Another Day, Another Tooth Gone!

Four days before his sixth birthday, Ray lost his sixth baby tooth! Yikes! He is looking quite "holey." I'm just glad it came out after Daddy got home. (I am NOT good with teeth.)
His cousin Carter also has a very loose tooth. A few days ago Ray matter-of-factly told me that the "Tooth Fairy" would visit our house before Carter's because our house is closer to heaven. Upon further inquiry, I discovered that (according to Ray) the "Tooth Fairy" is an angel from heaven AND our house is closer to heaven because it is closer to (our) church. OK. Makes perfect sense.... I guess.

Black Friday - Part Two

(Sorry... no poem this time. My brain just can't do it tonight!)

After the exciting morning at our local Holiday Festival and Character Breakfast, we needed a nap. Especially since we had more big plans for that night!

Jon's boss has generously purchased a series of Blue Jackets (hockey) tickets for the firm employees to use. Since Jon is a big Red Wings fan, we HAD to go to Friday's Blue Jackets / Red Wings game.

As the boys napped, I snuck out on a few errands. When I returned at dinnertime, this is what I saw:

FACE-OFF!

There were two very eager (and fancily-clad) hockey fans facing off in our school room! They were chanting, "Let's go Jackets!" ..... "Let's Go Red Wings!"

After dinner there was much debate about who would be cheering for which team and what outfits everyone was going to wear. I safely settled on my OSU sweater. Jon and Ray chose Red Wings. Adam adamantly insisted on wearing JON'S Blue Jacket jersey and hat.... and taking TWO foam fingers to cheer for his team.

Yes, we got a lot a lot of funny looks and chuckles as we walked through the arena. It was so precious, though, because he was SO proud of how he looked. He made me carry his coat and he was puffing out his chest as he walked.

The boys loved the hockey game and they lasted through the whole thing! They loved the zambonis and the cheering and even the loud cannon (which they were terrified by last year). It was a great evening, even though the Jackets lost.

I just had to include this last picture because I think it's so funny that Adam has on this huge jersey over top of a pair of way-too-small pajamas that he refuses to give up. Check out the toe poking through the foot! He's quite the fashion enigma!

Black Friday - Part One

A day of thanks, food, and laughter.

What to do the morning after?

We did not spend it at the mall.

We did not go near there at all.

We did not lay around in bed.

We had a lot of fun instead.

Off to the local holiday fest.

MaMaw and Carter were our guests.

First was breakfast, yummy and sweet.

Sausage, pancakes, a special treat.

Cat in the Hat, Thing One, Thing Two

The Grinch and Lorax were there too!

The grown-ups even had some fun.

Dr. Seuss is for everyone!

A visit with a dear old friend.

Long lists of things for him to send.

He said he'd bring us what he could.

If we promised to be so good.

So much to see, so much to do.

Songs, treats, and crafts, silly hats too!

Cold and so tired, home we went.

Only half of our day was spent.

What we did later you must guess.

Until next post, good night, God bless.

Perfect Vision!

Thank you God for four "perfectly working" eyes! Last week we spent a very long afternoon visiting the Opthamologist at our Children's Hospital. The boys had their first eye exam. (The glasses in the pictures above were a "souvenir" that they got to wear home because their eyes were dilated.)

The good news was that both boys have great eyesight. (Our pediatrician wanted to have them checked partly because their dad got glasses at an early age.)

The bad news is that it was a very long afternoon. (And I felt bad because I even had my mom come with us in case we needed "one-on-one coverage." Thanks Mom!)

It was a wonderful opportunity for me to practice patience. Even though I was thinking of the 1,367,320 things I needed to do, I calmly (well, pretty calmly) waited. Also, it was a great experience of putting things in perspective. So many of the families at the hospital are there for incredibly horrible and challenging illnesses and accidents. I've been giving thanks for healthy children who can see really well! And I've been reminded to pray for sick children and their families.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Litany of Thanksgiving

Let us give thanks to the Lord,

for he satisfies the thirsty,

he fills the hungry with good things,

and he heals the afflicted.

Let us celebrate his abundant goodness.

We thank you, gracious Father,

that you provide for all our needs,

for food on our tables,

for the clothes on our bodies,

for the beds we sleep in,

for the dwellings that shelter us.

We praise you, Lord,

for all your gifts that go beyond our basic needs,

for the things that make our work easier,

for the conveniences of modern life,

for the beauty and pleasure that you bring into our lives.

Thanks be to God!

Let's pray today for one another, our families, and our country.

May you enjoy a wonderful day of prayer, rest, fun, and feasting.

God Bless!

AEP/International Day

Every Monday afternoon the boys and I participate in a sort of co-op class for homeschoolers. The class is called "AEP" - Academic Enrichment Program. Each month we study a different topic. So far we've learned about Ohio, the Human Body, and Geography. We try to go on field trips and plan other special activities related to each month's theme.

At the beginning of November we had a fun Saturday outing that tied together our AEP themes from last month and this month. First, we went to COSI (our local Science center) for a Fit and Healthy Family Day. We had a wonderful time exploring their new "Life" exhibits. The boys got to jump in inflatable bouncers, try out some tumbling and karate activities, do some crafts, and even play miniature golf! After that, we headed across the street to an International Festival. We looked around at display booths from many nations, listened to music, and ate some yummy food from all around the world. It was a very fun family day!
Yesterday we concluded our Geography month with an International Day. Each family chose one country to study. We chose the Netherlands because Jon's dad's family came from there a few generations ago. We read books, watched videos, found some wooden shoes ("klompen") and tulips at a thrift store, made paper windmills, and prepared this project board:I was amazed at how much Ray remembered about our studies. He was eager to get up and tell everyone all about the Netherlands. He did a good job, except for mumbling into the microphone. Adam also got up and told one fact: "A lot of famous artists come from Holland." That's what the right side of our display board shows.At the beginning of the program, each child was given a passport. They filled in their personal information, and then they took notes about each country. At the end of their presentations, each family gave everyone a sticker from their country. The children put these in their passports. I was very proud of Ray's attentiveness throughout the presentations and of how hard he worked in his passport. He drew a picture for each country, usually a picture from an object or the display board. They may seem like simple drawings, but at dinner last night Ray told his dad what each picture was and how it related to the corresponding country. I was amazed at what he learned and remembered!It was difficult for Adam to listen to a full hour of presentations, but he ended up putting some fun geography puzzles together with some help from his friend John Paul.After all of the presentations, we got to sample foods from all of the countries. We brought windmill cookies! (That's Adam's arm in the picture reaching for a second English scone!)

International Day was very fun and educational, as was the whole month of geography studies. The boys made playdough landforms, compass roses, world maps, and United States maps in their class.

At home we're also doing a year-long geography theme. We started out with landforms and continents and oceans. For the past six weeks we've learned some basic geography and history of North America. Now we're moving on to Europe. We're going to study the many beautiful Christmas traditions of European countries. More on that soon!

Remember the days when....

...it was a really big deal when the Christmas specials were on TV? We didn't have DVD's or Tivo or even VCR's. (Wow! I'm old!) I remember how SPECIAL it was when my sisters and I got to stay up and watch the SPECIALS! (Of course back then the Christmas specials were probably played a few days before Christmas instead of a few days before Thanksgiving.)

Last night we gave the boys their baths early, popped some popcorn, and watched "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." It was so fun to see their reactions and hear them gasp and laugh. They enjoyed it just as much as Jon and I did when we were kids.


Today they wanted to see "The Grinch" again. It was very difficult for them to understand that it was a show on TV and we didn't have the disc and we didn't record it so we can't just watch it again. My how times have changed.... in some ways. But no matter what format you watch them in, there are some shows that are timeless and can be enjoyed over and over again by generation after generation.

Yikes!

Time flies when you're....

Hanging out with friends

Going on family field trips

Enjoying the last warm days of Autumn

Checking out giant hollow tree trunks

Standing with friends in giant hollow tree stumps

Climbing under bridges

Making these

...and these

...and this

Taking children to art class where they make things like this

Hosting a baby shower

Taking care of the yard and the house

and, oh yeah, feeding, clothing, and educating children!

So, I took a brief hiatus from blogging, but now I'm back! The past few weeks have been really busy as I've been planning and participating in several classes and special events. In the near future I hope to fill in the details about some of the pictures in this post. I have several ideas for posts rumbling around in my head... so stay tuned!