Mom and Dad are in the Basement

Lydia is entertaining this evening... She and her friends must watch the Hannah Montanna 3D movie everytime they spend the night (while inhaling large quantities of popcorn, drinking SunnyD, saying, "This is so awesome" at least every 30 seconds, and wearing their Hannah Montanna attire.) Mom suggested that they watch their movie in Lydia's room, the basement, etc. However, they insisted they needed the surround sound and bigger screen in the living room to fully appreciate the movie.

Littlest Weightlifters

Dad took a picture of his 2 littlest weightlifters. Mom is a little overprotective and would have like to have seen steel-toed shoes on their feet with the big weights above :-)

While Mom's working...

Mom works quite a bit with her teaching jobs, but she has a lot of flexibility. For most of her work, she can work whenever she wants. She usually works when the kids are sleeping. However, 2 hours a week (1 hour 2 different times) she has to been in a live chat online with her students. She's at home, but the kids are pretty much on their own. She is always amazed what they can do in an hour.

Tonight, Morgan decided to remove her clothes. Mom added a diaper to make the picture more blog appropriate.

Lydia decided that she needed a fancy dress for the evening.

Morgan decided to wear and throw on the floor every dress up outfit she owns.

Someone decided that the house stuffed animals needed to gather.

Mom could take similar pictures thoughout the house, but you get the idea...

Lydia is home again!

Lydia returned today from her trip to Girl Scout Camp. She enjoyed swimming, hiking, and learning about the animals.

In Loving Memory of Papa

HOLSTED, Ralph D. "Trader," age 83, passed away on Sunday, July 26, 2009 with his family by his side at his home in Manchester, Tennessee. Mr. Holsted had worked with A.E.C. at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and had retired from Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) after serving as a Chemical Technician. After retirement from AEDC, he enjoyed flea markets, trading, HVAC repairs and being active and loved by his family. He was also a World War II Veteran and a member of the Red Hill Church of Christ. He was born on January 19, 1926 to his parents, the late Robert B. Holsted and Emma J. Cohey Holsted. He was also preceded in death by brothers, Clyde Holsted and Clarence Holsted; sister, Ruby Reddick. He is survived by his loving wife Judy Holsted of Manchester, TN; children, Mike Holsted (Sherry) of Murfreesboro, TN, Diane Kelley (De-Wayne) of Winchester, TN, Carol Bogen (Bruce) of Franklin, TN, Gary Holsted (Debbie) of Trenton, GA and Ralph Holsted, Jr. (Vangie) of Murfreesboro, TN; ten grandchildren, Adam Holsted, Michael Ruder, Jenny, Josh Bogen, Zachary Bogen, Casey Wallace, Andy Holsted, Alex Holsted, Breann Holsted and Blaine Holsted; seven great grandchildren, Lydia, Seth, Morgan, Sophie Holsted, Max Holsted, Matthew Bogen and Hannah Bogen; Stephen Ruder; and a host of other relatives and friends. The Family received friends at the Visitation on Monday evening, July 27, 2009 from 6 - 8:00 P.M. The Funeral Service was conducted on Tuesday afternoon, July 28, 2009, at 1:00 P.M. from the Chapel of Central Funeral Home with Brother Ralph Hart officiating. Burial followed at the Rose Hill Memorial Gardens. (our last names were removed for blog)

Ready for an Adventure

Lydia is packed and ready for an adventure for the next couple days. We'll post more when she returns. As you can see by her baggage, she should have enough things to survive until mid-week.

Corn on the Cob

Could anything be better in life than your very first ear of corn on the cob ever??

No, the kid in the yellow beside Seth isn't the coach..

The kids are doing soccer camp this week... mostly in the rain. You can see Seth in the Orange jacket and Lydia in the purplish/blue one. There was an unusually low enrollment this year so the camp decided to have one group. Seth was surrounded by kids 3 times his age and in some cases his size. He has had a great time though. He doesn't seem to realize that he's not on his teammates level :-) Lydia has had fun also.

Could it be nesting?

Mom has heard a lot about the whole nesting thing, and she remembers experiencing it in prior pregnancies. However, this pregnancy she's been really busy with the kids and teaching a lot of classes. She's exhausted at the end of most days and hasn't had the overwhelming desire to clean or organize anything. The closest thing to nesting she's done before today is put an ad on craigslist to hire a cleaning person to come to the house a couple times a month starting in the fall.

However, today the baby preparations finally began. Mom spent almost the entire day getting things ready. The pictures below may not look like much work, but she had the kids by herself most of the day today while washing all the baby things, cleaning out both sides of Morgan's closet for Morgan and Baby, and organizing an area in Mom and Dad's room for baby. It was a big project. Tomorrow's project for the whole family will be cleaning up everything else in the house the kids destroyed while she did the baby stuff :-)

(We decided to fix up the corner of our bedroom for baby's first few months, and we'll move baby to another room later. Morgan is still using the crib, and we're not sure that it's a girl anyway. Notice Morgan with her doll in the baby area. She's still not understanding that we're going to have a real baby. We're going to add some decorations to this area.)
(After spending hours working washing clothes and organizing one side of Morgan's closet for baby, Mom found it funny when Lydia's assessment of it was that it was potential for disaster. It was the last thing Mom wanted to hear but very true. Lydia words were that it was going to be a real disaster to have all these pink things and a little boy. She's right... However, Dad could make a quick trip to the mall and replace the pink if we're surprised with a boy. )(This final picture is Morgan's side of the closet. Morgan had a lot of stuff in her closet that she had outgrown so Mom cleaned out her side of the closet after she did the baby side. The fact that Mom is happy enough about a 2 year-olds closet being semi-organized to post on the blog shows that Mom has gotten old and has small children. It doesn't take much to make her happy. )

Unexpected Grossness

Doesn't he look harmless with the feather duster? Mom and Dad are always amazed at what kids will do with an ordinary thing. The kids have been dusting with it for fun on and off all day. Seth had it this evening and Mom kept suggesting areas for him to dust to keep him happy while she did other things. He told Mom and Dad tonight that he had found a great way to use it. He said that he found some water (we're really hoping it's just water) on his bathroom floor, and he rubs the duster in that before he dusts our furniture.

Cedar Point Day

Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, and the kids spent Thursday at Cedar Point, an amusement park in Ohio. The kids enjoyed the rides of course. Even Morgan rode lots of rides. She wasn't happy when she didn't meet the height requirement on whatever Seth and Lydia were riding.

Creepy Crawly Critters Daycamp and Girls Morning Out

Seth spent his morning today learning about creepy crawly critters at science daycamp. If you look closely you can see the cool hat he made. He got to make mud (chocolate pudding) and fill it with (gummy) worms for his snack. He enjoyed petting the real snake and seeing the other live creatures. He also liked playing with the kids.

Mom and the girls spent the morning at the library and the playground while he was at camp. Morgan kept saying, "Seth, Seth" all morning wondering where he was and Lydia kept asking when we HAD to pick up Seth because she seemed to enjoy our semi-quiet morning. However, Lydia was more excited than anyone when it was time to pick him up to hear about his adventures.

I won't be jealous of the new baby... really, I won't...

The Harvest Begins

Lydia's garden is doing well. We are beginning to get a few things out of it and can see that we'll have lots of squash, tomatoes, and other veggies in the near future. There is nothing that makes Lydia happier than asking, "Lydia, can you go get X from the garden and put it in whatever we're cooking." Today Mom asked her to pick one of her onions, chop it, and put it in the crockpot. However, Mom forgot about Lydia's dislike of her eyes watering around onions. Lydia wasn't willing to pass up the chance to use her fresh produce though. She went to her room, put on her swim goggles, picked an onion, and started chopping :-)

Fourth of July Celebration (on July 5)

We went this evening to a local Fourth of July celebration. The kids loved the fireworks, balloons, and games.

New Area at the Toledo Zoo

The Toledo Zoo opened a new kids area a couple weeks ago. Today we checked it out for the first time.

Jamie Farr Golf Classic

Dad and Lydia went to watch the Jamie Farr Golf Classic in Toledo for a couple hours on Saturday. They had a good time.

Morgan at the ER

While on vacation Morgan developed a high fever and shaking. Her fever was 104.6 when she arrived at the hospital. They ran lots of tests and decided that she has a virus. They gave her medicine to lower her fever and she went back to the hotel within a couple hours. She's doing much better now.

Our Kalahari Vacation Started Out Well....

We took a short two day vacation this week to Kalahari. It's a hotel/waterpark resort in northern Ohio. Our trip started out well. The kids loved the waterparks, feeding the ducks, and looking around. However, our fun didn't last...

Mom's Birthday

Mom celebrated her birthday last week. The kids went shopping and each picked out a gift. Seth bought her a blue folder. Lydia chose a spiral notebook. Morgan chose nail polish. As soon as Mom opened the polish, Morgan stuck her feet in Mom's face waiting for Mom to paint her toenails.