My son, Jonathan will be playing the title character in his school play, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Opening night is two weeks away which means it's crunch time for us and everyone here at Chez Darby has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to make the boy look good. Which is how I found myself in the humiliating and ...
My Kids
Celebrate TODAY.
Disneyland. The Mandatory Mickey Face Picture. March 2007: Disneyland. The Mandatory Mickey Face Picture. May 2008:Disneyland. The Mandatory Mickey Face Picture. January 2009: (I guess most people use a calendar to mark the passing of time. =D) This is exactly why I am totally loving Disneyland's tag line for this year:*HEAVY SIGH* ...
You look MAHVELOUS!
I have spent the last few months in drama. (And I'm not even talking about my real life here.) I've been in high school, working with the Midsummer Night's Dream set crew. Lucy's classes are all online, except for drama, which requires she be on campus for 3 hours a week. And okay, so my daughter was playing a lead, ...
Ay me! for aught that I could ever read – or – How Shakespeare is affecting my life today
Okay, boys and girls, for today's Lesson in Theatre Arts, I offer you a synopsis of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare: Lysander loves Hermia, and Hermia loves Lysander. Helena lovesDemetrius; Demetrius used to love Helena but now loves Hermia. Egeus, Hermia's father, prefers Demetrius as a suitor, and enlists the aid ...
The Man Child
I have some well-chosen adjectives that describe my kids. What I happen to love about the following list of adjectives is that they were used by other people: Aunts, cousins, teachers, friends, grandparents, neighbors, tween-girls - to describe my son, Jonathan. I know this because I have been "collecting" them for the past few ...
Making Christmas
"Making Christmas" is usually the mom's job. At least it's always that way at my house (I'm guessing it's that way in most homes). I do a lot of stuff anyway, but in December I kick it up to Warp Nine. =D This year I was especially busy because I took the time to make some special homemade gifts: 1) ...
“Open me first!”
Back in the day, Kodak had a genius ad campaign for their sweetly priced Instamatic cameras. From around the early 60's and into the 70's their pre-Christmas ads would say something about marking the wrapped camera with a tag that said "Open me first!" Serious genius. So, you're probably thinking that this ...
Character building exercises
All four of my kids tend toward the dramatic. I won't take credit for their abilities, but I think their tendency towards drama comes from their (ahem) Cuban genes. =D Both Lucy and Jonathan have leads in their respective upcoming productions. Lucy is going to be "Puck" in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and ...
Law & order
Lucy, who is now a sophomore in high school (yes, we still homeschool and she is enrolled in an independent study program and most of her classes are online, even though she does go on campus for drama each week, but that's not important right now) has been involved in something called the Mock Trial Program. It's kind of a cool ...
El Niño
Okay, so I did a little more than visit Desi Arnaz Jr. *sigh* when we went to Las Vegas this past weekend. Eric had to be in meetings for most of the time (except when his client wined him and dined him and took him to The Mirage to see Danny Gans, but that's not important right now). Which is why I took Adam. So that he could keep me ...









