Snow!

By Amanda

We have at least a foot of snow, which makes for pretty good sledding. 



When asked if she was scared going sledding Hannah replied, "No, I just close my eyes."
"Why?"  Daddy asked
"It's to scary."
But that didn't stop her from going down the hill constantly.



Daddy and Hannah wiped out

Santa Claus Hold-up

By Megan

Here's the lastest installment in our famous series of Life is Good pictures.  This one is drawn by myself and Christmas themed.

Throw them Away

Amanda

Tonight we opened up ornaments from Grandma and Grandpa Siebert, after we had opened, the little ones got up to go, leaving behind the wrapping paper strewn all over the floor.   So Mommy calls "Wait, what do you do after opening presents?"
Ben looks around and declares, "Throw them out."
He meant throw out the wrapping paper, but he failed to specify that. 

Snowman Day

By Amanda

Now you are probably wondering what snowman day is.  That is an excellent question.  So I shall explain.  Snowman day is a Nisly holiday, the day we all dress up as snowman and eat snowman food and be generally snowmanny.  Reference pictures for what snowman food looks like and how to dress as a snowman.

Amanda's snowman pancake



Ben's snowman pancake



Megan in costume, making pancakes

Amanda and her dinner snowman

Megan's snowlady

Invasion!

The Great Animal Invasion began on Tuesday when friends dropped their dog and 2 cats off for us to watch over Thanksgiving.  So now the total score is 8 humans to 6 animals, 5 cats and 1 dog.  Humans in the lead. 

The next day Mommy brought Daddy to work and then ran some errands.  Us children back home had a pretty typical day, until Mommy calls and tells us to open the garage door because she has a large stray dog in the car that she wants to put in the basement.  We all looked at each other and made a mad dash for the door, schoolwork forgotten.  Sure enough sitting in the car is a large dog who looked part english pointer part beagle.  Score 7 humans (Daddy being at work) to 7 animals, 2 dogs 5 cats.  Tied! 

The stray dog had a collar on so we called the number, but no one answered.  Since it was the middle of the afternoon the owner was probably at work, so we left a message.  Then we looked at the address.  The dog was from the far side of a neighboring town, 14 miles away!  This unfortunately leaving us with alot more questions than answers we settled down to wait for the owner to call back.  That night the owner did call back and explained the dogs presence.  The dog, who's name was Buck, was being trained by the mans son who lives right around the corner from us and had escaped while the son was at work.  The son was already looking for him.  So we gave him our address and he came and picked up Buck.  Score 7 humans to 6 animals.  Humans in the lead once again.

Amanda

Scouting News

By Nathan

Last weekend, my Boy Scout troop and I went backpacking at the Durland Scout Reservation in NY.  It was only two miles in to our campsite, which was right on the lake.  We hiked up to a nearby peak where you could see all the way to New York City.  After that we went on another hike. 
My Scoutmaster is obsessed with group pictures.  Whatever peak we come to, or whenever there's a nice view of the lake, he always makes us stand there and he always takes a group picture.
After every trip my Scoutmaster gives a long speech about how well we did and what we could improve on.  Sometimes he doesn't even talk about the trip, he just gives an inspirational talk on life.
We made two fires at camp and had a great time despite the cold.  We hiked up to the peak again that night to see New York City all lit up.
The next morning the wind was very strong.  We packed up and hiked out quickly.  Nobody wanted to hang around in the cold.

Also, yesterday  I earned the rank of Tenderfoot.  For the last requirement you have to attend a Board of Review.  A Board of Review is where the adults review the requirments with you to make sure you met them.  I went into a side room with three adults and my patrol leader introduced me.  Then they analyzed my uniform to make sure I was wearing it correctly.  Then I sat down and they asked me questions to make sure I had met the requirments and since this is my first Board of Review they explained how it all works.  I passed and achieved the rank of Tenderfoot!

May the Force be with you

  

Han Solo

  

Daddy







 



   

Mommy



Shmi Skywalker











Megan

   

Leia Skywalker








Amanda



 

 

Emperor Sidious







Luke Skywalker




Nathan



      









Darth Vader

Joshua



Obi-Wan Kenobi



 

Ben









Hannah



Ewok



Sorry about the small pictures.  I had to shrink them to get them all to fit next to each other.  You can click on any picture to see it larger.  











Baby's First Haircut

I'll let her tell you about it:

Cleaning House? Bake Cookies!

by Megan

Mommy and Daddy were gone on Friday night, so the kids were keeping house.  I wanted to have the house clean and surprise Mommy when she came home, so I got up on Saturday morning and baked chocolate chocolate chip cookies.  I told everyone that they could have one cookie for every cleaning task they completed.  It worked like a charm!

An hour later, dishes had been washed and the trash was empty.  Toys were put away.  Mirrors, toilets, toasters, sinks, a shower, and the kitchen counters had been cleaned.  Floors and stairs had been swept or vacuumed.  (Ben and Hannah were actually fighting over the vacuum!)  Ben was in tears when he could think of any tasks he could do, and I had to think fast to come up with something.  When they were done, everyone had earned around 5 cookies.  (It's sadly indicative of the state of our house that there was still a lot of work left to be done.)

Just so no one thinks I was being a lazy tyrant, I'll explain myself.  I didn't force anyone to do anything; they could earn as few or as many cookies as they wanted, or they could do absolutely nothing.  It was up to them.  I wasn't doing nothing this whole time.  In fact, I was chaotically busy.  I had to mix up cookies, scoop them, and bake them, while coming up with age-appropriate chores, checking the kids' work, answering their questions, and instructing them on how to clean mirrors and floors.  After that, I had to do a few chores myself, since I wanted some of my own cookies.  I wasn't making others do my work, I was providing positive and effective motivation.  :)

Beware the Loch Russell Monster!

I just realized that we haven't posted anything on our blog in weeks, though we promised to.  I offer sincere apologies for this lapse and shall attempt to make it up to you by posting about our camping trip to New Hampshire.  I love the roads in NH, especially the Kancamagus highway.  You can tell you're close when you look out the window and rather than the tunnel of trees that you see in CT, you are driving along the side of a mountain, overlooking the valley below you.  It is a gorgeous view. 

This year, it was a bit warmer, so we could enjoy the Russell pond to it's fullest, even though we were worried about the Loch Russell Monster, affectionately known as Russie.  I think the videos and pictures will explain better than I can.

 Amanda

Technology Obsessed Americans?

I'm finally back!  Our internet connection has been out for almost two weeks.  Daddy had a terrible time with AT&T to get it back. 

When I first complained about the lack of internet, Mommy launched into one of her 'evil society' rants.  She said it would be good for us to go without our computer for awhile; that we're just like the rest of Americans who can't be away from their internet for even a minute.  That got me thinking.  Is that true?  Are we addicted to our computer?  Is that a bad thing?

Over the next two weeks, we all repeatedly turned to our computers several times a day to look something up, only to remember with frustration that we couldn't. 
On Friday, there were several things from camping that we wanted information on.  Does Google Maps have a bird's eye view of the campground we were in?  Are there any news stories about the rescue helicopter and vehicles we saw?  How many satellites are there in the night sky?
On Saturday, my great uncle visited.  He said I look like Scarlett Johansson.  I wanted to find a picture of her and see if that was true.
On Sunday, I wanted to check the DMV site to see how driving regulations change when you're over 18.  Am I allowed to drive with siblings in the car now?
On Tuesday, Nathan needed to check his email to find out the time of his first Boy Scout meeting.
On Wednesday, we wanted to check Google Maps again to see if I could walk to the house of the kids I'm babysitting.  (Turns out they're practically our next-door neighbors.)
And so it went.  Nathan wanted to check out some Boy Scout infomation.  I wished I could research the facts behind several books I read.  Mommy needed to know if the insects swarming on our steps were termites or ants.  And of course, I wanted to check my email, post on the blog, and read the news.

So, are we addicted?  Yes.  Is that a bad thing?  I don't believe it is.  The internet is a source of information.  Some of the things we wanted to know were merely to satisfy curiosity, others were useful or practical, and some were educational.  I think our addiction proves that we're curious.  We're used to having a wealth of information, an answer to every question, just seconds away.  I don't like having that cut off.

By the way, I will hopefully be posting every day for the next couple days to catch up.  Expect camping, kittens, and more!

~Megan~

Why Go Camping?

I don't know why camping is such an attraction.  After all, it's completely illogical.  Why would anyone want to pack up half their house, drive out into the woods, get eaten by mosquitoes, covered in dirt, and sleep on the ground?  Yet we still love to camp.  We like waking up on a chilly morning, listening to the birds, watching the sun rise and burn off the mist.  Bacon and eggs fried on the camp stove taste better than ones made at home.  The whole thing doesn't really make much sense.

Last week, some of us took it to an even more illogical level.  We forgot the girls' tent when we went camping at Macedonia Brook State Park, so Amanda, Nathan, Joshua, and I elected to set up our air mattresses outside, alone with the stars, mosquitoes, and wild animals.  (And those evil park rangers who take delight in sneaking up on unsuspecting campers and scaring them to death, but that's another story.)

Our campsite

Hannah and Ben listening to Nathan tell a story

When we got to the campground on Tuesday evening, Mommy and Daddy had the rare pleasure of sitting at the picnic table watching while the kids set up camp.  We put up the tent, unloaded the car, inflated the air mattresses, and filled the water jug while they ate supper.

The next day we mostly just relaxed.  We played Monopoly for most of the morning.  In the afternoon, I got in a little driving practice to run up to Kent to get ice cream, Sprite, and chocolate.  (I know, we were in a weird mood.)  Most of us took naps, read a book, or carved sticks until dinner.  It was a pretty lazy day.

Thurday morning we took a short walk and played around in the brook a little before packing up and heading home.  I think the following pictures will describe anything I missed.

Hannah cuddling with her Daddy

Ben with a Rice Krispie treat

Josh playing with burnt sticks and getting his hands messy

Nathan and I practicing sign language

Amanda coaxing Mommy across a fallen log

Hannah with her hair in a ponytail 

(She took it out shortly after.)

~Megan~

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for us.  Amanda worked with Ben a bit and Mommy worked with Josh.  Then Mommy had us all doing stretches in the kitchen, which turned out to be rather amusing.  I finished drawing schedules for Amanda and Nathan with my new colored pencils, but I still have to do ones for Josh and Ben.  I think we've gotten a pretty good start on the year.  I tried to interview my family to get some comments on the subject, but no one had anything to say except Nathan, who says, "So far I've had fun.  I look forward to the rest of the year."

~Megan~

Kayak Tipping and Runaway Kites

Mommy gave us a valuable and fascinating lesson on Thursday- how to right a tipped kayak.  We were at the beach, kayaking on the bay.  When Mommy and Daddy came back from their kayak trip, the rest of us thought it would be fun to go out to meet them and hitch a ride.  Apparently, while trying to throw Josh off the back of the boat, Daddy leaned too far over and tipped the kayak.  Fortunately, the water in the bay is only 2-3 feet deep and most of us were wearing our life vests.  

Mommy took advantage of the opportunity to show us something she had learned at camp as a child- how to turn our boat back over again.  It's a lot harder than I expected.  You have to get underneath it and push straight up, or else you only get more water in it and risk sinking it altogether.  Kayaks full of water are heavy.  It took us multiple tries before we got it upright with only an inch or two or water inside.  It was fun though.

On the beach side, we broke out the kites.  The boys each had a new kite, so when added to Amanda's and Daddy's, we could have had five kites in the air at once.  It turned out that one of them was broken, so we ended up with four.  As it was, they had to spread out quite a bit to keep from tangling their strings.  

Kites escaped from their fliers several times, leaving someone scrambling down the beach after them.  Hannah let go of Amanda's once, and Nathan's string broke.  It flew a ways down the beach before it landed, and then he and Amanda had to go retrieve it.  Nathan almost got hands tied up in the string when he tried to wind it up.  I wish I had a video!

~Megan~

Boy Scout Summer Camp

From August 1st-8th I (Nathan) went to Camp Yawgoog in Rhode Island.  We arrived there late on Sunday so I missed supper.  I moved my stuff into my tent.  Then the whole troop went on a tour of camp.  I was very nervous that first day.  Over the week I got two merit badges: Swimming and Pioneering.  Swimming involved us doing strokes, dives, floating, and a great many other things.  In Pioneering we do knots and lashing.  I also took a program called New Frontier.  It focuses on earning rank advancement.  I had some very interesting teachers.  The food was bettter than I thought it would be.  I got to know a lot of the kids in my troop and I had a great time.  I earned a lot of badges :).  I look forward to going back next year.

Nathan

My 18th Birthday

Sunday was my 18th birthday.  Despite having a nasty cold, I enjoyed my day.  Amanda, Nathan, Josh, and Mommy worked together to set up a treasure hunt for me with 18 clues.  Nathan designed a menu, took my order, and made me lunch.  For dinner, Mommy baked picnic chicken and Daddy fried up yummy sweet potato fries.  I chose fried ice cream for dessert, and unfortunately it took me two breaths to blow out all my candles. No wishes coming true this year.  :(

My first gift was a rocking clock; it has a rounded bottom and when you rock it, a light comes on so you can see the time.  Funky, huh?  More importantly, the numbers are big and clear enough that I can read them without my contacts.  No more excuses for sleeping late!

Aren't they gorgeous?

My other present was a 48 set of colored pencils in a nice tin.  I carefully arranged them all in rainbow order.  Daddy thought I was nuts when he caught me gazing at them, just soaking up their beauty.  My fingers have blisters from hand-sharpening 48 pencils.  It's a joy to have such a selection of colors.  I can't wait to use them more!

Hannah (with Mommy's help) made me some chocolate raisin clusters and wrapped them herself.  Amanda, Nathan, and Josh got me a cool t-shirt.

I think that's all the news from my birthday.  We have several other updates coming up soon though!

~Megan~

VBS Mayhem

Today was the third day of VBS (Vacation Bible School) and for me (Amanda) It was the most difficult.  I am a crew leader, meaning, I lead a group of kids from one place to another.  My crew is named Jump for Jesus, thus named by one of the girls in my crew.  I was supposed to have 6 kids in my crew.  But for the last 2 days I only had 4 kids, 2 didn't show.  Today they finally came.  One of them, a 2nd grade girl, is hyper.  She can't sit still and does not understand the concept of no.  Disciplining her is a balancing act.  She definitely presents an interesting challenge.

  The rest of my crew is fine.  I have 2 four year olds who are adorable, 2 older girls, and the poor lone boy in my class.  My crew is usually the last to leave crafts, as my entire crew are extremely creative perfectionists.  Who will not leave if something is incomplete.  Overall I am greatly enjoying myself and look forward to tomorrow.

Amanda

Help! Aliens have taken my mother!

Something is very wrong with my mother!  Last night, she was prowling the house, complaining that we had no ice cream, cookies, or other baked goodies. 
"Don't we have any junk food?" she inquired as she opened and closed cabinets.  "Hey, we have ice cream cones.  We can have those with marshmallows and peanut butter in them."
The rest of us stared at her in disbelief.  Did our mother just suggest that we eat marshmallows?  As she assured us that she was not kidding, we were left with one conclusion: she must be under the influence of aliens from outer space!  (Yup, we were watching Star Trek.)
She proceeded to melt chocolate and serve us all ice cream cones stuffed with almond butter, marshmallows, melted chocolate, and chocolate chips.  Our confusion only deepened when Josh asked if he could have a second cone. 
"Why not?" Mommy replied.  "Have whatever you want."
What is wrong with her!?! and what do we do about it?

~Megan~

Attitude

My baby sister is impertinent.  When I came downstairs today, she took one look at my outfit and said, "That doesn't match.  Why do you have a light blue shirt with a dark blue skirt?"

And yesterday, I was playing a computer game and asked a question, just thinking aloud.  Hannah promptly answered me correctly.  

"How did you know that?" I asked, astonished.  "There's no way you could have figured that out, since you can't read the answer on the screen."

She shook her head at my ignorance.  "Brains," she replied in a 'no, duh' tone of voice.

There's a problem when your four-year-old sister starts critiquing your fashion choices.  Then again, she probably picked up the attitude from her siblings.  (And for the record, I think my outfit looks just fine!)

~Megan~

Twin Terrors

Hannah and her cousin Molly have been getting along very well this weekend.  They insisted on wearing their hair alike, sitting together at meals, and eating the exact same foods.  They look and act frighteningly alike sometimes.  Being together also seems to bring out the most cunning, sneaky nature in both of them.  These are some of the things they've said:

Hannah tattled, "Megan!  Molly's going to play with the Barbies, but you told us not to!"

From behing her, Molly looked frantic and whispered, "Stop!  You weren't supposed to tell her."

From across the room, I spotted Hannah sucking on the tip of the plastic play dough knife.  "Hannah, take that out of your mouth!"

Hannah replied, "But Molly was doing it!"

In a game of pretend, Josh asked, "So, whose birthday is it?  Is it Hannah's birthday?"

Molly replied, "No, it's my birthday."

Hannah countered, "But Molly, my birthday is before your birthday, and I haven't had my birthday yet.  So it's mine."

~Megan~

Saturday

We were pleasantly woken this morning (as much as being woken is ever pleasant) by Daddy, who had made breakfast for everyone. We were treated to eggs, sausage, hash browns, mixed berries, coffee, and juice. Isn't he wonderful?

Now we all get to spend the day cleaning. Uncle Peter, Uncle Paul, and their families will be arriving late tonight and spending a couple days. I just hope it doesn't get unbearably warm. Cleaning is bad enough, without heat and humidity!

~Megan~

Indiscreet Crooked Banker

Nathan's been very into Monopoly lately, and a couple days ago he convinced Amanda and I to play with him. Halfway through, he went bankrupt, leaving him as the banker and just us two girls to duke it out. I was practically broke, and Amanda had just acquired all of Nathan's property, so it seemed pretty sure that she would win. That is, until my crooked banker began slipping me $500 bills under the table. Suddenly I could afford to land on Yellowstone (or Boardwalk, in the traditional game), even with a hotel.

The only problem was, my banker was NOT discreet about his cheating. In fact, he giggled, squealed, smacked my leg if I didn't take the money immediately, and generally made himself obvious. He even decided that he felt bad, so he tried to pass Amanda a bunch of money too. (She wouldn't take it.) The game finally ended when we got bored. I insist it was a draw. Amanda thinks differently.

~Megan~

Poodles and Freedom

We all went swimming on Sunday afternoon. (It's getting far too hot!) We had "chicken fights" in the pool- Nathan sitting on Daddy's shoulders and Joshua on Mommy's and both boys trying to knock the other off. Hannah discovered that she can touch bottom in the shallow end, so she enjoyed running about.

When we got out the pool noodles, Hannah called them 'poodles'! I like the name. Nathan, the king of safety, instructed his brother in the proper way to use a noodle. "Josh! Don't hit the water! You can only hit people!"

After dinner, we had our Independence Day celebration. (Well, we had already dressed up in red, white, and, blue and blared our patriotic music on our way to church as we inched through all the New Yorkers trying to get into Squantz Pond, but this was our main celebration.) Daddy read the Declaration of Independence aloud, pausing to interpret in modern English and discuss. Nathan, Josh, and Hannah drew freedom-themed pictures and Amanda wrote a lovely piece about the risk our founding fathers took when they signed the Declaration. When it got dark, we did sparklers and tried not to gag on all the smoke they created.

We hope you enjoyed your holiday as well. Happy Independence Day!

~Megan~

Goofy Pics and Random Stuff

Today we got given two big bags of clothing for Hannah- including the adorable hats and scarves in the pictures. After we sorted through it all, Hannah and I had a good time goofing off and playing with the camera.

~

In other news, today was Children's Sunday at church, meaning the entire service was done by the kids. The whole thing was themed around the twenty-third Psalm. I read scripture, Amanda wrote and read the benediction, Nathan and some other boys took the offering and he acted in a skit performed by his Sunday School class, Joshua helped greet, and both he and Ben recited the twenty-third Psalm and sang a song with the other kids.

~

Nathan has joined Boy Scouts and he's very excited about it. He has yet to get his uniform and handbook though, which is upsetting him. Later this summer, he'll be going to a Scout camp for a week. Until then, he'll just be attending the weekly meetings.

~Megan~

Hectic House

We have been pleasantly invaded by relatives here to visit Grandma Siebert: Mommy's sister Adrianna and her daughters, Olivia and Selena, and Mommy's brother Pete and his kids, Jake, Luke, and Molly. Selena especially likes swimming, so we have been in the pool twice a day today and yesterday. Jake is obsessed with frogs and insisted on going up to the pond to find some. Sure enough, he caught two and is keeping them in a bucket outside.

Molly and Hannah are a frightening pair; one never knows what they will do next. Usually they just take out all the toys and make huge messes- today they covered floors with Lincoln logs, baby dolls, play food, and Mr. Potato Head. They tried to play in my bedroom, but fortunately Amanda discovered them and kicked them out before they had done too much damage.

I thought they were pretty safe playing outside, but apparently I was wrong. I got suspicious when I spotted them hauling a bucket across the lawn, chasing a kitten. Further investigation revealed that they had emptied several water bottles and some soap into the pail and were planning to give the poor kitties a bath. (Or drown them!)

~Megan~

Life is Good- with Jellyfish!

Here's the latest in our famous Life is Good series of pictures. This one was designed and drawn by both Amanda and I. We're on a summery theme- in this case, scuba diving with enormous man-eating jellyfish. Isn't life good?

In case you're unfamiliar with our Life is Good pictures, I will explain. We have made a series of Life is Good ripoffs, usually featuring something morbid or deadly. They were designed to be computer backgrounds. This was our original, drawn by Amanda:

Here is one Amanda drew for the winter:

Hannah made this Christmasy one with Amanda's help:

And, finally, I made this one:

There are a few more, mostly involving pools or fountains of blood. We'll probably do some more soon, along the summer theme, so watch for them.

~Megan~