Mama Ball Says

Last day of vacation. Mom and Dad were here all week -- arrived a bit late, but without incident. The weather was great all week, and I kept the kids home for the week so they could play with Granny and Papa. Easter was fine -- got some great shots of the kids and the flowers. Mom had refurbished her antique wicker doll carriage and had it shipped from Tulsa to arrive in the middle of their visit. It's adorable -- Sadie loves it! Mom's great grandmother (Grandma Anna) bought it secondhand for her when she was very little, so who knows how old it actually is. Dad bought some clear plastic tubing, split it, and wrapped the wheels in it to protect the original rubber tires (which are now hard, cracked and dropping off in chunks here and there). The new tubing is a vast improvement! Mom made a new liner and made it look wonderful, but it still has that antique look to it -- very cool.
Read a couple books over break. Garth Nix's latest, Sir Thursday, was excellent. You definitely have to have read the previous three to understand what's happening to Arthur Penhaligon and Leaf, but it was a fast-paced exciting read. Great for the boys, as Sir Thursday commands the House army, and there's lots of military training, strategizing and battle scenes ... and Arthur's been drafted. He has to survive, find and free the Fourth part of the Will, and somehow keep from becoming a denizen of the House as he wants to return to his normal mortal life when this is all over.
Gordon Korman's new one, Born to Rock, was a lot of fun too. Leo is living with his mother and father and loses his scholarship to Harvard over a misunderstanding with a hard-nosed principal. He spends the summer on tour with the man he believes is his biological father -- Marion X. McMurphy, aka "King Maggot" of worldwide punk rock fame, in hopes that he will write a $40,000 check so Leo can go to Harvard in the fall The tour is an assault on Leo's Young Republican senses and sensibility, and he learns more than he ever imagined from this bizarre group of people.