Indian Summer - 2008

As I go back through all of these pictures, it is with a sense of longing. You see, I am COLD! I can wear my regular clothes, a sweatshirt and sit in front of the heater and I am still cold. It is amazing to me that we ever dressed like this and weren't freezing!

This series of pictures all took place on lazy fall afternoons and evenings in September. I really regret that I am so far behind because I am sure there were great specifics to tell with each picture.

John, being the super big brother and helping Joseph up the stairs in front of our home.


When we returned home from the beach, Joseph was still in the midst of an eating frenzy. Bananas are a favorite, but the peel must be ON the banana!


Both boys played fall ball. John ended up on a team of mostly 4th and 5th graders. He was in way over his head. We set up the hurricane in the back yard and he did faithfully practice quite a bit at the beginning of the season. Note that John is swinging right-handed.


Now he is swinging left-handed. John is actually left-handed but fancies himself a switch hitter. According to Lang, he hits more consistently right but with more strength left.


I would not want to be the recipient of the look on his face! He looks like he is about to wallop that "ball," and I'm sure he did!


Joseph was glad to be back in his crib. It is much larger and softer than the play pen he uses at the beach. He loves his bed and will play in it happily until I arrive, at least most of the time.


I couldn't help but put in two of these pictures...he looks grand!


Here I am trying to work while the boys get their Kumon done. Neither of them are necessarily thrilled with the work, but they both love the results.


James, on the stairs leading to our basement playroom.


Joseph has really begun to like books. I think this is because Lang spent so much time reading to him this fall. He lets Joseph pick out the books he wants to read, which is great. I generally pick them out for him.

Friday Adventures: Dig It!

Well, today is Friday and you know what that means...another Friday Adventure!

At the pace we are going, we can probably spend another two, possibly three Fridays at the Natural History Museum. Now the boys want to see the Oceans exhibit, dinosaur bones and the gems and minerals. I got a glimpse of an orchid exhibit that I just might be able to get the boys to let me see.

I would also like to visit American History and Air & Space. We'd best hurry because warmer weather and tourists will soon be upon us!

Today our goal was to see Dig It! We learned about Dig It! on a field trip with John's school. On that field trip I was able to run the boys through it really, really quickly...just long enough to get the impression that the boys might want to come back.

Well, the idea didn't sit too well with them. Who wants to see DIRT! The only one who was excited was Nicholas. James complained for the first half of our time there.

The first thing the boys saw when they got to the exhibit is this "chef" reality show. The two chefs are competing to create the best soil. It is neat to see what "ingredients" are part of the two soil types they made: soil found in a coniferous forest and soil in a bog. The only bummer is that they ran the same loop over and over. My boys would have watched about ten of these.


Joseph does not have the attention span of the older boys and was ready to wander. He enjoyed manipulating these cubes...good preparation for Montessori School next year. Note that he has his sippy cup. He is starting to insist on having "lovies." At least we managed to keep the green blanket in the car.


Not that you can tell, but there is a video at the bottom of this periscope...note that the left arm is in position to guard the sippy cup. This becomes important later on...


John and Nicholas had to right the cubes...then they messed them up again. James wouldn't leave the display until they were all right again. See Joseph trying to help, one handed? That is because the left hand still has the sippy cup.


James watching John and Nicholas, plotting his turn at the cubes.


It didn't take long before a bathroom break was required. The bathroom was inconveniently located at the far end of the early civilization exhibit. As we came out, James and Nicholas sat down to watch a video on the Egyptians. They are studying early Egypt in school. James, Joseph and I found a monitor and track ball to keep us entertained until they were done. Note the positioning of the sippy cup, next to Joseph's left hand.


Throughout the early civilization exhibit, there are displays which give the average heights of men and women in different regions of the world. Here the boys started singing, "Walk like and Egyptian!"


Here are all four boys in on the action. Joseph is actually just saying, "CHEESE." Note...there is no sippy cup in Joseph's hand.


Back at Dig It!, James got involved with the questions on the interactive displays. He probably spent 10-15 minutes learning and answering questions. He loved it and never found his complaining again. Nicholas did the same thing. John found a video called SSI: Soil Scene Investigation where we learned the fate of an award winning pumpkin names Linus.


See what Joseph still doesn't have? Of course, we left Nicholas' coat in back at the Egyptian video and went back to get it. According to the pictorial evidence here, we were as close as 4 feet to rescuing the sippy cup as well! I didn't figure out we had lost it until we were going back through security...and then it was too late since they were closing the museum.

A Busy Day...

We canceled our Friday Adventure this week because John was scheduled to spend all day Friday on a school field trip to Goddard Space Center. Then he got an invite for an overnight with his buddy Nicholas. Now, what do I do to make the afternoon special for James? I took him ice skating!

Sadly, I forgot my camera, but I don't know that I could have provided a picture of this scenario anyway. As a child growing up in Illinois, figure skating was my sport. I am confident on skates. Nonetheless, it has been TEN years since I have worn skates and I was a tad bit concerned. This was James' first time on skates. And, as a mother hen, I worry a bit about him breaking a bone as a result of bone thinning from his medication.

I wanted to take a practice lap around the rink. James was having nothing doing with that. So there I am with a first time skater hanging on me as I make my way around the rink.

James did well. He laughed as he lost his footing and only cried (probably a fake cry) once. He was a really good sport and managed to do a bit of solo skating. Next time I'll bring the camera.

Now...for the busy day...

On Saturday morning James had tae kwon do at 9:15am.


I spent the 30 minutes chasing Joseph from one end of the Lee-Harrison shops...


...to the other.


I was trying to get a picture of James looking all handsome in his tae kwon do uniform. Joseph kept jumping into the picture and saying, "cheese." This distracted James but he finally managed to look at the camera and not at Joseph. Note that James has a red stripe on the end of his belt. He earned that on Thursday.


John's swimming began at 10am. Thankfully Nicholas and his Mom (Betsy) took John to swimming directly instead of waiting for me to pick him up. We never would have made it. In this picture he is recognizing that I am at swimming and that he is having his picture taken all at the same time. He never looked at me again!


John giving me a pose after his hour of swimming.


After swimming we grabbed lunch at McDonald's and headed over to the Justin Roberts concert at Jammin Java. Concerts are starting to be one of our favorite things to do. The boys love his songs, "My Brother Did It," "Pop Fly," and "Yellow Bus." So do I!


A little cooperation would be nice when Mom is trying to take a picture. That is Sam behind John. He is our Jammin Java buddy...and our favorite beach friend!


Joseph jumping up and down...or is this when he tried to pull the plug on the feedback monitor?



This was supposed to be a picture of James (see to your left) but John was in the mood to be photographed and swung around hitting my arm in the process. Thus you see John.


Sam dancing and playing with some rubber bands he found. Sam is a collector.


James, Sam and Joseph patiently waiting for the next song....


Sam and Joseph clapping during the break between the concert and the encore.


After the concert, James and Sam had to be at baseball at 2pm. Jana drove the two of them while I made my way over a bit more slowly. Joseph fell asleep on the ride. When I got there I was faced with a daunting task, get the stroller inside and upstairs. There are about 12 very wide steps to get in the building. This is about 2/3 of the inside stairway. There are several miracles at play here, including that Joseph slept through it all. Must have been too much jumping at the concert.


James, with Coach Binns in the background.


Sam, and if you look closely you can see James in the ready position for the popfly Coach Binns is about to send his way. Ironic they practiced popflys after dancing to the song Popfly!


John fielding a grounder and throwing it to the target. John's clinic isn't until 3pm, so he had lots of time to get some homework done...which he actually did! Way to go John!

Would you believe we did all this and were still home by 4:20pm?

John's Picture Post - Episode I

Today as I was uploading pictures I found 243 pictures and videos on the camera I often let John use. After the battery died in my better camera, I switched to the smaller one. I may have taken a total of 30 pictures. Here are the TWO winner shots courtesy of John. I will be making a point of posting John's better shots. He is really into the blog and will enjoy this...and might even learn some discipline about what makes a great shot!

James is big into pirates. He now has FOUR pirate ships, three in Arlington and one at the beach. For Christmas, Gram gave him a LEGO pirate ship. You can see him playing with it in this picture. You can also see that he has brought the other two pirate ships up to play as well. His Veggie Tale pirate ship is looking a little ragged.


John taking pictures of himself in the yellow bathroom...

An Average Day (or Three) - September 2008

Settling into the grind was (and continues even in January) to be a challenge, but we are glad to be home. The big boys played baseball, James started Tae Kwon Do, all boys hav music class (John is learning keyboarding), John has swimming and the big boys are continuing Kumon. Of course, the boys would like to quit Kumon, yesterday!

John doing his Kumon. Some days are easier than others.


Daddy went up on the roof to clean out the gutters from all of the flying "helicopters." Look who joined him up there!


James feeling oh so cooperative!


Joseph got his hands on the remote control. I've tried giving him his own without the batteries but that just will not do. He wants one that maneuvers the tv. Needless to say, he's not very talented at this young age and we mostly end up watching snow.


John showing me his latest tumbling move...clearly he will not be in the 2012 Olympics!


John giving me a pose, and James getting his Kumon work done.


So sweet...


John started OT this fall. The first part of the program focussed on "How Does Your Engine Run?" His first assignment was to identify how various people's engines run. Here his engine is running as it should.


And here it is too slow...


And too fast, which seems to be the case more often than not (note picture of John upside down on living room chair!).

"Hurricane Obama" Evacuation

In honor of all the road and bridge closures, our little family has evacuated to the beach for "Hurricane Obama." We have laughed along with many other Arlingtonians at the alert sent by Arlington County suggesting we all stay home for the Inauguration and prepare for a hurricane. Do we really need to tie things down and board our windows? I hope not because we left town with all of that undone...

So, here we are at the beach in the freezing cold. The boys have hardly left the house since we got here, thanks to a couple of surprise deliveries left by Santa at Christmas. Mom and I managed a trip to the Outlets in Rehoboth, largely because in my great wisdom I arrived here with only the pants I was wearing!

James (who should be asleep like his brothers) cuddling with Daddy. He ended up sleeping with us. Is it bad that I kind of like it when he sleeps with us since he warms up the bed before I get there?


When I woke up the next morning this is how I found James. Sitting on the sofa holding his new pirate Lego set, this boy was ready!


Lang, John and James at work on the Lego sets. See James playing with the boat from the pirate set?


Lang teaching John to play hearts the old fashioned way, on a laptop!


Next day, John hard at work on his Lego Star Wars ship (with a little unwelcome help). John worked on this ALL DAY!


John's finished product. This ship is the one Obi Won Kenobi flew. Lang made sure John did this project on his own. We are all proud...the set Santa left was for a kid 9+.


James playing with his new pirate set. The kid is in love.


Lang trying to get some work done in the midst of everything!


John displaying the framework for his spaceship.


The spaceship. John made sure I knew that this is not an R4 droid. I kind of know what that means...


Joseph, who refused to take a nap, trying to be a big boy by wearing John's shoes. Scary how they don't look all that wrong...


Joseph has graduated into his own booster seat at the beach table. Not that he will stay in the seat, which is why the high chair is still in the kitchen!

As I write this, I am overhearing all kinds of complaints because Joseph is busting up coveted Lego sets. I'm off to go help with repairs...or not!