earlier in May...

We are so blessed with our Wonder Woman Mother Janice. Four kids and energy to spare is still beyond my comprehension. If the responsibilities were switched it would be four kids sitting on top of a catatonic dad watching little Nemo for the 14th time. Thank you Janice the mom - you are an amazing woman.

Mother's Day was very relaxing and accompanied by some beautiful Spring weather. We took our traditional Mother's day picture (click here for a collection of previous years) and yes it has been altered in PhotoShop. The goal is 5 smiles not 3 smiles, a nose picker and an impromptu display of underwear - smiles and smiles only. I have been known to touch up snotty smiles, bruised smiles or scratched smiles. In the coming years I will deal with wrinkled smiles and "I really should exercise more" smiles.

Janice snapped quite a few pictures that day with no edits needed. Here is a link to all those pictures. The kids were having so much fun on the newly reconstructed swing set in the backyard (thanks for the help Edward). Life is good, busy, but good.

Birthday heroes

So far most of the boy’s birthdays have been superhero themes. Ben just turned 4 with Spiderman at his side and Nathaniel has done Superman for 3 years running. The celebration on the day of Ben’s birthday was a small affair with a donut and 4 candles for his morning breakfast. Nathaniel’s contribution was a 101.7 degree temperature with accompanying throw up. Our house was plagued and it seems that even our Superhero boy’s are susceptible. Fortunately we have lot’s of movies to keep them in a “restful” albeit mindless state. We did have a big Spiderman birthday a few days later – it was a lot of fun. (a link to pictures at the bottom of the page).

Ben now has 4 different types of Spiderman and Nathaniel 6 different Superman action figures (NO they are not dolls – Joelle has dolls! ACTION Figures!) We also have 2 Batmen, 1 Robin and a Wonder Woman action figures. We live epic lives at the Stewart house. Every moment of our day at the Stewart house is plagued by chaos minded, thick armed super villains and it is up to our boys to set them straight. If you watch closely enough you can see Nathaniel or Ben’s progression from mere mortal to superhero. Ben will be telling you about how he likes his breakfast when gradually his mood becomes distant; he senses evil and breaks in to superhero mode arms flailing and eyes darting around the room searching out the menace. Such a sudden transformation generally results in a milk tsunami or a cereal bowl explosion. This is the life of boys and subsequently the life of their Janitorial / EMT parents.

Nathaniel took it a step further and has given everyone in the family a superhero designation. Nathaniel is Superman. Ben is Spiderman. Joelle is Supergirl but for a short while was Lois Lane (then he found out Lois Lane did not have any super powers but was always in need of someone who did). Evelyn is Batgirl. His knowledge of superheroes is limited to what he sees in the stores and old 1940’s animated Superman movies. Mommy was Supergirl but later became Wonder Woman. I was Superman but have recently become the Hulk.

On some level my alter ego is a little alarming and slightly demeaning if you consider the Hulk’s rage induced power or his awe inspiring IQ. My wife a young, beautiful Amazon princess while I get to be the Jolly Green giant’s lesser brother. Not that I am bitter about it….Hulk SMASH keyboard…

Being the Hulk has some advantages. I can pick up and throw the children at any given moment without provocation. I can eat large amounts of food with reckless abandon and not be hindered by apologies at the release of gaseous emissions. Hmmm… Wait a minute! Maybe my dad was the first incredible Hulk?

With such a super family (you saw that coming) I have provided links to a super huge set of birthday pictures. It was a lot fun going through all the kid’s birthdays starting with Nathaniel in 2002. All together we have celebrated 15 super fun kid birthdays in 5 years (including their day of birth - did I mention it was super?). Here they are:

• Superman Nathaniel
• Spiderman Ben
  
• Supergirl Joelle
• Batgirl Evelyn

We are pretty slim on pictures of Craig and Janice birthdays:

• Wonder Woman Janice
• Hulk Craig [Hulk last on list! Why Hulk last on list?! Hulk smash list!]

Have a super day!

The Big MOVE...

(click her for more photos of the Atlanta side of our move)

It really is a wonder how we have accumulated so much stuff over the last 14 years. A move tends to make that crystal clear. Especially when carrying the box labeled "wedding gifts" down to the basement of the new house.

The move from Atlanta to New York went well. We had been packing for a couple months but only half the house was ready the week before the truck arrived. Before we had a chance to panic our friends stepped in and every day either watched the kids or packed boxes. Thank you to everyone that helped us move! For the actual move date I hired a local company called "Move it" to help pack the truck. They pulled up to the house at scheduled time of 9:30 am. They went to work straight away and worked non-stop for 6 hours. Layer upon layer, row upon row they packed it in from floor to ceiling and filled almost two thirds of a 53" moving truck. They even did lunch in shifts so to keep everyone working. They were simply amazing (Thanks for the tip Cory).

The day slipped by and after the movers were gone we hit the "leftovers" stage. At this stage everything begins to look like donations to the Salvation Army. Boxes are named differently during this stage. Earlier in the day a box label would read: "Kitchen towels, plates, bowls, cups, toothpicks, salt and pepper shakers" but now it was "Kit". Eventually the boxes were traded for clear bags full of whatever would fit in them. Fatigue had set in. Last on the truck was our Toyota Camry looking like an over packed dryer with clothes twisted and mashed against the windows. At 8:30 pm our material lives pulled down the cul de sac and started the 1000 mile trip to our new home in Greenville, New York.

We packed for a while longer and then found a local hotel. The following morning we went to Sears and had a car top carrier mounted on the roof rack of our Toyota Sienna. With the remaining odds and ends tucked away we started our trip. Our first stop was Chattanooga, TN where we had a wonderful breakfast with Janice's sister Sarah, her husband Jay and their children Caleb and Abigail. Our passenger list consisted of Janice, myself, 4 kids and a 14 year old cat. It took 3 days and 2 nights (yes with a 14 year old cat) to get to Greenville with an in between stop in Virginia to eat dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.

On unloading day the boys came to the house to help until they saw the snow. Well... Snow to us Southerners. It was a landscape of icy hills the residual of months of snowy weather that crunched under your feet. They played in it most of the day. (no pics - amazing as it sounds we left the camera at our cousins by accident). I was so pleased when the boys decided to help. We pilled them with more accolades than actual stuff. Their pride stretched from ear to ear as they carried what they could in to our new home. Thank you to Edward, Dominic and Uncle Doug for setting aside all those little boy sized things for them to move (thank you for all your help too!).

In 7 hours our new home was filled with 14 years of stuff and an old cat. Quite a move. A move does make clear what you have but also reminds you of what you are leaving behind. We will miss all of our great friends in Georgia! Thank you for everything and remember if you ever want to do some skiing or just play in the snow you have a place to stay.

(click here for some pic's of our new home in Greenville)

The world moves faster on roller skates

The world moves faster on roller skates. Remember the first time you ventured out on the endless smooth surface of the roller skating rink? It was more like playing a twilight game of chicken on the highway than a fun loving social event. Music thundered from all sides, lights flashed and the right lane always had a pile of people inching their way around the rink. This would be an accurate description of our lives right now. Everything is moving or being readied to move and the totblogs has been left clinging awkwardly to the side wall.

So I thought I would use the old 1 to 1000 excuse again. But before we crank up the slide projector let me give you a brief outline of the coming month. We found a place to rent in Greenville, NY and will be moving in on March 1st. We will be filling the moving truck on Wednesday Feb 27th . So we have roughly 4 weeks to pack up all of our stuff...well Janice has 3 weeks to find time while watching 4 kids and I will have 1 week when I get in to Atlanta the night of February 19th (anyone who would like to help with anything - give us a call or reply to the totblogs email). Can you hear the disco music?

In the mean time here are some pictures to help everyone catch up. We had a wonderful Christmas and some pictures to verify that Atlanta had more snow in January than New York City!

click here for Christmas 2007

click here for snow in Atlanta