Category Archives: Family

Saturday Morning Time Machine

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This morning, wearily dealing with the weekly bookkeeping chores while Kathy was out shopping, I posted this to my Twitter account:

Paying bills. I think I liked childhood Saturday mornings, packed with sugary cereals and cartoons, better than those of my adult self.

When Kathy arrived home, what should she be bearing but two great big boxes of Peanut Butter Crunch Cereal! She had seen my Twitter and decided, as a “thank you” for my weekly financial management efforts, to give me that Saturday morning cartoon experience again. How awesome is that?

I happily settled down in front of the TV and gobbled two bowls of the sugary stuff while watching Ratatouille. All it lacked was the presence of my younger brother to argue with about who should win the Laff-A-Lympics. (I unfailingly rooted for the Really Rottens, solely because it really made Chris angry.)

But alas, my youth has gone. The cereal was still as sweet, the cartoons still every bit as wonderful. (In fact, in absolute terms, I’m sure everything Pixar has produced far eclipses anything from the Hanna Barbera crowd.) The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak, and I promptly found myself napping in front of the TV — the very thing for which I used to give Mom McMains a terrifically hard time.

But you know what? I enjoyed it every bit as much regardless. Thanks, Kathy, for your thoughtfulness this morning.

Dear Santa

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Here are the kids’ Christmas lists, for anybody who’s shopping for them and looking for ideas. I note with chagrin that none of them asked for something precious like “peace on earth”. Bunch of little pragmatists.

Here they are, in descending order of age:

Emily’s List

Abigail’s List

Liam’s List

Maggie’s List

P.S. Speaking of Sea Monkeys, check out this hilariously hyperbolic promotional video. Stand back! I’m about to attempt science!

My Wife is Leaving Me for a Wallaroo

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As many of you know, Kathy has been back in school now for a couple of semesters. This coming spring semester, however, she’s taking a break from classes in favor of completing some outstanding correspondence courses and attending a Therapeutic Recreation conference in Australia, for which the school is picking up the tag and providing lodging — all we have to come up with is airfare and some food for meals and sundries while she’s there.

She’ll be gone from December 29 – January 14, and will be spending most of her time in and around Melbourne. (I have given her strict instructions to visit lots of great places and take lots of photos so that I can live vicariously through her.) She’s currently working hard at rounding up various jobs to help pay for the trip, so if you have anything that needs painting, pressure washing, cleaning, or reconstructing, give her a call!

Naturally, since I’ll be a single parent for the time she’s gone, I’ll be looking for any reinforcements I can find. If you’d like to help with grocery store runs, babysitting, grown-up conversation, or just playing XBox with the kids while I enjoy a few moments of quiet in the front yard,  your help is very welcome indeed!

Thanksgiving

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I’m late on this, because I was too busy enjoying the things for which I’m thankful! Here’s a list of them:

  • Food, shelter, and the fact that all my physical needs are met.
  • A country where the rule of law is generally respected and where individual rights are usually protected.
  • The beauty of creation, and the chance to live in a place where that beauty is so evident.
  • The freedom to practice the faith I believe to be true, and the fact that faith makes a home for wretched, messed-up people.
  • A family who has loved me steadfastly through times both difficult and joyful.
  • A wife who patiently endures my foibles and faults. Their name is Legion, hers is Grace.
  • A houseful of children who bring love, joy, and immense amounts of laughter with them wherever they go.
  • A generally stimulating job that allows me to strike a decent balance between work itself and the reasons we work.
  • The men and women brave and self-sacrificing enough to put on a uniform and put themselves in harm’s way to protect the rest of us.
  • A cadre of musicians I’ve now enjoyed playing with for over 5 years. Sharing that regularly has brought a lot of joy, fun and laughter into my life, and has made certainly me a better musician.
  • I have several friendships I now tally in decades, as well as some fantastic newer ones, and feel richly blessed for these people whose lives I’ve been able to share so deeply and enjoyably.
  • Giant burritos.

For these and many more things, I give heartfelt thanks!

Thoughts While On An Evening Out With Maggie

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  • The McDonalds cashier plopped an unsolicited application for employment onto my tray. Should I be worried?
  • Shouting “Shake that honeymaker!” while Maggie’s wind-up bee danced was probably a joke lost on a 7 year old. At least, I hope so.
  • The Happy Meal bag said “You can jump six times higher in space!” That must be why they’re not called Accurate Science Facts Meals.
  • Holy carp! That toy is called the “Pet Bakery”! How did that make it past the focus groups?

A 7 Year Old Magpie

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Our own Margaret turns 7 years old today. Happy birthday, sweetheart!

Hard to believe that our youngest is now that far along in life. I guess this parenting adventure won’t last forever after all!

Weekend To-Do: Postmortem

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  • Prove that I’m still constitutionally capable of eating nothing that isn’t fried for a 24 hour period. Regret it.
  • Attend library book sale. Feel inordinately pleased with myself for finding several books and CDs, the existence of which I’d been previously unaware and without which my life would have been no less rich.
  • Spend 92 minutes mulling the question: “Littlest Pet Shop or My Little Pony?”
  • Give Liam a Mohawk. Make plans to tell Principal of school that it’s part of his religious observance.
  • Create elaborate plans for putting an end to our plumbing problems in the front bathroom.
  • Actually implement elaborate plans for putting an end to our plumbing problems in the front bathroom.

Pedernales Falls State Park Romp

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Over the weekend, the three youngest kids, Kathy and I met up with Chris, Becky, and Mom McMains for a long afternoon at Pedernales Falls State Park. We enjoyed a picnic overlooking the falls, nibbling from each other’s collections of goodies and catching up on the goings-on in each others lives. Floating through the falls looked as if it would both be an immense amount of fun and also quite likely fatal, so we contented ourselves with drinking in the view from a distance.

Once sated, we did a quick hunt for a geocache and then set off for the swimming area. As we paddled around, the swiftness and force of the water assured us that we had made the right decision in not jumping into the falls upstream. After enjoying the water for a while, it occurred to me that there was ample raw material to try rock stacking, something I’d been keen to try for a while. My initial efforts were gratifying:

Sean Stacking Rocks

I quickly learned a few things by experience:

  1. Heavy rocks are actually easier to balance, because the minute shaking of your hands doesn’t affect them as much.
  2. Heavy rocks hurt when they fall on you.

Kathy picked up on the idea, and being the overachiever she is, quickly took it to a level I’d not even approached, creating 6′ tall stacks over in the sand. She assembled a small crowd of onlookers rather quickly:

Kathy Stacking Rocks

Great stuff. As I wandered around later, I noticed a few rock stacks that other people had created and saw one fellow trying his hand while perched on a giant rock in the middle of the river. It was fun to see people enjoying that so much!

As a final bit of fun, Chris pulled out a couple of bottles of Coke and some packages of Mentos so that we could reproduce the now-classic “science experiment.” Note: we used regular sugary coke instead of the diet variety that some folks insist is required. It worked just fine, though I’d be interested to do a controlled experiment sometime to see if one produces higher blasts than the other. You can see the video over on YouTube.

Weekend To-Do: Postmortem

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  • Take youngest daughter to river. Get sunburned head. Consider Hair Club for Men or gluing a chinchilla to my noggin.
  • Get attacked by oldest daughter with cleverly captured goose. In retribution, use telepathic powers to make goose poop on her shoe.
  • Plan reunion of old friends. Have it dissolve utterly. Eat fourteen pounds of leftover sandwiches.
  • Play tag with children. Brain self on playground railing. Teach children new vocabulary words.
  • Finish writing up weekend postm

Back to School

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Kathy started classes at the University again this past Wednesday, while the kids kicked off their academic year yesterday. Though Kathy’s ardor for school hasn’t dimmed a bit over the summer, the kids were ambivalent about their return. Fortunately, their teachers seem like decent folks, and the prospect of getting to see all of their friends again has helped temper the homework angst that has come along with it.

Emily is continuing with her art studies, at which she’s doing extremely well. Abigail has joined band this year and will be playing French Horn, an instrument with which Kathy has some experience. Maggie and Liam are still crossing town to the temporary home of Crockett Elementary each day, but the district still maintains that the new Crockett Building, which is a block from our house, should be done and ready for kids’ return in January. Here’s hoping!