The Floods Are Back!

It's not even mid-March yet and the Des Plaines river is almost out of its banks already. Here is a photo of the river coming right up to, and almost over, the road I drive to work on. A few more inches and they'll close the road and it will add 30 minutes to my commute as I try to find an alternate route.

Yesterday it was raining and in the 60's but today it is beautiful and sunny but only in the teens with a windchill that makes it feel like 3 degrees. No wonder everyone here has the flu.

A Handsome Boy

Somehow I have spawned a handsome boy. I've never considered myself a good looking person, and neither do women incidentally, but thankfully my kids are. Hopefully they'll be able to maintain their looks as they progress through life.

In this picture Ian is laughing while watching a video I took of Cami at her dance last Saturday night. I'm not sure what it was about the video that tickled him but he was laughing almost uncontrollably at times. Alas, I didn't capture that exact moment so this picture will have to do.

A Break in the Weather

It rained like a booger all weekend to the point that the Des Plaines river is almost out and spilling itself all over town. But today the weather is sunny and clear, though it's still cold. I think it was around 35 degrees this morning. It still doesn't stop the kids from getting out there and getting messy.

Here's Cami at the school playground. Notice the two kids in the background that are sitting in the wet snow. I hope they have dry clothes in their lockers.

Waittress!

Because of all the mud that is covering our area we have been spending a lot of time at the McDonald's Playland instead of heading out to the park. Here is a photo of Cami refilling Daddy's pop. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of what happened just prior to this smile. She had put my cup up to the filler-thingy but she had neglected to take of the lid, so pop went flying everywhere instead of going in the cup. Oops!

It doesn't help that Cami is so tiny and can barely reach the machine. To me she doesn't seem that little. She has really grown recently but she is still so small compared to other kids her age. I think she is the second smallest kid in her kindergarten class.

Father and Daughter Dance

There are some things in life that are a drag. Financial problems, health problems, no raises at work, etc. are all a pain, but then there are those things that make life a joy.

One of those joyous events took place this Saturday night at the Father and Daughter dance that was organized by my daughter's girl scouts council. Here is a photo of us just before we left for the dance. Cami was so excited to go she was twittering about it all week. Mommy got her all decked out and daddy even looked nice.

And I will have everyone know that even though daddy isn't the best or most enthusiastic dancer he was out there on the dance floor with his daughter trying his hardest to make sure she was having a good time.

One odd thing though was Cami refused to slow dance with me. Virtually every other kid was out there with her dad when the slow dance came but Cami just didn't seem interested. Oh well, maybe next year.

I really am happy that I was able to share this experience with my daughter and I hope that Cami had as good a time as I did.

Dog Days of Late Winter

Friday was a really nice day here in Evanston so I thought I would take to the streets to see what I could see. I saw lots of students in various degrees of undress, no photos though, and I noticed this refelction off of one of the buldings. It's not the best picture in the world but it shows the mood of the last days of winter. The temps aren't so bad but it's still grey and icky looking.

Speaking of icky, the melting snow has resulted in lots of mud. Lots and lots of mud. You can't step off the sidewalk for fear of being swallowed up. And don't even think of letting the kids outside in anything less than play clothes because whatever they wear those clothes will become play clothes by the time they're done.

Spring Is Just Around The Corner

Here's a view of Chicago from the Evanston campus of Northwestern University. At this point the surface of the lake is (mostly) frozen, which is sort of cool. As I walked along the lake I could see people walking around out on the lake, which probably isn't the safest thing they could be doing. Even though it's frozen I wouldn't count on it not having cracks where they could fall through.

The Ultimate Athlete

I know you'll all be impressed that Daddy has improved his Wii tennis game to such an extent that he has gone into the "Pro" category. Of course, I sit here at work with an aching arm but all great athletes have a high pain tolerance.

The Wii is very fun and I'm glad that my friend Brian gave us one for Christmas. The bad thing is my family is broke and we can't afford to purchase any additonal games. Ah well, over the course of this year we'll stop at GameStop and find some good used games. Besides, I don't think it's healthy for kids to have too much video game gear.

The Joy of a Wedgie

There's nothing quite like a good wedgie. Here are my kids practicing the art of underwear manipulation in the privacy of our local McDonald's playland. Ah, it's so gratifying to see my children being such good examples for others.

When I was a kid we called them "Heiniebinders". Whatever they are called they can be life altering. I remember many years ago I got a nuclear powered wedgie from a neighbor and I practically needed a crowbar to extract my undies from my crevice. I'm just happy that I was still able to have children later in life.

Woo Hoo!

I love being a dad! I can't get enough time with my kids. My only regret is that I'm not younger. I'm 45 Twinkie-filled years old and I have a hard time not having a "grabber" when I spin my kids around. Not only am I getting older but my kids are getting heavier. Phew! I'm ready to barf just remembering taking this picture. And of course all the kids in the neighborhood wanted a turn.

Perhaps in the summer I will try to get into a little better shape. I'm looking forward to resuming my walks along the lakefront and also taking some bike rides with my kids. It's hard to imagine taking a bike ride just yet with all the snow that is falling outside right now, but it's March now and in a few weeks it should start to warm up a little bit.

A Good Looking Kid

My son is much better looking than I was as a kid. Thankfully for him he is reaping the benefits of being handsome. Just about every girl in his class flirts with him and the girl scouts in my daughter's troop (pack?, gaggle?) get all atwitter about him. I hope he can maintain this throughout his life as good looking people have better lives and have higher salaries than we trolls do.

We didn't make it to the talent show last night, which bummed me a bit. I was looking forward to a little bit of a social event. I was also looking forward to seeing some people who have moved out of our ward but have stayed within the stake. Oh well, such is life.

Arrrr Matey!

Saturdays are always fun, expecially when you have a dress-up box to dig in to. I don't even know where this outfit came from. I do know that the hat came from Williamsburg but the other stuff is a mystery to me.

There is a talent show out at the Stake center tonight that I'm looking forward to. I can look forward to it because I'm not in it. There's no way I would get myself up there and fumble around. Plus I lack talent which I suspect would be a vital ingredient for a talent show.

Let Them Eat Cake...

It's always gratifying to see that my children have taken to heart the things I have taught them. In this case Ian has heard our complaints about the crumbs on the carpet and has decided to eat his cake outside. He's such an accomodating child.

It's cold again! Yesterday we got a boatload of rain. Had it been any colder it would have been snow. At least I don't have to shovel rain, but it does make for some very wet children.

I'm listening to sports talk radio as I type this and the conversation is about a football player that just signed a 7-year, 100 million dollar contract. I'm all for people earning what they can but this is getting ridiculous. The gap between the haves and the have-nots widens.

You Spin Me Right 'Round, Baby!

Yesterday was another one of those days where it warmed up a little bit. It was in the 40's, which is a heat wave for February, so the kids wanted to stop at the park. I had reservations about this because I thought (correctly as it turned out) that the park would be very muddy from all the melting snow. We stopped for a while anyway and I got some great pictures of the kids having a fun time. These two pictures show them on the merry-go-round.

The merry-go-round is one of those playground toys where the kids really have a great time...until they don't. Then there are screams of "Stop! Stop!" Hmm...Maybe I spin them too fast.

Cub Scouts Cake Baking Contest

It was our annual Blue and Gold dinner at pack night last night. Here is my son decorating his cake for the Father & Son Cake Baking Contest. He made his to look like the state of Virginia. I was really disappointed in myself because even though I took a lot of pictures of the cake as it was being made I never took a picture of it when it was done. I feel like such a dork.

Anyway, his cake was great. On the surface it looked like a map of Virginia with colored areas for Shenandoah and the Virginia Beach area. Then we clipped some of our vacation pictures of Ian in those locations and we taped them to sticks and stuck them into the cake where these pictures were taken. Does that make sense? Basically pictures of Ian at the beach were poked into the beach area, etc.

He was very excited to win an award for his cake. I think he won the "Most 3 Dimensional Cake" award.

Cami entered her cake in the contest as well and she was so excited to win an award. I told her she could put her cake in the contest but probably would not win an award because the contest was for the boys, but our Bishop insisted that they would judge her cake anyway.

The dinner went very well and our Cubmaster did a great job of organizing the event. It was very well attended and a great time was had by all.

A New (and uninvited) Addition To Our Family

There are now (at least) 5 Neumanns living in our house. One of them has a long tail, whiskers and a twitchy nose.

I was sitting in our TV room last night and I saw a mouse running around like he owned the place. I quickly took out my camera and snapped this picture of him. I suspect he might have some family members in the house as well.

We live in a wooded area with an old creek out back so I'm not surprised by our new adoptee. There is no shortage of possums, racoons, rabbits and other critters running around in our back yard. Our neighbors across the street even saw several coyotes in front of our house last summer. Thankfully none of these critters have come in to our house to visit the mice.

Field Trip

Last week I chaperoned my daughter's field trip to the Kohl's Childrens Museum. I was asked to watch the above three girls and I think I did a decent job because they all had a great time and none of them were killed or injured. So, it was a successful day.

As you can see the face painting area was a big hit again. After that they hit the stage were they can see themselves on a television screen. They tried on different outfits and hammed it up for 20 minutes or so. Another area that was popular was the "Potbelly" restaurant were they can pretend to be employees and make sandwiches for their customers.

This brings up an interesting observation. After having been to the museum twice it occurs to me that perhaps the real purpose of the museum is to prepare our children for a life in retail or other low end jobs. There is a day care center, a farm, a deli, a grocery store, and a veterinary clinic, which is the most "advanced" job of the bunch. Nowhere is there an executive suite where the kids can pretend to be managers or owners of the company. Hmm... Perhaps the corporate sponsers aren't so benevolent afterall.

Oh well, regardless the kids had a great time and I was thankful that the trip was short enough that none of my girls had to visit the bathroom while we were there. Nor did I, thankfully.

Stylin'

The perfect mix of mud and fashionable sunglasses. Cami is not a tomboy by any stretch of the imagination. She is definitely a girly girl. Having said that she is always the first one in the mud. I prefer to think of her as an "artist" though she probably just enjoys the mess.


And speaking of messes she had mud all over her hands and she was pressing them up against the house and the car and anything else she could. Just like in the Curious George movie there were hand prints everywhere.

Blondes Have More Fun

My son certainly has a nose for young blonde women. At the playland the other day a young mom and dad showed up with their little boy and Ian struck up a conversation with her almost immediately. It's a good thing he's only 7 years old, otherwise he might have gotten himself into trouble with her husband.



I was impressed that her husband went up into the playland with their little boy. I used to be able to do that but I've gotten way too old and fat to do that anymore. I can still fit in there but I hurt myself trying to get out.

Breakfast In Bed

Every once in a while my kids get up and decide that they are going to fix breakfast for mommy. They are restricted to what they can make because they aren't allowed to use the stove (for obvious reasons) and we don't have alot of pastries and bagel-type foods lying around so they make "breakfast" out of what's on hand.



This particular breakfast consisted of a mix of bologna and mayonaise (in a bowl), some cut up cheese sticks, some milk, plus there might have been some cereal in there somewhere, and if memory serves they included some Lifesavers candy.



They took so long making it that mommy eventually got up and came downstairs and I don't think she ever ate it. But hey, it's the thought that counts.

Will We Wii?

Yes we will!

My best friend gave our family a Wii for Christmas this year. He wasn't able to give it to us until last Sunday because he was having a very difficult time finding one in the stores, or even on-line. He finally got one at Blockbuster video of all places. We set it up and the kids commenced fighting over it.

I have expressed some concern about how my kids will be affected by a video game, but so far it seems like the Wii is very fun and non-threatening. I might be wrong about this but there do not appear to be a lot of blood and gore games but rather the games are Super Mario type games. I remember several years ago my youngest niece was given a GameCube console for Christmas. The games I saw her playing were not, in my opinion, corrupting games. Instead they were games where gorillas and other animals would race around on souped-up dragsters, and similar games. The Wii is the successor to the GameCube and I expect that most of the games are similar. Of course, if there are blood and guts games we can simply not buy them.

My kids love the game, but there is a reason there is a strap on the controller. My daughter would have thrown the controller across the room if she hadn't had the strap around her wrist.

One thing I've noticed about how my kids play. Ian get's closer and closer to the TV as he whips the controller around. He needs constant reminders to back away from the TV so he doesn't break either the TV or his hand. Cami, on the other hand, needs constant reminders to move away from Ian so she doesn't get smacked in the head. It's great fun!

I'll post some pictures when I have them

Show Us Your Moon

The other night it was somewhat warm, "warm" for February means it was in the 30's, and I noticed that the clouds were really moving up there. The moon was full and amazingly bright. I waited for a good chance to take a photograph and this is the result. Not too bad for a hand held shot.


Last night was cub scouts and it went really well. I was in charge again and I always worry that the boys are going to be either bored with my projects or they'll be crazy, or even worse only 1 boy will show up. But, I must say last night went really well.


Next week is our Blue and Gold dinner and along with the dinner will be a father and son cake baking contest. I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm not looking forward to the cleanup. This could either be a great experience or it could be a disaster. Only time will tell.


And next month is the Pinewood Derby! Woohoo! That is always a great time.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Plush puppies and chocolate. Ahh, it doesn't get any better than that. Valentine's Day is always a big hit with my kids, especially my daughter. Not only is she female but she also has a massive sweet tooth. This girl loves candy. She takes after her dad with his love of all things chocolate. And just like dad her favorite is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Chocolate bunnies at Easter are also a big hit. She isn't all that excited about Brach's Bridge Mix, though. Maybe it's because she has a hard time telling what flavor she's getting in any given piece.

Daddy actually picked up his Valentine's Day card for mommy about a week early this year. He was so proud of himself that he was not at Walgreen's at 2:00 am the night before picking from what few cards were left over.

I remember one anniversary I gave her a card that I had purchased the night before at around 2:30 am. I gave it to her the next morning. I was so pleased with myself that I remembered to get her something. She thanked me for the card and then asked if I knew it was a birthday card. Sure enough, the card I got her was a birthday card and not an anniversary card. Oh well, I tried. Don't I at least get credit for that? Especially when you consider that she did NOT get me a card.

A Happy Girl

Tooth #3 has come out! The first one didn't count. She fell on a waterslide and knocked that one out, along with splitting her lip requiring a bunch of stitches to repair. The 2nd tooth does count, but she was eating a cookie at the time and she thought the tooth was a nut, so she flicked it somewhere. Tooth #3 came out a week or so later and was saved for the Tooth Fairy.

Cami was very excited that she finally had a tooth for the fairy. In fact, she wrote the fairy a note and bundled it and the tooth together in an envelope, placed it under her pillow, and somehow was able to get to sleep. The next morning she looked and the fairy had left her $5! Can you imagine that? $5! I know, the Tooth Fairy has been taking a lot of heat for it. It seems that our Tooth Fairy is way too generous.

Spring is Springing

I know it's only February 13 (Friday the 13th to be exact) but there are already plants sprouting up. I think they're about a month early, but then again what do I know.

Here's a picture I took earlier today showing the new sprouts. I hope these plants have sweaters because it's supposed to snow tomorrow.

Better Weather

Here is a panarama photo of a lake that is near us, and you know what!? It's melting! Woohoo!

This is the same lake that some foolish snowmobilers ride around on. It amazes me that people still go out onto a frozen lake. It's been cold this year, but it hasn't been that cold. I would never trust the ice.

Many people in the Midwest are happy that the weather is getting a little more tolerable. I'm not. I actually enjoy winter. Even though we've had lots of snow and cold this year we still haven't gone sledding or skating. Can you believe it? I sure hope it snows again so we'll get our chance.

It's at this time of year that my mind turns to what activities I can busy the kids with during the spring and summer. Camping perhaps? I'd love to take the kids fishing but I'm almost certain that one of them, or more likely myself, will get a fish hook embedded in their skin. Ouch!

I've already promised my son that we'll do lots of bike riding this year, especially around the local forest preserves. Perhaps my daughter can come along with us. She can be really really slow when she rides her bike because she makes lots of stops to pick flowers. By the end of the ride her basket is loaded with them. This is great but my son wants to go super fast. This means I get stuck in the middle trying to speed her up while trying to slow him down. It's great fun!

Movie Night

The other night we had the pleasure of watching a movie at home. We were going to see "Godzilla and the Poo Monster" (it's not actually called that but I don't remember what the real title is) but instead we watched "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride". The kids were in charge of making the popcorn, as can be seen above.

Last week we had been reading "The Wind in the Willows" and so the kids were familiar with the story of the movie, but my daughter was really confused by the fact that all of the animals in the movie were played by real people. She kept asking if they were real animals, etc. After a while I didn't know what to say anymore. She enjoyed the movie anyway.

We sometimes go see a movie at the theater, such as last week when we saw Coraline. By the way, Coraline is a fabulous movie and is highly recommended. But going to the theater can be really expensive, as I'm sure you all know. The kids don't seem to care whether they are in a theater or if they watch in our TV room. Hey, I'm cool with that.

By the way, that number "8" shirt that my son is wearing is not a Brett Favre shirt. Go Bears!!

Mall Rats

One of the great things about malls are the free play areas. Of course, "free" sometimes means having to go to the food court and buying $25 worth of food for my hungry kids. Above we see Ian threatening to eat a pepper from of my Panda Express lunch. I told him to go ahead and eat it and let us know how that works for him. Alas, he was smart enough to not eat it.

Do any of you go to the mall? In the summer we normally go to the park, but in early February the parks are either under 3 feet of snow or they are so muddy we'll be doing laundry for a year.

We Can Almost Smell Spring!

Woo Hoo! After months of cold days and even colder nights we've had an unexpected warm up over the weekend. The kids took advantage of the warm weather, and the fact that the snow melted enough that they could find their bikes, and rode around the neighborhood like a house on fire. Here's a photo of my daughter enjoying the weather. I'm not sure why she felt it neccessary to wear a bikini top over her jacket.

This is my son enjoying the great outdoors. He rivals me for enjoying cold weather. The odd thing is, unlike me, he isn't fat. He really doesn't seem to feel the cold. I think I've mentioned before that he isn't bothered by the cold water in Lake Michigan or the various waterparks we go to. He's always the first one in and the last one out.

I'm Blessed With Health Insurance

To date my son has broken his arm, has split his chin open twice (requiring stitches both times), cut open the back of his head (again requiring stitches), and has been hospitalized at least three times for asthma attacks. Did I mention that he was born 8 weeks early and spent 6 weeks in the NICU before we could bring him home?

And now he has added a broken nose to the laundry list of injuries. It happened at school during recess. He and another boy collided while playing. My son was knocked silly by the collision and still claims he doesn't remember anything about what happened. That's probably a good thing.

It's possible that his nose isn't actually broken, although I'm sure it is at least to some extent. His doctor never felt his nose during her examination nor did she x-ray him. Rather she gave him several neurological tests fearing that he might be concussed. He seems to be fine, other than a swollen nose and puffy yellow eyes.

And did I mention my daughter's various accidents? She has swallowed a battery, severely cut her finger requiring, if memory serves, 7 stitches, plus she split her head open when she fell head-first against a door frame and we think she broke her cheek bone when she pulled a TV cabinet down on herself. And let's not forget the time she fell on a water park slide and busted out a tooth and split her lip open. She required 8 stitches to sew her lip back together.

Boy oh boy, I'm really happy that I have health insurance.

Clones

This photo was taken at the Kohl's Children's Museum in Glenview, IL. There was one of those gadgets that has the pins where when you press something into it the pins stick out the other side and you get a 3D image. Well, they had a full-sized one and as you can see my kids had a great time with it. The backside of the gizmo was encased in glass so there is an unfortunate reflection in the photo, but otherwise I like it.


The kids love this place because there are all sorts of hands-on activities for them to play with. I think their favorite was the veterinary clinic where they could care for all manner of stuffed animals. My daughter also really enjoyed the face painting area.




She is excited about going back there for her kindergarten field trip in a couple of weeks. I'll be a chaperon on this trip so I'll post some more pictures when I can.