Such Good Kids

Today after Girl Scouts I met Jamie and Sully in Ohio City for some shopping and a nice lunch. We decided to go to Great Lakes Brewing Company, a very nice brewery restaurant. It was the typical meals, talking, kids coloring on place mats etc. At the end of the meal when we stood up to leave, a gentlemen at the next table got up and came over to me and said: "I just wanted to let you know that your children are really well behaved." I thanked him and told him that it takes time but the beatings really work (). After we left and I was still basking in the proud glow, Jamie reminded me that she has heard this several times before. In fact, when she has traveled on trains or busses, when kids are often at their worst due to the strange situations, people have said things like: "wow, we didn't even know that any kids were on this bus/in this train car." I just wanted to let everybody know just how great are kids are and how lucky we are to have them. Have a great weekend!

Girl Scouts and Reading

You should all know by now that Wayde reads really well, but this is still really impressive. This morning at Girl Scouts we were getting ready for the World Friendship Day which is tommorrow. One of the girls had trouble reading her part (it had a lot of big words and was really too difficult for a Brownie). The leader let several other girls older than Wayde try to read it but they had just as much trouble. When I suggested that she have Wayde give it a try the leader said: "but these words are bigger than she is!" referring to the fact that Wayde is one of the younger Brownies. When Wayde gave it a try, there was only ONE word she couldn't sound out! So she gets to do the hardest part tommorow!

Incidently, since Chayce is not reading yet, she gets to carry in the flag tommorow! What an honor for our family!

Sully is diaperless!

Well, it has finally happened! We are almost entirely diaperless! Ofcourse Sully has been going without a diaper all day and using the potty for months. But what you didn't know, is that all this week, Sully has been going to bed without a diaper and waking up totally dry. Ofcourse, he also often likes to go "commando," but that might be a little too much information for you. Oh well. Way to go, Sully!

Chayce's Library Card

Hey, Chayce just got her very own library card! Now she can check out books from the Cleveland Public Library under her own name! Woo hoo!

Black Flag

This is a great pic my Dad sent me in an email. The caption reads:

Look at the black patch under the U.S. flag! You gotta love their humor.
This SHOULD be on the front cover of Time, Newsweek, etc. But it won't be.
Let's you and I "put it there" by forwarding this all around the world (so to speak)!
The flags are France, Germany, and Russia -- in case you don't know.

Monkey See, Monkey Want?

Last week, Jamie went to the doctor for a routine blood test and took Sully. Well, being one who loves and looks up to his Momma so much, Sully actually told the nurse that he wanted a blood test too! Most kids are afraid of shots, needles, etc. Ofcourse he didn't get one, but how many two-year olds do you know who actually want a blood test?

Prayer on Series "24" on Fox

While I do not like the character of President Logan on the series
"24," and I really do not like the choices he makes, I've got to give
credit to Fox for putting in a scene where the President kneels before
God with his chief of staff before making a major decission. I think
it is a good message to send that even though their are those out
there who would not have our public officials (or anyone else for
that matter) praying, it does indeed still happen and it should. Good
work Fox!

Prayers for Puckett

Early this morning Kirby Puckett suffered a stroke at his home in Scottsdale Arizona. He is currently at the hospital undergoing surgery. Puckett was a great major leaguer w/ 10 all star appearences and 2 rings. Let's keep him and in family in our prayers.

Halloween '05

Here are a few pics of the kids Halloween costumes and what they got in their care packages form Nanna and Pop-Pop. Sully is about ready to pass out standing up here, which is why we took the picture so I could take the girls a little farther and he could go inside and rest with Momma. Sully's T shirt is hard to read but it says "Monster in Trainning" w/ a Frankenstein on it (not appropriate AT ALL). He also got another t shirt that says "My sister is a witch."

Great Program for viewing & editing pics, movies, etc.

In case anybody is wondering, I have been posting all these great pics using a program called Irfanview, which can be found at http://www.irfanview.com/. This is a freeware program that lets you view almost any kind of picture, movie, or sound file regardless of what program it was created in or to what it was suposed to be displayed in. It's also great for viewing multiple pics or movies with it's slide show option, and it even has some basic editing tools. In order to get these pics in my blog, I used Irfanview to first change their size to 640x480, and then used the batch converter to convert them from bitmaps to jpegs. For those of you who don't know what this means, the program let me make the pictures much smaller and therefore sharper, and to translate them into a file type that the internet understands. Even if you don't need to do any image manipulation, it is a great little program for viewing almost anything. Check it out!

Sully is feeling much better!

Sully just woke up and came downstairs. He seems to be in a good mood and is not real feverish like he was last night. Perhaps best of all, he has not really been eating since he has been sick and he just took a muffin from me and is eating it while he watches Pokemon! Now he just called me in the room to tell me that the medicine I gave him (Tylenol meltaways) is gone in his mouth. He was so excited, it was really cute!

Inca Meika McQueeney

This is our kids "aunt" Inca Meica. She is actually Jamie's parents English Mastiff Puppy. I say puppy because as scary as it is she is only about 2 years old in this picture (Summer '05). As you can see, she was taller then Sully last summer and even though he has grown since then she probably has too and might still be taller than him! From what I have heard she is actually a really sweet dog. The only real problems Jamie had with her is that when she gets excited she is so big there is a risk of her knocking Sully down (and everytime Sully had a "soiled" diaper she got very excited, apparently fascinated by the smell).

Sully and the big rock

These are some pics of Sully at the same state park, mostly showing Mommy how he can climb on the big rock by himself, but there is also one of him holding something really tiny. I just love the looks on his face in these.

Vacation 2005-State Park

During Jamie's vacation last year she took the kids to visit her sister and boyfriend who were spending the summer at a state park (I'm not sure if it was in NH or MA but it was somewhere up there). While there, the kids played on some really big rocks. These are some of the pics of all of them together. Some of them are really nice poses, while some of them are really silly, like the one with Wayde blowing a huge kiss or sticking ot her tongue.

Vacation 2005

As in most years since we have been together, Jamie went back home to New England last summer to see family and friends and to show off our beautiful children. These three pics were taken in Boston at the Public Garden Swan Boats, which have ferried people around on a peaceful little circle to nowhere for many years. they also got to go with Jamie's friend Kim and her kids, and they all had a great time.

Potty Pics!

I know I know, these pics are embaressing and the kids will probably be very angry with me someday. But I just can't help it! The 2 of Sully were taken when we got him to sit on the potty (I think it was one of the first times he used it for #2). Jamie thought it would be hysterical to get him to look at a magazine while he was sitting there (reminds me of his old man). The other 2 I think Jamie took on her vacation last summer. I'm not sure why she took pics of the kids in a bathroom, but I must say they did turn out pretty well.

Kindergarten Graduation-little guys

Ofcourse Chayce and Sully got to go to Wayde's Kindergarten Graduation and had a great time waitting for it to start on the playground (The playground is right outside the kindergarten rooms so we could hang out there while we were waitting for the classroom stuff to finish up and so we didn't have to take them in to early). These are adorable pictures of the two of them playing together, but I especially like the picture of Sully playing by himself. He's got this great smile on his face as he realises with satisfaction that he can climb up on the structure and that he is being photograhed at the same time. The picture of Chayce holding Sully's hand so he won't be scared (as if) and the one of her waving are really good likenesses of her and who she is. We had a really good time that day as we played, watched Wayde and her friends get their awards, and then went to McDonald's for lunch. This was a really special day.

Wayde Finishes Kindergarten!

Here are some pics of Wayde's Kindergarten Awards in her class. The two in with her in the background are with her teacher Mrs. Schultz as she is being presented her awards. Wayde absolutely loved Mrs. Schultz who really enjoyed having her (in fact Mrs. Schultz wanted to teach Wayde this year since she moved up to 1st Grade, but Wayde got put into a different class). The third picture is after the ceremony, and is Wayde showing off her Citizenship Award, Honor Roll Certifficate, and Perfect Attendance Trophy. She was really proud of herself that day, and for good reaon!

Field Day, part II

I think Sully is being helped to walk through a kiddie pool filled w/ Jell-O or grape jelly or something. It was an activity that was just supposed to feel wierd, and the girls said it really did!

Kindergarten '05 Field Day

Here are some pics from Wayde's Kindergarten field day last year. Sully and Chayce got to go as well and had a great time.

World Baseball Cup

I've been reading about this World Baseball Cup and was getting pretty excited about it, until I realised it was all on cable. Now maybe in other countries it will be broadcast on more accessible stations where the majority of people can see it. But if only a small few can even watch it, is it really going to matter? Now I understand that most Americans have cable and could therefore watch it, but I doubt the rest of the world gets ESPN2. I just think it's a shame that something this big wouldn't be broadcast on a major network. Oh well.

Sully is sick

Our boy Sully is sick right now with a fever and ear infection. Daddy is not much beeter. Saturday the Russells are going to stay home while Momma takes the girls to Girl Scouts. He is being a real trooper about it but we could use some prayers to help speed along his recovery. Thanks!

More Kiddie Land '05

Here are some more pics of one of our trips to Kiddie Land last year. Enjoy!

Kiddie Land '05

For those of you who don't know, Kiddie Land (or the Memphis Kiddie Park as it is officially known) is one of my favorite places to take a small child. Situated on the outskirts of the West Side of Cleveland, it has about 2 dozen rides all sized perfectly for little kids. My grandfather used to take me there when I was a boy, and I am happy to say that very little has changed. Take a look at some of these pics to see how great a time a child can have!