New Study

A South American scientist from Argentina, after a lengthy study, has discovered that people with "IBA" or insufficient brain activity read blogs with their hand on the mouse.

Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late…

Stampede Party Pooper

I know this might get me kicked out of the city, but I just have to say it. I don't like the Calgary Stampede.

I don't drink. I don't like crowds. Cowboy boots, long sleeve shirts, and jeans in 30 degree weather don't make sense to me. I like to use my money wisely.

The average person in Calgary (native or tourist) spends hundreds of dollars during the 10 days of Stampede. I couldn't find the current quotes but I know that when we've gone to the grounds for one day, Amber and I will usually spend over a hundred bucks on parking, admission, a few rides, and some food. And that's not including the shows, bars, clothing, etc that people spend their money on.

I'm proud to say that we have spent exactly zero dollars on the Stampede this year (possibly less). We went to the free Stampede breakfast at church and had a nice time dressing up and eating pancakes outside in the beautiful sunshine, listening to some live country music. We even got a few Subway gift certificates out of the deal thanks to Daniel and Josh's cute galloping on their cardboard tube horses. And today, I got to partake of a free barbecue at work. The Delta Bow Valley hotel came by and brought corn, slow roasted beef, and succulent beef ribs. So good.

I really don't mind the music - and free food is always nice - but I think for the next few years (until the boys can appreciate it) we may be skipping out on Stampede, either figuratively or literally. We're taking the money we've saved and spending the weekend at a hotel in Lethbridge. We haven't had even a weekend vacation since we got back from Nakusp in early November, so I'm sure we will appreciate it.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
Name one thing nice that you could do for someone else today.

I just spent 40 minutes helping an old guy set up his hotmail address on his phone when I shouldn't have. It's not something we support but he was so confused and I thought I could give him a hand.

Soup
When was the last time you were frightened by the weather?

I can't remember ever being scared of the weather. We get hail, blizzards, floods out here but I always am amazed at God's wonderful power. I haven't been in a hurricane or tornado - I think I might have a different answer then.

Salad
What would you say is the most useful website or blog that you visit?

I love Amber's website but the two most useful blogs to me are TVGasm.com and TechDirt.com

Main Course
Who was your favorite singer/group when you were a child?

Valdy

Dessert
Do you have any rituals? If so, what are they?

With my schedule being so weird, it's tough to have rituals.

Twins?

Last week Daniel was in swimming lessons with Amber, and this week it's Josh's turn. The pool is near the library and a couple parks so I have been taking the other two boys on various adventures during swimming.

Last week, Josh and I found a pretty cool park about a block away. There were slides and ladders and a climbing rock. Josh also met a 7-year old boy who was having fun playing tag (or Tickle Monster) with him. Josh chased him around the park for about 20 minutes until it was time for us to go get Daniel. This led to a very interesting situation when Daniel, Andrew and I showed up there yesterday.

The same boy was there and he recognized me and Andrew's carseat and therefore, recognized "Josh". Daniel ran up to the play structure to see what he could do and the little boy jumped out from behind the steps and yelled, "Raaaaarh!"

Daniel looked at him, and then looked at me and kept climbing. He was running over the bridge and the boy climbed up behind him and said, "Wanna play Tickle Monster?"

Daniel looked at this stranger and said, "No!" This went on for a while with the little guy chasing his former friend around trying to figure out why he wasn't as fun as last week.

Daniel came running to me and said, "That boy is trying to catch me"

Me: "I think he thinks you are Josh. He and Josh were playing here last week and he thinks you are him." Daniel looks confused but runs away.

Little boy: "I don't think that. I know he's Josh"

Me: "No, that's Josh's brother. It's a different boy."

Daniel (yelling from across the park): "I'm not Josh. I was in swimming lessons and now it's Josh's turn. He's not here"

Boy: "Oh, they look the same."

Me: "Yes, they do look very similar"

Boy: "I didn't know they were twins"

Me: "No, they aren't twins. They just look alike"

Confused Boy (chasing after Daniel): "Wanna play Tickle Monster?"

Where's Joshie?

The last couple nights have been rough for the boys. I've been working late so Amber's alone with them. It's hot so they have trouble sleeping and don't feel like eating supper so they're hungry at bed time.

When I got home at about 10 last night, they were still up and being loud. Daniel kept coming out and asking for food. We kept sending him back to bed. Josh was being quiet, so I assumed he was asleep. I went in to check on him and he wasn't on his bed. There was a glow under his bed and he was laying on the floor way under it by the wall. Fast asleep.



Theory Number One:

His flashlight is stuck between the wall and his bed, shining down under the bed. Josh crawled under the bed to get it and fell asleep before he got it out.

I asked Daniel why Josh was under his bed. He said, "I put his flashlight there so he could see." The flashlight was tucked into the cross boards of the bed and actually pointing at him.

Theory Number Two:

Josh crawled under his bed for some reason - to escape from Daniel's relentless crying and screaming? And he fell asleep. Then Daniel... brought his flashlight under so... Josh wouldn't be in the dark...? Theory Number Two needs work.

So, Amber managed to get Josh out from under his bed before she went to bed and got him back up on top.

When Josh woke up this morning, I asked him, "Josh, when I came home last night, you weren't sleeping on your bed. Do you know where you were?"

"Yeah, under my bed"

"Why were you under your bed?"

"Daniel and me went under my bed with the flashlight. We were having a venture. We readed our books under my bed"

Now that I look at my pictures again, I can see the flashlight tucked into the bars and a book under his head.



Theory Number Three:

Josh and Daniel crawled under his bed together for a "venture". They were reading books and camping. Daniel tucked the flashlight in so they could see. When Daniel left to come and cry and whine about having to pee and being hungry, Josh fell asleep waiting for him.

Makes sense... I guess

He said, he said, he said

My lovely wife wanted me to start this post off by telling you that she has dropped off the face of the earth. She was trying to post daily adventures and that lasted about a week. And now with swimming lessons, birthday parties, and scrapbooking, she seems to have vanished. When she's back, she'll post again.

Now, on with our story...

The boys have been talking so much, I wanted to post an update on their progress.

Andrew: He said, "Mama!" for the first time this week. He kept repeating it to see Amber smile and giggle. It won't be long before he's running around and yelling with his brothers.

Josh: His grammar is really improving. He tries so hard to get things just right. He recently came to me in the morning and said, "Daddy, I wake... I waked... I WOKE up." It's cute that not only does he know there are rules for speech, but he thinks they are important.

Daniel: He is starting to grasp the concept of time. Until recently, he would place random "time" phrases in his sentences like "Last year I had pizza. I watched that movie a week ago."

But yesterday was the best one. He turned 4 on Thursday and that was a big thing for him. He's been waiting for it for months now. Anyway, we were going out and instead of putting on his sandals, he got his hiking boots out. I figured it couldn't hurt anything, so I let him put them on. He told me, "Daddy, these aren't my sandals. They are my boots. My Bob the Builder hiking boots... from when I was three."

That's it for now. We'll see who posts next... ;)

Feast One Hundred

Appetizer
On average, approximately how many times per day do you yawn?

On days when I'm working till 11pm, it's a couple dozen. Sunday afternoons are good for a few. But usually maybe 1 or 2.

Soup
What was your most memorable school field trip?

I have been on lots but I think my most memorable was Hawaii in 93. I went with my high school band and it was my first big trip away from my family and the first of 5 international trips in the next 3 years.

Salad
Fill in the blank: I was extremely __________________ this week.

BUSY....and HOT

Main Course
Which color do you think of when you hear the word "soothing"?

Lavender. I'm not sure why.

Dessert
What is something that, if you had to, you could save up the money to buy within one month?

Pretty much anything. I've been amazed at how we can scrimp and find extra money. God is so good. Something that we found the money for this month was bunk beds.

Doctor Visit

I took Andrew and Daniel to the doctor last week (I know I'm late in posting but it's been a busy week so forgive me). Daniel was going for his 4-year-old checkup and Andrew had a suspected ear infection.

They were both in great shape. Andrew apparently has just discovered his ears and when he's yanking on them, it's normal 5 month old curiosity. Daniel is doing all the stuff a kid his age should be doing.

Daniel wouldn't leave until the doctor checked his mouth. Apparently last time we went to the doctor, he didn't get to say, "Aaaaah!" and it bugged him for a while. In his mind, that is one of the most important parts of a doctor visit. So, Dr. Thomas checked his tongue and teeth and D was happy.

He impressed the doctor and the resident with his reading. She asked me if I thought he was ready for school and I responded by having Daniel read a poster on the wall that had words like "affect", "bacteria" and "antibiotics". He sounded out the words he didn't know and suprised even me. It's amazing how his mind is growing.

We are so blessed to have healthy kids. I thank God for them and also for the medical community we have available to us should anything happen. I'm not sure how all the proposed changes to health care will proceed, but I know that our family is well taken care of.

12 of 12

Well, here's another go at 12 of 12. Twelve pictures of June 12 in my life.



No, that's not a mistake. That's approximately what time our day started. Amber blogged about our rough night earlier today but here's my details. Josh couldn't fall asleep last night. After several hours of trying and coming out to see us, at 1:47 we finally brought him into our bed. After an hour of him flailing about I took him back to his bed just in time to hear Andrew wake up. Amber nursed him while I tried to get a little more sleep until about



I got up with Andrew and took him to the living room for a bottle. I laid him on his play mat while I went to go make a bottle. When I had finished, he was looking so happy, I let him lay there giggling while I did up some dishes.



He fell asleep shortly before Daniel woke up and came out to visit. I made Daniel and I breakfast and he said, "Daddy, that breakfast looks good. You know what else is good? Chess!"

I started teaching him chess this week and he loves it. He wants to play all the time now. It's ridiculous. The kid isn't even four yet - is there anything he can't do? So anyway, we eat our breakfast and start a game of chess.



As you can see, we have had to replace one of the white knights with Junior Asparagus from the VeggieTales Sumo of the Opera playset. We have a pretty messy basement (as you would remember from last month's 12 of 12) and it's gonna take us time to find that missing little plastic horse.

Anyway, Joshie woke up and was helping Daniel - by picking up the pieces off the floor and continually calling out "Corners Daniel, corners!" Andrew also woke up and he sat on my lap and helped out the white side.

Daniel's just starting to understand planning moves. He rarely sees beyond the move he's making but sometimes he surprises me. I help him out a bit and somehow he ended up with me in checkmate. He actually looks kind of upset that the game is over - even though he won.



So, I headed off to work. Here are a few pictures of my workspace.



This is my cube farm. My jacket is the second one you see there. All those windows let in quite a bit of natural light during the day, and the airvent you see over my desk lets in a few dead tiny fleas that I get to brush off my desktop every day before I start work. Maybe I could save them in a jar and sell them to a guy with a gecko.



Here's where I sit 5 times per week for 8 hours minus lunch and coffee breaks. It's nice to have my own set space, I really should put up some pictures or something, it's kind of depressing now that I look at it.

An interesting thing to note is my water bottle. I won it for having the highest mark in my training class. I go through about 3 of those full of ice water a day. Apparently talking all day and inhaling fleas makes one very thirsty.



Here's my first picture of me in 12 of 12. This is what I look like at work - if you are my water bottle. Hmmm, the glow from that fluorescent light fixture doesn't look too healthy.



This is the first day in over a month that I bought my lunch at work. That chess game took longer than I expected and I didn't get a chance to make a lunch. So, I drove to the nearby Wendy's and got a delicious Bacon Mushroom Melt. All that gooey cheese sauce with bacon and a greasy square burger - if the radiation from the lights don't get me the transfats will.



When I got home the boys celebrated my arrival by emptying their toybox all over the living room. Once I finish up here, I'm gonna go try to get all of that back in the box.

Amber left for the evening for some well-deserved girl time. The boys had been rowdy and rough all day. I put them to bed 2 hours ago and I just took this picture. They haven't moved a muscle. Apparently terrorizing one's mother and scattering toys makes one very sleepy.



I fell asleep on the couch waiting for Amber and Andrew. With TELUS TV, there's always a poker game to be found. Nothing is more surreal than watching Dave Foley from The Kids in the Hall doing colour commentary on a poker game including Dennis Rodman, Chandler Bing, and Doogie Howser M.D.



And that was my day in pictures. Why don't you try doing a 12 of 12 next month? You don't need a blog. It's simple to set up a flickr.com account to share photos. I'll try to post a reminder message a little early next month.

Brothers First, Brothers Always

I'm not sure where I heard it - I think it was some nanny show on TV - but it really stuck with me. Brothers first, brothers always. To me it means that no matter what happens, your brother is your brother. Friends come and go but family sticks together.

Daniel and Josh have really learned this lesson well. Amber blogged about it a while ago. They just love each other. They are best friends and I can see already that they include Andrew in their circle of brotherhood. It's so sweet.

That's why this weekend is so hard.

Daniel is out of town with Grandpa visiting his great-grandparents. It's his first big trip alone from mom and dad. The boys regularly have sleepovers at Grandma and Grandpa's but this is the first time we are more than a quick drive away and (as far as I can remember) the first time since Joshie was a little baby that they have been apart at night - surely for 2 or 3 nights at a time.

It's been tough on Amber and me too, having our first baby away but we are able to deal with it, but poor Josh. He's not sure what's going on. He said a few times today, "Daniel is lost." We had to remind him where his brother was and that he was OK.

I feel bad for him but I have no idea how Daniel is dealing with this. I'll write again with his side when he gets back.

Mobile Blogging

I'm trying something new here. I have a new Blackberry from work for the next few weeks and I'm gonna see if I can blog from it, wherever I am. Should be pretty cool.

Nice to meet you

Josh is our little social butterfly. We thought is was going to be this way but today proved it without a doubt.

We went to the doctor's office to have Josh checked out for his reflux (which is doing much better now). They have a little play area that had two little boys about 4 years old in it playing with the toys.

Josh immediately headed over there, with Daniel behind him and said, "Hi guys. I'm Josh. This is my friend Daniel. And that's my mommy and daddy and baby. And this is my friend Daniel and my mommy and daddy and baby. Who are you guys?"

The slightly older looking one was overwhelmed and a little confused, "Umm.. I'm four"

Josh said, "I'm Josh. Can we play with you guys?"

They played well until they boys left and a little girl and her mom came to play. By this time, Daniel was sitting with me reading a book and Josh started helping the little girl with a shape sorter. He was telling her the names of all the shapes and where they go. When it was time for us to go, he said to her, "Okay, thanks for playing with me. I gotta go. Love you. Bye!"

It's nice that he can make friends so easy. I hope this will be something he keeps as he grows up.

Feast Ninety-Five

Appetizer
How old were you when you got your first credit card?

I think I was 18. I wish I was much older

Soup
When was the last time you felt out of place?

When I went to pick up Daniel from school and was surrounded by all these young mothers with other little kids and no Dads in sight.

Salad
Did you have a curfew when you were a teenager? If so, what time did you have to be home?

Nope. I think it changed as need be - I was a pretty good kid and usually home at a reasonable time.

Main Course
Name a person from history with whom you feel you have something in common.

I sat here for the majority of my coffee break thinking of this one and I couldn't think. I feel very normal right now so I probably have a lot in common with billions of people that went before me.

Dessert
When you read a newspaper, which section do you go for first?

Comics

Wabbit Season

Daniel and Josh love to argue and fight. I've tried to explain to Amber that this is just how boys express their feelings. This might be getting out of hand.

I was in Daniel's room talking with him, trying to get him to calm down after a busy morning. Josh walked in and said, "Is too!" Daniel instinctively responded, "Is not!"

Me: "Is not what? What are you arguing about?"

Josh: "Is too!"

Daniel: "Is not!"

Josh: "Is too!"

Daniel: "Is not!"

Josh: "Is too!"

Daniel: "Is not!"

Me: "You guys don't even know what you are talking about."

Josh: "Is too!"

Daniel (in a flash of Bugs Bunny brilliance): "Is too!"

Josh (who isn't as familiar with Elmer Fudd cartoons) "Is not!"

Daniel: "Is too!"

Josh: "Is not!"

This went on for about 4 minutes with Daniel switching the sides a few times. Not that it mattered at all. Neither one knew what they were arguing about but it was fun.

Second Date

Last summer Amber and I took Daniel and Josh to see Madagascar and they loved it. It had been quite a while but thought we'd try it again.

The boys had been seeing previews and commercials for "Over the Hedge" in the past weeks and were very excited about it. After trying to keep it a surprise for about a week, I ended up telling them where we were going after church. It was a totally unsuccessful disciplinary experiment, but at least I tried something.

So anyways, after church we took Andrew to my parents' place for some Grandma & Grandpa cuddles and Daniel and Josh and Amber and I went to Chinook Centre to the theatre. Last time we went, the movie had been out for a few weeks and the theatre wasn't very busy. This being opening weekend for Over the Hedge and The Da Vinci Code it was a pretty packed lobby. We had some passes that I had gotten from work so we saved some money there - but unfortunately Daniel has gone from "Under 3" to "3-12" and therefore now costs $8.95 for a ticket. I can't imagine paying $40+ for our family to see a movie next year.

We got our tickets and Daniel announced that he had to go pee. I took the boys to the bathroom while Amber got snacks. We found some seats in the top row (Daniel was voting for the front but got vetoed by Power of Dad). Amber eventually came up the steps with a helper behind her carrying all the popcorn. It may suck having to pay $25 for 15c worth of popcorn and drinks but at least there was a lot. The boys settled in with their buckets and blue slurpees.

The movie was really quite good. We had a few moments of note.

1) Daniel made it until about an hour in before having to go to the bathroom. When we got there, there were about a dozen 9-year-olds having a pee race. We got into the stall and heard one of them at the urinals say, "Okay, marks! Get set! Go!" This kind of intimidated Daniel.

2) An exterminator on the screen said, "Dammit!" Nearly as loud, Daniel said, "Daddy! That guy said 'dammit!'"

3) At the emotional climax, Josh called out, "What is RJ doing? Mommy where is RJ going? What is RJ doing?"

4) The three boys needed to go pee one more time at the end.

We went and picked up Andrew and headed home. Daniel and Josh fell asleep in the van. Since it was so sunny and hot, I took them down to the cool basement and put them on the futon we have set up. This was about 6:00. At midnight, just as I was heading down to check on them, Josh woke up and caused Daniel to wake up too. They came upstairs and slept until 7:00am. Tired little guys.

Yet another good movie date with my boys. Maybe we'll take them to the cheap theatre again this summer. $2.50 a piece is much more reasonable. :)

A new Friday's Feast

Appetizer
What is the last thing you had to have repaired?

My tires on the van - and those crooks at the Wal-Mart garage didn't get it right so they still need to be done.

Soup
If someone gave you $2,000 with the stipulation that you had to spend half of it on yourself and give the rest to charity, where would you spend the $1,000 and which charity would receive your remaining $1,000?

I'd probably spend the money at FutureShop or Memory Express and give the other to church.

Salad
What is one of your favorite songs from the 1980s?

We Didn't Start the Fire

Main Course
You enter a pet store. Which section do you go to first?

Hamsters

Dessert
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how athletic are you?

Zero

Happy Mothers' Day

To all the mothers in my life:

Happy Mothers' Day


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     jgs ':::..      .'
          `""-----""`


There's no job more important than mother and I appreciate all you all do.

I'm going to get to spend the day with my boys' mom, my mom, my wife's mom, my nephews' mom, and my father's mom - along with countless others. I'll post some of the goings on.

12 on 12

A growing trend within the blogosphere is posting twelve pictures of your day on the twelfth of the month. I had a camera-phone for the first part of the day, so the pictures aren't quite as good quality, but it should be fun. Let's go

This is obviously my alarm clock. I actually woke up at about 6:14 this morning, after a few smacks on the snooze bar, but it was at 6:30 that I remembered I wanted to do 12 on 12 this month. This is actually a little earlier than I normally get up, but I was in bed earlier last night so I felt ready to get going.

---

First thing I did, and usually do, is go to the computer in the office/nursery. I check my Bloglines software for updates to the dozens of blogs I follow and dump all the new episodes of my subscribed podcasts that have come in over the night into my iPod.

---

All the clicking and typing caused Andrew to start stirring. I went over to his crib and changed him and just dwelt in his happiness, glee, and joy for a few minutes. He read a few of the blogs with me but when he started drooling on my hand and tried to eat the mouse, I took him in for his Breakfast in Bed.

---

I then went and did the dishes from last night and made myself some breakfast. Instant oatmeal, a leftover doughgod, and milk.

---

Daniel is always the next one up. He usually gets up around 7:00am when I am about ready to head out for work. If I leave early enough, I can get in a bit of a workout in the weight room, but more often than not, I end up hanging out with the boys for an extra half an hour and then just heading straight to work.

---

Josh usually gets up either just before or just after I leave. This morning I got to cuddle with him for a bit in his bed before he went and watched cartoons with Daniel.

---

These two are of my drive in to work. There was a semi that flipped over on Deerfoot this morning and blocked up traffic in both directions for miles. Good thing I got going a little early today because I just made it on time.

---

Tonight Amber had a Tupperware party and the older boys went over to Grandpa Bill's for the night, so I took it upon myself to listen to a few podcasts I had been meaning to get to and clean the cyclonic mess of puzzles, toys, and crayons in the basement.

Before

---

After

---

This was Amber's gift for hosting the Tupperware party. The world's smallest magnetic measuring cups and a salt/pepper shaker that holds more than 8 grains of each.

I know this is only 11 pictures. I was hoping to post one more by the end of the night, but I crashed on the couch watching poker. 11 will have to do. :)

Fives on 5/5

As the people at my work keep reminding me, today is not only Cinqo de Mayo but it is also International No-Pants Day. Anyway, to celebrate the first, I will do this list of fives. I will not be celebrating the second.

Five jobs you've had in your life:

Wardrobe consultant, telephone operator, forklift driver, music pastor, sports equipment salesman

Five movies you could watch over and over:

Catch Me If You Can, Ocean's Eleven, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek IV, Down With Love

Five places you've lived:

Nakusp, BC ; Calgary, AB ; Regina, SK ; Winnipeg, MB, Kindersley, SK

Five TV shows you love to watch:

Survivor, Mythbusters, Good Eats, The Simpsons, How It's Made

Five places you've been on vacation:

Hawaii, Bahamas, Paris, Rome, Brandon

Five websites you visit daily:

Google, Gmail, Bloglines, and work stuff.

Five of your favorite foods:

Gyro donairs, pizza, my special stuffed mushrooms, bbq cheeseburgers, slurpees

Five places you'd rather be:

Home, that's about it

Five albums you can't live without:

I could live without them but what I'm listening to now is Chris Tomlin - Arriving, and Brian Doerksen - Today

Diner de Vendredi

Appetizer
From which country(s) are some (or all) of your ancestors?

I am 4th or 5th generation Canadian in a lot of my lines. Originally lots from Scotland and Sweden - that explains the boys' blond hair and short fuses.

Soup
How would you describe your sneeze?

Let 'er rip!

Salad
What is the last thing you cleaned?

I did dishes yesterday morning.

Main Course
Who made the strongest first impression on you?

The one first impression that is sticking out in my mind shall remain nameless. I met this person several years ago and the conversation went something like this:

Him: "So you must be Amber's friend Jon. You've got a bit of a buddha there (rubbing my belly). And how about that male-pattern baldness?"

Me: Umm... okay.

We eventually got to be friends and once shared a bed - but there was definitely a sheet between us! No touchy!

Dessert
Name one thing you want to accomplish in your lifetime.

How sad. I can't think of any goals I have that I haven't accomplished. At least none that don't sound petty and materialistic. How about teach my boys all I know.