Happy, Happy Holidays!

We want to wish all our friends and family a very merry Christmas, a happy Hannukah, a wonderful Kwanzaa, and to all a fantastic New Year!

We decided that instead of including pictures in our Christmas cards this year, since we could not settle on a favorite, it might be fun to invite everyone to our (seldom used...) blog for a whole slew of pictures and stories! Hopefully, I'll do a better job of making entries, at least more frequently than every 8 months!





(Eamon gets a big boy bed with Spiderman sheets)






It's been a very busy and exciting 2008! Eamon (now four and a half) is in his second year of pre-school, is totally obsessed with superheros, and is all boy! He is rambunctious, loving, and extremely creative. He loves to tell long stories about his many characters -- real and invented by Eamon (our favorite is the alter-ego he created for one superhero... "Trent Squuntrunt" ...which is now our favorite nickname for him!) He is incredibly observant and has great dexterity with his hands, using toy tools and balling socks with surprising skill.


(Carl and Eamon enjoying a last summertime picnic before the gloom of Ohio winter!)






Lucy will soon be seven (I can't believe it!). First grade has been a fun year so far -- she is reading long novels in one sitting, is getting very good at math, loves science and music, and writes poetry in her journal nearly every day. She is a real rennaisance child! She's also getting strong in her gymnastics classes and is slowly but surely getting better on her roller skates. In October, she was voted Good Citizen by her classmates.





(Our cowgirl on Halloween)





I can't get over how amazing children are (especially when they're your own!). I never had experience with small children -- I did very little babysitting as a teen, and being the youngest, never really knew what it was like to deal with small children. So it's been a real learning experience for me. Carl, on the other hand, having been a clown, is tremendously good with kids. He comes up with great games and stories on the spur of the moment!

Carl has been working so hard this year. I'm very proud of him -- he made partner at his firm two weeks ago. He also took us all on a great trip to Chicago this summer, rebuilt our deck and built a new shed for us, all from scratch.

As for me, I've been incredibly busy. I've been volunteering at Lucy's school many hours a week. Her school doesn't have the resources to offer art all year, so they don't have it in the fall. Last year, one of the moms volunteered to teach during fall semester, but this year, her child is in a different class. So I decided to try my hand at it. It's been a blast -- time consuming, but fun to stretch my creative muscles again. We've done everything from still-lifes to Chinese dragons. In January, their regular art teacher will take over, but I think I'll still be in to do the bulletin boards and other things. But I'm looking forward to the "free time."




(Lucy dressed as Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden, who helps Grandfather Frost deliver presents to children in Russia. She also made a beautiful poster and told her classmates the story of winter holidays in Russia for a class project.)




(Lucy's first grade class standing before the 20' Chinese dragon we made for art class!)









(Two drawings I did last year, giving one as a thank-you for Lucy's teacher.)

When I'm not at school, I've been doing a lot of cleaning (not that you can tell...) and playing with the kids. But when I get a minute, I've also been drawing, writing, working out, and crocheting. Professionally, I gave a lecture earlier this year at OSU and have reviewed a couple of articles for different journals. In the spring, I taught Russian to Lucy's Kindergarten class and helped teach it in a second-grade class as well. So, I stay busy, but I'm so glad I get the chance to be home with the kids.



Lucy overcoming her fear of jumping into deep water while vacationing with friends on Lake Erie!



Eamon overcoming his fear (or general disinterest) in performing in his school Christmas concert (yes, he stayed on his teacher's lap pretty much the whole time, but at least he managed to get his arm to move -- the one NOT holding the toy for comfort).

We've had a great year, and we hope you have, too. We wish you all the best in 2009, and we hope you'll come back to revisit our blog often and post to us if you like. I'll do my best to keep it more current than I have!

Thanks for visiting!

Our young author

Claire, Eirann, and Lucy -- best kindergarten friends.
Just a wild and crazy guy!
Look, my suit still fits!
Lucy standing with Ty, another classmate. Very, very proud.


Lucy participated in Young Author's night, where volunteers from each class read something they wrote to the audience with a microphone. She was thrilled to hear her own voice on the microphone and didn't get nervous at all, surprisingly. It was funny because she is so much smaller even than the other kindergarteners. She was very proud of herself.

Eamon, on the other hand, was a three-year-old handful. I dressed him up, but I sure couldn't take him anywhere! (sorry for the sideways pictures!)


I've tried several times to post the video of her reading with no luck. Check back later!

the blizzard of '08

Finally, if we're going to have cold and snow, might as well be a worthy snow! Although we did not have a blizzard in technical terms, it was one in practical terms (at least that's what the newscasters said... not really sure what a 'practical blizzard' is.)

I haven't been out to measure, but I'd say we got between 12-14". The kids had a blast for about a minute per inch. And Lucy's been taking roller skating lessons at a local roller rink, so she had to miss it today, unfortunately.

UPDATE: According to CNN, we go 20.4 inches here.

And I finally got a new battery for my camera. Apparently the old battery shorted out after only 4 months (according to Batteries Plus). So I bought a replacement, and hopefully, Casio will do its job and back up its warrenty without too much trouble.

Brrrr!

Again, nothing new going on here! My camera is broken, so you'll notice a distinct lack of pictures in these posts! Yes, the new, 4 month old camera. And our computer has really been giving me a lot of trouble. I looked into buying a new one, but I think we may have solved some of our trouble with a $20 cooling pad. I need to take it to someone to have them clean it up and reinstall the operating system without obliterating all our files and then I think it will run a lot better.

We have had two snow-days this week. Fun for the kids for sure. But, surprisingly, they haven't even wanted to step foot outside. So we have had lots of crafts and have watched ET (Eamon's new obsession) several times, but, I'm sorry to say, we have had no snow angels, forts, or snow-ball fights. I think we would have been okay to have a delay today, but our school district, being the largest in the area, doesn't do delays, only cancellations, as we found to be the case after my last post. In my last post, I mentioned that we were waiting for snow and there might be a snow day? Well, there was a snow day, but by 8:30 am, it was only raining and 40 degrees. They don't do delays, and I guess because it's so large, they had to decide by 3 am or something. Right now, it's late in the afternoon, and my two are both quiet in their rooms. It's much too late for them to be sleeping, and I know I'll regret it later tonight, but honestly, we made cotton clay, heart shaped crayons to give out at Eamon's valentine's day party tomorrow, planted beans, made rock candy, did workbooks, watched more ET... Mommy's tired!!! So a couple of moments with the computer before jumping back into it!

Happy Valentines to all you lovebirds out there! Happy Anniversary to Mother and Dad! 49 wonderful years!! Hope you're all doing something you want to be doing to mark the day. We don't have any plans really, but it would be nice just to hang out with each other -- he's been so busy at work lately! So maybe a heart-shaped pizza and some strawberry jello...

Hope you're all well! We miss you all.

Nothin' new...

Sorry I haven't "blogged" in a while, but it's hard to "blog" about "blah." Not a whole lot new here. I did have a wonderful weekend away, solo, at a place called the Cherry Valley Lodge. It's not far away, but it allowed me to have a little respite, and I have to admit, after lying in a tub watching trash tv and hearing other people's children having fits or screaming "mommy" and knowing that I didn't have to do anything, I came back feeling ready to start fresh.

The weather has been horrible -- very cold and grey. Makes me want to move south all the more.

Eamon has been doing a terrific job at school -- happily hops out of the car in the mornings and runs into the preschool to meet his teachers.

Lucy just got her second quarter report card and she did just as well or better in every category as last quarter. To celebrate, we made a single layer chocolate peanut butter cake, the leftovers of which are now, unfortunately, sitting on the counter staring me in the hips. She still has a hard time letting me leave in the mornings when I drop her off, but I gave her an old pinky ring of mine to help her. She talks a lot about being a "model," so the ring helps her be a "model" student. Her behavior throughout the day has improved since she started wearing it.

Lucy joined Daisy scouts this past week. She loved it, and Eamon made a great mascot for the first meeting -- her friends thought he was adorable and he was happily included in all their activities. I think it will be difficult for him to understand why he's not actually a daisy scout.

Getting more snow and ice tomorrow, but probably not enough to cancel school. I actually would enjoy a snow day with them, but this weather is the pits.

Oh, and we won the lottery!!!! A whole $7! Well, it's a start...

And as I'm typing this, I have the television on -- can someone please explain to me why they hire 18-year-olds to advertise wrinkle cream?

Hope you're all doing well! And you Floridians, stay warm!

Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful start to 2008! On New Year's Day we flew to Florida to spend five days with Grandmommy and Nanu. The kids did a wonderful job on the airplane -- we couldn't have asked for any better, truly. They loved being in Florida, although they got a little tired on the drive to Melbourne Beach. (Guess how many bottles of beer fall off the wall from Eau Gallie to Mom and Dad's house... "Are we there yet?" *breathe* "Are we there yet?" *breathe* "Are we...")

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very cooperative while we were there. As we crossed over the causeway, it started to rain and pretty much didn't stop until we packed the car for the airport back. It was warmer than in Ohio by far (we were very thankful to be away) but it was COLD for Florida. In fact, Ohio was warmer the first two days back than it was while we were in Melbourne Beach.

Despite the weather, we still visited the beach and Uncle Sam and Aunt Ann Marie. We had a great time with Alexis, Nicolas, and Sammy, but unfortunately, Dane had to have emergency surgery. Luckily, he knows a pretty good surgeon.

Here are some pictures of our trip. If you're interested, let me know and I can give you the link to all the pictures at clark photo.

The sea was angry that day...




A tiny bit of sunshine peeping through.
Not too cold.












Daddy and Eamon


















Nicolas, Sammy, Alexis and Lucy playing checkers (with me to the side)












Daddy, Lucy and Eamon walking on the beach













Lucy













Eamon (pouting in his pouting spot)













He ain't heavy, he's my Eamon...


















Surprise!













Uncle Sam's so funny!













Windy, isn't it, Nanu! (we found the shells from turtle eggs in the dunes behind Nanu that day)





Lucy and Alexis were great cheerleaders. Aunt Ann Marie gave Lucy a pair of these competition pompons to keep!


Look what Uncle Sam taught Superman...