O Christmas Tree

We used a two-part approach this year to decorating our tree. Jason was home a short while during the weekend, so he helped me drag it upstairs and the 4 of us put it together. The next day the boys and I had GiGi over for dinner and then we hung the lights and ornaments. This made for a much more relaxed (and enjoyable) experience instead of trying to cram the whole process into one afternoon. As for the rest of the decorations, I waited yet another day and put them up during Rylan's nap. That way I got to put everything exactly where I wanted without any extraneous input.

Lego Mania!!!

Jason spied an ad in the paper last week that proved promising. "Lego Mania" about 1/2 hour from our house. It is an intricately designed town made entirely of Legos by the Central Ohio Lego Train Club. Last night Conrad didn't have piano so I decided to treat the boys to dinner at Max and Erma's and then a trip to see this display. They were thrilled! Most impressive to me was thinking about how much money they have tied up in Legos. I have bought many Legos for Conrad over the years and they ain't cheap.

They had a pile of Legos on the table so people could make their own creations. Conrad decided to make the great pyramids. I think he named it "golden pyramids".

Gotta remember that reflective coats don't work well with flash! :)

This is the whole display. Now that's a lot of Legos!

The gal working there didn't have much info, but said she did remember that this tower took 50 hours to build. Yikes!

The display included several working trains around the outside.

The Chicken Whisperer

Any time I can't find Rylan, I know to first look in the coop. That is usually where he is. Sometimes he is holding the chickens. Sometimes he is feeding them soybeans out of the field. Sometimes he is just kneeling down and talking to them. He is totally captivated by his 8 feathery friends. We should ask him to take a calendar out with him next time to remind them of the date. They should be laying eggs any day!

My kid can fly!

Or at least it looks like it, don't you think?

Trick or Treat

Well, it was no surprise this year that Rylan wanted to be Spiderman for Halloween. He is obsessed with Spiderman. Spiderman undies, Spiderman shoes, Spiderman shirts, Spiderman backpack... The best part though is that we already had the costume! Conrad wanted to be a Clone Trooper (from the new Star Wars series) which also wasn't much of a surprise since he has been following that show very closely. Jason was out of town so I was on trick or treat duty this time, and we rode the hay wagon as usual. Rylan rode it until we got to my mom's house and then got off to play with her. Conrad and I rode it the rest of the way down the street, making it 3 hours of trick or treating! If anyone is in need of candy, feel free to come help yourself! I think we will still have some left by next Halloween!

Sick Day Activity

Both boys were feeling under the weather today. We found out yesterday that Rylan had strep, and while he was much better today than yesterday he was still dragging. He started the morning by telling me his ear "wouldn't turn on". Conrad stayed home from school because his stomach was hurting pretty bad. I know when he starts carrying a trash can around with him things could get serious. And not wanting to have him known as the kid who always pukes at school, I kept him home just to be safe.

By this afternoon they were both feeling better so I thought we would carve pumpkins. Normally we would have already done this, but we've been slacking this October in the crafting department.

First they got out all of my Sharpies and drew their designs. Rylan was happy with his until he saw Conrad's, and then he wanted it to look like that. It was a little disappointing to him that it couldn't be erased.


Next came the carving and scooping out. I am NOT a professional pumpkin carver. Nor am I any good at making a pumpkin look like Darth Vader. That is what Rylan's is supposed to look like, though you would never know it!


Finally the creations were done! Conrad worked hard to separate the seeds from the goop. The goop went into the coop for a chicken snack and the seeds went into the oven for a people snack.

Photography classes...well worth it!!

I am taking an 8 week photography class right now at the Perfect Picture School of Photography on understanding exposure. It is expensive, but has been very valuable in improving my skills at setting exposure and forces me to think about creating a photo instead of taking snapshots. The class is well worth the cost when I end up with images of my boys like these! :)