Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

What an exciting Family Day! We have three planned this summer, and the first one we spent taking the trip down to Manchester to see the FisherCats play. The girls did much better than I had hoped, sitting quietly and at least trying to watch the game. Juliet and Pippa had their little foam baseballs they were given on the way in the stadium autographed by a New Britain RockCats player (they are a Minnesota Twins feeder team). We were sitting just three rows of the field and right behind the bullpen for the away team. Everyone got a souvenier and lots of food, which I think meant more to them than the game itself :)

Phil was very tickled to be able to do this, he has fond childhood memories of going to ballgames with his Dad when he was a boy. The park was pretty, clean, and very friendly staff. Dad came down and joined us, too. He wasn't able to be there for the beginning of the game, but we stayed to the end of the first game together and then started for home about 8:30. It was a doubleheader, and even thought the girls really wanted to see the fireworks, it would have been at least midnight - no way we were going to stay that late!

This morning the girls were playing baseball in the driveway with their foam balls ad a stick, so I guess the game must have left some impression, anyway!

I must rush off - still working on the costume for Hobo Phil. I'm off to dissect a swallowtail tux jacket!

Phil lost a Pippa!

We've been measuring how much weight Phil's losing against the weight of the children. His first goal was to lose a Johann, and he got there about a month ago, and this morning he called after his weigh-in to tell me he'd lost 16 pounds! He's lost a Pippa and almost a Juliet! Yay! His goal is to lose me, but I'm not telling how much weight that is :)

Well, back to the little details for today's show - tomorrow I'll catch my breath and get the house in order, but I just had to brag on my (skinnier) guy.

Rushing into summer

The last few days before a Summer Reading Show launch are always busy. It doesn't help that I've got a sinus infection. The first one in 3 months, which is good, but still!

The kids are great - playing outside most of the time, as it has been lovely weather except for the nasty thunderstorm a couple of days ago. They have been picking lots and lots of strawberries, both wild and domestic. Dad put in a good patch of everbearing this year. Johann has been running about and learning lots of words. His latest is "book!" At the moment I have cookies in the oven for their snack.

Boot boy

He loves his sister's boots - he has boots, too, but he likes the big ones. And, of course, with potty training comes a certain lack of being dressed....! But he's so gosh-darned cute.

Spring Haiku by Glady

Birds making chicks warm.


Here is Dad, he has food. Yum!


Cozy little chicks.

(Mr Phil's note: That's a chick not an egg)

School's Out

It must be summer! The pictures are from last weekend, when we visited the Hobo Railroad in Lincoln for Phil's orientation tour. The kids had a blast, and enjoyed meeting Choo-choo the clown. This weekend poor Phil is twisting at a gig in the Cambridge, MA area and got thoroughly lost! I just got off the phone helping him navigate his way in. Tomorrow is father's day, and we have a gig, but otherwise will have fun with the dad's in the house!

Man, what a difference hi-speed internet makes in getting pictures on the blog! Yay!

I don't know if you are interested...

This is my version of a goal-setting exercise we are doing for a guy we may be hiring to coach us.

Hi, Eric,

We are still waiting on the info from the last time we talked to you, from the files we sent to you, but we do know you are busy. And we liked the talk so much we are considering the coaching, later this summer, though, as we are too busy to follow through for the next two months.

Phil says he doesn’t want to be David Copperfield, just to be the top children’s entertainer in our area (Northern New England) the one that every one thinks of when they want quality Family entertainment. As for me, I want to get the office organized and automated, enough that someone else could run it if need be, and free me up to get out and perform a little more.

1) What type of performing do you do now? Mr. Phil does comedy magic shows, anything from twenty-minute festival sets to one-hour reading or family magic shows for libraries and schools (PTO events, we aren’t ready for an educationally Significant show yet.) His magic is funny, interactive with his audience, and often incorporates puppetry and storytelling. He also does balloon twisting. We feel that we are intermediate twisters, but know that we are among the top twisters in New Hampshire. This is an area we will continue to improve, though. Phil is going to go to Balloon Manor this fall, and we both hope to go to Twist and Shout in the spring. Phil’s style as he twists for a crowd is very much as a street entertainer. He doesn’t just hand out balloons, but has several comedic and magical routines that he incorporates to keep everyone laughing and happy while they wait. I have seen him draw a crowd of adults who are just enjoying watching (and who tip based on this) even though they do not want a balloon. Twisting is about half our business right now. I also facepaint, but we don’t promote me, as our longsuffering babysitter (my Dad, who lives with us) doesn’t need to be sitting every weekend.

2) What type of performing do you want to do? Mr. Phil wants to add some illusions or illusionettes to his show and create a stage show (as opposed to what he feels are “parlor shows” that he currently does. I would like to see him add music to every show, and a backdrop to every indoor show. We have concluded that outdoor shows cannot be backdropped easily. We would like to improve our birthday show, both the materials they receive pre and post show, and the show itself needs updating. (there is a magician in our area that has literally been doing the same show for 25 years. We don’t want to become him). We want to create educationally significant school shows to offer. We would like to add fundraising shows for PTO’s next year - we purchased a marketing system for Ice Cream Socials and we own John Kaplan’s system for fundraisers and Phil would like to be touring with that inside five years. As for the balloon twisting, we are looking forward to the conferences/classes Phil and I will be taking over the next year. We are already, as I raise our prices again this month, the premium twisters in NH. Can’t do much more than that! Just have to stay fresh and on top of our skills.

3) What are your goals for the next year? I would like to see our income for ‘07 at 48K. That will be up almost 30% from last year and will enable us to upgrade our computer, car, and do the marketing we have been neglecting. Phil would like to have a fresh new birthday system, improve his (big shows) Family Fun Magic Shows, reading shows, and add value to all our offerings so even if the economy falters our clients will keep coming back to us.

4) What are your goals for the next five years? I would like our income to continue a steady and stable rise until not only do ends actually meet but we could save a bit. I would like to free myself from the office a bit to begin homeschooling in earnest (3 years out, when our eldest comes home for 6th grade) and perform a bit more (hire a babysitter). Phil would like to have a big stage show he could take on tour (short ones, a few weeks at most) and do mostly big shows for schools and what-not. More money, less shows. Phil says he doesn’t want to be David Copperfield, just to be the top children’s entertainer in our area (Northern New England) the one that every one thinks of when they want quality Family entertainment.

5) What do you feel you need the most help with? The website. Just kidding. I personally need to work on my organization skills a lot, so this office gets under control. Phil wants to refine his performing skills and go from raw talent to honed skills.

6) What are the things you want to achieve with this program? I often find that if I am focused on a task it gets done better and faster. If I lose focus I struggle to get back to the task and may lose track of it altogether. Phil is convinced he has adult ADD. I say these things to say this - we need a little help pointing us in the direction we need to go. We are floundering, knowing we need to work on stuff, but when we sit down and work on lists they quickly get overwhelming. A little direction, a little conviction that yes, we can do this, we are good enough - that is what we need, I think.

7) Why are you filling out this form? Well, Phil is off to a twisting gig and we talked on the cell phone and he asked me to get started on it. You know what I want, he said. So Here I am. Actually, I had meant to do this anyway - write down our goals. So this gave me a good excuse to leave the dishes and laundry and shut myself in the office for an hour with it. Even if we don’t do the coaching, the act of writing this down may help. As you may have guessed, Phil and I are a team. I run the office, he designs the shows and performs. It really isn’t that cut and dried, but close. I had never even seen a live entertainer before I met him, and he hates to write. So I rough out marketing materials, run the booking system, and he polishes the formatting of posters and flyers and what-not. He bounces routines, show order, and scripts off me, and I try to keep the construction and creativity simple. My Dad sits in on brainstorming sessions a lot, as he is our builder most of the time. And he gives a non-magician viewpoint (you must know how important that is.) The kids serve as little sounding boards for new routines and impromptu audiences. They also interrupt and distract a lot! As they get older, we would like to add them into the act - our oldest already helps in Balloon Workshops and may assist with clean-up for the Summer Library shows this year. I am filling out this form because this is how we make our living for us, and for our family. Part of taking care of those I love is constantly striving to get better. If we can’t have ‘normal’ jobs, then by golly, we’d better be the best at what we are doing!

Whew, It's Hot out there!

Well, I suppose this means summer has come... It is 85 this morning and going up. Phil has just left to twist for a park dedication in Merrimack. He and I have a couple of gigs together over Memorial Weekend. We are going to be at the Mount Washington Hotel tomorrow - that ought to be fun, and the Black Fly Blitz in Wilmot on Monday. Sunday will be our quiet day - we have been trying to keep them open (church is good!), and we will do our Ribfest! that day. Phil is going to rub them today, so they'll be wonderfully flavorful by Sunday. MMMMMM!

In other thoughts... Why would anyone wish you a Happy Memorial Day? That isn't what it's all about.

Most of our little ones have, as they began potty training, called it a "tinky" which started with their BoPop, who call it "poo-tinky". (One of these days I'm going to make him a t-shirt that reads "Poo-tinky happens" but he probably wouldn't wear it) But Johann just points down at his diaper and says "Ewwww!" He is so ready for a potty chair - now all I have to do is go get him one. Sigh. So close to having the last one out of diapers! And yet so far...

Wow, it has been a while!

We are still here, still busy, and still doing our thing. Mr. Phil & Co revenues are up 30% this May - wonderful! and lots of work. Pippa tried out for Kindergarten - we had discussed putting her straight into first grade but decided in the log run it would be rougher on both the teacher and her to go to a full day of school abruptly. Let's see, what else is new? Juliet and Glady are almost done with school for the year - it ends June 18, I think. Glady left this afternoon to go spend most of the weekend with Nana and BoPop, the other two have already had their turns. Phil is off at a gig, Dad went up to Toad Hall for dinner, so it is pretty quiet at home.

I'm freezing here...

Well, not really. I've just been putting things into the freezer. The weather is bright and almost all the snow is gone but it is very windy here today. The two big girls are outside now, and Pippa was in and out all day (she's asleep right now). The bulbs are popping up all over, and I expect crocus in about a week.

I put up low-fat oatmeal cookies today - very good, they use applesauce instead of butter - baked a dozen and froze about three dozen. They are handy to have around like this - not so easy to eat out of the cookie jar, and yummy to have fresh baked out of the toaster oven. Yesterday I made pork potstickers - Phil’s favorite - and we had those, chicken and mango soup, and rice for dinner. And then I froze about two dozen of them.

The idea is to have lots stowed in the freezer against days I don’t feel like cooking so we don’t waste money on convenience food. Tonight, for instance, I plan on making one batch of enchiladas to eat and one to freeze. Some things don’t freeze well - I’ve had no luck putting potato soup in the freezer, for instance - but since I have both the small freezer on the frig and a big upright in the kitchen I may as well use them!

It looks like we may be getting Guinea Hens this year. Initially Agway said they had to have an order of at least 30 to send off, and I don’t want that many! We only want about 10-15. Well, someone else came in and said they wanted a few, and a former client of ours (who is giving us a couple of bunnies) said she wanted another 10-15, so I think the order is going to happen. Time to build a coop. Phil suggested we get peacocks, but I think he was kidding... Anyway, we want the birds to keep the tick population down. Pippa came in one day last summer with twelve ticks on her. Not biting, but still on her. Yech!

In other farm news, the first lettuce is appearing in the cold frame out front. Dad has covered the little lean-to greenhouse, and has plans to raise catfish in there. Pippa planted her “Baby Strawberries” the other day, and I suppose I ought to put some seeds in my flats, too. I still can’t quite believe spring is on the way, I guess.

The girls are doing well with school, Glady's my big reader, working her way through the Chronicles of Narnia right now. Juliet is reading small chapter books on her own now, she has definitely gotten more comfortable with reading since the beginning of the school year. And Pippa is learning how to read now! She can read little words like cat, but today I noticed that she was identifying words in a picture book by looking at the letters in the word instead of just guessing from the picture. Their Aunt Lee sent them a picture book - a read-aloud that is tons of fun, Skippyjon Jones. About a siamese kitten who decides he must be a chihuahua, and the adventures of El Skippito Friskito begin. I love the way Phil sings the songs in perfect mariachi imitation, and then Juliet goes around for days after singing them, too. He was telling the girls about his childhood in San Diego when they used to go to a Mexican restaurant, complete with a mariachi band.
I need to go start those enchiladas now, I think.

let's see...not much

We went shopping for Phil's birthday last night - the girls and I sent him and Johann off on their own while we picked a couple of things out at the clothing store for him. Poor Papa, he never gets a real surprise for his birthday! Then we took the kids to KB toys and let them each pick out a toy with the money Nana had sent. Glady found a baby doll, Juliet a DigiPet, and Pippa a color-on-Bear. Johann was more of a challenge, but he finally reached for a blue, bumpy football and said "Bee, bee!" which is how he says please. It is amazing how far five dollars can go in that store.

Funny how exhasting two stores can be with all four kids - I was really happy to get home after all that. I helped the kids clean their room so they could play with their new toys, and I was about done for the night!

It may officially be spring, but it is sure snowy and cold here!

Oh - the other day, after the snow, Dad put out bird feeders in the pear tree, in adition to our usual feeders and we had a pair of Grackle. The first time we've seen them. And we think he saw a bluebird, and Phil saw Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal. Of course, we had the usual suspects, chickadees and sparrows, jays, titmouse, Slate-sided Junco... I've really come to appreciate bird-watching.

Puddles!

63 degrees, Lovely!

Brrrrr

It is cold and blustery outside! Hope all of you are warm today....

The Answer

Cedar Sanderson, May 29, 1977 - Thirty years ago!

And the funny thing is, Johann looks exactly like I did.

Guess Who?

answer tomorrow!

Juliet wrote me some poetry

"I love dogs
I love cats
I love you, too
I can eat
Cats can run
Dogs can't climb trees
I love you
(love, Pippa)
I love cats and dogs
That is me
And that is that"

By Juliet, Feb. 27, 2007

She wrote that in the whiteboard yesterday along with a cute monster illustration at the bottom yesterday. I think it started with trying to teach Pippa to read and write.

Just a little

I'm going to try and post more often - not much to tell today. I've had a couple of really busy days, and today was pretty routine. Phil had a show in the afternoon, and I took a nap :) Other than that we worked in the office together for a change, finishing our library letter. The kids played in their room with legos most of the day, and hung out with me in the kitchen the rest of the time. Glady helped me make lunch after Phil left - the girls were having fish sticks and I made myself flatbread to spread hummus on. It struck them that I was really making tortillas ( I have got to find a real pita recipe) so they asked if they could make fish stick tacos. We shredded Napa cabbage and drizzled a little lime juice on the fish sticks and served it on warm whole wheat tortillas, Yummy! and the hummus was pretty good on them, too.

The pictures are from Glady's 8 th birthday party! A month ago already, I can hardly believe it. Phil's 43rd is coming up fast on the 25th, and I must remember to send Juniper a card. *sigh*

Life is normal - Busy!

Phil, having taken on a second job merchandising (you know all those silly coupon machines that spit them out at you in the store? well he's in charge of those, and a lot more, in about a dozen local stores) is out and about. Glady is up to no good with her Easy Bake Oven http://www.familyeducation.com/whatworks/item/front/1,2551,1-10149-3114,00.html?detoured=1
I just found her a couple of recipes for mixes, since the ones at the store run about $4 each, which is outrageous. The above link is really funny - about how I feel about the silly thing, except it isn't something I had as a child. I learned to cook - real meals, for the whole family! at 9. I remember a triple-layer german chocolate cake from scratch that year... Speaking of firsts, I made my first cheesecake ever last week.

Why does this always end up about food?

Everyone is well - at least for a while. Who knew that four kids could have the stomach flu twice in ten days? Poor Johann was sick for almost a week. He lost weight, which my skinny little guy couldn't afford to do, but today I noticed that he is plumping back up nicely. He's learned a word for food - Cookie! - which is what he says if anyone has something he wants.

Glady and Juliet have vacation this coming week, and Phil has a heavy schedule, so we girls should have some fun - the weather has warmed a bit, too. Maybe sledding and baking are in order!

Love to all - sorry I have been away so long.

Christmas Saga Part Second

I am sorry - I know I promised this yesterday, but I got caught up in the cleaning and show prep and didn't finish it all, so here it is...


In the morning when Dad went to put the dog out, we found that someone had left us four big bags of gifts - one for each of the children. Whoever it was had spelled the kids’ names correctly, and, as we found later, each of the girls received their favorite toys. Dad and I brought them in and added them to the stack in front of the tree, and the kids went wild for a little while.
Traditionally, we had stockings and breakfast together. Dad and Phil got monster sized stockings from Santa, because the little ones that had been hung out were too small. We took Phil’s to him in the hospital when we went to see him later. The girls got excited again after breakfast and we started on opening gifts. Highlights... Glady got her e-z bake oven, Juliet got a spiderman build-a-bear, Pippa got lots of art stuff. Johann got a Tonka truck from his Papa that is bigger than he is. As soon as he got the paper off of it he climbed in and started to rock his body back and forth and make motor noises. So far as I know, he’s never seen anything like it before - how do they know?
Grampa gave them the biggest gift of the morning - a computer! He picked up and original iMac for twenty dollars, but they love it for what it is - not what it cost. Phil was on the speakerphone through the gift opening and he promised the girls that he would get it up and running as soon as he got home.
The Secret Santa bags turned out to have new coats for each of them, clothes, and a couple of toys for each. The living room was full of flying paper for a while, and when it cleared, the sectional couch was full from one end to another with stuff. I have a feeling this will be the wildest Christmas they will ever see... as they got older and the toys get more sophisticated there will be fewer of them, and calmer children, too. Glady already was pretty good about waiting her turn, unlike Pippa who got very excited about the whole thing. Juliet was very cute - al she wanted to do was help her brother out.
Once they were done opening presents I let them each take a toy and go into their room. Grampa and I sat in the living room and took a deep breath for a few minutes, then opened our gifts. Nana and BoPop had sent down their gifts to us, so we had a few. Dad got me a little vacuum sealer, and I had framed a photo of his tent I had taken in the woods this fall. Nana gave me a set of Sundae glasses that came out of a Midwestern pharmacy - a hundred years old, and heavy enough to endure. Dad got a cast iron teapot that must weigh twenty pounds.
After clean-up I made the rolls I had promised Nana and got ready to go up there. We left the house a little later than planned and went to the hospital to visit Phil, taking along his stocking and a couple of gifts. We weren’t able to stay long, but that is just as well, with the kids so excited about Christmas. From the hospital we went to Nana’s for more gifts and dinner.
It was a very nice day, all in all. I regretted Phil missing all of it. But we did get to see him.

On Tuesday after Phil saw the doctor he was told that it would be Friday before they let him out. Then that afternoon he was given an ultrasound from tummy to toes, which ruled out a deep vein thrombosis - very good news. Tuesday the girls and spent in cleaning and organizing their room, and Tuesday night I went up the Steele Hill to substitute for Phil at his regular gig there. So now it is Wednesday morning. I have much to do, but mostly I think I’ll play with the two little girls and Johann until Glady gets back from Toad Hall.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Saga Part First

Merry Christmas to all!

It has been an eventful one here in Sanbornton (and Franklin, and New Hampton). It all started last Tuesday. Phil got sick. The flu, we thought, and Juliet came down with it a day later. Not a big deal - they ran high fevers and I nursed them thru it until Friday, when Phil was feeling much better - but he thought he’d sprained his ankle and pulled a muscle in his thigh getting up at some point that week. Juliet was feeling much better Saturday morning, and Grampa offered to take me out shopping, since I hadn’t left the house since Phil got sick and I needed groceries and last-minute Christmas stuff. So off we went in the van, leaving Phil home alone with his feet up.

Saturday afternoon, home in time for lunch, after the kid hurricane had settled and kissed Papa and retired to its room, Phil announced that he didn’t feel well and maybe I should talk to Jean (our doctor). So I call, and am told that he should go to the ER, as they don’t like to prescribe antibiotics over the phone. OK, fine, I’m happier having him seen anyway, as I had been trying to convince him to go see Jean all week. So off he and Dad go to the Franklin Hospital - around 4:00 pm. About 6:00 pm I get a call from Dad to tell me they think it is an infection, but they are busy and have not yet drawn blood to be sure. Around nine he calls again to tell me that it is an infection, they have put an IV in, and they’ll be keeping him at least overnight. He heads for home shortly after that.

Sunday morning I talk to Phil and he tells me that the doctor is going to keep him in ht hospital until Wednesday. The girls are upset - especially Juliet, who is devastated that Papa won’t be home for Christmas. They all talk to him on the phone and feel better for that. Then we get started preparing to go and visit Papa before we go to Christmas Eve Service with Nana and BoPop that night. In the midst of our day, BoPop and Uncle Austin drop by to drop some things off, and I actually have the house clean enough to invite them in! I feel really good about that. So off we go to visit Papa - taking along a couple of presents for him to open. I made him (with lots of help from the girls!) a bathrobe, and we also took a picture of Pippa that Nana and BoPop had taken and framed that was her gift to us.

At the Christmas Eve Service I spent most of my time in the fellowship hall beneath the church taking care of Johann, who had decided it was his personal mission to say HI! to everyone in the church, starting with the priest. He had come out behind the congregation, and since Johann was sitting on my lap facing me he saw him first. His eyes got big as saucers when this man stepped out in shiny gold robes (I’m guessing they were special for Christmas). Then he waved and called Hi! to him. So after we sang a carol with Johann sticking his hand down my throat every time I tried to sing, and he decided that now was the time to drop the shy act and say hello to everyone, we went elsewhere. Dad says the girls were good, though.

That night after we got home Dad and I finished wrapping the last gifts and made all ready for Santa. The girls had gone out into the pasture and picked reindeer moss, so in addition to cookies and milk for Santa there was salad for his deer! Too cute. Anyway, I was in bed by nine-thirty, and Dad says he was down by ten, but at some point in the night someone quietly shut the outer entryway door - the one that sticks and has to be closed just so.... and left inside the entry....


Well, I am exhausted. More on this later!