Tales from the Homefront

Olympics

2012-07-22T08:32:00.001-05:00

We are extremely excited about the 2012 London Summer Olympics at the Johnson house. Last month both Lucy and Paige were captivated by the Olympic trials (specifically the gymnastics) and we have been counting down to July 27th ever since.

At the cost of my PBS Frontlines and multiple iCarly episodes, appropriate space has been made to DVR the Olympics. This week's Sports Illustrated Olympic preview arrived in the mail. It has become daily reading in our house ever since.

Knowing we will be keeping an eye on the TV more than normal I have started to research some crafts that we can work on while watching the games. More research is needed. So far I have come up with taking a cup, wrapping it with tin foal, and stuffing it with yellow and orange paper to make a torch. The other project is painting paper plates the various colors of the Olympic rings and cutting them into circles.

I found this article, 6 Olympic Sports Your Kids Can Try. The article discusses archery, water polo, fencing, and water polo. It might be a couple years before our girls give any of those sports a try, but they have put in a couple years of preparation for a relatively new Olympic sport, the trampoline.

While many people love the Olympics, there may be some genetics ties to the girls interest in the Olympics. Lib and I both grow up enjoying the games. A couple memories include my crush on Shannon Miller from the 1992 and 1996 games. Amazing that those games were 16 and 20 years ago! I also remember watching some of the games 8 years ago while we were on our honeymoon.

We hope you enjoy the games as much as we do. Here is a link to the schedule of events. Go team USA and with a Mary Lou Retton in our house we will be sure not to miss a minute!

Two ways to tell it

2012-07-13T21:47:00.001-05:00

HBO has a new series, The Newsroom, that despite not having HBO (Watched the first show on a Blockbuster promo and the second in a hotel. Still haven't watched the third episode) I am quickly falling in love with. Aaron Sorkin, writer of The West Wing and A Few Good Men, among other messages is trying to tell us that there aren't two sides to every story. He claims, and I agree, that some stories have three sides or five or one. He is calling upon the news to report the truth and call out idiots, not just report on the idiots trying to grab headlines. For example if a democrat makes a big deal and claims the world is flat, Sorkin says the news should say he is wrong not post a headline (as they often do) "Democrats and Republicans can't agree on shape of world."

My last post was the week before I ran Grandma's Marathon. Tonight's post, despite getting off topic as early as the first paragraph, is a recap of my race. The Newsroom intro was used for three reasons. First, to profess my love for the show. Second, to recommend you check it out. Third, to say despite Sorkins message my marathon story can be told in two ways.

The positive version (the one I am hoping to remember in the long run):
Grandma's Marathon, run on June 16th, was my second marathon. My first was the Twin Cities Marathon last fall. I ran the Twin Cities Marathon in three hours and fifty one minutes. I ran Grandma's in 3:42. Finishing any marathon is an accomplishment, so I am first proud to have now completed two. I am also proud to have improved my time by nine minutes.

The other true more painful version:
My goal was to run Grandma's Marathon in 3:30. A 3:30 marathon is running a 8 minute per mile pace for the whole race. Through 15 miles all my splits were between 7:29 and 7:55. I was flying along and feeling good. I crossed the half marathon mark four minutes ahead of pace (one hour forty one minutes versus goal pace of 1:45). Miles 16-19 were 8 to 8:20, slower but I will still ahead of pace.

At mile 20 I hit the wall. Hitting the wall as hard as I did was something I had never experienced before. My tank went to empty and all I wanted to do was lay down. 6.2 miles seemed like an impossible distance to travel to cross the finish line. It took me 20 minutes to complete my next two miles. The things that go through your mind are amazing. From hating yourself for ever trying to do a marathon, to swearing off running for the rest of your life, to moment of determination where you talk yourself into just picking up the pace until the next water station.

As I mentioned in the first version I finished in 3:42. The second half of my marathon took two hours, 18 minutes longer then my first half. Not ideal splits.

Duluth got cold during the race, so in addition to a slow last six miles my left nipple was bleeding. From all the exertion I just laid around and napped the rest of the day. Part of my training for future races will be to learn how to better manage my stomach post race!?!?! Here is a link to pics of the struggle: http://www.marathonfoto.com/index.cfm?action=site.login&RaceOID=13272012S1&LastName=JOHNSON&BibNumber=2532&utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=21%20Additional%20Savings%20Odds%20(3)&utm_content=&spMAILINGID=39435295&spUserID=MjY2MDc4MjIwMDIS1&spJOBID=150021096&spREPORTID=MTUwMDIxMDk2S0

Lessons learned from the race:
1) Each race in an opportunity. With all the preparation and time (for you and your family) that goes into running a marathon it is easy for race day to be a forgone conclusion. It is a huge day, of course, but I found myself thinking about race day so much that when it was time to race I felt I had been through it before. No matter how much I run in the future, I will never take a race day for granted.

2) Begin with the end in mind. I have read the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but this second habit didn't sink in to my running habits until after Grandma's. In an attempt to run a 3:30 I became very obsessed with my 10k split and my 13.1 mile split. I ran a hard first half to bank some extra minutes for the second half, but I never ran with mile 26 in mind. Knowing how hard those last miles are I would love to trade in all those 7:30 and 7:45 minute miles for 8 minute miles and feel stronger at the end

This recap certainly wasn't very "news worthy" but I wanted to tie a bow around the marathon post. I will be going for the 3:30 again at the Twins Cities Marathon. I have learned from this experience and I hope the TC Marathon story has only one side...a sub-3:30 time!

Clock…we got ourselves a game!

2012-06-15T20:56:00.004-05:00

Over the last couple years I have fallen in love with running. I hope to do many more blogs about running and what it means to me. Today I want to post about a race I am completing this weekend, Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN.

Grandma’s Marathon will be my second marathon. I have been training all spring and feel ready. Despite my optimism for the race there is always nervous energy the week before the race. My current challenge is that to deal with the nerves I would like to run. Unfortunately, I can't run too much because I am “tapering” or limiting my miles before the race.

I have turned to the elliptical, some yoga, and inspirational speeches on YouTube to burn off nervous energy and get myself prepared.

Being shorter than six feet tall and weighing less than 180 pounds I have found myself the underdog in most of my athletic endeavors. Standing with thousands of other runners at the start line of a marathon is no exception. There are numerous runners who are taller, leaner, and simply look faster. What I love about running is that it is an individual sports, with each running working to acheive their own goals. I am not competing against the other runners, but only against the clock. If I finish dead last but run my race and achieve my goals I am happy.

With that said, the clock is a very tough competitor. It is very consistent, never misses a beat, and is always there. When I stop to drink water it keeps going. When I run a slower mile it just keeps ticking. I have been training to beat you clock. Below is my favorite of my motivational speeches and it goes out to you...clock. We are all coming for you on Saturday in Duluth. We know you will be there doing your thing, but we are ready!

Good luck to anyone running this weekend, in Duluth or anywhere. If you pass me I hope I have the energy to give you a smile and good luck. Hope to see you all at the finish!

Words to my motivational speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60_vDsi9bW8

Here’s the thing that makes life so interesting,

The theory of evolution claims, “Only the strong shall survive.”

Maybe so… Maybe so.

But the theory of competition says, “Just because they are the strong it doesn’t mean they can’t get their asses kicked!”

That’s right!

See for every long shot, come from behind, underdog will tell you is this,

The other guy may in fact be the favorite.

The odds may be stacked against you. Fair enough.

But what the odds don’t know is this isn’t a math test.

This is a completely different kind of test.

One where passion has a funny way of trumping logic.

So before you step up to the starting line, before the whistle blows, and the clock starts ticking

Just remember out here the results don’t always add up.

No matter what the stats may say, and the experts may think, and the commentators may have predicted

When the race is on, all bets are off.

Don’t be surprised of someone decides to flip the script and take a pass on yelling uncle

And then suddenly as the old saying goes, “We got ourselves a game!”

When I was your age...

2012-05-21T21:16:00.001-05:00

As kids we all heard our parents use the phrase, "When I was your age..."

Sometimes the phrase was used to tell a story of how much the times have changed. Other times it was used to make use appreciate something we had that our parents didn't when they were kids. Most often (at least in the house I grew up in) it was used to add humor to a childhood story.

The most humorous of the "When I was your age" stories had to do with my dad's walk to school. I am confident that many other children have heard the tale of their parents' 15 mile uphill both ways stroll to school. When I saw the below picture on-line I laughed out loud and immediately thought of my dad. He is an above average story teller, and his version often included fighting off wolves (not pictured), which meant him and his brother had to walk back to back for safety.

In addition to wanting to post this funny picture of my dad's walk to school, I wanted to discuss that I am now experiencing "When I was your age" moments with Lucy and Paige. The first and most common is when Lucy or Paige touch the screen on our home computer and can't figure out why the cursor (that is what we called the "mouse" thing we used in my day) doesn't respond. They are both accustom to tablets or smart phones that have touch screens that they don't realize devices haven't always been that way.

A second example of this occurred when Lucy and I did a father daughter date to The Lorax. The movie was in 3D. I told Lucy that it was the first time I has watched a 3D movie. She just gave me a strange look. Her look said that she is only four and I am old so how could I have not watched a 3D movie yet with all those extra days I have lived.

I didn't even get into the fact that we were taking pictures of each other with our 3D glasses on with a portable phone!?!?

"When I was growing up phones were connected to the wall at home and they all had curly cords attached."

The third example of "When I was your age" that took place over the last couple weeks was when we went to Menard's to get some sand for the sandbox. Menard's now offers pink, blue, purple, and white sand.

On the drive home from Menard's I said, "Lucy and Paige, when I was your age we didn't have different colors of sand to choose from. We just had sand."

As you can see from the picture below they were unimpressed with my sand history lesson and happily went with pink.

I also remember that many of the stories about "When I was your age" drew upon memories of a simpler time. As I am now the person using this quote, I have two thoughts about growing up in a different generation. First, this generation like many before it will find a way to navigate all the new and different products and ideas. Secondly, the girls will have many more complex situations in their future that will leave me yearning for what I remember as a simpler time. Until those days roll around I am going to enjoy the 3D movie dates and the pink sand!

Stay-at-home dad article

2012-05-16T21:48:00.002-05:00

I came across this article today and I thought it captured my feelings about being a stay-at-home dad well. My favorite quote of the article is, "The hours are the pits and the pay stinks, but it's hard to complain about getting to spend time with your kids every day."

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2012/05/14/stay-home-dad-cory-byrom?hpt=hp_t2

The title of the article"Don't Call me Mr. Mom" isn't really discussed in the article. From my own experience, there are plenty of people that call me Mr. Mom after I tell them I am a stay-at-home dad. While I understand what they are saying and understand how the author of this article may take offense to being called that, it doesn't bother me much.

If anything it just strikes me as inaccurate versus insulting. People rarely mean harm with the comment (at least from my dense perspective). It is inaccurate because they have a mom, a great mom. Just because she has a full time job it doesn't mean that she is any less of a mom or needs to have some "Mr" do the "mom" work in the house.

As for me, the job title of simply Dad is more than enough.

If you give them an inch

2012-05-11T06:46:00.000-05:00

Everyone has heard the expression, "If you give them an inch, they will take a mile." All parents have experienced this with their children. You decide that they can have a cookie and they immediately ask for a second or third treat. The examples of this are endless.

Recently at a park Paige became very interested in the drinking fountain. For those of you reading this from Wisconsin, a drinking fountain is what we know as a bubbler!?!? Paige took multiple drinks and enjoyed turning the handle to watch the water go on and off.

At first I didn't understand what she was doing, but since that day at the park Paige has been trying to climb up onto the bathroom counter for a drink. After she brushes her teeth she turns the water on, climbs up, and sticks her head under the faucet. Eventually the light bulb went on and I realized she was trying to make the sink her drinking fountain.

If you give them an inch (in this example let them take a drink from a water fountain at the park),they will take a mile (assume all the sinks in the house are now their personal water fountains)!?!?!?!

Do Your Best

2012-04-15T23:32:00.004-05:00

With the warmer weather of spring we have been spending more time outside. I love the fresh air and the healthy activity level that outside play provides. All at a great price too...free!

In the winter typically it takes 30 plus minutes to get snow pants, boots, hats, gloves, etc on and if it is a cold enough day we are ready to come back inside after about 10-20 minutes of fresh air. In the spring and summer, the neighborhood is filled with kids running around and the hours of play seems to fly by.

This spring the girls received softball helmets and a set of bases from the Easter Bunny. "The bunny" got the wrong size helmets, so the helmets haven't made their debut yet. There are two challenges here. First, finding a place that had a good selection of sizes of pink helmets. Second, how to explain to an inquisitive 4 year old how you set up an exchange with the Easter Bunny!?!?!

This new equipment has led to frequent tee ball games in the back yard. They both love to hit the ball and run the bases. I love to pitch to Lucy, set the tee up for Paige, and chase them around the bases.

Growing up sports was a big part of my life. A lot of great childhood memories were created playing football at recess, shooting hoops with my brother, or playing baseball with extended family on vacations. I am excited to see the girls smiling and laughing while enjoying sports.

As I grew older and played high school sports I developed a real passion and intensity for the sports I played. I wanted to be the best player I could and when competing I wanted to win. I learned many life lessons from the hard work and ups and downs that come with sports.

Knowing that passion and intensity for sports exists in me I have often thought about how that may affect how I coach the girls. It is very important to me that we focus on the fun and doing your best with sports versus the win at all cost mentality that is often seen on TV. Frankly, if you watch enough ESPN the "refuse to lose" attitude is often praised in our sports heroes.

To step back for a moment, the girls are two and four so we aren't at a major crossroads regarding playing for fun or playing to win. It should be 100% focused on fun at their age. At any age it should be fun and even when in competitive situations the focus should be on doing your best versus winning. This concept was confirmed for me when I stumbled across a speech by John Wooden.

When the Internet dries up of interesting things to do I often jump out to www.ted.com. Ted (Tech, Entertainment, and Design) is a series of global conferences where, simply put, people present ideas. On this site their are lots of videos of smart people talking about a wide variety of unique topics. This is where I found a speech given by John Wooden on true success. It is a great speech that contains a lot of information regarding life and sports.

John Wooden was a legendary college basketball coach from UCLA. He won multiple national championships and coached the best of the best in college basketball, including Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton. In the speech he says, "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

When you translate that to a four year old (or a high school kid probably) what it means is do your best! If that is a good enough measure of success for John Wooden, it certainly will be for me as the girls grow and pursue various things.

While we are currently at this stage of sports (Paige hitting video), doing your best will be our top sports motto regardless of what society says about winning and regardless of how well your helmet fits!?!?!?!

Post Script: Another great quote from Wooden in the video, “You can lose when you outscore somebody in a game. And you can win when you’re outscored.”

Halloween Preperation

2011-10-08T13:15:00.001-05:00

Lucy is very excited about Halloween this year. This Tuesday she asked how many days until trick-or-treating. She has asked again every day since.

Lucy is old enough now that she remembers trick-or-treating last year and is very excited to do it again. She also remembers the compliments she received on her costume last year (Candy Corn Princess) and how fun it was to see other people dressed up.

Of course before any trick-or-treating happens a costume needs to be decided on. As you all know this is a decision that many youth do not take lightly.

Figuring out a costume for Paige is easy. She was a pumpkin last year because that is what we dressed her in. She will be a cupcake this year for the same reason. Although she is too young to care about what she wears she is old enough to get excited about dressing up. It will be fun to watch her giggle and get excited about candy this year.

Lucy's excitement has her pouring over all of the Halloween catalogs we have received in the mail. She loves looking at all the options and often can be heard laughing out loud about some of the costumes. So far we haven't had the heart to tell her that there is a zero percent chance we are ordering the $78 magical mermaid costume that comes with a tiara for $14, a wand for $8 (almost like they are giving it away!?!?!), and sparkly cape for $48. Even if we won the lottery I don't know I could see myself dropping $150 on a outfit for one day.

Lucy was pretty settled on being a cupcake with her sister and having her dad dress up at a baker for the trick-or-treating walk around the neighborhood. Our neighborhood has a traditional of all the kids gathering for a group picture and then the dads taking the kids trick-or-treating around the neighborhood while having a couple beers. The cool dads even dress up!

This week Lucy received a Little Red Riding Hood dress for a belated birthday present from her special great Aunt Suzie. Lucy is now undecided about what to be for Haloween. We will certainly keep you posted on what she decides.

While her costume is still unknown, Lucy does have one halloween item fully prepared.

She learned this pumpkin poem from Nona, Lib's mom, when we went for visit a couple weeks ago. Nona did a great job teaching it to Lucy and Lucy is glad to say the poem whenever the topic of Halloween comes up.

As discussed in the previous post, Paige of course have to give the pumpkin poem a try too.

Good luck to you on your costume selection and Halloween preparation.

Anything you can do, I want to do too

2011-10-04T05:02:00.006-05:00

Regardless of the angle of the sun or the time of day Lucy always has a shadow. The shadow is her younger sister Paige. Ocassionally Lucy gets frustrated by having a constant follower or observer, but she does very well with it the majority of the time.

The best way to get Paige to eat a banana is to give one to Lucy and have Paige see her eating it. The same is true with getting dressed. Paige is typically content running around the house in just her diaper, until she sees Lucy putting on her daytime clothes.

While eating healthy food and getting dressed are productive examples of this game, there are multiple funny example of this too. When we brush our teeth, Paige uses the toothpaste you can swallow because that is exactly what she does...chews on the brush until she has swallowed all the toothpaste. Lucy knows the traditional routine of brushing, spitting, rinsing, etc. When Paige is done "brushing" her teeth she always insist that we hold her up over the sink so she can "spit". Paige's spit consists of her leaning her head down into the sink and making spitting noises. She aways pops her head back up with a look of accomplishment.

I am optimistic this monkey see, monkey do routine will be beneficial for potty training. Already Paige is asking to sit on the potty after Lucy uses it. So far Paige hasn't gone potty, but she has the rest of the routine mastered. She will sit on the pot, smile, hold her arms up to get down, and then lean over to get wiped. We have been amazed at the detail of her observations and ability to remember routines.

This sword cuts both ways of course. When Lucy is jumping on the couch, running around the house, trying to hang upside down off the swingset, not wanting to share, or not wanting to sit at the table to eat you can bet Paige is trying her best to do the exact same thing.

As much as we appreciate and enjoy when Lucy sets a good example it is important for us to remember she is only four. While being responsible and setting a good example are skills we want Lucy to develop, we don't want her to feel pressure to be perfect all the time.

Observing what is sure to be a lifelong friendship is ultimately a lot of fun. We also know that there may be periods of time in the future that Paige and Lucy might not want to spend as much time together. Until those days come Paige will continue to shadow Lucy and learn life lessons including: how to stand when dad wants to put sunscreen on you, how to plug you nose when you are by the compost pile, and that there is never a bad day to rock a birthday party hat.

Getting back on pace...hopefully

2011-10-03T20:57:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I ran my first marathon. I am proud of my accomplishment and plan to blog about it more in the near future. Today my legs are sore. My fingers are not sore, so I am turning my focus to another goal: 100 blog posts this year.

While I trained and ran the marathon I spent a lot of time looking at splits and calculated my pace. For example, if I ran a 8:30 mile I would often think about how long a marathon would take at that pace. Through the running and pace analysis I was able to put together a reasonable plan to complete the race. Regarding the goal of completing 100 blog posts this year I did not make a plan and it shows.

So far this year I have completed 16 posts. My last post was July 25th. I have completed 3 posts since June 1st. This is the equivalent of crawling the first 2 miles of a marathon and expecting to finish at a reasonable time. To complete the goal of 100 posts in a year I should have posted 8 or 9 times per month. I am way, way off pace.

I have 89 days to complete 84 posts. In an unrelated story, there are only 82 more shopping days until Christmas!?!?! After crawling the first two miles of th 100 blog posts marathon I now need to stand up and sprint the last 24.2 miles. This is basically impossible, but as a poster in most elementary and middle schools across the country reads, "If you shoot for the moon and miss, you can still land among the stars!"

Before I click "publish post" tonight and get the ball rolling on posting spree from here until 12/31/11 (My family won't mind if I am posting during Thanksgiving dinner will they?), I want to apologize for a couple things. First, sorry about my over two month blog break. Thanks for sticking with me.

Second, sorry for posting probably my 3rd or 4th post about apologizing for taking long blogging breaks. Who wants to read a blog about a guy apologizing for not blogging all the time?!?!?

Finally, sorry in advance if you get sick of hearing from me over the next three months. My advice if you get sick of me would be to go get some Christmas shopping done or go for a run!

DUDE REPORT: Beer List

2011-07-25T14:00:00.000-05:00

In a previous blog post I discussed how lucky we feel about the neighbors we have. Ross, who lives directly behind us, and I enjoy chatting over a beer whenever possible. They have three kids who are close in age to our girls. All five of the kids get along very well. The two main questions that we typically have to sort out when we are both outside are: 1) Are the kids going to play in our yard or your? 2) What beer are we drinking? (Assuming it is past noon and neither of us have work, a public appearance, etc. later that day.)

These two questions are usually answered quickly. The kids get along so well they don’t care where they play together and Ross and I like beer so much that we don’t care what we drink.
Ross and I both look for new beers to try. It is fun to discuss what we have each tried and debate our likes and dislikes. Ross has even ventured into brewing his own beer. He has created a couple good batches recently and I have been fortunate enough to sample a few.

Earlier this month we can across the American Homebrewers Association 2011 Best Beers in America poll. Over the course of future neighborhood grill outs, poker nights, and afternoon play dates we are hoping to try as many of these beers as possible.

The picture is of Ross and I are trying #2: Bell’s Two Hearted Ale and #20: Left Hand Milk Stout. (Sorry for the blurry picture. Camera lady(Libby) was drinking some wine that night too!?!?!?)

Although we have previously had some of the other beers listed, officially the two pictured beers brings us to 2 of 50 tried. In otherwords, we are early in our mission to try all 50.

The ale was good and was something we would both consider drinking more of in the future. The stout is more of a winter beer, so an 80-plus degree summer evening wasn’t quite a fit.

The full list is linked above. I would love to hear if you have tried/enjoyed/liked/disliked any of the listed beers. We will keep you posted on our progress through the list and we welcome additional participants anytime!

Review: Baby Driver

2011-07-14T21:18:00.000-05:00

I don't drive a Subaru and I don't watch the Emmy's, but I did blog about a Subaru commercial last November that was recently nominated for an Emmy. I don't want to hurt my arm patting myself on the back, but it can't be ruled out that Tales from the Homefront played a role in the Subaru Baby Driver commercial nomination...maybe.

The commercial shows a dad seeing his daughter as a little girl although in reality she is 16 and taking the car out for the first time. Having to young girls, the commercial really stuck with me. It was easy to imagine me being that guy in 13 short years.

A friend posted a link on Facebook today saying Subaru's Baby Driver commercial has received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Commercial of 2011. This nomination makes me think, maybe, just maybe the committee has been keeping tabs on the Homefront blog, saw my November post, and agreed that it is a good commercial. More likely (much, much more likely) the commercial was nominated because it resonated with thousands of other parents like it did with me.

From my perspective, Baby Driver has some stiff competition in the category. (Look at me type like I know what I am typing about.) All the nominees can be viewed here. Sorry about the aggressive right hand column in the embedded link. I say baby driver has stiff competition because I remember laughing about the Conan commercial and laughing even harder about the Old Spice commercial.

Another nominee is a McDonald's commercial. In this commercial a dad who is driving his baby to sleep orders, pays for, and picks up McDonald's drive-through food without stopping his car. I have thought about trying this a couple times when I was hungry and driving Paige to sleep.

If you drive a Subaru, watch the Emmy's, have any tips for dealing with your 16 year old backing out of the driveway or have a vote for which commercial was the best of 2011 I would love to hear from you.

Answered Questions

2011-07-10T20:57:00.004-05:00

There are a lot unknowns in our lives (including, but certainly not limited too, how to rotate a video posted to YouTube.)

I wanted to take a moment to step back and recognize what we do know.

Transcripts of what we do know:

"What's the largest pencil in the world?"
"Pennsylvania!"

"What's the best kind of work?"
"Teamwork!"

"Who's the boss?"
"Your the boss, Apple Sauce!"

Holiday Review

2011-05-11T23:14:00.000-05:00

Last November I was summoned to county jury duty. I deferred to early May based on the assumption that we would be less busy during that time of year. The early May date rolled around this week and our schedule wasn't exactly wide open. So far grandparents have helped with the girls and there are additional grandparents, extended family, and neighbors on call.

To date I have served two days. Serving has meant sitting in a room from 8AM to 4PM simply waiting in a room with 175ish strangers and being available if a court room needs a jury. In addition to talking to a guy I recognized from church, making some new friends, and playing cribbage I have had the chance to go through most of the 600 pictures on my phone. Without back to back days with an eight hour period of absolutely nothing going on the phone picture project would have never been attempted. I plan to use many of the "would have been lost, but due to jury duty are organized" photos on the blog.

Today's post is to catch up on a couple holidays that slipped by.

St. Patrick's Day
Growing up with a 100% Irish mother St. Patrick's Day was a big holiday in our house. We decorated the house, baked Irish Soda Bread, sent cards to family, and always went out for corned beef and cabbage.

While the girls are a bit too young to grasp all the details of St. Patty's Day I made some good inroads with Lucy this past March 17th. Lucy will not soon forget the Shamrock Shake that she got on that special Thursday morning after swimming lessons. Nothing says be proud of your Irish heritage to a three year old like green ice cream! We will work on saying "Erin Go Bragh" over shakes next year.

Valentine's Day
We had a lot of fun making Valentine's for various friends and family. Always lots of glue stick and colored pencil time around this holiday. This year Lucy really enjoyed cutting the doilies in to a million pieces! Glue, glitter, and a thousands one centimeter red doily pieces makes for some extra special clean up time.

The actually day of February 14th was low key. Of course we couldn't let the day go by completely unrecognized. In addition to getting Mom some flowers I made heart shaped pancakes. I was proud of my work, but like any other pancake the girls have ever seen them liked them more once the syrup arrived.

Power of Genetics: Top Ten Lists

2011-05-07T05:00:00.003-05:00

As I mentioned when I started the "Power of Genetics" section, I wanted to discuss some of the non-traditional ways we show up in our children.

I was reminded of one of my crowning academic achievements a couple weeks ago while Lucy was watch a YouTube video about the movie Tangled. Says a lot about my academic career doesn't it!?!?! The "achievement" I am referring to is a research paper I completed in high school on...The Ten Greatest Teams in NBA History.

On the off chance that anyone is interested, I concluded that the 1986-87 Los Angeles Lakers were the best team ever. They edges out the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, who won 72 games. Although I grew up loving Micheal Jordan, ultimately, Magic, Kareem, Coach Riley, Michael Cooper, AC Green, James Worthy and company got the top honor in a paper that was review and acclaimed by no one.

Lucy really enjoyed watch Tangled, a Disney movie based on the fairy tale Rapunzel. Truth be told, Lib and I enjoyed the movie too. Lucy's favorite line from the movie is when Rapunzel says, "BEST DAY EVER!" I love when Lucy repeats the line with the same excitement that Mandy Moore used while doing Rapunzel's voice.

To learn more about the movie we searched YouTube for Tangled trailers and other videos. Lucy really enjoyed watch the below listed clip. It discussed a top ten list of the best Disney Princesses. Her interest in viewing this clip repeatedly and analysis of each of the princesses took me back to my high school research paper.

Through the video and other research Lucy has really gotten to know most of the princesses. We haven't viewed all of the movies, but have read about most of them. Lucy remains non-committal on which princess she likes best. Paige tends to gravite to the Tiana (Princess and the Frog) and Snow White dolls.

While the debates over which NBA team is the greatest ever and which Disney Princess is the best continue here, we would love to know your thoughts on either of the topics.

Review: Facial Hair

2011-05-04T05:00:00.001-05:00

Since starting this blog I have discussed the topic of facial hair more frequently then I expected and far more then my readers would prefer. With an advanced apology to you, I continue to carry on about the topic. My excuse this time is that Paige didn't want to be left out.

To make this an official "review" post I wanted to list the three additional times that I have discussed facial hair on this blog. Lucy has earned two facial hair posts: The circus was in town and Beard Update. I blogged about my "No Shave November" and Movember in this post: Different ways to raise awareness.

While Lucy used black paint for her first beard and bubbles from the bath for her second, Paige used Nutella and a cracker to create her beard. Unlike Lucy, Paige's creation was unintentional. The relationship between Nutella and Paige was love at first sight. In her excitement to quickly eat as much as possible she missed her mouth...a lot.

Another difference from older sister's two beards, Paige went with the mustache and goatee versus the full beard. Being the person that had to remove the thick layer of Nutella in the bath, I appreciated that it wasn't a "full beard".

Dude Report: Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

2011-05-01T22:22:00.011-05:00

Yelling Mayday three times as the title of this blog isn't to show my excitement for the calendar reading May 1st today. Rather it is to let out a distress signal in reference to the Minnesota Twins. My favorite baseball team is currently 9-18 (worst record in the majors) and they just got swept by the Kansas City Royals!?!?!?!?

The distress signal Mayday is derived from the French words venez m'aider, meaning 'come help me'. (I read all the way to the second sentence of Wikipedia's definition of Mayday to learn that.) Fellow Twins fans...I am here to help.

With my 5'9" frame, slow bat speed, and weak arm, unfortunately there isn't much I can do on the field. Rather, my attempt to help is by boosting the morale of us fans. Below I have laid out why despite the ugly start all will be right in Twins Territory by September.

Still Early: It sure has been painful watching the Twins lose 2 out of every 3 games. We are only 15% of the way into the season. 154 games is a lot left to be played.

Win Rate: I love the line "If the Twins just win the rest of the games this year they will be the best team in baseball" as much as anyone. Of course no team will win 154 in a row to finish the season. More realistically, if the Twins win 55% of their remaining games (roughly 85-69) they will finish with 94 wins. It is quite a jump to assume the team with the worst record in baseball can finish 16 games over 500 the rest of the way. The point is if they can just start playing some slightly over 500 ball they will work their way back into contention.

Weak division: Currently the Indians are leading the division with a 19-8 record. Despite being very jealous of their current record, they don't seem like a division champ to me. The White Sox, Royals, and Tigers don't scare me much either. In a weak Central division their is room for a 9-18 start.

Favorable September schedule: From the department of "Getting way too far ahead of myself"...during the final month of the season the Twins play the Royal 5 times, White Sox 3, Detroit 3, Cleveland 6, Seattle 3, and the LA Angels 3. Other then the Angels in LA these are all very winnable series. If they are in contention when the calendar turns to September they could realistically win 16 of their last 23.

Get healthy: Justin Morneau has missed 5 games, Mauer 16, Young 10, and Nishioka 20. Morneau is back, Young is close, Mauer is a mystery, and Nichioka is starting to plays some baseball in Florida. Getting Mauer back is a big question, but he will provide a large boost when he does return to the lineup.

Return to average: Cuddy is hitting 40 points below his career average. Morneau is 60 points below is career batting average and has 1 HR and 9 RBIs. Young is 60 points off his career average and has only 6 RBIs after driving in over 100 last year. These three and Mauer represent the heart of the order. If they simply return to their career averages the Twins will start scoring enough runs to win.

Keep doing what you are doing: Kubel, Span, Duensing, Baker, and for the most part Capps are proof that it isn't all bad for the Twins. If those 5 can keep playing at their current level it would be greatly appreciated. Kubel, I understand batting 354 for the rest of the year might be a bit too much to expect, so we can live with 325!?!?!

Give them time: I am not sure if I am reassuring myself or trying to convince myself, but I believe that if Thome, Pavano, and Blackburn are given more time they will figure things out. Thome needs to start putting the ball over the fence and Pavano and Blackburn need to start having consistent quality starts.

Winning and losing can both become habits. I hope the Twins quickly change their habits and give us some more to cheer about soon. I also hope that this post gives you a couple reasons for optimism. WIN TWINS!

My final prediction is that the Twins finish with 88 wins and another division title!

Review: Spring Has Sprung

2011-04-29T05:00:00.002-05:00

I have set a goal to review all of my previous blog posts. With this goal I hope to accomplish three things. First, it will be fun to take a jog down memory lane and remember all the things I have posted about. Second, I hope to correct all of my typing errors. There are a lot of them out there. They are embarrassing to me and distracting to the readers. The final thing I hope to accomplish by reviewing all my previous posts is to provide updates to previously discussed topics. In other words, continue or finish conversations that I posted about or you commented on.

With this first "review" post I want to continue the story of Lucy and worms. I also wanted to provide Mother Nature a gentle reminder that we are ready for spring. Last April 15th I posted an entry titled Spring Has Sprung. Looking back it appears we had been enjoying warm weather for a couple weeks by mid-April last year. It is currently April 29th and Mother Nature has yet to spring Spring for this year. Again, we are ready when you are!

After multiple successful spring worm hunts last year, Lucy has continued to be interested in worms. As a result of this interest, we have been playing a game we simply call "worms". The game is as easy as it sounds. We grab a blanket, lay under it, and pretend we are worms. The highlights of the game include, but are not limited to: hiding when the lawn mower goes by, avoiding getting pulled from the ground by birds, and eating compost when we are hungry. The below picture is from a recent round of worms. We had cheese puffs for snacks with us underground that day. I enjoy watching Lucy's imagination at work. I also enjoy Paige peeking under the blanket and wondering what is going on.

Happy Easter

2011-04-26T20:37:00.005-05:00

I didn't intent on doing it, but with my last post being Happy Mardi Gras and this post being Happy Easter, it seems I gave up blogging for Lent. I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend and I am glad to be posting again.

I wanted to share an action shot from our Easter egg dying session. It is a bad picture in most ways except one. It is bad picture because the egg dying equipment isn't pictured, the eggs the girls are holding are white, and Lib is behind our Easter tree (branches from our lilacs with Easter ornaments on it). The one good thing about the picture is that I captured Paige chucking a hard boiled egg to the ground. The egg is the white streak.

Paige throwing an egg to the ground was the extent of her participation. Lucy on the other hand really enjoyed writing on the eggs with her white crayon and then choosing which color to dye them. The white crayon was used to dedicate eggs to Uncle Buck (the nickname given to my brother Mark from Lucy), Grace (Lucy and Paige's new cousin), Nona (Lib's mom), Denard Span (my favorite Twin), and many other.

We celebrated Easter Sunday with Libby's family. Lib's brother and his wife hosted a delicious brunch and an Easter egg hunt after mass. Lucy enjoyed her hunt, which included no competition and proved fruitful. Next year I suspect there will be a two year old in hot pursuit of those hidden eggs.

Happy Mardi Gras

2011-03-09T05:28:00.003-06:00

Lib was cleaning out a cabinet yesterday morning and she found a bag of green beads. As you can see Paige enjoyed playing with them. It started with her winter hats, but she enjoys trying to put things on her head. The green beads were no exception.

Although the beads were purchased for St. Patricks Day, with yesterday being "Fat Tuesday" and Paige getting into the spirit I wanted to share this picture.

Gated community

2011-03-06T05:06:00.009-06:00

Paige, I hope you are enjoying it. While living with your parents, your current setup is as close as you will get to living in a gated community.

To be completely honest our version of living in a gated community provided very few of the benefited of other gated communities. According to eHow the top advantages of living in a gated community include:

1) No Through Traffic: While getting around the gate is difficult (we are currently in the market for a new gate that is easy to open so we can walk through) with a three year old sister there is no limit to through traffic. Lucy loves to try and climb over the gate or simply pull it down.

2) Security: The gate does provides mom and dad some peace of mind that Paige won't go down the stairs head first. It also allows her to crawl freely and mom and dad to be hands free for a bit each day.

3) Property Value: Any property value gained by having a hand me down, plastic ,removable gate on the top of our stairs (Spoiler Alert: Value added= $0 or less) is easily cancelled out by paint and food stains in the carpet.

4) Children's Safety: In a gated community I can understand how children can play easier with less cars and unknown people around. I don't get how the gate keeps kids on their trampolines (more on this story in a later post), chairs from tipping over, and small objects out of toddlers mouths.

The reason we "moved" to the gated set up is Paige's new love, borderline obsession, with climbing the stairs. Since she recently mastered turning around and going down the stairs feet first we have been having trouble keeping her off the staircase. Her up and down trips are quite cute and she is very proud of herself.

If I had my druthers as to which skill Paige would have worked on I would have picked walking or hitting her mouth with a higher percentage of her food. Nonetheless this accomplishment is noteworthy.

In the future if Paige ever has a job interview on the second floor it will be good that she can get up and down the stairs. Hopefully she doesn't crawl the stairs or reverse crawl down when that day comes!?!?! Also if the person interviewing her happens to mention that he or she lives in a gated community hopefully Paige will proudly respond, "Me too!"

Dude Report: March Madness Preparation

2011-02-18T08:25:00.005-06:00

Two dude reports in a row! I will get back to posting about being a stay at home dad soon. The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is one of my favorite sporting events of the year. Now that we are over half way through February the countdown to March is really heating up.

This weekend is BracketBuster Weekend . A select group of mid-major teams hoping to improve their chances of making the NCAA tournament play each other. To celebrate this weekend I wanted to post my current throughts about the fast approaching NCAA tournament.

The Mountain West is for real. Both San Diego St and BYU will make the Elite Eight and one will make the final four.

I want to predict that Duke is an early upset target, but Nolan Smith and Coach K will not let it happen. They will be beat by a better team in the third or fourth round.

The ACC and is very weak this season. Duke and North Carolina are the only teams worthy of making it out of the first round.

The Big East will put 10 teams into the NCAA tournament. As a Wisconsin native I hope the tenth team is Marquette, but it is more likely to be Cincinnati.

Notre Dame has quietly had a very, very good season. They have earned a 2 or 3 seed and if they shoot well could make a deep run in the tournament.

It will take a very good performance by any team in the tournament to eliminate Pittsburgh. West Virginia and Syracuse on the other hand will likely eliminate themselves because they can’t put the ball in the bucket enough.

Upsets very much depend on matchups but Florida, UConn, Kentucky, and Louisville are four teams that should earn a four seed or better that could lose first round.

My final four for this year’s “tournament darlings” are: George Mason, Old Dominion, Wichita State, and Cleveland State. With two teams coming from the Colonial Athletic Association, you could say I am a fan of the conference. This also this means that George Mason or Old Dominion will need to get an at large bid.

Living in Big Ten country I have to believe Ohio State and Wisconsin are equip to make a deep tourney run. With that said, Purdue is the team to watch. Many wrote them off when Robbie Hummel went down again, but they have NBA talent and have beaten many good teams.
Some of the toughest teams to bracket include Tennessee, St. John’s, and Kansas St. These three teams have proven they can beat and lose to anyone on any night.

The final net of the season will be cut down by Texas. They will win the tournament with defense.

In the words of Mike Tice, "Enjoy the season!"

In the words of Andy Williams, "It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

Warm up Week: Dude Report: Grilling

2011-02-16T12:36:00.002-06:00

In honor of the unseasonably warm weather we have been having this week I wanted to do a post about grilling. With highs of 39 degrees or above from last Sunday through tomorrow, with tomorrow topping out at 49 degrees, everyone in our house is looking forward to Spring. Unfortunately with the calendar still reading February and our address reading Minnesota, we know we have more winter ahead. We will take the warm weather when we can get it and continue to daydream about the summer days of grilling in shorts while consuming cool beverages.

Libby's company as a holiday gift sent all of their employees a Omaha Steak combo package. The package included steaks, pork, chicken, burgers, gourmet hot dogs, potatoes, and even cheese cake. I almost send Lib's boss a thank you note myself! Also, included was book called Great Gathering Guide & Cookbook. To get everyone thinking about the approaching grilling season I wanted to pass along Omaha Steak's 10 Tips For Perfect Grilling.

1. Clean and preheat grill on high.
2. Lightly oil food before putting on the grill. This helps the searing process and prevents sticking.
3. Season food as desired before grilling.
4. High, direct heat from the grill sears the surface of food and searing contributes to the ultimate flavor and juiciness of the food.
5. Use tongs/spatula to flip food on the grill, as forks damage the food.
6. Keep the lid on the grill as much as possible as this helps regulate the temperature and prevents flare-ups.
7. Keep a spray bottle of water handy to tame any unexpected flare-ups.
8. Use the 60/40 grilling method. Grill for 60% of the time on the first side, then flip food product and grill 40% of the time on the second side. This will evenly cook the product.
9. Place cooked food on a clean place. Do not use the same plate for raw and cooked foods to prevent cross contamination.
10. Allow food to rest for 5 minutes between cooking and consuming. This will help the food to retain moisture before cutting.

This is being labeled a dude report not because I don't think "dudettes" can't rock the grill, but because I admittedly feel manly when I grill.

I hope you are enjoying the weather in your neck of the woods and I look forward to grilling with you soon!

Normal Tuesday, except I cried

2011-01-21T15:07:00.005-06:00

Around our house, like millions of other homes, we have a night time routine that we try to adhere to. Libby puts Paige to sleep around 7PM. A little before 8PM Lucy goes in the bedroom with an evening snack to watch a recorded episode of The Berenstain Bears or Caillou. While she does this, I typically finish cleaning up the kitchen, have a beer, and catch a couple sports scores. When Lucy's show is over we read some books, use the bathroom, brush teeth, and then turn off the lights.

While this is the ideal plan, more nights then not there is at least one curveball. From wanting two snacks instead of one, not wanting to put her pajamas on, or not wanting to brush her teeth we feel like we have heard it all. If you are a parent you know the delay game and all its inner workings. Paige even got in on the act last night. At 7:45PM Paige, who is usually asleep for the night, woke up and decided she wanted to hang out for a couple more hours!?!?! It is amazing to think that some day these kids will be teenagers and we will be begging them to get up out of bed, but I digress.

The reason I mentioned the night time routine is because on the night of Tuesday, January 12th, during the 20 minute window that Lucy watches cartoons I started watching President Obama's memorial speech in Tucson, AZ. Without diving too deeply into politics I will admit that I am fan of the President. He is a gifted orator and I enjoy listing to him speak.

When I tuned in he was eulogizing those who were lost in the terrible, terrible shooting in Tucson. The last victim that he discussed was nine year old, Christina Taylor Green. As he described her activities that included gymnastics and swimming, I couldn't help but think of my girls. Lucy is currently taking a gymnastics and swimming class. Christina's interest in meeting her representative made me think of the excitement Lucy has when she is learning about something new or preparing for an adventure.

I am not sure if it was fatigue from a long day or what, but I started to well up thinking about Christina and her parents. The President then went on to discuss that earlier in the evening Representative Gabrielle Giffords had opened her eyes for the first time since the shooting. I had never heard of this Rep. Giffords before the incident, but that didn't keep me from losing it.

I am not someone who cries often, so I found myself asking myself, why are you crying, what is wrong with you. In addition to trying to lean on fatigue as an excuse, I concluded that this is what parenting does to you. Parenting has made me feel emotions (including happiness and stress) at a stronger level then ever before. The incident reminded me of the depth of the love parents have for their children.

Before the president had concluded his remarks, Lucy was yelling, "Daddy! The show is over." Quickly I was brought back to the present moment and back into our nightly routine. As I headed into the bedroom I tried put myself together, but was quickly greeted by looks from Lucy and Libby that said, "What the hell happened out there?"

I briefly explained the situation to Lib and before we could discuss it too much, Lucy had a couple questions of her own. First she asked if I was ok. When I replied that I was, she quickly moved on to more pressing issues. These issue included, but were not limited to, finding out how much older Brother Bear is then Sister Bear and why Papa Bear always wears the same thing.

January 12th by many accounts was a very normal Tuesday. I will look back and remember this day not only because I turned into a blubbering mess after watch a few minutes of a speech, but because in the midst of our normal routine I was reminded of how much I love the routine and those I do it with.

Beard Update

2011-01-20T05:16:00.008-06:00

This post has nothing to do with my facial hair or "no shave November". This is about my three year old daughters various pursuits of facial hair.

Before I dive into Lucy's beards, I want to celebrate the Twins resigning our favorite mustached pitcher, Carl Pavano. In addition to winning 17 games and striking out 117 last year, Carl found time to grow a thick, dark mustache. I am excited to have him and his 'stache back for two more years.

Early last winter Lucy used a black marker to draw a beard on her face. I blogged about and posted a picture last December in a post titled The Circus was in Town.

This updated beard picture was taken during a bath last week. Typically both of the girls get bathed together, but for some reason Lucy has the opportunity to take bath by herself. We/She celebrated the occasion by filling the bath with bubbles and doing what kids have done for generations...gave herself a beard.

Lucy's white beard seems to be showing her age!?!?! All white beard jokes aside, it is amazing how much can change in a year. Lucy's development continues to keep us on our toes and occasionally turn some of our real hair grey, but more frequently then that she amazes us and makes us laugh.