Family traditions

We decided to start a new tradition this year by cutting down our own tree for Christmas.  On a rather warm November day, we took the family truckster out into the country and found the tree farm we were looking for.

 

A short hay ride later, we were standing in the middle of a bunch of trees.  The girls picked out the one they wanted and, unlike the Griswold's, we had a saw to cut it down.  After hauling it back to "check out", we had it shaken, wrapped up, and tied to the top of the truckster.

Since we didn't have a root ball to contend with, we didn't look quite like this.

The tree is actually larger than it appears.

 Now, to get it in the house.

Getting there...it's still larger than it appears.

 Moving right along.  It was time to release it from it's bind.

 

If you're a Pirates fan, you'll get the reference.

Much better.  It still looks a little naked, but there stands our nine foot tree.



Ahh, that's more like it. 

Four beautiful, smiling ladies had a great time trimming the tree with Papa.

Fake tree upstairs, real tree downstairs.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

No windows were busted out, no squirrels were in the tree, and all the lights worked. 

 



Local Toy Store "Saved"

This post is going to rub some people the wrong way, locally at least, but that's okay.  If you're not from around here, this may not mean much, but it might still be educational. 

Let me just start by saying our family does shop at the toy store, and we do love it.  This is not an attack on the owners, or people who donated to the store, or anything like that.  I have no affiliation with the bank (I don't even know which one it is) or the store.  It is just an observation, and perhaps a little education for those who don't have any experience in the business world.  I certainly don't have any inside information on this, I'm just going by what I've read/heard from other people and the owners.  I intentionally waited until the campaign was either successful or time expired on it before posting this so as to not sway anyone away from contributing.  If you made a gift based on your desire to see the store remain open, then that's great, I'm not making any judgments - Mama donated.  If you made a gift because you thought you were helping fight some sort of injustice, I'm sorry I didn't post this earlier for you, but now you know, and...

The first time I read anything about the store having to close its doors was when I read a Facebook post by a friend.  The post (paraphrased) said the big bad bank is forcing this business to close by calling their loan five years before it's due. 

Then I saw a flier posted which said "The bank has called our loan and wants their money now" (I can only assume the use of the word "our" attributes this quote to an owner) and "We all love these stores and find it appalling that a bank is calling their loan 5 years before its up!".

Call me crazy, but I don't think it's appalling.  If I lend my car to a friend for the week, is it appalling that I want (or need) it back after three days?  No.  It's my car, not theirs.  They are just borrowing it.  Even if we have a contract where the friend is paying me to use the car, there are things my friend could do to breach the contract and allow me to legally get my car back, such as failing to pay me.

So let's start here.  Banks do not operate in the "Not For Profit" arena.  They are owned by investors who expect some sort of return on their money, or at the very least the return of their money.  Some are publicly traded while others are privately owned.  Regardless of that, the bank and the Board of Directors have a duty to the investors first and foremost, not to their customers.

As noted by the owner in the above statement, "The bank...wants their money".  Yes, it is their money, and if the risk they are taking is not worth the reward, they have every right to call the loan.  The bank loaned them the money at a point when the risk they were expecting to take was justified by the return on the investment, but things don't always go according to plan.  The bank also could simply have underestimated the risk and made a loan they shouldn't have.  They screwed up, so they're trying to make the best of a bad situation.  Who knows?   

It's capitalism.

Maybe they don't want to call it, but are being forced to.  Bank regulators can put pressure on banks to raise capital and reduce the risk of their portfolios if they believe the bank itself is struggling or could be exposed to more risk than they should be.  This could result from bad loans, a bad economy, or just bad luck.  Whatever the reason, they can't reduce their risk by calling the loan of someone who has made all their payments and is running a financially viable business.   

If a bank looks at the underlying financials of the business it lent money to, and sees only losses and other debts, they may call the loan to force the business to liquidate assets and repay them what they can.  If the business files bankruptcy, the entire debt may be forgiven and the bank loses.  From the bank's perspective, getting 40% of what they are owed is better than nothing.

Again, I don't know if that is the case here or not, but I think it is.  On the fundraising page, this quote is posted right under the update which shows $21,023 has been raised: 

"If $75k is raised, the plan is to use a large chunk of those funds to satisfy the bank.  The remaining funds would be used to pay toy vendors who are eager for their money". 

Obviously, there are many creditors here, not just the bank.

In summary, I think it's great that the community pulled together to save a struggling business they love.  It would appear from the rest of the quote on the fundraising page that the owners are doing what they can to stay afloat and are not the ones who initially started the campaign, and I applaud them for their efforts.  Other local businesses got involved and either did matching gifts or offered to donate a percentage of their profits for the day. 

SIDEBAR - What a great move on their part!  It's a great way to bring in income for their business that they may not have otherwise had and build goodwill in the community, but if someone really wanted to give to the fundraising efforts, it would've been more effective to give 100% directly instead of 10% of profits.  Why?  Simple.  If the company making the 10% of profits gift only operates at a profitability margin of 20%, spending $100 at their business puts $20 in their pocket and of that, $2 goes to the campaign.       

You have to wonder, though, if the business can't get a loan from any other bank, and hasn't been able to raise private equity from any investor, how viable is the business?  And next year are we going to see the Second Annual Save the Toy Store campaign?


Comment as you see fit.  I won't edit or delete anything unless you're inappropriate or vulgar.  Anonymous posts will be deleted, no matter their content, so if you have something to say, make sure you claim it.

Fury and Fun, Part 1

Mama had battled the girls all day since they didn't sleep well the night before and failed to take a nap.

After a long, sleepless night, I had battled through a long, sleepless day at work and a commute that took twice as long as it should have.

When I walked in the door, all I wanted was to change clothes, grab a glass of brandy, and relax for a few minutes.  By the time I got halfway to the door, I realized that was not going to happen.  I could hear the cries of the little ones and knew it had probably been going on all day.  I did my best to put on a happy face, but it quickly faded.

When screaming blows out a window, you know you're in for a rough night.

The girls could only fuss, whine, and cry from the moment I walked in the door at 5:05.  They wanted me to pick them up.  There was nothing I could do to appease them.  Dinner was more frustrating than I can ever remember it being in the past as they continued their exhausted antics.  I'd made their favorite foods and they were rejecting them. 

Almost nothing was eaten.  We had several discipline issues.  An entire cup of milk was "accidentally" spilled on me and the floor.  They finally left the table, only to start fighting with each other as I tried to do some clean up.  Screaming, pulling (and tearing) clothes, and more tears were all I saw and heard as I walked into the room.  Fortunately, I was just in time to prevent one of them from biting the other.  This hadn't been an issue for quite some time, but here it was.

I snapped.  I raised my voice louder than I needed to, but I wanted to stun them as I made my way over to the open mouthed one.  I grabbed them and pulled them apart.  They both got disciplined for their part in the battle.  The spilt milk was still on the floor, so they were given the ultimatum:  sit here quietly and read, or suffer the consequences.

It was only 6:30.  I didn't know how I was going to make it until 7:30 without losing my cool.  As I was on my hands and knees, trying to get all the milk off the floor and sop it up from the gaps between the wood planks of the floor, Hadley patted me on the back.  She and Brynne were standing there, with big smiles. 

They were disobeying again, and seemed so pleased to be doing it.  Walking into the kitchen, and right through the milk, was not what I told them to do.  I began to stand up and begin the discipline process, when Hadley spoke up

"Papa, can we help you clean the milk?"

My heart melted.  Until this point, I hadn't seen the wad of Kleenex in each of their hands.  I'll never know which one of them came up with the idea, but I don't care.  The anger/fury/whatever you want to call it which had been building inside of me since the moment I walked through the door was gone instantly.  We finished cleaning the milk and I decided we needed to make the best of the remaining 45 minutes we had together tonight.

The usual actions of reading books, doing puzzles, or playing with toys weren't appealing to me, so what did we do?

Come back next time to hear all about it.  It might just be the best thing ever.

New talents

I was speaking with my mother the other day and she asked if the girls were trying to climb out of bed yet.  I told her no, but they have been trying to climb into bed.  They have yet to be successful because of the way their cribs are built.

With Julia out of town last week, I prepared the new baby's room.  The crib we have for the new baby is not built the same.  I really didn't give it too much thought as I assumed the girls wouldn't mess with it.

I was in the room with them while they were picking up.  The buzzer on the oven went off, so I went to get my lunch out.  When I walked back in 30 seconds later, I was greeted by this.

They are quicker than I thought.

Actually, this was about five seconds later as I had to grab the camera.  What I saw when I entered the room was Brynne straddling the crossbar.  She said

"Please pull me up sister."

Hadley moved to help her just as she fell into the crib.

Looks like I'll have to turn the crib around or find some way to toddler proof it.

What did we do?

Here is a list of items we gathered together for an activity we did when I took a vacation day last week:

Large knife
Tablecloth
2 painting smocks/Mama's t-shirts
Empty bowl
Roll of paper towels
Wet wipes
Pumpkin we picked a few days earlier

Can you guess what we did?

Made the girls' first Jack-o'-lantern!

I had to lay out a few rules:

1 - No touching the knife.
2 - No eating the pumpkin guts.
3 - No touching anything other than the pumpkin until we were done.
4 - Go potty before we start so you don't violate rule number 3.
5 - Don't rip the bottom tooth off the pumpkin (actually, this is a new rule for next year based on this year's actions).

Brynne was apprehensive about cleaning the inside of the pumpkin, and let us know it was "slimy".  Hadley, on the other hand, literally dove right in.  She was a bit disappointed when we were done with this step, but she quickly got over it.

I carved the first eye and pushed it inward.  Then Hadley went elbow deep to dig it out.

I carved the second eye and pushed it inward.  Brynne semi-reluctantly dove in after it, but was pleased to show off her haul.

I carved the mouth, after them telling me the pumpkin should have two teeth.  I made three, but as you can see from rule #5, they only wanted two, and so two is what they got.

Hadley was eager to pull the pumpkin's tooth.  We'll see how long that lasts after she loses her first tooth.

I thought three teeth would look better, so as they were cleaning up I widened the pumpkin's grin and added the bottom tooth back.

Notice something different?  Wider smile (on the pumpkin), and the third tooth has been restored.

 

Such a grown up conversation

Here is the conversation between the girls while playing in the basement tonight. 

If I had any tech skills I'd put pictures of them in here, but I don't, so you have to use your imagination.

Hadley:  Sister, come get me out of the tent.  (For the record, the first few times she asked, she would wait until sister was right up on her, then she'd sit down, laughing, and say no, no, no.)

Brynne:  I'm busy, be there in a minute.

H:  Sister, I need you to help me now.

B:  One second, almost done.  Okay, I'm coming.

H:  Pull me out the window.

B:  How do you ask?

H:  Brynne-e-boo Elise, please pull me out of the window, yes you may.

B:  Okay.  (grabs sister in a bear hug through the "window" of the tent, leans back with her, and they both fall to the ground, roaring with laughter).

H:  Thank you, Brynne.

B:  (while crawling through the tunnel to get into the tent) You're welcome.  (Now standing in the window) Hadley-roo Adah, please pull me out the window.

H:  I'm busy, just a minute or two.

B:  Hadley, I need your help now.

H:  I'm busy, Love.  Be there soon.

B:  Papa, please pull me out the window.

H:  (as she runs across the room) NO!  I'M COMING!!  HADLEY WILL DO IT!  (Proceeds to grab Brynne via the same bear hug and lean back.  Unfortunately, Brynne is a bit bigger, her head catches on the top of the "window", and as they fall back, the tent comes with them).

B:  Ooopsadaisies!

H:  The tent went crash boom with Brynne and Hadley.

Giggles ensue.

Both:  Papa, please fix the tent now, yes you may.

Let's get this done ASAP

It's official, after eight counter offers we've got our (hopefully) forever house under contract.  Yes, you read that right.  It took eight counter offers (over the course of 10 weeks) to come to a price both sides could agree on. 

During this time, we've been cleaning our house, putting things in storage, and generally just getting it ready to go on the market.  I've been wondering if all those late nights and storage rental costs were going to be well spent, and it turns out they were.

The less time I see this sign in the yard, the happier I will be.

Our house went on the market Wednesday morning.  We spent about an hour Tuesday night doing some last minute rearranging of the furniture (more on that to come later) and figured we'd have time over the weekend to do another thourough cleaning. 

Thursday, we received notice about noon we had a showing that night at 6:30.  We also found out someone else drove by and called in about it and a third person wants to see it Friday.

So much for cleaning this weekend!

Back to Thursday,  We busted our humps getting the last remaining details ready, which included me doing some yard work when it was 108.  At least it was a dry heat.  HA!  Once it gets over 100, I don't care if it's dry or not, it's still hot.

Our listing agreement says no visits during naptime and people must be out of the house by 7.  Our first showing was going to throw our schedule off.

Julia made a call and our friends graciously allowed us to bring our girls, and my parents who were in for the day, over to their house to swim, take a bath (just the girls - I assume my parents showered at their hotel), eat, and hang out.

I'm sure we could've gone swimming at the neighbor's, but we decided against asking them.

As we were headed home to put the girls down at about 7:10, I got a phone call from our relator.  The people were running behind schedule and wanted to see if they could come around 7:30 instead.  We hesitantly agreed, but said they had to be sure they would be there at that time. 

They couldn't, so they said they'd reschedule.

I know if we want to sell the house quickly, we need to be as flexible as possible.  We don't mind that to a certain extent.  It is difficult, however, not to be upset when you do everything you can and nobody walks through the house.

I was a bit frustrated we had to do everything we did to accomodate a showing that never happened. On the other hand, I was very pleased the girls took the change of schedule in stride and that we got to hang out with friends during the week - a rarity.

Sharing makes sister happy

Both girls still have a bink with them when they sleep, though Brynne has one with her about 60% of the time she's awake.  She will chew on that thing fiercely, putting holes in it in less than a week.

Last night, as we were getting ready for bed, I noticed the tip of it was almost chewed off.  We've run through our supply so had no reservists to call into active duty.  I had three options: let it go, and hope she didn't chew it off in the middle of the night which could lead to a choking hazard; take it away, and be subjected to long bouts of screaming; or tear off the end and see what happened.

I chose to tear off the end.

Bad decision.

She immediately started sobbing and wailing.  "PINK BINK BOO BOO!"  I carried her into bed, fighting her the whole way as she thrashed about.  I set her down, and she stood right up, continuing to let me know what was wrong.  Julia called for me to bring the bink back.

As I entered the changing room, she was smiling.  Hadley was sitting there holding her own green bink, saying "Geen bink, Bynne."

I exchanged binks with her, took the green one to Brynne, and the world was once again right. 

Hadley took the pink bink to bed and just held it in her hand as she usually does with the green one.

Both girls dropped off to sleep with no fussing and the slept soundly.

Everything was wonderful - until this morning.

When I got them out of bed and turned on the lights, Brynne erupted.  In the dark room she had not realized the switcharoo, or had forgotten about it.  As soon as she saw herself holding the green bink, she wanted her pink one. 

Hadley swapped with her gladly.  But then she noticed the damaged pink bink in her hand and went ape shit.

I assured her the situation would be rectified before bed tonight, and that seemed to appease her a bit, but not completely.

Looks like I'm off to Target today to get another replacement, and a back up or twelve.  Someday soon she'll be done with them, but until that day comes, we'll keep replacing the destroyed binks as necessary.

These terrible twos....

aren't really too bad so far.  We're having a lot of fun watching the girls grow, both mentally and physically.  Here are just a few quick pics from the last week to show you what I mean.

Here are my three lovely ladies, lounging in bed while I get ready to go to work.  Nobody looks ready to get up.

Brynne prefers to be read to while holding the next book...

while Hadley does it just fine on her own.

I let them entertain themselves for half an hour and this is all the mess they could make.  Not typical.

Sassy, just like her Mama.

A beautiful smile, again, just like her Mama.

Great organizational skills!  Though they did hide most of the pieces of a puzzle toy in that big (completely enclosed) speaker.  How they managed to get the pieces in through that little hole in the front is beyond me.  It took 15 minutes and every additional part of the vacuum cleaner, to get them back out, though.

I'm sure it'll get worse, otherwise they wouldn't call it the terrible twos.  For now, we're just enjoying as much as we can.

Happy Thursday!!

Things I've learned recently

Here's another list for your reading pleasure.

1 - A 2-0 fastball right down the middle is the best way to end a "four baseball game in three day" weekend. 

2 - You know you need sleep when it's 8 PM, you're home alone with your sleeping twins, and you come to your senses as you're walking to the car to run a quick errand.  

3 - Seeing a father and child playing catch is pretty cool.  Even if the father is standing halfway down a steep hill and chasing every other throw to the bottom.

4 - A two hour lunch with a client where we talk zero business is the best kind of meeting.

5 - Some people just don't know how to negotiate.  You give and you take, you don't just take. 

6 - The thing you hate most about your own house will be a selling point when you list it, and you will defend it like you would your child.

7 - You may struggle understanding other toddlers, but with your own, most words are clear as can be.

8 - Going a day without seeing your children hurts.

9 - Business travel sucks, especially when you go to a coast from the Midwest and are there less time than you spend traveling there.

10 - Celebrate everything your children do.  No matter how big or how small.  You will remember their smiles more than the event which caused it.

11 - Having a toddler wake up with a dry diaper, then immediately asking to go potty in the actual potty, is so fantastic.

12 - Walking out to the backyard and finding your dog run has collapsed is frustrating.  Especially when you can't tell if the wire has worn out (after only a few years) or if it was cut by someone.

13 - Having both of your girls yell "BOO-BOO" as they stick a finger into the strawberries on your knees is funny and excruciating at the same time.

Thirteen is my lucky number, so I'll stop here.  What a week!

Bathtime fun

Bath night used to be the girls sitting in the tub while we washed them.  This would be followed by them trying to escape our grasp as we toweled them off and prepared them for bed.

At some point, it became more about playing than cleaning.

They HAVE to be in the tub when the water is running so they can hold toys under to flow and clean them.  If they're not in the tub, they'll be standing at the edge, leaning precariously over the deepening water. 

I protect the faucet from little ones and little ones from the faucet.

Once the toys have been rinsed, a wash cloth is used to scrub them clean and dry them.  Sometimes, they are lined up on the side of the tub and at other times they are tossed back into the water.  The two larger animals, dolphin and turtle, are guided along the edge of the tub and up the shower walls.  For some reason, they make a VROOM sound like the cars and trucks do.

In the past, if water so much as touched one of their faces, they would be reduced to tears and screams.  Now, they stick their faces in the water to blow bubbles, pour water over each other's head, or use a "water gun toy" to spray one another.  Typically, as soon as a face is wet, the wash cloth is used to dry it off. 

More often than not, the first attempt to dry a face is done by grabbing the wash cloth straight from the bottom of the tub.  It's a funny thing, wet wash cloths do a poor job of drying things off.  So after they wring it out, they try again.

Once they're all clean we need to dry off.  They MUST get a dab of lotion on their hands so they can rub it in themselves.  Actually, they need to get a little dab about a dozen times.  Once they're dried, lotioned, and dressed, they INSIST on putting everything back in the proper drawer and putting the rolling drawer thing in the closet.

Only then can we brush hair and leave the bathroom.

It's turned into one big game.  Most of the time we have fun, but not on the days they don't nap well.

The only thing I can say to share what that is like is to quote one of Brynne's favorite sayings:

"Uh-oh"

When God closes a door...

Hadley opens it.

A few months back I did a little extra child proofing by putting the door knob covers on all the doors we didn't want the girls opening.  It turned out to be a bit premature, so Mama took them off while I was at work one day. 

They ended up being more of a hassle to us than a preventative measure for the girls as they had yet to figure out the mechanics of the door knob.

That all changed the other day. 

It was just about bedtime and the girls were winding down.  After their bath, we put a hair band on each of them to keep the hair out of their eyes.  Hadley decided she was done with hers, and Brynne agreed shortly thereafter. 

I saw Hadley walking toward our bedroom.  She paused at the door, holding the two hairbands in her hand.  Brynne began dancing around so I turned to watch her.

A minute later I heard the bathroom door shut.  The master bathroom door, which is obviously off the master "suite", which can only be accessed by going through our bedroom.  I assumed the wind from an open window had closed it, but as I walked toward our room I noticed our door was open - wind doesn't open doors.

Hadley (while her sister created a diversion) had opened our door, opened the bathroom door, opened Mama's drawer in the bathroom, and returned the hairbands to their proper storage location in anticipation of using them again after the next bath.  She walked out as if nothing had happened, informing me that she was "all done".

The closing of the door, I believe, served three purposes.  First, we've taught them to pick up after themselves and always leave things/places nicer than they found them, which includes putting stuff away in the proper location.  Second, they have learned to always close doors.  Third, she was covering her tracks.

I guess it's about time to put the door covers back, but I have a dilemma.

If I reinstall them, Brynne won't have the opportunity to figure out how to open a door yet.  If I don't reinstall them, the odds are very high the girls will now have free reign to rooms that are not supposed to be accessible to them.

As I see it, I have three options: 

1 - Cover all door knobs to keep them in their quarantined area. 

2 - Cover no door knobs and give them unlimited access.

3 - Cover only those doors that lead to unsafe places so Brynne can work on opening the other one - which leads to the hall closet.

If I knew anything about blogger technology I would include a vote button here, but since I don't, all I can do is ask for your comments.  What do you think I should do?

PS - for those of you that are new to reading my writing rambling, the embedded links are three of my personal favorites from last summer and fall, which just happen to fit in here, I think.  Hope you hop over to them and read a bit of my "old" stuff.

I'm here for you, sister

Tuesday and Thursday mornings I bounce out of bed drag myself out of bed a little after 5 AM to get in a workout.  I started this about a year ago.  The reason for getting up so early is that Mama goes to a boot camp at 6.  Back when I first started, the girls were only sleeping until 6:30ish, so I had to have my morning grooming ritual completed by the time they started hollering for me.

Recently they've been sleeping in later and Mama has been home before they wake up, but I still continue to get up early just in case.

Today was a just in case type of morning.

At 6:15, shortly after I came upstairs after my workout, Brynne (who is the better sleeper and rarely wakes up earlier than she should) woke up screaming bloody murder.  I tried to give her a minute to calm down and go back to sleep, but she only increased her wailing.  I went in and told her it wasn't time to get up yet and she needed to go back to sleep. 

She screamed louder and said no.  She was standing up, bouncing and yelling, so I picked her up, hoping she wouldn't wake her sister.

She clung tightly.  I again told her it was too early to get up and I was going to put her back to bed.  She again yelled no and held on.  I asked if she wanted her baby, to which she replied yes, so I gave her the doll. 

One more time I tried to put her back to bed and again she responded the same way.  I asked her what she wanted to do and she pointed to the door, meaning she wanted to be up. 

Hadley started fussing, so I decided to try and take Brynne to our bed and see if she would lie down while I got ready for work.  As I grasped the door handle, Hadley spoke. 

"Sister.  Sister?"

Brynne looked in her direction, but couldn't see her as it was still dark.  She reached out toward Hadley with both arms.  I asked if she wanted to go back to bed.

"Yes.  Sister." was her reply.

I laid her down, she fussed a bit, and was quiet as I left the room.

About an hour later, as I was getting ready to head out the door, Mama informed me Brynne had just spoken again.  She said "all done", but wasn't fussing.

I love my morning routine.  Even though it was altered, I love my little Brynne for putting aside her desire to be out of bed so Hadley would stay asleep.  Had Brynne gotten up, Hadley would have followed shortly thereafter.  I don't know if Brynne was thinking this and being selfless, or if she just decided she was tired after all, but I think it was the first one.

The Bird

Not really.

Actually, it was a beautifully clear Saturday morning, but the other intro sounds scarier.  We were at the park and there were birds, ducks, and swans all around us.

One of the swans came up to us so Mama fed it the only thing she had handy - a peanut butter cracker sandwich thing.

It enjoyed the treat, and wanted more.

It came closer.  Brynne reached out her hand to pet it and it snapped at her.  It snapped a second time, coming within inches of her cute little nose - apparently confusing her button nose for a button shaped treat.  Brynne didn't so much as flinch.

You are about to get a whooping Mr. (or Mrs.) Swan

Papa intervened at this point.  I put myself between the swan and Brynne, holding out one arm to ward it off and the other to hold Brynne back.  The swan, still delirious from the wonderful peanut butter cracker thing, tried to take a bite out of my arm.  Obviously, it thought I was either afraid of it or it didn't realize I was much bigger than the child it just tried to attack. 

I didn't move my arm and so it's beak grabbed on, ever so briefly.  They have tiny little teeth, and they are mildly sharp, but they didn't break the skin or even leave a red mark. 

The swan pulled back, trying to judge the situation.  When it came in for the second attempt to bite my arm it met my closed fist instead.

Dear PETA members - I did not punch the swan.  I merely held my fist out and the swan initiated all contact with my stationary hand. No animal abuse here. 

The swan then realized the gravity of it's mistake and went off in search of other snacks.  Unfortunately, the first thing it saw was Mama and Hadley.  It took a few steps toward them, realizing this was the actual source of the food. 

Hadley was holding a cracker, waiting to throw it.  The swan moved in and took a shot at the cracker.  It missed, but managed to hit Hadley in the pig tail.  Hadley looked stunned, and nothing more, but was quickly moved to tears when Mama screamed.

The swan, perhaps a mother itself, recognized the scream and decided it was better off searching elsewhere for food.  It scampered off with Brynne and I serving as escorts.  Brynne got a big kick when it flapped it's wings and waddled away.

Everyone was fine.  Mama apologized for her scream to the first person she saw.  Unfortunately, that person happened to be someone jogging by who had not heard the incident due to his headphones.  He gave a confused look as she spoke at him, nodded, and picked up his pace - putting distance between himself and the crazy woman.

Survival skills

Boys can play with action figures, dirt, cars, and guns.  They should never be allowed to play with dolls, have tea sets, or do anything with pink.

Girls have to play with only girlie things.  To step outside of that mold and allow them to play with whatever they want would most likely bring an end to the world as we know it.

I happen to disagree with that entirely.

You would think this phenomenon would have gone away years ago, but I still know people to adhere to it.  I (which obviously means we) decided, before we knew if we were having boys, girls, or a mixed batch, it didn't matter what sex they were as we would let them play with whatever they wanted to.

To that end, I got them their very own workbench as a second birthday present.  It has nuts, bolts, tools, and a working vice. "Working" is a very liberal term, apparently.  It does work, but it is far from functional. 

Yes, it does come with a cell phone, for some unknown reason.

My own father was always very good at letting us "help" with projects.  I credit him with my ability to fix, or at least rig, almost anything that breaks.  I'm not going to say I can totally fix anything, as micro-soldering is outside my capabilities at this time, but for the most part it holds true.  I will say that had I not been involved in helping him around the house I never would have been able to finish out two basements without hiring it done.  The money I saved was no small sum, but the pride in being able to say "I built this" is so much greater.

I've heard so many stories (from friends of mine who are less than handy) about their own father's way of letting them help.  It usually involves swearing (like the father in A Christmas Story) and always ends the same way with the father saying something along these lines:

Not like that, like this.  If you can't do anything else, just hold the flashlight.  No, over here!  I can't see anything!!  Just give it here, I'll do it!!!  You'll be more help just watching TV.

I plan on getting my girls involved in anything they want to help with, to a certain extent.  Obviously, I won't enlist their help if there could be danger, but that goes for any child, regardless of sex.

It's easier to concentrate when your tongue is sticking out.

Safety first!

Actually, I plan on getting them involved even if they don't seem to want to.  I don't see anything wrong with a girl knowing how to change the oil in her car, or replace a tire.  Little lessons in repairing broken toys, replacing batteries, minor electrical/plumbing work, or anything else which can be done around the house can go a long ways in aiding their development.

Hand-eye coordination, problem solving skills, and a general working knowledge of miscellaneous items around the house are all skills they'll be better off having in their quiver.

The biggest benefit I see, based on what I've seen in my own life, is the quality time we'll get to spend together.  I can guarantee you my relationship with my dad would be a fraction of what it is today had we not spent time doing these little things together.  From chopping wood, to doing minor repairs around the house, to hunting or fishing - I would be less of a person today than I am had I not spent time doing this stuff with my dad, and I know my girls will appreciate it some day as I do.

Thanks Dad.

Growth of a Baby Pictures

Kiddos change so quickly.  As I look back through the pictures we took I am so thankful we copied an idea a friend of ours had.  I can't say they were the originators of the idea, but I am still thankful they did it.

Here's the gist.  Take a picture of your children at certain points in their life next to an inanimate object.  By doing this, you'll be able to quickly see how they change over time.  For our friends it was a chair.  We decided to use their sock puppet monkeys.

Here's a quick photo album of the girls from birth through two years old. 

Newborns

Six months

One year

Two years

Linking with my lovely wife's weekly linky party, Mama Loves. Got a gadget, recipe, toy, book, craft your kid loves? Or have something that makes mama-ing (or papa-ing) a wee bit easier, or at least better? Blog about it and link up!

Movies

I don't know if my girls will love or hate movies from the 80s, but I thought I'd throw out a few pics of them "reinacting" scenes from some.  Here are their/my current top ten, in no particular order, plus a bonus.

I guess that means 11 in total, but ten with a bonus sounds better.

10 - Say Anything



In your eyes...

 9 - Top Gun


Requesting permission for a fly-by.

 8 - The Karate Kid


Wax on, wax off.


7 - Rocky


Yo!


6 - Big


Next, we play chopsticks.


5 - Adventures in Babysitting


Julia picked this movie, so I don't have a funny quote.

 4 - Footloose

3 - The Breakfast Club


Yep, I made heart shaped french toast for their birthday.

 2 - Pretty in Pink

Sometimes, you don't need a caption.

1 - The Great Outdoors

Nothing like spending time with family.

Bonus - The Goonies

There is a slide in the Goonies, and since I love this picture, I thought I'd stretch for the connection.

Any good ones I missed?

Sometimes, they listen better than we think

In sales, if you get the wrong answer, you've asked the wrong question.  With children, it doesn't really matter what you say, they will respond as they see fit.

Sometimes, they listen better than we think.

Sometimes, they do exactly as you say, even when it isn't what you meant.

Quick post.  Quick video.  Enjoy!  Listen to the words and see how they listened to me.

We didn't rehearse this.  The girls reacted to my words, and I reacted to their actions.

Yes, they still wear the squeaky shoes.

Bubble wrap fun

Time for another very short video.

It's the simple things in life that make it so enjoyable.

Vacation - Papa's point of view part 6

I was recently made aware of the fact that I failed to mention where we went on our vacation.  South Carolina is the answer. 

Since I don't really want to do a post with just two sentences, I thought I'd throw in three of my favorite pics from the trip.  All were taken by Melissa.



I know it's a cheap post, but since:

a - it's free for you and

2 - I didn't have much time to do anything this weekend it's all I got for ya.

Better stuff to follow this week.