Sunday, December 8, 2013
Pops!
One of the best things about living where we do...culture hub!!! It is not too shabby when you can go to church in the morning, hop a subway train afterward for a few stops and step out to the door of Symphony Hall for a Boston Pops holiday matinee as a family. A special someone whose name starts with Gran and ends with Lily gifted us with tickets to this most stupendous holiday show and we were so thrilled for the kids to have the experience today. Owen is the perfect age for sitting and taking it all in. Asher made it about 40 minutes before wiggles set in. Eden was into my stash of gum in my purse in about 20 minutes. (Good thing I had that gum!) But even with some wiggles (and the relief of attending a 'kids' matinee' where many of the other audience members with in the under-5 set), each one of us had a blast. Eden was decked out in her Christmas dress and was a cute bomb. She also waved her hands fast or slow all during the concert along with the music (mimicking Keith Lockhart!) which was kind of adorable. Santa showed up at the end and Asher and Owen rushed over to me with loud whispers, "MOM, I think that's the REAL Santa!!"
Monday, December 2, 2013
Man in Red
I was suckered into the enormously profit-raking price of $24.99 for this photo because what better moment to keep on file than this one with my two handsome princes holding hands excitedly with Santa. Asher asked for puzzles and Owen asked for a unicycle. Eden asked to stay in Mom's arms.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving 2013!
The Swints enjoyed a thoroughly wonderful day of giving thanks for many blessings. Eden began the day enthralled with the characters of the Macy's thanksgiving parade...enTHRALLed. Owen and Asher tore around the house and the yard full of anticipation for the big meal to come. Nunu kept everyone busy and having fun while R & A prepped the food. We filled the thanksgiving tree with our blessings:
We prettied our new furniture (with big thanks to our patron!) with some kid-exciting appetizers:
And then, we ate.
Asher: I feel like a full hippo!
Owen: Who's not eating breakfast tomorrow? [Raises hand.]
~Our menu this year~
Braeburn apple swans
Rotisserie grilled turkey
Cornbread and biscuit stuffing ala Dixie
Pureed giblet gravy (what children don't know can't offend then)
Roasted vegetable medley (red pepper, cauliflower, carrot, sweet potato, vidalia)
Green beans with bacon and onion
Mashed potatoes
Fresh cranberry orange sauce
Cinnamon applesauce
Everlasting Icebox Rolls
Pumpkin pie
French silk pie
Happy Thanksgiving!
We prettied our new furniture (with big thanks to our patron!) with some kid-exciting appetizers:
Asher: I feel like a full hippo!
Owen: Who's not eating breakfast tomorrow? [Raises hand.]
~Our menu this year~
Braeburn apple swans
Rotisserie grilled turkey
Cornbread and biscuit stuffing ala Dixie
Pureed giblet gravy (what children don't know can't offend then)
Roasted vegetable medley (red pepper, cauliflower, carrot, sweet potato, vidalia)
Green beans with bacon and onion
Mashed potatoes
Fresh cranberry orange sauce
Cinnamon applesauce
Everlasting Icebox Rolls
Pumpkin pie
French silk pie
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Pictures by Amy M.
A friend has been pursuing her talents in photography (and I'd say she's doing well, wouldn't you??...see below), and offered to take some family photos. Not only that but she put together a beautiful slide show for us. Looking at them makes my heart happy; you just don't get to see your family from another's perspective very often. Even with our flaws and foibles, she made us feel beautiful for a day and I will treasure these for a long time.
Slides: http://akmurga.smugmug.com/Belonging/Swint-slideshow/n-KKggS
Collage: http://www.amymurgatroyd.com/
What a gift!
Slides: http://akmurga.smugmug.com/Belonging/Swint-slideshow/n-KKggS
Collage: http://www.amymurgatroyd.com/
What a gift!
Blogcation
Haven't been here for a while. WAY TOO BUSY!!! In the last month...
Heading up the school-wide Halloween party put on by the PTA. That was most of the last month. Went off very well, but wow, a lot of work.
Swimming lessons.
Soccer practices.
Soccer games.
Music classes.
Library storytime.
Weekend trip to Cape Cod.
Family pictures.
Church volunteering.
Doctor's appointments.
Viruses.
Eden and Asher evaluated for speech therapy (Eden for delayed speech progression, Asher for lisp, Eden qualified and starting therapy, Asher still in progress).
Development of shellfish allergy-Owen.
Renovations.
Children's choir at church.
Droppage of mass quantities of leaves in the yard.
And those are just the out of ordinary things, and the ordinary things keep us busy enough, thank you very much!! Halloween is over now and I am saying no to extras for a while.
I couldn't begin to catch up. How about a camera dump.
When boys have been watching ninja cartoons and get into the winter gear. Asher as 'sequin ninja', ha ha.
Cuter every day.
Owen loving a power tool assignment.
Asher in flight
Touchdown.
Excited boys after spending $ from Mommo and Daddo!
Halloween! You have no idea how difficult it was to get Eden into this costume. She wanted NO PART. It was a small miracle. It came with boots, headband and silver wrist cuffs, but those were officially a no way.
Supper with friends before trick or treating.
Owen's BFF Sabrina
Owen insisted on dyed black hair for the true Clark Kent effect.
For Justice!
Smile for candy!
Eden was EXTREMELY wary of this whole business of going out after dark. Not a time she's accustomed to leaving the house. After our first stop I gave her a mini chocolate to eat, and...well...you've never seen such a quick conversion to exuberant willingness to go up to stranger's doors. After securing her prize, she would plop down in her stroller, set her pumpkin pail on her lap and stare ahead quietly as if to say, "This feels right. NEXT!! Roll on, Daddy!" She was one happy camper.
See what I mean?
Giddy with candy pleasure.
Methinks next year's costume won't be such a hard sell.
Heading up the school-wide Halloween party put on by the PTA. That was most of the last month. Went off very well, but wow, a lot of work.
Swimming lessons.
Soccer practices.
Soccer games.
Music classes.
Library storytime.
Weekend trip to Cape Cod.
Family pictures.
Church volunteering.
Doctor's appointments.
Viruses.
Eden and Asher evaluated for speech therapy (Eden for delayed speech progression, Asher for lisp, Eden qualified and starting therapy, Asher still in progress).
Development of shellfish allergy-Owen.
Renovations.
Children's choir at church.
Droppage of mass quantities of leaves in the yard.
And those are just the out of ordinary things, and the ordinary things keep us busy enough, thank you very much!! Halloween is over now and I am saying no to extras for a while.
I couldn't begin to catch up. How about a camera dump.
When boys have been watching ninja cartoons and get into the winter gear. Asher as 'sequin ninja', ha ha.
Cuter every day.
Owen loving a power tool assignment.
Asher in flight
Touchdown.
Excited boys after spending $ from Mommo and Daddo!
Halloween! You have no idea how difficult it was to get Eden into this costume. She wanted NO PART. It was a small miracle. It came with boots, headband and silver wrist cuffs, but those were officially a no way.
Supper with friends before trick or treating.
Owen's BFF Sabrina
Owen insisted on dyed black hair for the true Clark Kent effect.
For Justice!
Smile for candy!
Eden was EXTREMELY wary of this whole business of going out after dark. Not a time she's accustomed to leaving the house. After our first stop I gave her a mini chocolate to eat, and...well...you've never seen such a quick conversion to exuberant willingness to go up to stranger's doors. After securing her prize, she would plop down in her stroller, set her pumpkin pail on her lap and stare ahead quietly as if to say, "This feels right. NEXT!! Roll on, Daddy!" She was one happy camper.
See what I mean?
Giddy with candy pleasure.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Snaps
Been busy...very busy. Who knew that full-day school, soccer, swimming lessons and PTA volunteering, as well as church responsibilities, would be so all-consuming. Oh yes, and the renovating. The never-ending project. Asher said the other day while playing in his 'new room', "Huh. I was always thinking that me and Owen were going to sleep in here!" Talk about sobering moments. But we are moving absolutely as fast as we can, we just took on a bit too much given the free time we now seem to have; lesson learned.
The room is *almost* done. Just have to get the plumbing finished up (not our job!), and put shelves in the closet. And a few paint touch-ups. And moving the boys in. And inspections. And, and, and... In the meantime, the room has been really fantastic as a playroom and has officially turned into the lego and puzzle room. It's going to be sad to have to turn it into a bedroom :P But I will appreciate getting my own bedroom back upstairs!!
All three of them are getting so big. Sometimes my mouth just wants to drop open when I get a glance at one of them from a new angle and I am jarred noticing how different they are by the month. I always get pictures of them eating with food-smeared faces. They are in constant motion unless they are taking in calories, I suppose.
The room is *almost* done. Just have to get the plumbing finished up (not our job!), and put shelves in the closet. And a few paint touch-ups. And moving the boys in. And inspections. And, and, and... In the meantime, the room has been really fantastic as a playroom and has officially turned into the lego and puzzle room. It's going to be sad to have to turn it into a bedroom :P But I will appreciate getting my own bedroom back upstairs!!
All three of them are getting so big. Sometimes my mouth just wants to drop open when I get a glance at one of them from a new angle and I am jarred noticing how different they are by the month. I always get pictures of them eating with food-smeared faces. They are in constant motion unless they are taking in calories, I suppose.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
The puzzle phase
Let it be known that Asher's puzzle phase began shortly after turning four during summer 2013. And was it ever a puzzle-y summer.
Owing to his heightened interest in 25-100 piece puzzles, we have acquired about 15 puzzles from Target and the Dollar Tree, and some we just had around the house. Asher is an EXTREME PUZZLER. It is almost addiction-level. He will sit in 'the new bedroom' (not quite done but getting very close as I speak) which has a wide open shiny new wood floor, spread out his puzzles and go to town...for hours...and I mean from after breakfast until suppertime, if he is allowed, with breaks only for food and potty. Even at family camp, we always had to drag him away from a puzzle on the floor of the cabin to do other things. He completes a puzzle, starts another, and goes through the stack until they are all assembled on the floor, then rips the first one up and starts over. He has honed his puzzling skill amazingly. Today I offered him a new-to-him 100 piece puzzle that had been hiding in a closet. He did it just a little more slowly than I would have. He now knows what to look for in the right piece, has a great eye for actually finding it, and how to look back at the box and translate what he sees into arranging sections he's completed roughly in order in space so they will eventually fit together. It's quite amazing! At least to me. His focus is incredible.
The other day I was saying to Reuel that it's funny how your place in history dictates how you think about things. Video games quickly become as consuming for Owen as puzzles have been for Asher. But I would never even think about letting Owen play very much. I look at him playing a video game and I feel like I can actually see him losing social skills, getting no exercise, and caring about nothing other than the games. But if a kid gets interested in puzzles (in today's world) it sort of seems like an intelligent pursuit (for a 4 year old), we admire his focus, we buy him more puzzles, and sit back and chuckle at his obsession. I asked Reuel why we it actually seems healthy to let Asher play for long periods instead of telling him to get outside and get some sunshine instead of looking at those brain-wasting puzzles all day? Or maybe video games aren't so bad...is it so different to move cardboard or to drag your finger across a screen? There is a difference of time scale...the games flip between rounds super fast in general, and the puzzle requires longer-term concentration. Anyway, it's interesting to consider (for my feeble mind).
Eden gets quite bored with her playmates (Owen gets in on it too, just not quite as extensively) looking at wiggly-edged paper pieces. She got her revenge today. I was filling nail holes in the trim while Asher was puzzling and Eden suddenly began giggling uproariously while shaking all of the pieces of 3 different puzzles into a single pile on the floor. Asher didn't fuss as he had already considered the added challenge of mixing pieces (I had advised against it). He does know all of his puzzles by heart now, but that fact hasn't caused him to lose an iota of interest in assembling them over...and over...and over...
Asher's favorites:
We have nearly all of the crocodile creek travel puzzles: http://www.amazon.com/Crocodile-Creek-2913-8-Travel-Puzzle/dp/B004QP6SBA/ref=pd_sim_t_4
Superhero puzzles: http://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Heroes-Puzzle-puzzles-vary/dp/B0030HEH1S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1378346840&sr=8-3&keywords=superhero+puzzle
The Ravensburger 100 pieces are such great quality and this is the one we have that he wiped out pretty quickly today: http://www.amazon.com/The-Vets-100-Piece-Puzzle/dp/B00508OI28/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1378346875&sr=8-7&keywords=ravensburger+100+piece
Owing to his heightened interest in 25-100 piece puzzles, we have acquired about 15 puzzles from Target and the Dollar Tree, and some we just had around the house. Asher is an EXTREME PUZZLER. It is almost addiction-level. He will sit in 'the new bedroom' (not quite done but getting very close as I speak) which has a wide open shiny new wood floor, spread out his puzzles and go to town...for hours...and I mean from after breakfast until suppertime, if he is allowed, with breaks only for food and potty. Even at family camp, we always had to drag him away from a puzzle on the floor of the cabin to do other things. He completes a puzzle, starts another, and goes through the stack until they are all assembled on the floor, then rips the first one up and starts over. He has honed his puzzling skill amazingly. Today I offered him a new-to-him 100 piece puzzle that had been hiding in a closet. He did it just a little more slowly than I would have. He now knows what to look for in the right piece, has a great eye for actually finding it, and how to look back at the box and translate what he sees into arranging sections he's completed roughly in order in space so they will eventually fit together. It's quite amazing! At least to me. His focus is incredible.
The other day I was saying to Reuel that it's funny how your place in history dictates how you think about things. Video games quickly become as consuming for Owen as puzzles have been for Asher. But I would never even think about letting Owen play very much. I look at him playing a video game and I feel like I can actually see him losing social skills, getting no exercise, and caring about nothing other than the games. But if a kid gets interested in puzzles (in today's world) it sort of seems like an intelligent pursuit (for a 4 year old), we admire his focus, we buy him more puzzles, and sit back and chuckle at his obsession. I asked Reuel why we it actually seems healthy to let Asher play for long periods instead of telling him to get outside and get some sunshine instead of looking at those brain-wasting puzzles all day? Or maybe video games aren't so bad...is it so different to move cardboard or to drag your finger across a screen? There is a difference of time scale...the games flip between rounds super fast in general, and the puzzle requires longer-term concentration. Anyway, it's interesting to consider (for my feeble mind).
Eden gets quite bored with her playmates (Owen gets in on it too, just not quite as extensively) looking at wiggly-edged paper pieces. She got her revenge today. I was filling nail holes in the trim while Asher was puzzling and Eden suddenly began giggling uproariously while shaking all of the pieces of 3 different puzzles into a single pile on the floor. Asher didn't fuss as he had already considered the added challenge of mixing pieces (I had advised against it). He does know all of his puzzles by heart now, but that fact hasn't caused him to lose an iota of interest in assembling them over...and over...and over...
Asher's favorites:
We have nearly all of the crocodile creek travel puzzles: http://www.amazon.com/Crocodile-Creek-2913-8-Travel-Puzzle/dp/B004QP6SBA/ref=pd_sim_t_4
Superhero puzzles: http://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Heroes-Puzzle-puzzles-vary/dp/B0030HEH1S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1378346840&sr=8-3&keywords=superhero+puzzle
The Ravensburger 100 pieces are such great quality and this is the one we have that he wiped out pretty quickly today: http://www.amazon.com/The-Vets-100-Piece-Puzzle/dp/B00508OI28/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1378346875&sr=8-7&keywords=ravensburger+100+piece
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