Easter season.

And a few quick pictures from our Easter events. First, the intrepid egg-dyers wait as the tablets fizz.

Second, we went over to our friends' house after Mass for Easter brunch and their annual egg hunt. The big kids had a delayed start, and helped administer justice by re-divvying-up the eggs post-hunt so all the little kids got candy too.

It's much better than you think, actually.

There have been any number of articles in the popular media within the last few months about how people who choose not to have children are supposedly happier than those who do...I have a difficult time believing that, as I think both childfree and parenting adults have equal shots at happiness. So I was really pleased to receive this in my daily research email this morning:

75% Very Satisfied with Family Life

There are some truly odd findings in the details; for example, 88% of those surveyed consider married childless couples to be a family (so the other 12% don't? Really?). Still, interesting stuff in the data, well worth a look.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Tuck just not-so-gently elbowed his sister away from the laptop next to me because he "hadda checka e-MAIL!"

[Neither of my children have email accounts, obviously, although we do let the bug email her grandparents and cousins from one of our accounts occasionally.]

His father's morning addictions to email and coffee are obviously being directly transmitted, whether by genetics or example, directly to the next generation.

And a link...

...to the local Catholic newspaper's story about the basketball game. The print version has a larger picture, and we're actually in it!

Boldness of Faith the real winner in Jews vs. Catholics hoops

Holy week, a winning team, and two openings.

Palm Sunday was yesterday and my parents were in town, which made it even more special than usual because they were around to come to Mass with me and the kids. Tuck is still learning church behavior and I'm thinking of borrowing my cousin Carey's approach to teaching him. When her little boy misbehaved during 9 a.m. Mass, her husband would take the other kids home, and then she'd keep him there and they'd stay for 11 a.m. too. After three weeks he got the hang of being good the first time. :) Anyway, the T-bird spent about 1/3 of the service in back or just outside, so we've got a long way to go to learning quiet obedience.

He was a lot better-matched to the afternoon's activities. Our parish priests have become friends with the rabbi who leads the campus synagogue, so yesterday afternoon they held the first annual "Jews vs. Catholics" men's basketball game. Yup, on Palm Sunday. I took both kids as it was the first time they've attended a live sporting event that wasn't one of mama's races. They had a blast and practically lost their voices cheering for our team. Oh, and the Catholics won, by the way! Both kids want to learn to play basketball now, so the Little Tykes hoop in our family room got a workout last night.

This week had better be full of "being good the first time." It's opening night for the last BETC show of the season, and thus I'm planning two parties on Friday and Saturday for opening night and for major donors. Then next week the CU Opera is doing Leonard Bernstein's MASS, for one night only, with a cast of 350 down in Denver at the Boettcher Music Hall. Both those shows deserve their own posts, but it's worth pointing out that, hey, it's Holy Week, and there's a lot going on already! I'll try to snap some photos when I can of all the week's events. Depending on your personal proclivities, cross your fingers or say a prayer for me--there's a lot to handle on the calendar, and I'll be happy to see next Wednesday get here.

And a brief news-related complaint.

I hate the New York Times' recent attempt to limit their site access primarily to paying subscribers.

I probably read at least five articles a day from their site before the new limits were put in place (20 free per month and then you have to subscribe). I know what's cost-intensive: international news coverage. I know what I actually read: opinion columns, food columns, and theatre reviews, with occasional health and Catholic news when I think the NYT coverage is most thorough.

Unless I get to put my subscription dollars toward the specific salaries of the reportage I want to see, though, the internet has spoiled me and I'm not paying for what I can get free elsewhere. If I could be assured my $10 a month would go to keeping theatre reviewers on staff, I'm all for it. But it's probably paying for expense accounts in Riyadh or Kabul, and I'm not following those stories so closely. (They're not actually required for my work or research although I might be curious about them.)

I don't know how to get news to pay for itself, precisely, although I can tell you I certainly seem to see enough ads on the NYT sites that I suspect someone's been concerned with their bottom line for a long, long time. I'm watching this limited-access attempt with interest, because I'm really hoping it goes down in flames within a few months.

Off Hiatus.

Because when my parents are about to visit, and I have two shows opening within the next three weeks, it cannot possibly be surprising that I'd rather update my blog than wash windows or prepare for theatrical festivities.

In other words, uploading some photos of the fam from my camera and phone is long overdue. Actually taking pictures is longer overdue, so I'll have exactly one good shot with this post, featuring the T-bird with his St. Patrick's Day hat. Yup, that's a shamrock with a sideways smiley face.

There are still four of us, and for those of you who have doted on the blog for visual evidence, you'll be reassured that the younger two continue to grow. Matt took the camera with him to Alaska back in January for the last rocket launch and I have yet to get any pictures on it since then--I know everyone's wondering if we've grown three ears, so I'll try to get some as Easter approaches, since for the first time in weeks we won't be covered in mud or snot.

Matt's been spearheading a major landscaping project in the neighborhood. Two weeks ago we and lots of friends and neighbors moved roughly two tons of rock so that we could turn our mailbox-island into a xeric-landscaped garden area. It will be beautiful once the plants start to grow, and they finished the planting last weekend. Right now it looks like a big lovely dirt heap with some tiny green stuff, though. Thus, my reference to mud.

We've all (except the bug) had the end-of-winter cold for the last week to ten days, too, so continue the mucus removal process of bleaching every available surface and doorknob, and rescheduling all the stuff that got cancelled within the last few weeks. The sun and the sixty-degree temps seem to be sticking for this week, so there's hope.

If you'd like the short reason why I've taken the last six months off from blogging, I have one word for you: FaceBook. (I joined almost exactly when I stopped blogging here.) Short status reports and links with occasional pictures turn out to be way easier for me to generate timewise, and I've reconnected with several friends who were close in high school which is a treat. It's also limited in access to people I approve / designate as my friends which is nice when it comes to posting family information, as opposed to a public blog; I could always make my blog password-accessible only, but I haven't made that call just yet. I'm also required to FB for two of my three jobs, as social media activity is key to audience building for theatrical organizations. Still, I want to keep this blog going so that some day my children can recoil in horror at the tales of their childhood, so I'll still be dropping by occasionally with updates. Drop a line in the comments and let me know if you're still there, readers!