Tag: Nicholas

A New Bike

So today we got a brand new bike. It has great wheels, it corners like a dream, it brakes great, and the shifters are amazing. All around a great performance bike. And the best part is it was completely free! Yep it was by the neighbor’s curbed so we went out and grabbed it. Stephen really thought something would be wrong with it, like the tires being deflated, or the chain being broken, but nope it was all good and ready to ride. Hence Nicholas thinks it might be cursed. A perfect bike and they’re just getting rid of it. Yeah right.

Dragon-Fly Lapel

Today while Mom and Nicholas were at the grocery store Nicholas get me a new bug. Most people buy food at a grocery store, but Nicholas got me a bug. Isn’t that nice! What happened was, as they were going through the checkout, the dragon-fly flew into one of the balloons filled with helium. It must have gotten dazed or something because it fell onto Nicholas’ lapel and just sat there as if it was his lapel pin. Knowing I would appreciate a new bug Nicholas grabbed it and brought it home.

PTO Shaft

Recently as Nicholas and Stephen were driving down the highway, they saw what looked like an axle for a car lying in the road. Thinking this would make an interesting blog post (if you lose an axle on your car you are definitely having a bad day) they brought it home with them. As we were looking at it Dad came over and told us that it is actually a PTO shaft, or a power take-off shaft. A PTO shaft is used on tractors and certain other farming equipment (and some industrial machines). It designed to be fairly easy to put on and take off, and is made to draw energy from the engine. So if someone dropped it accidentally they are probably still not having a good day.

Cephalophore

Last Thursday Nicholas, Stephen, and Jonathan went to a Catholic trivia thing, and one of the questions was, “Which saint walked for six miles carrying his head?”. As it turns out St. Denis, after being decapitated, immediately picked up his head and walked about seven miles preaching about repentance.

St. Denis was the first bishop or Paris, (you know, before he was beheaded) having been assigned there by Pope Fabian. He and his two companions were converting people so effectively that the pagan priests became alarmed over their loss of followers and had St. Denis and his two companions arrested. Later St. Denis and his two friends were decapitated and, picking up his head, St. Denis became the first Cephalophore. Cephalophore is a Greek word which literally means “head-carrier”.

Though St. Denis was the first cephalophore there were many other saints who carried their head. In fact 134 were counted in France alone.

Nicholas’ Superpower

For as long as I can remember Nicholas has been really good at predicting movie lines. No really, I remember being really little and we were watching the animated “Sleeping Beauty”, and the narrator said, “And they called her Aurora”. Nicholas, who had been studying Latin at the time, said, “They named her after the dawn?!”. Right after the narrator said, as if answering Nicholas, “Yes, they named her after the dawn”. And just last night we were watching a movie and Nicholas predicted EXACTLY what they were going to say. I think this must be his superpower. It’s not a very useful power, but it’s still a superpower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twins?

Apparently Stephen just has one of those faces. People always think they have seen Stephen before, but they really haven’t, they just think that Stephen is Nicholas, or Jonathan, and occasionally even me! Lots of times people that Nicholas know, will talk to Stephen because they think he IS Nicholas. Yep, the amount of times Stephen has been asked if he is one of our twins is astounding. I guess I can understand thinking he is Nicholas or Jonathan’s twin, but ME! We look nothing alike. I think Stephen just needs to get his own face and stop looking like everyone else.

Parenting

“We do not run in the house, and use the footstool as a diving board to get on the sofa!” Veronica may have been feeling a little rambunctious this morning. Yep, that’s just another one of the weird things Mom never thought she’d have to say as a parent. It’s almost as bad as the time when the older boys were little, and she had to make a rule about keeping your forks below your head while you eat. Or the time she had to tell Nicholas, (and he was a lot younger at the time, but still) not to drop cars on Stephen’s head. Who thinks that’s a good idea in the first place!