How the Vampire Lost his Fangs July 24, 2010
Posted by Kate in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so farI’m currently working on an article on Dracula for Thought Meadow - a Christian women’s magazine; I put together this sequence of pictures to illustrate an interesting phenomenon: the transition of the vampire from a monster to a heartthrob. Since these pictures are not royalty-free I can’t put them alongside the article, but I thought I’d post them here.
First, one of the earliest vampires: Max Schreck in Nosferatu, 1922.
Second, Bela Lugosi in the 1931 Dracula.
Third, Gary Oldman in Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, 1992. This is him as the “young” Dracula, he is much creepier when he’s older.
Fourth, Brad Pitt as the vampire Louis in the 1994 Interview with a Vampire
And finally, the most intimidating vampire of all, Edward Cullen of Twilight (2008).
I appreciated this final picture, of an also newly reimagined warrior Van Helsing. The real Van Helsing was an older man, a Christian scientist who studied how to destroy vampires. But this picture was amusing nonetheless.
Home is the Sailor, Home from the Sea July 1, 2010
Posted by Kate in : Uncategorized , add a commentThe Notre Dame Henrecksons (Henrecksons de Notre Dame?) had a wonderful trip back to Moscow for the month of June. While there were many highlights, a few moments particularly stood out.
We celebrated David’s first birthday with the Ditton family and with friends.
Mom and I made these fabulous lion cupcakes, since it was a jungle-themed party:
“Those are M&M’s that were his eyes . . .” (ok - if you don’t read T. S. Eliot, you may not appreciate that one).
A second highlight was getting to be there for the birth of two of my best friends’ babies. Caedmon Daniel Foxe Newman, son of my friend and dear classmate Brooke:
and my godson, Broadus Edward Eifert, son of my dear friend and roommate Hope.
David also had all sorts of fun this trip. He got to go on his first boat ride . . .
. . . and have his first Ice Cream Cone, of which “more” was instantly demanded:
He spent a number of afternoons playing in the pool on Nana’s back deck:
And even got a trip to the “big kids’” pool!
Finally, he spent much time playing with his wonderful Auntie Christine, thanks to whom he is going to have a baby girl cousin next time we go home! 
And of course, he had a ball with the beloved Nana and Papa, after whom he inquires daily.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip; we were so glad to have to much time to spend with friends and family, and look forward to returning to Moscow (which is in Idaho, for my Indiana friends) in the near future!
For My Niece June 12, 2010
Posted by Kate in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so farThis is the third baby hat I’ve made, and I figured out how to add a flower.
Hooray for Rummage Sales April 24, 2010
Posted by Kate in : Uncategorized , add a commentThere was a rummage sale going on at Christ the King Lutheran Church yesterday, so Baby David and I stopped by. Among other things, I found these Liz Claiborne shoes for 33 cents:
Best of all, they have marvelous little gel-packs in the heel, so they’re actually comfortable (imagine that!)
And to David’s delight, I found these for 50 cents each:
Remember “The Farmer Says”? Apparently they don’t make it like they used to, so I was excited to find one of the old ones. David loves it already and spends most of his time trying to stop the wheel from spinning.
First the infant, mewling and puking in his nurse’s arms . . . April 20, 2010
Posted by Kate in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so farA few weeks ago, David learned to crawl, which has led to all sorts of shenanigans and suddenly requires great vigilance on mother’s part. This morning, I came in to get the crowing baby out of his crib, and discovered that he had learned a new trick, which he now does whenever it’s time to take a nap. Unfortunately, he doesn’t yet know how to get himself back down.
He was quite pleased with himself. Another recent adventure was being handed a whole strawberry, which he spent a long time gnawing away at, until it covered his face and bib.
After our nap this morning, we spent some time rediscovering the blocks we received for Christmas from Grandma H. . .
. . . while Doggy, unbeknownst to Baby, received his first much-needed bath.
Then, as his mother apparently demanded as a child, we decided to play “whole dwawey out!”
And we learned that there are many things besides crib rails which are useful for pulling oneself to an upright position.
One can only imagine what new adventures await tomorrow!
Finally, David has been spending his evenings at rehearsal for Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” in which he makes an appearance alongside Mama. The title of this post is from Jaques’ famous “All the world’s a stage” speech, and Jaques points to David at that line. Here’s a picture of David during the final scene of the show (sitting in between Orlando and the Good Duke).
Crocheting February 28, 2010
Posted by Kate in : Uncategorized , 2commentsI just finished my second crochet project - a baby hat. Seeing as a number of my friends are mothers-to-be, I decided this would be a worthwhile thing to figure out how to do.
This particular hat belongs to Baby Eifert. Teddy graciously offered his services as a model.
My sister-in-law Kara taught me how to crochet, and I made a scarf for Mom as my first project. I figured out how to make this hat in the same way I learn to do a lot of things: Youtube videos. The actual pattern for the hat is here:
http://blog.innerchildcrochet.com/?p=380
Recent Goings-on February 4, 2010
Posted by Kate in : Uncategorized , add a commentI realized I haven’t posted in quite a while, which should be remedied.
We’re back in South Bend after a great Christmas with the Henrecksons and a wonderful trip back to Idaho to see the Ditton side of the family. David greatly enjoyed seeing his dearest Nana, Papa, Uncle Joel, and Auntie Christine, all of whom he hadn’t seen since he was two months old. The only person who didn’t appreciate his visit was Samantha.
Davey has started his second semester of classes, including a history of American evangelicalism class from the highly popular Mark Noll. And I have been teaching grammar at a homeschool co-op on Wednesday mornings, which is a lot of fun. Grading for five students seems like nothing after grading some hundred students’ papers at Logos. (Not that I didn’t relish every one of them!) But I still greatly miss all the Knights, even those two unnameable staff members who called me a whale when I was pregnant.
I co-hosted a baby shower for a friend of mine, Sarah, who just had her baby boy Michael over Christmas break. For an activity, I found this fun idea for a keepsake baby quilt, which worked out really well. You cut sixteen 7″x7″ squares (or however many you want, provided it makes a square quilt) of white fabric, and buy some fabric markers and baby-themed stencils. Each guest gets to decorate a square (ours each did a couple), either using the stencils or drawing freehand.
Then someone (me, in this case) takes the squares home, and pieces them together into a quilt. I used blue fabric for the strips in between the squares; you need 20 7″x2″ strips and 5 38″x2″ strips. The finished top is 34″x34″ (if you use quarter-inch seams), and I just made my backing about an inch longer than that, folded it over twice (on top of the front of the quilt) and machine-finished the quilt.
It turned out quite cute, and is the perfect size for a baby to drag around.
While I had the machine out, I decided to make a new little couch pillow, to replace a rather ugly pilled plain black one.
David has also been accomplishing a lot lately. He now will eat pretty much any baby food without the previous gagging and theatrics. I also bribed him to say “mama” (or something quite close), by rewarding him with being picked up once he said it. He used that knowledge later, when I was feeding him and had put away the rest of the food, to cry, “mama!” in hopes that the food would perhaps return. Finally, he has grown his two bottom teeth, which he very reluctantly let me photograph.
That’s all for now!
In Which we are Losing our Mind . . . December 3, 2009
Posted by Kate in : Uncategorized , 2commentsI was making quiche yesterday, and I was using my chicken pot pie recipe for the crust, but I needed to halve it. The recipe called for 2/3 cup of butter.
Now, I always have trouble trying to calculate amounts on a stick of butter. I sat there and stared and stared at the stick of butter, looking at the 1/3 and 1/2 cup markings. I thought to myself, “Let’s see, I would need 1/3 plus a half of 1/3 - but what is a half of 1/3?”
I looked at the 1/3 amount, eyeballed what half of that would be, then added it to the end of the 1/3 marking on the stick. But it added up to the whole stick, which was 1/2 a cup. I thought, “This can’t be right, a half cup twice is a whole cup, not 2/3. It’s got to be just a little less than that, I must be adding wrong.”
All this to say, I probably stared at that stick of butter for five minutes, before it hit me that half of two is one.
Davey says he thinks he doesn’t want David to be homeschooled after all.
Such a Good Baby October 25, 2009
Posted by Kate in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so farDavid has been so good about going down for his naps lately. I wrap him in his blanket and start rocking him, and there is always the brief fussing when he realizes what’s happening. But after 10-15 seconds, he obediently sticks his thumb in his mouth and submits to being rocked and sung to. And when I set him down in his crib, he turns away from me and puts his other hand up over his eyes.
Also, I can no longer tell when he wakes up from his naps, because he sits in there staring and kicking quietly instead of letting me know he’s awake. But sometimes I hear him crowing gleefully and I know he’s ready to get up.
Welcoming Fall October 10, 2009
Posted by Kate in : Uncategorized , add a commentI had been meaning to buy some cute pumpkins for the last couple weeks. This morning, we went to Farmer’s Market and found all sorts of other glorious things as well:
In the center are hot banana peppers - Davey made salsa. And on the bottom right are sweet potatoes.
I finally got out my fall decor. I realize it’s a bit late, but then, so was fall here in South Bend - we had something of an Indian summer. Better late than never.
And lest it feel left out, even the tv got a little spruced up . . .
