Farewell to Jim Thomas

It has been a couple of weeks, but I think I can write a note to say goodbye without too many tears.
Goodbye, Jim.
You were a good man with a very kind heart and you will be missed by all of us.
I am happy to have known you, and I can see many of your traits in Brian.
You were always welcoming and always will to help others.
I'm so glad you were able to come out our way in May and visit and talk to Brian and hold your grandsons.
We had no idea that there was cancer eating away at you from the inside; we only saw that you were hurting but wouldn't except our help.  You lived how you wished.
I am so sorry that you were called away so quickly...too quickly.
Too quickly.
We all loved you and will remember you and speak well of you to our little ones.

We are in the process of dealing with the aftermath of our loss...

We are remembereing.
We are shutting down finances his old life, bills, utilities, etc.
And this has moved Brian and I to make sure our affairs are in order just in case anything should happen to us.
 There is and will be much cleaning of the house and unearthing of some forgotten treasures.
We have brought things home to Tam and Jude, letting them play with things that were important to Brian as a child, or were his Aunt Carol's.  The ton of marbles have been a blast.  The boys have found many ways to incorporate them into their play.  The games have been fun too...stadium checkers, junior monopoly, Chinese checkers, and dominoes have all been played.

And the art supplies.  Jim, you were an artist.  Your markers and pens are being put to good use by our own little artists, especially Jude.

Last Third Thursday 2015

A small note that our summer is officially coming to an end.   We went into town for our last third Thursday celebration of 2015.  It was a cooler evening, as the sun is setting earlier now.  But, we could still hang out without jackets and wear Hawaiian shirts. 

The boys insisted on having their faces painted again.  Tamlin loves having a "fire" crown and Jude opted for a pink/green butterfly face.  Man, getting those face paints was brilliant.  Brian thinks I should contact town and see about doing face paint art for tips during third thursdays next year.  Hmm...

We had fun wandering around, listening to music, dancing, and eating ice cream

Love spending time enjoying the outside and being with my family.

Tamlin's riding a bike!

Most of this summer, Tamlin has opted to ride his scooter or his bigwheel...both are favorite modes of transportation around the house and beach.  Jude also loves riding around on his scooter or his little blue racecar.  Even Liam, the boy across the street, got a scooter so that all three of the boys could cruise around together (like a pack!). 

Then Liam got a big boy bike (He's in third grade and 1.5 years older than Tam). 
So, Tamlin had to get out his little blue bike with the training wheels.  He was too big for it, with his knees nearly hitting him in the nose.  But, the next bike up that we had didn't have the training wheels.
He was in a spot...ride the too little bike or learn how to balance on the bigger bike.

I swear it only took 2 days of practice after school and WHAM...he got it.
One miniute Brian and I were holding onto the seat and running beside him and the next minute... we are letting go and he is riding...RIDING...by himself.
Tears.
There might have been tears, since my fist born is growing up so fast.
And videos of the feat to show everyone!
He was zooming around the car parked in the driveway and up and down the sidewalk. 
Now breaking he hasn't quite mastered.   The handlebar breaks are a bit too widespread for his hands and he forgets about the pedal breaks.  Instead, he does what most of us did and just runs into things to stop or leaps off his bike and lets it crash to the ground.



We still won't let him into our street to ride without one of us right with him (too many cars) and the whole lacking of breaking thing.  Instead, we head out to our local parks and safety town to cruise around among the trees.

 And Jude wants to be just like his big brother, so he is now riding the little blue bike with the training wheels.

Zoom....Zoom....

Off they go!
 Now Brian and I need bikes so we can all head out and ride together.

Beach Time

While Nana Margie and Papa John were here, there were many walks down to the beach, which involved searching for seaglass, cool pieces of wood, admiring the sunsets, and swimming.  Lots of swimming.  The boys didn't care if the water was smooth as glass or rippled with waves...they love bouncing through the water.  Tamlin has gotten better at swimming under the water (as long as he can hold his nose).  Jude still doesn't want to put his face in the water, but doesn't mind getting splashed.  Kirby went into and out of the water trying to bite the waves, but he seemed to prefer the dry land.

One of my favorite shots from the weekend :-)

Jude and Daddy

Jude was home with Brian today while Tam was in school and I was at work.
When we got home, Brian showed us all the work they did in the gardens.  They had kept busy staking tomatoes, and picking tomatoes, and watering the watermelons.  Brian told me that Jude was very helpful...specifically, he was a very helpful butterfly. 
Jude loves butterflies.
When asked what do butterflies do, he replied with "drink nectar and pollinate flowers"
That's my boy!

First day of schools

Sigh.
August already!
I am with the other gazillion people out there lamenting that the summer months flew by and in a blink, it is time for school to start again.
And my baby boys are growing up so quickly!
Too fast!


Our little Jude is not in Pre-Kindergarden, the Busy Bees.  He has the same teacher that Tamlin had when he started here two years ago.  Has it been 2 years?!  He is super excited and has been going around saying that he is a big boy now.  But I know he is still our little-snuggle bunny in his heart.  He's excited to be in a new room with new toys.  I'm excited that he'll be learning more and more.

Tamlin is heading into first grade and will be attending the brand new school.  I took the afternoon off on Tuesday so that Tam and I could have special time with each other before his summer officially ended.  He chose what we did together:  McDonald's, baked cupcakes (sprinkle batter with blue frosting and Swedish fish), built hot-wheel track down the stairs, and built a marble track.

  The new school is so awesome and so different from the grade school that I had attended way back when.   We went to open house on the evening before his first day of class.  This let us find out who his teacher would be and where his room was and let him see where his friends were.

Open concept design.  The hallways are huge.  The cafeteria is outside in the hallways and right next to the library!  In the hall!  Cool.   Tamlin's classroom is three classrooms connected together with movable partitions.  His main teacher is Mrs. Sprinkle. (I tried very hard not to giggle at this and Brian asked if it was here real name).  Tamlin found his name and cubby right away.  Jude helped Tam find his seat in the classroom...and then "helped" with exploring the rocking chairs and the books.  At his new seat, Tam found a treat of starbursts (Mrs. Sprinkle was "bursting" waiting to get to know you) and a baggy of sparkles.  The sparkles were magic dust to help you get to sleep quickly the night before the big day :-)  Yes, we had to use these that night and Tamlin fully believed in them.

Here's Mrs. Sprinkle and Tam.   All ready for the morning!  I know I felt better knowing exactly which room Tam was heading into and at least meeting the teacher face-to-face.




This morning was the BIG DAY.   I think Tam was excited and not worried at all.  He loves wearing his Hawaiian shirts :-)

Our neighbor and Tam's friend, Liam was NOT excited about school...but I think riding the bus was Tamlin helps.  They are good friends.  Brian and I got quick little hugs from our little man before he boarded that yellow bus, and I really didn't cry.  He's my little baby growing up!  He's all long legs and arms now and not a swaddled, curled up, little baby anymore!

Best of luck to both my boys in their new learning adventures!


Oh...and Zebra Slugs

Brian found two of these...um...in a delicate position behind our rain barrels.  Tam and Liam thought they were pretty cool.  I didn't realize we had any slugs here in Ohio that were this big (as long as my hand!).
The photo isn't ours, but from the web.