A Big Day

This is a big day at our house. First and foremost, Gillian turns four!


Harry, who has been on a whirlwind tour of grandmothers' houses, is coming home.


AND Nicky is coming home from camp!


Gretchen and I can kiss goodbye the bliss that comes with having only one child at home. But we missed them. And boy howdy, did Pablo miss Harry.

1st Day at School

Today is Nicky and Gillian's first day of school. Nicky is going back to school -- 5th grade -- after a year off for homeschooling. This is Gilly's first day ever. She's only three.

By the way, Harry is going to school too -- kindergarten -- but we have to wait a few days to get him into the right school. (I could publish an entirely new blog on the faults and foibles of the Providence School system, so I'll spare you for now.)

Here they are, all set to go!

Gilly says "bye!" with a wave over her shoulder.

Here we are waiting for the bus. Don't I look so brave? (Yes, it's coffee in my coffee cup.)

15 minutes later and we are still waiting. I took Gilly for a little stroll so she wouldn't get too restless.

Another 10 minutes and we are still waiting. The bus never came, so Gretchen drove her to school. Good thing she had the car today, huh?

While Gretchen and Gilly (with Harry) went off in search of pre-K enlightenment, I walked Nicky to his school. We live 0.9 miles away from his school, so no bus ride for him. Poor guy, I think he's the last kid in America who actually wants to ride the bus -- it just hasn't worked out for him yet. Maybe when we move.

Into Drumming

Lately, Nicky has been getting into drumming:


Well, okay. He got into one drum.

Diorama!

Ever notice how the word "diorama" looks more exciting than it actually is? I blame Bananarama and all the "o-rama" things out there for the hype.

Anyway, Nicky and Harry made dioramas of alligator habitats today.

Remembering Sushi

"Sushi" is the name that Nicky gave to the goldfish he won at
U. Hartford's Community Day last month.

I had previously taken the motor out of an old blender,
installing a low wattage night light in it's place.


Sushi looked great in it.

He (or she, we can't tell with fish) was a very cute fish
and was a joy to have in our kitchen.

He will be sorely missed.

Cookies

Nicky is making cookies. He's actually pretty good at it,
but he gets bored easily with the standard recipes.
So he like to "mix it up" a bit by adding non-traditional ingredients.

Like hot pink food coloring.

Harry is helping.

Look closely at the area around his mouth,
if you're curious as to what he's helping himself to. ;-)

Nicky Wins!

Nicky is quite a poker player. At nine years old, that's something.
(I know, maybe you think it's something he shouldn't be.)

Four of a kind beats a full house...

...But you don't see it happen very often!

From Three Years Ago

I have two children. Nicky is six and Harry is about a year and a half. While building a spice rack for their mother last Saturday I overheard this "conversation" taking place in the living room:

Harry: Doo bada Icky!

Nicky: Get off me, Harry!

Harry: Doo bada Icky!

Nicky: Ow!

Harry: Oo!

Nicky: Ow!

Harry: Oo!

Nicky: Ow!

Harry: Oo!

Nicky: Ouch!

Harry: Ook!

Nicky: Ouch!

Harry: Ook!

Nicky: Ouch!

Harry: Ook!

Nicky: Mom! Harry's hitting me!

Mom: Harry, get off your brother.

Harry: No! Doo bada Icky!

Nicky: Ouch!

Harry: Ook!

That's all I could hear, Nicky yelping and Harry copying him. After that, my laughter drowned them out.

Gettin' "Cozy"

Gilly & Harry wearing tea cozies.

The two fingers sprouting from Harry's head are Nicky's.

First Snow

We had our first snow of the season today. Really, it was little more than slush from on high, but the kids dug it. Nicky built a snowman!



Notice all the green tracks in the lawn, showing where the snowballs had been rolled.



"All done, bored now."

That's the little snowman in the bottom left corner. It's camouflaged by all the yard debris stuck in the snow.

Sadly, the temperatures shot up right after these photos were taken, and Frosty is no more. Perhaps the detritus lives on as compost.

By the way, Gretchen made the scarves. Aren't they great?

Hallowe'en Train

We asked Harry what he wanted to be for Hallowe'en this year.

"I want to be a train."

Do you mean, you want to be an engineer? He got a nifty new engineer uniform for his birthday in August.

"No, I want to be a train."

So Gretchen cobbled together this costume: Harry the Train.

It's Thomas, of course.

Good thing we saved all those boxes, huh?

Nicky dressed as a vampire and Gilly as a pumpkin.

Pretty good, huh?

9-11

Special guest blogger today, Gretchen.

-- Ben


Nicky and I did a "history" lesson today talking about 9/11 and
reading/viewing some stuff in Projo and AP.

I wrote some poems that you could put in the blog if you wanted.

Remembering 9/11

5 years..My mind pulled back--
Warm, sunny, glorious September day.
My three-year-old playing in the yard while I read,
Phone rings--youngest nephew--
Horror--plane crash--Two Towers.

Run inside to television--horror
Standing transfixed...
Transfigured...
Lines jammed. No phones...
No planes...all quiet.

5 years...Family...now three children,
Sunny, glorious September day.
Remembering...now he's 8, learning history.
Looking at pictures, listening to stories, reading accounts.
Horror is now sadness...quiet tears fall.

and...

Horrific event--terrorist attack.

Everything stops.

Rescuers are frantically searching...

Occasionally finding a miracle.

Everyday people--

Saviours and souls.

Nicky's home!

Nicky's at camp this week -- ECC. He loves it there.

Gillian, looking cute but fretful during the drop off.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the kitties eagerly await Nicky's return.

Coming soon to "Battle Bots"

Ideas Nicky has for fighting robots.

The Pointy Thing is my favorite.

(Sorry, they're backwards for purposes
of copyright protection.)

Action Boy!

(Actually, we usually call him Kinetic Boy at home.)

Warp

Nicky enjoys warping the space/time continuum before school.