Running with the girls

Mommy is out of town at a weekend retreat tonight and tomorrow night and the girls had a late nap, so... we all went for a run together!  I thought the girls could just ride in the bike trailer / stroller, we'd run down to see the Clydesdales, and then run back while listening to some Disney read-along stories.  Well, the first 3/4 mile went that way, but then Ada REALLY wanted to get out and run, too. 

She did great!!!  She probably ended up running more than 1 full mile (on and off) of the 4.8 it takes to run down to the horses and back.  Ellie got out ran a little bit along the way, too.  They both got some great praise from a pair of mommies running past, and got to put some dogs, and throw rocks over the bridge into the creek.  It was great!


But not very fast:
Time:    0:86:40
Distance:    4.85
Average Speed:    3.36
Average Pace:    17:52

Don't Panic!

Yesterday morning, my wife noticed a strange smell -- a "first day of winter furnace" smell.  Hmm.  Maybe we need a new filter, I figured.  I don't change those nearly as often as I should.  "I'll stop and pick one up after work.  Oh, and the other four things I've been meaning to pick up at the hardware store, too."

No problem finding everything on my list:

• Furnace filter
• New kitchen faucet nozzle
• New stopper for running toilet
• New ceiling fan light bulbs

When I got home, I went straight to work on those repairs without even taking my work clothes off.  Dunking my hands and shirt sleeves in cold toilet tank water; replacing the kitchen faucet nozzle over the disposal; up and down the stairs to replace the furnace filter; cleaned the bathroom sink drain with draino; etc.  Ada needed to go potty.  Helped out with that...



Something is wrong.

ACK!  My wedding ring!!  Where is it!??!

I should mention at this point that I've lost more than 55 pounds over the past year.  In the cold, my wedding ring can almost slip off.  I thought it was almost.  Yesterday it really slipped off.

I practiced my parenting patience tool:
Stop
Take a breath
And
Relax

OK.  Where have I been.  (Go back and read the list.  Toilet.  Sink.  Disposal.  Basement.)  Ugh.  The worst places you can imagine to have potentially lost a wedding ring.

Long story of searching and near state of panic later -- my ring was in an outside open pocket of my work bag.  As I'd slipped by bag off of my shoulder, it must have caught my ring just enough to pull it off.  I was so focused on getting chores done that I didn't notice right away.

Oh... and it turns out that in the midst of all that.  I discovered the furnace is broken.  No pilot light.  No power to the ignition module (which was just replaced last January).  So, we had a fire and spent the night with the gas oven on trying to keep the house warm.  I'll be calling the furnace guy in 40 minutes.

Skating

It took us until this year and the very end of this year's skating season, but we finally took the girls out ice skating at Steinberg Rink.





I was impressed that both of the girls got around walking in their skates just fine. In fact, it got my hopes up that they'd take the ice more quickly that I had imaged. But, they didn't. Both girls had an absolute blast out on the ice with Daddy supporting most of their weight.

Today's back pain has been totally worth the joy I got from having them argue over who got to go next, and finding out that Ada threw a fit when I took Ellie around for two laps IN A ROW without taking her in between.



By my fifth lap around, I thought I had a good position for crouching to keep my balance and not kill my back. I felt really low to the ice, like Anton Ohno!  By the end of the eighth lap, though, my hamstrings were starting to ache a little bit. (Still I ran 10.5 miles later that afternoon!)  Luckily, the girls were ready for lunch, so I got a reprieve.

Needless to day, next season, I think we'll get out a few more times.  I'll need some practice to get my back in shape for it.

Grandpa G. (part 1)

This past week, my Grandpa G. died. He was only 89, but that's a lot older than many people from his generation lived, I suppose. He wasn't in the best of health, but it did come somewhat unexpectedly. For the past few years, there's been a big rift in his children's (my parent's) generation, but yesterday I talked to one of my cousins and we've resolved not to let it impact our generation permanently like it seems to have our parents' generation.

This post is about memories of Granpa G.

• Since I can remember, Christmas was a time to get together at the farm house in Iowa where Grandpa G. was born, raised, married, had his kids, and lived until it just wasn't practical anymore about 7 years ago.
• At Christmas, the extended family all got together and stayed at the farm house. When I was little, I slept on a cot in the middle room upstairs with some combination of my sister and my three cousins. Usually I was in there with my sister and cousin Amy, who's nearly the same age my sister. Down the hall were either my parents or my aunt and uncle. On the pull out and couches downstairs would be my other two cousins and my other aunt. Sometimes, Amy's cousin would stay with us, too.
  
• We'd watch movies, play pool in the basement, go sledding on the rolling farm hills outside, and have an annual bowling competition.
• Christmas eve was always snowy.
• We'd pile into my aunt and uncle's fullsize van and one or two other cars and head into town for church. The service was a traditional Christmas nativity story told and acted out by the church youth. When I was little, I'd shift laps between my aunts and oldest cousin. The service always ended with silent night sung to the light of a hundred little white candles with waxed-paper guards for your fingers. I always let the wax drip on me so that I could play with it.
• After church, we piled back in the cars and van and headed back to the farm house for food and presents... but not before our own service using Grandma G's advent wreath and bible. The grandkids (those who could read) always did the reading. My Mom always lead the hymns.
• Christmas eve food was always incredible. Little smoked sausages in bbq sauce. Fudge. Scramble (aka Check Mix). Annis candy. One Christmas my Mom brought a new recipe of cheese dip with salsa and ground beef... that was a huge hit, though it only repeated for a couple of years.
• Our tradition is to do presents on Christmas Eve and stockings on Christmas Day. When we had really little kids, we start with the youngest. Out of respect, we started letting oldest go first later. I remember how unusual it seemed that my Mom and her older sister had both married younger men... and how weird it was when my other aunt married someone between my parents' ages. That broke things up in a weird way. Not bad. Just notable.
• Never on Christmas Eve, but I remember getting to sleep on the couch in the family room where we did all the present opening, eating, and TV watching. The room had a great fireplace in the garage wall. My grandpa and Dad regularly discussed how the hardwood that they burn in the midwest burns so much longer, but cooler, than the soft pine wood that my parent's burn in the Rockies. My Dad knew so much... The couch was black leather, but soft and comfy; and it always had this black and white and brown wool blanket that was warm and cozy. I always associate the couch and blanket with my eldest cousin, for some reason.
• On Christmas morning, we'd eat egg casseroles and coffee cake, then open stockings.
• My favorite present in Iowa... when I got the Omega Supreme Transformer.
  

Part 2 tomorrow...

Quick Birthday Post

Thank you to everyone that made my birthday party this weekend so much fun -- namely my wife, but also all the guests and entertainment.

I was suspicious that there was going to be a surprise party. First, there was Cherry Coke in the house. I only know one person who drinks Cherry Coke, and I'd planned for only two couples to come over for my birthday, not including him -- no offense Scott, I was just planning a much smaller party. Second, my wife was insistent on getting me out of the house for a while. Very pushy about it. But those were the only clues.

I had no idea that there would by 50+ people at the party!! No clue that my parents would drive all the way from Wyoming (not just for my birthday since our 3-month-old was baptized this weekend, too)!! And never could have imagined that there'd be a CLOWN!?!





She was there for the kids. ;)

It was a blast. Thank you to everyone who helped out. And that you, especially, to my wife. The party was great and made me feel very loved.

Blogging with Older Kids

I wonder what it will be like in 10 or 15 years when Ellie and Ada are old enough to read and potentially care about what their Mom and I blog about. Think we'll still be blogging in 15 years??!? Wild to think about, but it just occurred to me.

Super Dad!

I had both of the girls for a few hours on my own this weekend. That doesn't usually happen since Ada still likes to nurse every 2-3 hours (except today when she's been sleeping for the past several hours), but she will take a bottle on occasion. So, Mom went out to lunch with a girlfriend and the kids and dog and I stayed home for some valuable and enriching time together.



We were watching Monsters Inc.

Big Girl Hair

Last post for my barrage this evening...

Ellie's got a new hair cut.