Wildlights 2010

It was cold last night, but we braved Wildlights at the zoo anyway! Well, we got through half of it. Justin was not very fond of temperature or the hour, so we'll have to go back to do the second half.

Michael measuring up to a panda bear. I was playing with the camera and accidentally took these artsy shots. I kind of like them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Martial Arts Recital

Luke had a skill recital tonight at Tang So Doh. He did great. He's learning more advanced skills than what he showed, but tonight they performed their white belt combinations. First, he performed Combination #1 and then recited Children's Home Rule #1: Children shall be respectful to their parents and grandparents at all times.



Then he performed Combination #2 and recited Children's Home Rule #2: Children shall be truthful at all times.


We had a neighbor stay with Justin and we took two cars so that someone could take Michael home after Luke's performance. Luke wanted to stay and watch the black belts. He stayed until the end and so he got to be in the group photo at the end.

Another Story by Luke

In January of 2010, Luke wrote a story . Today he wrote another one. It's amazing how much he's progressed in less than a year. He didn't ask for any help, he just walked into the kitchen with it complete and asked Matt to read it. Have I ever mentioned that Matt and I both minored in Latin Palaeography (a.k.a. how to read medieval handwriting) in grad school? Thus, we can provide both a transcription and a translation.

Transcription: Pedr hrd a werd soud it wus the lisrd Spidrman smact the lisrd the pls kam an the lisrd got kapchrd.

Translation: Peter heard a weird sound. It was the Lizard. Spiderman smacked the Lizard. The police came and the Lizard got captured.

Storming the Castle

Poor Justin has been down with an ear infection and has been pretty miserable, but today he felt well enough to start getting into his brothers' things while I folded some laundry.

Teething

Justin cut his first tooth this week, it's still not through enough to show up in pictures. But he's been chewing on anything and everything. I never used these mesh things with Luke or Michael, but Justin loves them. His favorite treat is "pancake in a bag." Pretty gross, but it keeps him entertained for quite a while.

Indian Summer

We've had a week of beautiful weather here. Today it was so nice that we stayed after school to play for a while. It was nice to see Luke playing with his school friends. Michael really liked the playground and Justin just enjoyed hanging out in his stroller.

Skeletons

I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner. My friend Heather posted on her blog that her daughter had been a ladybug for Halloween at 5 months and was a ladybug again this year. Well, Luke was a skeleton at 5 months and again this year!

Boo at the Zoo 2010

Skunk, Skeleton and Every Animal out and about at the zoo.

Every Animal

Here it is: Michael's Every Animal Costume. Made from an old pair of sweats, some animal print fabric and lots of fabric glue as I do not sew!! More Halloween pics to come when we hit Boo at the Zoo this weekend. Tonight was Beggar's Night, but Justin was asleep before it started and Luke got scared of his own costume and refused to wear his mask. He was home sick today and barely made it out trick or treating. Thank goodness they have the day off tomorrow because I'm sure he'll be even sicker tomorrow.

Pigeon Roost Farm

We made our annual pilgrimage to Pigeon Roost Farm after school last week. Justin was not a fan of the farm or the hour, so I spent most of my time wrangling him instead of taking pictures. But we got a few!

These giant "hamster wheels" were new this year. Luke loved them.

This was the mini-maze. Instead of the corn maze, I guess it's the weed maze.

Michael liked the giant rocking horses.

And we couldn't tear him away from the slides, even if it was a bit slow this year.

Luke tried feeding corn to the dragon.

An Adventure

We like to walk across the bridge at Hoover Reservoir. This afternoon we went and couldn't believe how low the water is. There was all this beach exposed, so we went down to explore. The kids found lots of slate and threw some rocks in the water. It was pretty cool! If you think Michael's outfit looks a bit strange, that's because he's wearing a dog costume.

Apple Picking Again

It was a beautiful day today. We spent all morning with Luke at a Kick-a-thon at his martial arts school. But this afternoon we got out to take advantage of the weather. We took Nan to Lynd's today to pick Fuji apples. Can you believe Nan has never picked apples before? Luckily, Luke spent two weeks of school talking about proper apple picking procedure in preparation for his field trip two weeks ago, so he filled Nan in on how to do it!

Old Italian Man

Luke has been cultivating the Old Italian Man look. Next time I'll get him to wear boxers and black knee socks and he'll look just like my Great Grandpa Roberto Basile!

Chub a Dub--In the Tub

Nan is here!

Nan got here on Wednesday and we've been keeping her busy. Today we went to get Justin's portraits done. I'd been keeping this really cute outfit Alyssa gave me aside for the pictures. It's a 9M and Justin barely squeezed into it today. I didn't put it on him until right before we were ready to leave and then I put a bib on him in case he spit up. I took this picture just before we left. As I was putting him in his carseat, I felt something damp. Sure enough, he had pooped as he sat playing with Nan and the poop had gone up the back, over the diaper, onto his pants and shirt (and onto the carpet as I would later discover). So much for the cute outfit.

After portraits and shopping, we stopped at Steak n Shake. It was really crowded and slow and Justin was way past naptime, but he was good once we gave him a fry and let him maw on a teething biscuit. And we bought Michael off with a soda--which he chose over a shake!

Back home, Michael snuggled in to watch a video with Nan. No, he doesn't have a rash on his face. That is a day's worth of Nan-treat-schmuck (frosting, chocolate and spaghetti sauce).

Time to put Nan to bed! It's another full day tomorrow!

School Picture Day

Luke got to be out of uniform today for his school picture. I love his sweater. He wasn't too excited about posing at 7:30am, so he'd only do a pout with Scooby Doo.

COSI

We haven't been to COSI in over a year! Michael has been asking to go and, with Justin able to sit up now, I figured it was time to renew our membership. Michael had such a good time. He was obsessed with racing the balls, which is the only thing I managed to get a picture of before the battery died. While we there, Michael and Justin participated in a study for the development of an ear infection vaccine. They both got mouth and nasal swabs and were paid $10 each for their trouble. Michael made quick work of the cash at the gift shop and we are the proud owners of a marble run.

What's this?

No, Mommy, I just woke up. I'm much too tired to play.

What? You say, this is an oldie but goodie from Poppy? Well, maybe just a nibble.

Oh yeah, that's the stuff. Where have you been all my life, strange wooden-ball-and-string-thing?

Luke at school

Here are a few pictures of Luke at school. The first two are from an author visit on Friday. The last one is from Luke's first field trip. They took the bus to Lynd's Fruit Farm (where we do our apple picking) with their 4th grade buddies. They learned all about apples and Luke brought home a small bag of apples that he picked himself. I got these photos off of the class website. Between working part time and taking care of Michael and Justin, I'm not really going to be able to spend much time helping out with Luke's class. Oh well, at least some of the other moms take lots of pictures.