It's Wild Here

December update

Earlier in the month, we attended the annual Santa/Pancake/Craft breakfast at the Methodist Church.  It's a sweet tradition.

I've spared you the alternative photo, in which Kellen makes his favorite new face (nostrils sucked in with power vacuum force --  he looks very odd).  

It was one of those years when Santa could make a long-time wish happen. Ryan has been asking to play violin for several years. I really love his expression in the very first seconds of the video.

The boys' school went roller skating during the week before break.  Kellen was quite daring on wheels, and had a great time with his pals (below the video).

 

Jeremiah's Christmas looked like this: 

Before the break, Jeremiah also joined the Mock Trial/Debate club at school, and has been enjoying that a lot. Some cruel fellow assigned homework over their vacation, so he'll be working on that soon, and these games will get a break.

Next quarter at Sinclair, I'll be teaching three sections of SOC 112, and Kellen will be switching to full day kindergarten twice/week.  I think he'll enjoy the extra time at school, as he'd been complaining of a lot of boredom in the mornings.

Christmas miracle: all 5 of them looking at the camera with smile-like expressions, probably earlier than 8am.

HEX BUGS with Uncle Troy!

Uncle Bill is a cruel, cruel ear-lifter.

Jamie has enjoyed a very long break from classes at Sinclair.  He's taken the time to write songs, bond with the cat, look for jobs, do a little work for a local builder, and play some shows.

W heels and S port F ishing USA (not really wanting fans of the bands to find this blog on google)

As it turns out, Ryan can play basketball very well. He's having a blast with it. Here is a very short clip of his awesome.

Evan's conversation with Ryan

Ryan "Big Daddy" Scott

R: When I'm grown up and big, I won't be your son anymore.
E: Actually, you'll always be my son; I'll always be your dad no matter how old you get.
R: Really?
E: Well, Grammy and Granpda are still my parents. I'm still their son.

E: Even when you're a big man and have your own kids, I'll be your dad.
R: That's funny! (laughter) You'll have a Ryan and Kellen (his 2-year-old brother) and I'll have a Ryan and Kellen.

E: Well, your kids won't be you and Kelly. How many kids are you going to have?
R: 6 boys and, like, 100 girls.
E: That's a lot, you'll have to have a house as big as a castle for that many kids.
R: Well, okay (holding up both hands), I'll have (pause) ten kids - five girls and five boys.
E: Okay.

E: What will you name your kids?
R: (with no hesitation) Armen, Churry, Blur, Maya, and Trya.
E: Wow. Those are cool names.
R: Also, Rocknroll.
E: Rocknroll Scott?
R: Yeah (chuckling)

R: And Rocknroll Wecandoit
E: (laughing) like, "Wecandoit" as the middle name?
R: Yeah.

April

I hope this doesn't become a monthly-post type thing.  Between family crises and the effects of facebook and twitter, the blog has been neglected.

Last month, my grandmother passed away. I'm waiting on a CD with some nice photos from my father, and I'll make a post about her.

HAPPY 8th, Fynn!

Earlier this month, we went to see F's soccer game and had a birthday party for him at the playground. It was a beautiful day. Ryan and Kelly super-hero-ed around the track while F played his game.  The bigs kicked the soccer ball around.

Katie's friend's baby found her way into Jamie's arms - he looked very comfortable with her.  

Merry Christmas, 2008

 

We all had a lovely Christmas this year. There were a few small mishaps and sources of anxiety (which cousin was last puking and who did they breathe on?) but it all went fairly smoothly. 

I was hoping to make these nice tree images into a new blog banner, but I couldn't figure it out in time. I love this old elf ornament from my childhood. The crocheted stocking in the center was made this December for Myrtle.  The stocking second from the left was made last year for Ryan.

 

After we moved, it took us many months to get pictures on the walls and other decorative stuff out. One of our favorites is this fabulous branch Ryan found in our yard at the old house. We hang seasonal treasures, art work, and nature items.

Some socks I made for Kelly last week.

Four balaclavas for four sweeties, to use while sledding, shoveling, walking to school or bus.   You would think that getting a group picture wouldn't be so difficult with only 1/4 of their faces showing. Still, eyes can be crossed, hair can go in the eyes, we can look down into our laps... it took a while as usual.

My friend Lizz at ZooLoo Naturals made these custom carvings of the boys. Aren't they cute? Her wooden animals are lovely and her children do some beautiful felting.

A couple of highlights...  rescue safari boat, "Mammoth" crocs for the toddler...

 

MOON SHOES!

And not pictured here, #1 son, not the slightest bit impressed with the crack of dawn christmas, declined to be photographed but was happy with some new shoes, jeans, iTunes card, and an incredible large canvas from Grammy.  [note to Grammy and Grandpa: can we get those photos off Grandpa's camera and into email?]

My camera cord is missing.  I don't seem to be able to blog without photos. I've ordered a new one from ebay, so in a few days, get ready for a flood of updates.  Briefly, though...

Evan - writing christmas story, watching a lot of football (winning his work pool, no money at stake), enjoying Risk and "that's what she said" jokes with older boys

Jamie - still sculpting, beginning to offer lessons in Photoshop, reading, schooling, PC gaming, playing piano

Jeremiah - suddenly turned on to music, his taste is a unique combination of 80s (eye of the tiger, seriously) and 60s, Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc.  Just completed several large school projects related to their study of Egypt, played in his first school band concert, the object of no small amount of female attention, but don't even think about bringing that up.

Ryan - excited to be almost 5, excited about the holidays, coming out of a very long respiratory illness and seeming to respond well to daily allergy meds, which bums me out, but we had to do something.  Protective of Kellen, affectionate with all smaller children, enjoying 2x/week play time at Laurie's, can count to a million... not really, but can count high - somewhere between 40 and 80 I think.  Still very interested in writing and letters, hasn't expressed an interest in reading.  Still extremely, seemingly-uncontrollably curious and "grabby" - so many broken objects. So. many.

We also went to a local holiday shindig - pancakes and santa and crafts - ryan loved that.

Kelly - in a "pretending to be a  baby" stage, having little meltdowns daily - loud but not long - when I run out of milk (fairly quickly these days :-(  he says "this one's not working." lol.   

Amy - still busy with Threshold Choir, NVC group, trying to hang on to my connection with the dharma center but it's just not happening.  knitting - I finished that red sweater and the finishing and resulting object was so dreadful I can't even post it, can't even try to correct it.  I am knitting hats and toys all winter.  And also socks, definitely.  Enjoying old seasons of Six Feet Under.

updates

K: nursing less (plugged duct/infection to show for that), talking more, daddy-love all the time, can spend long periods at the kitchen sink playing, never forgets his vitamin.

R: scared of the dark and shadows, enjoying the Baha'i children's class - he does so well in situations like this - so compliant and joiner-y, but in a cooperative, contributing way, very different from at home, where we still experience daily surprises. Learning letters, is remarkably quick to understand simple arithmetic, has had a cold for weeeeeks.  Will not blow his nose ever. Planning to be Jedi for Halloween.

JJ: writing a 4-page story for school, starting a tumbling class at X YMCA with his friend E, spending a lot of other time with same seemingly-best friend, although he assures me his "group" at school consists of about 14 friends :-) 

J: still struggling with sleep, working with AR weekly on amazing sculptures, worked last weekend at her studio for the studio tour, maintaining As and Bs.

J and JJ's team finished in 2nd place in rec league soccer this fall - it was SO close! They tied and went into penalty kicks. Great to see the brothers on the same team again - it's been years since they happened to be in the same age groupings for soccer.

E: traveling more than we'd all like, seems to be weathering the financial situation at work, enjoying participating at the Baha'i Center, listening to Marshall Rosenberg, watching the bizarre foods and fighting shows, cleared out our shed (yay!).  

A: injured back, trying out a new meal routine - repetitive but much easier to maintain, enjoying the NVC group and Threshold Choir, absolutely cannot keep up with laundry, setting goals to hang curtains and art by J's birthday, planning to offer some community service in the form of computer help for seniors, considering whether to homeschool with R next year - kindergarten age.

Spinning/knitting: still working on red sweater, spinning about every other day for 20-30 min. Finished these bullseye mittens a couple weeks ago - yes, the color combo is just as horrid in person.

playing catch up in the blog

A couple of weeks ago, the youngers attended a "Truck Touch" at a local dairy farm.

We also got a new (to us... nearly 100 years old) piano and Jamie began lessons with a new instructor at A. M.

And here is a little before and after for K's first summer buzz.  I think the new look is really sweet in person - he looks kind of unhealthy-bald in this picture, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Last week, we had cousin F here for some outdoor lunch and sleeping over. He ended up staying two nights because the big thunder storms and tornadoes arrived during our first attempt at dropping him off.

halloween 2007

Finally getting to this...

Ladybug, Knight, Robot, and WhatdoyouthinkIam?

Jeremiah made his entire costume - it began as a TV and quickly morphed into a robot once he tried on the box.  Jamie bought his costume at Goodwill. Ryan and Kellen picked theirs out of the dressup box an hour or so before trick-or-treating. The red converse were an afterthought, and if I do say so, they take him from adorable to delicious. Jamie went out with his friends, covering a great distance and filling up his pillowcase.

a post of photos

We had a nice visit with Uncle Josh and Aunt Caryn (I'm not sure who took this picture, but I wish we could have seen all of Caryn!)

Some cute we spotted at Carillon Park

Jeremiah's latest feat: eating an entire apple except the seeds. Entire apple.

We have more spiders this year than ever. It's difficult to tell from this photo, but this beautiful spider web near the roof of our house is about 2' in diameter.

And we don't get to see a lot of the papa around here. This is after-work hanging out on the couch. The very serious cuddling going on under his armpit is pretty adorable. Maybe we could get Evan to be a guest-blogger here. I know he has things to say about his kids, his job, and his aspirations.

updates

Ja: Soaking up the final weeks of summer, still gardening (watering often due to heat), attending Jacob's birthday sleepover, striving to be more playful with difficult siblings, striving to use less pottymouth everywhere, considering a minor haircut, doing a lot of ink drawings on file folders.

Je: Four soccer games in a weekend, making the finals, appreciating a good coach, very unhappy to miss birthday sleepover due to sleep requirements for soccer, working through the first fat HP book - #4 - and enjoying the Quidditch content.

Ryan: working hard to learn self-control with baby and cat (making lots of good progress, too), taking a break from any toileting at all, playing games involving pirates, lions, birds, babies and boats. Enjoys being told stories aloud -particular the three bears and three little pigs - huffing and puffing are a highlight. Enjoys making "quicksand" by dragging the hose out to the sandbox, having a little separation anxiety when going to Sh's house, but so far not enough to outweigh the fun and stay home, except once. Also, we're trying out a little more structured routine, to see if that gives him some grounding.  To start with, a more regular bedtime routine with bath.  Next, morning routine and regular quiet time.

K: popping 2 molars and 2 more top teeth in front, trying to run, transitioning to one nap (about half the time), still not eating much solid food, but a few bites at each meal time. Very attached to his "towel" (prefold cloth diaper - fortunately we have many of these), out of cloth diapers himself until we get out of this busy period wrt selling the house. K is also enjoying climbing on things. Yesterday I turned around to see him standing all the way up on the seat of R's trike, out on the driveway. Two feet. On the seat. On three wheels. Very satisfied and quite safe-feeling.

Evan and Amy:  thinking more seriously about moving (within town, but somewhere with 1-2 more rooms and/or basement), clearing out the garage, surviving a weekend soccer tournament through heat in the 90s, up with belly aches and wide-awake littles from 3-5am. In other words, cranky and anxious.