My favorite picture from Thanksgiving

It's a great day when I can be with Mom and Quintin on the same day. We took far too few pictures that weekend, but at least we snapped this one:

one picture each

Christmas break is upon us, which means Josh is making lunch for the kids and I'm running around like I'm on vacation. I will do my best to be a more faithful updater of pictures for the grandmas and funny stories for the friends (Hi, Beth!). In honor of today's warm weather, here are three pictures: one each of the kids in summer clothes, even though these pictures were taken in October, November, and December. (Jonah still claims to never feel cold. He says it's because he was born in Arizona, which seems counterintuitive to me, but what do I know? I am cold all the time.)

Miriam, during our family picture adventures:

Caroline, caught mid-laugh on our way to get pumpkins:

Jonah, at his possibly-favorite-restaurant: Cook Out (home of 40 milkshake flavors and the place where corn dogs and quesadillas are considered sides).

SATURDAY, the DAY for JAY [ No, really I'm not being sarcastic this time!] [By Jonah]

So, today is Saturday, and it did not work out the way I wanted it to! Let me back up, yesterday, we went to Jack's house-Jack is the one who had his baptism- and we stayed up 'till 11:30, which is totally what the grown-ups said we would do, but by the time I finished dealing with Miriam, and the baby-sisters [ get it? Baby-sisters?] finished the Pop-Corn, I had a major headache, what do you expect? It was Miriam after all, and we were all exhausted. And at 10, when the grown-ups came to pick us up..............zzzzzzzzzzzz. Okay, one paragraph long conclusion of yesterday, man, daddy I'm not such a packrat after all! Now, today, I wake up at 8:02, and then mommy leaves to the post office, and daddy and I are left to tend to the girls. One word: HOPELESS!!!!!! [Oh and 6 !s]Then daddy and I, have lunch two hours after the girls, I am going to collapse on my bed in a minute.


                                     NEXT PARAGRAPH! NEXT PARAGRAPH!





future self: Miriam screaming: MMMMMMMOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, While I'm writing this. Oh, now she's a chicken. " boooc boc boc boc booooooc"

Dear Dad,

I've been missing you more than is usual this week. It's been a bit unexpected, actually. I don't get any more homesick around Christmas than other times of year, usually, but something about this year is making me miss you...I blame it on the quilting frames.

Either way, I got to thinking: if you were here, what would I want? There are any number of things I'd love to discuss, and I definitely wouldn't turn down a good softball game, and I wish I knew more about your history and how you felt about life when you were raising kids (and how to manage it the way you and Mom did), but there is not anything left unsaid. I know I was loved and I hope I showed you how much I loved you too.

Thank you. I think that's what I would say. Thank you for the perfect childhood.

words of wisdom from Miriam

“I don't want to go potty. I’m an astronaut. Zoom zoom! Because I can zoom around the house.”

"Daddy got a mouse. Snap! He broke its neck."

"I'm a kitty. Meow meow meow meow!"

M: What's that?

K: sweet and sour

M: I don't like that. It's not good.

M: What are you doing?

Josh: The dishes.

M: NO! MOM do the dishes.

J: Yes, and I can do the dishes too.

M: BUT MAMA DO THE DISHES!!!

[two minutes pass]

M: Dad? You doing dishes?

my new book (by Jonah)

I am making a new book!! It won't be published like this is, but it is nice to know I have a book, [I have never completed a book before] and it is about the game I like to play with Caroline and Jack, so at least I am not the only one to know about it! The game is where all our stuffed animals are alive, they have special powers, and they go on missions with us! My Pets [as they're called] are: Lightning- ball, Tarteus, [aka Necterine,] Pear, Brush*, Helemen, Bear-woof, and woof-woof.Caroline's Pets are:
Little sparkle, [Hi Jojo,] Sheep-Dragon, [Hi daddy,] Bob, [Hi Caroline,] Chirp [Hi...........
-yaaaaaaaawwwwwwnnnnnn-]

Hmm, oh, where was I? Oh yes, anyhow the book tells about our pets, like where they came from, or what their powers are, The Spirit Star, [the more powerful life sources]  The Lesserground [the opposite] and the bursts of power that they can channel [and the boasts and 
sharp sense] if only people had a stronger trust and relationships.



*You remember him, right? The white doggy?

Dear Dad,

I came home from church yesterday and poured through my scriptures and reference books trying to prove the Sunday School teacher wrong. I figured you'd be proud (maybe of him more than me).

Love,
little k

The Spirit of Christ

We plan to watch this video in church today. I'm sharing it for two reasons: 1. I'm hoping that embedding it here will make it easier to access at church. 2. I need all the help I can get these days remembering that we're almost to Christmas.

Merry almost Christmas, friends.

Happy-birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [By Jonah Mays]

today, [or, yesterday. Saterday] I am going to Jack's birthday party!!!!!!!!!Jack is my best friend, and he has a brother named Scotty, and a brother named Gavin [aka, ''GABBY!!!!''] gabby is mim's best friend,, and Jack my best friend!!Friday, I  went to Target with mommy, and I got him a Star Wars TM mini-figure that should go well with the
Morrison's collection, and a Reese's peanut butter cup [$10.00 total]  and we asked Shanté  [Jack's mom], and she said that was his favorite. For his birthday, he's turning 8!!!!I'm sooooooooo excited!
I'm excited for Christmas! Thanksgiving was really fun, and I was happy to oblige eating the whole pumpkin pie! YYUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Apple pie was rrreaaaally yummy, too! [Hello rob Morrison. Yes, I know I ate all your pie. get over it, I'm part Hunt.]

FOR SOMEBODY YOU WON'T TELL BY THE TITLE THIS TIME [By Jonah]

                    BEFORE YOU START, KNOW THIS [THE FOLLOWING].


This blog is for Teri because she told me she knows nothin' about nothin'. And also remembers less than a worm. It is for our 'private' book club, but your welcome to join if you would like. Instructions; read this, read the book, then teleport to my house and tell me. ;)


Book club name: Teri, Jonah, and Mr. book
Edited: Jonah
Date published: November 17, 2016
What else you need to know: what I'm going to write

these are the books that Terry needs to read:
1. The wonderful story of Henry Sugar
2. The boxcar children
3. The magic tree house series
4. The thief lord [best one]
all of these are......supposedly young adult books. They, however, are very interesting

these are the book ["s"  deleted] I am supposed to read:
The importance of being earnest

have any others Miss I-Have-Just-One-Book-At-A-Time-For-Jonah?
If any others have any books for me would gladly oblige. thank you for reading the Thursday special.  

Dear Dad,

I introduced Teri to 21 bars this weekend. I couldn't help thinking of you the entire time, especially as I finished off the box the next day. I wouldn't have shared those with little me, either. They are just so tasty.

We talked about you a little bit, but not much. We both miss you too much, so we steered the conversation to Harry Potter, retirement, and water rights.

I'll share my ice cream with you any time,
little k

Kaitlyn comes to visit!

It's cold today. It will be colder tonight and rainy tomorrow. It seems like a good day to catch up on computer work until making soup for dinner. Brr. I had to resort to sitting right next to the space heater in order to enjoy my ice cream after lunch! (Sad day.)

With that, I've been going through pictures on my phone that haven't made the blog yet. I ended up turning off the automatic upload because my computer was getting full of pictures of Miriam's feet from early mornings when she wanders the house taking pictures and waiting for the rest of us to wake up. Since Kaitlyn and I are currently sending each other texts in reaction to the Alabama game, I'll start by documenting her visit last month.

One of the first things we did was head to Freedom Park in Charlotte. I have memories of Kaitlyn pushing Caroline on the swings before C could even walk, so I felt super nostalgic watching them play together at the park.

After the park and a stroll through Fourth Ward, we ventured North to an abandoned village near Hickory that was the filming location of District 12 in the Hunger Games movies. Even in the middle of the day, it was a little creepy. Hats off to whoever scouted the location.

We watched football, took the kids to soccer, played games, and ate milkshakes. Caroline made Kaitlyn a special decoration out of play-dough, and we all sulked for a few days after she left. I'm doing my best to talk her into moving to NC, but no luck thus far. That hasn't stopped me from looking at job postings and apartment rentals, though. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

house plans

When Caroline was a baby, Jonah adored her. About the time she turned three, he started to get annoyed with her because she didn't always want to do what he said. (And at that point, he had a new baby sister to adore.) The past year and a half, their relationship has changed shape many times over as they work their way through their respective changes in development and interests.

A few weeks ago, almost out of nowhere, they started playing together for hours at a time. While they often made up games and played in the mornings, most games would end in a fight. Now it seems I'm the one interrupting the game for lunch more often than not.

One of their favorite things to do together is to make Minecraft plans. Caroline then sits next to Jonah while he builds what they spent the day designing. Part of me wants to insist he give her a turn to play. Another part of me remembers how happily I watched Q play games as a kid. Either way, I'm happy to see them getting along so well, especially since they are both getting a little frustrated with Miriam's recent habit of making messes and running around screaming. (As am I, now that I think of it.)

DE DAY FER JAA. [By Jonah]

in the morning, I woke up about 8:34 or so. For breakfast, I tried fried eggs for the first time!
after that, we made mommy birthday cards! Did you know it was mommy's birthday? Hope
so because that took forever to write. Then we did some school, brushed our teeth, et cetera.
Then, Caroline and I played the Owner Game. Oooooookay. Fine. it is where Caroline is a
''........Bobcat'' and I am a ''.......Hunter''  and I find her in the deep dark woods. [The que-en
bed.] I say '' where are your parents?'' and she says '' the went to Austrailia. and left me behind!'' TM
then we went to piano lessons. And I learned a lot of stuff, bullah bulllolo blah. Aaaaaaaasaaa
aaaaand. Sorry. Oh yeah. THEN I WROTE THE BLOG. Okay now may I pleeeeeease be done?







                                                        BBBBBYYYYYYYEEEEEEE!!!
                                                        Bo-ho such a pity! waaaaah -sniff-
                                                          buh, buh, buh, bye!

Happy Halloween!

Let the record show: I had all the Halloween costumes done an entire day before Halloween! This was a first. All three seemed pretty happy with their chosen costumes (Percy Jackson, Raven Queen, and a cat), which made it even better. 

We went to Rob & Shanté's house for our soon-becoming-traditional meatloaf dinner before trick-or-treating. Miriam got the hang of it pretty early on and would NOT let me skip past any houses, even when she and I fell behind the group. In fact, when we headed back to Huntersville a few days later, Miriam was so excited to "be a kitty and get more candy!" Anytime she spies a plastic pumpkin around the house, she peeks inside just in case there's any candy left behind.

I think the thing the kids liked best was decorating for Halloween. The funny thing about that is that we have like 2 decorations total. They were happy to make their own! Caroline even decorated this bat I cut out for her. She stapled it (enthusiastically) and cut out little white chunks for eyes, teeth, and claws. It was impressive! 

not too dark

This morning at 4am, Miriam came into our room and tried to climb in bed. I groggily reminded her that she needs to stay in bed until the sun comes up and walked her back to her room. Sure enough, when the barest sliver of blue could be seen through the blinds, here came Miriam with her backpack on (upside down, no less).

"It's not too dark now!" she said, before climbing into bed. I wish I could take a picture of her stumbling around the room with a backpack as big as she is, but it IS rather dark in here, despite what she says.

grass and dirt

Josh often offers the kids grass and dirt for lunch. When they are all feeling silly, he insists that the kids like to eat grass and dirt. When they're being particularly picky, I will remind them that whatever we're eating is better than grass and dirt.

All that is to say, that when Josh made lunch today, he thought himself awfully clever:

Caroline cried.

Miriam ran outside to tell me that she does NOT like grass and dirt.

Jonah laughed and then tried to tell his sisters why it was funny. When they were too distraught to listen, he carefully cleaned off their plates for them. (If that doesn't describe all three children's personalities perfectly, I don't know what does.)

All was forgiven during the actual lunch (not grass and dirt), and Jonah and Josh continued to chuckle their way through the afternoon.

"..............god, half human half.........." and ".................that, when un-caped, turns into a............." frustrated? good. then my purpose in life is fufilled. [by Jonah].

One simple word; boredom. Nope. All done. no more blog. seriously, why are you still reading this?
I thought I made it clear I was done writing. [wow. I still am! weirdo Jonah.] do you realize how long it takes to write this? "Yes, obviously. otherwise, we wouldn't bother you like this." [-sigh-].................

are you dressing up for Halloween? Actually, forget I asked. it's obvious, isn't it? Well, we do. anyway, I am dressing up as Percy Jackson* .  This  is his.......er,........decipherable clothing:

Orange "Camp Half-Blood" shirt, Anacklosmlos [as in English, Riptide, a pen that, when un-caped turns into a celestial bronze sword. I'll explain later.], and a minotaur horn, which he obtained by destroying the minotaur. Duh. as for the ".........celestial bronze......" it is a material, in fact, the only material,  in which the monsters fear. a shotgun would probably bounce off a monsters skin like marshmallows, [yum!] but a celestial bronze sword would slice through  like a razor through air!

"I'm gonna take it off now!"

*Yes, I know how to use footnotes. why do you look so surprised? Percy is a demi-god, half human, half Greek god. He goes on adventures, usually, he saves the world by stopping arguing among the gods. he has a- HOLY COW I am about to spoil it.  /\
                                                                                   |

one more funny Miriam quote

The discussion around the breakfast table this morning centered on whether or not Miriam looks like Caroline did at the same age. As final evidence, we got down the baby pictures of each child and started looking through for comparable pictures. When Miriam saw the picture below, she pointed to Caroline and said, "It's me!"

I pointed to the baby and said, "No, sweetheart. This is you as a baby." Without missing a beat, she responded with, "Awww! It's me holding me!"

poor horsey

On Monday afternoons, Miriam and I find ourselves with time to kill during Jonah and Caroline's swimming lessons. On a particularly lovely day recently, we headed to the small park across the street. We had the place to ourselves, so Miriam was quite happy to play on each piece of equipment in turn. She spent most of her time on the little rocking horse, which was surprising to me. Those things seem to be the last toy claimed by any group of kids (and I admit to thinking they were lame until she showed interest in them).

She had no interest in scooping with the digger, which happens to be one of my favorites. A little bit later in the day, I figured out why. While telling me all about her adventures at the park, she said this:

M: ...and I rode the horsey!

K: Yes you did!

M: This park has two horsies.

K: Hmm...I only saw one.

M: No, two. That one (pointing to the digger) just died.

Poor horsey!

how to choose the perfect birthday present

When I was young, my mom gave me great advice. "A good gift is one you'd like to keep for yourself." A few weeks ago, Jonah and I went shopping for a friend's birthday present. We went to Wal-Mart an hour before the birthday party and I let him pick any gift he wanted within a certain budget.

After we walked around and looked at some options, Jonah expressed that he was feeling overwhelmed and didn't know what to pick (or what things his friend liked to eat). So I did what any good mom does, and I quoted my own mother. With that inspiration, he looked around more enthusiastically and came up with the perfect gift.

It was so much fun for me to watch him evaluate options. We spent a good 5 minutes looking at pencil options and debating the advantages of various erasers. I don't know how the gift was received, but I sure enjoyed watching his decision making.

ARTFORKIDSHUB:................... [WRITTEN BY Jonah]

okay........let's see. This is a bit simple. [That means for me, very very complicated.] There is a group called the Atforkidshub that I like, and its this ingenious dad guy who makes up step-by-step pictures and at the beginning it looks RIDICULOUS. Then at the end, it's amazing.

I like it pretty much. Anyway, I made a Jack Skellington drawing and I am going to tape it to my punk-in [Get it? this part is especially for Bammie. I know she is reading this right now and laughing her brains out. "But why? You're not even 80 years old!" {that will make no sense.} ]

Anyway, there is a bunch of pictures and some are simple,
like, he makes a cartoon character that is two inches tall,
or, he can make it hard [yeah right] for his son, Chuckers
[Jack actually]. Oh yeah! He draws the pictures with his
children, a four-year-old and a [what? 8-year-old?]        

Now it is time for din-din. It's been nice chatting!  

The girls say...

For some time now, Caroline has been telling us that she cannot sleep until the sky is black outside. After we put her to bed after dark a few weeks ago, she's added a new stipulation:

"I can't sleep until black. But if it's already black, I can't fall asleep until then either. I can only fall asleep right when it turns black outside."

Well then. I guess we'd better get our timing down!

Caroline also calls her toenails her "poenails," as in, "let's paint my poenails!"

---------

Miriam is full of all kinds of silly pronunciations. She also can't say "toenails." In fact, she calls them something that sounds like "pigtails" (leading to all kinds of confusion).

When Miriam wants a piece of paper to draw, she will specify that she wants either a "Mommy paper" (lined paper) or a "Jonah paper" (plain white paper).

Our favorite things she says are all versions of yes. For some reason, she starts every affirmative word with n-. "Nes" and "nep" (instead of "yes" and "yep") are funny, but "nah" instead of "yeah" is all kinds of confusing. I guess the good thing is that she's consistent.

After breakfast today, Miriam said she was still hungry and wanted some more fry bread.
Josh: How about some fruit instead?
M: Ok!
J: What kind of fruit do you want?
M: Macaroni and CHEESE!

SODIUM [not really, but sodium is involved!] [written by Jonah]

I didn't have any ideas for blog, so bammi and poppy said that I  should write about "the fastest airplane ever built". I don't know what that is, but I have read a book that said that they used "camel airplanes" in the [one of the,] war. that is not the fastest, because that was probably one of the first airplanes they ever built! Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.............................? I haven't read any more airplane books. Lithium [ yes, that's right. I can spell it I was stuck in my room for two hours with a chemistry book] I happen to know, is used in airplanes. Not sure if it's a metal or what. [Shhhhhhh! If my mom finds out I said that she'll make me look it up!]


                                      O O O [I don't have stars for the "next paragraph thingy]


So we're [I] learning about chemistry this year, [ remember the book incident?] and our activity [like with the planets on the wall] is we are making the  periodic table on the wall [on the wall on the wall]  
every week we learn about two - three elements and we make a card with the atomic number, name, abbreviation [ or symbol. You know what? whatever] and a picture of what it's used in.

PEECK!!!!! [Written by Jonah]

Peeek! Mommy said that you want to know about the chickens! So, let's see: they started laying eggs [actually, one of them did]. We get an egg about 10: 32 or so, every day so far. The one who started laying was Pig [AKA Pigwidgeon], and I don't really say there's a pecking order, but there is. Kinda.

                 PECKING ORDER, IN ORDER:

     Tops:   

               1. Kniven

               2. Pigwigen

               3. Pecky [way to go! you made it halfway up the p.o!                                                                               

               4. Penguin 

               5. Buffy  [neither buffy or Penguin will ever eat from anyone's hand.]

Once, I even saw pig lay!: 

Once I was wandering around with the chickens letting them try clover, when Pig started running for the coop! [And, man, you never saw a chicken run!] I went and got Caroline, and told her about it. Then we ran over to the coop. We could hear her scratching at the nesting box floor!! About five minutes later I came out [alone,]  to check on the egg, and pig was just getting out of the coop! and I checked on the egg, and it was still warm!!!!!   so now I think that other than mentioning that we HAVE A NEW NESTINGBOX !! I mostly covered all the facts.

soccer day!

We've been having problems with the internet; our connection is intermittent at best. As a result, Jonah's Friday blog is a little late. Never fear, Grandmas! He will fill you in sooner or later.

In the meantime, we've been busy enjoying the soccer season. We practice once a week and spend our Saturday mornings at games. By pure coincidence, Jonah and Caroline have matching uniforms (but not identical; if you look closely at the uniforms, you can see they have different team sponsors). Jonah is on Coach Alexander's team, and we've been told more than once that he is the best coach in the league. 

Josh is coaching Caroline's team, which is made up of 9 kids under 5. In reality, most of them are only 3 years old. It is organized chaos but so much fun. Miriam spends her time trying to run on the field and messing with the kids' shin guards and water bottles. Since she's only a few months younger than a couple of the kids on Caroline's team, we've considered throwing a jersey on her and letting her go play.

the sad tale of no butter and milk

Me, two weeks ago: Oh wow! This is our last stick of butter. Better make it last.
Me, last Monday (at the grocery store): I'm going to run to Costco next week. I'll just get butter then.
Me, last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (when I could have gone to Costco): *cough, sneeze, barely getting anything done*
Me, this afternoon (now out of milk as well): I'll run to the store while C and J are at swim lessons!
Me, during swim lessons: Oh, I forgot an ice chest. I can't leave butter and milk in the car for 2 hours until we go home.
Me, on the way home from swimming: We'll stop at the store on the way back! Yes, we're tired and Jonah won't put his shoes on, but we're just running in for butter and milk.
The grocery store: *no power to the coolers, so no milk or butter*

We may have to get creative for breakfast tomorrow. Toast without butter just isn't worth the effort. Everyone cross your fingers for us that a Tuesday or Wednesday trip to some store works out!

A DAY in the life Jonah [written by Jonah]

Okay, let's see here. Alrighty! I'm writing about Friday-today. Last night I had a cold, it's going away, and I had soccer practice. Our coach, Mr. Alexander [!!!], wouldn't let us have more than a thirty-second water break!  Anyway, I was kind'a sick, blah blah blah never mind it's almost gone now. On with the story! The next morning I woke up and said "YIPPIE!  My head cold's gone!"
then we had doughnuts for breakfast. [Let me add, that was two hours later. After I fell asleep again.]  
Then Caroline said "bye-bye!" and went to play in the mud. And then Mim said "beaaaa!" and, well you know, they started making messes, then we started [daddy and I] cleaning up after them. The usual. Two messy chicks and two tired vacuum cleaners. This is the 2nd thing I've done, [in school] sorry don't know what I have studied! Yet. OOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOoooooooh! That's about all I've done. OH and I won't forget-pictures included.

oh man they can get into stuff. WHERE DID DADDY GO? MOMMY?

OUR CHICKENS " peeeeeeeck!

more chickens. Actually, same ones.

doughnuts. mmmm-mmm! I'm surprised there's any left!

this is the book I'm reading. Well really mommy is reading to me. we finish this week!

Calling all Grandmas

Jonah is getting ready to write his weekly blog. It was very helpful for him to have questions to answer last week! Do you have any questions your handsome grandson can answer this week?

Caroline and the road kill

I feel like I don't even have to say any more than that. Anyone that knows Caroline well can probably predict where this is going. But because it's a hilariously ordinary story, I'll keep going.

A few weeks back, a possum got run over near our mailbox. Josh (being the sort of person that he is) invited the kids to walk down the path with him and look at a dead possum. So off we went to look at the road kill. Man, oh man, did it ever stink.

After examining the possum carcass and answering all the questions the kids came up with, I figured that was the end. It wasn't the end. At least once a day, Caroline would ask to go down and see "the skeleton." If I ever needed to check the mail or we found ourselves with an extra 10 minutes when the weather was nice, we'd head off to the mailbox to check out the road kill. We even took the cousins down to show off our skeleton. Quintin was about as impressed as a normal person would be.

We haven't been on a specific trip to see "the skeleton" since last weekend. There isn't much left anyway. We did take a walk to the mailbox today when Caroline and Miriam declared it was time for a family walk and went outside and got on their bike and stroller, respectively. Sure enough, as we headed back to the house, Caroline gave us a running commentary on the possum. "All that's left is its tail and some smushed fur and bones. But you can still see its tail!"

Minecraft (by Jonah)

"A few days ago, I got a game called Minecraft! It's a game made entirely out of square blocks, and the blocks are made of rectangles. At night, zombies, living skeletons with bows; and creepers[green, explosive monsters with no arms] come out. Depending on light level, they literily pop out of the air!
I'm not getting into the details, but  there's viligers that trade goods for emrelds [ha ha ha.you mine down mountins to get one]if they are attacked by zombies the turn into zombie-villigers!Ahhh!
you craft stuff by mining things. If you mine a block of cobblestone of a mountin [cobblestone is vaery widely used] it will drop a minituer chunk, which you pick up by walking on it. Every thing you pick up is stored in your Inventory, a 27 slot space that you press E to activate. At least on PC/Mac."


                           ANSWERS FOR THE GRANDMAS [or two of them ]




       Grandma Hunt: "They got here during quite time when I was cleaning my room meredith was in the luandry room 'cuase pets are'nt allowed.we had blueberry bukle for breakfast the next day [that's the gaint blueberry muffin rerember?]. Caroline and Mim got along great sharing toys,Caroline was a little upset sharing her bed, but other than that it was fine [exept me and Charlotte playing a game. Results:both our legs almost got broken.]. Caroline slept on the floor in mommy's room, I slept on the floor of mine, mim slept on my bed [and woke me up once at precicly 3:27] Alaxander, Molly and Quintin slept on Caroline's big bed. And oh yes yes! Mommy  and Daddy slept on thier bed. Kitty got along well with the chickens I saw her following them without them noticing [I think...] No deaths though! Thats all that matters! Alaxander was the cutest babay I ever saw! [Actually all  of them are, tee-he!] but I think that his eyes are more blue. Or green. Mabay I got them mixed up. Whatever."

                                                                           [note: grandmas can read each others answeres]

JOJO: a ton of fun like always THE END!

hahahahahahhahahahhaah just kiding! I am not done yet Minecraft was fun and my chores inclouded serve a sibling [aka serve a cousin e.t.c.] so I got to play with alaxander for my chore!! And yes/no to your other quistiun they did follow me but not that much. Actually I followed them!! reremmber when we were playing shouts and latters and  you draged your finger on mims crib? I did that to alaxander and he loved it!! Now, sorry if I mispelled your name or somthing and did not answere all your ?s, but I am hungry, and i've been typing for two hours!  So, bye!'

here again! [written by Jonah Mays]

Today Quintin is coming over! I don't know when, but I do know it is going to be fun! Well, actually it is going to be some time after Quite Time. 3:00 Or something. I don't know whether Kitty is coming, but I think so! I have not seen Alexander yet and it's been forever since I've seen Charlotte, Quintin,
or anyone else!
                                                                                                                           

back to school

This week is going to be insane. Let's just get that out there right away. Ok, now I can proceed.

We started school two weeks ago, and it's been (mostly) great. Both Jonah and I have needed to adjust to going to bed and waking up early, but we survived. We're studying all kinds of exciting things this year: chemistry, elements of stories, typing, and early modern history. We haven't made anything explode yet, but we certainly will.

One of the brightest spots so far has been watching him enjoy a graphic novel version of Don Quixote. I obsessed over the options online before ending up with this one. When I caught him laughing out loud and sneaking extra pages after lunch, I knew I'd made the right choice. Don Quixote is supposed to be funny! There is a story that King Phillip III of Spain looked out his window and saw a man laughing so hard he was rolling on the ground. King Phillip observed, "That man is either insane, or he is reading Don Quixote." He was patient enough to let me take some pictures, which is getting rarer and rarer in his old age. Caroline didn't want to be left out of the fun either!

And what about this week? More school, plus soccer and music classes for Caroline. Plus book group for me and college football this weekend! Plus a possible visit from Quintin & family. Hurray!

Caroline's new bed (written by Jonah)

Caroline got a new bed yesterday.We got it from our friends the Morrisons. It was giant, and almost as tall as me! We [me and Caroline] made a game where we would jump on it and we had special rules, too!


1.We could only jump on the blue [sheet].
2.We had to jump.we could not walk to get around.
3. If we touched the walls,blanket,or pillow we were dead.
4. If we touched each other both of us were dead.
5. After we died,we would respawn in the area with the least obstacles.

Soon we had a game going!! I wanted it to be called: Guardian of the sky, but caroline wanted:Caniibuiolclera [guys, I seriously have NO idea how to spell it.] So we called:
Blue Player.   

Minion (dictated by Jonah)

When we got back from New York, Daddy went back to work and we started doing school again. Once when Daddy came home, his friend Brian from work had given us some little minions from Despicable Me. (Mommy says they are either knit or crocheted.) He got them from Guatemala. I named mine Byron, and Daddy said that was weird this morning when I let him hold Byron (because that's Grandpa Mays's name). Mine is the short minion. In the movie, his name is Bob (I think). Caroline got the tall cyclops one, which is named Kevin in the movie. Miriam got the only girl minion, which had two eyes. And she named it "Minion." I was calling it that because I didn't know if Mim would name it, so she thought I had named it "Minion." She liked the name and kept it. I made Byron a little house out of cardboard, plastic wrap, and some tape.

The sign says, "Welcome to Eginecorfeert, home to Byron." When I was cutting the box, Mim saw me doing that and wanted to make a house too. She got one of the boxes from my birthday and stuffed her minion and blanket inside. I read Byron a book last night, and he slept in my bed because I didn't have a house for him yet. Tonight he will have his own house. I don't know where Caroline will put her minion. Probably he will just sleep on the counter or something. Byron's not really a stuffed animal because he's made out of wool or whatever. That makes him a wool animal.

I sent Brian a letter (that Daddy took to work) and told him about Byron and said thank you for our minions. Mommy drew "Thank you!" on a piece of paper for Miriam and Caroline and they colored on it for their notes.

NY Trip: Corning Museum of Glass

We stopped halfway between Gettysburg, PA and our final destination to visit the Corning Museum of Glass. Josh had been years ago and remembered liking it, so we hoped for the best and off we went. It was amazing! Jonah especially loved it. The girls were a little young to really get a ton out of the visit, but kids and teens are free anyway. Other than getting a bit squirrelly at the end, they both handled the visit really well. Jonah, meanwhile, went from room to room enthusiastically pointing out the cool things that can be done with glass.

The best part of the visit was the live glassblowing demonstration. We were all completely enthralled. I knew a fair amount about how glass is made beforehand, but I still learned a ton. For example, a small dimple at the bottom of a glass bowl or vase is one indication that it has been blown by hand. It's a byproduct of the way glass is made by hand (as opposed to by machine). Another sign that glass bowls are handmade is a small rim in a different color. Not only can that not be replicated by machine, but it requires at least two people.

I call this one, "Toddler gets silly during nap time." I'd crop her out, but then you'd miss the full effect of what this museum trip was like:

Another neat part of the museum is the Glass Through the Ages section: multiple rooms full of different types of glass based on style and technology. We all had our favorite parts. Mine, of course, was the Frank Lloyd Wright window.

The museum had all kinds of things for kids, including a scavenger hunt and display carts where employees would demonstrate various aspects of glassmaking. Caroline loved learning all about how glass beads are made.

We could have spent another entire day at the museum and been happy, but we're glad we got to spend the time that we did. Josh said it was only slightly less enjoyable than when we went as a carefree teenager, but we both agreed it was probably a combination of having seen some of it before and not having the luxury to read all the plaques. We'll just have to go back in our retirement.

two years old, in a nutshell

There is nothing more indicative of life around here than this:

This morning, Miriam was pointing to pictures on the wall and calling out the names of who she saw. When she got to our family picture, she laid on the ground and cried because in the picture, Caroline has a sucker but Miriam does not.

Quite possibly the best part of the story is that Miriam in the picture does have a sucker. Once I got the real-life-crying-on-the-floor Miriam to notice the small yellow sucker, all was better. Off she ran to play, happy as can be.

NY Trip: Gettysburg

Oh hey! We're back from our trip to New York. It was a great trip with so many wonderful moments. The first of those wonders was a day spent in Pennsylvania, primarily to tour Gettysburg.

After a long drive, we spent the night with some family friends in Pennsylvania. The kids got a kick out of feeding the fish in the koi pond, and I think the Howes enjoyed having them around. (I hope?) It was so nice to be able to get out of the car and stretch our legs.

The next morning, we trekked out to Gettysburg. We spent a couple hours in the visitor's center before heading to town for lunch and a library book sale. I learned a few things at the visitor's center that I hadn't known (or remembered), like how many of the states had soldiers fighting on both sides.

After lunch, we stopped in for some doughnuts and cupcakes. I was so full from lunch that I barely managed a half a cupcake, but Josh and Jonah talked about these doughnuts for days after. (Apparently, they were amazing.)

After lunch and the book sale, we headed back to the battleground for the driving tour. It alternated between pouring rain and a light drizzle, but we still braved the observation tower and a few sites. Josh and I both commented how beautiful and sad the whole experience was. Caroline asked the same 4 questions for days, most of them about whether or not the soldiers were still fighting the war.

It wasn't until after our visit that it occurred to us that Josh might have family that fought in the Civil War. We're still looking for specifics, but we are all interested to find out if and where. Our last stop at the battleground was the Pennsylvania monument, where I found this plaque:

I was worried that it would be hot and crowded, but it was neither. The rain must have scared some people away, because we didn't feel rushed or crowded at all. There were so many little details we would have liked to stop and appreciate, and all kinds of activities we missed, but I think the visit went about as well as I could have hoped for with the kids at the ages they are.