Ryan the Builder

Ryan loves to work. He loves to find out how things work. He loves to build things. One of his favorite activities is shoveling mink manure and spreading it on the garden. I came home from the store today and he was scraping paint off our back door frame. (It needs to be repainted, so he was OK to be doing it.) He loves to ask how things work or how they were made. If I don't know the answer, he makes up a story about how it works. (Sometimes the stories are pretty funny.) I took Mark and Ryan to the driving range yesterday. Ryan was intrigued by the tees. He turned it around and around in his hand. Finally he said, "Wow, how do they make these?"

Ryan also loves to build things. He likes legos, blocks, anything you can put together. If it involves tools he likes it even better. These pictures show some of his creations. The first is a tower built out of blocks. The second is a structure made out of toothpicks and mini-marshmallows. He had been bugging Marsha to let him build something. Finally she got out the toothpicks and mini-marshmallows. He was intently involved in building the structure for an hour or two. He built the whole thing by himself without any help.

Holding Fire in Your Hands

One day Marsha was in the back yard with Joseph. She was holding him and the sun was shining on him like in these pictures. Our neighbor looked over the fence and asked, "Are you holding fire in your hands over there?"

He certainly has firey red hair. It is getting a little lighter now than it used to be, but when the sun hits it, look out!

Joe is a very mellow boy. He loves anything and everything to do with balls. He was watching Winbledon with Mark the other day and was grunting along with the players when they would serve. A little later he was serving a little tennis ball with a racquetball racquet and doing it pretty well. He loves to play ping pong and carries a paddle around all the time. Here he is on the ping pong table.

Bubble Boys

Ryan and Joseph were playing in the bubble bath one night and were making funny beards and hats out of the bubbles. They started laying down in the bubbles with just their faces showing. It was really cute.

Can you tell which on is which? They are really fun boys who like to play with each other. Joseph thinks he is four years old like his big brother.

Sumpter's visit

Derek's sister Karen, her husband Steve and cute Miranda passed through here on their way to California from Michigan. It was so great to see them again and especially to see their new baby Miranda.

Lauren loved seeing her Aunt Karen again!

Joe enjoys his story time with Steve and Karen.

Spiderman bike

Check out Ryan's new Spiderman bike, complete with a Spiderman helmet. He loves riding it when it's nice (of course we've had only 3 nice days since he got the bike...). Go Ryan!!

Happy Easter!

Easter was so early and cold this year, but that didn't seem to dampen any egg hunter's spirits. The kids had a great time dying eggs with their Ogborn cousins and visiting with Grandma Sorenson.

Ryan waits patiently for his green egg...

French Doors

Well, they've been in the works for some time now, but we have finally finished installing our French doors in the living room. We love the fact that Mark loves the piano and plays great songs on it. We were having a problem having conversations in the kitchen without yelling, though. We decided to put some French doors into the living room.

The first picture below is what the entry into the living room looked like before. We liked the arch, but it was hard (and expensive) to get a transom built for the arch.


We ended up squaring off the arch and putting in a square transom. The next picture shows the unfinished doors installed.



The last picture shows the finished doors - painted with the protective cover removed from the door lights (windows).

We love the doors and the muffling effect they provide. We can still hear the music, but we can still hear ourselves think as well.

Piano Pieces
The kids had piano festival in February. For those that are wondering, piano festival is where the kids go to a performance hall and play two piano pieces for a panel of judges (piano teachers from the county.) They are judged on several categories and given an overall rating (Superior, Excellent or Good.) They wouldn't let us film or record the live performance because apparently someone sued them because they thought their kid should have gotten a better rating.

Mark played "Maple Leaf Rag" and "Sonatina." The following clip is an abreviated version of "Maple Leaf Rag." There are several repeats that he didn't play while I was recording it. One of these will probably play really fast. If it plays too fast, just select the other one.

Lauren played "With a Yo-ho-ho" and "Aardvark Boogie". She didn't want to play either to be recorded, but she did consent to play a song called "Ramblin' Rails." Enjoy