Now that Dylan is moving around it's much easier to snap better pictures. For some reason I like the second picture in this set...
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Week(s)-in-Review
Photo op -- Fountains -- Photo op. More of the same over the past couple weeks, no complaints here -- the kids are having a great time!
Maddie: Cranked through two more Kumon books (Mazes and Tracing) -- the letters book provided a good foundation... we've been tracing alphabet flash cards the past few nights.
Dylan: Starting to army crawl on the floor -- take away the helmet and D's comfort level on his belly increases exponentially.
Who does this little guy look like?
Ethan's New Digs
Ethan and his family moved from about 0.5 miles down the road to 52.9 miles from our house... it's been a while since we last saw them. Maddie and Ethan simply picked up where they left off.
Ethan's made the blog on a couple of occasions, amazing to see how much these kids have grown!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Facebook Buffoonery
Not sure if this really fits the theme for the blog, but I couldn't resist. Facebook really offers up some good humor on a daily basis, I don't really actively participate on this social networking website (aside from posting a pic here and there of my kids)... but rather enjoy how much information people spill about themselves -- intentionally and unintentionally. Status update (as typed) from one of my "friends" (via Mobile Web Device):
On transit road in the construction zone… There is a man driving next to me driving slow and reading the buffalo newspaper on his steering wheel. Grey Suzuki liscense plate ### ### haha
Friend #1 Comment: Lol! I hate people!!
This was posted 8 hours ago today. In approximately 1 minute I was asking myself:
1) Do I really need to state the obvious!?
2) They stared long enough to know this guy was reading the Buffalo newspaper!?
3) This person has 470 "friends". There's only ONE comment thus far? Not even one jab?
The old me would have jumped immediately on this with one of my usual remarks... perhaps say: You are texting from the passenger seat I presume... but I have learned in my old age, now it's more of an experiment. I want to see if just one of the 469 calls this person out. Seriously though, it really isn't funny. Quick analysis:
First, I would say this does fit in with the theme of this blog... consider this a Public Service Announcement on safe driving habits -- this is proof of the typical fool(s) behind the wheel that we share the road with. Drive carefully, but more importantly, look out for fools!
Her friend finds it funny that she publicly declared his license plate to the now informed Facebook audience, and hates people... but it's OK to text this Facebook broadcast while driving.
Why the need to even share this on Facebook? Is anyone actually going to look up this fool's license plate and notify someone? What service was really done here? Instead of ONE fool for us to look out for on the road, we have TWO. If you really wanted to make a statement you should roll your window down and call this guy out to his face!
I could go on forever about the Facebook generation and probably will post more comments on this in the future. Sure you can say: well you're "friends" with this person! ...and to that, my only defense -- at least they spelled liscense the right way! To my real defense -- I have been making cuts to my "friends" list, but at the same time I need a decent amount of fb status updates for my daily dosage of unintentional entertainment.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Birthday Bonanza
The whole family has made it out to a couple of birthday parties the past two weekends. One was at an indoor pool for Madison's friend Melissa, which she loved. The other was for Alexandra's 1st ( Isabella's sister) with live musical entertainment.
Little D and his friend Carter, they're 2 weeks apart.
At first, Maddie and Isabella didn't know what to make of the music lady...
...by the end though, they warmed up to the (interesting) Merry Music Maker and had a blast. Although it was no comparison I'm sure with the performance put on by Mickey and Minnie for another party, I hear that was one for the books (Maddie wasn't in attendance).
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Coffee Groundhog Day
On our way to Starbucks Sunday morning Cathy cracked a joke about Groundhog Day... then the dim light went off in my head -- blog post! Every Saturday and Sunday we do the same thing, at the same time, with the same comments blurted by our princess from the backseat. The funny thing is, we love it, and have no intention of breaking this necessary routine... Madison has a blast, Dylan takes a snooze, and Mom and Dad get a solid 30 minutes of relaxation. Anyway, our coffee trip goes something like this...
After we get in the car and make it to the first light... Maddie chimes in from the backseat: "I'm stuck, I'm stuck!". At this point we turn around and let her know that we're all stuck!! Our 2Y11M old is not a fan of seat belts, but each day we reassure her that you have to wear it to keep yourself safe... the message isn't sinking in too well and for some reason the 1st light triggers this 10 second episode.
... then we get to the "snake" clock. We turn the corner and Maddie yells "snake clock! look there's the snake clock!". This requires some explanation and took a bit of decoding... but once we figured it out, it's quite the impressive correlation.
A while back we read this book to Maddie, Where's Spot. We really didn't read it to her that much, or in the past 6 months... but here's where she came up with snake clock. On a side note, why a dog would be looking in a clock for his son is beyond me...
Yeah, yeah, you get the chinese version... but you get the point. I had full intentions of taking a picture of her book and then posting it... but one thing led to another and I ended up googling it instead... call me lazy, but I think the Chinese version is better anyway.
After we make it past the snake clock, Madison pipes in again, "I want to see the big pig, big pig!". So we take a slight detour in the parking lot and give her a slow drive-by. Note that I did omit the guy's name, I didn't want to inadvertently brainwash a Michigander during the next election... I did use pink though, which I thought was a nice matching touch.
After the pig detour... we finally make it to our destination. This of course is really a 5 minute car ride filled with a bunch of reoccurring events.
2 coffees and a sausage egg sandwich with a fork and knife. We take the egg off the sandwich and cut it into pieces for our princess... which she refers to as "Eggy". We've smartened up as well and pack fruit and OJ for the rest of Maddie's breakfast -- cost savings, otherwise you have to spend $2 on an apple juice box or chocolate milk. Then....... finally........... we're settled. Dylan is out cold, Madison is digging into her eggs and fruit -- and the parents, well, we enjoy a peaceful 30 minutes.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Playlist Stats
So I was cleaning up the playlist on my phone and came across the "Play Count" detail. Out of curiosity I decided to give it a sort, you know, see which songs are my favorites. I quickly learned how the times have changed, check out the winners! I'm just glad that Ol' Blue Eyes hit the chart, I guess this really wasn't an eye-opener. I play (and sometimes even sing) Maddie's playlist every morning.... there have been times that I've had them on by myself in the car and didn't even realize it!
I did find a nice feature tonight, you can toggle off songs when you have it on shuffle. I selected Maddie's entire folder and made the switch. I have this thing on shuffle every time I work out -- in the past it would go from a fast paced (motivating) work out song to "It's an Ice Cream Sundae". Even though I'm by myself in the basement during the workout, I can't help but laugh and look over my shoulder. Definitely has an impact on my current set. Anyway, that problem is solved... now I need to focus my energy on the leading hits that make up my Play Count. Perhaps have ONE song that puts ME on the board!
The Great Outdoors
The weather has been great and Maddie's been lovin' it! Today the princess was so excited, chatting up a storm and hamming it up for the camera. It's nice to be able to get outside again.
Look at Me!
Apparently Mom wasn't too thrilled about my prior posting. What can you do right? Well, I know what I can do... I'll bury it down by getting this pic up asap. Call it a compromise.
Potty Talk
A word of warning -- this is straight potty talk. This morning I find myself back at the beginning of the Dylan #2 do-loop.
At least once a week we are pulling together a recipe for Dylan to relieve himself. When the time comes, we quickly divert his diet to straight prunes (and possibly pear juice)... which fortunately for us, he rather enjoys -- then we play the waiting game. You can't help but try to self-diagnose -- perhaps it's too much oatmeal, did we give him something new, maybe he's sick, etc, etc. One thing I've learned though is -- this, along with many other ailments, will pass with time.
We are by no means in new territory with the blockage situations... past experience with another kid in our family has us well prepared. In fact, we still are dealing with it today. Maddie is pretty much fully potty trained when it comes to the #1. However the #2 process can be quite lengthy (in the 10-15 min range) and also requires just the right yoga position to help move things along. This carefully orchestrated (required) process is making potty time quite difficult. Like her brother, we are also making some diet modifications to help facilitate the process.
Anyway, enough about that.
Bottom line is: if things go as anticipated, around 5PM tonight -- Dylan will be all smiles.
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