On our drive home from the gym Sophia says,
“Daddy is brave.”
Thinking the compliment was random and out of nowhere (although we did just part ways with him at the gym) I repeat, “Daddy is brave?! Why is Daddy brave?”
“No, Daddy is great!”
Ohhhhh! Great….well what about me?!”
“You are beautiful.”
Well, I will take that! At least she knows what’s what. 
Sometimes we like to have a family movie night. Admittedly most of our movie selection is far too intense for small children. We received Night at the Museum from Netflix and decided to watch it with the kids. It’s probably just over the edge of intensity for our kids but Heather had been hyping it up so much that we were locked in.
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Sadly I had ripped the blu-ray incorrectly and the resulting video file did not work properly. We found this out after popcorn, blankets, and snacks were laid out for the little ones. We were then in a dash to find a movie the kids had not seen. Thank you netflix streaming for having The Neverending Story as a streaming selection. It’s probably at about the same level as Night at the Museum for action intensity, but I had forgotten completely about how dramatic the emotional aspects of the movie could be for children.
The girls were complete enthralled with the movie. We didn’t realize just how much Sophia was wrapped up in the plot of the movie until the Rock Biter appeared again later in the movie, and in a moment of sad recollection, becomes saddened and distraught at his inability to hold onto his friends and save them from the Nothing. Sophia was in tears. Sobbing actually. She was so very very sad over the loss of the racing snail. We encouraged her to continue to watch, and as the happy ending resolved the frustration and loss of the different characters, her own sadness gave way to overwhelming joy. She mentioned multiple times on her way to bed that it was the best movie she had ever seen.
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On another note: While typing this, I just heard Sophia asking if Phoebe would like to play “Dolls vs. Zombies”. I’m raising my children right.
With quickly maturing little girls running around the house it came time to start teaching modesty. Teaching by example is usually the easiest, so if a 2 year old bursts into the bathroom I’ll usually ask her to leave and close the door so I can have my privacy.
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Today we were preparing to go to the pool and Phoebe desperately wanted to show me her new swimsuit. However, I was in the middle of changing into my swimsuit. As she walked into the bedroom I told her, “I need privacy please.” She kept walking toward me. “I want privacy Phoebe.” She looked at me with a confused look on her face. “Please walk over there so I can have my privacy.” She turned and looked in the direction I pointed then turned around with an exasperated look. “Phoebe, I’m changing clothes. I’d like my privacy. Please go over there.” She looked again and twisted her face in frustration. She told me with exasperation, “But I can’t FIND privacy.”
At least I know when I need privacy I have someone to help me look for it.
Monday we’ll be celebrating Heather’s birthday and Catey’s graduation from High School.
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Since memorial day will be full of Barbecue and cake we decided to use Saturday to memorialize our first combat veteran in the family that has moved on.
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We toasted him with Wendy’s frosties, which he claimed held medicinal properties, and visited his gravesite.
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We still love you and think about you Grandpa.
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I love photography. I love all aspects of it except for being in it. I do need to do a self portrait but I’ll save that for another day (new tripod gets here Friday).
I recently sold my old camera body and most of the lenses I had been using. I also sold some old gear donated to me by a family member. Now I have a nice new body with some new lenses to take pictures of my girls and anything else that strikes my fancy.
For example: the horrified expression of a 2 year who thinks she’s about to crash into her sister.
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The pollen on the petals of some flowers my wife has just planted in our front yard.
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Beautiful blue eyes.
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Exif data should all be intact if you want to know settings, lenses, etc.
Sophia turned 4 years old on the 26th of April. As such we have implemented a new set of rules for her.
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We just had a little get together to celebrate her Birthday. We’re still waiting for a time to take her to Adventureland for some Go-Karting, mini golf, and some videogames.
In the meantime I’ve been putting together the summer gift to the girls.
Thanks to Granny, Grandad, Nana, and Poppi we were able to get the larger framing work out of the way. However quite a bit of the final assembly was left to me.
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Yes, you’re seeing that right. It includes monkey bars, swings, picnic table, toybox, slide, raised fort, rock wall, etc…
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Date: 12/25/2007
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Date: 08/10/2010
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