the ledges

Cooper, Erica, Kestrel and Gillian

Gillian, Cooper, Erica and Kestrel

Cooper under tree roots

Yesterday we went on a hike through the woods in an area called The Ledges here in Hudson, OH. The kids had a great time exploring the caves and climbing on rocks. Paul and Jim took them back for another hike today.

We're spending New Years Eve here and heading back home tomorrow. Happy New Year!

sleepy puppy

We're in Cleveland now at Debra and Jim's house. Kes and Coop are having fun with cousins Erica and Gillian, and Harrison's been tiring himself out trying to get their dogs to play.

greetings from boston

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is having a fun vacation week. We are in Boston right now visiting my family.

Kestrel had her last performance of "Miracle on 34th Street" Saturday evening and then we left Sunday to start the drive here. Unfortunately, we ended up trapped for hours on I-70 in IN due to a really bad multi-car accident. We were stuck, in stand-still traffic, on a closed section of highway Sunday afternoon for about 4.5 hours, until we finally had the guts to escape by driving through the median ditch and heading back in the other direction. We weren't sure if our van would make it (we saw one car get stuck in the ditch trying earlier) but it did. Go Odyssey! It was a frustrating situation, but the kids and the puppy were all being so good and patient, and we couldn't really complain knowing there were 3 people who lost their lives in the accident. We were mostly thankful to all be together and safe. We (and by we I mean Paul) drove straight through the night and arrived here at my parents house Monday afternoon.

Christmas morning we opened a few presents and relaxed here before heading over to my brother Stephen's house for Christmas with all my siblings, nieces and nephews. Paul surprised me with an awesome and unexpected present: a very cool sleek little notebook computer. So now I can take up a table for hours at Panera while I work on blog posts...

Today we ventured into the city and went to the Boston Children's Museum (where I took the pictures above on my phone). The kids had a great time, but it sure was crowded. We could have stayed even longer at the museum but had to get back home for Harrison. Speaking of Harrison, he's doing great for a 10 week old puppy in lots of strange houses. It's hard to believe we've only had him 2 1/2 weeks!

Tomorrow we make the drive to Cleveland, where we'll stay until New Years. Oh yeah, for everyone who has sent us cards this season, we love them and are sorry we haven't gotten any of our own out. Life's just been a bit busy lately. Who knows, maybe we'll send some out late.

snowy

We got a lot of snow yesterday and last night, about 5-6 inches. My friend Nancy had the girls over for a holiday get together last night. Despite the snow, almost everyone came out. When we went to go home, we realized our cars were covered with snow and we all had to clean off our cars. When I got home there was too much snow I couldn't get up my driveway, so I was out there at 1:30am shoveling the driveway so I could put my car away!

Crazy girls Trish and Amy out in the snow late last night.

Kestrel and Harrison playing in the snow this morning.

miracle

Miracle on 34th Street opened Friday night. Kestrel is a caroler in the play and also has a part as one of Judge Harper's grandchildren. So far there have been shows Friday night and Saturday afternoon. There was supposed to be a show last night, but it was cancelled due to the snow. Kestrel's doing great! Friday night the show went really well, but yesterday there were a few technical/light snafus which were pretty much my fault. Oh yeah, they have me (and my friend Marlene) in the booth helping with lights and video - yikes!

This pictures is of the carolers singing in the lobby during intermission.

There are four more performances: this afternoon, and next Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.

piano

Here's Cooper playing the piano in his pre-piano class yesterday. He's playing the song "Mouse Mousey" he learned in class. Yesterday was the last class of this session. His teacher says he's ready for private lessons. We just have to figure out if we're going to buy a piano or a keyboard or do something else.
I know he looks very serious here, but he's really not. He always has a fun time in class.

harrison

Meet the new addition to our family - our "surprise"! Paul drove to OH yesterday to bring Harrison home. He is an 8 week old Newfoundland, black with a small white patch on his chest. He is very, very sweet, and pretty big (20 pounds already).
The first 3 pictures were taken last night, the 4th I took this morning.

The kids only knew that Daddy was gone for the day, and bringing home a surprise. They kept asking all day what it was, but I wouldn't tell them. Kestrel guessed a piano. Later, after Paul was home, Kestrel kept saying Harrison is "better than a piano!"

feeling pretty festive

We decorated the tree yesterday. It went really fast once we got started. The kids helped put on most of the ornaments. They had them on the tree faster than I could unwrap them from the storage box. The start on top is a 3-D star Kestrel made for a shcool project last year.

Kestrel's having a lot of fun with her new digital camera. She's taking a lot of pictures and videos and learning how to edit them on the computer. She's been into using the self timer. Here are two self-timer pictures Kestrel took yesterday:

5th night of Chanukah

In front of the newly-decorated tree. Isn't she getting pretty good?

**As I write this Paul is on his way back from a road trip to bring home our new surprise! Check back here soon for more details and pictures...

land of sweets

Friday afternoon a friend had us over to decorate gingerbread houses (made out of graham crackers). Here are the kids' creations! When they were done, they both snacked on their houses, and then Kestrel had fun playing outside in the snow (it had snowed the night before).

happy chanukah

We celebrated the first night of Chanukah at home, and then Kestrel had to go to rehearsal. When we came out of rehearsal, it was starting to snow! Kestrel was excited and screaming, and telling me to look straight up into the snow like she was.

he's got the rad moves

Cooper was pretty focused playing by himself in the family room while I was cleaning up in the kitchen. Eventually he started playing with his electric drum pad. At one point I looked up and saw him dancing to one of the rhythms on the drum set. I just had to grab my camera. At first he had no idea I was recording him. Check out the hip action at 00:19!

I took Kestrel to see the Nutcracker Saturday evening. It has become a special Mommy-Kestrel tradition we do each year. Kestrel's friend Caitlin was performing again this year, this time as one of the mice. Very cute! Kestrel was tired of course from the night before (which she wouldn't admit), but we had to go this night because we couldn't miss seeing her friend.

Here are a couple camera phone pictures I took before the show.

birthday sleepover

Kestrel had a slumber party with 3 of her friends Friday night to celebrate her birthday. They made their own tacos for dinner, danced to High School Musical 2, decorated their own cupcakes, played hot potato (Kestrel insisted they use an actual, hot potato) and watched Ratatouille. The girls slept in the basement. Well, eventually they slept. They didn't go to sleep until after 2am! In the morning they had pancakes before the girls got picked up. Kestrel's first sleepover party was, in her words, "the best birthday ever!"

The party guests: Olivia, Kestrel, Rachel and Amy

happy birthday kestrel!

Today our girl turned 8!
She had quite a special day. This morning we gave her a new pair of earrings, her first pair after getting her ears pierced. She proudly changed her earrings for the first time this morning so she could wear them to school, where she brought cupcakes to share with her class.
Between her dance classes this evening we went out to Jupiter, a new place that opened up near us, for pizza and chocolate cake.
Later at home we opened the rest of her presents. She got some really great gifts from family, especially from all of her grandparents.
She got sung to many times today: at home, at school, at both dance classes, and at the restaurant. What a day!

This "slice" of chocolate cake was not only big enough for 8 candles, but it generously fed all four of us.
Sooo excited about her birthday!
Cooper is getting a big "thank you" hug.

Kaya makes her 3rd blog appearance, this time on horseback!

more from the weekend

A few more pictures from the weekend. Paul's Mom is leaving today, the rest of the crew headed back yesterday.

Cooper had a great time singing, dancing and playing guitar with Uncle Arthur.

All the cousins right before they hit the road.

Kestrel and Gillian - its hard to say goodbye!

happy thanksgiving!

Another successful Thanksgiving was had by all! We hosted again this year, with Paul's mom Carol, Debra, Jim, Erica, Gillian, Aida, Arthur, Lila and Levi all making the trip here. As always, Paul did most of the cooking. Kestrel, Cooper, Erica and Gillian created the salad, on their own with no adult involvement at all. Levi made the mashed potatoes.

Kestrel and Cooper serving their special salad creation.

The kid's table! From left, Erica, Lila, Gillian, Kestrel, Cooper and Levi

My contribution to the meal - apple pie!

Erica, Lila and Gillian

cooper and friends

Cooper went to a classmate's birthday party at our local children's science museum. This museum is really small, but Cooper loves it there. They got a little hands on time with some of the resident animals. Here are some camera phone pictures.

Petting Windy the box turtle

Checking out Corney the corn snake

Cooper with his friends Olivia (middle) and Elise (on the right). By the way, Cooper often says he is going to marry Elise when he grows up.

happy trails

Here's Kestrel with Kelly the horse following our riding lesson this morning. Kelly is her favorite horse for lessons. Today I rode Boots, a very pretty mare. She's a nice horse despite her tendency to want to stop abruptly without warning (hopefully NOT when I'm up in a two-point). I never really had any experience with horses prior to starting riding lessons, and I'm enjoying the fact that each horse has his or her own personality, and his or her own quirks. We had to miss our lesson last week because I woke up sick, sick ,sick, but it was fun to go back today.

Some other news: Kestrel got a part in a local production of the musical "Miracle on 34th Street". Her part is one of Judge Harper's Grandchildren, and she'll also be a caroler. It's a small part, but still she gets to be on stage! Her friend Zanden is also one of the grandchildren. She's very excited and I think it will be a fun experience. Performances run from Dec. 14th through Dec. 22. For more information you can go to http://www.brightlightstheatre.org/public/.

happy halloween

After Kestrel got home from school yesterday we got to work carving our pumpkins. Paul got home a little early and joined us, so we ended up each carving a pumpkin. Afterwards, Paul roasted the seeds while the kids and I put up the Halloween decorations. They were pretty excited about decorating this year, and we got some new decorations -- the graveyard! Of course we still had the singing/screeching cat from last year at the front door to surprise the trick-or- treaters.
We ordered pizza for dinner, which has become one of our Halloween traditions. Paul stayed home to hand out candy while I took the kids out trick-or-treating with some friends from Kestrel's Brownie troop. They had a great time, though Cooper was getting tired trying to keep up with the big girls who were zipping from door to door.
You'll be happy to know our candy basket is now fully restocked to last through the next year!

Our pumpkins. From left - Kestrel's, Cooper's, Dad's and Mom's.