I do a terrible job

When I give Natalie a bath it's a 50/50 shot as to whether it will be an enjoyable experience.  She claims that I "tangle" her more than mommy.  Well Tuesday night was one of those "tangled" nights, and I'm not talking about the new children's movie either.  She was exhausted.  Fighting a little bit of a cold and just tired so it was touchy from the beginning.  She was doing great.  Happy, smiling, laughing with her bath toys...then I washed her hair.  My finger got stuck in one tangle and I pulled her hair just a little bit.  I have done it before and she didn't notice but with the combination of factors mentioned above, she lost it.  Screaming, crying, tears streaming down her little face.  She cried herself to sleep about two minutes after getting in bed.  Last night we were in the car on our way home and Natalie asked mommy: "Is it your turn to do me?"
Mommy:  "yep"
Natalie:  "YEAH!!!"
Daddy:  "You know what that means....tomorrow night is my turn again!"
Natalie:  "oh no"
Sara and I were trying so hard not to laugh
Daddy:  "Why did you say oh no?  I do a good job!"
Natalie: "You do a terrible job." (emphasis on terrible)

Friday Free-For-All

• KU got lucky.  Can't believe the refs called that foul.  It wasn't a foul.  Two kids going hard for a loose ball both out of control.  That's not a foul with 7 minutes left much left 0.7 seconds.  Oh well.
• Speaking of the Jayhawks.  If I have taught Natalie one thing it is that we don't like KU.  She routinely says "boo KU!" whenever someone even brings them up.  However she may not know exactly what she is looking for quite yet.  See she has problems distinguishing between this and this.  It is always interesting to be sitting on the couch watching the Chiefs and hear "boo KU" as Natalie watches.  I say "no, no, sweetie, that's KC not KU, we like KC.  Go Chiefs!"  It has no effect really as we have gone through this exercise about 20 times this season.
• Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."  Somehow I tied this to Christopher Columbus and George Washington in our small group the other night.  Wait, I'll get there, I promise.  Faith is belief in the unseen right?  No one around today saw either Christopher Columbus or George Washington, but we read about them in a book and everyone accepts it as historical fact.  We can go see the documents signed by George Washington.  We see the battle fields where he fought.  Columbus goes a little farther back but we still accept as fact that he existed and did what everyone said he did.  He sailed across the ocean, saw India, said hi to the natives, miss named them, and the rest is history.  So at what point does historical fact become faith?  Is it when we run out of documentation of events?  Why are so many people willing to accept what happened in the 1400's but not the events that happened from 0-100?  Do they think people started making stuff up?  Why is the Bible not taken as historical fact?  Did that many people really conspire to make up a story?  At what point do non-believers think that somebody decided to write a 1000 page book about a man who never existed???  I wonder what event non believers feel started the years at 0?  So at what point did the Bible become a faith book and not a fact book?  500 AD?  1000 AD? 1975?  I choose to view it as a historically accurate depiction of my God and His Son Jesus Christ.  I take it as fact.  I guess I have a lot of faith.
• If you have answers to the above questions or something you want to enlighten me on, leave a comment or send me a note.  I would love to know if anyone has any good resources on this stuff.

Christmas season

• So many traditions to start with girls this young.  Hanging the ornaments, watching certain holiday specials, hanging the lights, decorating the house, etc.  The ornament hanging this year was fantastic!  Natalie was all about it.  She wanted to hang everything on the tree, I think she would have hung the dog by her collar if we would have let her.  She was so anxious she could barely wait for Hallie to wake up from her nap to get started.  We put up the tree and the hung the lights on it before bear woke up and so when she came out of her room with mommy the tree was already up and lit.  She rubbed her little sleepy eyes, squinted as her eyes adjusted, pointed her right finger, and groggily said "pretty".  Which is humorous because that is what Natalie used to call Christmas lights, "pretties".  When it came time to put the star on top Natalie didn't want to do it.  She said she would do it next year.  I said "well one of my daughters is hanging the star on the top of the tree, so if it isn't you can Hallie do it?"  She said "ok, I guess".  So I lifted up Hallie and she "helped" me hang the star on the tree.
• Yesterday I went to hang up my coat and Hallie noticed a pink and blue stocking hat on the floor of the closet.  She picked it up and said "hat, hat, hat" and tried to put it on.  I asked her if she wanted to wear it and she said "uh-huh" in the way only Hallie Bear can.  Now you have to understand the imagery here.  When I get home from work Hallie is not wearing a shirt 95% of the time.  She usually likes to color with markers while mommy makes dinner and to save the shirt Sara makes her take it off.  Wise move, the kid usually has marker on her belly, hands, and face when I see her.  Now add in a pink and blue knit stocking hat that completely covers any hair she has.  Add in a little round belly that sticks out over her pants and a diaper showing above the waist.  She was stinkin' hilarious!  She proudly showed mommy and Nanee what she was wearing.  Nanee took one look and goes "you look like a man!".  Mommy quickly said "no she doesn't" in between her snickers of laughter.  Hallie quickly responded with "Eden!!" her "man" cousin of 4 months.  It was awesome.
• Sara got out the Christmas toys/books on Sunday while we were decorating.  Natalie is only slightly attached to those things.  They came out and she spent 45 minutes playing with the Advent little people calendar.  Now you have to understand that there are 25 stuffed little people associated with this thing so she had plenty to do, it isn't a traditional lift a flap Advent calendar.  But she is also protective of the actual Christmas Little People.  She wanted all of them, both sets all to herself, Hallie wasn't allowed to have anything.  We make her share but Hallie lasts about 5 minutes and then is off to another toy so it doesn't really matter in the long run, Natalie still gets her toys back really quickly.  On Monday morning Natalie was using the potty and made me stop outside the door and wait for her.  She goes with the door wide open still, not an ounce of shame in her little body yet.  I thought it was weird that she made me stop because she never makes me stop.  She's big enough to go on her own and if she needs help she will just come out to the living room and ask, with or without her pants pulled up.  She said "Daddy can you wait for me?"  I said "Sure, what do you need".  "Nothing, I just want you and Hallie to stay here with me."  And then kind of quietly "so Hallie doesn't get my people".  The little manipulative big sister!!! :)
• Hallie has learned to say "no".  I don't like it.  Not at all.  My sweet little Hallie Bear should not be able to look me in the eye and say "no".   She's to sweet and innocent.  Oh who am I kidding, she got the nickname Bear for a reason and it isn't because she's soft and fluffy!  "Hallie eat your supper".  "No."  "Don't tell me no, eat your supper."  "No (with a little smile)".  "Hallie pick up the toys, please."  "No."  "Leave the lights on."  "No."  "Don't hit."  "No."  "Let's go take a bath."  "No."  You get the idea.  She is still sweet but it's like this is her new word and she is going to use it!

Talking, talking, talking

• Hallie is a stinking hoot.  I may be biased but I think she is the funniest little almost two year old there is.  She is getting so much more talkative and knows exactly what she wants.  For instance if she wants to color (with markers that usually end up on her more than the paper) she says "I codor" pronounced like color but with a d.  She doesn't take no for an answer either.  She says please and thank you pretty plainly as well along with doggy, kitty cat, mommy, daddy, the normal words for little ones.  Last night as I was trying to corral her for bedtime she went in to Natalie's room (or Nanee's in her world) where mommy was picking up books with sister.  Hallie walks over, grabs the book off the top of the pile in mommy's hands, and said something we couldn't quite make out.  I don't think she realized what book she picked, she just knew it was time to read.  So I tried to grab her but she ran off down the hall saying whatever it was she was muttering.  I followed her only to find her sitting on the couch with the book on her lap going "on couch" "on couch" "on couch".  Hadn't heard that one before, no wonder I didn't recognize it.  Apparently she wanted to read on the couch instead of her rocking chair.
• One more quick Hallie story.  This one was relayed to me through Sara so I hope I get the details right.  Hallie found some pajamas on the floor by the washer that mommy hadn't picked up quite yet and so Sara asked her "Hallie can I put that in the washer?"  Hallie kind of whined and took off with the pajamas.  She actually headed for the girls bathroom where they brush teeth at night.  As I am hearing this I am thinking "Oh how sweet she knows those are night night clothes and so she is taking them to the bathroom where they get ready for bed".  I was wrong.  Apparently she dropped the jammies and grabbed the little footstool we have in there for the girls to reach the sink.  She took it to the washer.  Turned around, went back to the bathroom, grabbed the jammies, came back to the washer, stepped on the stool, and put the jammies in the washer for mommy!  Such a big helper!!
• This morning grandma came to pick up the girls and take them to her house and while she was there she was asking Natalie about her backpack because apparently they left it on the bus yesterday.  Well they got to talking about what was in there and grandma told Natalie that she accidentally had Mark's papers and her teachers must have got them switched.  Natalie said no, they didn't.  And grandma said "remember, the paper that said 'If I had a million dollars' and then 'I would buy my mommy and daddy a new house"  At this point I thought, wow how nice of my daughter, so giving. "that's what Mark's said".  Oh, not Natalie's.  I asked her "What did you say you would do with a million dollars?"  "Buy candy"  "That's a LOT of candy!"  "Yep, all for me!"

Their beginning to team up

• Natalie is slowly realizing that Hallie can be her little puppet.  And Hallie LOVES it.  They play together a lot now.  They will disappear in to Natalie's room for 30 minutes before we hear any fussing.  Last night was hilarious.  After about 5 minutes in to playtime we hear Natalie holler "MIIIIIIIINE!!!".  Daddy was poised to jump in to action.  But then the darndest thing happened.  Hallie laughed.  That's right, Natalie hollered and Hallie laughed.  So Natalie hollers again "MIIIIIINE!"  I am sure this time Hallie will not like it and realize it isn't a game, but again she laughs.  Then I heard a second little snicker.  Natalie was laughing now too.  So back there they sat for probably 30-45 seconds of Natalie hollering, Hallie laughing, then Natalie laughing at Hallie.  This began the night of playing.  Pretty soon they are running through the halls until we would hear a thud, usually Hallie hitting the floor.  They made their way out to the living room.  Natalie decided to jump off the tiles in front of the fireplace, only about 18 inches off the ground.  No sweat for her.  We asked her not to do it again because Hallie would think she could do it.  Too late.  There's Hallie perched on the ledge waiting to jump.  She starts bouncing (she can't get air yet) and saying "jump, jump".  Natalie walks over and helps her "jump" down by giving her a hug and pulling her off.  Hallie landed on Natalie and they both just cackled.  They did this probably 10 times before we diverted their attention.  Then they started holding hands running through the living room.  Being the good daddy I said "No running, Natalie".  I picked her because she was obviously leading this crazy version of tag/chase/ring around the rosy/whatever.  She grabbed Hallie's hand and said "let's walk Hallie".  They slowly, and I mean slooooowly, walked out of the living room holding hands. We knew something was up.  Had to be.  They just had this look like we are going to run as soon as we are out of sight. Sara was stifling a laugh on the couch, hand over mouth.  Yep, as soon as they were in the hall, they took off running to her room.  Thud.  Down goes Hallie.  Laughter ensues.  Run, thud, laugh.  Run, thud, laugh.  Run, CRASH. cry.  I go in to Natalie's room to find Hallie screaming.  A welt was forming above her eye.  Turns out they were playing a game where Natalie gives Hallie a little push and Hallie runs a few steps.  Natalie looks at me and says "I pushed her too hard".  Ya think?  So now Hallie has a big bruise above her right eye and learned that playing with big sister can be rough.  Fifteen minutes later she was back up and playing again with Natalie.  So she got her first injury from playtime with sister but also her first recovery and re-entering the fray.  And mom and dad got our first of many chances to fix a boo-boo for one caused by the playing with the other sister. :)

Story time

• A couple of funny stories from the past couple weeks.  First on our way to Kansas City for my cousin's wedding Hallie was having some issues.  She is not the best car traveler and doesn't sleep really well in the car seat.  We thought we had the whole thing conquered.  No videos puts them both to sleep.  So on the way up we put on a Bob and Larry CD and off to dream land they eventually went.  After about five minutes of both girls sleeping I turned the CD off and changed it to the radio.  About two seconds later Natalie wakes up and starts crying.  She is screaming "that's not Bob!"  She wakes up Hallie who then starts crying.  Oops.  Thought they were sound enough asleep that we could get away with it.  Guess not.  My punishment was to listen to Hallie cry for the next 1.5 hours AND listen to the CD again.  Sara tried everything to get Hallie to calm down.  We gave her snacks, a drink, videos, everything.  At one point Sara said "Hallie, shhh".  You would have thought she said the meanest thing Hallie could think of so Hallie ramped up the volume.  Natalie, being the good little mommy, says "Hallie, what's the matter?"  Now keep in mind that Hallie likes to get Natalie in trouble by tattling on her.  Hallie responds to Natalie "Mommy....ssshhh"  as if Natalie would reprimand mommy! It was so funny I about drove the car off the rode.
• The wedding weekend was a blur.  Between rehearsal dinner, family pictures, birthday party for my sister and my wife, the wedding, the reception, going to church and lunch with my brother-in-law and his family, there wasn't much time to breath.  Our girls were troopers.  They did so well.  Hallie didn't sleep worth a darn on Friday night and had to nap at grandma and grandpas hotel room but she made it through with flying colors.
• Hallie's newest thing is to pretend with her baby dolls.  She is obviously doing something with them because she actually strapped one of them in her booster chair....while it was on the barstool!  This left our Hallie bear on her knees in front of the booster perched precariously on about 3 inches of chair while strapping in her baby about three feet in the air.  Not cool.  So we took the booster chair and put in on the floor.  She then proceeded to put the baby back in the booster and get some food from mommy.  The food was actually a play spoon and play can of peas.  When asked what she was feeding the baby she said "hot dog".  I think she eats to many hot dogs.  After feeding her she decided the baby was thirsty.  So she got her out, cradled her in her left arm, and gave her a bottle.  So sweet.  Other than feeding them they are now beginning to cry.  Hallie will show up carrying a baby and look at mommy and say "baby, cry" and pout.  Things aren't better until mommy gives the baby a kiss.
• Natalie is entering the "I hear you but I am going to pretend that I don't" phase.  That's not so fun, in case anyone cares.  We have had some discussions about that.  She's getting better and most of the time is the most pleasant 4 year old to be around.  
• She will just lose herself in her imagination. She will sit at the counter for an hour playing with stickers.  She will tell stories with them and use and re-use them on different pages.  Yesterday she didn't even need a page she just used the counter itself.  Then she will get down, go get her princess paper dolls and proceed to play with them the same way.  When she's done with those she will grab her little people and pretend with them.  Sometimes they even sing.  Just yesterday the broke out in to a rousing rendition of some song she made up.  We asked her where she heard it and she wouldn't tell us.  The sweetest sound though is to hear my 4 year old sitting at the counter or playing in the living room and break out in to "Mighty to Save".  "Savior, He can move the mountains.  My God is mighty to save, he is mighty to save..."

Friday Free-For-All

Ah, another week done.  Time for football!!!  Oh wait, K-State and Chiefs are both off this week.  Time for .... yard work????  Oi.

• Sad yet ironic headline of the week:  "Segway company President dies after driving Segway off a cliff.
• Atheists/Agnostics know more about religion than Protestants and Catholics??? Link
• Interesting discussion I had this week with a couple of different studies:  Does it take more faith to believe God does NOT exist than it takes to believe He exists?  I contend that believing God exists is easy.  It can explain anything.  Origin of the universe?  Almighty Creator did it.  Don't have to think about it.  Reason for unexplained medical recoveries?  God did it.  You see where this is headed.  You wanna know the hard part?  ACTUALLY BELIEVING THAT HE EXISTS!!!  Because if you actually believe that, then your actions would reflect it.  Too often my actions don't reflect what I say I believe so then I ask, do I really believe or is it just words?  What about you?  Do you really believe God exists?  Does your life reflect that? :)
• I get to go to the KSU vs Nebraska game next Thursday.  I am so excited!  Oh, not because of the game so much (it will be great though), but because I get to go with my wife!  Just like the college days, going to a game with Sara.  We might actually get to listen to something other than Bob and Larry in the car!
• Lots of exciting things going on in October.  Cousin getting married, spending time with my sister and her husband, spending time with my brother-in-law, his wife, and our nephew, Fall Festival at church, my sister's birthday, my wife's birthday, not to mention that I think it's the greatest sports month on the calendar!  It's going to be a great month!
• One quick daughter update: they are both doing great.  Healthy, happy, and in great moods!  Natalie is getting better at asking for things before crying about them.  She is seeing that if she asks and we say no it's not the end of the world and if she doesn't get upset mommy and daddy are much happier with her. :)  Hallie is just Hallie.  There really isn't any other way to put it.  She is talking more and more, getting MUCH more opinionated and still eating everything she can get her hands on.  She has also discovered that most clothes come off of baby dolls and so if you're clothes don't come off, you are shunned.  She doesn't want anything to do with you baby, she only likes the ones that she can have us undress/redress for her.  Should I be worried about that yet?

Bob and Larry and Junior and....

VeggieTales Live was a blast! (pictures to follow soon)  Sometimes getting the girls to eat dinner is a chore, but not last night.  Just a simple "when you're done we get to go see Bob and Larry!" and they were scarfing like they hadn't eaten in weeks.  Of course we listened to VeggieTales on the way to the show.  How can you go to VeggieTales without listening to the songs on the way???  When we got there Grandpa Marty, Grandma Sue, and the Richardsons were saving some seats for us.  We also saw Aunt Julie, Cousin Christie and Destiny who came down to say hi to Natalie and Hallie before the show.  Once we decided on seating (Becca and Natalie on Grandma's lap and Hallie wondering everywhere) it was time for the show.  Bob was the first to make an appearance.  The look on Hallie's face was PRICELESS!  I tried to get a picture but they didn't allow flash photography so some pics didn't turn out so well.  Later I decided to forgo the warning and use the flash on my girls and no flash on the Veggies.  Never flash the Veggies!  Then out came everyone else Pa Grape, Mr. Lunt, Junior, all there.  Except Larry.  As part of the show he got his own big entrance and the kids went crazy.  Who doesn't love a talking cucumber?  They sang all of the girls favorite songs and there was much clapping and dancing and singing.  About 15 minutes in to the show Natalie turns to us and says "those aren't the REAL Bob and Larry!"  My mind started racing, how was I going to explain to my 4-yr old that there were humans pretending to be oversized talking vegetables?  The question we asked was "what?"  That's right we just took the easy way.  She said something like "those are the pretend Bob and Larry".  I can't remember what Sara said to that one.  After a few minutes of silence it never came back up again and she seemed convinced that it was the real Bob and Larry the more they sang.  At intermission Hallie got a t-shirt and Natalie got a new DVD (thanks grandma and grandpa!).  The show didn't end until 8:45.  Our girls were pooped.  Natalie didn't want to leave Becca, Hallie didn't want to leave Bob!  After just a few cries they seemed okay again.  On the way out of the parking lot Natalie says "I didn't think that was the real Bob and Larry because of the stem things on their heads.  What was that for?"  She was referring to the plugs where they inflate the costumes.  Now what was I going to say.  My answer:  "That's leftover stem from where they picked the veggietales off the plant.  They grow on plants like strawberries and have to be picked the same way."  Her response: "I didn't know they had to be picked!  Do they have to pick all talking vegetables?"  I didn't have a response for that one.  On the way home we stopped next to Grandma Sue at one light and the Richardsons at another and Natalie and Hallie thought that was the coolest thing ever.  Overall it was a fantastic evening with Bob and Larry!

This morning when I got Hallie dressed she saw her Bob shirt and started pointing at it.  I put a different shirt on her.  She wasn't having any of it.  She grabbed the VeggieTales shirt and said "BOB!!", then put it down grabbed her shirt with both hands pulled it up and said "OFF!".  I think she wanted to wear Bob....she is.

Those girls

• So this morning Hallie found a travel cup full of mini chips ahoy cookies somewhere in the living room.  She proudly marched in to the kitchen and proclaimed "COOKIES!".  I said "It's time for breakfast, what would you like?"  Obviously her answer was "cookies" while presenting me with the cupl.  I said "You can't have cookies for breakfast".  She thought about it and said "eggs".  Well she had eggs yesterday so I wanted her to mix it up a little. Would you like pancakes?...."Eggs"....."Pancakes Hallie"....."Eggs".....you get the picture. "We" decided on pancakes (frozen Eggo style, I'm good but not that good).  After I got them all fixed and cut up I sat her up in her chair at the counter and put the cookies on the table behind her.  She turned around and saw them and asked "cookies?".  I said "after you finish your breakfast you may have a few cookies".  She thought about it, looked at me, slid her plate across the counter and said "all done!" with the biggest smile you have ever seen.  Just for the record, I won and she ate every bite of her pancake.
• Tonight we are taking the girls to VeggieTales Live.  That's right they get to see Bob and Larry live and in person.  Natalie is actually really excited for a change.  She used to be afraid of all things in costume.  We'll see how she does.  I think it will blow Hallie's little brain that Bob and Larry are on the stage in front of her.  Full report tomorrow. :)
• During the pancake "war" this morning Natalie got up at the counter to eat her breakfast while Hallie was still in the "I'm not eating no matter what" phase.  So I asked Natalie "Will you please tell your little sister to eat her pancakes?"  Natalie assumed the voice and said "Hadgie Bear (our nickname for her) eat your pancakes so you can grow big and strong like mommy and daddy."  She cracks me up.
• I love my girls.

Friday Free-For-All

• We have a tattle-tale umongst us.  Hallie is ratting out her sister, even when there is nothing to rat out!  Last night she came out from Natalie's room crying.  We asked her what happened and she said "Nanee....push....no,no! (complete with a finger wag)"  So mommy took Hallie back to Nat's room and talked with Nat about what happened.  About five minutes later Hallie comes back, fussing again.  So again Sara says "What happened Hallie?"
• "Nanee.....book"
• "I don't think she took your book did she?  Can you find a baby to play with?"
• Hallie hesitated, then said "Nanee...push....no,no!"  That's right, she realized we weren't going to get mad at Natalie and so she thought of a reason that we had previously talked to Natalie and brought it up again hoping to get Nat in trouble!  She is too smart for her own good.
• The fair last weekend was excellent as always.  Hallie was a little fussy but overall not too bad.  She just was mad because sister was big enough to ride the carousel and she wasn't.  Natalie let us go see some animals first and have dinner before she went on the rides.  Didn't eat anything too exotic, Pronto Pup, Roasted Corn, and capped off the night with Call Hall Ice Cream from under the grandstand.  For those uninitiated Call Hall is a building at K-State that makes their own ice cream and it is FANTASTIC!
• Pick for the KSU game:  KSU 30 UCF 20
• As I've mentioned previously Natalie likes to play the Wii and often that includes the balance board.  Hallie isn't allowed to stand on it while Nat is playing.  She went in to the corner by the couch and we didn't think about it too much.  But pretty soon we look over and she is standing on the Wii box and doing the motions that big sister is doing.  She just made her own board, no problem. :)
• I can't believe what celebrity in this country has become.  It makes me sad that anyone can become a celebrity just by being an idiot and getting on TV.  What is celebrity anyway?  Why are people on TV any different than the rest of us?  Why do their opinions matter?  Is it because they make more money than us?  Why do they make that money, it isn't because they are any better than us I know that.  This country needs God more than ever.
• I struggle with worrying about what others think of my opinions or things I do.  If I make a mistake and people laugh I have a really hard time letting it go.  If people in a room are whispering and then start laughing I immediately wonder if it is about me or something I said.  I have gotten better but it is a personal struggle.  I wish sometimes that I could just be one of those people that doesn't care what others think, I am just going to be me.  But that isn't the case.
• I am not insinuating that anything about me is fake.  I love Jesus, I love my family, I love sports, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't appreciate conversations about drinking.  I don't see the fun in getting so drunk that I am sick the next morning and can't remember what I did the night before.  It is just baffling to me how that is fun.  I don't get it.  Call me a goody goody, call me whatever you want, I am done caring what anyone thinks, because if this changes your opinion about who I am then you didn't really know me anyway and weren't really a friend to begin with.
• I am not perfect.  I have issues that I struggle with just like everyone else.  Please don't take the previous paragraph as a holier than thou stance or attitude.  It's just something that's been weighing on me lately and I needed to say it.

Friday Free-For-All

• Natalie loves the Wii.  Specifically right now she loves Wii Sports Resort and the Speed Slice or "cutting game" as she refers to it.  In this game you use the wand as a sword to slice through objects faster than your opponent.  Two objects drop on screen with an arrow indicating the direction to slice.  Whoever reacts faster wins.  She is stinkin' awesome at that thing and loves to play it.  At least she will do that on her own and not ask me to drive Mario any more.
• Hallie is a parrot.  She repeats almost everything.  The sad thing is she struggles saying an phrase that is more than one word so when referring to people it is "am-ma", "am-pa", "papa", "emmie", "nick", "eric", etc.  Well the other night they were trying to get her to say "Grandpa Marty" but she fixated on the last word and kept referring to him as "Marty".  It's not as cute on the computer but if you heard her say it you would laugh, I promise. :)  We tried to correct her but she would just laugh and say "Marty".
• I love Fridays.  Especially in the fall.  Maybe it's because of all the football talk and the fact that the high school, college, NFL weekend is upon us, I'm not sure.  I think it has to do with growing up with a dad who coached high school football and then playing high school football.  It just has a different feel even if I have a project or presentation on that day, everything seems better on Friday.
• I love it when God sends a reminder that He truly is in control and everything will work out for His purposes.
• Twitter is awesome.  That is all.
• My pick for the KSU game this week versus Iowa State: KSU 34 ISU 24
• Hallie has decided that every time Natalie goes to the bathroom she needs to as well.  Once Hallie hears Natalie announce where she is going, she immediately starts repeating "potty?" "potty?" "potty?" in the cutest little whine you've ever heard.  She also tugs on her shorts/pants and heads for the bathroom.  This morning she went in the bathroom and I heard the toilet seat go up and her hollering "potty".  Sometimes we will sit her up there just to let her know that she's on the right track but taking off her diaper and then putting it back on just isn't worth it when she never actually goes.  But potty training her is going to be a breeze. :)

Two completely unrelated thoughts

These two could not be any more unrelated but here they are anyway:

• On Friday night I sat behind two dads that I hope to never become.  At a high school football game where Derby was getting trounced, these fools were constantly yelling.....at the PLAYERS!!!  These are high school kids, trying as hard as they can.  Sometimes a team is just better than you.  On every play they said something negative about the boys.  Not the officials, not the coaches, the players.  Seriously.  Grow up.  To top it off dad A says "Man, we're getting beat by a 5A school."  To which the brilliant dad B replies "Not just beat but trounced by a 5A team".  These idiots obviously think they know everything but in those comments revealed their ignorance.  Hutchinson is the SIX TIME defending state champions and took the #1 team in Missouri to overtime last week and should have probably won that game.  They are anything but "just a 5A team".  Pathetic.
• I have been on a weight loss journey for quite some time now.  It started when my wife began running again and that motivated me to get off my butt and do something.  This was 5 years ago before we had any kids.  I didn't do much.  Lost like 5 pounds, thought I was the man and that was about it.  I don't know when it kicked in that I needed to actually do something drastic but it just did and so I started eating less (not anything different, just less), exercised 3 days a week (30 minutes on elliptical) and lost 20 pounds really quick.  After that I kind of hit a plateau, gave up on the whole thing and gained 8 pounds back in about 2.5 months.  Oops.  I picked up again, changed what I ate a little and lost about 20 more pounds, so now I am down a little over 30 and thinking I really am the man.  Again, plateau, quit, gain.  Well, in January of 2008 I finally hit the final push.  I dropped the last 30 pounds I had in mind and was down a cool 60 pounds.  Somewhere along the way I started running.  I hate running.  I don't know what happened.  Well I had fluctuated between 195-200 for quite a while and at beginning of the summer was up over 200 again.  I decided this was just lazy and I wasn't going to be the one to put all the weight back on so I got serious.  I started running again, going about 2 miles every couple days, losing weight slowly but surely.  Somewhere along the way I upped that to 3.1 miles every time I go and now me, the guy who despises running, gets up at 6 to run 4 days a week.  The days I don't go I feel lazy all day and look for ways to do something.  Mostly that involves walking a mile over lunch around our pond behind the office.  Through the course of this I have broken so many barriers it isn't even funny.  Broke 18 mins in a 2 mile run.  Broke 27 minutes for 3 miles.  Actually ran 4.2 miles.  Weighed under 200 pounds.  Today I hit a huge one though.  I broke 190!  I weigh as much now as I did when I was a sophomore in high school!  It hasn't been easy, I know I'm not the fastest or the farthest runner (my wife actually beats me on both counts) but I did it and I'm not done yet.  The best part?  I charted the whole thing in Excel and have a fancy little graph that shows me the big picture instead of week to week which can be depressing.  Once a nerd always a nerd. :)

Natalie is confused

Sometimes I wonder if Natalie thinks she is Hallie's mommy or her big sister.  This morning I went to wake up the girls to start the process of getting ready for the bus ride with grandma.  I woke up Natta J first.  Her being the amazing morning person she is was quite perky and I asked if she wanted to help me wake up Hallie.  She said "Oh, sure.  (Changes voice pitch to a little higher, with more dripping babytalk overtones) Hallie Bear, oh Hallie.  It's time to get up.  Do you want to go see mommy?  Do you want your juice?  Hallie Bear, time to wake up."  It's really cute but COMPLETELY different from how she talks to her when Hallie wants to play with her toys. :)  After grandma got there, they were giving daddy the required hugs and kisses and Natalie walks over to Hallie, puts her hand on her shoulder, leans down to look her in the eye, and says (same voice as before) "Hallie, will you go give daddy a hug and kiss?"  Ok, my description isn't doing it justice I can tell, I am going to have to get a video of this while Natalie isn't looking.

Return to the blogosphere

Since it's been a year (almost) since I last posted an entry, I decided a change of format would be okay. I will still post about my girls and their silliness and life at our house. But I will also add some random entries offering my thoughts on a given topic. It could be anything from something serious (Koran burning....really???) to sports (go State!) to just random musings. I have often thought "I should blog about that" because I love reading other peoples blogs so maybe there is someone out there who wants to read mine. And if not....who cares, just close the web page! :)

• Natalie's soccer games/practice are a riot! Everyone should come to a game sometime. The kids are getting soooo much better. They are all going a little faster and kicking the ball a little harder now. Can't wait to see where they are in a few weeks.
• Coaching 4-5 year old soccer has been everything I thought it would be, both good and bad. We don't have any kids with bad attitudes on our team. They all listen, but they're 4 and 5 for goodness sake so the attention span leaves something to be desired. This last Tuesday I was the only coach there for about 15 minutes and in one drill I looked at the back of the line and Natalie and two other kids were playing ring around the rosy! Complete with spinning, falling and a lot of laughter. We have the one kid that every team has, much more in to picking grass and weeds then kicking a ball around. But the joy on their faces when they do something right or listen to the devotion at the end is worth every second I spend with them.
• Hallie is a hoss! She will eat all of her food and then polish off whatever Nat doesn't finish. Then she will run around the house, knock Natalie down and jump on top of her. Putting that kid in a princess shirt or nightgown just doesn't look right. The nickname Hallie Bear fits better than we EVER could have imagined!! When we take off her clothes to give her a bath we can't help but chuckle at her belly. Especially because she will stick it out and rub it with both hands and smile at you.
• Hallie loves to talk on the phone, even if what she has isn't a phone. Last night she was using grandma's portable alarm clock as a phone. If she catches Sara or I on the phone she will walk up, stick out her little hand, and say "talk?" When we tell her no she will whine "taaalllk?" When we tell her know again she stomps around in just about the cutest temper tantrum you could ever imagine. If we do let her talk she will just stand there listening to the other person and maybe answer questions if she's in the mood. So if you want a good chuckle, give us a call sometime and ask for Hallie.
• I had a case of deja vu the other day. We drove by the bus barn on our way to church and I heard from the back seat "bus!!! bus!!!! bus!!!!". I thought "wow, Natalie is a little old to be still saying that, she used to say that right before she turned two...." It wasn't her. :)
  
• Football is back....that is all.
• I read this statement the other day and it really struck me: As Christians the world knows what we are against, isn't it about time we let them know what we are for?
• I have been going to a great bible study with 6 other guys on Thursday mornings. It started after the men's retreat and has been going for 3 weeks now. God has great things planned for our little group, I can tell. It will be interesting to see where God takes us and the impact we can have on our families, communities, and church.
• The Kansas State Fair is one of the most underrated events around. Taking my girls is one of the highlights of my year. We have been the last two years and had the best time checking out all the animals, riding the train, eating Pronto Pups, and riding rides. I highly recommend it!
  

Enjoying every moment

When Hallie was born, I told myself that I was going to enjoy every stage of her life. With Natalie it was easy to just think "okay, she'll grow out of this". She won't always be unable to sit up on her own. She won't always be unable to roll over. She won't always have to be fed by you. She won't always be unable to crawl. She won't always be unable to walk, to stand on her own. I didn't really relish those times like I should have. Heck the first bath I gave Natalie was when she was almost a year old and until Hallie was born, mama did it pretty much every night. I did feed her, but not bottles, and I did change her diapers. So along came Hallie and my attitude was ready to go. I thought about all of the phases we had with Natalie and how I managed to survive them all so this time I should enjoy them. I was excited for the nights when it was my turn to be up with her, I was excited to feed her every chance I got, and we alternate bath nights for the girls. One night I do Hallie the other night I do Natalie. I love it.

There is one area however that I haven't enjoyed. I knew it was coming. I have thought about it since the hospital really. It was torture for Natalie when she went through it and thus it was hard on us as parents. It seemed like it took forever. In reality it was about two months. I told myself that it wouldn't be THAT bad, it couldn't be THAT bad. I was wrong. I could change my attitude about alot of things but one thing still is no fun to go through. Teething. That's right teething. The runny nose inducing, fever causing, extra gross diaper resulting process that seems to take forever with our girls. We could feel them on Hallie a long time ago. The doctor showed us how you could see them dropping in her gums. Well they never broke through, and never broke through, until this week. Hallie Bear officially has one tooth. You can't see it but you can sure feel it. Now if only those other ones would hurry up and get here....

Natalie

I was informed that I might have exaggerated Natalie's behavior a little too much so I just want to pass along a story from this morning on the way to school that made me smile. We pulled up to the school and I got out of the car to go open her door. Here is the conversation that ensued:

N: "Daddy, I was just praying."
D: "Oh, really? That's good."
N: "I was praying to God."
(pause)
N: "I prayed that he would bless me."
D: "You did? How sweet. What did you pray for?"
N: "Um, Snow White and Ariel"

Only from the mind and mouth of a three-year-old. :)

The drought is over

And we're back. I could give you all the lines about "oh, I promise to do better", "I've failed as a blogger", "no excuses, sorry I haven't posted more", etc...but I will spare you from reading those. Let's just leave it at "I'll try and do better" and call it good.

Natalie loves school. She gets up excited every morning, right up until breakfast. See, Natalie has been going through the "I'm 3, you can't tell me what to do" phase. She will eat when she wants, what she wants, and however much she wants. She will play where she wants, when she wants. She will get dressed when she wants. It's not pretty. Unfortunately she has taken that to school with her. She cries when she doesn't get more snacks. She doesn't get in line when told to. We have talked with her about it and the teacher says she is doing better, but still it's embarrassing as a parent that the one who is supposed to be the "peer model" is the crier. Never been on this side of the parent/teacher relationship. It's stressful when you want your kid to do well and be well behaved only to come home and hear that the teacher talked with your wife while she was picking up the kid and the kid's not following directions. To Nat's credit she is doing MUCH better and even is at home, except when it's time to eat. So strange. Wilson's don't cry over the beginning of dinner time, we cry when it's over! I didn't mean to make her sound like a problem child, because she's not...at all. She still plays well with other kids, shares toys, and says please and thank you.

Hallie Bear is gross. Okay so she's cute, cuddly, adorable, chubby, beautiful beyond description....but still gross. She spits. Alot. And often. We took her to the doctor and she looked at our 20 lb 6 oz chunker of a 7 month old and verbally said "oh, I think she's fine, a tablespoon of spittup isn't worth worrying about", but what I heard as the daddy was "why are you bringing this perfectly healthy baby around this office with all of the flu going around, just so you can spare the laundry???" Or something like that. Besides the spitting, she is wonderful. She is crawling, pulling herself to standing, and gabbering like a monkey. She cries too, mostly when she's been up for more than two hours in a row. That seems to be about the limit. Some nights between Hallie crying from being tired and Natalie crying over not enough snacks, I just want to scream. But I don't, because it's all part of being a dad and I wouldn't change a thing about either of them, except for the spittup. Its just so gross. :)

Every morning on the way to school Natalie and I solve the worlds problems. There are three corn fields we drive by every day, and Nat has commented on them every single day. Well yesterday they were all harvested and so Natalie says "Hey, someone cut all the corn and took it home...AND ATE IT FOR DINNER!" in a slowly rising voice. Sometimes I don't know how I don't crash the car. She is a riot. Like I said, I wouldn't change a thing!

Dare Devil

Natalie is like me when I was little in many ways. She doesn't like loud noises, she is shy when she enters a room with alot of people, and she didn't want to go on stage and perform with her VBS preschool class. However when it comes to trying new things, she is much more adventurous than I was that's for sure. Sunday night we were at Aunt Penny's house for Father's Day dinner. She has a rather tall covered twisty slide on her playset that Natalie has never really had any interest in going down whatsoever. For some reason she decided that she would do the slide. In the past she would get up to the top, stare down the tunnel and turn around and back down the ladder. This time nobody was talking to her asking her to go and it was just mommy out with her at that point. Sara was standing at the bottom trying not to say anything so as not to freak her out and make her stop at the last minute. She didn't. She went down and decided it was fun and went down many more times after that. All of that brings me to last night. We went back to Rock River Rapids...it's 100 degrees, what else are we going to do?....and this time we took Papa Steve with us. We were playing and splashing and since my dad was there I took the opportunity to enjoy the bigger slides. Sara brought Natalie over to watch me and she thought it was the funniest thing she's ever seen. She asked me to do it again and again. Well after a few times I told her that I wanted to watch HER go down her "boat" slide in the kiddie area. She was more than happy to oblige, however Papa Steve had other ideas. He asked her if she wanted to ride the tube slide that is attached to the fort in the kiddie area. She wasn't so sure but mommy said it was just like the slide at Aunt Penny's house. Well she thought that was fun so I scooped her up and carried her onto the fort to the top of the tube slide. She was whining about not wanting to go, but I put her in and pushed. When she came out the other end she was beaming! She LOVED it! Thought it was the coolest thing ever and wanted to go again. For some reason I was the only one who could take her but I eventually go the point where I could put her on the first platform after the entry waterfall and she would go the rest of the way by herself so I could get back to the bottom in time to see her. It was so stinkin' fun! Here is a picture of the slide that my 2 year old rode:


She rode the one on the right the whole time, didn't want to ride the other one...go figure. :)

Flower Girl part deux

Wow, what a weekend! Last weekend my amazing sister Emily got married to a lad by the name of Nick Beydler. As if anyone reading this wouldn't already know that. :) We headed up last Wednesday evening for the festivities. The wedding itself wasn't until Friday but there was LOTS of fun to be had before we got there. Wednesday night Sara went with Em and her friends for the bacherelette party. I went with Nick and some of his buddies. That left Natalie and Hallie with grandma Sue and grandpa Marty....that would be a theme for the weekend. Luckily we were staying with Cindy and Charlotte so they were around to help as well. On the way up we realized that we had made a HUGE error. One that might just put the whole weekend in the tank. About an hour out we realized that we left Buster Bear at home! That's right, we were going to be gone for five days and we left our daughters required sleeping buddy at home! This was not good. But being the amazing parents we are, we left her with grandma and said good luck and went to our parties. :) Turns out she is a big girl and didn't fuss too much, she adapted to having a different blanket, sorry blankie, and went to sleep fairly quickly.

Thursday Nat and Hallie spent the day with grandma, Cindy, and Charlotte. Marty, my dad, and I went golfing and Sara helped Em and my mom decorate the church. Thursday evening was the rehearsal dinner....but not the rehearsal. That was Friday morning. The dinner was awesome. The Beydler's put on a wonderful night and Em and Nick did a great job hosting the whole thing. Natalie was everwhere! She wanted to be on the stage with them and then she would run around. I am sure people were thinking "could someone get ahold of that kid?"

Friday morning it was off to rehearsal. We weren't sure how Natalie would react because the aisle was longer than the one for Uncle Eric's wedding and we weren't sure if it would scare her. Turns out that wasn't the problem at all. No the problem was she was "feeding the chickens" with her petals. It's a Cinderella thing. :) She never really made it down when she was supposed to she just kind of meandered down and then sat on the stage through the whole rehearsal. This was not looking promising at all. By this point I was just thinking, "ok, if she comes down just don't make a scene, but if she doesn't come down, no big deal at least she won't stop to feed the chickens". She spent the rest of the morning with Em, Sara, and the bridesmaids while they got their hair done. She played and had a great time, but the wedding wasn't until 7 and so she needed a nap....enter grandma Sue again. She came to the church (about 25 minutes from Cindy and Charlotte's house) and picked up the girls to take them back and put them down for a nap. The MOST important part if Nat was going to make it down the aisle. Of course Natalie didn't want to leave and didn't want to nap when either. She did though eventually and then got a quick bath to get rid of her "nap hair". Then it was time to head for the church and get dressed for pictures.

Sara and I were at the church and dressed already by the time Nat got there along with Hallie. I saw them go in so I said to Sara "your flower girl is here". She headed down to help get her ready but by the time she got down there, Natalie was in her dress already and swaying from side to side to show off. Her dress was an exact replica of Em's dress. She was beautiful. Then Hallie Bear came around the corner in her pink dress that was the same as the bridesmaids brown dresses and she was just beautiful! I was one proud papa that's for sure. At this point we all got more and more pictures taken and after that I was thinking "now if she doesn't do it, so what, she got to be in her dress and have her picture taken, it will be fine".

Natalie was supposed to come in after all the bridesmaids. I escorted the first bridesmaid (Nick's sister Kristi) and Sara was the last one in as the Matron of Honor. She was going to come in with Natalie if Nat wasn't wanting to go by herself. Sara came alone. The ushers came down and grabbed the aisle runner....it was show time for Natalie. From on stage, we could see her at the back looking through the glass doors. Frozen. Uh-oh. Then after what seemed like an eternity (which was only like 30 seconds I'm sure) she started down the aisle. She turned the corner and started dropping petals! Hallaelujah! But then I noticed that she stopped...and carefully emptied all of the petals at the back of the aisle. Oops. She set her basket down (it was empty after all) and ran down toward Grandma Sue and Grandpa Marty where she was supposed to sit. Grandma told her to go back and get her basket so BACK up the aisle she went and grabbed it and back down to grandma and grandpa she ran. It was awesome. Just about that time, the music hit it's apex, the doors swung open and in walked Emily. The timing couldn't have been better. :) Mission accomplished.

She was quiet enough through the entire wedding and then it was party time. That girl LOVES to dance and she found her best dancing partner in my cousin's 5 year old daughter Destiny. They just danced and danced and danced until Natalie's feet were black on the bottom. It was a wonderful time. About 10:00 Natalie decided it was time to go home so again grandma Sue and grandpa Marty were there to save us and took her home so Sara and I could stay and help with the minor clean up and also see Nick and Em off to start their life together.

We stayed two more days after that and just made it a vacation. We went to the petting zoo, had lunch with some college friends and their kids, and got to spend time with Aunt Christina and Uncle Eric. Overall it was an amazing week/weekend and went about as well as we could have ever imagined.

The other big news is that Hallie bear is eating cereal! Tuesday night she got her first taste of it and it took forever, almost 45 minutes, to eat what little we gave her. Unlike her big sister, she managed to keep hers down. Minor reversal, but overall not to bad. She slept from 10:15-8:15...God bless baby cereal. Last night was attempt number two. Since it took so long the first night, I was going to give Natalie a bath so that she would be ready for bed when Hallie was done. I waited about 15 minutes and then went upstairs to run the water. Sara was sitting at the table on the computer. I thought "oh great, Hallie didn't want it and isn't eating". I asked Sara what was going on and she said "we're all done". WHAT?!?! Wait just a minute. She went from 45 min to 15 min? I didn't remember that happening with Natalie either. Holy cow, what a chunker! :) Again she went down at 10:15 and was still sleeping when I left this morning for work. I really do love it when they first get cereal. :)

Hallie's Dedication

We had a busy Mother's Day at our house.  Our church does ALL the baby dedications for the entire year on Mother's Day, so Hallie (and 4 other babies during our service) was dedicated.  She looked beautiful- with her white dress made by Grandma Sue.  Mom has made both of the girls dedication dresses using the scraps of fabric left from when she made my wedding dress.  They are priceless, and something we will save forever!  We arrived at church and went to the back room to wait with the other babies and their families for it to be out turn to walk out to the front for the dedication.  As we were waiting Natalie was a little anxious... she would really rather have been out in the seats with all her grandparents and great-grandparents, who had come out in support.  But, we told her we needed to wait a few more minutes and it would be our turn.  She said, "That's right.  Because baby Hallie has to be decorated!"  We about died laughing.  That kid.  After we were done she didn't want to go back to Sunday school, so she stayed in 'big church' and really was a good girl (to our surprise!).  We had brunch here at our house after church with all the grandparents to celebrate, and it really was a great day.  

Natalie continues to baffle me... her new thing at night is that she reads the stories to us before she goes to bed, rather than us reading to her.  Last night Hallie was fussy so Cameron was in the living room with her and I took Natalie back to read books.  She read me 2 different versions of Cinderella (her very favorite story... we have about 4 different versions in the house).  It amazes me to hear her rattle off LONG passages of the books word for word.  My favorite last night was "The fairy Godmother waved her wand and turned Cinderellas rags into a dress the color of moonlight.  And, on her feet, 2 dainty glass slippers twinkled like stars."  Word for word what the book says... and I had to look it up to remember.  She doesn't. :)   Two nights ago Hallie wasn't fussy at story time, so she and Daddy got to come with us.  Natalie was reading, I think that night it was Snow White, and Hallie was laying on the bed next to Natalie.  When Natalie started to read Hallie was completely fixated on her face... just staring at her, listening.  And, then she started to smile at her big sister.  It was the sweetest thing.  I can already tell I am going to love watching those girls interact. :)