The Great Divorce

One of Darin's favorite authors is C.S. Lewis. I am just getting into his books (better late than never), but I am sure that he will become one of my favorites, too. Darin recently found that his favorite Lewis book, "The Great Divorce", was being performed as a play in Philly. The book is about the "divorce" between Heaven and Hell - very insightful and thought provoking book. Well, Darin quickly snapped up tickets for the two of us to attend. In preparation for the play, I quickly read most of the book - a quick read even for slow readers like me. We arrived downtown and walked to the Lantern Theater - a little tiny thing down an alley - not on Broad Street (aka Avenue of the Arts) where all the larger theaters are located. I began to feel more than a little skeptical of the quality of the play we were about to view. We entered the theater - located at the back of an old church - 30 minutes prior to start time, to find about four (over age 60) couples loitering in the small lobby. Oh, boy. Darin and I both exchanged somewhat worried glances, picked up our tickets, and went back outside to walk around until the doors opened for seating. When we returned, to my relief, the theater was teeming with people of all ages. As we took our seats, I was surprised to see a stage the size of our living room with a bar stool in the middle of it and gray sheets of fabric hanging behind it. There were about 100 chairs (RS room style) around the stage. What the? (I learned later from our more cultured babysitter that this is called black box theater.) As I perused my program I found that the play was a "one man show". Oh my goodness, I thought. How is this going to work? Well . . . let me tell you, it was absolutely amazing! The actor, Anthony Lawton, was FANTASTIC! I don't know how to explain the show in words, but I did not leave disappointed. Once the play began, I didn't even notice that there wasn't scenery, actors, props, or much of anything but the man on the stage. It was one of the best plays I have ever seen, and I was so glad to see it with Darin. We really enjoyed being together and discussing the play and the book on the drive home. Thanks, hon! A great date night! (If you're in Philly, the play runs through January 4th - so hurry and get some tickets and enjoy yourself!)

Jumping for Joy!

Megan, Matthew and Jacob received a mini trampoline for Christmas. I now know how to get Jacob to smile in a picture - put his new super hero cape on (thanks Aunt Jan) and let him jump to his heart's content.



Matthew has also impressed us (and scared us to death) with his trampoline talents. He needs a full size one soon to prevent him from catapulting himself over the handlebars of the mini one. Look at those splits!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Morn

We had a lovely Christmas Eve with several families in the ward. We enjoyed good food, singing, and sharing fun traditions with each other. Then we came home and opened the traditional Christmas PJ's from Grandma and Grandpa Chandler.



For the last couple of weeks, Matthew has been waxing poetic and asking me how many more days until Christmas morn. Each time he says it I have to chuckle. He is so fun. Well, Christmas morn dawned bright and clear (the sun was shining, the grass was green, the oak and pine trees swayed) and the kids were, of course, eager to open presents, so here is some of the carnage.





We hope you had a very Merry Christmas, too.

Photo? . . . @#$#!!Shoot!

Jacob will likely be on a magazine cover soon. He absolutely loves to have his picture taken. He is very cooperative and loves to pose in whatever position we encourage him to strike! Here are a few samples of his work.











Like I said, a model in the making. Isn't he cute? Thank goodness he is so easy to live with the rest of the time! He really is a super sweetheart - just don't break out the camera.

Lovely Longwood

A few nights ago I took the kids and two of their cute friends to see the Christmas displays at Longwood Gardens. WOW! What a beautiful place. It was a gorgeous night-probably about 50 degrees-so we weren't freezing to death. We ran to watch an ice skating show as soon as we arrived. The kids all loved it and were inspired to be figure skaters someday.




We wandered around looking at lights and then went to the Conservatory - my favorite. There were gorgeous white lilies everywhere so it smelled awesome. There were amaryllis, paperwhite narcissus, cyclamen, begonias, and many, many more flowers. The poinsettias were amazing. Some were larger than dinner plates and others were smaller that the palm of my hand. The pictures I took weren't that great so you should go to their website, www.longwoodgardens.org, if you want to see some quality pics of what it really looks like. Incredible!


The kids had a great time playing in the fountains in the Children's Garden - good thing it was so warm since the boys and Megan were soaked by the time we left!






We also enjoyed several water fountain shows with music. The kids were all dancing around and singing to the music while the water was shooting to the sky.



I couldn't believe how late it was when we finally left. I felt a little sheepish that I had kept all the kids out so late on a school night, but we all had a great time.