Max 'reads'

Several months ago I shared some videos of Max "reading" his favorite books. Well, he's at it again, but this time he's into more serious literature.



And here are two other clips. Less exciting books, but still pretty cute.

Pool Photos

On July 15 I took the fancy camera to the pool. Here, devoid of captions, are the results. (It should be noted Jack was cold and not in the mood to have his picture taken.)

From Hollands at Home 2011

From Hollands at Home 2011

From Hollands at Home 2011

From Hollands at Home 2011

From Hollands at Home 2011

From Hollands at Home 2011

From Hollands at Home 2011

In Jack's Words

In an effort to get Jack to work on his writing and thinking skills, I am encouraging him to work up small sentences based on his summer activities. I thought I would share some of them on the blog so you all can see what he's been up to in his own words. Here, for example, is his recounting of a zoo trip from Tuesday when Kristie decided it would be wise for her to take all three kids by herself (and, in actuality, that proved to be a pretty good plan):

we went on a moter sfare at the zoo. It whuse fun! It whuse my idae.

In case you need translating, he is reporting they took the motor safari ride at the zoo and it was his idea. After he wrote his text, he also told me: "i wote my sntsis," or, I wrote my sentence. Hopefully we'll see more and more of Jack's work on here, including some of the pictures he has taken with his camera.

More from Fulton

So yes, we were in Fulton more than two weeks ago. And while I posted photos from our Saturday afternoon outing to Pat and Steve's pool, I have not yet posted the photos of the boys I took Sunday, including a valiant attempt at getting a decent shot of all three of them in one frame. Did it work? You be the judge.

Floor hug. From How's House

A size comparison chart. From How's House

All three boys. From How's House

Brother love. From How's House

Check out those baby blues. From How's House

Future duffer. From How's House

This is what happens when the battery in your "golf cart" dies. From How's House

Charlie weighs on his opinion of me and my camera. From How's House

July 3

I know I'm way far behind in posting the pictures from July 3. Though I do find it interesting I've only mowed my lawn once since then — the morning of July 4. I may try to push that to August just to say I only had to mow once in July. But I digress.

If you remember my last post about Kim's going away party (scroll down; it's not that many posts ago), well, these pictures were taken the next morning after church when Kim and Micah jammed Kim's car full of her possessions (bike on the outside) and road food and actually left for the West Coast. Aside from the sadness over the leaving, it was actually a pretty great family event. The kids were in good spirits, I took lots of photos and we raided Pops and K's pantry, fridge and freezer for a free lunch.

The first photo is one I took of Charlie and Matt after I gave up trying to frame this shot while holding Charlie myself. This worked pretty well, though I still need to work on my focus/depth of field issues.

Hanging with Uncle Matt. From Pops and K's

Somewhere along the line someone got out the Fisher Price marching band set, which is one of Max's favorites (there's one at How's house, too). This photo and these videos don't do justice to how much fun Max was having.

Rocking out with Kat and Micah. From Pops and K's

Eventually, as they always do, the boys headed outside.

Where's your tummy? From Pops and K's

And here we go with the family photos. It is rare we make a point to get pictures like these (perhaps because of the small kids, perhaps because I prefer shooting candids), but this was a pretty good occasion to make it happen. The outdoor setting was nice, our children were less than cooperative. Still, a few keepers:

Charlie was inside sleeping. Max is just pretending. From Pops and K's

Boys and girls. From Pops and K's

Pops, K and Maggie. From Pops and K's

The nuclear Hollands. From Pops and K's

After photos came time for goodbyes. Less tears than we expected, and some good photos to boot.

Saying goodbye to Aunt Kim. From Pops and K's

Twin time. From Pops and K's

Max attack. From Pops and K's

More photos from July to come in the next few days. And you can bet that when Kim and Micah make a return visit, I'll be snapping like crazy again.

Am I missing something on solar farm proposal?

Column originally published July 26, 2011.

Invenergy wants to build a 140-acre solar farm on 160 acres of prime farmland east of Streator.

The farm owners support the plan. The Streator City Council supports the plan. The La Salle County Zoning Board of Appeals, however, is not so sure.

The board voted 4-3 last week against a petition request for a special use permit on the matter. So now we wait for Thursday, Aug. 11, when the full County Board makes the final decision on the petition.

Zoning Board members John Hughes, Tom Bruck, Doug Stockley and Robert Miller cast their votes in favor of the sanctity of the land, regardless of the promise of roughly 100 construction jobs and increased tax revenues for local government — a figure pegged at $4 million for school districts alone over the project's 20-year lifespan.

According to Times Reporter Derek Barichello, Miller said his vote was a matter of preserving farmland, citing the lot's Land Evaluation and Site Assessment score of 224.925. Hughes concurred with Miller's vote.

"A score that high should be kept as agricultural use," Miller said. "The goal of this zoning board is preservation of farmland."

It seems the goal of a zoning board would be consider development requests, weigh all factors and then approve projects that will improve La Salle County without significant detriment to any party. A board organized simply to preserve farmland would have an awfully easy task: you either grow crops or raise livestock don't, and if you don't want to grow crops or raise livestock, don't bother asking.

Zoning board members Larry Bianchi, Allen Adams and Monty Whipple voted in favor of the project, and surely I'm not the only one who hopes their side fares better when the County Board gets involved.

Continue reading "Am I missing something on solar farm proposal?"

Charlie... Chaplin?

Sometimes when I get Charlie in a particularly chatty mood, I try to catch him on video to share with the masses. Generally, as soon as he sees the camera, he clams up. So Sunday afternoon, I thought I might be able to trick him by using my computer's built-in video camera. As you can see, he's too smart to fall for such a ruse...

Maxisms

Here we go.....phrases and words reinvented by the doodle.

M&Ms=nem-n-nems

tummyache=stummyache

UPS truck=PSI truck

Charlie=Char-wee

Helicopter=something sort of resembling helicopter that I'm not sure how to type out.

sandwich=swamwich

frisbee=fris-beefs

And there's many more which I am currently drawing a blank on and will have to add later. Other doodle quirks? He loves for me to wrap him up in the baby carrier I use with Charlie. He thinks its pretty awesome to be wrapped up on my back. He won't let me out of his sight for too long. He follows me EVERYWHERE during the day around the house. He's constantly saying "I need to give Charlie a hug", followed by hugs and usually a kiss for Mr. Charlie too. He constantly trys to hold it before going to the bathroom (both #1 and #2) so he is frequently seen doing the potty dance. He discovered this week he can open the cookie container all by himself. He's very good at convincing an overwhelmed me at the grocery store that he NEEDS blueberries, strawberries, and cheezeits. He has a great ability to recall random stuff from longer ago than he should be able to remember. He fights harder with Jack than Jack will fight with him. He loves the back yard pool and hurls himself into about 6 inches of water with reckless abandon and little thought as to how hard the ground may be underneath. He is now scared of the neighbors dog because it gave him "itchies". He can pedal a trike backwards, but forwards is still quite the trick.

And that is what our doodle is up to.

Seeking the ideal, awaiting the truth

Column originally published July 19, 2011.

When I read it, the sentence leaped off the screen and metaphorically slapped me in the face:

Bob Greenwalt, D-Sandwich, said while it initially may be a community issue that causes people to run for the County Board, it is the benefits that gets them to stay.

Times reporter Charles Stanley included that sentence in an article last week (actual headline: "Everybody on this board deserves what they get") detailing a "super-committee" meeting of County Board members discussing the salary and benefits that should be available to those elected to one of the 29 seats.

At the center of the matter are four items:

1. The per diem pay, money members collects for each day they have a meeting to attend, which has been at $60 since Dec. 2, 1996, when $60 was worth a lot more (one figure put the value at $38 in 2011 dollars). The full board Thursday unanimously rejected a change here, which is just as well, even though a small bump probably could be justified.

2. Rules for participating in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund pension plan, which isn't considered significant because the stakes are relatively low. (Stanley's example was Gary Small, R-Utica, a 17-year veteran of the County Board, who said if he took retirement at age 55 his monthly pension would be $66.) Even so, the board Thursday made it so newly-elected board members will be virtually unable to qualify for participation.

3. Allowing County Board members to be reimbursed the IRS-approved mileage rate, currently 55 cents per mile, instead of the 30 cents per mile they've been able to claim for many years. Given the skyrocketing price of fuel, this seems only fair. I'm shocked it took a close vote to approve this measure, but perhaps there is awareness of public relations implications.

4. The elephant in the room: health insurance for County Board members. After a 13-12 vote Thursday defeated a proposal to end health benefits for board members entirely, several other options were presented. Ultimately, the board voted 16-9 Thursday to keep the current health insurance benefit with one change —anyone who joins the board in the future would need to pay a higher rate for spouse or family coverage than what sitting board members would pay.

Continue reading "Seeking the ideal, awaiting the truth."

Pool time at Auntie Pat's

We were in Fulton for the weekend, and Saturday afternoon included a trip to Thomson to let the boys play at Pat and Steve's pool. It was plenty hot and we hoped the older two would get enough exercise to be absolutely worn out, and the plan worked to perfection. The only snag was convincing Jack it was time to leave.

The amusing sidelight of the day was watching Jack approach things like the water slide and diving board with an emotion that ranged from trepidation to abject terror. Doodle, by contrast, could not wait to tackle each challenge and did so with pretty much reckless abandon. Fortunately everyone — even Charlie — had a good, safe time in (or near) the pool, as the photos and videos below attest.

Catching a ride on Aunt Pat. From How's House

Happy despite the heat. From How's House

Climbing the ladder. From How's House

As for the video... Max is awesome. Just ask him.

Ready for the descent. From How's House

Swimming to How. From How's House

His first attempt on the diving board. From How's House

Max displays his fearlessness. From How's House

Jack musters some courage. From How's House

Facebook wouldn't let me upload this video for some reason, so I apologize for the size/quality; hopefully you get the idea.

Memorable for all the wrong reasons

Column originally published July 12, 2011.

The bodies of two homicide victims, a man and woman, were found at an unidentified residence near Seneca early Wednesday.

The names of the deceased have not been released by police and the coroner could not be reached for comment by press time.

At 3:23 a.m., the sheriff's office received a phone call requesting immediate police and ambulance assistance at the residence.

The sheriff's office did not release who made the call.

No further information was released by press time.

A press conference has been scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Seneca Illinois Emergency Operations Center located at the Seneca Fire Department.

The sheriff's office, coroner's office, state's attorney's office and Illinois State Police Crime Scene Services are investigating.

And with those 119 words, written by Tammie Sloup and printed July 11, 2007, this newspaper began its coverage of the murders of Al and Kay Twardowski of Seneca. I was roughly five months into my tenure as associate editor of The Times and roughly six years into my professional journalism career. It was the third time in those six years that I encountered details of a murder, each one leaving its own imprint on my memory.

There are many memorable occasions for reporters, and most involve loss. When you work in small-town America, you're not going to uncover the Watergate tapes. There is excitement when high-level politicians cross your path (I "covered" President George W. Bush and U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama, among other folks on the campaign trail), but those suits are really no match for actual news.

The natural disasters, of course, always stick out. Wind and storm damage, blizzards, floods and so on. But these stories are shared by everyone —who doesn't know there's a blizzard? Readers just wait for the next day's paper to see the iconic photograph and snowfall totals.

Then there are the structure fires and vehicle accidents. I remember standing in Independence, Iowa, and watching a multiple-family dwelling burn to the ground on an incredibly hot summer day. And I recall being at a family Christmas gathering when my cell phone went off, informing me of the fate of Ottawa's Green Mill restaurant. This list is long.

Continue reading "Memorable for all the wrong reasons."

July 4

Pardon me for going out of chronological order, but I'm jumping from July 2 to July 4. Specifically the fireworks display at Libertyville High School. We don't have July 4 fireworks in Gurnee (unless you count Great America), so we took advantage of Pops & K being in Crivitz and used their house to host a couple we're friends with from church who have a daughter a few months older than Charlie. After the food, we headed to the baseball field for pyrotechnics with parental fingers crossed — Kristie's for Charlie and his ability to deal with the noise, mine for Max with memories of watching the 2010 Savanna fireworks from inside my car with a 2-year-old who had gone catatonic.

The good news is everything went very well. Charlie slept through the whole thing and Max was appropriately awed. Jack, of course, loved every second, as he always has.

From Pops and K's

From Pops and K's

From Pops and K's

From Pops and K's

The first video isn't much for looking; the key part is the audio of the kids enjoying the show.



But since that video didn't give you much visual excitement, here's a clip of the show's finale.

Kim's Party

Last Saturday we (minus Kristie and Charlie, since it was so hot) gathered at a local forest preserve shelter for Aunt Kim's official going away party. It was a bittersweet occasion, of course, but also a lot of fun, especially for the boys who were the youngest in attendance by at least a dozen years. Lots of Matt and Kim's friends were more than willing to play with the Jack and Max, plus there were family friends in attendance who have good relationships with them as well. And cookies. Lots and lots of cookies.

Here now the photos:

Working on a pile of Doritos. From Pops and K's

Putting his name in Kim's memory book. From Pops and K's

Getting read for family photos. From Pops and K's

M, M, K and K. From Pops and K's

Extended Hollands, sans Kristie & Charlie. From Pops and K's

Siblings. From Pops and K's

Charlie videos

For those of you who don't have the pleasure of seeing the little guy on a daily basis, here's a collection of videos from June. Of course, they don't give you the full experience since he pretty much refuses to laugh on camera. But still, adorable.

(Actually, the first video features Max. And Jack is the cameraman for at least one, and heard off camera on others.)

Playing catch up

Before I get into the vast quantities of photos I have from the weekend, here are a few quick snaps:

The only time his hair ever looks this straight. From Hollands at Home 2011

Max took this photo. I lost track of how many baby carriers we own. From Hollands at Home 2011

Backyard pool on the hottest day of the year. From Hollands at Home 2011

Doodle splash. From Hollands at Home 2011

One wet monkey. From Hollands at Home 2011