Kansas Alexander Family

Throw Up

2012-01-08T17:21:00.003-06:00

Jack threw up for the first time this weekend.

It was about 2:30AM and I heard the pitter-patter of feet from Jack's room to mine. He crawled in on his Mom's side. I tried to coaxing him on my side -- I woke up at 2:00AM for no reason, and was just looking up stuff on the Internet with my tablet, but Jack pretended he didn't hear me. Thirty minutes later there was a vomiting sound.

"Oh, No!!" Jack's Mom exclaimed and got up to take him to the toilet. He heaved a little, but quickly started crying, "What is it??" Jack creaked out, "What's coming from my belly?" It was the first time he'd thrown up since at least he was able to ask a question. He was slightly offended by the bile.

"Oh . . . Jack," Mom said sympathetically, "That's throw up, you're sick."

"Oh," then a pause, "What does throw up start with?" Jack croaked with fatigue and sickiness.

Mom and I both glanced a knowing look, this boy is obsessed with letters. "Throw up starts with a 'T', Jack," Mom replies.

I went and got a bucket from the Simple Human trashcan we have in our bedroom's bathroom and put that by the bed.

"What's that?" Jack asked inquisitively -- now pretty much wide awake.

"That's a bucket, Jack," I answered; and then responded out of reflex, "'Bucket' starts with a 'B.'"

"That's right, dad. Bucket starts with 'B.'"

Pants

2012-01-02T20:30:00.002-06:00

Mom just held up a pair of shorts.

We've been trying to get Terra to pass off her laundry to little avail. Today she finally did.

"Here's how long I've been trying to get Terra to give me her laundry," Mom says holding up a pair of shorts before putting them in the washing machine.

Here's how short the shorts are:

Jack passes by, "Those are my shorts from when I was a baby."

Jack's Christmas Recital

2011-12-20T20:25:00.003-06:00

Recital. Show. It's Jack. He's singing. With his best bud Blake.

In the Spirit of Hugging

2011-12-11T17:22:00.003-06:00

I'm hugging an appliance. Now, my baby's catching the fever, too.

I don't mind doing dishes. Dishes themselves aren't so bad. I think almost half the work in getting dishes into the dishwasher (at least our old one) is the amount of work it would take to get a dish clean just with soap, water, and a scrubbing pad. I know now, I hate drying.

Drying is a pain in the neck. You end up with a soggy dish towel or a heap of paper towels. The water runs all over the counter and while the drying is occurring, it takes up valuable counter space.

This week we finally had the time to get the appliance repairman out. He announced the damage for getting it fixed; and there would still be a leak on the left side that would also need repair -- we nixed the dishwasher.

The new dishwasher runs without leaking. I'm really proud of that because I installed the new dishwasher (which was super easy). The old dishwashers are happy they only have to put dishes in the machine, and the broken dishwasher is in the garage -- waiting to get hauled out to the curb for someone else to scrap.

Polaroid

2011-11-04T21:03:00.004-06:00

"There's a camera, that will print pictures automatically!" exclaimed Madeline.

"I think I have one those", I thought. I bought one a long time ago, before I had a digital camera that takes a million pictures at the cost of electrons on the battery.

I ran upstairs and combed through old boxes with older pictures. There it is -- the old Polaroid auto-focus, and with a "Made in England" stamp. What's this England? Aren't they the United Kingdom?

Sure enough, I can push the button and those Englander's or UK'ers have made some equpiment that still works 11 years later. The telltale "uunnnnnn-yahhhh" sound comes from the camera. Gray. Nothing. The film is out.

"But I really want to see what it looks like, Daddy!" Madeline tells me.

So begins the Quixotic quest to find Polaroid film. They are out of business -- in case you didn't know. Oh well. Kodak seems to be following closely behind them.

After looking on-line and coming to several dead ends, the Impossible Project finally had what I wanted.

Madeline was excited. "Can I take the next picture Daddy?" Of course you can, baby! (but just remember it's $3.00 a picture . . . ).

Brushing teeth Starts with "EN-Oh"

2011-11-04T20:51:00.002-06:00

"Baby starts with Popsicle!" Jack screams and invites a parent to tickle him, almost begging to be tickled.

"Baby starts with 'B!'" a parent exclaims and throws the boy on the bed, while he is gleefully laughing hysterically.

Jack loves to spell. He loves it. "Mommy, what does Polaroid start with?" Jack will ask. "Polaroid starts with a 'pee'", sounding it out, "and 'pee' starts with a 'pee.'"

"I'nna say that," Jack replies.

"OK, Jack, what does Polaroid start with?" Mommy asks.

"Polaroid starts with a 'PEE'", Jack replies.

But not now -- Jack intentionally says words start with other words (obviously impossible), because he thinks it's funny.

The other night Dad said to Jack -- "Jack, it's time to brush your teeth."

"Brushing teeth starts with 'EN-OH'", replies Jack, clearly spelling "NO."

(Did he really know what he spelled there? I glanced a look at my son's mother)

Jack's mom was too busy laughing hysterically. And what else can you do? when the boy is jumping on the bed and screaming, "Baby starts with Popsicle!!!!!?"

All you can do is pin him down -- and tickle him until he laughs.

still under < 1000 %

2011-07-01T20:17:00.003-05:00

or a buck short; someone that sees through the master plan.

I had a great Father's Day. It started the day before. I was not allowed to go downstairs. Allowed in the sense, "I'm paying for all this stuff," kind of of "allowed." This is a state of love and trust.

On Father's day at almost 7:10AM I heard the clinking of ceramic plates on each other. "Don't worry," I thought -- even though the girls' capacity for messiness grows logarithmically with their age, it'll be OK.

Sure enough, waiting for Mom and Dad in the way downstairs was a delicious helping of eggs and cheerios. Even the milk was laid out. Around the room were posters (8.5" x 11.0" paper) parameters saying "Dads' HDD (aka Happy Dad's Day)".

Happy Father's Day, Mike. -- it's all your fault.

got a few new things this weekend

2011-06-12T17:50:00.005-05:00

I got a couple new things this weekend. I got some new shorts that aren't linen, therefore don't wrinkle after wearing them for two seconds. I got a GPS from the home team here in Olathe, KS at Costco, it's the nüvi 1390 with unlimited maps. I also got a new mini-van.

Oh yeah, you read that right, after months of searching and literally years of thinking about it, I've got some new wheels. It's a 2010, Chrysler Town and Country, still has 20,000 miles/two years on the factory warranty. We wanted three row seating the most, something with space for three kids and their friends. Now I've got four cars. I feel sorry for my neighbors, I'm kind of worried they might show up with a petition.

Not to worry, I need to fix a few things on the Hyundai, then sell that car, save the money, and start saving again to replace the next car, looking to fix up a Traverse, Acadia, one of those bigger crossover vehicles with all wheel drive next.

This weekend we took the new wheels out for a ride and and visited the Day out with Thomas fair in Baldwin City. We used the GPS to get there and I wore my new shorts.

Who knows what I might get next week. I've got a dentist appointment tomorrow morning . . . maybe I'll get a new grill.

Southside rebuilders

2011-06-07T22:29:00.002-05:00

one of you are going to be mine. How'd you like to be the guy that drove a new car 1,169 miles and then got in a head on collision?

real gangsta

2011-06-07T22:19:00.002-05:00

Real gansta's don't have to flex nuts. They grow 'em . . .

although not really the nuts like peanuts (which is a vegetable -- not a real nut that grows on a tree), here's my garden with coriander, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and basil, chicken wire -- grows great sells at farmer's market, and wood.

Birds suck

2011-04-14T20:46:00.002-05:00

We're watching Blue's Clues on Netflix, now. Jack is pretty interested. I like this more than Dora. Dora always yells, "GREAT!" at me.

About a week ago, we had some killer hail. My car was outside, my truck was outside. Lots of dimples on those two vehicles. One of Madeline's friend's Mom had $6,500 in damage to her car. Two of the "blinds" in Terra's bedroom were knocked out by the hail.

Terra's room is upstairs. It used to be the laundry room. That's awesome in a four bedroom house with one kid at home, less awesome with three kids. That room's laundry hookups were converted ages ago. We moved the laundry downstairs to the basement and disconnected the upstairs ages ago.

The vent stayed outside, obviously. Two of the blinds were knocked out, like I said, which is just enough room for two birds to creep their ugly corpses in.

Sunday, Mom vacuumed the house and closed the door to Terra's room. Jack and Madeline don't need to be in there. Jack grabs stuff he probably shouldn't. Wednesday, Terra comes over for the night.

We went to PTO night at Sonic that Wednesday, and we tipped the server. (Misty and I ate at home, this was for the girls and boy).

The girls rode the razor on the sidewalk with their friends later that night. Jack started to ride his two wheeler, and was going really fast, enough that I had to stand him down and stop him from going speedily down the sidewalk. His favorite is turning around.

Later, it was time for Terra to go back to her Mother's house, and she went to her room to get some clothes. "Daaaaaaad! There's a dead bird in my room."

"What the . . . ", I thought. I couldn't believe it. I went up the stairs and entered the room.

Sure enough. There it was. OMG. A dead bird, in my girl's room.

Black with white spots, there it was. I picked it up and bit the head off.

Just kidding. I picked it up with a plastic bag and another plastic bag, then put it in another plastic bag and tied that off so it was air tight. The trash men are coming tomorrow, after all.

"We just got a letter, wonder who's it from?" way to go Steve -- I'm glad you and Blue's Clues , you're so much better than Dora, I love it that you don't yell at me.

Sure enough, there's a dead bird in the room. I can't believe I didn't stop and think of that. Terra's closet has a hole that goes outside for a dryer vent. The dryer vent had two blinds broken, more than enough room for a silly bird to push through.

Then the bird spent at least a day trying to get out. Bird poop is all over the window. "Dad, what's the circles on my dresser?!" Uhh, baby, the circles are bird poop. So is the white circles all along the window that looks like an army with dysentery stopped by.

The room is empty now. "BAM" is the best. I couldn't get the circles off the dresser, the carpet, the bed, or the window sill without that stuff.

I didn't take any pictures. We ate outside for dinner tonight. Every bird that I saw flying through our yard, and perching its comfortable legs on my trees or bushes . . . . I wanted to get my 0.22 out and shoot the daylights out of it.

Jack's laughing hysterically about something Steve is doing. I'm laughing just because he is, way to go Blue's Clues. Dora . . . your days are numbered on Netflix, I feel.

Tale of Two Shots

2011-02-24T20:01:00.002-06:00

We went to Terra's basketball game last weekend. They sell concessions at the high school. Jack and Madeline got their fair share of candy and sugar to start the game off right. Terra started the first quarter. Her team is playing man-on-man and she's doing great; for a while the concept that she is supposed to stay between her man and the goal didn't sink in quite right, but she's clearly doing it right now.

Madeline's minding Jack, who's running up and down the bleachers like crazy.

One fast break down the court, Terra's teammate was fouled while shooting a field goal -- two free throws. Moans and groans from the team, cheers from the parents and family in the bleachers. Everyone lines up to shoot the first free throw.

Terra's team mate gets the ball from the referee, the player takes two dribbles and lines up preparing to shoot, and the crowd quiets itself out of politeness.

The next thing heard was "I got to go poop, Dad!" very loudly from Jack.

Laughter all around. I was a little embarrassed. If he hadn't said, Dad, I would have asked Madeline to take him, but I volunteered. It was a long one. I got back in the second quarter, Terra from the side lines across the court mouths the excited words, "I made a shot!" Her first shot! I mouthed back, "I'm proud of you."

She played a great game, not just on defense. She hustled, didn't quite dive for a ball, but there's only one person in the league I've seen do that, she played her position, and had controlled dribbling. She didn't however score again Terra moped that I didn't see it -- so did I.

Fast forward to the evening and Madeline's basketball game. Madeline made a shot at the beginning of the year, but has since then she's been shy about shooting. Misty told her, "If you're under the basket -- shoot." She's usually taller than the girls guarding her, and she is stronger.

Her team was down 6 - 8, and came down the court on on offense, about halfway through the second half. One of her friends shoots the ball, misses the basket, but Madeline reaches up and makes the rebound -- then almost instantly shoots. I hear a slap on her forearm. She's been fouled while shooting, the whistle blows, and BAM, the basket goes in. The crow cheers, and so do I.

I look down and Terra's devastated. She can't believe I missed her shot.

Jack and Bob

2011-02-02T20:18:00.002-06:00

Jack loves Spongebob. We have it on our iPods and Jack watches. He laughs and giggles, its incredibly cute. He's been singing the song. If you've never seen it, the last part is the guy singing "SpongBob Squarepants" while the character Spongebob dances on the letters spelling his name.

Jack and Mom went to pick up some clothes at the dry cleaner. While waiting for the cashier to register the items, Jack started laughing and giggling to himself, and asked Mom, "What's his name, Mom? What's his name?"

"I don't know Jack."

"What's his name Mom?" Jack giggles some more, insisting a little more.

"I don't know Jack," and Mom looks at the name tag, "Bob. It's bob."

Jack laughed again, giggling and say, "I know Mom. His name is Spongebob."

Lights 2010

2010-12-12T21:55:00.002-06:00

People are driving by our house so slow now. Every year my neighbor sets up the light display in our block and we're a part of it. He owned his own business, they make light displays for towns, companies, and our neighborhood. He's retired and now his son runs the business.

This year with he passed out flyers with the start date. The whole family drove their trucks and hauled the light displays from storage. We were there to help, the girls love it. Now it's almost all working, they're still tinkering with some of the more intricate parts of the setup. Friday, someone was taking a picture of his family in front of our house.

Each house has a plastic container that houses a circuit board that controls about 24 relays. The circuit board is connected over ethernet to a central computer. There are about twelve of the plastic containers that all are synchronized with music that control when the poles, candy canes and snow flakes go on or off. The bigger displays are just on timers, they are on all night.

We got the train this year, previously we get the snow men. The train is my favorite; Jack and the girls agree.

Fire and cream

2010-11-07T18:10:00.003-06:00

How many times can you use a torch while cooking?

I am a sucker for Pappas Deaux since eating there seven years ago. I take a few trips to Albuquerque (where we have a Pappas Deaux) and so I have had the opportunity to visit again since the first time.

Last month on our trip to Austin we stayed the night in Dallas. Part of the reason to stay in Dallas was to give the family a break from driving, and the other (not so equal) part was so Dad could eat at Pappas Deaux and Mom could finally taste for herself all the good things I'd been talking about for so long.

My favorite desert has been the Creme Brulee, and I've always thought it was out of my reach, until this weekend. Mom was practicing for Thanksgiving dinner deserts and delighted dad with the debut of creme brulee.

I never thought something like that was achievable at home, until recently. I got the creeme brulee home style and it was delicious, as good as the ones at a restaurant. Misty found the recipe and I was delighted. Madeline tried it, and liked, but wouldn't admit it.

put that kid back in diapers

2010-10-01T20:35:00.002-05:00

"Put that kid back in diapers!" I exclaimed to my wife while picking up a particularly nasty bowel movement from the floor that fell out of the pull-up. These girls!!!

Just kidding. This particular BM came from the boy. Doggone it, if he isn't stubborn. Madeline and Terra have more patience with him than I am able to muster. In fairness, however, I have picked up more than they have.

Despite my complaining, my wife's perseverance is paying off. "I got to go potty," Jack runs to us clenching himself as if he's holding the solitary finger in the dam that's ready to burst. Jack's finally ready to get out of the diapers and move onto the bigger, more cottony things. He's done this in a much longer time frame than both of his sisters.

Maybe that means it will stick longer? Somehow I don't think so, and I'm positive it won't be my problem.

the shredder

2010-10-01T19:49:00.003-05:00

I have a shredder. Doesn't every paranoid person worry about fruit flies, identity theft, and pink shirts?

I shredded some papers after paying a few bills today. Jack helped. I went upstairs to find out how the delicious dinner I smelled was progressing.

Then from the downstairs I heard, "grrrrrrrr," from the cutting head on my cheap shredder.

"What the heck did Jack shred?" I thought. I still don't know. Hopefully not something I needed.

Trains

2010-09-18T20:47:00.002-05:00

I mentioned before that Jack is in love with Thomas the train. Well, the sad thing is that Jack's dad is a little obsessed with the toys as well.

I used Thomas to deter Terra from Barbie's for as long as I could. Now it turns out that a few of the toys I bought a few years ago (and had some enjoyment) are worth characterized by words like "rare." Totally new to me, I feel almost like I bought the very first Superman comic book.

Next, a word to the wise, "Never buy Thomas the Tank Engine stuff new." The toys are wooden, so they hold up well. Compared to a Polly Pocket or a barbie shoe, a Thomas the Tank Engine toys is like a diamond compared to a mood ring, they just hold up.

Now, Jack and I are watching every Thomas the Tank Engine episode I can get my hands on, almost every night. We've bought the DVD's, we've watched on Netflix, and on YouTube. However, once you get into Thomas, you quickly learn there are a ton they don't make anymore.

I'm not talking like Mattel stopped making Duke, for GI Joe, here. I'm talking about super critical stuff like the NW Brakevan, or Toad, and China clay cars, and Diesel. These are crucial characters to some of Jack's favorite stories (and his dad).

So, naturally, I went to Craigslist. Initially, just to get stuff like more track, but then I saw this sweet deal. It came with a lot of trains, and now we have some pretty cool stuff that isn't available anymore. We have Mavis with the green stripes. We have the first Bertie, and the Crosby Truck with no writing on it, which means it's a prototype.

"Dad, please go my room," is what Jack says, now. We moved the train table to his room. We got to his room, we setup the track, and we rehearse some of Awdry's stories.

The next best part is the girls are totally OK, with this. They know a little bit of this is my obsession. Then the next part is, "Hey! Wow!! Jack got Henry's forest car, let's go up stairs buddy!"

Labor Day

2010-09-18T20:30:00.002-05:00

We had Jack's birthday party schedule the second weekend in August, but guess what? That boy decided to get strep throat, aka striped throat, as one of my daughter's called it a few years ago. Jack was sick, with a real fever, so we had to reschedule the party. Labor day weekend was the day.

What a blast! Unfortunately, since Jack didn't have his real birthday party, he got several from us this past month. He finally had some closure though.

First, the girls were determined to dress this party up. They went with me to the store and we bought some balloons. They taped them to the hallways and Jack's steps.

Then, what almost brings a tear to my eye, they made Jack a crown, for the birthday boy. I thought to myself, "That's very sweet, but he won't wear it." Lo and behold St. James wore it the entire birthday party. He loved it. It had his favorite things on it: cars, trucks, and trains. We actually kept the crown, and I'm not a super sentimental guy, usually a picture is good enough for me.

It was all very fun. Jack knew about his presents, his sisters genuinely made it very clear that it was his birthday and he enjoyed every minute of it.

Then the fun moved outside, after the presents were opened. We played on the tire swing. Sarah, the eldest girl wound up the tire swing and had everyone spinning on it, she got the most turns. Later, she threw-up, but despite that, had a great time.

And I borrowed our neighbor's steam cleaner, and now we have super clean first level floors. (Once you clean up one spot, the rest of them just need it.)

postponed birthday party

2010-08-08T16:44:00.002-05:00

Jack's got strep throat, poor little buddy. He needs a new cranky to make him feel better. I've watched more Thomas the Tank engine movies than I ever have this weekend. We bought season one on iTunes, and I bought the A/V cord to connect it to our TV's. I know the exact minute and second the "Donald and Douglas" episode runs, it's Jack's favorite.

Madeline's been very sympathetic. Although when Jack cries for no reason, just because she's around, she looks a little perplexed at me. "He's sick," is all I can say in his defense.

Misty's picking up his prescription presently. He weighs in at 41 lbs.

lots of time on wheels

2010-08-07T22:30:00.002-05:00

Last time I ranted about carrying a silly tricycle up the hill, and how Jack couldn't go fast enough now that we all have new bikes. Two new things.

Yesterday we went for a bike ride where Jack rode his tricycle the whole way. We went to the playground, jumped up and down on the slides, we swinged on the swings, and made it all the way back home. I've just got new way to ~~manipulate~~ inspire the young lad.

First and foremost, avoid the hills. We went the long way to the playground, but there are no hills. Second, take water. It's hot. Transporting water's easy. Third, let his sisters get ahead of him, Jack is fiercely competitive with them, he keeps up.

Then fourth, get an awesome Burley bicycle trailer. That thing is AWESOME. We went really fast down the hill (and really, really slow back up). I can think of a hundred scary things with a bicycle trailer, like turning, wiping out, knocking over something because the trailer is wider than the bike, the trailer tires getting stuck, disconnected trailer from the bike, least of all that it's heavy. The Burley eases these. It's super lightweight, it has what's basically a rollover cage, uses a pin to mount to the bicycle, and a canvas strap, super big tires at 45 psi. Jack likes it a lot, "Whoa dad, that's pretty cool."

It can support the girls' weight. Madeline didn't like going very fast.

I'nna hold choo

2010-08-01T19:52:00.002-05:00

This is Jack's saying, "I'nna hold choo, [mommy|daddy]," the last noun is either mommy or daddy, it depends. And that "depends" is what I'm going to gripe about right now.

Mom gets the "I'nna hold choo, mom," at the dinner table, or just before bed time, watching a movie, or when Jack gets hurt. Dad gets the "I'nna hold choo, dad," walking up a giant hill, that Jack has decided he can't traverse on the tricycle. It's not enough that Dad has is required to hold the tricycle, but Dad also has to carry the almost three year old boy up a hill, while carrying a tricycle, after riding said tricycle all over the neighborhood and playing at the playground for 30 minutes in 100 degree (heat index) weather.

Jack -- in 30 years, "I'nna hold choo, Jack." He'll hold his Mom, I know, not his Dad.

Summer almost over

2010-08-01T19:11:00.004-05:00

Oh, man. The summers can never be long enough, I think. The girls stay up late, I don't have to shovel snow, lots of grilling, outdoors, and birthdays.

We've gone through three of the four summer birthdays. Terra had a slumber party with our neighbor's kids. She got a new bike. Madeline had her birthday party this weekend (they stayed up until 5AM Saturday morning). I came down stairs to scold them into sleeping and noticed one had evacuated herself upstairs to the couch in the family room. There were five girls in all, minus Terra (not with us this weekend).

Misty's birthday was my favorite, we were able to go to the Blue Stem (sigh, love the Blue Stem).

We all now have bikes. Madeline got a new 10 speed with her birthday money from Grancy and Big Daddy. Misty's had a Cannondale since college, and I just bought a Diamondback Sorrento. It's a hybrid. I hate the "Mountain Bike" phenomenon. I did'nt want shocks.

We tried a test run of us all going out together, however, Jack's Radio Flyer Tricycle doesn't cut it, he gets behind and gets mad when his sister flies past. I'm looking on Craig's list for a trailer now that Jack can ride in and I will hitch onto my bike.

We went to the water park last Thursday, I'm still recovering, but we met up with family there and had a blast. Lots of fun. Some guy Madeline met in line, Tyler, ended up with a little crush that I had to scare out of him.

Flies

2010-07-05T21:28:00.001-05:00

I killed eleven flies this weekend, all in the house. Little fly-bags.

Tire Swing

2010-07-05T21:04:00.003-05:00

Wow. What a difference a tire swing makes. I'd like to take all the credit. However, whilst running to the garage to pick up a tape measure I handed my beautiful wife the rope that was hanging the tire swing in mid-air. I wanted to get a few measurements before cutting the rope and the chains.

I arrived back to see a perfect slip knot (no, not the band you punk losers) tied to the lawn chair my wife was using.

"How did you do that?" I asked incredulously. Everything with knots escapes me. I'm a pre-boy scout, pre anything useful. I've watched Terry tie a few, and it's completely over my head.

"What?" my wife asked indignantly, "I know how to tie a slip knot," answering my question as if I knew the answer. I admitted my ignorance immediately. My wife showed me how to tie the slipknot and while I still stared with complete bewilderment in my face, she said, "Let me climb the ladder, I can tie the rope off."

Whew, I thought. The design for this tire swing is different than the grandparent's. I think with this one we should be able to get all three kids in at the same time, although I'm not sure about the branch. The equipment from the hardware store will sustain 420 lbs at it's weakest point (that's the S-Hook the three chains connect).

New Compuer. w00t!

2010-06-21T16:39:00.003-05:00

The Dell desktop was taking forever to do anything. I'd been having problems running applications on it for a while. I think it could use more memory and a rebuild, probably an upgrade to Windows 7 would have been good, too.

Instead of doing all that I decided I needed to get a new computer, along with a new monitor, and a much needed new router. The old router was years old, ancient by computer standards, I couldn't do WPA, and I blamed it for all my devices being slow. Now I can walk anywhere in the house with an iPod touch or Nintendo DSI, let alone a laptop, and the performance is great. Plus, I don't have to type in some useless WEP key that can easily be deduced on local traffic observations.

I'm going to rebuild the old systems with Linux and build a squid proxy server. The girls are getting pretty Internet savvy. They're using the laptops to go most places.

I've been geeking out all day moving the stuff from my "legacy" computer, to the new computer.

Another Movie Story

2010-06-02T22:01:00.000-05:00

The girls invited friends and we all went to see a movie. We got the girls kid's packs that include Skittles, popcorn, and a coke. Lauren, Madeline's friend, brought her own money and bought a big, huge pack of candy. The movie wasn't keeping the attention of the girls and those movies rarely keep Jack's attention at all. He was wandering up and down the aisles, I had to grab him a couple times. The girls were talking very loud and I had to scold them to be quiet so the other family in the cinema could hear.

Jack was going back and forth to Lauren who still had some candy left over after everyone had finished her/his kid's pack. He was totally riding on a sugar high and marched up and down the aisles. He sat down on steps near where I was sitting and was actually calm. He handed me what I thought was a green skittle and said "Thank you," and put it in my mouth.

Chocolate. It wasn't a Skittle! I was tasting Chocolate and Jack had been combing the floor. "Who knows what he picked up off he floor?", I thought. I spat it out, and started to scrape my tongue. I leaned in to my wife, "Jack just handed me an M&M that he picked up off the floor," I told her. She replied, "Oh, no, Lauren bought some M&M's." I was so relieved.

band hero's

2010-03-31T18:57:00.002-06:00

We got band hero last weekend. Terra's in love with it, she's really good on the drums. I'm terrible with the drums. I can't figure out how to use my hands on the drum and cymbals and by foot on the bass drum at the same time.

Movie Weekend

2010-03-31T18:48:00.002-06:00

Madeline went to camp with girl scouts this last weekend. Terra stayed home. She gave Madeline a giant hug when Madeline came back home Sunday evening, "Madeline! Don't ever leave again!"

We went to see the movie "How to train your dragon." Terra invited a couple friends to go (Madeline went to see it Friday night with another friend of hers). Jack was restless. He was moving throughout the picture, but when a spot showed that caught his interest he would stop his wandering and look up at the screen. Then he caught the bucket of popcorn of the gentleman in front of us. Jack reached over, Mom stopped him. "Jack, sshh. Watch the movie. Sorry, sir."

Jack saw his moment later. He reached for the bucket, lifted it off the seat in front of him, then over the seat, and SPLASH. The popcorn landed everywhere. I had to go get another bucket of popcorn for the guy, and Mom's purse was filled with it.

Jack is standing in front of me now with his shirt off, holding a book. "Read book, Daddy."

"No, Jack, we've read that book three times already."

I don't think it's wrong to say, "No," even if it's a book. Whoever bought him the "Cars" (the movie) books for Christmas is EVIL. I've read those books a million time, and that was last Saturday.

Sick, Sick, Sick

2010-03-07T21:22:00.002-06:00

zomg, everyone has been sick this Winter, it's been awful.

Misty and I were both sick, terribly sick, in the middle of January. Terra was sick the end of January, went to the doctor's office, and ended up missing school. Madeline wasn't feeling well that same weekend and had strep throat the next week. She was throwing up and missed almost a week of school. I was away in San Diego on a business trip, where I thought I was going to enjoy the warm client, away from a sick family, and I got sick -- again. Misty had almost the same thing I had, so I'm guessing we both got it from Terra. Then last week, Misty came up with a cold, aching sinus-like infection, and I fought through the same thing a few days later.

No more sick. This weekend has been nice and we spent as much as we could outside. I could still feel the sun on my face yesterday evening, I pushed Jack in a swing on a treeless school playground for almost an hour. That child loves the swing.

Trains on tracks

2010-02-08T21:00:00.003-06:00

Have you ever seen your kid play gleefully with trains at book or toy stores? Enjoying every minute, right? We've got all the ingredients for that to work at home. A nice table, tons of track, lots of trains, other little houses and people that can you can setup around whatever track layout you can think. But here's the deal, I've never seen the kids really enjoy it.

Jack gets extremely frustrated. He tries to put the track together himself, which is awesome, but then of course it doesn't mate up, there's an upper elementary school level of geometry in the curves and length. or he'll use a track that I've put together and the whole track gets disconnected and comes apart. He gets angry, he grunts, he yells at the Thomas trains. It's sad to watch.

The difference is the track at the stores is completely glued down with bondo. Try lifting one of those tracks up, you'll lift the table before that track comes undone. So, we glued our track down. I bought some hardboard, cut it to size, and glued it on a 1/4" plywood sheet, also cut to size. Then the track went down and when I was happy with the form, I used some hot glue and a glue gun and cemented those suckers on the hardboard. It's great, less than $20, too. It has two bridges, two lifts, a couple circles; Jack (and the girls) can push Thomas and a massive number of trucks along the track and guess what? It doesn't come apart. They don't get frustrated.

The glue comes off easier than wood glue, but it takes some work. Jack still sets up the extra track on the floor or in the spare spaces around the table. He still gets to use his imagination, it's just now if he wants to play with a train on the track, he doesn't have to use his imagination that an earthquake came and superman had to put the thing back together.

Next I'm going to ask the girls to paint some landscaping with streams, trees, bushes, and the like on the hardboard. Then we'll scrape the glue and make a new track design for it and throw away the old hardboard, less than a few dollars. 4' by 8' sheets of hardboard are like $9.00.

Found the penny

2010-01-07T20:14:00.003-06:00

In response to a recent post, we've also found the penny! Who can get a picture of the year on the penny first?!

Long Weekend

2009-12-06T21:27:00.002-06:00

Jack woke up 11.30PM Wednesday night throwing up. He threw up the rest of the night and on until the next morning. Friday morning, his Mom, had the same kind of thing. Saturday morning, Madeline got it. Then Sunday morning, Mom got it again. Or something new. It's a good thing I don't get sick.

Today, with both of the kids at home feeling reasonably well, we went outside. Madeline bundled Jack up along with herself and we kicked the ball around some in the backyard. I have been clearing a tree out from the corner of the yard, and I stepped back there to view my handy work. Two trunks remain on this tree, down from about 13. The last two lean over my neighbors fence and I've been considering the options for cutting these hold outs. However, in between now and then, it has several foot holds and Jack likes peering over the privacy fence. "Cars," which he says like "hires" and "Trucks!" with a grunt right from the gut pointing out the miscellaneous toys in the yard and on the deck. "I can climb higher Daddy," Madeline says.

She only gets so far, there aren't many branches to hold on to anymore, and so she ran to her old favorite, Terra and Madeline have climbed this tree for the last several years to daring heights.

"See Daddy!" I acknowledge how high she is in this tree. Very high. Jack's demanding a little more attention as he's taking new steps on the other tree, and looking more intently at all the neighbor's yard has to offer.

I hear Madeline say, "I'm scared," which I've heard before, too. I say, "I'm keeping a hold of Jack, he's not so good at this." Then a dozen seconds a loud "SNAP," echos from Madeline's direction, clearly a limb broke. I quickly turned my head to the left to see the scariest thing I've seen with my kids. Madeline falling from about 15 feet.

Terra was bucked off a horse once, and it's amazing how the eye and brain can process all the stimuli. Everything moves so slowly. The limb that's cracked is above her head. It's about as long as she is. My girl's body is in a position that looks like an extended jumping jack in mid-air her arms in a V and her legs in an upside down V. She closed her legs, her arms still flailing around. Then the inevitable, a loud "THUD," as her feet hit the ground. She landed and then fell backward on her bottom and rolled over on her stomach.

I pulled Jack out of the tree with one hand, set him on the ground, and raced over to Madeline. She's groaning, low grunts, no tears. "STOP MOVING!" I exclaimed, and I tried to do the triage questions, but she won't have any of it. Mom comes running outside, she heard the drop on the ground and knew what happened.

Madeline has a huge bruise on her bottom, but other than that she's unharmed. No broken leg, arm, back . . . thank the Lord. That girl is 97% muscle and I'm guessing between that and the adrenaline she avoided breaking any bones. The bruise on her bottom was when she fell back and landed on one of the tree's roots.

They don't get younger

2009-11-22T20:14:00.005-06:00

My girls picked up the downstairs, that included my office. Before I learned they picked up my office, I declared, "I hope you didn't mess up my office." They did, and it looks great.

Included in my office is a sweet, sweet poster. It has all my girls' pictures on it, with their little brother. It has "1# Dad, from Madeline" and "To: DAD, from: Terra, Madeline." What a treasure. Misty has a HUGE poster in her office, Madeline taped together a 3x3 sheet of 8.5 x 11" papers and wrote how much she loves Mom, and a portrait of the two. In a few years, this will be the last thing on these girls' minds.

Then you hear Jack crying, because the girls are trying to carry him around the house like a sack of potatos and you think, "THAT'S IT!!! I've had it, he's old enough to walk and he's not an American Girl doll, he wants to walk." Then halfway to the location of the screaming, Jack is laughing hysterically as the girls chase him and you think back, they won't get younger, this won't last long. Treasure it. at least until the next time someone screams (hopefully that's not me).

Movies

2009-11-22T19:59:00.002-06:00

Terra had a favorite movie. I watched "Tarzan" a million times, no lie. She would just sit down and watch that sucker. I'm so fed up with the movie, I can't watch it anymore. Psychologically, I wonder if that says something about me, like I should have feelings of nostalgia instead of loathing. Now, I hear the Phil Collins stuff, and I'm like, "ZOMG, no more. Make the bad man go away!"

Jack has selected his favorite movie. "Watch Buzz." That comes across much different in "Jack Talk," but it eaks its way out nonetheless. Toy Story is his favorite. Now, the movie has not usurped fire trucks, cars (in jack talk this is "kires"), or going to down a slide. Buzz is parallel to these, just his favorite one in a new track.

Does anyone else hate iTunes complete FREAKIN vanity!! "There's a new version of me out, download me!!! I love myself." I hate you, iTunes.

into the garage we go . . .

2009-11-16T20:30:00.002-06:00

Yes! We can still fit both cars in the garage. It's getting cold in America's Midwest. I can still fit the two cars with the saw horses, the bandsaw, the jointer, the planer, the work bench, and the table and miter saws. It's come such a long way.

Halloween

2009-10-31T21:49:00.003-06:00

This Halloween we had all three kids. Terra was little red riding hood (befitting), Madeline was a Pink Pirate, and Jack was a Elmo. It was a great Halloween. We remembered the best houses. On one cul-de-sac, a guy decided to grow some gourds. I have no idea why, but somehow, he managed to get a 147 lbs. pumpkin out of the ground. That's heavier than my wife.

My favorite story from this Halloween starts with our neighbor. Prior to leaving on our adventure, our neighbors' kids stopped by, dressed as a pink pirate and a kitty cat. The dad (Dave), arrives wearing a Grim Reaper tunic, carrying the scythe, and painted on his hands are white lines pointing to metacarpals and phalanges.

His youngest daughter is very proud of the costume. "Look at my dad's bones," she exclaims, holding her dad's hands. "He's a boner! Dave the boner!!" she repeats, laughing at her joke, oblivious to any other meaning. I laughed hysterically.

Awards

2009-10-28T20:57:00.004-06:00

Kids can be the sweetest thing. Sometimes I am reminded that isn't true, but not tonight.

Waiting for me on my pillow was a pink envelope with some writing, what looked like a candy wrapped in a bright yellow wrapper, and a ribbon. The ribbon says "Awarded to Dad, for: the best dad in the world." The candy wrapper is yellow paper with little smiling lady bugs all over, carefully drawn and colored. Wrapped in the yellow paper is a worn, smooth rock for a lucky charm. The pink envelope has three screws in it with a note inside, "For working on something" and on the outside of the envelope it says, "To: Dad, from: madeline."

I think there's a couple little things that make this so tender and beautiful. First, the red ink on Madeline's hand when she came in and gave me a huge bear hug, and told me how much she loved me. There were little ink blotches on her fingers, and I could picture her coloring the little lady bugs studiously. She later told me she worked especially hard on the lady bugs. One of them almost looks like it has three dimensions.

The screws are sweet, because I've been doing some work out in the garage and she of course knew I could use them. These are just some random screws she picked up from somewhere. It couldn't have been my garage, my garage is immaculate (I do have a Ridgid 6HP, 16Gallon Shop-vac/blower). She's thinking of me when she sees something as simple as a wood screw melts my heart.

But the real tender side comes from yesterday. As a "punishment" for not listening, I had her help me in the garage sanding a few things down, and I had her use some citrus cleaner to wipe dried glue from some clamps with a wire brush. She was so mad at first, but she really worked hard. I had to go inside once and she asked when I would be back. By the end of both chores she was completely into it, and I dare say even liked it.

So a couple things are coming out of this bright spot in my evening. One, Madeline and I are going to Dunkin Donuts tomorrow morning for breakfast before school, and two, I've got to stop cursing all these "lady bug" beetles that are everywhere in the Midwest. At least in front of Madeline, I'm going to stop cursing those things. I can't stand the @!#$* beetles. I squish them every chance I get.

Funny words

2009-10-12T21:04:00.002-05:00

Two funny stories about Jack with words.

After dinner one night this weekend we played a game. We went around the table and tried to get Jack to repeat the word. I started, "Jack, say 'Daddy.'" Slam dunk, Jack says daddy all the time. Then it was Mom's turn, "Jack, say 'Mommy.'" Another slam dunk, of course Jack says "Mommy" all the time. Madeline goes next, then Terra and back to Dad. We started with Jack's favorite words, Cookie, truck, fire truck, train, airplane. Jack is eating up the attention and we are laughing hysterically. Jack's into it now, he's rolling. More words come out, airplane, apple juice, rain, tree, cracker, milk, everyone's scoring and the game is tied.

Eventually it got back to Mom, and she pauses. "C'mon Mom," Madeline says and Mom replies, "I'm thinking..." As if on cue, Jack comes right back, "I'm thinking!" Everyone laughed so loud. Jack loved it, everyone did.

Then on Sunday night we were playing Uno with our neighbors. I was down to my second to last card, played it, and Mom gets me, "You didn't say UNO!!" Ohh, I was so aggravated, I picked up my two card penalty and repeated "UNO, UNO, UNO" several times. Then Jack screams out, "UNO!"

Teeth News

2009-10-05T20:42:00.002-05:00

Madeline had some braces for orthodontia (I spelled that write the first time!) work and we are looking at the results right now. Her teeth are so straight.

Sick News

2009-09-21T21:37:00.002-05:00

Madeline was deathly ill the first week of school. She went for two days then was home for three days. I haven't seen her sicker. Terra was sick last week. She thought it was the flu, turned out to be strep throat.

Now, when you go to the hospital with flu-like symptoms you are going to get a surgical mask handed to you. I thought it was a trip. Like MJ out on a trip in the town, the girls gets to wear a surgical mask to not infect us others.

Trains

2009-09-21T19:19:00.002-05:00

"Choo-choo." Misty found out about a reading session at one of the book stores. I've got one thing that I think a book store would be able to give to the reader of the book, and that would be a book, right? But evidently, the book store didn't have the book, the lady was reading from a photocopy of the book. A photocopy?! What the heck, man.

So Jack listens to the story for a little bit, screams out "truck" every chance he can, then goes off to find a train set in the store and falls in love. Little did Jack know we have a storage box filled with trains. I got it out that afternoon after Misty told me his joy over the trains. It's setup now in the TV room. Jack loves it.

So do the girls. They are all over it, the train set is everything that they wanted and didn't get in . . . wait, uh, I think they have everything they wanted. I remember with Terra, my biggest trap was setting up the train track so it was too complex. Now the girls are ready to setup the complex mazes that are possible with the tracks, but Jack gets overwhelmed and the trains get frustrating for him when he can't make a 270 degree right turn on a Y shaped track.

Alea is over and has put together a nice track with bridges, circle's, curves, and all the goot stuff. Jack is ramming his train head on to her train.

No Shirt, No Shoes . . . fun

2009-09-21T19:14:00.004-05:00

Jack's new thing is no shirt. He doesn't like to have a shirt on, especially when he is outside. I think this is a phase every boy goes through. This is how the no shirt rule started out; he got something from the ice cream man, it melted and created a mess all over himself. When it's all over the boy, then the shirt needs to come off, and the next thing you know he's trying taking his clean shirts off that we just put over his head three minutes ago before going outside.

Truck Fixed

2009-09-14T21:58:00.004-05:00

Truck finally fixed. It wasn't the catalytic converter, thank heavens. I tried to remove the catalytic converter just to see if that was a problem, but the bolts are rusted on there so bad, it was going to have to come off the hard way.

Travis brought his OBD, connected to the truck's computer. I'm not sure that's what lead to the fix though, it though the neutral safety was an issue. Real problem turned out to be the fan clutch. Bought a new one and replaced the old busted on this afternoon.

Jack's words

2009-09-10T21:10:00.003-05:00

Jack's day care teacher at the hospital told Misty, "I love how he says Truck, and what."

Jack's filled with words now. He's bursting with them. It's so hilarious to listen. He's always been the strong, silent type, but now he jibber jabbers like nobody's business.
"I want down."
"Don't want down."
"Mamma's jack"
Both his sisters' names
"No." one of his favorite's
"Apple"

There's a ton more. The really funny part is he will just jack jabber for ever and is very serious about what he's saying. I know this because I can play respond in different ways and it's obvious from his reaction that I completely missed the topic.

"Yeah, Jack, the truck is white." Jack replies, "Jibber jabber,jibba jabba...." and goes a mile a minute.

"Yeah, Jack. Red is my favorite color when the maple's are turning, too." Jack's response, " . . . "

But his teacher's favorite words are my favorite words. We are going to get a video of it. Jack says "truck" with his mouth contorted on one side. And he says "what?" with the best emphasis, like, "I'm busy, what do you need?!"

Clean Truck

2009-09-10T20:55:00.005-05:00

The truck had a few mouses [sic] that made a comfortable home in it for a little while. Not the funnest thing in the world to smell, it's not like it has a great bouquet or anything. And believe me, it's hard to think of Mickey Mouse or Jerry while vacuuming mouse turds with a shop-vac.

Now, the truck is relatively clean. My allergies are like a punch in the face right now so I can't smell a whole lot, but I can say, it smells a lot better than before. Nothing a little bleach can't help.

Then the engine started acting up. It loses all power after 2000 RPM, so if you're behind a '88 Ford truck in Kansas, don't expect to pick up speed very fast or go over 55mph. I called Travis, he thought, given the history, this was a problem in the air box with a mouse nest. Sure enough, that was a problem. The breather filter needed replaced. Still didn't fix the problem.

Called Travis, "Try the fuel filter." Replaced the fuel filter, which needed to be replaced, still no go. Now we (aka Travis) thinks the issue is with the catalytic converter. That's past my skill. I can't even see how to get in there.

Also, look at this bandsaw, it's from Atlas (built in USA!). I got some arn (see Old Wood Working Machines). I'm trying to figure out the date it was made based on the serial number, I'm guessing the 1960's. This thing has no plastic, no aluminum just iron (arn).

Gerbils

2009-08-26T21:51:00.003-05:00

A little bit of background story here for everyone at home. Terra and Madeline begged for gerbils, Terra a lot more than Madeline. Finally, after literally an entire weekend of begging, Mom and I caved in to the request. Actually they wanted dwarf hamsters but after a few hours of searching on the Internet, I found the pet qualities of a gerbil to be greater than those of a hamster. I nixed the dwarf hamster request. However, gerbils are not as popular with the laymen out there and it's not easy to find them at pet stores, at least compared to rats, guinea pigs, mice, or hamsters.

The girls got some money from Grancy and Big Daddy for their birthdays and while Grancy visited we went to a few pet stores to find gerbils. The first didn't have gerbils and Terra was devastated. While we were driving away from the store back home to regroup, she convinced herself that I wouldn't take her to any more stores and she wouldn't get a gerbil, and she sobbed. Madeline sobbed, too, but it sounded so half-hearted. I asked, "Madeline, are you crying." She pulled her hands down from her face -- no tears. She laughed. "No, but I'm just trying to fit in back here." Grancy and I could barely hide our laughing.

We found a pair, finally, and got them. I built a cage for them and the girls love putting scrap pieces of wood for them to play. They quickly became proficient at getting out. I put some netting, the kind to cover a screen door, over the top and weighted it down, I meant to get some more wood and build a second tier to the cage this weekend with the girls. It was going to be slick. Mitred edges, panels using plywood, then the second tier would clip on to the first level of the cage. I wanted to get those suckers out of the garage and downstairs so the girls would tend to them better. However, the gerbils gnawed their way out of the screen netting that easily secured them for the last week. To make matters worse, they did this while the garage door was open.

I found one of them under the compartment in the deep freeze that houses the motor. He usually hides there. The other one though . . . gone. Probably out the garage door and hiding in some bushes. Maybe we'll find him, I doubt it.

The girls are taking it well. According to them, it is Madeline's that made the great escape.

New truck

2009-08-26T21:48:00.003-05:00

New truck, new to me that is, it's not a new truck. This is a 1988 Ford F250 2x4. It smells a little like a field mouse lived there, but other than that it's in great shape. The clutch might need some help, too. But that's going to be my fault. I seized that thing a lot, rocked it, oh heavens. The first couple days were rough. I rocked the car so bad while trying to get the clutch out the tail gate shot down. That was a loud noise.

Pictures. Pictures. Pictures.

Best Bands

2009-07-21T20:52:00.002-05:00

Misty has really taken to running. I try. She's really good. One of the things she received for her birthday is a Nike pedometer. Highly annoying is that you have to have a 2nd generation iPod Touch to get this freakin' thing to work. Well, maybe not so annoying.

See, I bought the iPod touch deal a while ago for Misty. This time, we upgraded to the newest "Second Generation!!!" (completely sarcastic) iPod touch system, but I get the first generation. Which is slick as anything for me. I can't take any of this cool stuff to work, so I've never paid much attention to it, but this thing is so sweet. I get to listen to my songs, or at least build my playlists of my thousand favorite songs. That doesn't mean I get to listen to them.

Back to the original thought for the post. Bar none -- Dinosaur Jr. and Catherine Wheel are the best bands. I'm totally diggin' on "Whatever's cool with me," "Get Me," and "Black Metallic," "Show me Mary," right now. It's been years since I jammed out to these things.

The Madeline Show

2009-07-13T21:58:00.001-05:00

On a new note, now that one of my girls has a camera that takes video. They are collecting episodes of "The Madeline Show," loosely based on an iCarly show.

0.66 Done

2009-07-13T21:00:00.004-05:00

When I sign-in to the Blogger thing I'm always presented with the option of adding a post to my Virgina Beach cohort's blog, or to this one. The former is at something like 679 posts, I think mine is at 69. I am jealous really, I wish I had that stamina.

SIXTY-NINE!!

That's an homage to my Bingo days from assignment in to AOR in Saudi Arabia back in the desert storm days. Those days are long past, so am I.

Two birthdays down. First my wife (my beautiful wife). We "celebrated" her birthday Tuesday. Two days before her birthday but our middle baby (actually almost 9 years old), was going to camp on the real birthday. We opened a few presents. This has reinforced my hypothesis that the perfect birthday order is Mom, Madeline, and then Terra. I don't think Jack's order matter a great deal, but this is still in scientific exploration mode.

Following my wife's birthday is Terra's. Determined that the whole family had to get heartburn, she wanted to go to Chili's for dinner.

This reminds me of an excellent anecdote. While I was trying to convince my wife that only she was able to eat the delicious weight watcher's meals (the rest of us needed more -- ok ME!) I was on a "Let's always go out to eat," modal. We went to eat Mexican.

"I eat enchilada's all the time at my Mom's," Terra says while she is looking at the menu (never mind that Dad makes excellent Enchilada's). "Madeline, you should have some."

We placed our order. The enchiladas arrive. "Terra. Where is the meat? There is no meat on this!! You said there would be meat. There's only cheese." This was followed by several groans from the oldest. "OK! OK, I'm sorry Madeline. I made a terrible mistake!"

So, back to the storyline, Chili's wasn't so bad. Order from the "guilt free" menu if a kid you own begs you to go. However, if you also have a baby that is supposed to eat 1,200 calories a day, anything with "Crisper" in the menu title is going to be an ace!

Terra got what she wanted, she got a "digital camera, with zoom, that takes movies, and the pictures look good." Plus a ton of money from Grancy and Big Daddy! She's spent $10.00 so far.

My son is crying. One of his sisters will not let him play with one of the girls' toys. "Mine! Mine!" Jack's favorite words.

One and two liners

2009-06-07T11:59:00.006-05:00

The diversity of sizes in our plastic cup population is killing me. There isn't enough order in the cabinet to keep me sane.
Jack is a killer kicker. He squares himself with the ball, takes between three and eight steps backwards, then concentrates, races forward, and nails it with his right foot.
Jack's going to be right handed, almost positive.
Terra wants an iTouch iPod; trying to convince her she wants something else, like a nice purse.
Madeline's going back downstairs by herself again. Terra told her a vicious rumor about robbers and she wouldn't go downstairs for ever.
I gave a presentation at the DOE Cyber Security Conference on "Federating a Wiki."
The pool is freezing, I don't know how Terra and Madeline can stand it.
While I was cleaning out our side garden, poison ivy attacked. I was miserable, spent like $50.00 on meds to try and fix it. Yesterday, I gleefully sprayed twice the strength necessary of Roundup on the plant. It's great to watch it wilt in demise.
Jack loves his "Silly Christian Songs" video. I think his favorite song is "I'm in the Lord's Army."
San Marcos whole jalapenos are a must with tacos at home. You can cut the jalapeno and let the juices drip on some chips, in addition to putting the pepper in the taco.
Madeline and Terra are having a blast with frogs from the creek this summer. They've captured at least five and keep them in a five gallon paint bucket in the backyard, nourishing the creatures with crickets.
Only a few of the frogs have passed on, there's only one in captivity presently.
I did not like the new Star Trek movie, although I'm glad I was able to see it.
Terra and Madeline both performed in their respective talent shows for the end of school. I could never have done that. Both danced.
The backyard looks fantastic with all the grass. I removed two huge bushes in March and it's really opened things up.
I'm trying to break Jack from the habit of throwing his plate filled with food when he's finished with a meal. He looks very seriously at me when I scold him, "OK, I won't do it again," but he never wants to remember.

New things to come?

2009-04-19T08:48:00.003-05:00

Madeline could be an artist. Her art teacher in school loves her. She is always drawing at home and working on craft projects that she comes up with all on her own.

A few weeks ago, both girls put together a Card Company. "Let's make greeting cards!" They both were downstairs for an hour working on the cards, then I setup the foldout table at the end of the garage, the girls made a few large signs and started selling cards.

My favorite was a black and white card with the "Good luck . . ." on the front and when you opened up the card it said, " . . .with something." How perfect! It's a card for any occasion.

Madeline came down this morning with her new painter art program from the netbook and I think it looks great. She figured out all the buttons herself. I'm positive we will still have our conventional cards and projects, but I'm curious how much more of these things on the computer the girls will make.

Easter

2009-04-14T21:41:00.004-05:00

Squirrels will eat plastic eggs when they are left out too long . . . just in case you didn't know.

This weekend the girls got their own Netbooks. Tiny, little things; there is no way I can type on one for very long. My fingers aren't that small, but the girls love them. I'm just nerd enough to get them hooked up on Ubuntu Linux for the distro, too. No XP, here. I figured these computersare still susceptible to extreme Spyware and virus attacks, despite the mitigations of OpenDNS, given the beginner status of the operators.

I spent the weekend setting up chat, mail, web browsers, wireless networking, transferring music, installing software, etc. It was fun.

I built the boy a sandbox. As I was driving home with 600 lbs. of sand I considered the following: Jack will grow up with a sandbox in his backyard and will want nothing to do with it. The girls will have grown up thus far without a sandbox at all in their backyard, and they will think it is the coolest thing in the world. and guess what? I was right.

Jack doesn't like to get his feet in the sand box. He'd rather stand outside, and flick the sand out of the box and on the ground. Meanwhile, the girls are having a blast burying themselves and playing with the toys

What kind of a world is this??

The Trusting Game

2009-03-08T20:12:00.004-06:00

What a fun game the Trusting Game is . . . drive your parents crazy. That's the funnest part about it, I'm sure. Jack plays this game the best. The girls and I play it to a lesser degree of "trust."

It starts with one of the girls standing in front of me with her arms across her chest. She's standing straight and willfully starts to fall backwards toward my arms. If her knees buckle in order to steady herself, she doesn't trust me . This is just the game. I can get it so one of Terra or Madeline's butt touches the ground before I grab one by the arm pits and lift up fast so she doesn't touch the ground and crack her skull. "My turn!!!" invariably is the next words from the girl not playing the game.

Jack has taken the game to the next level. His trust is implicit. Jack and I started a version of this game in my bedroom. I lift him up over my head, exclaim, "Ready!" and then Jack falls flat on his back on the bed. He laughs, he loves it.

Another version of the game is for Jack while standing on the bed, inches his way to the wall. He then slams his fist on the wall three times, and falls straight back.

Jack has decided the game is so much fun, he likes to do it whenever he can. Mom carried him the other night, passed by the bed and Jack instantly shifts his center of gravity backwards toward the bed and begins the fall. Mom starts hyperventilating, "What if didn't catch him? He's so big??!" and becomes paranoid that he's going to do this all the time.

I tell Mom, "He'll tell you when he's ready to play the game. He always says 'Ready.'" Now, mind you, Jack's version of ready at 19 months comes out like "Dah." Nonetheless, that's all the warning you get with this boy.

BTW . . . I finished making the nightstand, now there is symmetry in my room.

Mischief

2009-01-24T12:43:00.002-06:00

I had a few hours of work I needed to do at home today. I went upstairs to get by fob for work, that has the token I need for remote access, but it wasn't on my chest of drawers. "I worked from home Monday morning", I thought, "it must be downstairs. "

I looked everywhere but couldn't find anything. Jack's trying to help me. Jack's version of help is letting Daddy carry him around while Daddy walks around the house, not on the mantle, not on the cusions, oh, there's Jack's ball, not in the tv room, not under the couch, there's Terra's phone though . . . it's no where. nothing. Think, Mike, think. I was getting ready for work one morning this week, I grabbed my billfold, keys, and phone from the dresser, and clink, the keys fell on the floor.

My little helper and I walked back upstairs, except now he wants to get down and play. The keys aren't anywhere in the bedroom, but Jack has found the trash can and thrown one of his toys in there, "You're not getting that thing back, Jack. That's gross!" Back downstairs, I can get a new fob, I'll go into work if that's what needs to happen . . .

Later, we're all upstairs and I recall the time Terra threw my keys in the trash can. Then a quick flash back to the toy jack threw in the trash can. Oh, no. This trash can has Jack's dirty diapers in it. Sure, it was emptied a few days ago, but Jack's a healthy boy, and there's nothing worse than poopy diaper smell . . . I pulled the trash bag out, and sealed it shut as fast as I could. A waft of something gross hit my nostris, and I shook it, like Santa Claus might shake his bag full of toys. There's something that sounds like the clinking of keys. I feel around and there it is, my keys! I opened the bag, holding my breath, and there they were.

Next time, I won't be so lazy when I drop the keys on the floor.

Christmas '08

2009-01-11T21:04:00.003-06:00

Christmas 2008 was great. Misty found so many deals; the girls got everything they asked for. I heard Madeline say, "These are the best two days ever." That's quite a big red letter day.

The Christmas started Friday. Terra had a recital with the other classes in her school. After the recital we all went out to eat, because there was nothing at home, since we were heading out of town for a week. Mom and I decided the girls could open their presents from us that evening before we traveled. Terra's wearing her pajamas because that the the costume for the play that night, but they both got jammies for Christmas that they changed into post haste. There were so many excited faces.

The next morning Santa arrived with a few presents. Following Santa, Grandma and Grandpa arrived with a Ford truck bearing plentiful presents. Then in a few hours we left for almost a week in Virginia.

Christmas in Virginia wasn't long enough. We went to see the capitol a couple times, explored the woods, saw all of the other Alexander' clan . . . the last was my favorite part.

Wedding Bells

2008-12-06T22:03:00.004-06:00

We were late. All the adults were ready for Misty's cousin's wedding. The girls were ready, too, but down to the wire, they both decided they wanted their hair straightened, which takes a while. Flying down the highway, we've got less than ten minutes to get to the church after getting off the interstate on the way to town.

I made a couple sharp, fast left turns and dropped the girls off while I found a parking spot, parked the car, grabbed the baby and headed for the doors. The photographer was taking shots of the wedding party as they prepared to walk down the aisle. I didn't see Mom or the girls and waited for the shot to finish, then darted in the church. There we were; on the left side, in the very back row . . . couldn't have cut that any closer.

We made it on time to the reception. The family ooh'd and ahh'd over Jack, for many it was their first time to see the boy. We got some really good pictures, but missed some of the best.

Terra and Madeline practiced almost all day on a dance routine. They were prepared to bring Madeline's boom box to the reception. I was surprised, but it ended up Terra had to coax Madeline into going through with the show. The girls made all the arrangements. They spoke with the DJ, brought the CD, scheduled it, and all. It went great and they got applause from the audience.

Boingers

2008-11-30T20:04:00.003-06:00

The trash people would not take the queen mattress I stashed in our garage. Misty and I bought a new mattress last year and ever since the old spring Sealy mattress has been standing upright in our garage. Not anymore.

I put the mattress out with our trash hoping against hope that the trash man would take the large item. No such luck. I was livid. I stayed home from work, the Friday after Thanksgiving, waiting for those guys. When they wouldn't take it, I took drastic actions.

That included bolt cutters, a utility knife, and no less than 10 trash bags. I ripped the mattress along the sides, used the bolt cutters to cut out the steel frame and put it all in trash bags. This item will be taken, the trash man will not win this battle, he will take that mattress away, one way or another.

The springs that make up the mattress comprise 33 in each row (more or less). This left a ton of springs. Stashed in trash bags, it seems like the springs would be more useful for something, but I couldn't figure out what for. I decided to ask my eight year old what we could do with the springs.

"Madeline," I asked, "what would you do with about 600 of these springs?" as I held up a sample. She was laying on the couch watching TV and this caught her attention. Immediately. She sat straight up, "I would tie these to my shoe and spring . . . " she told me.

We attempted to secure a set of springs to a pair of shoes. Madeline said, "Dad. I want to name them "Boingers"." We went to the store later that day to find some velcro strips. The strips will be used to tie the spring to the foot. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the boingers to production.

Although the velcro did its job, the spring is too long and Madeline couldn't get enough leverage to depress the spring sufficiently (and reliably) while making a normal step. The springs would bend at right angles from her stride which isn't desirable. The springs are too long. Back to the "boinger" drawing board.

Garage

2008-11-25T21:30:00.004-06:00

Do you know what it's like to have a garage and have both cars parked in this garage? I found out the answer to this question . . . it's AWESOME! I couldn't not look at the garage, with everything in it's place, all the plans working.

In the late summer I built a bench and some saw horses. These two suckers take up a lot of room. Then there was some boxes, and other stuff that needed to find a better home.

The boxes and extra bikes went to Goodwill, the rest of the stuff found a home in the house, and now both our cars are parked in our garage. It's glorious.

Beautiful Fall Day

2008-11-16T21:38:00.000-06:00

Sunday was a gorgeous day. What a wonderful day to work outside and rake/mulch 14 bags of leaves! Madeline was really anxious to help rake the leaves. Usually, it feels like it would be easier to talk Terra and Madeline into a gum scraping than to do actual work around the house. I happily accepted her offer.

She started to rake the leaves into a pile by one of the trees. I followed her lead, and eventually after several hours all the leaves were in a pile under a birch tree. She started jumping in, Mom got the camera, and I think these are the best pictures we've ever taken. The light in the evening was great, Madeline and Jack were having so much fun, the weather was great, what a fun day.

Check out the other pictures.

Happy Veterans Day

2008-11-11T14:31:00.001-06:00

Madeline made this card for Big Daddy.
I didn't get a card :(

Mr. Messy

2008-11-02T21:30:00.003-06:00

Little boys are different than little girls. Jack is a train wreck and neither Misty or I recall either of the girls behaving with these manners. My favorite is the cabinets.

A few months ago I put the child safety tabs on the cabinet doors. Jack was ferociously unhappy when he discovered he was no longer able to open the cabinets, pull his favorite stuff out and throw it on the floor. He screamed, yelled, and whined a little when he discovered his new limitation.

Every weekend morning I'll fix breakfast, and Jack systematically goes to each of the cabinet doors and pulls/pushes the doors in and out, in and out. Repeatedly. Repeatedly. Repeatedly. It makes the loudest noise. He's broken one of the child fasteners, he's shaken the screw out of one of the pulls (the wood the screw fastens is stripped).

He broke the plastic off a pull drawer underneath the sink. Then, he finally sits down he comes to the drawers that I haven't locked. He rummages through and pulls out all the Ziploc bags, all the cups and throws them on the kitchen floor. That's on Saturday. Sunday: repeat.

He pulled down the candy bowl for Halloween and pulled out some Nerds candies, chewed, drooled on the box enough where he could pull the candy out, dispense on the floor, and proceed to eat at his leisure.

When he eats, he can't just eat the food. He takes it out of his mouth, looks at it, squishes it some more in his hand, then will either 1) put it back in his mouth and finish eating or 2) throws it as far as he can.

That's the other thing, the throwing. He will pick up a toy. Then walk around at a fast pace with both hands above his head. He grunts in his 15 month old, viking/pirate voice and then catapults the toy as far as he can. It doesn't have to be a toy, even. He loves to throw any number of things.

He's not afraid of mud, I think the more the better. Last time it rained and dried enough we were outside and he is a magnet to puddles, muddy dirt, can't get enough of it.

Worlds of Frightening Fun

2008-10-25T13:40:00.000-05:00

The amusement park Worlds of Fun is open until the end of October. The last month it is open, it's always had a Halloween theme going . Two years ago, I remember it was a little cute. Tall characters walked around the entrance taking pictures with the kids; they had a sing-a-long with silly Halloween songs. Terra liked it, and the characters weren't scary. That's all changed.

We went to the amusement park for the day, just to ride some rides. The weather has been fantastic, just windy, but plenty of sun to go around. The girls this summer have evolved their thrill ride tastes. Now they go on the fast roller coaster, what Terra used to call, "the scary choo-choo's." The park switches to Fright mode at 7:00PM, and all through the park there are scary decorations reminding you about this change. There's not the mystery wagon blaring songs like "Thriller" like before, now its decorated with scary looking clowns in some parts, a mock bus that's been in a wreck, supposedly by a scary flesh eating monster.

Just before seven, we took the train ride that goes around the park. It was getting dark before and during the ride it got real dark, real fast. The girls started to show their fear even while the train conductor was telling the worst jokes alive or dead anyone could tell. He briefed us on the haunted rides as we passed them. One was a haunted graveyard and we could see the ghosts, vampires, and other frightening things, not but 10 feet from the train. "AHHHH," screamed one at the girls as he stood up to reach the traing. T-e-r-r-o-r-f-i-e-d. They clung to my arms.

After the train ride we made our way to another roller coaster. The girls hung on my arms the entire way. We saw a few of the creatures jumping out at the guests, trying to frighten them off. Those girls were cowering. "They don't scare kids," one reassured herself. She asked one of the attendants and he said, "No, they don't scare kids . . . they eat them."

Two coins

2008-07-29T22:50:00.002-05:00

"Dad, Dad, Jack's choking, come inside!" one of the girls called to me while I was doing yard work. I threw my clippers on the ground and raced inside to the following scene. Jack is throwing up everywhere, Mom is holding him up right in the downstairs bathroom. I picked Jack up and brought him over to the kitchen sink, Mom followed with a worried look on his face. He had yogurt for breakfast, that smells gross partially digested.

Just a half hour before I was sweeping off the patio, he was looking at me through the window laughing and screaming, in the best of moods. I couldn't believe he just suddenly turned so sick.

We washed his face off, but still it came. Maybe he is sick. We planned on going out that night, that would figure. The throwing up subsided and Mom cleaned up the bathroom while I held him.

"He's been laughing and getting a long so well." Mom went to the doctor's office earlier in the day to make sure Jack wasn't getting another ear infection, but the doctor didn't see one. "He stinks, he needs a bath," so we headed up stairs to give a still very uncomfortable, although not throwing up, Jack a bath.

He was sluggish even in the bath and that's not like Jack at all. He's always splashing, standing up, pulling things around the tub in the water . . . I gave him a lollipop to clean out the yucky taste in his mouth, that would revive him. He enthusiastically started on the lollipop.

After a few licks, he pulled back suddenly then started heaving: one heave, two heaves, three heaves, and up came this mass of mucus, part of which clanked on the porcelain tub. The clanking came from two pennies. Immediately Jack squeaked and looked for my hand, and lunged to the sucker.

Vacation 2008

2008-07-22T08:58:00.003-05:00

We kept the girls' birthday present a secret (a trip to Chicago and the American Girl store) until the day before we left. They cleaned up on birthday presents; between the two of them they had $750 dollars spending money from us and grandparents. Grandparents should be expecting a big thank you note from the girls. We left early Friday morning.

Jack
Jack really loves his family. It's obvious he's happy when we are all together and the vacation was heaven in a 20 foot by 20 foot room. When Jack is happy, you know it. He's jumpy, he's active, he jibber-jabbers, and screams with glee (loud: Jack happy at 4AM is rough). Since we were all in a 400 square foot room, Jack had everyone he wants close together. It was exciting enough that the boy would not go to sleep on his schedule. He wanted to stay up with his sisters.

There was no flat surface in the hotel room, that Jack didn't pull everything off. If he could reach it -- it was on the floor and in his mouth. This was the fate of numerous flyers on the dresser, the alarm clock, a lamp (almost), and much to the the girls' consternation any new item they bought that was in reach was quickly in Jack's clutches if not properly placed. Monday morning he woke up a sister by pounding on her face.

Chicago was Jack's style. We forgot his stroller, critical, CRITICAL mistake. Mom and my arms are twice as big, so he was help, which he prefers. He loved to watch the cars in the city, he took the big buildings in, and he was fascianted by the "L" train. However, when it was the boy's time out, while the girls watched the American Girl doll theater, he only slept.

Madeline

Madeline loved her birthday presents. I wrote in the birthday card the big secret -- that we were headed to Chicago, but Madeline missed this. She was so excited to be on the road, and almost the whole time laughed and joked all the way to the city. During the car trip, she kept asking, "When are we getting to Colorado?" "Chicago, Madeline, we're going to Chicago," I replied, but this never really sank in.

It was so exciting for both girls to say in a hotel room. It had a pool, but with the weather (rain) we never did swim. First we raced to the beach, and it was freezing. Madeline wanted to make a sand castle, and in classic Madeline mode, improvised using a cone from the beach to create a sand castle.

The first day we went to Navy Pier and visited the Children's Museum and other things. I wanted to ride the Ferris wheel, so we could see the city, but Madeline was a little shaken with how high the wheel would take us. Initially, there were objections, Madeline and Mom were going to find something else, but she found the courage to take the ride up and she ended up liking it enough that she wanted to ride again.

The American Girl Doll store was the most fun. She was able to see all the dolls, and for Madeline I think the funnest part is dressing like the doll, dressing up and using her imagination. So, there was sensory overload in the store.

Terra

Terra was so happy to be with Madeline. When she came Thursday evening, Madeline was at twilight camp, and she persisted throughout the night asking, "Is it time to get Madeline, yet?" We all drove to the pick-up spot, and when Terra saw Madeline, she sprinted to her and screamed, "MADELINE!" Madeline was equally excited, they gave each other a big, huge hug.

During the car ride down, the girls made their lists, tallied up their numbers to see how much stuff they wanted, and pare that list down to what they could afford. They could not have been better in the back seat, laughing, playing their game girls, and sometimes even sleeping.

When we arrived at the beach, Terra noticed a gang of girls on a birthday party, all of whom were swimming gleefully in frigid Lake Michigan water. I wanted no part of that water, but Terra wanted in so badly. She cajoled Madeline into take a running start and jumping in the waters. This ended with both walking right up to their knees and turning around. Eventually Terra talked herself into it, and then Madeline went along.

At the AG place, Terra looked so distracted. The store has lower (period pieces), middle (photo shop, gift shop), and upper (clothes, dolls, bitty baby) levels, we visited the middle and upper levels first, but Terra didn't pick anything out, she had nothing she was claiming yet. I asked, what's the matter and she replied that she had to find Julie's dress, but couldn't find it anywhere. Madeline was off with Mom looking at different clothes she could buy with her money, I said that once they get back, we'll check out the other levels and we haven't seen all the store. Downstairs we went and there was the dress! A noticeable relief came over Terra's face as if she was thinking, "Yes, this store is everything it could be."

Video of Jack Scooting

2008-07-01T20:32:00.002-05:00

I put the camera on a ledge and rev'ed up a toy car to zoom across the floor. Jack goes after it in the video.

Jack's mobility

2008-06-29T22:40:00.002-05:00

Jack can move around now, really well.

He's been scooting for the last month or so, but now he's really taken with standing himself up. It's been a concern of his mother's that he hasn't learned to sit up, but that's taken care of now. He can sit up when he wants, it's just a question of motivation. Why should he sit up, when a parent or sister will come and get him.

One answer might be to get away from his sisters.

It's really funny to watch how he navigates the single step between the family room and the dining room. He will inch his way along the from the family room onto the step then slide down on his bottom. From here he takes off, invariably into the kitchen where there are all kinds of pots, pans, place mats, and other items he's not supposed to get into.

This morning I woke up with him and just the two of us were in the family room. He played with his toys until he wanted new adventures then made his way into the kitchen. I caught him excitedly scooting himself to the cabinet under the sink where he loves to explore.

Into life, a tree will fall

2008-06-28T12:13:00.001-05:00

One of our tree's trunks collapsed this Friday morning. It's a mystery when this happened. The trunk was probably eight inches in diameter, and I can't believe it didn't make noise loud enough to hear when it sheared off the rest of the tree.

We're left with a somewhat smaller, tree, it looks like a little more than half remains. I can really tell how much of it is gone from the backyard sitting on the patio, but I'm still looking for a good pre-break photo. I believe I have some, I just never uploaded them to flickr.

Before

After

Terry came over with the trailer and helped haul the limbs and all off. It was sizable. Not just a tiny piece of the tree. It was a big piece.

Camping Out

2008-06-26T23:06:00.002-05:00

I vowed a long time ago to never see the point to camping. I pay my mortgage, I pay utilities, I enjoy being ten feet from my bathroom, my bed, my air conditioning, all this stuff. Then two pair of eyes belonging to two girls that just wanted to sleep in a tent changed my mind, and I setup the tent in our backyard.

The girls enthusiastically raced upstairs to get pillows and sleeping bags. Madeline brought down a blanket and pillow for me, too. "We'll be in by 1:00AM," I told Mom with confidence.

This had to be the hottest day of the year. It's rained a lot and the rain has brought some very cool weather; this has been the coolest summer I can remember, and there was barely a breeze this night. The girls and I stayed up late, we played Skip-bo, we talked, they laughed, they tried to not go to sleep, but eventually couldn't take it. At midnight one of them woke-up and asked me a question so obvious I knew she was in a daze. I said we were in the tent. She said she need ot leave, for bed; and she made for the zipper, which I helped open, then left the tent and went in the house. "Yes! One down," I thought, but no. The sliding glass door to the house opened again and the girl returned to the tent. She went right to sleep.

Then the other girl woke up and we talked for an hour. I tried "encouraging/manipulating" her a little, "Are you doing OK? It is hot, it's OK to sleep inside." Nothing, not a dent, "Nah, I can sleep out here," she said. She was resilient. They both were.

I can't sleep outside. I have to analyze every sound, every noise. Why do the crickets stop at 3:00AM? and why do I only hear one cricket? What **** teenager is burning rubber? Does the A/C sound OK? how much for a new one. Those doggone June bugs keep pounding the tent canvas. My gosh, why is it so hot? If I open the tent will it rain? is that a stereo?

I gave up at 4AM after sleeping all of about two hours at the most. I threw up the white flag and went to my house and slept in my bed. Later, still in a stupor from lack of sleep, I vaguely remember hearing. "Daddy, why'd you come inside?"

Daddy's smart. Daddy's not dumb. Daddy slept on a mattress.

Oceans of Fun

2008-06-22T19:23:00.000-05:00

As if there weren't already oceans of everything, we went to Oceans of Fun and cashed in Grandma and Grandpa's season ticket passes for the girls this weekend. It was a little difficult with the baby, but Misty and I wanted to bring him. One of us watched the boy while the other adult went on excursions in the park with the girls. Usually these involved racing of some sort down a slide.

Beyond any shadow of doubt the girls' favorite time was the canoes. The bucanner bay at Oceans of Fun lets a guest pick their canoe, one or two person, and they float out with paddle, life vest, and their wits. I laughed so hard when I saw the girls stranded on the other end of the "bay" on some rocks. They'd run aground and looked at me like I could help them out. They were able to figure their way out of that mess before I had a chance to get in the water.

Overall, we had a very good plan. Take a Friday off, since it's so much more busy on the weekends. Get a big breakfast in the morning, pack a picnic lunch with sandwiches, chips, and sodas. Take a late lunch/picnic and leave at park closing. Order pizza for delivery when you get home because you're too exhausted to do anything but eat. It's fatiguing to have fun.

Zoo trip

2008-06-07T19:17:00.000-05:00

We all packed ourselves in the car and headed to the zoo for the day. Talk about work. Nonetheless, suckered or smart, we decided to get the season pass, we are friends of the zoo until March of 2009. We have to go one more time in order for that to pay itself back.

Jack slept, this started during his nap time and when he can't get that checked off his list he can be a little zoned. Terra had been the week before and was a little less than excited to go again, but we did, and all had a good time, even if it was exhausting.

My favorite was feeding the birds. We all were given little plastic cups with tiny servings of nectar for the birds. They knew what time it was and before long we were all happily feeding the birds while they jockeyed for position on top of our shoulders, heads, arms, etc.

The boy likes guacamole

2008-05-30T20:04:00.002-05:00

Tonight at dinner Mom and I are eating some guacamole with chips. Jack is eating his serving of yogurt with rice and fruit. I put a dab of guac on a chip and put it in front of Jack's face, let him look at it, then he opens his mouth and the chip with the green avocado, salt, pepper, onion, and lemon juice goes in his mouth. He doesn't flinch, he just opens his mouth and wants more.

Mom proceeds to feed the boy guacamole on a spoon, which he happily consumes. Besides green beans, there still isn't a food this little guy hasn't met that he doesn't like.

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-25T21:49:00.003-05:00

I wanted to see the fireworks at the Celebration at the Station event, but several things changed my mind. The fact that Jack really starts heading for nighttime at 7:30, and that the forecast had the possibility for thunderstorms, and I had a pork tenderloin marinating that I wanted to cook. I stayed home and did some work in the yard.

After Jack's nap Mom came outside with the boy, followed by Madeline and Terra. What a fun evening. All four sat down in the freshly trimmed yard and talked about the day, the girls' new outfits, and how silly Jack is because he does not like the grass to touch his feet. Mom got the camera and shot some adorable pictures of the girls climbing in and jumping out of the tree.

Then we sat around the patio and talked about the silly things the girls did when they were babies which they both loved. The girls even ate the tenderloin. Following dinner the girls got back in the tree and climbed as high as they could go. "I did it." I heard Terra say. I looked and she was precariously high in the tree. "Don't say anything," I told Mom. "If we say anything, she'll loose her confidence and fall, break her arm, then not go swimming all summer."

"Dad, I can't get down." OH crap, I thought. Terra was so high. I spoke harshly to her, like I was annoyed because I didn't want to make her think I wasn't 100% confident she couldn't get down safely by herself. She finally found the right footing and made her way down the tree. My gosh, I breathed deeply, what a relief.

Lunch Today

2008-05-25T20:57:00.003-05:00

"CRASHHH," followed by the always identifiable sound of scattered stoneware. A plate dropped while the girls were fixing lunch for everyone. Today in church they had a lesson on why you should respect your parents. They had been talking to each other about fixing something since early in the weekend and I'm sure the lesson in church was the final inspiration.

I hustled down stairs after changing out of my church clothes post-haste to make sure bare feet weren't in the kitchen. Worried about the suprise I heard, "Don't look, dad!" both girls yelled in unison. "Did someone drop a plate?" I asked. The guilty girl apologized. I cleaned it up without looking in the dining room and the girls scurried faster to get lunch ready. "Dad, what kind of salad dressing do you like?" I went upstairs and said, "Just get the pinkish-red one, the vinaigrette"

"We have to eat it," I told Mom, although I was really looking forward to some leftover fajitas. "Whatever it is, we should eat it, so they're encouraged to do these kind of things."

"LUNCH IS READY!!!" they cried up the stairs, delighted in their satisfaction for fixing lunch. Mom picked up Jack and we went downstairs to the banquet waiting for us.

And there it was. Mom and I both had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a salad. I had a corn tortilla with three Twizzlers on my plate. Our favorite soda pops were opened and ready to drink. I sat down across from Mom. In between us was the "Salad Dressing" -- Hot chili sauce. Whoa!! Mom and I smiled we both saw the chili sauce.

I said thank you very much, we kissed our daughters who were beaming with pride. I pushed my chair back, "I'm going to get the other salad dressing."

"Oh, I already put it in your salad," Terra replied matter-of-factly. "You don't need to get it." Mom burst out laughing and I could barely keep mine contained. "Jack did something funny upstairs," Mom said. Now with a license to laugh, I couldn't hold it in.

Misty was brave, she ate the salad and its "dressing." I quickly put her bowl over mine so the tiny chefs didn't notice I barely ate any of it.

Jack's Shuffling

2008-05-24T07:45:00.003-05:00

This shuffling and mobility has come too soon. Yesterday Jack started in the TV room, he ended up in the kitchen. He scooted to the dishwasher. It was open and I was unloading th dishes. For a while I watched while he tried to leverage a Tupperware container up through the rails of the bottom tray on the dishwasher. No longer content with this frustrating approach for retrieving the lid, he grabbed the dishwasher tray with both hands pulled himself up. It was now simple to pull the lid out from the dishwasher fom his new vantage point. Then he balanced himself and was standing up whirling the lid around in both hands before I grabbed him, nervous that me might fall forward.

He's also balanced himself precariously several times on the single dividing step between the family room and the dining room.

End of Soccer Season

2008-05-22T07:27:00.002-05:00

The girls both went out from their soccer seasons with a bang. Madeline in the final minutes of the final game made a burst starting on her side of the field, sprinted with the ball to the opposing team's goal and from just outside the penalty box, gave a great kick and scored.

Madeline's party was fun. The coach made a video with pictures from the parents. This was played on the movie projection screen at the restaurant and pictures scrolled by while the team screamed and laughed, it was a lot of fun. Mom and I decided we really need that telephoto lens.

"Awesome," Madeline said describing the season, "it rocks, it's the best, it knocks me off my feet."

Terra's season ended undefeated. Due in part to that streak they entered a tournament with a total of four teams in the coed, under 10 division. Terra's world got just a bit bigger last weekend, and the team suffered its first defeats. The opposing teams were very good. They were obviously traveling teams. They knew how to pass, but Terra's team passes very well, too. These teams could kick from outside the penalty box, with accuracy, hard, and score. Terra's team hasn't played another team that could do that all season. Next year.

Terra says, "It was hard, a lot of the kids we played in the tournament weren't in our division. and that I got hurt." They were in her age group, we'll practice this summer.

All Jack's favorite foods, please stand up -- Not so fast there, Green Beans

2008-05-20T22:09:00.005-05:00

There's been plenty we've given the boy that I did not think he would like. I gave him a lemon from a cup of water at one of our favorite local restaurants. He put it in his mouth, and shook his head back and forth. Then he picked it up, looked closer at it, and then went right back to eating it. Pickles, I was surprised with the pickles, too. He loves, wants to marry, beans. We give him little pieces of food from the adult dinner every night, and I've never seen him not like something.

Then came green beans. Jack wears his emotions on his face, he has a facial expression for everything, and this was a don't like the green beans, never want to see those again face.

Ice Cream Truck

2008-05-15T21:33:00.000-05:00

"DING, DING, DING, DING," repeat until you go crazy. This is the ice cream truck. Madeline is a sucker for the ice cream truck. He drives by our house so slowly, so very slowly. It's guaranteed if Madeline is inside she sprints outside, and if she's outside she burns rubber coming inside to get her money.

She's very generous, too. Invariably her friends in the neighborhood end up with some popsicle. Grandpa gives her a small stipend for ice cream money.

However, this is all changing. She's saving her money for a "Hannah Montana" outfit from the store and with her heart goes her treasure also, but the Ice Cream Truck is still so attractive, it's obviously difficult to contain the urge, or to quell the habit of getting these sweets.

Frustrated with it all one day she said, "That Ice cream man," she said exasperated, "I'm not going to buy from him. Why does he keep coming?" she said with half-clenched teeth. "I'm not buying anything from him."

"Can I have a lemonade stand? If I hear him coming I could setup a lemonade stand, and then I could ask the Ice Cream Man if he wants to buy some lemonade for three dollars." She started laughing to herself about that idea.

Jack's New Mobility

2008-05-13T21:05:00.003-05:00

"It's been while since we had a "Scooter" in class," the day care teacher in the nursery told Mom today.

She was of course talking about Jack's new mobility. He hasn't learned to crawl, Jack "scoots." It's amazing, but he can be six feet from where we have placed him on the floor and still in the same upright position. He's figured out how to move while sitting on his bottom. He will stretch his feet inches farther, while keeping them close enough together, then leveraging his weight on the front two feet he'll drag his bottom across the floor until the heels are close to the rest of his body. Repeat this process and you will be amazed at how far a boy determined to get a piece of paper, a drawer, a toy, or something in his sight into his hands can move.

He scooted himself across the floor a couple of feet yesterday to get to the end table flanking the couch in the family room; pull down a magazine, and begin to tear the pages out. The only audible clue was his squeals of delight at reaching his destination and getting into things he is not supposed to be able to reach.

"The scooters don't happen very often," the teacher further told Mom today. "Once he gets started, he'll have the whole class doing the same thing."

Ahhh, what can I say. Our Jack. He is a pioneer.

Mother's Day Fun

2008-05-12T20:44:00.002-05:00

Worlds of Fun. We went to Worlds of Fun for Mother's Day. Packed the girls and the boy in the car, left and arrived just before 1:00PM at the park for a glorious day. It was very windy in the morning, just cold enough to need a wind breaker and deter lots of people, but warm enough in the evening for a great day.

Terra's now over 54" tall so she cannot ride the "Camp Snoopy" rides any more. Madeline is right at 54", she can go between either type of ride if she wants. It started off regular, we went on the carousel. The girls were glad to be on their own horses. No lines whatsoever, they could pick any horse they wanted. Jack, mom, and I sat on the chariot. Jack's eyes were like a typewriter when the carousel was roating, his eyes were moving back and forth, right to left as "Le Carousel" ride played out.

Then Le Taxi Cab. Then the Jumping Kangaroos and Terra's revelation she is too tall to ride some of the rides, including the Jumping Kangaroo thing. Now the real rite of passage -- Le roller coaster.

Terra was afraid at first, but Madeline volunteered to go on the Timberwolf. Dad volunteered to go with her. The ride commenced and Madeline asked me to hold her hand. I tried to distract her, "Make a silly face to Mom, Jack, and Terra." Madeline provided a goofy smile with her thumbs up. "Don't forget, Madeline, your cousin loves roller coasters," I reminded her.

Crank. Crank. Crank goes goes the roller coaster. We notched our way up in elevation for our eventual descent. Madeline held on to my hand tighter.
"Sarah loves roller coaster, Sarah loves roller coasters," I heard Madeline whispering to herself. We reached the top and whooooooosh. We had come to our inevitable decline. Madeline screamed. She closed her eyes. She screamed more. I yelled over the sound of the cars, steel track, and wooden beams, "Great Madeline, you're doing great."

It went on, and on. Madeline closed her eyes tight and screamed while I tried to console her. We made it to the end and cranked our way slowly to the finish. I looked and Madeline, still somewhat traumatized, and said, "You did great. Now smile, so Terra's not afraid." Then, she beamed.

We arrived back where we started and Terra, like a laser, looked at Madeline to see how it went. Madeline smiled so big and waved enthusiastically; you never knew anything.

Terra found her courage. She and I rode next. She held my hand and closed her eyes. She made it through the roller coaster "too tall to ride the little rides" rite of passage, same as Madeline.

"Did you hear me cry?" Madeline asked her Mom. "No, no way," Mom replied. "Yeah. It must have been someone else," Madeline said, while Terra and I were on her first trip.

It was a long day. We rode three other roller coasters. The girls came back to ride the Timberwolf a staggering eight times in a row. Fortunately, the parents could stand by, relax, and not go through any more rite of passages.

Jack found his own way to entertain himself. He was in the stroller for most of the day. He decided to lean forward, while strapped in with the restrains as far as he could. I peered over at him from one of the roller coaster rides and heard the lady behind me say, "Ma'am! Ma'am!! Your baby!!! He's about to fall out of his stroller." I looked back and reassured her, "Don't worry. He's strapped in. He's been doing it all day."

9 Month Well Baby

2008-05-08T21:25:00.002-05:00

Jack had his well baby appointment today.

24lbs 3oz. 95 percentile. 29 inches. 85th percentile.

Jack sleeps in the tub, and playing at the pool

2008-04-27T19:53:00.004-05:00

If Jack could do all his favorite things, he would sleep, eat, and take a bath. We caught him a couple of weeks ago nodding off in the bathtub.

Tonight we just came home from the gym and Jack did his cool walk at the pool. The water displaces enough of his weight he can find his balance fast. He loves to stand himself up (Mom/Dad really put him there) on the edge of the pool and scream, play with the grate, or watch the people walking by the pool side.

He only likes to walk from shallow to deep. If Dad is in the deeper end (deep is maybe 24 inches), he will inch his way along, cautiously moving his hands along the side of the pool edge and sliding his feet toward Dad. If Mom is on the deeper end, he does something completely different. He turns around to face her and starts stepping. Of course, his balance is way off and he falls, but no holds barred, he lets go of the wall and starts marching toward mom. Such confidence!

Jack not so slow

2008-04-22T20:44:00.002-05:00

Mom dropped Jack off next to one of his little friends at day care, Jacob Z. Jacob Z was playing with a toy and the teacher gave Jack a toy just like it. Jacob Z. grabbed for Jack's toy, and sudden as could be, Jack grabbed the toy Jacob Z. was playing with originally. The look on Jack's face was something like, "Hey, that's not allowed. Give me that back."

Jack's got a new car seat.

Little Stinker

2008-04-20T21:15:00.003-05:00

He's a little imp. Jack can play for a long time with his toys on the floor. He doesn't do anything deliberately very fast at all. You can always see him thinking things through. For example, he will stare at his toys, his hands, food, for a little while, then he starts his arms in motion and reaches for the object, and tries to lock on to the target. Once it's in his little paws he slowly raises it closer to his face and he looks at it. Invariably, the next step is it goes into his mouth. Some things he keeps in his hands longer, like the tags on toys. He loves to feel these.

Whenever Jack is placed on the floor a pillow invariably goes behind him. This was an easy trick to learn because he would lose his balance and fall back with a THUD when he hit the floor, start crying, then Mom or Dad (after checking to make sure Jack "the bod" didn't crack the floor) pick him up and comfort him. Now with the pillow behind him he doesn't go THUD, but he always cries. It's like he has the "right" to cry. This has been his Mom and my suspicion for a while: he deliberately tosses himself back so he can cry and get us to come get him.

Since the things he does deliberately are still a little slow, imagine this in slow motion. Jack is playing, sitting there on the floor with a pillow behind his back. He's playing with his toys and starts to look unsettled, like he wants a parent. He looks back behind himself, almost confirming the pillow is there. He turns his head straight ahead. He falls back onto the pillow, arches his back to roll off the pillow, then begins to cry.

Dad laughs, and he picks up his boy. His boy smiles at him, impishly when he is picked up, like he planned it.

Ear Infections and Consequences

2008-04-13T23:26:00.004-05:00

Jack has had a few ear infections. It seems he's had one since early March and it's never really gone away despite following the prescriptions and taking the medicines. We're on the antibiotic reserved for "strongly resistant ear infections."

Let me tell you a couple of things about this antibiotic our boy is taking:
1. The worst flatulence. This gas makes an old man with gastrointestinal distress smell fresh. I picked him up from his crib this morning and panicked (due to the next concern) but there was nothing.

2. The antibiotics have killed all the good bacteria. The bacteria in the intestinal tract are good, and now they're getting annihilated. Picture a clean garage rag, then pour unused motor oil on it with a slight pinch of Jello in powder. So any weakness in the seal between the plastic elastic in the diaper and Jack's skin, you're SOL and you got a SOD (---- out of diaper). Today one of the SOD's got on the carpet.

3. Jack's getting better, he's sleeping almost through the night again.

What's a Mommy Worth (according to a seven year old)

2008-04-13T23:23:00.003-05:00

"Mommy, I wouldn't trade you for 120 Webkinz or 2 Wii's . . . besides we have one already and they're not much fun anyway. I wouldn't even trade you for two American Girl Dolls," Madeline said to her Mom tonight.

Jack the ham

2008-03-27T19:43:00.002-06:00

Tonight during Jack's bath something funny happened and I laughed right from the belly. He was holding his left foot with his left hand sitting up in the bath tub like all the big boys. He gradually lowers his head closer and closer to the water and the bubbles. This repeats until his the lower part of his face is partially submerge and when he sat back up, looked at Mom, then at Dad, he had a soap bubble goatee. I laughed so hard, and Jack had a great big smile on his face when he heard.

He turned his head back to his bath and again lower his face toward the water until it touched, sat back up, then this time turn his head at a 90 degree angle to see his dad. I laughed so loud again, and Jack gave another great big smile. This repeated easily a dozen times, Jack couldn't get enough of it, and I couldn't either. At first I was laughing because of the fake goatee, that looked hilarious on a 7 month old, but when he kept repeating the steps and looking at my reaction was so cute to watch.

Two visitors

2008-03-24T19:49:00.002-06:00

We had some people stop by the house from Church Monday evening. The door bell rang about 6:00PM. Madeline was at our neighbors house while Mom, baby, and I are at the house getting dinner ready. I answered the door and our friends came in to chat for a little while, and the telephone rings. Rather than be rude and ignore our visitors we ignored the phone which just rang and rang. We figured it was Madeline, needing to ask if she could eat dinner at her friend's house.

Soon thereafter our visitors left the house and Mom called to find out what Madeline needed. "Madeline, it's Mom, what did you need?"

"Oh. Yeah. Who was over at the house?" Madeline asked.

I'm asking, "What!?" Who calls to find out who is over at the house?

Cancelled Plans and New Ones

2008-03-16T17:47:00.004-06:00

We weren't able to visit friends of Mom's in Tampa, Florida this spring break. Misty's friend's mom is having some medical issues and so her daughter is spending the break with her mother. We decided not to fly to Tampa, and to post pone the trip abroad.

This was a heart breaking decision, we'd been looking forward to some warm weather for a while. Instead, we booked a room at the Great Wolf Lodge. It is an indoor water park/hotel near Kansas City, KS. Wednesday after work we drove to the hotel and checked into our room. Misty picked up some swim suits before we left.

There is something about a hotel that little kids love. Madeline was excited as soon as we got in the room. It must feel like a sleep over, I think if we just stayed at a hotel with a swimming pool it would have felt like a vacation for Madeline. Maybe it's like an adventure with the sheer size of the hotel, the long hallways, and all the people around.

Before we left for dinner Misty called to see if Madeline's cousins could come to the Lodge and they could. We headed down right after dinner when they arrived, all of us in our bathing suits, including Jack.

We took the stairs from the fourth to the first floor to the entrance of the water park. It's awesome to see so much indoors. There is a water event/pool for everyone. We played with the cousins in the zero entry pool with the water pipes spraying and in the lazy river. The lazy river was so relaxing, Jack fell asleep while riding in the seat of one of the tubes.

Before falling asleep on the lazy river, Jack wasn't opposed to the idea of a water park. However, Jack came to the conclusion quickly that he dislikes it when people splash and the splashes of water land on him. At first, he gave a very dissatisfied look on his face, which turned into angered grunts as time progressed. He did love the 12+ pool. It felt much more like a bath. The temperature in the pool was much higher and there was almost no splashing in this pool. Jack woke up on the lazy river when some rambunctious boys splashed him.

Madeline had so much fun at the lodge. She could do everything there, ride the slides, play the basketball, play on the playground, play with her cousins, and swim in the lazy river. She liked the slides the most. Remember we went from the fourth floor to the first floor to the entrance of the water park; well we climbed from the first floor to the fourth floor to get on the slides, carrying one of the tubes. Two people could sit in a tube, and after getting to the top, you slide down the tube one of the three water slides. It was fast and fun.

Terra's First Soccer Game

2008-03-16T17:23:00.006-06:00

Terra's first soccer game was today at 12:45PM. Madeline was supposed to play with her neighbor friend, but she wasn't allowed to play. I was lacing up my shoes when Madeline asked, "Where are you going?"

"Terra's soccer game", I replied. This was followed immediately by an excited, "Ohhhhh! Can I come?!"

The two of us left at 12:00PM sharp, it was only 40 minutes to the recreation center. Correction, this place is six soccer fields surrounded by mud, that pretends to be a parking lot. Where the mud is, and the parking lot is supposed to be, the county is obviously working pavement.

Before Madeline and I made it to the soccer game we had to find a place to park where people have been parking without any parking lines all morning, then make our way through mud, dirt, gravel, and construction to the fields. It sleeted the night before so when we finally made it to the fields it felt like a huge accomplishment.

With the sleet, it was very cold and nippy, but Madeline and I were in good spirits trying to find Terra's game. I finally spotted her and the team was warming up kicking the ball. I pointed Terra's location to Madeline and we waved, Terra saw us and grinned from ear to ear. She had a skull cap on to keep warm, long windbreaker pants, and her soccer jersey. She was very happy to see us, I could tell.

We setup the chairs, and watched the game. Terra started at right halfback. She ran all over the place, but played her position very well, perhaps a little cautious supporting defense when the ball was on the left side of the field, but the caution was great when the ball was on her side of the field. She was never too far up and the ball almost always came to her. Their team, the "Mean Machines," dominated the opposing players.

Madeline made it almost the whole game, but it was freezing. We went to get some hot chocolate at the refreshment stand. I think walking helped more than the hot chocolate, it warmed her up, and she started laughing again.

The game let out while we waited for the hot chocolate. Terra ran up, still grinning ear to ear. After the game, Madeline and I went to Burger King for a late lunch.

Jack's a Big Boy Now

2008-03-09T21:07:00.004-06:00

Jack loves the bath. He splishes, he splashes, he squeals, screams, he's just giddy at bath time. Mom bought a sponge that he used to lay down on and he would flail his arms, kick the legs, and look up.

That's six month Jack. The seventh month Jack will have no part of lying down in the bath. "Mom! Only babies lie down in the bath tub. I'm a big boy now. I sit on my bottom in the bath tub." He sits up, he leans over reaching towards his feet where his face almost touches the water. He does this because the toys he wants to play with float around in front of him. He does always try to get the toy. When it evades his measured clutches for too long he'll cry.

His favorite toys are noise makers and he loves this old water bottle. I gave it to him, some weeks ago to appease a crying baby. All the water is gone, and the air is mostly out so this thing makes tons of noises and noises are what Jack loves.

Speaking of big boy, Jack finally has two bottom teeth crowning, you can see those suckers coming up when he cries really loud so loud he runs out of breath. He isn't usually a crier, the teeth are obviously hurting.

Rock Wall

2008-02-23T16:11:00.003-06:00

We checked out a gym today down the street to see what it was like. The girls, Jack, Mom, and I checked in. After a tour of the facilities which include a beautiful indoors lap pool, zero-foot entry pool, sauna, spa, a ginormous outside swimming pool, basketball and racket ball courts, a rock climbing wall, and an upstairs with weight equipment, stair steppers, etc.

The gym was very crowded, there were plenty of teenage boys in there occupying their time on a weekend. Madeline was bonk'ed on the head while we were shooting some baskets. This did not make her happy. We ended in a triangle passing the ball back and forth.

Everything was very busy, but the rock wall. This proved a lot of fun. We signed many waivers, and then a card, and then something else, and received some training on operating the equipment. Mom went up first, then Madeline and finally Terra. After several attempts both girls managed to climb all the way to the top, such an accomplishment.

Six Month Well Baby

2008-02-15T17:44:00.003-06:00

Four shots later and an oral dose, our son has completed his six month well baby checkup at the doctor's office. He weighs just under 23 lbs and is 27.5 inches long. He hasn't been feeling so well, lately.

His solid food intake continues to grow. So far he's eaten:

Apple Sauce (does not like it, even sweetened with sugar)
Yogurt, LOVES
Sherbet, LOVES, wants to marry it.
Carrots. He really likes carrots. He can eat almost a whole container.
Rice cereal, tolerates
Peas, tolerates
Peaches, tolerates. We'll try this with sugar next time.
Bananas, tolerates

Jack is unleashed

2008-02-03T21:27:00.001-06:00

Watch out world. The farm bill that congress passed this year is going to come in handy. Jack is upon the you. He's been eating sweet foods, little Popsicles sweetened with condensed corn syrup; a glucose, liquidy, frozen mass that satisfies most people (including Jack), but now he's eating solid foods. Careful, brave world: Brave Jack is here for a challenge.

Mom picked up some biscuits at the store this weekend along with peas, carrots, and apple sauce. We handed the child the organic, "non-soy, non-diary," all-American biscuits this evening; they were seized by Jack with utmost satisfaction. He dropped the biscuit several times on the tray included with his walker, and spent several perplexed minutes finding the food.

2008-02-03T20:33:00.000-06:00

This is my favorite picture with our kids.

Jack Growing Up

2008-02-02T08:37:00.001-06:00

Jibber-jabber, jibber-jabber. Jack loves to talk. He's mostly using "words" with "B" and "G," like "baabaa-baa" and "gagaga." Then of course the squeals and squelches. The "words" mostly come in the evening and morning, the squeals when his sisters are around or when he sees Mom. Last night I held Jack while his Mom was directly behind me where she wasn't in his direct line of sight. When he heard her talk, he arched his back far enough until he found an angle when he could see her. If Mom calls, "Jack," he'll turn to look at her, if Dad says "Jack," he doesn't always look around.

Looking at Jack now, you never would have guessed he had a killer ear infection and mild respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Jack has this medicine now for the ailments that looks like melted white blackboard chalk, but it smells like citrus. Jack was in full force when the nurses and doctors were taking his temperature and cleaning his ear. In the middle of the Jack's contortions, and gnashing of gums, the doctor said Jack will need to be on the wrestling team.

Jack's had some more people food including Popsicles and some pie filling. When he sees adults or his sisters eating he'll track the food from the plate, on the fork, in the air, and to the mouth. His eyes wide, and his mouth somewhat open. He's very eager to eat people food. He has no such eagerness for the medicine. It starts with a mild curiosity, he's interested in the substance. Once it gets in his mouth he licks his lips repeatedly. Then he shuts his mouth.

Tomorrow, he'll be six months old.

Skating

2008-01-26T20:32:00.000-06:00

We've been roller skating twice this year. It's been freezing and the girls love to roller skate. It's the first thing Terra asked if we could do and Madeline also asked if we could go, independent of Terra.

Misty and I are playing with the new camera, learning more about shutter speed, aperture, f-stop, lighting, all kinds of stuff.

New Camera

2008-01-02T20:38:00.000-06:00

Our camera went south. It still has a ton of pictures on it from Terra, two days after Christmas, and others. I need to figure out a way to get these pictures off the camera. However, Misty has been looking at cameras for some time. The point-and-shoot that just stopped working takes a long time to get to the point it can take a second shot. Plus, when you're ready for the picture and push the button, the shutter doesn't open and the picture isn't snapped until sometimes several seconds later. Often, seconds are important.

She's looked at the Digital SLR cameras. At we took some of our Christmas money from our family and bought what she had been looking at on the line. It's the Nikon D40x, and it's beautiful. I love this camera. Misty and I are have to time-share our photographing since be both like it so much. I've been reading about f-stops, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, lenses, all kinds of good stuff. This is going to be a good year, picture-wise, and every otherwise, too I'm sure.

Jack's Name Ends in an 'S'

2007-12-14T21:20:00.001-06:00

This came as a big surprise to Terra. We forget his Christian name is James, we just like to call him Jack.

The four month well-baby appointment went very well. Jack is a big boy, like what we hoped. He's 95th percentile in weight, at a strapping 19 lbs and 9.5 ounces. The big Jack's height is between the 90th and 100th percentile although with 26.5 inches. He's so much bigger than when we first brought him home.

Misty's harassing the Gap people right now for the details regarding the specific delivery of Jack's new bedding for his new crib in his very blue room. "One of the items isn't available . . . " Jack is sleeping comfortably in hew new bed, last night he slept well for a full seven hours. Jack is infatuated with the turtle Aunt Lauren and Uncle Bill sent. The turtle will light up with three different colors: blue, green, and amber. He will just stare and stare at it.

Jack has taken to squeaking, too. When he wakes up (seven hours of sleep is great, but seven hours is really seven hours from 8:00PM, so he still wakes up really, really early) he squawks playfully, and even at 3:00AM, it's cute. It's not so cute when I get him, but it is cute when Misty gets him. She is the best.

The girls are playing, "check." This is a version of poker. Actually, it's poker, I just would rather the girls answer the following question: "what'd you do last night?" with, "I played check," than, "I played poker." Madeline is really aggressive, and I think Terra's taken too much out of Rob's book, she likes to bluff. They both want to play with real money, but real money for these girls is Dad's money.