Rockin'

August was the month when all our dreams came true. Okay maybe not all of them, but at least a few of them that had been kicking around in our minds for years. Aaron and I got to see Paul McCartney. The Paul McCartney. The Beatle. Asher and Addy got to see their very own American Idols. In person. And Aaron and I also got to see Elton John. The actual person whose music we fell in love to. Oh, and Emerson and Sera got to fulfill their dream of . . . having a lot of babysitters? Well, actually, we all got to go to King's Island, and even though they were excluded from all the rides that were actually fun (because they were too darn short), they seemed to have a pretty good time.

So, back to the beginning. The first week of August, we packed up and headed to Cincinnati. We left super-early in the morning and made it in time to hit King's Island before lunchtime. Up and down and up and down, we covered all the major roller coasters (riding the famous Beast for the first time--a seriously awesome roller coaster), did some spinny stuff, ate a little amusement park food (though we thankfully snuck in a bit of real food as well), and then did it again. Though it was lots of fun, especially for the kids, Aaron and I looked at each other at the end and decided that we're really just fine being an every-other-year amusement park family. We stayed through a little downpour and really intended to stay until the fireworks went off at the park's closing, but by about 9pm we decided to give in and get to our hotel for the night. For dinner we picked up a half-gallon of black raspberry chip ice cream from UDF and downed it with plastic spoons. Because everyone should eat ice cream for dinner at least once in their life. We conked out tired but happy.

The next morning we wandered around town visiting all our favorite old haunts. We drove through our old neighborhood and visited a couple of parks and I was surprised to realize that while my memories of Cincinnati are still so fond, the pressing desire to live there again that I felt when we visited from Canada, and still a little when we visited last year, has pretty much evaporated. I have to say that the landscape is definitely prettier (there are more trees!) there than here. And man do we ever have some dear friends there. But at the end of the day, I absolutely love our new home! Our city is the perfect size for us. The weather and the alternation of the seasons couldn't be better. And I really love Hoosiers. They're good people! Anyway, we found ourselves a Dewey's and ordered up some of our favorite pizza ever, then headed up to visit with some friends (who were kind enough to agree to entertain our little people while Aaron and I went to the concert).

There is something so soul-filling about being with old friends. The same children I taught in primary and Joy School have grown right on up, even without us there to watch. Addy reconnected with her old buddy Ryan pretty quickly, even though they hadn't seen each other in years and . . . he's a boy. Hannah, who along with Sera was born during the year that Ryan and Addy were in Joy School together, had grown into a darling 4-year-old who Sera quickly made friends with. When they were born, Hannah was a little butterball of squishy goodness compared to Sera's string-bean status. All the growing she's done lately paid off for Sera, though, as they were about the same size! These days it's a bit of an anomaly when Sera can find a friend who is more than half her height (if I didn't mention it before, she has grown like a weed over the past year). Since we had a very hard time saying goodbye (and we also interrupted their dinner though they didn't even mention it--we just noticed their nicely set table as we were leaving and felt terrible), the McGladries nicely took the boys to another friend's home for us. Did I mention that old friends are the best friends? Like Addy and Sera, Theo and Emer enjoyed seeing some old friends. Theo was a little 3-year-old when we moved to Cincinnati, and Drew seemed like such a much older boy then. His brother Alex was unthinkably ten! Even to me that seemed pretty old. Now Drew and Theo seemed pretty close in age, at ten and thirteen, while Alex seemed too old to comprehend--on his way off to college. Surely we'll never get to that stage! Emerson had fun getting reacquanted with his womb-buddy, Ally (they were born a couple of months apart--though from different wombs!), and building stuff. Which is pretty much his mission in life. We appreciated both the McGladries and the Austins for being so willing to take in our kids!!

Meanwhile, seeing Paul McCartney in concert . . . how do I even describe it? Just walking through the stadium seeing fans who had probably sneaked home from Sunday School to watch the Ed Sullivan show in the '60s (like my dad did, lol!), and had fallen in love and had their hearts broken to the accompaniment of Beatles' songs . . . well, it just makes you think about exactly how far ranging a musician's influence can actually be. I'm definitely a Paul girl, Beatle-wise (my dad is like the lone Ringo fan I know, funny man), because obviously he is an amazing song-writer and singer, and also he is adorable and there are very few nearly-70 year olds who are that flat-out want-to-pick-them-up-and-snuggle-them adorable. Seriously, he still looks like he's ten. And his voice is still pretty awesome. I was amazed. There's really not enough space in this post to write all the things I thought during the concert, but the overarching feeling was of having an opportunity to see someone legendary, but who is still a pretty normal, funny, feeling kind of a guy. That girl (who someone mentioned looks like a genetic hybrid of John Lennon and Yoko Ono . . . hmmm) he's marrying is pretty lucky, I think. Just . . . the concert was phenomenal, and my gorgeous honey (who is every bit the genius that Paul is, let's be honest) pretty much made my year by hooking us up with an anniversary date like that!!! I'm glad he's the one I'll still be needing and feeding when I'm 64!

Back home again, finding someone to watch our littles while we took our older two children to see American Idol in Concert across the way in Columbus, Ohio was a bit of a challenge--finding babysitters always seems to be one of the biggest roadblocks to getting out to do special things!--but luckily our awesome friends the Amoses agreed to board them into the ultra-late night so we could make the trip. For the first time this year, we watched every episode of American Idol together. It was a great diversion through the winter months, and we really enjoyed the new judges this year. Early on, Theo picked out "low-voice guy" Scotty McCreery as his favorite, and a few weeks later, Addy settled on Lauren Alaina, the spunky 15-going-on-16-year-old country singer that one of the judges noted during her very first audition "might very well be the next American Idol." Well, somehow those two beat out my pick, Aaron's pick, Emerson's pick, and Sera's pick, and wound up as the top two. There was a bit of disappointment on Addy's part when "low-voice guy" pulled out the win, but they were both pretty tickled when they found out that Aaron had scratched up some tickets for us all to attend a concert together! It was lots of fun seeing that a couple of the singers have stepped it up a notch and kept improving since the show. Others really haven't. What was really great about the night though, was the variety. I can't think of many shows that would have such a wide variety of different kinds of music and acts all on the stage!

And finally, as an early birthday present, Aaron took me to see Elton John. Who I sort of love. We had a short trip for this one--only an hour and a half down to Indianapolis, and the concert venue was awesome--even though we didn't pay top dollar for tickets, we were pretty close, and I have to say I love that guy even more now than I did before. Which is saying something. During the concert, my brain conducted a comparitive analysis between Sir Elton and Sir Paul, given that they're fellow Brits and musical supergenius superstars. The results brought to light a number of interesting observations. For example, Sir Paul is a consumate musician, and seems to be deep down a very simple, decent person, unfazed by all the fanfare that must surround him on a daily basis. Sir Elton also is a brilliant musician and songwriter, but it was clear that given the choice between a quiet studio where he can focus on making music, and a rowdy stadium filled with people screaming his name, he would take the stadium any day. It was almost like watching a flower open, to see him come on stage at the beginning of the show and gradually unfurling his petals. The energy and cheering coming from the crowd were like sunlight and water for him, and within about thirty minutes he had blossomed to his full glory and was standing on the piano bench hitting the keys like nothing I've ever seen. I mean, I knew he could play the piano, but I honestly did not realize he could play like that. It occurred to me about halfway through that he must have loved watching Liberace as a kid, and I had never placed that influence before (oh me, why you so blind?). Aaron and I had so much fun rocking out to songs that have actual "periods" in our marriage. I love that Sir Elton took the time to pen them and share them with us--they are so good (except that one that I actually sort of hated. But all the rest I loved!) Short sum-up, Aaron's ratings are off the charts right now with me. Seriously, I feel spoiled and I feel loved and I feel incredibly lucky to have spent nights with such a good-looking guy watching some of the greatest artists of all time. Thank you, Aaron!

Okay, I suppose there is some other news from the month as well. The kids started school, and so far that has been so good. The teachers all seem to be good matches. Theo's teacher is much lower-key than his teacher last year, which is probably the reverse of what would have been ideal (it would have been nice to have a bit more chill last year, and then to amp it up this year from a family-stress-factor perspective), but he is definitely appreciating being able to excel. He's been reading a ton, and though we've had a discussion about appropriate reading material as his reading interests have blossomed past child-fare, we're pretty impressed when he breezes through issues of TIME magazine and shows interest in books like Jane Eyre.

Addy has been crowned classroom organizer and classroom librarian in her third-grade class, and enjoys being able to use her skills to keep the classroom neat and navigable for her classmates. I love the way that she takes ownership for her schoolwork. Every day she brings me her notebooks for signing, hands off the papers that are completed, and heads up to the office to finish up any homework she has. After years of nagging Theo to show me his assignment notebooks and work, having Addy be so responsible for herself is a huge relief. She still spells things some pretty crazy ways, and rarely chooses a book more complicated than Junie B. Jones without prodding, but her excellent study and self-discipline skills will undoubtedly lead to lots of learning and progress throughout the year.

Emerson has segued seamlessly into first grade. He loves school and hasn't minded the transition to a full day at all. I mean, he gets to eat lunch right at school, so as far as he's concerned, life couldn't really get much better. He thrives on bringing me home assignments with stars and stickers on them, and the minute he gets his weekly homework assignment on Monday, he sits down at the counter and gets it done. Though we made a few half-hearted attempts to dissuade him from becoming left-handed last year, he's settled in and is pretty definitely a lefty now. Luckily he's in good company with Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, and Paul McCartney. My only complaint with him at the moment is that all the library books he has checked out lately have been about military, tanks, and guns. Oh Emerson, have you met your mother?

As for Sera, I'm soaking in this last year of having a little person home with me during the day. We've started Joy School with some wonderful friends, and I'm remembering just how much I love Joy School. So much! As an extra special treat, this is hands-down the easiest group of Joy School children I've ever taught. There are three totally chill little girls, and one very rambunctious little boy (I know he's rambunctious, because I've seen him in other settings) who behaves himself like a little angel when it's time for Joy School! They are so fun and interested and just joyful! I love having this last chance to be a Joy School mom.

Some things that are going well in our family right now are family councils every Sunday night, with a couple of rounds of compliments and a lesson on our "theme of the month," Family Home Evenings on Tuesdays instead of Mondays since Aaron has late rehearsals on Mondays, Cookie Fridays (with friends for those who earn enough points during the week), having a jobs deadline of 8:20 in the morning so that there is plenty of time to check things and have breakfast and scriptures before the kids leave for school at 8:50, and our after school schedule of homework, reading for 20 minutes and practicing piano before playing outside. Some things we could stand some improvement on are figuring out how to help Theo stop yelling so much, keeping toilets flushed, and running bedtimes more smoothly. With luck, the upcoming months will reveal some answers for us!

Fireworks, Harry Potter, and tons of free food

Oh man. Getting this far behind is not good. Really not good. But instead of blabbing about that or blabbing about anything really, I need to get some things posted before my sieve of a brain loses them forever. I know lots are gone already, but I'll do my best.

In July we saw more fireworks than we saw in our entire three years in Canada combined. For about a week before and three weeks after the Fourth of July, random citizens in our neighborhood put up pretty respectable displays pretty much every night. The kids especially enjoyed leaving their curtains open late (super-late, actually, since we're on the far west side of the eastern time zone and our city converted a few years back--after holding out for decades--to using "daylight savings" time in the summer to my annoyance) to watch some of the festivities. On the Fourth, we considered a trip down to Cincinnati to enjoy Red, White, and Blue Ash, which we loved every year that we lived there, but decided against it since we had another trip to Cinci planned for August anyway. So then we went up to Aaron's university for the fireworks display, and had fun sitting amid the scads of college students on the hillside. And I have to say, I like the students there. They were as good-natured and undrunken as BYU students, I think!

There were more fireworks a few days later when we had to attend the Harry Potter themed Tin-Caps baseball game. Thought the Tin Caps lost badly (they have an outstanding record and have hit several home runs the other times we've seen them, so apparently Voldemort was on the loose), the game was lots of fun, and the kids earned some compliments on their costumes--I'm glad those costumes have gotten some use since I paid too much for them last Halloween! Afterward we enjoyed another round of fireworks that culminated in a display of what looked like wands shooting off spells--very cool.

Around the middle of the month, Aaron headed out of town to direct the choirs at the International Music Camp on the border between Manitoba and North Dakota. While he was having fun there (he really loved it and hopes he will be invited again), I--for some indiscernable reason possibly related to the fact that we don't actually have paychecks coming in over the summer--made it my mission in life to feed us almost exclusively on free food. This worked out beautifully, because on one of the nights the greatly anticipated Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: part 2 premiered. Although (much to my chagrin) I couldn't very well go to the movie without Aaron, it didn't stop us all from participating in fabulous premiere events at the mall that evening. We put all those Harry Potter costumes to use once again, scoring free chicken sandwiches (for anyone dressing like a Harry Potter character) for all of us from Chick-fil-A! Then we wandered over to the movie theater plaza, where they were conducting a costume contest. Holy moly were there ever some fantastic costumes on parade! Emerson was picked as the best Harry Potter, although he didn't make it into the top 3 costumes who got prizes, which was too bad since obviously our motives were primarily getting free stuff (I'm kidding! mostly). The next day (though we didn't find out about it until weeks and weeks later when a friend gave us a copy she had saved) we were all in the newspaper, and Emerson even got an extra big shot of just him! Fame! It really was a super-fun night, made even better when we saw a sign on the new Panda Express opening across the street, saying that they were giving out free food all day the next day . . . . So at around 3 the next day (when I thought traffic would be thinnest), we all showed up and waited in line for 45 minutes for some Chinese food. They gave us 2 entrees and 1 side of take-out food each for all five of us! Plus soda, which the kids all loved because we practically never have soda. Obviously that kept us fed for like three days. We also spent time at some of the events for the 3 Rivers Festival downtown, where we attended a fun scavenger activity followed by a bunch of blow-up carnival rides at the Botanical Gardens (also $.50 hotdogs!), and a cookie decorating contest (oh hey, more free food there!). Probably I squeezed in too many things, but it was lots easier than trying to keep everybody entertained at home. Besides all that, I managed to get the deck painted and finish the rough draft of the book I'm working on. I totally miss Aaron when he's gone. But man alive am I ever productive!

Alright, I probably could keep going right here, but eventually I'll get pictures added in, and that will just complicate things. So I'm going to go ahead and post this and pretend like I did it in July. And if you happen to check back, there's always a chance that you'll find pictures . . . if I ever figure out a solution to the fact that all our photos are on the computer downstairs and all my photo editing stuff (which I mostly just use for cropping, but still, that's an important function!) is on the computer upstairs, and I'm actually writing all of this on my netbook. Sometimes technology makes things easier. Sometimes not so much!

Summertime photos

In a grand run-up to the Fourth of July, we attended a pretty spectacular barbeque and fireworks party thrown by a friend who owns a big splash of property just outside of town.  The kids had the time of their lives running through the grass, jumping on the trampoline (which led to the loss of one of Emerson's front teeth), catching frogs, and riding four wheelers.  But the best part of the night was when the awesome fireworks show was complemented (and possibly upstaged) by an almost supernatural lightning show.  Between that and all the fireflies, it was a pretty twinkly night.

A festival up at Aaron's university had some great activities for the kids, inculding a chance to try out all the instruments.  It's now on our list to get Theo playing trumpet, and some of the other kids playing violin one of these days.  When we have more money, apparently, because music lessons are expensive!

Then Aaron went out of town, and we had fun!  I promise it's his terrible timing, not me celebrating his absence!  The Three Rivers festival took place in his absence, and to keep us all from wrecking the house, I took everyone to as many activities as I could each day.  This is the kids at a big activity they held at the Botanical Gardens, with crafts and activities including a ride on a giant bouncy slide.  So.  That was a hit, obviously.

One of my favorites was the cookie contest held at a local baking store.  Addy's was pretty impressive--I thought she might win (she didn't).  Emerson's was a pile of as many toppings as he could fit.  He likes the food, that one.

My favorite might have been the Harry Potter movie debut (which sadly we couldn't even see until Aaron got back, because a) movies cost way too much to take everyone, b) it was at midnight, and c)Aaron would have killed me if I went without him, even though he hasn't read the books.  Instead, there were a bunch of activities held at the mall the afternoon before the premiere, so we attended all of those (including the free dinner if you wore a Harry Potter costume), and ended up with our faces splashed all over the newspaper the next day.  Well, we do love Harry Potter.

Which leads me to the Harry Potter baseball game, played by the TinCaps, that happened the next week.  Luckily Aaron made it for that one, though sadly the TinCaps lost--practically their only loss of the season.  Apparently the Death Eaters were in the house.

And . . . a trip to King's Island in Cincinnati rounded out our mostly local "staycation" this summer.  Theo and Aaron had the guts to try out the super-high Diamondback roller coaster, all but the little kids got to ride The Beast, which is apparently the longest wooden roller coaster in the world.  It was really fun!  We split the rest of our time between a few thrill rides that the big kids were tall enough to go on, and the ever-enchanting kiddie world.  It was probably the highlight of the summer for the kids, not quite as much for Aaron and I, who could stand to skip the pricetag next year. 

Haha, here's an update of the picture we took at the King's Island drinking fountains two years ago.  Our kids have grown!  Sera couldn't even reach it last time.  Also, they apparently repainted (see the picture at the bottom of the blog).

And finally, the week before school started, we got to attend the American Idol concert out in Columbus with the older kids.  It was a super-fun night that I hope those kids will always remember.  What an amazing journey for those contestants, from average Joe to lighting up the stage in a production like that!  Theo and Addy were hilarious throughout the night, teasing each other about which contestants the other "liked."  Oh, what joys we have in store for us!

May and June pictures!

Okay, so picture catch up for May and June.  Look quick, because I'm going to change the date in a few days to make things all chronological and stuff.

Emerson's class held a fantastic Mother's Day brunch for their moms.  The beautiful tissue paper bouquet Emerson made me is still displayed in our front bathroom.  Here he's squinting at something (probably food he wishes was located in his mouth) from beside his friends from church, Isaac and Jensen.  How lucky is he to have those two both in his church class and his school class?

I am not a good scout mom.  However, Theo had a marvelous time with his friends at the Pinewood Derby.  They are a fun(ny) bunch of boys!

I only got to accompany Addy's class on one field trip this year (they actually only had one), but we had a great time at Science Central.  Here she is with her best bud, Eliza.

The awesome visit we scored from my mom and her husband Don deserves way more mention and way more pictures (most of them taken with my mom's camera--she's a great photographer, and aparently much more seasoned and organized about it than I am) than I'm including here.  One of our favorite outings was going to the zoo, where the kids thought they were in heaven carrying around big cartons of popcorn that seemed to magically refill, and getting a chance to ride on some of the fun rides that our fun little zoo offers.  Such a fun day!

Theo had the birthday of his life, this year.  He scored a movie camera, a Spy Gear safe he's been coveting for a while, some mechanical pencils, duct tape, and an old-school Jackson 5 CD.  He's come a long way this year, and we're proud of him for the transition he has made to a new school and the good friends he's made there.

He had a Harry Potter birthday party, and this is my attempt at Hogwarts castle with a Quidditch field out back. 

He invited ten friends to a sleepover party (his first), and to my surprise (horror), they all came.  I jest though, the party actually was so much fun, aside from the fact that nobody got much sleep.

I have about twelve of these cute pictures of Emerson helping Sera learn how to ride his "old" two-wheeler with training wheels.  Can I just say that Emerson is exactly the big brother I always wished I had when I was growing up?

I don't think it's possible to say too many times how much I love our yard, and how it neigbors a big open field for the kids to play on.  They love getting out there to play all sorts of things, from baseball to frisbee to kickball.

Aaron had so much fun planning this trip up to Battle Creek Michigan for the Blue Angels air show.  The one drawback was that it fell on a wickedly hot day.  We sat under our umbrellas in the sun watching the cool stunts for hours, but had to take breaks every now and again to cool off in the funny little tents where people were selling everything from investment schemes to cookware.  It's also possible that I complained a little (a lot). 

Lots of zoo visits (ah, the joys of membership).  We love that place!