Helping Daddy Around the House

On the trip home from the family reunion, we stopped in Cincinnati to meet Mom and Dad Waggoner to get some school desks from them.  I requested that we stop at IKEA so I could pick up a cabinet for my office (it's tough to find a tall, skinny cabinet to hold my tripods and stands, but IKEA delivered!).  The next day, Nathan assembled it for me, with a little help of course.

poor Reni was coming down with a runny nose, hence, the open mouth

Reni mimics EVERYTHING he sees and hears, so this wasn't a big surprise

A few of you read my Twitter feed at the top of the blog and caught a tweet that alluded to our change in plans regarding Ellie's education this year.  Yes, we are joining the ranks of homeschoolers!  There is a little storage room in the center that hasn't really been utilized for a while (other than a place to hold clean guestroom linens and the occasional pantry items prior to a big event). We thought it would be a perfect little classroom, a place outside of our apartment with fewer distractions.  We cleaned it out, patched the walls, and put up a new coat of paint.  Ellie was anxious to help and went and found this paint smock to show she was dressed appropriately.

The room still has a long ways to go, but it's coming together!  We're still waiting on the books (ordered more than 2 weeks ago), so until they arrive, we can't start school.  Additionally, because the program we are using is mostly online, we can't begin until September 6 when online lesson plans and e-books are released. Thus there hasn't been the urgency to finish the room, though the hard part is behind us!  We just need to hang the dry-erase board, curtains, find some floor lamps, add a plant and hang some artwork!

Whiteford Family Reunion Photos

The 2nd weekend of August, just 5 days after returning from New Jersey, we packed up the van again for a very quick trip to Utica, Illinois for a reunion with my mom's family (the families of my Grandpa Whiteford and his two sisters).  For years (like more than 25) we met at Brown County State Park in Indiana, however we outgrew their facitilites (you think?) and we have been  hop scotching around, trying to find a place to accommodate our still-growing family but that works geographically for family spread out around the midwest (and a few stragglers in the north, south, east and west).

I took nearly 400 photos, but not so many of my immediate family, so here are a few random photos from the weekend that include some of the more commonly known subjects to readers of this blog...

Reni is playing with Ruby, daughter of my 2nd cousin, Rebecca.  Her family lives in Michigan.

Saturday night we played "Minute to Win It" games.  Here's my sister, Hannah, and my 2nd cousin, Rachel Allen.

One of the cutest moments for Nathan and I was to watch Reni cheer on Ellie while she participated in a  few rounds of the game.  Yes, members of all ages participated so it was a lot of fun!

Nathan was our team captain and here he is trying to catch a bundle of pencils that were previously balanced on the back of his same hand.

Ellie with her buddy, Jaedyn, daughter of my cousin, Heidi.  They live in East Peoria.

One of my favorite images from the weekend... the 3rd generation.  There were 6 children added to the family since last year's reunion.  2 through birth and 4 through adoption: Max from Thailand, Reni, of course, and Jalen & Chelsea (Chelsea isn't pictured as she got really sick, poor thing).  The last two are in the process of being adopted by my cousin Chad and his wife, Christa.

My Dad joined us on Sunday morning and Reni was SO excited to see him.  "Look!  Look!  Gjyshe!"

Enjoying a lift from my cousin, Chad.  He and his family drove out from Olathe, KS.

Ellie, enjoying some love in my Grandma Whiteford's lap during the Sunday morning hymn-sing.

Reni's giving my dad a "break" from video-ing family worship.

Special thanks to our family who took time to travel for the get together.  It's always a joy to see you all!

New Jersey Part 5: Ocean City

 One night during our stay we drove down to Ocean City to enjoy the boardwalk and maybe watch the making of some saltwater taffy.  The summer before we adopted Ellie, we spent a week in this town and I knew she would love the attractions.

 I think Ellie's favorite thing about the beach is the abundance of hermit crabs.  We had to stop and look at each and every cage.

Ellie's 2nd favorite thing about the beach are all the seagulls!  Still as much a bird lover as ever!

One thing I didn't remember about Ocean City (probably because I didn't have a child at the time) were all the amusement park rides.  We told Ellie that she could choose ONE ride so she and I took a turn on the giant ferris wheel.

Reni wanted to take a turn walking the boardwalk.  This might be as good a time as any to talk a little bit about Reni's "shoes" which you can see peeking out under his shorts in the photo above.

Sometime this spring I noticed that Reni would take plastic drinking cups and stick them on the bottom of his right let.  He'd walk around the apartment stomping every other step like a pirate.  Then one day he found the IKEA kids' cup and it was a perfect fit. A little more flared at the top and shallower in height than most cups so his leg fit all the way in, they suctioned on much like a more sophisticated prosthetic leg and distributed his weight off the bottom of his leg to the soft tissue on the sides. After months of trying to figure out what Reni could wear on his legs outdoors without tearing up his pants or skin, including some (hot) woolly-but padded, slippers that stayed on with a pair of suspenders worn under his clothes, all it took were a couple of cups from a $2 set of plasticware.

Nathan took a 2nd cup and cut out an opening in the back to accommodate the extra length of tissue on Reni's left leg and now he had a pair.  All that remained was for Nathan to add some foamy rubber to the bottoms for traction.  One of the cutest things I've heard Reni say as we're getting ready to go out the door is, "Where my shooos?"

Finally, no trip to the boardwalk is complete without food for which the category "junk" was invented.

New Jersey Part 4: Hangin' with the New Jersey Cousins

(Note: These photos were all shamelessly swiped from Aunt Melanie's facebook page)

A visit to Port Republic also includes getting to see Nathan's Uncle Paul, Aunt Melanie, and cousins Elizabeth and Paul.  Their home was one of the highlights of the whole trip for Reni and Ellie as you'll see below.  All you need is a few animals and a ball!

Ellie was SO enamored with Elizabeth's collection of about a dozen hermit crabs.  After we left, she kept asking if we could go back and see "Clair Bear" (one of the crabs).  Ellie kept telling me, "It's not stealing!"  I wonder what she had in mind for Clair Bear!

I think this was Reni's first real interaction with a crab outside of a cage.

Thanks, Paul and Elizabeth, for entertaining our kids so well!  We all had a great time visiting your home!

New Jersey Part 3: Meeting Grams and Pop Pop

The whole point of our journey to New Jersey was to introduce Reni to his great-grandparents and give Ellie another memory of these relatives she has only seen a few times.  We met Pop Pop for lunch before driving over to the nursing home where Grams resides.

Showing Pop Pop where to find his nose

Give me five!

GIANT COOKIE!

Grams wasn't quite ready for us so we took a few photos under a shade tree out front

Yes, those are traces of her cookie in her teeth

Ellie was fascinated with Grams' skin

M&Ms are universally loved!

Ellie told Grams a story (and seemed to really entertain her) and Reni showed off his walking skills (though not as keen to wear his legs as we might have hoped).  All in all, we had a really nice visit and are so glad for the opportunity.