Cream Cheese and Cookies

Ethan and Ryan spent the morning playing a game which involved using empty cream cheese boxes as communicators. They opened up both ends of the boxes and put them on their arms. At one point, Ryan couldn't find his box. I emptied the butter out it's box and offered him that one, but it didn't have the right constellation of pictures, so I searched the house and eventually found the missing cream cheese box in the recycle bin.

Carrie and her kids came over for playtime and cookie-making in the afternoon. Ethan was still wearing the cream cheese box when Carrie got here. She asked him "So, what's that on your arm? A ray-gun?" Ethan just rolled his eyes and very slowly and clearly told her "It's a Cream. Cheese. Box." He cracks me up. Carrie and Esther cracked up too. Quinten (Carrie's oldest) looked puzzled and said, "What's so funny?" We told him, but I don't think he thought it was funny.

The Ethan, Quinten, Chloe, and Ryan immediately headed out into the backyard, despite the 20-degree weather. They jumped on the trampoline and played with foam swords. Carma elected to stay in the warm house and color and help bake cookies. She really liked making the batter, but wasn't too into cutting out cookies shapes. Instead she climbed up to my shoulders and did back flips. The older kids came in to help decorate and eat cookies.

It was a really relaxing fun day. I love having friends come over.

Tummy Crummies and Flu Vaccines

We talked to Ethan and Ryan last month about getting flu shots, and Ethan said he definitely wanted one. Ryan wasn't so sure. We called the pediatrician and were told that they were currently out of doses, but would have more available this month.

In the meantime, Ethan got a horrible stomach virus. He starting vomiting Sunday night and felt crappy into Monday. I started throwing up on Tuesday and still don't feel completely well. Esther got sick on Wednesday and is still under the weather. Ryan threw up once on Wednesday, laid down for about 10 minutes, then leapt up ready to play. Jeanne has, so far, managed not to get sick at all.

All this was not the best lead in to today which was flu shot day for Ethan and Ryan. Ethan was a bit nervous about the whole thing, and Ryan said he wasn't going to get one at all. That was fine. We told them that it was up to them, and they could change their minds right up until we left the doctor's office. When we arrived at the office, the nurse told us that instead of a shot, the guys could get the nasal version. Ethan said he'd take that happily. Ryan said, "I'm getting the shot. I like pain." The nurse dosed Ethan and then drew up Ryan's shot. She wiped his arm with the alcohol and unsheathed the needle. Ryan said, "Never mind. I'll take the nose kind." I was really glad that the whole experience was pain free.

At dinner tonight, we were all talking about our days. Ethan said he got the "nose shot" and that it was "really great." Ryan said, "I had to get the flu nose shot. My boss said all spies need to get one every year. Next year I have to get another one or I can't work anymore."

I have no idea when he decided that being a spy meant getting a flu vaccine. That just goes to show you who is the real spy guy around here.

Kid's Vote

Isabella Pinto organized her own election. Here's a bit from the Waterbury Republican-American (Connecticut):

Isabella Pinto, 8, was so disappointed to learn she was too young to vote, she organized her own election. The young political junkie and contemporaries from her recently launched Children's Right to Vote Committee on Tuesday will address what they consider an injustice. They will oversee their own presidential election, one open to even those born after iPods first hit store shelves. "It's not fair that we don't get to vote," said Isabella, an aspiring commander-in-chief (and lawyer and scientist) from Thomaston. "People say 'We the people,' and children are people, too."

The rest of the article is here: http://www.rep-am.com/News/376850.txt.

When we told Ethan about this, he said he had to go to Thomaston and vote. It's about an hour drive from New Haven to Thomaston, but that didn't deter him. After Esther and I cast our votes for Obama, we piled into the car and set off for Ethan to vote. Ryan said he was not going to vote because it didn't count anyway. I can understand that.

Ethan was so excited to get to vote for Obama. He said he wanted to vote because Obama was against the war and would help people who don't have a lot of money. He said he thinks it's great that Obama wants to "spread the wealth."


Once we got to Thomaston, Ethan had to register, and get his ballot.

Next he went to the voting table and marked his ballot.


Finally he put his ballot in the ballot box.
He was very happy to get he chance to vote. He even got an I voted today sticker which he put on the calander along side ours.

Lucky for Ethan, he got his election results already:

Presidential Winner: Obama - 66, McCain -53, Nader - 4

Total Voters - 123

Now let's hope the nationwide vote follows this one!

Watching Shrek

Ethan, Ryan, Mimi, and I were watching Shrek. Sadly, the disk from Netflix froze. While Mimi was trying to get the movie to play again, the following conversation took place:

Ryan: Why did Shrek put on that helmet? He shouldn't have put that on and then she (the princess) wouldn't have yelled at him to take it off.

Ba: Shrek didn't want the princess to know he was an ogre. He didn't want her to be afraid of him.

Ryan: Why are people afraid of ogres?

Ba: In most fairy tales ogres are monsters who eat people -

Ethan (cutting in): Yeah! And drink their body fluids!

Ryan: What are body fluids?

Ethan: Honestly, I have no idea.

My guys crack me up.

End of the Summer Fun

Our days have been very full lately. I thought August and September would be relatively open months, but they filled up with lots of fun. We cleared out some boxes we had on the third floor and found that we had lots of old financial records we no longer need. We put them in boxes and asked Ethan if he wanted to learn to shred paper. At first he wasn't interested because he was busy on Webkinz. Once he found out it involved a loud machine that wreaked mayhem on hapless sheets of paper he was all over it.
I love the outfit he put together that day. The shirt ("I do all my own stunts") is from his Nan-nan (godmother) and the hat was on its way to Goodwill when he intercepted it. He made the earrings and the necklace himself.

Water still looms large in our activities. Ethan adores going to Hammonasset Beach. I really like this photo of him hanging out there. It was taken on 21 September 2008. We went to the Guilford Fair and Ethan wanted to go to the beach afterward. The water as warm, but the air was too cold for Ba or Mimi to want to get wet. That didn't stop Ethan. Nothing stops Ethan from going into the water. I have no doubt he'd say yes to skinny-dipping in Fargo in February.

Ryan declined to go to the beach. He likes the water well enough, but his passions are his DS and his Webkinz. He's not with his Webkinz here. This time he's sharing his DS secrets with Chiquite. Chiquite is a travelling stuffed monkey. He goes from homeschool house to homeschool house hanging out and having fun.
Ryan is also a big fan of lollipops. We went to the New York Renaissance Faire which is not lacking in the lollipop department.

Chiquite came to the Ren Fest as well. That monkey just cracks Ryan up.

New Hampshire, New Fridge, New Haven

July was quite the month, but I'm going to start out with today because it's fresh and amusing. Ethan and Ryan stayed home with Mama Jeanne today while Esther and I set out to get a refrigerator. The old downstairs fridge died a horrible death last month and we had no choice but to get a new one. We got an amazing deal since Sears was having a sale and we had a $50 coupon.

While we were in Sears, we got a phone call from Mike Alumni Cruises. We just booked our rooms for the Unschooling Adventure Cruise in October of 2009. In order to talk to him, Esther wanted to sit down. We ducked into the nearest dressing room and sat down in a stall. While she was talking, I listened for a while then looked around the stall. I noticed a very large pair of shorts hanging on a hook.I thought it was odd that they were men's shorts. Then I looked at the other clothing in the stall. It was all men's clothing. She finished the phone call and left. The sales associate outside looked very confused. We just smiled and walked away.

In other news, we spent 10 days in New Hampshire at Kim's cabin. The first two days Esther and I had to work. If you've ever wondered what we really do at work, here's a picture of breakdown. Mike is one of the show producers and the girl pushing him is Georgia, child of one of the other vendors.



Back at the cabin, there was lots of game playing,

and hanging out by the pond.
There was also a day of bowling. We won a free game of ten-pin bowling last year at the Firemen's Auction and cashed it in this year.

We got to spend with Kim and she got to spend time with Croydon.
Ryan loved having s'mores each night. It was even better the night we had the fire, s'mores, sparklers, and fireworks.

Of course all that fun in one night can make you very tired.
Ethan liked getting up early and waiting near the dock for anyone else to get up and go swimming with him.
Both Ethan and Ryan liked having Uncle Stephan's and Uncle Gareth's friends come up. Callen played guitar and that was very cool.

Now we're back in New Haven and looking forward to a day at Lake Compounce on Monday. Right now though, we 're having fun playing Webkinz and Puzzle Pirates.

Gymnastics, Water, and Spy Birthdays

So, what have we been doing? Well, playing with the digital camera is always involved.


Ethan just finished up his Spring gymnastics session. He has been pre-team since January and is ready to move up to team in the Fall. The problem with this is that the boys who are in his class and who would be his teammates aren't very nice to him. They tease him about having long hair and being home schooled. He mentioned it on and off over the time he's been at this gym, but when I asked him if he wanted to stop going he always said no. Finally a few weeks ago, he started to cry on the way to gymnastics. He said he just didn't want to go. We pulled over and said that was fine. He said he couldn't take the teasing anymore and that there was no one at the gym he liked. We asked about his coach and he told us that he thought the coach was rude and unsympathetic if one of the boys was tired or sore or hurt. We asked him if he still wanted to do gymnastics if we found him a new gym. He said absolutely. We told him how proud we are of him for telling us what was going on and for just being him.

We've since found him a new gym a little further away from the house. He started there today and loves it. The coaches there don't tolerate any name calling or teasing. If it happens, a warning is issued, and ultimately, if it doesn't stop, than the person isn't allowed to attend the gym anymore. Ethan is on the team at his new gym and he was laughing and smling and talking with the other boys during practice yesterday. I never saw him engage with the boys at the previous gym, so this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Other than gymnastics, water has been a theme over the past few weeks. Even if we spend the day at the house, water is involved.

Once a week we go up to Petersen Park in Wolcott to hang out with a group of very cool home schoolers. The park is really neat. It has a small waterfall.
I had never walked up to it even though I'd been going there for weeks. Ethan and Ryan had walked up there with other mommies and kids. They said that in addition to the waterfall, there was a swimming hole. When I walked up there, I was surprised at the rocks and roots in the path. I thought it would be a level flat path like the other ones in the park. It was only about half a mile to the waterfall, but it was a little difficult in some spots. Peg had never walked to the waterfall either. She isn't very sure-footed, so it was great fun walking up there with her and seeing how happy she was to finally get there.

I love how her daughters are looking admiringly at her.

Ethan and Ryan said the water was cold, really cold, but that didn't stop them from going in.

Nikki opted to look at the water instead of going into it.
Along with the waterfall and the swimming hole there is an interesting tree. Piper just fits in it.

We went on a boat ride around the Thimble Islands. It was organized by and for homeschoolers. Ryan and Ethan enjoyed it a lot.

The islands have some amazing houses on them. This one is Cut-In-Two Island.
It was cut into two parts by the 1938 hurricane. Now it joined by a foot bridge.

We've also gone to Lighthouse Point. The water there was too cold for me, but, once again, nothing keeps Ethan and Ryan out of the water.
It helps that a dry towel awaits them when their teeth start to chatter.

Finally, we celebrated Ryan's actual natal day. He wanted to get his family presents the night before his birthday. Who could say no to a birthday eve? He got a lot of spy gear. No surprise there.
All the gear came in a briefcase (a brand new real leather briefcase we got at the thrift store for a dollar) along with the following note:

Important Memo From Spy Headquarters

Super Spy Guy Ryan
Agent Number 12345
25 June 2008

It has come to our attention that you are about to turn 5 years old. You have hereby been promoted to Super Spy. Be careful! Super Spies need to be even sneakier than regular spies.

We have entrusted this case to your mommies. In it you will find several important tools that you will use to be a better spy. Do Not let these items fall into enemy hands. More Super Spy tools will be sent to you next month. Our lab is still testing them.

Happy Birthday and Good Luck!

Highest Chief Super Agent Spy

Oddly, he didn't find the note as amusing as Jeanne, Esther, and I found it. Ah well. He is only 5.

Manhattan and Ryan's Birthday Party

On Thursday I took Kim to her doctor appointments while Esther got to take Ryan and Ethan as well as their friends Doran and Amory to the top of the Empire State Building. Our guys have been there once before, but it was Doran and Amory's first trip to Manhattan.
They really liked the Subway.
The top of the tall building was cool, too.
Today was Ryan's 5th birthday party. He actually turns 5 on the 25th CLASSIFIED, but no real spy lets anyone know private information. He had said he wanted a spy-themed party, but changed it at the last minute to a Rescue Heroes one. He still got lots of cool spy gear including binoculars hidden in a football and a secret code book with decoder pad.

We made him a Rescue Hero symbol birthday cake.

He got lots of presents.
We had 3 rescue games for everyone to play. First we put a bunch of plastic balls and some crumpled newsprint into a tent along with 2 dozen parachute guys. We covered the tent with white sheets. (Thanks Karen for tent and sheets and Mik for the newsprint!) That was a tragic avalanche in which the parachuters were trapped! The kids went in with flashlights and rescued them though so all ended well.
Next we made cardboard flames and set the swing set on fire. Ethan and Amory were trapped inside! Luckily, we had some water balloons to use to douse the flames. Teo and Kyle were happy to aid in the rescue.
In fact, we found no shortage of volunteers.
Ethan and Amory were in no hurry to be rescued though.

Oddly, some people preferred air in their balloons.
Finally, we hung some small foam airplanes in the tree. We said they were having internal fires. of course you can't use plain water to dose a jet fuel fire. Since foam fire spray is expensive and dangerous, we settled for whipped cream.

Sam was willing to demonstrates good firefighting technique.
But really, who could have whipped cream and waste it all on some silly airplane fires?

Certainly not Ethan!

Nor Amory!
Piper managed to make a can explode.

Ryan was content to just play the gracious host, or is he taking them back to fill water balloons?
So, we had a very full week and now we have four sleeping boys and several slippery spots in the yard where the rain is busily washing away the whipped cream.

We also have a little bit of leftover cake.

This week in pictures

On Monday Kim generously invited a bunch of people over to her house.

The slip and slide was a favorite activity.

Goat herding was also very popular.

Tuesday was a very busy day! First up was Ryan's gymnastic class where it was parent day. Ryan hates parents day. He doesn't like so many people looking at him. Ethan, however, got to show off in front of the parents as he demonstrated some cool moves to the younger kids.

This a photo of all the kids with the medals and certificates they got for finishing the class. Spies don't let people take their pictures. I mean, really, how would it look if a spy got photographed at training camp? Ryan is in the photo. He is hiding behind the girls standing in the back row, but you didn't hear that from me.

Next we went to Stephanie's house where Ryan got an early birthday present. Actually, he got 2 presents. One is a mandala drawing kit and the other is a stuffed olar bear. Last year Stephanie gave him a stuffed jaguar which he still carries around.

One of Stephanie's cats was very interested in a bag of beads and string I brought to work on.


In the evening we went to homeschoolers night at the New Britain Rockcats baseball game. There were 508 homeschoolers there. It was 97 degrees at game time, but that didn't stop Ethan and Ryan from settling in for food and fun with friends...
and without.


Of course, what's a sporting event without a bench-clearing brawl? Really Ethan is just tweaking Teo's nose. Teo thought this was big fun.

What's up with that?

Life is just a laugh riot when you're at the game.


On Wednesday we hung out with friends at Petersen Park in Wolcott, CT. One of the kids found a snake (a Northern Watersnake) which obligingly let me photograph him.

I also noticed a cool looking Green Frog in the creek.




I'll write more about the rest of the week later when I get the photos downloaded to the computer. Now it's time for me to have a hot drink to soothe my sore throat while I watch some television.