The end of a season...

The journey of life is nothing if not change. This week, we had to say goodbye to such an integral part of our lives, that I never imagined being without them. Our dear friends - our brother and sister - James and Letitia Brooks, are moving their family to Virginia to be closer to extended family. Here are some photos of the goodbye party we threw them, and all the members of our little "family" here in MN....

Back(from left): Eddie, James, Merry, Greg
Seated: Letitia and little Hannah

Letitia, Patrick, Patricia and James (oops - got a little finger smudge on the lens)

Bev and Chris Stark with little Ben, Letitia and James

We moved up here as four newly graduated college students ready to take on the world. Instead, the world took on us a bit. However, though relationships change, the really deeper ones cannot be destroyed. James and Letitia are more than friends, more than family. I cannot explain the conflicting feelings I have - I'm excited for them and the new phase they are entering, but deeply sad to be "loosing" them.

The "blizzard" of 2007

This is the most snow we've gotten since we first moved here. The problem with this one is that it all came practically at once. Last Sat. we got the first 8-12 inches. Shoveled out of that one and had a beautiful week. Then, it started snowing late Wednesday night and didn't stop until Friday afternoon giving us an additional18-20 inches. WE SHOVELED THE DRIVE 4+ TIMES FOR PETE'S SAKE!!!



And here is what being stuck inside for a snowstorm produces in young boys under the age of 5:




Now you know why I am waiting to buy new furniture...

Columbia Children's Museum

Wouldn't you know it...gotta take the kids to the south to expose them to ice fishing!
Fireman Ethan
Right in the middle of the museum is this huge kid. You can go inside of him - it's built like an obstacle course, but with body systems. You can walk into his heart, jump around in his stomach with the food he's eaten, slide down his esophagus, etc. It's really cool.

One of the boys favorite parts was the grocery store. Noah knew exactly what to do - he grabbed a cart and went right to shopping. Ethan bought what he wanted for lunch: a sandwhich, some milk, and a whole cake. At least Noah got a few veggies and fruit in his cart!
They never miss the chance to sit on a John Deere.
Or a camel.
Ethan enjoyed playing along with the video of the African drummers.

Here are some photos of our family in South Carolina. We had a wonderful time and the weather was heavenly (we conveniently missed the coldest snap in MN so far this winter...hee, hee,hee!)


Rob's mom, dad, and youngest brother (who is STILL not married, ladies! And he COOKS!)
Ethan with some cousins - they had a lot of fun running around in the church gym.
Noah having some cuddle time with grandma.
Four generations of Funderburk's: This is Rob's last living grandparent - his paternal grandma Ethel Funderburk. Noah is copying the people trying to get him to smile...he still doesn't quite get the photo op.




This is Rob and his cousins. Later, we had a wonderful time visiting with Mike (far left) and his lovely wife, Rhonda.
Ethan and great-grandma Funderburk. The boys just loved her collection of animated stuffed animals!

One last Christmas photo....

Here is one last photo from Christmas - the boys were helping me take down the decorations. They both enjoyed the tinsel very much!

Catching up

Well - it's been almost forever since I found time to sit down and blog! We took a couple of weeks to prepare for and travel to SC. Then when we got back, there was a lot of stuff to catch up on, 2 very large snow storms, and lots of events all of a sudden at our church. Now I'm entering "the birthday months" - and finding that almost every other family at church has kids born this month as well! UGH. Trying to organize Ethan's 5th birthday is proving difficult.

Anyway, the next several posts will be updates for the past couple of months. Thanks for being patient with me!

Sorry it's been a while. We took a vacation to South Carolina to visit family. We had a wonderful time and will get some photos up soon.

Man, after a week in South Carolina...it's REALLY freakin' cold up here! :)

Monster Truck Jam

Ethan and daddy enjoyed a "boys night out" with James and Henry recently. Here are some photos. Ethan thinks this was the coolest thing ever and can't stop talking about it.

Home Education

By the way...Ethan is already learning to sound out short words, can count to 100 by ones and tens, and do simple addition. He has quite an extensive vocabulary and is proficient with a mouse and a keyboard (for his age). At the Bell Museum, he was inferring which animal belonged to which skeleton by size and shape, and put the butterfly life cycle in the correct sequence with only one hint. And we aren't even trying yet! Even Noah was identifying frogs, birds, ducks, bears, and snakes. For him, the turtle was a "sssss" as well (that's a snake) and all the larger herbivores were "moooos" (deer, moose, caribou, etc.) Ah, well. I guess I can cut him some slack - he's not even 2 yet.

How's THAT for quality education? Our public school system teaches primary colors and letter recognition in kindergarten. My sons would be bored STIFF!!!

(can you tell I'm proud of them?) :)

Bell Museum of Natural History

The U of M has a very nice little daytrip museum...filled with dead things. Lots and lots of taxidermied animals displayed in their natural habitats. Here, Ethan and Noah try out the peat bog. Sorry about the flash spot.
The museum is pretty interactive - this is a bear den with "bear coats" that kids can wear. Noah wanted no part of it. I couldn't get Ethan to come back out.

Here they are in front of the bear display. I tried to learn from my earlier mistake and turned off the flash - that wasn't so hot, either. Maybe I should take a photography class.

Our public library system has partnered with Macy's to offer this museum adventure series - we go to the library and check out a pass that allows free admission for 4 and free parking to several spots around the cities. It's been a lot of fun to check out places we normally wouldn't spend the money to go check out. I've also discovered several internet groups in my area that organize or at least inform each other of free or cheap things to do around town. I'm gonna love homeschooling...I can tell!

Favorite Writing Utensil?

Do you have one? As much as I love felt tip blue pens (something about the bold stroke that can be seen from across the room - even though you can't write on the back of your paper without getting really confused), nothing beats a good, old fashioned #2 Dixon Ticonderoga with the green cuff. Partly nostalgia, partly just the fact that it is one quality pencil with an eraser that doesn't smudge like that cheap crap from China.

Ah....life's little luxuries....

Vikings

Rob was in Duluth on business recently. He got a few good photos - for Duluth - in winter. Rob says Duluth is best seen when it's cold and gray. I think these photos capture that well.

This is a freighter Rob spotted through the dense fog about a mile away on Lake Superior from Leif Ericson Park.
This is a photo of the East side of Duluth. The downtown area would be just out of sight to your right. The large structure in the center is the Aerial Lift Bridge.
These are 2 iron ore docks built in 1914 and 1918. They are still in operation. Those huge freighters (like in the photo above) are around 1000-1500 feet long and each dock can accomodate about 4 freighters at a time! Hard to believe the harbor is deep enough for those boats this close to shore.
And here is the first Minnesota Viking...Leif (I can't believe they give Columbus my credit) Ericson gazing southward looking for warmer climes. Why did he stop in Duluth?

Speaking of Vikings, we took a field trip this last week to the American Swedish Institute - a celebration of all things blonde and cold. It is a converted mansion once owned by a wealthy Swede. It was pretty - the entire house was decorated to celebrate Scandinavian traditions for Christmas - from decorations to dinner settings to dress (and I didn't see one thing in there from IKEA). I don't care how many pictures I see of young women wearing crowns of candles on their heads - I still dont' get how they do that without pulling a Michael Jackson and burning their hair off. The boys favorite part was the costume corner:They look all ready to burn and pillage, don't they?
I'm still a bit unclear as to the costume Noah is wearing. We did look at a book (written in Swedish) that had some little elfin creature that took care of animals - he wore a costume similar to this, so maybe he's some famous Swedish fairy tale creature. Didn't bode well for the poor guy...as civilzation pressed on and depleted the animals habitat, this little elf ended up living under someone's kitchen sink caring for their dog and cat (no, I'm not making this up).

Christmas Pictures

Sorry it took so long to get a few Christmas pictures up...been having trouble with Blogger.

So here are the boys pre-free-for-all. You probably can't tell it here, but Ethan was just dying to rip into his loot. We "skipped" breakfast because he just couldn't wait!
One of the smaller things I got for him turned out to be one of his favorites - I spent 49 cents at a thrift store for a knight's costume...complete with shield (he already had a couple of swords). I thought it would be a fun accessory to his "castle" bed. He wanted to sleep in it! So before we retired, we sneaked in and shot a few pics then gently removed the armor. He has wanted to play Knight and sword fight EVERY day since Christmas!


Ethan played one of the 3 kings in our children's program. The pictures of the actual performance didn't turn out well - not enough light and I was in the wrong spot. He liked the singing but absolutely hated the costume! I was lucky to get a photo before he had the thing off. Guess a future in theater will be limited to playing construction workers, dinosaurs or knights.