Today was a rough day. Robbie still has a pretty intense fever (it was 102.8 as of about 4:30 this afternoon) and Isaac is still just as demanding as when he's the only kid around. Also, they tag-teamed it so that one would wake up moments after I'd get the other to settle down for a rest. As a result, the dishes and laundry I hoped to get at today didn't necessarily get done. Also also, as I finally settled down to bed at about three this morning (because that is, it appears, just the way I roll these days), Robbie suddenly woke, screaming that there were bugs in his room and asking me to squish them, so I didn't get to sleep until about four.
Kim was, of course, awesome today, going into work late so I wouldn't have to wake up at seven-thirty like I usually do, and giving me a brief rest period after she got home from work, but the day, on the whole, was just pretty rough.
That said, it wasn't bad. Just hard. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little bit easier.
Signs your 4-year-old may be watching a little too much Wall-E:
--You're playing airplane with him, and you get to be the pilot. You're awfully tired, though, so you tell him you're just going to turn on the auto-pilot and close your eyes for a bit. "Don't do that!" he says. "Why not?" you ask. "Because I don't WANT you to do that," he replies. "Why don't you WANT me to do that?" you ask, reasonably enough. "Well," he says as though it should be obvious, "I did watch that one movie."
--You ask him to pick up some papers from the floor in his bedroom and throw them away. He scrambles down the hallway. A minute later, he returns with a bulge under his shirt. He goes to the trash can, opens his shirt, and dumps the trash in before going to get some more.
--You are sitting in the doctor's office, waiting (of course). You've been waiting for quite a while. "I don't want to wait any more," he whines. "We have to," you say. "The doctor will be here as soon as she can." "But I don't want to just sit here," he complains. "I wanna live!"
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
v2, d381: Shortie
Just gonna ask for prayers tonight. Robbie had a 101 degree temp tonight and has complained off and on about stomach aches the past couple days. Also says it hurts when he goes to the restroom sometimes. So I'm taking him to the doctor tomorrow.
Also, Isaac is overdue for his four month immunization shots, so we'll go ahead and get that out of the way while we're there.
It's gonna be a hap-hap-happy day at my place tomorrow, let me tell you.
Here: why not watch Joe Sakic win $500,000 for charity by hitting a hole-in-one at a celebrity golf tournament?
Also, Isaac is overdue for his four month immunization shots, so we'll go ahead and get that out of the way while we're there.
It's gonna be a hap-hap-happy day at my place tomorrow, let me tell you.
Here: why not watch Joe Sakic win $500,000 for charity by hitting a hole-in-one at a celebrity golf tournament?
Saturday, July 16, 2011
v2, d380: This 'N That
Sorry about no posting yesterday. I accidentally fell asleep. I slept for about 10 hours. Trust me, it was needed. I think I caught a few winks in my office at church during the last day of VBS.
****************
As we've discussed on this blog a couple of times, I have the privilege of telling my older son a bedtime story every single night. Well, every night that I'm home at bedtime, that is. For about a year, these stories featured some characters I had made up, Harry Bear and Scary Bear. Within the last few months, however, Robbie has almost exclusively asked for stories about Thomas the Train and his friends. Folks, Thomas the Train is a train. There's only so much you can do with that. So I usually end up saying, more or less, the first thing that comes to mind, and I speak very slowly until I come up with something I haven't used before. And of course, once I've said something, I really can't take it back, so we occasionally end up with some very un-Thomas like stories.
Where is all of this going? Last night, Thomas met a cyclops.
**********
VBS seemed to go very well once it got started. Everybody really seemed to be having a great time just about all week. It was a long week, especially since we wouldn't get home until after 9 p.m. (Robbie's bed time is usually 9 at the latest) And for some reason, I still can't sleep until about 3 a.m., but I have to get up to run Kim and Robbie to work and school, respectively. A good week, but man were we exhausted. I definitely learned a LOT of things I'll do better/differently next year. (I also learned exactly how much money you could spend on VBS if you wanted to. Sure, I'll pay $15 for a chart to write the kids' names on! What a great deal!)
Anyway, thanks to everyone who prayed I'd make it through the week. Really, after Monday, there wasn't much left for me to do. I walked around all Tuesday trying to figure out if I needed to be stressing about anything.
******************
Apparently, MSN messenger is just DONE with me. Sorry, Sherri.
***************
Lunchtime conversation today:
Keep in mind, we've been sitting and quietly eating our frozen pizzas. Suddenly, between bites, Robbie asks, "Why does a cyclops only have one eye?"
Me: Excuse me?
Robbie: How come cyclops only have one eye?
Me: Well...I don't really know, actually.
Robbie: Because that's the way God made them?
Me: Well, no...actually, a cyclops is from another, really old story. They're not real.
Robbie: Why?
Me: A loooong time ago, somebody made up stories, and they had cyclopes in them, and in those stories they only had one eye. So it's not real.
Robbie: Why?
I'm not sure what I said next, but I believe it was roughly akin to, "Eat your pizza."
****************
As we've discussed on this blog a couple of times, I have the privilege of telling my older son a bedtime story every single night. Well, every night that I'm home at bedtime, that is. For about a year, these stories featured some characters I had made up, Harry Bear and Scary Bear. Within the last few months, however, Robbie has almost exclusively asked for stories about Thomas the Train and his friends. Folks, Thomas the Train is a train. There's only so much you can do with that. So I usually end up saying, more or less, the first thing that comes to mind, and I speak very slowly until I come up with something I haven't used before. And of course, once I've said something, I really can't take it back, so we occasionally end up with some very un-Thomas like stories.
Where is all of this going? Last night, Thomas met a cyclops.
**********
VBS seemed to go very well once it got started. Everybody really seemed to be having a great time just about all week. It was a long week, especially since we wouldn't get home until after 9 p.m. (Robbie's bed time is usually 9 at the latest) And for some reason, I still can't sleep until about 3 a.m., but I have to get up to run Kim and Robbie to work and school, respectively. A good week, but man were we exhausted. I definitely learned a LOT of things I'll do better/differently next year. (I also learned exactly how much money you could spend on VBS if you wanted to. Sure, I'll pay $15 for a chart to write the kids' names on! What a great deal!)
Anyway, thanks to everyone who prayed I'd make it through the week. Really, after Monday, there wasn't much left for me to do. I walked around all Tuesday trying to figure out if I needed to be stressing about anything.
******************
Apparently, MSN messenger is just DONE with me. Sorry, Sherri.
***************
Lunchtime conversation today:
Keep in mind, we've been sitting and quietly eating our frozen pizzas. Suddenly, between bites, Robbie asks, "Why does a cyclops only have one eye?"
Me: Excuse me?
Robbie: How come cyclops only have one eye?
Me: Well...I don't really know, actually.
Robbie: Because that's the way God made them?
Me: Well, no...actually, a cyclops is from another, really old story. They're not real.
Robbie: Why?
Me: A loooong time ago, somebody made up stories, and they had cyclopes in them, and in those stories they only had one eye. So it's not real.
Robbie: Why?
I'm not sure what I said next, but I believe it was roughly akin to, "Eat your pizza."
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
v2, d379: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!
Isaac and I watched the USA's Women's World Cup match this afternoon. It was pretty fun. Imagine the mental toughness it takes to play on that stage! I saw one American player blow a scoring opportunity, and you could tell how frustrated she was. And really, it's no wonder, because the game plays out like team chess. It takes so much hustle and strategy just to get a single scoring opportunity. In 90 minutes of play, there really aren't that many legitimate chances to get a goal. You shoot it wide once, you might not get another decent look all day. Crazy. I can't...I can't feel my...OH THE HUMANITY! Tell my family I love them! I...I...nah, I'm fine, I'll keep playing."
(That's an exaggeration. A little)
Really, though, I don't think soccer players flop because they're "sissies" who can't take a little contact (Hello, NBA!). Rather, when you consider how much freaking running they're doing in a sport that doesn't take commercial time-outs, I think I'd take every opportunity to stretch out on the grass for ten seconds or so, too.
One of my facebook friends pointed out how nobody actually cares about women's soccer, and most of the people cheering for the US right now are just bandwagon fans. Well, maybe. I probably won't get to know much about these players or follow their careers all that closely after this event (though "Hope Solo" is up there among Kevin Youkilis and Cal Clutterbuck and a few others for my favorite current sports names). But I'm an American, and I like to see American teams do well. And I can tell from watching this one game and doing the quick recap on the rest of the tournament that this is a great team, and I like to see great teams do well (as long as I don't hate them). So yes, I'm stoked for the Gold Medal Match, and no, I don't claim to be what many would consider a "legitimate" women's soccer fan, but I don't think that gives me any less right than to cheer on the ladies of USA Soccer and be excited when they beat Japan for the championship. Just like I didn't begrudge the thousands of Lightning fans who weren't around when we thought Jason Wiemer would be the cornerstone around which we were going to build our franchise or Art Williams said Vinny L was "the Michael Jordan of Hockey". Sports should be fun. And winning is fun. Sometimes, it's okay to let others share the celebration :-)
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
v2, d378: VBS
A sad reality: every post I write puts the Walrus Dance-Break one post closer to being off the front page forever. Suddenly my usual blog fodder seems so inadequate...
Incidentally, I lost one of my followers overnight. Sorry, whoever was severely turned off by Walrus Dance-Break.
When I did the search that ended up yielding that particular .gif, all i was really looking for was this guy:
Anywho, I'm pretty beat. My first ever VBS is now up and running. On the whole, I'd say it's going well enough. I see things that I want to do better next year, and a lot of it comes with earlier planning. That's sort of been the theme of this year. It's fun to be a part of, though. Makes me remember why I always loved VBS when I was a kid. Was one heck of a stress-fest getting everything set up in time for the first night, and then we had some road bumps along the way to getting all of our stations situated once we'd started, but now things all seem to be functioning just fine. I spent all yesterday morning, early afternoon, and evening getting things where they needed to be. Once we sent the kids on their way to their crafts, Bible studies, and games tonight, there wasn't really much left for me to do. It was such an abrupt shift from the night before that I wondered if I was missing something really important. Anyway, it's up, and kids and adults seem to be having fun, so I'm at least happy on that front :-)
I'm actually pretty excited about this next year. Now that I've spent the past year learning the ropes on all of our big events, I feel like I finally know what I'm doing. Looking forward to adding and enhancing some of our kids ministries as the year unfolds.
VBS, by the way, is why you've heard so little of me these past few days. That, and I've been getting to sleep between 2 and 3 a.m. pretty consistently now for several weeks. The past few days, my head ached and my muscles were sore despite the fact I hadn't really done much physical activity in a week (too exhausted), so that's probably not healthy. Maybe that'll get better now that VBS is up.
Here's hoping.
Incidentally, I lost one of my followers overnight. Sorry, whoever was severely turned off by Walrus Dance-Break.
When I did the search that ended up yielding that particular .gif, all i was really looking for was this guy:
I'm actually pretty excited about this next year. Now that I've spent the past year learning the ropes on all of our big events, I feel like I finally know what I'm doing. Looking forward to adding and enhancing some of our kids ministries as the year unfolds.
VBS, by the way, is why you've heard so little of me these past few days. That, and I've been getting to sleep between 2 and 3 a.m. pretty consistently now for several weeks. The past few days, my head ached and my muscles were sore despite the fact I hadn't really done much physical activity in a week (too exhausted), so that's probably not healthy. Maybe that'll get better now that VBS is up.
Here's hoping.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
v2, d376: Vacation Part 3: The Stanley Cup
Robbie slept in the car from Legoland to the airport. After a fairly miserable experience with San Diego traffic the day before (the company wasn't miserable, the traffic was), I overshot for my estimated return time and we got to the airport a little early. (I tend to overshoot travel times anyway because, let's face it, who knows what could happen between Point A and Point B?) I'd planned on looking for a spot to eat dinner on the way home, but because California doesn't believe in telling you what's coming up at the next exit and because Robbie was sleeping anyway, we ended up going straight to the airport.
Now, I obviously knew that Game Seven between the Bruins and the Canucks was going on that night (hard to believe both of those teams were a Game Seven OT goal away from being ousted in the first round, eh?), so I may have subconsciously hoped we wouldn't find anywhere to eat before the airport in the hopes that I'd find a sit-down restaurant at the terminal with a TV tuned to the game. I may also have consciously hoped for that. At any rate, SAN delivered. There was a Chili's just a hundred yards or so from the baggage claim. Perfect. Robbie likes Chili's, I like Chili's, Chili's always has sports on, my chances were pretty good. The hostess asked how many. I said that we were two, and if possible we'd like to sit someplace where we could see the hockey game. I need not have made the extra request, though. Every TV in Chili's was showing the B's and the 'Nucks. (For a complete list of places I can remember ringing in the Stanley Cup Champions, see the end of this post) What made the evening even more fun was the fact that there were about four Boston fans sitting at the bar.
While I had been driving from Legoland, I got a phone call. In California, it's illegal to talk on the phone while driving, so I didn't check my message until we sat down at Chili's. It was from Kim, and her flight had been delayed. I looked up at the TV. Just about two full periods to go. Unless the game went overtime, we had a shot to catch the whole thing. What was left of it, of course. It was a pretty good game. Boston was up 1-0 when we arrived. When they scored again to go up two-nil, Chili's actually rang with applause. I'd never been to a restaurant where there were more than two other people watching the hockey game with me. It was kind of cool. (I do plan to make it out to the Maple Leaf Pub at some point next year, because that place just sounds awesome) The only damper on the evening was that the service was atrociously slow. I, of course, can grant some grace for that sort of thing, but a drowsy, hungry three-year-old has a little more trouble comprehending why he can't just get a glass of water when we've been sitting at the table for twenty minutes (or, in three-year-old time, "so so long"). When Patrice Bergeron scored to make it 3-0, you could tell the game was over. The final period would be played as formality only.
With about four minutes to go in the game, I get a call from Kim. Her flight has just landed, she says. I tell her we're just around the corner from the baggage claim, so could she call me once they'd gotten off the plane and to the baggage carousel? She said sure, and I hoped this would buy me enough time to get to the celebration. I love the moment when the Cup is won and sticks and gloves fly into the air and goalies get mobbed. It's a beautiful moment. Even with an empty-net goal and the subsequent celebration, I still got to catch the final buzzer. As teammates swarmed around Official FOMW Favorite Tim Thomas, the phone rang again. Kim and Isaac were at the baggage claim. Perfect.
As Robbie and I left the Chili's, I realized that we were the last ones there. In fact, they'd even closed the pull-down grate halfway. They were ready to shut down, but rather than ask me to leave they'd let me finish out the end of the game. Slow service or not, that's classy. We'd had a fun day at Legoland and a good dinner, I'd got to watch the Stanley Cup, and now my family was together again for the rest of vacation. Not bad at all.
**************************
Incidentally, every year, the CBC puts together a montage of the entire playoffs that airs as they sign off from their coverage of the last Cup Final game. It's always awesome. Last year's is still my favorite (by far), but here's this year's montage anyway:
2011: Game 7, Boston over Vancouver: Chili's restaurant, San Diego International Airport w/ Robbie
2010: Game 6, Chicago over Phildelphia: At home with Tarvis and Deb (Kim was around but not watching)
2009: Game 7, Pittsburgh over Detroit: At home, watching the closing moments w/ Dave on the phone and planning our Victory Party at Denny's
2008: Game 6, Detroit over Pittsburgh: At Dav's Holly Hall apt with Dave as Hossa put the puck just wide of the far post as time expired
2007: Game 5, Anaheim over Ottawa: Texas Woman's Hospital, Kim's room, with Kim and Christa.
2006: Game 7, Carolina over Edmonton: The Braesmont apartment with Jason B
2005: No Stanley Cup due to stupidity
2004: Game 7, Tampa Bay over Calgary: I actually missed this game because I was in rehearsal for Oklahoma! at Horsefeathers and Applesauce Professional Dinner Theater. Our TD's girlfriend was a big TB fan, tho, so she was texting him updates to send along to me. Got the final score right before the final time running through The Farmer and the Cowman for the last time that night
2003: Game 7, New Jersey over Anaheim: At The Quality In in Bowling Green, Ohio, the day before loading into The Huron Playhouse. Roommate A.J. was sleeping at the time
2002: Game 5, Detroit over Carolina: In my apartment at Horsefeathers and Applesauce, throwing my empty water bottle at Dominik Hasek. Friend Tony was in the room at the time
2001: Game 7, Colorado over New Jersey: Listening to the scrambled, fuzzy picture on the black-and-white TV I lugged up the hill at H&A to the scene shop so I could listen to the game while weaving those #*@& giant potholders we used for the South Pacific set.
2000: Game 6: New Jersey over Dallas: Was driving home for the weekend during my first H&A summer; walked in the door just as New Jersey scored the OT winner
1999: Game 6, Dallas over Buffalo: Had a dress rehearsal for My Fair Lady with Wellington Community Theater. My dad was recording the game and I hoped to watch it when I got home. Instead, the game went three overtimes, so I watched those live instead (with my Dad)
1998: Game 4, Detroit over Washington: Was vacationing in California and missed this one. Really didn't feel like watching Detroit win another Stanley Cup, not after...
1997: Game 4, Detroit over Philadelphia: At home in Wellington, watching with my dad.
1996: Game 4, Colorado over Florida: At home, watching with Mom, Dad, and Christa. Triple-overtime was a huge deal back then, because at this point I rarely stayed up till midnight, let alone till one a.m.
1995: Game 4, New Jersey over Detroit: The first of four straight sweeps; an afternoon game while I was in California, watching with Dad, Uncle Jim, and Gramps.
1994: Game 7, New York (R) over Vancouver: At home, watching with whole family. Vancouver rioted after losing that one, too. (First time I ever watched the Stanley Cup awarded)
Now, I obviously knew that Game Seven between the Bruins and the Canucks was going on that night (hard to believe both of those teams were a Game Seven OT goal away from being ousted in the first round, eh?), so I may have subconsciously hoped we wouldn't find anywhere to eat before the airport in the hopes that I'd find a sit-down restaurant at the terminal with a TV tuned to the game. I may also have consciously hoped for that. At any rate, SAN delivered. There was a Chili's just a hundred yards or so from the baggage claim. Perfect. Robbie likes Chili's, I like Chili's, Chili's always has sports on, my chances were pretty good. The hostess asked how many. I said that we were two, and if possible we'd like to sit someplace where we could see the hockey game. I need not have made the extra request, though. Every TV in Chili's was showing the B's and the 'Nucks. (For a complete list of places I can remember ringing in the Stanley Cup Champions, see the end of this post) What made the evening even more fun was the fact that there were about four Boston fans sitting at the bar.
While I had been driving from Legoland, I got a phone call. In California, it's illegal to talk on the phone while driving, so I didn't check my message until we sat down at Chili's. It was from Kim, and her flight had been delayed. I looked up at the TV. Just about two full periods to go. Unless the game went overtime, we had a shot to catch the whole thing. What was left of it, of course. It was a pretty good game. Boston was up 1-0 when we arrived. When they scored again to go up two-nil, Chili's actually rang with applause. I'd never been to a restaurant where there were more than two other people watching the hockey game with me. It was kind of cool. (I do plan to make it out to the Maple Leaf Pub at some point next year, because that place just sounds awesome) The only damper on the evening was that the service was atrociously slow. I, of course, can grant some grace for that sort of thing, but a drowsy, hungry three-year-old has a little more trouble comprehending why he can't just get a glass of water when we've been sitting at the table for twenty minutes (or, in three-year-old time, "so so long"). When Patrice Bergeron scored to make it 3-0, you could tell the game was over. The final period would be played as formality only.
With about four minutes to go in the game, I get a call from Kim. Her flight has just landed, she says. I tell her we're just around the corner from the baggage claim, so could she call me once they'd gotten off the plane and to the baggage carousel? She said sure, and I hoped this would buy me enough time to get to the celebration. I love the moment when the Cup is won and sticks and gloves fly into the air and goalies get mobbed. It's a beautiful moment. Even with an empty-net goal and the subsequent celebration, I still got to catch the final buzzer. As teammates swarmed around Official FOMW Favorite Tim Thomas, the phone rang again. Kim and Isaac were at the baggage claim. Perfect.
As Robbie and I left the Chili's, I realized that we were the last ones there. In fact, they'd even closed the pull-down grate halfway. They were ready to shut down, but rather than ask me to leave they'd let me finish out the end of the game. Slow service or not, that's classy. We'd had a fun day at Legoland and a good dinner, I'd got to watch the Stanley Cup, and now my family was together again for the rest of vacation. Not bad at all.
**************************
Incidentally, every year, the CBC puts together a montage of the entire playoffs that airs as they sign off from their coverage of the last Cup Final game. It's always awesome. Last year's is still my favorite (by far), but here's this year's montage anyway:
2011: Game 7, Boston over Vancouver: Chili's restaurant, San Diego International Airport w/ Robbie
2010: Game 6, Chicago over Phildelphia: At home with Tarvis and Deb (Kim was around but not watching)
2009: Game 7, Pittsburgh over Detroit: At home, watching the closing moments w/ Dave on the phone and planning our Victory Party at Denny's
2008: Game 6, Detroit over Pittsburgh: At Dav's Holly Hall apt with Dave as Hossa put the puck just wide of the far post as time expired
2007: Game 5, Anaheim over Ottawa: Texas Woman's Hospital, Kim's room, with Kim and Christa.
2006: Game 7, Carolina over Edmonton: The Braesmont apartment with Jason B
2005: No Stanley Cup due to stupidity
2004: Game 7, Tampa Bay over Calgary: I actually missed this game because I was in rehearsal for Oklahoma! at Horsefeathers and Applesauce Professional Dinner Theater. Our TD's girlfriend was a big TB fan, tho, so she was texting him updates to send along to me. Got the final score right before the final time running through The Farmer and the Cowman for the last time that night
2003: Game 7, New Jersey over Anaheim: At The Quality In in Bowling Green, Ohio, the day before loading into The Huron Playhouse. Roommate A.J. was sleeping at the time
2002: Game 5, Detroit over Carolina: In my apartment at Horsefeathers and Applesauce, throwing my empty water bottle at Dominik Hasek. Friend Tony was in the room at the time
2001: Game 7, Colorado over New Jersey: Listening to the scrambled, fuzzy picture on the black-and-white TV I lugged up the hill at H&A to the scene shop so I could listen to the game while weaving those #*@& giant potholders we used for the South Pacific set.
2000: Game 6: New Jersey over Dallas: Was driving home for the weekend during my first H&A summer; walked in the door just as New Jersey scored the OT winner
1999: Game 6, Dallas over Buffalo: Had a dress rehearsal for My Fair Lady with Wellington Community Theater. My dad was recording the game and I hoped to watch it when I got home. Instead, the game went three overtimes, so I watched those live instead (with my Dad)
1998: Game 4, Detroit over Washington: Was vacationing in California and missed this one. Really didn't feel like watching Detroit win another Stanley Cup, not after...
1997: Game 4, Detroit over Philadelphia: At home in Wellington, watching with my dad.
1996: Game 4, Colorado over Florida: At home, watching with Mom, Dad, and Christa. Triple-overtime was a huge deal back then, because at this point I rarely stayed up till midnight, let alone till one a.m.
1995: Game 4, New Jersey over Detroit: The first of four straight sweeps; an afternoon game while I was in California, watching with Dad, Uncle Jim, and Gramps.
1994: Game 7, New York (R) over Vancouver: At home, watching with whole family. Vancouver rioted after losing that one, too. (First time I ever watched the Stanley Cup awarded)
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