The sun will shine

My bonus nephew got married last weekend at Santillane, a historic bed and breakfast near Roanoke, Virginia. Despite a soggy beginning, the rain cleared and it was beautiful.

There were drenched family poses

silly dad poses for little shutter bugssweet moments with boys and grandmas

one very proud set of parents wishing their second son the joys of a long, happy marriage (they've been together for over 30 years!)

one adorable couple

(notice those cute bobble heads on the cake - big hit with the boys!)

boys finding ways to entertain themselves while waiting

fountain-loving Harry posing

and posing

and posing some more - how fake is that?!

firefly hunts

After dancing lessons with one rockin' grand-aunt Iris,

Harry cut a rug with the amazing Aunt Deb,

and Jack did not like it!

The Shirelles' Going To The Chapel

A porcelain throne and an aluminum sink

Our favorite plumber told him a few years ago that they have an apprentice program....he only has to wait 9 more years, but that hasn't stopped him from carrying this book around ever since he found it at the library a few weeks ago...

He even toted it into the doc's office the other day. The boy loves his plumbing!
JB's This Hotel Room

Lean your ear this way

Harry had his second piano lesson tonite, and performed to a SRO crowd ;-)

He is determined to play Brahms' Lullaby for Ms. H next week, so stay tuned....

They had a chance to talk with Dean via video chat tonite, and I am forever indebted to whoever figured that deal out! His face and giggles were priceless as he got a guided tour of Daddy's hotel room, including a trip to the bathroom with sound effects, and the cool tropical ("It's like Hawaii!") landscaping, including huge koi and at least one duck. Thanx, babe, it was priceless on this end!

Jolly Old St. Nicholas

Son, can you play me a memory

The boys have been playing around with their new musical instruments for the last couple of months, and things are starting to sound more like real songs. Harry even serenaded us with some 'dinner music' earlier today...I could get into that!

He first played this yesterday, with Dean and I in other rooms, both recognizing it....I was flooded with the memory of them sitting at Story Hour with Miss Kitt and doing their 'twinkle hands', trying to follow along....precious memories.

Billy Joel's Piano Man

I Just Want To Bang On The Drum All Day

Jack very proudly performing his first song

Todd Rundgren's Bang On The Drum

Well, train, train, take me on out of this town

We have a guest writer today at TAoHJ - first-timer Harry has been thrilled about writing 'a blog'....so here goes. The video at the end shows a bit of his (non-toilet-related) joy

When we were going to NYC, we had to go to bed early. The next day, we woke up, we had to wake up early to go to the train station. I wanted to get on the train. I was so excited! My thinking bubble was "My heart is thinking we will get on the train now!" When I was on the train, I took my new Puzzle Manias out. I wanted to do some fun activities. I used some pens and some pencils. I put the stickers on one of the activities on Puzzle Mania. It was a squeaky house. When I made that, I wanted I was doing a great job! When I was in the bathroom, the power went out. When I flushed the toilet, the toilet water flushed blue. The train back to Virginia, the water of the toilet flushed regular. There was a white thing that went up when you flushed the toilet. After you flushed the toilet, there was a weird sound like this "nnnnnnn" I was sad that we didn't stay in New York.

M: Are you finished?
H: Nope! Still more!

"Are you finished with that activity, Mom?" I said.
I loved it when we were in NYC because of DoubleTree.
The End


Blackfoot's Train, Train

An offer you cannot refuse

Man 101 is all about The Godfather, right?

when the big report card comes

Harry read his report card to Dean this morning.....

Here's how it looked when he got his first note from his teacher back in August. Did I mention what a great experience Kindergarten was for our youngest? Great teacher, great learning and growing...just a real pleasure for him and us!

Jack read his report card to Dean, too....

and here's what he looked like back in the fall, reading his teacher's welcome poem. He also had a great experience, with a very kind and creative teacher whose love of animals was a great fit for Jack.

JB's Summerzcool

I'm a twisting fool

Never one to be outdone, Jack wanted to make a movie of his card for Summit's party. Silly boy.

Summit had a rockin' party - with lunch at a cozy little music cafe followed by a pool party. It was great to see several old friends and meet some new ones. Thanx for letting us in on all the fun, Summit!

One of the best things about getting out of Simon Says early is you get to pick a primo seat ;-)

Harry decided to make a few fashion statements with his hat

There were laughs all around and some sweet moments

Harry and his buddy Asher dove into the books after lunch....talk about focus! They both read while all around them boys and balloons went wild

Grayson and Jack checked out Asher's book, but the balloons won...this time!

Happy Birthday, Summit! Thanx for all the fun :-)

Dire Straits' Twisting By The Pool

You know how children can grow

The boys' friend Summit is having a rockin' birthday party tomorrow, and he's asked that his friends bring homemade cards in lieu of gifts - Harry's been on a card-making kick lately, so he is quite jazzed. He was describing his card to me this morning when I realized I could make a movie of it.....very few random a's thrown in there but you get a whole lotta Southern accent, stringing the story out to glory in his spotlight, a couple of sneezes and a sweet thank you for your trouble.

Warning: Jack says it's too long and boring...then again, he hasn't started making his card yet ;-)

Elvis Costello's Tears At The Birthday Party

Interjections! (Well!) Show excitement (Oh!) or emotion (Hey!)

We've found a whole treasure trove of videos that were in storage, and we broke out the School House Rock today. Much to Jack's annoyance, but then he listened and decided he LOVED it! They can't wait to see the other episodes, so thankyouthankyouthankyou, Miss Heidi for a much-loved gift!

I've decided that Harry's latest title should be Mr. Interjection. He's all about spicing up the verbage and has been reading enthusiastically to his class recently. Makes me wish I could have deciphered all those extended unintelligible chats he had when he was a teeny ;-)

According to Dictionary.com:
4. Grammar.
a. any member of a class of words expressing emotion, distinguished in most languages by their use in grammatical isolation, as Hey! Oh! Ouch! Ugh!
b. any other word or expression so used, as Good grief! Indeed!

School House Rock's Interjections

Christmas Outside The Box

The boys were goofing around the other day, and Jack seems to have the spirit a little early this year :-)

And speaking of boxes, this one look harmless, right??

Imagine my surprise when I noticed a giggly boy inside Then he realized he's Jack and he's IN THE BOX

Jeff Dunham

Gettin' Jiggy Wit It

The boys were allowed to wear hats to school the other day, and Harry chose this hat that his Aunt Kim bought him several years ago to go along with the family JB vibe....

Here's his explanation....with my apologies to JB ;-)

Lots of things are changing, and I had to take this picture to remind myself that he actually CAN get dirty ;-) The boy has a knack for keeping himself out of messes (he once threw up while sitting in Dean's lap without getting anyone yucky)....this just seems to scream BOY, including the juice stain

This is one of his recent letter books

and he was so proud of 'making you this rainbow necklace, Mommy!' :wub:

He has never been a fan of the writing or homework, but look at all those N's!

and all those - yikes, my hand cramps just looking at all that LOL

Will Smith

It was nine feet high and six feet wide and soft as a downy chick

They FINALLY got their big boy beds! The bunking is still to be done, but they played and jumped their hearts out the other day....um, they're a little excited :-)

John Denver's Grandma's Feather Bed

A public service announcement followed me home the other day

Harry's loving most things about school, but he's really digging Morning (and afternoon, and really AnyOtherTime) Announcements. He's always had a thing for speakers, so the big one that's unexpected in his classroom holds a special thrill (and gives him a new reason to turn the baby monitor). Both boys have been mimicking things they hear at school, and this is a new spin on his ability to repeat entire Curious George, Caillou, etc. episodes....he did it about 3 times tonite, changing the names of the kids, the menu, and the weather forecast - sweet, silly boy!

REM's PSA (AKA Bad Day)

Hey Mr. Postman

Jack received his own welcome postcard today and was thrilled! His teacher was so creative, and it's a little hard to understand him thru most of this, so I'm typing it out for your reading pleasure :-)

Dear Jack,

School days are almost here

Please do not fear

I cannot wait to have you in class this year!

Many adventures we will have together

Along with learning our numbers,

letters and about the weather.

Florida's sun was nice and hot.

I have fun at the vacation spot.

African animals I have seen

In our classroom, Room 113.

We are ready for our learning safari to begin

Best wishes until then!

Love, Ms. Jones

Thanx, Ms. Jones, for providing such an exciting beginning to his school career!





The Beatles

THEY'RE going out to sea

We're all missing Ocracoke, and I was finally able to upload these videos from the pirate show we got to check out this year. The first video is long and shows how goofy they are, and fair warning about the second...I can't get that song out of my head whenever I see it.

They were the only tinies in the audience, and were asked to 'help' hold the card for the audience to sing-along. Silly boys - this is their first public performance....watch out, David Cook, they're coming for your Idol trophy ;-)

Within the stories of pirate life, they let the audience practice with the halyard while singing this shanty (they are going nowhere fast LOL):

Lyle Lovett's If I Had A Boat

And I love to fish

I am slowly getting thru the vacation pix and we're all missing D, so I thought I'd post these pix and videos from the BOY fishing trip. They lucked into the best captain and had an all-around amazing experience - catching 27 Spanish mackerel and a blue in one hour. We're taking the remaining fish over to friends' for a fish fry this weekend....yum!

Harry gettin' his style on

My 3 fishermen heading out to meet Captain Oneil

All suited up and checking out the shoreline

Jack giving a tutorial while Harry checks out the view

Jack and the wonderful Captain Oneil waking things up

Harry's picture of Daddy

Harry taking to the wheel...is that a joyful face, or what!!


Harry reeling 'em in

Jack loves fishing!

Their haul, all cleaned and ready to bring home
BYOF

Harry was so proud to be carrying the fish to dinner

Harry's favorite breakfast place lets you BYOF

It tasted as good as it looked - and look at those faces! This will definitely be a vacation tradition!

Brad Paisley's I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishing Song)

In a postcard

The boys start Kindergarten in one week :wow:, and they received letters from school during our vacation. Harry was thrilled to see that his teacher had also sent a welcoming postcard, which he prompted (and repeatedly with great glee that the camera cut off) read all by himself, little cutie!

We got all their supplies today and they even picked out something to wear on their first day...at least Harry was a Hawaiian print so Dean can't grouse too much ;-)


The Babys' Postcard

Like A Bridge Over Troubled Waters

It's a long way to the end of the world, especially during a really nasty storm...this is the first of many long bridges taking us to Blackbeard's Island.

The Gathering Storm

The roads were under water in several areas, the trickiest travel we've had in our decade of visits - our captain has a steady hand, tho, even after a 5 1/2 trip that took 9

The boys were troopers, for the most part

(IDK how to rotate video, so bear with, please)

It's still gorgeous, even thru the storm, at high speeds and with a phone camera

About the time land ran out and we needed to catch the ferry...

...the sun came out and made it all worth it (sure, I didn't have to navigate thru the treacherous storm, but still...)

Two excited boys ferrying to our latest adventure

And a happy family on its way to their latest adventure (sometimes when you depend on the kindness of stangers, things get a little blurry)

My three favorite pirates

The boys and I mapping our route

Sunset on the water....ahhhh

As my bloggy friend Helene called it, our "change of routine in another environment" begins

I've been contemplating breaking into the rum side of this sweet pack of coffee that Dean's friend Kyle brought back from Jamaica

Simon & Garfunkel