Thanksgiving 2010

Squeezed in before Christmas! Cody and Keri were here the whole week of Thanksgiving. For the actual day, neighbors Betsy and Chuck (w/ Charlie and Claire Ellen) and Jessica and Yong with son Joshua joined us. I had planned on having an outside dinner, but a cold snap hit a few hours before dinner, so we did a quick rearrangement, pulling the kitchen table into the living room for the adults, and setting up a picnic on the floor of the kitchen for the kids.

Mary Clement pulled on this too-small hat herself:

"Look, Mama, Emma has hair!"

Right before C&K head out:

Yes, Jackson and Sophie are just 6 weeks apart, and he's a head above her. Harry, 2 years younger, is as tall as Sophie, though much wider!:

And back to Thanksgiving Day. The kids' "table":

For dessert another set of neighbors joined us for a Pie Party:

A cameo for Keri's apple pie:

Four and Six, Some Pix

Feeling a little giddy with Christmas money, we bought the boys big birthday presents this year. We headed to the Lego store and got an abundance of Star Wars legos:

A bit out of order, but we had a party in front of our apartment with neighborhood friends, and played round after round of dodgeball, with prizes of course. Here's Matthew throwing the ball, and Mary Clement tearing across "the field":

Cousin James made an appearance:

This shot is looking at our apartment, giving you an idea of the crowd and the boys "Happy Birthday" banner:

After blowing out the candles. There was one large cake in the middle (2 cake recipes combined), and 2 round ones on the sides, with 4 and 6 candles. Notice Jacob taking care of that last candle:

These were butterscotch cakes, something Jackson had gotten into his head about 6 mo. ago when he first tasted a butterscotch candy. From that point on, he wanted a butterscotch cake for his bday, and stayed true. Harry liked the idea as well. :)

Halloween 2010

Yeah, so um, it's almost Christmas. So I figure it's time to post about the boys' bdays and Halloween.

The loot:

Mary Clement wore the owl costume that both boys wore at this age and was treated with a Blow Pop as we trick-or-treated. Here she's sleepy drunk on candy:

The boys were Vikings, at their request:

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Harry's latest thing is picking out Mary Clement's clothes for the day. This morning when deciding between some brown pants and striped ones, he chose the striped, because, "I want her to wear pretty pants."

Harry says...

"If we're riding in the car and I have to use the bathroom, it's okay because the seat will hold it in for me."

"Next time I see Jackson I'm going to wrestle myself to the ground." (When he failed to follow through with this Jackson pointed it out. Harry said, "No, I mean the next time when we go and come back again.")

a few beach photos

At the end of October we went to South Padre Island with my parents. Chuck and Paula Schwartzmann were kind enough to gift us a week of their timeshare!

The last 4 or so miles of the island are undeveloped:

This is the view from our balcony. Matthew and the boys are the dots down there, building a sand castle:

My mother doing her best to read a book on a particularly windy day:

On top of Old Sand Dune! All covered with sand. I lost my poor family. . .

One day the boys and Matthew spent a few hours having races on the beach. Harry got a head start, then Jackson, then Matthew, while I read walked around reading my book and letting MC nap in the sling:

Mary Clement really bonded with my dad. This also shows how attached she is to those 2 fingers. She was only somewhat conflicted putting sandy fingers in her mouth:

A great one of Jackson body surfing with my dad:

Portrait of a Sister

Medium: Brown Rice (on canvas of Blue Bowl)

Harry Wright, Artist, comments on his work: "It's Mary Clement laughing"

Mary Clement has discovered the "joy" of gagging herself. Each of my kids have done this around this age. Why would you do this more than once?

Jackson's first tooth fell out today! I cried.

Emma going as Essie

Proud Pappa that I am, couldn't resist posting these Halloween pictures of Emma dressed as Essie (wearing one of her originals).

Hallowmas

This fall, Keri and I tried a new approach to Halloween after reading a blogpost in the Rabbit Room talking about using the time to reach out to neighbors and celebrate the freedom we have in Christ's triumph over death. So we created the above churchyard with tombstones commemorating saints from various centuries (Meme was the most recent) and had lots of candy (Keri got the good stuff). Of all the names for the days, I like Hallows Eve (the trick-or-treaters couldn't tell the difference) and Hallowmas (rather than All Saints Day).

The girls went as new life. Keri and I were their alter ego larvae.

This was the cross remembering Augustine. We relit everything on 11/1 and had our family devotions in the churchyard, thanking God for the lives of each of the saints.

We turned last years "recycled" jack o'lanterns into saint o'lanterns naming them after various saints, and Sophie expanded our collection significantly with much more whimsically drawn faces than I'd managed last year.

Though Sophie looks ecstatic in this shot because she has been eating so much candy, both girls really joined in the entire celebration; we'll definitely be doing something similar next year.

We often talk about "when we move" or "when Matthew's done with the dissertation" as if it's Beulah Land, that we'll do things like sports, get a new couch, etc. We didn't realize this was so oft spoke of until the other day when Harry said, "When we move, I'm going to get a hula hoop."

This just in - a report from Betsy Stokes, neighbor extraordinaire:

The kids (Jackson, Harry, Charlie, and Claire Ellen) are on their back porch sorting/trading their Halloween candy (this has happened every day this week). Betsy, as a joke, asks if they'd like some brussel sprouts. J and H respond enthusiastically, "Yes!" and now they're popping brussel sprouts while continuing to sort candy.

Matthew and Kevin and I went to see Mumford and Sons in concert last night!

Mary Clement currently: walking around with one shoe on (she loves her shoes and first thing every morning goes to get them with a request for us to put them on) and the utensil bucket from the dishwasher, as if it's a purse. Just now - brought me George Weigel's Letters to a Young Catholic with a request for me to read it to her.

Boys currently: clipping pictures from the Lego Jr. magazine, using their clip art to stage battles.

Me currently: trying to pay bills and get a grocery list together.

Aren't we fascinating? Hey, you're the one who came here.

Typical Harry scenario that happened this morning:

Matthew tells Harry to go get dressed. Ten minutes later, Harry is found in the bathroom buck naked in front of a sink full of water, lost in a make-believe world with the toothbrushes, them talking back and forth, daring eachother to dive into the water, etc. Sigh. . .

Simmons Farm

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Gracie liked the pumpkin patch, the apples, and the pick your own flowers. She wasn't as keen on the farm animals. 

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I'm pretty sure she said "apple" today. :) She at least pointed and grinned when I asked her to show me the apple!

We are expecting. . . a cousin! Laurel will have baby #2 in May, 19 months apart from James!

The children of the neighborhood are playing "trade" today, toys flying fast from house to house. Jackson was lucky enough to score "the last sea serpent on the earth" from Charlie, a particularly enterprising friend.

New Word for Gracie Day

The word is "UP"!  Essie was here to hear it.  Other words in the vocab: Mama and Dada.

A big head = A big brain

Mary Clement had her 15-mo. appt. today. . .

Average height, but thin (10-25th %).

Head circumferance - 95%!

Harry: "Daddy's school is longer than how long we'll be in heaven."

I'm starting to wonder if homeschooling is the best idea for us. Matthew's lesson tonight as we walked to dinner at Hula Hut (thanks to my bday gift card from Laurel!): a pronoun is a noun that gets paid for being a person, place, or thing.

During the day we met Simone (and David and William) in Saledo, halfway between here and Waco and swam in the creek until we got kicked out by the park police. Yikes!

Tonight made Baked Lemon Pasta (with chicken) and Mocha Silk Pie
for friends (Kevin Stuart and Kody & Dee Cooper & son Cormac).

A marvelous day!

And, she's off. . .

Mary Clement took her first steps at the end of August, but is only now walking all the time. I took these videos a few weeks ago; she's a little more stable now. I include 2 b/c the first is so bright.

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Other little things of our day:

Mary Clement "talking" to Harry's Bear Backpack as if he's her close friend. . .

Jackson ran/walked 2 miles today (instead of our usual one) for Marathon Kids (you walk or run 26.2 miles over a few month's time), and very proud of himself, was heading to tell Matthew the details. Harry, trailing behind, said, "Am I the only one in this family who can whistle?" (this may be Harry's one thing that Jackson can't do).

Harry playing battle in the bathroom with all our toothbrushes.

Happy Photos

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Here is Grace, at the mushroom fountain in the Children's Garden. We just joined the Phipps Conservatory, and happily found that they had a garden for Gracie. She preferred the large snail watering cans to the smaller elephant ones. We're looking forward to going to the Phipps in the winter (the outdoor garden will be closed, of course, but there is plenty of lovely greenery and lots of windows inside).

September is a beautiful month here. When D started school, I was all ready to pull out the jackets, but we haven't had to yet. It's been 88 and beautiful, nearly every day.

Photos of her b-day to follow this weekend--

Lynn

I just love our girl!

Sophie just said to me, "You know the best times of my life, when I'm most happiest? When I'm helping someone or giving something away. It's really true, Mommy!" I don't think it gets much better than that, does it? Out of the mouths of five-year-olds...

Emma, Clemmie, & Gracie

all in dresses Meme smocked. . .

The Garden, for Cody

Per Cody's request, here are some photos of our neighbor's garden (of which, wonderfully, we have a corner!) Garden at the back of Pocusset 5551:
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Marigolds on the border, to keep away pests. Potted plants (mostly tomatoes) on the outside of the raised bed.
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Rain water collection. The first tank collects, and the other two are overflow barrels. Although, the system isn't perfect, as it sometimes floods into their basement. Note the cool tree with the herbs underneath it (chives, garlic, rosemary).
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The garden from their lawn. It's "a pretty mess" as our neighbor said--we all like it. They have planted in rows (and ripped up some of them, because a bug got the squash and the potatoes just weren't big enough) and replanted when we ran out (cilantro has been a big hit).
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Here is a sample of their rows. I really should be able to tell you how they've had it laid out, but I don't really know, other than that the herbs are on the outside (basil, parsley, cilantro) followed by the greens (kale, arugula) and then the eggplant, tomatoes and squash in the middle.

Our little corner has two types of tomatoes, three jalapenos pepper plants, rhubarb and basil. Like I said, it's only still there because of the kind attention from our neighbors.

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A wee gardener overseeing the crops. She likes to pick the marigolds.

Merry-Go-Round

Merry Gracie, on her first Schenley Park Carousel ride.

(The photos are this way because my horse, like Gracie's dragon, was moving up and down.)

She was just hanging out, not sure what to expect, but broke into a dozen smiles when the ride started.

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Boys Camp 2010

The first week of August became Boys Camp when Benjamin and Will joined Jackson and Harry here at Camp Amity (along with a tag-along baby girl named Mary Clem).

The Flagstaff Fam had gifted J & H with a castle-shaped bundt cake pan, which became a central part of Boys Camp (Sophie, this is a way you were here with us!). Benjamin asked to make it at the end of the week "as a celebration", which we did, and they had fun decorating it and posting their initial flags (for a few days we called them Camper B, J, H, and W at Benjamin's request, so these are their camper flags at the top of the cake)



Another essential element of Boys Camp was Bug Collection. Here they're flipping through books identifying their finds:
Our youngest camper! Boys Camp this year accepted only ages 2-5:

Swimming in the Big and Little Pools was a part of every day:

A field trip to the Mid-America Museum:

Being silly in a crazy mirror:

Friends are friends forever, if the Lord's the Lord of them (name that Christian camp song):

Early one morning watching deer scavenge for "They were here, I remember!" peaches:

'

The last day of Boys Camp ended with an appropriate Grand Finale (beside the Castle Cake), Counselor BB and boys burning fences!

Other Camp Items of Interest (for world-traveling mothers who will want to know!):

Reading:

The Fairy Caravan by Beatrix Potter, 1929. This is one of Meme's books, a penciled childish scrawl "marring" the front of the book, "Mary Clementine, EFGBQQuart, Mary" (she was born in 1922)

Boys of the Bible by Harvey Albert Snyder
Dangerous Journey, the Pilgrim's Progress story for children

Boys Camp Souvenirs: Wood Elf Knives made by Counselor M

Boys Camp Fun Food: Macaroni and Cheese, Plates of cheese/meat/fruit in the shape of faces, Koolaid Fun Fizz & Special Drink, Frozen Pizza, and Castle Cake.

Boys Camp Movie: Pinocchio (about becoming a REAL boy)

Boys Camp Song, which you'll hear them sing here in the video, and popping "firecrackers", pods filled with pollen. . .

(to the tune of Fried Ham, Fried Ham, Cheese and Bologna) *note to understand song: The Counselors made them Special Drink every day at lunch, which was Sprite with some form of fruit juice and bits of fruit floating in it

Boys Camp, Boys Camp, Cousins on Amity!

After the macaroni, we'll have Special Drink, Ice Cream and Castle Cake,

And then we'll have more Boys Camp,

Boys Camp, Boys Camp, Boys Camp!!

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We look forward to more Cousin Camps to come, this time with Sophie, who was missed!