Family Friday

Hi everyone:

Tonight was a family fun night...sort of. The five of us saw a matinee of Bridge to Terabithia. Both Patty and I were thrilled with the movie, and are pretty sure the kids are fans as well. I found the hall scene with Jesse and the teacher deeply affecting, in both the book and the movie; Connor even took a moment to tease me about my reaction. Kids...can't live with them, can't drop them off on a remote country road and race away.

After gorging on popcorn and candy, nobody was feeling especially hungry, so we decided that a family meal could be moved to a later date. After making this decision, there seemed to be less reason to continue the evening as a family event, particularly since the kids were chomping at the bit to make other plans. PJ is at a second movie and Connor is sleeping over at his friend Alec's house; only Kelly is home with us this evening.

Tomorrow, our plan is to do some ambitious rearranging of kids and furniture. The bunk beds in PJ's room will be taken apart and reassembled in the basement. The bunks in Kelly's and Connor's room will be broken down and restored in PJ's room, which PJ and Connor will now share. We will assemble a twin bed (from the basement) in Kelly's room, of which she will become the sole occupant.

When Devin and Colin stay for stretches, we'll have to get creative; the five kids often travel in a pack when they're all together, so they may well slumber en masse in the basement. Our ultimate plan is to finish all or part of our basement, anyway, so that we can accomodate the space needs of growing kids. Actually, one of our plans is to win the HGTV Dream Home, which will solve this problem in a grand fashion; until then, it's roll-up-our-sleeves time.

More soon...

Love,
Brian

P.S. Patty had another rough morning, but a decent later day, thus far.