Multitaskers

James recently deigned to help Willy with his reading skills while he was simultaneously watching his new favorite show 'Dinosaur Train' (BTW how did it take this long for someone to finally combine those two?- any parent of a 4 year old boy realizes this is a pure gold recipe).

Halloween

Willy as the cutest frog ever

Willy and Mom


James and Sadie discussing strategy


Spiderman!!



Just the briefest update to share Halloween photos of the boys. Willy was thrilled to be a frog, and the costume turned out so cute. Willy really 'got it' by the fourth house, and then tried to run as fast as he could from door to door. I tried to carry him a few times and he refused, saying only "I running... I running"
We tried to make James a costume as well, but at the last minute (with wet paint on his spider hat), we borrowed Jeff and Izzy's extra spiderman costume. He had such a good time trick or treating with his friend Sadie.

the young ones

We are fast approaching Halloween and the boys are pretty set on what they will be this year- Willy has talked for the last two months about how 'I a frog' so that should be pretty easy; James was dead set on Spiderman, but we have managed to convince him that it would actually be cooler to be a spider (like the one that bit Spiderman) because there are going to be dozens of other Spidermen around. This conveniently allows us to make both costumes and not have to go out and buy stuff (besides candy).
Its full on fall here now- the leaves have been blazing out over the last couple of weeks and it is starting to drop down in temp. It will be interesting to see how much heating oil we burn in the new house this winter- our storm windows are pretty old and its difficult to judge how much insulation is in the walls- though the attic is pretty well insulated. We figure this will be our baseline year and maybe we can afford to do some more serious weatherproofing next year. Katharine has been very busy with her classes and working with sustainability initiatives on campus and writing grants etc. She is waiting to hear about funding and attendance for a possible class to Denmark early next summer. I hope I can update my building blog soon- I've been doing some interesting side projects as well as two big timberframes- a house and a boat barn. The boys had their pictures taken at school recently- the poses they manage to get them in are pretty amazing (and hilarious). We recently put the boys on a see-saw and had to push down on James' side because Willy outweighs him by a little already!




My absolute favorite; it looks like he fell over and is trying to smile as he gets up--

What are we up to...

well, some days it seems like just a little, and other days it seems like quite a lot. The boys are excellent, enjoying their new school and their new town. We've been using the backyard as much as possible while the weather is nice. Mike has steadily been expanding our space by aggressively trimming the back hedge or just outright removing parts of that hedge. He anticipates placing his timber frame model (that he erected in the yard in Bloomfield then took down before our move) in the back corner as a all-purpose shed and garden house. So, he made some space for that but also trimmed the other hedges-- so much so that we found some new friends in a pair of neighbor kids, ages 4 and 6, who live in the house behind all that hedge. We've had fun playing with them recently.

The boys love their new school and their teachers. The hallway at school has a HUGE map of the Netherlands on Willy's "family board" that tells the whole school about where he was born and what our family traditions are. In Willy's class last week they concentrated on musical instruments: he came home with a home-made drum, guitar, and tambourine. Good times. James has a new teacher who he really likes, and they are instituting "sharing days" where he will get to bring an item once a week related to the class theme. He asked me repeatedly this morning "is today sharing day?" I tried to explain that mom does not know the week's theme yet! He is very eager to take part. In his class they are starting a more formal music class on a weekly basis soon, which we are sure he will love. He continues to entertain us with his imaginative stories, songs, and words. We finished reading Stuart Little a few weeks ago-- his first real book (I read EB White chose the sudden ending because he was an overzealous hypochondriac and was sure he was going to die. He lived on for decades). James did not notice the abrupt ending, and we are planning to read Charlotte's Web next.

I (Katharine) am back in school, and working hard to inform my students about American Government and Environmental Policy. I am also running a Penny Campaign to raise money for student sustainability projects in Kenya and India. Mike is keeping busy with his own business and with his work for the Barn Raisers. We are anticipating attending the Timber Framer's Guild annual conference in Saratoga Springs in November-- it will give Mike an opportunity to hang out with the other Carhartt-clad timber nerds whom he dearly loves. Lots of fun. He has not had a lot of time to devote to our house, but we anticipate the slower pace of winter will allow that. Without further ado, some pics of the boys:
Willy eyeing the goats at the Haddam Fair

James feeding the goats at the same


James loved this giant slide...


while both boys adored the "train" ride
Playing with our friends Arlo and Ziggy at the fair-- these "sand" boxes were filled with feed corn for the event. Actually a little slippery if you are wearing rubber boots.

Greetings

this is what happens when you hand Willy a phone.
Hmmm. Wonder where he gets this?

Southern visitors

We have been settling in to Middletown little by little. This week Bammi and Peppy (and Heyward) are all visiting from south GA. They have all had fun with the boys and visiting the Essex steam train and two days in Mystic seaport which are both pretty close to us. We've all been enjoying the results of Peppy's generous trip to Sam's Club that filled our fridge and pantry to overflowing-
Here are a few pictures from the week:

Willy playing ball--

The Branraisers cut this frame and James and I helped raise it last Saturday; its a replica of a New Haven trainstop and seats 20 people--

The boyz--


Potheads--


Mom and James at the aquarium watching for Stellar sea lions


Lillies at the aquarium in Mystic--


James fervently explaining away some disreputable actions--

Predator--




Prey--