Jack and Bob

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

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

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

"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

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

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

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.)