Playing in the Leaves

A few weeks ago--when it was actually still WARM, I undertook a little project related to a big Maple tree in our front yard. The kids were eager to help as well, as you can see below. What happened to the warm days? Winter is coming--soon instead of moving leaves around, we'll be moving snow!



I have memories of this time of year as a kid strongly associated with the smell of burning leaves. It was the only time I was really allowed to play with fire. Maybe if we lived a little further out of town we'd be allowed to burn the leaves. We're in a spot where we're too far out of town for the city to come by and pick them up as well, so we have to bag them or fill up trash cans and take them ourselves to a yard waste site about 3 or 4 miles away. Kind of a drag!

Walk in the park?

Here are some pictures of a little hike we took on a trail about 1.5 miles long. It's actually not in a park, though there are many in our area. This hike is at The Chapel's Green Campus. (It's called the "Green" campus because the community in which it's located in known as "Green.") This is where I go to work everyday. We walked around the 80 acre campus on a newly completed trail. Even Reece walked the whole way!

It has never been easy to get the kids to pose for a picture--especially Reece. But at least here you can see the newly constructed bridge that completed the trail.

You can see what we had to work with--a sunny day and a perfectly picturesque setting. That little "dot" on the trial is Lindsey.

Janet's sister Lynette was here visiting for the weekend (also helped us celebrate Austin's birthday).

Reece didn't want to stop. He didn't want to hurry, but he didn't want to be carried or to stop. He did the whole thing on his own!

Near the highway (I-77) you can see the church in the background and the newly completed ballfields and back stop in the foreground.

Austin's Birthday and Party

Thanks to so many of you who regularly check out our family updates. Our biggest regret is that we can't keep it updated as often as we'd like!

Here are some pictures of Austin's birthday with our family...

The day starts with the traditional "wake-up-to-find-balloons- in-my-room" birthday event.

The "Spiderman Cake." I don't even know where he's heard of Spiderman, but for some reason he's into him. I think he saw the
DVD cover of the Spiderman movie I rented once and that was it!

Later in the week we had a little birthday party with some of Austin's friends from church. Since his birth date is so close to Halloween, Janet made it into a little costume party. Here, the kids are waiting for the pizza.

Janet wisely planned all sorts of activities so that we could keep everyone occupied. Here, the girls are decorating their own pencil box. (All the kids happen to be home schooled, so it's at least something practical). Janet's sister, Lynette (aka "Aunt Nar") visited for the weekend and helped out a lot with the party.

The evening ended with the smashing of the pinata. Emma won the prize, crushing the side of the Spiderman candy-holder. As you can see, the goodies scattered, and the kids dove for them.

We have a seven-year old

Austin turned 7 on Tuesday (25th). That's wild. We did a little family celebration with cake and presents, but the real fun will be today when we have a small party with some of his friends. Aunt Nar is hear from Iowa for the weekend and we'll be having all sorts of activities and games tonight, plus pizza, and decorating one's own cupcake, and "pin-the-nose-on-the-clown."

Pictures will follow.

Boo at the Zoo

What is it about Paul, Dena, and Logan, zoo pictures, and this blog? Well, here we find ourselves again at a zoo. This time, it's the Akron zoo, where all the little kids come dressed up and collect candy at various stations around the zoo. Oh, and sometimes see the animals. Commnetary provided for free.

Every time I tried to take a picture of Reece, he'd look into the camera, make a face, then by the time the camera "fired," Reece would turn away and I'd miss the shot. Paul suggested I try the "action mode" which takes pictures much quicker. Here is the result, though without a flash. Reece rode in the stroller tonight. Didn't seem to mind. He went as a lion.

Lindsey went as a M.D. this year. Who knows what her future holds! You can see her holding the little plastic bag they hand out to all the kids so that they can collect their candy. It's quite a racket. Our family has a zoo pass, yet we had to pay for the kids to get in. $8 each. The candy they received didn't amount to THAT much!

I didn't get a great picture of Austin by himself. Here he is with Lindsey and Logan (the other Spiderman) while we were waiting to get in. Austin took his role as Spiderman very seriously and insisted on remaining in character as long as he had his mask on. I don't know where he's learned all that he knows about Spiderman. If he could, I think he would be spiderman when he grows up!

We were led around by this dynamic duo tonight. Here, Dena tries to recreate her pose made famous at our previous zoo outing in Toledo. She just loves it when I do that to her.

Paul, who was there at least physically, clearly had his mind on other things. As you can see here, he was busy accomplishing a complicated business transaction while we waited in line. Something about chickens and wings and a guy named Dennis. Hmmm...

Go Fly a Kite!

The last time I remember flying a kite was when we lived in Berne. I couldn't have been more that 12 years old. If I was 12 when I last made an attempt, then here we are 21 years later and I'm flying one again!

I'm sure that if we didn't have kids this never would have happened. How can watching a piece of nylon attached to a string float in the breeze be so enjoyable? Well, something about it was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed it too. Both Austin and Lindsey got a turn at flying the kite.

There's a nice big parking lot not far from our house where we take the kids to let them practice riding their bikes, and now it has become a place of kite flying. No cars in the evenings, no power lines, (just a few parking lot lights here and there!)

Once the sun set, the breeze energy dissipated and the kite started to fall to earth. I hope we can enjoy another nice evening like tonight to try it again sometime.

Trip to Grandmom and Granddad's

It was supposed to be just a short trip to kinda get away before the Christmas craziness really hit. What really hit instead was a tree branch that landed on our van! It was a wet, rainy, and even a little stormy weekend. While parked at my parent's house in West Chester, PA, a branch rotted off a tree and landed on the roof of the van, denting some of the roof, the luggage rack, the top of the sliding door, and as you can see, shattered the window.

Time for a call to our insurance company! Fortunately, we were able to get the glass replaced before we drove back on Tuesday. It looks as good as new, but the dents and scratches remain!

Aunt Sharla Visits

It was fun to see Sharla for a couple days last weekend. She made a little tour of some college campuses and stuck a visit to NE Ohio in between. It had been a while since the kids got to see her (Late February) so they had a fun time getting reaquainted. One of our fall traditions has been to take the kids just a block or so away to Kingsway farm.

It is always a bit of a challenge to get all the kids to pose at the right time.

Austin always enjoys feeding the ducks and geese.

Lindsey couldn't get enough of holding this kitten. I think she would have taken it home if she could have.

Reece enjoyed talking with the cows, sheep, and goats.

Toledo Zoo

We went to the Toledo Zoo this weekend with our friends, Paul, Dena, and Logan Stankiewicz. Here are some pictures (with some commentary, of course!).

Going into the zoo--kids riding in style!

Austin and Logan

"I think we need to go that way..."

The "underwater" portion of the polar bear exhibit.

Lindsey is growing fast, but still has a way to go...

Toledo Zoo II

I guess we can only post five pictures at a time, so these posts may show up out of order. Here are more pictures...

Austin and Logan running ahead...

Janet chasing after them.

"I'm not listening!"

All the kids. Reece hates posing.

This home schooling this is going a little too far.

Toledo Zoo III

Here are the last of the highlights...

Why do the kids always get to ride in the wagon?

Reecey looking in a mirror.

Lindsey looking at a swimming hippo. The hippo actually IS under water.

Baby Elephant Walk.

Reece recovering from the zoo with a little McDonald's on his face.

Future NFL fans

We didn't pose this or plan for this, but it was such a "Kodak moment" that I thought it would be fun to share. I'm much more of a baseball fan than a football fan. Still, it's fun to watch some football games, and since Sunday was the beginning of the season (at least in Cleveland), I turned on the TV and put the Browns on after church. The boys, fascinated, hopped into the recliner together and started watching the game. I asked Austin why he liked it and he said it was because he like to watch "the guys' moves."

Reece and Books

Reece, whose nick name has evolved from "Munchkin" to "Munchy," and sometimes "Reecey," just loves to be read to. He gets read to a lot, but he thinks that any time mommy or daddy is seated somewhere, doing whatever it is we're doing, that we're "fair game" at his demand to read to him. Here Janet is reading probably his favorite book of nursery rhymes, which are more sung to him than read. Some of them involve hand-clapping and some other little motions. He just loves it.

This is it, Pooh's Nursery Rhymes. He can't get enough!

~Brian

Great Lakes Science Center

Tonight, Austin and I went to the Science Center in Cleveland to see a very unusal exhibit called Body Worlds 2. I was not allowed to take pictures inside the building, so the only picture I got was of Austin at the parking garage entrance.

Austin has shown a lot of interest in the body and anatomy. This was a perfect exhibit for him to see first hand real human body parts. It sounds a little creepy, but it quickly became a fairly "clinical" learning time, with the human element pushed way in the background.

They used a process called "plastination" that preserved the body tissue in perfect condition, size, shape, and color. There were examples of healthy lungs, smoker's lungs, and a coal miner's lungs. Very interesting to see the good, bad, and worst examples. We could see the skeletal system, the muscular system, digestive system, you name it. Austin has been spending a lot of time looking at "body books" and so he actually knew right away what many of the things were as we looked at them.

Quiet Time

Honest. We didn't force this. Janet just snapped this tonight. Sometimes these moments of quiet bliss occur on their own. It's so cool. One kid picks up a book, then another, then the third. Before you know it, everything is great and nothing but the sound of turning pages can be heard. And the vaccuum cleaner. And the Indian's game streaming over the internet. OK, so they were temporarily being a little neglected, but at least they can entertain themselves. One important thing that was different about this particular reading session, compared with previous ones, is that Austin was actually reading his book. Not just looking at the pictures, but reading quietly his book. Very exciting!

Austin started his Gym class this week, and Lindsey started her math lessons this week. Part of her assignment was to make a little pattern from the pattern blocks, which she created in this picture to the left.

The kids have a habit of saying "we're in Hartville" when in the van as we get close to home. For as long as I can remember it's been Austin, once he spots the "Hartville Kitchen," starting it with Lindsey repeating. Now a third little voice is joining the fun. Reece made a good attempt at "Hartville." We're starting to hear more and more from Reecey now.

Thanks for keeping up with "the fam."

Painting PJs

The kids received PJs from Aunt Nar that not only were they permitted to color, they were encouraged to color! Even though at first Reece thought we were going to eat, it didn't take him long after sitting at the table to enjoy marking up his little shirt.

Then, a few hours later, here are all the kids wearing their little masterpieces!

First School Lessons

Austin is being taught a number of first grade subjects by both Janet and me. Janet covers the bulk of them including history, English, spelling, handwriting, poetry, Spanish and second grade math (Austin did first grade math last year!). The math curriculum is very good, from Saxon Publishers. Very thorough and well-planned. For Austin's lesson today, entitled "Identifying the attributes of pattern blocks," his assigment was to create a shape of some kind using the "pattern blocks" and his product is seen below. He calls it "a guy."

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I'm in charge of teaching Austin "phonics" which has now evolved into "reading," and in the next few weeks we'll start piano lessons. Austin and Lindsey also go to the local YMCA for PE classes and swimming lessons.

Lindsey can't get enough of school. She's only doing a little pre-school curiculum which includes "readiness skills." The curiculum teaches her colors, how to color in the lines, dot-to-dots, cutting with scissors on dotted lines, gluing things, etc, etc. She is also learning letters. She has learned the vowels and what they "say" and is now moving on to consonants. Today she learned the letter "B." You can see her below proudly displaying her handiwork.

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