the post about Jane Eyre

I mentioned awhile ago that I was re-reading Jane Eyre. I was doing this for a few reasons:

• I found a copy on my bookshelf (it may seen odd that I don't know what is on my bookshelves, but we have a lot of them and they are crammed full.)
• I was looking for a book to read while upstairs. That's right, I keep one book downstairs, and one upstairs, you have no idea how this simplifies my life. I'm thinking about another one for the car.
• I remembered reading it in high school and liking it, but could not remember how it ended (beyond very generally).
• I found out there was a Masterpiece Theater version that I hadn't seen.

So, armed with so many reasons, I had to read it.

And then of course I had to watch the MT version. I thought it was good, but they did it a bit darker and spookier then I was imagining when I read the book. And the part with the fortune teller bothered me because I was looking forward to seeing how they were going to pull it off. But, they sidestepped the difficulty of disguising Mr. Rochester as an old gypsy lady.



After watching that version, naturally I had to go back and watch the 1996 movie version. I think I saw this with my roommates in college. I found this Jane Eyre more believable, but I thought the Mr. Rochester was a bit too old, and not as feisty as in the book. And they skipped the whole gypsy scene altogether (one of my favorites from the book).

Now you see how I spend some of my free time. And now I am looking for a new upstairs book...

what has been keeping us so busy

These two little monkeys:

A bit of home improvement (a new door):

And the intoxication of spring:

an updated photo

I realized I haven't posted an updated photo of l1 recently, and in fact, haven't taken nearly as many pictures as I should. So, I will double my efforts. As a start, here is a picture taken yesterday of sleeping l1:
There is something about sprawled out sleeping baby that makes me want to go lay down. Right now.

And his outfit will also demonstrate how dramatically the weather here has changed in the last few weeks. On Saturday r1 commented on how it was "just too hot". As we have found out living here, if you blink you might miss spring altogether.

evidence of brotherly love

Although w1 frequently is really cute with l1 (trying to hand him toys, wanting to hold him), it is hard to get photographic evidence of it. But, finally, we sort of caught him in the act:

Yep, he is grabbing l1's foot. We have to take what we can get.

In other news, I took the kids to a farm yesterday (or an agricultural education facility open to the public). There were pigs, rabbits, chickens, cows, miniature horses, etc. w1 showed absolutely no fear around the animals. He even brushed the horses mane after watching another kid do it. Hmmm, r1 isn't going to like this, but I see pets in our future or at least begging and harassment from w1 in the attempt to get one.

Oh, and I can't forget to mention there were tractors. Even more exciting than animals. There were two old non-functioning riding lawn mowers for the kids to climb on.

I had to drag w1 away. If I hadn't, we would probably still be there.

This was my day yesterday:

It was one of those non-stop days where l1 was only happy being held, and w1 was very needy and upset l1 was getting all the attention.

Happily, we made it through without any serious meltdowns, and I didn't strangle anyone.

But, all day I had this in my head:

and this is how I get anything done:

At the same time! Of course I use this precious time very wisely by:
1. Napping
2. Um, posting on my blog!
3. Re-reading Jane Eyre, or one of the many other books on my to-be-read shelf
4. and maybe some housework (as a last resort).

And, yeah, w1's cheeks are really red in this picture. He didn't seem too hot, or at least he wasn't sweating. He just has those Scandinavian genes.

what we have all been waiting for

Today, finally, the weather was gorgeous. Blue sky, sunshine, warm(er). This morning the temperature was 25 degrees, but by this afternoon it had warmed to about 55! The snow has almost all melted, all that remains are dirty piles in parking lots.

And, to the delight of small boys everywhere, it is very muddy out there. Today, w1 and his friend Jack discovered a marvelous mud puddle at the park, and dove right in. It perhaps was the most fun w1 has had in several months, definitely the messiest fun. Before we left to walk home, I had to strip him down to his diaper (which was also muddy, but I decided to leave him a little dignity). I figure it can't get much messier than that, so bring on spring and all the dirty outdoor fun!