Pics and Quotes

Apparently, the grandparents have noticed that the blog hasn't been updated in a LONG time. Sorry! So, here they are. Some pics and some quotes from the last few months. And then back to grading for me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Owen: It's a buffalo crossing!

Alex: Let's go buffaling!

Alex: It was loud when that baby cried. And I couldn't even close my ears because there was bacon on my hands.

Alex: H-A-L-S spells house.

Me: Alex, are you going to get married when you grow up?

Alex: No. Too kissy.

Owen: Where did you get our basketball, Mom?
Me: Daddy got it for my birthday.
Owen: Dad, you should get Mom a BB gun!

Alex: That's excrusting!.

Alex: That burp was funny. But it still wasn't me.

Me: Alex, what is all over your sleeve?
Alex: Rock angels. You know ... like snow angels in the snow.  But this is with rocks.

Happy Birthday, Owen!



Breakfast at the state park. Fun with bamboo. Chocolate and candles. And football and tailgating with school friends. Not a bad day all-in-all.

Happy Birthday, Owen! We love you!!

Ninja

Just a little something Owen put together on Microsoft's paint program today after school. A whole lot better than I could do!

Oh My

So much for easing in to the new semester. The pace has been a bit frenetic lately with course preparation interspersed with basement remodel activities interspersed with kids' school/soccer activities. I had high hopes of having a quiet weekend before the semester began. Instead, bright and early Saturday morning, I managed to let a sink overflow in the upstairs master bath. The aftermath wasn't pretty. I figure I may someday be able to laugh about it, but I'm not quite there yet. Ugh.

In any case, the final touches on the basement were supposed to be done before the semester began. Instead, the plumber forgot a part sometime last week -- still haven't heard back from him -- and we've spent more time than we'd like this week accommodating missing and late vinyl/carpet installers: disconnecting and reconnecting the water softener three times and trying to work around not having water much of the day or a washer or dryer. Truthfully, I can't be too upset with them as their lives seem infinitely more complicated than mine right now. Still .... we hope that today is the day when they finish the task. We'll see.

While we wait, it seems that now is a great time to reminisce about the summer. A big picture dump is about all I can manage this morning, but that's probably all the grandparents want anyway. Enjoy!

[Except the memory card appears to be non-functional. I'm just going to move on and hope there is an easy fix for this and that I'll be back with pictures soon. If not, I can assure you we had a very nice summer with great photo opportunities. ;) Oh my, indeed.]

[Update from Bill:  Luckily, I had downloaded most of the summer photos prior to the card catastrophe, so here is a brief tour of notable summer events...]

Alex performing a particularly sassy rendition of "Yakety Yak".

Who knew our hot tub was also an exotic coral reef?

Early model PVC water cannon.

Owen's 2nd year in the Molly Datillo 1/2 mile run.

Both boys had a great spring baseball season.

Homemade pizza!

When the zombie apocalypse comes, we have this sturdy shelter to hide in. 

A little checkers game while we wait for lunch at the local state park inn.

I don't know, boys, that thing looks like it's just about to....

Hiking in Clifty Falls park.

Hiking along old railroad tracks by the Ohio River.

Had a great time at the Helping Hands picnic in Cinci.

Be wewy wewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits.

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Breakfast at IHOP for Alex's birthday.

Also on Alex's birthday: the Cinci zoo.

[Update from Ellen: Hooray for Bill!! All is not lost! He's also very good at smashing enormous spiders and not freaking out when water is pouring from our recessed lighting on to the living room carpet. Ahem. Gotta love that man!]

Basement Remodel Part Deux

An update on our summer activities is on the way ... someday. We lost our camera for about a month, so we'll need to rely on our memories and some grainy Ipod pictures a bit more than we'd like.

In the meantime, I wanted to get up some early pictures of the second phase of our basement remodel. We began the summer with lofty goals, including drylok-ing and painting the second half of the basement walls and painting the second half of the basement ceiling. We accomplished the former, but, as we contemplated the later, weeks passed with visions of paint splatter covering everything filling our minds. We finally decided to bring in some local painters (the same two retired art teachers who painted the outside of the house a few years ago) to see how much it might cost to contract out the work. Their response: "this [first half] must have taken you FOREVER." They declined the job.

So ... phase two has morphed significantly. We currently have three guys grunting a lot while putting up sheetrock and insulation and lights in the second half of the basement. The good news is that, in the end, the boys should have a really nice space to play in, we'll have two new closests ... and I haven't spent the past two weeks inhaling black paint dust.

   

Drum Roll

Final grades .... are ... in!!!

Typing up this blog post is about as much celebrating as I can do right now. I have a manuscript review to finish up, a meeting to attend, and some dry-cleaning to pick up in preparation for graduation. Still, it felt pretty good to hit the "submit" button on those grades.

Graduation ceremonies are tomorrow. They have been moved indoors for the first time since we started teaching. I'm so thankful. Sitting for 2+ hours in direct sunlight in 95 degree heat in a thick black robe sounded less-than-appealing.

So ... hooray!

Shoulda Ducked

This was Alex's analysis shortly after taking a line drive to the face at his last baseball game. Poor guy. After we tended to his bloody nose, he decided he'd had enough of fielding for the day, but did manage to go to bat one more time. I have to figure the chances of this happening again are pretty slim, right?

Before the trauma, he did great!

April

One more day and I'd have to reconcile myself to having let another month go by without a blog post. Whew! Hooray to Bill for taking the boys on a hike to "the acre" so that I could get this post up.

Alex has been busy ...

1. Mastering swinging without assistance.
2. Learning to ride his bike without training wheels. I'd post a video, but he's far too quick. Bill and I ended up sprinting after him all around campus on his first day out. He still has trouble getting started on his own, but can now stop safely without assistance -- a vast improvement over his previous technique of crashing into anything that struck his fancy (grass, trashcans, me) to stop his momentum.
3. Making dozens and dozens and dozens of paper airplanes.
4. Leaving notes all around. I found this one under my pillow this morning!

4. Loving on his "doggie". Who, this night, had apparently invited some friends.

5.  And, generally loving the (on-again off-again) early spring.

Meanwhile, Owen has been busy ...

1.  Hiking ... and making sketches of both his hiking adventures and his hiking partners.

2.  Bravely going where no small boy has gone before ... at the children's museum.

3.  I have no idea. But Alex didn't seem to mind.

4.  And, playing ball! 

Alex is playing t-ball too which means we are at the park Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings as well Saturday mornings. My guess is that my blogging track record is unlikely to improve any time soon. 

Ah. Sibling Rivalry.

Altercation: Rush to the bathroom for hand-washing before dinner

Alex: It's NOT A RACE!!!
Owen: Just because it's not a race doesn't mean you can't run.

Altercation: Dominoes

Owen: Don't even THINK about it!
Alex: I am thinking about it ....

Oh my. :)

From the Boys

Hope you have a great day!

It Got Away From Me

The blog, that is.

I've been collecting pictures on the camera and quotes in my head, but haven't found the time to sit and get it all down.

I'm stealing a few moments now as the boys are amusing themselves upstairs with disaster drills; working through the crazy events of the past few days, I guess. On Wednesday, we had heavy thunderstorms and tornado watches/warnings. On Thursday, the college spent lots of time testing and re-testing the tornado sirens. On Friday, we had tornadoes touch down all around us, destroying homes as close as seven miles away. We were safe and happy hanging out in our basement, but many of Owen's peers were still on the school buses -- in hail storms, with tornado sirens blaring. Three busloads of kids and their drivers were forced to take shelter in a tiny country store less than a mile from where one of the tornadoes touched down. So thankful Bill picked Owen up from school that day!! The college is busy organizing work crews. We're hoping that we can find a way that the boys can help as well.



When not dodging tornadoes ... life has been busy, but generally uneventful.





























And, mostly for my own amusement, some quotes from Alex ...

Me: Alex, what did you have for lunch today?
Alex: We had raba-lowly. Yum!

Alex: Mom, am I doing a good job of not driving you crazy?

Alex: Mom, can we cook some meat?
Me: Um, maybe. What kind of meat do you want?
Alex: I want some chocolate meat!

Alex: Mom, can we look at more pictures of hamsters? I want to see a poisonous hamster!

Alex: I want you to paint my room this color red.
Me: Maybe we could paint it a subtler red.
Alex: I know what a subtler red means. A subtler red is a red that comes out really slow.

Upon entering the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop ...
Alex: Mama, this place smells beautiful!
Me: Yes it does, dear. Yes. It. Does.