A Sight To Make Ben Franklin Proud

Yesterday morning as we drove to church, we saw something that made us do a double take. We went the "back way" to church which takes us by a golf course. The land adjacent to the course has a few trees. But let's be honest, there is not any "wilderness" in our immediate vicinity. The only thing that is untamed in our neighborhood is a lawn that hasn't been mowed recently. We never expect to see much wildlife because there isn't any habitat for it.

You can imagine our surprise, when we had to slow down so a wild turkey could cross the street. We were telling the children to look out the window because it is not an everyday occurrence. It was fun to see, but it will probably be a while before we post about the wild animals in our area again. (Ben Franklin was not fond of the fact that the bald eagle was chosen as the national bird. He wrote a letter to his daughter explaining that a turkey would have been a better choice.)

Updates

Today's news and updates:

Joshua—He laughed for the first time yesterday. He has not mastered laughing, but I cannot wait to hear him on a regular basis. Changes happen quickly in newborns and they are fun to see.

Caleb—He picked up a new word today. I have no idea where he learned it. The word? "Diabolical."

Grace—The new soccer season started for her. She had an excellent first game. She chased the ball all over the pitch, had a few shots on goal and made a couple of nice defensive stops. I hope she has fun and gets to the ball. Anything else is gravy.

Church Today—The Relief Society was in charge of Sacrament meeting this week. They sang a version of "As Sisters in Zion". It made me think of my brother, Oliver. He loves that song.

Best Topic Ever for a Church Talk—A family moved into our ward a couple of months ago. They spoke during Sacrament meeting in March. The man spoke about drawing nearer to God as a "multi-dimensional, non-linear system". That might be the best topic ever for a church talk. Can you imagine being a member of a Bishopric and assigning the topic of "your multi-dimensional, non-linear system of drawing closer to God"? I don't think our Bishopric assigned the topic that way, but it would be a beautiful thing if they had.

One Picture

Whether it is nature or nuture I don't know, but our children love their blankets.

On The Green Monstah

If you knew Mary and me before we had children, you probably were introduced to the Quackster Ducks. First, there was Little Quackster. Then Little, Little Quackster joined the group. Watchdog Quackster followed and now there are seven Quacksters. Before Grace was born, it was their job to keep the mood light and get away with saying things Mary or I could not. They were (and are) a part of the craziness that is our family. As the children got older, they became more worn and Little Quackster has a hole. For the last year, they have been on a shelf in our room.

They don't like being there, so last Friday they left the shelf and took over the top of our bookcase. It is baseball season and they are huge Red Sox fans. (So if you are like Dale and buy Yankees paraphernalia in Boston, they probably won't be your friends.) They want to watch the games and have named their perch the Green Monstah because it is in "left field" from the TV.

Let's say they enjoyed the view last weekend and hope this weekend has some of the same kind of entertainment.

Salmon Run

Last Friday, I flew back to town. It was a bad day to fly for the following reasons:

1. It was Friday. There are always people traveling on the weekend.
2. The Red Sox and Yankees were playing. That series always brings people to Boston.
3. It was the last weekday of Spring Break for Massachusetts' schools.

I forgot all of this and headed to the airport to try and catch an earlier flight. No dice. I did not even make it to the counter. The woman that was directing people told me that I shouldn't bother trying because everything sold out last week. I spent a couple of hours waiting for a delayed flight.

Finally, we the plane landed and I went to get my luggage at 10:45 pm. I figured the airport should not be too crowded that late. Not true. I went to the claim area and it was packed. I didn't know why. I noticed that only one belt was working. I passed the airline's customer service desk and 150 pieces of luggage were in front of it, if not more. The area by the luggage belt also was packed. Why would it be that full? Then I noticed that there were 5 rows of at least 40 pieces of luggage in between the luggage belt's curved track.

There I was with my favorite 300—400 pieces of luggage and 80 of my closest friends. I swam against the current of baggage and flesh on the lookout for one small suitcase. I waited.

The belt turned, started and stopped but my luggage was not to be found. I walked the rows of luggage looking. Thirty minutes went by and our flight disappeared from the baggage claim board but no one from the flight had their luggage.

The first message came after forty-five minutes. Our luggage would arrive soon. The belt started and we pushed closer. Nothing. It stopped and started again. We edged closer stil. Nothing. One more stop and start before our luggage came. I grabbed my small suitcase and went to find the car exactly 55 minutes after I strolled off my plane and down the concourse.

I could now make it home.

Grace and Caleb Update

Grace and Caleb have been up to their usual antics. Here are pictures and descriptions of their recent handiwork.

Grace loves to dress up. Rachel visited us at the end of March and spoiled Grace and Caleb by buying them new clothes. Grace loves them and so does Caleb. (We didn't take any pictures during Rachel's visit. We are lame.) This is Grace in a "Rachel" outfit, though not from this trip. Thanks for coming Rachel! Caleb loves to go like crazy and then crash. The other day he told Mary that he was going to read on our bed during quiet time. This is how Mary found him. On Saturday, they decided it would be fun to dress up like Mom and Dad. Grace is in Mary's fleece and jeans. Caleb is wearing my sweater and shorts. Grace was playing and came up to me wearing this outfit. She looked at me and said, "Look Poppa, I'm an astronaut." This is what our house looks like at the end of most days; a tornado has been through.
Grace even dressed up Caleb's monkey, Baby Bea, in doll clothes. The children are always looking for artistic outlets. Here demonstrated with Legos and Megablocks. Here is the latest mixed media installation piece that the team of Grace and Caleb produced. Caleb has begun his artistic journey with this offering of "Portrait of Poppa" in marker. Grace's most recent work is a painting. She copied the picture from the book The Twelve Dancing Princesses but changed the hair color to red, so "it would be like me."

Joshua Update

Most of you read to find out about Joshua. If you are in that crowd, here some notes and pictures for you:

• Joshua is a good kid. Mary and I think he is a keeper.
• He has an easy smile and we love it. He has tried to laugh on a couple of occasions, but he can't yet.
• Grace knows how to make him "talk". He could be our chattiest child at the rate he is going. Heaven help us, if that is the case.
• He is doing alright sleeping. In the last three weeks he has slept through the night twice, slept at least a 5 hour stretch seven or eight times and woken up every three hours the remaining 11 days. He is all over the map, but we hope to find a reasonable schedule soon. If not, people will continue to ask us if we sleep much. (They only ask that because it is plainly evident that we are not sleeping well right now.)

One more note. We got this helium-filled balloon not long after Joshua was born. We could not believe how long it lasted. We keep our home quiet cold and that is not good for a balloon. This is a picture of it on the day it finally began to sink about seven weeks later.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday this year was a world away from the experience we had last year. Last year, Easter was not much of a celebration. We were not filled with the hope that is at the heart of the Easter message. We were too close to Robert's death and did not have the perspective that we needed. This year, Easter had much more meaning for us.

We went to church and the program was comforting. The choir sang a couple of beautiful numbers and sounded excellent. I love the spirituality of hymns. The talks and lessons were wonderful, as well. After church we took some pictures and headed to the cemetery to visit Robert. At Robert's grave, we talked to Grace about the resurrection and what Jesus has done for us. It was a powerful experience. The cemetery is a place where it is easy to talk about the real meaning of Easter. I think that Grace's experience with Robert has made the resurrection more tangible to her. We had a good Easter this year.

Below are the Easter pictures. Caleb was grumpy at the end of church and we did not manage a good group picture. Oh well, at least we got a picture of everyone.

Easter Celebrations

We broke a family tradition this year. For a number of years, we have dyed Easter eggs on the Monday after Easter. It was not planned that way, but that is how it worked out. This year we dyed eggs before Easter. It was a real break through for us. The children had a great time. After we dyed eggs, we frosted sugar cookies. I believe that nothing makes a holiday a holiday quite like sugar cookies. I love sugar cookies. We had excellent sugar cookies this year. Caleb may have partaken more in the eating of the sugar cookies than the frosting of the sugar cookies. It was enough to make my father proud. Lastly, we went to a community Easter egg hunt. The children got their faces painted and found some eggs. There were a lot of eggs to find.

Robert's Birthday

Life has been crazy for the last month. I have not blogged, but I wanted to write about Robert. Rebecca posted a picture and a note to her blog on his birthday. We are in debt to her for all she has done and does for us.

I cannot believe it has been a year since he has died. We have had a real up and down year. We miss Robert. I haven't stopped thinking of him with time, but it has changed the nature of the way I think about him. Still, I hurt. I believe Mary feels the same way. But we have been blessed through this long year.

We decided to remember Robert by celebrating, giving gifts, and serving. First, we got a birthday cake to celebrate. Second, we visited the cemetery and brought Robert flowers and balloons. Here are pictures: Lastly, we remembered Robert by taking dinner to friends and making cookies for others. We tried to help those who helped us and others that needed help. It was a good way for us to remember Robert. We were supported by many and wanted to do something small to pass the help along.

St. Patrick's Day

One of the things that I love about children is that they love every holiday. Grace gets excited for any possible holiday. St. Patrick's day is no exception. We now have decorations. Here is how the children dressed up for school on Friday the 16th, since the 17th was a Saturday: Also, we have had some interesting weather. We had a big snowstorm on the 16th. We spent 90 minutes outside playing (children) and shoveling (me). These are the rosy cheeks when the came back inside.

Quality Programming (Updated)

Do you ever feel old? Tonight I am old. I am writing a blog post about the "good old days".

Did you ever watch The Muppet Show growing up? We always watched. I thought I liked it because I was young and it was targeted for children. But as an adult, I have watched a few episodes and now I think they really knew what they were doing with the Muppet Show.

What entertainment will my children look back at on in the same light? (Besides the obvious: Pixar movies.)


(This is a better version of the Muppets skit from YouTube, so I got rid of the Goggle Video with the Norwegian subtitles.)

Two additional observations about the Muppets:

• There are a lot of Muppets videos on YouTube and Google Video. It is fun to go back and watch them.
• Though the short clips are great, it does not do the show justice. The Muppet Show always had a couple of running jokes through a given program that enhanced the comedic value of some of the skits. (See the end of the video above for a small example.) You just cannot see that aspect by watching unconnected clips of the show.

One more story about these videos. Caleb and I were surfing them and we watched a performance of the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 with Victor Borge. I liked the clip but we only watched it one time because Caleb was not enjoying it. So, you might imagine my surprise when I found Caleb humming about 15—20 seconds of this piece seven or eight hours later. (It is the part that begins just after the three minute mark of this clip.) Needless to say, Caleb has a musical streak in him. It will be interesting to see how he develops it.

Just Showing Off

We have strung together a few videos of the children. In one, Grace is doing an impersonation. You can venture a guess of whom she is impersonating on the comments page.

Enjoy!

Philosophy 101

If a blogger falls down in the blogosphere and nobody hears it, did the blogger fall down?