A Road Trip to Delaware

Spring finally came to Rhode Island last week.  Sunny.  Warm.  Beautiful!  And then it promptly went away and left a rainy, muddy mess.  Such is life in New England.

I have a few things I really want to tell you about!

First, I spent part of this past weekend in Delaware.  Without my family.  Shocking isn't it?  My husband kindly agreed to let me drive to Delaware with my friend Amy.  I've not been that far away from my family since Will was born almost 7 years ago.  This was HUGE!

Anyway, Friday morning Amy and I loaded up in her car and headed South to her parents' home.  Friday night and Saturday morning we attended a Fresh Grounded Faith Conference by Jennifer Rothschild and Kathy Troccoli.  It was just what I needed - the teaching, the conversations, and the time away.

I'm still processing and am sure I'll be writing more about the weekend in a few weeks.

The second thing I want to tell you is about this great blog I've been reading/ participating in since January.  Wendy Pope is a speaker with Proverbs 31 Ministries and writes/ vlogs at Experiencing the Real Meaning of Free.

Wendy is leading her readers through the Bible in one year (Chronological, NLT version).  Monday through Friday she posts a short teaching about that days reading and then those who've also read share their insights in the comments.

I am learning a lot and would love for you to join me.  It's never to late to jump into reading the Bible.

Today Wendy challenged us to use the time leading up to Easter for the "Joshua Challenge."  This comes from Joshua 3:5, "Purify yourselves for tomorrow the LORD will do great wonders among you."  In order to participate in this challenge I'm going to step away from the blog and Google Reader until Easter.

*** Edited to add:  I realized after this published that my reason for a bloggy vacation could be misunderstood.  By no means do I mean that blogs (writing or reading) are evil or something I need to "purify" myself from!  In this case purify just means to separate from.  Blogging takes up my time (mostly in the evenings) and for the next two weeks I want to use that time to pray, read books, and be with my family.  So I am "separating myself" from blogging.  I hope that's a little clearer.

So I'll talk to you again after Easter!

P.s. There's just over 5 weeks until my 5K race.  Please consider supporting me by sending a check to CompassionRun.com!  Thanks!!!

"Monet's Impressions" Book Review

Monet's Impressions, words and pictures by Claude Monet.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Chronicle Books, 2009.

I stumbled across this book at my local library.  It was laying out on a table in the children's section, abandoned and waiting to be re-shelved.  I have a fondness for Impressionist painting so I dropped it in our book bag and brought it home.

I'm so glad I did!!

The editors brought together some of Monet's famous paintings with text "taken form Monet's letters to family and friends and from articles in which he was quoted."  It makes for a poetic pairing as you see a picture on one page and sparse phrases on the facing page.

At the end of the book are thumbnails of the paintings, their titles, when and where they were painted and which museum owns them. 

This book is a GREAT way to introduce children to art, painting, Monet, or Impressionism.  And it's not heavy or awkward like a coffee table book.  It's just a simple children's picture book.

Do you have any art book recommendations?

Talk like a Chipmunk on Family Fun Friday

My family speaks a private language.  It's not like pig latin or anything formal.  In fact, I'm sure YOUR family has a private language, too.  You know, those words, phrases and jokes that only family members really understand.

A number of songs, movies and books have influenced our language.  VeggieTales ("Stand up, stand up for what you believe in, believe in).  The Chronicles of Narnia (Who's the real High King?  Jesus).  And The Chipmunks ("Mamas, don't let your babies grow-up to be chipmunks.").

Yes, I said The Chipmunks.  I'm NOT referring to the furry creatures that play in the woods.  I'm talking about Alvin, Simon, Theodore (singing their theme song now?).

I grew up watching the animated t.v. show so when Joel brought home a music c.d. and the live action movie from the library I just laughed.  I knew the Chipmunks would become a part of our family language.  And so they have.

Which is why my kids loved it when Joel downloaded an open source (FREE) audio recording and editing software (Audacity).  They had a ball recording themselves (using the built-in microphone on my laptop) and then listening to the chipmunk version.

It was so much fun I've decided to share a few of our recordings with you.  Just click on the recording below you want to listen to.  I suggest you start with Ben Normal Voice, then Chipmunk Ben and finally Ben Deep Voice. 







I highly recommend playing with audio (or video) software.  Maybe record some of your own family language.  It could be fun to email a family joke or phrase to daddy while he's at work.  Or listen to the recordings years from now after Thanksgiving dinner.  

Has your family played with audio recording and editing software? 

Family Fun Friday is a weekly column.  Please join me by leaving a link in the comments to your own Family Fun Friday posts.