Archive for the ‘Birthday’ Category

Randomness + 2013 birthdays

Monday, February 10th, 2014

Wow – got a bit behind on birthdays from last year šŸ™‚ But first, here are some thoughts to go with the very random pictures this month. I’m sure you can easily guess which is which for all of them!

– Christopher and JT entered the science fair this year. They tested to see which material made the best paper airplanes. Science made throwing paper airplanes not so much fun šŸ™ But I think they’re over that now!
– I ran up the IDS tower (50 floors; 1280 steps) in exactly 10 minutes (10:00) – this is what my goals has been for several years (so now I never have to run up it again!). Ha – I’ll be back next year!!!
– Megan got the great idea to throw a birthday party for Susana before she left (ignoring the fact that her birthday is in April). We’ll take any excuse we can come up with to have more cake in the house! šŸ™‚ It was fun for everyone.
– Beth led the webelos through a science experiment in our kitchen. They extracted DNA from strawberries. It turned out awesome and got the boys an extra STEM award for all of their hard work.
– Cutest little snow covered yeti was found in our backyard šŸ™‚
– Our last pinewood derby – Christopher got 2nd place overall. Actually…his sister Megan got 2nd place overall but she wasn’t officially allowed to win. Exact weight, straight axles, and graphite are the secrets to the race. The kids did work every step of the way – these were no “Dad’s cars”.
– Before Susana left we had to help her try junk cereals. Another perk of having an intern šŸ™‚
– Christopher has been sniffling and sneezing and wheezing for months and months and months – since last summer. It got to where meal time was filled with odd noises at every bite and all of us telling him to go blow his nose (again). We took him in for allergy testing and unfortunately for Sammy (his guinea pig) it turned out that Christopher was allergic to him. So it was a sad day for Christopher as they brought him in to the humane society to be adopted.
– Frozen waterfall caves at Minnehaha
– So in order to brighten back up Christopher’s day…we bought him a tiny, little donut šŸ™‚
– Poop. Poop. Poop.
– I keep telling Megan it is a waste of money to put a dollar into “the claw” game but she always wants to and is convinced that she’ll win. I thought I’d teach her a lesson and let her spend one of her dollars at the Mall of America. Of course she won on her first try (while Christopher went on rides in the background of the picture).
– I had to rescue a dumb bird who snuck between our screen and window and got stuck. His little birdy buddy kept flying up to the screen directly outside of him – I think he was telling him what a dumb little bird he was.
– We have seen crazy cold negative temperatures this year but I still love the menacing “minus zero” reading we get every so often.
– Name any foods that Spam doesn’t go with. Doesn’t exist. We brought Mom’s pudding/cake dessert to the next level!

CHRISTOPHER(April) – amazing how consistent some of these answers are without the kids looking back to last year’s answers:
My favorite food isā€¦pasta (and ice cream)
When I grow up I want to be aā€¦scientist
My favorite restaurant isā€¦Noodles
My favorite possession isā€¦iPod Touch
My favorite color isā€¦teal
My favorite song isā€¦I Have a Feeling
My favorite book isā€¦Rangerā€™s Apprentice series
My favorite movie isā€¦no clear favoriteā€¦a lot are tiedā€¦Gilliganā€™s Island is a favorite series
My favorite holiday isā€¦Christmas or birthday (because I get lots of presents)
My favorite season isā€¦winter (sledding!)
My favorite thing to do isā€¦read
If I could do anything tomorrow I wouldā€¦go to Florida (body boarding)
It would be a really good year this year ifā€¦we went to Florida

MEGAN(July)
My favorite food isā€¦Mommyā€™s mac & cheese
When I grow up I want to be aā€¦fire fighter (because I like helping people)
My favorite restaurant isā€¦Noodles
My favorite possession isā€¦Penguiy (stuffed animal)
My favorite color isā€¦blue
My favorite song isā€¦Live While Weā€™re Young (One Direction ā€“ all of their songs)
My favorite book isā€¦Hunger Games, and then Shark Boy & Lava Girl, and then Harry Potter
My favorite movie isā€¦Harry Potter
My favorite holiday isā€¦Christmas and Halloween (because I get presents and candy)
My favorite season isā€¦winter and summer (because my birthday is in the summer and in winter you can go sledding and Christmas is in winter)
My favorite thing to do isā€¦sled
If I could do anything tomorrow I wouldā€¦go skiing ā€“ and go to Spain
It would be a really good year this year ifā€¦turned 9

COLLEEN(September)
My favorite food isā€¦apple sauce
When I grow up I want to be aā€¦dance
My favorite restaurant isā€¦Punch Pizza
My favorite possession isā€¦iPhone
My favorite color isā€¦yellow
My favorite song or group isā€¦Imagine Dragons
My favorite book or author isā€¦Fault in our Stars, John Green
My favorite movie isā€¦Hunger Games (I donā€™t really care)
My favorite holiday isā€¦Christmas (presents)
My favorite season isā€¦fall (because thatā€™s the season of her birthday)
My favorite thing to do isā€¦dance
If I could do anything tomorrow I wouldā€¦hang out with friends
It would be a really good year this year ifā€¦got platinum awards at dance competitions

April Fools Think Spring is Here

Sunday, April 21st, 2013

Is it really spring? April? Really? 14+ā€ of snow in April – 4th snowiest April on record so far! The pictures of pond and yard are from yesterday!!! And to think that just the week before our ducks came back!!! Love those ducks šŸ™‚ Hope they unfreeze wherever they are and decide to come back. Kids are loving the snow ā€“ it was the super sticky, heavy, (back breaking ā€“ ugh), and great-for-packing kind of snow. They made snow castles, and also started tiny snow balls at the top of our hill, rolled them all the way down, and check out how HUGE they got!

Did I mention what stinkers my kids are? On April 1st they were home alone (it was the first day of spring break and both Beth and I went to work that day). I knew they were going to make brownies so I filled the brownie box with their socks and sealed it back up. Heh heh heh. That night when Beth and I were going to bed we found that all of my underwear was in her drawer and all of hers was in mine. Hee hee. The also taped the bottom of the mouse so it wouldnā€™t work and replaced the salt in the shaker with sugar. šŸ™‚

We had a FUN, BUSY spring break with the kids. Beth worked most of it so I got to spend time with the kids for a nice change. Weā€¦went skiing (my office building is in the first row of big buildings behind the kids). I got the shortest skis Iā€™ve ever had ā€“ 150ā€™s and with the dullest edges ever ā€“ that made it interesting ā€“ good thing the hill is only 250ā€™ vertical ā€“ the kids are all naturals! Ate at yo-yo donuts (skipped the maple-glazed bacon donut ā€“ maybe next time). Went to the art museum & did art scavenger hunts for prizes (that suit of armor Colleen is in front of is made of military dog tags ā€“ wow ā€“ powerful). Ate at VNAM (Vietnamese the kids love). Saw The Croods (movie ā€“ made us cry). Ate at Einstein bagels (Christopherā€™s choice). Went to the Water Park of America for an entire day. Ate at Rain Forest in the Mall of America. Surprised the kids with a trip to the circus (circus was cool, and pulling off a surprise that the kids loved was even cooler). Ate at Punch Pizza. Got hot chocolate at Caribou (Colleenā€™s choice). Went to Jump-n-Jam. Hmmā€¦must be missing somethingā€¦fun stuff!!!

I just got back from an awesome trip to Indiana. It was definitely with mixed emotions but it was so great to see everybody!!! It started with seeing the old (and I mean OLD – none of them have aged near as well as I have šŸ™‚ ) college roommates (3 guys & 3 girls). Theyā€™ve really been there for me all year ā€“ hope they know how much they mean to me. All six of us ran a 5k race last Saturday on campus (and the $ went towards fighting cancer which was perfect). Purdueā€™s football coach and a lot of the football players were there along with the Boilermaker Special (big choo choo). The race started with the coach banging on the big (ā€œWorldā€™s Largestā€) Purdue drumā€¦and we were off! I hung out in Lafayette for two days. We had a fun visit at Harryā€™s Chocolate Shop for several hours where the Baltimore Zoos were flowing ā€“ just like old times! A few of us did mini-Boilermakers (whiskey dropped in a beer) to celebrate new jobs for a few of the roommates (tradition!). Itā€™s always great to be back on campus, especially at spring time ā€“ and was great all of the roomies could make it.

After Lafayette I drove to Rochester and spent a few days with my parents/Aunts/Uncle/cousin, cleaning up Grandma and Grandpa Tā€™s house. Lots of stuff stored up in that house in the past 50+ years! Lots of good memories and stories and tears and laughter. Funny to see all of the old clothes, bathing suits, hats, bottles, papers, pictures, games, books, etc. that were found and of course some of which were tried on šŸ™‚ We also found lots of chocolate in drawersā€¦not sure what the real story is on that but I want to remember it with a smile as Grandma hiding secret stashes for herself all around the house šŸ™‚ From the perspective of a grandchild, I spent a lot of time in that house and really tried to visit as often as I could considering the distance from where I lived. That house (and all of Rochester for that matter) was a special place for me where I knew I was always welcomedā€¦something comforting and homey about sneaking into the candy dish, pulling out all the old toys and games from the cupboards, drinking out of the song or bird glasses, listening to the old records, eating mini donuts that were cut in half, walking to the dam, cinnamon rolls & oatmeal cookies, playing on the organ, and sitting on the stool at the end of the big table in the cramped kitchen, knowing that a game of Euchre could start at any moment. I have many fond memories that Iā€™ll carry with me always. Iā€™m glad while I helped I could share some great moments with my parents and others for a few days.

When I drove down to Indiana it snowed the entire time I was in MN and WI, and then rained in IL. When I drove back it rained, hard at times, and with many thunder storms, almost all the way through IN, IL, and WI, and then turned to 8ā€ of snow by the end of the next day in MN. So I had two hands on the wheel almost the entire way home and was tired (mentally & physically). The next night I had to play in the championship game in the AA Racquetball League. Needless to say I had my excuses lined up in my head before the match started. I took the first game, I lost the second game and almost an hour and a half after we started (extremely long games that went to double-digits for both of us each game)ā€¦I barely won the 3rd game. My arm, shoulder, and back are still sore – but well worth it considering the outcome! After the game I drove home and THEN shoveled the 8ā€ of wet, heavy snow from the driveway šŸ™‚

Random pics with this post ā€“ Iā€™m sure you can figure out which is which. Chicago-style pizza I picked up in Chicago while driving and ate in the car; view out of my office window ā€“ I could watch construction activity all day; fruit basket from Grandma & Grandpa ā€“ yummy (especially the chocolate covered pineapple but it was all amazingly good!); Christopherā€™s birthday (we just celebrated it yesterday by going back to the water park with only a few of his friends) ā€“ Iā€™ll have to ask him birthday questions for my next post.

Okā€¦enough randomness for now. Hearts and prayers to everyone impacted in Boston.

A year of birthdays

Sunday, October 14th, 2012

I’m just now catching up on birthday questions for April, July, and September. The kids have had a good year. Thankfully life goes on for them and they get to be oblivious to distractions and reminders that seem to jump out at me all the time. Here’s what’s on their minds…starting with the one I’m most behind on.

Christopher (April)

My favorite food isā€¦pasta
When I grow up I want to be aā€¦scientist
My favorite restaurant isā€¦Noodles
My favorite possession isā€¦hamster (Fluffy)
My favorite color isā€¦teal
My favorite song isā€¦I Have a Feeling
My favorite book isā€¦Ranger’s Apprentice (currently on book 7)
My favorite movie isā€¦no clear favorite…a lot are tied…Gilligan’s Island is a favorite series
My favorite holiday isā€¦Christmas (because I get lots of presents)
My favorite season isā€¦winter (sledding!)
My favorite thing to do isā€¦watch movies
If I could do anything tomorrow I wouldā€¦sell $2500 worth of popcorn for Boy Scouts (to help my pack and to get prizes!)
It would be a really good year this year ifā€¦I get Skylander Giants for Christmas

Megan (July)

My favorite food isā€¦mac & cheese
When I grow up I want to be aā€¦fire fighter (because I like helping people)
My favorite restaurant isā€¦Punch Pizza
My favorite possession isā€¦My dog Orca
My favorite color isā€¦blue
My favorite song isā€¦I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad
My favorite book isā€¦Junie B. Jones
My favorite movie isā€¦Shark Boy and Lava Girl
My favorite holiday isā€¦Halloween (because I get candy)
My favorite season isā€¦summer (because my birthday is in the summer)
My favorite thing to do isā€¦swim in my pool
If I could do anything tomorrow I wouldā€¦watch Shark Boy and Lava Girl
It would be a really good year this year ifā€¦I didn’t have school

Colleen (September)

My favorite food isā€¦spaghetti
When I grow up I want to be aā€¦dancer
My favorite restaurant isā€¦Punch Pizza
My favorite possession isā€¦phone
My favorite color isā€¦yellow
My favorite song isā€¦Good Time (by Carly Rae Jepsen, Owl City)
My favorite book isā€¦Hunger Games (Susan Collins)
My favorite movie isā€¦Hunger Games
My favorite holiday isā€¦Christmas (presents)
My favorite season isā€¦fall (because thatā€™s the season of her birthday)
My favorite thing to do isā€¦dance
If I could do anything tomorrow I wouldā€¦go to dance class
It would be a really good year this year ifā€¦I got an iPhone 5

Colleen surfed the Internet and found a rainbow cake. They gooped everything in the pan (see crazy picture with Megan that looked like a clown puked in a cake pan) and then decorated it like a normal chocolate cake. The girls at Colleen’s birthday party screamed and loved it when we sliced into it and it was all crazy and colorful inside. Cool idea! Great implementation! We survived another sleep over with eight 12-year-olds. They had fun inside and out. And were playing ghosts in the graveyard and screaming like crazy at 10:00 p.m. along with a campfire. No tie dye this year so my hands are still normal color for a change following a birthday party šŸ™‚

Christopher got to play football at half-time at a Vikings game. That was pretty cool seeing him run out onto the field at the Metrodome. I think they ended in a tie but it was a cool experience. The other fun part was waiting to see how he would react when the cheerleaders tried to give him a high-five. Oh, how he’ll wish he could be in that spot again in a few years šŸ™‚ Christopher’s #70 in the picture, in the red team, and is about the only one whose number you can read. You can see that some Vikings players are already out on the field getting warmed up.

The kids also had fun building a cool fort in the woods. I took pictures of it from two different sides. I trimmed a tree and they were quick to gather up all my branches to hide their fort. I remember in Ohio when I would bring the Army shovel out into the cornfield to dig holes and make forts and paths. I’m sure they are loving that as much as I used to – fun times.

There’s also a picture of when I let Christopher & JT build the campfire. They did an awesome job and told me how high the flames were going to be. They sure were right! Wow – I think that’s the biggest fire we’ve ever had. And they haven’t even discovered gasoline yet šŸ˜‰

Beth took the kids to a really cool science day at “the U” (University of MN). They all had fun stories to tell when they got home. They got to play with cool bubbles and spinning platforms & wheels and hold giant hissing cockroaches (only the girls would hold those – Christopher, JT and Gabriel wouldn’t do it!!!).

We got all dressed up and had our church pictures taken for the directory. Our time slot was something like 7:30 p.m. but they were running late so we didn’t get out of there until 9:00 p.m. and had promised the kids ice cream. So there we were at 9:30 p.m. eating ice cream in our Sunday best. Fun. Parents of the Year award nominations are due soon – get going on that. There was only one employee – an Asian gentleman a bit older than us and he started asking us questions – yelling from behind his counter to our booth (and of course we sat as far as we could from our kids since the place was empty). It turned out that he lived near us in Eden Prairie so he asked our kids where they went to school – they did a good job answering him despite his accent. Turns out his son also went to the Spanish school, and I asked his son’s name. He said “Noman”. Seemed like a cool Asian-ish name to me so I think I said to him “Noman?”. He nodded and then I yelled to the kids to see if they new a Noman (Colleen told us later that his son looks exactly like him so she knew him right away). The kids kind of agreed that they new Noman but Christopher came walking over to our booth. He whispered to Beth that he didn’t know any Noman’s but he did know a Norman. Ok, so I’m getting older. Ok, maybe I was channeling mom, or channeling Katherine at the time…but apparently I was the only one in our family who thought maybe Noman was a cool Asian name. Beth started giggling and could barely contain herself since I had been yelling Noman across the place. Ice cream dude heard me perfectly – we both were speaking the same language – we bonded. All the other giggling Thompson’s should grow up and find some culture so they can communicate better. Who ever heard of an Asian ice cream parlor guy with a son named Norman anyway – how boring.

Orca chased a squirrel right into our fence a few days ago. Bad way to start your day if you’re a squirrel. Lucky for him he was just outside of Orca’s electric fence boundary so all she could do was bark and bark. He was mad and squealing and trying to get his head out but was completely stuck between two overlapping fences. I clipped some wires and our animal loving neighbor stopped by to help free him too. Stinks when you’re put in the situation of rescuing animals that can be so annoying. But we did the right thing. Hopefully he tells all his friends not to mess with Orca and to find another yard to roam!

So what would you do if you saw a huge wasp nest hanging from a branch in your yard? Stay away from it? Tell your dad about it? Or stand under it and throw rocks at it? Of course you would choose the option with the rocks – duh! Lucky for Christopher and Megan it turns out the nest is empty. Crazy kids. They were at the top of the hill too so they would have had a long way to run from anything angry coming out of that nest. Live and learn I guess.

Soccer ended yesterday for Megan. Christopher’s football playoffs start tomorrow. We also went to the Eden Prairie high school football game Friday night. Eden Prairie was ranked #13 in the nation so we were expecting to see a good show. They got beat – blah. Colleen really wanted to go the game and hang out with friends so she had a good time and I think saw some of the game. The rest of us sat on blankets and snacked on fries and hot cocoa to stay warm. It was close enough to walk so Beth left a bit early with Megan in the car and and then I walked Christopher, Colleen and two of her friends home at 10:00 p.m. Late night – too bad it didn’t end with better results. Supposedly news crews had been in town following the team around this week because they would have been a top 10 team in the nation had they won. Cracked under pressure! Hopefully this won’t turn into one of those blah sports weekends – already Eden Prairie lost, Purdue lost, and notre dame won which isn’t good. Gophers lost which helps (otherwise I have to hear about that on Monday). The Vikings are playing now – hopefully their winning ways continue. And tonight we are going to sit in a suite to watch the Lynx play in their first finals game this year. They won it all last year so it would be cool to see that happen again. I co-coached soccer with the marketing director of the Timberwolves and he happened to have room in the suite tonight so that will be fun. It’s unfortunate that the Lynx don’t get more good press given their winning ways but I guess it’s a tough draw getting more interest in women’s sports. The kids will have fun regardless and the price is right šŸ™‚

Yesterday was also the Eden Prairie fire department’s open house. It was good to go back and see everyone. I got a lot of really nice comments and it was good to catch up with people. It’s tough being away but the right decision as I’ve said before. Christopher’s football practice went long so we missed the first car fire. Every year they light two cars on fire and then call in the engine to pull up and put them out. We get there and people keep asking me if we saw the first car fire. It turns out (and I haven’t been able to find it on YouTube yet – but it will be there I’m sure) that they lit the first car on fire, called the engine in to service, and then the car started rolling. Yes, the wheels should be chocked. But they weren’t. The car apparently rolled towards parked fire apparatus (including the safety chief’s vehicle), missed them, missed a light post, and came to stop (still on fire) about 60′ away. In the photo of the car on fire you can see off to the left in the distance where the first car stopped (it’s still there and started where the other one is on fire in the picture). I can’t wait to see the video. They were lucky. Crazy things happen all the time on the fire ground, and sometimes drills are harder than the real thing even though they shouldn’t be. It must have been crazy to be on the department, have a crowd watchnig you, and see a fully engulfed car rolling away towards your fire truck. Yikes! We saw the 2nd car fire – not near as much excitement. This could be the last year they do this which would be unfortunate. A few years ago the no fun patrol canceled the fire engine rides because of child seats, etc – no fun given the controlled environment. Live a little, have some fun, let those flaming cars roll!!!

Ready or not, here we come

Friday, June 29th, 2012

This was a milestone week…the first time ever we’ve seen boy-band posters hanging in the girl’s room!!! And so it begins šŸ™‚

Summer has been off to a busy start. Baseball and soccer just finished this week and the kids have already been through Vacation Bible School, football camp, and dance/cheer camp, plus we just held a birthday party for Megan this past weekend and also had almost 30 people at our house from my work (kids were included – it was a fun time to catch up with everyone). They have all loved everything so far. The picture of Megan smiling while she dribbles the soccer ball happened right after the ball accidentally bounced right off her head so she was laughing at that still šŸ™‚ In VBS they even got to snorkel in the shark infested water that goes over the see-through tunnel that people walk through at the Mall of America’s under-water-world (Colleen says she got to wave and be in lots of photos for people). Now that Beth isn’t working we’ve been taking advantage of more date nights…in the past month we’ve hit Bar La Grassa, 112 Eatery, Broder’s Pasta Bar (it’s much nicer than it sounds), Sebastian Joe’s ice cream, Marvel Bar, and Origami (we did Omakase there with a friend where we sat at the sushi bar and had the sushi chef bring us whatever wonderful creations he had the urge to make for us). I’ve eaten a lot of sushi before but I had many firsts that night – it was all amazing except for the part where as soon as I put some sort of eel in my mouth I almost instantly couldn’t feel half of my tongue – that was another first for me but I seemed to make a full recovery within an hour or so – yikes!. It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve got to check some places off my list that I wanted to try for a while šŸ™‚

Flowers are starting to bloom in the yard but it looks like we’ll just miss most everything popping for the first time and putting on a great show. We also finally are having a good year for raspberries so our dog watcher may get less money and more raspberries for payment šŸ™‚

Ok…had to post this quickly…ready or not, here we come…off to see (great) Grandma T…

No more homework, no more books…

Monday, June 11th, 2012

School’s out – hooray! Beth quit her job and is looking forward to August – hooray! We’ll be out in NH in a few weeks – hooray!

I don’t think I posted this yet…but maybe I did…oh well, shut up and watch it again šŸ™‚ It’s going viral! All you really need to watch are the first 10 seconds!

EPFD Video

I hit 10 years with the department in August – crazy it’s been that long. Lots of great experiences. Last week I did a presentation at school for both Christopher’s and Colleen’s classes – it was a ton of fun. I always really enjoy that and the kids are great & have many good & interesting questions.

Ok – here’s some more Katherine stuff for a bit…ready? Is it too much that I built a reflecting pool in our backyard in her memory? Is that normal? Did you all build one too? It looks nice, huh?

Christopher seems to be getting the most use out of it – he spends hours at a time reflecting. Anybody buying that? So I spent a day leveling the spot for our pool – and I got it all ready…and then it rained for like 3 days straight, and then it took a week for the mud to dry up, so finally 2 weeks later we got the pool set up. But it’s up now, and no support beams have bent this year so I’m somehow getting better šŸ™‚

So I wrote this phrase down probably in February and was going to see if Katherine could use this to communicate better with Erik’s family. I never got around to sending it to her – probably an old one everybody has heard before anyway and it just took this long for it to get to the midwest. Mom, maybe you can still use this when talking to Erik or his family: WHALE OIL BEEF HOOKED. You’re welcome – always happy to help.

So…I thought maybe I could bank up some brownie points and I brought Beth to the Princess Diana exhibit at the Mall of America. Wow – I still can’t quite find the words to describe how I felt about all the dresses on display. And I’m still wondering why they let me into that place but somehow managed to pull every other guy out of line (it didn’t help that Hooters was right across the hallway from the entrance to this exhibit). Oh well – I made the most of it. One room focused on her funeral and had a speech on the wall that was written by her brother – maybe eulogies are just like reading a horoscope in that somehow it applies to most anyone but I still found comfort in many parts of Charles Spencer’s tribute to his sister Diana and that I could relate portions of a speech about a greatly admired princess to Katherine.

Ok…moving on to other topics. Can anybody guess what this is?

Bizarre food crime scene? Bizarre fantasy food scene? Give up? This is what happens when you let boy scouts create devices to try to protect an egg as it is dropped off a 90′ fire truck ladder. Some boys tried to protect their eggs, while others decided to put their eggs in jello, or peanut butter, or bags of flour for the splat effect! And my boy was the former šŸ™‚

Speaking of my good boy. Here’s the day he was initiated into his new “Grease” gang.

That was crazy hair day, and that’s as crazy as he was going to get this year. No colors and no hair out of place. Absolutely crazy!

And here’s Colleen stopped on the bridge as she contemplates whether or not to advance to the next level in girl scouts. Not sure what she decided – guess you’ll have to ask her.

Schooner days was here again for mommy’s birthday. This is the little fair that is staged about a mile from our house. They bring in all sorts of rides and deep fried foods and of course a gigantic bingo tent. It’s always a fun time and holds us over until the state fair arrives.

And then for Beth’s birthday we went and ate outside on a dock by a huge lake and got our kids all liquored up. Nothing says party like a 6 year old drinking beer.

The flowers are starting to wake up in our yard. The poppies only bloom for a day before a light breeze blows their petals everywhere. Crazy how fast they bloom and are gone. But if you catch them on that day they are beautiful. I call this one “Here doggie, here doggie”:

And of course I call this one “Poppy and killer whale”

So maybe it’s my fault for not bringing in the flag before it got dark. But I went to get the flag the other night and about crapped my pants when something fairly big moved at my hand in the darkness. Turns out it was a friendly neighborhood tree frog way up high on the drainspout. He almost got smooshed just like I did to his buddy accidentally last year šŸ™

And finally, here’s Megan’s new trick…

Randomness – cross-country edition

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

It’s been a busy month and a half. And not much blogging to show for it. Here’s a whole mess of randomness (and not much wit or comments this time – sorry) that I’ll put out there quickly to get caught up…ready?

Here are some pics of when we were out on the East Coast. Cousins and playing board games with Grandma & Grandpa are great fun!

On our drive back home we stopped by the Great Wolf Lodge for a shortened vacation and met up with some friends who were already there.

And Easter came and went. We had a beautiful day for it. Here are some Easter pictures and Colleen wearing a furry hoodie that she got that day.

There was a double rainbow on the way home from work last week. And one of the rainbows was the brightest rainbow I’ve ever seen. So I started trying to take pictures with my iPhone (uh…yes mom, I pulled over and came to a complete stop before taking each picture). It was off to my side so check out my face reflected in the sky with the rainbows…cool, huh? Hee hee.

Christopher walking over the bridge to start on his path to being a Webelo. Next week is the egg drop – and also time for me to start planning the rocket launch again this summer.

We’ve had choir shows at school for all three kids (here’s Christopher on the mic).

Megan has gone through several phases lately…she focuses very intently for a week or so and then moves on to something else…the last 3 mini-phases have been running away, stacking stuffed animals on soccer balls for pictures (and also posing with Orca), and catching fish & water-walking-bugs from the pond.

Here she is one of the times she was all set to run away (complete with back pack full of stuffed animals plus others she could carry in her hands). I told her I wanted one last picture to remember her by…

Followed by balancing stuffed animals on soccer balls and with Orca…

We stocked the pond again with cheap feeder goldfish from the pet store. Megan has done an amazing job of catching those little fish over and over and over (and thankfully releasing them right away). So far we still have yet to have any of our kids do a dive into the pond…one of these days…

Good things come to those who wait. Sure it’s over a month later but we finally had Christopher’s birthday party. It was a pirate theme this year and of course included a sleep over. The next morning the boys had fun building boats out of whatever materials they could find in the yard. They did an awesome job…and the boat looked great…but didn’t stay upright so well in the open water…

It must be May…soccer (both girls), baseball (just Christopher although Megan is talking big about softball for her next year), and Mother’s day with banana-fudge malts & burgers at Convention Grill (super yummy!). Megan is at it again…she scored two goals last week (which means ice cream for all of us – yahoo!).

Ok…enough randomness for now…take care everbody!

Good things happen to good people

Friday, February 17th, 2012

This entire week has been amazing. Incredible how many good things can fit into one week.

Saw Grandma T. Nice that it was split over several days with multiple visits. She was doing great.

Saw Dad. Ditto.

Got to light a birthday cake with 100 candles in it (well…99 candles in it…we found one later; and we only could get about 80 of them lit before it turned into a massive fireball) and no one got hurt. I was so looking forward to doing this. It was great but next year Grandma gets “1” “0” “1” – not 101 individual candles.

Saw several roommates. It’s great to have such great friends.

Went to a Purdue basketball game. Sat in 3rd row. Got to be on tv throughout game so Beth & kids could watch me from home (can you find me in the pic below?). Good guys won.

Got some great food in Chicago (Ed Debevic’s and Giordanos pizza). Just so happened to be there on a Thursday night which is the night that Navy Pier is free – sweet. Got to jog in Chicago and watch the city wake up – I love that. We both still miss a lot about Chicago.

Thought I was doing a fire presentation to just 20 kids in Megan’s class on Wednesday but was surprised with a request to do 3 classes at once and talked to 75 kids. The kids were so cool and kept calling out “Hey firefighter Dave” for the next 30 minutes as I saw them in the lunch room and at recess. They fought over who would get to sit with me – Megan moved tables in the lunch room 3 times. Each time she would get up to switch tables we would have all the tables around us also get up and run over to our new location. Finally we got it so Megan got to sit with who she wanted šŸ™‚ They sent me awesome Thank You cards to Senor Thompson that night. So cool.

Beth got some GREAT news this week. I’m keeping it on the DL (that’s down low mom) on the Internet. Never know who reads this stuff šŸ™‚

We became the official 2012 who-kept-the-Christmas-lights-up-in-the-neighborhood-the-longest champions! Common – it’s only mid-February and everybody else gave up, not even a real competition this year.

Tonight we did the wish “reveal” for my Make-A-Wish child. Absolutely fantastic. His family is incredible. His smile lights up the room. They had tons of friends and family over for a huge catered party (lettuce wraps with PF Chang’s recipe, ribs, clam & scallop chowder, crab cakes, pot stickers, creme brule, molten chocolate cakes – my kind of dinner) and we opened up a big gift wrapped box and balloons popped up that were tied to Mickey Mouse’s arm. He was so excited. This organization and the connections it creates is so powerful and the wishes are magical. The entire night was filled with very uplifting conversations. Be thankful for what you have and give back.

It will be hard to top this week but you never know.

Two funny things this week.

#1. We got home from our trip and Orca had escaped from the confines of the kitchen (we had a boy up the street watching her who has watched her before). I knew the only reason she would do that is if she had to go to the bathroom. So I start searching all over the house. In the upstairs kid’s bathroom she had gone #2 but she did it on the linoleum floor. Smart doggie šŸ™‚

#2. Christpher was telling me that I was the best daddy ever. I forget what he had done or was trying to get out of but he was being sincere about it. Our button pusher child #3 decided she needed to cause some trouble so she snottily says…”well that means that when you get older and you’re a daddy you can’t be the best daddy ever. What will you be?” I loved the logic. Too funny. They eventually decided that I could be the best grand daddy ever and that Christopher could be the best daddy at that point. I see a button – let’s push it!

Here’s a video: Granda T cake

I’m trying a new format with the pics – let me know how you like this. I think you can keep clicking a few times to get bigger pictures. But maybe you’ll have to use the Back button in your browser to get to the blog text again – seems a bit awkward but it’s faster for me so let me know what you think.

Pre-pre-teen

Sunday, September 25th, 2011

Here’s what’s on Colleen’s mind:

My favorite food isā€¦ice cream & pizza

When I grow up I want to be a…dancer

My favorite restaurant isā€¦Punch Pizza

My favorite possession isā€¦iPod touch

My favorite color isā€¦yellow

My favorite song isā€¦I Wanna Go (by Britney Spears)

My favorite book isā€¦Matched

My favorite movie isā€¦Soul Surfer

My favorite holiday isā€¦Halloween

My favorite season isā€¦fall(because that’s the season of her birthday)

My favorite thing to do isā€¦read & draw

If I could do anything tomorrow I wouldā€¦go to Florida (go to Panama City beach)

It would be a really good year this year if…I become really good at the French Horn

Fall randomness

Saturday, September 24th, 2011

Here’s a bunch of randomness.

I shook Matt Logelin’s hand at a 5k race last weekend that supports the foundation that he created. He writes a blog I’ve been following off and on for a few years.

Here’s a cute little link based off of the Oprah flash mob event from a few years ago. This month is reading month and the kids are looking for sponsors/donations…hint, hint, hint.

Tell your friends to help Pearson set a new reading record – this year’s book is Llama Llama Red Pajama.

Can you find me in this video ? I may be in the background in a shot or two but the image I’m most proud of is in seconds 50 & 51 (yes, that’s my hand filling out the entry form). These are the trails I’ve run the past few weeks – very hilly and with lots of ruts which for some reason is lots of fun. I ran another 5k this morning that ended with sushi, salad, and brownies – bizarre to be eating that type of food at 9:30 a.m. immediately after a race. But it was yummy!

Christopher and I took in a Twins game a few weeks ago. Does that hat make his head look big? That’s actually the cup that his ice cream sunday was served in šŸ™‚ And now that’s his favorite bowl for cereal in the morning – which is great considering what I paid for it at the ballgame!

At the state fair there was this cool cowboy dude who would have the kids hold out each arm, leg, head, booty and then send these loops spiraling at them and wrap them up. Megan was our only child brave enough to go up to him. He ended up making her look like the Statue of Liberty complete with a crown (just with rope) – it was cool! Here he is in action.

Here’s another freaky dude we ran into at the state fair…the kids loved making huge bubbles.

Christopher and I survived another overnight camping trip with the scout pack. It was a really fun time – great hiking and food and geocaching and campfire – lots of fun for both of us.

I don’t know how she does it but Megan has been catching a ton of frogs (not toads, but frogs). She was even catching 2 or 3 at a time in the net. She’s the frog-whisperer.

Some things never change…

The No Fun Patrol canceled Halloween in the schools so they get around it by celebrating a “Dress Up Like Your Favorite Book Character” day…here’s Darth Vader, Hermione, and ??? (I forget – I can’t keep up with all the characters in all the books that Colleen reads).

Colleen had a fun birthday party. The girls played games outside, had a camp fire, made lollipops, did each other’s nails, stayed up until 3:00 a.m. watching movies and slept in until 9:00 a.m. A fun time was had by all šŸ™‚

And here’s how we spend out Saturday mornings and afternoons lately…

Tea Time

Friday, April 29th, 2011

Was everybody else up before 5:00 a.m. watching the wedding today? What did you think of that dress? And how well she carried herself? And “the kiss”? This is all I’ve talked about all day. Ok, maybe a bit of a stretch but we did eat Thomas’ English Muffins this morning to do our part in the celebration.

Christopher is 8. Sounds so old. We put cake and ice cream in front of all of the boys and two of them stared at their plates and said “I lost my appetite” and didn’t touch their cake – I wonder why…does this look appetizing to you? šŸ™‚

Here’s what’s on Christopher’s mind:

My favorite food isā€¦cake & pasta

When I grow up I want to be a…scientist (not sure which kind yet)

My favorite restaurant isā€¦McDonalds and Noodles & Co

My favorite possession isā€¦taser rocket

My favorite color isā€¦blue

My favorite song isā€¦I Have a Feeling (Black-Eyed Peas)

My favorite holiday isā€¦Christmas (I asked him why and he said as sort of a question because he wasn’t sure “because it’s Jesus’ birthday? – it might be?”, so I pressed him further if that was really the reason why and he of course then said “no, presents” – nice try buddy)

My favorite season isā€¦spring (because that’s the season of his birthday)

My favorite thing to do isā€¦play video games

If I could do anything tomorrow I wouldā€¦go to Chuck E. Cheese

It would be a really good year this year if…I got one million dollars or 200 mighty beans for my birthday

His birthday party went really smoothly. He only had 5 or 6 friends over and we had a scavenger hunt, tie-dyed, built catapults, and had a sleep over. The catapults were a huge hit – here’s a photo of all the boys firing at me.

The morning of his birthday I ran an 8 mile race (this is the 4-person 50K team event that I do every year). The morning that I woke up there was over an inch of snow on the ground and this is the race where it is run on very hilly, dirt & mulch trails the entire way and you even run up and down a ski slope. Luckily the snow melted very fast (the second photo is the scavenger hunt on the same afternoon). I had a decent time for me – a bit slower than last year but it was very muddy and goopy this year.

It’s crazy that it’s already Easter and now almost May. The year is flying by. We had a nice Easter weekend, did the usual Easter activities…you know…decorated eggs, ate cracked eggs, hid our eggs over & over in the backyard, sang at church, got our faces painted, saw the Batmobile, and covered our back porch in big purple goopy stain-free (yah right) bubbles that the Easter Bunny thought was a good idea to give us…we kept asking ourselves all day long “What would Jesus do?” and took it from there…

Christopher walked across the scout bridge and upgraded from a Wolf to a Bear. Now we get a brand new book of seemingly endless tasks to work on. It’s all good – lots of fun stuff to do. I don’t remember ever having the option to get the Video Game beltloop when I was a kid…times have changed.

Megan was the Star of the Week at school. She really, really wanted to include the baby photo in the middle of the poster. Beth asked her if other kids had baby photos and she said no, but she really liked that picture so she left it. She came home and seemed happy that other kids laughed when they saw it. Glad she isn’t phased by some of these things that I think I would have been terrified of as a kid.

Our little baby is growing up. Still a great helper and loves to be in the middle of what’s going on, but definitely less and less of our little baby all the time. I keep threatening to put bricks on her head and not let her get any bigger…I might actually try that soon.

Very, very, very glad to hear that the kidneys are improving. That is great news – keep up the great progress and I hope you continue to keep feeling great dad. Talk to everybody soon.