Josh's birfday

Better late than never? Below are some photos from Josh's birthday almost a month ago. Josh had a great time. Highlights included the Thomas-the-Tank-Engine cake and decorations, and the visit from Aunt Amy. He also had a friend over from school, Carter. It was fun to see how well they play together and how similar their dispositions are. 

Susan's creation--wow! (Josh helped a little with it; he put the stones next to the pond.)

Josh and Carter. Susan was originally going to let J invite a group of friends, but once J realized what was up he nixed it RIGHT AWAY. One friend is plenty.

I don't recall how their ended up being a second cake, but here it is. This one was shared with his Sunday-school class. 

The aforementioned Aunt Aunt.

Josh got some great gifts, including not a few trains and tracks.

Impromptu Columbus trip

Last week was winter break so Susan, anticipating cabin fever, suggested we head south for a one-day trip to see kin. The kin were very accommodating and we had a great time. 

And the timing was good: driving was fine Friday and Sunday, and on Saturday they had a snow storm, which made everything pretty without the pressure of having to go anyplace.

Though we did manage to eat at Le Chatelaine, and Sam and I joined Uncle Stu and Cousin Kevin for Saturday-morning bowling. 

A good time was had by all.

Nana and Aunt Amy reading to Josh

Uncle Stu spent quite some time outside with Sam and Josh, throwing snowballs and making David the Snowman. 

Daytona 500

Two photos from this year's Daytona 500.

This is an annual event at Cobbles where students of all grades run the track, and invite friends and relatives to join them, with the goal of beating last year's record. Hundreds of miles are logged, and the students get a chance to see their parents exercising, which is a great thing. 

Plus, it's fun. 

This year I went one morning and Susan went another. (It runs all week.) (No pun intended.) It lasts 40 minutes, and about a quarter of that time you are running laps. At first it feels good to stretch your legs, but by the end I, at least, am generally lying on the floor panting.

Maybe it's *not* such a good example for the kids!

On the right is Sam's friend Sam Weaver. They get together weekly for a "hang", and last week had two sleepovers in a row.

Weekend update

My officemate offered to sell me the bunk bed his boys used for years. They are off at grad school and it's time for it to find a new home. Looks Ikea-ish; quite nice.  The boys are wild about it. 

Last night Josh slept in the lower bunk and Sam in the upper (going in after J was asleep).

I got Sam's help putting in the nuts and bolts to put it together. After some protesting, he was good about helping. Nice to train in a new helper!

Keeps snowing, a little bit more each day, and the temps remain cold (-5 deg this morning) so it never melts. Very pretty!

I had two cans of Silly String unused from last summer, and finally let the boys play with them. Actually, Silly String weirded Josh out so it was Susan and Sam spraying one another. A good time was had by all, even if the cleanup time was longer than the play time.  

Started out the morning right on Saturday!

That's the news! Hope you are all well.

*Snow*

The usual update montage:

Josh got a haircut! Looks nice. It was a very snowy day, so all the senior citizens who usually would have packed the place were absent; Josh was the only customer

Been enjoying the Thomas trains of late.

I think this was a Saturday. Can't really say why Sam is wearing his hat during breakfast...

...but it's apparently a little boy thing, cause Josh did the same thing this morning.

Josh and I hang out at Eastman while Sam and Susan are at Sam's piano lesson. Every Friday at 5:30ish. Here we enjoying front-row seats in Kodak Hall.

And taking selfies.

Saturday I took the boys sledding. We met Sam's friend Ian. Perfect day for it! Mid 20s, light fluffy snow falling, not too crowded. Had a blast!

Here's Josh, just having slid down the slide in our back yard.

Josh loves his Sunday school class, and we couldn't ask for better teachers. They are volunteering out of the goodness of their hearts, and are genuinely filled with love for their charges. So don't blame them when you see how Josh describes Mary anointing Jesus' feet. And, for the record, NO IDEA where "Mavis" comes from!

Cadets Overnight, and other miscellany

Today's installment is chronologically inverted and a bit scattered.

This past weekend was the Cadets winter "camp-out" which is usually at a "lodge" (building with one large room, a bathroom and a kitchen) in nearby Webster, New York. This year we made a last-minute switch to the church for logistical reasons, and it was a big improvement. Easier to clean closer, and a bigger space to ramble around in. My experience with the lodge is that the boys go stir crazy sometime Saturday morning. 

Not so with the church! The weather was too warm for outdoor activities (mid 30s) so we:

• played hide-and-seek, many times (fun in a big church!)
• played Steal the Bacon (see below)
• played Keeper of the Keys (blind fold a kid, give him two dodge balls, put him on the floor with a set of keys in front of him; one at a time the others try to silently sneak up and steal the keys; if he hits them with the ball they are out)
• played Dodge Ball (and Military Dodge Ball--limbs hit become unfunctioning; hit torso or head means you are out, and other variants)
• played Octoball
• played crab-walk soccer
• sat in a classroom just drawing, for somewhere between 90 and 120 minutes
• did devotions on trustworthiness (Danny)

The balance was perfect: all the physical activities meant the boys were primed to listen and think about the devotions (which they did!) as well as just sit and draw and draw and draw.  Amazing!

Another sign that all the games worked out their energy was bedtime on Friday night. The light went out at 10:15, no books or flashlights or talking allowed. And that's the way it actually played out.

The boys drawing--at their instigation, not ours--for over an hour on Saturday. Would have gone longer if I hadn't yanked Sam away. The oldest boy has made his own card game and designed all the artwork himself

This is the Octoball pit. I think Sam must have just won, based on his expression. It's a hard game, and levels the playing field somewhat so it's not just the older kids which win

This is an action scene from Steal the Bacon. Kids are split into two teams and lined up  on opposite walls, and numbered, so when the adult says "three!", one boy from each team goes up to a kerchief on the floor. The goal is to swipe it and run back to the wall without being tagged. It's a really fun game with enough strategy to get the boys thinking. And if the adult yells, "Breakfast's ready!" it's a free-for-all and all the boys can go for the kerchief.

Quick trip to the mall, and a ride on the double-decker carousel. Why is it that Rochester has a bunch of carousels and Columbus (or the city of  your choice in South Dakota) has none? What fills the carousel need in Columbus?  Hmm...

This is a random shot from a recent snowy morning. I know it looks like Sam's about to be run over but in fact the fact is stationary, warming up, and Sam's messing about in snow pants, oblivious to the cold

Just lives for the few minutes playing outside before I drag him off to Montessori. Which, btw, has taken a turn for the worse. Friday I had to shove him in the door and walk away briskly from his tears. ARG. Feels like torture. His teacher says she came over and hugged him and his tears lasted all of two minutes and then he had a fine morning. Good to know!

Had some cold weather of late, as befits January.

A year ago I grabbed an electric typewriter being thrown out at work. Both Sam and Josh have had their fun on it. 

From much earlier, a turkey dinner Susan made post Christmas. She wanted to try brining a turkey and, I think, just wanted to get the fun of making a turkey dinner. The bird was delicious (and not particularly salty). 

Over the Christmas break to ward off cabin fever I dragged everyone out on a winter hike on a bitterly cold day, at Elison Park. Interestingly, passed three fishermen on the way in. They weren't carrying any fish, but seemed happy nevertheless. What were they trying for? Also saw a couple other walkers and one svelte jogger. Brought along Sam's nerf(ish) bow and arrow. Despite initial complaints we had a very pleasant time and really only went home to prevent giving Josh frostbite.  

Whether with these battery-powered trains, which has also rekindled his interest in his Thomas The Tank Engine trains.

That's about all the news that's fit to blog.

Before signing off, here's the facebook roundup from Susan for them what doesn't subscribe to it:

Me: Josh, do you need the potty? Do I need to check and see if something's going on in your pants?Josh: Nope.
Josh, conversationally: So what's going on in your pants?

and

Perhaps inspired by my children, I had a scary dream last night about trying to escape from a huge bear.
Told Tim and the boys about it at breakfast, and lo and behold--prepare yourself for quite a coincidence here--Josh ALSO had a scary dream, but it was about a bear, a dinosaur, and a lion. And some crocodiles and cheetahs. And they were all stacked up on top of each other (like animals do), and Josh pushed over the stack and then locked his door, and when he opened his door, they all died and he ate them.
So. Makes my dream look pretty paltry...

and

He tricked me:
Josh, drawing a large shape with a pencil: Does this look like an engine?
Me: Hey, that's a very good train engine!
Josh: It's not an engine. It's an elephant.

and

Josh has become obsessed with giving his preschool teacher, Ms. Jeni, a drawing that he loves. The drawing is wrapped up in a gift bag so he can hand it over this morning.
The thing is, it's not his drawing; it's a drawing I did of a tree, just to keep Josh company one day. So there's a chance my drawing will end up on his teacher's fridge. Weird, huh?

and

Josh was at the window the other day when the garbage men came and started to load up our Christmas tree. He said plaintively, "They're taking our Christmas!"
*sniffle*

and

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...The Waffle Song, composed this Friday morning for Josh:
Oh sometimes you need a waffle on a Friday,
Sometimes you need waffle right now;
If you don't eat a waffle on a Friday,
An octopus will suck on your head.Josh was not impressed, but Sam was, mildly.

and

I truly can't think of a more charming way to start the day than this: driving Sam and his friend to intramurals early this morning and listening to them discuss which creatures (Bigfoot, Loch Ness, aliens, etc.) they do and do not believe in.

and way back from the first,

You know that thing where one kid does something to bug the second kid (like look at him or touch his arm), and the second kid takes umbrage and retaliates, and then the first kid retaliates harder, and then the second kid threatens to eat the first kid's head, and then the first kid yells HEY HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO EAT MY HEAD and does something painful to the second kid that's impossible to prove or disprove, and so the second kid bursts into tears, and so on and so on?
That's wearing a little thin.

Hope you are all well.

Christmas in Rochester

Advent

The Columbus kin began to arrive two days before Christmas: Amy came in Tuesday, late, Mom and Dad arrived for dinner Wednesday and the Westerville kin came later that evening. 

Which meant several days prior to this when we were trying like crazy to get the house ready, during which the boys were off from school, and Sam was recovering but still sick enough to prevent babysitters.

The key to productivity is dividing and conquering, so I took Joshie to the PM while Susan and Sam were home. They later joined us and we visited the butterfly garden there:

Another aspect of preparation was the baking of spritz cookies, rum balls (still have some left!), "maple" fudge, almond butter blossoms and chocolate-ginger cookies, and making snack food to munch on. 

On Wednesday I whisked Joshie off to the zoo.  It was in the 50s, and I let him wear his candy-cane p.j.s. Here we are in the sea-lion building:

Christmas!

Finally they arrived! Here we are, opening gifts. (Note that Sam, too, is in his PJs.)

Happy Kevin:

To get Josh out of the house and to burn off some of those Christmas cookies, we made an outing to the Mount Hope Cemetery. Here are Stu, Sue and Kevin in front of Susan B. Anthony:

Mom was insanely helpful, which was especially appreciated on Christmas Day, when Susan was in bed, sick. Here's Mom making the Christmas dinner salad:

Stu introduced us to a great new game called Smash Up. Here he's playing a game with Sam:

Here's Dad enjoying his new oscilloscope hardware:

And Sue, in her natural state:

Enjoying some urbane adult conversation:

Josh insisted on sitting next to Emily:

Aunt Amy calming an upset Joshie:

Post-Christmas Day:

We consoled ourselves after everyone left with a trip to the science museum. They were featuring a dinosaur exhibit that Josh was wild about:

Sam and I went to a demo in which they used two huge Tesla coils, switched on and off at audio frequencies, to make music:

The last demo consisted of putting some volunteers in the Faraday cage in between the coils:

Brave kids.  :-)

All in all a very good and memorable Christmas. The Columbus guests were very helpful and understanding of our being unexpectedly sick.  (And unfortunately, Mom is even now getting over the same bug.) It was by far not the ideal, but everyone kept a good attitude and redeemed the situation.