Cousin Convos

Looks serious . . . and maybe a little humorous . . . 

Catch Me If You Can

He's quite the catch!

Twists and Turns

Vanessa loves drawing diagrams, maps and puzzles. She draws mazes and puzzles at school while she's waiting on others to finish. If someone else finishes early too, they get to try her mazes and puzzles. They've had many different themes, like Ninja Turtles and Woodland Fairies. She's always been a little intrigued by maps -- I can remember back to her interest when she was 2.

Here's the beginning of a map Vanessa drew last week. When I looked over the things she was listing in her map key, I laughed so hard on her attempt to spell canopy. :-) She noted my reaction and asked how to correct it. Her finished project was quite detailed and awesome.

Then here's a drawing Vanessa impulsively made at the kitchen island one day. She did it all from memory. :-) Although she could have walked 15 feet to check a real map. However, I'm glad she didn't because it gave us a glimpse into her perspective and acted as a springboard for the real location of things and discussion on size and space of bodies of water, states, countries and continents. (Yes, it's Ohio at top. Then China, cause she really wants to visit there. And West Virginia, cause she loves to hear her mommy talk about adventures in the southern mountains.)

And she's thrilled by the globe in the kids' bedroom at Grandma and Grandpa's house. She journaled her excitement at school the following Monday.

Her intense interest makes me wonder if she will be a geographer . . .

Through the Years

" . . .We'll scatter to the east and west, 

When college days are done;

And memories will cling around,

The dreams of everyone;

We'll play the game of living

With head and shoulders high!

And where in wear the spirit of 

The Buckeye Battle Cry! . . ."

~Frank Crumit, 1919

*Bibs were purchased at Long's Bookstore around '97 as a gift for Cousin Ben. Long's Bookstore closed in 2005.

The Adventures of Mothboy and Mothgirl

Daddy was easily hypnotized by the two.

Seriously though, the kids insisted they wear wings to the park. It made for an extra fun adventure!

It's not every day you find a "Z" in nature. Lucky us!

He's as light as a feather.

On our way out of the woods, Vanessa proclaimed she had found a heart. A perfect sign to show that we loved the day.

Pit Stop

In just a short time one evening

● we gardened,

● Vanessa added orange slices to the sides of water glasses (they used their straws to try and suck out the juice from the slices),

● we took turns spinning in the hammock chair,

● we trimmed the pansies,

● we washed Zane's car,

● and they jumped at a chance to swing.

While washing the car, Vanessa said our house is like a pit stop. (For some reason pit stop was the last thing to come to my mind.)

Happy Birthday, Jade!

Jade is an amazing artist. Here is just one drawing she recently shared with me.

Toy Stories

More recently our morning routine before school includes a ton of imaginary play with Vanessa and Zane. As I prepare to shower I hear them planning the story for the morning. It's like they've been waiting all night for the moment. I can't even begin to list all their stories but I also couldn't resist grabbing some photos of ones that tickled me this last week.

Poor Woody and Doggy were captured and placed in an expandable sphere, in which they would roll everywhere and the big, scary, puppet doggy would swing by to carry them to different places.

And who wouldn't love a story about Transformers teaming up with Jesus?! Zane ran his Optimus Prime aggressively to Jesus, until Vanessa's Optimus Prime ran over to introduce them and to say that they are there to help Jesus -- he's the best guy. They ended up fighting for the greater good together.

Climate Control

We've been hot -- seems too early to pull out the pool. We're thankful for ways to buy time . . .

Fundraiser

Avery Elementary had a bake sale as part of the Special Someone Dance. Zane was so happy to spend his Friday afternoon helping to make 7-8 dozen. He even donated his favorite shoe box to transport the batches. We accidentally bought mega M&Ms so we improvised on our M&M cookies. And we just had to make Vanessa and Daddy's favorite -- Big Soft Ginger Cookies. Daddy helped to eat the uneven number. We have to make more he says. Zane won't mind . . .

Special Someone Dance

Vanessa: "This is my first real date!"

Daddy gave Vanessa a pretty pink carnation. We hear that Daddy and Vanessa danced 1.75 songs together before the kids ran crazy around the gym. Mommy and Zane had their own date -- a chocolate cupcake and a gigantic sugar cookie, and frozen mocha and chocolate milk from Panera. Zane couldn't finish his part -- gee, I wonder why?! I paid for it later with a bellyache. :-)

Vanessa came in the door from the dance and stripped off her clothes and pulled out all of her hair pins. She was sweaty and done. 

Vanessa exclaimed that Mrs. Groves put her and Ella on Twitter. So much fun!!

High Wire (High Calling)

Motherhood is like a high-wire act. Gaining and maintaining momentum by many means helps. A very special thank you to those who help me balance it all.

Note: I had never considered doing the high-wire unicycle at COSI. Perhaps because the kids allow us a wonderful excuse to hang out at COSI anytime we like and until recently they've been too small to step away to consider. Or perhaps little kids (and some sort of a stroller) with the usual long waiting lines has never been appealing. But with no lines this week and encouragement from the eavesdropping COSI worker, I figured why not?! So happy I did and that Aunt Leah captured a photo to prove it. :-)