Screamin John and Frat Boy Chris

England day 2

2012-01-31T00:00:00.006-05:00

The Penna Men

2012-01-29T11:38:00.007-05:00

While Juliet is in England, the boys and I are fending for ourselves. The adventure began with a birthday party for one of Christopher's friends at a gymnastics center in Easley...

For dinner that night we had hot dogs, mac & cheese, and corn on the cob...

Oh, and I caught John splaying a two-player wii game using both remotes. He won.

Later, we listened to some music and danced before the bath...

Breakthrough!

2012-01-25T20:13:00.002-05:00

Yesterday John went from reading as a chore to "I love reading!"
He has a series of small books (10 pages or so with just four words on each page) called "Bob Books." (Not Bob the Builder). We have been forcing him to read those to us occasionally during our nightly reading sessions, which he did begrudgingly. But last night he started reading them on his own, and he enjoyed it a lot more! Now he is blazing through the books, and tonight he read "Hop on Pop" to Christopher.

Hurray!

Typical Toddler Talk

2012-01-03T18:46:00.003-05:00

Christopher is firmly in the toddler camp, and talking up a storm.

Here is what we hear most frequently:
"Mine"
"I need that."
"I do it."
"Come over here."
"Oh my."
"Oh my goodness."
"Where's John?" "Where's Daddy?" "Where's Mommy?"
"I see?"
"Here go, John." (Here you go, John)

Merry Christmas, so here is Christopher's birthday

2011-12-26T22:02:00.007-05:00

Better late than never, right? Right?!
Anyway, here are some pictures from Christopher's birthday party back in November. It was just him and Ever, his friend from school. She's very cute and her mom and dad are very nice. We know that because they were impressed with our large collection of light sabers, and encouraged Ever to wield them along with our two JIT (Jedi in Training).

The big hit at the party was John's hanging bar. Ever impressed all of us by hanging on for a long time.

I think this was her very first time!

Look at that smile!

She could hang a long time, she was very strong! I think her mom and dad were surprised at how well she did and how much she liked it!

John showed off his tricks.

Christopher tried too, but he hasn't quite got the holding on part yet.

The next activity was decorating re-purposed Halloween Happy Meal buckets with stickers in preparation for a scavenger hunt. Miss Kerri reintroduced me to the joys of scavenger hunts for kids and we had one for Christopher. I took pictures of locations around the house. Christopher would go to the location and then Ever would pick up the toys. They were a great team.

After that we had fruit, chicken nuggets, and cupcakes!

Then the kids just played a little bit. It was a really good party.

John and Christopher later watched TV.

I actually had a 5K that morning before the party. I received the prestigious "first in age group because I'm the only one still there" award! It was really cold, and so only newbies stayed for the awards. Basically the race director read down the list of names to find people who were still there! Our friend Mark got best overall!

And I can't even remember how this evolved...

Happy Birthday Christopher! I can't believe how many smiles you've given us in two years!

A walk through the woods

2011-12-11T15:04:00.022-05:00

On Thanksgiving day we went for a hike at the ironically named Mountain View Park. The boys took walkie talkies so they could stay in touch. We stopped by the lake to crawl through the mud and throw rocks in the water. We saw a train go by (daddy likes his new lens)...And got lots of exercise...

Denver Downs

2011-11-29T07:00:00.001-05:00

Black Friday

2011-11-25T15:52:00.003-05:00

John and Christopher saw Santa at Lowe's. He gave them "candy cans" (which is what John calls candy canes).

This and That

2011-11-06T07:20:00.004-05:00

Here are a couple of random photographs from last month...

This is the only shot I got from "Hollywild" an animal park somewhere north of Greenville. We used a Living Social deal or groupon or something... It was ok, the drive was more than an hour, and it was kind of depressing. Not the worst animal park I have seen, but I felt like maybe they kept the animals on shortish rations so that they would eat for the patrons. Because that was the big gimmick. You get to feed a lot of the petting zoo type animals. Also, you drive to a big pasture in a school bus with the windows cut out, and animals come up to the bus and you feed them bagels, crackers, and english muffins you purchase there. It was definitely fun for the kids. There are buffalo, cows, zebras, steers, and other grazing animals. I was surprised to find out that they let the animals breed and there are interspecies crosses. I'm not any sort of animal activist, but I was a little ambivalent on this one...

These pictures are from a stretch when Tony was in tech for two weeks in a row, and I was just trying to get through until bedtime. I consider watching TV and eating the ultimate cave-in at our house. We now have one DVD player for each kid. It boiled down to that or else we would spend forever swapping the DVD player and Tony's iPhone...

Roper Mountain Science Center

2011-11-02T08:34:00.004-04:00

This is as close to a science museum we have in the upstate. It only opens for weekend events and school trips. They do have a planetarium, but kids under five are not allowed.
Last month, they had a "Star Wars" day, which was really about science and culture with lame SW tie-ins. The local Star Wars fanboy geek crew dress up in their authentic, homemade costumes and hang around as part of the exhibit. Tony was disgusted with it, but Christopher and John had a pretty good time. They particularly enjoyed the small animal area. And riding the shuttle from the parking area.

Phase shifting

2011-10-28T10:42:00.002-04:00

We have definitely shifted into the terrible toddler stage with Christopher. He is easily set off into temper tantrums, is sometimes hitting during them, and is much harder to distract and reset once he goes off the rails. He's still sweet as pie most of the time. So, Tony and I discussed it, and we'll keep him...

2011-10-25T11:11:00.013-04:00

Last weekend we went to Oktoberfest in nearby Walhalla. We saw some folk dancing...

Ate a lot of good (read: bad) food, and the kids went on some fun rides...
We met up with some friends from the neighborhood there, so John and Henry went together on some of the rides...

They went down a huge slide (I went down once myself; it was awesome in a terrifying kind of way!)...

Christopher and daddy went on the carousel, but Christopher got kind of upset as soon as the ride started...

Day Out with Christopher

2011-10-06T06:00:00.000-04:00

Since I was to be a tech-widow all weekend (Tony started "Sweeney Todd" at Centre Stage), I decided to head up to Spencer, North Carolina, with the boys in tow, for the Day out with Thomas, at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. Although the night in the hotel with Christopher waking up every two hours was HELL (I repeat, very bad), we had a great time at the Thomas the Tank Engine event the next day. Christopher was at just the right age to be totally bowled over by the blue train, and he has been reading two Thomas board books over and over again at bedtime for the past month or so, along with another train book. I figured the timing was just too good to miss.

We got to see Thomas driving up and down the tracks several times. It was great. We didn't actually ride Thomas, but I always thought, why would you? We did with John, and of course, while you are riding on Thomas's train you can't see Thomas himself!

John was mostly interested in the animal crackers I had in the backpack, so that kept him happy. And he was happy to help Christopher have a good time.

Apple Picking in NC

2011-10-02T19:58:00.003-04:00

Cruise director Kerri led us on another fabulous excursion a couple weekends ago: Apple-picking at Sky Top Orchard in Flat Rock, North Carolina.
Despite the morning rain, which burned off while we were there, we all had a fabulous time!
(These are actually in reverse order, so we had clouds then RAIN then glorious sun!)

Picking apples was actually not the highlight. There were lots of playhouses and forts and swings, goats and sheep, and ducks and geese to feed. And a bamboo forest to explore. We will definitely try to go back again!

That's how we roll

2011-09-27T11:35:00.001-04:00

May the force be with us.

2011-09-23T19:35:00.003-04:00

Here are my Star Wars pancakes.
Double spinning light sabers, yoda, and Captain Rex (or Commander Cody, I'm not sure), and blasters that look like hairdryers.

Here is Mommy's "force."

Quick update

2011-09-15T08:08:00.002-04:00

John is starting slowly to get used to school. I think he is starting to realize it is inevitable. He rides everyday with friend Henry, so that helps. He doesn't like the bus ride after school because it's too long and because he doesn't like the bus driver's voice. I think because she is one of those friendly ladies who is brash and loud, which of course makes her the perfect bus driver! He prefers taking his lunch but sometimes buys at school. He likes P.E. He now has a daytime Bee (an old blue one from his baby and toddler years) and a nighttime Bee, "just like Christopher." He occasionally says, "I have a new rule." So far the two new ones have been lining up on a certain square when you are waiting to go to the bathroom. Fortunately the new rules don't last longer than the time it takes for him to tell them.

Christopher is really enjoying talking. He is starting to string more than one word together at a time. "Mommy watch" and "Sit chair" are frequently heard. He likes to try saying new words. He is also adjusting to his new toddler room. He still cries on parting, but that's normal. He's always happy when we pick him up.

First Day of School

2011-09-06T22:12:00.004-04:00

Today was finally John's first day of "real" kindergarten at the public school. I can already let you know that I will not do this momentous occasion justice, but I'll try.

School starts at 8am, a full hour before we are used to for pre-school, so there was some concern about John getting in gear on time. (Christopher is usually up by 6:30, no worries about Mommy and Daddy oversleeping!) Anyway, I opted to go extra late (leaving the house at 7:50, the school is 4 minutes from our house w/o traffic), instead of trying to join the rush of overeager, overanxious families who get there at 7:45.
The herd had definitely thinned out by the time we got there, but I did have to pull up on the grass to park so I could walk John in. However, were were in the building when the tardy bell rang. ["Tardy bell," those two words have not entered my consciousness together since high school!]
We fast walked to his classroom, and the teacher's assistant took custody (grabbed his arm at my instruction), while Christopher and I fled. I think I said "I love you have a great day see you soon," but I may have imagined it. I did not wait around to see if tears started, and when I asked John after school if he cried, he said he didn't remember. I score that under the success column!

When he got home (riding the school bus!), I baked refrigerated cookies and grilled him about whatever I could think of.
Did they sing songs? No.
Did they play outside? Yes.
Did they go to the gym? Yes.
Did they say the alphabet? No.
Did you learn any rules? Yes.
What are they? There were three. The first one was "No running" and he couldn't remember the other two.

He did volunteer quite a lot of interesting info.
There was a boy in his class named Christopher.
His friend Alex from preschool found him at recess, and John said that there was a monster in a nearby vent and so they ran away.
In gym they "galloped, skipped, ran, and walked" over and over in a square on blue lines on the floor.
The afternoon snack was fruit rollup.
You can only buy OR take your lunch, not a combination of both. He bought a grilled cheese sandwich (a favorite), peaches, and chocolate milk.
He did not have a good time today but he thinks he will like school.

Whew. I am relieved that milestone is in our rear-view mirror now. Which is how I usually feel about life's "Hallmark moments."

Christopher also moved up today, into the toddler room. He only has 5 other kids with him, down from 9 or 10 in the creepers. He seemed to be fine when I picked him up, but I didn't think to grill him.

Here are some pictures. These are the only ones I took.
Here are the boys eating their special "first day of school microwave frozen breakfast sandwiches." Jack Sprat (John) eats the egg, cheese, and croissant, and Mrs. Sprat (Christopher) eats the sausage only. It's a beautiful relationship.

Here is the money shot of John walking to school. About 5 seconds later, he said, "I'm tired of walking." Mostly because we were racing to get into the building by 8am, and because of his 10-pound backpack.

The last two are of Christopher and I eating our free Chicken with Egg and Cheese on a Sunflower Multigrain bagel at Chik-fil-a. It was too early to drop him off at school after I dropped off John.

Trip to Knoxville Part 2

2011-09-01T12:34:00.009-04:00

On our recent trip to visit Grandma Judy in Knoxville, we also went to a state park with a nice shaded playground...

Trip to Knoxville Part 1

2011-09-01T09:17:00.009-04:00

Last weekend we travelled to Knoxville to visit Grandma Judy. The hotel had a pretty cool fort...

...John like playing with the telescope...

...Christopher made it all the way to the top!

Hidden talents, or Stupid Human Tricks

2011-08-09T11:42:00.005-04:00

A couple weeks ago we visited the Children's Museum. In a multi-purpose room we found some hula hoops. Here's John trying one out...

Then he offered us some pointers...

But this is the really amazing part. Look at what Juliet can do...

Haircuts

2011-08-02T09:36:00.008-04:00

Juliet gave all three of her boys haircuts last weekend...

This was Christopher's first time "in the chair."

Thank goodness for Cheerios and portable DVD players!

Afterward everyone took a shower and was happy again.

The Children's Museum

2011-07-28T08:54:00.007-04:00

A while ago I (Tony) took the boys to the Children's Museum while Juliet ran errands in Greenville. John climbed a rock wall......then we hit the water tables......a flight simulator......some sort of stationary bike (I can't remember what this station was trying to teach us)......then we played in a little garden outside while we waited for mom to pick us up.I call this the Vitruvian 5-year-old...

Zero miles to go!

2011-07-27T15:23:00.002-04:00

Our trip home

2011-07-13T09:28:00.005-04:00

On our way back from Texas we saw a large fire on the side of the road...

Later on we decided to go just one more exit before stopping for gas. As you can see, we had 4 miles of gas left when we pulled up to the pump (note the "Range" in the upper right hand corner of the center display). It was a nail biter!

Appreciating my kids on a new level

2011-06-23T16:07:00.000-04:00

I have an ear infection. It sucks.

A new game and two cute boys

2011-06-16T20:19:00.003-04:00

While the boys were waiting for their turns for swim lessons today, they played a new game called "stick the sock to the brick wall." It was created by John when he whipped off his sock and it stuck to the brick wall. (One of those "Eureka!" moments). It lasted a good 20-30 minutes, so you know it was fun!

Here is an unrelated picture of two of my three cute boys, looking particularly cute.

Christopher's vocabulary

2011-06-01T08:00:00.002-04:00

I make no guarantee that what comes out of his mouth will sound like the real word to anyone not in our family, but here they are:
Batman
OK
No
If you're happy and you know it (HAPpee doh)
Hi
John (Dau)
Daddy
Mom

Just so you don't have to look at Christopher's battered face anymore

2011-05-30T10:31:00.002-04:00

He's mostly healed up. The bug bite did go down in 3 days and he only has a small scab under his noes again! Hooray for fast-healing children!

When bad things happen to good toddlers

2011-05-23T07:17:00.004-04:00

So Christopher had a really rough day yesterday. Tony and I noticed a little red bump on his eyebrow in the morning and just thought he bumped his head, normal for someone who is learning to walk. When he woke up from his nap it was twice as big. He was very fussy, so I called the pediatrician on call and he agreed that it was probably a bug bite. We put benadryl cream on it, and went to the library.
Then, in his new big boy shoes, Christopher stepped off the curb and planted his face on the asphalt in the library parking lot. I was later looking at his poor little swollen and scratched face and said he looked like he'd been in a bar fight. John added "And lost."
However, as you can tell from the photographic evidence, he remains in good spirits.

Lost

2011-05-14T06:48:00.002-04:00

It looks like Blogger lost some of our comments on the previous post. Anyone else have that same problem? Back up your blogs everyone, as Pa would say!

Christopher's Ear Surgery

2011-05-11T10:45:00.007-04:00

Well, it's finally done. A week later than we thought due to mysterious childhood virus number 873 (an unexplained 5-day fever).
He went back to school today.
The doctors installed ventilation tubes and removed his adenoids, which is exactly what Tony had. John just had tubes installed. (At almost the exact same age!)
Christopher already seems happier, and is moving around possibly better. But that may just be getting more walking practice. The doctor, a lovely red-head with a warm smile, told us that she got out the gunk (my word, I can't remember hers), and she actually shuddered when she said it. It has to be pretty bad to gross out a doctor whose surgery waiting room has a TV that presents live cataract surgery. Yuck.
Anyway, here are some pictures. Sorry for the blurry ones.

He had a little bit of difficulty in the first period of coming out of the anesthetic. He wouldn't take any fluids, but later he slowly worked his way through the day eating and drinking in usual Christopher style!

M is for the million things she gave me ...

2011-05-08T06:38:00.005-04:00

Before becoming one, I never thought much about how much importance other mothers would take on for me and my own family. Now that I'm a mom, all the others moms in my life are vital to my well-being and happiness.
My MIL Judy has provided me with a wonderful husband and an amazing father to children who wouldn't be here otherwise!
My friend Christine, nearer to the beginning of her life as a mom, manages to make me feel wiser than I really am.
It has been amazing to share being a mom on the exact timeline as my sister Jenny.
My BFF moms Kerri and Becky are witnessing and experiencing my own day-to-day life as a mom, encouraging me, laughing with me, and helping me, as well as saving my butt when it needs saving (often). I had no idea I would find two women with whom I would share so much in the way of carpools, food, discipline, toys, clothes, emotions, alcohol, and schedules AND that I would love it!

And my own mom has provided a template for motherhood to which I now willingly aspire, after years of kicking against "turning into my own mom." Now, I hope that I can live my own motherhood with the grace, humor, spirit, and vitality she shows everyday!

5-year-old gymnastics

2011-05-06T16:44:00.007-04:00

John started a new gymnastics class this week: a class for 5-year-old boys. After some initial clinginess and tears, he started learning about some the exercises they would do and warmed up quickly. Special thanks to Kevin (blue shirt in the first picture) for helping John get comfortable with the new class.

They did warm ups...

swang (swung? No, I'm going with swang) from the rings...and jumped on some sort of horse...

He did great!

The development of the American silverbacked gorilla

2011-04-18T10:19:00.002-04:00

That would be Christopher.

He's definitely walking now! Enough to put him firmly in the "toddler" camp, finally! He often starts out walking, falls, then starts to scoot because he can move faster that way. But he's enjoying walking and chooses it more and more as his mode of transportation. One of his teachers said that he was walking around a little bit and then noticed she was watching him and he started blushing. But he gained a lot of confidence walking around on the playground at the campground where Mimi and Pa are staying this week (for John's Easter break). It's definitely been a lesson for me that he will not be rushed and will take things in his own time. Of course, his FAVORITE mode of transportation is still being carried by his Daddy!

Nettles Park

2011-04-14T12:29:00.003-04:00

Enjoy!

Juliet's trophy (posted by Tony)

2011-04-03T09:38:00.009-04:00

Do you remember the scene in A Christmas Story where the dad won a crossword puzzle contest and got a leg lamp for a trophy? Well...

Juliet ran in the Clemson Easter Bunny 5k at the Botanical Garden Saturday morning. While we were waiting at the finish line for our friends to finish the half-marathon, they announced the first-, second-, and third-place finishers of the 5k. Juliet finished 2nd in her age group (40-44)! She got a pint glass for a trophy...

On the way back to the car she described it as a major running award and herself as an award-winning runner. She also started making plans to add a running award wing to our house.

I'm never going to hear the end of this.

All joking aside, the boys, our neighbors, and I are all very proud of her!

OK, one more joke: we haven't found out yet how many runners there were in her age group.

Christopher has strep

2011-04-01T18:32:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately, not an April Fool's joke... We are also officially in the process of being referred for ear tubes and possible adenoid removal... Everyone says the same thing when I tell them, "Poor little guy." I can remember going through this with John. Or maybe I can just remember the blog posts....

Although he's still a frat boy in our hearts ...

2011-03-31T16:51:00.004-04:00

Christopher's main nicknames have become "Christy" and "C-dog." I often write C-dog in my calendar because it's a lot shorter than Christopher...

It's official...

2011-03-30T16:35:00.002-04:00

Goodwill's towing company came and picked up the Civic today. I wanted to get pictures, but they didn't call or even knock on the door before taking it...
We've been working with one car for about 2 or 3 weeks now, and it would be no problem at all except for rain... Tony needs to get rain gear and saddle bags and then he'll be set! I want him to get a "sissy bar" so I can ride on the back, on those rare times we go out together without kids. You know, once a month or so...

Golden Retrievers Take Kentucky!

2011-03-25T15:09:00.001-04:00

Thanks to everyone who voted "for Keats" in the Animal Rescue Site challenge.
It looks like GRRAND pulled ahead of the pugs and won $1,000!
Thanks again!

Our Padawans

2011-03-24T10:45:00.004-04:00

This morning John started to cry about how I poured his cereal wrong, or gave him the wrong combination of regular and honey nut cheerios, and I told him, "A Jedi wouldn't cry about Cheerios." He stopped crying pretty quick, not because he was trying to be a Jedi, but probably because it gave him something to think about...

Cuter than the original

2011-03-22T17:40:00.001-04:00

We watched a lot of Star Wars (1, 2, and 4) this weekend since we were on the road to and from Hilton Head Island.
John calls the one of the Jedi, "Obi Nobi wan Kenobi."
I like it.

More Pancakes

2011-03-15T19:20:00.002-04:00

One of Tony's students was in a sorority holding a fundraising pancake breakfast on Saturday. We had James and Andy so that Mark and Kerri could do a trail run race. Becky was on board for all you can eat pancakes, so we headed to the local Applebee's. We were sad that the restaurant was mostly empty for the sorority girls, but it made it much more relaxing for the three adults....
A good time and lots of pancakes were had by all. Christopher ate lots of sausages.

Christopher walks: Now with additional video!

2011-03-11T21:14:00.002-05:00

As Miss Becky would say, "So stinkin' cute!"

Finally, Pancakes

2011-03-10T21:59:00.004-05:00

We did have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, along with the rest of my family.
Even though I get the "last posting" award, we also get the "most non-related people eating pancakes with us" award, and "best accompaniment to pancakes" award, because the our friends Becky, Brandon, and the kids came down with some excellent Fat Tuesday jambalaya.
I made the pancakes, with a little help from Christopher.

June, Henry, Christopher, and John ate some pancakes and then made a LOT of noise. Georgeanna DEMOLISHED the pancakes.

45 seconds of John's 15 minutes of fame

2011-03-09T14:42:00.008-05:00

Back in December, John's class went to a Christmas tree farm to pick out the school's tree. His teacher, Mrs. Williams, sent a class photo to a local news station and it was shown on the air last night! The anchor butchered the name of one of John's teachers; her name is Mrs. Suhasini (correctly pronounced SUE-ha-SEE-nee, not sue-HAHS-ih-nih), and he says they are a 5th grade class rather than 5K.

Here's the link to the video...

http://www.wyff4.com/video/27116344/detail.html

Duh duh duuh, duh duh duh duuh duh

2011-03-08T07:30:00.000-05:00

(That's supposed to be the Darth Vader theme music up there in the title, BTW).

A couple of weeks ago, we had the privilege of hosting Kerri's Movie Monday Party at our house because Andy had the flu. And in true imitation is the sincerest form of flattery fashion, we did a "Star Wars: Episode I - Phantom Menace" Party, complete with light sabers and pod racers.

Here is Christopher on his "speeder." I think he is practicing his look for Princess Leia in her gold bikini.

Keats voting update

2011-03-01T11:02:00.002-05:00

Golden Retrieve Rescue and Adoption of Needy Dogs is holding steady in third place! Everyone please vote every day if you can! Vote from all your different computers and devices!
Thanks again!!

Oh, Christopher

2011-02-24T16:14:00.002-05:00

Not exactly what we had in mind when we asked you to help John unload the dishwasher...

These are the days of our lives

2011-02-19T18:55:00.004-05:00

Toothbrushing is one of those things that it is SO great to have a big brother to demonstrate!

John's tooth routine includes "bluetooth" rinse, flossing, and brushing. None of it is very thorough, but all the pieces are there...

Escape!

2011-02-16T11:27:00.004-05:00

Vote for Keats!

2011-02-15T09:22:00.003-05:00

The rescue society in Louisville, Ky., from which we adopted Keats is competing again in the $300,000 Animal Rescue Site Challenge.

Go to this link to vote for Golden Retriever Rescue in Louisville, KY. Click the vote button and then you will be prompted to type in the name of an animal whose picture you see.

You can do it once a day, and the contest runs through March 20. GRRAND is in 4th place right now, and last year they won $1,000!

I'll also try to put a gadget on the blog so that every day you visit Screamin John you can vote!

Thanks! Go Keats!

Another Pointer Post

2011-02-08T11:16:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posting these days. I think I am being punished by the Universe for always saying "Everyone gets the same amount of time, you have time for what you make time for."

Anyway, if you are dying for some kid pictures, please visit Grandpaparazzi's posts of Christopher and John!

Thanks, Pa!!

So soon

2011-01-26T11:05:00.001-05:00

Just an FYI, we turned in John's forms yesterday at the elementary school and he is officially registered for 5K! I can hardly believe it!

Helper Christopher

2011-01-09T12:02:00.001-05:00

Not to neglect my other helper... Christopher already tries to put dishes in and get dishes out of the dishwasher. However, at this point, he is usually doing the opposite of what the rest of us are doing.
Also, this morning he helped me take dry clothes out of the dryer into a basket (sort of) and then he started the dryer for me (pushed the button). He was so excited when the dryer started to go after he pushed the button!

Helper John

2011-01-08T12:51:00.002-05:00

Today I sent John down the street to Henry's house to drop off a cookie mix for Miss Becky. It was awesome. I helped him get across the street and then watched him go to their house. Then he came trotting back and I helped him cross the street again. Can't wait until he can cross the street on his own (basically when he's tall enough to be seen by all the tall SUV's in the neighborhood, so about 5 years?).

It was great! I'm so thankful I have such a helpful 4-and-a-half-year-old!

Happy British New Year

2011-01-01T17:04:00.005-05:00

Because the kids are usually in bed by 8pm, I came up with the idea of celebrating New Year's eve on British time, which is five hours ahead of us. So we counted down to 7pm. We also arranged to Skype with Jessica and so we got to cheer the New Year in with an actual Brit (or dual American-Brit) as well! It worked great!
We had dinner with James's family, then played for a little bit, then it was time for "midnight." We counted down with the computer clock and Jessica in the kitchen and used our mini band instruments as noisemakers. Then we went outside to light sparklers and throw poppers on the ground.

We came back inside for some culinary fireworks of Kerri flipping crepes while the kids ate purple cows (grape soda-ice cream smoothies).

The results were yummy and impressive!

Judging by the noise level, everyone had a great time!

Oh, I just had a great idea! Next year, we'll celebrate on British time again, and have a pub dinner! Awesome. I am so smart. S-M-R-T. I mean S-M-A-R-T.

One Christmas pic

2010-12-28T09:22:00.005-05:00

Here are John and cousin Katie working on her awesome workbench from Santa. We found out that Katie is going to be a cardiologist-LPGA champion, as well as a carpenter. Christopher privately asked me why we haven't started his college applications yet... I had no answer.

Boys in the Tub

2010-12-12T09:58:00.002-05:00

And finally, one with the lighting the way I wanted it!

Big Night Out!

2010-12-07T16:14:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone. This is Kerri from The Naptime Blog. I am guest posting here on Screamin John because I was the only one who took pictures of The Big Night Out. What was The Big Night Out? Well, as many of your know, SOMEONE had a birthday. I am not going to say who or how old that person was, but because there was a birthday there had to be a party. Now, this someone planned and hosted this whole event, so the least I could do is take pictures and blog about it.

The evening started around 6pm. We met at our host's house for a pre-Big Night Out drink and snacks:

And here were our lovely hosts! Great dress!

Now, I shipped my kids off to Grandma and Papa's for the evening. But everyone else's kids also gathered until their respectively babysitters were available. It was loud. Here are Brandon and George:

If you are new to this blog, try to guess which one is Brandon and which one is George! A quick snap of John. Again, note to self, next time we gather for a pre-Big Night Out cocktail, do it at the house with the fewest kids!

After we gathered, the adults loaded up into The Swaggerwagon for our trip to Greenville.

The activity that brought this evening to Big Night Out, instead of just a Night Out was the dance lessons. Again, this was the idea of our host and most of us were really excited about trying it. I got a few pictures of the dance lessons before I was reminded that they will sell us pictures of our evening as well.

We learned the rumba and salsa dancing. At this time I can't remember how to do either dance, but I do remember the lessons were fun!

After the dancing, we literally walked through a breezway to The Melting Pot, where again, our hosts had planned everything. We enjoyed A Night In France which was delicious!

Our host were extremely sneaky. Becky called earlier that afternoon about doing an extra birthday thing and found out that the whole dinner was already paid for. No arguing about the bill! Juilet knows I hate that, ;) but we did get her some chocolate strawberries...

Just thought this was a funny picture of Brandon:

After dinner, we got back into the swaggerwagon to go home. It was a great time and we look forward to our next round of birthdays in May.

Surprise!

2010-12-01T10:35:00.002-05:00

[I'll blog this even though the majority of my audience lived it with me!]

Yesterday was my 40th birthday and it was not nearly as painful as it could have been because my family surprised me by coming for a visit!

First, on Monday morning, I drove home from the gym to see a strange car in the driveway and my mom and dad came out to greet me. Totally unexpected! Then, as we are walking into the other room talking and laughing, our big recliner spins around and my sister Jessica from England is there!! I screamed a very scary scream I was so surprised!

Then, the next day, Tuesday, my actual birthday, Jessica and I met my parents at the Olive Garden and my middle sister Jenny and my 1-year-old niece Danielle were at the table! This was also a surprise, but less so, because of some accidental slips that came up previously involving a baby car seat.

Anyway, we four girls spent the afternoon shopping for a "birthday outfit," an old family custom. Then after getting the kids to bed, friend-neighbor Becky came down and all the adults got to go to the Blue Heron for a nice child-free dinner. It was really cool to be able to go out with my folks, since usually they are sitting for us so we can go out.

Jessica, Jenny, and Danielle stayed at our house and we all reunited here this morning, before they all headed back to Dallas via Atlanta. Jessica flies back to England on Monday.
It's been the best birthday ever!

Christopher is one year old

2010-11-17T20:45:00.001-05:00

Halloween decor

2010-11-01T11:10:00.007-04:00

This year we decorated our house for Halloween. First, we carved a jack-o-lantern and lit it with a color changing LED night light...

Then we colored our porch lights with some gel that Tony had rolling around in the trunk of his car...

And we put a red gel on the light in our entry way. It had Christopher pretty freaked out...

The Berenstain Bears Visit Greenville

2010-10-12T13:32:00.004-04:00

The boys and I drove up to Greenville on Sunday to have dinner with Tony on his break from tech. This weekend was Fall for Greenville, in which local restaurants sell samples of their food in tents along the downtown street. There are also kids' rides and live bands.
This time there was a special appearance by Mama and Sister Bear! Made my day!
I was so excited, I didn't even think about getting Christopher in the picture.

Here's the first attempt, where you can't even see John!

Phone

2010-10-04T13:32:00.002-04:00

Evidently the cell phone gods are having a practical joke party with my phone number. A couple months ago, I got about 20 calls in a week from various staffpeople from a Nissan dealer in Vienna, Virginia, who were hot to sell "Alex" a new car.

This week, I am getting calls from "Grandma." I have traced the number to a rest home in Walhalla. The couple times I have answered, she immediately demands "Who is this?" I say "It's Juliet, you have the wrong number." I've stopped answering the number, now that I recognize it.

Am I a terrible person for not cultivating a beautiful and rewarding phone relationship with this lonely woman who stumbled on my number? I can live with that.

Maybe it's actually myself calling from 40 years in the future. I am coming up on the big 4-0.

Christopher Bobistopher

2010-09-24T10:06:00.003-04:00

[These pictures are from our trip to the Happy Berry Farm in August.]

Christopher is doing well as usual. He seems to be starting to get over his separation/stranger anxiety a little. He has gone back to smiling at people who smile at him instead of just looking at me with a stricken look on his face. However, he does still assume that the default is for me to carry him around whenever he sees me. I'll be ready for that phase to be over. It is waning, possibly, maybe a little, because it's normally when he's tired. He definitely pushes me away sometimes to get to a toy or to investigate what John is doing...

He is enjoying communicating "Bye" with a wave and a "b-b-bye." He sometimes reciprocates when you tell him goodbye. The other day when John's Leap Frog computer said goodbye upon idle shutdown, Christopher said "Bye" back. He also shakes his head no when he feels strongly, either good or bad, about something, and often to let us know that he is done eating.

He is definitely getting more and more proficient with scooting and seems to be proud and happy with mobility. He often scoots around from the kitchen to the den to keep up with the rest of us going back and forth. Instead of dirty knees like John had when he was crawling, Christopher shows the dirt from my dirty floors on the outside of his ankles. After having read several authoritative sounding articles online about scooting vs crawling, I have made my peace with his alternative method of locomotion.

He knows me so well

2010-09-21T13:05:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, John was finishing up playing with Play-doh when Christopher woke up from his nap. I told him that we would clean up and then there was just one more thing he needed to do before we could have a snack. John said "Unload the dishwasher!"
Of course, he was right!

"That's Why We Get Along So Well"

2010-09-19T08:04:00.005-04:00

Just now, Tony said he was going to heat up some leftover frittata from last night's dinner for breakfast and asked me if I wanted any of it. I said "No, I'll stick with Cheerios." He said: "That's why we get along so well: we stay out of each other's food."

DENTAL ALERT

2010-09-17T14:58:00.001-04:00

Christopher is sprouting tooth #5. I saw it this morning. Upper left canine.

Running him ragged

2010-09-16T19:57:00.002-04:00

What was I thinking?
John has gymnastics on Thursdays from 2:30 to 3:30pm. He now also has soccer on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 to 6:30pm. So far, keeping him busy is working. We'll see how long we can burn the candle at both ends...
I went upstairs to check on him just now (7 minutes after I left) and to see if he was still awake, I said very quietly. "Are you OK?" He said "I'm asleep."

Nothin' much

2010-09-12T22:36:00.004-04:00

Life has kicked into normal high gear, now that Tony and John are back in school.
Tony is halfway through his annual Dracula trip to Louisville. Today he told me he was actually happy with the show, which is amazing at this point in technical rehearsals.
John is enjoying school very much. I am enjoying our new car pool. John isn't clingy when it isn't me or Tony driving him, and Miss Becky just drops them off in the car pool lane. It's a win-win-win situation! Loud in the afternoons, when I pick up the two kindergartners, but I can deal with that. I would rather have loud fun than any volume of whining!

John has also started gymnastics on Thursdays. I think he is still enjoying it, but ready to be challenged a little more.

He starts soccer on Tuesdays and Thursdays next week. Pa took him to buy shin guards and socks.

Christopher is continuing to perfect the "bottom scoot" to move from place to place since he hates being on his tummy.

Here are some pictures from our trip to Hilton Head Island this summer. Tony went down to SCRC (South Carolina Repertory Company) to do some maintenance and help with audience riser installation. The boys and I tagged along.

Nothing keeps him down

2010-09-01T16:50:00.003-04:00

Evidently John picked up a 6-hour stomach bug last night. Yup, SIX hour. He started feeling bad around 4pm, complaining about his tummy hurting, fell asleep on the futon, didn't want to eat any dinner, started feeling really bad around 6:30, throwing up at 6:35, going to bed around 7pm, diarrhea at 8pm, back in bed, up at 8:30pm wanting to be up, read books with daddy, requested and received apple juice at 9:00, back to normal bedtime stalling tactics by 9:30. Slept all night (once he decided to stay in his bed), and was fine/normal this morning. Jumping on the little indoor trampoline by 4:30pm.
Whew! I count us very lucky, especially since this was the first time he has ever had a stomach bug. Pretty amazing for four-years-old.

John to the extreme

2010-08-23T20:44:00.003-04:00

Lately John has been learning to communicate the concepts of more or less. But he communicates it in terms of distance. If he wants to indicate very "something," he says "all the way to Seneca." If something is very extreme or intense, it's "all the way to Texas" or "all the way to Mimi and Pa's house." When we were driving out here, Christopher spit up after we got a couple miles down the road from lunch. I asked if it was a lot or a little, and he said "all the way to Mimi and Pa's house." I asked him if it was just "all the way to Seneca." He said "No way. All the way to Texas." Unfortunately, John was right...

Here are some pictures of John and Christopher sharing toast while waiting for Tony to come home from work.

Quick Christopher Update

2010-08-10T06:00:00.000-04:00

Christopher is doing well and is just such a joy to have around!
He's sprouting three teeth these days. In this order: One down, one up, one down. Strange, but everything is different this time around, naturally. Thankfully.
He is a champion sitter and REALLY wants to crawl, but hasn't yet. He's starting to lean forward a lot more, and is getting braver and not as afraid of falling. He also works at reaching things by sort of oonching on his bottom. And he spins himself around to see or reach whatever he needs.
He babbles a lot, and makes lots of mouth noises with his tongue and cheeks. He also likes to hold things in his hands and turn them over and back using his wrists. I am holding a tiny bit of hope in my heart that he could be left-handed, because he does sometimes reach with that hand, which John never seemed to do.

He eats lots of baby food (2-3 tubs 3-5 times a day), as well as bits of whatever allowable solid foods the rest of us are having. I usually nurse him right when he gets up in the morning and right when he goes to bed. He can entertain himself in 20-30 minutes spurts (like when I'm doing my morning yoga) as long as he has toys and is near us. His favorite activity these days are building blocks.
He loves watching all the "big boys" whenever we get together with Henry and/or James.
We're including him in the bedtime routine now. Bath with John, then reading 2-3 books, then nurse, then bed with his monkey nightlight (thanks a million, Miss Kerri), pacifier (which he chews rather than sucks), his afghan, and Ikea stuffed puppy. He is still mostly sleeping through the night, although the past couple nights, he has woken up between 3 and 4am and needed some TLC from Daddy and some tylenol from Mommy to get through the night. I think his teeth might be troubling him...
We're all enjoying him very much!

At Juliet's request

2010-08-06T15:13:00.002-04:00

I articulated my stance on marriage and expectations to Juliet a while back. Apparently it made some sense to her because she asked me to post it here.

This came up around the time of father’s day this year. These days we’re pretty busy with the kids, so things like getting cakes and cards in advance tend to slip through the cracks. I don’t get as upset about it as Juliet does. When she asked me why, I gave her this analysis…

When it comes to birthdays, father’s day, etc., one of two things will happen…
A) My family will get me a card/cake, or
B) They will not

Now, if I hope that they will get me a card/cake, I will be setting myself up to either be (respective to A and B above)…
A) Pleased, or
B) Disappointed

On the other hand, if I do NOT hope that they will get me a card/cake I will instead be setting myself up to either be…
A) Overjoyed, or
B) Pleased (because what I expected to happen indeed did happen, or I guess I should say it didn't happen)

So I can either set myself up to be pleased/disappointed or overjoyed/pleased . Which would you choose?

Just so that my posting date isn't "one week ago" on everyone else's bloglist

2010-08-02T22:23:00.004-04:00

Everyone at their respective work stations.

For the record, Christopher is sitting down in the bassinet, not standing up. I was reminded by Mimi tonight that he doesn't need to crawl or pull up, he's got his royal bearers (me and Tony) to move him from place to place!

Bathing

2010-07-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

Christopher is sprouting a tooth!

2010-07-19T22:11:00.002-04:00

Just one on the bottom row, the left front one. We haven't seen it, but Tony started to feel it day before yesterday. They'll all be coming in soon, I imagine.
He seems a little crankier at bed time, but other than that, it doesn't seem to bother him much.
We'll keep you updated as further enamel develops!

Boys on the town

2010-07-17T09:53:00.004-04:00

The Dog food incident

2010-07-15T09:27:00.004-04:00

I'm sure in every family's lore there is a "stubborn first child" tale. In my family it was "the dog food incident." When I was about 3 or 4, I guess, I dumped out our dog's food bowl and refused to help clean it up. I sat there for 2 hours and still refused. So finally my mom or dad wrapped my tiny fingers around a nugget of food and transferred it to the bowl, just so that we could all go on with our lives.

Well, we have had several dog food incidents with No. 1 son and will probably have many, many more [sigh]. This morning it was over unloading the dishwasher, which is one his chores. Not too hard, he mostly has to move 10-15 dishes about 2 feet to the kitchen cabinet. Sometimes he does it cheerfully, sometimes he resists. This morning, it was resist. So I took his hand and molded it around a dish and moved it over to the cabinet. Each time he hollered "Stop!" I asked if he was ready to cooperate. He finally was after about 4 dishes. Then he did the rest in his cheerful manner.

Every time we re-enact the dog food incident, I am reminded of hearing that story from my own parents. And I feel the exasperation every parent feels when Junior takes 10 minutes to complain about something that would take 1 minute to complete. (Mostly dishes and getting dressed in our house.) I'm sure there's a better way to encourage compliance, but when we are 10 minutes from departing for summer school and have asked him to do it 3 times already, and put his promised donut reward on the line, and he still doesn't do it, this is the method that works... I just need to remind myself to remember that for every one dog food incident there have been 5 or so cheerful cooperation incidents... And that if he can learn the lesson, which for him is "do your work quickly so that you have more time for fun," he will be happier when he is grown and has "real" work to do... I have no idea what the lesson for me is. Probably "don't ask a four-year-old boy to do any chores 10 minutes before walking out the door."

John's birthday, part 3

2010-06-26T09:53:00.001-04:00

I'm going to post this without individual explanations, because this post is so three weeks ago...
Enjoy the pics.

John's birthday, part 2

2010-06-26T08:38:00.000-04:00

Christopher spent most of the day with Miss Kerri and had a great time!

The biggest excitement was that the fireman actually let all the kids spray the hose! That was an unexpected bonus! John was very excited to go first since he was the birthday boy. No clinging or shyness at all!

Athos, Porthos, and Super Why

As the kids drifted over from spraying the hose, we had a bubble activity.

Alex was very good at making a big bubble!

The most popular was the bubble shooter or "bubble projector," as I tried to call it...

Katie worked very hard to achieve her desired effect.

Claire and Miss Susanna shared a quiet smile.

John's birthday, part 1

2010-06-24T12:13:00.000-04:00

We had John's 4th birthday party on Saturday. He has been anticipating this event since March or so. Way back then he mentioned he wanted a fire truck party, so we decided to have it at the local fire station. Basically, I was browsing the interweb for fire engine ideas and saw that a lot of fire stations offer tours. Sure enough, ours does, and friendly administrator Stacy also volunteered that we could have the cake and ice cream festivities under a big tree at some picnic tables out back.

The other side was nicely bordered by CAT buses.

We had a little arrival hubbub...

... Then headed to the main event. The only thing missing from these two pictures is the soundtrack in which the kids were saying "Oooooooh" each time the fire man opened a new door.

To be continued...

John's birthday

2010-06-23T06:42:00.003-04:00

I always feel guilty but relieved when someone else makes a great post about an event that I haven't had a chance to blog about. Sigh. It happens quite often... I guess guilt is an emotion of which I should rid myself since I preach against it so vehemently. There. Gone.

Our friend/neighbor Becky has posted a wonderful account of John's birthday party. Click here to see it.

We've been spoofed!

2010-06-19T17:35:00.005-04:00

My main email account has been used to send spoof emails about Canadian pharmacies and pornography, I think. I apologize to everyone who got it and congratulate everyone whose spam filter didn't allow it through.
The emails didn't actually originate from my account, but the email address was applied. Yahoo has been surprisingly unhelpful on the subject. I guess because they know they are susceptible to the problem.

FYI, I don't ever send emails with unrequested links, no subject line, and no other explanation. Have you ever known me to send anything without a two-page dissertation on any topic?! Also, I've changed my password, scanned my computer for viruses (actually I do that every day), and added a "signature" to my emails. If it doesn't have the signature, ("Visit Screamin'John and Frat Boy Christopher") it's not from me! I will also clean out my address book, and remove any infrequently used addresses.

I'm sorry to have troubled you. I'll post about John's exciting birthday party at the fire station ASAP.

One quick pic

2010-06-08T13:56:00.004-04:00

Had to post this shot from my sister's entry on our fabulous beach reunion.

This and that

2010-05-31T20:34:00.005-04:00

Although we just got back from our fabulous week in Pensacola Beach, Florida, we took very few pictures. I'll link to my family's blogs when they start posting related pictures...
So in the meantime, here are some past events.

John built a fort of diaper boxes after I made a trip to Target.

John got a "certificate of participation" on his last day of practice.

Tony and John went to see Larry and Bob at the Clemson Chik-fil-a.

We went to Columbia to the Riverbanks Zoo and Qdoba for Mother's day.
It was lots of fun!

More brothers

2010-05-17T09:01:00.000-04:00

My little boy ...

2010-05-14T08:53:00.001-04:00

Is definitely all boy.
John, Christopher, and I were sitting in the big recliner following a feeding of Christopher. Christopher spit up, in his usual manner, and since he was sitting up on my lap facing me, it went straight down to my lap in a little river. John gaped and said "That is so cool." He then proceeded to talk about it for the next ten minutes as he went to fetch me a burp cloth...

Baby. Christopher Baby.

2010-05-07T21:34:00.001-04:00

Jessica commented on the "Swimmingly" post video that John was practicing to be James Bond with his skills of simultaneous swimming and shooting guns... I think Christopher is gunning for the job too. He's definitely got "the look."

Central Railroad Festival

2010-05-02T20:54:00.004-04:00

We went to the annual Central Railroad Festival a couple weekends ago. It was great fun. I think this was the second edition. It's super kid-friendly, very close, and not completely crowded. A perfect event for us! We spent time there with "old" BFF James and our new friend Henry and their families.

Andy stuck close to Miss Kerri.

June and her dad worked on a kaleidoscope at the Lowe's table.

Henry rode in the small engine, posing for his dad.

Tony and John took a spin on the "lawn mower train" with John's friend Finn. He lives around the corner from us and also goes to John's school. His dad co-owns our favorite local restaurant and his mom walks two gorgeous greyhounds past our house each day.

Mark and James rode in the caboose.

James participated in the "washboard workshop."

We broke the seal finally, and John and Christopher had tiger paws painted on. Christopher actually went first and that made John do it, after years of resisting.

This was Tony's favorite part.

Everyone took a turn driving the CAT bus.

Even Christopher.

Our friend Becky was beside herself with joy because they had "real donuts" instead of the usual "waxy" kind you find in the south. She is from Ohio and is still adjusting to the different food universe of the South.

Every one commented on how calm Keats was.

Chalk it up under both "Americana, baby" and "Good day." Hurray!

Another "We're THERE already?" moment

2010-04-29T20:18:00.003-04:00

John has moved out of the whiny phase somewhat and into the pouty phase. He was mad at me for some reason last weekend and he said "I want to go live with another family." I would have laughed if I hadn't been so shocked. I wasn't expecting to hear that until he was at least 10 or so. It always amazes me how they come up with this stuff on their own!

Introducing Henry and June

2010-04-24T13:33:00.003-04:00

I'm adding a new blog to my most-watched list. You will like it because Becky posts a lot of pictures, very frequently. Her oldest is Henry, who is 6 months older than John and goes to the same school. June just turned 2, and number three is due in August. Brandon teaches in the political science department. Christopher and John are guests on their blog this week.

Here's a super picture lifted from Becky's blog:

And here is the post from whence it came!

Swimmingly

2010-04-17T23:59:00.001-04:00

John has been enjoying going to the pool at the rec center lately, and of course since we've been an alternating parent family for the past couple of weeks, that means Christopher goes too! He likes it a lot and we have found a float he seems comfortable and happy in (and doesn't cause him to flip forward).

Boys of summer

2010-04-13T22:37:00.006-04:00

Once again, we're at a milestone before I even thought possible! John started Start Smart baseball last weekend. It went really, really well. The weather was gorgeous, Coach Jamie is awesome, and there were no meltdowns, by John or any of the kids. And I loved seeing all the proud dads out there with their sons. It was Americana, baby.

They started out in small groups working on hitting off the tee and then shagging the balls.

Then they moved into two lines and threw the ball back and forth. John got to throw with his friend/neighbor Henry and his dad Mr. Brandon.

Henry's sister June sat on the bench and ate a snack.

Christopher mostly slept in the car.

Then, everyone lined up along the fence for simulated game practice: hitting then running the bases.

June tried a little batting practice of her own.

And here it is, for posterity, John's first home run...

Afterwards, Henry, June, and John headed over to the adjacent playground for some unstructured play.

It was really wonderful.

April Showers

2010-04-08T08:56:00.002-04:00

We're all fine, the schedule is just raining down on us these days.
Tony is in tech at the University and in meetings for 2-3 other shows in Greenville, and of course class, and taking care of all of us.
John is back in school after Spring Break. He is still in gymnastics, and starts Start Smart baseball this Saturday.
Christopher has started solid foods, sort of. Just some applesauce, mashed up banana, and a tiny bit of oat cereal. Mostly just to keep us company at the dinner table. He is also starting to roll onto his side.
I'm fine, just trying to motivate myself to motivate everyone else! I have a consignment sale this weekend, I've been trying out a new gym that has childcare, and am trying to whittle down the list of household administrative tasks.
We're glad the weather has warmed up, but it seems to have skipped spring and gone straight to summer. Except for the annual yellow clouds of pollen, which are amazingly thick this year.
Sorry this is kind of a bland, Christmas-letter-style post, but I figured something was better than nothing!

Christopher weighs more than John!

2010-04-01T16:14:00.001-04:00

Not really. April Fool.

But you thought it might be true, didn't you?

Place holder

2010-03-31T15:34:00.001-04:00

Haven't had a chance to post, but here's a link to a cute video on Grandpaparazzi's blog.

Reedy River Run

2010-03-24T06:45:00.000-04:00

The first weekend in March, we did two of the events in the 2010 Reedy River Run in Greenville.
Friday evening was the Kids' Fun Run of 400 meters (about 1/4 mile). We drove out there the weekend before, to "rehearse," that is find the park (hidden under Academy Road), scope out parking, and see the course. We actually ran into the director of the run while we were there. He was very friendly.

This is a "Where's Waldo" type picture of everyone waiting for the start of the race. You can't see John at all, but Tony's head (in a beige baseball cap) is right in the center of the picture. He is looking down at John.

John's BFF James is in the center of the front row in the dark green shirt. James really wanted to win.

Here is the run just after it started. Christopher (in the stroller) and I ran as fast as we could back around to the finish line so that we could see the finish. I think that was about the same distance as the course. I was sad to see all the late people walking up. One dad said, "Why are you all running back this way?" I had to tell him the race had already started and we were racing to get pictures of the finish line.

Here are Tony and John finishing. They held hands the whole time.

Here is John contemplating the symbol of his victory. I looked at this picture four times before I realized he was surrounded by extra medals!

James and John sharing their triumph.

Local ice rink spokespenguin.

We had dinner at a rib joint downtown afterward.

The next morning at 9:20am was the 5K Run/Walk.
My plan was originally to have both Christopher and John start out in the stroller and John could get out and walk occasionally. However, I "wore" Christopher in the Björn, which made a lot of our fellow walkers smile. One woman even took a picture of him.

Also, in the 40 pounds of extra gear I packed for "just in case," I neglected to bring John's shoes. So he HAD to ride in the stroller.

We started at the back of the walkers, with several other strollers. I think there were about 2000 5K walkers. We did not finish last.

John did amazingly well in the stroller, his favorite activity was reaching out to touch the cones as he went by them.

We're not sure how this taxi got on the course. We made sure that no one got out and ran across the finish line...

I saw the clock reaching one hour right after we passed the taxi, so we decided to run to make it under an hour! We made it! Tony was later disgusted to find out our actual time was about 57 min 30 sec, since we started at the back of the race. I think his comment was "You mean we didn't have to run?"

At the end of the run, as we went back to the main area for the post-race festivities, we crossed the Reedy River.

We met up with BFF James and family at Falls Park afterward. Miss Kerri ran the 10K.

While the boys ran around, Tony enjoyed a little quiet time with a sleeping Christopher. This was Tony's favorite part of the day.

Here are our two future old farts, sitting on a bench, waiting for Miss Kerri and Andy to catch up.

We all had a great time, and the weather was good. It was pretty chilly, but very clear. I definitely plan on doing it again next year!