Hola

I am barely getting school work done, let alone finding time to blog about anything. So sorry these posts are few and far between.

Malachi wanted a "Robin Cake" for his birthday. Not the bird. And not Batman. Just Robin. So that was interesting. I had to ponder that one for awhile. I finally decided to just make a round cake and have it look like Robin's face. 

He was happy with it.

We also had a "milk bar" where everyone got a choice of chocolate milk, pink milk, or white milk. That was a big hit with both boys.

He, of course enjoyed opening his presents.

Those pictures just cracks me up.

In other news, the boys are both in swimming lessons right now and will be through March. They are doing really well and they like it. 

Matt has been busy at work because he is chairing the search committee for a new professor to replace someone who is retiring. We are both hoping that the process is almost over, but it's hard to get people in that department to agree on anything.

My semester is already busy. Each professor is assigning about 300 pages of reading a week and I have three classes. Then I have to also find time to get my research going, which isn't going anywhere fast, unfortunately. 


At Gabe's school, they have Spirit Days sprinkled throughout the year rather than a whole week. So last Friday was Dress Like a Rock Star Day. I thought he was quite handsome. :)

And then here are pictures of Christmas:

Gabe was a Star Boy for St. Lucia at church. The Star Boys help St. Lucia pass out treats and also offer everyone a star for Jesus (representing his light).

It was cute, good food and Gabe had a huge crush on our Lucia. :)

Season's Greetings!

Sorry the Christmas greetings and letter are coming via the internet. I do enjoy sending cards through the mail, but time just got away from me this year. I made the newsletter and was sure to include lots of photos of the boys, but then I realized it was impossible to get them mailed in time! 

If you want a full size document, click here for access in GoogleDocs.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Excited Exclamations

Matt sometimes says, "Holy Mackerel," or "Holy Majolie." So now, when Chi is excited he exclaims, "Holy Mackerolie!" Just needed to share that.

Time for the BIG Talk

No, not that one. The one about "is Santa real?" I have to admit, I'm surprised it lasted this long considering how observant Gabe is. I suspect he just didn't want to give it up. And it's not just that he suspects maybe. He knows Santa and I have the same handwriting. The jig is up. He knows. I know some people get sad about this moment. One only needs to troll the internet to see the amazing contortions people go through to keep convincing their children to believe in Santa. But, I'm not sad. I'm glad that Gabe gets to be in on the secret. 

A few months ago, I saw this post about when the time comes to explain Santa. It was really good, so I am "borrowing" it. Meaning ripping it off mostly with just a few tweaks. 

Dear Gabe,
You wanted to know, “Are you Santa?”
 
I know you’ve wanted the answer to this question for a long time, and I’ve had to give it careful thought to know just what to say.
 
The answer is no. I am not Santa. There is no one Santa.
 
I am the person who fills your stockings with presents, though. I also choose and wrap the presents under the tree, the same way my mom and dad did for me, and the same way their moms and dads did for them.
 
I imagine you will someday do this for your children, and I know you will love seeing them run down the stairs on Christmas morning. You will love seeing them sit under the tree, their small faces lit with Christmas lights.
This won’t make you Santa, though.

Santa is bigger than any person, and his work has gone on longer than any of us have lived. What he does is simple, but it is powerful. He teaches children how to have belief in something they can’t see or touch. He teaches us all about generosity and love.
 
It’s a big job, and it’s an important one. Throughout your life, you will need this capacity to believe: in yourself, in your friends, in your talents and in your family. You’ll also need to believe in things you can’t measure or even hold in your hand. Of course, I am talking about love, that great power that will light your life from the inside out, even during its darkest, coldest moments.
 
Santa is a teacher, and I have been his student, and now you know the secret of how he gets down all those chimneys on Christmas Eve: he has help from all the people whose hearts he’s filled with joy. We all get to learn about the great joy that is giving, and we realize that Christmas always was about giving and not the getting.
 
With full hearts, people like Daddy and me take our turns helping Santa do a job that would otherwise be impossible.
 
So, no. I am not Santa. Santa is love and magic and hope and happiness. I’m on his team, and now you are, too.
 
I love you and I always will.
Mom
 

Halloween

Ugh. I've been so busy, I haven't posted much. Sorry. For Halloween Gabe went as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Chi went as Darth Maul. They had fun. Thankfully, it was beautiful weather and so we didn't have to bundle up.

Matt and I are rushing through our end of semester work. It's going to go by way too fast. Matt also has a conference the weekend before Thanksgiving, so we are just going to be done with things before we know it. I guess I am saying, don't expect a lot of updates right now. :)

I'm afraid I've been thinking, a dangerous pastime, I know.

I've learned a lot in my classes. Much of what I've learned is a lot of what politicians and "pastors" are spouting is pretty much plagiarized from the Cold War era. I mean, they aren't even really trying to put a spin on it. Crazy.

My most eye opening class has been African Colonialism. In this class (and the others) Karl Marx keeps coming back up. In historiography, my professor pointed out that we are all Marxists to some degree because our society has been impregnated by the ideas for so long. That was interesting. Something to think about. But it was my Colonialism class that really made me understand how Marx is still relevant today (and not necessarily in a good way). I had to write an essay about cultural hegemony. What does that mean? Cultural hegemony is a Marxist concept that Gramsci elaborate which is that a culturally diverse society can be dominated by a one social class. To accomplish this they manipulate the societal culture (beliefs, perceptions, values) so that this ruling class worldview is imposed as the societal norm. This worldview is held as universally valid (status quo) and beneficial to all of society, even though it only benefits the ruling class in reality. 

It's crazy to me that people claim to not understand what Occupy Wall Street is really about. This cultural hegemony is what it is about. It's not anti-capitalist, it's not class warfare (at least not begun from the bottom up), it's not just some bored loonies. It's rejecting this cultural hegemony. The values of the 1% are not beneficial to all and Occupy is rejecting that hegemony and is calling for balance. Shouldn't we all be?  I don't know about you, but I'm not really excited about the idea of a revolution. But we are walking down this path, just a bit later than Marx would have thought. I hope that we can stop pretending we aren't comprehending the 99% movement and we can strive to bring balance back. Balance of earnings, balance of the greatness that occurs when government and public enterprise work appropriately together. I'm not looking forward to Marx saying, "Told you so."

First days and other happenings.

Chi has been enjoying preschool. He wishes he could go more than two days a week. I like the teachers. The kids are almost all younger than Chi (most of them either just turned three in the summer or right at the beginning of the school year). So, the socializing aspect of preschool isn't taking off like gangbusters, but I'm sure it will be better by mid-year.

Gabe is doing so much better this year. His teacher is a much better match. She is challenging him and he went from saying he didn't like math much last year to saying it is his favorite subject.

I realize these are sideways. I thought they were rotated, but they aren't and now I'm being lazy.

We went to Johnson's Giant Pumpkins again this year. The boys were overjoyed to watch the pumpkin launching. We just went because we needed something to do, but we have plans to take Matt's parents, Grandma White, Mike, Kathy and their kids later this month. Gabe and Chi are so excited to show them everything. I guess the nice thing is that since they change some things each year, we've scoped it out and know where things are located. Streamline the fun - or something like that.

Matt is doing research with a couple of students and he's nervous about getting results that will finally get him grants, but he's trying to just enjoy working on it. School is going well for me, but it's busy. It's a struggle to stay on top of everything. I like it though and had a very encouraging day yesterday.