Gnomes among us.

Mrs. Pickering of Wendler Cottage wrote a post about the annoying little gnomes that live in her beloved Wendler Cottage and mess up her home by performing heinous acts such as putting things where they do not belong.

I commented and stated that I too have a gnome that lives on my desk on Union Avenue.

She thought that I was saying that my desk finds itself in a state of disarray.

This is not what I was saying at all; but I was saying that I too have a gnome that lives on my desk. He is the keeper of the pen and an integral part of Life on Union Avenue.

(This gnome was made by Goebel in West Germany in 1970. The German fascination with Gnomes even found its way into the finer places such as Goebel.)

Liiiffffeeee onnnnn Unnnnionnnn Avenuuuuuuue

We broke a record this year. Many will be disgusted by this:
Anyone who has visited us on Union Avenue knows that the temperature is 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Always. In August it is 60. In March it is 60. When it is 60 in August people think that it feels refreshing and they love to come over. When it is 60 in March they remove our neatly placed throws off of the couches and seats bundled in, and they go into my sock drawer for something to "keep their feet warm".

What is the record you ask?

We have attempted every year to turn our heat on November 1st. Last year we were not able to do it and had to fold in mid to late October. This year however, we made up for it. We went all the way until yesterday. November 11th. Don't worry though, we understand that 60 degrees is VERY cold....we set it at 55.

Maybe next year we can wait until December!

Anna's Second Birthday

The 22nd of November marks the beginning of Anna's third year of life. (That makes her 2...not 3!) We will be having a birthday party for her that all are welcome to join.

We ask that you bring a dessert to pass if you so desire and that you RSVP to Lydia (email preferred) or through the comments section on the blog.

We will also use this time to celebrate a few other things:
-Nate's birthday is November 28. He will be 28 years old.
-The completion of our basement. We have promised a basement party. Here it is! Our schedule is a tight one as you all know!

The Official Invitation


No gifts please! Your presence is enough presents!

The BRAT is Back!

Many children complain about "hand-me-downs". They see these types of items as lesser in value and quality. They are reused, recycled, and renewed. In the American culture this is considered unloving and only appropriate for trash. Every parent knows that true love is a new shiny toy, clothing article, or book.

Not all that is used is to be regarded as unloving. Some things, my friends, are a heritage.

The BRAT MOBILE is one such item. Many of the reader of Life on Union Avenue will remember the BRAT MOBILE. Anna used this fine piece of machinery in her pre-crawl days and it instilled a sense of love for that which is vintage, classic, and retro. The BRAT MOBILE
holds a special place in all of our hearts.

Some of us even remember the day that Irmgard brought this classic to our door. When it was revealed that Lydia was pregnant with our first child, items were brought from the lovely Chicago suburb to grace our home and our lives. The BRAT MOBILE was one of those items. The walker was used by little Lydia as she rolled around in Blue Island- not realizing that one day, her children will also roll on the same bright red wheels.

The BRAT is Back!
Here is Owen on his first test run of the BRAT. He loved the test drive and looks forward to days he will be strong enough to cruise on his own.
Anna was a proud sister in the presentation ceremony. She used her doll (who is appropriately named: Baby) as a legal witness to the transferring of the MOBILE. Look at the joy on her face to welcome Owen to the exclusive club of BRAT travellers.
This is a more serious pose. Owen thought that it would be special to have a "more serious" picture of the event since it is considered to be one of the highest of civilian honors.

This is a picture of the signing of the transfer of the tile "BRAT MOBILE traveller". (I was unable to get a head on picture due to the amount of media present.) It was a lovely ceremony and we are glad to again have the BRAT MOBILE as a part of our Life on Union Avenue.

The Original BRAT

Here is Lydia in the BRAT MOBILE. Probably in 1979 or 1980. Check out that floor!


Here is Heidi....Lydia's older sister (by 14 months!!). She also once used the BRAT MOBILE. Nice socks Heidi!!

This is evidence that the BRAT MOBILE is part of a goodly heritage.

Pennsylvania I: The Colour Tour

The trip to Pennsylvania was beautiful. We had a very nice trip despite the fact that children hate to be restrained in car seats. (Right, Brian!) Here are a few pictures from my home town. Click on them to blow the picture up. The trees were stunning. Northwest PA is so pretty compared to Western Michigan.
Lydia took all of these pictures.
Notice the grade of this hill. It can be seen in the way that the telephone poles drop. Corry is in this valley. Notice all the hills in the background. My father grew up on this road to the right.

The sun can make for a great view.

Pennsylvania II: The Family

My parents children have not been home in Pennsylvania together for over three years. I would assume that it has been about four years since we were all together at the same time.

We thought that some family pictures were appropriate since it has been so long. With a group like this pictures are usually full of sarcastic remarks. We could tell a million stories!
Here is my older brother Preston...no that mustache is not for Halloween...that is for real. Shannon is the youngest of the three and I am the middle child. Psychologists say that middle children are raised the best since parents have the right mix of discipline and liberty. (Hey..I am just sharing research!)
Here is the whole family starting from the upper left:
Wyatt, Preston, James (dad), Nathan, Owen
Hannah, Diane (mom), Ruth (grandmother), Shannon, and Anna.

Lisa and Lydia were not in the photo. Lisa is Preston's girlfriend and the mother of his children. (You can ask him about marriage...I couldn't tell you!)

Here is Lydia with Shannon. They were roommates before we started dating and were best friends when Shannon lived in Grand Rapids.
Here is my cousins Erin and Stephanie. Erin is working in an OT program that is BS to Master's. Stephanie will be a GN in a few months and then do her boards for an RN. Anna really enjoyed them.

We have some other family pics that will come up, but they are still on the camera. More to come.

Pennsylvania III: The "Firsts"

There were a few "firsts" that occurred while in PA.

My sister, Shannon, was able to meet my children for the first time! She has never met Owen or Anna. This is also the first time that we have seen each other in almost three years.
Lydia used a riding lawn mower for the first time. Here she mowed the leaves under a huge old maple tree.
Lydia also sewed a sling. She used a pattern from her "hotsling" and made a very nice canvas sling. Tammy Anderson walked her through the steps.

Anna got to spend time with a cat for the first time. She has seen her aunt Heidi's cats, but not for extended periods of time. She loved it. She kept calling it "mew."

"Where's mew?"

"C'mere mew!"

Pennsylvania IV: Shawn and Tammy

We got to visit with our friends, Shawn and Tammy Anderson, from Albany, New York. Tammy is a homemaker and Shawn is an RN as well as a Theological student that is also involved in the development of seminary curriculum.

We had a great visit with them.

Shawn, Brian, and I discussed hermeneutics and the way that apocryphal Judaism interpreted Messianic texts. We also discussed the courses that I am taking as well as what he is studying.
Here is a picture of the cutey couple. Tammy is the only woman in the world that can keep Shawn in check. I love it.
Here is a sling that Tammy made for Anna. She LOVES it! Her babies are now attachment parenting babies.
Shawn played with Anna. They discussed the ins and outs of plastic families.
Here is the dress that Tammy made for Anna. Anna of course thought that it was cute. She loved it.

Tammy got a chance to snuggle with Owen. That is when other women were not oggling over him.

Finis (That's Latin for finished!)

The basement is finally finished. This is the last basement post that deals with the renovation. (See the second post on this blog for a comparison!) There are some people that need to be thanked for getting this job done:

-Lawrence Malysa: the birthday gift.
-Sikma Construction: doing the majority of the work.
-Irmgard Malysa: the lovely couch (the capstone of the project.)
-James Eshelman: the 30+ hours of plaster & drywall work.
-Lydia Eshelman: putting up with the mess and my irritability through this whole project.
-Brian Anderson: many hours of labor and theological discussion.
-Paige Jaquith: many hours of labor and design ideas.
-Marion Pickering: design ideas.
-Starbucks: getting us through!

Enjoy the pictures. This adds a whole new dimension to Life on Union Avenue!

Here is one of the closets and some shelving...Lydia and I cataloged and alphabetized the thousands of books in my theological library to add to the project.
All of our artwork is vintage (teens-40s) posters that deal with books. This one is from a story hour club at a library.
This is my work area. Doug Sikma calls it the catacombs. (Google it.)
Here are more of the fantastic shelves. Notice the "butter cream" color in the background.
Here is the bathroom door. The bathroom is not finished at this time due to funds running out. We will finish this with-in the year.
A fantastic column that Doug Sikma built. The crown moulding is from the Lanning's 1860's Stick Style Victorian (thanks Ray!).
Here is the window seat which opens into a toybox as well as the built in bookshelf that holds some of our children's books. (This poster is from a children's story collection from 1915.)
Here is the couch as well as the stairs towards the kitchen. We love the carpet.
This is Lydia's work area. (It looks a little messier than mine but it is really well organized.) The poster here is a World War I poster requesting books to be mailed to the boys fighting in Europe.

Stop in and see it! (Basement warming party TBA!)

The tricks of the trade

There comes a time in every father's life in which he begins to really enjoy his children.
(Gasps from all around...What a jerk!...But wait....)
When children reach the age of three months or four months they begin to do cute things that set the attachment hormones in high gear. Baby will coo more, smile, respond to your goofy faces and noises, and even begin to take on more human characteristics such as extended limbs. (Don't get me wrong: babies are human when Mr. Sperm meets Mrs. Egg).

Owen has begun to do some of these cute things. His latest trick is that he rolls over all the way. Exactly like Anna, Owen gets agitated at the fact that his arm gets stuck under his body and he cannot remove it. He also gets stuck on his side at times, but is able to put his weight into it.

This is all really cute...But Owen has not learned how to go BACK onto his back. He gets very frustrated with this. For all who have children or have been around them you know the scene. Baby rolls onto stomach...Baby is cute and proud of him or herself....Baby's neck gets tired and begins to flop around like Notliberal's Ronald Reagan bobble-head doll which graces his kitchen counter. It is very funny.

Here is a series of action shots of Owen doing the roll-over. He loves it!

Step One: Throw your weight towards your dominant side.

Step Two: Complete roll using combination of gravity and good ol' ingenuity.


Step Three: Look around to make sure that everyone saw you.

Tute Mama Tute.

Anna is talking up a storm. The quiet days of peacefully reading in the dimly lit sun room are over. The days of lets play and yak! yak! yak! Have begun. Our lives have changed....But we like it.

Of course, Owen is "tute O-O" which is being interpreted as "cute Owen".
Here are two of Anna playing at her new table that we got off of ebay for her to have in the basement. It is "French country" style and Anna lets us know that it is "Anna's chair". She will line them up and then line a slew of Little People under them. She also will play at the table...which was the original intent.


Here is Owen when we all woke up this morning. The first thing Anna will do is say, "hi O-O". She then will give him a kiss on the head. If he is feeling talkative she will respond with "yes..yes". (while nodding her head.)

From the archives III

With the basement project completed (except for the organizing of closet areas) I have not had a lot of time to dedicate to digital imagery. I really do enjoy going through our archives and seeing the changes that our lives have gone through over the past 4 years of marriage. The past two have been especially exciting with the growth of our family. Life on Union Avenue is ever exciting. Please enjoy these archive photos and look forward to a few new posts by the end of this week.
This is Anna at six months. She spent a lot of time on the bed in those days. It seems that at least half of our archive pictures are of Anna on the bed.
What a cuddly little bundle she was then. I am unsure of the date on this one, but she is very little.
Resting in the boppy was a favorite activity. Owen does not get to do this too much because he finds himself attacked with kisses and hugs from Anna. Things are different with two. You have to think of the safety of Owen all while encouraging and helping Anna to develop good habits and skills. Bill Cosby said that you are not really a parent until you have two kids.

(Of course I disagree, but I get the point.)

Wow. This does not seem as though it was that long ago, but it was last year. This was a lot of fun attempting to get Anna and her cousin Hannah to pose. (Getting Hannah to sit still for thirty seconds was half the battle!)

Look forward to a few posts before this weekend!

Tante Angie and Oma Irmgard

Oma Irmgard came to visit her grandchildren this week and brought with her a few notable presents. She brought us a beautiful sectional couch that will stand as the capstone of the basement project.

The other nice thing was an oak rocker that she had finished to match our living room. The oak looks a little bit like tiger maple, but it is oak. Very lovely..probably late 20s, early 30s. Anna calls it "Oma's chair".
Here is a little pose of Anna, her baby doll, Oma, and me. Oma always looks great and Anna takes after her in that- two princesses.
Here is Oma wielding her glasses for fear that she will be photographed with them on her face. That is not the vogue thing you know!
Here is Tante Angie playing with Owen. She was impressed with what a good baby he is. She thought that the strong German blood was paying off. Tante Angie is not Oma's sister, but they are often accused of being sisters. Two tall classy blondes with loud German personas.
Here is Tante Angie with Anna. Angie is shaking her to build character. (Just kidding...you don't have to call protective services)!

We had a great time with them: laughing, talking, drinking Starbucks French Roast, and eating sweets from the Wealthy Street Bakery.
They are always welcome for coffee.