Morning with friends . . .

We had a fun group playdate out at Karla's today. Probably the last time we'll all be able to get together for a while as everyone has different preschool schedules.

Luke and Jackson looking pensive as they ponder what to put in the wheelbarrow next.

Luke squeezed himself into the car with Amelia at the wheel and Malcolm in the back. We'll see if he still has such luck with pretty girls when he gets older!

Thanks for the nice morning, Karla, and the great pics, Alyssa (as usual).

Sharing a snack in the treehouse

I was a bit of a preoccupied mess of a parent today for various reasons, but I did catch this brief moment of brotherly love. Luke doesn't care much about this little slide thing anymore, but Michael has just mastered going up the stairs and down the slide and he likes to sit in the covered part. This afternoon Luke said "I'm going to bring Michael his snack and we're going to sit in his treehouse together." They sat up there for about 20 minutes eating dry cereal. Very cute.

Walking the neighborhood

This is how the family looks walking the neighborhood in the mornings and evenings. The only thing missing is Gavin's toy, which he usually carries in his mouth. Gotta love the jammies and rainboots combination, especially on a cloudless evening.

Michaelism of the day

Hooray for the first Michaelism! Of course, the Michaelisms will be fewer and shorter. After all, Michael's not quite 17 months and he's not particularly verbal. He's more of a "full body communicator." If he's hungry, he will walk into the kitchen saying "Mmm. Mmm. Mmm." and point to what he wants.

But today we had a word. He walked over to the closet, banged on the door and said "Ah-voom! Ah-voom!" He wanted to play with his vacuum.

Lukism of the day

"You know what? I can make a speeder with my imagicnation."

Birthday Bash

There are so many kids in the Moms' Group that we have one giant birthday bash in the summer to celebrate all of the kids' birthdays. We celebrate out on Karla's farm in Johnstown. It's a spectacular place. Yesterday was one of those super hot and humid end-of-the-summer days, but we all had a blast. Thanks for letting me use your pics, Alyssa, my camera battery died the moment I turned it on. Alyssa takes better pictures than me anyway.

There was this amazing inflatable water slide . . .

. . . that Luke only went down about a hundred times.

Michael refused to sit and Luke wouldn't put down his drink for the group pic, but it's still really cute.

The families-- well, most of them, a few couldn't make it and a few have moved away (sad!).

Jason's weddding

So my stepbrother, Jason, went and got married last weekend. He got married in Oregon, so we couldn't make the trip, but I thought I'd post a pic in their honor. My mom and stepdad are very relieved to finally have all three of us married off and everyone expects Jason and Michelle to quickly add to the rapidly growing tally of grandchildren (2 boys for us, 2 girls for my stepbrother Brian), but no pressure!

Jason and Michelle


And because you guys can't seem to get enough of the retro pics, here is one of Jason and me from sometime in the late 90s.

Family Resemblance

Matt's mother Kay passed away after a long battle with breast cancer in 1997. I so wish I could have met her. Having raised 4 boys of her own, I can't help but think she would have gotten a kick out of Luke and Michael. Matt's Dad and others have noticed how much Michael resembles her. It is pretty uncanny.

Lukism of the day

After a mini-tantrum because some contraption he was building wouldn't work properly, Luke said "It's making me mad. Why do so many things frustrate me?"

Afraid that's genetics, kiddo. You have my sincere apologies.

Lukism of the day

"Mommy, I just did a big burp. It made yucky juice come up in my mouth. I'm going to do it again."

new strollers

So Luke's beloved "Abigail" doll stroller has given its last ride. The wheel broke off mid walk yesterday. Since my kids love pushing things when they walk and doll strollers are the easiest and most portable, a replacement was in order. For the first time ever, I bought two of the same toy. I also shelled out the extra $4 per stroller to get the blue ones. Matt says it's money well spent. Luke has already given rides to sippie cups, matchbox cars and teddy grahams, but has no interest in putting a doll in the stroller. Michael is just happy to have a stroller of his very own.

Samuel T. Anderson, Jr. (September 24, 1946- August 24, 2001)

I'm thinking about my dad today. It's hard to believe he's been gone seven years.

When I was pregnant with Luke I made scrapbook about my dad, so that my children would know something about their Grandpa Sam. So I actually have quite a few pictures scanned. Posting this reminds me that Matt and I need to get on track and complete a scrapbook for his mom, too. Luke and Michael are very lucky to have so many wonderful grandparents in their lives and they are also lucky to have Grandpa Sam and Nanny Kay as their special guardian angels.

My first birthday

With my parents, judging by the height of my hair, I'd say c. 1989.

When I was in high school.

One of our many cross-country road trips while I was in college.

My dad was he only man I know who bought a Camero as his "mid-life crisis" car, but bought it with an automatic transmission. That's Bart the Westie on his lap.

A confirmed cat-hater, Dad had a change of heart when he met Herschel.

At our wedding rehearsal dinner with my stepmom, Carole.


July 22, 2000.

My dad was diagnosed with aplastic anemia two months later, he had a bone marrow transplant in June 2001 and passed away due to complications from the transplant on August 24, 2001. The next day Matt and I drove my dad's car across Texas from the hospital in Houston to his home in El Paso. I gave the eulogy at my dad's funeral a few days later, I still remember that all of the employees from his store were standing in the back of the full church wearing their Kmart shirts. Surreal experience. Matt and I got back to Canada a few days before September 11th. 2001 was a crappy year.

Luke's backpack

Preschool is still 3 weeks away, but Luke has already picked out his new backpack. The little Nemo backpack he loved last year has been cast aside in favor of a new Transformers pack that came with a free wallet (you know, for all of his credit cards) and a free Darth Vader lunch box.
The backpack is bigger than he is and I'd be worried about the burden on his little body, but he never carries anything in it anyway.

The boys

I love watching Luke play with his friends, especially now that they occasionally go off and have their own conversations and do their own thing. There was much stick gathering and ogre chasing at the park yesterday, punctuated by brief moments of hitting and sand throwing and screaming. A typical morning with the boys.

where wizards dine out

Luke and Matt were in fully story mode tonight. Luke was on his way to see Gandalf the wizard in his castle. He got to the door and knocked.
"Was Gandalf there?" asked Matt.
"No," said Luke.
"Where was he?"
"Bob Evans. He was eating some pancakes."

I've actually never read Lord of the Rings, although I love the films and I always wondered where Gandalf went after he fought the dragon and before he became Gandalf the White. Now I know.

Vacuuming

What can I say? My boys love to vacuum. This is my first attempt to upload video. It's from my still camera, so there's no sound.

Dinosaur Hospital

I wouldn't have taken this photo except that I was about to upload the COSI pictures onto the computer and had the camera right next to me. Just a moment of everyday silliness. We still have the guest bed set up in the playroom, which hampers Luke's playspace, but today he was happy to play "dinosaur doctor" on the bed. Poppy and Nan gave him the doctor's kit for his birthday, they bought this one especially for the glasses. Good choice.

COSI Farm Days

COSI is the Columbus Science Center and one of our favorite places. This week they had farm equipment on display. Luke climbed into a tractor and a combine. Last year when we went, Michael couldn't do anything but sit in the stroller. This year he was big enough to sit on some of the smaller tractors all by himself.

Lukism of the day

Luke kept talking about Michael being a "goggler." Finally Matt asked him "What's a goggler?" Luke said "It's a kind of baby that can walk." Oh, a toddler.

Molly's visit

My best friend from college, Molly, stopped through town last night with her husband, Pato, and their daughter, Violeta. We hadn't seen them in two years. Luke and Violeta stayed up way too late, but had so much fun playing with flashlights in the backyard. This morning they were even more excited to see that our next door neighbors' got TP'd. They "helped" clean up. Violeta is a year older than Luke and she was actually big enough to get Luke's Diego bicycle going pretty fast.

MNO

It strikes me that I haven't really blogged that much about "the Moms," which seems strange since they are such an important part of my life, my kids' lives and even Matt's. I've been part of the Moms' group for over a year now, although they've been together almost three years. We meet with the kids at least once a week, without the kids once a month and the whole families do things a few times a year. We also have an online message board which is kind of the heartbeat of the group. With no family near, the moms have become my support group, my backbone and my closest friends. This is a picture from our August Moms' Night Out last night--there are quite a few folks missing. We did fondue and bowling--for everyone's safety I myself did not bowl, but here is a picture of Sharleen getting a strike. It is my hope that all the other moms will also post this picture so we can spread Sharleen's strike throughout cyberspace!

Pear Picking

We harvested the pears from the two trees in our backyard today. It was supposed to be a group activity with some of Luke's friends, but Luke's had a fever and sore throat, so we just did it as a family. Total bummer because it was a beautiful, not-too-hot morning. Matt's going to make hard cider with the pears--not sure whether we have not enough pears or too many pears. It's kind of an experiment, but definitely preferable to just letting them fall and rot on the ground like the last two years.

How to tell a story like Luke

Ask mommy and daddy to tell a story, correct them along the way when they get it wrong.

Pick a "nice" guy:
a) an ogre
b) a sea monster
c) a dragon robot
d) a transformer

Pick a "mean" guy:
a) an ogre
b) a sea monster
c) a dragon robot
d) a transformer

Pick a lost object:
a) a key
b) a wand
c) Michael

Choose where that lost object is being hidden:
a) a forest
b) a hole

Take a speeder to the location. It must be a speeder. You are armed with a blaster. It must be a blaster.

Who is gaurding the object:
a) a three-headed dog
b) a dragon
c) a monster-truck robot
d) a transformer

Who tells you how to cast a spell and get past the creature gaurding the object?
a) Jackson
b) "Uncle" Larry
c) a red crocodile with sharp teeth that opens and closes its mouth
d) Jennie and Daniela

What magic words do you use?
a) abercadeeber
b) hocus hocus

There follows a wild, incredibly difficult to follow battle in which all of the characters fight each other. Luke, Daddy and Michael take part somehow.

Choose your Deus ex Machina (i.e. the guy that comes out and saves everyone with no explanation):
a) a transformer
b) yummy yummy Eli flying on a large bird
c) a dragon robot
d) a three-headed dog

Make mommy or daddy start all over again and continue for upwards of two hours. If they suggest stopping, start screaming.

International Conference on Welsh Studies

I spent two years organizing the 2008 International Conference on Welsh Studies, the bi-annual conference of the North American Association for the Study of Welsh Culture and History, for which I'm on the Executive Board. Try to contain your excitement.

We met in Toronto, where I did my PhD work. My former Thesis supervisor, David Klausner, made most of the local arrangements. It went beautifully. We had amazing keynote speakers. Catharine McKenna, Head of Celtic Studies from Harvard, spoke as did Ralph Griffiths, a distinguished Emeritus Professor of Medieval History from the University of Wales at Swansea.

There were about 50 papers, they all went very well (including my own-of which I was kind of surprised since I was woefully underprepared). I went to the pub three nights in a row which was a very strange experience, indeed. I stayed in the dorms--perhaps I'll spring for the hotel next time.

Everyone was so welcoming and accepting of the fact that I am only interested in being a part-time professor. There were lots of folks with young kids. Overall, it was a great experience only made possible because my wonderful husband took the boys for a few days.

The pictures are of myself with Ralph Griffiths (who was the external examiner for my thesis back in 2003) and then of the whole gang (except my friend Stuart who deliberately volunteered to take the photo so he wouldn't have to be in it.

Salt Fork

Today we went to Salt Fork State Park. The boys hiked 2 miles--even Michael walked most of the way. Well, sort of, he stopped at every rock or tree root in his path and pointed to it, motioning that daddy should move it out of the way for him. He absolutely would not step over them. Needless to say, it was a long hike. There was a nice beach, though, and the kids had fun in the sand. We went to Salt Fork because we saw it on an episode of Monsterquest as the alleged home of the Ohio Grassman (aka Bigfoot). Although we did see a deer and lots of butterflies, we didn't see the Grassman hanging out at the beach or on the trails today. Maybe next time.

Trip to Canada

We are back after a very, very long drive home from Toronto yesterday. After spending two hours stuck in traffic on the lakeshore heading towards Buffalo with no end in sight, we took a huge detour to the 401 and came home via Detroit instead. It was a 12 hour odyssey. I don't have too many pictures of the kids from the trip because Matt had them by himself most of the time and he tends to take video instead. Hopefully, we'll figure out how to post video soon. I'm also hoping to get some pictures emailed to me from my conference, which went amazingly well. I guess we'll post about the trip in stages. But here are two pics for now--Michael's first big outside walking trip at a park and breakfast at Uncle Greg and Aunt Ange's house. Then there was the much needed bath this morning--I think it had been 4 days. More to come . . .