Miss you, Nan!

We all had a great time with my mom this weekend. Luke made out like a bandit with new socks, shoes and rain boots (fireman ones, this time). He also gained a new obsession for sapphire rings and won't leave the house without a sparkly ring on his finger. I think dad hopes this is a short-lived phase. Michael learned how to climb up the treehouse ladder all by himself while Nan watched. It was a great weekend, but we missed Poppy. He really would have liked our fishing game. Think it may be our turn to visit Colorado next.

Red Shack

Matt moved his award-winning brewing operation out to our storage shed a few months ago, hence the name "Red Shack Brewing Co." Well, Matt's birthday is coming up and I ordered him an official sign for his Brew Shack. It was going to be a surprise, but he happened to be at home when it came in the mail. I don't think we've ever managed to surprise each other with a gift and I don't think we've ever waited until the actual day to give birthday presents the entire time we've known each other.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we went to Pigeon Roost Farm to pick pumpkins. It was awesome. So much fun stuff to do. The kids had a great time in the corn maze, corn tunnels, corn sandbox, etc. And they got to do it with their Nan, which made it even better!

Yes, it's a goat obstacle course.

Playing in the corn sandbox with Nan

Luke takes Nan for a ride on the plane . . .. . .while Michael opts for the train.

Lukism of the day

Discussing Nan . . .

Luke: Is Nan coming today?
Me: No, tomorrow.
Luke: After I sleep one more time?
Me: Yes.
Luke: Yay! I'm so excited. I've never seen her in a long, long time.
Me: I'm excited, too.
Luke: And she's your momma!
Me: Yep.
Luke: And you're my momma!
Me: Yep.
Luke: That's wonderful.

While Luke is away . . .

This week, Michael and I have been figuring out how to amuse ourselves while Luke is at school. Monday we went to playgroup. Friday we will be home wildly cleaning in preparation for Nan's arrival (yippee!!), but today we just kind of bummed around Clintonville, the neighborhood where Luke's school is. Michael has recently become obsessed with slides. Too bad he can't get up them as well as he can get down them. But his favorite part of this morning was pouring his snacks from one cup into another, ensuring that the pretzels become sticky with the peaches and losing a little more with each pour. The game ended when he finally lost the last piece.

Our new godson . . .

Yesterday, we got to meet our new godson. This is Benedict Raymond. He was born two weeks ago, but we didn't get to see him right away because Matt was sick and then the storm hit. Benedict's dad, Mike, teaches Philosophy at ODU. His momma, Michelle, is my adjunct professor soul sister--although she teaches English instead of History. Big brother Thomas is 23 months--they are almost exactly the same space apart as our boys. My pictures sucked, so I'm making do with one his parents took when he was born. We'll take better pictures at the baptism.

That makes two godchildren for us. Benedict and our youngest niece, Jacinta. Here's a picture of Jacinta that I stole from her mommy's blog. She's 20 months old and lives in Ottawa with her big sisters Talia and Claire. We miss them!

Growing Fast

Luke jumped two shoe sizes overnight from 8 to 10. We are down to one pair that fits--and it's actually too big, but oh well. Sorry, Poppy, the beloved new dinosaur boots are going to be short lived. You'll see them again when Michael hits size 9. When our friends came to visit a month ago, he still couldn't reach the pedals on his 16" Diego bike. We were outside two days ago (no camera) and suddenly he climbed on and rode away. Sigh.

First day of school

Luke was supposed to start school on Monday, but everything was closed because of the storm, so today was our first day. Last year, Luke went two mornings a week to the School for Young Children's two-year-old program. He screamed for 6 weeks before finally settling in. Fast forward one year and my three-year-old was distraught this morning when he found out that I would be staying with him for the first day. He said "Mommy, you and Michael should go and then come back later." He saw his old teachers in the hallway and told them that he was three now and had to go to the big-kid classroom. Luke was very happy to be reunited with his classmates from last year. He seems to like his new teachers: Chelsea, Jenifer and Dani. The only tears shed were when it was time to come home. He wanted to stay at school "for a long, long time." Michael had fun, too, but he'll have to wait until next year before he can start the two's program.

Hurricane in the Midwest

Who knew that Ike could take out Ohio? The dying hurricane hooked up with another front and revitalized--knocking Columbus pretty hard. We were without power for two days. We still have friends with no power going into day 4. Schools are closed, including ODU. The good news: we still had running water, some stores and restaurants were open and the weather was beautiful. I'm considering it a semi-emergency experience. Just enough to be an adventure and a major wake-up call for us to get prepared in case of a real emergency. Luke and Michael did very well and were quite the helpers at getting our yard back in order. Lots of downed trees and blown off gutters around the neighborhood, but no damage to our house.

One of the more annoying things was that the power went out mid-laundry cycle with all of the boys' clothes in the wash. I don't exactly have a clothesline, so I had to make do with this poor overburdened sweater rack. Obviously, I don't have anything major to complain about.

Renaissance Festival

I think we were hoping for a cooler day today, but we still had fun at the Renaissance Festival. Contrary to popular belief, attending Renaissance Festivals is NOT what Matt and I do for a living. But it is fun to take the kids and people watch. We saw lots of leather and corsets. We even saw an older couple in full "elven" dress complete with pointy ears. Something to think about, Mom and John, a new hobby, perhaps?

Luke gets a swordfighting lesson.

Luke and Daddy on the dragon swing.

King Luke

King Michael

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."