Family Update

Things have been quite busy around here. We are preparing for a new baby, our AC was out this past weekend, we had company for a week, and I have a lot of behind the scenes work being done as a part of my internship.

Some things seem to never change though, such as Owen wanting to nap with his vacuum cleaner tucked in next to him.
Since our visitors left we have cleaned out some of the things left behind in the refrigerator. Shawn and Tammy are organic-naturalpathics who do not use man made food-products. The result of this was some heavy whipping cream left which was unopened. Owen, Anna and I had a great time turning this into butter. I made them guess what the cream would be when it was done, but of course, they had no clue. When it turned to whipped cream, Anna exclaimed, "it's turning into a mocha!"

She loved the moment when it went from whipping cream to separated butter and water. It was like magic, minus the Harry Potter action.
Owen liked it on a cracker. He could not wait to eat more. We told him no.
Anna thought that it was really a great thing as well. Homemade butter.. what could be finer? Well, homemade bread on which to spread it!
We also went to Johnson Park for lunch today. The kids played and Lydia and I went through baby names. We may have one.... who knows. Lydia is quite excited about being delivered from this burden... I mean child. We are very excited to have three little ones. What a blessing and an honor to raise children unto the glory of God!
Owen and Anna are always telling * * * * * * * * * what the outside world is like... spankings and all. Here they are giving a pre-kiss.
I am sure that the next few weeks will be filled with pictures of our little guy. I will give a precondition now... we do not think that new borns are cute... this is a myth. But we do love them.

Our Little Chicago Trip For Lydia's Birthday

We took a little trip to Chicago this week for Lydia's birthday. We had a great time visiting the Shedd as well as her family. Here is a little picture of the the skyline taken from the toll road leading into Chicago. I cannot believe that a city can charge $2.50 just to ride in on the quickest route to downtown. Amazing!

Here is the Sears tower. I have nothing more to say about that.
We got to the Shedd and went right to the dolphin show. It was not very exciting, but the kids thought that it was something fun. I cannot believe that someone would want to get paid money for teaching giant fish-like things to jump and look cute. Not my idea of a calling.
Here are the things flipping around in the oceanarium. Notice Lake Michigan right outside of the windows. I was more amazed with the number of tall ships that moved along the lake. I am also amazed that there are no notable cities on OUR side of Lake Michigan.
Here is the birthday girl with her two little ones.
Here is Anna and Owen looking at the Coral reef. There are some AMAZING fish in this area.
Here we posed in front of the super classy fountain that welcomes visitors from around the world to the Shedd. They call it 'the world's aquarium'.
We went to Lydia's parents house to meet them for dinner. We went to a Bohemian restaurant and I had Moravian duck. We had a great discussion about Jan Hus, the Reformer from Prague. He is still a national hero there.

When we left we took Peaches the family bird of 14 years. Our little friend Sydney B. has been saving her money for a bird and we knew that Peaches would be happy with her.

Some more notable things:

• Today is Lydia's birthday.
• We have not done much to celebrate.
• Justin and Marion are liars.
• Little Stuart is being baptized this Lord's Day.
• People keep asking Lydia if she is having twins and commenting on her ginormous belly.
  

Reading For Life

Parents should always take the time to read to their children. Reading to your children is the cornerstone of a life time of learning. Even if it is just for five minutes talking about the pictures on the page, this time spent can be a seeding of a passion for learning.
Support your local book dealer.

Peter Rabbit and Public Education

I have been studying in the basement for a lecture that I have to give on the literacy of Ancient Israel. I have learned that the ancients by the fifth century BC were almost unanimously literate. All children could read and write in Israel...500 years before Christ was born!
When we think of the ancients we think that, for the most part, they were unlearned and mostly tradesmen. We rarely ever think of them as being educated. More like cavemen. We are so arrogant in our assessments.

Lydia, at the same time, was reading with the children. She has been reading some of the "Original and Authorized Editions" of Beatrix Potter's works.
She read The Tale of the Flopsy's Bunnies as well as The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.
These books were first published in the early part of the 20th century. (1904). They were written for toddlers and early school aged children. Besides the great things such as tobacco use, skinning of other bunnies, and the marrying of cousins; these books put the American Public school system to shame.

Below you will find a list of the words that Anna and Owen came across while having these books narrated to them:
Soporific
Improvident
Profusely
Doleful

Here is where us Public school kids can be helped with the terms: (Or is it "we public school kids"?)
www.onelook.com

Times and Seasons

Remember when you were a kid and the winters seemed as though they would drag on forever? Or how a 3 month summer vacation from school was so long that you forgot a lot of the material that you were studying, and how you really did not think that summer would ever end?

As an adult time moves more rapidly. The reason that it seems as though time is so much faster when you are an adult is that you have many years of life experience to compare time against. A day is nothing, weeks are nothing, years and even decades come and go all while having to face your own mortality. This can be very sobering to an adult. Time.

As a child time is nothing, they have very little if any cognitive life experience to back up their life experiences. A school day is "forever", and the weekend "is years away". These are common childish thoughts. They have no concept of time.

What is the point of this rant? Why depress you with the fact that we are all getting older? It is because I now get to experience what parents for generations have been telling to their adult children,
enjoy them when they are young....They grow up so quickly".

This week Anna turned 22 months old...She will be two on the 22nd of November. Owen turned 3 months old today. He is growing so quickly and developing so well. He is laughing, cooing, smiles all the time, and gives that look that he knows who his parents are. It is amazing!
(For reference..I turned 334 months this week too!)

We thought that we would share more pictures with you all for this special week:

This one Owen looks really serious. I am not sure, but I think that he is contemplating supralapsarianism verses infralapsarianism. Or he's looking at Anna.
Look at that little grin. It seems to be cute yet cheeky.
Here is one more of Owen. It is really weird to think that Lydia and I have been married 3 1/2 years and that we have 2 kids. (We are old!...but all the grandparents are older!)
Owen always enjoys a nice kiss from Anna. Notice the blanket that Toni Dunmire made for Anna out of vintage materials. We love it!
Here is what Anna was doing before I brought out the digital camera. She was reading quietly in her room. She knows that this is the normal Sunday practice around here. Quietly reading.
Here is when she first noticed me. She said, "papa"! She has begun 3 or 4 word sentences as well this week. One phrase that she has been working on is "Miss Moey" (Marion Pickering, her Sunday school teacher.) She was practicing it by repeating it after me, and at one point she said, "Moey Miss" and then laughed because she knew that it was not correct. Very cute.
Here Anna enjoys a hug and snuggle from Lydia. I guess that Owen can have one too!



* * * For my mom...
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You can do it!! (That was a motivational cheer for my mom!)