Our Year in Review

At our traditional New Years Eve fondue dinner, we all shared some of our own highlights from 2010. Here are our favorite memories from the year.

Nolan:  going to school, becoming a junior park ranger

Jim: 1st family vacation to Colorado, going to Adventureland with the cousins, Karen's arm getting back to normal with help of a great new OT

Quinn: finding a new scout troop and school with no bullying, becoming a jr. ranger, going to Texas by myself, making a great snow fort with all the snow.

Karen: finally making a garden at our new house, taking the boys on their 1st mountain hike, Trader Joe's came to Des Moines, Q started piano lessons.

It is so good to go back and think about all the good things we did.We hope your 2010 was full of as many wonderful memories as ours.

More Protection than Expected?

Nolan started his 1st organized sport this week and is loving it! He was very excited that he got new gear for his soccer practice "sin-guards". This is one of those times that I can't bear to correct their little kid words as it makes me so happy hear "sin-guards" over and over again.

What Does Christmas Look Like At The Lynchs?

 we bake

                            
 
WE READ 












wE bUiLd

wE jOke

   










WE PLAY

                                    We LaUGh













we EAT

                  FAMILY

We Need A Little Sithmas....

Nothing says Christmas like a Darth Vader gingerbread cookie. These tasty treats accompanied the 4 of us and our friends the Landis' on our 3rd annual solstice caroling extravaganza (a day late this year). This is one of my favorite holiday traditions...what can be better than bringing the holiday cheer to unsuspecting neighbors and friends?  Doing it with Star Wars gingerbread men  and 3 happy little boys squeezed into the back seat cracking each other up.

Fun Day at Fair Park... or was it?

Yesterday we went to Fair Park  to the Natural History Museum to see a really cool dinosaur exhibit. Nolan was pumped, he popped out of bed with his Allosaurus shirt on ready to go. After nearly being eaten by a life sized anamatronic T-Rex, we headed outside from some lunch and discovered this really cool maze/sculpture/water garden/turtle sanctuary thing that runs over and through the pond behind the museum.  In the picture above you can see me thinking, this is not the best idea but then he was off. He went around the corner ... we heard a splash, then cries for help.  The picture below is the result. 

The best part of the story is that when we were leaving, another mom with 2 small girls asked me if he had just fallen into this water. When I told her yes, she quickly said "Sophia, come here. I have something I want to show you." It's never good when your child is the example for what not  to do! :)

Happy Birthday Quinn

Today marks the 8th anniversary of the day that we became parents and Quinn Riley entered the world. From that day on we have marveled at just about everything this child does. He continues to make us smarter and better people and brings a new perspective to everything he encounters. Here are just a few things we loved about our 7 year old Quinn:
1. He lost his 1st tooth. (and his 2nd and his 3rd)
2. He found a love of all ball sports, especially soccer.
3. He stuck with his love of the Miama Dolphins despite the rest of the family's affection for other teams.
4. He gained an amazing amount of self awareness.
5. He has decided that the things that are hard for him he will conquer.
6. He learned he can change the world.
7. He discovered a love of drawing.
8. After a hard year, we are starting to see his real smile again.

We can't wait to see what we love about the 8year old Quinn.

We love you Quinn! Happy Birthday.

The Homemade Costume

I love Halloween! What other time of year do you get to run around your neighborhood dressed up in anythink you can imagine, begging for food and have people think you are cute doing it!? When I was a kid, I fondly remember making my own costume out of whatever I could dream up. No one had the same costume as I did and it was just what I wanted. This year, Quinn found the joy in making his own costume. We encouraged every last piece of paper mache, duct tape, elastic band and paint it took to get the job done. Happy Halloween!

What can you grow in just a 12" cube?

THIS!

Back in May when we finally started gardening at this house, I never expected to dig out almost 5 lbs of potatoes from ONE square. Quinn's blue potatoes just loved their spot in his square foot garden. He planted 4 potato plants which promptly took root and spilled beautifully over the sides of the box.  This weekend we decided it was time to harvest the long awaited potatoes.  When we pulled the 1st few out it was so exciting to see such big potatoes. After the 5th potato, we couldn't believe how many potatoes we had dug out. By the 20th one we were just hoping to find them all!

When I asked him if I could take his picture with his potatoes today, he responded "Sure! I already have my pose picked out." Who knew gardening could teach kids good eating habits with a side of self esteem and accomplishment?

Summer Finale

As always, I think summer will be this fabulously endless event with time to spare... I am sure we will be bored.  As it turns out, we are never bored, always busy, and rushing to catch up at the last minute. The collage above is of the last flings of summer before we are all back to school. The kids and I had a great trip to the state capital followed by a date at Starbucks, I had a great night of snacks, laughs, drinks and singing with friends and Nolan had a back to school date with his friend Anna at the zoo. 

After squeezing all the fun into the last few weeks of summer that we could, we headed back to school. 

Nolan headed off to kindergarten this year. He is so excited to spend the year with his friends from preschool again and go to what he thinks of as a party every day. The photo below shows the last image we saw of Nolan as we waved good bye.. it may not be a party for him after all. :)

Quinn started 2nd grade and is apprehensive this year. He had a hard year last year and while I think the summer fun has softened the blow a little, he is still a little raw from 1st grade. His teacher, Mrs. Reyes, seems detemined to help him have a great year so we will take it one day at a time and hope for a better year.

I am back to teaching now as well. I am excited to see all the happy faces come through the door in the morning eager to have fun with all their friends. I love it when learning is all about fun and everything is new and exciting. The 5 days a week is an adjustment but I love being back in the classroom.

Happy back to structure, madness, cooler weather and school everyone!

The Creative Genius of Invention Camp

Each year our kids get to pick one and only one week long summer camp to attend. They are learning to pick wisely. Quinn's choice was made very easy this year by the little flier that came home bearing the title "Invention Camp". To make it more exciting (at least to us) the camp was sponsored by the US Patent and Trademark Office.  He has spent the last 5 days tearing apart small appliances, duct taping recyclables into robots, making flying pigs out of paper cups, and making roller coasters out of pipe insulation. Today was the open house and he was so proud to take the family on a tour of all the exciting inventions.  We exited the building with 1 mock patent for the newly invented battle droid seen above and 1 happy little boy.

Toothless- Finally!

About 10 min. after we laid Quinn down tonight, we heard little feet running like mad down the stairs. THIS is what all the ruckus was about... "MY TOOTH CAME OUT!!" He was so excited. Quinn is the only child in his 1st grade class who had not lost a tooth by the end of the school year and so when he turned up with a "wiggler" 2 weeks ago, he was pretty excited. He quickly ran to get Nolan up so he could show off the gaping hole which he can proudly squeeze his tongue out through. Nolan's response was typical. "Quinn, when you die before me because you are older and go up to heaven, I will always have this tooth to remember you by. You are the best big brother in the whole world. I am so proud of you."

Estes Park Extravaganza

 

On the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, we sadly said goodbye to Poppa and headed out for Estes Park, Colorado. As Poppa headed back to the 100 degree heat of Texas, we headed for the cool dry air of the mountains. After skirting a tornado in Eastern Colorado we arrived at the YMCA of the Rockies with a little daylight to spare. The boys immediately gravitated to the huge boulder right outside our cabin and that is where they spent all of their free time during our stay. 

After some much needed rest, we decided to brave a mountain hike with both the boys. For those of you who have ever been around them both at the same time you might say "Have you lost your minds!?"  Possibly.  It could be that we were just adjusting to the altitude and the blindness that the beauty of the mountains brings to us or possibly we HAD just lost our minds but we did it anyway. It was fabulous. We all made it to the top of Bible Point in one piece and it was well worth it. At the top is a memorial to a man who spent much of his time there. Part of the memorial is a mailbox containing notebooks, pens, a Bible, and an invitation to leave a note. Quinn wrote "I love Bible Point".  What more needs to be said? 

 

The best thing about the YMCA of the Rockies is that they have a daycamp for the children.The boys spent 2 days of their vacation tooling around the Y camp with other kids their age and over enthusiastic college age camp counselors. They loved it and don't tell but WE loved having 2 days to ourselves as well. We spend one entire day on an 8 mile hike into Rocky Mountain National Park through alpine lakes, waterfalls and boulder fields.  Something we used to do almost once a week before we moved to corn country and had kids.

The last day that we were there the kids turned in their Junior Ranger booklets that they had been dutifully filling out all week to receive their official Rocky Mountain National Park Junior Ranger badges. These look especially amazing on their official Junior Ranger Vests Grammy brought them from the Grand Canyon. After that, Nolan told everyone, and I mean EVERYONE that we saw,  "Guess What?! My brother and I have became official Junior Rangers!"  Most of them were as proud of him as he was of himself.

If you ask each family member what their favorite part of our vacation was this is what you will hear:

Quinn: "Everything but especially going to Bible Point!" 

Nolan: "Getting my official Park Ranger Badge & making my rubber band gun at the craft center "

Jim: "Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park."

Karen: "Being in the mountains, hiking, and not using a hair dryer all week."

Movin' on Up...

For the last 2 weeks Quinn has been counting the days until he moves from Tiger Cub to Wolf Cub in scouting. He has gone as far as asking if it was bath night because he "needs to look nice for his ceremony!". Today, he informed us that the squirrels are going crazy outside "because they know a wolf is here now".  The much anticipated ceremony arrived and to Quinn's delight, several family members were there to watch it unfold.
Instead of an orange kerchief, he now wears yellow. Instead of a tiger, he now wears a wolf insignia on his belt. These may sound like minor differences to you but to his 7 year old...it is so much more. He truly loves scouts and is so proud of his new rank. Way to go little wolf cub, we are proud of you too.

Fun Saturday in the Sun

Back during our beautiful April weather, Jim built both of the boys each a beautiful square foot garden box. I got one too but mine is much bigger. We have all had fun planning what we will plant and where we will plant it in our own boxes. Nolan's picture shows the 1st harvest of the year from his box, radishes. Quinn says it tastes really good "as long as I have chips to go with it". Nolan says "It is the best thing I have tasted in the whole world."    Quinn hasn't harvested anything yet but his potatoes are well on their way which pleases him greatly.  I love gardening and I am thrilled that my kiddos are getting into it too.

This picture was just too cute not to share- it has nothing to do with gardening. ;) 

A Day Off...

The boys have had the week off so I played hooky today so we could go on a field trip. We took off for the Children's Museum in Iowa City where we met up with an old friend of mine from college and her adorable baby. Going anywhere with my 2 boys is always an adventure and today was no exception. Lou and I were transported by 2 adorable EMTs in the museum ambulance who dutifully took X Rays of all our injured parts and wrapped them up tight.  We held on tight as they tried to take us on a ride in the flight simulator and were grateful recipients of a oven baked pizza served by an adorable waiter. Despite the gloomy weather... we had a fabulous time at the museum. The highlight of the day for me was getting to row with Lou in the practice tank at the new boathouse in Iowa City today. There is something special about people who have known you as long as you have known yourself and I am rejuvinated after my day of fun with my boys and my friend.

Happy Easter

There are some days that are just great from start to finish. Today was one of them.

Ahoy Mateys!

Today we celebrated Nolan's birthday with a pirate party. This was the 1st time he has ever had a birthday party with friends and he was so excited. The first words out of his mouth this morning were "Today is my friend birthday party!".  Two friends from school came and of course the BFF, Quinn. Here are a few pictures of his mateys enjoying their treasure hunt, pirate battles, and of course ... cake.  

 

 

  

 

Correction...

 

He hasn't been seeing the world so clearly up until this point but now...he is.After picking up the glasses, Nolan stared at Quinn the entire ride home as if he had never really seen him before. I wonder what else he will see more clearly now.

The 'baby' turns ....

See, I can't even say it!  Let's just leave it at he is another year older and I can hardly take it. When the boys were both little and  home all day  the days would often drag by and I was sure many of them would never end.  Now, in what seems like the blink of an eye,  I officially have no one who could be mistaken for a "little" kid. It is strange how we can long for something so much and then be sad to see it arrive. Goodbye crazy preschool days, you will be missed... mostly. :)

Speed Racer

Today was Quinn's 1st Pine Wood Derby. He and Jim have been fashioning a raceable item out of a block of wood for the last 2 months. There was much cutting, sanding, painting, weighing, gluing and weighing again before the big day. He was insistent that it look just like Jim's Pine Wood Derby car from 1981. After loosing in the very 1st heat, he was able to muster out a 4th place overall finish out of 50 cars in the end. When asked what the best part of the day was, Quinn responded, "Winning the 2 races and next year I am going to make my car with metal topping!". Go figure.

Big Day

Today, it has been 5 months since I fell off my bike. Prior to the accident, I had decided I would not play my instrument anymore because of the problems it was causing with my jaw. This was a very hard decision and after playing for 25yrs. It was very much like a death for me. I was surprised at how sad I was about it. Once I fell off my bike, I was sure I would never play again but this time it wasn't my choice, it was decided for me and I didn't like. I talked to a few people who had some good suggestions on how to make playing not cause problems with my jaw SO once I got to the point in my occupational therapy where I could function with my arm on a daily basis I started looking towards playing again.

When I got my cast off mid-September, I could not flip my palm up at all and by December I had only made it slightly further. After 5 long months of a LOT of OT (including "the rack" pictured below) I finally had the courage to pick up my instrument and give it a try.  The VIDEO (click here)is the result. This is a big achievement for me and something I was not sure was possible.Maybe the accident forced me to realize that I do love playing my violin enough to find a way to make it work.

I am still not finished getting my arm back completely but I am getting closer everyday. I am hopeful that this instrument, which is so much of who I am, will help me along the way.