The Daily Squink

Rowan's Solar System

2012-01-24T11:20:00.002-05:00

I'm not going to lie. I get a huge kick out of Rowan's excitement about all things space. I went through a space phase when I was little, too, as I'm sure most kids do. I hope that with Jeff's science and math background and some encouragement from myself, he will continue to develop a love of science throughout his childhood. And that his enthusiasm will infect Lydia as well.

Rowan watches space shows with Jeff every morning while Lydia and I sleep. I come down and catch the end of them and they do seem really interesting. I think it helps that they're narrated by Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs. He could read the dictionary and make it interesting.

The Daily Squink Art Corner

2012-01-04T19:11:00.004-05:00

While Grammie Donna was here, she kindly and generously agreed to keep Rowan occupied in the morning starting at 6 am so that Jeff and I could sleep in - the best present of all! This was especially true on Christmas morning. Rowan was extremely patient, agreeing to wait to go downstairs until the three of us who like to sleep until a decent hour woke up. With the early riser getting ever more antsy, Donna had the brilliant idea to get out paper and markers and Rowan drew everything he could think about pertaining to Christmas. Now, I realize this is no artistic masterpiece, but for Rowan, it is amazing in the level of detail and sheer number of little vignettes on the page. (you can click on the photo to enlarge it)

Speaking of artistic breakthroughs, Lydia has just started drawing people! Yesterday she drew "a rock, with arms, legs and a face":

Today, that rock became an actual person (with arms, legs and a face):

I am very proud of their increasing ability to express themselves through art!

Christmas Grammy Visit

2012-01-03T19:12:00.003-05:00

As always, the kids were so excited to have Grammie Donna come to visit for a few days. After Christmas, we drove up to the Chicago area to visit with Jeff's brother Scott and Tonya and drop her off to spend some quality time with cousin Piper. Look at those cute girls in their coincidentally matching PJs!

If there is one thing that I learned from Donna's visit, it's that I am terrible at playing with the kids. I don't have the imagination to initiate games with them, I don't have the patience to sit down because I'm always thinking about stuff that needs to be done around the house, or I'd rather be reading useless gossip on the computer. I think my New Year's resolution is to be more like Grammie and to sit down and enjoy the kids and learn how to get involved in their games and activities without being distracted. The laundry can wait!

Christmas Morning

2012-01-01T20:50:00.001-05:00

Preschool Christmas Activities

2011-12-20T17:19:00.005-05:00

Here are some videos of the kids' Christmas concert at their preschool. Enjoy!

I am very proud of Lydia for keeping her head in the game and concentrating on the task at hand even in the midst of serious distractions. She's a consummate professional.

I am also proud of Rowan for singing his song, even if he wasn't able to do the hand motions at the same time:

Incidentally, after posting these videos on YouTube, I got a warning from them stating "Your video may have content that is owned or licensed by EMI Music Publishing. No action is required on your part." I mean, really! It's a kids' concert!

On the day of the Christmas party at school, Lydia wore the jumper I made her from some old wool fabric Marmie had laying around the house. Here she is modeling it:

At school, the kids got to go see Santa and tell them what they wanted for Christmas. Lydia wanted "a kitty" and Rowan still wants a Buzz Lightyear. (Lydia found the kitty she wanted at the store today and thank god, it was a pink stuffed animal - NOT a real kitty. "Santa" was able to sneakily pay for it without the kids seeing "him" do it, so the kids now have all their presents for Christmas.)

I also did my first-ever stint as a "room mother". (I guess they call it something different now.) I helped out Rowan's class for their Christmas party and it was actually fun! The other two moms there were really nice, and it was good to get to know Rowan's teacher a little better. Here is Rowan playing with Play-Doh at the end of the party:

The kids are now off of school for two whole weeks. I miss my 7+ hours a week where I can go grocery shopping or do housework or watch TV completely, blissfully alone. But I don't miss the before-school frenzy that getting two little kids ready for school produces.

Puppet Show

2011-12-14T20:56:00.001-05:00

Featuring the snake sock puppet made by Aunt Gail.

Table Manners

2011-12-12T18:42:00.003-05:00

I stepped away from the lunch table to put a load of laundry in and I came back to see this:

I insist on Lydia wiping her eating toes with a napkin instead of my coat, because we're fancy that way...

A Very Bellbrook Birthday

2011-12-04T10:40:00.004-05:00

For day three of my birthday, we did a few Bellbrook-centric activities. The first thing we attended was a Christmas magic show put on by the Library. Lydia was a little unsure of the magician, but Rowan got into the show 100%, laughing and volunteering to help. (If you look closely, you'll see another Bellbrook resident in attendance!)

After naps, we had dinner at McIntosh's, where the waitresses know us and we saw the two old dudes that eat there every day (and are always there when we go). It's kind of like our very own Cheers. We then walked over to the park to see the tree-lighting festivities. Rowan and Lydia were able to go see Santa, and even though Rowan was reluctant to sit on his lap, he wasn't too shy to tell him he wanted a Buzz Lightyear for Christmas. The adults got a good laugh when Santa thought Rowan had said he wanted a "Bud Lite chair". I'm sure Santa has heard it all, because he didn't seem too surprised at a request like that. We made sure to set him straight before we left.

The kids then had fun listening to the carolers, making a pinecone birdfeeder, and running around the Christmas tree. It was kind of a fun, old-timey thing for the Parks Department to put on. I love living in this little town!

Cookie Baking Time

2011-11-30T19:04:00.003-05:00

Marmie gave us some cookie cutters at Thanksgiving, and Rowan has been DYING to make cutout cookies with them. After work and naps this afternoon, we dove right in. Rowan and Lydia were very helpful in making the dough, rolling it, and cutting it out.

When it came time to frost the cookies, I figured I'd take the path of least resistance and we would just use one or two colors and that would be the end of it. After all, we're just going to gobble them up in two days flat, right? Well, Rowan was pretty adamant that our finished cookies look like the ones on the packaging. I think we did pretty good, considering many of them were frosted by Rowan and Lydia. Actually, Lydia just "helped" Daddy with his (see photo above).

Lydia's Big Girl Bed

2011-11-21T10:58:00.003-05:00

Lydia is now the proud owner of her very own twin bed! Well, technically, it was mine and Uncle Adam's beds first - originally part of a set of dark brown, fake wood bunk beds. I painted them white years ago and added the little carved doodads (maybe I should add one to the headboard, too).

She was very excited about her new bed last night, and it took her awhile to settle down and go to sleep. But sleep she did:

She didn't even fall out. She did wake up crying at one point in the night (which is not unusual for her). I can only imagine how disoriented she was without her crib around her - she'd slept in it for almost three years. I'm very excited to be rid of this last piece of baby gear. I guess this means our little baby is all grown up now!

Fitzy's a Mom

2011-11-19T09:58:00.002-05:00

Lydia loves Marmie and Grandfather's cats, almost as much as she loves her own stuffed toy kitties. In a rare moment, she found Fitzy on the lower level of his kitty tower and had him spend some quality time with her stuffed kitty, Fluffy. He might be cuddling with Fluffy, or maybe he's feeding her like a mommy cat. It's hard to tell sometimes with Lydia.

Hide and Seek

2011-11-15T21:23:00.001-05:00

Rowan and Lydia love playing hide and seek. This usually involves me crawling under bed covers, them pretending that they don't know I'm there, and then sitting on top of me to take a rest. Apparently, this is always the same amount of hilarity each time.

On the other hand, Lydia always hides in the same place, behind the pink crib in the office. Sometimes I worry about these kids.

Kitty Rescue (or Lack Thereof)

2011-11-05T14:15:00.006-04:00

We had an exciting day at the park today - when we got there, there was a kitty stuck up in a tree, meowing its head off. The lady keeping watch at the foot of the tree had called the fire department and they were on their way.

I mean, really, how cliche can you get? A cat stuck up in a tree, being rescued by a bunch of firemen? We couldn't help but laugh.

Unfortunately, when the fireman got to where the kitty was, the fool thing skittered on up the tree and stopped at the highest possible place he could. Since the fire truck would sink in the mud, they had to give up. And really, how much time and effort and fireman safety should you expend trying to rescue a cat who will probably come down on his own eventually?

One of the most interesting parts of the episode was when we talked to the head fireman afterwards. He said that he's had many cat-in-a-tree rescue calls, but only one ended in success where the cat was caught and returned to the ground safely (I assume the rest of the cats did exactly what this one did), and that was just last week. He said they have to respond to an "animal rescue" call, because in Miamisburg a few years back, they said they couldn't respond to a cat rescue. A tree-trimmer helped out instead, and the fire department got a lot of bad press after that. He said he even had to rescue a pet BIRD from a tree one time.

We left then to go have lunch and stopped by the park on our way home to see if the cat had come down yet. The place was deserted, except for the kitty. I expect he'll come down eventually, unless he hopes to eat a bird flying by.

Stupid cat.

UPDATE: Jeff drove by the park this afternoon and there was no sign of the kitty. He probably got bored and cold and came down his ownself.

Halloween Celebrations

2011-11-04T10:11:00.009-04:00

Rowan and Lydia got to wear their Halloween costumes many times this year, thanks to an abundance of parties. The first one was in Logansport to celebrate cousin Henry's 18-month birthday. Or, as the cake refers to him as, "Hen Pickles":

Lydia loves hanging out with her cousin Asher, because he's so NICE to her! Huh, what a concept. (sorry, the camera caught them when they weren't smiling)

The Saturday before Halloween was the famous Luker Halloween party. They have more Halloween decorations than my mom has Christmas decorations. And these are some pretty scary decorations, as you can see just from the way they decorated the outside of their house:

Jeff and I recycled our Ponch and John from CHiPs costumes from a few years ago. Lydia wore her beautiful new Belle princess dress that Marmie made her, and Rowan was an astronaut again. Everyone raved about Lydia's dress wherever she wore it, so all the hard work Marmie put into it really paid off. You can see here that Lydia is already working on covering it and herself in chocolate (which she made a meal of at the party).

Here are Joel and Deb, the hosts of the party. You can see an example of their dedication to all things Halloween in the background. It was so impressively scary that Lydia wanted to go home. After a little while though, she became more comfortable and stayed and partied into the wee hours with the rest of us (9 pm).

As if that weren't enough, in addition to the Halloween party at preschool, there was trick or treating to be done. Our friend (Kirk) Filbey came over with his daughter, Tori, and we went around the neighborhood collecting way more candy than we'll be able to eat in a year.

With my hurt foot, there was a question about how I would navigate the trick or treating. I ended up scooting around on my knee walker and was able to go with the kids and dads the entire way. My knee was totally killing me by the end of the night though.

Whew, am I glad THAT holiday is over! That was a lot of work.

School Pictures

2011-10-31T14:59:00.004-04:00

A couple weeks ago, the day after I found out I had to stay off my foot because of the cracked bone, I hastily got the kids ready for preschool as best I could, feeling frazzled and frustrated. After I dropped them off, I remembered that it was school picture day! I was very upset, thinking about how frizzy Lydia's hair was and that they were wearing just "regular" clothes, instead of something special that I had taken a lot of time and thought to pick out.

As you can see, I needn't have worried. They both look great, and as Jeff said, they are dressed in their normal clothes, so they look like they always do, not some artificially fancy version of themselves. And their "normal" selves are pretty darn cute.

Easy Rider

2011-10-23T07:30:00.001-04:00

On Saturday we packed up the family truckster and drove to Logansport Indiana for cousin Henry's Halloween-themed 18 month birthday party. It's about 4 hours away, so Rowan decided to kick back and relax.

Alien Clouds

2011-10-18T21:55:00.002-04:00

On my way home from the doctor's office today, I saw some of the strangest clouds I've ever seen. They really echoed the ominous feeling that I was having, knowing what is in store for me over the next four weeks, trying to take care of a house and two kids with one operational foot.

Someone over at the Air Force Museum got an even better photo of the weird, wavy holes in the clouds. Check it out on Facebook.

Family Portrait

2011-10-16T10:15:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago, Rowan drew a picture of his family at preschool. While it was hanging up on the wall, I asked him to describe it to me:

"Here's Daddy. He's carrying equipment for making beer. And here's you, Mommy. You're wearing your boot because you hurt your foot. And here's Lydia and me."

I'm amazed at how accurate he was with me and Jeff: Jeff's carrying the tubing that he uses in his beer making, and he put my walking boot on the correct foot. I'm also gazing admiringly at Jeff and his beer-making skills.

Running the Maze

2011-10-13T20:48:00.002-04:00

Marmie said that the yard looked like a maze, so Rowan decided to try it out. Turns out, she was right - the tracks of shredded leaves made a great maze!

Tea with Grammie

2011-10-12T17:26:00.003-04:00

All-American Boy

2011-10-10T11:32:00.001-04:00

I think Rowan looks like your classic American boy here, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, Converse All Stars and riding a Radio Flyer scooter.

Curly Sue

2011-10-07T18:18:00.001-04:00

We decided that Lydia looks like a painting of a little girl from the 20s this evening.

Feeling Poorly, Part 2

2011-09-26T15:23:00.001-04:00

I KNEW I shouldn't have let Rowan share Lydia's water bottle Saturday night!

12 Wonderful Years

2011-09-25T14:12:00.002-04:00

Look at me here, thinking, "I sure am a lucky gal!" I didn't know the half of it! My husband has become even more handsome, smarter and talented over the past twelve years. When I hooked him and reeled him in ever so slowly and carefully (his description), I had no idea what a catch I had made. Okay, maybe I had a little inkling. I still think I am a lucky gal!

I love you, Jeff.

Trolley Ride to Oktoberfest!

2011-09-24T16:21:00.001-04:00

Rowan's favorite part.

Feeling Poorly

2011-09-24T08:35:00.001-04:00

Now that Lydia has started pre-school, it didn't take to long for her to get a cold. She was virtually catatonic on the couch last night and drooled to avoid swallowing with her sore throat. She's feeling better this morning. Yay for cold and flu season returning!

Candy Corn Socks

2011-09-18T14:46:00.001-04:00

We're on our way home, and Lydia had to put on her new candy corn socks. They made her sleepy. Who likes candy corn? Marmie. Weird.

Flat 12 Bierwerks

2011-09-17T10:19:00.001-04:00

Our date night stated at the taproom of a new Indy microbrewery, Flat 12. It's situated in an industrial park area, and we were happy to see a fairly large, eclectic crowd. We took our beers out to the biergarden and bought sausage/ peperoni, goat cheese/spinach pizza from a vendor trailer that had pulled up to feed the crowd. A second vendor from "The Smoking Goose" had an assortment of meats grilling. We closed down the taproom talking with the draft pullers, buying a 32 oz. "bullet" of their Upsidedown Blonde, and samplingmost of the 12 beers on draft. It will definitely be one of our favorite places in Indy to go, and we'll be back again soon.

Weekend at Marmie's

2011-09-17T09:58:00.001-04:00

We're spending the weekend in Indianapolis with Grandfather, Marmie, and the Northside Barrs. Here's the kids listening to me practice a lecture on Bayesian Calibration of Computer Code Output. After that, Angela and I had a date night in downtown Indy, we'll have a cookout tonight, and tomorrow I'll watch some football. Yup, pretty important work going on here.

Bellbrook Bavarian Hefeweisen

2011-09-13T21:48:00.001-04:00

Sunday was my first brew day with the new equipment and you can see in the photo the 5 gallons of boiling hot wort. In brief, I boiled water, pours in a 3 lb bag of Dry Malt Extract, put in 1 oz. of Halurtau hops, waited 30 minutes, the poured in another 30 minutes. After that I set up the immersion chiller and cooled down to 75F. I moved the cooled wort to the fermenting refrigerator, transfered into a carboy through the kettle valve, and pitched a vial of White Labs WLP300 Bavarian hefeweisen yeast. I set the fermentor to 71F overnight an dropped it to 66 in the morning where it's been vigorously bubbling since.

Bubbling should end in the next day or so and I'll transfer to a keg on Sunday. Thanks to the keg's carbonation
system, we could be having a draft beer Sunday night.

Saturday Morning Practice

2011-09-10T09:55:00.001-04:00

As a parent, I've longed for the day where I can sit down and someone else watches Rowan. I think that's what I love most about soccer. What else can I do to enhance the experience? Sleeping bag? Mimosas? Bacon Bucket?

New Blogger iPhone App

2011-09-09T15:24:00.002-04:00

I've had a third party app for Bloggering, but haven't really used it because of its bad interface. Now, Blogger has an official version and this is a test post from it. It sure took them a looonnngg time to make it available. Now maybe we'll make more post about random things as we go about our day. I might start a series of posts about "Things on my desk at work." The internet is full of useful information.

Lydia's First Day of School

2011-09-07T20:08:00.004-04:00

Lydia had her first day of preschool today. She and Rowan are going to the same place he went last spring, and will be attending MWF for 2.5 hours in the morning. Lydia picked out her own dress for school today ("purple princess dress!"). Ms. Julie said that she kind of watched the other kids quietly for awhile and then started playing. This sounded almost exactly like what I would expect out of Lydia. No crying, though, so I am very happy.

Rowan was very excited about his new classroom and new teacher, Ms. Melissa. This is old hat for him now, so I wasn't too concerned about him anyway.

After school, both kids proceeded to act like total baboons every time Jeff or I took them out of the house. Hopefully this is just them adjusting to the new schedule and will wear off in a few days. Because if not, I may have to vent my own frustration by throwing something foul.

Brewing Equipment Extravaganza

2011-09-05T17:21:00.000-04:00

I initially planned to take a slow and steady path towards learning to brew beer and purchasing equipment as I went that would make the process easier and better. Well, thanks to Craigslist, I skipped to the end and now have a pretty complete brewery. The above photo shows a chest freezer converted into a four tap kegerator, 12 gallon stainless steel pot, propane burner, 7 fermentation carboys, one stainless steel , one cylindro-conical fermenter, 6 five gallon stainless steel kegs, C02 tanks, 2 regulators, mash tun, hot liquour tank, oxygen aeration system, an electric fluid pump, and other stuff. I've just finished cleaning it all and getting it stored in the basement and I'll start brewing next weekend. The first brew will be a Bavarian Hefeweisen since both Angela and I like to drink it and it is probably the easiest and cheapest type of beer to make because it uses a small amount of hops and can be made with only base malts.

There are still a few things I want to add to the brewery, primarily a temperature controlled refrigerator use for fermentation. Luckily, used refrigerators can be had for cheap on Craigslist and I already have a digital temperature controller to override the fridge thermostat.

Rowan's First Soccer Practice

2011-09-04T15:36:00.004-04:00

Rowan had his first practice with the Bellbrook Soccer league and he was SO excited! He loved running around the field with the other kids, and even though he'd never played soccer in his life, he seemed to be catching on pretty quick. The next thing I need to do is find some soccer gear for the little guy.

Here's the future David Beckham in action:

You can hear him saying "I'm gonna get you, Coach! I gotcha, Coach!"

The first thing he did when he got home was ask for some paper and crayons. Below is the coach, holding a soccer ball, Daddy (no ball, since he's standing on the sidelines) and Rowan, kicking the ball around the field:

So suddenly Rowan can draw? I guess he just had to be inspired by something.

A Mountain Wedding

2011-09-03T19:46:00.008-04:00

The whole reason we went to Maine in the first place was to attend Jeff's cousin, Melissa's, wedding (she's the daughter of Aunt Gail and Uncle George). She and Bill seemed so happy together, and they had a beautiful, unusually hot day to celebrate their wedding. All the flowers came from Gail and George's garden - they were amazing.

Lydia and Grammie Donna in their pretty dresses:

Rowan, looking sharp:

Lydia, having a pouty episode because I wouldn't give her another granola bar:

This pose reminded me a lot of the famous Andrew Wyeth painting, "Christina's World":

Rowan thinks he could take on MC duties:

And the obligatory dancing video:

Lydia danced and danced the entire time. Naturally, I ended up spending most of the night out there with her, even with my hurt foot. It wasn't too much of a hardship though, since the music that Melissa and Bill picked out was great for dancing and I had a lot of wine to kill the pain. The wedding was a lot of fun, and all the work that the families put into it really paid off. Aunt Gail and Grammie Donna even made a bunch of homemade blueberry pies for dessert and preserves to take home with us as favors! Thanks for a fun time, everyone.

Hurricane Irene

2011-09-01T21:27:00.003-04:00

Here are my shots of the destructive force that water can be. You can't imagine that a little bit of water can do that much, but when you see it in action, it's pretty amazing. In the first video, there was originally just a little tiny stream that you can see to the right. All of that other water is not supposed to be there. You can also see water running into the patios of some of the condos. I checked them out the next day, and they were filled about six inches deep with gravel and fist-sized rocks.

While we were swimming, we were being fascinated by the large amounts of water running down the windows and around the building. Suddenly, there was a loud crash and thump and I screamed when I realized a tree was falling on the glass windows. We got out of the pool.

The next day was absolutely beautiful. We heard that there were two bridges out, preventing us from using the main highway, so of course we had to drive down and see, along with all the other Looky-Loo's.

Pretty scary to see close up, I can't imagine what it was like in the middle of the storm. That brown water was still running very fast and deep a day later:

We didn't have water in our condo for the rest of our trip, but luckily for us, the electricity stayed on. Come to find out, the water company shut off all the water to the surrounding area to make sure the main hotel kept its water on. Screw job! I feel sorry for the people that had to clean our bathroom after we left.

Safe Trip Home

2011-08-30T20:37:00.000-04:00

We made it home safely today despite being literally surrounded by collapsed bridges around the Sugarloaf Ski Resort in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. Angela has close up pictures of the shot above that we may post later on the blog. Needless to say, without the unpaved one lane access road going through some residential cabins, we could have been stuck there for quite some time. Our trip went very well, we left at 0800, arrived at the Portland Airport at 1100, departed at 1230, landed at Baltimore at 1400, boarded our Dayton flight at 1630 and eased into Bellbrook at 1830. The kids were very good for the whole trip with one or two minor outbursts. Glad to be home again, we'll have more posts about the wedding soon.

Baltimore USO Stop

2011-08-26T09:06:00.000-04:00

With a 3 1/2 hour delay until our next flight and two crazy kids in tow, it's nice to have a place to go that has a kids play room, free snacks, and an XBOX 360 kiosk. Baltimore Airport's USO is by the baggage claim, which is unusual, but it's one of the better ones I've been to. Only recently have I started seeking out USOs whenever I have a delay between flights and I'm grateful to the volunteers and donors who make them possible. Sure, I feel a little guilty because I'm usually just a schmo on a buisiness trip instead of somebody deploying to sandy 4rth world countries, but I'll take advantage of it anyway and leave a donation at the counter. Now, we're off to get our free box of Girl Scout cookies.

Vacation Bound

2011-08-25T20:11:00.000-04:00

We're taking a trip up to a ski resort in Maine tomorrow and we'll be leaving at O'dark early to catch the first flight out. Rowan is very excited that we'll be waking him in the middle of the night for a trip to the airport. Luckily, both Angela and I are quite accustomed to waking up at all hours of the night thanks to the kids, now it's our turn to disrupt their slumber. They'll have their comeuppance! The main reason we're going is to attend my cousin Melissa's wedding which were looking forward to as it will be a mini family reunion of sorts. Plus, there's a Shipyard brewpub on location, score! Hurricane Irene will also make its way there, and we'll be seeing signs of it Sunday night I think. Hunker down! I plan on taking it easy, relaxing with family, and possibly wrestling a Grizzly bear or two. Or are Grizzlies better at boxing?

Hummingbird Rescue

2011-08-18T13:25:00.002-04:00

We had a little guest in the garage last night. I took a video of the poor thing flying around like a crazed bumble bee, but one of the cutest things is Rowan's commentary in the background. He was obviously very concerned that the little guy had become trapped and couldn't get out. Also, he wasn't making the humming/singing noise that he remembered from a "Wonder Pets" episode. We decided to go inside and see if he could get out by himself without being scared of us milling around in there.

He actually didn't get out by himself, and after the kids went to bed, Jeff orchestrated a daring rescue. Armed with a ladder and a paper grocery bag, he turned on the lights to attract the bird to one area of the garage. Then, I corralled him over to Jeff's bag with a broom. Jeff was able to trap the hummingbird in the paper bag, and then released him into the sweet sweet freedom of the open skies. Where he was promptly eaten by a hawk. JUST KIDDING. He flew away and now is happily sucking the nectar from flowers far and wide.

A Monumental Museum Walk

2011-08-10T21:57:00.005-04:00

So this past Sunday, we did all the Washington-y things - went to the Natural History Museum, saw the monuments, saw the White House, etc. We got downtown a little before the museums opened and found a spot on the street right in front of the museum. It seemed like no big deal at the time, but you should have seen the flurry later in the afternoon when people driving by realized we were vacating our spot (you're welcome, lady in the silver SUV!).

The museum was a hit with Rowan and Lydia; Rowan LOVED the ocean section and Lydia enjoyed the "dinosaur toys" (prehistoric dioramas). Here is Rowan, pretending to be a giant prehistoric shark:

I was impressed with the fossils they had on display. Surely, these must be the pinnacle of fossil finds and a testament to the paleontologists' cleaning skills. I have NEVER seen fossils like these, as far as detail and degree of three-dimensionality retained. I guess this is where the best fossils go to be displayed:

That is a beautiful fossil right there, although it's also super creepy.

Afterwards, we took a walk down the mall to see the monuments. The Washington monument, obviously:

The WWII monument (which was about 150 degrees down near the water features):

Vietnam Memorial:

And of course, the White House.

We toyed with the idea of going through the American History museum, but after walking three miles in the blinding sun and heat, we were all totally beat and drove back home to take naps. So after two and a half weeks in D.C., I can definitely feel like we did everything we were supposed to do and saw most of what we were supposed to see. Maybe we'll come back again in a year or two, and the kids will get more out of it.

The National Cathedral

2011-08-09T16:09:00.003-04:00

Before we came to Washington, D.C., I had forgotten that there was a big cathedral there that had been built over the past 100 years. I was a little surprised to see that it was a real live cathedral! Borrowing its style from the best gothic cathedrals of England and France, it was pretty impressive to see in person for the first time. I was so happy the architects resisted the temptation to "modern it up", and kept to the traditional Gothic style. I'm guessing it's because it was designed over 100 years ago - I can't imagine any architect in this day and age being able to resist putting his own modern "mark" on a place of this magnitude.

Rowan and Lydia do a little bible study beneath some 16th century tapestries:

One of the three beautiful rose windows (it really did look like a rainbow of colors):

Rowan shows his daddy the "space window" commemorating the Apollo 11 moon landing:

The oldest rose window:

This glass artist followed traditional medieval stained glass techniques and design. Although the glass windows ran the gamut from traditional to modern, I thought they all worked together beautifully and was really impressed with the colors and designs.

By far, the cathedral has been the highlight of the trip for me.

Riding on a Train

2011-08-07T15:17:00.003-04:00

One of the highlights of last weekend (for Rowan) was riding the Metro downtown. He's such a boy.

Here is the beautiful station at the Pentagon (this photo is actually brighter than it was in real life). The Paris Metro this ain't.

We haven't ridden the train since then, since we discovered if you get downtown before 10 am on the weekends, you essentially have your pick of parking spots (and free on Sunday!).

Doin' the Smithsonians

2011-08-06T15:26:00.004-04:00

Air and Space style!

Last Saturday, we took the train to downtown Washington, D.C. to the Air and Space museum. Rowan was excited to see the space stuff, but I was a little disappointed that most things were reproductions instead of the "real thing". It was cool to see the Wright Flyer though.

At one point, there was a talk about the development of the space shuttle and the speaker asked for volunteers to come up and help her show all the different space shuttles. Rowan made sure he was the first one up there and did a great job playing with- I mean showing a model of the space shuttle Endeavor.

Around noon, things started to get crazy busy and crowded around that place, so we headed out and made plans to see the "annex" (which housed the space shuttle glider) the next day, out at Dulles Airport. We didn't tell Rowan ahead of time that the Enterprise was going to be at this museum, just that there were some cool planes and space stuff. Here's his reaction as we were walking up to see it:

A kindly stranger took our photo as a family, probably the only one we'll get the whole time we're here:

I think Rowan was particularly taken with this scale model of the Saturn V, because it was like a big version of his toy he always plays with. He seemed more excited about this than the actual Saturn V on display at the Kennedy Space Center!

I really enjoyed seeing the planes in the annex better than at the downtown museum. The two levels of catwalks really give you a 360-degree view of all the aircraft, and it's light and bright and airy in there, and not crazy crowded. Also, they have the Enola Gay, which I was really excited to see.

There were some other important planes at both museums that Jeff pointed out, but I don't know all the back story on those, and since I'm the one writing this blog post, you'll just have to ask Jeff about it.

Cost of Living

2011-08-05T13:35:00.003-04:00

I've been walking through a nice neighborhood in the Lyon Village area of Arlington. The houses probably average 2000 sq. ft., quiet tree-lined streets, front and back yards - reminds me a lot of Oakwood. I was thinking, I bet these houses are surprisingly expensive, like around $500K or $700K. Ha! Good luck finding one below $1M (and that would be a tear-down). I guess that goes to show how much I don't know about real estate in the big city.

Search and Find

2011-08-03T16:51:00.002-04:00

Thanks to this little session of playing nicely together, Rowan and Lydia got to delay their naps an extra half-hour today. The schedule can be tweaked to allow actual good behavior to continue as long as possible.

Boo-boo Head

2011-08-03T09:28:00.003-04:00

Rowan and Lydia are not used to sleeping with other people in the room, so getting them to bed on this trip has sometimes been a challenge. The first night, we put them in the same pull-out bed and they partied like it was 1999. Finally, after some threats and stern language, they finally fell asleep an hour and a half later. The next day, neither one would take a nap, resulting in the crabbiest Mommy ever. So I borrowed a pack-and-play from the hotel and we managed to get them to sleep pretty regularly after that, even though Lydia is basically too big for it.

Now that we're in the two-bedroom condo, the kids are sharing a tiny bedroom, which puts Lydia's pack-and-play right next to Rowan's bed. After putting them to bed, shenanigans ensued. There was much hilarity and playing, and at one point, Lydia climbed out of her crib and crash landed on the uber-modern wooden platform bed. Since it was dark, I didn't see the bruise and scratch on her head until the next morning. What a surprise that was. We decided a Hello Kitty bandaid was in order, so she went around all day yesterday with a fun accessory.

Last night, we tried to separate the kids by putting Lydia in our room, but then Rowan couldn't sleep because he was lonely. Awww, these kids!

Good Bye Old Town

2011-07-31T10:02:00.005-04:00

I went for a run down Prince Street in Old Town Alexandria yesterday and saw some really nice, really old houses.

This one looked especially old. The historical plaque said something about being a farmhouse or something:

There was a section of cobblestone street that was preserved:

Here is the Potomac River:

And here's a little house, for sale! No, this is not two houses. It's all the same house. I wonder how much it costs?

Now we're off to Arlington for the second week of our stay.

Nice Evening for a Walk

2011-07-27T20:32:00.004-04:00

We took the kids for a ride through Old Town Alexandria tonight. They seemed to enjoy the scenery and people-watching.

The fountain was a nice turning around point. We probably should have walked the extra three blocks to the river, but it was getting late. I'll take a look when I go for a run later this week.

Road Trip Safety

2011-07-24T20:11:00.003-04:00

We have made it to Washington, D.C. safely, and this includes our stuffed passengers. Rowan's favorite friend, Squawker, is usually either tucked in the car seat next to Rowan, or has his own seatbelt. I think Squawker might be a little short for the shoulder belt – we should look into getting him a booster seat.

Rowan also makes sure his baby penguin rides safely in the blue car:

Butterfly Garden

2011-07-18T13:48:00.003-04:00

The echinacea (or coneflowers) that Dodie planted have been blooming this week and are attracting a lot of butterflies. Thanks, Dodie!

Rowan is pretending to be a butterfly by using a skinny stick as a butterfly "straw" to suck up the nectar from the flowers. I think he learned that from TV. Thanks, TV!

Future Video Gamer

2011-07-17T11:40:00.000-04:00

Somehow, Rowan came across an advertisement video game, and got pretty good at making the girl run around and grab chocolates. Jeff and I decided that maybe he needed to play some more age-appropriate games and he is now hooked on playing online games from the Fisher Price website. I see a lot of this particular activity in our future. Like father, like son!

Budding Flower-arranger

2011-07-13T20:39:00.003-04:00

Lydia was messing around a lot with my "good" silk flowers and alabaster vase today, so I found a huge bag of cheapo flowers and a pink bucket for her to play with. She seems to have a knack for floral arrangement.

Lydia and Daddy

2011-07-10T17:33:00.000-04:00

Taken on Independence Day...

More Vintage Style

2011-07-08T17:34:00.001-04:00

Marmie made this cute little dotted swiss sundress - 35 years ago!

Lydia's First Manicure

2011-07-06T15:51:00.002-04:00

Lydia said she was making "pretty fingernails like Mommy does".

Looks almost as good as when I do my own. Which is why you rarely see me with painted fingernails.

Happy 4th Weekend

2011-07-05T20:39:00.001-04:00

It was a nice holiday weekend at The Yellow House. Two cookouts, one brunch, a bike ride, some birthday cake, McIntosh, sitting out on the porch, some Mortal Kombat, and naps. I think I mowed the lawn too, so it wasn't a complete vacation.

Snacktime

2011-06-30T17:40:00.003-04:00

After watching this video, we have learned:

1. Lydia likes kitties
2. Rowan is well-versed in the skills needed to become a home brewer
3. Lydia pretending to sneeze is almost as gross as Lydia actually sneezing
4. We now know where Lydia gets her nasally voice (from me)
5. It APPEARS that Jeff's nickname around here is "Big Daddy" (but actually isn't)

Who knew cupcakes could be so educational?

A Happy Father's Day

2011-06-20T21:00:00.000-04:00

A successful Father's Day weekend was had this week which included a new hammock and two weights to keep me from falling off. I'm also wearing my "Worlds Greatest Dad" shirt that has a matching hat. I didn't even need to buy it for myself! The rest of the weekend involved a lot of laying around and taking it easy since it rained most of the weekend. We did get out to see Maverick and the O'haras so Ryan and I could have a brew date. A brew date?

At some point in every man's life, he decides to brew his own beer. For me, it was a Rye Pale Ale with about 5% alcohol and dry hopped with Cascade hops. I had the first one yesterday and can say that it is definitely drinkable with no perceivable off flavors. Angela says that it tastes like beer. It's definitely encouraged me to continue to make more

Brewing beer is a great hobby because it can get very technical and provides a variety of details to obsess over. Do I get a counterflow or immersion chiller? What's the pH of our water? How can I precisely control fermentation temperatures to create the appropriate ester profile for the hefeweissen that I want to brew? It's enough to drive Angela crazy.

On the plus side, there should be plenty of things to buy for me next Father's Day.

Bath Shenanigans

2011-06-09T07:55:00.001-04:00

Four kids, one huge bathtub. This photo is going to come back to haunt these cousins, how much do you want to bet?

Perfect Day at the Park

2011-06-02T13:35:00.003-04:00

Thank you, God, for finally letting us have a nice, spring day! A warm (not hot) day with low humidity.

At the Green Park, Lydia didn't want to leave the swings and go to the creek with Rowan, so I suggested he hold her hand to get her to go there. Since she loves holding her older brother's hand, it didn't take much convincing to get her to go.

While there, a couple families of Menonnites or something showed up (it sounded like they were speaking German). It's so hard not to stare, because it seems like they've just stepped out of the 1800's. And why dress in modest clothes from the 1800's? Why not plain clothes from the 1400's? Or ancient Greece? Or Biblical times? It just seems a little arbitrary to me. Strangely, they were accompanied by a non-Mennonite lady in hippie-looking clothes. Even Rowan noticed that they were not dressed the same as kids he normally sees and that the boys "had funny hair". I guess bowl-cuts are just not seen much around these parts. It certainly made for an interesting day at the park.

Patriotic Lydia

2011-06-01T19:39:00.002-04:00

See more photos

Marmie made this cute dress and hat for Lydia to wear for Memorial Day and 4th of July this year. We did a little photo shoot on Monday morning and I ended up with some really nice pictures of her. Click on the link above to see the album.

End of Days

2011-05-26T08:21:00.004-04:00

"Dogs and cats, living together - mass hysteria!"

A big storm rolled in yesterday evening, dark clouds and fierce wind. After the lights went out, Lydia, Rowan and I went up to the office to turn off my computer and the battery backup (which you can hear beeping in the background). While up there, we started hearing an almighty pounding on the roof and skylights. I was confused for a second, and then amazed at what I was seeing. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to take a video. We never went down to the basement, because by the time I was done with this video and we had made our way downstairs, the hail had stopped.

All the neighbors immediately went outside to survey the damage. Emilee and Aaron had damage to their vehicles - broken windshields and dents. Our neighbor's skylight was broken. We have some rips and tears in our screens on one side of the house. And my hostas have big, perfectly round holes right through the leaves - disastro!

The kids enjoyed picking up the ice balls and throwing them, and then ran around the neighborhood with the other kids until 9:00 - it was almost a party atmosphere. As we were getting the kids ready for bed, the electricity finally came back on. We could rest easy knowing our sump pump wouldn't overflow.

Previous to this, we thought we'd already had the biggest excitement of the night: a big-ass snake in a bush outside our kitchen:

Jeff found it while trimming the bushes. After the initial "AAAAH!", we got a good look at it and even showed the kids. We told them not to touch it or talk too loudly, because it was sleeping.

So there's two plagues down, what's next?

Lady Biker

2011-05-24T20:58:00.002-04:00

A second post by Jeff!

Biker

2011-05-23T20:40:00.000-04:00

I did a post!

TV with Friends

2011-05-20T14:00:00.002-04:00

I came in to turn the TV on for Rowan, and he had his little friends all lined up and ready to watch a show.

Retro Dresses

2011-05-18T16:33:00.005-04:00

Mom was smart enough to save some of my cuter clothes from when I was little. I got a couple of them out this weekend to put on Lydia and I wish I had done it much sooner. Apparently "2T" in 1970s sizing is a lot smaller than 2T in 2011. Nonetheless, Lydia still looks pretty darn cute wearing these vintage dresses, even though they may be a little short.

I remember this red dress so well, because I loved looking at the photo of me wearing it on the ORANGE-carpeted stairway with Aunt Carolyn. I looked SO happy to be sitting there with my fun and glamorous Aunt Carolyn. The other picture is of me wearing it outside the Army barracks at Ft. Benning, Georgia.

It looks like the hem was let down on this red dress at some point. I think I'll do the same on the blue dress. BTW, I wanted Lydia to wear her white shoes with this, but she picked the green froggy shoes. I think she made the right decision.

In other news, we now know where Lydia gets her "stinker face".

Another Fun Wedding

2011-05-16T20:38:00.006-04:00

We attended the wedding of a co-worker of Jeff's over the weekend, and got to see the Lemaires while we were there. Lydia was extra-crabby after sleeping in the car on the way up to Carmel from Greenwood, and so did not cooperate for this girls' photo or sit quietly during the ceremony. The only time she brightened up was when she saw the bride, Terri, walk down the aisle.

My two handsome boys (and handsome Rich) with their blue shirts and ties at the reception:

Jeff congratulating the groom, Stephen:

Lydia was very interested in the "princess", and even got to score a little one-on-one time with her after the bouquet toss:

Mom and I are to blame for the sudden bride/princess obsession with our little girl, since we went to that princess party a few weeks ago, and then Mom had the royal wedding on TiVo for us to watch on Saturday before we left for the wedding. Here's a cute picture of the two of them playing with stuffed kitties on Sunday:

A Really Good (Mother's) Day

2011-05-08T21:52:00.002-04:00

Jeff planned quite a nice Mother's Day for me today. Before I got up, he and Rowan went to the store to get me some roses. Then he cooked up a fancy breakfast and let me sit in bed and read for awhile. After naps, we drove out to Yellow Springs to go for a bike ride with the kids in their bike trailer, and let me pull them during the easy stretch (downhill and with the wind).

On the way back, the kids discovered the joys of blowing dandelion seeds.

My choice for a Mother's Day dinner was Peaches Grill in Yellow Springs. We even got to sit outside, which is something I always get a hankering to do when the weather starts getting nice in the spring.

Even though all of this was really nice, the biggest gift of all is being a mom to my two kids. Thank you, Jeff, for giving me the gift of being a mother!

Princess Party

2011-05-04T11:47:00.002-04:00

Lydia and I attended a fancy party to watch the royal wedding last Friday (on DVR). The invitation said "Tiaras encouraged", and danged if I didn't already have a tiara! Of course, I wore it. Lydia also wore her fanciest dress and a hat, since that's what you do in England when you go to a fancy wedding.

Here she is clutching her party favors for dear life. She didn't put those things down for 24 hours:

The Lukers put on quite a party. There was even a fancy castle wedding cake!

Lydia made herself comfortable while watching the princess with her handsome prince:

Here is our hostess wearing her own beautiful wedding dress:

Thanks for a fun time, Deb and Joel!

Wedding Photos

2011-05-02T11:30:00.003-04:00

My Aunt Carolyn got remarried a few weeks ago, and while I didn't get any good pictures of her and her new husband, I did manage to get some of our family members in attendance.

Wesley, Henry and Stephen

Rowan, my niece Lexi and Lydia

Lydia and her Daddy, with a sweaty-from-dancing Rowan in the background

Rowan's First Program

2011-05-01T20:30:00.005-04:00

Rowan's preschool put on a little show on Thursday this past week. It was obvious which songs he really liked, all you had to do was watch his body language. Banging sticks together to the Smurfs theme song, Ten Little Indians, and shaking a green circle around - all hits. A loud song about a fire engine and some stupid Barney song were both big thumbs down (good call on the Barney song, Rowan).

Here's Lydia pretending like she was paying attention:

We celebrated his big morning by going to get the oil changed:

...and having lunch at Wendy's with Daddy.

I don't expect anyone except his grandparents will want to watch all these videos (and maybe they don't care either). But here they are. Expect great moments like Rowan picking his nose and eating it and putting his hands down the front of his pants. He does a pretty good boogie to the shaking shapes song, though.

Baby T-rex

2011-04-30T08:57:00.002-04:00

This is the latest creation from the hands of Aunt Gail. She knitted a baby Tyrannosaurus Rex in a nest. I mean, come on! Look at how cute that is, with his little front paws and everything! Thanks, Aunt Gail!

Easter Photos

2011-04-29T21:07:00.004-04:00

Easter almost got lost in the shuffle this year, thanks to the big birthday party for Rowan. But we got the eggs colored and the Easter Bunny hid them on time, and Lydia and Rowan had a great time hunting for them. Lydia really seemed to "get" the whole hunting for eggs things this year.

In her Easter outfit from Marmie:

Grammy and her sister, Aunt Jane:

The second cousins on the swing:

(Rowan, Jay, Evie, Cody, Jack and Lydia)

4th Birthday Bash

2011-04-27T15:58:00.003-04:00

Rowan's birthday was - SURPRISE - space themed this year, with astronaut ice cream, planet Earth cake and space shuttle cookies (made stressfully by me, the morning of the party). The living room was adorned with blow-up planets and inflatable space shuttles were the party favors. For an activity, since it was the day before Easter, the kids all hunted for, not Easter eggs, but green, yellow and orange ALIEN eggs.

Here's Rowan opening his presents with lots of help from his friends and Lydia. This party was wild - the rain kept everyone inside or on the back porch, and the kids were totally hyper. It made for a really festive atmosphere, though. What a fun way to celebrate Rowan turning 4 years old!

And Lydia had fun with her Marmie, swinging on the porch swing and sticking a toy lizard down each others' shirts.

The Bathroom, She Is Done

2011-04-21T21:54:00.004-04:00

The last you saw of the downstairs bathroom, it looked like this. The original bathroom looked even worse:

(What would Dodie say if she ever saw all my blog posts about how bad her decorating was?)

After two full days of taking out the pull-chain toilet, installing a new toilet, taping and painting, plus a few more days for putting up the new light fixture and pictures and cleaning, the bathroom is complete.

It's like a breath of fresh air!

Lydia's "New" Bike

2011-04-14T21:34:00.003-04:00

Marmie got Lydia a gently used bicycle last fall at Goodwill, and this week, Lydia decided she was going to ride it. After I made a few adjustments to the seat and training wheels, Lydia was all set to go.

We made it all the way to the mailbox today, and Lydia seemed pretty happy with her accomplishment.

Lydia's "concentration" face:

Going up the super-steep "hill" to the garage was a little beyond Lydia's capabilities, so Rowan gave her a little push in the right direction.

My kids seem so grown up all of a sudden, and I'm loving it!

Scary Semis

2011-04-11T20:18:00.003-04:00

On our recent road trips, I caught a glimpse of a couple of crazy-looking trucks as they flew by on the other side of the highway. They really stood out from the rest of the semis on the road, and were distinctly creepy looking. I was easily able to find them on the International Trucks website.

I've written before about how scared I am of semi trucks in general. And now it seems I'll soon be seeing this staring back at me from my rear view mirror:

Now, I'm not against interesting, beautiful design, by any means. And I appreciate the risk International took in designing these admittedly striking new trucks. They ARE good-looking trucks, as far as I can tell. But, intentional or not, this particular design will be scaring the bejesus out of me when I see it up close, riding my bumper at 70 miles per hour.

Lydia's Loud Shoes

2011-04-01T19:11:00.005-04:00

The video above shows Lydia clomping around in the dress-up shoes that Marmie got for her. I'm not sure where she got her technique - I certainly HOPE that's not what I look and sound like when I wear high heels.

Rowan has worn the play shoes once or twice as well:

I loved the super-shiny silver squeaky shoes that Stella modeled in a recent blog post on Lolapalooza. I was able to find a similar pair for Lydia, except these have flowers and rhinestone studs. These squeaky shoes are made to help encourage late walkers to "step it up" a little, but thankfully the squeakers come out if the noise starts to drive you crazy. Lydia calls them "squishy shoes":

You'll also notice that Lydia's hair is particularly CRAZY in all these shots - I'm particularly proud of the Gene Simmons look she's sporting in the squishy shoes video.

A Few More Florida Pictures

2011-03-31T20:29:00.002-04:00

Thanks to an accident of timing, we were able to be down in Florida at the same time as Jeff's Uncle George and Aunt Gail (not pictured, but she looks a lot like her sister, Donna, who is pictured). We hadn't seen them in almost five years, which means they hadn't met Rowan and Lydia yet. Rowan became buddies with them almost immediately, but it took Lydia a little while to warm up to them. By the time Jeff and I had to make our sad trip south for my cousin Suzanne's funeral, she was more than happy to spend the night alone with them and Grammie Donna.

I just wanted to post a couple more cute pictures of the kids at the beach. Lydia decided that she wanted to play in the water like her big brother:

The main problem was that she would look down as the waves were going back out, and the disorientation would leave her flat on her face in the sand every time. It never freaked her out though and we had to tear her away tearfully from the beach at lunchtime.

We had a great time in Florida, although it was also punctuated by very sad events in my family. It was fortunate we were nearby, so we could pay our respects to my cousin's family and be there for the funeral.

Wearin' O' the Green

2011-03-29T20:44:00.004-04:00

For St. Patrick's Day (I know, this was like two weeks ago), Donna and I took the kids to the beach. I didn't even bother putting their swimsuits on because I figured the water was too cold and that they'd be scared of it anyway. Of course, Rowan decided he LOVED the ocean this time around and kept running into the waves and ended up with a soggy bottom.

That Saturday was the big St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Melbourne. We encountered people drinking green beer at 10:30 in the morning and this lady:

Lydia's reaction:

Rowan strangling Lydia with love:

First Time Bowling

2011-03-28T20:39:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we celebrated Max's birthday at the local bowling alley. Rowan and Lydia became instant fans of the "sport" and combined their love of dancing and sport into a single event.

Despite several bowling balls being dropped by Lydia and several other kids, not a single foot was smashed during the party. Thanks to Max's family for inviting us!

Space, the Final Frontier

2011-03-26T22:11:00.003-04:00

While in Florida, we took another trip to the Kennedy Space Center, thanks to the season pass we purchased the last time we were in town. This enabled us to see things we hadn't seen the last time, and we were able to leave at lunch time and be back in time for naps.

One of the things we saw was the Rocket Garden. I personally liked this a lot, because I got to listen to the tour guide talk about the development of missles into space rockets while the kids played on a gigantic playground:

Rockets are KEWL!

Later, Jeff and I returned from a date and saw what I thought was a moonbow. On further investigation, thanks to Wikipedia, I now know it is called a 22 degree halo:

Space is KEWL!

Working Vacation

2011-03-15T13:54:00.000-04:00

(Jeff and I are working. Rowan and Lydia are on vacation.)

Wallpaper Update

2011-03-04T13:29:00.002-05:00

Through a combination of light steaming and water, I was able to get all the wallpaper off last weekend, way ahead of schedule. There is a lot of patching to do yet, and then we'll be in Florida for a week or so, so the project will be hitting a slowdown. Hopefully the new bathroom will be up and running by Rowan's birthday.

Watching the Shuttle Launch

2011-03-01T20:16:00.002-05:00

Last Friday was the last launch of the space shuttle Discovery. There are apparently two more launches to go, but after this, Discovery will be retired. This was the first one since Rowan's obsession with the space shuttle, so we naturally had to watch it LIVE on TV. We kept track of progress on NASA TV through the NASA iPad app, since the news channels weren't carrying the launch continuously.

Daddy was en route home from work when the shuttle actually took off, but thanks to the magic of TiVo, we were able to delay the launch for about ten minutes so that we could watch it together as a family. Not that Rowan really cared – he's so used to watching everything on TiVo and YouTube, I'm not sure he understands the concept of "live" TV anyway. Yay, technology!

Lydia's ER Adventure

2011-02-27T17:43:00.003-05:00

Lydia had her first trip to the emergency room today. Last night, while we were getting ready for bed, she took a wadded up red rubber band that had been in her hair and stuck it in her ear. After trying to fish it out with a pair of tweezers (which shoved it further down the ear canal) and trying to wash it out with a syringe filled with water, we decided to call the doctor and ask if we had to go in right away to have it removed. She said yes. After thinking about what the Children's Medical Center ER would be like at 8:30 on a Saturday night, I checked with WebMD, and they assured me that we could probably wait until the next day. That was all I needed to hear.

I let Lydia sleep on it and she slept great, so it obviously wasn't giving her much trouble. We went in at 9 am and the place was nice and quiet. Lydia was not the happiest girl I'd ever seen at the hospital - didn't want her temperature taken, or to get on the scale, or to let anyone look in her ear. We wrestled her onto the table and the nurse grabbed the rubber band with a little needle-nose pliers. Lydia cried and cried.

Below is another rubber band, which I took along with me as an example of what the nurse was looking for. I didn't get a photo of the one from Lydia's ear because the nurse took it with her as a souvenir. Apparently she has a stash of things that she's pulled out of kids' ears and noses, and this was her first rubber band.

As we left, the waiting room was filling up. I'm so glad we got in when we did. The whole trip took an hour and a half - which must be a record for an ER visit!

Adventures in Wallpaper Removal

2011-02-22T10:40:00.005-05:00

I have started removing the lovely country-style heart wallpaper in the downstairs bathroom. In the process, I have come up a bunch of new, unflattering nicknames for Dodie, the previous owner, and whoever manufactured this wallpaper, because it is virtually unstrippable. When I first pried up a corner and tried peeling it, I got the top layer off in a tiny shred.

Through trial and error, I have found that anything more aggressive than water and a spackling blade (say, by steaming or using a Paper Tiger) will result in the removal of the single layer of paint the builder put over the drywall. What does "trial and error" look like?

That's a crapload of patching that will need to be done. You'll see that down in the corner, the previous owners plastered OVER the wallpaper. Lovely. The only way this could be worse would be if they had papered over bare drywall.

I can get maybe one strip of wallpaper off in a day, if I have a good block of 2 or 3 hours open. Which with two little kids and a job, happens ALL THE TIME. So I figure I will be done stripping paper in about 6 months.

But I don't want to be a total Negative Nelly about this project. Some positive points:

After all the paper is off, we'll get a new toilet to replace that horrible pull-chain Victorian style one.
The previous owners paneled over the bottom third of the wall, so that's less work for me to do.
Thanks to all the water I use and constant wiping, I won't have to go back and wash all the old paste off the walls.
There is a big sense of accomplishment whenever I get a 4-inch piece off the wall.

(Did I mention the laundry room is covered in this exact same wallpaper?)

Puffy Pileup

2011-02-15T20:26:00.004-05:00

This morning, I am downstairs eating breakfast and browsing Facebook when I realize the kids are upstairs by themselves and it's awfully quiet. TOO quiet. If you have kids, you know that this usually means trouble. So I go upstairs to find this:

They're in a comfy pile of Lydia's stuffed animals, pretending to sleep. I take a few photos and a movie just to document this once-in-a-lifetime occurance and then head back downstairs to enjoy some more silence.

Valentine's Day Festivities

2011-02-14T20:46:00.002-05:00

Jeff and I didn't have a romantic dinner out for Valentine's Day this year. Instead we did something even more fun: we had Emilee and Lola over for a little celebration. We took pity on our poor friend whose husband was off at school and made dinner and treats to share. Turns out, celebrating Valentine's Day with kids can be a lot of fun.

What does a kid look like when she's hopped up on chocolate and sugar?

Lydia and Lola also played awhile with some window stickers, while singing an awesome rendition of some song. I can't quite catch the tune:

The night was finished out by Rowan, Lydia and Lola running laps around the house for a good twenty minutes. Maybe not the most romantic Valentine's Day, but I'll take it.

Froggy Time

2011-02-07T20:35:00.002-05:00

Lydia is in a full-blown froggy phase, as I mentioned before. Above, she has taken her original Froggy that I got her from Amazon.com and put one of her bibs on it. Below, you can see a new Baby Froggy that Grammie Donna sent for her birthday.

And Aunt Gail sent a hand-knit Ball Froggy from New Hampshire. It has the cutest little hands and feet and the body has a tennis ball inside to give it its round shape (and its name). Love it!

It's in the Jeans

2011-02-03T20:30:00.003-05:00

As I was putting a pair of Lola's hand-me-down jeans on Lydia a few weeks ago, I realized there was something strangely familiar about them. After inspecting them a little more closely, I realized they are an exact toddler knock-off of my all-time favorite jeans! Albeit with a more toddler-friendly elastic waistband. Obviously someone at Janie and Jack is keeping their eye on the adult trends.

A Momentous Occasion

2011-01-30T21:07:00.002-05:00

Today, our little Lydia turned two years old. It really seems like she's been with us forever - we are so lucky to have such a special little person in our lives.

Due to Grandfather's recent knee replacement, we decided to take the party to him and Marmie this year. It turned into a big family party - Adam, Cathy, Torie and Lexi, along with Stephen, Kim, Asher and Henry were all able to make it. Wesley phoned in from San Francisco, and after hearing all the festivities in the background, I'm sure he's already packed his bags and will be moving back to the midwest in a day or two.

Lydia loved her froggy cake, which I based on the little princess froggy pictured on her pullups. The cake decorator at Marsh did an excellent job of translating it into icing.

Rowan and Lydia both had a great time playing with their cousin Asher, and even got to have a slumber party with him on Friday night. The whole weekend was one big party, with the kids not making it to sleep until after 9:30.

Everyone is pretty exhausted after all the fun, but Lydia said it was worth it to feel like a princess for a day. Thanks for hosting the big party, Marmie and Grandfather!

Adventures in Veterinary Dentistry

2011-01-29T10:42:00.002-05:00

I'm pretty sure this is now actual veterinary dental hygienists train for their jobs. I like how she has to brush the bear's nose because he doesn't have a mouth.

Doppelgangers?

2011-01-26T14:04:00.003-05:00

Thanks to alert reader Nick Gaskins (also known as "my boss"), Jeff and I were able to see a glimpse of what we might have looked like ten years ago if we were house shopping in Boston and had a huge budget to buy a tiny place to live. What do you think? A younger, more innocent version of our current selves? Or just a couple who happens to have the same hair color as we do?

Snow Season

2011-01-24T21:34:00.002-05:00

We've been having a surprising amount of snow this winter. Lydia is still a little unsure of the white stuff, although I did get her some snow pants this year and she's wearing Rowan's penguin snow boots from previous years. Look at her, making a track through my pristine, clean white front yard! Kids.

Rowan's been putting his new snowsuit to good use, and his favorite activity is helping Daddy shovel the driveway. Which is good, because that thing is pretty big. This is probably one of those things where the novelty is going to wear off right when we actually WANT him to get out there and shovel the thing.

Sesame Street Redevelopment

2011-01-22T16:12:00.000-05:00

On the right, you'll see the Sesame Street townhouse that I bought for the kids for Christmas last year. I couldn't NOT get it, because it reminded me so much of the original one I played with as a kid. I figured that thing was long gone. Mom asked me to bring a trunk full of old toys to Indy with me over Thanksgiving, and imagine my surprise when I opened it up and found the ORIGINAL. I was so excited.

It's interesting to compare the two. The new one is a lot cheaper and has a fraction of the details the original one had. It's also smaller and has only three removable parts. The original townhouse has about thirty highly-chokable, easily lost pieces. I was fascinated by all the pieces of furniture and figures as a kid. I may be remembering wrong, but I think I played with this thing for hours. Hopefully Rowan, or especially Lydia, will get as much enjoyment out of it as I did.

Lydia's New Room

2011-01-19T16:10:00.003-05:00

Lydia's room before:

White walls, again, not a bad thing, especially in her little room. But there were so many holes and nail pops and scuffs on the walls, plus, it needed a little extra oomph...

Now there's a LOT of color in there, which makes it really fun. At night, the color is even more intense, which isn't necessarily what I was going for, but I think we can live with it for a few years. Lydia seems to like it - she calls the color "froggy". Lydia is very much into frogs right now, and is also starting to be interested in "pincesses" and "rennas" (ballerinas). For that, I blame her pullups, which have a picture of a frog wearing a princess crown.

Rowan's New Room

2011-01-12T16:14:00.001-05:00

Here's our project from last Saturday. Rowan's room, like all the other bedrooms, is painted white. Not offensive, by any means, but it can be a little bland, especially for a kid's room. Originally, I was thinking that we'd paint his room the same green as in the old house, but he said he wanted his room red. NO. I started thinking along the lines of gold/yellow/tan for his room, and then found inspiration in a picture from the Land of Nod catalog. They called it "graham cracker" - the color we picked is a more like "golden graham cracker". It was a leap for us - we usually don't do color this saturated, but I think it works with the wood trim and the black and white furnishings.

The little dots on the wall are vintage-looking celestial stickers. I don't think they're going to be there forever. For one thing, their scale is too small for the wall they're on, and they also don't stick very well. We'll get some other ones later. I also hung Rowan's new rocket poster that Santa brought him for Christmas. He's always asking what the name of each one is – I think he might be trying to memorize them.

Next up, Lydia's room...