Guest Photographer

Hannah received a camera as a gift from one of Tara's co-workers (he and his family are in the states from India) this Christmas. She loves the camera and took it everywhere the past few days. I thought that it would be a good idea to let her 'go wild' and see what she took pictures of. These are some of the 'greatest hits:'

Sidney on the bed:

Ginger's tail:

A close-up of Carson's face:



Her doll by a tea glass:


Ginger's tail (again):

And a self-portrait:

All in all, pretty good photos from Hannah. I plan on checking her camera periodically and posting the photos she takes......

What I Want For Christmas

Last night, Tara asked Carson what he wanted the most from Santa. Without missing a beat, he said:

"A kid."

"A kid?" Tara asks.

"Yeah, a boy kid, not a girl."

"You mean a brother?" Tara asks.

"Yeah, a brother, not a sister," says Carson.

Santa can't bring those on the sleigh.........and its a good thing too.

You Will Call Him Names

Hannah is learning Christmas carols at school so we get a rendition of the current song at home on a daily basis.

The latest one causes Tara and I some concern....

'Rudolph the red nosed reindeer,
Had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw him,
You would call him names.'

What are they teaching kids these days?

Blogger How-To

OK. This isn't really about our family but this is a short little 'tutorial' on one of the features of our blog which is kind of neat.....leaving comments to each story.

At the bottom of each story, there is a data line that shows when the story was published and then a piece that usually says "0 comments." If you 'click' on the "0 comments" it will take you to another screen where you can type comments into the box on the right side of the screen. Down below the box, there are several options on how to leave your name so we know who said what. The most common is the second to last option which is the 'name' option. If you select this option, you are then able to type your name or nickname in the box, mash the 'submit' button, and the comment will show up on the blog.

If someone comments on a particular story, the '0 comments' button will now read '1 comment,' '2 comments,' etc. You can then click on that item and the comments will show up in a different window.

We promise, if you type comments, we will read them to the kids.....

This is just another way where the family can stay connected.

WINGS Award

Yesterday, Carson came home and told us that he got an award at school. Any more, Carson gets quite a bit of 'prizes' from the prize box for picking up or for doing what he is supposed to do so Tara and I were not really expecting what he was about to show us.....

He produced a small blue card from his backpack that said he received an Adams Elementary WINGS Award. It goes on to read:

"(Carson) gave up his time at centers to go work with another student who was feeling lonely! *Showing compassion for others!!!"

This makes us really proud of him. One thing for sure, Carson has a BIG heart.

We're proud of you Carson!!!

The Monkey

Yesterday, Carson was telling me about how his class went on a field trip to the State Capitol Building some time ago. He started to tell me how many floors were in the Capitol and a few stories about the art and architecture of the old building. Then he said something about a 'monkey.'

"What?" I ask him.

"You know, the monkey on top of the capitol."

"It's a sower Carson," I tell him.

He makes me explain what a sower is for a little bit and then he gets quiet for a minute....

"I just figured it was a monkey. It looks like a monkey."

Our compliments to the sculptor.

The Bird

Hannah was running around tonight trying to get my attention as I was picking up toys around the kids' bedrooms. Finally, I stopped to see what she wanted and turned to face her.....what I found was a 3 year old girl giving me 'the bird.' What she was trying to tell me was that the 'owey' on her finger was getting better.

After I stopped laughing and spent the next 5 minutes trying to get Carson's attention, I grabbed the camera and told Carson that his sister wanted to tell him something. He soon found out that she wanted to show him this:

Something tells me that I will have the opportunity at a similar photo when she is 16.

He's 6!!!

Happy Birthday Carson. You are the 'Big 6' now!!! Have a great day buddy and eats lots of cake.

Great Wolf Lodge Part II

Here are a few more pics at Great Wolf Lodge:

And a video of Hannah going down her favorite slide:

Great Wolf Lodge

Tara and I decided to take the kids to Great Wolf Lodge near Kansas City this weekend. We figured that it was between Hannah's and Carson's birthdays so it would be a special treat. It's also very close to Halloween so Great Wolf Lodge decorates a few rooms and lets the kids trick-or-treat there. Carson decided to be Spiderman and Hannah was a fairy. The first room was a King Kong themed room where a big gorilla was giving out candy....Hannah wasn't sure if she liked this 'trick-or-treat' business. The next room was a pirate that jumped out at you and then proceeded to get into a sword fight with another pirate trying to steal the kids' candy....Hannah knew then and there that she didn't like this 'trick-or-treat' stuff and had me hold her the rest of the way. She didn't want to skip any rooms however for that would mean skipping out on getting that candy. Priorities, priorities......

This was the first trip where Carson went down the 'big slides' by himself on his own inner tube and Hannah got to go down the big slide with Tara and I in an inflatable boat. Both had a blast and kept busy until the very end.

For dinner Monday night, we hit the local mall where a restaurant named 'T-Rex' is located. As you can probably imagine, this is a dinosaur themed eatery where every room features a different dinosaur and once every 30 minutes, the lights dim and a simulated meteor shower takes place. Carson thought it was neat; Hannah was somewhat annoyed because it interfered with her coloring on her menu. After dinner, they played in another part of the restaurant where they can act the part of an archaeologist and discover dinosaur bones or explore caves. Hannah liked digging for bones and Carson liked discovering the bats in the cave.




Here is a video of Carson showing his stuff on the logs:

It was a good couple of days.

You get what you get....

We have a saying around our house.....

"You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit."

This is a mantra that has to be repeated for our two biggest personalities, Carson and Hannah.

So last night, Hannah is reading and telling stories to her 87 babies lying on the floor beneath her stool and we hear her say.....

"You get what you want, and you don't throw a fit."

I don't know if I could sum up Hannah's personality any better than she did for me.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Tara and I had Carson's first parent-teacher conference last night with his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Zetterman. She told us that Carson is a joy to have in class and that he has a good sense of humor. Even when she throws out some deadpan crack in class, Carson is the first to start laughing because he 'gets it.' According to Mrs. Zetterman, Carson has lots of very good life experiences up to this point and he likes to share them. The problem is Carson needs to learn appropriate times to share this stuff.

His teacher says that he is a "natural leader" and very outgoing. He is always the one taking charge of group discussions and wants to be the one 'calling the shots.' One problem is that Carson not only manages his small group discussions, he also trys to manage other groups as well! I am sure that this skill will serve him well later in life but makes for a difficult personality to contain right now.

In all, Tara and I were very impressed with Carson's development in school. His writing and letter recognition is going very well. Mrs. Zetterman said that Carson and about three others are ones that she constantly has to challenge because they catch on so fast.

We are so proud of you Carson. Keep up the good work....and keep the 'bossing others around' to a minimum (although we both know where you get it :)

Vala's

Last weekend, we zipped up the interstate to Vala's pumpkin patch. We bought a family pass again this year and decided to get some use out of it. Here is a photo of Carson helping his sister enjoy the pumpkin-eating dragon....

The kids really enjoy the place. Carson likes to play 'glow golf,' shoot paint balls at ghosts and goblins, and watch the pumpkin chunkin' canon shoot pumpkins about half a mile. Hannah likes to ride the train, watch the pigs race, and go down this slide:

Tara and I like the food and all the running about wears the kids out so it is a 'win' for everybody.

All Figured Out

Yesterday, Carson woke up in a surly mood. It was Monday, the first day back to school from a busy weekend, and he doesn't like getting up unless its on his own terms. Same goes for Hannah.

As he's eating his breakfast, he tells me he hates kindergarten. I tell him that school is important and that he will learn so much. Besides, if he keeps going to school, he will learn to read by the end of the school year. He thinks on this for about 2 seconds and then gives me the following quote:

"Yeah, I suppose. I mean, I already know how to ride my bike.....
and I can whistle.....
and I can do a cart wheel....
So I only need to learn how to read and that's it."

We have our work cut out for us on this one.

Its a Birthday!!!

Hannah turned 3 this past week. She was primed for this birthday the entire last month telling us that she and Troy were birthday buddies and that she turns 3 in 'eptember.'

With the 'big 3' comes a few changes for Hannah. She moves to a new room at her daycare center. She is the oldest one in her current room and, thus, makes all of the rules. It will be interesting to see how she does when she moves back to the bottom of the seniority pole. Knowing Hannah, it will only take a day or two before she whips the older ones into shape.

Happy birthday Hannah! We love you.

Making music

Yesterday, Carson came home from school in his usual bubbly mood. When asked about his day, I expected to hear about math, or reading, or maybe even about a new game he learned in P.E. class. Instead, I learn that a classmate can 'fart' with his armpit. Carson was perplexed by this and wanted to know the secret. Of course, he is a boy and boys can't go on to be older boys without learning this mystical art so I did what every self-respecting parent would do--I taught him how.

Carson was amused for several minutes once he got the hang of it and after a short time, looked up and said, "I think I should show this to my music teacher. She would like it."

Somehow, I think not.

Go Huskers.

Training Time

My schedule gets a little rough on the rest of the family. While I try to give Tara a 'one-week-lead" on how it will change the next week, it is still a full time job keeping track of when I'm home and when I'm gone. The biggest offender is my training schedule, which varies every other week. Here is a sample of what we did this past Thursday:

Its hard to believe that I get paid to do this stuff.

Our weekend

My schedule doesn't lend very well to a family weekend. This past weekend was different as I took Saturday night off and we were able to do things as a family.

Carson had his first soccer game. His coach is a coach for the UNL womens' soccer team and is FANTASTIC at getting 50 six-year-olds all listening and doing what he wants at the same time! This guy needs to put on a clinic for the rest of us. Anyways, the first part of the day is practice but the last part is the game, and the kids really like to play against one another. Carson seems to like soccer; afterall, he scored 15 goals and kept track of every single one---looking over to the sideline after each one to make sure that we were watching.

Hannah enjoyed watching her brother play but enjoyed the trip to the Omaha zoo (after the game) even more. Her favorite was probably the gorilla exhibit where we caught a young gorilla eating dirt. The zoo keeper chided the gorilla a little bit and was greeted by the gorilla sticking his tongue out and spitting at the zoo keeper. Funny stuff. Hannah laughed and laughed.

While the weather was a little bit rainy, we had a great time

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog! With everyone's busy schedules, it becomes tough to stay 'up to speed' on family stuff. We have family strewn all over from Omaha and Elmwood, to Columbus and beyond. We hope to keep this site updated on what is new--and unusual--with our family and, hopefully, bring everyone closer.

Tara and I have quite a few moments where Carson or Hannah say or do something so unexpected, they make us laugh, or think (or both). We often say that we should write these funny stories down so the kids can look back on this and have a good chuckle. Hopefully, this blog will take care of this, and it will serve as a looking glass into our daily life.

Tara and I enjoy every day of the journey and hope everyone else will as well.