Watson and Friends

Watson is getting so big. It is amazing how quickly this is all flying by. Three kids....wow. The picture below illustrates the fact that he is so big that only his foot will fit in one frame. Well, that is not true. Anna took this picture and liked it. We share it here.
Here is Anna teaching some stretches to her brother. It is great having siblings that love each other as much as our three kids love each other. They have their moments, but they are kids.
Of course, Owen needs to get in on the action as well. There is never an event in our home where Owen is out of the center of the controversy. Here it was just some harmless stretches though.
See you soon.
If you wonder why the blog has been slow- I think that the 85 inches of snow are too depressing. You cannot post on snow everyday and basically that is what the outside world of Michigan is at the moment. She will thaw in a month or so.

Tug of War: Sedgwick Style!

Nothing says fun like tug of war with Sedgwick. (Of course Sam is playing in this picture as well... he doesn't count for this story though).

Lydia and I were having a quiet cup of French Roasted coffee and discussing our plans for the afternoon when Anna and Owen decided to play a little game with Sedgwick. They tied themselves together and convinced Sedgwick that the tie was actually a badger and a fox. Sedgwick's job was to take down the badger and the fox... who happen to be Anna and Owen.

If all that I gave you was this picture, I am sure that many would cry "get rid of that dog!" or, "you still have that dog... with children!" or "how can you stand that animal?". I know- you are all sweet and swell, but Sedgwick is my dog and part of our loving home. At any rate, if this picture was all that was published you would see Anna thrown towards the love seat and Owen defending his honor. Thankfully (for your amusement) we have actual live footage of the event. Do enjoy! We loved watching them play it!

Quiet Day

Lydia has been sick since Christmass. She is not feeling well, swollen throat, aches all over, etc. Not good. Saturday was deemed 'quiet day' by executive order of... well, me. I decided that Lydia needed a day to rest some. Now those of you that know Lydia... lying around resting is for those of lesser genetic makeup. Germans do not lie around!
It began with taking the kids to D&W for some groceries. Now I was not too excited about a cart full of kids, along with a list in one hands and a Starbucks mocha in the other, but we made it through. When I got home I noticed that I do not buy as wisely as Lydia or think family. I think like a college guy at the grocery store. I guess that is one other reason she is great! We then made arts and crafts for a good part of the afternoon. We made dolls and glasses and monster teeth and glasses and other fun things.
We colored and stickered and taped and glued. Anna bade this ballerina. I am not sure about the square jaw though.
Here are all of them in their crowns. They thought this was super cool!
Owen had me make multiple pairs of glasses in diverse colors. I cannot imagine where that comes from!
Watson got some new specs too, but they were a bit too small.

It was a nice quiet day. Lydia still does not feel well, but she will not get another quiet day- unless she hires someone to do it!

The Chapbook Cafe Beginning the Chilly Months

Winter is coming and that means hours of lounging in book stores sipping lattes. It also means reading magazines for free and parousing children's books that we will not purchase at the bookstore, but order off of ebay. So is the ways of a free economy. Owen enjoyed a mocha-steamer, also known as hot chocolate.
Anna also enjoyed some hot chocolate, she only drank about half of hers though. She is a tiny thing and is not able to drink 12 ounces of yummy delicious hot chocolate. (Owen, of course, was able to drink all of his!)
Here Owen is reading Parson Avery's tales of Thomas on the Island of Sodor. At one time, Rev. Avery wrote the Thomas stories as a way to promote Christian virtues.
Anna and Owen also played at the Thomas Table. It is the first time that we have been to Schuler in a couple of months. The Thomas display had 3 8x11 signs warning of all the recalls because of lead based paint. I thought that they should stop doing recalls and just set up the Thomas section under the headings of 'regular' and 'leaded'.
We enjoyed a good cookie with our drinks as well. Chapbook has GREAT chocolate chip cookies, but the cakes are never too great. The atmosphere is very nice there though- big pained windows, stone fireplace, chess players, good art on the walls. It is one of our favorite hybrid bookstores/cafe's in town (not that there are too many to choose from!)
Lydia always looks through a pile of books. She usually leaves with a list of ISBNs that she will look on Amazon and Ebay for over the next couple of days. A week from now we will begin receiving packages from the letter carrier. The residual effects of a nice mocha have lasting implications!
In the winter I get a double mocha. In the summer I usually get a mocha smoothie. Today was the usual. It was quite tasty and gives enough energy to write into the night!
Watson was quite the darling. He slept the whole time. I am sure that if he was awake, he would have been offered a mocha too!
In time son, in time.

Klackel Farms

I have been meaning to post these for a couple of days and Blogger was not cooperating. Tante Heidi came up last weekend and we had an awesome time. It was very low key- a lot of hanging out time, watching Planet Earth (which comes highly recommended), and playing with the kids. Of course, she brought a boat load of toys and gifts for the kids. They loved it!

On Saturday we could not decided to break out the lederhosen or the flannels. We chose the flannels and headed out to Klackel Farm for some autumn fun. It was a nice trip to Greenville, very sunny and bright- and windy.
We were greeted by the mayor of Greenville who welcomed us to the Farms. He assured us that there was plenty to do: hay rides, apple picking, cider mill tours, races, games, and tons of fun!
Watson was less than impressed. He thought that sleeping through most of it would be the appropriate thing for a 6 week old to do.
Anna and Owen raced around the track. They needed a lot of help. These little tractors are steel and VERY heavy. I am not sure how a 4 year-old could peddle them.
Here is Lydia and Watson picking apples. We picked Jonagolds which were so tasty. Owen and I both ate two while picking.
Here is Owen with his little treat. Notice he does not fool around- one in each hand! Let me assure you that we were given permission to eat as we gleaned. The only rules were no throwing apples and don't abandon your children in the orchard and pick them up at the end of November.
For some reason, Anna was able to stuff the most apples into her 1/2 pint bag. I bet she got 3 or 4 more than the rest of us!

Here the kids are petting a donkey. There was this 'petting farm' there that a bunch of strange-o types were running. They had giant cockroaches and beetles and spiders- all the things needed for a petting zoo! They even had those giant African cockroaches for sale at $5 a head. That is all anyone would ever need- an epidemic of roaches bigger than the dog for the price of a venti latte with an extra shot of espresso!
They also had these little barrel rides there. One of the Klackel boys was pulling this train around on his tractor. Anna did not want anything to do with this! Owen thought that it was the coolest thing ever.
Here is Heidi again. She is trying to escape from the children. I guess she was trying to get them lost in the maze. We were going to try the corn maze as well- but it was like 5 acres of maze. No thanks.
As we headed back to Grand Rapids we stopped at the famous Rosie's diner for an olive burger and a shake. No body told the new owners, but 'homemade olive dressing' is not sliced olives. It was good anyways. It is always interesting to go to a diner and see what the future was supposed to look like 50 years ago. Lots of steel- too bad the future was all plastic.
We all rested on the way home... except me.... I drove instead.

It has finally reached us here in west Michigan. Last week was 89 degrees. Today is roughly 50 degrees. The leaves are falling- soon we will have a blanket of snow. Home bound is close at hand.

Today when Lydia was making lunch I heard the camera being used. I looked around and told Owen to put the camera back. He obeyed cheerfully and this picture was what he took: it is kind of funny seeing his view on our lives.
Watson is finally smiling at ME. Me...Nathan....Nate....ME... I have been the one that Anna and Owen smiled at when they were teeny-tinys- but this kid seems to like Lydia WAY better than me! She looks at him and he smiles brightly. I look at him and he grimaces and requires a hand off to mama.

Notice the good cheeks. Where would a kid get such chubby cheeks? Must be some new flaw in the gene pool? Any rate, Anna thinks they are more than kissable!

Owen is the nap master these days. Lydia and I were just discussing how Anna quit taking naps one day and has only taken a handful since. This little guy is told to lay on the couch and within 5 minutes he is sawing logs.
Here is another one of Anna with Watson. What a sweet helper.
One more of the cheeks and a cheeky grin for mama!
Aunt Heidi is coming today and we will have more pictures from this weekend soon. We are not sure if we are going to German Fest or that Klackel Farms? Any suggestions? (And yes, we have lederhosen for the kinder.)

Opa Meet Watson; Watson, Opa.

Opa and Oma Malysa came to visit on Tuesday. Oma was here with Tante Heidi when Watson was born, but Opa had not met him yet. Of course Princess Molly wanted to come and to see him as well. We had a really nice visit, despite Oma not feeling well.
Here is a nice family picture. We took Molly for a walk and Owen and Anna walked her. They loved it, of course!
Molly's eyes are not good these days. She is about 17 years old! What an old brat. We love her.
Here is Larry with Watson. Watson was quite content and sweet the whole time.
Here is Oma with little Owen and Molly. We really think that Owen is quite cute, but his grins look so mischievous.
We have a few more pictures that Larry sent. If I have time, I will put them up as well... I think Heidi is coming on Friday too?? There will be some pictures there as well, I am sure!

They Say It Happens

I never thought that I would be one of those dads. You know, the one with 10,000 pictures of the first born, 5000 of the second born, and less than 10 of the third. Well... guess what? Want to see some pictures of Anna and Owen?

Here is the play-thing that Auntie Linda donated. She bought it for George . I told her that she can have it back when George and Olivia (the name I am giving the next Baby P until (s)he is born) move back to Grand Rapids. Of course, they can pick it up here as well in their James. Here is Anna with a big stick. She thinks that it is cute.
Okay, I guess there were a few of Owen's new toy on the camera after all. Watson is shown here being pushed in the baby stroller.
Anna stopped for a pose.
They wanted to try to push him together as well.
Here is my mother with Watson and the blanket that she made for him. She stayed for a week and was a huge help. All that hard work resulted in needing back surgery again and a torn rotor thingy. Don't sue me!
Here is Owen and a computer enhanced image of what he will look like at 57....oh wait, that is my dad.
This is one of Anna's crazy shots. I always love these random pictures.
And one after the house slid into the cliff...
And ending with Owen with a soap beard. Too bad we cannot take pictures of our own soapy beards in the shower. They are so much fun!