Slip-n-Sliding to the Chiropractor

Well, apparently my life is crazy during the school year, because I haven't posted since LAST JULY.   Hmm.   Laziness is abounding in many non-required areas in addition to blogging, such as dusting, car vacuuming, and book organizing.   As we speak, many books are organized in that they were pushed under the edge of my bed in the order I read them.  Soon, Matt will be able to lean over and pick a book that is peeking out from under his side, competing with his Cabela's catalogs.

Have no fear, because a new source of blog posts has come to light, as I found about 20 rolls of undeveloped camera film in the back of one of our junk drawers.   It would be admirable if I had found them from unprompted decluttering, but  I'm not that spontaneous, so they were actually a byproduct of a superfund cleanup of our kitchen in prep for renovation.  That's a post for another day...

At any rate, there were some real treasures in those rolls of film.  Most appear to be from late 2005/early 2006, including this charming vignette:

SETTING UP THE SLIP-N-SLIDE FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

Yay!!  Fun with water!

Aunt Jenny and Daddy hook up the hose.

Ethan takes the first slide, and Meg goes next...

 NO!!!   I NOT YIKE DIS!!!!

Meghan is somewhat confused about how to go about this new activity.

Daddy decides to intervene assist. 

 Giving a little boost...

WHAABAM.

PULL BACK!! PULL BACK!!  TOO MUCH!!

Meg decides (miraculously!!) that This Is Fun.

It's a Slip-n-Slide Success Story!!

Do We Not Get Enough Snow As It Is?

 Seriously. 

It's exhausting being us.

We have a Black Belt in the House

In April, Ethan passed his long-awaited black belt test in Tae Kwon Do.  He started studying TKD in the fall of 2009, so he's spent 3-4 days each week, year-round, for four years at American Dragon Martial Arts.   He has not complained once about going.  Not once.  He's always ready to go.  Amazing.

First Gup stripe earned.

Fall 2008

First Tournament

Fall 2008

 First Gup belt earned.

Fall 2008

Yellow Belt

2009

Green Belt 

2010

 Red Belt

2010

 First Year on ADMA Demo Team.

Blue Belt

2010

 Receiving provisional black belts with Master Veda Wertz.  

Sadly, Mrs. Wertz passed away suddenly from lung cancer in October 2011.  

 Receiving his Black Belt with Master Steve Wertz.

Spring 2012

Ethan with Mrs. Wertz's memorial at the do-jang.

Most recent tournament.

State College, April 2012

Jumping into June... I mean July.

Signs of Summer around Casa de Cutshall....

 Post-recital haircut.

 Another Band Nerd is born.

Tree Climbing by the Ginger Ninja

Softball games

 The Return of Maco the Whacko

 Yeeehaw!

 Mini Golf at the Meadows..

Being Beaten Soundly by the PGA Pro

 Getting ready to send the kids off to Church Camp

 Time in the woods.

 It's been an awesome start to summer!!

More Zaniness

mOre ZaNy pIctures for yOur vIewing pLeaSure!

yOu'RE weLCome!!

Zee Zaniness, We Know Not Where Eet Comes From

Just possibly from the one on the left.

Or perhaps from this culprit:

posted from Bloggeroid

I Thought His Head Would Explode

Ethan recently attended Lego Mindstorms Camp at the Kids College/Penn State Altoona. Getting in to the camp was a saga in itself, as we applied (and paid) in early May, only to receive a phone call that the camp was full. A 30 kid waiting list was also not welcome news, and disappointed sulking commenced. Ethan declined to attend any other Kids College camps and disappeared into his Lego Man Cave room and began building non-Mindstorms creations. The check and application were returned in the mail. Depressing.

The week before the camp was to occur, Ethan met me at the door, hopping up and down with the cordless in his hand. "You gotta call!! There's an opening!! At the thing!! MOM!!"

After talking him down off the newel post and listening to the message, I called to reserve and pay for the last opening. Ethan could not fathom that someone would drop out of this camp. I could not fathom that someone did not want to get rid of their 11 year old boy for five weekday mornings building robots. With Legos. In a Lab. With other 11 year old boys!! DUDE!

So here is a picture of the Brain (Pinky was not amused at having to ride along for a 40 minute ride to drop him off and refused to have her picture taken) with one of his creations:

We must prepare for tomorrow night.

Why? What are we going to do tomorrow night?

The same thing we do every night, Pinky

- try to take over the world!

Freaky Fotos, part I

I was fooling around the other day, attempting to get a good shot of the kids that we can use for a four piece photo that I've been trying sporadically (sporadically = when I remember. ADHD much?) to get together. (Those of you who see me on facebook know that sporadic is indeed the word, as this has been my profile pic for about a year.)

I'd like to get one of each of us, and then frame them in one large frame.

Here's mine:

Not bad. Took some fooling around to hide the double chin, but it's acceptable. I figured I would get the kids' next, as it's best to leave the least cooperative (read = Matt) until last.

And here is Ethan's first take:

Meh. Ok, take two:

Better, but weirdly cross-eyed? Take three:

Oh, my.

Ok, take FOUR:

Hmm. Love Meg on the right, nosing in.

And nosing would be the operative word:

There is something Psycho-esque about this one:

SERIOUSLY. I think this may be a project best revisited at a later date.

Survey says?

YEP!