Halloween

We have Halloweened and are now hiding out in the darkened house with the door locked.  Jordan wore his costume to school today.  No glasses, because "that would look dumb."  Here is the ninja with his super stylish friend Audrey.  Audrey is a pirate (her hat is in her bag), but she looks ready for the runway to me.  

Sydney is a werewolf.  I told her she was not very scary, and she said, "Well if you could see under my coat, you would know that I am covered in brown fur."

I love how Marieke's lunchbox matches her costume.

Theo is an owl; he didn't have his mask on when I ran into him.

I grabbed a picture of the ninja team on the way out for trick-or-treating.  Dale is the ninja master.  We had a fine time out on the town.  Aaron had to go back to the ninja fortress early, due to things like fog machines and creepy hands in the candy bowls, but a few M&Ms cheered him right up.

Bubble Q&A

Jordan and Aaron are in the bathtub having bubble-question-and-answer.  One of them asks a question under water, by blowing bubbles, then asks it again out of the water.

A: How do you get a house?
J: It costs lots of money so it costs all the money that you can do.
A: How do you get bricks?
J: You make them out of rock.
A: How do you get your ear balls?
J: There’s no such thing as ear balls.
A: It’s your eyeballs and ears mixed together.  That makes earballs.  How do you get your neck?
J: It’s made out of bones and skin and you can move it around like a wiggly bobble.  You don’t actually move your head, Aaron, you move your neck, did you know that?  ...What’s a cheetah?
A: It’s an animal.
J: That’s not what I’m talking about.  I’m talking about what is it made of.
A: Fur.
J: How can it be made of fur it couldn’t even run.  It would just be a furball.  It would blow away.

I wish I could have transcribed the more ridiculous parts of the conversation, in which they were cracking each other up with their absurd bathroom humor.  Perhaps another day.

Siri

Yes, I got an iPhone 4S, and it's wonderful in all kinds of little ways.  But the big way is Siri.  Wow.  Yesterday evening I looked at my children and thought hmm, they need haircuts.  Pulled my phone out of my pocket and said "Remind me to call Kids Club in the morning."  Siri said, "What time would you like me to remind you?"  I said 9am.  She created a reminder and said, "Is this right?"  It was.  At 9am, of course I had forgotten all about it and Siri reminded me.  I picked up my phone and said, "Call Kids Club."  She did.  I discussed the haircuts with them, made an appointment, hung up, said "Make an appointment for haircuts tomorrow at 4pm."  She said, "Here is your appointment.  Were you aware that you have two other appointments at that time?"  Wow.  (They were nothing, but they were on my calendar.)

I said, "Remind me to bring Aaron's snacks to school on Monday morning at 8:30."  She created the reminder, and then I realized that 8:30 was too late, so I said, "Change that to 8am."  Done.  I was cooking and said, "Set the timer for fifteen minutes."  Done.  I asked her, "Is there traffic on I-5?" and she said, "Here's the traffic," and opened the Map app to I-5 near my location.  She can remind me to do something when I arrive at a certain location, or leave a location -- as in, remind me to sign that permission slip when I get to Aaron's school, or get gas when I leave work.

I asked her, "What's the tallest building in the world?"  and she gave me an extraordinary, glamorous WolframAlpha answer, with the pertinent information right up top and everything else I might possibly be wondering about that building or various other tall buildings in a beautiful, accessible layout.  

She doesn't hear perfectly; in the car with the radio on and the kids yammering in the back, I wasn't getting anywhere.  But most of the time she hears just what I said and responds with astonishing helpfulness.  I think the whole system is actually better than advertised.  

What is a grad student?

At dinner, Dale and I were talking about a grad student in his lab, and Jordan asked what a grad student is.

R: A grad student is someone who has finished high school, and finished college, and decides they want to do more special research.
J: I bet you have to pay a lot of money to be a grad student.
D: Actually, the hard part is to get a school to let you in.  Once they decide that you can be a grad student, they usually help you get a job at the school, and do other things so that it is paid for.
R: To get the school to let you in, you have to show that you know a lot, and that you know how to work very hard.
A: I don't think I could be a grad student.
R: Why not?
A: Because I know a lot, but I don't know how to work very hard.

Sukkah building

We had wonderful weather for sukkah-building yesterday.  Let's just hope we get some favorable weather for Sukkot itself!  We've always done our best to include the boys in the construction; this year, they were actually genuinely helpful.  Possibly they did more work than I did.  Here they are lugging the boards out of the carport.

There are a lot of screws to put in.  The boys' job was to get all the screws started in their holes (which are still there from last year); they would put each screw in a turn or two, and Dale would follow up with the electric drill.  Their help made this stage go a lot faster.  At first, Aaron did not recognize that the screws need to go in predetermined places:

Jordan was a wonderful teacher.  Here he is demonstrating what to do.

Then he held the screw and let Aaron turn the screwdriver.

After that they set to work independently.

Part of the job was to fetch the proper size screws.  There were small, medium, and large ones, and this part of the job required the medium ones.

Jordan had the bright idea to fetch everyone a glass of water, just as Dale was realizing he was thirsty.

Once the frame had been raised, they brought Dale the screws he needed for the roof beams.

The roof beams require the small screws.

Here's the complete structure.  It's not a sukkah until it has a roof made of natural materials, dense enough to be shady but loose enough to see the stars.  The holiday doesn't start until Wednesday, and it's raining a lot this week, so we haven't done the foliage part yet.  Meanwhile, it makes an entertaining soccer goal.

Love and loss

Aaron woke up today looking teary.  He had had a bad dream, he said, about his friends being trapped in quicksand.  His love and sadness was so transparent it made me feel sad for everyone I have ever lost, from my mother to Steve Jobs.  I asked him who the friends were that had been trapped, and he said, "It was Emanuel," starting to cry all over again.  "He is my best, best, best friend."  We talked about how there is no quicksand and Emanuel is safe.  I asked if there was anyone else besides Emanuel.  He said "There was Clementine," looking worried again.  We reminded him that Clementine and Emanuel are safe and he would see them at school today.  Dale said, "There is a sweetness to your dream, too, because it means that you care about them a lot."  Aaron said, "I care about them so, so, so, so much," and tears leaked onto his cheeks.

Here are the three of them at Clementine's birthday party this weekend.