A City Life For Me

On March 11, 2018 Elaine made a very important step in her spiritual growth.  It was an answer to a prayer I have been praying over the space of a couple of years.  Elaine asked to be baptized.  We had talked through baptism on several occasions, but always felt as if she didn’t understand completely, or as though her motives were wrong.  We didn’t push, but we prayed.  Elaine was in the Sunday morning service when Pastor Bickel announced an upcoming baptism.  She came to me and asked if she could be baptized.  We talked through things again and it was different this time.  Elaine called Pastor Bickel to talk to him.  He sent her a packet of information that she had to read and complete before she could be baptized.  It included a written testimony of salvation, and also several passages to look up and study to be sure that the picture and purpose of baptism was understood. Elaine completed her packet and submitted it to Pastor Bic...

I was very excited to send off my last grade report today!  Nolan finished school a couple of weeks ago, and Elaine completed her last subject today.     Super proud of Nolan!  He’s reading very well, and he excels at math.  In fact, he’s going to do first grade math this summer so that he can bump up to second grade math!  He cried when I told him that he was on his very last math paper for the year!      Elaine is also doing well.  Excellent, actually.  She pulled straight A’s this year, with her lowest average for the year was a 95.  She is beyond bored with her reading program because she is reading at a much higher level than her age.  In reading she was supposed to read three chapter books.  The teacher said, “Have you ever read a whole chapter book before?”  Um, yes.  Dozens upon dozens.  She can whiz through a Boxcar Children book or a Mandie book in a day.  I really need to...

Bronx Zoo  (He’s such a good dad!) Love this! He was causing trouble.  Getting into school.  So Elaine made him a play station.  Lasted five minutes.  First and last play station ever. First one awake gets to watch Blues Clues!  Wait…it was Henry?!?! Elaine’s Cursive   Rib Fingers!  (They want to know when I’m going to make Grandpa’s ribs.  Um…never).    Little Leaguers!

Last Friday, since we did not get to close on the house, we decided to take an outing.  We just needed to get out of the house and direct our attention on something else.  Nolan even cried when we told him about not closing on the new house, so we definitely needed a distraction.  We decided to go to the Statue of Liberty.  We hadn’t been since the first summer we moved to NYC (2010), and none of our Brooklyn Babies had ever been!  The kids were elated.  We may have caused a little bit of confusion, because after the trip I overheard the twins saying there are two Statue of Liberty’s – one in the water, and one in the grass!  I guess since they have only seen her from the highway, standing out in the entrance to New York Harbor, they thought she was just floating in the water!  When we got to see Lady Liberty in person, they thought it was a different statue – in the grass! I never get tired of this sight! First arrived on Liberty Island Hami...

Elaine has been very interested in art for a while, but I am not the one to teach her this subject!  After she drew a…well…quite an awful version of a horse, we decided to find some help and encourage her budding artistry.  I found a YouTube channel called Art for Kids Hub , and in each video a kid draws the picture along with the teacher.  Since I have some perfectionistic kids, this helped them see that their picture doesn’t have to be exactly like the teacher! Here are some recent samples of Elaine and Nolan’s drawings!  (a 1,000% improvement!)    Butterfly on a tulip, and a cartoon T-rex (Elaine)    Nolan’s Cartoon T-Rex, and Elaine’s Poppies    Elaine’s first great looking horse – pencil, and colored A “sampler” she made for Meredith’s birthday

Elaine is learning all about money in Math class, so to practice counting and adding up different denominations, we set up a pretend store.  I admit.. I think I had as much fun with this as she did! We set up the store while the little kids were napping.  Elaine prepared the price tags, and I made signs on the computer.  She wanted two aisles in her store, so we did that!   Cashier’s station, with phone, adding board, and change!  (She even stopped to answer the phone while checking out a customer!)   Adding up and counting back change…   This was a fun project!!!