It's time once again for our update on all the activities and adventures the Elia Family has been up to this year! Check out the information and pictures below to find out what is new with us. You can click on any picture to see a larger version.

We have now been in Ohio for three years and the flip has finally occurred - now everything here seems normal, and things elsewhere seem strange. Did we really used to live somewhere other than Ohio? It's hard to recall.

We hope that all is well with you and your family. Have a great holiday season and best wishes for a wonderful new year!
 

 


   

SCHOOL & FRIENDS
Zachary is 11 years old and in 6th grade. As usual he is doing quite well in school, holding onto his streak of straight A report cards. He's been in Accelerated Math for a few years, and has added Advanced Humanities this year. All went well at his parent teacher conference and his teachers say he is more than ready for middle school next year. Middle school! Can you believe it? When did he grow up so much???? This year Zack decided he might like to be an accountant when he grows up. (like Uncle Joe!)

Zack is excellent at time management skills when it comes to homework. He gets it done fast and well, so most days after school he’s able to take off on his bike and play football with his friends. Armed with his new cell phone, he calls to let us know at whose house the gang ended up. He seems to enjoy the increased independence and has proven himself very trustworthy to return home at the designated time.

TWEEN-LAND
Zack is currently living in Tween-land. As a pre-teen he waffles between ordering kids meals and adult meals in restaurants. One moment he'll be watching Sponge Bob with Jackie, and the next moment we'll be discussing evolution vs. creationism. He'll spend Saturday morning working outside with Peter for hours, and spend the afternoon playing legos.

 
 
He's taken on a lot of responsibility this year. and most of the time he's the good-natured, pleasant son we are used to, but an attitude is definitely emerging. Of course we are trying our best to squelch said 'tude, but we have only been moderately successful. Fortunately it's not too bad... yet!

Gilligan the Gecko

LIZARDS & CRICKETS
Zachary got a lizard for Christmas - specifically a Leopard Gecko named Stripes. Well, she was an escape artist and went missing within the first week. After long searches and complex nightly gecko traps we came to the conclusion she probably bought a miniature suit, hopped a plane to Geico headquarters and was busy filming a new series of commercials for them. Lizard Gecko #2, Gilligan, came to live with us in January. She was content to hang around, with no aspirations of fame, and she's been living happily in a tank in Zack's room.

If keeping a lizard in the house is not bad enough, you also need to keep their live food in the house - specifically crickets and mealworms. The crickets live in a smaller tank next to the gecko. They have a full view watching the gruesome ritual of their brothers and sisters being gobbled up. Surely they must know their dreaded fate. Since the crickets hang around for several days we also need to feed the crickets. So in essence we are feeding the food. Occasionally we get a chirper in the bunch and he ends up being the first to go. In addition to the crickets we have mealworms that we keep in.... the refrigerator. You read that right. They are kept in the fridge so they remain in a dormant state so they don't pupate into beetles. YUK. Let's just say - be careful about which containers you open in our fridge!
 
Zack has had to learn to pick up live crickets in order to feed the lizard. This skill has come in handy as Zack is now my bug hero. Whenever there is a strange mutant Ohio bug in the house all I need to do is yell for Zack and he comes and takes care of it for me. Gone are the days of me having to put a glass over the hideous creature and wait for Peter to get rid of it. Peter's happy about it, too!
     

TROMBONE
This year Zack has taken up the trombone, following in his father’s footsteps, and indeed, playing his father’s actual trombone from high school. Peter has already warned him the trombone is cursed (we met at the time he played it), but Zack has been fearlessly willing to play it anyway.

We went to the first band concert at the beginning of December, and I have to say I was impressed! They sounded great and of course Zachary was the best of the bunch. What’s interesting is that it is VERY obvious when a trombone player doesn’t know what he’s doing because his slide is in when all the others are out, etc. It’s a tough instrument to fake! A lot of pressure! Zack, of course, was unflappable and is already planning to audition for the 7th grade Jazz Band in the Spring in addition to joining the regular band. His band-geek parents are so proud!


Trombone buddies: Zack & Jacob
 
When I was in school we started an instrument in 4th grade. In our district they don’t start until 6th grade. Zack did start piano in 4th grade and I have to say it was a huge advantage when he started playing the trombone. I was very glad to see that it was so helpful. We took a short hiatus from piano lessons at the beginning of the school year, but we have now resumed them. So far he’s handling playing and practicing both instruments very well.
 
Here are a few pictures of Zack:
 
Playing hard on the soccer field A game of catch with Dad
   
At his 11th birthday party Demolishing the deck with power tools!
   
Lizard chin-ups
Trapped in an underwater castle
Soccer portrait
     
 

SCHOOL
Jackie is 6 years old and in 1st grade. Jackie transitioned from half-day kindergarten to full-day first grade with no problem. True to her personality, she took it in stride and is doing great. Jackie loves school and loves her teacher. She doesn't get much homework but she works on it as soon as she gets home and wants to do a good job on it. Since September she's progressed 4 levels in reading and is very proud of herself!

Every Friday Jackie's class and another class participate in "Math Challenge" which consists of the students in the 2 classes competing to answer math facts. Jackie is almost always the last girl standing and can definitely hold her own amongst the boys! In striving for Elia Perfection, I bought Jackie some flash cards to practice with and from her reaction you'd think I gave her a new kitten - she loves the flash cards! I know, we are weird.

THE INQUISITION
Jackie is incredibly inquisitive. She questions everything - and I mean EVERYTHING. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing, it's just that some times it can be.... exhausting. I can barely get through story time after stopping so often to answer what various words mean. Her curious nature enables her to soak in all sorts of information and she has a pretty good ability to recall it.

  
     

Jackie and her best buddy, Monty
  

FUTURE PLANS
Jackie is always looking to the future and making plans. She's waffled back and forth on having children one day in a manner so serious that you'd think she was making the actual permanent decision. She recently revealed that the reason she didn't want kids was because she didn't want to go to the hospital. Not that I recommend it, but I told her you didn't have to go to the hospital to have a baby. Since then she now seems agreeable to having children again.

The one thing she's always sure of is that she wants cats when she grows up - and lots of them. She's doomed to be a crazy cat lady. See her on the right snuggling with Monty in the sun. Monty, who has become even more crotchety in his old age, loves Jackie because she will pet him for hours on end. Every time she insists she needs her own pet (kitten, hamster, frog, etc.), we assure her that Monty is HERS!

When she was 4, Jackie wanted to be a Deal or No Deal girl. At 5 she wanted to be a "cooker." Now at 6 she's decided she wants to be a teacher. Daddy is still pushing for her to be a lawyer, so we'll see.
     

GROWING UP
Jackie is growing up! She's lost 5 teeth and has 3 loose ones! This summer she and I went to Girl Scout camp and she handled sleeping outside with ease (see the tent accommodations pictured on the right). I can't say she dealt with the out-houses that well, but even I found them to be over-the-top-unacceptable! She was quite surprised to find out that you DON'T make Girl Scout Cookies at Girl Scout Camp, but had fun nonetheless. She had planned to start Girl Scouts in September, but flatly refused to do so after the bathroom atrocities. I tried to explain that most of the time you have access to normal bathrooms, but she wanted nothing of it.

What's interesting is that Jackie is growing up as an Ohioan - not a transplanted New Yorker turned Ohioan like the rest of us. Since she was only 3 when we moved here, Jackie has little recollection of life before Ohio. She has been the first of us to start talking like an Ohioan and for the most part it's pretty cute. My one pet peeve is that some people here put "at' at the end of their sentences, like: "Where is my ball at?" This sounds so awful to my ears and drives me NUTS. The first time Jackie said it, she got an earful about why that is grammatically incorrect. She has been heard repeating: "don't end your sentence with a preposition," so it must have sunk in. Indeed we haven't had anymore "at' instances. Phew!

  


At Girl Scout camp
     
Here are a few pictures of Jackie:    
     
Canoeing at Girl Scout camp
"Rock Paper Scissors" at the soccer game
   
Some great shots at the dance recital
The kitty pumpkin Daddy carved for her
   
School friends
At her 6th birthday party
Dance portrait
 
 
 

WORK
Peter spent the first half of the year working as a Project Manager in the US office of a European company. All was going well until the beginning of June when the US office unexpectedly laid off all of its employees, locked the doors and high-tailed it back across the pond. Peter and his co-workers were left unemployed, with no health insurance.

True to form, Peter was laid off on Monday and actually had accepted a job offer by Friday. Wait, it gets better. He hooked back up with a company in NYC that he had worked for previously and they hired him with the understanding that he could work remotely! So Peter set up a home office and his commute now consists of walking down the stairs. (That is not his office pictured on the right, it's just him doing maintenance on our computers.)

  
 

Peter has the ethics required to work at home and not take advantage of it. He still sets his alarm every morning, showers, shaves, gets dressed and makes sure he is sitting at his desk promptly at 9:00am. Don't get me wrong - he doesn't wear dress shirts (YAY - no ironing!), but if it were me I'd still be in jammies at 2pm every day.

Peter takes the occasional trip to NYC and feels more and more like a visitor there now. After his first trip he was surprised at how noisy the city is, at all hours of the night. He was once again impressed by the skyscrapers since the tallest one in Cincinnati is only 49 floors. By the end of the week he handled the fact that there was a movie (Wall Street 2) being filmed right in front of him, with true New Yorker nonchalance.


Peter, Zack & Cheechie taking a spin
  

HIS NEWEST TOY - A MUSTANG!
You may remember that several years ago Peter had picked out a BMW for his next car when our lease was ending, but at the time I convinced him I needed a mini-van because I wanted a 3rd child. Fast forward 3 months to when I changed my mind and suddenly he had no baby and no BMW! I always promised him that when the next lease was up that he could get whatever car he wanted.

Well, when the time came, he and Zack went out and test drove a bunch of cars. His final choice was a convertible blue mustang which I fell in love with as soon as I saw it. I beat the dealer up on the price and we left with the car that night. Zack was especially interested because he hopes to inherit it when he starts driving in 4 years!

We had a beautiful summer and thoroughly enjoyed lazy Sunday drives through the country. One negative is that in a convertible you are subject to all the smells of the local farms (yuck) and the occasional bug swarm (eek!) Since Peter was working from home I felt it was a crime to leave the convertible sitting in the garage during the week so the kids and I often took it as we were out and about enjoying our summer.
 

On a side note, we have broken our long-running history of leasing cars and actually purchased the mustang. A few months later we turned in the mini-van early and got a Honda Pilot SUV for me - one of us has to have a responsible car - that we purchased as well. Lots of thanks to our friend Charlie who was a great adviser to us with regard to purchase price! All he wanted in return is the opportunity to drive them when he visits!

AROUND THE HOUSE
As usual Peter is busy with projects around the house. This year we remodeled the half bath, and demo'd / re-purposed the deck. He SO wants to re-do the kitchen. He claims he just wants to put in a new counter and new floor, but I know it will escalate to ripping the entire room down to the studs and starting over. We are still "discussing" the kitchen project.

FAMILY TIME
Peter loves to spend time with the family and have fun with the kids. Backyard baseball practice became a daily activity every day after dinner. They have water-gun battles outside in the summer and nerf-gun battles inside in the winter. The kids love to go to Dave & Buster's, watch movies and play Wii with him.

  
Peter suggested we check out some of the areas within driving distance so we visited the children's museums in Indianapolis (IN) and Columbus (OH). We were considering Lexington (KY) as our next excursion,or perhaps skiing at the local slopes an hour away, but we decided instead to take a last minute vacation to Disney World the day after Christmas. YAY!
 
Here are a few pictures of Peter:
   
Hanging with Lord Vader
With the dads at Bring Your Dad to Dance Day
   
Is there any question why all the kids love him?
Roller-coaster building contest
   
A backyard game of catch with Zack
Taking Jackie for a spin on the tractor
   
 
 

JOB SEARCH
After working last year as a teacher assistant I felt I was ready to make the leap to teacher! (or at least try to). I went into the interviewing process with great confidence and tried to stay positive as nothing panned out. Just when I thought all hope was lost, I started to get a slew of interviews mid-August. I had dreamed of getting into our district, Lakota, and interviewed for a few positions there. I was sure I wasn't good enough to get hired there but my friend Cathy did her best to try and convince me that I was indeed Lakota-worthy. I was very fortunate to actually land one of the positions and am now officially an Intervention Specialist (which is just a fancy way to say Special Education Teacher).

The position I took is half-day, PM Kindergarten. At first I was bummed that it wasn't full-time but I quickly embraced my new schedule and LOVED it. I was able to go in to Jackie's class and volunteer every Friday morning. I was able to get so much done at home in the morning before I even went to work. It also didn't hurt that I was entitled to full health benefits through the district despite my half-time status!

In November I took a position doing home instruction 4 mornings a week. I was a bit apprehensive about losing my mornings, but it was a sweet gig that I couldn't pass up. So far it is going very well, and I still get to volunteer on Fridays in Jackie's class!

  
 
     

Dressed up as the Peddler
from Caps For Sale!
  

LIVING IN SPECIAL ED KINDERGARTEN
I love my job! At what other job can you sometimes wear pajamas and kitty slippers to work? Under what other circumstance could you get paid to facilitate a game of HiHo Cherry-O, do arts & crafts, and then spend 15 minutes playing "house" (AKA the Dramatic Play Center)? At most jobs your co-workers would find it strange and creepy to see you give and receive hugs all day - but in kindergarten it's completely normal, accepted and expected. Kindergarten rocks!

But kindergarten is an interesting age. Twenty times a day I have someone tugging on my sleeve, reporting any of the following violations: "He cut me!"; "She breathed on me!"; "He said a bad word!" (which turned out to be the word "pee"); "She said she's not my friend!"

Add the reality of special education on top of kindergarten and I often come home with unbelievable stories to entertain family & friends (names changed to protect the innocent and guilty!). These include, but are not limited to, one student who shoved an entire "yarn caterpillar" up his nose, one who threw her shoe at the speech therapist's head, and one who compared the length of her stick of math cubes to the size of my chest. So far I've survived relatively uninjured - with the exception of one fat lip courtesy of a 5 year old - but in all fairness it was an accident. Honestly, I love my students and know I'm really making a difference with them! It's great!
 

I really like the teachers and administrators at my school. I think I fit in very well with them and feel very fortunate to have ended up there. I've had two observation / evaluations so far this year and they both went very well. I'm still amazed that I will get paid throughout the whole summer while I am goofing off and hanging with the kids and our friends!!!

As a general population, kindergarteners are quite grimy. What I've learned is that most of them come to school with no ability to keep themselves clean. I BLAME THE PARENTS! If you have pre-school age children, I implore you, for the sake of your children's future teachers, to let them learn how to clean themselves up. The parents of some of these children have wiped and cleaned every orifice that substances come in or out of. Then these kids come to school and have no ability to do any of this themselves. Hence, the stench. At times it can be quite... pungent. Ah well, good thing I love 'em all anyway!

I've definitely had to make some adjustments for my current position. I've had to re-learn how to print properly in order to correctly model writing for my little ones. I've had to learn to spend the day sitting in teensie chairs. I've also had to conquer my issues with pencils. I HATE pencils. They must be freshly sharpened for me to tolerate them at all. Unfortunately kindergarteners tend to stab themselves accidently so blunt pencils are now my reality. I still don't like it, not one bit, but I have no choice. I've also taken defibrulator training (God help the person on the other end of those paddles), as well as restraint training. One would think that if you can't overpower 5 and 6 year olds that you're pretty pathetic, but let me tell you - never underestimate the strength and willpower of a kindergartener who is freaking out!!!
 
Here are a few pictures of Charlotte:
   
Canoeing with Jackie at Girl Scout camp
With Janet at the Reds game
   
With my great friend, Anita
Dressed up as cows for a free meal
   
 

In last year's newsletter we reported that two families we were friends with were attempting to move out to Ohio. Well sure enough they both ended up moving out here - Aaron & Lisa arrived in January (from Connecticut) and Jordan & Liz arrived in February (from New York). Both families now live within 10 minutes of us. It's been pretty wild to have them so close, and it still blows my mind that they were both able to make the move! It has also been fun re-living all the uniqueness of Ohio through their eyes. In true tough love style, we didn't speak to either family for the first 6 months in order to force them to have to meet new people. Just kidding!

Of course Peter uses this as a tool to torture our native Ohioan friends - he insists that the caliber of friends around here left something to be desired and we had to start importing friends from the east coast. By now they are all used to his sense of humor, and they give it right back to him!

 
 
It's been a fun year! We've done lots of stuff, had fun with our friends and had lots of visitors! I don't have pictures of all of it, but here are some.
 
Hanging out at COSI (Center of Science & Industry)
 
Playing in the snow storm that caused school to be cancelled for an entire week
   
The pumpkin Zack carved all by himself, and the kitty one Daddy carved for Jackie
   
Apple picking - "I love you, a bushel & a peck!"
Hanging in the backyard
   
I must say that we are truly blessed with wonderful friends and family! Here are some pictures from fun outings with them! An extra special thank you to all who have come out to visit - we always appreciate anyone who makes the trek out here to the mid-west!
     
We spent the summer at the amusement park with the Meyer Family and had tons of fun.
In an effort to minimize bathroom emergencies among five kids, I full embraced Cathy's restroom break motto:
"You can always go a little!"
   
The Meyers joined us in dressing like cows!
Emma & Jackie coloring girlie things
 
Outings with Samuel - at a castle and the natural history museum
   
Hanging with their cousins Mary & Hannah at the Reds game and coloring Easter eggs
 
Fun with the Watsons - on a hay ride and at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis
   
 

We've gotten away from home a few times this year. As usual, we made the trek back to New York this summer. It's always great to go back and visit with our NY friends and family. Thanks again to my sister Janet for letting us stay with her.

This year was my 20th high school reunion, but unfortunately I couldn't make it. I was able to celebrate the milestone and meet up with my high school friends, Kerri & Debra while we were in NY. Each drove to Long Island to visit with us while we were there. It was great to see them again and meet their kids! In other news, my friend Rachel, who I met way back in kindergarten, has a daughter in first grade just like Jackie, who recently wrote to Jackie asking to be pen pals. How cute is that? A bunch of friends also sent postcards to Jackie for a school project. Who could have imagined all this 20 years ago?
   
Enjoying a beautiful day at the beach in Oyster Bay
   
Jackie loves to pose for the camera
Something educational - Teddy Roosevelt's house
   
Driving the Zimmerman's boat on the Hudson (No worries - Craig was close enough to grab the wheel just in case!)
   
Hanging out on the boat with the Abby & Emma.
   
 

We went to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with Peter's parents. Since the entire Elia clan was going to be there, Peter's mother decided she would like to have a family portrait taken of the whole family. She found a beautiful dress for Jackie, and I spent several grueling weeks shopping and coordinating outfits. In case you don't know, I hate to shop, but I did my best.

I actually purchased an adult's tie for Zack so he would match Peter exactly, and then measured, cut, pressed and sewed it so it would fit him correctly. I was very impressed that I could accomplish such a feat despite my pathetic sewing ability. Armed only with the sewing basket my Mom gave me 20+ years ago, I did a great job!!! Unfortunately you can't even see Peter's tie in the picture, so matching them together was all for naught!

Anyway, the picture actually came out very nice and was worth all the shopping hassle I went through! Peter had been bugging me for a portrait of just the four us for a long time, so we took the opportunity to get that done while we were there and dressed up.

 

The Elia Family Portrait
Lovingly referred to as "The Big Pick-chuh"
     
HOW DO WE TURN IT OFF?
On a side note, we got Peter's parents a really cool digital picture frame that Peter can upload pictures to so they always have current pictures of the kids. After Peter set it up, they watched all the pictures scroll through and said, "That's nice. How do we turn it off?" We didn't take it personally since these are the folks who have been known to shut off their modem and router because, to quote Peter's mom, "your father doesn't like it on overnight because it has lights on it." Peter was able to configure it to shut off in the evening and back on in the morning. and they were happy with that, but I still have a feeling it may get unplugged!
     
 

Well, that's the latest with us. What's new with you? Drop us an email to [email protected] - we'd love to hear from you!
Or better yet, let us know if you're ever out our way - we love visitors - and you could be featured in next year's newsletter!

Best wishes for a wonderful, happy & healthy 2010!

Love,
Peter, Charlotte, Zachary & Jackie
 

Check out our previous newsletters:        2008 newsletter        2007 newsletter