Tot Tennis

Waiting for class to begin.

Nolan has been waiting for a long, long time to play tennis. At least, that's what he tells us - it has really only been about 2 weeks since we signed him up through our local YMCA. They have a "tot tennis" class for 4 and 5 year old children that focuses on preliminary tennis skills.

His class size is really small, which is nice because the kids get a lot of attention.

The coach has them run a lap at the beginning and end of the lesson. I love any sport that burns off energy.

The kids develop eye-hand coordination by throwing and rolling balls back and forth to each other. Since there are five kids in the class, Nolan was partnered up with the coach.

The lesson is only 30 minutes long, but it is perfect for my little munchkin! He really loves going to the class, and I love seeing him so full of joy!

In Which the Dog Recognizes the Truth

Our cat rules the family.

Exhibit 1:


The cat approaches the dog's bowl and requests food. The dog pretends to give the cat a stare down, but we all know who the victor will be here.

Stage 1: Denial

Exhibit 2: 


The dog goes through the very brief "five phases of grief." Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.

Denial:             I don't believe he's eating my food!
Anger:             He's eating my food - grrrr!
Bargaining:     Please, God, don't let him eat my food! I'll be a good dog!
Depression:     He ate all my food. I'm sad.
Acceptance:     I'll just go eat the cat food.

Stage 4: Depression

Exhibit 3:


The dog accepts the futility of asking the cat to move over, and appeals to the humans for help. Sadly for the dog, we are not willing to risk the vehement force of teeth and claws that exist in our cat. We'll just feed the dog later, after the cat retires to his throne bed.

Stage 5: Acceptance

Who's Your Daddy?

Nolan has quite a few "friends" that have been joining him at bedtime. The number has topped fifteen stuffed animals, and it can be hard to find the boy among the bears, lions, frogs, and puppies!

I asked him if he really enjoyed all of his animals, and he told me,

"I have lots of kids."

Oh, I thought - that is so sweet! I asked him if he was a good daddy to his kids. He looked at me blankly and simply replied,

"Oh, I'm not their daddy. The lion is."

Apparently, Nolan is simply the caretaker for the diverse offspring of the lion. And don't ask me how a lion becomes the father of a frog, a dog, and several bears. Some things need to be taken at face value.

Matt liked the idea of having a bed full of animals, so he copied Nolan's plan and ended up with several "friends" in his bed, too.

Sometimes the cuteness is overwhelming! Goodnight from the boys!

Back on the Ice: Timbit Hockey, 2011-2012

We headed down to the ice arena last week to pick up Matt's new jersey and to exchange his skates for a larger size. He chose "the white team" this year, and was fortunate to get the same number (7) as last year. The only thing they didn't have on hand were new sticks, and his stick from last year is quite short!

A lot of the new beginners are on the chairs, and Dennis is helping the little tykes stand up in their skates. Matt is a very steady skater this year, and simply heads off with the "big kids" to run through skating drills. He's the kid in the white jersey out in front/on the left hand side of the picture below.

Here's to another fun year of ice, pucks, and a little boy with a "sweaty head!"

A Late Halloween Post

We've been rather busy renovating a bathroom and spending time outside during unusually good weather this past week. Here are a few (late) Halloween pictures:

 Batman, an Owl, and Jango Fett: Trick-or-Treating

Pumpkin guts are DISGUSTING! 

Going back for more seeds... 

YUCK. I'm not touching that! 

A quick puppy-hug. 

Jack-O-Lanterns, carved by Mom. 

Happy Halloween!

Letterboxing Again

We took the boys on a short hike to find two more letterboxes (what are letterboxes? Here is an explanation). We hiked through the woods and found the first one fairly easily - the boys were happy to get their stamp in their book. We were happy to get them out on the trail to run off some energy!

Once we had stamped into the letterbox, we headed back to the main trail to find a second box. It was listed as missing, but the owner planned to replace it - so we decided to take a look.

We found the spot, but the box was missing. The boys were disappointed, but our mission to run off some energy was accomplished. We were in the area of the Chautauqua Gorge, so we took Casey Dog down to the water to see if he'd take a dip. He did chase one stick into the water, which surprised us (for being a Golden Retriever, he isn't that fond of water).

He jumped out as quickly as he could and refused to get near the water again. He spent most of our afternoon on this rock:

Matt managed to find a few fossils and we headed home - we were all happy to have seen the sunshine on the last warm day of fall (side note: it snowed on the Thursday following our hike). It seems like winter is going to descend upon us, whether we're ready for it or not!

Zoo Boo 2011

We chose one of the few non-rainy nights and decided to drive to the Erie Zoo for the annual trick-or-treating event. The kids were pretty good in the car - I think we may never travel without blankets again!

We had some errands to make (in the midst of renovating a bathroom, we had to return a vanity to Lowe's), and the boys were exceptionally good in the hardware store. Their patience was wearing thin toward the end of the errand portion of the trip, but we had no meltdowns in the store. We treated them to dinner at Panera Bread, which Nolan has dubbed "Erie," as if the entire point of the city of Erie, Pennsylvania is to house Panera Bread. Their macaroni and cheese is pretty delicious, though, so I can sort of see his point.

We finally headed to the zoo and managed to score great parking. We had bought our tickets in advance, so we didn't need to wait through the long line - we just zipped right through the entrance and started trick or treating. The kids loved trading their tickets for candy. We also saw a few animals, though we didn't get many pictures in the dark.

I did cringe when I saw one certain booth again. Last year, this one caused Nolan to melt down in tears.

Who let the dentists crash Halloween? Nolan didn't cry this time, but Matt almost did. Toothbrushes on Halloween make kids sad.

Fortunately, there was a nice person sneaking the kids some Trident gum at the back of the booth. Gum makes kids happy (and it is good for their teeth)! Win-win.

The boys were happy, tired, and had bags of candy - Zoo Boo 2011 was a success!

Leaf Time

There is always one day in fall when the sun is shining and the leaves are perfectly crisp on the lawn. It is usually the only day in fall with these conditions, so when the weather strikes, we grab our rakes and start piling! Next, of course, comes the jumping.

Jumping into crunchy fall leaves is probably the most fun event in the world, especially when you have enough Maple trees to literally bury yourself in leaves.

I'd write more, but we have some jumping to do!

Port Farms

We headed down to Port Farms on Sunday morning. The weather has been unusually hot lately - it was 82 degrees and brilliantly sunny the entire day! The kids were so excited to get to this farm (located in Waterford, Pennsylvania) - the giant slides, corn bin, hay fort, and pedal tractors were enormously fun for the boys. Our neighbors joined us, and the three boys had the best time together!

We had such a good time playing at the farm, and we can't wait to go back next year!

The Enchanted Forest, 2011

We took our little Jango Fett and Batman to the Enchanted Forest on Saturday night. The event is hosted by our local Audubon Society, and features trails lit by luminaries in the woods. Along the trail, volunteers are dressed as native animals and talk to the children. It is a really educational event (did you know that the Pennsylvania woodland cockroach will not enter houses?) and the kids absolutely love it.

Matt and Nolan really liked the Monarch Butterfly - the first animal we encountered on the trail. I didn't get very many pictures, since the sky darkened considerably once we were into the woods.

After seeing the various animals (this year featured the butterfly, cockroach, tree frog, garter snake, spider, and a bat), we headed inside for some popcorn, cider, and crafts. Nolan had a great time making a spider that could actually climb up a web! Matt decided to make a butterfly.

The Enchanted Forest is always the beginning of our amazingly wonderful fall season here: festivals, pumpkin patches, leaf piles and trick-or-treating events fill up the majority of October. I love every second of it, and so do the kids!

Reason Number 837 Why I Like Being a Mom

I get to be Spiderman's chauffeur. 

Going to Little Caesar's is a LOT more fun with a superhero.

Farewell, Gardening Season!

This summer, we grew our own vegetable garden. Watermelons, tomatillos, tomatoes, cilantro, and chives have been filling our bellies for the growing season. Matt and Nolan both planted watermelons (different types) and nurtured them from tiny, baby plants to full grown fruit.

Matt grew Orange Tendersweet, which have an oddly-colored orange flesh but taste wonderful.

Nolan grew Sugar Baby watermelons, which have a traditional red flesh and are also delicious.

And then we had watermelon coming out of our ears. Watermelon everywhere. I made watermelon jelly.

Watermelon fruit leather.

I gave watermelon away to friends and neighbors. I'm pretty sure we won't grow watermelon next year. I thought I would never say this, but we're sick of eating watermelon. Fortunately, the last melon has been cut up and eaten!

I also canned tomatoes and tomatillos, and we recently ate spaghetti sauce from some of our canned, homegrown stock.

I am officially addicted to gardening and canning. I just need more garden space so that I have more jars on the shelf next year!