One... Two... Three... Four...

Tonight in the middle of playing, Katie dropped down and started doing sit-ups while counting out loud, "One, Two, Three, Four..." (Jennifer has been doing sit-ups at home for the past couple months and it appears to be rubbing off some. When I asked her about it, this is what I got...

Steve: What are you doing Katie?

Katie: I'm just umnmm, doing exercise

Steve: Exercise, what's that? (This is actually an honest question!)

Katie: I exercise because it's good for my heart!

No arguments there. Soon after she started her sit-ups, Andy joined in next to her doing the same thing. Apparently, I am living amidst a bunch of health nuts. But don't worry, Im doing my best to hold out against the peer pressure.

It's been a super busy week. Dick and Kari (Jen's parents) are in town, so the house has a lot of activity. We're having a great time. Last night Jen planned a special night out and the grandparents babysat. Jen had booked a special hotel and dinner-night out for us. She got us a place at a local Hyatt (not less than 5 minutes form here, literally we didn't get on a freeway to get there!). The hotel manager happens to be Jen's college friend's husband. When we checked in, we found out that he had upgraded us to the Presidential Suite! I have never stayed at a presidential suite before. It was pretty incredible. The place was enormous, multiple bathrooms, dining room, living room -- I mean it was about as big as our house. We really enjoyed it. We had sushi for dinner and spent the night in the room :)

Drama Queen

So Katie is now in "Theatre Class". As if she needs the training... Anyhow, she has been to about six classes so far. Tonight as we were reading some bedtime stories, she pops up on the bed and bends at the waist, looking at me through her legs and says, "Daddy, what letter am I?" Jen gave me that look of {this is what she learned in class today}

Slightly startled but willing to play the game, I started guessing letters... A, M, O, V, and on and on... After about the 10th guess, Katie started getting slightly frustrated with me. I tried harder but to no avail. Finally, visably flustered, she belts out: "I'm a SQUARE!".

Mmmmkay. That's not fair, that was a trick question. She then proceeded to show me circle, line and triangle. Finally she finished with her grand finalie, the elephant. Complete with trumpet sounds and side-to-side tromping. Good stuff. Coming soon to a theatre near you.

Slideshow!

So this morning I was checking megzo.com and I saw that my brother-in-law had uploaded thier latest slideshow of their summer photos. Fully inspired, I decided to take a crack at one for us as well. (Sorry Woody for ripping-off yet another great idea of yours, but you get full credit of course!) I really want to thank Woody and Tanya for getting me hooked on Blogging, I must admit, I am getting a lot out of it.

You can see it by clicking on the link in the "Slideshows" section on the right, or by clicking on the title screen in this post. Hope you like it.

Halloween Party Hardy

Well, I have been talking about hosting a Halloween party for the little ones for a few years now. I finally got organized and we had a great time on Friday night. We had 7 mommies and 13 kids all five and under. We had five stations: cupcake decorating, pumpkin pizzas, spooky coloring, haunted photo frames, and candy corn popcorn hands! I cleaned out the garage and brought in the patio furniture. It reminded me of my childhood Chicago neigborhood potlucks in the Jeide's garage.

Of course, my friends helped me make a feast and we attempted to put on costumes. As you can see from the pictures, I think we totaled 10 kids at once. Ryan and Dylan had thier Thomas and James' costumes on for maybe a minute and Will had already left the party. Well, we tried and I am sure we will try again next year. Thanks to all of you for making it a great time. You are wonderful friends.

Who's Older

We are heading out to Katie's Open House for Preschool. We took pictures b/c it was a gorgeous October Santa Ana night. While I know that Andrew has now surpassed his sister in weight, I can't believe how similar they look in age in these photos. Adorable, huh?

DAEPS!

Andy has gotten pur-ty onrey lately when it comes to eating his dinner. Typically, he will eat any fruits put in front of him, and adamantly refuses to touch anything in the meat or veggie department. The kid is huge and healthy so we haven't been too forceful with him as of late on this stuff, but it's starting to get a bit unmanageable, so tonight I started craking-down a bit more. Tonight's dinner was typical, Andy ate all his grapes (pronounced "Daeps" in Andy-speak.) I then tried to get him to eat his chicken and corn...

Steve: "Good job on those grapes Andy, how about you eat some of that Chicken now?"

Andy: "NOOOO DADDY! I wa DAEPS!"

Steve: *firm now* "Andrew, you have to eat your chicken first, then I'll give you all the grapes you want..."

Andy: *insta-tears* "NOOOO DADDY! I wa DAAAAAEPS!!! *kicking sobbing*

Steve: "Katie and I are going to have Ice Cream now Andy, you can have some too, if you eat your chicken..."

Andy: "DAAAAAAAAAAEPS!!!"

Steve: *sigh*

At least Katie has been a fatastic eater lately. They both have flopped roles in this area. Katie now eats everything and then proceeds to show me her muscles and boast about her "EN-R-GY." I suppose we should be thankful that were not getting tag-teamed.

Scuba Aruba

I wonder how many pictures we capture of each other during our brief time on this planet. It seems like we take quite a few of them. Some of them seem to get lost, or tossed or just filed away in a cabniet or a hard drive. Then there are some that we cling to, that we find 'special' -- these are the photos that seem to truly capture more than just the moment, the preserve people, feelings, experiences. They touch us in special ways. What is even more interesting is that the value of these pictures seems to change over time. Some photos that I used to love, now seem 'ho hum', and some that I never appreciated, I now find incredibly powerful.

This is a picture that I keep on my desk at work. I have had it here for about a year now. I find myself appreciating it more each day. That's me and my dad of course (please forgive the image quality, this is a copy of a copy.) We took this together in Aruba on a scuba trip with mom and Tanya around 1994... 12 years ago. Much has changed in all of our lives since then. I remember the trip well, dad was lugging scuba tanks around and diving with us down to 93' to see shipwrecks and denziens of the deep. The hand-signs we are making are supposed to sign-out "Too Cool", which was unquestionably the signature catch-phrase from that vacation. Good times.

Disney Download

Had some extra time, thought I drop in a few more shots from the Disneyland Trip...

Katie and Andy in "awe" at the first room on "It's a Small World"

Andy enjoys a 'float' in the Hilton pool.

Katie and Mommy share a fun moment with Pooh. Andy... not so fun.

Katie listens to Bell recount some of her adventures.

Ariel Ariel Ariel. "Daddy, I want to see Ariel with Legs!"

The Kids get into some mischief in Toon Town.

God is in My Heart

(Photo: Katie and Daddy at Disneyland enjoying some hard-earned Mickey Dees Fries)

Katie had her school "Open House" this week. I hustled home form work on Monday so we could drive to LaJolla and meet her teachers and see her classroom. On the drive over, Katie was quietly and playfully singing one of the song-prayers she learned at her school. Curious as to what she was learning, I decided to ask a few questions...

Steve: "Katie, who is God?"

Katie: "God is in our hearts."

Steve: "Is he anywhere else?"

Katie: "Yes, God is everywhere. He's in our hearts and he's up in the sky. but sometimes I don't like God being in my heart."

Steve: "No? Why is that?"

Katie: "I just don't like God being in my heart sometimes. I can't see him there."

We're working on name writing this week. Katie can write her name now, shes got the basics down -- "A's" are often a challenge, but the reast of the letters are coming along nicely. She likes to draw, and is very interested in learning how to draw people. Last night we continued to read James and the Giant Peach. We're about 13 chapters into it. I think she likes it, however she seems to fall asleep on me after about 10 minutes of reading each night...

The Greatest Place on Earth

Well, we just got back from one heck of a trip to Disneyland! We got up at 6am on Saturday, packed the kids int he car and hustled up to Anaheim to visit Mikey's Magic Kingdom. We seem to have really good luck on these Disney Trips (this is our second with the year) and when I say "good luck" it's because the success of our trips is largely based on the number of Princesses that we are able to find for Katie to meet. Last time we went to a special restaurant (Ariel's Grotto) where ALL the princesses come up and talk to you at your table, so we had a lot to live up to on this trip.

We got into the park just about 8am. We hit the new-ish 'Buzz-Lightyear" ride and also the rocket-ship ride before we headed back into Fantasyland for the story-book stuff. The lines were super short at the early hour and we were rollin. (Daddy was bummin that the kids were still to small for Space Mountain and Star Tours. Only 2 more inches!!!!) We quickly rode about 6 more rides before the rest of the crowds started to file into the park. We had less than 5 minute waits on most stuff, and walked right on to "It's a Small World" which turned out to be Andy's favorite. I think that's because he was a little traumatized by Pinnochio and Snow White's rides. Those things are pretty dark, with lots of loud noises!

We then headed to a new section called "Princess Fantasy Faire". You can imagine that Katie liked this section very much. It was a kid friendly area that had Princesses to visit, and a show with kid-interactive events, coloring, eating, etc. We stood in line for about an hour for this and daddy and mommy were highly questioning the potential value. Once we got inside, were were grateful that we had, as Katie got to spend quality time with Belle, Jasmine, Mulan and Cinderella. She was really lovin it. Daddy took about 300 pictures.

We then met Mikey in toontown, rode Pirates of the Carribean, met Pooh in Frontierland, and of course, met Ariel at Triton's Grotto. While we were standing in line for most of the rids, Andy could see the train going around the park. At first he was fascinated by the train, and then after a while it became an obsession. We finally rode the train as he was unable to focus on anything else. Oh yeah, and we went to this special Halloween event called "Woody's Halloween Roundup" where we met Woody and Jessie and got to do some singing and Dancing. There was a game with about 20 kids called "Pass the Pumpkin" which was a lot like musical chairs. Katie played while Andy colored. Katie was the first kid stuck with the pumkin and was knocked out in round 1. It was pretty funny.

It was an action packed day and the kids seemed to have a great time. We were all wiped out by the time we got to the hotel. I had to share a bed with Andy so while Jen and Katie slept like rocks, I spent most of the night taking kung-fu kicks to the ribs from my son. Andy actualy kicked me so hard during the night that he shot himself off the bed and smacked his face on a table! I'm tellin ya, they are big kicks. We went swimming this morning and then headed home where the kids took some long naps. Whew, were beat now!

Steve

PS - On a side note, my brother-in-law Woody ran a half-marathon today in Colorado. Hope it went well Woody! We were rooting for you from Cali!

True to Your Tastes

Halloween is getting closer and the kids are certinly becoming more excited with the notion of trick-or-treating and dressing up. With the house decorated form head to toe in pumpkins and ghosts, it's hard to make a turn without being reminded that the best holidy of the year is upon us! I say that because it's a common misonception (I believe) that most people think Christmas or birthdays are the kid's favorites, but when you weigh in the candy and the dressing-up, it seems to me that Halloween seems to usually comes out on top... at least that's what my daughter tells me.

Today Katie was extra good during school. She showed some special-ness as well during somewhat of a sociological experiment (if you ask me) that happened during school snack time. The teachers had 4 kinds of apples (Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, etc.) and each child was asked to taste each of them, and then reply as to wheather they liked them or not. The teachers then created a chart, with "YES" and "NO" under each apple type for each child. When Jennifer picked up Katie form class, the chart was being scrutinized by many of the mothers who were also there picking up thier kids. Every single child had replied "YES" to every kind of apple on the list... it was a huge pages of YESes. Every child except one child of course. You guessd it, Katie had decided that she did not like one type of apple, the Granny Smiths. She made this clear to the teachers. My first response to Jen's recounting of the story was, "Ummm, why is our kid differnt?" -- Jen quickly them pointed out that Katie had spoken up (in front of her peers) and elected to be different, and true to her tastes. She certinly knows what she wants.

After that, Jennifer decided to take Katie to the local deli where they sell quite an impressive array of decorated cookies. You know, the big kind, shaped like animals and so forth. Katie decided she wanted one of the Jack-O-Lantern cookies, completely orange with green frosting on top. She was very speicifc that she wanted one that was smiling.

When they got home (I worked form home today), Katie ran to show me her cookie. She was very proud of it.

Katie: Daddy, look at my Jack-O-Lantern cookie!

Steve: Wow Katie, that thing is awesome!

Katie: I KNOW! I'm going to save it and share it with Andrew when he gets up from his nap!

Steve: That's very nice of you. Why do you want to share it with Andrew?

Katie: Ummm, because he loves cookies *speaking with big eyes*. And I love my brother.

Awwww. Sure enough, as soon as Andy got up, she broke the cookie in half and gave Andy a big peice. He was thrilled and smild-wide as he tried to jam the thing in his mouth.

Katie: *Positioning herself directly in his face* Do you like it Andrew!?! Is't this nice of you?

Steve: You mean isn't that nice of YOU Katie...

Katie: Yes, isn't that nice of YOU Andrew? I love you Andrew. *hug*

Andrew: Ank you Ta-Teee.

Steve: *chuckles*

2 Years Ago Today

It's funny how you can't see change when it happens slowly. When I look at these pictures of K&A (taken two years ago today) the thing that surprises me most is just how tiny they were.

Katie and Andy are finnally getting to the point where they are starting to like to 'play' together. Mostly instigated by Katie, they are starting to join in pretend fantasies (like playing 'school'.) Katie is growing immensely articulate, while Andy seems consumed with mainly two words, "WHY" and "MINE". It's a fun chapter right now, and with the kids entertaining themselves a little more, it gives Jen and I a little more time to breathe... more blogging!

*dashes from computer to the sounds of screams*

(OK I just had to break up a brawl, Andy smacked Katie in the face with a book so he's currently in time out.)

...oh yeah, and they fight a lot more too.

It only takes a second...

While every child is different, and every parent is different, there are still some things that all families share in common. One of those common experiences is that no matter what kind of parent you are, at some point in your child's life, you will say the words, "I only turned my back for a second!"

Tonight I was preparing Andy for his bath. He had a frightening diaper, so I proceeded to remove it and clean him of course. As I am standing up and taking the diaper out to the garage, I turn my back on the little rascal for probably 15 seconds. I left him in the hallway with his shirt on. Well, I guess seeing the warm bath with all the fun bubbles, was too much of a lure for Andy to resist. Or more likely, he didn't even think that going in the bath with a shirt on was something that was a no-no. Or maybe he just didn't realize he had his shirt on. For whatever reason, he went for it. When I got back to the bathroom, I found what you see in the picture above.

Steve: "DUDE! You can't wear your shirt in the bathtub Andy!"

Andy: "Why Daddy?"

I quickly snapped a shot and just laughed at him. Katie and Jen found it pretty funny as well.

Later as I was posting this I began to think about his response, "Why Daddy?" That's actually a good question. Why? Why not? I mean, we are washing the kid and the shirt at the same time. Everything is clean. It's kinda fun to boot. Why indeed... man these kids are smart.

October Sky

Its definitely getting colder -- even by San Diego standards. WIth the change in temperature, we are also seeing a change in the skies. The sun is setting earlier, and clouds are beginning to become more frequent. With the coming of Fall, we find ourselves doing those 'wintery things' that even us Southern California people have to do. The kids are starting to have to wear socks to bed. Extra blankets. Tonight I fear we are actually going to have to turn on the heater for the first time. It kinda sucks, and I find myself already missing the warm weather that we take for granted every day around here.

On the flip side, we have lots of fun coming up... Halloween! Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. The house is decorated from head to toe in pumpkins and ghosts, and the kids are giddy with the promise of trick-or-treating and dressing up.

Boys Club

Andrew, Carsen, Alex and Ryan take a moment to watch the elephants together at the world famous San Diego Zoo. These gangsters have been friends since birth, and spend quite a bit of time together.

Movie Night

Today was a very special day for the Sandwisch household. It is the day that we got our copy of The Little Mermaid on DVD. This may not sound like a big deal to most people, but those of you who know little miss Katie, know that she is a Little Mermaid fanatic.

Jennifer planned a very special evening to celebrate and watch the new DVD. She made poopcorn for the whole family and we all settled down for a movie theatre style experience, complete with pillows, blankets, sippie-cups and jammies. Katie and Andy loved the special-ness of the event, and the musical aspect of the movie was celebrated with much singing and dancing, even through the credits. Thanks mommy! That was fun!

Doughnut Dawn Patrol

This morning Andy was kind enough to get me up at 6:30. I stumbled bleary-eyed into his room to find him standing in his crib with an excited look on his face. As soon as he saw me, he started shouting, "DOE-NA! DOE-NA DADDY!" My memory began to kick-in as I realized that I had promised him and Katie that I would take them to Krispy Kreme this morning (provided they were good and went to bed on the previous night.) Andy's doughnut-siren-warning system must have also alerted Katie, who was on the scene quickly and rallying to go. Clearly outnumbered and unable to stiffle such a powerful insurgence, I quickly gave-in to the doughnut dawn patrol.

It's hard to determine what is the best part of the Krispy Kreme experience -- it might be the the free envalope hats, or the surreal lab-like clean-room white environment, or quite possibly the amazingly hot and gooey doughnuts that melt in your mouth... but for kids, I think the climax of that place has got to be watching the magical automated doughnut making conveyer machine. Katie and Andy love to stand there, noses pressed against the glass, and gaze in wild wonder, as globs of dough are mysteriously transformed into thier favorite tasty breakfast treats. (It doesn't hurt that they give free doughnuts to kids, and the whole thing comes to $1.99 including my doughnuts and coffee.) The only real downside is that inevitable sugar rush that can result in some serious cat-herding on the way out.