I like gummy bear | i love gummy bear | gummy bear song english

Back in the day (for the uninitiated, "the day" was circa 1981/1982 for purposes of this post), I was known to attend the school skating parties at my local roller skating rink. Which one of my elementary school friends on Facebook so helpfully pointed out was The Great American Skate on the Berlin Turnpike in Connecticut (was it in Berlin or Newington?). I can still see that rink in my mind's eye. Everything about it. It wasn't in our town so we didn't hang out there per se - just birthday parties and the occasional school skate. But I remember it with excitement. A purely social co-ed activity when there were few others. Fifth and sixth grades were the height of roller rink excitement for me. (Which coincided with the general discovery of boys as cute, giggle-inducing entertainment.) My big kids are first and second graders. Their school has a few after-school skates every year - but we've never attended. Until this month. On a whim, I decided that we'd

In honor of Valentine's Day (a holiday, I am convinced, was created to make mothers of elementary schoolers crazy), a few things I love: my baby's wild hair and strong chin the way my other baby winks my girl's enormous eyes my oldest son's labrador-thick hair and crazy big-boy-teeth my husband Coke the smell of hazelnut coffee chocolate Necco wafers roasted garlic hummus sushi history museums movies made from Jane Austen novels And bad reality TV Have a love-ly weekend.

For most of the summer of 1988, I was in the Netherlands, living with a Dutch family. It was some kind of exchange program - I can't even remember the organization that arranged the trip. It was the summer between my junior and senior years of high school. Fast forward 22 years, my sister announced that she has a job interview in the Netherlands later this month and asked, via Facebook, if anyone had any Dutch language CDs she could borrow. I didn't but I did have my trusty Berlitz Dutch for Travellers still packed in a box in the basement. So, I dug it out to send. Published in 1980, it was kind of old by the time I bought it in '88. But, I figured, it's not like the language has changed. So, big deal. And then I leafed through the book. Page 22 revealed the first major change. Marked "Arrival", it starts with the helpful phrase "Here is my passport" (or "Hier is mijn paspoort"). Things get a little dicey further down the page though. In t

This is my church. I was married here. My children were baptized here. I taught CCD (religion classes) here last year to first graders. A lot of lovely memories. Tonight, we made a new one. G made his first confession this evening. Officially called "First Reconciliation", this is an 8-year-old's first chance to say "Bless me Father for I have sinned..." and later rattle off the freshly-memorized Act of Contrition before bolting the confessional. Oh, and to be absolved his sins. He had three choices of confessional priest tonight. Two sat in chairs in far-off niches of the church and took confessions face-to-face (or really shoulder-to-shoulder so the kids wouldn't have to actually confess their heinous second-grade sins while looking a priest in the eye). One sat in a traditional screened confessional behind the red velvet curtains. (Not our church but the confessional looks basically like this one.) G picked Priest #3 behind the curtains. Of course. For th

Gotta love it! (Now if I can just get them to learn the Notre Dame fight song...)

My children have been at home, with me, in my presence, every day since December 18th (except this past Tuesday, which was the worst kind of tease). It is now January 8th. Everything - school, sports, lessons - canceled "due to extreme weather conditions". I'm going a teensy bit insane. Which may explain why I find this so funny. Call the Nestle Crunch Hot line at 1-800-295-0051. When you are asked if you want to continue in English or Spanish, just wait quietly for about 10 seconds and you will smile. Promise! Keep going and press 4. Listen to the options, then press 7 (then press 9 and go back to hear others). Seriously. Do it. And then tell me what you think!

For the last two years, on December 31st, I have written in a family journal about our year. Our ages, our visitors, our trips, the kids' teachers' names, their activities, our jobs, our cars, our favorite restaurants and the like. I'll do it again tonight. And everyone will sign their name to our little family history. So, I wasn't going to recap the year here - but then I saw all the other blogs doing it. And recapping the decade while they were at it. So, of course, I couldn't resist. 2009 was, well, interesting. I wouldn't call it great. Parts of it really sucked. But I think, when we look back at it in a year or two, we might identify it as the start of good times. I hope so at least. The year: * J's company shut the doors and he took about four months off of work. Which means he was home with us all day, every day for four months. And we're still married. Win! * He started with a brand spankin' new company at the end of July in a huge leap of f