Dawning of Age

I, Brian, had a disturbing conversation with my son tonight. I was tucking him into bed when he began rubbing my forhead with his fingertips and asked me, "Dad, do I have red lines on my forehead?"
"No, you don't."
"Well, why do you?"
"I just do."
"How did you put them there?"
"I don't know."
"Why did you put them there?"
"I didn't. They just happened."
"But how did they get there?"
So I responded the only way I could: "Go ask your mother."

First Day of School

Here is Forrest on his first day of first grade!

We went to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago last weekend. It is *huge* and very cool. Forrest really liked the space section.
This is a gigantic model of the heart that you can actually walk through.

Forrest was "driving" a combine - there was a huge screen with a video of a field right in front of us.

Wuttke Visit - More Photos

For all of you who were worried, no, Jessica and Eric didn't die of heat exhaustion. (Good thing they didn't come out a week earlier - heat indices of 110 still aren't fun for us, either!)

Quin tasted his first corn on the cob and decided it tasted just as good as the other kind of corn, only more fun.


Our new backyard playset was a huge hit.

Forrest and Quin in the bath.

Wuttke Visit - Anderson Gardens

The Wuttke family - Eric, Jessica, and Quin - visited us last week. Of course, we took them to Anderson Gardens. Quin wasn't very fond of walking on the paths, but he did love the water! He exclaimed over the ducks paddling around in the creek, and really wanted to go swimming with the rather large carp.

Here's a shot of Forrest and a rather grumpy Quin.
Quin enjoyed the puddles just as much as the larger bodies of water.

Pictures from July

Fireworks on the Driveway

New Play Structure

Forrest's Nana (Alayne) and Grandpa Rich visited during the week of July 4th. Brian had a friend from work with an old play structure that he wanted to get rid of. We hauled it out of his backyard - and what a sight it was, a giant wooden platform balanced on top of our tiny truck! Nana and Grandpa Rick designed and built add-ons and improvements to the original.

Forrest the Biker Dude

I lerned to ride my bike today!!

Another Grandparent Visit

Pompah and Grandma Jeanne (Tom and Jeanne) came to visit us over Forrest's 6th birthday. They helped us with Forrest's party. We also visited Anderson Japanese Gardens

and the Field Museum in Chicago, where we saw Sue (the T rex) and a really cool exhibit on evolution.
Forrest had two grandparents as well as a mother at his school's Mother's Day. He showed us his favorite classroom works, and we ate fruit with chocolate from a chocolate fountain.

Forrest's Sixth Birthday

Forrest opening his present from his parents.

Forrest had a rather elaborate birthday party this year, although it was at home. He requested a Scooby-Doo mystery party, so we planned Scooby-Doo on Pirate Island. Brian, appearing as "Pirate Shortbeard" gave the following letter to the participants:
Listen well, ye swabs! I am the ghost of Pirate Shortbeard. Me crew mutinied and stole me treasure, but I shall have the last laugh. Ye swabs have been chosen to quest for me treasure. Follow the clues to find me bones, then capture me to get the key! But if any of you swabs has mutiny in mind, beware! Each must seek the resting place of one clue only.Then ye must assemble all the clues to make a map to me bones. Find them and capture me and I shall give ye the key to me treasure!

Each child was told which room to look in to find a piece of a map. When they each had found their pieces, they put them together like a puzzle to make a complete map, which showed where Pirate Shortbeard was hiding.
When they found him, he chased them in good Scooby-Doo fashion and was caught in a net (thoughtfully manned by Pompah and Grandma Jeanne). The captured pirate relinquished his key to a treasure chest. The chest, when opened, contained a pinata filled with waaaaay too much candy.

Lots!

It's been a long time since we updated this blog, mostly because we had very intermittent and unreliable Internet service for a month as our Internet provider updated its software.

Forrest started taking karate classes at the Y. He seems to enjoy it, and we bought him a uniform. This summer we'll practice as a family; we're gone or entertaining visitors too often to make attending (and paying for!) class practical.
Forrest is adopting (bad?) habits from his parents.
Forrest and Brian repair the Monster Bag.

Blast from the Past I - Late 2004

Alyssa has a new computer. One of its many features is a screen saver that randomly shows pictures from a given folder. We've been mezmerized over the last few days and thought we'd share some of what we've been watching.

Ernie, Shirley, and Forrest, Christmas 2004

One of the first chess games Forrest ever played, November 2004

Brian and Forrest reading Spider-man comics, September 2004

Emily holding Samantha (?), October or November 2004

Grandparents Visit

Forrest's grandparents made a quick trip from Lincoln during the last weekend of March. We took them around town and showed them our new home, including one of Forrest's favorite places, the Discovery Center.

Forrest has developed a major fascination with the camera. He took the above portrait of his grandparents (note the extreme upward angle) and the picture of Alyssa raking leaves in the previous post. He also took about 50 other pictures, which makes us very glad that we have a digital camera and don't have to pay for developing film.

As you can tell from the second photo, Forrest continues to be fascinated with costumes of just about any type. Usually he assembles his costumes from a variety of sources, which makes them quite eclectic and definitely creative.

Spring is Here!

Grandma Jeanne sent Forrest some spring cookie cutters and icing, so we spent a day over spring break making and icing sugar cookies.

Then we had to knuckle down and clean up the yard. We raked and bagged 5 bags-worth of leftover fall leaves. Luckily, leaf pickup is included in the garbage fee here. Yes, this is our backyard. It's absolutely gigantic. The previous owners left a small built-in sandbox and planted several tulip and daffodil bulbs (glad we didn't spend our Thanksgiving on that, Megan!).