The End of a tradition

The end of a tradition

It was Jeffrey's turn to put the angel on the top of the tree this year.  Tradition has it that Tom pops the kid up onto his shoulders so he/she can reach the top of the tree to place the angel. Jeff tried this year to use a step ladder, but couldn't quite reach. I explained that was because he was breaking with the tradition. He needed daddy to lift him up. And up he went...and he whacked his head on the ceiling.The only place they could have stood to get Jeff up without the bonk was the landing on the stairs and Tom didn't really want to have to carry Jeff down the stairs on his shoulders.

It was a delicate process and the thump was gentle. Followed by lots and lots of giggles. But one thing is clear. This was the end of a tradition. Next year will be the girl's turn (if at 11 she's still willing to talk to daddy with his Dinosaur phone) and in 2 years I assume Jeff will be looking down at the top of the tree. He will be 10 and all, and the general assumption is that by 10 he will be looking down on me.

I was able to dig up the first picture I have of Jeff atop daddy's shoulder's adoring the tree with the angel. He was 2.  He's not quite so little any more.

Jeff at 2 putting on the angel

Now he's 8, and just barely fits.

Oh how they grow...

Who would imagine that this little girl, all ready for her first day of Kindergarten just came home with her 5th grade school picture.

And this little guy?  Now he's bringing home 3rd grade pictures.  I can't fathom how much they've grown and how much they've learned over the past years.

Both kids are doing great in school this year.  Erin is definitely enjoying 5th grade.  She LOVES her teachers and has really been excelling in both math and writing this year (both things she struggled with last year). She is still playing the trumpet although we're pretty sure it's not going to be her "thing". It can be a bit of a struggle getting her to practice around the house.

Jeff gets to spend some time in an extra class where he does some more exploratory learning.  Right now they are focusing on learning about the Titanic.  He's completely fascinated by it.  It's also finally time for the boy to enter the world of multiplication and he's loving that as well.

Both kids are involved in drama club at school.  This year's show is 101 Dalmations.  Erin is the mama dog and Jeffrey is one of the goofy thugs (typecast some -- the goofy not the thug). They also serve as "career kids" at the school.  Erin gets to help with morning announcements about once a month and Jeff is awaiting his turn as "library helper" where he'll get to spend a week of mornings helping out in the library.  They took group photos at school for the yearbook this week.  Erin said she had 3 photos (Drama, career kids and band).  Jeff claims 4 (drama, career kids, Horizons and a random other group he can't remember...)

So, pushing half way through the school year (3/8) we're still going strong.

Cousin Time

We haven't seen our RI family in over a year and the kids were definitely missing their cousins (as well as Tom and his brother missing each other). Back at the beginning of November we took a long weekend, packed up the van and headed up for a visit. So glad we finally were able to get it worked out as we had just an awesome time.

Our drive up was gorgeous as the leaves were still awesome colors. We took a more scenic route through PA rather than up 95 further east. We arrived at dinner and the kids quickly ran off as if they'd just been together last week. Erin pairs off with her Cousin Rylie who's about a year younger. Jeff and his younger cousin Avery are virtually inseparable. They LOVE to play the Wii together, play games, build with Legos.

Saturday was a beautiful day and we spent most of it outside at the girls' final soccer games of the season. They had also organized a canned food drive as well as a soccer gear drive that they were running - they are some great young ladies.

Hi Jeffrey!

Cousin Snack Time

Volleyball Lessons

Cousin Tower

Erin and Rylie spent the rest of the day looming on their Rainbow Looms. They even looked up some videos on YouTube on how to do some of the fancy patterns. They spent so much time looming we had to go out and buy them new bands.

Sunday was much colder but we went out and visited a local orchard that was running a cider press that day. We bought some fresh cider, visited some animals and hit a local brew pub for lunch. The rest of the day was spent watching some football and just chilling out.

Chilly Girls

Snuggling her Uncle Jeff

We had to leave early Monday morning. After a quick photo shoot with the kids we hit the road. We were sad to leave, but so glad we were able to spend such a great weekend with our family.

Miss You Guys!

Golden and Orange and Autumn

We had a fun-filled autumn weekend. With a teacher work day on Friday we took the opportunity to head to a local corn maze. The owners claim that this is the largest corn maze on the east coast. It's pretty awesome. This year's design is of a bunch of hot air balloons with Virginia historical and college logos on them. We decided to tackle the hour long maze which included finding 14 trivia stations and a puzzle at the end. After the maze the kids ran and climbed on a hay mountain and we caught a hay ride. Just a perfect afternoon.

 Later in the weekend we ended up at a local nursery to pick a couple of pumpkins for the kids to carve. They had a great selection and decent prices.  It didn't take them long to pick out some great ones. Since they were still in their church clothes I even got a few cute pictures of them finding just the right medium for carving. Jeff tends to wander towards the taller skinny pumpkins. Erin always likes the rounder ones for her jack-o-lanterns.My rule - you must be able to carry your own pumpkin. This is never an issue for the boy, but Miss Boo tends to be a little over zealous with the heavy ones. She got lucky this year that I wouldn't LET her carry her pumpkin in her church dress so that wasn't an issue.  The Boy, on the other hand did a great job lugging his selection around the store.




This year we made it through our carving night without losing power to a hurricane. Erin found a design online for a kitty and Jeff tried to copy a simple Angry Birds face. Both turned out really cute. I was especially proud of Erin as she did almost ALL the carving on her own as well as scooping the guts. She was asked to change out of her Sunday clothes at carving time, and she reappeared wearing a tank top, jean shorts and a kids cooking apron. I couldn't help but burst out laughing at the difference in apparel.

While the kids carved, dad cleaned and separated the seeds for roasting. I even got the chance to carve my own night scape pumpkin with a moon and stars. Never too old to carve a pumpkin.

She's a daddy's girl

She's a daddy's girl. Always has been. She will almost always choose to hang with her daddy, cook with her daddy, brew with her daddy over cuddling with mommy (that's my boy). Daddy's a goofball and she eats it up. Only recently have there been a few "daaaaads" making their way into conversation.

Last night was one of those moments, something silly happening as we were grabbing burgers for dinner. If I remember correctly dad was stealing her peanuts. She spouted out with her daaaaad (remember she's 10 -- OMG she's 10!!!).  T continued with his usual smile and questioned her, "I hope you'll still talk to me when you're 13."  The following conversation ensued.

E - Sure.  If I can FaceTime you.  (Tom's dinosaur phone has no FaceTime)
T - As long as you talk to me.
E - I will.  Can we message? (The dinosaur does have messaging capabilities)

Me - breaking into conversation - Just where do you think you will be living when you are 13?

E - shrugs her shoulders, pops a fry into her mouth.

I'm wondering if she really understands what's coming to her. Not sure if she thinks that she will be at college when she is 13. Or locked into her room? Apparently though, the only access we might have with her will be through electronic devices.

We try hard to make sure that she knows we are here for her. I tend to still take the brunt of the 10 year old drama so daddy being there is desperately important. I'm the one who ensures that homework is done, teeth are brushed, rooms have an access pathway to the door, the trumpet is practiced. Daddy makes her laugh. He cooks with her. He teaches her to juggle and play table top miniature games. He patiently coaches her soccer team.

He generally jokes with her about "I hope you'll still talk to me when you're a teenager."  I'm thinking we're in pretty good hands (as long as he upgrades his dinosaur within the next 3 years).

 

Back in time

We finally got back in time again this year (AKA the MD Renaissance Festival). For a while we were going every year, but the years got busy and we've missed a few. So last weekend we got together with Noni, Grandpa Donuts and Uncle Jon for a trip back in time.

It was a beautiful, if a little warm, day. Erin decided she wanted to get her hair braided. Finally it's long enough to really hold a pretty braid. Since it was hot, she picked out one that was completely up. It definitely suited her.

Before she got to see it herself.

We spent a lot of the day wandering between shows. There were a few musical groups that the kids really enjoyed, a group of singing sirens known as Sirena, and some drumming and piping Germans, Wolgemut. This is the first year that the kids have really, really been into the shows, especially the music. Erin was totally engrossed by Sirena and when Wolgemut finished their first show she begged to come back to the next one.We also caught several comedy shows including a crazy wire walker, some dagger throwers, a sword sallower and sword play act. We also finally made it to one of the jousts.

Of course there was lots of food on a stick, fried food and sweet treats (and adult beverages for the adults). Jeffrey purchased a new sword,which he sadly shattered 2 days later, and found a place where he could practice his archery skills. Erin used some of her money to ride an "Authentic" Renaissance elephant. Clearly not at all authentic, but how often does one get to ride an elephant.

"Authentic" Elephant

Archer at work

Last but certainly not least there were the bubbles. Lots and lots of bubbles. It's always my favorite part of the day. Watching the kids with their bubble wands.  The sun shining on their faces through the bubbles.Their eyes sparkling with true childhood.  Bubbles are magical, won't convince me otherwise.

Beautiful bubbles

Smiling through the bubbles

Such focus

So the magic of stepping back in time had not been lost at all. Erin has already picked out the braid she wants to have next year, and Jeff is preparing to save his money for a better sword. We are so blessed to have family who find our quirky taste in fun to be enjoyable and are able to spend a day together unplugged from the iPod and DS and just enjoy the Faire. Until next year!!

Check-in

Yep, we are still here.  August was definitely absolutely crazy.  So crazy in fact it seems to have also eaten half of September.  We are back at school (all 3 of us).  All 4 of us were in the C'ville Jr. Idol again.  Both Erin and Jeff were contestants this year.  This is the week in-between the running of Oklahoma as we had 2 shows last weekend and 3 more coming up this week.

School is going great for everyone.  Erin really likes her new teachers.  They are new and energetic and doing their best to help keep her organized.  So far it seems to be working pretty well.  She is in band this year and has started playing trumpet.  She seems to enjoy it, but we will see if it really ends up being her "thing".  She's joined a book group at the local library and has enjoyed reading some new books that she might not have read before.

Jeff has the same teacher as last year.  This is on purpose as the district is trying a new "looping" practice between the primary and elementary school where two 2nd grade teachers take their classes to 3rd grade for the next year, and then fall back to 2nd grade again.  It's working out pretty well so far.  Jeff was also selected to be part of a Horizon's group that does some extra experimental learning each day.  It's right up his alley and he's really loving it.

Idol was definitely fun.  Jeffrey sang Home by Phillip Phillips and Erin sang Katy Perry's Firework.  Jeff just knocked it out of the park and actually finished as runner up in his division.  Erin preformed like a pro and strutted around the stage like she owned it.  So much fun to watch both of them.

Soccer and scouts are back in full swing.  Drama club will start up soon, as will the Elementary After school program at our church.  Erin and I finished training for the 4-Miler (but are ready for another race) and had that run end of August.  So we are just as busy as always.  Here are a few fun pictures to keep you going until my next update.