Dec 31 2009
Laura was laying down with Nathan who was being pouty. He declared, “I’m crying.”
“Well where are your tears?” Laura responded.
Nathan proceeded to lick his fingers and wipe them down his cheeks, “Now I’m sad.”
Where do they learn such drama?
Nov 30 2009
Grandmother came to our house for Thanksgiving this year. I took Friday off to be home as much as possible. I was the only one in my department to do so – is the world just becoming less thankful these days?
As is traditional, Laura made more food than we could possibly eat. The new twist this year was to augment our failing fridge … Laura will tell you that it is literally being held together by duct tape, but it’s actually a combination of duct tape and electrical tape … we used a box out in the sun room as an ad hoc fridge. We just set extra dishes out there and let the 40 or so degree weather act as a chiller.
I did my best to supplement all my meals for days with the pies, dishes, and sides from the outdoor chiller and the fridge. I think I’ve been binge eating for 5 days now.
Nathan has made a big change in that he now can face Grandma Gee Gee and not roll his eyes or try to get away. She’s now an accepted part of his world.
With our thankfulness complete, it’s now time for Christmas plans – decorations and “stuffs.”
Another rarity was that we took advantage of an in-home Grandma babysitter to head out and watch “The Little House on The Prairie” play at the Fox. I was drowsy in the dim lights before the curtain went up – but I didn’t snooze a wink. That was Laura’s criteria for my success, so woo hoo!
We’ll have some end of the year thoughts in the next few weeks!
Oct 26 2009
Your kids know you better than you know yourself.
I was sitting at my computer yesterday. Nathan was sitting next to me using my laptop. He was browsing the NickJr web site. The site played their jingle, “Nick Jr. is just for me.”
I sang that back to him, I turned to him and said, “Nick Jr. is just for me.”
“No, Dad, Nick Jr. is just for me, you’ve got Fox,” he flatly replied.
Then he repeated for emphasis, “Nick Jr. is just for me.”
I could say that he’s developing a bit of a selfish streak, but that would be just skirting the issue.
He knows where to find Dad. He’s checking out the news on Fox. Or when he gets frustrated that I’m “getting into his business” too much stretch out his arm and point and say, “Daddy, you go to your computer.”
Ah, banished to a life in front of a monitor. Harrumph, some guys have all the luck.
Sep 13 2009
Our podcasts are getting a little longer, 21 minutes for this one, but we were able to knock it out in two sittings. One for recording and one for editing and post production. If you want to know what we’re up to – give it a listen!
Let us know what you think by leaving us a comment. Remember, it takes a while to have comments approved – so if they don’t show up right away, don’t sweat it … they will.
Aug 31 2009
At the end of August, I got some tickets to go see Tim Hawkins (who’s that? Well go see and then come back here! 😉 ).
There was some confusion because there were no tickets per se. I got them online and I was supposed to print out the receipt. When the day came, I had no idea where the paper was or if I had even printed it out at all. I called the church where he was going to perform and also the contact number from his web site and finally got a call back from Tim’s brother who said if I had a photo ID, I’d be fine.
I would show you some pictures – but I was having too much fun to bother to take any. I took a short video of Tim’s big finale song – one of Caleb’s favorites: “Fire Ant.” But it didn’t turn out very nice. Here is a link to it inside of Facebook. << you may have to be logged into Facebook to access it.
When we got there we say about 20 kids playing in the parking lot. I made my kids wear “business casual” attire. I didn’t know that it would be anything goes. So they felt over dressed, but they got over it. We have just become a casual culture – what can you say. Not that I mind, I’m not fashion maven, I’m just sayin’.
So we got our tickets and lined up at the door to get in. There were no assigned seats (although there could have been because the church sanctuary had theater seating with rows and numbers for seats), so we were behind about 15 people in three lines. We waited at least 20-40 minutes for the doors to open. And when they did, the lines to the right and left of us started moving way faster than ours. Why is it that everybody always picks the slowest line to be in? How’s that happen?
When we got in there, the first 8 or so rows in the middle section were taken. The kids spotted the first row all the way to the left was open so we headed there. Another family beat us to it, so we ended up in the 2nd row way off to the side. Even so, we were about 20 feet from where all the action took place. The only problem for me was that the sound wasn’t designed to hit the corners, so when there was a lot of laughter you couldn’t hear the next line very well. It was all good though (now come on, there was laughter – I just meant that I had to concentrate to hear… anyway).
The Burkett’s came and got the seats next to us, and the Kiernan’s arrived too. But by then some boys had taken a few of our “reserved” seats and plus it was a challenge to decide to sit so far off center. Emily came down and sat with us though. Everybody said they could see and hear fine where the were.
Tim had another guy up first. He did a good job. I really appreciated his point that he felt bad for doctors and lawyers, because when they get to heaven (if they do – in the case of lawyers 😉 ), there won’t be much for them to do.  That probably applies to computer nerds too. Maybe I should take up gardening (and not the Facebook variety).
Tim did a great job. He even previewed his Candyman take off. He’s kind of a home town version of Weird Al with his spoofs of popular songs. It was a fun time.
Afterwards, we stopped off at Dairy Queen for a little dessert and then headed on home. We’ll definitely keep an eye out for the next time he comes into town. He’s lives around here, so I would think he’d do local shows more often – we’ll see.
Aug 31 2009
It was a long time coming…
There were threats, counter threats, and promises made. But it came down to this…
There would be a water gun showdown. Dr. Eddie not only took all comers, but he also mixed it up personally. It was a cloudy and rainy afternoon on July 12th when all sides gathered together. After a “last meal,” everyone headed outside and commenced to fightin’. Usually things were pretty spread out. There was one instance where the wrestling got knotted up when Joshua challenged Eddie.
As you can see – there was only one slide at the beginning. Here is some video from my phone – the quality is not too bad, but it’s not going to be shown at any film festivals this fall… (Umm, note – your sound is not broken – there was nothing to hear until the very end where Nathan comes inside. Although a few shouts and shrieks can be heard through the glass.)
If you watched the video to the end, you know that Nathan came in freezing (did you see how my camera made his little penguin walk just that much funnier? The camera got weirded out there at the end.). But I dried him off and we watched from inside for a while. I took more video, but I am only posting the best of the best so as not to bore y’all.
These shenanigans went on for quite some time. I was tired of standing and went off to sit down. During that time, Nathan could no longer stand it and headed back out in his dry clothes. He had been quietly watching, so I didn’t hear him slip out. In the mean time the fight had been reduced to trying out a “bigger, better” slip-N-slide.
And here is some final video of sliding folks. You can also see Nathan rolling his “bowling ball” all along the way. He does get a little peeved when “Kay Kay” jams up the traffic.
Thus ends our tale of Hydrogen Hydroxide induced destruction, for now.
There were many more fun and exciting happenings this summer, including VBS, the kids going to Tim Hawkins, and stuff like that. I’ll get to them soon (maybe post one more tonight when I get home from work 🙂 ).
I know you’re starving for more scoop on the happenings around here – blame it on the chronicler. (Oh, and happy birthday, Mom! Hope to catch you some time today!)
Jul 07 2009
Here is how we like to celebrate Independence Day. This is a little tradition brought about by necessity. Since we’ve had small children for over a decade, it seems that someone is always uncomfortable with the loud fireworks displays. But fireworks beyond what you can light in your yard have been a part of my 4th since the Music Man band and VP fair of the mid 80’s. So we’ve found a compromise. We normally head out around 9:20 or 9:30 for Steak-N-Shake. We order milkshakes and sit on a hill and watch 3-4 different displays: Hazelwood, Florissant, and Maryland Heights. All from a kid friendly distance. We get there just in time for the big finally. Forget the warm-ups, we just want to be dazzled. (Hannah discovered this year that we weren’t there from the beginning and was complaining that Mommy and Daddy had been tricking the kids! The jig is up!) That’s just about enough time to finish off the shake and get in the car and go home. Mission accomplished: total celebration in about 1 hour. You couldn’t do better if you produced it for reality TV!
This year was a little different. We were invited to visit with some friends who happened to live about a mile from a Steak-N-Shake… how convenient! So we parked at the destination and headed out on foot.
Here’s a view from the back of the pack.
Notice that Dad wore a long sleeve shirt? Some folks just don’t know how to check the weather…
Hmm – looks like Mommy and Hannah were lallygagging.
As we were passing by the school, we noticed that they had buses running as shuttles down to the fireworks display. Being homeschooled, our kids have never been on “the big yellow bus” that I’ve personally logged the equivalent of more than a few months on. Gotta capture this for posterity.
Hannah just looks like one of the kids from Jr. high (or middle school these days).
Unfortunately the bus couldn’t go down the street we needed so we drove past our destination and had to walk back. When we got out, there were about 20 people waiting to get on. But Dad had to take pictures anyway, what a dork.
Hannah said, “No press!” and Nathan couldn’t quite make that big step at the bottom.
Caleb is always ready to contemplate the significance of the moment though.
We got to our friends’ house and spent some time visiting and eating some of the food that was piled up around the place. There was plenty for all. I had a big heap of cherries that were yummy. When it was dark and fireworks were getting ready, we walked back and ordered our shakes. By the time we laid out our blanket, some rain started to sprinkle down. “It’s only a sprinkle, Dad.” Hannah informed me. I said, “When it’s coming down pretty good, I’ll remind you that you said ‘just a sprinkle’.” By the time the fireworks started a decent rain was coming down. Hannah volunteered to slip down to the van and get the cool golf umbrella that Laura got me for my birthday a year or two ago. The hill was so wet that she could barely walk back up with flip flops in the mud.
Laura and Nathan had retreated to the van. Joshua was melting as his legs were getting soaked – but with Daddy’s big umbrella we could mostly stay under it.
I tried to get an arms length shot while laying along the side of the blanket. Who needs fireworks pictures when you can see fireworks observers!
Hey, I just found a post from last year’s 4th of July! The more things change, the more they stay the same. I guess we’re pretty boring after all.
Jun 30 2009
Tonight Laura took Caleb and Nathan with her and went to talk about getting ready for VBS at the end of July. I was tasked with taking Hannah to the Library to do some crazy shirt painting exercise. It was going to take an hour, so I just stayed and read a portion of a Thomas Sowell book.
Joshua didn’t want to go with mom, and he thought he be bored with me. So he got to stay home – alone. Our neighbors down the street knew the situation, so they were available if needed.
This is how kids grow up you see. Nothing eventful happened. And with that the month of June fades away.
Jun 18 2009
Say it ain’t so!
After dad being adamant about not wanting the mess or the expense (for upkeep and additional home repairs…) of having a pet, mommy caved when she say the dwarf hamster owned by her work out buddy. So about a week ago (I guess I should be more accurate since we have a 14 day return policy that is running out fast!!), Laura took the kids to PetSmart and purchased a vermin with a cage to put it in.
I would show you a picture, but I don’t think anyone has thought to take one yet, and at this time of the morning “Helio” is still buried in the shavings at the bottom of the cage. I do have a picture of a rodent that looks very similar – only this one was in a trap… remember?
(I have pictures of that one, but as we said before – they probably aren’t for public viewing)
As you have probably guessed, I’m not enthusiastic about this turn of events. My view of pets is that they are a great oportunity to teach children the life object lesson of what death means. Pets die, and we get to tell our children about that reality. And that’s a valuable lesson to learn, especially as they become teen-agers and think they are imortal. ( Bible quote )
Caleb comes down first thing in the morning and checks on Helio. Joshua likes to let him run up and down his arms. He and Laura enjoy sticking it under my nose while I’m working at the computer – there must be some enjoyment out of that. I get none.
Wouldn’t have just been easier to just adopt the squirrels already in our attic?  Everybody else is happy with the decision, so there it stands. Even Hannah has purchased some garden gloves so she can hold Helio and not be concerned about rodent defecation touching her delicate skin. You can never be too careful.
Jun 18 2009
It took us a while to get some audio together, but it’s here now. This episode features the debut of Laura – she’s on the last segment, so you’ll have to listen all the way through. This episode is a little longer than the others (17 minutes).
Let us know what you think by leaving us a comment. Remember, it takes a while to have comments approved – so if they don’t show up right away, don’t sweat it … they will.