Full Fleged "Jew"

Benjamin, like his good Israelite namesake was dutifully circumsized on the 8th day (just at the beginning of the Sabbath, too!) and then proceeded to skillfully portray the Baby Jesus in the Christmas cantata; Go Tell It at the Port Charlotte SDA Church on Sabbath morning.

Brotherly Love

"New" Teeth

OK, Charity is amazing...AMAZING when it comes to birthing...

2-2:30 AM She apparently (I'm told) began feeling serious contractions.

4-4:30 AM She woke me up (to get her something to eat).

5:30 AM Seth wondered in (no real reason that I can tell, but this is normal).

6:00 AM We called the Midwife to let her know we would be leaving and that it should take us about 1 hour to make the trek to the birthing center.

6:10 AM Amazing on it's own was the fact that we were actually loaded up (including Mom on her hands and knees in the back of the van--probably wondering why she didn't pick a closer place to deliver) and on our way.

7:06 AM Arrive at birthing center, unload from the van.

7:20-ish Midwife arrives

7:24 AM Enter building

7:40 AM Charity has new born son in her arms

... Still wondering what this has to do with "new teeth"? ...

9:14 AM John leaves Charity and nameless new born at birthing center to take Toby and Seth to a denist appointment (only about 2-3 miles away).

9:29 AM Boys arrive for 9:30 AM appt.

9:52 AM Toby gets called back...to be weighted and given something to drink (which he had not been allowed to do since before Midnight)...then told to go back and sit in the waiting area.

10:23 AM Toby finally called to actually see a dentist.

10:32-11:28 AM Annoying denist blocks Toby's view of TV while she completes STAGE 1 of cavity control by filling one tooth and silver capping two others.
...
















2:30-ish Previously nameless son #3 finally gets a name!

Bubbles from Ben--ji--man

Benjamin Zane Pitton
12-04-08
8.15 lbs.
7:40 AM
(not named until 2:30 PM)

24:09

we have returned from being "frenceforawhile" (which is incidently the blog of my brother-n-law that has much better info then you will find here).

my Nov. 6 was 24 hours and 9 minutes long.

i awoke at 6:45 AM and layed my head on the pillow at 12:54 AM this morning Nov. 7...please remember that I woke up in Le Rouret (Nice) France (12:45 AM EST) and went to bed in Pt. Charlotte, FL USA (6:54 AM Nov. 7 GMT--France time).

it was nice to visit. it is nice to be home.

Happy Mother's Day!

On Thursday I told the boys that I thought we should probably spend--at least part of--our normal afternoon out looking for a Mother's Day gift for...their mother.

Seeing that we were in her vehicle (because it already looked like one that a 4 year-old and 6 year-old boy lived in!) and it was nearly on empty I decided to fill it up with gas while the young men made their decision as to what that wanted to get for their mother for Mother's Day and where they wanted to look for it.

Upon returning to the aforementioned vehicle, I asked where they wanted to go. To which (as you can imagine) the answers were quite self-serving. Again, I reminded these two young men who I assure you DO love their mother very much, that Sunday was Mother's Day and we should probably find a gift for her while we still had time. Once more I asked, "what do you want to get her?"

No lie, the next thing I heard was...

"We put gas in her car!"

"Is G the same as 7?"

Today (during church), Toby asked Charity, "Is G the same as 7?" At which point she turned to me to shared the most recent "cute," yet bazarre thing to come out of one of our children's mouths.

A moment later, she turns to me and on her fingers goes, "a, b, c, d, e, f, g"--"G" indeed is the same as "7." Of course, our bazarre son is apparently smarter then his parents!

Boys ride their first "grown-up" ride

Dad had two meetings in Orlando last week, one on Wednesday and one on Saturday so we all decided to go and spend a couple of days in the ol' home town.

Mom and boys past the time during Dad's Wed. mtg. with @ Burger King with a flat tire. (Big indoor playground and fast AAA made it not as bad as it sounds...not to mention that Dad was 45 minutes late to his 1.5 hour mtg.)

Most of Thurs. was spent moving to a new motel, with a stop @ a Christian Book Outlet (not really any deals, in fact the one thing Dad was looking for was 2X as expensive as it is at Walmart!), miniature golfing (on a Pirate course!)--believe it or not Mom won by one stroke (3 hole-in-ones!) if you don't count all of Toby's "hole-in-ones" that consist of any ball that goes in the whole without having ever come to a complete stop after "tee-off"--regardless of number of hits. And finally dinner at one of Mom & Dad's favorite "artsy" (literally decorated with local art work, even had a couple artist working during the meal) tapas restaurant--that just happened to be next to the miniature golf place.

Friday was our along-awaited return to Sea World--why do they charge you $65 bucks to get into the place and another $10 to park?--at least they let you bring in your own food, but of course we were not that prepared! Toby only wanted to go to Wild Artic (polar bears, beluga whales, narwald and a huge walrus). We all went through the "simulation ride" intro instead of the stationary program for the first time. They have added some "kiddie rides" of which Seth wanted to ride all and Toby wouldn't do a single one. But the highlight was "tricking" Toby and Seth onto their first "grown-up ride"--Atlantis, part log-floom, part roller coaster. Seth made it on by about .023 inches.

Saturday was an all-day conference for Mom & Dad, while Toby & Seth got to go to "pre-school". Sounds fun and it was free day-care. But not according to Toby. Two friends were suppose to come but couldn't make it, so the only people they knew were each other...and classrooms divided them into different rooms. YE! Knew that wouldn't work. Toby spent the day with 3 & 4 year-olds. Highlight here...Seth "bent his tooth"! I don't know! Says he "hit it on the wheel of the race car when he was getting in" but no one saw it, there didn't appear to be any blood, however he wouldn't eat and still won't brush that tooth himself. But NO probably chomping down a 3 week old chocolate chip cookie tonight!

Back home, finally getting back into a "routine" and PopPop & GiGi will arrive tonight to surprise the boys...There goes everything!!!

BIG 6

As usual, the BIG happening in Colorado was Toby getting older.

This year was his 6th (though according to the number of candles on the cake, it was his 12th) and the 5th to be spent in Winter Park, CO.

We celebrated with mommy's entire side of the family and a VERY SCARY Colorado Blueberry Alligator cake (He refrained from placing his feet in it this year as he did for his first birthday in Colorado).

Poor deprived kid, in 6 years, he has never had a birthday party with anyone other then family present!

let it SNOW!

We have returned from the annual Netteburg Spring Break in Winter Park, CO.

Much fun was had by all (thanks to aunt Denae and uncle Olen NOT bringing their snowboards). We all skied this year, Toby even attempted a BIG HILL this year--Seth still prefers the "magic carpet" learner hills, where he can go "fast" on his own for a short distance. When not skiing, there was much time spent playing in the snow, trying to build "snow caves" in really dry snow and sledding on the public sled hill...where both Toby and Seth--bored with the short hill--used their sleds as "snowboards" to get down the hill (sorry, no pixs--you undoubtedly can obtain those from Gamma: rknetteburg@yahoo.com).

The highlight of the trip was that EVERYONE was there this year; Gamma & Gampa, Auntie "Tree-Hugger" Kristin & Uncle "Mad Man" Mike, Auntie "Danty Dare Devil" Danea & Uncle "60 Day-30 Country" Olen, as well as Cousin Emma & Heidi. The only think that could have made it better is if Sheba & Midnight would have been there!

Oh ye...AND that we all got to celebrate Toby's 6th birthday with him on Thursday.

One other adventure was spending part of our "rest day" visiting an Alpaca Farm in nearby Granby, CO. Good news is that no

one got "spit" on...though there seemed to be a couple of close calls. Seth was disappointed that there were no cats there, but Toby and one of the HUGE Great Pyrenees "guard dogs" really took to each other--on a good day, soaking wet, Toby would have still been less then a 1/3 Lucky's size.

Skiing a week later then normal, we were blessed with warm weather and the fact Winter Park has had over 307 inches of snow this year. In addition, "curse" of a big snow storm on the day after we leave was broken this year as it snowed our last two days nearly 1.5 feet total by the time we headed down the mountain...We are still not talking to Uncles Michael & Olen and Aunt Danea who skied an extra day as we packed to head home, and called from the top of the mountain to report 16 inches of fresh powder with only one set of tracks through it!!!

Though sore, we all arrived home safely~

THANKS! Aunt Kerri!!!

Dear Aunt Kerri and crew sent Toby a nicely wrapped Birthday present two weeks ago, and being the good parent that Toby's mom is, she made sure that he didn't get to open it before the big day. However, being that we would not be home for his actually birthday, she made sure to have me put it in (at the last minute) so that Toby could open it on his birthday.

--NOTE to Self-- When packing a present, send from overseas, that is still wrapped--with a foreign stamp--contact the sender to varify the contents AND pack it in your checked luggage instead of in your carry-on bags!

Being a last minute addition to the packing and a small package of "assumed" chocolate or the such, I threw the gift in the backpack that Toby was carrying. Much to my surprise, the nice TSA agent wanted to check the pack or something that looked suspicious. I of course just assumed that it was one of those "random" additional security checks that my kids seem to get singled out for or that my dear son was unwilling to depart with a precious half empty water bottle. The nice TSA agent went carefully through the pack, and of course found nothing...so announced that he would like to run it through the scanner again.

Upon returning from the second trip throught the x-ray machine, the nice TSA agent pulled out Toby's little gift from France and said he was going to need to open it. He got through the secure overseas packing envelope to find a nicely wrapped gift. As he began to rip into the colorful wrapping paper, he realized that this was a gift that Toby had not yet seen, so he turned his back to Toby--so he wouldn't see--and unwrapped before me a beautiful little SWORD!!!!

THANKS KERRI!!!!

This is the kind of thing that only seems to happen to Uncle Jonathan (of http://www.frenchforawhile.blogspot.com/).

I was speechless and began to prepare myself for a week in prison instead of skiing in Colorado. Luckly, my wife was very apologetic and thought to as if there was a way to send it back to ourselves. To which the nice TSA agent informed us that there was indeed a way--but it would cost! So one has stubbled onto a great money making opportunity...that have installed machines just on the other side of TSA check points in which if your "illegel" item is small enough, you can place it in a little padded shipping envelope and pay them about twice the items value PLUS SHIPPING to mail it back to yourself.

So, as you can see, Toby now has his little sword/letter opener and proudly carries it around in his jeans pocket, wiping it out at a moments notice--because it makes a "cool" sound if he pulls it out quick-enough.

Oh ye, and he stabbed his little brother with it this morning, because he wasn't doing as told by his older brother....

THANKS AGAIN KERRI!

Polo Party

The father of the boy Charity tutors 3 days a week at the school gave us two tickets (kids are free) to the Sarasota Polo Club several weeks ago. So about two weeks ago we decided to check it out.

We weren't sure what to expect, because all either of us know about polo is what we have seen in the movies...which always seemed to be an "up-crust" snooty gathering. However, the instructions we were given with the tickets was to show up early and "tailgate" along the polo field.

When we arrived, we discovered that there was a "members" entrance and a "general admission" entrance, however, we did get to drive right up to the field and "tailgate" (though we were of course late, so we parked in the "end-zone")

It was an interesting and enjoyable time that would appeal to everyone from GiGi to Jonathan.

CORRECTION!

Happy HaPpY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

to the coolest 3-year-old in the WORLD!!!

(had the wrong date before--runs in our family apparently to forget the actually birthday of our siblings youngest off-spring. Lucky, we tend to think their birthdays are 10 days before they actually are!)

Cake Feet

Do you remember that Saturday Night Live sketch with Mary Cathrine Galliger, the Catholic school girl who put her fingers in her armpits and smelled them when she got nervous? I use to think that was just a grossly humorous fictionalized character. However, let me share what I heard from my 5-year-old tonight, who shall remain nameless for the appearance of protecting the ... guilty.

"My socks smell like cake. They REALLY smell like cake! Smell them."

"Ah, no thank you!" responds the polite father.

"REALLY, they smell like cake! Smell my socks."

"No, that's just stinky feet" replies the father slightly more realistic.

"Whoa, it's my feet. They smell like cake. My feet smell like cake."

"I do NOT want to smell your feet!" insist the father.

"My shoes smell like cake, too!"

All I can say is, 'Thank God for little brothers who are willing to believe anything a big brother says and smell socks, shoes and feet that supposedly smell like cake!'

HBH!!!

A big shout out to the coolest 3-year-old in THE WORLD!!!

Happy Birthday

Henry ("On-REE") "Henners" James Scriven!!!

Pizza-Man

Last night I was hungry for pizza, so I asked the boys if they would like to make pizza. We found a pretty good (and relatively simple) recipe a couple years ago for making your own. Unfortunately, enthusiastic Seth grated some knuckle with the mozzarella and left for the comfort of mommy before it got "fun."

It turned out great! Even if it did take longer then I would have liked. I have included the recipe below, be warned: this is from a British cookbook (The New Simply Delicious by Rose Elliot) with non-American measurements...good luck!

Easy Wholewheat Pizza -- 4 servings

225 g/8 oz (I used 1/2 cup each) Self-raising wholewheat flour, or half wholewheat and half white

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

50 g/2 oz (I used 1/2 a stick) butter

40 g/ 1/2 oz (I used like a 1/4 block) Chedder cheese, grated

150 ml/5 fl oz (I used about 1/2 cup) water

Set oven @ 425F

Put flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, then stir in the grated cheese and water to make a soft dough. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 1 minute, then cover and leave for 10 minutes...Roll the dough out into a 12 inch circle, a place on a pizza dish or baking sheet (I covered the pizza pan with some corn meal to prevent sticking). Spoon on sauce and top (we chose to season homemade canned tomatoes Charity had done and Toby decided to top that before covering everything with Seth's mozzarella). Bake for 20-25 minutes, until puffy and golden brown.

The Heights I will Go to!

The Southern Union kindly scheduled Wednesday afternoon as "Conference/Family Time" beginning at lunch. To which the Florida Conf. decided to schedule a 1:10 minute (that of course ran long) for 2:00 PM...THANKS!

If that was not frustrating enough, my loving wife planned a wonderful afternoon for us and another family (Cook's) of visiting the beautiful Ponce Inlet Lighthouse.

Have I ever mentioned that I am "acrophobic" (scared of heights)?

Really, what is the point of looking at a lighthouse from the bottom...when you can climb 203 steep and winding steps ALL the way to the top!

Let me just say, it is one thing to privately suffer from an embarrassing and crippling fear of heights. It is quite a different thing to allow dear friends to witness it. But totally demoralizing when your 5-year-old burst to the top before you can even set a foot on the first step and then force yourself to the top only to have your 4-year-old "bail" you out by insisting he must be CARRIED down all 203 steps!

No lie, right now--3 days later--my thighs are still burning to the extent that I literally have difficulty walking down a step and standing up or sitting down.

Whatever, can't do anything about it now. At least I am taking personal consolation in my mini victory, despite the pain and the fact that those of you who know me best have got to be amazed that I was able to do it!

PS--I even stopped on the way up to read the sign about how one dear light-keeper had a heart ache while climbing the steps and fell to his death!

LITTLE issue as we stopped to visit the brand new IKEA in Orlando on our way home from Daytona Beach yesterday...

Mom decided that it would be great if the boys would stay at the IKEA supervised play area while we "buzzed" through the store. Seth said he would do it if Toby would, but Toby just wanted to sit in the lobby and watch the video running there. After much "negotiation" Toby would not budge from a tear filled stand of 'no entrance' to the play area.

So, I gave him a choice: go in with Seth, check it out and if you don't like it you can go shopping with us OR go sit in the car and take a nap. Easy choice, right? YE! Toby chose, "NEITHER!" Which of course left me sitting in a hot car, tired myself and starving with the picture above.

Kids are smarter then we think!

Wed. Jan. 9 was a rough day, Toby and I learned that Redskins Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs had again retired, almost assuredly for good this time. Luckily, Toby & I were able to attend a game at RFK last Fall with Uncle Jonathan and Cousin Patrick, where coach Gibbs pulled out an exciting win in Jason Campbell's first home start.

We'll miss Coach Gibbs, but still cheer for the Skins!

Here we start...

believe it or not, i am blogging....OK, so maybe it would better to say I am "trying" to blog. I am sitting in a seminar on building your own blog at the Southern Union Ministerial Mtg in Daytona Beach. YES, I am IN a meeting at Daytona while my wife and boys are on the beach!

So, what do you think are the chances I will continue to update this?