eternally chaotic

Princess Piper Turns Seven

Isi — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 01:52:48 +0000

This was Piper’s birthday weekend. The little princess has turned seven…Taylor Swift Style.

Piper wanted to have an evening out with the family and was insistent that bowling was the perfect thing. Why not. I haven’t been bowling in years. Friday after school and work we packed into the car and headed to the Lanes for a few rounds and a pizza. It was certainly fun to watch. Carol and I threw a few balls for the kids but mainly just let them take turns figuring out each and every way you can either throw or roll an eight pound ball down a slipper lane to knock over some stubborn white pins. All of them did pretty well for not really having any history playing. Violet whom had never played held her own and came in second to Jacob on the second game. Isaac threw the only strike of the night while playing with a sixteen pound ball, threw it down the lane and took out the lot of the pins. Great idea Piper.

Piper’s party for Saturday has been planned for a while. A great mix of Family and Friends. She chose pancakes and bacon for her meal and Taylor Swift as a theme. Outside of the labor of mixing enormous amounts of batter and flipping dozens of pancakes, I don’t think it gets much easier to cook for a large group – mix pour flip repeat.

Once breakfast was over we moved on to presents. Piper was in heaven and there was certainly a theme to the gifts. Barbie dolls, Mermaids, Pretty Dresses, Music and Videos, Wigs, and Cowgirl Boots….OH MY!!!

A Card From Grandma and Grampa

The gifts were opened and cake awaited. Nom. Nom. Nom.

Happy Birthday!!!

The party didn’t really end here which would be typical. The day wound on. The girls congregated into the living room, adorned beautiful dresses, smatterings of make-up and high volume microphones and danced the afternoon away. And then the evening. And then the night. Hehe. They sang and danced and played all day. One Taylor Swift song after another.

Dancing

Singing

Karaoke

What a wonderful day. I cannot believe my little princess is now seven. Where do the days go.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PIPER!

A Surprise Birthday Indeed

Isi — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:17:58 +0000

It might have been a few months back but that certainly doesn’t change my admiration for Carol getting one over on me for my birthday. I was prepared the night before that the kids wanted to go to breakfast at the Rexall Grill for my birthday. Sounded great to me. We typically spend the day with each other just hanging out and sometimes have over friends and family. I recall specifically mentioning to Carol that I was looking forward to just something simple with the family this year and did not really want to have a get together or party – just a cake some time with the kiddos. Next time, as a husband should know at this point, I will tell her just the opposite of what I am looking for….

Now come Sunday morning, that appointed day of celebration, I am awakened by Carol, who appears to have been up for a while. A quick glance at the clock and I realize I got to sleep in as well. I am informed that the kids are awaiting my appearance so that we can all go eat. After breakfast we are going to meet meet Bill and Mary as Zach and Kari had stayed the night to hang out and play. All in the car. A Quick drive to the Grill which is crazy busy…I guess that is what you get on a Sunday mid-morning. We park next to a Ford F-150 and I remember mentioning to Carol that it looks just like Tim’s truck. Just a passing comment and we are having a conversation of our own on the way in. I grab the door, kids and Carol meander in and I follow. About ten steps in I glance Mary and then Bill. Thinking to myself it odd that we were going to be meeting them shortly…then I see Brian and Tim and Michelle and Rich and everyone else. Holy Crap. I just became the victim of a Surprise Birthday Party. Carol is awesome!!! Thank You Love!!!

Later that evening my day of celebration continued when the kids and Carol presented me with Gifts. Always thoughtful they are all amazing. Jacob went with a Dr. Who T.A.R.D.I.S cookie jar, Piper wrote me a story called “The Royal Family”, Isaac built me a model A-10 Warthog, and Violet painted me some pictures. All now decorate and protect my office. Carol shocked me with her gift. Truly and Utterly. I love honey. She worked somehow silently for weeks, if not months, collecting information and figuring out what the top honeys were around the world, including a sample of what is considered the best, The Royal Sidr Honey. Each was individually wrapped with a note describing where it was from, how and why it was ranked and what I could expect for flavor. Truly Amazing.

Thank you all for everything. It was fantastic to see everyone and this was certainly a birthday to remember….well that and the food was alright too.

I’m Taylor Swift!

Carol — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:25:13 +0000

Piper received a karaoke machine from Santa this year and absolutely LOVES it (thanks grandma for the idea ;o) we hear and catch her on it daily. One of her favorite singers is Taylor Swift, I have always told her since day one that she resembles her, (of course she loves this.) So here is a video of her “acting” shy while singing her favorite song by Taylor swift, “You Belong With Me”. Note, minutes prior she was jumping and dancing wildly while singing , lol. Enjoy.

No related posts.

Red Delivers Christmas Eve

Isi — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 04:57:35 +0000

Christmas this year introduced a new member to our family named Red. And NO to those of you thinking the unthinkable – the family head count remains at a solid seven, including the dog. This little persons name, after much enthusiastically and somewhat fanatical debate among existing family members was determined to be “Red”. Red the Christmas Elf. He would only be around for a few weeks out of the year, didn’t eat much and pretty much remained stationary throughout the day – at some point during the day, when our eyes were cast elsewhere, he would just vanish until the next morning. Red had some specific rules about being touched or bothered as well – certainly the kids were to strictly forbidden to touch him and to leave him alone lest he lose his observational and somewhat magical powers granted by the spirit that is Christmas. Red’s job was to cast a watchful eye upon his family, take score of the good versus bad and report back to some higher power a recommendation as to which list each household member might befit. Somehow during his strictly “observational” process he would always find a way to cause mischief and leave a mess.

Two nights before Christmas however, Red left something additional in each of the stockings of the Children of the Corn. A gold dipped envelope containing a silver inked letter from The Man himself. Now was the time of reckoning. The time of knowing. Was it the good list or the bad. What did Santa think? What did he know? When we opened our weary eyes the next morning would they sparkle and shine from majestic reflection of silver and gold or be dim from broken hope and disappointment.

Each of the Children red aloud so that we might know.
Only two more nights to go.

We must have been doing something right,
As when we gathered together for Christmas night.
We found a letter attached to our tree.
A letter that could only be from He
Was attached to our tree.
What might it say, what could it be,
this letter attached to our tree.
Opened and red by Carol Lee
Was this letter attached to our tree.
Inside was a riddle that brought us to glee.
A mystery that we must unravel to see,
why the letter was placed in our tree.
Through the house the children did chase,
To find the wrapped boxes Red did place.
Each in turn leading back to the tree
Where displayed for all to see,
was a cleverly disguised box holding a Wii.

After the paper was cleared and calm was restored, midnight munchies were set out for Santa and the reindeer. A concoction of cookies, fresh oats, granola and some whole milk – a taste that goes straight to the mid-section and was likely the reason there are nine reindeer instead of eight….also a taste shared by Uno. He sampled the goodies but we didn’t mention that to the kids. It’s hard to tell the difference between teeth marks from a Red Nosed Reindeer or a Sheppard.

In the end Red delivered his report to the Big Man at the north pole and at some point during the year, unbeknownst to their parents, the Children of the Corn must have been good little boys and girls!!!

Merry Christmas Eve.

Flying on Smencil

Isi — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:52:50 +0000

A recent foray into the kids school yesterday to return a book bag overlooked by its rightful owner upon exiting the van while hastily headed to stand in a magical line. Said book bag in hand I signed into school and applied my sticky name badge identifying myself as non-hostile. It was then that I noticed an unusually large number of kids standing in line around a corner, a destination somewhere unseen, and sound decibel levels near rock concert pandemonium. Earlier the kids were excited about purchasing a special pencil at the book store before class so I figured Piper, the rightful owner of the abandoned book bag, would be in line somewhere. Searching, I was passed by kid after kid, each with a pencil in hand, or tucked up under their nose, all sniffing heftily. The line continued down a hall and around a corner and at the end I saw the destination of each of the queued – an ordinary looking table, attended by ordinary looking teachers, selling ordinary looking pencils. But wait. The kids near the front of the line were vibrating with joy and excitement. Looking past each ahead with both envy and hatred that they might reach their destination first and by chance deplete the stockpile of tabled treasure. I heard then from the peddlers up ahead, a dreadful announcement, “Only three left”, followed by a roar of elementary curses and a crushing push from those in line trying to rush the table in a last ditch effort to get their clammy hands on the last of the vehicles of their writing desire, the type of rush you would expect when Great White uses pyrotechnics on stage. It was at this moment that I learned of the connection between this now hysterical line and what our kids had been robbing piggy banks and having lucid dreams for. Smencils. These crafty little gems things are drugs but for entry level fiends. These magical little rolls of graphite surrounded by wood and topped with a squishy colored eraser might as well be laced with Florida Snow or Fatty perfectly disguised for private consumption for the level of obsession they insight. The line alone to purchase one of these was on par with how the Mac-ites enthusiastically lines up days ahead to offer paper donations to their fruity deity. I finally caught up to my bag-less princess and her brother skipping their way to class from the now broken line of envious onlookers. They were not in the lucky bunch to get a hit but both were optimistic that the next time the peddler came to bear gifts that they too might be able to fly.

Sheep with the Curly Horns

Isi — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:06:12 +0000

Today Violet performed in her school nativity play as the “Sheep with the Curly Horns”. They have been practicing on and off since the end of October and it certainly showed. She was very serious about her performance and we even saw her lip-syncing other classmates parts while they were singing or talking. Violet thought the Sheep with the Curly Horns was very cool and was excited to play this part even though it meant she would have to do a solo part. We are very proud of her.

A Gift of Myrrh

Isaac’s Writes About Uno

Isi — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:59:35 +0000

We found a story in Isaac’s school work about our family dog, Uno. He loves to watch and play with Uno and we guess he has recently noted one of Uno’s special fall time activities. Our precious family k-9 has taken to befriending his pillow bed in a somewhat feeble attempt to sate his masculine urges. I have to wonder what goes though his head when this happens. Whenever we see Uno partaking in his enjoyment we stop him quickly but I am curious what the kids think he is doing…..Hiyo Silver….Away.

Uno’s Recovery

The Ninjas

Isi — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:06:15 +0000

Jacob wrote a story recently for school about some time we spent playing in the yard. I thought instead of writing something up along with the pictures and video I would just use his story. Let him know what you think.

2010 was the year that I got my dad two katana swords for his birthday. Which I thought was really cool. The sad thing is that I didn’t get to play with them until last Saturday. Also because it was one year since I had got those swords. They’re really cool and it was worth the waiting! They are made of white oak which is a very strong type of wood. One of the swords is over half the weight of the other! I could barely lift it. Well, anyway I asked my dad, “Can I get the ninja swords out and play with them?”. “Gosh, I totally forgot about them!”, dad replied. “Well, all right.”

I found the swords in the closet next to mom’s bed. I ran downstairs in a fury to get to the backyard, with the swords in my hands! Dashing to go get dad. I suddenly run into the door and I fell butt first onto the floor. “I must be too excited”, I thought to myself. I stood up and opened the door and ran outside to get dad, this time without bonking my head on something.

I find dad at the grill cooking steaks. I say, “Dad, look. I got the swords. Here, you take the heavier one. I want the lighter one so that I can swing it faster.” Dad takes the sword and says “Sure okay” and then we head down to the yard. First, dad thought me some moves with the sword. Moves like the upper slash and the stab. Before we fought for real, we practiced attacking each other, seeing if we could block the attacker’s sword. When I was ready dad said, “I think you are ready now” and he started our battle off with a swing which I blocked.

Next, we fought like Dark Vader and Luke Skywalker, deadly foes. Then, my brother, Isaac, joined in. Before Isaac and I fought dad, dad gave Isaac his sword which was the heavier one. I offered to trade him with my sword because it was much lighter. I thought it would accommodate him better because he is not as strong as me. We started to fight dad who now had a Nerf foam sword instead of a wooden one. Since Dad has more experience with this type of stuff he was very much winning. That was until Isaac had a very fast and frightening blow to Dad’s finger which we think broke it but we are not sure. Dad kept on fighting but, eventually he surrendered and we were victorious.

It was fun fighting with them. Jacob was never very aggressive with the sword but Isaac most certainly was. He had not fear and kept coming and coming. He smashed my knuckle in one of these attacks, a crack that stayed blue for nearly a week, I think I know who gets the foam sword next time.

Leisurely Labor Day

Isi — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:27:08 +0000

The kids are back in school, summer is at its height and the daily scheduled grind has taken hold. Thank goodness for the break brought by Labor Day. We had not ambitious plans and wanted nothing other than to spend some time with the kids and enjoy our time off. There was plenty to do however that we talked about through the summer but just couldn’t fit in so we planned to take full advantage of our few days of free time and get in some activities with the CoTC. Specifically we wanted to see the DragonCon Parade, Atlanta Aquarium and Stone Mountain Laser Show.

DragonCon was back in town and while I would have preferred to have purchased tickets and gone sightseeing at the actual show, it was cost prohibitive to take all the kids – even if the cost was right there was no way I was taking them to wait for tickets in the six hour line that literally wrapped around the block. The parade was a good second and something I had never seen as well. The kids loved it. We found a nice spot to watch above the road and behind some glass that we were able to squeeze in to – certainly better than being at ground level with four munchkins that couldn’t see over a shrubbery. The costumes were pretty awesome and all of us had our favorites. Jacob took the only pictures with his camera and the rest of us just soaked it in.

Next up was a walk to the Atlanta Aquarium. We had been planning to take the kids here all summer but just couldn’t find the time to do it. Labor Day probably wasn’t the wisest choice in timing though as it was packed wall to wall with people. Crazy. Oh well, tickets had been purchased already online so at the very least we were able to bypass the ridiculously long entry line and head straight in. Having been many times in the past we were hoping to see some of the new exhibits that had been added such as the dolphins but they were not open unless you purchased another ticket specifically to view them. We instead took our time strolling from room to room and soaking up the sites. Many times just sitting in front of a particular wall and watching everything swim around. We managed to time our trip to the main viewing room of the large tank in time for the feeding of the massive whale sharks. The biologist would drop buckets of krill onto the surface and the whales would basically inhale massive amounts of water and filter it through their gills each eating twenty pounds or so of these obviously delicious morsels per bite.

We did not end up going to Stone Mountain as it started raining early in the evening. With the laser light show changing this year to something new and supposedly now in a type of 3-D where it looks like they are inside of the mountain we were bummed and will hopefully get to check it out before the season ends.

All in all a great weekend with the family. Lots of time away from the house but also plenty of time at home to just take it easy and chill.

Reading Rewarded Rightly Riding Roller Coasters

Isi — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 01:20:30 +0000

The kids are challenged by their school to read, read, and read even more. All in an effort to get them reading at or above the state mandated reading recommendations for their age group and class. The program is called “Read to Succeed” and requires the kids to read six hours of material over two months. We take the program a step farther and turn reading into a nightly bedtime requirement. Thirty minutes before lights out the CoTC head up to their rooms, grab their latest chapter book, board book, Lego magazine, game manual, or whatever might float their fancy for the evening and partake in some serious forced leisure time. More often than not they pass through several books during this time and certainly rack up more hours than required by the program. The reward for this challenge is a free ticket to Six Flags Over Georgia. That is quite a great deal for us as well since kids tickets run $45 and adult tickets are $54. Lump that into a quick buy one get one free coupon for Carol and I and we end up getting a day of fun for something we would enforce regardless of the program requirements.

Our family outing to partake in combating Georgia heat exhaustion while getting our thrills happened to be this weekend. Everyone was excited and pumped to go. We spent the evening prior with the boys watching various rides on YouTube so that they knew what they were getting into if they decided to ride some “real” roller coasters. Isaac thought there were all cool but wanted nothing to do with actually riding one. Jacob adamantly wanted to ride the Mind Bender. The girls had recently been to Kings Island in Ohio with Grandma and Grandpa and were psyched as well to see what Six Flags had to offer. Weather checked, bag of snacks and water packed, sunscreen applied, we headed out toward adventure.

The day at the park was fantastic. It was certainly hot though. Carol packed two bottles of water and we refilled them all throughout the day at various concession stands – pretty cool of the park to allow that without charge as well. We didn’t have to worry about getting dehydrated – water was plentiful and available. We started off with a ride down the log plume to get wet before walking through Looney Tunes Land. On the way to Looney Tunes Land we came upon our first coaster, the coal mine train. All of the kids except Isaac were pumped and could not wait to get their turn with seating arrangements being the most important topic of discussion. Isaac lost his nerve somewhere between home and the park and was certainly not interested in riding. Choice not given I kept my arm around him and assured him that “of course there are no hills or drops. Absolutely it is going to be smooth and not bounce us all around…and no it certainly does not go fast….”. Getting off, I agree with him that it was WAY to rough for a “little kids ride” but I actually thought the ups and down were fun….

The rides in the kids section were pretty fun. Piper, Isaac, and Violet all had a blast riding them. Jacob however was about six inches too tall to ride them so he took a walky talky and headed off to spin in circles on one of the few kiddie rides that he could get one. We were all able to get on a ride suspended by long cables that spun needlessly in nausea inducing circles over and over and over. Next was Thunder River, a large metal platform bolted on top of an even larger inner tube propelled spinning down a rapid moving river while “workers” on all sides shot at you with water cannons and accidentally misplaced rocks kept you careening back and forth to ensure that all aboard were soaked through by the various water waterfalls. Good stuff.

It was starting to get late and we wanted to get our chance on some coasters as well…who said the kids got to have all the fun. Next was the Goliath. The night before Jacob made a gentleman’s agreement that he would ride but I think the overwhelming size of this monster with its ups and downs rattled his rambunctious attitude towards it. We tried to change his mind but he was set. Carol did a loop on her own – Violet and Piper wanted for the life of them to join her but the requirements were a pretty tall order with Jacob barely making the cut even though he didn’t ride…Next time Girls. I was hoping that Jacob would begrudgingly ride it with me but such was not the case and we moved on to the Mind Bender.

When we arrived the lines were empty and it was open picking for the seats. We had Piper and Violet measured as well. Piper was plenty tall enough but Violet was under by about 4 inches or so. They said it was okay with them if we didn’t care. Violet really wanted to ride so why not right. Carol took Piper and told Jacob he could ride with her on the next run. Once they took off the lady on the platform said it was last call, take this train or head on out. Sadly we found out they closed an hour earlier than we were expecting. Jacob wanted to ride even though Carol wasn’t back and he strapped into the front seat. I was with Violet a few rows back. Everyone bolted in we headed out just as Carol and Piper got back. This was Jacob’s first real coaster ride and he was pretty excited. I think that wore off pretty quick though once we dropped down the hill and headed for the small loop. Carol said she could see him and he was bunched down in the seat holding on for dear life, face filled with terror. Poor guy. I think my daddy senses failed me this time for Jacob and Violet both. Violet and I were not ready for the first loop at all. She loved coming down the big drop but the loop folded us both in half. Her from the sheer force of it and me trying to protect her. Certainly she was too small for this ride…Lesson learned. She enjoyed the rest of it though and the second loop we were ready for and it wasn’t so bad. She got off a little scared but within thirty minutes was talking it up and reliving the details. Jacob finished the ride and needed some attention and calming when we got back to the station. Certainly not a wise decision on my part to let him ride solo, let alone in the front seat. He calmed down on the ride home and was no worse for wear with the exception that a lens had ejected from his glasses frames at some point on the ride. I guess that is my penance for the bad decision. Sorry buddy – I should have known better.

An interesting part about the Mind Bender was that Violet rode it. Sadly the thing that she loves, horses, also had a ride at the park but she was not big enough in the parks eyes to get to ride the Carousel of all things. She picked out this awesome blue horse right next to her brother and sister but was not allowed to ride it because it went slowly up and down as carousels are want to do. I had to move her to a stationary horse and have my hands holding her at all times or they would make us get off, all the while with her asking me with tears welling up in her eyes why “can’t I ride that one daddy, it is moving up and down”. Really Six Flags….. REALLY. YHGTBFKM… IT IS A CAROUSEL RIDE….

All in all we had a GREAT time at Six Flags. It might not have ended on an up note but the fun had throughout the day was not lost on everyone. We stopped on the way out and let the kids pick out a souvenir before heading home.

We had eaten a big lunch before leaving for the park and snacked all through the day. When we got in the car though, six bellies called out at once for food. It was about 9:30pm and hunger had set in. We made a quick pit stop by the airport to pick up Grandma and then found relief for our growling bellies at Taco Mac. Lots of water and some yummy food later we had two that were falling asleep sitting up and two that had found reserve energy and were going a thousand miles an hour. Once their heads hit their pillows at home though, they knocked out within seconds. No whining, no crying, nothing except sweet silence.

Kids asleep. Dog inside. Doors locked. Grandma tucked in. Quick shower. Then we passed out as well….Good day indeed.