SUFJAN!

I still haven't quite formulated the words to convey what I thought of the Sufjan Stevens concert. Our friend, Stanford, expresses many of my thoughts and feelings. Check out his post. I particularly like his points on "‘Christian’ makes a great noun but a horrible adjective" and "John Wayne Gacy".

The term genius is often bandied about when critics discuss Sufjan. My knowledge of most art forms, including music, is limited enough that I can't really comment on whether or not the term is correct in regards to Sufjan. What I do know is that there have been only a handful of occasions when a sculpture, a dance and, in this case, a concert have moved me to tears.

There was something almost transcendent in the beauty. It was so human and so cosmic all at the same time. I kept thinking to myself, "I can't believe I am here witnessing this..."

The fact I could go with Tyler during harvest, with some of our best friends, made the experience that much sweeter.

Wordless Wednesday

Spot the Redheads

This is a game called "Spot the Redheads" known more commonly as soccer.

Here's what the two star players look like, now see if you can find them in the following photos:


This is a two for one.



BiggiE earned himself the name "Kamikaze" over the season. One dad made a count and BiggiE was down 19 times during one practice. He has no fear and will take on the biggiest opposing players... Now if we could just get him to stay on his feet.


In this photo the super blonde on the other team running behind BiggiE actually has the same name. Two BiggiEs, who would have thought? No, his name is not BiggiE, but BiggiE's real name. Both boys were a little confused with opposite sidelines shouting their rare name. It was fun to overhear their little chat on the field when they introduced themselves.


Moose started off the season showing a natural understanding of defense and as his ball handling skills improved he became a force on offense.

Moose has been playing a lot of soccer during recess at school. Playing with the 2nd graders has really pushed him improvement. His coach said he hopes Moose sticks with soccer because he has a lot of potential.


It was a fun way to begin soccer to have the boys on the same team. Next year we'll have double practices and double games. Oy vey!

We're so proud of our Monkeys!

A Praise Song for Boys

I wrote a praise song applicable to the boys. (A version of Lord, You Are More Precious Than Silver)

Lord, You are more precious than Legos
Lord, Transformers aren't better than You
Lord, You are more awesome than Stars Wars
And nothing I desire compares with You

The boys weren't that impressed with it -- maybe it hit too close to home. Of course it is easier to write about other people's loves. My song would have to do with cookies, sleep and getting my own way:).

Autumn Fun

Lots of fun here in the Thomas household over the past month.

The boys and I went to our friends' annual Pumpkin Carving party. It was lots of fun, but the boys didn't do much pumpkin carving -- there were too many friends to play with...

I tried to involve the boys as much as possible. They decided on the design and helped me pull out the chunks as I carved, but they weren't interested in doing much actual carving. At one point BiggiE was sitting on a lawn chair near me eating a potato chip while I carved out his creation. I heard him call to his friends, "I can't play right now, I'm carving a pumpkin!" I laughed out loud at his loose interpretation of his involvement. I'm confident the boys will catch the carving bug one of these years.


Our Bumblebee Transformer and Iron Man

The sweetest duckling ever. I can say that even though the costume was originally BiggiE's because he never actually wore the costume. (He threw a fit when I tried to have him try on the costume and I decided it was not a battle I wanted to fight.)

I gave this little duckling ONE piece of chocolate at Moose's school carnival and she chanted, "Chocwhet! Chocwhet! Chocwhet!" the whole drive home.


Easy Halloween Craft


I love this festive treat that is NOT candy.

Here we have the requisite tractor pictures at the pumpkin patch. It was a rainy day when we went to the patch, so it was nice the tractors were inside the barn. They also had a big "creepy, crawly" barn with spiders, owls and snakes, etc. (Way too many snakes for my taste, but it was educational.)




I'm not exactly sure why the Fall Festival of creepy crawlies had a starfish tank, but the kids loved it nonetheless.


I think Farmer Moose just noticed the sign behind him.




I had to include this picture because it has been Giants fever here in the Bay area during the World Series. It was very handy to have the Giants team colors be Halloween colors as well. We decorated these cookies while we watched the Giants beat the Phillies.

A Drive to the Shore

It's been almost two months ago now, but I wanted to capture a moment in the car.

It was a perfect end of summer Saturday and we were driving as a family to the coast. We had an errand to run (Os needed to pick up some oysters at Hog Island Oyster Company) and we told the kids we were out for a drive, an adventure.

We cruised along the two lane highway among the rolling hills next to Tomales Bay.

Jelly Bean is happily singing a song in her own toddler language.

Moose is trying to calculate where we might be headed. "If we're headed to the ocean, what would we be buying there?" he asks himself.

And then BiggiE, who has been quiet for a long time, comes out with, "My eyes are captured by the sea." Our poet.

(photo by MarinBlogger.com)

Bed Head

I don't know what this child does while she sleeps, but she gets some amazing bed head. This one required pictures from three angles. Very impressive...