked about it to any of our kids. Now I am not a cryptologist, nor would I say I know any cryptologists professionally, or even personally. But like most computer geeks out there I like solving puzzles, and Sophie even has a cryptologist t-shirt that we got at a local museum. Which maybe explains where she got the idea. I just found it a coincidence that she turned this in the same week I turned in my paper. Note, the words in bold are her spelling words.

Codes

One Day Jake looked at his mail. He got a card from his dad saying hi and a few letters from some of the cryptologists. They wanted him to be their guest and break codes with them for a day and see what it's like being a cryptologist. A day later he wrote back saying he would like being a cryptologist. Jake was very good. He broke the city code. Nobody could break it there. Before long he became the best in the U. S.. Next he wrote a guide for people who wanted to break codes. When he turned forty he became the leader. THE END

Another Twilight Movie Update (for all you Fanpires out there!!)

I've heard there are a lot more names circulating out there for Twilight-lovers like myself - it's not just Twi-hards anymore. I guess "Twilighters" came in as #1 on a MTV poll, but I've actually started to wonder if I should call myself a Fanpire rather than a Twi-hard. It seems more personal and broader than "Twi-hard", since I am a fan of lovely vampire lit in general. Hmmm... Yes, Fanpire has a nice ring to it! ;)

Anywho, here's another LINK to a real trailer (as opposed to the many fan-made trailers on youtube) from the Twilight movie. I think it looks awesome! Really really cool! Though I am beginning to get a little worried about losing the Edward from my head when I see this movie and I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing yet. I think Cedric Diggory (aka Robert Pattinson) is spot on as far as appearance (and I know a lot of people disagree with that, but I like him), it's just that it seems like he talks a lot slower and more controlled than my mind's Edward does. It might all work and be wonderful, but right now I'm a tad worried that he's fighting his British accent and he's going to sound a bit off to me. Again, it might work out and make him sound more turn of the century. I guess we'll see. I do think the last scene with them flying out the window looks RAD even though it's not in the book. What do you guys think of it??

Oh and I just ordered The Host from Amazon (happy mother's day to me:)) and I'll post a review of it as soon as I read it... I really do wonder if Meyers will be able to pull off another great story in sci-fi or if it's going to be horrible - I am anxious to see!

A Ben Funny

I just had to post this...

Ben just told me in his completely serious voice, "You know what Mommy, last night Sophie hurt my feelings and breaked my heart."

I stifled a laugh and said, "Oh no, how did she do that Ben?"

Sophie interjected here (obviously aware of the incident) and said, "I raced up the stairs faster than Ben last night."

Ben: "Yeah, she did, but I hugged my bear. Hugging bears helps fix my heart all better."

At that I just had to giggle and tell him I'm so glad that hugging his bear makes him feel better. And I thought my girls would be the most dramatic!!:)

The Book Thief and a related flashback

My Review
In the last couple days I read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak for my book club which met last night. We had a really good discussion and I thought I'd share some of my thoughts (gosh I need to get better about not starting every post like an English essay - sorry). It is set during the early 1940's in Nazi Germany and the narrator is Death. Doesn't sound like a very chipper read does it. And really it's not at all chipper, more haunting and awful in it's subject matter, but there are really humorous parts and lots of gritty but digestible honesty. I think that's what made it readable for me. What's weird is that Death is the source of most of the comic relief and it's the humor makes the book odd and refreshing at the same time. I have to share my favorite funny part (this is Death the narrator talking about a book burning):

"Many jocular comments followed, as did another onslaught of 'heil Hitlering.' You know, it actually makes me wonder if anyone ever lost an eye or injured a hand or wrist with all of that. You'd only need to be facing the wrong way at the wrong time or stand marginally too close to another person. Perhaps people did get injured. Personally, I can only tell you that no one died from it, or at least, not physically. There was of course the matter of forty million people I picked up by the time the whole thing was finished, but that's getting all metaphoric."

Isn't that clever and witty? Also, I've never read a book with the kind of imagery that this one has. Most of the time I found it very poignant and beautiful, but I would be lying if I didn't say the author lost me frequently. As I was driving to my friend's house for the book club discussion last night I heard a Duran Duran song on the radio and it made me laugh because that's how this book was for me at times - like Duran Duran lyrics!! You're following, following, following, and then "wow, what did that just say?" happens... Just listen to Come Undone and you'll know what I mean... Every time the author lost me though I didn't feel too bad about it, because it kind of added to the feeling that Death was struggling to put in to words how he felt. Zusak did a good job of making Death feel other-worldly and wise, but strangely charming too. You felt how tired, how incredibly weary Death was during the war and the atrocities that happened. You felt his confusion in how humans could do these things to each other and you felt his compassion as he carried only the children in his arms... My goodness it was touching in some parts. Oh and the ending of the book made me cry (and cry). So there you have it. I really liked this book and highly recommend it.

A Flashback
Here's the flashback segment of my post today: During my reading of The Book Thief I've been thinking about the time I visited the former Dachau concentration camp as a teenager (this was when I back-packed Europe for 5 weeks when I was 17). The book describes prisoners of Dachau being marched through the town while the residents looking on have various reactions to the parades. It was strange because when I was there at Dachau I almost couldn't take in the sadness that I felt - it was palpable. I guess just standing there on the ground of a real concentration camp struck me... Standing there, seeing the tall barbed wire fences that held the innocent Jews captive in that place made it undeniable. The pictures that I saw in the museum at Dachau still haunt me, especially one in particular of a dead Jewish man slumped over in a chair after being tortured to death in a medical experiment. The photograph of a dead person was horrible to see, but what made it more horrible was the fact that someone so clinically snapped a photograph and wrote down notes after the man - a fellow human being - was murdered. That was really hard to take in. You have to think that the people had compassion drilled out of them to be able to do those things to other people or that they had "the furher in them" as Markus Zusak might say. I had no idea before I went to that concentration camp how deeply I would feel the sadness. But now I don't think you can go there or to any place like that and not feel it. In my journal I wrote:

"Yesterday we went to Dachau, the concentration camp near Munich. It was sad... They had a museum in part of it with a lot of pictures - depressing pictures of all the torture and of the bodies. It was so very depressing. I really can't even say how sad I felt. I know one thing though, I will teach my children to love everyone - as people, regardless of race or religion or anything else. That can't happen again."

I think it's interesting that I went on for pages and pages in my little travel journal about the Sistine Chapel and Stone Henge, but I only wrote a tiny snippet about Dachau - I guess it just felt there weren't words to describe how awful the things that happened there were. It was a sobering experience. I am glad that as a teenager I vowed in that place to teach my children to love others and I so hope I will be able to succeed in that.