Nana!

My mother (Nana) came to visit today. We had some lunch and then she came over to play with the kids. A couple of firsts happened today: Emma started playing with my mother almost as soon as she walked in the front door. This is unusual because my daughter usually screams her head off when my mother comes near her or at least shies away. Not this time. Nope, she ran right to her Nana and was laughing and playing the whole time. Another first is that Emery spent the night with Nana for the first time. She took him back home with her, albeit somewhat reluctantly. She was worried that she would get him home and he would start crying, wanting to go home (she lives about an hour away). She warned me that if he did start crying, I would have to drive up there to get him. Well, it's 9:35 pm as I write this and still no phone call from her. I think she underestimates just how much Emery likes his Nana.

pizza and audioslave

It prolly won't be the next Ipod commercial, but it sure was fun making it.

If only she could talk...

What is going on behind those beguiling eyes? World domination? Insightful political commentary? Or did she just make a stinky? Just a few more reasons why I can't wait until my daughter starts talking...

Chicken Nuggets

You that desert island scenerio where you are only allowed one thing to eat for the rest of your life? For my kids it would be Chicken McNuggets. There have been foods, even candy, that they have turned their noses up to in the past but there has never been a time that my kids have ever refused Chicken McNuggets. I try to treat them to some McNugget goodness at least once a week (yes, I know it's not the most healthy food for them but my kids eat enough vegetables and fiber to clean their colons till they're 30). Here we see their favorite past time: McNuggets and some Spongebob.

Hey, where you been?

I bet y'all were saying, "Now why don't he write?" (fifty completely arbitrary and worthless cool points if you can tell me what movie that line came from). Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. I have scads of video uploaded to my computer but I'm finding that the more I play with the editing software, the less I like what I've put together previously. But I do have some raw footage of Emery taking trash to the dumpster that I'm pretty happy with (sorry, but I'm videotaping EVERYTHING these days).

Anyhoo, some updates:
I've finally managed to make it back to school, after my two week pink eye outbreak and the kids flu. I don't know how long it will last though, as Emma has...something...wrong with her. Last Thursday she had a seizure in the doctor's office due to high fever (we think). Now she's got an ear infection and, this is most troubling, the doctor wants her to see a specialist because she isn't talking (indeed or even making the most rudimentary of sounds) and she should be more vocal by now.

Emery is a typical two year old. He's fussy (A LOT), he's becoming more and more vocal (you can almost carry on a conversation using words of more than one syllable with him now), and he thinks there is nothing he can't do. He still comes and gets in bed with us at 4:30 in the morning. At this stage, it'd be almost impossible to get him to sleep in his own bed, at least until he's a bit older. I don't mind it as it is one of those things I'll get to reminisce about once he's my age.

Heather dropped her classes for this semester. It had nothing to do with her school work (which was fine) but DHS. One of their more interesting policies is that in a two parent household, if both parents are attending school during the day, they ARE NOT eligible for daycare assistance. Yes, you read that right, not eligible. What the state is saying is that they are willing to help parents improve their lot in life through education, but only one parent at a time. So, since I was close to graduating (at the time), it was decided that it would be better for me to get my degree and then she can finish school (she's about 2 1/2 years from her bachelors, plus I will be able to start pulling in money on day one).

Go Fly a Kite...

I wish I had a picture of the event, but my father-in-law has my camera and the camcorder's batteries ran dead. Anyhoo, Emery and I experienced another of those Daddy/Son events that I've looked forward to for years now. We flew a kite together.

The day wasn't as windy as I would have liked, but I still made do with the wind the good Lord gave us. Emery had fun but he he seemed more interested in letting the string go and watching the kite fly away than anything (he actually did do this about 3 times, forcing me to scramble like mad after the run away string). I tried to get Emma in on the fun, but she just wanted to chew on the string.

Still, it was a very fun moment for me, prolly far moreso than for my children. But that's what being a parent is for, to live vicariously through the experiences you have with your children that your own parents didn't do for you. At least it is for me.

A few changes

For those of you that leave comments, I'm enacting a few changes. Over the last few posts, I've noticed comments from people I've never heard of. This is a good thing though, right? Well, it would be if the comments left weren't much more than glorified spam. So, to prevent spammers from using my blog to further their own gains and to keep my loyal readership (all 10 of 'em) safe from said shenanigans, I'm instituting some prevantative measures to insure spam free comments on the blog.

To now leave a comment, you'll have to also go through one of those "please type the letters as they appear" pop up windows.

Further, all comments will be reviewed by me before they will be posted.

I know, I know, it's alot like the TSA's policies on airport screening, but I promise you that my policies will actually catch terrorists. And spammers.

Radio Play

I've been listening to more and more sporting events on the radio these days. It's been somewhat of a necessity since we dropped our cable months back (almost a year now that I think of it). I've listened to sports events on the radio before (most notably OSU games) but that was more to the fact that OSU football and basketball games don't get that much airtime on the TV. But since my only option to catch the game has become the radio, I've come to enjoy listening to the games.

I've often wondered what it would be like to live in a previous era. Not that I would want to because I couldn't live without the Internet. But when I listen to games over the radio, I get to relive a sense of what it was like for my grandparents to huddle around the radio of an afternoon or evening and be whisked away to a different locale, the radio announcer's voice an ethereal guide to events and places unseen. And listening to a game as opposed to watching it is more of an active participation because you have to use your mind to envision the action. When I hear that a pass is taken on the left wing and the ball handler posts up for a shot, I have to use my imagination to fill in the visuals. And honestly, it makes the action that much more appealing.

So treat yourself (and your family) to some radio. If nothing else, it will let you connect to a time in your grandparents lives when they weren't bedazzled by HD 51-inch plasma screens and surround sound entertainment.

Not showing in a theatre near you...

I'm not going to win any awards with this one, but it sure was fun to play with my video editing software.

This also proves that I officially have too much time on my hands.

Another video

This time it's Emma's turn. This clip was taken from about 45 minutes of video yesterday while Heather was playing with the kids.

A video

I got a new camcorder the other day. Remember a few posts back when I described how I was "wasting" my time playing on a website to earn points for cool prizes? This was one of those prizes. Heather shot some footage of Emery yesterday, the result you see here. Expect much, much more of this to come.