6 January 2008

Happy New Year! We previously had no New Year's Eve traditions, but this year we decided to burn our calendar on December 31. Brilliant! Then we roasted marshmallows and had smores. Sophie recommends wearing swim goggles to keep the smoke out of your eyes.


Sophie, Abe and Helen wanted to sleep together in the library on New Year's Eve. They stayed up until about 9 pm. Brandan and Becky stayed up a little later watching the deliciously absurd comedy, Mr. Bean's Holiday.


We're including this photo to make those of you living in cold climates feel better. Brandan took the opportunity of a dry day on New Year's to mow our very shaggy, but also very green, lawn.


Happy Perihelion Day- the day our earth is closest to the sun in its orbit. Also known as January 4 and Brandan's birthday. Becky always works up a little math problem as a birthday present and puts it on Brandan's cake. This year both Brandan and Sophie solved the problem before digging into the vanilla cake with chocolate frosting (Brandan solved it algebraically and Sophie through trial and error). So how old is Brandan? In case you can't read the frosting, here is the problem: There is a 2 digit number such that the sum of the digits is 9 and the product of the digits is 1/2 the original number. Find the number. (Becky's math problems always equal Brandan's current age.)

Miss Helen went to Sunbeams for the first time today. She loved it. They sang two of her favorite songs, I Am a Child of God and Happy Birthday, and ate apples and oranges for a snack.