O Tannenbaum

Nothing beats the Christmas music of the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Our kids now associate the animated special with the music... good for them.

We recently acquired our 5th Ohio Christmas tree, from Youngs Dairy in Yellow Springs - many of you have been there!

From O Tannenbaum

From O Tannenbaum

From O Tannenbaum

More to come: pictures of the ornaments, stay tuned...

Thanksgiving

So, we are spoiled by family members that actually remember to bring cameras and take pictures. We'll blog more at another date, but for now check out the blog of Megan Brister (she's one of the links under family) to see a great montage of our Thanksgiving in Oklahoma. We all had a wonderful time, despite the heartbreaking loss on Saturday. Happy Advent!

Current events

Three of Will's favorite things:
"Ring Around the Rosy"
"On your marks. . .get set. . .GO!"
"Cut the Pickle"

"Ring Around the Rosy"
Will loves this activity. He will initiate it by coming up and saying: "Ashes, Ashes". He will just spin in circles over and over again. After he falls, he'll get up and look at you imploringly and say: "'gain?"

"On your marks. . .getset. . .GO!"
The other night, Eric and I were trying to play a game of dominoes when Will was more interested in using me as his personal jungle gym. We were able to distract him by saying "Get set. . .GO!" He almost is shaking he is so excited to run around the little circuit we have. When he gets around he just looks at you and says "Go?", but you have to say "get set. . .GO!" in order for him to run again. He was so funny running, that we never got around to playing our game. Dom didn't wait long to get in the action, but we held him off for a count of three so that Will had a shot to get around before Dom plowed into him from behind. I lost count of how many times they ran around that circle. I wish I had attached some sort of measuring device to them so I could have seen how far they ran.

"Cut the Pickle"
Dominic and Will's cousins introduced us to a new game of high five. I'm not exactly sure of the words, but our version goes like this:

Give me Five
On the Side
Up High
Down Low
Cut the Pickle (put two index fingers together so that they can "cut the pickle"
Tickle Tickle

However, this gets shortened to just cutting the pickle. Will loves it and if you say the phrase "Cut the Pickle" he'll say "tickle tickle" as he throws himself at you to get tickled. We tried to catch it on video, but I don't think I ever had it recording when he actually did it, and as soon as I turned off the camera, he would.

So as you can see, evenings at the Buschelman house have started to get pretty exciting.

Dominic has started to use our time in the car as his own personal TRL. The big four:
"Railroad" ("I've been working on the Railroad)
"Chug Chug Choo Choo" ("Down by the Railroad)
"Jay Jay Jay" (I'm a Jay-jay-jay-jayhawk) (this is also a favorite of Will)
"Home" ("Down by the Bay")

I always felt bad that I didn't sing to Dom very much as a baby, but we are definitely making up for it now. If I'm hoarse at Thanksgiving and Christmas, it may have a little to do with the fact I was singing for 10 hours straight in the car. Oddly, Eric does not seem to appreciate my vocal talents as much as the boys.

New Exhibit

Dominic seriously took about 60 pictures in the time it took me to cook 2 eggs this morning. He learned how to operate the camera in a day.

From Exhibit 2 - djb, Age 3.

From Exhibit 2 - djb, Age 3.

From Exhibit 2 - djb, Age 3.

From Exhibit 2 - djb, Age 3. It's a lot more fun to update Dom's photos, so just let us know if you'd rather have something else. Cheers!!

New pictures from the Weekend

Last weekend, we went to Columbus at attend the wedding of Liesel's friend (and god-daughter!) Alicia. Liesel was a bridesmaid, and Eric was a lector. William was a dancing fool at the reception! Here we are at the head table.

The next morning, after breakfast at the Waffle House (Dom's new favorite restaurant) we went to a nearby park to let the boys do what they had wanted to do all weekend - play outside.

Catch more pictures after the jump.

We also are very excited to present a new collection for all our readers. This artist is making his first public appearance on our very own blog! We will present a few of his ground-breaking photographs here, and let you view the rest of them in our photo album.

"Expressions of Perspective"
D. Joseph Buschelman, Age 3

From "Expression of Perspective" - Photography of D. Joseph Buschelman, Age 3

From "Expression of Perspective" - Photography of D. Joseph Buschelman, Age 3

From "Expression of Perspective" - Photography of D. Joseph Buschelman, Age 3

Look for more photos from this artist soon!!

Story of a Blanket

Some of you are familiar with the blanket that Dominic is particularly attached to. Actually, he has been attached to two blankets. The first he affectionately called "Ditty" and would request it and actually used it more than his mother for a short while as a source of comfort when scared or hurt. He loved it so much, that despite the efforts of two grandmothers, it was retired about a year ago for the fact that it was quickly unraveling from a blanket to a long strand of yarn. We replaced this beloved blanket with a similar one that had been given to Will. Dominic made the transition without any fuss, and has since forgotten, Ditty. The new blanket also went through a rough patch with Dom and has a hole in the middle that his mother repaired in a functional manner, though not particularly ascetically pleasing. She just tied a bunch of knots in it. However, it has maintained its viability up to now.

For the last several months these blankets have been what Dom clings to for comfort and we thought it would end at that. However, a couple of days ago, I realized his blanket has taken on a whole new position in his life. It has become his best friend. Here is an excerpt of a conversation I overheard the other day after visiting a children's museum in Dayton:

Dom: "Hi Blanket! I went to the museum!"
Dom: "The museum? Oh Wow!"
Dom: "I saw a dump truck"
Dom: "A Dump Truck? Cool!"
Dom: "Yeah!"

He has had similar conversations after visiting such exciting places as the park, grocery store, library, and The Waffle House.