Yearly Archives: 2007

Daniel, Project 365

P365 – Day 50 (Daniel’s Haircut)

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I’m going to try something truly novel this evening – a short Project 365 post. There are lots of other ladies on the Project 365 webring who manage to post a SINGLE picture and include just a line or two (at most a paragraph) for their daily blog.

Of course, I’m not being completely sincere (or honest) since I have a stack of pictures loaded for a different blog. [rubbing hands with glee and chortling] This one, however, is going to be short and sweet. The next one is going to be sweet as well but not so short.

All of the boys in the household (yes, those sweet innocent dears from the previous post who burn Peeps, send Noah flying to the sky, and brandish weapons whenever possible) need hair cuts. Normally I would line them up and do the whole crew in one evening. Stack ‘em, pack ‘em, and chop ‘em??? [That's a botched version of another Obscure Movie Quote "Stack em, pack 'em, and rack 'em". Anyone know that one??]

On to the (short) blog. Somehow all the relaxing and playing we did today took a lot of time and energy so I only managed to cut Daniel’s hair.

kathy and danielhe's smiling

He’s smiling (barely) but I don’t think I’m going to get a nice tip after this cut.

Hopefully the rest of the boys will have their turn tomorrow night. We can’t have these handsome fellas looking shaggy. We had a nice President’s Day. Tim declared “Holiday Hours” and we watched movies, played computer games, blogged, paid bills (okay some things are more fun than others), went grocery shopping, decorated a birthday cake, and so on.

Kathy

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David, Joshua, Project 365, Silliness

P365 – Day 49 Noah’s Terrible Journey

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There is a blessing that comes from growing up with three brothers – you have years of understanding that can only come through experience. Boys = wrestling, fighting, admiration of strange bodily noises and odors, explosions of all kinds, insects, speed based food eating contests, expectoration, wild driving (from tricycles, scooters, and bikes to mopeds, motorcycles and cars) and so on.

I distinctly remember my mother saying (more than once), “If you boys are going to kill each other go downstairs so I can make dinner.”

I have been amazed to hear the strangest things come out of my own mouth.

“In this family we do NOT sit on the top of the bed and spit down into the bottom bunk.”
“No, you may not use a screw driver to cut down a tree.”
“Next time take off your rollerblades before you ride your bike down the driveway.”
No, you may not take apart that chair, I’m sitting on it.”
“How much blood are we talking about?”
“Put your brother’s gun down.”
“Put your brother down.”
“Put me down.”

I could go on but my eye begins to twitch just remembering some of these ‘hearty’ boy encounters. People often talk about their children needing therapy when they grow up – I think it’s mothers of boys who will be lounging on the dr’s leather couch one day. Of course, who needs the doctor, I’d be content just to have some time (uninterrupted, PLEASE!) on a comfy couch. But I digress.

Time ater time I have thanked the Lord for giving me brothers. Without them I would surely think my sons are crazy, sick, abnormal creatures who should be rushed to the doctor. Why would you pop the head off of innocent looking dolls? Why would you sharpen a branch into a pointed weapon and immediately charge upon your beloved brother? Why would you turn a simple chore of putting away silverware into an imaginary duel between knives and forks? Why would you want to send Noah flying to the sky?

Oh, that brings me to Sunday’s post.

For his birthday Joshua bought David an Air Hogs Scream’n Stream’n Rocket from Target. The kids had all sorts of fun going outside and shooting off the rockets. It works great – the rockets fly high into the air.

rocket
Boys also = running, screaming, shouting, and shooting. Explosions, again, are always key.

We had a very full Sunday, ending in Bible study at our house. The kids behaved beautifully – they played nicely (and quietly) in the garage while we watched our Love and Respect dvd. Afterwards one family stayed late and joined us for dinner and games. The grownups played cards.

tim wins

Tim humbly points out his winning score.

The girls played upstairs. Joshua set up a huge battlefield for David.

soldiersjoshua's soldiers

At some point in the evening, as the hour grew late and the children squirelly, Joshua and David, in a bond of bizarre brotherhood, decided to study scripture (this being the sabbath and all). The passage they chose was from Genesis 6.

God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

Teaching through illustration and acting is often a very powerful tool and one we encourage in our family. Joshua, being the wise and mature older brother, came up with an idea of how to help David more fully understand these verses in Genesis.

noah's doom

Apparently the practices of these people were even more debased and bloodthirsty then we suspected.

David (no doubt unwillingly) agreed to play the part of some of Noah’s tormentors.

david posed to shoot

Noah, I’m afraid these are terrible times.

noah flies

After such troubles some quiet, peaceful time on an ark full of animals doesn’t sound so bad.

Kathy

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P365 – Day 48 (Going to the Zoo)

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This is NOT David’s birthday blog. Sounding a bit like a broken record here. Sorry. I haven’t forgotten David. I have LOTS of great pictures from his birthday (which, in our family, never lasts only ONE day). I just haven’t written his blog yet. Truth be told I was hoping Tim would jump in and post about David. I would provide the pictures (more than anyone could possibly want to see) and he would provide the pithy, insightful, deep, loving blog. Doesn’t that sound great. Ha! Surely we can come up with 6 things about David that are worth blogging. [Grin]

david and sarah

David and Sarah on the zoo playground.

The sun was shining when we woke up this morning. For the children it was probably before 8 am but for the grownups in the house it was deliciously close to, or maybe even after, 9 am. We truly have the best children in the world – they know how to be QUIET on Saturday mornings and let their dear old parents sleep in.

Tim and I wanted to do a fun outing for David’s birthday (since we weren’t throwing him a party this year). Somehow, however, over the last two weeks we’ve done all the things we had in mind for celebrating his b-day. First David suggested McDonald’s Playland. Yes! That would be great. Cheap, easy, relatively painless. Then my folks came to town and we went to McD’s for lunch. Hmmm. Check that box. Next we thought of a trip to the theater. Perfect, we haven’t been to the movies in months. We got on the computer and watched previews from Charlotte’s Web and Night at the Museum, debating about which to see. Then Tim’s parents called, out of the blue, and invited us to a viewing of Charlotte’s Web. How could we resist? Hmmm. Another box checked.

What to do? What to do?

climbing kids

Look at that sunshine! Yes, this picture was taken in February! In Washington! Truly amazing. No wonder there were hundreds of people at the zoo today.

The big kids had their eyes set on a fun center of some sort (like Chuck E. Cheese). When Tim and I saw the sun trying to get through our blinds, waking us up at the wonderfully late hour of 9 am (I’m obviously still savoring the memory of sleeping in this morning) we thought maybe a trip to the zoo would be fun.

kiddos

Joshua is WAY too tall for these group shots. Again, note the WA sunshine. Sarah can’t even keep her eyes open.

The big kids fixed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while Tim threw in extras for lunch (crackers, fruit, treats, etc). I made myself a salad and off we went. We had a great time at the zoo. The weather was perfect! Sunny and warm. There was a huge crowd of people at the zoo today. It was a popular outing. We renewed our family membership (with three free visitor passes – come and join us) and spent the morning/early afternoon at the zoo.

tim and daniel

With a family of our size a membership pays for itself in one and a half visits. The only downside is our zoo doesn’t have a reciprocal relationship with the Detroit Zoo which would have been nice since we hope to visit MI this summer. Oh well. Perhaps we can go to the Lansing zoo instead and see my brothers. Thom and Phil – consider yourself sufficiently warned!

We saw all sorts of animals. Rachel took several of these pictures. The kids are all becoming photographers in their own right.

elephantpeacockpolar bear

Rachel took this amazing shot! The polar bear was one of the favorite animals of the day.

muskoxenottersealtiger

Are you looking at me?

Of course, there were some close moments when we were almost eaten by the fierce tiger. Somehow we managed to survive.

don't eat us

Being the smart parents that we are (and ready to go home) we left some parts of the zoo unseen. Keep the kids hungry, I always say. If you cover the entire zoo on the first day, how will you convince the children to go back? Especially if their last memory was of being tired and having sore feet. Instead we ended the zoo visit with a great show in the outdoor auditorium.

eagle

On the way home we stopped by Trader Joes. In keeping with my ‘keep them hungry‘ motto I sent Tim and the kids to McDonald’s for ice cream sundaes while I shopped. This is part of my ‘keep them full and distracted while mom shops‘ plan.

kids and tim

Don’t they look hungry. Definitely a group that wants to end the zoo outing at Trader Joe’s/McDonald’s.

Everyone happy and contented we set off for home. The rest of the day was a blur of cleaning, computer games, movie watching, a super speedy library visit, delicious cheeseburger soup, laundry, baths, and so on. None of which were documented on film therefore do not get more than a brief mention here on the blog.

I take pictures – therefore I blog. Another significant life motto.

“It’s not tipping I believe in, it’s OVER tipping.” Name that Obscure Movie Quote.

Happy Birthday David!! This is not your birthday blog but I can still wish you a happy day. [grin]

Kathy

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P365 – Day 47 (Co-Op & Friends)

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This is NOT David’s birthday blog. This is my daily Project 365 posting (slightly behind since it’s Friday’s set of pictures). Just wanted to clarify things as I’m not going to post any pictures of David’s day of birthday celebrating.

We had a busy day of homeschooling co-op. I am teaching three classes for co-op this semester. Rachel is in two of my classes, Sarah, Daniel and Joshua one (but not the same one) and David none. Rachel has made some new friends this semester and is thoroughly enjoying them. The friendship is new but the family is not – we’ve both been at the co-op for several years. I guess the girls haven’t overlapped classes prior to this semester. How pleasant to discover some new friends.

In one of my classes we’re going through the Young Peace Makers curriculum in one class. I am co-teaching with a great homeschooling mom. She and I take turns each week preparing and presenting the different lessons. We have both been surprised at how much the kids enjoy participating in the class. Much of the teaching is done through skits and charades. The students LOVE this and beg for parts in the mini-plays. The first thing they say as we come to class is “Are we going to be doing any acting today??” Here is a pictures of Rachel working on the Bible verse of the week.

Rachel in class

After co-op we brought our poor, vehicle-less friends home with us. The grown-ups played a game of Citadels. Tim was off work so he joined us.

citadels

At this point I should note the winner of the day’s game – ME!! Yes, I know normally I would be too modest to mention this fact but I just had to point it out. Oh, I guess I did happen to sneak in “mention” of my win in another blog or two. That is the prerogative of being the writer of the blog (or blogger) – you can report the important facts as need be. With this group of cut-throat players, you have to grab whatever win you can. We won’t go into the fact that two of the players were totally new to the game and the other fact that we didn’t really finish the game (ran out of time) so I only sort of won. Hmmm, that seriously detracts from my great victory but if I conceal those two little tidbits my lovely dh (desiring to keep this blog honest and me humble) would certainly post a comment or two giving the ‘bigger picture.’

Back to the afternoon’s events. David told me that he really wanted some new soldiers for his birthday (we won’t go into the fact that we already have hundreds of those little soldiers – I guess none of them were David’s so he wanted his own collection. Sigh). Tim surprised David with a package of soldiers at co-op. Daniel, David and Adam played some complicated game involving the new soldiers and various cannons. They stopped long enough to pose for a few pictures.

they look innocentheap of soldiers

Rachel and Abby also had an army of soldiers set up in Rachel’s room. Their game, however, involved dolls and a castle. The soldiers were body guards of some sort, I would imagine.

rachel and abby

Downstairs the little ones ran around being cute. Really, is much more expected of them?

sarah, elise and issac

A busy Friday (why do I feel like I use the word “busy” a LOT in my blogs??).

Kathy

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P365 – Day 46 (Friends and Fun)

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We had a busy day on Thursday. School and cleaning in the morning (the kids did school, I did the cleaning). Around lunch time we went and picked up some friends who had their car in the shop. The kids were thrilled to have playmates come over in the middle of the day. Sarah and Elise dressed up in the wonderful animal costumes.

sarah and elise

We enjoyed lunch together and some visiting. Sarah and Elise have a sweet friendship. Fun to watch four year olds enjoy each other. What do you think they whisper?

sarah and elise

Later in the afternoon Tim’s parents came by with an offer to see Charlotte’s Web at the theater. They took the children while I dropped our friends back at home. I met up with the group and was tickled to see we had the entire theater to ourselves. “David,” I quickly exclaimed, “we rented the whole place out for your birthday!” What a fun treat!! We sat in one big row and thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

theater to ourselves

I enjoyed the slow, easy pace of Charlotte’s Web. It reminded me of movies from a gentler time. Lol! There was lots of humor which had us all laughing. Tim met us afterwards and swooped off the children to go buy presents for David’s birthday. David and I went home and fixed dinner. We were delighted to have Tim’s parents come over and join us for dinner.

movie

I had a meeting in the evening so Joshua made the cupcakes for David’s co-op class. How fun to have his birthday fall on a co-op Friday. Joshua was a tremendous help and worked on decorating the house. Rachel made a sign for the stairs and Joshua put up streamers. I fixed a cherry French toast casserole for breakfast. It was a mixture of cobbler (had an oatmeal, crumb topping) and French Toast casserole (egg, milk and cubed bread). Looked very promising.

Friday we will say Happy Birthday to David!!

Kathy

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