Journal

Friday Dec 4

Bama came today with her friend Denise. They were going to see Oliver Twist at the PICT in Oakland, but they came out early to see A and D sing in the Christmas concert for daycare.  They got to come home with Bam and take a nap :)  A decided he wanted to party though, so he showed Bam and Denise all his toys. 

When I came home from school we took them on a mini-Oakland adventure. We went to Schenley overlook, which was a little lame because the sun was setting and it was really bright. It was hard to see downtown without being blinded. 

Next we went to the Carnegie Library and showed them the secret view of the dinosaurs and the childrens room.  A birthday cake biscotti with sprinkles helped us make it to the Cathedral where we went all the way to 36 to see what we could see.  The tree lights in Schenley Plaza were on, and we saw them from above.  When Bam and Denise went out for dinner we went to LuLu's.  On the way back to the car we went the long way, stopping at the nativity at St Paul's, the Carnegie Institute where they had GIANT pillars to weave in and out of, ending with a run through the Cathedral Lawn. We rolled down all the hills from 5th to Forbes in the dark.  After awhile, Attison declared that he was "out of steam" and we had to go.  Since Da parked at the library we went to show the buddies the "Steam Works" in Panther Hollow.  They were amazed.  We heard a train, but didn't see it. Hopefully this week we can make it out to see some more Christmas lights :)

Saturday Dec 5

Today we watched some shows while Da prayed at the Open Hand House on N Beatty Street. 

Then we picked up Radejio and August from Lawrenceville and took them to Home Depot to build a project. August and Attison talked about trains and sang the ABC's in the back seat of the truck. It may have been the world's cutest moment of 2 pre-schoolers becoming friends.  

We made crafts. Attison painted everything with gobs of paint and August was very meticulous in painting his the appropriate colors :)

We came home and Da and Dennis had pancakes, bacon and apples for us.  We talked and laughed and played with toys. We shared stories and trains until we had to take our friends home.  

A long nap for the boys and a chat with Aunt Sarah about her baby that is on the way. Sara Sandrian surprised us for dinner, especially because she is in the middle of the Peace Corps in Zambia.  Katy stopped in too and we had to make more spaghetti for dinner because we ran out of stuffed shells!

Dennis got a kitchen sink bath and a haircut. While he was naked at the table eating spaghetti the door bell rang and we had real live carolers!  Garrett and Kendra brought some friends to sing us some carols. It was so beautiful I cried. What a wonderful surprise :) 

I talked to Michael for a bit while the boys watched a movie and then we played with toys late into the night. 

Shoe Store

Distraction

I'm supposed to be typing a home inspection report and I don't want to. So I'm doing this instead. 

Here are some pictures from our back yard this evening. 

We ate some tomatoes out of the garden, and played in dirt. Dennis' nose is running non-stop, so his face looks really delicious in these photos. He also poured water all over his clothes and it was T-30 minutes to bedtime, so no way was I putting a clean outfit on him. You can't tell, but A isn't wearing pants because his favorite (and this past weekend, only) place to pee is standing in the back yard. The combo of my green shirt and A's blue shirt makes all 3 of our pairs of blue eyes really sparkle, but we're making silly faces so it is hard to tell.  

Oh my sweet loves. 

This is the sky over our back yard. Isn't it pretty? 

At Pappaps

In a stream with Penny

In McConnellsburg

Watching a tractor with Pap

Clint, Esty, Attison and Dennis

pushed by Gram and Aunt Sal

On Adam's mower

A Sunday

Playing with streamers at church.

Forks!

Jiffy Lube

Tim and Attison went to get their hairs cut and D and I went to Jiffy Lube. We literally walked circles around the building. He thought it was awesome. 

We are tigers

Jiffy Lube

I took D to get my oil changed.  He literally ran circles around the building.

Poncho

It is raining. It has been raining all day. 

Attison wants to go outside.

No, I'm sorry. It is raining. 

But Attison wants to go outside.

Still raining bud. Sorry. You won't have fun. 

Mom! Wook! 

He is wearing a poncho. An orange poncho with dinosaurs on it. 

Eh. 

I laugh.

But...

You need shoes.

I look at his feet. He is already wearing shoes. 

Ok fine. 

Have fun!

Jenny rushes past. 

He stands at the edge of the patio. 

Jenny does a lap, comes back inside. 

You want to come in buddy?

silence

I shut the door.

He goes in the house.

He doesn't really do much in the house, although I can't really see. He is wearing a bright orange poncho though, and it isn't moving much.

He comes out of the house and stands still. 

I can see that he is talking. 

I go out to take a picture. 

Mom! Jenny pooped here!
Clean it up!

Clean up the poop Ma!
OK. Thanks.
I clean up the poop.

Mom! Jenny poops in the yard. Mommy cleans up the poop.
Yep. Mommy cleans it up alright. Even more frequently now that we have a dog poop monitor to alert us of infractions in his yard.

I go back inside.
Shut the door. (Because it is cold)

Maaaaaaaaaaa!
Ma!
Ma!
Ma!

I open the back door.
He throws the poncho in.
I want to come inside.

Dennis makes for the door.
Slam.
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!  AAAAAAHH! AAAAAAH!

No Dennis. It is raining.

spring cleaning and planting

We planted our little house gardens!

Cilantro and Basil above. 

Impatients below (I always get a free tray of them when we go pick Strawberries, so I figured if he tears them out then I can just replace them.)

Sunflowers to the far right (covered in plastic until they sprout so the squirrels don't eat the seeds.)

A blueberry in the box. The blueberry probably won't produce this year because it is the first year, so we're going to plant a cherry tomato in front of it. 

 The tomato cage and pitchfork are to encourage Jenny the dog to dig somewhere else. I already had to chase her out of that box. She hates newly planted things.

Dennis cleaning up the kitchen. Thanks for your help bud!

These cars all got pushed down the slide. Yes, even this giant car with the handle. Occasionally I put one of our chalk sandwich boards at the bottom of the slide so the big dump truck doesn't go flying out into the road.

House supplies

Every trip out of the house now includes 5 or so rides down the side. 

 Dennis shops at Home Depot. He also really investigated the quality of everything at floor level.

This is an experiment to see if this video works. It might just jump through some photos. Usually I upload videos to Youtube and then post them here, but that takes more effort and obviously isn't happening lately.

more backyard fun

A little house AND a hammock!

A roof with a small overhang and a teatherball. 

This is the back window, the brick patio and a little garden. We are going to plant tomatoes and blueberries in the garden so they can eat them while they play.  I also made two little rows for herbs, just to see how it goes. I'm not particularly optimistic the plants will survive, but I have good intentions.

Tim mows the grass around the little house!

As a information item, the house directly behind us, above the little house, has 3 windows across the 2nd floor.  That is where Katy and Kristin live. They shout to us in the yard sometimes.