November

These two pictures I got recently - the first is my friend Kate and I when she came to town for a leadership meeting at the end of October. The other is me with Grandma Winky when I roped her into doing a photo shoot for my company's recruitment campaign.

We're really looking forward to going to Grandma Winky's tomorrow for Thanksgiving. The kids are very excited to play hide and seek with Tina and look for deer up on the hill. Of course, mashed potatoes are the highlight for Estelle and George is fixated on his ham and sweet potatoes. John will go to the Lions game too.

When I was gone last weekend the kids went to their first real sleepover. This was a birthday party for one of George's classmates - at a hotel. Her mom got 2 rooms and let the kids swim. The boys went to sleep at 9PM and the girls in the other room stayed up past midnight. Then on Sunday John took the kids to the hockey game (it was Girl Scout day). Estelle was over-the-top about everything and George just liked the cotton candy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last Weekend at the Apple Orchard

While John was out of town last weekend we went to the Erie Apple Orchard (Estelle had already been this season on her school field trip). We went a little before the OWE Family group that we were meeting up with at 1 PM Saturday because Roy & Joyce were coming over at 4 PM to watch the kids for the evening (while mom and Sara celebrated their birthdays by taking a trip to Ann Arbor to see the Martha Graham dance company and eat Ethiopian food at the Blue Nile restaurant - yum). Getting there early allowed us to go in the pumpkin jumper, the caterpillar slide, and on a pony ride. The kids fed big carrots to the ponies they rode. We also bought apple cider donuts, a gallon of cider and 2 1/2 pecks of apples - Macintosh for Estelle & mom, Golden Delicious for George. Once we met the Family group (J.T., Ben W., Eli, Olivia, Kimberly & Christina made it for this outing) we scoped out pumpkins and went on a hay ride. We got to pick more apples to add to our stash. Good thing we like A-P-P-L-E-S so much!

Been A While...

We've had a busy 6 weeks!
The Memory Walk was at the zoo at the end of September (see above picture).
Estelle started soccer with her dad as the coach, a seven-game season. She usually scores at least one goal each game when she gets the chance to play offense.
Both kids are enjoying school, with reading and writing work as a highlight.
Estelle is doing a reading challenge to read 10 books in October. She'll earn a pizza. She's also started Brownies (so this is fair warning that we're expecting you all to buy cookies from her). She took a trip to the Erie Apple Orchard and I got to go with her (another picture above).
George is enjoying computer time at school and has figured out how to get to his favorite sites at home too.
Halloween costumes have been chosen already, though we're not sure all the places we can possibly go to trick-or-treat. The selection process was interesting with George deciding between a banana and a Power Ranger. We looked at 4 stores before we found what we wanted.
John took a trip with friends to go whitewater rafting on the Gaulley River in West Virginia. He came home pretty muddy.
Hope you're enjoying your fall!

Mom's Night at the Emmy Awards

John didn't get close up shots but the limo might not have fit if he had ...

My friend Pam usually has us over for the season premiere (and season finale) of Desperate Housewives. This year she'll be out of town so she decided to have a party for the Emmys. Since she'd asked us to dress in "red carpet" attire, Christine decided we should arrive in style, and rented a limo. Seven of us rode to Pam's and surprised her. We rode around for a little while before getting out to be interviewed by Pam's son about which designer we were wearing. I got to say "I'm wearing my pajamas" (since I was actually wearing a velvet night gown, not having any true ball gowns or even bridesmaid dresses to salvage). We had fun playing Emmy bingo, picking the winners, and eating food that all started with e or m ... especially considering I wouldn't have watched the Emmys otherwise. Now we just have to find a place to watch Desperate Housewives.

First Day of School

As you can see from the pictures, we went back to school (started almost 2 weeks ago and I've been delinquent in updating the blog, oh well). It was a full day and despite his reservations about not knowing anyone, George had a good time. He found that he DID know someone, Nikyah from Miss Maria's class at his pre-school was in his class, so that made him feel better. He told me the other night that all the kids know his name, but he doesn't know everyone's. He'll get to be friends with everyone, sooner or later. Estelle had a few friends from last year who didn't come back ("Fred couldn't be in our class because 1st grade is packed!"). There were 24 kids signed up, although I don't think all of them have ended up arriving. She thinks she passed her first spelling test this Friday. The words were 'the', 'red', 'like', 'see', and 'to'. George could read them too.

RIBS!

This past Saturday night, Estelle went to her friend Savannah's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. So, the boys needed something to do and John decided to take George to the Ribfest and a Mud Hens game. George is pretty good about trying new things and he found he really liked ribs. He was a little mad that he didn't get to stay until the end of the Mud Hens game that went into extra innings, but he'll survive. I guess John had such a taste for ribs that he bought some baby back ribs at the market and cooked them for dinner tonight. Estelle even liked them tonight! Little does he know we'll be having barbequed spare ribs as one of the entrees tomorrow night at our luau! The only downside was that George apparently dropped one which was quickly snapped up by Oscar. The kids had a fun time watching the people setting up the tent this afternoon - when the men were staking it into the yard they discovered an underground hornets' nest that caused quite an uproar. Krystal sent the kids upstairs to clean their rooms so they wouldn't be paying as close attention to the conversation of the workers. Aloha!

Safe-T-City

After graduation with mom at Wendy's (where he chose to go for celebration lunch).

The view from the bleachers of George marching in.

George receiving his diploma.

George sitting with his classmates before singing "Yankee Doodle" - with safety modifications of course.

George and Deputy Chief Diggs.

George graduated from Safe-T-City, a program for kids entering Kindergarden in Toledo, on July 7th. He learned about fire safety, bike safety, railroad safety, health care, how to cross the street, stranger danger, and a variety of other information. Now he has something more to talk about than Xiaolin Showdown and other shows on Cartoon Network!

Catching up

The family at a park in Chinatown.
Kids at the Chinatown gate.
Kids waiting for the trolley car - it was an ozone action day so we rode for free and squished in with lots of people ...
Admittedly it has been a hectic few weeks. Our trip to San Francisco was very fun - got to see Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, ride a trolley car, go buy chocolate coins at Ghirardelli Square (George's highlight), spend hours at the Exploratoreum, cross the Golden Gate bridge, see the lovely views from Sausalito and Half Moon Bay, and swim in 3 hotel pools. The working and lecture parts of the trip were productive for me and hopefully Grandma Muffin enjoyed spending time with the kids and seeing a new place. It was great for the kids to meet Jack, my friend Stephanie's son, and my highlight was eating lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, the R & G Lounge. Estelle decided the aisle seat was boring, so we had to negotiate for positions on the way home. The other news was that Grandma Muffin ended up in the hospital on Tuesday after arriving home late Sunday night. She had her appendix out - thankfully that waited until she was home to happen. Glad all is well now!

Some Pictures

A couple pictures from recent graduations - Estelle with her friends, George and Estelle with Miss Gayla at pre-school, and both kids congratulating Tyler upon graduation. We leave early in the morning for San Francisco and get back on Sunday the 25th. Looking forward to visiting Stephanie while we're out there and spending time with Grandma Muffin. I'd better finish packing!

ABC Camp

I was wrong about the theme of camp being "Around the World" this week - it is "Down on the Farm". I was having a hard time figuring out why they'd be learning about chickens if they were going around the world.
George reports he's getting more adventurous at the pool, now likes to jump in with no one to catch him but only if he's wearing his floaty. Estelle went off the diving board yesterday!
And, we had great spaghetti and meatballs from Krystal for our dinner last night. George loved the garlic bread too, a surprise to him and everyone.
Last night we were reading one of our favorites, "The Bear Snores On" for our bedtime story and Estelle was reading to us. George listened until she said a wrong word and he quietly corrected her "that says den". I'm glad he was so unassuming about it because she would've tried to outdo him if she realized that he's reading at the same time she is.
Today a visit to the family center at the art museum was on the agenda. We'll see what kind of stuff they create.

Summer

We survived the Festival. Phew! Actually we all had a good time. Estelle particularly liked the magic show by our neighborhood friend Martin Jarret. He made her ear disappear (and reappear) among other fun tricks. We might hire him to do a show for her first grade class next school year. They got ice cream from the ice cream trucks both days too. George had to have Power Puff Girls ice cream.
The kids enjoyed the visit with Grandma June and Allan. Mud Hens game, out for dinner a couple nights, egg rolls for George and mushrooms + white rice for Estelle from our favorite Chinese place, Kindergarden and pre-school graduations, all of the Festival fun, and more magic tricks with a different magician at Spaghetti Warehouse.
Krystal started with us last Monday and it has gone very well. The kids have gone to the library, Art Museum, swimming at the Y ... this week they have Project ABC camp - a couple hours each morning to learn about "Around the World". They'll probably go swimming today and have yoga this afternoon. Since we missed sign ups for t-ball / coach pitch, we're going to do one more round of gymnastics class but will have them go during the day so Krystal can take them. We're going to have her homemade spaghetti & meatballs tonight for dinner too! The kids want to see "Over the Hedge" and "Cars" at the theater. Maybe we'll save that for a cloudy day. It is beautiful right now.
We leave Tuesday the 20th for San Francisco. I'm trying to figure out whether I should invest in a portable DVD player or if my laptop will work to keep people occupied on the trip out there. Got to pack our lunches too. Uncrustables will work out great but maybe I should take a trip up to Ann Arbor and visit Trader Joe's for some other yummy stuff. Or, just tell John where to find it - will have to make him a detailed map.
Should be a fun summer.

Festival is coming ...

No, that's not Festivus ... Check out www.toledooldwestend.com for info. Guiedbooks went out with flyers asking for any more volunteers (plus sign ups for garage sales and entries in the Bake-Off). I'm taking this week off to tie up any remaining loose ends - which I hope there are not too many. Estelle will have Kindergarten graduation on Tuesday morning and George will have pre-school graduation on Thursday. His last day there will be Friday and Krystal is starting with us full time next Monday. The kids are looking forward to the summer of COSI, swimming, zoo, and bumming around. I've also got them signed up for a couple weeks of Project A-B-C, 2 hours in the mornings on 4 days a week with a theme... and of course the trip to San Francisco (home of the chocolate coins) in a few weeks - should be quite an adventure.

May Update

John started his new job Monday and it seems like it will work out well. He doesn't have a phone at his desk yet and decided to get a cell phone (that he can actually use - instead of the pre-paid one that he bought 3 years ago and has lost 5 or 6 times since then). He's done internet research and packed / unpacked boxes so far - not too exciting but since the company just moved to a new laboratory I don't know how well set up they are. He's been leaving around 8 and getting home after 6, though the first night he took a detour to go to Sam's for dishwasher soap and a pizza. The proximity to Sam's could be dangerous!
We gave notice that George's last day at pre-school will be June 2. His friend Jenny has already left and he had kind of a rough time while Estelle was on spring break - she went to school with him but wouldn't really play with him (because she sees him all the time). He's used to being #1 with her.
Last week John did a science show for the 1st Grade at Estelle's school and George had stayed home so he got to go be a helper. Estelle was too. They made John a really nice laminated set of pictures they'd drawn as a thank you card.
Over the weekend we had 2 boys sleep over Friday night while their parents were at a yoga retreat. Everyone had a good time but too much Cartoon Network! Saturday the Arboretum had their plant sale and our block all planted raspberry impatients around our trees between the sidewalk and the street. Sunday we met Lynda and her husband Mark (from my work) at our friend Kathy's house to plant flowers and clean up the yard a little while she's away on a medical leave.
Preparations for the Old West End Festival are keeping me busy. Check out www.toledooldwestend.com - look under Festival and Magazine (May issue is the Festival preview that has a nifty picture of all of us with Mudonna - the Mud Hens mascot - in last year's parade.

Pictures

Estelle in the fire truck (one of our surprises for the egg hunt).

George and Kayla at the egg hunt - very goofy.

Egg Hunt

Great weather, great turn out this year for our 4th annual Easter Egg Hunt. George was disappointed that Jenny and Madison didn't make it but happy that Kayla and Breanna did. His other guy friends of course but he's the ladies' man. Estelle's classmate Savannah (who had been talking with her on the phone every night for the last 2 weeks even though they're only 6!) finally got to come over. Now Estelle is worried that now she'll like George better - after spending 3 hours together today they were talking on the phone this evening and Savannah asked to speak to George! Makes me think back to when I was pregnant with him and one of my friends said I was going to have to watch him like a hawk because he'd always be friends by default with his sister's girlfriends. We had a problem with the chocolate fountain not moving the way it was supposed to - ended up just serving chocolate fondue (marshmallows and strawberries were the favorites with pretzels and Nilla wafers coming in a close second). George did not even go out to hunt for eggs because he wanted to be first in line for the chocolate. We had a visit from an art car and the fire trucks finally made it over after a couple of runs this morning. Savannah and Alison stayed the longest and had fun playing with bubbles and Barbies in the driveway while we cleaned up inside. It is a fun time for everyone if a little chaotic. We did move the "starting gate" outside this year instead of having 100 people crammed in our foyer. And the mysterious person who called and said they were bringing 3 children and 7 adults never showed up, at least not that I know of! Here's some pictures of Estelle in the fire truck and George with Kayla goofing off. Happy Easter!

And, in other news ...

We had a great time in Indianapolis visiting our cousins and spending Saturday at the indoor water park. George liked the "Lazy River" the best and Estelle went down the 4-story tall "Tube Slide" a couple times. John and I both tried the fast water slides and once was enough for me. Made out of blue plastic, dark, loop-de-loops, with water flowing through and then plunging you at top speed into the pool at the end - yikes! I'm with George, the Lazy River was a good way to go. We got to celebrate Gumpy's birthday last Sunday and brought home plenty of great blueberry muffins. With everyone so involved in our busy lives, it is nice to take time to just enjoy each other's company. John took a new job that he will start in May. He says May 8th but I think that is a Saturday so it is probably not right. He will have about a 45 minute commute, that he's not particularly looking forward to, but with the limitations on grant funding through the government, he's happy to have a "real" job doing something he's experienced with. His title will be Research Scientist and he'll be designing assays. What the heck is an assay, you might ask ... a test kit for scientists to use when doing specific kinds of experiments. Sounds like fun eh? At least he will get to work in a casual atmosphere and - he says he's only 5 miles from McDonald's... weirdo!

Teeth

Well on Saturday Estelle lost her first tooth (courtesy of George hitting her in the mouth with the computer keyboard when she was bugging him for a turn to play at pbskids) and then the second one came out on Sunday. I had my camera at the office so didn't get any pictures with only one tooth missing, and it is kind of hard to see that she is missing any at all because the new teeth have already started to come in. But, she is very happy to finally have her name on the tooth chart at school - the last one in her class to lose any teeth. The tooth fairy was very generous ... $5 each! The teeth are saved in a little silver cup just like John had when he was little.

Some Pictures

OK - the top picture might look kind of dark but it is John dressed in his Queen Sancha Ball costume for Mardi Gras, then Estelle is in her Storm jersey ready to go to the hockey game... and my encounter with hockey (since I didn't get to go to the game) - the only recognizable hockey celebrity ... who happened to be in Columbus on Friday night for his team's game there. Apparently his father, Wayne Sr., was wandering around the exhibit area at the speech & hearing convention singing songs in Italian and swiping people's candy bars. Very interesting!

Life

Let's see ... life around here has been ... BUSY! Things are gearing up for the neighborhood Festival and it seems like I'm doing a little about that every day. We've set an internal deadline for ourselves of April 1 to have all the details worked out and it is coming up very quickly. I've started on the taxes and getting ready for the Easter Egg Hunt, so when both of those deadlines occur on April 15, I should be done. We got the materials for George to sign up for Kindergarten. I know he's looking forward to it although he'll miss his many friends from preschool who will all scatter and go different places. We've re-scheduled our trip to Indy for next weekend and Estelle is really looking forward to seeing her cousins. She still hasn't lost those two loose teeth on the bottom even though the big teeth are halfway in already. It looks funny to have two rows. Oh, and she moved up to "Kippers" in gymnastics so she's enjoying learning some new skills. One of her friends from Sunday School is also in her class.

Sick

Even though Estelle enjoyed her birthday last Thursday, she was the first of the family to get sick. First we thought it was too much cotton candy at the Toledo Storm hockey game (where she wore her awesome new Storm jersey and scarf from Aunt Meghan and Unky Jeff ~ thanks!) or John attributed it to dinner at Applebee's, but since she didn't eat much there, it was just a bug. She recovered quickly and we did get to Target on Sunday to spend her gift card from Grandma June and Allan. She got a new baby doll she named "Jack", a Bratz Girls sports bottle, a Simpson's DVD and a Pooh night light ~ thanks to them too!
We didn't go to Indianapolis for the weekend because the cousins were sick, postponing our water park and birthday celebration to mid-March. But, good thing we didn't go because John stayed in bed yesterday, throwing up and this afternoon at school George complained of chest pain then proceeded to throw up before we left there. Ugh.
I hope I'm not next, but with superior genes and good health, I'm confident it won't happen.
Smile ...