Whew! When's Nap Time

Busy day today. We started the morning with a Chavarah get together at Einstein Bagel. Just about all the families in the group came with all the kids. We overfilled the place but managed. Right after that it was time for swim class. It was week 3 of this session, but for Faith it's just her third class overall. She is really doing great.
Jacob really loves the water and has no qualms about putting his head in.		But... he still has some trouble listening and paying attention.
The teachers are pretty tough and don't put up with much. The little girl crying next Jacob didn't want to put her head in the water. So one of the teachers (the one in orange, who you'll see in the movie below) tells her she only has to put her head in the water once, but she'll make her do it twice if she didn't stop crying! That's my kind of teacher.
Reuben really got it this week. With the goggles, he finally has gotten over his fear of putting his face in the water. And then all of a sudden, he's swimming!
Right after swimming it was onto Mitzvah Mania at our synagogue. There the kids helped make casseroles for a shelter, some art projects to give away, and then learned about all the ways to help people. I'm pretty sure they were not really delivering the food the kids helped make; I think the heath department would have us shut down.
So that was our busy day. Karen topped it off with a tuna casserole of her own, that the boys devoured. Not Faith of course, though she did try a bite before getting a peanut butter sandwich .

Library Grand Opening

Breakfast at IHOP of course. It was a little different today; Jacob dressed as Spiderman.


Then it was onto the new Fairfax City Library. The kids have been waiting for months for it to open. We got there when it was a whole 30 minutes old. I must say it is a beautiful building; very nice architecturally. The library seemed laid out pretty well and I didn't realize how well stocked libraries are with audio books. I may have to try that. Karen's been using audio books with the kids for awhile now. They are almost through all the Little House On The Prairie books. The one thing I think the new library may be missing is a large open room, like an auditorium. Maybe there is a way to convert an area. Time will tell. As for the opening day turn out, it was packed!

Nana Visit - The Recap

I'm still swamped with a proposal effort at work. The proposal work is in the home stretch; its due on the 4th and I think we may have finally settled on our technical approach and are finally within the weight budget. I guess better late than never ;-)

Anyway I've been remiss with some postings. Last week Nana visited and all had a very nice time.




And then goodnight...




And Bedtime The Movie

Shaker Dance

Been real busy at work with a proposal, so no real posts of late. Karen's Mom visited this weekend and we had very nice visit. Hopefully I'll get to post a picture or two. Here is a quick video of the kids at a show that Karen and her Mom took them today.

Oh my - You've got to believe

Giants Win! Giants Win! Giants Win!!! Wow I am so happy. Go Giants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Waaaaahhhhhhoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! Bring it on Pats. - karen

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Here is a scene from Reuben's Dinosaur Museum. The plant eating dinosaurs took their revenge upon the meat eating T-Rex.

In other news of the day, it was swim class again. Jacob can now swim on his own for several feet or probably until his breath runs out. He swims face down and mostly kicks, but definitely progress.





This afternoon the kids played pretty nicely around the house. Faith was Mary Ingalls, Jacob was Pa, and Reuben was Laura. At some point they made there way downstairs for Church; Laura, Pa, Mary and baby Carrie (a doll that Faith was carrying). Church service turned out to be in front of the TV with the Colts v. Chargers game. To some people I guess the NFL is Church. Then they followed Pa (who for some reason was wearing a police helmet, sunglasses, and was carrying a homemade sword) back upstairs to get out of the Sunday clothes.

I think the Little House On The Prairie audio book series that Karen has been playing in the car has sunk in!! I don't really follow too much, as I only occasionally get to hear the books on tape, never read the books, and never watched the TV show. But it is funny to listen to the kids play out the parts.

Just The Boys

Reuben, Jacob, and I head out this morning to hit the streets of DC. Beware ladies!!! That would be lady dinosaurs... Our destination was "the dinosaur museum," better known as the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.


It took us awhile to find a parking space, but we finally got one by "the giant pencil," better known as the Washington Monument. So, we stopped by there first to get a closer look.


The boys thought it was a fancy place because of the shiny (and slipperly) marble bench.


"Does it go up to the Sun?"

After the monument, we walked several blocks to the museum and of course saw the dinosaurs. We then walked through the hall of mammals that Reuben always used to be afraid to go into. In the hall of mammals the background noise occasionally plays a thunderstorm that used to scare him. Today, he wanted to go in and said he was no longer afraid. Well done, Reuben!

Then back to car and unto lunch at Silver Diner, where some lunchtime pancakes were devoured in record time.

Faster Than A Speeding Bullet

That was Faith, in front, during warm-ups at her new class, Gym Jam, at a Faifax RecCenter. The class concentrates on sports and especially team sports. Karen also had nice short video of Faith hitting a ball off the tee. She did well, but it's not too surprising since we've practiced that at home. What was nice to see is that she was very enthusiastic about the class; more so than at home when it comes to sports. Maybe she's intimidated by her brothers.

Mud Bath

Well today I say goodbye to my dream of growing grass in a particular area of our backyard. Back in the Spring I had high hopes. And it even started to look like a success. That is until the drought set in this summer. Most of the grass in this area didn't make it. And after today, no hope!!! The kids and Karen (believe it or not) got the already muddy area nice and wet by dumping all the water collected in the cover of our sand box and then... Just watch.

Great line at 2:22 and it ends with a bang.

Looks like come next year, the mud pit becomes a stone walkway.

She Swims!!!

Swim class is back into session, but this year... Faith is taking classes. Our expectations were low considering that she dropped gymnastics because she wouldn't do any of the moves. But, she surprised us and I think even herself and was great. I heard her in the pool saying to herself "I did it" after one of the moves.




The boys also picked up right away from where they left off and had a great time. Their class was very large this time with 6 kids, but there were 3 instructors so it worked out well.


The movie below really captures Faith's enjoyment.



In the afternoon, I replaced our old closet doors. What I expected to be an hou job, turned into a tool-fest. Turned out the bottom door brackets were different style than what the original door needed. Unfortunately, they wee also a different size and were originally cut into the hardwood flooring in the closet and the vinyl (though now I'm thinking possibly asbestos) tile and a metal door jam on the floor. This meant I had to expand the cut-out, then shim up the opening to install the new bracket. I think I used almost every tool I own today: screwdriver, hammer, saw, drill, dremel (my favorite), and some makeshift items. In the end, it still turned out pretty good. Now the whole foyer needs a paint job!

Kicking Off 2008

This morning I took the kids to the park. It was a beautiful day with a little bit of wind. Time to finally give in to the kids' pleas on flying a kite. We had a bit of luck, but the wind was gusty; changing from nothing to a big gust and then back to nothing in a matter of seconds. We had our moments and for our first foray we did OK. The kids had fun and want to do it again.


The most excitement at the park was peeing against a tree. We walked to our local park and were there for awhile when nature called. However, the port-a-john that's usually there was gone; must be gone for the winter. So what to do? When I mentioned the idea of peeing against tree, Jacob couldn't drop his pants fast enough ;-) Faith on the other hand, I couldn't convince to squat down on the grass. I'm not really sure how that would've worked for anyway; I can see why many girls aren't big campers. So I called in the reserves and Karen came by in the mini-van to pick Faith up for a real potty break.

Later in the day, our friends Ken and Karen and their daughter Amanda came over to play. This was a bike riding event!! when it got too cold it was inside for the Smart Cycle.




They wound up staying for dinner and watching last night's ball drop with us. A real nice visit all around.