Hiphopopotamus and Rhymenoceros

I think I spelled it right.
Thanks, kids for introducing me to the Flight of the Conchords. I just found a note in my purse. Couldn't remember why it was there so I googled it and came up with two weird guys from New Zealand. Fun stuff.
--Prime's Wife

Season 4

Reuben and Rachel,

Any thoughts on the premier of The Office? I enjoyed it, but I didn't think it was and instant classic. Dwight had some good moments, and it is always funny when a cat dies.

I am already sick of this Jim and Pam thing. Ashley disagrees.

-1

speed of sound

Upon request from Dad after a conversation about the exciting music channel on the new TV, I would like to share my knowledge of the great American creation that is Pandora.com. Type in band or song and using the "music genome" it creates a radio station of similar music. Currently my favorite stations include Gabe Dixon Band, Joshua Radin, Dave Barnes, and Denison Witmer (whose show I was able to make last night. Best 1 man with a guitar show I've ever attended. Check out happybirthdaydenison.com for some free acoustic stuff.) Most of those you need to make some tea and sit by the fireplace to get the full affect.

This weekend was also spent surrounded by music at SpringHill's 1st annual Music Festival. Historic, I know! However, most of it was spent running around on and offstage camera in hand. Once I have some of the photos I'll have to post a few. Ben, you will be glad to hear, out of the 25 bands I heard, 4 of them covered a U2 song. The only closely covered competitor would have been worship songs, which don't count. AND 3 out of the 4 were on the main stage, and 2 out of those 3 were in the encore. The one that wasn't on the main stage was my summer boss who said this before playing the song "for our last song we'll end with a little something by the greatest band of all time..." Needless to say, it was great.

On a completely unrelated topic, I heard dinner at my apartment was discussed while I was gone, but I am all for it. Any Sunday work better than another for anyone?

Red Rubber Ball

Happy Fall! What a great day we had here today. Dad and I went to the beach. The water was swim-able. We think it is a record for us. The latest we ever swam in the season.



We tried to get a shot of the date on the newspaper. Sort of like pointing at a calendar the first day of Kindergarten. Here's a close-up:

Exciting, Huh?

We took the kids to their first NFL Game today. Turns out it was my first NFL game too. If we had been Bronco fans we might have been crushed with disapointment. But we are Lions fans; disapointment no longer affects us.

The Kids Aren't Alright

Actually, they are fine. Just a little bit loud and smelly. Here are some pictures from our latest photo shoot.

Ashley liked the swing one that she took. You can see Avery trying to get into the action in the top left corner.

Arrrrrrrrr, its drivin' me nuts!

Ahoy, mateys! This day has been declared international talk like a pirate day, so you best be getting your words straight or it will be straight to the locker fer ya all.

favorite pirate joke:
A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel attached to his groin and goes to sit down. The bartender looks at him and asks, "what's the deal with the steering wheel on your crotch?" The pirate replies, "Arrrrrr, it's drivin' me nuts!"

Savy Sam

These Days

I thought it time that I give an update. Nothing is new yet with me working 4 days a week other than that we are officially looking for another nurse so that this can happen. So I'll keep you all posted.

In around-the-house news, our office is all set up and organized now that the family entertainment center has moved on. It's a room I love to be in now!


Since the beginning of the summer, Reuben and I have been part of the group that plans 20s/30s events at church trying to create more community in the after-college age group. Last Sunday was our big fall kick-off with Yesterdog catering in Garfield Park. Below is a picture of Reuben making announcements, giving away t-shirts, etc. After this event, I finally can really picture what my husband is like in the classroom. :) The picture below that is of one of our team members holding the baby of another couple in the group. The reason I post this is because his name is Reuben. Very cool.




Finally, today Reuben and I had a nice day to ourselves after church. Not that we don't like our families and seeing them on Sundays, but it was really nice to not do that today! We went to Robinettes this afternoon.... donuts and cider there are so good! I love fall!

Sam wanted to see a picture of the TV. So, Here is Avery standing in frontof it.

Here are a few more pictures of the kids for those who are interested.

Camera question

Ok, since this family is full of camera nerds, I was wondering if you could give Kirk some advice. He doesn't have the money to buy the kinds of cameras this family has, but he wants a good one. These are the three he tells me he has been looking at: "nikon d40, the canon xt, and maybe but most unlikely the pentax d100." Any advice you could give would be great. Thanks.

Ben- I beat Metroid last friday. I think the game is too short, but that is the only downside to the game. It looks great, it has some great problem-solving, boss fights are fun, except for one annoying boss, andonce you get the handle of the controls it feels natural. Now I have to wait for the next decent game.....

S&K isn't just a department store anymore....

Dear all-

I'm taking a page out of the "Mattie notebook for updating family members" and updating the family of which Kate and I are members. So, this is how life goes: Katie spends most of her weekends and nights working, cleaning, or planning. During the day she teaches some great kids that seem to like her a lot and have a great time with her. She is still getting the hang of all the processes that go on in that school, but nobody told her very much to begin with, so she does great. I spend lots of time at Calvin. I have 17 credits and a couple of labs along with some other out of class time educational requirements. I also work 16 hours a week or so at Calvin doing science education stuff and as a T.A. for the professor I worked with all summer. This works out well, cause I can walk to Calvin from our apartment, and the timing of work fits into my schedule. The down side is that I only get home before 7:00pm one day a week and I have a lab until 10:00pm on Tuesday night. Kate caught a cold at school and brought it home to share so we are both a bit under the weather at the moment. That pretty much sums up what is happening over here right now.

Sam and Kate

alive!

I am posting!

Ben: This is my apology for living and going to college near home. Sorry my life isn't that exciting, and that I catch up with my family when I see them at Sunday dinner. Sorry that you abandoned me and now require extra work to keep in touch with. Sorry I am trying to pay the bills and do well in school and have somewhat of a social life. I will be trying my hardest to improve on all of the above.... but seriously, sorry I haven't called you back. The cheapest flight that I could find to Las Vegas was close to $300, and I can't toss that kind of money around right now. I will be sure to keep CO in mind for SB, however!

In other news, my living situation is far better than most of my past college career, and considerably cheaper.

the picture on the left is from the entryway. it is now a little more lived in with books on the shelves and some art on the walls. And the picture on the right is from our bedroom hallway. You can see the entryway is through the kitchen and the table is to the right. That's a taste of the amazingness, though our view from the deck is not quite as grand as the Colorado household.

I'm still working at the shoe store and it is still great. I get a free pair of shoes since our store met its goals the last quarter. I only worked 2 days of that quarter. Right now I am looking at a pair of $150 hardcore hiking boots. They are men's, but apparently the women who shop at the store don't need good outdoor stuff. Especially women with size 10 shoes.

I won't, however, be getting paid regularly for hanging out at camp on weekends this fall, we are going to see about winter/spring. This won't prevent me from being there semi-frequently, since I can still get gas paid and I still want to hang out with my close friends, but I am planning on sticking around here more often for random side stuff. Mom, I still agree that working for the paper would not have been worth the chicken scratch on top of 17 credits.

Post in summary: life is good, just a little busy and poor. the end

Sister

Does anybody remember who that chick was that used to hang around us in the 90's? Her name started with an M if I remember correctly. She looked kind of like mom and slept in that smaller room upstairs. Whatever happened with her?
-1

Hey Family!
Its about time for an update.

School started successfully. The students are real nice. When I ask them to listen they do. They don't ignore me, they don't swear at me, and they have an interest in what I'm doing. The job is uplifting and I feel good putting the work into it. Seriously though, It is going great. It will be a very busy year, but the work will pay off. Oh mom, Faith Lambert said they got Eric's pictures and to tell you they love them.

Other news, Rach and I went to Ludington State Park last year. That place is great. It is the first state park I would put above Hoffmaster. So much to do with the trails and the lakes. We rented Kayaks (we need/want our own). Next year we want to add a day to the trip. So much fun for only a couple of days. Oh and there were big waves, like 4-5 footers. It has been a while since I had that great of bodysurfing in LM. Take care family.

Labor Day Trip

We are back from our annual labor day trip to Breck. I took a picture of the Raku Guy's stuff for mom:

We also made a visit to the Starbucks in honor of Reuben and Rachel:

We ate at pizza at Downstairs at Eric's as seen below:

And we looked at more art again. We bought a few things. Ashley did most of the shopping while I fielded questions about why my children were so cute. I was a little offended that everyone was so amazed. It shouldn't be that suprising. One item we purchased was Avery's birthday present. He got himself a pop-gun. We let him play with it until we came home. It will be in hiding for a couple of months.