The Julien Sebastian Archive

The walk back

2010-05-09T23:43:00.001-04:00

Richard ran back to the van to get sweatshirts for the boys. It was a chilly walk back to the van.

Getting warm

2010-05-09T23:41:00.001-04:00

Sebastian started to get chilly so snuggling was necessary. And always sweet.

Getting drenched

2010-05-09T23:39:00.002-04:00

Julien was not shy about getting wet, even though it was a chilly day.

Getting wetter

2010-05-09T23:37:00.000-04:00

Allen Creek

2010-05-09T23:33:00.002-04:00

Richard drove us out to Allen's Creek for Mother's Day. It was blissful. Richard was the only one not to wade in the glorious mud.

Rubber boots

2010-05-09T23:32:00.000-04:00

It started with rubber boots, but it did not end that way.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T14:54:00.001-04:00

At Lake Monroe this morning, where it was barely warm enough to wade in.

Easter Visit

2010-04-05T23:36:00.002-04:00

Bill and Jan were in town for Easter. Jan was presenting a paper at a talk, so she was busy part of the time but Bill had the full experience, birthday party, soccer in the pouring rain, picking up the kids at school, etc. It was a good, and very busy visit.

Balloons!

2010-04-05T23:24:00.001-04:00

Sebastian was very excited about the Balloons from Grandmum and Grandad.

Spiderman

2010-04-05T23:16:00.002-04:00

Sebastian was invited to Jack's birthday party, along with his whole class. His parents invited the family, so Julien and Bill came along as well. As did Spiderman. Sebastian was pretty worried about it and wouldn't hit the pinata. There were several other kids that were also scared of Spiderman, although some were into it.

Spring break

2010-04-05T23:07:00.002-04:00

This last spring break we were very busy with projects, including painting Sebastian's classroom (you can see Julien here sitting on the top of a tower he built while Richard was painting and I was cleaning). We also painted Juliens room obsession red and yellow gold.

Fireplace

2009-12-31T14:25:00.001-05:00

Richard converted our gas fireplace back into wood burning, much to our delight.

Kid Battle

2009-12-31T14:13:00.003-05:00

The kids had lots of fun battling girls against the boys. They were very happy to discover the basement where they were able to wack each other with swim noodles without causing too much trouble. The girls seemed particularly focused on getting Julien. At one point Julien decided to switch over to the girl side when he decided the teams were uneven. I think the kids found it to be even more fun than birthday parties! We plan to have a similar party sometime in the spring.

Xander

2009-12-31T14:11:00.002-05:00

Xander is a very unique and fun kid that goes to Hoosier Courts camp with Julien. I can't entirely explain his outfit or why he is in our cupboard.

Coming up for air

2009-12-31T13:55:00.004-05:00

We had a party to celebrate the end of the semester and Richard completing his dissertation. We invited neighborhood families with kids of similar ages to ours. It was really fun. A good mix of interesting adults and kids that get along well.

Decorating the tree

2009-12-31T13:51:00.001-05:00

THe kids enjoyed decorating the tree- particularly Sebastian!

Bella's b-day

2009-11-15T15:28:00.002-05:00

Sebastian's friend Bella (in the princess dress) had a B-day party and invited the entire class. Bella's older sister Valerie is Julien's age and went to Hoosier Courts too (although with a different teacher). They were in camp together last year. Xander, another friend from camp also came to the party, much to Julien's glee.

Sebastian was very happy to see Alexandra, one of his favorite friends from school. They were very cute together. Alexandra cried when Sebastian was absent from school and made him a get well card. (Her mom said she wore a special pretty dress to school and expected Sebastian to be there to tell her she looked pretty. She was very disappointed that he wasn't there).

Bella was the first kid with H1N1 in Sebastian's class. She has epilepsy so when she had a high fever she had a grand mal seisure and was rushed to the ER. She was given Tamiflu and recovered fairly quickly. Another of Sebastian's friends, Chauncy was out sick while Sebastian was sick, only he was out for two week. Not only did he have a high fever for six days, but then he developed Pneumonia. He was tested for H1N1 and it came back positive.

Raking leaves

2009-11-15T15:14:00.003-05:00

Everyone is feeling better! It felt good to be in the sun.

Marco's Party

2009-11-06T14:57:00.003-05:00

Julien's neighborhood friend, Marco, had his birthday party the next day. It was a very large party with lots Brazillians.

Feeling the force

2009-11-06T14:51:00.000-05:00

Dizzy

2009-11-06T14:50:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it felt like this.

Gleeful shooting

2009-11-06T14:49:00.000-05:00

Even Richard joined in, much to the joy of the kids.

Lightsaber battles

2009-11-06T14:46:00.002-05:00

At the end of the Jedi training each kid got a lightsaber (great find at the dollar store!).

Jedi Training

2009-11-06T14:44:00.001-05:00

We had a scavenger hunt/jedi training.

Julien's b-day

2009-11-06T14:41:00.003-05:00

Julien had a star wars party this year. We invited a smaller number of kids this year, which made it much easier!

Friends at my 40th

2009-11-06T14:31:00.001-05:00

Turning 40

2009-11-06T14:18:00.002-05:00

Sebastian is napping and Julien is watch 101 dalmations, so I figured I have time to catch up on my blog!

We had a small party for my 40th B-day. Lane made yummy chocolate cupcakes with blackberry icing.

Mrs Killions class blog

2009-11-06T14:12:00.002-05:00

Julien's teacher is publishing a blog this year. It's cool! There is a cute photo of Julien wrapped up like a mummy. One of the little girls next to him, with the longer hair, is Joy, Julien's current crush.

Still sick, but getting better

2009-11-06T14:09:00.002-05:00

Sebastian slept through the night and woke up with a normal temperature. Julien woke up with a fever of 102.7, but is only in the low 99s this afternoon without tylenol. I think we are making it through to the other side. unfortunately Sebastian has a case of the grumpies and it is almost impossible to get him to eat. I will keep trying!

Yoda poses

2009-11-01T11:01:00.002-05:00

On Sebastian's first day of illness before his fever was so high Sebastian enjoyed posing as yoda. Very fierce. I don't have photos of myself, but I wore face paint too!

Halloween party

2009-11-01T11:00:00.001-05:00

Julien had a wonderful time at his friend Dylan's party. He was happy to see his other friend Dylin was there as Darth Vadar.

Trick-or-Treating

2009-11-01T10:56:00.002-05:00

Richard took Julien trick or treating while Sebastian stayed home to give out candy. Luckily Julien had a halloween party to go to and friends to trick-or-treat with. I took Sebastian out trick or treating at a couple nieghbors houses. It was just enought to feel like he had a halloween. However, he thought all the candy tasted yucky.

Carving pumpkins

2009-11-01T10:54:00.001-05:00

Before Sebastian was sick we carved pumpkins. Julien designed them and I carved them. One of them is a Yoda pumpkin-Sebastian's request.

Swine flu Halloween

2009-11-01T10:48:00.002-05:00

Unfortunately, swine flu has struck. Sebastian had a fever starting on Friday (luckily I had already planned to have the day off). He has had a scary high fever and a cough. The first night his fever got up to 104.7. Fortunately medicine worked, at least a little. Only Julien has been sleeping well the last two nights.

Evenings at our house

2009-10-26T09:52:00.000-04:00

Charge!

Legos!

2009-10-26T09:46:00.002-04:00

There is lots of Lego building at our house. And lots of concern when a Lego character is misplaced (or a lightsaber lost). And when we play other things (like lightsaber battles), Sebastian often asks us to have "Lego hands" which entails holding our hands in the position that Lego characters hold their hands.

Dragon's Egg

2009-10-25T16:36:00.001-04:00

We have read Dragons egg so many times that Sebastian has the whole book memorized. Now he can read it to us!

Bugs Bunny

2009-10-25T16:32:00.001-04:00

Julien lost teeth on either side of his front teeth. He makes a great Bugs Bunny.

Sebastian can dance like this

2009-08-24T10:35:00.002-04:00

Sebastian had an exuberant evening after a day of no napping. He dumped over a container of legos and proceeded to dance on them. He wanted to show me his moves.

Glory Asteroid

2009-08-24T07:31:00.000-04:00

Sebastian, Julien and Grandad sang and danced in the rain one evening in Asheville. Sebastian continued when we came back inside. He changed the lyrics a little: from "what a glorious feeling" to "just a glory asteroid."

Road trip

2009-08-17T22:56:00.001-04:00

The drive wasn't easy but we made it through. The kids did about as well as they possibly could.

Wedding between Wolfy and Racoony

2009-08-17T22:46:00.002-04:00

Julien created a wedding between Wolfy and Racoony. Penguiny was the officiant (I should state that Wolfy was the new animal from the NC trip). I think he was inspired by Kathy talking about the weddings she has organized.

Weaverville

2009-08-17T22:41:00.002-04:00

Weaverville had a cute farmers market (although they called it a tailgate market). There was free facepainting and a scavenger hunt for kids which ended with a free brownie. Everyone was extemely nice.

Sebastian dropped his balloon and when he went running after it it he fell ontop of it and it popped! He cried and cried and the vendors came from all directions, a new balloon, free pretzels a free CD (native American flute music ) etc. I was quite impressed.

Mount Mitchell

2009-08-17T22:32:00.003-04:00

We loved Mount Mitchell, the tallest mountain east of the Rockies. It was quite cold, however, and we weren't quite prepared.

Sebastian exclaimed, "the ferns are cute!"

Downtown Asheville

2009-08-17T22:22:00.001-04:00

We enjoyed down town Ashville. There were lots of cool little shops and alternative little spots.

Black Mountain

2009-08-17T22:16:00.002-04:00

We spent a day in Black Mountain looking in little shops, museums and a little red caboose. We also went out for a very nice lunch after driving away from the touristy area.

12 Bones

2009-08-17T22:08:00.002-04:00

We had fabulous barbeque at 12 Bones. Mmm. Wish we had barbeque like that here. I think it was the best I ever had. Julien and Sebastian enjoyed.

Cooling off

2009-08-17T22:03:00.000-04:00

We were all overheated so Grandmum sprayed us off. It felt so good and cool.

Bele Chere

2009-08-17T21:55:00.004-04:00

We went to Belle Chere a music and Art festival. It was quite a scene. Lots of good local music and hippies, as well as other alternative types.

Car sick

2009-08-17T21:50:00.001-04:00

The crazy drive back with hairpin turns. We all felt car sick so we finally had to pull over. We all thought it was over then ended up on a dirt road! Thankfully it didn't last long (at that point) and we made it to the highway. Phew!

Scenic overlook

2009-08-17T21:46:00.002-04:00

Smoky mountains and the Appalachian trail

2009-08-17T21:24:00.005-04:00

Sebastian hippity hopped the whole way down the trail.

Asheville

2009-08-03T22:30:00.005-04:00

Kathy and Rick found a house trade in the Asheville area, in the small town of Weaverville. The house was nestled in the mountains. We loved the area!

Playing with new toys

2009-08-03T22:14:00.000-04:00

The boys enjoyed playing with the Wedgits and the Viking ship.

More presents

2009-08-03T22:09:00.003-04:00

Sebastian had a wonderful, peaceful family birthday. There was great mix of presents that were fun for both kids.

Sebastian's b-day at CCC

2009-08-03T22:06:00.002-04:00

I read a book for Sebastian's class at circle time. The kids enjoyed birthday party blow outs.

Presents!

2009-08-03T21:56:00.002-04:00

All went well, despite power going out for an hour, two hours before the party started, and despite the fact that I stepped on a bee, which stung me, right as the first guests arrived.

Cake!

2009-08-03T21:54:00.000-04:00

Olivia

2009-08-03T21:50:00.003-04:00

Whenever I asked Sebastian who he wanted to invite to his birthday party he always exclaimed, "Olivia!" Olivia is a sixth grader who lives on our block. She has a pet bunny named Lavender.

Sebastian was thrilled to have her at our house.

Water games

2009-08-03T21:37:00.003-04:00

We filled several pools for Sebastian's party. Sebastian invited Joe, Maia, Damaris and Demaras's older sister Gretchen and our neighbor Olivia. Julien invited another friend named Gretchen (in hte sun glasses). It was a good mix of kids.

Baking Sebastian's cake

2009-08-03T21:33:00.001-04:00

We had fun baking Sebastian's cake and decorating it with sea creatures. THe boys had very blue mouths from the frosting.

Feather staff

2009-07-10T22:33:00.000-04:00

Julien attached a feather to a stick with the help of his dad. Very cool.

Unfortunately, it started raining at around ten Saturday morning and didn't let up until Sunday morning so we all went home for the night. We showed up Sunday morning to pack up and have a last scramble down the ridge to the lake.

At the camp fire

2009-07-10T22:27:00.002-04:00

The kids were big fans of Spencer. He ran races and was good at kid conversation.

Lake Monroe

2009-07-10T22:21:00.004-04:00

We went camping at Lake Monroe Fourth of July weekend with Tara, Spencer and thier daughter, Maia. The first night was nice out, although a bit loud with fireworks and revelers. We climbed down a ridge through the brush to get to the edge of the lake. Not the nicest beach, but fun to throw rocks and find fossils.

Playing in the kiddie pool on a hot day.

2009-07-10T22:18:00.000-04:00

Another Father's Day greeting

2009-06-21T22:16:00.001-04:00

Sebastian wishes you a Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T22:05:00.000-04:00

Inspecting Freud's head at the art fair

2009-06-21T22:01:00.001-04:00

The playground

2009-06-21T21:56:00.001-04:00

As always, books were read

2009-06-21T21:53:00.001-04:00

Racoony and Penguiny eat dinner

2009-06-21T21:50:00.000-04:00

While Bill made dinner julien and Sebastian served their animals dinner.

6:00 AM

2009-06-21T21:47:00.000-04:00

The kids woke up at 6:00 or earlier most mornings.

Streets of Chicago

2009-06-09T15:48:00.002-04:00

Bill took us to his favorite Deli, which is very close to where Obama lives. Right next door to the deli is an African goods store. After we visited the deli we drove by Obama's house. The street is barricaded and had a police car poised for action. It was interesting to see.

Visiting the Shedd

2009-06-09T15:37:00.002-04:00

This last weekend we visited Bill and Jan in Chicago. On Friday we went to the Shedd Aquarium. It was great. We particularly loved the new Wild Reef area with the sharks, saw fish, rays etc. Sebastian announced that the sharks were furious, and was a bit nervous about them.

Julien loved the dolphin chat which ended with three dolphins jumping together. When we were eating lunch he gave me a big grin and stated, "I love summer! We get to travel and see cool things like this!"

I discovered that I particularly enjoy the rays (they look so graceful when they swim) and the turtles. I am not sure why I like the turtles so well but Richard says he has noticed that I am filled with glee every time I see one in the wild.

Julien was very happy to get a new stuffed animal, Turtley.

Sebastian at Peden Farm

2009-05-28T16:40:00.002-04:00

Joe's mom just sent me some some photos of Sebastian's class at Peden Farm. Joe is wearing red boots, Will is the tallest of the four and Tent is wearing the green jacket. I think the little girl is Kate.

They look so little in front of the tractor.

Slug!

2009-05-22T19:24:00.001-04:00

Sebastian was very excited about the slug he found in the garden. He carried it around for quite a while.

Zeus watches on

2009-05-22T19:23:00.000-04:00

Potty Training

2009-05-22T19:20:00.001-04:00

We have started potty training Sebastian. It hasn't been easy, but he is excited about his new underpants.

Mother's Day at BABS

2009-05-22T19:03:00.004-04:00

BABS had another Mother's Day Tea this year. This was the best turn out yet! The kids even had a chance to run around in the dance studio upstairs. It is a beautiful open space.

Mermaids

2009-05-15T16:51:00.002-04:00

On the way home we stopped by the Mississippi river in the Quad Cities and had a lunch at a funky riverside restaurant.

I took a photo of the mermaid because Sebastian is currently obsessed with mermaids. He has and Ariel mermaid from the Little Mermaid (basically a barbie with a tail that comes on and off over her legs). He takes it to school every day.

Iowa city

2009-05-15T16:44:00.003-04:00

I recently went to an Academic Advisors Administrators conference for the Big Ten schools. It was a working conference with only thirty people in attendance. I learned quite a bit about the big ten advising and administration.

Iowa City was quite nice, although we were so busy I only had about an hour to explore. They took us on a boat tour of campus and we saw lots of destruction from last years floods. They need to demolish and rebuild several buildings, which is pretty difficult during the current financial climate.

More from Julien's classroom

2009-05-15T16:33:00.003-04:00

Julien's school recently had a learning festival which is University Elementary's big event of the year. Sebastian and Julien made snakes from old ties, ate cupcakes and bought a few books at the book fair. We also bought a few plants that people had donated, including a may apple (I was excited to find a wild flower!).

Outside his classroom there were displays of the kids work. Julien was quite proud. In the photos of the paintings Julien painted the unicorn (upper left corner) and the upper of the right abstract paintings.

Classroom picnic

2009-05-15T16:19:00.002-04:00

We headed back to the class room an hour and a half early and had a picnic in the class room. There were two "girl" blankets and one "boy" blanket. I enjoyed the kids, although they came up with a few gross food combos including oreos opened with meat and cheese added.

After the picnic the kids had free time in the class room to play games. Upon this announcement several kids exclaimed "chess!" enthusiastically and ran for the chess game. That gives you a sense of what the class and school is like. There is a very active chess club. I played checkers with Julien. We had a few helpers join us.

In the evening I asked Julien what he liked best, Peden farm or the picnic and free time in the class room. He replied joyously "Picnic and free time!."

Peden Farm

2009-05-15T16:10:00.004-04:00

I volunteered to help out for Julien's class field trip to Peden farm. Unfortunately, it was a very wet, rainy day, although there was no thunder. Julien and I spent the morning with Zach and Ryan. The baby ducks and chick were the favorites.

Favorite Flower

2009-05-10T14:11:00.001-04:00

Julien illustrated this poem at school this week. I love the drawing, especially the flower waving an American flag.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T12:52:00.001-04:00

Julien and Sebastian wish Grandmum Kathy and Grandma Jan a happy Mother's Day!

Easter egg hunt and more

2009-04-24T15:16:00.003-04:00

We had Tracy and Jim and their kids, Peter, Jake and Dale, as well as Lane and Kevin and Ada over for an egg hunt and Easter dinner. There was lots of big boy energy! The bigger kids were good about letting the little kids collect the easier to find eggs.

We had a good non-traditional dinner of brats and homemade cheese cake (thanks to Lane).

Dying Easter eggs

2009-04-24T15:13:00.000-04:00

On the Saturday before Easter we died Easter eggs. Sebastian discovered for the first time that he really likes boiled eggs. Julien, on the other hand, used to like them, but not any more. Sebastian was particularly enthusiastic about egg dying.

Samurai Hat

2009-04-24T15:06:00.004-04:00

With the help of the North High School Japanese Club, Julien made samurai hat complete with his name written in Japanese. Although he would not wear it at the festival, he wore it everyday for about two weeks at home. He put it on first thing in the morning, wore it to a friends house for dinner, wore it after bath, etc. He hasn't been wearing it lately, but he did bring it in to show and tell last week.

Flea Circus

2009-04-24T14:59:00.001-04:00

The flea circus was really fun. This was the first time I had ever seen a flea circus. Julien was almost convinced that there were actual fleas. The guy doing the Flea Circus, Joe Lee, designed the set design for the Alice and Wonderland production I directed many years ago.

Blooming Lotus

2009-04-24T14:54:00.002-04:00

Bloomington had a kids multi-cultural festival, Blooming Lotus, a few weeks ago. Julien was the perfect age for it and was ready to try out activities at all the booths. He even tried Buddhist monk sand painting, which was very hard to control. Sebastian had fun at first, but many of the activities were difficult for him and he got a bit worn out.

Badminton and volley ball

2009-04-23T09:42:00.001-04:00

Grandmum thought it would be fun to play croquet, but we could not find a croquet set in any of the stores. We were, however, able to find a badminton/volleyball net. We all enjoyed playing backyard games.

A quiet moment at home

2009-04-21T12:00:00.002-04:00

As usual there was lots of reading and snuggling. In this photo I believe Kathy is reading National Geographic to the boys. Notice Julien with his trusty Racoony.

Tired

2009-04-21T11:58:00.002-04:00

Sebastian eventually got tired. He was not happy to be carried, but eventually he fell asleep in the carrier.

Kathy and Rick

2009-04-21T11:50:00.004-04:00

During Kathy and Rick's visit we took another Brown County hike.

Apologize

2009-04-21T11:49:00.001-04:00

I must apologize for being so terribly behind on posts. I will try to catch up!

Racoony

2009-03-28T16:02:00.001-04:00

Julien used his allowance to get himself a very cute stuffed animal named Racoony. Now Julien snuggles with him daily. It is very cute.

Nature Center

2009-03-28T15:57:00.002-04:00

We went to the nature center where they had lots of cool nature exhibits, including lots of animal skulls. We also enjoyed the view out the back.

Waterpark

2009-03-28T15:51:00.004-04:00

The lodge had a waterpark that was new this year. It was perfect for young kids, especially Julien's age. We ran into a few families we knew, including his friend Adrian from Hoosier Courts.

Sebastian was in my arms the whole time. We went down the slide many times.

Brown County cabin

2009-03-23T07:12:00.004-04:00

We rented a family cabin in the Brown County State Park. The cabin was perched on the hillside and there was a great path down the hill that lead to the lodge.

The boys were enjoyed watching Richard build a fire in the wood stove. Julien also brought all his stuffed animals down to watch the fire with him.