Our Resident Engineer

We've got a "train man" in this house. Ever since he discovered Thomas the Tank Engine, when he was about 17 months old, Ray has been crazy about trains. We've spent hours and hours learning about trains, reading about trains, playing with toy trains, drawing trains, building various track set-ups, watching videos about trains, visiting train displays, riding on real trains, talking about trains..... trains, trains, trains. I never knew (or wanted to know) so much about trains. He loves them. He dressed up as Thomas the Train for THREE Halloweens and had THREE Thomas/train themed birthday parties. He wants to be an engineer.

I am very happy that Ray has such a strong interest in something. It wears on me though. So, I was more than thrilled when Jon volunteered to take him to a big train show that came to our convention center last weekend. They had a wonderful time.... as evidenced by the 20+ pictures Jon took of Ray looking at trains. Ray can stand for hours just studying model railroad layouts and trains.

I wish I had my camera when they pulled into the driveway and Ray hopped out of the car with a big blue bag. The look of pride and excitement on his face was priceless. My first remark - to Jon - "What did you do?" Apparently Ray took his Christmas/birthday money to the train show so that he could buy a "souvenir." With Ray's $30.00 and $25.00 from Jon, they purchased Ray's first ELECTRIC train. We've moved from wooden Thomas trains to plastic Geo Trax to a real "model" train. And, according to Ray, this is just the beginning of his collection.

Jon and Ray spent the evening setting up the tracks and learning how to run the train.After Ray went to bed, Jon stayed up coloring the signs and "tinkering" with the set. I think he's as excited as Ray.

And for the past several days all I've heard from Ray is "When are we going to get more parts for my model train?" and "We need to buy a board and some chicken wire and build a giant layout." I think this really needs to be a father/son hobby. I've made a point of not touching the train and showing no aptitude or understanding of how it works. I think we may soon need to seek out a "train mentor" for this young enthusiast. Any recommendations? Are there clubs out there for kids? For now I am providing a corner in the living room and secretly plotting a way to move the giant train collection to a shed or something. Come on over if you[re up for an afternoon of railroad adventures!

It's January and...

... we're back to Ordinary Time.
... we finally took down the Christmas decorations.
... it's cold and snowy here in Central Ohio.
... tax season has officially begun. (We'll see less and less of CPA Daddy.)
... exciting holiday parties, activities, and visitors are done and gone.
... we're buckling down with some serious (but fun) school work.
... we've started new "CHORE CHARTS."
... Mommy's been on a cleaning and de-cluttering frenzy.

One of our favorite school activities we're working on this month is "MAGNETISM." My dad's wife made us some AWESOME magnet kits and folders. We've been playing and experimenting and learning every day. Thanks Mary!

Our homeschool group gathered for a very fun Epiphany party. The boys loved running around in a big gym, participating in group games, and bowling. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful families to share this homeschool adventure with us.

And I've got one "funny" from Adam to report. At dinner last night he cheerfully suggested, "After dinner let's all have some stones!" ????? What ????? It took me a minute.... before I remembered the yummy chocolate chip SCONES we had made for snack that morning. We each had a good laugh and a yummy scone for dessert.

Happy Epiphany!

Today we moved the wise men into the Nativity scene and read about their remarkable journey and humble adoration of the Christ Child. We decorated and ate star cookies. (Jon just couldn't resist making one last batch of his holiday specialty, "Sour Cream Cookies.") We made sparkly stars to hang in the windows and over the table. We sang more carols and continued to savor the Christmas Season.


Now we will look forward to Sunday's celebration of the Baptism of Jesus. I guess after that we really will need to take down the decorations and settle into Ordinary Time. However, I did recently hear that some families have the tradition of keeping up the decorations until Candlemas (February 2nd). We'll see. As Ray notices more and more of the holiday decorations disappearing around town, he keeps saying, "Wow, they must not be Catholic!" Today I explained to him that even the Catholics are finishing up the Christmas season now. :)

I recently read a great post about finding ways to really celebrate the Christmas Season for twelve full days. This homeschooling mom notes that she has developed many special traditions and devotions for Advent, so many that it seems they were celebrating Advent MORE than Christmas. I love her ideas for celebrating Christmas more fully. I've got the post printed and filed for next year! You can read it here:
http://pinewoodcastle.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/01/on-the-twelfth-day-.html


Finally, a favorite prayer and blessing for this holy Feast:


When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoners,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.
(by Howard Thurman)



Blessing
On this Feast of Epiphany,
May the Light that guided the magi to the Christ Child
guide you in all your journeys.
And may that same Light of God shine within you,
that others may see its brilliance as you go about the
work of Christmas in the coming year.
(by Debbie Payden)

School Pictures

One thing that homeschoolers miss out on is having school pictures taken. Each year I receive school pictures from my nieces and nephews, but I hadn't taken the boys for professional pictures in almost two years. So, of course, some family members (who shall remain unnamed) began to complain. We decided to get family pictures taken for our Christmas card and get shots of each of the boys. We gave their pictures to grandparents, aunts, and uncles for Christmas.

Done, right?

Apparently not.

My dad and his wife generously watched the boys a few nights ago so that Jon and I could enjoy a long-overdue date night. When we returned, they informed us that they had taken school pictures of the boys. Here they are:

Cute, huh? So handsome. So school-like. They even dug through the kids' closets to find vests and ties! The boys just thought it was cool because they got to sit on the school table to have the pictures taken.

Here are their "scholarly, thoughtful" poses:

We'll definitely display those when they graduate from Harvard.... or get their GED's. :)

Ironically, the day after these pictures were taken I found out that some older children from our homeschool group are working on a yearbook AND.... they are bringing in a photographer to our Valentine's Day party. All of the children will have the opportunity to have REAL SCHOOL PICTURES TAKEN! Wow! So, family members, you will have PLENTY of school pictures of the boys this year.

Guest Post - By Ray

Ray wanted to blog about today's field trip to a local museum. Here's what he has to say about it:
Today we went to a museum, the WORKS Museum. We saw them make a glass vase. We also saw a big train. We saw a racing car place where we could build cars and race them. And we also saw a thing where we could try to shoot balls down ramps. And we saw a "chain reaction" movie. The movie had lots of fire in it. The kids liked it, but the parents were in the back discussing about it. It was very, very fun.

Here's Ray before the glass-blowing demonstration.

All aboard the homeschool express!

We had a great time today learning and playing with our homeschool friends!

Still Celebrating

Happy New Year again!

Today my dad is watching my boys and I actually have a few minutes to sit and pray and think and relax. Now that is cause for celebration! Jon and I are even going on a date tonight!

We spent most of yesterday moving things from room to room. No, we did NOT take our tree down. It's still the Christmas season. We've been singing carols and really savoring the full 12 days. We did, however, do a major cleaning and re-arranging of the school room. The boys received lots of wonderful learning tools/toys and we had to make room for all of them. Adam received TWO BIG BINS full of fun art supplies. We finally created an art area for him where he can make messes and leave his projects out for more than a few minutes. (I am going to TRY to be "one with the mess.") So, we are ready for a fresh start with school this week. We will be studying magnets, Africa, art, music, and animals this month. Phew, we better get busy!

At Mass yesterday I heard the best homily I've heard in months. I have to admit that when I saw an unfamiliar old priest process in, I growned a bit. Little did I know what a gem he is. His name is Msgr. Maegher (sp?) and I was so inspired by him. He talked about the Epiphany, of course, and he said that now is when the true work of Christmas begins. He noted that you can't have celebration without responsibility. Commenting on the great life celebrations of marriage and ordination, he suggested that the real BIG celebrations should be 25th and 50th anniversaries.... we should celebrate when we've actually lived out our promises and done the hard work of fulfilling our vocations. He explained that we call the Magi WISE men because they showed that they had true wisdom, the living-out of knowledge. They did not just figure out what the star meant, but they went through the very difficult journey of coming to adore the newborn King. Best of all, Msgr. addressed the children directly. He encouraged them to listen to God. He affirmed that God is present to them and will help them be holy. How awesome is that! After Mass Ray even said to me, "Mommy, I'm holy too.... not just grown ups." AMEN! Praise God for the graces and blessings of that holy Mass. Many blessings and thanks to Msgr. Maegher.

My friend's husband posted a beautiful piece on his blog about why Christmas seems to bring an empty hangover to so many people and how we as Catholics don't experience that when we celebrate Christmas as it is truly meant to be celebrated. Read it and be inspired to turn up the carols and continue wishing everyone, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!"
(http://causafinitaest.blogspot.com/2011/01/merry-christmas-still-and-leave-up.html)

Zoo Lights

A few days before Christmas, we enjoyed another one of our holiday traditions - visiting the Columbus Zoo to see their amazing lights display.

Here's Adam on our way TO the zoo at around 5:00pm.


Ray loved taking pictures all around the zoo. He is becoming quite a good photographer!

We enjoyed watching and listening to the musical light show around the pond. We ducked into several buildings to keep warm, including the elephant building and the aquarium. We saw the koala for the first time. We rode the carousel. Mostly, we strolled through the zoo and enjoyed all of the beautiful lights. We are so blessed to have such a great zoo here in Columbus!



Check out this rare species: the two-headed peacock!