Move In Day- 2007

It is hard to believe that it has been almost a year since our girls moved in with us. It seems like not too long ago I was blogging about their arrival. Looking back at the year it is amazing to see how far these two girls have come. Both girls came to us with joyful smiles but hurting hearts. It did not take long for us to bond as a family and I can’t seem to imagine my life before them. I remember vividly the events when our girls first walked through the doors of their new home. They were both hungry so they sat at the little red table in the dining room and ate cheerios. My oldest did the talking since her sister did not have much of a vocabulary. Speaking of my youngest, she could not even get up on the little chair without help the first day they were here. For months bedtime was rough. Countless tears and screams, stumbled trips in the dark to calm nervous toddlers; that was our life, and I loved it!! It was not long before I was quite competent at changing a diaper at 2:00 AM in the dark, silent as a ninja. Those first few months were quite noisy around our house; lots of screams and grunts and tantrums on the floor. But in the midst of it all was the formation of a family. Built with hugs and kisses, ketchup dip and applesauce, we were all being changed and it was great. Our girls have grown up so much in the past year. Most of the screams have been changed to laughter; grunts have become words (lots of words!!). It is not uncommon to hear the "ABC song" or "Angels We Have Heard on High" at all hours. Colors, numbers, and shapes dominate the girl’s thoughts and they just love to be silly (silly shoes, silly cereal, silly pants, silly songs, silly anything). Dora and Diego have been teaching them some Spanish and Elmo and Cookie Monster help them learn other new things, not to mention what those Disney Princess are teaching them. Our girls are quickly ascending the size charts and we are on the lookout for shoes in size 8 and 9 now! They are thriving in preschool and they love playing with their new friends and learning about Jesus. One of the highlights of my day is being able to sing with them at bedtime. A few months back I taught the girls a song that my Oma sang to me when I was a child. It is called “Müde bin ich geh zur Ruh”, and like my Oma, I sing it to them in German. They now sing right along with me and at times it brings tears to my eyes. It has been a year filled with amazing highs and even a few lows but through it all it has been the best year of my life. Have a great week!!!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

For the past few years I have purchased my Christmas trees online. For some of you this may be hard to believe. Many of you would never even think of buying a tree sight unseen, but I like it. It is kind of a mystery. The mystery of the tree started a few years back when Jill and I went to the local home improvement super-center to buy a tree. As we arrived the crew was unloading a new shipment of trees and Jill asked if we would have one off the truck. They were still all wrapped up in netting and you could not tell what they looked like. I didn’t really like the idea but I daily live under the following mantra, “Happy wife, happy life!” With the mystery tree tied to the top of the Subaru off we went and when we got home, we were greeted with a tree with… lets just call it character. It was a tree only a mother could love, and Jill thought it was the best. For a few years we just picked up trees without looking at them and I soon began to like this new tradition. A few years later I decided to take this one step further and purchased a tree on the internet, again sight unseen. The first year we had a rather robust and even symmetrical tree, but they all haven’t been that way. This year I placed my order right before Thanksgiving from a place that I had not tried before, and as promised our tree arrived via UPS on my front steps this past Friday. The girls helped me open the box and they were so excited to see their Christmas tree. Our tree grew up on a farm somewhere in Michigan and had no idea it would make a trip to beautiful Long Beach California to fulfill its destiny. As I slid the tree out of the box I noticed that some of the farm came with the tree. It had some mud on the branches and some dead leaves stuck to it. As I placed it in the stand and cut off the net I was greeted by a wonderful surprise. Up in one of the top branches was a well-crafted birds nest. It was the best! The girls wanted to know where the birdie had gone it was a crack-up. So this year our tree came with one decoration of its own. Now the tree is up, the twinkle lights are on the house and it has been downright cold here in SoCal (it was 42 degrees yesterday morning!!) The holidays are in full swing and my girls can’t wait for Santa to bring them presents for Jesus’ happy birthday party. Here is a picture of the nest for your enjoyment. See you next week…

A Special Weekend Post

For my good friends who sat on my couch tonight...Enjoy!!!

My Tuesday post...on Wednesday

So last night after the girls went to bed, I started watching some mindless TV thinking to myself, "I can't believe I don't really have anything else to do." Well, lets just say this little blog slipped my mind, even after I had told a few people what I was going to write this week. I guess this adds some spice to my life.

Like I have mentioned before on this blog, I try to take Tuesdays as my day off. Not that Tuesdays are the best day for it but it just seems to work in the calendar of my life. On that note, I took the girls to school yesterday and then hit the gym. I really like going to the gym and try to get there at least three times a week. Some days it is a chore but I have really enjoyed listening to my iPod while working out. Lately I have been listening to some podcasts. Specifically I have spent my workout time with the Kevin & Bean Show from KROQ radio here in LA. I basically grew up with these guys and their morning show and now I can listen to them on my time instead of 5:30-10:00 AM. The podcast is not the whole show but the highlights and they are quite funny. They make an hour on the treadmill go by pretty fast. So back to my day, After the gym I had to go to the bank. I needed to actually go into the bank itself and it was kinda strange. It has been a long time since I have gone into a bank to do business. I am an ardent supporter of the ATM and if I can't do it there, I usually don't do it. So there I was standing in line which brought back all kinds of memories of being a kid an going to the bank with my parents. One time when I was quite young, I was dressed up like a cowboy and my mom let me "hold-up" the teller and she gave me some money. Life was simpler back then.

After the bank and picked up a sandwich and checked out what was playing at the local cineplex. Nothing really struck my fancy but I decided to try Fred Claus. It was an enjoyable 2 hours of entertainment. I do feel like it is Christmas now. A few things really struck me while I was in the theater. First of all I was the only one there for the noon show! It was really surreal. No bothersome loud talkers, no fussy kids, no one spoiling the next scene, just me and the empty red velvet sets. The second thing was, during the movie one of my favorite Christmas songs was used in the climactic scene. The song Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses is not that well known but I have loved it since the 80's. The Waitresses have a spot in the heart of most of us who grew up in the 80's especially those of us who like the TV show "Square Pegs" since they did the theme song from that great show. I love the 80's!! That is all for today see you next week and until then please enjoy the following videos:

The Waitresses Square Pegs
Uploaded by Celtiemama

What's for dinner?

With the busyness of our household dinner time can be a bit interesting.  With my schedule keeping me away from home a few nights every week, it is hard to sit down with a nice meal.  The crock pot has been my friend the past few months and I have learned to make some yummy meals in it (kahula pork, BBQ beef, stew, soup, just to name a few).  But finding time to make something is a bit of a challenge.  A few weeks back my wife went to Dream Dinners.  At this wonderful place, you get everything you need to create a great meal in a short amount of time.  All of the measuring has been done and the directions are easy.  Tonight we had the following dinner:

Grilled Sirloin with caramelized onions and gorgonzola cheese: Tender, aged sirloin steaks are grilled to perfection, nestled in a bed of caramelized onions, garlic and rosemary and finished with a melting layer of gorgonzola cheese.

It was easy, and delicious.  If you have a busy schedule (check) and like to eat (check) give them a try.  

Enough with the commercial for Dream Dinners; at said dinner tonight I sliced up some nice sirloin cooked a perfect medium and put it on my oldest's plate and about two minutes later I hear her say, "Uh-Oh daddy, this chicken has a boo-boo."  First of all, in our house all meat is chicken, even after we say its beef, and secondly, since the meat was a bit pink it had a "boo-boo".  Jill and I laughed and laughed at that one.  She wanted me to fix it which I promptly did and she at all her "chicken" and was part of the "clean plate club".

Not to keep my youngest out of it, while she was sitting on the potty tonight mommy had said that her back was hurting and she then says, "I will ask Jesus to make your back better, O.K. mommy?"  It was the best.  Just now as I was typing this I called to Jill to ask exactly what she said and after I got it my youngest calls out from bed, "You're welcome mom!"  I LOVE my life!!  Until next week...

Teachers Conference 2007

This past weekend marked the regular trip to teacher’s conference. Each week before Thanksgiving, Lutheran educators from the southwest mass together for fellowship, food, fun, and even to learn a thing or two. These events have been a highlight for me for years. It is always great to catch up with old friends and see all the new kiddos running about. This year was the first year with said kiddos for us. For the past few years Jill has served on the program committee for the conference so she is super busy. We did ourselves a favor this year and brought along our own babysitter. That was a stroke of genius in and of itself and it freed me up to do some catching up with old friends. I did do my daddy time in the pool with the girls and we took a few walks and looked at the ducks and flamingos too. Since I am not a classroom teacher now, the only thing I really do at the conference is host a happy hour in our suite (thanks LEC) and go to the banquet. This years theme was “Champions in Christ” and had a sports theme. This year instead of a dressed up affair it was jerseys and team shirts for all. This made for a rather rambunctious crowd. We all had rally towels did chants and cheers, and even chanted “Rachel…Rachel!!!” for the director of schools. Things started getting a bit wild when Jill announced to the banquet that in the centerpieces were temporary tattoos, along with big league chew, peanuts, and cracker-jacks. Pretty soon many people were tatted up. At one point I found myself applying a tattoo to Dr. Jack Preuss’ cheek (the president of Concordia Irvine). It was all over then, the party really started. It was by far the best banquet at a teacher’s conference.

The speaker for the night was a guy named Ben Glenn. It is really hard to explain what he does but he is called the chalk guy. He tells his story in a very humorous way about how he has overcome ADD and Dyslexia. The last part of his presentation he draws an amazing picture with chalk. I can’t even explain it, but in about 5 minutes there is this amazing piece of art where there was once just a blank wall. Check out the following videos to catch a glimpse of what he does:






One the way back home we stopped to see the dinosaurs on the side of Interstate 10. You know, the ones from Pee Wee’s big adventure? Anyway, we are sitting in Burger King having lunch and in walks a few guys that obviously are part of a road crew or something; orange vests, work boots, bandannas on their heads, long hair, dirty, you know. My oldest takes one look at them and says, “Ohhh, look daddy, pirates!” I am laughing just typing this again. Then she says to me, “I don’t like pirates, they are scaaaaary.” It was so funny!!!!! The “pirates” are soon joined by some more of their crew and my oldest says, “Uh-Oh daddy, more pirates, better watch out.” I just looked at our baby sitter and we just could not stop laughing. But it gets better. As I got up to get a refill, I was followed by one of the “pirates” who walks by our table and winks and smiles at the girls and guess what? Yep, a couple of gold teeth!! You just can’t make this stuff up. We about lost it and had to leave Burger King. With both girls now saying, “We don’t like those guys.” I don’t think they were scared, but they both thought that there were pirates having lunch at Burger King. I will say this; my life is never boring. Thanks for reading. See you next Tuesday.

At the Movies...

Being the parent of two preschoolers has taken time away from one of my favorite activities...going to the movies. There was a time in our lives when Jill and I went to the movies every Friday night. It was grand; a nice dinner a good flick and quality time with the wife. These days we are lucky to keep up with our TiVo watching while "encouraging" our girls to go to sleep. How I long for the good old days. Lately, Jill and I have been seeing movies by ourselves. Jill goes out on a Saturday afternoon during nap time and I get to go on some Tuesdays. It is odd going to the movies by yourself. Back in my bachelor days I used to go to see a movie by myself and it took a while to get used to it. Well, Seth...what is your point? I went to see Bee Movie today. Here is the synopsis from Yahoo Movies:

Barry B. Benson is a graduate bee fresh out of college who is disillusioned at his lone career choice: making honey. On a rare trip outside the hive, Barry's life is saved by Vanessa, a florist in New York City. As their relationship blossoms, he discovers humans are mass consumers of honey and decides to sue the human race for stealing bees' honey.

If you have not seen any of the promotion of this movie then you must live under a rock. Everywhere you turn there is Jerry Seinfield as a bee. Every commercial break and every bus sign seems to have something about this movie. With all the hype and my love of the Seinfield TV show I was expecting a lot and in the end I was left a bit disappointed. It was not a bad movie, but not a good one either. A predictable story and jokes that could "bee" seen a mile away. I am sure it was not worth the $9 I tossed on the credit card but my day was not ruined by it. I think if you have elementary age kids they will like it.