35 cents

Snow Day

2010-01-29T23:10:00.005-05:00

It snowed quite a bit today. We were expecting some slushy freezing rain type stuff and got about 4-6 inches of snow. The kids got released early from school because of the forecast for freezing rain, which was a lovely surprise for them, but the still weren't expecting snow. I love when they are surprised by things as opposed to when they are expecting something. When they expect something, it rarely lives up to their expectations. Surprises by definition are not expected. Shortly after they got home it started to snow. The snow accumulated quite a bit an a few hours.

Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying the snow.

Gemma helping Marlow build a snowman

Marlow putting on the snowman's head

Marlow started working on a snowball on our walk down to the park. She crawled along pushing it for a while until I made her stop because it was taking way too long. So she scooped it up and took it with her to finish there.

The hill at our local playground. We found many school friends and neighbors there. I love our neighborhood.

Eliot standing in the snow waiting for me to take him home -- it is almost up to his knees. He and Gemma got miserably cold after a while so I walked them home. It was not an easy walk because they both wanted to be held -- which obviously, I can't do for 3 or 4 blocks. So we stopped at a good friend's house who lives fairly close to the park and borrowed a wagon and I was able to drag them home ... I have wonderful, helpful neighbors.

Ezra sledding down the hill... about to go over the small retaining wall that served as a sort of jump.

There is still lots of snow on the ground. It is raining outside and will probably freeze over night. I guess we'll be sticking around the neighborhood again tomorrow.

Dreams and parachutes

2010-01-18T22:53:00.002-05:00

Eliot is going to be a super dad. Here he is with a baby strapped to his back while he buckles another into her stroller. He and Gemma play house a lot. They load up purses and bags with food and stuff, and then load the babies into the strollers or baby back packs or grocery cart, and then wander around the house with them. Usually Eliot is "Dad" and Gemma is "girl." It is pretty fun to watch. The do not break character and it gets a bit confusing sometimes to hear Gemma yell "Dad!" and then hear Eliot answer, "What girl?"

Saturday morning Joseph let me sleep in, and when he finally came to wake me (at 11:30!) he had eggs and bacon and a cup of tea waiting for me downstairs. He had made egg sandwiches for himself, Eliot and Gemma. As we sat down to eat together Eliot told us about his dream from that night.

E: I dreamed I was in an airplane and I jumped out with a parachute.
Me: Wow, that's a cool dream. Were you scared?
E: No! I dream that every time.
Me: Every time? Every time you go to sleep?
E: Yeah.
Me: You dream that you parachute out of a plane every night?
E: (looks at me like I'm crazy) Yeah! But I don't land in the water.
Me: Oh? Where do you land?
E: (looks at me like I'm crazy) On the ground! BUT I wish I would land on a bear that would take me home.

..... Joseph and I cracked-up laughing. This kid comes up with the funniest stuff. It is not as hilarious to read, but just hang out with him for a little while -- he is funny.

Happy Birthday Gemma

2009-05-01T16:22:00.005-05:00

Gemma got up and had breakfast with me before I went to work. We talked about her party we are going to have tonight and practiced holding up two fingers and saying "I'm two!"

Stitches for Marlow

2009-03-17T22:29:00.003-05:00

In addition to "First broken bone," Marlow now holds the "First with stitches" title among her siblings. Hopefully, it will be the last, too, but I know how kids are... The broken collar bone came from falling backwards off a bench. The cut on the forehead came from running and tripping on the sidewalk... pretty ordinary stuff...

Even though I successfully superglued a cut similar in size on Eliot's head, this one looked a little rougher and was more visible, so we took her to the ER. She was extremely brave and grown up about it. There was a young woman on staff at the children's ER whose job was to comfort/distract children so they don't focus on the things such as needles being threaded through their flesh. She kept telling Marlow it wasn't going to hurt at all... I kept wanting to interject that it might, after all, hurt a little bit, but I figured I'd let her do her job...

Marlow grimaced through the first two stitches but started sobbing on the third and final one. After the doctor and her helper left, Marlow muttered, shaking her head, "She said it wasn't going to hurt..." I felt bad for not warning her.

Now she can smile.

A bit of catch-up

2009-01-12T09:07:00.021-05:00

So, a lot has happened since Marlow turned 4 ... Eliot turned 3, Ezra turned 9, I turned 32, we celebrated Christmas (and celebrated and celebrated!), and now it is a new year ... plus there was all of the stuff that goes on between celebrating our birthdays and holidays. I don't really have a terrific excuse for not updating our blog more regularly, except that it takes time and inspiration. When I have time (rarely) I lack the inspiration (aka: I'm tired) and when I am feeling inspired, there is no time. Hopefully I will be more organized (I outlined a schedule this morning) in 2009 so that it doesn't seem like there is never enough time to post a few pictures and write a little blurb.

So here is a bunch of pictures -- highlights from what has happened since Marlow's birthday in July.

My sister Carson came to stay with us and Bailey came and stayed with Kelly. Kelly and Bailey hosted a bingo tea party that we all dressed-up for and made a special cake and other treats.

We celebrated Eliot's 3rd birthday at the neighborhood playground with a few friends. Ever since then he tells total strangers, "I turned three at the park." They then look at me, confused because they usually can't understand him, and I have to explain that he had his third birthday party at the park.

Eliot and cousin Zoe playing when we went down to visit with Joseph's family for his Grandmother's birthday.

For Fall Break we went to visit the Bollman Grandparents and enjoyed things like tractor rides around the property and lollipops on the porch.

One of our favorite events for the year was getting to go on a zipline course in NC. Ezra is zipping by in this shot while the rest of wait our turn on the platform in the trees behind him. My mom, Joseph, Ezra, Asa, Marlow, Eliot and I all did the course which had 11 different ziplines. The owners are friends of my parents and were awesome with the little kids (and the rest of us) guiding us through the course. It was SO fun and I was extremely proud of my kids for being so brave. Keith was super and held Gemma and took pictures for us.

In October we said goodbye to some neighbors who had lived across the street for only 5 months. We were sad to see them go -- they are a great family that we all enjoyed playing/hanging out with. We sent them off with a proper stick and lightsaber fight in the backyard, and a bit of food and fellowship inside with some other neighbors.

Halloween happened. We went around the neighborhood collecting candy ... the usual. The highlight for Ezra and Asa was getting to go in the haunted house that had previously been forbidden. We didn't want them to have nightmares ... turns out, they said it wasn't that scary (yeah, if you wait until you are older).

Joseph's sister Ruth got married. Marlow and Eliot were flower-girl and ring-boy (as Marlow said). It was a lovely wedding and we were so happy to be a part of the celebration ... AND the kids now have another uncle :) Uncle Ed.

We celebrated Ezra's 9th birthday Indiana Jones style. He and his friends were given Marion's diary full of clues to lead them to Marion, who had been captured, and all of the gifts which had been stolen.

Next thing you know it is Christmas. We cut our own tree again (it was a big one). I guess Gemma had already gone to bed when we took this picture.

So here is Gemma looking adorable in her pjs.

A shot of my mom with 8 of the 11 kids in my family.
l to r: Barbara, Kelly, Bailey, Amy, Katie, Michelle, Marley, Carson & Grant
Our pre-Christmas visitors included: my sister Katie and her two boys, my sister Michelle and her two boys, my parents and three youngest sisters and my brother Grant. It was a lot of kids and a lot of fun. We missed my brother Jeremy and his wife Michelle and their girls and my sister Jamie and husband Luke and my brother Charles.

Christmas morning

After Christmas we traveled to visit Joseph's family in sunny Georgia, where you can run around outside barefoot in December. All of his sibilngs were there and cousins for the kids to play with. We spent a leisurly long weekend of playing, cooking and playing some more.

New Years Eve we celebrated with Sparklers

A few days before the big kids went back to school they demolished the gingerbread house, picking every bit of candy and icing off and eating it up. Mmmm (yuck).

Finally 4

2008-07-20T21:06:00.002-05:00

Marlow Jane turned four. She had a party yesterday with a bunch of her little girl friends. They all dressed up as princesses and had a tea party... And they got to put sugar cubes in their tea! Mmmm... They painted stuff for a while and then were directed outside where Ezra had orchestrated a scavenger hunt. Cleverly, the final clue led them back inside to the birthday cake.

Amy and I took her shopping for some new clothes, which absolutely thrilled her. We told her a few days ago that we would be doing this, and she told me yesterday she was excited about going to the store to buy some 4-year-old clothes. I thought that was cute... and then I thought I sure hope she doesn't think we're replacing her entire wardrobe!...

I still need to find the right socket wrench so I can raise the seat on her bicycle which she insists is too low now that she is 4 years old...

At least Michael and Ruth have blogged about our China trip

2008-05-30T10:09:00.004-05:00

Well, I keep telling people I'm going to post more about my trip to China.
But I still haven't.
But Michael and Ruth have!
Of course those of you in the family have already seen their blogs, too, but for my other two readers who don't know Michael and Ruth, here are the links to what they've posted about the our trip together...

http://michael.jofis.com/2008/05/joseph-and-ruth-in-class.html
http://michael.jofis.com/2008/05/hanging-out-with-students.html
http://michael.jofis.com/2008/05/beijing.html
http://michael.jofis.com/2008/05/hangzhou.html

http://ruthnichols.blogspot.com/2008/05/great-wall.html
http://ruthnichols.blogspot.com/2008/05/from-denver-to-la.html
http://ruthnichols.blogspot.com/2008/05/beijing.html

A glimpse of our incredible time in China so far

2008-05-13T03:49:00.006-05:00

I just wanted to post a few pictures from our Great Wall experience. We were blessed with a "chance" encounter with a guy selling tours to a certain unnamed section of the Great Wall that is "unspoiled by tourists." We were skeptical, but decided to go for it, and we were not sorry.
First thing we saw was a sign that said in Chinese only "Closed to the public. Do not enter" Our driver drove past it and through the woods a bit then we got out and started hiking. Michael passing another sign...

We got to the wall and Michael and I said, "We're climbing to that point."
And Ruth said, "We are?"
We stopped here and ate our picnic lunch. Then we all three climbed down and up to that next point across the way.

Yes, this is awesome.

Even Ruth enjoyed the climbing... up to this peak.

Scary, huh? (yes, it's fake... I'm safely standing on a solid surface below... heh heh.)

Michael and I went a little further while Ruth stayed behind and read The Lonely Planet.

At the bottom.

At the top.

I'd love to write more, but I have to catch a taxi to the airport in 15 minutes. We're off to HangZhou. Then Shanghai. Then Suzhou. Then back to Beijing. More later...

Spring is in the air

2008-05-11T13:19:00.004-05:00

Eliot working on his hula hooping technique

It is impossible to not be in love with the weather and all the green and flowers that are surrounding us....I suppose if you have horrible allergies this might not be your favorite weather, so not completely impossible, but I love Spring. I love the warm sun and cool breeze and kids running around trying to pop bubbles or playing soccer in the back yard. Marlow and Eliot love their swing set, and lately they can't wait for me to let them out so they can run outside in our backyard. I also love that it is light a bit longer, that we can play outside a bit after dinner and enjoy our evenings. I am looking forward to summer vacation so I don't have to be so worried about getting them to bed at a decent time so they can wake up for school.

Playing with our cousins Jack and Ian at dusk in the back yard

My sister Michelle and her family are visiting. Her husband's family lives near us and one day we went out to their house to play. They have a gorgeous yard, beautifully landscaped and planted with lovely trees and plants. The kids really enjoyed riding bikes and pushing things in the driveway. It is super fun to have so many cousins to play with.

Gemma loves to practice walking. In the distance you see Kelly with Marlow pushing Calliope in a car and Eliot riding a trike.

Jack, Ian, Calliope and Eliot chasing bubbles

Eliot loves being a big brother and was so proud to hold Gemma on his lap for a ride in the little car.

Gemma celebrated her first birthday recently.

She isn't a big fan of food yet, but she gave her cake a little taste. I completely forgot to give her a little bit of ice cream -- which I know she likes. The bigger kids generously showed her how to open her presents and play with her new stuff.....Ok, so they kind of took over, but she is used to it and enjoyed watching.

Everyone wanted to show Gemma how to work her new Jack-in-the-Box

We gave Gemma a little Radio Flyer ride-on. She is still a bit small for it but she likes it when her siblings push her around on it or she will push it and practice walking.

The girls helping Joseph put together her little bike

Speaking of Joseph, he and his sister Ruth went to China to visit their brother Michael. We miss him SO much but are so happy for him to have the chance to take this trip. Eliot gets confused (understandably, he is two) about Joseph being gone and how far away he is. A couple of times now we have been getting ready to go somewhere and he will say, "Are we going to go have lunch with Dad?" or "We going to go see Dad at work?" We then get to talk about how daddy is far away and how he will be back a few days and then we count the days together. The kids have been super good for me -- and they were so excited about Mother's Day. The boys made cards at school and Ezra gave me a potted plant, but the main thing they were excited about was giving me my card and box of chocolates that Joseph had got and helped them hid in their room since he would be gone for Mother's Day. They all trooped into my room this morning with big smiles and their hands behind their backs. Marlow handed me my card (which was a funny one -- the best kind from a bunch of silly kids) and Ezra handed over a big box of chocolate which, of course, they were wondering when I was going to open it so they could help me eat it. So we are hanging in there without Joseph but can't wait for him to get back -- plus we have the help of Aunt Michelle and her boys to keep us entertained and busy while he is gone.

Gemma

2008-04-15T13:11:00.002-05:00

with her Dorito at Asa's birthday party.

Celebrating #7

2008-04-14T08:17:00.005-05:00

This past weekend was a weekend of celebrating Asa's 7th birthday. Saturday we woke up early and had our Birthday Orange Cinnamon Rolls. When I was a kid my siblings and I loved these -- the cheap kind out of a can -- and I made them for several birthday breakfasts when the boys were small. For Ezra's last birthday I woke up early and baked something....scones or muffins or something similar -- something that takes time :) And he was thankful, but wondered aloud where the orange cinnamon rolls were. So, it was an established tradition evidently, and that is fine, they are quick and easy, totally unhealthy and delicious.

We woke up early, not because we are early birds, but because we it was opening day for baseball and we had a parade to be at at 8:30 am. The boys had their first game too and they both did really well....I didn't keep my eyes on the game the whole time because I was watching Marlow and Eliot too, but I know they both scored at least one run....maybe more and their team won. Go Giants!

Asa is getting ready to throw a bunch of candy at us, Ezra is to his right.

On Sunday we had a party, it was Star Wars themed with a cake decorated by Aunt Kelly.

Count Dooku fighting Anakin

Asa eating Anakin's head

We had a treasure hunt with clues that had the boys hunting all over the back yard for their goody bags. We also played "pin the lightsaber on Anakin" with a picture of Anakin that Ezra drew and a bunch of lightsabers of varying sizes he drew and cut out. We generally always play "pin ______ on ________" at birthday parties depending on what "we are into" at the time. I imagine we will play something like "pin the crown on the princess" or "pin the glass slipper on Cinderella" at Marlow's birthday party.

Boys lining up for the next clue

Searching high and low

All in all, it was a beautiful, slightly chilly day. Fun was had by all and Asa is now officially seven years old. And we don't have to talk about "what to do for my (his) birthday" for at least six months. Gemma is up next, turning one May 1st. Then Joseph, and Marlow....the list goes on and on :)

whatchamacallit

2008-03-31T12:10:00.005-05:00

This morning Marlow came to me and said, "Mom, can we watch a movie? We want to watch 'The Girl Who is in Wonderland'"
"Ummmmm....." I say, trying to decide if I want them to watch a movie.
I'm taking too long to think and she runs off and comes back a few minutes later with a DVD case, "Mom, instead we have in mind to watch 'The Three Little Skunks'" and holds up the case for Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas cartoons.
I burst out laughing, told her "They aren't skunks, they're chipmunks and yes, you can watch it."

Spring Break

2008-03-23T16:00:00.011-05:00

We (Amy and the kids) spent the first half of the boy's spring break in Tallahassee visiting my sister Katie and her husband Ryan and their two boys, Mason and Gage. I uploaded a bunch of pictures from our visit.....they will tell the story of our adventures, along with a bit of commentary from me.

Easter festival manicure

Saturday we visited a nearby church for their Easter activities. The plan was to join in on their egg hunt, but we got there right at the beginning of the event and the egg hunt was in the last 15 min (2 hrs away) it was a tad windy and we had too many little ones who needed naps, so we played for a while and headed home. Marlow got two bunnies painted on her cheeks and her nails done. She scratched the blue polish off about 3 minutes later because she didn't like the color she picked.

Ready to go hunt for eggs!

Ryan put together an awesome egg hunt in their backyard since we didn't do the one at the church.

Marlow and Mason looking for eggs

It's all so exciting!!!

Their huge sandbox was an awesome place to hide eggs. Actually, their whole yard was great. Ryan made some of them pretty easy for the little guys, but a lot of them you really had to look hard for.....I think it took us a good 15-20 minutes to find all 100 of the eggs he hid.

Sweet Gemma

Early morning coloring session while the moms rest a bit more.

Walking down the road at Grandpa's house.

The kids and I went out to my Dad's one night for dinner. The kids enjoyed visiting with their grandparents -- Grandpa and Zippy. We had a lovely dinner out on their deck, with perfect Florida spring weather. Their property is gorgeous with lots of beautiful plants and trees.

Playing in the pool

In the bird sanctuary at the Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science -- Down at the end of the line Ezra is looking at a bald eagle.

I lived in Tallahassee from when I was 4 till I went away to college at 17. Over the years I went many times, mostly during elementary school years, to the Junior Museum (now renamed the Tallahassee Museum of History of Natural Science). It has animals that are native to Florida like deer, panthers, turkeys, black bears, alligators, skunk.....the list goes on. It also has a farm with farm animals and old farm buildings, an old church, school, train car, and plantation house. I loved going when I was a kid and it was fun to take my kids -- especially since and it was well kept up and virtually unchanged from when I was a child. The only big change was an awesome playground -- super cool.

Looking down at a deer

There are long boardwalks that go through the wild animal section and make it easy to view the animals. I love the feeling of walking around in the trees and looking down at the wild animals.

We had more lovely spring weather and the animals were out enjoying it. This black bear walked right up under us and started digging around in the dirt....he looks tiny in the picture but was pretty huge -- about three times bigger than me.

I loved playing in the old caboose when I was a kid. It was fun to see my kids doing the same sort of things I did at their age.

Marlow, Asa, Ezra, Eliot and Mason

Me and the kids: Asa, Eliot, Ezra, Amy, Gemma & Marlow

All the little crazies: Asa, Eliot, Ezra, Marlow, Mason and Gage

We had a fabulous week visiting with Aunt Katie, Uncle Ryan and our sweet cousins. Katie and I survived the house full of rambunctious kids and enjoyed our evening thank-God-all-the-kids-are-in-bed chats (I am not at all implying that Ryan didn't survive....He was fabulous playing with the kids....but being the Dad, he had to go to work and wasn't with the kiddos as much as we were -- he very graciously welcomed us and didn't complain a bit about the added chaos of five more kids.) We compared parenting techniques and had a couple of nights spent praying for family and friends. I am always so refreshed after spending time with my dear Katie.

trip within a trip

2008-02-22T08:44:00.004-05:00

Michelle, her two boys, Gemma and I went on a three day adventure south to the Alps. The mountains were incredible. There were tons of people there to ski and lots of people shopping and eating in the downtown area near the place we stayed.

This the view of the mountains from the lodge.

We had lunch outside at a little restaurant. Even though it is winter, it wasn't too cold -- in the sun we were actually pretty warm. I had the "Bavarian Lunch Special" -- two big sausages floating in warm water and herbs, with a pretzel and mustard.

I encountered this weird creature in a shop that sold all kinds of different things from cuckoo clocks -- to toys -- to swords. It is called a Wolpertinger and reminded me of when I was a kid and went to Jackson Hole, WY and saw tons of Jackalopes. It is a conglomeration of several animals....How many different types of animals can you see? It was also pretty expensive -- about 210 euro.

Because we wouldn't all fit in a car together (and didn't feel comfortable navigating across the country on our own without Erik) we took the train and then a bus. So we had to pack light since we would be carrying all of our stuff plus three little ones. So that pack on my back, that was REALLY heavy, has all of our clothes (two adults and three kids). Michelle had a backpack with food and diapers and those sorts of things for children, plus she was carrying Jack and pushing Ian in a stroller. It was hard getting on and off the trains -- but so satisfying to do so much on our own with the kids.

I want pink flowers

2008-02-21T22:34:00.003-05:00

Don't be too hasty to judge Dad for this fashion crime. Yes, I am entering the third trimester of my 10-day Mr. Mom adventure, but even without the help of Amy, I am capable of dressing our daughter pretty fashionably. But when it comes to picking pajamas, anything goes. Marlow had a hankering for something pink and floral, and this is how she ended up. :-)

Goodnight Gemma

2008-02-21T15:16:00.005-05:00

Amy sent me this sweet goodnight snapshot of Gemma and a quick note just before putting her to bed. Due to the 6 hour time difference between here and Germany, it is pretty much impossible for us to video chat during the week. So we wait patiently for Saturday to come so we can video chat in the middle of our day... and we try not to think about how long they've been gone or how many hours are left until we pick them up from the airport Sunday night. I miss you guys tons!

My Sweet Little Boy

2008-02-18T00:39:00.002-05:00

Eliot is two. I really like this stage. Sure there is the mischief and defiance that two year olds will forever be stigmatized with, but there is so much good that comes from that age, too. We've been through the two-year old stage 3 times already, but I always tend to forget what happens at which stage until it happens again... Eliot's rapid development of conversational skills has astounded and amused me. I just adore hearing him talk... similar to the fascination some people have with hearing the accent of a Scottish or British person.

I like the way he helps himself to a snack from the pantry (I know I shouldn't. I know it drives Amy crazy, but it's just so cute.) To his credit, he does ask sometimes... Well, maybe it's not exactly asking... He'll walk up to me with a box of crackers and tilt his head and shrug and say, "I'm gonna have a snack, OK?" He got into an almost empty box of teddy grahams today after church. Marlow discovered his find and demanded that he share. So he gave her one. This sent her crying to me. I said, "Eliot, can you give her five?" He complied and counted 5 out. And I thought "Wait a minute... He knows how to count to 5!?" I didn't even think about it when I asked him, but then it took me by surprise to hear him count them.

Back when his vocabulary was not so advanced (like a couple of weeks ago), as I gave him a final goodnight kiss after singing him some bedtime songs, he said something. I couldn't make it out, so asked him to repeat.... "wi do dar do"... "wi do dar do"... I kept trying to guess and was obviously not getting it. Finally I tried repeating the sound back to him exactly as I heard it. "Wi do dar do?" He brightened up. "Yes!" He was so excited... and then I had to burst his bubble and confess that I still did not know what that was. I was just about to turn around and walk out when it struck me and I let out an "Oh!" that startled the poor boy and made him jump. He was saying "Little star, too." He was asking me to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, too.

When I say goodnight to him, there is this whole crazy ritual that has evolved. This would include such things as the simulation of bed bugs attacking his neck after saying "Night night. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite." (These bed bugs, of course, tickle.) And then me saying "Good night, my sweet little boy" and him sincerely echoing back, "Good night, my sweet daddy."

Our First Video Chat

2008-02-17T22:37:00.003-05:00

Everyone was excited today when they got to not only talk to but SEE Mommy in Germany. I know video chatting is far from new, and you would think that someone who spends all day around computers would surely have used this technology by now, but this was actually my first time. And you know it was pretty cool. Amy said the video quality on her end was pretty bad, but on our end, it was so clear and smooth that the kids soon forgot that she wasn't physically in the room.

For example, Marlow wandered away looking for her balloon which had lost its string. After her granddaddy retrieved it from the ceiling, Marlow came running in saying "Mo-meeee, where's the string? I need some string." as if Amy could just hop up and help her out. And then after a while, Eliot said, "I have idea. Let's play with the train track!" I told him Mommy was busy and asked if I could substitute for her.

I was very disappointed that Gemma had to go to bed before we got the audio set up. When we signed on and had video connection, she was there and looked very excited to see us. Looking forward to trying again later in the week...

Missing her brothers and sister

2008-02-17T18:22:00.003-05:00

Michelle, Gemma and I went to a cafe after walking around a nearby village and had a little refreshment. There were several families there with kids around my bigger kids ages and Gemma couldn't take her eyes off of them. They all liked her too, kept smiling at her and talking to their parents about her (in German of course -- I couldn't understand them, but they were looking at her and talking and gesturing so I assumed they were talking about her). At one point a bunch of little boys were playing with some toys on the other side of our booth and Gemma was glued, hanging over the side watching them play.

Navigating

2008-02-16T17:17:00.009-05:00

Today Michelle drove me around a bit...it was fun to see some of the area. It was also her first time being the main navigator for a guest. Erik generally drives and knows his way around, but with me and Gemma here, we don't all fit in their car, so Michelle got to navigate today and she did fabulously. We got to all the places we wanted to go and only got turned around a little bit, but found our way pretty quickly. To be completely honest, she really panicked when we got lost, but I told her it would be fine, and then said a little prayer that it actually would be fine.

They have tons of stuff out for Easter already -- lots of beautiful flowers and colored hard boiled eggs. The market was mostly fruits, vegetables, meats and breads, but there were a few vendors with handmade goods too. I bought a little basket from a basket weaver -- his helper was Turkish and spoke a little English and was eager to talk to me.

It was a chilly day, but really nice and sunny. They have had lots of dreary gray days, but today there were lots of people out enjoying the sunshine. It reminded me of how Coolidge Park is when there are art festivals in the spring -- everybody comes out to be out in the beautiful weather and it is special bonus to get to shop for and enjoy cool art.

Amy and Gemma at the busy market

Later we went and had lunch at a cafe they love because of the view of a construction site (the food was good too). They call it The Digger Cafe -- I don't know what it is really named.

I love the bright marble colored eggs. They had really bright yolks too, like the fresh eggs we get from my parents chickens.

At The Digger Cafe

She is being such a good baby, and so friendly to everyone she sees. It is amazing how many people will stop to say hi to a baby. After lunch we did our grocery shopping and then drove to a castle that isn't too far from where they live. We got there just as it had closed, but you could still walk around in the courtyard and around the outside -- you couldn't go up to the tower or look around inside. It was still pretty cool. It reminded me of the Robin Hood cartoon where the Robin character is a fox and Little John is Bear and they go to the castle and break all the people who couldn't pay their taxes out of jail.

I can imagine the wolves with their bows and arrows running along the narrow path above the arch I am under -- trying to catch Robin Hood as he makes off with their prisoners and all the gold. Can you tell I've watched a few too many cartoons? I actually watched that one a lot more as a kid, not as much with my kids.

It was really shaded in the courtyard and I was really cold, but Gemma seemed fine all bundled up in her snuggly wrap.

It is super late here so I'm off to bed. I miss the rest of my crew so much. It is weird to have so many adventures without them -- nearly all of my adventures for the past decade have included Joseph and then the kids as they came along. I am glad to have Gemma though, she is a happy, quiet companion. And of course, it is great being able to devote my attention to my sister and her lovely family. It is something I am not able to do often because my children require so much of my attention, so I am super grateful for the opportunity to spend time with her family in this way.

Sisters and Cousins

2008-02-15T18:55:00.005-05:00

I slept in this morning...I guess I still have a bit of jet-lag. We had a relaxing day. Michelle and I went on walk and had fun at the thrift store. We are having fun just sitting around and talking -- we have the wonderful gift of being able to make each other laugh until we are crying. It's fun -- I've really missed spending time with her.

The boys are so sweet to Gemma. Jack will bring interesting toys over to her and then play with them and show her what to do. She's generally too little to do things the right way, but enjoys watching.

We found this fun roller thing at the thrift store today.

Ian LOVES babies. He will walk up and pat her foot if I'm holding her, or say, "baby" and smile at her. He was giving her kisses today and is so gentle with her. Little does he know, she can handle a bit of roughness -- she's used to the bigger kids running around and being crazy.

Sweet Ian. He looks like such a big kid with his short hair cut.

Ice clouds and whatnot

2008-02-14T14:03:00.005-05:00

So, I made it....I'm here sitting at Michelle and Erik's computer, in their house -- in Germany. It is weird to be here, and yet seems really normal. It doesn't feel like I flew half way around the world to get here. Many things are familiar -- I recognize a lot of their things that have always decorated Michelle's spaces and it smells like them here. It is the first time I have ever been in a place they call home. It is so nice to be with them and get to play with Jack and Ian.

Gemma did fabulously on the flight here....sleeping almost the entire time. I didn't sleep much though because I was trying to keep an eye on her in her special airline bassinet that she could easily crawl out of if she woke up. When I was at the airport in Chicago I called and talked to Joseph and the kids. I told them about flying through the clouds and getting higher than the clouds so that I could look down on them. Ezra said, "Watch out that you don't fly through an ice cloud." It is confusing learning about weather. They learn that snow and sleet and hail come from clouds....so there are ice clouds right? The boys wonder how a cloud made of ice would float. And I imagine, it sounds pretty dangerous to fly through one. I told him the pilot would be careful.

It isn't an exciting picture to the many people who fly often, but I thought it looked pretty neat and wanted to show it to the kids. It was beautiful watching the sun set over the vast blanket of fluffy white clouds....but it was happening outside the window of the guy across the aisle from me and I didn't want to take a picture of him and the sun setting....so maybe I can get one on my way home.
I'm feeling kind of jet-lagged-dopey so I didn't take many pictures today, but I caught a shot of the sweet nephews who are a bit under the weather. Jack showed me a bunch of his favorite toys and we cooked in his kitchen and read a few books. Ian gave me lots of high fives and let me help him with his dinner.

broken chairs and carousels

2008-02-07T22:56:00.000-05:00

Eliot constantly cracks us up....he didn't seem fazed at all that this chair was broken.

Joseph and our sweet baby. Gemma really likes to play with her tongue and can practically turn it upside down.

Marlow, Eliot, Gemma and I went and met Joseph today for a picnic at the park. After we ate we went for a ride on the carousel. Eliot was a little nervous and wouldn't let me take my hand off of him, so I didn't get a good picture of him riding his horse, Tandem. Joseph's was named Midnight and Marlow's horse was named Moriah -- the same as her one of her cousins! Mo, we'll have to take you to the carosel next time you're in town.

Feist Apple MadTV parody

2008-02-05T17:01:00.000-05:00

This has been around for a couple of months, it looks like, but I just found it, and it made me smile. If you are a fan of Feist or MadTV or Apple (despite the markup they slap on their stuff just cuz their stuff is cooler than anybody else's) then you might also enjoy:

CNN, Can you post a duller picture?

2008-02-05T15:58:00.000-05:00

I can't help it. I've got to complain about this. Why do pictures like this get posted? Look at it! The only thing noteworthy is that there is absolutely nothing noteworthy about it.

I can think of plenty of other boring voting-day photo subjects that would beat the socks off this one. Maybe a picture that shows a really long line of people... Or a close-up of someone who fell asleep while filling out their ballot... but this? What is this? Come on, CNN!

a little fresh air

2008-01-31T22:44:00.001-05:00

I don't like going outside when it is cold and especially not when it is cold and rainy. But the kids love to go outside, rain or shine, hot or cold. Today Marlow and Eliot talked me into watching them play a little soccer in the front yard while it was cold and drizzly. Marlow chased Eliot around for a while with the umbrella while he kicked the ball. After a while it stopped drizzling and they played a little one on one. Even though it was cold and I had to bundle Gemma in a blanket while I watched them play I was glad we went out. They had blast getting a bit of fresh air. After about 45 minutes I was able to persuade them back inside for a cup hot chocolate.

Eliot

2008-01-28T11:49:00.001-05:00

Saturday night the three big kids spent the night with some dear friends -- it was Marlow's first spend the night experience and she had a super time. With the big kids gone, Joseph and I had a pretty easy night with Eliot and Gemma. I really wanted to get out so we went to get some dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. We don't go often because eating out with five kids is expensive and usually goes best at pizza/ice cream places -- I think you fellow Chattanoogans know the place I am talking about. We had an hour wait (they told us 30-40 min) so we went on a little walk. Eliot chattered away, asking questions, and looking at things. It was really nice being able to take our time with him and not have to rush him along. We finally got seated. The entrees that Joseph and I selected weren't really things Eliot would like -- so we ordered him his own meal off the children's menu: pizza, fries, drink and a scoop of ice cream for $5 -- definitely the best deal there. I think it was the first time we ever ordered a meal for one of our kids when they were just two years old. We generally get them meals to split or we share with them because they never eat much (or eat as much as they are served). Eliot ate half his pizza, drank his root beer and ate most of his ice cream -- he was not a big fan of the fries, but I'm not going to make him eat them. I don't remember what we talked about, but he was a good dinner conversationalist -- on a two year old level. At one point a waiter walked by and smiled at Eliot and said something to him. Eliot smiled really big at me and said, "He say 'Hi cutie'." Just as Gemma was starting to lose it from being super tired, we finished up and left.

Eliot in his favorite truck/digger pj shirt, ballcap and underwear, drinking hot chocolate and eating banana bread.

The next morning Eliot woke me up, I was changing his diaper and he wanted to wear underwear. I wasn't feeling really brave so we agreed to put them on over his diaper. He was so excited about the underwear, he didn't want to wear pants -- if you put pants on over them, then nobody will know you are wearing them, duh. So we went downstairs to get breakfast. The house was really quiet and he asked, "Where's Ezra?" -- spending the night "Where's Asa?" -- spending the night "Where's Marlow?" spending the night....."Oh, me have some hot chocolate?" Sure, why not.
He's probably one of my most mischievous little guys, but he sure is sweet. He loves his brothers and sisters and was so excited to see them when we all met up at church. But even without the other kids he was joy to be around and totally enjoyed hanging out with his mom and dad.

A new tree

2008-01-27T22:30:00.000-05:00

At first glance, you might think this is one of those pictures taken right before you cut down the Christmas tree you've selected. But no, it is not so! Our friends Dennis and Carolyn Wilkes get a live tree every year, decorate it for Christmas, then plant it... or give it away to be planted.

Each of the four older children wanted a part in the hole-digging process, so it took a while, but we finally got it planted! I wanted to document the size of the tree and the kids, because those kind of pictures are especially fun to look back on.

I like that you can see Spots (one of our 3 cats) climbing around on the treehouse. I used to think cats were all bored creatures. But I guess since these three have each other to play with, they always seem to be having a great time. A very adventuresome bunch.

We had a nice break from the cold today. Spent the afternoon playing in the yard. Here is a shot of the kids taken during their sliding marathon.

baby sling

2008-01-24T10:29:00.000-05:00

My friend Michelle made slings for her kids for Christmas. I was telling her how much I liked them and could she help me make one for Marlow -- and she had an extra one that she gave me!

Eliot wearing the sling with his baby.

Eliot checking his baby.

Sweet boy

Marlow....she can't wait to grow-up and be a mom.

This is what was going on around me while I was trying to post this entry....I was holding Gemma, Eliot was leaning on my shoulder and arm and Marlow was leaning on my leg. She was singing "Jingle Bells" and asking lots of questions. Eliot was trying to tickle Gemma the whole time and asking to see pictures of himself.

The Stressful Lives of Children

2008-01-21T21:14:00.000-05:00

I overheard my ten year old sister Carson talking to Ezra and Asa today about school:

"Enjoy your life while you're young ages because when you're in fifth grade it's disaster -- actually it started for me in third grade."

Carson watching the fish

a glimpse

2008-01-20T23:43:00.001-05:00

Here is a small look at how things can be in between the pictures of smiling happy kids and delightful outings. Kelly took a couple short videos when no one was paying attention -- a contrast between the rosy life a blog can paint and the reality that sometimes people fight, kids whine and a house full of children is loud.

A few shots from this weekend

2008-01-20T01:49:00.000-05:00

We've had a busy couple days at our house with Mom and the three girls, and Katie and her two boys visiting....so I haven't had much time to sit at the computer. Here are a few pictures from this weekend's adventures.

Katie took the kids to the playground by herself two days in a row to get them out for a while -- 8 kids one day, 9 the next -- what a super mom/aunt/sister. They had a blast both times ... in this picture they wanted KT to catch them in mid-air.

Gage playing in the big tire.

My good friend Amber and her two youngest joined us for our adventure at the aquarium. Here is Bailey, Oliver, Mom, Eliot, Mason, Marlow and Amber (with baby Willem in the stroller) by the touch tank, trying to pet the little sharks and stingrays.

We saw the big sea turtle up close for quite a while as it swam back in forth. I love how up close you get to see such amazing creatures.

Mason, watching a shark.

Marlow, Eliot and Oliver in a glass cave at the aquarium.

Mom -- this weekend's birthday girl.

The long slide is always a big hit with my kids.

We do not only love the big slide because it is fun, but because Joseph built it....for real. Our playground was a volunteer built playground and he headed-up the big slide project. We're pretty proud of the part he was involved with -- it is a hot item at the St. Elmo Playground.

Marlow was too scared to slide, but she enjoyed watching with Katie.

Super Katie herself, swinging Gage.

Meal times are pretty busy, making the food, feeding the kids, finding an empty chair...

Gage doing a bit of reading

One more slide shot....we have about fifty. Marley sliding with my nephews.....by the way, it is really hard to slide on such a long slide with two little kids. Once when I was pregnant (BIG, like 8 months) with Gemma, I slide down this slide with Marlow and Eliot and somehow we got all messed up and I ended up falling right off the end of the slide clutching Eliot and trying to keep Marlow from falling too. There were TONS of people at the playground that day so it was pretty embarrassing. Everybody was worried about me because I was pregnant....I felt like I should jump up and yell, "Ta da!" like I was just preforming a crazy sliding trick....but like I said, I was kinda big and not very good at jumping.

The "super hero" poses ... they all look pretty super to me.

Running errands

2008-01-16T23:09:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I have been running 3-4 days a week during my lunch break. Even though running certainly has benefits, it's not exactly practical. I mean, you run 2 miles, turn around, and run back. Nothing is delivered. Nothing is picked up. So it is nice, since I work just across the river from downtown, to occasionally make my run practical by running an errand. On foot. I've run to the bank to deposit a paycheck. I've run to the mechanic's to pick up my car. Just the other day, I ran to the post office to deliver my passport application. That was a fun one. As I ran, clutching a manila envelope full of important documents, my imagination also ran... I became Kevin Bacon in Quicksilver... only without a bike. I wanted to run full speed ahead, paying no heed to the "Don't walk" signals at the intersections, dodging traffic and running up and over cars that got in my way. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was chasing me which would force me to duck into a parking garage and then get chased all the way to the top where I would have to leap to the nearest building... Yeah... That was a good run.

Brrrrrr

2008-01-16T09:52:00.000-05:00

Aren't we always wanting what we don't have? Today is rather chilly and overcast, which makes me miss the hot summer days -- flip flops and the pool. On those hot summer days I'm sure I am longing for the cold of winter -- a cozy sweater and a cup of tea.

Asa this past August having a little snack while playing in the pool.

So, I have on my wool socks, a sweater and the water is boiling for my tea. I will try to enjoy this day for what it is -- a rare cold day in Chattanooga.

My Dear

2008-01-14T12:08:00.001-05:00

Marlow can't help but pretend to be a mom. She calls Eliot many different nicknames, but today he is "my dear" while they play "bed time" in the kitchen.

In bed eating cereal...a treat for sure since we don't eat upstairs and certainly not in bed.

A tea party scene I came across in the play room. Somebody's been playing with my buttons!

"My Dear, you have to go to bed now my dear. And I don't want you to get up. I am going to sleep now too my dear, and I am very tired and I don't want you to wake me up."

**Wow, the "Marlow Mommy" says the exact same things I say to my Marlow girl at night! -- except I don't say "my dear" so much. At least I know she is listening and absorbing....too bad she still gets up and argues at bed time.

"Ok now, my dear, eat your cereal and go to bed."

Making a list. I make lots of lists. So does Marlow.

Demolition Crew

2008-01-13T23:28:00.001-05:00

The kids and I put together a gingerbread house over Christmas break...we actually never finished decorating it, but the other night they wanted to go ahead and eat it. It was an inexpensive house (aka: super cheap) I picked up at Target so I did not expect for it be very tasty, but I agreed to let the kids tear it up. They had fun taking it apart and eating the candy, but everybody agreed that the gingerbread did not taste good.

... getting started

....trying to get a starlight mint off a hunk of rock hard icing

.... having a little taste

... taking it apart

... reminds me of when we bought our house

... trying to chew some candy off the front wall.

I can only handle so much these days with all the kids, but I hope next year we can make our own gingerbread house that looks cool and is actually delicious. We have an awesome cast iron gingerbread mold to make a gingerbread barn with animals.... be looking for pictures next Christmas :)

Sisters

2008-01-12T23:00:00.001-05:00

Marlow and Gemma snuggled up in the early morning.

A bit of catch-up

2008-01-10T16:55:00.000-05:00

After Gemma was born we went for a long time without updating our blog (as I'm sure you noticed) and there are a lot of pictures and events that never got posted. Since nothing much happened around here today I present a few random pictures from this past summer and fall.

In November I went on a retreat with my small group and left the four older kids with Joseph. He took them on a long hike one day. Occasionally someone would run by on the trail and at one point a guy with really short running shorts ran by. In the picture above the kids are looking at the the guy with the short shorts.

Eliot then yelled, "No pants!" and this shot is of the kids cracking up at the thought of Eliot thinking that someone ran by without pants on.

The boys love to tie their tire swing to their swing set, which keeps the tire stuck up in the air, and then the climb in and out of it or trap each other up there. This was one weekend when their friends Oak and Meadow spent the night.

The slumber party crew hanging out before bed. They have know each other since they were born and it is hard for me to believe they have gotten so big. I am so glad that they have remained good friends even though we don't see them as often as we'd like.

Eliot is really enjoying the train set and he likes to include his tractors too. He loves tractors.

A shot of Ezra -- I love that face.

Marlow and Eliot play really well together....partly because Eliot lets her do this kind of stuff to him. Not only does he "let" her, he likes it. Just as a reminder: he also likes trains and tractors.

Asa is a pretty goofy guy. I have a hard time finding a serious picture of him...he is always making a silly face or pose or wearing a wig....or goggles and a head flashlight.

Tuesdays

2008-01-08T22:53:00.000-05:00

Tuesday is the day we go grocery shopping. Tuesday is not my favorite day of the week. Shopping with a 3 yr old, 2 yr old and 8 mo. old is pretty difficult -- tell you something you don't know, eh? I don't really have a choice because I don't like to shop at night after the kids have gone to bed -- I like to chill at home with Joseph.

So before we left this morning I told Marlow and Eliot that they had to sit in the cart, no walking around. They argued, but I stuck to what I wanted to make the shopping trip manageable. So we got to the store, I buckled Eliot in and Marlow promised to stay put in her seat. I was holding Gemma in the sling since she doesn't sit quietly in her carseat anymore -- if she can see me she wants me to hold her. They behaved because they knew that when we were almost done, when we get to the produce department, if they have been mostly good (nobody is perfect), they will get a free cookie from the bakery. Eliot was also hoping to sit in the yellow car in the arcade section before we leave.

Eliot was not good. He whined and cried VERY loudly because he wanted to walk and didn't like being strapped in. He was bad for quite a while. Every time I would stop to talk to him or quiet him Marlow would smile at me and say, "Am I being good mom?" She was being wonderful and she kept pointing it out. I gave them a snack and got Eliot to laugh a bit as we continued to shop and he kind of snapped out of his bad mood......then he pushed Marlow's foot off the side of the side of the cart where she was resting it, and she reacted -- and hit him in the face -- pretty hard. He cried very loudly, she said he started it, we talked, she apologized. We neared the end of the shopping trip. I added the last bit of produce to the cart and Marlow smiled and said "Time for our cookie!" I squatted down and told them I had some bad news: Eliot did not behave most of the time we were in there and did not get to get a cookie, Marlow was good most of the time, but then wrecked that when she slapped her brother and now she doesn't get one either. I have been trying to stick to what I say when I warn them about something and it is really hard. So, I said no cookie, but I would still let them sit in the little car in the arcade -- they perked up a little and waited patiently while I paid for the groceries. As much as I don't like to shop with kids, I don't think it is fun for them either -- it is really difficult to just sit there for an hour or more while your mom goes through the store reading labels and loading the cart. I hated going grocery shopping with my mom when I was a kid, and I doubt she enjoyed it much either.

So, they got a small reward for their time sitting in the cart. It doesn't look that exciting to me but they love it. Sometimes, if I have fifty cents, I even put money in it and they get a minute ride.

A little color

2008-01-07T20:34:00.001-05:00

Marlow likes to draw and color...especially with markers. She will sit for a long time working on a picture, longer than I would think most three year olds sit still and color. Sometimes she gets a bit carried away, the marker leaves the paper and she decorates her skin a little. I remember doing this as a child too, mostly I would draw smiley faces on my knees or toes....one time Michelle convinced me to let her color socks on my feet with a black marker.....but I'm getting away from my story.

Saturday she was coloring with some inexpensive (not washable) markers I stuck in the kids' stockings for Christmas (cheap markers = big mistake), when she decided to draw a purple goatee on her chin. When I saw her later she had forgotten about it and I asked her, "Marlow, what's on your chin?" She looked confused for a minute and then she smiled and said, "Oh, a little color."

Joseph was getting ready to go run a few errands and invited her to go with him, so we got a baby wipe and tried to clean her chin off --- and discovered that it wouldn't come off. So she went out with dad with a purple chin. By the end of the next day, her color was ready to be washed completely off in the bath.

The Evening Dishes

2008-01-07T00:04:00.001-05:00

A couple weeks ago I told Ezra and Asa that they would start helping clean-up the kitchen after dinner. They wouldn't have to do it alone (since they don't really know how) but would switch off nights helping me clean-up. Marlow really wanted to help too so she gets to help every night if she feels like it....generally she walks in the kitchen just as we are finishing up and says, "Ok mom, what do you want me to do?" and I give her a small job and then we are done. She always seems sort of surprised that it all got cleaned up so fast....while she was off taking a bath or playing. The other night Asa and I decided to take a before and after picture of our job for the evening.
BEFORE:

AFTER:

We usually have a pretty good time together. The boys seem to enjoy the one on one time with me even though we are working. The don't like it when they think they are missing out on something fun the other kids are doing with Joseph like wrestling or reading stories. Usually he takes them upstairs for baths right after dinner, and my helper doesn't miss out, he just gets the last bath.

Mmmm, Yummy Cookies

2008-01-05T22:52:00.001-05:00

While we were in Georiga visiting the Nichols side of our family Beth made gingerbread cookies for the kids to decorate. They had a blast, and really got to do the decorating themselves. I was not involved in the process at all.....which is good....I tend to "help" too much and try to make the cookies (or whatever project we are working on) look perfect, probably at the expense of the fun of decorating. I am really going to have to hold myself back when the kids start doing science projects for school.
The kids really enjoyed having full creative power when it came to their cookie decorations.

Asa, Ezra and Zoe working hard on their gingerbread men -- Max looking on from his highchair. They were armed with icing, gumdrops, sprinkles, raisinets and red hots.

Ezra and Zoe working hard, and below the results.....

Mmmm, delicious, eh? Looks like a cookie that was in some sort of an accident. One of the red hot "eyes" is lying next to his gingerbread head. And wow, what happened to the rest of him? I'm thinking reconstructive surgery is out and some one should just go ahead, gobble him up, and put him out of his misery. Ok, seriously, this cookie was created by Zoe, who is only 3 yrs old and did a great job for her age division. See what I mean? I get a little too intense about projects.

This one at least resembles a man, a little heavy on the gumdrops, but hey, we've all got flaws.

And here we have Asa, dressed as Joseph for the Christmas Story the kids acted out, enjoying one of his delicious creations.

The baby

2008-01-04T23:39:00.000-05:00

Gemma, my sweet baby. Already she is getting so big. She is 8 mo. now and army crawling everywhere, interacting tons with her siblings. She has opinions and a sense of humor. I can hear her now in the monitor, so I better go now.....g'nite.

The last day

2008-01-01T22:20:00.001-05:00

The last day visiting the fam in NC was the nicest day we had weather wise...the other days were over cast and mostly rainy. But Monday the sun came out and we made the most of the weather.

This was one of many tractor rides. Grandpa is very generous in taking the kids on tractor rides, and they never seem to get sick of it. They get to take turns sitting on his lap to help drive.

Moriah was there to play the last couple days. Marlow and Eliot were especially glad to see her. I am impressed how well Marlow and Moriah play together. They didn't fight or argue at all and are very sweet to one another. Marlow actually seems to get along well with all her girl cousins (Ok, so only two of them are old enough for her to actually play with).

Nana and Marley

Carson. I think the hat really completed the look she has going on here....and it seems fitting that they live in a chink and log cabin.....I don't know she just looks like someone who would be holed up in a cabin in the snow somewhere with lots of books and tea.

Do you see the hornets nest they are pointing out? Beyond them on the hill is the guest cabin they are working on, and then beyond that is the house of course.

Gemma and Grandma

Gemma and Daddy....she is a popular subject these days...she is very smiley and generally always around. The bigger kids run off to play and are a tad harder to capture.

The kids room....a slumber party every night.

Eliot horseback riding -- this was a rainy day activity....cute and kind of sad, I mean, he is riding two stools with a taped on paper horse head. He thought it was fun though.

And finally -- Joseph was able to finish two books he has been working on for quite a while....he doesn't get much reading time at home, go figure.

We are home now. It is late and when I looked outside 10 min ago there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. If it sticks around we will have pictures of the kids playing in the slushy Chattanooga snow. They have the rest of the week off school, so we will try to find some fun things to do around home....we got several new games for Christmas and lots of new bionicles to play with. It shouldn't be too hard to fill the time.

Happy New Year.

Guessing gifts

2007-12-30T01:22:00.000-05:00

Michelle and Erik sent some fun Christmas stuff from Germany. One thing in particular caught the kids' eye when I put it under the tree because of its funny shape.

They wondered if it was a hat, or possibly a bowl. But of course it was a play thing....we're not quite sure what it is called....so far we call it "the blue thing you sit in."

They all tried it out, but Eliot played with it the longest. It's fun to sit in, and, I would imagine, good for your your abs too. If we get any snow this winter the older boys want to try sledding in it.

Tractor rides, rain and a bit of baking

2007-12-28T21:21:00.000-05:00

Here is a shot Marlow yesterday, helping Joseph pack the van....sort of. As usual, it took forever to get everything packed so we could get on the road. But we made it, and are having a great time. I kind of forgot to take many pictures today, but got a few, mostly taken by other people using my new camera.

Eliot with Grandpa's hat on. We went on a tractor ride this morning -- technically we sat on a trailer and were pulled by the tractor, so we went on a "trailer ride." Eliot, especially, loves the tractor and wanted to go on another ride as soon as it was over. Unfortunately for him it rained all afternoon. But maybe tomorrow we'll get another chance.

Bailey wanted to try out my new camera (did I mention I got a camera for my birthday? I really like it a lot...I've just got to train myself to use it more) and took a lovely shot of sweet, happy Gemma.

Marlow and I enjoyed a little cooking in the newly remodeled kitchen. We made egg salad for lunch with some of the eggs from the chickens....they have a LOT of eggs here. And we made one of our favorite desserts that I generally make around Christmas: Rugelach (rug-a-la) from the Enchanted Broccoli Forest. It is a really yummy pastry with a sweet filling, and it is really easy to make -- try it.

So, I have a goal of posting a little something everyday... we have a goal... Joseph is going to help out on this one cause we made this resolution together. This should get interesting (actually my fear is that it won't be interesting), and hopefully I will get better at it....most of the time I don't really know what to say, but at least I'll have a picture or two to post. G'nite.

PJs

2007-12-27T01:31:00.001-05:00

All five kids are in this picture....just barely, Gemma snuck in there in the bottom left corner. She has really been getting around with her army crawl. So, this is a shot of the four big kids in their new pjs from my Dad and Robyn (aka Grandpa and Zippy)....Gemma got some too, but the clothes she was wearing were clean and I have a policy about not changing a baby's clothes unless you absolutely have to.....and that is pretty frequent anyway.
Ok, so I am supposed to be packing for our trip tomorrow and it is after 1:00 am, so I better finish up. I just got distracted checking the weather to see exactly what kind of clothes to pack....one thing led to another and here I am posting on our blog....obviously I can get very sidetracked. Thankfully everyone else is asleep so I can pack uninhibited by children and Joseph is getting well rested so he will be able to drive while I sleep in the car -- ok, we are going on a road trip with five kids, maybe I won't actually get much sleep, but at least I won't have to drive.

Under the Sea

2007-12-26T12:35:00.001-05:00

While we were in Georgia visiting the Nichols Grandparents, Aunts and Cousins, there were fish being painted in the kids' room by Aunt Kelly. Joseph's parents painted the room blue a while back, because we wanted to make it look like they were in the ocean. Kelly added the fish as a Christmas gift to the kids. I Love it.

The clown fish by the door. Clown fish have such beautiful color...and are very popular with children thanks to Nemo.

Marlow now has her own space in the room she shares with the boys. We took everything out of their closet and put her bed in there and hung a little shelf for her book and games.

A mermaid peeking in Marlow's little room.

A little blue guy by the towel rack behind the door. I love how he blends so nicely with the blue wall.

Ezra holding his breath "under water" and Asa "swimming" by my personal favorite: a crayon pony fish that is between their beds.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T19:50:00.001-05:00

marlow and me

We have had a very nice Christmas. Most of us are still in our pj's and it is almost time for bed again. I am very thankful for my big, fun family today, who has had a great time playing together and other than a few lapses, has been very sweet to each other. We are blessed.

the aunt farm

2007-07-07T15:25:00.000-05:00

The kids that were there that week (l-r): Carson holding Maddie, Ezra with Eliot, Asa holding Gemma, Marlow, Bailey holding Moriah and Marley on the back of the couch.

Marlow and Eliot with Grandma holding Gemma, sitting on her bench under the newly dubbed "snake tree." Earlier that day we watched helpless as a large black snake crawled into the bird house on the pear tree next to the front porch -- you can't see the tree in this picture but they are sitting in the shade of the tree. The little bird house had some newly hatched little birds that were eaten by the snake. A sad lesson in nature. The kids all wanted to kill the snake once it emerged, but we explained that snakes have to survive somehow, and that this wasn't a dangerous snake.

Marley playing ring-around-the-rosies with Marlow, Eliot and Moriah.

Aunt Marley playing with the little ones.

One morning mom and I ambitiously took the kids fishing -- eight kiddos all together on the dock and amazingly nobody got knocked in. The girls are getting so grown-up and were a huge help keeping an eye on Marlow and Eliot. After a while grandpa came down to give canoe rides.

Keith holding Eliot, Bailey and Asa. Asa was bit nervous to be in the front but he really wanted to row. Look at him...such a brave face.

We were so lucky that pops had a few days off work while we were there. In addition to canoeing, the kids got tractor rides too. Every time he came around to give someone a turn Eliot thought it was his turn again and would start to head over for another ride. He loved the tractor.

Although it is kind of hard to tell because he looks so serious here....and he has that pacifier in his mouth.

Marlow eating her typical breakfast of yogurt on the front porch.

We had a lovely week with beautiful weather. The kids played a lot and the adults got in some good visiting time. We got to see Marley in action at one of her softball tournaments. And it was super cool that Michelle and Jeremy stayed out there several nights and I got to hang with Michelle and her girls during the day. Jamie and Luke came over, Grant too and Lica was there for the weekend. We saw Papa and Nana on several occasions too....mostly because they came out to us, but we were in town one night and dined at there house. Good times. Check here for more pictures from our NC visit.

since May 1st

2007-05-19T21:31:00.001-05:00

Here are a few pictures from the past two weeks since Gemma was born. She is a great baby and is growing and changing already. I wish I could keep her in the newborn stage longer then it actually lasts. I am just trying to enjoy it since I know that in no time she will be running around with the other kids and talking my ear off.

Gemma, one week old

Almost 2 weeks old.

Deja vu, eh? I know it looks just like the picture above, but it is what she looks like a lot...and it is so cute. Those pictures were taken on different days and she is wearing different outfits to prove it. Early on she slept quite a bit, but lately she has been spending a more time awake looking around. I'll try to get a shot of her with her eyes open one of these days.

Marlow and her little sister...

Oh, here we have one of Gemma with her eyes open.

When the drywall for the house was delivered two years ago, the truck parked on our front brick sidewalk and left a dip in it....it has always bothered me. So for Mother's Day Joseph and the boys pulled the bricks up (shortly after the boys ran down the street to play with a friend) and Joseph leveled it up and replaced the bricks so we have a nice flat walkway now.

The girls relaxed on the porch while the boys worked on the walkway.

The big kids playing with their new water baseball game. Some thoughtful friends brought it for them when they brought a baby gift for Gemma.

Eliot has seemed a lot bigger lately. He is still super sweet and loves all his siblings tons....he loves to point to Gemma and say, "Baby." He can say everyone's name except for hers, but he'll get it soon.

Marlow playing in the pool.

And finally a parting shot of Gemma and one of her many cousins... I think we are up to nine cousins now, of which five have been born in the past year. Lots of buddies to play with: Max, Ian, Gage, Calliope and Maddie (Plus their older siblings: Mason, Moriah, Zoe and Jack).

Calliope at three months old and Gemma at two weeks old. It seems like a big difference now but in a year they'll be running around together.

First few pictures

2007-05-02T19:04:00.000-05:00

Here are the first few shots of our newest little one. More to come soon.

The whole family crowds around....

The girls.

It's a girl!

2007-05-02T10:00:00.000-05:00

Gemma Claire Nichols was born last night, May 1, at 8:24 p.m. Ezra, Asa, Marlow, and Eliot are excited to have a new little sister. Amy and Gemma are doing great. They are resting. I'm trying to shake Eliot and Marlow off my ankles long enough to get this birth announcement up... Now if I can find the USB cord for the camera, I'll be putting up some pictures shortly...

Word play

2007-01-11T15:51:00.000-05:00

One of our clients whose business is shooting portraits asked me to create a graphic for one of their featured Valentine products. I came up with a clever concept incorporating elements from both photography and Valentine's Day...

But alas! It was passed up in favor of the "safer" version where the message on the heart reads SMILE...

Mostly Christmas

2007-01-03T20:07:00.000-05:00

When I think about it, I seem to remember having a nice relaxing Christmas. We stayed home (until the afternoon of the 25th when we drove down to visit grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousins in Georgia), we didn't have a bunch of extra family here for the main day -- which is fun to do on occasion, but really makes me appreciate the years when it is just our own little (ok, not so little) family. We got the kids some good stuff but didn't go overboard. Joseph's brother Jonathan, my sister Kelly and her husband Micah had Christmas Eve dinner with us which was really nice. If I am going to spend time cooking something a bit special it is nice to have more adults eating, kids just don't appreciate good food, and it was very good. We had Cranberry Chicken with Pears, Sweet Potato Casserole, Warm Spinach Salad, and Bread. Jonathan made some peppermint ice cream and we had a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake -- strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting.

In case you didn't know, Jesus's favorite color is pink and this year he turned one.

We missed the Christmas Eve service at church, partly because many of us had nasty colds and partly because I can't cook fast and we were either going to get to eat or go to church and I chose eating. So Joseph read the Christmas story from the Bible and the kids dressed up and acted it out.

They had to double up on roles. Asa was Joseph, a shepherd, a wise man and Herod. Ezra was a shepherd and a wise man. Marlow was Mary, an angel and Herod (until Asa took over). And Eliot just wandered around the "set" knocking things over and destroying the make shift manger over and over. The part about the whole Christmas event that makes me think I can't call it "nice and relaxing" is the part where we put off too much till Christmas Eve and stayed up to 5:00 am getting ready for the next day. Ugh.

Christmas morning was a lot of fun. We took it fairly slow for a family with four kids under the age of seven. I told the boys when I put them to bed not to come wake us up. I said, "Eliot will wake us up early enough. If you wake up first, don't go downstairs. Either play quietly in your room or turn on the TV and find a cartoon." So when I got up they were watching A Christmas Story. But they had had a peek downstairs because Ezra announced that Santa had come and hid presents in the tree. Interestingly I have told them that Santa isn't real, that he is a fun story but is make believe. They believe anyway...I guess in our society it is pretty confusing what is real and what isn't....especially when everyone from the cashier at the grocery store to their teachers talk about Santa constantly this time of year.

Ezra and Asa helping Eliot open a gift....he still doesn't really get the whole gift unwrapping thing.

Marlow got some ballet clothes, which she wears pretty much everyday over her regular clothes.

Eliot loves to play with my cell phone so we got him his own toy version...he liked it.

We opened gifts, and then ate a breakfast trifle and the quiche that had been cooking while we were unwrapping things. Finally we did stockings. We hadn't really thought through the stocking content very well and they were full of mostly candy. Of course they wanted to eat it, but it was still morning and we had just eaten breakfast so we didn't want them eating a bunch of candy. They had a little and then I put the rest away....most of it is still stashed in the cupboard. Well, I am kind of going into a lot more detail then I had intended to...mostly I wanted to post pictures for Michelle since she is so far away. So in quick summary, but certainly not the least of our Christmas holiday: we visited with family in Georgia for a few days (the Nichols clan minus Michael who was far away and missed by all) and came home to welcome other family (My parents and three youngest sisters) for a couple days visit. We had a great time with family, got more gifts, played games, watched movies, ate food etc...

At the Nichols: Zoe, Marlow, Max, Asa, Ezra and Eliot

The boys: Max, Asa, Ezra and Eliot

Eliot really liked the Hulk fists that Bailey got for them.

We had a bonfire one night, burning up all the brush Joseph cleared from our backyard that afternoon.

Marlow with her Aunt Marlow staying warm by the fire.

Finally, a shot in front of our tree before the girls left to go home....I'm not very good at keeping up with taking pictures and then hurry to get a few right before they leave town.
l to r: Eliot, Ezra, Asa, Carson, Marley, Marlow and Bailey

Family Photo Shoot

2006-12-05T12:45:00.000-05:00

After shooting our annual Christmas family picture Sunday, I left the camera on the tripod and pulled aside each family member individually to shoot some mug shots. Ezra and Asa took a lot of these. The picture of Marlow and the iPod in the previous post came from this set. I uploaded the set to our Picasa Web Album - full size, original quality. So, Michelle, you can download print-quality versions from there...

Mugs

Can you say "Apple"?

2006-12-04T11:26:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure whether to be concerned or proud... OK, actually, I'm just amused... Last night, after showing the kids a slideshow of the photo shoot we had done that afternoon, I closed my PowerBook. The white apple on the cover caught the eye of Marlow (my 2 year old daughter), and she started tracing it with her finger.

It is a parent's natural instinct to test their toddler's rapidly expanding vocabulary with questions like, "What's that?" So I did.

She shrugged. "I don't know."

Thinking surely she should be able to recognize a simple apple, I prodded, "Come on. You know what that is. Haven't you seen one of these before?"

And she gasped and beamed because she suddenly remembered what it was. "iPod!"

I laughed and said, "That's right! That's the same symbol that is on the iPod. And doesn't it look like an apple???"

"No," she shook her head... "iPod."

(BTW, we wouldn't even own an iPod if it weren't for Coptix purchasing them for all their employees a couple years ago. Thanks, Coptix!)

I've been meaning to post for a while now....

2006-11-12T16:32:00.000-05:00

Eliot had his first birthday the beginning of October.

The kids playing outside the aquarium in all the little canals for the last time this summer. Katie, Mason and Grandma were visiting and came too, they just don't happen to be in this picture.

Marlow and Mason playing in the sandbox.

Halloween. Marlow the princess, Ezra as Spiderman, Asa as a Knight and Eliot the puppy.

Marlow wanted me to take a picture of her doll. I told her to smile and show her teeth. This is the doll the pink glasses in the follow picture belong to.

She likes to do whatever her big brothers do so here she is working on her homework.

You can't have too many cute pictures of Eliot, right?

We took a camping trip. We hadn't been camping in two years...it is amazing how much work it is to go somewhere and sleep outside for a night with a bunch of little kids. I think next time we will try for two nights to really make it worth our while.

We were right on the water and the kids spent a large amount of time throwing rocks in the water and feeding the ducks anytime they would come around.

Not as cute as the kids but these are six books I made on commission for a friend. I bound pages that she had printed of a family reunion, and in return she bought me an awesome double jogger stroller.

My accent, or lack of accent

2006-11-12T13:57:00.000-05:00

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The South
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

I'm from Florida, my parents are from the West coast...I've always lived in the South.

Happy Birthday Meesh!

2006-10-01T13:40:00.000-05:00

To Michelle on her birthday,

I think this may be only the 2nd (maybe 3rd) birthday of yours that I haven't been with you to celebrate. I miss you Meesh. I hope you are having a special day with your husband and boys.

I was just thinking it is interesting how what is "special" changes as our lives change. Years ago it would have involved gifts, dinner, a movie, maybe a weekend away or a party with friends. Today, special would be not making dinner, not cleaning anything up, but relaxing and just being able to enjoy the kids...and then leaving them with someone and spending time with Joseph....and maybe later a bubble bath and a new book. I am sure your idea of "special" has changed now that you have two little ones and are living far away from family and friends. I wish I was more on top of things and had finished assembling your birthday package and sent it already.....but this way we just get to drag your birthday out a bit longer....and in the mean time if you think of anything you want me to stick in let me know.

I miss you being around. I love that you lived here for so long, and spent so much time with us. I love what a big part of the boys lives you were/are and I look forward to you guys moving back someday. I want to know your kids the way you know mine.

Much love to you on your birthday and all the other days. kisses and hugs.

--A

Swing fun

2006-09-25T08:14:00.000-05:00

Here are some fun shots I took the other day of Asa, Marlow and Eliot riding recklessly on their tire swing. Tire swings are great, especially if you can find a really high branch to hang them from. Ours hangs from about a 40-foot high branch, so the arc of the swing is very long.

Click on the picture above to open a new window (or tab) which will display the whole tire swing set.

(In case you were wondering where Ezra was, you can see him climbing on the swingset in the background in a couple of these...)

School

2006-08-30T13:24:00.000-05:00

Well, school is in full swing now. This is Ezra's third week (first grade) and Asa's first full week (kindergarten). The first two weeks he only went three days total for phase-in. Asa LOVES school. The first two weeks were hard because he wanted to go every day. Ezra seems to be getting into the routine and enjoying it more. I really like both of their teachers. Asa got the teacher that he liked best so I was glad for him. He also has one of his good friends, Aidan, who lives down the street and goes to church with us in his class. Aidan's mom and I worked out a carpool plan for afternoon pick-ups so now I don't have to go to the school every afternoon and wait in line, which is super nice.

Joseph took some pictures of the boys on Asa's first day. They look so grown-up in their uniforms. One cool thing is Asa loves to tell me about his day and what they did and what he liked best. Ezra has never really liked me asking questions about what goes on at school and volunteers very little information. But Asa telling me about his day sparks Ezra to remember things he did so then I get them both talking.

So far I have enjoyed the time with just the two little ones. I have walked some with them, gone to Rembrandts after walking the bridge for muffins and tea, grocery shopped and hung around the house. Marlow gets really excited when I tell her it is time to go get the boys. Unlike Asa who doesn't know what to do with himself when Ezra is away, she plays well by herself.... but not so well with Eliot. She tends to just tell him "No!" a lot and take toys away from him. She was nice to him today though and let him sit in the wagon with her for the walk to Bible Study. She enjoyed handing him animal crackers on the ride over. She really likes feeding him and always wants to feed him his yogurt or whatever he is eating. Thankfully he isn't too opinionated yet and doesn't mind who feeds him just as long as he gets the food.

Marlow turns 2

2006-07-31T20:46:00.000-05:00

Marlow had her second birthday. We had a little birthday party for her and invited over a few little girls she knows (most of them conveniently had older brothers for the boys to play with). The kids played in the yard in our little pool and on the slip'n slide. At one point I looked around the yard and there were kids in the sandbox, some kids swinging on the tire swing, a game of tether ball going on, kids in the pool, some playing on the swingset and a couple kids in the tree house. It was nice to see the various play areas of the yard being used by a fairly large group of kid so well. We played and ate dinner outside. We used our new large picnic table Joseph built (sorry, I forgot to take a picture), and it held the crowd pretty well. I made a big taco salad, big fruit salad and hot dogs for the kids. It was pretty hot out so we came in for cake and ice cream and opening gifts. Marlow had a lot of fun, and really enjoyed the attention. When we set the cake in front of her and started to sing she just beamed and then started to sing along.

She has learned from the boys that it is special to get to lick the candles off after you blow them out and she was very happy to lick her two candles.

And just so you don't think I am giving my little girl "boy" stuff -- I bought party hats that just said "Happy Birthday" and I also got out the left over Justice League hats from Asa's birthday for anybody who wanted one. And Marlow, being the little sister of two boys who play "guys" all the time, wanted a superhero hat.

The hats were actually quite a bit of fun, all the boys were trying to see how many they could get on their heads. Asa chose one of each. Marlow thoroughly enjoyed her birthday party and is eagerly looking forward to her next one...anytime she sees cake she says "My birthday cake." And I have to tell her, "No, your birthday is over until next year." It is kind of a tough concept to get, she just says, "Oh" and looks a bit confused.

Superhero Rappers

2006-07-18T10:12:00.000-05:00

I thought these pictures of Ezra, Asa, and their friend Alex turned out funny. I look at it and imagine them busting out a rap about superheros... sounding something like the Beastie Boys, perhaps...

Ezra as "Spider-man", Alex as "Batman", Asa as the "bad guy"

Black-eyed Asa

2006-07-14T23:32:00.000-05:00

I used to be really nervous about throwing the ball to Asa, because I didn't want to hit him in the face. He has been so determined to improve his catching skills, he probably put in a good 2 or 3 hours of practice time just tossing the ball with me or Amy over the weekend.

He was getting so good at catching that I became comfortable throwing straight to him rather than a little off to the side. He kept asking for me to launch them high into the sky... and so I did... and he caught a lot of them! But alas, one did not make it into his glove...

Asa proudly tells the story of how his Dad gave him a black eye...

5 & 6 Baseball

2006-07-12T21:03:00.000-05:00

Ezra and Asa have had a busy summer of baseball. They hadn't seen Alex (Ezra's friend from school) all summer. So when he came over the other day, they were catching him up on their summer and proudly pointing out their collection of tiny plastic baseball trophies. Impressed, Alex said, "Wow! You won all those trophies?!" To which Asa replied, "No, we got 'em 'cause we lost." (Sounds like sarcasm, but he actually was being serious.) Ezra followed with, "Yeah, we've lost like a hundred million games."

It is kinda confusing the way the participation trophies are handed out. In the all-star tournaments, everyone who plays gets a trophy. The winning team gets a bigger trophy (or so I've heard). The tournaments are usually double-elimination, so immediately following the game in which a team is eliminated, they line both teams up. The losing team gets trophies, and the winning team gets... nothing! (Until they lose two games or make it all the way to the top.)

And Ezra does have a point. They have lost a lot of games. I am amazed how good some of these 5 and 6 (and 7) year olds play. Ezra and Asa have come a long way from when they started in April. They've had a lot of fun and have made new friends, but I think they are ready for a break from baseball. Our final practice tonight will bring us to a grand total of 12 hours of practice for this week. The Dizzy Dean World Series (Dizzy Dean's "world" is comprised of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee) starts this weekend and then we are done with baseball for the summer. Does this mean... free time? More time to blog, perhaps? We'll see...

Asa Turns 5

2006-04-27T10:16:00.000-05:00

Asa's birthday was April 12. We did have a family celebration then, but due to scheduling conflicts, we couldn't have his big party until Saturday... which if you know 4 year olds... took FOREVER! Asa picked superhero theme and had Amy construct another one of her awesome pinatas. This one was Flash's head (or Flash Gordon?). The kids were extremely giddy during the cake-eating part of the party. At one point, they were all laughing for like 10 minutes straight!

Here is a little slideshow of Asa's birthday party in Quicktime format. (There is also a smaller version if you need it.)

The Joseph Nichols Tavern

2006-03-29T13:53:00.000-05:00

Evidently, no one I know has been to Lynchburg, Virginia. At least, you would think if they had, they would have noticed The Joseph Nichols Tavern and told me about it as Austina McFarland did last week. She was there for a Habitat for Humanity trip and snapped a shot of the sign and emailed it to me.

Intrigued, I did a little further research. On the City of Lynchburg, VA City Facts page and on the Garland Hill Historic District site, I learned that it was built in 1815 as a tavern (although it's Federal style architecture really doesn't look very tavernish to me). Over the years it served as a hotel, a brothel, and a rooming house. Eventually, in the year of my birth, it was renovated into 4 apartments.

The 8:01 Hustle

2006-03-10T15:36:00.000-05:00

As we rolled through the drop-off line at 8:01, things were hectic as usual. Ezra stepped out of the car, and Mrs. Streip, intending to hurry things along, greeted him with, "Ezra! Hustle!" He looked at her and gave kind of a half-smile, then stepped back into the car and said, "What does that mean?"... Heh!... I quickly defined it and he re-exited the car.

It's a funny site. One of the rules on campus is "No running." So during the "8:01 Hustle," you hear the teachers saying things like "Hurry! Hurry! Come on! Hustle!... But don't run..." So you see all these kids kind of frantically speedwalking down the sidewalk. And there is almost always one kid who looks like he didn't know the meaning of "hustle" or "hurry" and didn't stop to ask...

I'm torn. The responsible part of me want to show up at 7:50 like we used to... But it's just not nearly as interesting at that time of morning.

From the archives: Ezra's first day of school.

Five Months

2006-02-27T22:18:00.000-05:00

Eliot is five months old now. He's one heck of a baby.

I posted this from my Dashboard

2006-02-24T17:57:00.000-05:00

There is a new Blogger widget available at apple.com that lets you do quick posts like this one. Pretty cool...

On Accident

2006-02-13T22:25:00.000-05:00

The other day after picking Ezra up from school, we were driving by some houses and a little cat (like a teenager cat) ran out in front of our van. Because it was a neighborhood and a school zone I wasn't going very fast but I hit the brakes so I wouldn't hit the reckless little guy and waited a second before proceeding. I didn't feel like I hit anything but when I looked in my review mirror I saw the cat struggling to drag itself across the road. It was my first time ever hitting an animal. I pulled over, trying to figure out what I should do.
Asa was sitting closest to me and said, "What is it Mom? What happened? Why did you stop?" He has my talent for asking several questions all at once.
"Well Asa, I think I hit a cat."
"Hit a cat!! Did you kill it?"
"Umm, no. It is trying to walk." I said as I watched the cat in the mirror. About then I noticed three dogs standing on the sidewalk watching too. A big whitish/yellow dog, a medium size scruffy black dog and a little dashoundish brown dog.
As a child I loved the cartoons about animals, especially about dogs. There was one in particular about five stray dogs who had a lot of adventures together. My favorite was the dog with the red bandana.

I read books like "Amazing True Dog Stories" and would have liked, "The Dog Who Rescues Cats: the true story of Ginny." So sitting there in the car I watched the dogs looking up and down the road checking for cars before they cautiously approached the cat. I imagined them being friends even though dogs and cats aren't supposed to be.
Asa asked, "What is the cat doing now?"
"Well, I said, there are a few dogs walking out toward the cat."
Asa craned his neck to look out the back window but couldn't see much. "Why?"
"I think they are going to save the cat." As I said this the white dog carefully scooped the cat up in his mouth and they all quickly trotted over to a clump of bushes. I imagined them getting the cat some water and nursing it back to health. That is they way I explained it to Asa anyway.
Later I told the story of my first roadkill to Joseph. When I got the part where I told Asa that the dogs were saving the cat he said, "Yeah, saving it for later."

Catch up post

2006-02-10T16:04:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since our last post. I guess the Christmas letter took too much out of us. :-) Since our last post, the Gasts new blog has taken off and they will soon surpass us in number of posts if we don't get on the ball! So here are a few pictures taken off our camera from the past couple months along with a little commentary...

Oh yeah, one minor change I've made to the layout of our blog... I think it is not obvious enough to see who the author of a post is the way Blogger has it set up by default. So I did a little rearranging so now it says who it is by at the beginning and is even color coded (green for Joseph, blue for Amy). OK. Now, on with the pictures.

Ezra and Asa check out the Nichols Christmas Calendar with "Ma" (their great grandmother).

Someone stole a shot of Amy and Eliot. I like this one a lot. We don't get that many pictures these days that are actually of Amy or me. Usually we are just in the background... Notice the abundance of drool coming from that baby!

Marlow in what appears to be a calm state as she stands at the barrier that separates her from the great outdoors and her big brothers.

Ah... there it is. The all-too-familiar begging state. Notice how merely giving her a cookie won't do the trick.

"I got a little bit dirty."

What a cute mess!

The grandkids at the Bollman grandparents house. Picture time proved quite challenging.

They calmed down long enough for a decent shot. Left to right: Marlow, Moriah, Ezra, Jack, Eliot, Asa, Mason.

Eliot and Aunt Marlow.

Marlow and Mason find their way out of the cabin...

... and set of to find adventure.

Back at home, Asa snaps a nice shot of the rest of the kids with Heidi (our neighbor).

Our latest project: The treehouse! Planning on putting the roof on this weekend...

What would be funny....

2005-12-27T11:58:00.000-05:00

Ezra has some odd thoughts. A couple weeks ago while doing his homework (writing 1 -100) he remarked to Joseph: "Wouldn't it be funny if every number were 44?"

Just a moment ago I overheard Ezra say to Asa: "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if we were rats and had furry butts?"

That would not be funny....but him saying it sure was.

A Painted House

2005-12-24T09:45:00.000-05:00

We are so happy with the way our house turned out--happy with the colors we picked (only had to second guess one--the shade of black, of all colors!), happy with the painter we hired (Aaron Caldwell of AC's Home Restoration), thrilled with the dramatic improvement to the appearace and value of our home. Take a look at the before and after shots below. Hopefully one day soon we can build a porch/deck/patio back there where that gravel is in the back...

Cyber crooks break into online accounts with ease

2005-12-16T11:16:00.000-05:00

I've been unsatisfied with Amsouth Bank for quite some time. I keep thinking about switching, but then I figure the next bank will probably be no better so why go to the trouble to switch... But today I thought, well, I'll just do a quick search and see if someone has done a Consumer Reports style examination of some of the top banks to determine which has the best online banking.

Well, I didn't find what I was looking for, because I found this article first. It explains how easy it is for cybercrooks to break into your online bank account and empty it. According to the experts interviewed for this article, the banks tell you it is safe because they want your business; but the reality is it is simply not safe. Even with anti-virus software. Even with a firewall.

Kind of a bummer. Maybe it is not as bad as this article makes it sounds. But now I find myself faced with a more complex decision: Not only A) this bank or B) that bank but now there is a C... C) an old shoe box neatly tucked into the dark cranny beneath a secretly removable floor board where not even the most cunning trojan horse will find it.

Marlow

2005-12-08T20:48:00.000-05:00

Marlow has become my shadow. She is always right behind me, in front of me, or under my feet. She frequently wants to be picked up, only to want to get down again. I can't resist, and pick her up as much as possible. She likes to help me with the laundry and sweeping.

Her hair is getting long enough (barely) to put in two ponytails. I let her sit on the bathroom counter and play with bowl full of barrets and rubber bands while I try to comb her whispy hair as quick as I can into little ponytails. Lately she has started using this time to brush her teeth also.

She likes to do what the boys do and they dress-up a lot. Today she had one of Asa's costumes and she was trying to put it on. She succeeded in getting the belt around her waist but she wasn't in the costum so the rest of it was just hanging from the belt. She was pretty proud of herself.

Special "extended" episode of "Lost" tonight

2005-11-16T16:16:00.000-05:00

Aw, man. I've been looking forward to the "extended" episode of Lost they touted at the end of last week's episode... Just checked the tvguide.com listing, and guess what? It is 64 minutes long. Somehow they were able to grab 4 minutes from Invasion, which follows with a special reduced episode of 56 minutes tonight.

"That craps me out"

2005-11-15T12:46:00.000-05:00

Ezra was commenting on something that was kind of eerie this morning as we were getting in the van to go to school...

He said, "That craps me out."

"It craps you out?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"You mean it creeps you out."

"Oh..."

Miniature Golfers

2005-11-07T00:11:00.000-05:00

Oak, Ezra, Meadow, Asa pausing for the cameras during their recent golf outing celebrating Oak's 6th birthday.

Trick-or-treat

2005-11-01T13:15:00.000-05:00

It was a hectic night... I didn't get any pictures till the end, at which point Meadow was too tired to pose. We went out with the Scott and Amy and Oak and Meadow Gast and Stuart and Heidi and Wren Chapin and had a great time.

I got this one video of Ezra trying to open a piece of candy while wearing his Hulk mask. The lighting is bad, but it is quite funny. In fact... When I compressed the clip for web viewing, it darkened even more. If you want, you could try the original AVI clip. (You will probably be prompted to save it somewhere on your computer. When it's done, you can open it with someting like Real Player or Quicktime or Windows Media Player.)

(Update: 11/02/2005 BobW took the big AVI file and lightened and optimized it making a much more viewable .MOV file. It downloads faster and is easier to see than the .AVI, so now the first link is the preferred one. Thanks Bob!)

Marlow and Granddaddy

2005-10-28T09:52:00.000-05:00

Took some cute pictures of Marlow and her Granddaddy last week goofing around with the iPod. Click on the picture below to open a window with all the pictures from the set.

Instant Beard

2005-10-20T13:27:00.000-05:00

I have had a beard before, but this one looks a little different... and I didn't have one yesterday... Check out what some of my co-workers have been up to at Coptix today.

Me with a beard that looks very much like Joshua Goodlet's real beard.

Sleeping Cutie

2005-10-19T07:17:00.000-05:00

I think Eliot has slept more than any of our babies. It certainly seems that way to me. He does keep Amy awake at night a good bit, though. :-/

And we both agree that adjusting to having four children has been harder that the change from 1 to 2 and from 2 to 3. I feel for parents who are blessed with more than one at a time! They must be amazingly strong...

Yesterday was our first close encounter between Marlow and Eliot. A few weeks before Eliot was born, Beth had returned a little take-along infant swing. During that time, Marlow grew fond of kicking back in it and chilling. So she wanted to sit in "her" swing yesterday but Eliot was in the way, so she started to drag him out. Fortunately Kelly was nearby and was able to intervene before any head injuries occurred.

And yes, those things do have straps. They're just so low to the ground and so impossible to fall out of, we never saw the point in using the straps... I guess now we do...

Good morning with Asa

2005-10-18T10:58:00.000-05:00

Asa and I had a good morning getting ready for school. We've got a nice autumn chill finally settling in which opens the doors to new (and in my opinion better) wardrobe selections. Asa usually wears a T-shirt to school, but he requested a "school shirt like Ezra" which means with a collar. I picked a rugby shirt which he was pleased with.

While I was making his sandwich, he walked in and asked, "What are these kind of shirts called again?"

I said, "It's a rugby shirt."

He said, "Oh. I thought it was a turtle head."

"Turtle neck", I said.

"Oh yeah. That."

He was so cute and grown-up-looking, I couldn't resist a little spontaneous photo shoot...

Hamming it up, as usual.

This is what he did when I said to lean on the post and look "casual."

And this is him putting his arms by his side and relaxing.

Notice the new paint color behind that smiling face.

Politely asking, "OK, can we be done now?"

More pictures of Eliot

2005-10-11T15:11:00.000-05:00

Well, I haven't been able to take and post more pictures of Eliot yet, but Lica visited us this weekend and has posted some on her blog here. She also had some very flattering things to say about our family in general, so you should definitely read it. :-) Thanks Lica!

Eliot Stuart Nichols

2005-10-06T08:55:00.000-05:00

Ezra, Asa, and Marlow welcome their new baby brother, Eliot Stuart Nichols.

Eliot was born just before 1:00 giving Ezra quite the surprise when he got home from school. This picture was taken when Ezra got home (Eliot's age: 2.5 hours). Amy is doing great. Eliot is doing great. God blessed us with our quickest smoothest birth experience yet. Come on by if you are able. We're happy to show off our new son!

Oh yeah. He was 8 lbs. 6 oz.

Wouldn't you like to know?

2005-09-22T10:42:00.000-05:00

Driving home from work last night, it suddenly occurred to me what our next child's middle name should be if we have a boy. I ran it by the naming committee (made up of me and Amy) and it passed unanimously. So, now we are fully prepared with first and middle boy and girl names... And we are oh-so-anxious to find out if this baby is a boy or a girl.

Sorry, we're sticking to our tradition of not unveiling the names until the birth...

Just as a reminder, the due date is Sept. 28. Keep us in your prayers. Especially Amy, of course!

Quik wit

2005-09-22T10:11:00.000-05:00

Asa on his first day of pre-school

Asa has this ever-increasing fear problem, and it is driving Amy and me NUTS! He's 4, so I know I should cut him some slack... I just feel like he's been pushing his limits. I also get the idea he uses "I'm scared" as an excuse to get out of doing something he doesn't want to do.

This morning I instructed Asa to go pick a different shirt since the one he put on for school had paint all over it. He tried to get out of it saying he was scared to go in his room by himself. Exasperated, Amy said, "Asa! You're becoming scared of everything!" I looked over and saw him sucking his thumb (another habbit I feel he should have grown out of and something we've had many talks about), and I followed up with "I wish you were scared of sucking your thumb." He immediately detected my attempt at being clever, and quipped, "Well I wish you were scared of giving spankings!"

[Sigh]... I guess we all have our wishes... I wish I was better at parenting. I feel somewhat vulnerable revealing these problems my son has (irrational fears, thumb-sucking, and -- did I mention? -- peeing in his pants at all times of the day). I feel like I've heard enough stories and seen enough movies to assert that a 4-and-a-half year old boy with these issues must have a father who abuses him verbally and even physically. But I know that is not the case. So what is the problem? What can I do to help? I know I'm probably wanting him to grow up faster than he should, so I'm trying to be patient and be encouraging and to shower him with praise when he does the "right thing," but every day, I come closer to concluding that we need professional help.

If you've got any advice or encouragement to offer, I'd love to hear from you. Email, call, or even just leave a comment here. Whatever you do, please pray for us!

"How did you escape Chattablogs?"

2005-08-29T14:12:00.000-05:00

Mrscrumley asked in a comment on a previous post, "How did you escape Chattablogs?"

I'm not sure if that's a loaded question or not... If it is, I'll play naive and simply explain that anyone can join Blogger for free at any time. They have a nice selection of templates for those of us without enough time to design our own, it is run by a cutting edge company (Google) that is always releasing cool new things (like Google Desktop which give PC users a taste of what it would be like to have an operating system like Mac OSX Tiger with Spotlight. )

Plus, around the time I got my Blogger blog, Chattablogs was experiencing some problems with downtime. I have, however been thinking about switching back if things continue to go as smoothly as they have lately. After all, Chattablogs was started and is maintained by one of my very own co-workers at Coptix.

Beautiful Marlow

2005-08-26T17:19:00.000-05:00

I took this one just the other day when I got home from work. Marlow was sitting on the steps watching her brothers play baseball.

Cousin Jack has arrived

2005-08-25T15:05:00.000-05:00

Michelle and Erik had their baby. His name is Jack. No pictures yet. They're catching up on the two nights of sleep they missed during Michelle's lonnnnnnnng labor. I'm sure there will be updates soon on Michelle's blog.

Playing House

2005-08-23T08:39:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while, I'm surprised by things my 4- and 5-year-old sons lack experience in. Like playing house. I know most kids do it, but I'm pretty sure it's not something we as parents are supposed to teach them how to do... They just do it. But Ezra and Asa don't play "house." They play "guys," and they play baseball, and they like to work for money, but they never play house.

These pictures were taken a year ago.

Yesterday, their friends Oak (5) and Meadow (4) were over to play. Meadow--the only girl of the bunch--usually doesn't get to play what she wants to play. But yesterday, she was promised that everyone would play what she wanted to play. When it came time for her promise to be fulfilled, Ezra and Oak were in the middle of a game of checkers, while Asa impatiently stood by waiting for his turn.

Amy announced that Meadow was in charge for a while, and Meadow declared they would all play house. Ezra and Asa looked at her incredulously. Aren't we--in a sense--playing house by merely being here and playing games together? I don't know exactly what words were exchanged, because I wasn't there. I'm sure they weren't that intellectual about it, but the resolution they came up with reveals they were on that track...

Meadow explained that, No, they had to pretend they were moms and dads and stuff like that.

So Ezra said, "OK. I'm the dad and I have to go to work... My job is playing checkers with my son... Oak is my son."

This did not satisfy Meadow or Asa who was still being left out. He wanted to play baseball. So Amy saved the day by recommending that they are a family and Meadow is the mom and they are going out for a picnic and the guys are going to play baseball while the mom sits on a blanket with the baby and watches...

And they were all happy playing house.

Asa and Meadow right around the time Marlow was born.

Kid for sale

2005-08-15T08:17:00.000-05:00

Ezra and Asa love playing together, yet sometimes I wonder why. It seems they are constantly fighting over who has what toy or whose turn it is... Yesterday, as I was walking past their room, Asa came out to see if I could intervene in their latest dispute. He wanted a turn playing with an action figure that Ezra was playing with. (Ezra was willing to share, but not until he was sick of playing with the figure. We're still working on that whole concept of surrendering your own desires...)

They are used to me telling them to share or else they won't get to play at all, so I decided to try a new tactic. I said, "If you guys can't play together without fighting, we'll just have to sell one of you." They both grinned and looked at me waiting for a smile to indicate I was just kidding... but I didn't flinch. My face remained stern.

So Ezra asked, "Why do sometimes people sell their kids?"

"Because they realize they fight too much and the only way to stop the fighting is to sell one of them."

They smiled, again searching my face for a hint that I was merely joking, but finding none, their smiles faded and I could hear the gears whirling in Ezra's head as he tried to make sense of this new revelation. A few moments passed, and he pointed to his brother and said "Sell Asa," which made me laugh... which made them laugh... and breathe a sigh of relief.

They went back to their playing, totally forgetting about the argument they had been in the middle of.

As I told Amy about this conversation, I realized how encouraging it was... Ezra was actually weighing his options: to stay with the parents he has or get to start over with some new parents... And he chose us!

---

And a few pictures from our outing downtown last night...

Marlow is walking! She's up to about 8 or 10 steps at a time now.

A natural smile from Asa is hard to capture on camera. Ezra took this one and about a dozen more like it.

Ezra takes a rest from running around chasing his brother and his Uncle Jonathan.

More Marlow Birthday Pics

2005-07-19T13:16:00.000-05:00

Here's a few more pictures from Marlows first first birthday celebration we had at her grandma and granddaddy's a week early. It didn't take her long to acquire a taste for cake...

And then I couldn't let this one slip by of the two of us...

Marlow's First Birthday

2005-07-17T15:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Marlow's first birthday. The boys helped me pick out a pink cake and I picked white icing even though they wanted pink for that too--I thought it would be a bit too much pink. We went to Target to get her a gift from them. They thought she would be upset if she didn't get a present on her birthday. I said she wouldn't actually remember her first birthday. They stared at me for a second and then Ezra said "Why won't she remember?" So, I asked them if they remembered their first birthdays and they both said, "Yes."
Me: "Ok, What did we do for your first birthday?"
Asa: "We went to the Pumpkin Patch!" (Which is not a patch of pumpkins, which would be a really boring birthday party. It is the biggest coolest playground in our area.)
Me: "No, that was your 4th birthday." (He is four now.)
Ezra: "For my first birthday we went to the Mountain Maze." (another playground...notice a trend?)
Me: "No, that was your 3rd birthday. You don't remember your first birthday because you were too little."
They still didn't seem to believe me and looked a bit thoughtful and confused as they tried to remember their first birthdays.

I still thought it would be fun for them to pick her out a present so we went to get one. We finally decided on a "Mirror Pound a Ball."

Ezra thought she would like it, but Asa said he didn't like. "But don't you think Marlow would like it?" I said. He finally agreed it would be fine because he wanted to go look at action figures and I wouldn't let him till we picked out a present. I knew she would like it though because she recently played for a long time with a similar toy at a friend's house. She liked it a lot and the boys were eager to show her how to use it.

Back on the saddle again

2005-06-29T07:17:00.000-05:00

OK, I can't type very well right now, but I'm gonna try because I got a boo-boo and I want everyone to know about it. I'm putting the pictures here at the top, but I'm going to also write a bit about my bicycling experience below. So if you want to read the story, read it first, then look at the pictures. If you just want to see the gory pictures, here they are (click the picture)...

A word of caution: Although the cut is small, the close up pictures of it might make some people queasy. View at your own risk!

When I was in middle school, I had a BMX/freestyle bike. I was really into it. My brother Jonathan and I poured all our money (not much at that stage in our lives) and all our time (quite a bit at that stage) into our bikes. I lost interest around 7th grade and basically haven't ridden a bike since. I never had - much less rode - a 10-speed... Never went mountain biking... nothing.

But a couple of months ago, my buddy Josh Green invited me to go on nighttime joy ride through downtown Chattanooga. I didn't even have a bike, so I borrowed an old clunker from Keith Riley who also went with us. We cruised through downtown and across the Walnut Street bridge and stopped at the Mudpie, had some drinks and just hung out on the patio for a while before heading home. A very nice experience... One that reminded me that all work and no play is not good and that I should do this more often.

The next week I bought my first mountan bike. Still in that stage where I don't have much money, I went for the $7 bike I found at the Habitat Home Store. Took it out for the first time on another joyride downtown with Josh. While on the pier at the waterfront, I noticed the inner tubes bulging out the sides of the dry-rotting tires and decided I better replace the tires soon.

A few weeks later, with tires replaced, Josh invited me on a ride up Lookout Mountain along the path that starts out as Guild Trail. It kicked my butt going up, but man oh man was it ever worth it to experience the thrill of riding down. I hadn't realized until then that you can really go fast down a trail when you gear it down to the lowest gear and pedal your heart out. What a blast!

"This," I thought, "is why people go mountain biking!" Then I also thought, "This is probably why the good mountain bikes have shocks..." and "It would probably be a good idea to wear a helmet when I'm doing this..."

Last night, Dave Kaufmann and Josh and I went out for another mountain biking excursion. We decided to explore Hawkins Ridge that borders the east side of our fair neighborhood of St. Elmo. In case you've ever wondered if Hawkins Ridge would be good for biking... it's not! A little bit of it was OK, but it is very overgrown in places and there are a lot of sharp, loose rocks laying on rock beds... which is how I got my first mountain-biking injury... Went down a slope that was a little too bumpy and had a few too many loose rocks and ended up sailing over the handlebars and catching myself on some sharp rocks with my left hand.

I probably will need to take a couple of weeks off before my next ride. Which should give me enough time to get that helmet I need. Oh yeah... and gloves!

Sink Bath

2005-06-23T07:58:00.000-05:00

Emissions Smiley Face

2005-06-22T10:55:00.000-05:00

Wow! I've had this nagging feeling for that past few months that my old '80 Ford F-150 would be destined for the junk yard once it came time for the new emissions inspections. Of course, until last week, it would have no doubt failed the emissions test since it was lacking a muffler, catalytic converter and the greater part of the exhaust manifold. But even after getting that fixed, I just had this sinking feeling that it was going to fail. Maybe it had something to do with my first encounter with the emissions inspections when my much newer '99 Dodge Grand Caravan failed twice (due to a bad EGR valve). But I took it in this morning, said a prayer, held my breath, paid my 10 bucks, and then almost hugged the inspector when she handed me my slip with a little smiley face on it and said "You passed!"

Danger on the Waterfront

2005-06-15T08:55:00.000-05:00

Asa hurt himself down at the Chattanooga waterfront while playing in the water that cascades down the steps toward the river.

He was pretty upset about it. But after a couple hours of recovery time, he stopped worrying about the blood and started showing off his wound to everyone he saw. I told him I'd blog about it to get the news out to more people.