Untitled from nicole lewin on Vimeo.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Hodgepodge and Handguns
It's cicada weather around here these days. For those of you northerners who have never experienced this exceptionally noisy insect, here is a picture.
The noise they make I cannot imitate, although my boys often try.
They are a fairly tame bug, and very easy to catch as James found out at church yesterday. He insisted on bringing one home. It kept crawling all over him in the car and trying to get onto Seb, who was screaming in terror. When we got home, Steve told James to let it go free. He was trying to put it on a tree when it suddenly took flight. The boys were all excited watching it go, when out of nowhere a robin swooped down and snatched it right out of the air. A bit traumatic, but hey, that's nature for you.
Saturday was spent installing this new item on the boys wall.
Steve found it at one of the properties he was working on. It was covered with old marker streaks and masking tape with kids names on it(I assume it once belonged in a school) but it cleaned up really nicely and I am loving it. I can always use more cubby holes!
Can you tell what is wrong with this picture?
I am not sure which of my boys needed to make sure that the baby was doubly pacified, but I thought it was pretty funny.
James to Etienne the other day.
"I am sorry Etienne, but pirates cannot have deedees."(ie security blankets)
Have I mentioned that sometimes I feel like I have a lot of boys?
No wonder I drool over those little pink baby girl shoes with flowers on them. Brown sandals get monotonous.
Still wondering about the word handguns in the title? First of all mom, don't worry, we are all fine and I don't want you losing sleep over this. I have only lost a little bit myself.
Saturday afternoon I was sitting in the living room with the boys when I heard the front gate flung open (I forgot to lock it) and hurried footsteps. The next thing I knew, two rather large men were trying to come through my front door, so I did the first thing that popped into my mind and yelled for Steve. Thankfully he was home and came running. The men turned quickly around when he asked them what they wanted, mumbling something about getting the wrong house. I thought it was weird, but seeing as they walked away, I put it out of my mind (after locking the gate again). I went back to doing laundry when I heard Steve talking to someone on the phone that sounded suspiciously like the police. I looked at him questioningly and he pointed out the window. There in the dirt of my side yard were lying two rather large handguns. They were not toys.
It took me a while to register what I was seeing, but by then Steve was outside talking to three cops who apparently had been looking for the guys. I put a movie on for the boys in my bedroom and shut the door, so they wouldn't need to wonder why there were several policemen in our yard unloading guns and examining bullets. They ended up catching the guys, but couldn't arrest them because they had no proof that the tossed sidearms were theirs. As far as I know there was no shooting involved, but it was pretty scary nonetheless. All in all, I am thankful that nothing worse happened and that God was looking out for us. Even so, we are letting the dog off of his chain and Steve is never leaving the house again, right honey?
The noise they make I cannot imitate, although my boys often try.
They are a fairly tame bug, and very easy to catch as James found out at church yesterday. He insisted on bringing one home. It kept crawling all over him in the car and trying to get onto Seb, who was screaming in terror. When we got home, Steve told James to let it go free. He was trying to put it on a tree when it suddenly took flight. The boys were all excited watching it go, when out of nowhere a robin swooped down and snatched it right out of the air. A bit traumatic, but hey, that's nature for you.
Saturday was spent installing this new item on the boys wall.
Steve found it at one of the properties he was working on. It was covered with old marker streaks and masking tape with kids names on it(I assume it once belonged in a school) but it cleaned up really nicely and I am loving it. I can always use more cubby holes!Can you tell what is wrong with this picture?
I am not sure which of my boys needed to make sure that the baby was doubly pacified, but I thought it was pretty funny.
James to Etienne the other day.
"I am sorry Etienne, but pirates cannot have deedees."(ie security blankets)
Have I mentioned that sometimes I feel like I have a lot of boys?
No wonder I drool over those little pink baby girl shoes with flowers on them. Brown sandals get monotonous.
Still wondering about the word handguns in the title? First of all mom, don't worry, we are all fine and I don't want you losing sleep over this. I have only lost a little bit myself.
Saturday afternoon I was sitting in the living room with the boys when I heard the front gate flung open (I forgot to lock it) and hurried footsteps. The next thing I knew, two rather large men were trying to come through my front door, so I did the first thing that popped into my mind and yelled for Steve. Thankfully he was home and came running. The men turned quickly around when he asked them what they wanted, mumbling something about getting the wrong house. I thought it was weird, but seeing as they walked away, I put it out of my mind (after locking the gate again). I went back to doing laundry when I heard Steve talking to someone on the phone that sounded suspiciously like the police. I looked at him questioningly and he pointed out the window. There in the dirt of my side yard were lying two rather large handguns. They were not toys.
It took me a while to register what I was seeing, but by then Steve was outside talking to three cops who apparently had been looking for the guys. I put a movie on for the boys in my bedroom and shut the door, so they wouldn't need to wonder why there were several policemen in our yard unloading guns and examining bullets. They ended up catching the guys, but couldn't arrest them because they had no proof that the tossed sidearms were theirs. As far as I know there was no shooting involved, but it was pretty scary nonetheless. All in all, I am thankful that nothing worse happened and that God was looking out for us. Even so, we are letting the dog off of his chain and Steve is never leaving the house again, right honey?
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Not your ordinary boys
So I made a big batch of orange marmalade today.
Why, you may ask? Two reasons- first my husband is half-British and is in love with the stuff and second, we bought a 25 pound box of oranges from a roadside stand on our way back from Florida. These hands can only handle so much orange peeling before the citric acid starts eating away my fingernails.
Unfortunately, today decided to be the hottest day we have had yet this year and our AC isn't functioning so well. The marmalade making made the kitchen extra cozy, which in turn made me grumpy, which led me to usher all of my boys outside to play so I could sweat in peace.
There are days when I simply can't get my boys to play outside. I always thought boys just lived outdoors and I would have to be yelling from my front porch half the day to get them to come in. Granted it was hot outside, so the third time they came in whining, I got their swim trunks on and set up a sprinkler. I even ran through it a few times to show them how fun it was. They didn't buy it. They were all knocking on the door, begging to be let in while the sprinkler sprinkled merrily all by itself. I told them they had to stay outside just a few more minutes- gave them all full permission to have a waterfight or make as many mud pies as they wanted. Still knocking. Then James had the brilliant idea to sneak in the back door.
"All right", I said. "If you want to be inside, you have to clean." (Ha Ha, sneaky mom wins, right?)
His response was "I would love to do that mom." And he did. He cleaned up his bedroom, even vacuuming it, and then I came into my room and found this.
"I thought these looked better like this than on the floor mom."
By then his brothers had found the back door too, and were wanting to know what they could clean. I was running out of stuff by this time, so I told them if they wanted to be inside they had to play in their bedroom with the door shut.
This they did for five minutes or so, until I heard crying- and I mean really heartbroken, end of the world crying, so I went to check.
I found Etienne sobbing away, while James was obviously holding something in his fist that couldn't be seen. I asked him what he had done to Etienne. He admitted to doing something to him. When asked what it was, he opened his hand. It was empty. I asked again what he had done and again he showed me his hand, cupping it as if he were actually holding something. I looked to Etienne for clarification, and he was pointing at James's hand too, but crying too hard to talk. James then explained that he had been making pretend sandwiches for his brothers, but that Etienne was copying him. He didn't want Etienne making sandwiches too, but since he wouldn't stop, he insisted that Etienne had to put pepper on them just like him. Etienne didn't want to put pepper on his pretend sandwich, but James was making him do it anyway. That is when the crying started. What James was "holding" was a pretend pepper shaker. !!!!????
At that point it was dinner time, so we forgot about pepper sandwiches and hunkered down for some gourmet buttered noodles with leftover broccoli (Steve was not home).
After dessert of a piece of 85% cocoa dark chocolate (my boys won't eat milk chocolate. What in the world?) I sat down to play the piano for awhile. I noticed it was strangely quiet, and I also noticed it was bedtime. I went to their room to tell them it was jammie time, but they weren't there. I opened the front door and lo and behold, there they were having a grand old time. And then the inevitable- "Don't make us come in mom, we are having a waterfight!"
Where do these people come from? Maybe from a mother who is silly enough to make orange marmalade on a 95 degree day. Who knows.
Why, you may ask? Two reasons- first my husband is half-British and is in love with the stuff and second, we bought a 25 pound box of oranges from a roadside stand on our way back from Florida. These hands can only handle so much orange peeling before the citric acid starts eating away my fingernails.
Unfortunately, today decided to be the hottest day we have had yet this year and our AC isn't functioning so well. The marmalade making made the kitchen extra cozy, which in turn made me grumpy, which led me to usher all of my boys outside to play so I could sweat in peace.
There are days when I simply can't get my boys to play outside. I always thought boys just lived outdoors and I would have to be yelling from my front porch half the day to get them to come in. Granted it was hot outside, so the third time they came in whining, I got their swim trunks on and set up a sprinkler. I even ran through it a few times to show them how fun it was. They didn't buy it. They were all knocking on the door, begging to be let in while the sprinkler sprinkled merrily all by itself. I told them they had to stay outside just a few more minutes- gave them all full permission to have a waterfight or make as many mud pies as they wanted. Still knocking. Then James had the brilliant idea to sneak in the back door.
"All right", I said. "If you want to be inside, you have to clean." (Ha Ha, sneaky mom wins, right?)
His response was "I would love to do that mom." And he did. He cleaned up his bedroom, even vacuuming it, and then I came into my room and found this.
"I thought these looked better like this than on the floor mom."
By then his brothers had found the back door too, and were wanting to know what they could clean. I was running out of stuff by this time, so I told them if they wanted to be inside they had to play in their bedroom with the door shut.
This they did for five minutes or so, until I heard crying- and I mean really heartbroken, end of the world crying, so I went to check.
I found Etienne sobbing away, while James was obviously holding something in his fist that couldn't be seen. I asked him what he had done to Etienne. He admitted to doing something to him. When asked what it was, he opened his hand. It was empty. I asked again what he had done and again he showed me his hand, cupping it as if he were actually holding something. I looked to Etienne for clarification, and he was pointing at James's hand too, but crying too hard to talk. James then explained that he had been making pretend sandwiches for his brothers, but that Etienne was copying him. He didn't want Etienne making sandwiches too, but since he wouldn't stop, he insisted that Etienne had to put pepper on them just like him. Etienne didn't want to put pepper on his pretend sandwich, but James was making him do it anyway. That is when the crying started. What James was "holding" was a pretend pepper shaker. !!!!????
At that point it was dinner time, so we forgot about pepper sandwiches and hunkered down for some gourmet buttered noodles with leftover broccoli (Steve was not home).
After dessert of a piece of 85% cocoa dark chocolate (my boys won't eat milk chocolate. What in the world?) I sat down to play the piano for awhile. I noticed it was strangely quiet, and I also noticed it was bedtime. I went to their room to tell them it was jammie time, but they weren't there. I opened the front door and lo and behold, there they were having a grand old time. And then the inevitable- "Don't make us come in mom, we are having a waterfight!"
Where do these people come from? Maybe from a mother who is silly enough to make orange marmalade on a 95 degree day. Who knows.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Orlando
Thanks to my father-in-law, we were able to spend a week for free at a condo down in Florida. It was so much fun- perfect weather, lots of adventures, and lots of time just soaking in the pool. I was a bit lazy about getting pictures every day, but here are some highlights. Thanks Grandpa Lewin!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
A good day
(I meant to post this a few days ago, but it still applies)
Don't you love it when you are expecting a difficult day and it turns out differently? My husband says I am a pessimist, but I prefer to think of myself as a realist. We just spent the last ten days in Orlando- a trip that was somewhat exhausting, but well worth the effort (I'll post pictures later). We got home late last night and I knew the morning was going to be rough- getting James back to school, refilling an empty fridge, getting Christian to the pediatrician by 9 am for some yucky shots, unpacking and cleaning a filthy car and getting everything put away. You get the picture.
I managed to get out the door on time, but we got stuck behind a semi-truck going up the mountain. All you who are locals know what that means- 7 miles an hour up the hill. I groaned inwardly and prepared for the bad day ahead, but wonder of wonders he actually pulled to the side of the road after only a few tedious minutes and we were off. I dropped James at school and made it to the doctor just in time. Our pediatrician is so great- and I was so encouraged when she asked me if I had
"celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus Christ." I know we live in the South where these things might not be so uncommon, but it is still wonderful to exchange a "He is risen indeed!" with a stranger. Anyways- the shots were no fun, but Christian is as healthy and strong as a little guy at two months can be and just beginning to smile.
I was further encouraged at the grocery store when almost everything I needed to buy was on huge discount "today only". I guess I picked the right day to go shopping- even my favorite cookies were on sale, so I splurged a bit. But munching a cookie in the car made me thirsty, and driving by Starbucks was too much of a temptation for me, so I thought I might just get a house coffee. I gave the barista my cup and asked for the brew of the day as I reached into my bag for some cash. I started to hand him the money but he said, "This one is on the house today." Just like that- a free coffee for no reason!
I know they seem like little things, but just knowing there are nice people in the world is still a boost.
And when it came time to clean out the yucky car, James offered to vacuum it for me. I was thrilled. Granted, he and Etienne decided it would be fun to see what would happen if they sucked a bunch of toilet paper into the hose, thereby clogging the whole thing and making me spend half an hour getting it unclogged, but he did finish the job afterwards.
Then we spent the afternoon working in the yard which is growing beautifully and then I found out some very good friends of ours are moving back to town.
And if that wasn't enough to make me smile at the end of a not so bad day, this was.
Don't you love it when you are expecting a difficult day and it turns out differently? My husband says I am a pessimist, but I prefer to think of myself as a realist. We just spent the last ten days in Orlando- a trip that was somewhat exhausting, but well worth the effort (I'll post pictures later). We got home late last night and I knew the morning was going to be rough- getting James back to school, refilling an empty fridge, getting Christian to the pediatrician by 9 am for some yucky shots, unpacking and cleaning a filthy car and getting everything put away. You get the picture.
I managed to get out the door on time, but we got stuck behind a semi-truck going up the mountain. All you who are locals know what that means- 7 miles an hour up the hill. I groaned inwardly and prepared for the bad day ahead, but wonder of wonders he actually pulled to the side of the road after only a few tedious minutes and we were off. I dropped James at school and made it to the doctor just in time. Our pediatrician is so great- and I was so encouraged when she asked me if I had
"celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus Christ." I know we live in the South where these things might not be so uncommon, but it is still wonderful to exchange a "He is risen indeed!" with a stranger. Anyways- the shots were no fun, but Christian is as healthy and strong as a little guy at two months can be and just beginning to smile.
I was further encouraged at the grocery store when almost everything I needed to buy was on huge discount "today only". I guess I picked the right day to go shopping- even my favorite cookies were on sale, so I splurged a bit. But munching a cookie in the car made me thirsty, and driving by Starbucks was too much of a temptation for me, so I thought I might just get a house coffee. I gave the barista my cup and asked for the brew of the day as I reached into my bag for some cash. I started to hand him the money but he said, "This one is on the house today." Just like that- a free coffee for no reason!
I know they seem like little things, but just knowing there are nice people in the world is still a boost.
And when it came time to clean out the yucky car, James offered to vacuum it for me. I was thrilled. Granted, he and Etienne decided it would be fun to see what would happen if they sucked a bunch of toilet paper into the hose, thereby clogging the whole thing and making me spend half an hour getting it unclogged, but he did finish the job afterwards.
Then we spent the afternoon working in the yard which is growing beautifully and then I found out some very good friends of ours are moving back to town.
And if that wasn't enough to make me smile at the end of a not so bad day, this was.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Another Perk
So another perk of having boys is the bugs.
I stumbled across this beauty whilst digging in my yard yesterday and instead of smashing it to death with my spade as I was immediately tempted to do, it somehow made its way into a jar on my countertop.
Now I wouldn't consider myself as an arachniphobe. The only bug I really run screaming from is a cockroach, but I must admit this guy gave me the willies. I know it looks like a huge tarantula-type in the picture, but in reality it was only an inch and a half long or so. That's big enough for me though. The boys, of course, wanted to know what kind of spider it was, and I was curious to know if it might be, you know, venomous in a deadly sort of way, so I jumped onto my surfboard and hit the internet. Let me tell you that after half an hour of looking at the creepiest eight-legged creatures on earth, my latent arachniphobia was emerging. My skin was literally crawling and I had to wipe the cold perspiration off of my brow. There are some crazy spiders out there folks!
This particular specimen turned out to be a trapdoor spider of the female variety. And its bite produces only mild discomfort. It was a very informative experience and I was able to introduce my boys to pictures of the black widow spider, so now they know to run screaming if they ever see that little red hourglass. They spent the rest of the evening taking turns staring at it in the jar, and only once did I have to intervene to keep it from escaping into my home. James wanted to know when it would start laying eggs. At that point I was ready to say goodbye, so currently our little friend is visiting James's kindergarten class(hopefully permanently). I am sure his teacher is thanking me right now.
I stumbled across this beauty whilst digging in my yard yesterday and instead of smashing it to death with my spade as I was immediately tempted to do, it somehow made its way into a jar on my countertop.
Now I wouldn't consider myself as an arachniphobe. The only bug I really run screaming from is a cockroach, but I must admit this guy gave me the willies. I know it looks like a huge tarantula-type in the picture, but in reality it was only an inch and a half long or so. That's big enough for me though. The boys, of course, wanted to know what kind of spider it was, and I was curious to know if it might be, you know, venomous in a deadly sort of way, so I jumped onto my surfboard and hit the internet. Let me tell you that after half an hour of looking at the creepiest eight-legged creatures on earth, my latent arachniphobia was emerging. My skin was literally crawling and I had to wipe the cold perspiration off of my brow. There are some crazy spiders out there folks!
This particular specimen turned out to be a trapdoor spider of the female variety. And its bite produces only mild discomfort. It was a very informative experience and I was able to introduce my boys to pictures of the black widow spider, so now they know to run screaming if they ever see that little red hourglass. They spent the rest of the evening taking turns staring at it in the jar, and only once did I have to intervene to keep it from escaping into my home. James wanted to know when it would start laying eggs. At that point I was ready to say goodbye, so currently our little friend is visiting James's kindergarten class(hopefully permanently). I am sure his teacher is thanking me right now.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Four!
So my mom flew down for a last minute trip last week. I didn't get a lot of pictures of the few days she was here, but we had such a sweet time of visiting and getting things done around here. Thanks so much for coming mom! And it was so great to have someone from the family here to help celebrate Etienne's fourth birthday. I didn't get very many good pictures from his little party either, so here are a few favorites from the last four years.
We love you Etienne!
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| Etienne |
We love you Etienne!
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