this old house

dan the man


his side kick R2D2


ain't no ladder high enough


there are so many wonderful qualities to living in an old (1880's) home on a tree- and porch-lined street. anyone who knows us has heard (ad nauseum?) how much we love our block friends. we also love our mature gardens and front-facing porches which host conversations, happy hours, and casual shout-outs to dog walkers and trike riders.

well any commentary on our life here over the past year would be incomplete without a four squirt-gun salute to dan, the man who removes all the wallpaper and duct tape that holds our house together. he replaces the licorice-like wiring, and adds insulation where no insulation has ever gone before. all with the patience (for the house and us) of a saint. he answers so many of the boys' questions, "dan, what are you doing? what's that? can i do it?" as you may be able to tell, dan is working in our dining room. and as you can see, especially through the eyes of a 3-5 year old boy, there's lots of fun stuff in there! so the house rule is no kids on the white tarp. the boys are really building up their calf muscles tiptoeing along the edge to get as close as they can to the action without teetering into the white zone. sig likes to come home from work to see what happened in the dining room that day, too, but we let him go on the tarp.

dan is a foodie, too, so it's fun to be able to feed someone during the day, who doesn't complain about trying new things:) we've been dipping into my beef jerky stash from MI, sipping sun tea, and dan will even eat an occasional PEZ if the boyz offer.

with all the old houses on the street (and such the nice and talented guy he is,) Dan's white station wagon practically has an honorary spot on our street. he's regularly invited to our block party and last year, his car was on our street every work day from new year's to christmas (and no, you can't have his number;)

thanks for everything dan - for making all of us and our home very happy!

xo b/s/e/k

run and jump and slip and fall and slide and laugh

but the marketing department thought that product name wasn't "catchy" enough.

ethan, kola, and friends on a wonderful summer day in the yard...

abbey road? (john and george not pictured)


kola catching big air


mr. sprinkle toes


more run, more fun

road trip!

checking out indy

happy passengers

visiting friends!


although the blog has been quiet, it's only because our last few weeks have been all but... first was a road trip ethan and i took to indianapolis to visit our friends laura, pat, colin, brendan, and caroline. we had such a great time catching up, relaxing with our friends, staying up too late, catching fireflies, swimming, and touring a new city. we loved indy which is a great town - and was only overshadowed by the time we spent with our friends there. we walked and ate our way through the town, visited a wonderful park and natural area, and ethan spent hours acquainting himself with the 3-car garage and its accompanying remotes and buttons. the barn-buster was their house's intercom system. i can't believe ethan hasn't already requested one for christmas.

other summer fun includes the revival of VOW (volleyball on woodbine,) an outdoor concert with the flemmings and other friends, slip and slide (or in ethan and kola's case, slip and fall,) kiddieland, and our vacation last week in michigan. wouldn't be fair to post about that before the pics arrive. promise to get those done asap - check back soon! xo, b/s/e/k

out and about

beach day!

team building, a moat i think

bugs at the arb

building a dam

grandma and da boys

me and da boys


we've done a few fun field trips with the warm up over the past couple weeks. probably the collective local favorite is north avenue beach. the day was windy (we were literally exfoliated by whipping sandy winds from the east) but our desire for beach fun overcame that and the cold water temps for a couple of hours. the arboreteum was a huge hit too, especially with grandma carol's guidance. we were there for several hours and g'ma helped the boys discover tadpoles and taught ethan how to catch one! she also initiated an andy goldsworthy rock design, which even roped in a couple of river bullies who were previously throwing rocks and marking territories. kola came up with an interesting experiment - testing different-sized rocks to see which the current could push off an immersed flat rock. so much fun to see the discoveries and to pal around with grandma.

kola and ethan started kiddie camp this week and have been playing school ever since. they each walk around with a backpack (ethan's with camping gear and kola's with a leappad - er his computer) and they take the bus to school (ethan's desk) and do a project, then turn it into me (mrs. holzwarth, ethan's former and kola's future concordia teacher.) they're both getting ready for school this fall. they've generally been playing well together which is great timing for me, since i need to clear out the china cabinets and strip wallpaper from our dining room in prep for a room 'redo.' if i get pressed for time, i'm sure kola and ethan would love a crack at the wallpaper too!

more as soon as my camera software is reinstalled:) xo b/s/e/k

milestones

i tried to take these pics exactly a year apart, and in terms of our robin charting, the first baby was born a year to the day i signed the exit papers at the ukraine embassy. today, i need to complete our "annual report on the development of adopted child" and submit it along with pics to the consulate general of ukraine in chicago. luckily, the report does not ask how many time outs the child has received or how many pounds of whoppers and peeps he's eaten, and i'm disappointed it does not test him on his knowledge of "thomas" characters, types of trucks and trains (and the trick question: how is a hopper different from a boxcar?), or breadth and depth of potty vocab. the report does ask open-ended questions about general development, skill acquisition, achievements (ha - that's where i can slide those in!), motor and language skills, personality, relationships, and emotional development. i'll post a few highlights:) more soon, b

p.s. i guess i subconciously dressed kola in the national colors of ukraine for his "1-year" pic!!

a baby bird-in

robin's nest view from ethan's window


our friendly menards manager (note the donahues' garage remote)


we love to keep in touch! (4 of the boyz phones not pictured)

shelley suggested i chronicle an exciting development in our back yard: robins nesting in our lilac tree - if you look really closely, maybe you can see the first little blue egg in the picture. and i got to thinking what a great metaphor this is for kola's first anniversary. it will be fun for me to track how these dates all match up. looking back at the start of the blog, i see we first met kola a year ago tomorrow! it's so hard to believe it's just about time for me to write our annual report to the embassy in ukraine. sig said i should just send them the blog:) it will be interesting to see what this report entails. luckily, there is no shortage of photos to choose from!! would it be funny or prompt a visit from dcfs if i sent the pic of kola eating the wrapped package of sausage? it's been fun for me to look back in the blog to look at our first meetings together. more reflections soon. feel free to add your own! xo b/s/e/k

mommy i'm pedalling myself...faster, faster!

ethan's treasured key and remote collection





thanks cousin andrew f for passing along kola's new bike:)


with help and instruction from ethan, kola is now pedalling and driving around woodbine. we all made it around the block the other day, and kola was grinning and giggling all the way. do you think wrapping him in bubble wrap would be too cruel this summer? hee hee. ethan has a cupholder and bell as his bike accessories and kola needs an ice pack holder. i've already had to fish him out of a rose bush in the garden and our of the tulip divet in bill's driveway. he always jumps right back on to make sure i don't suggest he take a break. as shelley says, what determination! ethan is very proud of having helped teach kola and is glad to have a pedalling buddy. i think the neighbors on woodbine will see these guys whizzing by their porches on a daily basis. we already have the keys and orange cones, now i need to check ebay for a set of racing flags! xo b/s/ek

p.s. happy friday aunt lisa...a regular customer with her weekly check-in:)