Peck Pops

Today Andrew asked me if I can "Pop my Pecks"...

What would you say?

Pogo Powah!

Apparently my daughter learned how to ride a Pogo Stick while I wasn't looking.  I dont know why, but this is really amusing to me.  Pogo-stick-riding ranks right up there with spinning around in circles... it's one of those totally pointless activities that is all about just having fun.  Congrats Katie.

PS  Thanks Maddie and Lexi, I think...

PSS  Andrew, hopping on one foot doesn't count

That's a 2-Page Dragon

Clever solution from my son. Here's what you do when you paint your big dragon a little bigger than your big piece of paper. Just add more paper!

Today

Was levelling Hammerhoof, Saphire, and Hix

Waffles and eggs

A really hot shower

Buying Andy his first real sunglasses

Listening to Tom Sawyer with the windows rolled down and the warm spring sun

Making wooden weapons of medieval mayhem

Catch with my son

A bike ride with my daughter

Painting clever canvass

Some guitar

Flying a kite

Chasing an escaped kite across the neighborhood

Loving a reclaimed kite

Some more guitar

Playing magic vs Andy

Talking about which things are best in life

Thinking I am very lucky to have days like this

Spring Vacation 2012

Spent the past few days up at Copper Mountain for spring break.  Ski trips are really something special for us as a family right now.  Its something everyone loves, and we can all do together.  We are able to get away from the craziness of everyday life, get to a beautiful place, and just have fun.  It's something  healthy too.

It's amazing how fast the kids are getting.  Yesterday I figgured I would take off ahead of the pack and wait for them down the hill -- so I turned on the burners and hit it hard for about 30 seconds.  I stop and look back, and her the WHOLE family is right behind me still!  The kids have big grins on their faces and Jen comes in last looking harried and concerned...  I can only imagine that by next year we are going to have a hard time keeping up.  My dad once told me that there is a magic day when you are skiing with you kids when you all go the same speed...  the day after you are never able to keep up with them again.  I fear that time is coming soon.

Cant wait to get up there again and to try and find a way to get more days on the mountain next year.

PS - For my dedicated blog followers (if I have any) I have been spending more time posting on Facebook lately, so please follow me there and or on Instagram if you want to get the daily doings on us.

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley entry by Andrew.

Katie-tine

Total Awesomeness.

Cabo

We spent the weekend in Cabo, no kids!  What a blast.  Almost missed the flight out due to a forgotten passport, so I was ready for mucho cervezas when we got there.  The place was beautiful, and the weather was perfect.  It all went so fast and now its back to the grind.  Many thanks to the Grandma and Grandpa for the babysitting and everything else.

Getting Ready for Valentines

With Valentine's Day approaching quickly, the kids are tasked with making boxes that will hold the Valentines they receive from their classmates.  For most people this is kind-of a hassle because you have to go find a bunch of supplies.  But most people don't have Grandma Kari...   She showed up with a massive amount of cool things that the kids were able to use for their project!  Thanks Kari for the supplies and for the help ;)

Sledding and Superbowls

Before settling down with the rest of you to watch the big game, we decided to do some sledding at the hill across the street.  This video has me, Katie, Andrew, and our neighbor-girl all in ONE sled.  We were cruising pretty fast toward a tree and I had to plant a foot to slow us down and change course, which is what causes all the snow to drench us (and the camera).

(And yes, that ridiculous groaning is me)

More Snow

Dumped on today.  Andy was an enthusiastic shoveler.

Lots of snow and Secondteen

We got ourselves a good-ol-fashioned blizzard today.  I'd say its about a 4 on a scale of 1-10 but it still qualifies.  School is closed.  Kids are home.  Unfortunately I still have to work.

Andy woke me up this morning with this:

*Andy crawls into bed with me*

Andy:  Dad, are you awake?

Me:  Ughhh, what time is it?

Andy:  Mmmmm, abouuuut...  6:29

Me:  Awesome, what's up?

Andy:  I just named a new number!

Me:  Really, what's it called?

Andy:  Secondteen!

Me:  Cool, where does it go, what is it's value?

Andy:  It comes in place of twelve.  And I want to rename eleven to Firstteen too.

Me: Excellent, can I go back to sleep now?

Andy:  OK

While I was unable to really appreciate the value (no pun intended) of these new number names at the time, I think they make a lot of sense now.  I mean, who was the donkey that invented eleven and twelve...? They make no sense when compared to all the other 1s and 2s in the rest of the number system.

Guess what

I'm kinda desperate for blog topics this week.  Maybe I've just been working too hard.  So I took this picture, wondering if anyone can guess what it is...?

B.I.P.

This week Andrew was BIP (Berry Important Person) in his class.  Essentially, he gets to have a bunch of special  privileges throughout the week, like always being first in line, picked first, and stuff like that.  On the last day of the week (today) he gets to have a parent come to class and read a book.  I did the best "Sneeches" reading I could muster.  The kids were great and asked a ton of questions.  After the reading, mommy showed up with some McDonalds!  We pulled Katie from her class and had a family lunch in the cafeteria.   Good stuff.

Slideshow

Here are the pics from 2011...

(Tip:  you can view the slideshow in LARGE fullscreen by pressing:  in the bottom right corner of the YouTube window.)

Jab... Hook... Cross... HI-YAH!

More from MMA.  I'm hoping he becomes the next Chuck Norris.

Cookies

Today was a big day in America.  All across the country, homes were tuning-in to watch the Patriots battle the Ravens, and the Niners take-on the Giants.  The outcome would decide who would go to the Superbowl.  At the same time, millions of Girl Scouts were taking to the streets, knocking on the doors of these homes, and trying to sell the worlds most famous cookies.

Day one of Girl Scout cookies sales.

I gotta say, it ranks right up there with Black Friday, and the time I stood in line back in '80 for Empire Strikes Back.  Having only been on the buying end of Girl Scout cookies in the past, I was totally unprepared for how Hard-Core the Girl Scouts are about their cookie sales.  It starts with signing your life away for 50-or-so boxes of cookies.  After that, you basically sprint to the streets of your local neighborhood, trying to beat all the other girls who might be trying to move on your turf.  The true victims (or casualties) of this war are your poor unsuspecting neighbors who have to try to say 'no' these puppy-eyed saleswomen as they pile overpriced boxes of sugar on their doorsteps.  On top of it all, it was windy and in the 30s today here in Denver, so lets just say it wasn't the best weather for door-to-door sales.

That being said, Katie was awesome at it.  She was brave and confident as she knocked on doors until her hands were frozen.  Many thanks to our generous neighbors and family who said 'yes'.  Please eat-up and call us if you need any more... we still have a few boxes to sell.

LIFE!!!

Last night we played LIFE. We haven't played a board game together as a family in a while and it's funny to see how the kids personalities come out. We had a pretty good time making up names for all the kids we were having. I ended up with SIX boys! So many, that I had to start jamming them in between each other in the car...

26 Push-ups

Today in his Mixed Martial Arts class, Andrew's Master asked for a volunteer. Andy raised his hand, and the teacher asked him to come up and do Push-ups in front of the class...

After, the teacher told a story about how when he was once training under a Shaolin Monk. The Monk asked for a volunteer in a similar manner. The eager teacher (a student then) volunteered. The monk told him that he had volunteered to clean the bathroom. The lesson being: never volunteer until you know what you are getting into...

I have to admit, i was pretty impressed with Andy's ability to do 26 push-ups.

Dontcha just love APPS?

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

As I wade back into the depths of blogging, I have also been looking at applications on my phone that can help. As you all know, there sure are a LOT of apps out there. I have found a few really cool ones though.

JibJab (per the Star Wars vid above) is just so much fun. You can make all kinds of silly stuff really easily. If you like photos and if you like to create, you gotta check it out. Its not really an app, its a website, but it acts like an app.

Sincerely Inc is a company that makes apps focused on mobile photos (and printing them). The photobooth app (popbooth) in this post is from them. They have a cool postcard maker, card maker, and some other fun apps. I have some fun travel coming-up and I hope to make some good use of the postcard-maker.

Instagram is another very cool photo sharing platform. More akin to Twitter and Facebook, Instagram lets to share photos via mobile devices in a very mobile-relevant way. (The MMA photo and Text-A-Saurus were both edited/created through Instagram -- see below.)

Finally, the Blogger app is a must for anyone who uses Blogger. It is a huge time-saver.

Katie has been going NUTS with apps lately on her itouch. It seems like she has found every single free app in the universe. Since I have the download function pass-coded, that means a lot of "Daddy? Can I get this app?", and a lot of me entering in the password.

Skate City

Inspired by my sister's family, we decided to head over to Skate City in Littleton this weekend. I grabbed my sequined shirt and matching cowboy hat and we went looking for roller disco fun. I think Jen was having some wicked flashbacks since she grew up around there and used to go to Skate City as a kid. Not much seemed to have changed from Jen's descriptions. We had a blast both skating and people watching.

I was particularly impressed with my wife's skating ability. Now we can add Bowling AND Rollerskating to Jen's ninja list...

MMA

Andy has been taking Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) for about a half a year now. He really gets into it and is super intense about his training. Lots and lots of focus. Its great to see him take something so seriously.

Where are we?

From our trip in Dec to Copper, here's a clip of us on the ski lift. Not real exciting but im just trying to see if I can embed video...

Success!!!

Text-a-saurus!!!

So, I thought it would be a cool idea to give Katie texting capability on her itouch...

I cant really find good words to describe what has transpired since. The term, "Ive created a monster" feels like such an understatement.

Keep in mind that the only person she can text right now is me... so Im getting all of the activity.

This is forwarded from my iPhone today:

Jan 11, 2012 3:58pm

: What time will ur work be done?

: Dad!!!!!

: Yo Daddio!

:)

I'll be done at 530

: I need help with homework!

: Kk!

: I'm gonna hook up mom so we can text each other! But I'm doing it laterz. Love ya to my toes! -Katerz

Jan 11, 2012 4:02pm

: I want to be able to EDIT the blog. Like post pictures and ect.

: P.S. I would like to upload pictures to my iTouch :D

: Ya know, I'm texting ya in the basement! :o

: I'm upstairs now!

: Drew and mom r at KARATE! :D

: Now I'm at ur door!

: Peeking in!

Jan 11, 2012 4:05pm

: Now out!

: Done yet?

Super Socks

Here are Katie's socks...

Her Birthday

Took Jen to the Magnolia Hotel downtown for a night away to celebrate her birthday. We had a great corner room with a eye-opening view of the city. Being able to see so many people at once (by just looking from your window) is definitely a different kind of feeling from living in the burbs. We had a great time being alone together while surrounded by strangers. We drank copious amounts of wine while talking like James Lipton. We ate a lot of Garlic. We slept in. I can't overstate the value to having time alone together every once and a while. Happy Birthday Jennifer, I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Never leave your iPhone unguarded...

...or your wife might snap ya nappin'.