First Day of Kindergarten

I'm guessing that everyone's first day of school is rather eventful. Ours was a bit more memorable than we would have liked. For Worthy, school started on August 9th. We were in Ohio on August 4th, when I called his school to inquire about enrolling him. I was assuming we still had another week or two before school started. As I said, we were in Ohio and still needed to head down to North Carolina for a couple of days. We weren't planning to be back in Florida until August 11th. Well those plans quickly changed. We continued our agenda and headed to NC, but cut it a little shorter than intended. We drove (meaning Dan) through the night and morning of August 9th. We arrived home at 6am and Worthy began Kindergarten at 8:30am. Thankfully Worthy had gotten some decent sleep in the car. So, we don't have an official first day of school photo, but luckily one of Worthy's buddies is in the same class and his mom came prepared - Thanks Angel!

So here's Worthy's first day of Kindergarten with his friend Brett.

Worthy was excited to start school. And he was even more excited to have a lot of familiar faces in his class. And we hadn't had time to get uniforms, so he wore a non-uniform shirt and navy blue shorts - and fit in perfectly. (You can see me in the background filling in all the paperwork that I missed from Kindergarten Orientation.)

And here are the unofficial pictures from Day #2.
Ready for school - uniform, backpack & all :)

"Once More With Feeling"

Most evening when I cook dinner, I like to plug in my iPod and listen to some Podcasts or Books on CD from the library. Some of my favorite Podcasts are In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg and NPR: Fresh Air. I generally don't listen to music - a bit of a surprise. I think I just love having a semblance of my brain being exercised with these programs. However, the other day I (FINALLY) added a long-time favorite CD. Don't laugh. Wait for it. Here it comes.




It's the soundtrack from Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode "Once More With Feeling".

I never saw the show while it ran. I only saw it in syndication, but have since come to adore the creative work of the creator Joss Whedon. In the 6th season of the series, they did a musical episode. And yes, this is now what I cannot stop listening to on my iPod. Just love it. It's amazing what you can get off Amazon.

"

North Carolina Cousin Time

We spent some much coveted time in North Carolina with Dan's brother's family. It was a fantastic time with them all. While we were there Peter & Bunny hosted a dinner for us with a handful of couples from their church that have connections to Vienna. We had a lovely evening of meeting others with a common passion for this city.

During our visit in NC, the kids enjoyed just playing together.

Calvin, Jack, William, Emily, Worthy & Charlotte

They all got along splendidly. Worthy was delighted to even get in some Wii time with Uncle Peter!

Calvin was always up for some Baby Time.

Calvin with Emily and Jack

We also went to go hiking at nearby Pilot Mountain. I was really impressed with all the kids - especially Charlotte. She's so adventurous and totally hung with the big kids!

William hiked most of the way, but really enjoyed the time he spent backpacking.

However, the highlight was not the beautiful overlook or summer in full bloom. It was the Freestyle Dancing. Peter & Dan were at work Beatboxing and the kids showed off their skills.

And of course, a trip to Winston-Salem would not be complete without HOT Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts.

Toy Story 4

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Worthy. His Grampy took him out and bought him Woody. This made the little boy very, very happy. However, Worthy came home and his little brother, William, was filled with a jealous rage to have Woody too. This created quite the predicament and unharmonious atmosphere (translation: much screaming and fighting).

This caused G & Grampy to have great sympathy. They took the boys out and got them a Buzz & Jessie. And instead of just fighting over Woody, then they got to fight over Buzz as well. The mayhem has died down and they've actually shared the toys pretty well now.

I'm proud to say, the story ended happily ever after... except that anytime I see any of these toys NOT being played with, I feel terribly guilty because of how well done the movie is. They really do seem real.

Calvin - Eating

Today Calvin had his first experience with food. He didn't eat very much, but he did eat some. I think his next experience will probably be rice cereal mixed with a veggie. He seemed to like it.

And so it begins - cleaning up after one more boy at meal time :)

Unexpected Blessings

One of the great delights of coming back to Akron is the chance to see my dear, dear friend Mandy. We have been close friends since childhood when she use to live across the ditch from me. She now has 2 adorable boys a little older than ours. We got together a couple weeks ago and she had gathered the clothes for us that her boys had outgrown. It was so thoughtful and generous of her. One of the "small things" that I've fretted about is the transition from a warm climate like Florida to a cooler one like Vienna. Our wardrobes basically consist of short and t-shirts with a splattering of pants and some long sleeve shirts. This gift was so unexpected.

All these bins are full of clothes that the kids will be able to wear this winter - pants, sweaters and COATS! Another friend of hers even passed along some additional winter gear as well - coats, mittens, hats. We're so overwhelmed by the generosity of friends and the provision of God - especially in these small ways. This was an issue that I had some anxiety over, but really hadn't prayed about.

I find myself amazed at how God is supplying all of our needs before we even express them. Thank you to God and my sweet Mandy!

Cousin Couch Pics

Over the years, we've started taking pictures of our nephews and our kids on my brothers couch. It's become kind of a fun tradition to see the changes of the boys over the last few year.

November 2007

November 2008

August 2009

July 2010

A Day at the Farm

This past weekend we went to visit some friends, Donna & Terry. We've known them for years. Dan actually played matchmaker in their relationship. Hence his 100% success rate :)

They own a farm that they use for ministry purposes called Morning Star Farm Ministries. We enjoyed a peaceful picnic dinner.

The boys enjoyed seeing the baby chickens.

And we enjoyed great company, peace & quiet.

except for a couple of incidents...

Thank you God for beautiful summer Sabbath rests!

Worthy is 6

Worthy turned 6!

It's hard to believe he's so old. We celebrated with some presents & cake.

I love this picture of William looking on...

A Battle Force 5 toy from G & Grampy

Another funny moment brought to you by William

Worthy and my brother, Chris, share the same birthday, so it was great to celebrate together the birth of two of my favorite people in the world. We went over to their house, had a delicious dinner, followed by cake & pie.

We also did a lot of playing outside.

A wonderful, wonderful day!

Calvin - the baby

We really love Calvin. He's still in that fun blob-ish stage. He doesn't do too much, except rolling around, giggling, eating & sleeping. He's got the be the world's easiest baby. He's not too interested in sitting by himself yet - which is fine because I still love to hold him. We haven't started him on food yet, but that will be starting here pretty soon.

The boys still adore him.

And so do his Crazy Cousins :)

Jumpy House with Suds

Let me just say - I love my older brother. He is just crazy - in a great way. There is always some kind of bizarro thing that he concocts that turns out to be amazing fun. This day was no exception. He had the Jumpy House blown up in the backyard. The kids got out the hose & dishsoap and had a blast - and best of all - no one got hurt!

Just an afternoon of slippery fun!

Akron Fun

We're back in Akron. We've had a whirlwind trip over the past 2-3 weeks.

We've been able to spend some great quality time with family & friends while we raise the remainder of our support for Vienna.

Here are some things we've enjoyed while in Ohio...

Dan's taken the boys "hiking". Surprisingly, there are a ton of great parks in Akron. This time they went to Firestone Metro Parks, just a couple minutes from my parents house.

One of our favorite places to visit is Pav's Creamery. This is the ice cream place I grew up going to. They have the best soft-serve ice cream around. Every week they have a special flavor. My favorite is Coconut, but unfortunately it wasn't featured during our trip. I had to settle for Pistachio - which was not really settling at all.

Will seemed quite satisfied with the vanilla.

Worthy opted for Superman - of course...

During our visit, Worthy and Grampy have really enjoyed visiting the toy store. He's accumulated a steady stream of toys, mostly Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 stuff.

He's spent countless hours with these little guys. I love seeing his imagination at work.