Okay, so I am probably one of the worst bloggers ever. Slowly I am getting caught up on pictures in Flickr. Pictures through August are now posted. If you haven't checked in awhile since I haven't posted in awhile there are quite a few.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Sweet kids
So i finally have new pictures up. they are mostly from when my mom was here. Of course that's when we mostly did stuff.
Friday, June 16, 2006
A little perspective
Riley had his nine month appointment on the first and he is 28.5 inches long and 17lbs 9ozs. Tall and skinny. Not that it's a big surprise but lets just think back to when Alexis was a year old. She was also 28.5 inches long but she was 20lbs 10ozs. The same height but she packed on an extra three pounds. So while she was always my medicine ball, small and compact, he is definitely my string bean. It's amazing the difference three pounds makes. The pictures show Katie holding each of the kids, Lexi is the one on the top and Riley onthe bottom. The kids are about the same age in the pictures. One was taken at Katie's graduation party and the other at Sam's graduation party two years later.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Lexi-isms
Alexis' speach is improving daily. She is becoming more and more clear but many of the things she says are still in cute toddler talk. Here are some of my favorites from the past two years:
mulk.....................................................milk
puck......................................................cup
p............................................................Toby
z.............................................................Zoe
cheese, cheese.......................................please, please
hafier.....................................................pacifier
brudder.................................................brother
the giggles.............................................The Wiggles
geggos....................................................eggos
Whywee.................................................Riley
Maama..................................................Grandma
Pamppa.................................................Grandpa
neakers..................................................sneakers
larrybob.................................................any Veggietales video
my moovie.............................................pretty much any other movie
panjies...................................................pajamas (this used to be panties)
peanuts..................................................penis
my body.................................................vagina or other girl parts
Those are just a sampling of some of her Lexi-isms. She also speaks with a slight southern accent and I have no idea where that came from (wink wink). If you can remember anymore please leave a comment. Or if you remember someone elses -isms leave those too.
mulk.....................................................milk
puck......................................................cup
p............................................................Toby
z.............................................................Zoe
cheese, cheese.......................................please, please
hafier.....................................................pacifier
brudder.................................................brother
the giggles.............................................The Wiggles
geggos....................................................eggos
Whywee.................................................Riley
Maama..................................................Grandma
Pamppa.................................................Grandpa
neakers..................................................sneakers
larrybob.................................................any Veggietales video
my moovie.............................................pretty much any other movie
panjies...................................................pajamas (this used to be panties)
peanuts..................................................penis
my body.................................................vagina or other girl parts
Those are just a sampling of some of her Lexi-isms. She also speaks with a slight southern accent and I have no idea where that came from (wink wink). If you can remember anymore please leave a comment. Or if you remember someone elses -isms leave those too.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Friday, April 07, 2006
The Low Crawl
Riley has yet to crawl. He's not behind or anything it's just that for two months now he his been up on all fours and dying to get around. This past week, however, he has mastered the low crawl. Any Army officer would be proud of his agile and quick movements from this belly position. Maybe he will be crawling soon but I have been saying that for two months now.
Friday, March 31, 2006
It's been a long time.
Sorry that I haven't posted in over a month but life has kind of gotten in the way. Here are a few highlights and I promise to do better.
Work:
Work is going well. There are just about six weeks left in the semester and my class is doing okay. They don't seem to be very logical thinkers and they can sometimes have great difficulty getting from here to there in a statement. Since they view it has strictly a math class that they will never really use again they have a hard time reading an application and applying it. It is a little frustrating to say the least. The next test is on Tuesday so we will have to wait and see how they do.
Home:
Home is good. We have a new water heater, more about that later. The dining room is almost completely finished. Matt worked really hard this week at getting the crown molding up and it look great. It needs to be painted and then we will, okay Matt will, have finished another room. That just leaves the stairs to be finished and the living room but since the weather is nice again we are going to do some work on the yard and the outside of the house. It should be fun.
Vacation!!!!!:
On the 11th we flew to Wichita and visited my family and all of our friends. It was a wonderful time except that we played a little bit of whose turn is it today. Alexis got car sick on the ride home and then wasn't quite up to par the next few days. We had a wonderful time at church on Sunday and going back to our small group was a wonderfully uplifting experience. Monday I don't remember what we did. Tuesday we went to the zoo and saw all of the new exhibits. Sedgwick County has such a wonderful zoo and you should really go there sometime. That night we celebrated my dad's birthday and then I got a 24 hour stomach bug and was out for the presents and cards. Wednesday was a recover day for my and then Thursday night we met up with a bunch of our friends from McConnell and had dinner and drinks and a wonderful time. Sometime during the night Matt caught whatever I had and then he was out Friday for recuperation. Saturday we went to Kristi and Todd's new house and had dinner and then spent some quality time with them and Shannon and Andy. Sunday was church again and another uplifting day. Monday was Shopping! With Lorana and my mom. Tuesday we visited my Grandma during the day and then flew home on Wednesday. On top of everything else we suspect the kids had a mild form of pink eye. All in all it was a fab trip and I am counting the days when I can visit again.
The Kids:
The kids are great and growing like weeds. Especially Riley. He had his six month check up before we left and his head is off the charts. No biggy to me but the doc wants to see him back in April to check it. His big accomplishment of late is that he can sit up! He figured it out while we were gone and it just makes him so big. He is still working on crawling. He has been at the same point for over a month but he'll figure it out and then I wont know what hit me.
Alexis is as beautiful and ornery as ever. Her words are so much more clear and she is saying so much more. However, if she asks "What you doing?" one more time I might snap or ban her from questions or something equally unreasonable.
Well that's been my life in a nutshell. I'll write more often I promise.
Work:
Work is going well. There are just about six weeks left in the semester and my class is doing okay. They don't seem to be very logical thinkers and they can sometimes have great difficulty getting from here to there in a statement. Since they view it has strictly a math class that they will never really use again they have a hard time reading an application and applying it. It is a little frustrating to say the least. The next test is on Tuesday so we will have to wait and see how they do.
Home:
Home is good. We have a new water heater, more about that later. The dining room is almost completely finished. Matt worked really hard this week at getting the crown molding up and it look great. It needs to be painted and then we will, okay Matt will, have finished another room. That just leaves the stairs to be finished and the living room but since the weather is nice again we are going to do some work on the yard and the outside of the house. It should be fun.
Vacation!!!!!:
On the 11th we flew to Wichita and visited my family and all of our friends. It was a wonderful time except that we played a little bit of whose turn is it today. Alexis got car sick on the ride home and then wasn't quite up to par the next few days. We had a wonderful time at church on Sunday and going back to our small group was a wonderfully uplifting experience. Monday I don't remember what we did. Tuesday we went to the zoo and saw all of the new exhibits. Sedgwick County has such a wonderful zoo and you should really go there sometime. That night we celebrated my dad's birthday and then I got a 24 hour stomach bug and was out for the presents and cards. Wednesday was a recover day for my and then Thursday night we met up with a bunch of our friends from McConnell and had dinner and drinks and a wonderful time. Sometime during the night Matt caught whatever I had and then he was out Friday for recuperation. Saturday we went to Kristi and Todd's new house and had dinner and then spent some quality time with them and Shannon and Andy. Sunday was church again and another uplifting day. Monday was Shopping! With Lorana and my mom. Tuesday we visited my Grandma during the day and then flew home on Wednesday. On top of everything else we suspect the kids had a mild form of pink eye. All in all it was a fab trip and I am counting the days when I can visit again.
The Kids:
The kids are great and growing like weeds. Especially Riley. He had his six month check up before we left and his head is off the charts. No biggy to me but the doc wants to see him back in April to check it. His big accomplishment of late is that he can sit up! He figured it out while we were gone and it just makes him so big. He is still working on crawling. He has been at the same point for over a month but he'll figure it out and then I wont know what hit me.
Alexis is as beautiful and ornery as ever. Her words are so much more clear and she is saying so much more. However, if she asks "What you doing?" one more time I might snap or ban her from questions or something equally unreasonable.
Well that's been my life in a nutshell. I'll write more often I promise.
Friday, February 24, 2006
My high horse
Please excuse me for one moment while I step onto my high horse:
Apparently, within the last few weeks a group of six high school seniors decided to go into their school auditorium and commit an estimated $100,000 worth of vandalism. This included but was not limited to breaking seats and other items and also pushing a grand piano off the stage. This incident has created quite a stir the community. Folks are, quite justly in my opinion, calling for the heads of these particular students in order to make an example of them. Many "community leaders" have said that while these students have done something wrong and should suffer consequences for those actions they should not be the only ones held responsible. The school, the community, and the churches should also take the blame for "failing" these young people. While they should be punished to some extent they should not apparently have to pay restitution or suffer any jail time. This has been called a prank and the idle play of young boys. People have questioned where the school officials were but have yet to question the judgment of the students involved.
I, needless to say, have many problems with the whole situation least of which is where the school officials were. My biggest problems lie with everyone trying to "save" these poor, misguided individuals. As near as I can tell these kids were of sound mind and body and made a clear decision to do what they did. They were the ones who went into a public building and destroyed public property. They were the ones who committed a felony offense. It was not their parents or the community or the churches or the school officials. It was the students themselves that committed this atrocity. They failed themselves.
Letting these children go with minor punishments for a major offense will not help them into adulthood. While it may seem "unfair" that these "good" kids may serve jail time and start their adult lives with "the scar" of this incident that it what is called for. Many people have to live with the consequences of the bad decisions they made on their way into adulthood. Children raising children because they decided to have sex before marriage. Adults deal with drug addiction because they decided to take that first hit. Friends living without friends because one of them decided to drive drunk and someone else decided not to stop them. These are all consequences people live with everyday. If we save these children from themselves they will grow into adults that have no understanding how the world really works. They will grow up thinking that someone will always come and save them and when someone doesn't they will become bitter and unproductive members of society. That doesn't sound like salvation to me.
As a parent I understand the need to protect my children. As a parent I understand wanting what is best for them. As a parent I also understand that I cannot save my children form every ill, especially those brought on by themselves. These kids will be best served by having to deal with the real consequences of their very real actions. They can no longer be "saved" by others stepping in and erasing what they did. Their slate cannot be wiped clean by anything other than them stepping up and learning from their experience. After this incident I hope that they will understand that bad decisions have bad consequences. I also hope that they understand that they are still young and have a long time to make up for the bad decisions of their youth. They can and will be better people after learning the lessons of this incident. That is if we, as a community, step in and "do the right thing".
Thank you, that horse can go back to the stable because I am now done.
Apparently, within the last few weeks a group of six high school seniors decided to go into their school auditorium and commit an estimated $100,000 worth of vandalism. This included but was not limited to breaking seats and other items and also pushing a grand piano off the stage. This incident has created quite a stir the community. Folks are, quite justly in my opinion, calling for the heads of these particular students in order to make an example of them. Many "community leaders" have said that while these students have done something wrong and should suffer consequences for those actions they should not be the only ones held responsible. The school, the community, and the churches should also take the blame for "failing" these young people. While they should be punished to some extent they should not apparently have to pay restitution or suffer any jail time. This has been called a prank and the idle play of young boys. People have questioned where the school officials were but have yet to question the judgment of the students involved.
I, needless to say, have many problems with the whole situation least of which is where the school officials were. My biggest problems lie with everyone trying to "save" these poor, misguided individuals. As near as I can tell these kids were of sound mind and body and made a clear decision to do what they did. They were the ones who went into a public building and destroyed public property. They were the ones who committed a felony offense. It was not their parents or the community or the churches or the school officials. It was the students themselves that committed this atrocity. They failed themselves.
Letting these children go with minor punishments for a major offense will not help them into adulthood. While it may seem "unfair" that these "good" kids may serve jail time and start their adult lives with "the scar" of this incident that it what is called for. Many people have to live with the consequences of the bad decisions they made on their way into adulthood. Children raising children because they decided to have sex before marriage. Adults deal with drug addiction because they decided to take that first hit. Friends living without friends because one of them decided to drive drunk and someone else decided not to stop them. These are all consequences people live with everyday. If we save these children from themselves they will grow into adults that have no understanding how the world really works. They will grow up thinking that someone will always come and save them and when someone doesn't they will become bitter and unproductive members of society. That doesn't sound like salvation to me.
As a parent I understand the need to protect my children. As a parent I understand wanting what is best for them. As a parent I also understand that I cannot save my children form every ill, especially those brought on by themselves. These kids will be best served by having to deal with the real consequences of their very real actions. They can no longer be "saved" by others stepping in and erasing what they did. Their slate cannot be wiped clean by anything other than them stepping up and learning from their experience. After this incident I hope that they will understand that bad decisions have bad consequences. I also hope that they understand that they are still young and have a long time to make up for the bad decisions of their youth. They can and will be better people after learning the lessons of this incident. That is if we, as a community, step in and "do the right thing".
Thank you, that horse can go back to the stable because I am now done.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Life now
The kids are doing great. The big one can now take care of the little one. It makes things a little easier.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Funny Story
Lexi and I are going over her letters the other night before dinner. I would write them and say what they were and she would repeat it. When we got to the letter p, however, she looked right up at me and said, "Not in your underpants."
Friday, January 13, 2006
A Job!
Starting Tuesday I will be teaching one section of Elementary Statistics at Westfield State University. I guess I kept blowing it in the interview because the dean just called me and offered me the job without an interview this time. Oh well, at least I have a job. Finally some more adult, or at least semi-adult, conversation.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
For once in my life
I can't believe I'm saying this but for once in my life I was a Texas fan. It paid off too because they beat those stupid Trojans from USC who have won one Championship and where given another by a bunch of sports writers who want more say in things they can't control. So you go Texas Longhorns and Vince Young and Congratulations on your new national championship. As for you USC and Matt Leinhart now you know that not everyone will lay down and give you what you want just because you are USC.
Christmas Morning
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Chirstmas holiday. With the exception of not being able to see my family we had a great Christmas. We spent both Christmas Eve and Christmas with Matt's family. All of us that where in RI came over on Saturday night and spent some quality time together. About half of Matt's family was there will the other half was either in FL or MN.
Matt had to work on Christmas so the kids and I spent Christmas morning and some of the afternoon with Matt's folks, his sister Tracy and her husband and Grandma Murtha. The kids made out like bandits but present opening had to stop for a few hours after Alexis opened pink baby. After presents and some lunch we went back home and then had dinner with Matt at the station.
The fun continued on to Monday when we opened the stuff from my family (with the exception of Randy and Jeanne's box which apparently got lost in the mail, or at least that's what I'm saying because I hate to think some Scrooge stole it off my porch). The kids again made out like bandits.
Now that the dust has settled and everything has been put away I am so very thankful for my family both near and far and for all the love we share.
In case anyone was wondering Lexi's favorite gifts were her pink baby from Santa Gibbons, her keyboard that plays her song from Grandma Murtha and her Wiggles guitar from my dad (Matt says thank you by the way dad he just loves the fruit salad song and don't worry if you don't know it yet because we will bless you with the guitar's presence when we come and visit).
Well Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
Matt had to work on Christmas so the kids and I spent Christmas morning and some of the afternoon with Matt's folks, his sister Tracy and her husband and Grandma Murtha. The kids made out like bandits but present opening had to stop for a few hours after Alexis opened pink baby. After presents and some lunch we went back home and then had dinner with Matt at the station.
The fun continued on to Monday when we opened the stuff from my family (with the exception of Randy and Jeanne's box which apparently got lost in the mail, or at least that's what I'm saying because I hate to think some Scrooge stole it off my porch). The kids again made out like bandits.
Now that the dust has settled and everything has been put away I am so very thankful for my family both near and far and for all the love we share.
In case anyone was wondering Lexi's favorite gifts were her pink baby from Santa Gibbons, her keyboard that plays her song from Grandma Murtha and her Wiggles guitar from my dad (Matt says thank you by the way dad he just loves the fruit salad song and don't worry if you don't know it yet because we will bless you with the guitar's presence when we come and visit).
Well Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
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