YaYa's 6th Birthday Party

October 19th we held YaYa's 6th birthday party at a local hotel. By her own choice she went with the spaceship room. While not intrinsically 'girly', we built a theme of 'reach for the stars' around the room itself.

It was to be the first bday party where everyone (well, every girl) in her class was invited, and we wanted it to be special.

Note the alien favors and straws - courtesy largely of Lisa's expertise on Ebay.

The party started with an hour of swimming, heavily supervised by the adults.

Then it was time for a dinner of Little Caesar's pizza.

Then YaYa sat on a 'moon rock' and opened her presents, with the giver taking a seat next to her. There were a LOT of presents.

[note: parent's fave: 20Q, the handheld game of 20 questions that seems to read your mind]

Most of the girls then went home while a handful remained behind for a sleepover. Lisa gathered them up and read a science-themed space book to them about a trip to the moon. To my surprise, the girls' really liked it, participating in the telling and asking questions.

Then it was off to sleep, with Parker and I slipping home for a guys night out, er, in.

The next morning was both Lisa's and my Dad's birthdays, but as I took the family to Copper Kitchen for lunch we got word that my sister Katie had been in a car accident.

Nothing but bumps and bruises, thank God, but that ended many of our plans for the day.

All in all, I think YaYa had a great birthday party and I hope her friends enjoyed it too.

Little Ms. Tough Girl (and friend) Asleep

The House of Books

I'm posting this for no other reason save the fact that I thought this was quite an engineering feat by YaYa. It's a 'house of cards' made of books and I liked it a lot.

Happy Anniversary to my Parents

[Image not available]

Yeah, it's not the prettiest graphic, but you try searching for 37th anniversary pics . .

Anyhow, today is the 37th Wedding Anniversary of my parents (congrats to them)!

As simple math'll tell you, they were married on this date in 1970 (the day of the Marshall football team airline crash) and remain together to this day.

Seems like just yesterday the whole family celebrated their 25th anniversary . . an event easily remembered since the entire family had food poisoning the day of the event, complete with stomach pain and vomitting, and my Dad couldn't even make it to the dinner . . my sister, who was to host the event, was worse off then I was and so I picked up the duty, cracking a joke to the crowd about how my Dad finally got cold feet, a quarter century too late . . probably wasn't as funny in person as I remember it, given that 12 years ago I was a shy, ill-spoken young man.

Anyhow . .

I must say since my Mom went into the hospital their love is pretty apparent, as Dad visited her every day without fail . .

So Congrats to them and a sincere wish for 37 more years together!

* * * *

My Mom is home, btw, and yesterday she and I went for a walk. She made it to the far end of the block and back and I was very happy with her effort . . plus she wanted to show off how much weight she had lost (~60 pounds) since the ordeal started. Without meaning to sound mean, the eight loss is very evident. She has the makings of a 'normal' figure, whereas before she was bloated and often draped herself in nightgowns for convience sake, giving the appearance of no form at all.

Odd I never noticed, but my Mom is very petite. Not a large woman in frame or height. It is a wonder of science that a 6'3" very large framed man (regardless of weight) could come from her and a 5'11" medium build father . . go figure.

Good thing I have the same behind-the-left calf birthmark as my Mom, and the same ears as my Dad or I'd wonder . . . j/k

:)

The Quest for the Missing Wood Carving

You wanna know how my family spent the half hour before dinner last night?

Trying desperately to finagle a wood carving we'd bought in Nassau out from the bottom of a 10"x 6", 10 foot deep gap in our floor.

The hole is the remnant of a discarded cold-air return vent in our dining room. With the remodel it was re-routed, and only the before mentioned 10" x 6" opening remains. It's covered by a reasonably heavy metal grate, but if you get past that it's a straight but narrow shot straight down into a gap created between the foundation and the newly-installed shower in the basement.

My son - whose Dennis the Menace hijanks have now slipped past cute into anger-inducing - decided over the course of several weeks to dump the statue, numerous utensils, an earring from YaYa's halloween costume, pencils, markers, and God knows what else into this hole.

I spent days searching for that carving and even looked up a reasoable look-a-like online for $49. I was OBSESSED with finding it and until Parker dumped something down the hole in front of me I never thought of the grate - after all, I didn't think he was strong enough to lift it.

So I spot the statue and we start a Baby Jessica rescue party, sans life-threatening situation.

Lisa twisted wire hangars together into a 12 foot pole with a hook on the end (oh, did she hate those dry-cleaning hangars before that - Faye Dunaway style - but didn't they just come in handy?) and started the rescue.

YaYa and I both dismissed the attempt as doomed to fail, and I had visions of having to hack into the shower wall. . .

But she got the dang thing up.

She actually retrieved it. Kudos to her.

And when I showed Parker the carving, hoping for a sign of remorse?

Just a glint in his eyes and a maniacal smile.

Slapinions 3rd Anniversary!

November 9th marked the 3rd anniversary of this journal. I'd like to thank everyone who's stopped by and/or commented.

I greatly enjoy doing this and I only wish I had more time to devote to it.

Here's to another year of Slapinions!

Lauren Gets her Ears Pierced!

Tomorrow is our Xmas picture, so at the last minute we found a babysitter (Our friend Chris) and took Lauren to WalMart to have her ears pierced. Both of her sisters had it done promptly at two months, so we were a bit late with the newest addition.

Unfortunately, our 3 south side stores were unable to do it (one wanted immunization records!) so we wound up all the way at the Capitol Drive location, clear across Milwaukee.

We picked out a pair of heat-shaped diamond (like) earrings and away we went. Here are the last photos of a non-pierced Lauren:

And then the event began:

She looks happy, no?

But all that lasted about as long as it took to hit the shutter. It helped that they did both the ears simultaneously.

Her crying ended the minute a bottle found its way into her mouth. The ladies gave her a 'Certificate of Bravery' (which was darn cute!) and we thanked them and returned home.

Here's a side shot of the new bling-bling:

Some shots with the Folks

How cute are these!

Just one shot of Beauty

Pics of My Lovely Baby

These were all taken since last Saturday in an attempt to document her smile (which showed up for the first time Sept 23rd)

Please bear in mind that the mess around my darlin's collar is from a recently cleaned up spitup - we do keep our kids relatively clean. And the red eye . . man, I need to get my software running at full speed.

Meanwhile, just focus on the face people, focus on the face!

 

Parker Update

I hope to do a full post later (yeah, right!) but a quick update on my in-house Maker of Trouble and Mayhem:

We took him to the ear doctor and his left eardrum did not vibrate, a sign of potential fluid behind the ear. He was also placed in a soundproof room (on Lisa's lap) where he responded to different audio frequencies coming from speakers around the room. On low pitches to his right he did not flinch or respond at all. He scored a 20, which is the minimum for 'effective' hearing, but it was an average based on some high scores mixed in with some very low ones.

The results are inconclusive, in part because he was just coming off an ear infection. He'll be retested again after three weeks.

* * * *

YaYa and Lu got their report cards today, and not a black mark or below average assesment on them! (admission: Lu actually had one, related to her speech development. But since her lisp is not her fault and we intend to ask about speech therapy, I do not consider it a mark against her on the report).

Their school photos came in too - I'll try to scan and post them at a later date.

One Year!

It's now been 365 days since I quit smoking.

 I last inhaled or even held a lit cigarette a year ago today, on the cusp of departing for our Disney vacation. I never thought I'd succeed; honestly I'd have bet money on my lighting up the minute I returned home to Milwaukee.

It didn't happen, and I'm duly proud.

Sure, it killed my diet and I'm now a minimum of 60 pounds heavier than I was then, but what the hey . . . it was still worth it. At least now when I hack I know it's a cold and not tar waiting to be expelled.

How's that for a visual?  :)

It ain't always rosy

Lest you fear I'm shortchanging you on the reality of life with kids, here's a recent email exchange between me and my priest following Mass on Sunday.

    
    Were your two little dears having problems yesterday? I saw that
you had to take them outside.
    Fr. Greg

Fr. -

I'm not sure I'd classify them as 'dears' yesterday. The oldest began a
quiet chant of 'go home', the 4 year old claimed she had to go the
bathroom multiple times, and they both argued over who was going to hand
in the weekly check - all during Mass.

Most of the time they are very good and in fact the 4 year old will
often sing along; sometimes they're not so good. But they both object to
the 'indignity' of sitting in the crying room so I guess I'll have to
take the good with the bad.

Talk to you later,

Dan

Dan - When I saw you come in, I thought "I wonder if Dan knows that there is
open space right in front, on the west side"; but then there's that
parental worry of getting to the front pews so the little ones can see,
only to have to get up and left because "I have to go potty.....NOW!".
My heart goes out to parents! I wish I could find a solution for the
kids being in front where they could see and a bathroom nearby. Also,
how do I get people who should not be in the "crying room" out of
there...............
 

And a letter from Lisa this past Tuesday:

 saw you called at 4:30 or so...I was still gone...I'm back now...what an ordeal

wanted to take the kids out because I just didn't want to cook . . anyway, they fought about where to go, then I decided on Boston Market, because it's where I wanted to go...figure its at the beginning of a pay period and I would feel the crunch later...

anyway, got there and it was promissing, the two girls ordered their food respectfully, and smartly, one had green beans, chicken, and mac n cheese, the other chicken, broccoli and mashed potatoes....parker i got meatloaf, mac and cheese and broccoli...

 

things were going ok....then LuLu noticed gravy on her potatoes, and did her usual LuLu FREAK, then parker started getting up to roam everywhere....enter screaming infant and gawking onlookers, then ask YaYa to get napkins, find her opening up drawers everywhere....

 

time to pack up, done or not....oh well, i got most of my meal down...take theirs to go....get everything packed up in the bag, all the while holding a lauren bottle (forgot a prop blankie)....then parker offers to carry the bag, aw what a good boy....then he has a fit, dont have any clue why (although I think it was something YaYa did but she denies it), he shakes the bag, and THROWS IT across the restaurant, food spills out everywhere in the bag.....YaYa and LuLu still opening up the drawers under the soda area....

 

ugh...I made it home...what a pain!

Parker is at the 'seek and destroy' age . . LuLu is at the 'nothing makes me happy, woe is me!' era, and YaYa is subject to periodic meltdowns along with a day in/ day out tendency to assume she has the power and rights of a grown up.

And Lauren's just a pill, 'least at night :)

Case in point: last week we had Lisa's Dad and step-mom over for dinner to celebrate both Lisa's and YaYa's birthday's . . midway through the night, when told a single wrapped gift wasn't hers, YaYa MELTED DOWN. .

she locked herself in her room, went completely limp as dead weight when taken downstairs, screamed and squeeled . . she hasn't had a fit like that in at least a year, so NATURALLY she choices to do it in front of two people who see her only 4 or 5 times a year.

No way they don't think less of her and of our parenting, their protests to the contrary notwithstanding.

Anyhow, it's no picnic, but I wouldn't trade 'em in.

'Course, I don't have to spend all day with them either :)

Halloween 2007

Last year I did a Super-Size post on Halloween; not so this year, as I took my wife's advice and 'lived in the moment' sans camera.

I did however take a few shots at home.

For the first time in 20 or more years I got fully gussied up for Halloween, tearing apart an old suit and going as The Zombie, for which I earned rave reviews (even from strangers).

Note Parker hanging on the Zombie . . it was the first year Little Man and I attended the girls' school Halloween party.

LuLu went as Dorothy, a long-time favorite among the kids.

While Park went, as you saw, as SpiderMan, albeit a Spiderman who growled and moaned like a Zombie most of the night.

YaYa went as Princess Jasmine from Aladdin, complete with authentic Arabian belt from ArabFest.

Lis went as a witch.

and Lauren would later (the next day) go as a Pumpkin.

The party cost me nearly $25 between admission and some minor snacks. In return there were game and coloring tables, a Haunted Hallway (toned down whenever my kids went through:  Parker didn't even blink on his two trips, LuLu was a little put off, and YaYa went in and out of itso many times by the end they gave her the full scare treatment). Beginning at 7:30 there was a DJ and I joined the family for the Chicken Dance and Hokey Pokey.

A very nice time.

The next night we departed the house to attend the annual paid nightime trick-or-treat (see the 2006 entry). It is a much beloved tradition, and something we look forward to . . BUT  . . .

As we walked out the door we noticed dozens and dozens of trick-or-treaters on my block.

Turns out my new neighborhood hosts a nightime trick or treat - a rarity in Milwaukee - and so we skipped the planned event and went trick-or-treating around our immediate area. Late in the game I returned home to get the camera, soley because it was Lauren's first trick-or-treat.

Lots of decorated houses, lots of participating homeowners, lots of friendly faces. A few folks recognized us as the 'new people' in the neighborhood and introduced themselves.

YaYa had decided to wear her new Bratz Wheelies (a gift from her Godfather Tre) out on the trick-or-treat. By and large it was fine, if a little nerve-racking on stairs, but near the end she fell at one house (ironically on the first stair going up) and landed in a thorn bush, giving her a nasty bloody scratch on her left forearm. Combined with already being out past their standard 7 pm bedtime, it did not make her endearing company to be around.

After the scratch, and at the insistence of the kids, we went to Walgreens and overpaid for some candy to pass out on our own. The girls' then took turns passing out candy on our front porch (I had to object and stop LuLu from giving away all of her candy too).

Let me tell you: a very polite, courteous, and costumed group of kids of all ages and race. Everyone had a costume, everyone said 'trick or treat' and quickly thanked the girls, and many complimented their costumes. A vastly different crowd from SOME (by no means all) of our old neighborhood.

In fact, only one guy came by without a costume or candy bag. He pulled up on a bike and LuLu looked at him like "wtf are you doing?" before complying with Lisa's request to give the biker a piece of candy.

Even with a bedtime fit by YaYa it was a great night; so great in fact that no one objected to skipping the customary Sunday/daytime trick or treat the next day.

Happy Halloween!

Tags: Halloween, YaYa