Kid update

As always, I've been meaning to do one of these for ages, and with how fast kids change some of this stuff I collected may be out of date, but here goes.

Miles is changing faster than anyone. He has recently decided he needs to test his limits, and by extension, the patience of his mother. Our other kids went through terrible-threes (except Carmen, of course); Miles is an early bloomer. He is into defying authority, lately, and says no to many requests, sometimes trying to hit us, and my favorite, sometimes saying as fiercely as he can, "You are bad." He recently decided to unwrap some Christmas presents, knowing full well he shouldn't. He has a great pouty face and uses it frequently.

But of course, he's not a terror all the time. When he's not in one of his moods, he's very fun to play with. He loves poop jokes, and nonsensical phrases. His go-to is "idi" (pronounced ih-dih), which he will use to replace whatever we are talking about then laugh and laugh. Whenever he hears the notification sound from one of the girls' tablets, he always says, "Who said that?" and now all of us do it. He loves his "birds blankie" and carries it around the house like Linus. He has latched onto Spider-man as his thing. He often insists on Spider-man pajamas, he wears Spider-man shirts and light-up Spider-man shoes (if not his Halloween costume). If he's not Spider-man, then he's a kitty, referring to himself as "Mew". He loves to pretend to read books (especially his Spider-man book). It's cute to see him sitting on the floor with his legs in front of him, looking at book after book.

Damon has become much more self-regulating, but still has a hard time listening to directions (especially "don't touch that"). He's a good helper, once you can get his attention. He still lives in his own little world, and never listens to anything anyone says. I think he often hears people, he just doesn't process it unless forced to. He gets an idea of how he wants things to be and if it doesn't happen he can get very upset. He always needs to be given something to do, otherwise he will find something to do, and this is usually touching/destroying something. He is a voracious reader, and extremely good at it. He's also started playing the piano and can play lots of simple songs now. It's hard for me to get any piano time, because either Damon or one of the girls is playing, or they want to as soon as I start.

He's very good at riding his bike. I have more trouble taking Olivia on bike rides around the neighborhood than I do with him. Like Miles, Damon is very much into superheroes, especially Batman and Superman (probably because of the book I got him). I also have lots of fun playing Legos with Damon, even if he does want to take everything I make. Besides the not listening and destruction, Damon's one big downside right now is the whining. Amber's ready to throw him out the window. But he's very sweet and loving and loves to help.

Carmen seems to have grown up a lot lately. Hard to put my finger on how exactly, I just realized a few days ago that she's not so little anymore, literally and figuratively. She's doing really well in school. Her teacher was effusive in praise at parent-teacher conference. She's a really hard worker and doesn't mind putting in the effort for whatever she's doing, whether it's school and homework, practicing the piano (she's catching up to Olivia), or cleaning her room. She takes great pleasure in being better than Olivia when she can.

The girls have dance again this year, but we also enrolled Carmen in gymnastics, and she loves it. She comes out literally bouncing with excitement. She's got the body for it -- short and flexible -- and the work ethic, so I'm interested to see where she goes with it. I taught Carmen how to play gin rummy recently, so that's been our thing. She loves having one-on-one time with me. Usually we struggle to find something mutually enjoyable, so this is a nice change. Now she just needs to learn to hold cards (and not sweat all over them). One thing that has never changed about Carmen is that she loves to snuggle. She's like a cat, she's always trying to get on me or hang on me.

Olivia continues to be Olivia. She's still the queen, but her subjects have been less and less enthusiastic about appeasing her whims, much to her consternation. She is still doing well in school, but third grade has brought more homework, which she hates. She also has a hard time focusing, and forgets to turn in her homework, or read the questions carefully. That sounds like me at that age, so I'm going so assume she'll be fine. She recently represented her class in the school spelling bee. She is an extremely talented speller, with a natural knack for it. Amber tried to quiz her to prepare, but had to fight Olivia the whole way. In the end, out of the 40 or so 3rd through 5th graders, she survived several rounds and ended up in 7th place, best of her grade. She got out on a word she knew how to spell too, but rushed and accidentally said the wrong letter ('s' instead of 'c' to start cylindrical) and you can't go back once you've started.

Olivia has a hard time knowing what the right thing to do socially is. She is either reading alone, or doing something to somebody else, and doesn't understand when to stop and gets gets frustrated when they eventually get annoyed with her. But she continues to always find the positive side of life; she never stays upset for long. She is the master of crafts and projects. She is constantly coming up with ideas for things to make and games to play and is in her element when we have other kids over to boss around. The huge messes she leaves behind (and whines about cleaning) are a small price to pay.

And finally, here are some embarrassingly old kiddisms I found on my phone, most no longer applicable, that I never blogged, mixed with a few current ones.

Damon: [Looking at music with chord notation B♭] Bib, it says bib!

Damon: [Coming out of bathroom] Race car just changed his oil.

Carmen: Layton... it rhymes with Satan.

Carmen: I'm 50 hungry.

Olivia: [To Amber] Let me show you my nipple.

Carmen: [Playing 20 questions] Is it made of vinegar?

Olivia: A real baby is a little kid who wrecks your house.

Damon: Summer is a perfect time to grow tomatoes.

Olivia: [To Carmen's food] We'll see you again someday. Are you excited to turn into poop?

Miles: Can you say no?  [Me: "No"] Good job, daddy.

Miles words: Oots [oops], my [I ("my want some...")], applesauce [octopus], skelekin [skeleton], put on my dress [get dressed], blowing [glowing]

Damon words: Slobbedy [slobbery], apple socks [apple sauce], sauslage [sausage], yesbody [opposite of nobody], dinferent [different]

Carmen: I had octagon-shaped eyes when I was a baby.

Carmen: Why do you have new undies?
Olivia: Wait, I think I'm wearing two pairs of underwear...

Olivia: I just pooped.
Carmen: What kind was it?
Olivia: One big piece, a medium one, and lots of little ones.

[During General Conference]
Grandma: What's Carmen doing?
Olivia: Well, she's pretending to be a chicken.

Carmen [after sneezing]: I bless you'ed all the way out of the car!

Carmen [at dinner, to herself]: Okay bottom, I'll go to the bathroom.

The most wonderful(ly busy) time of the year

I'm excited that it's finally Christmas week. Because Christmas is great, of course, but also because it means that things will finally start slowing down. It seems like we've been going non-stop for the last two weeks.

Two Sundays ago, I had all of these, back to back: sacrament meeting, take sick kids home (mine and someone we were watching), work on cub scout stuff while at home (I was released, but still needed to help), go back to church after the meeting to conduct PPIs, have an Elders Quorum Presidency meeting, play the piano for the Spanish ward's stake musical number practice, drive to stake center for quartet practice, stay for stake choir practice, come home and (finally) eat.

That week I had to coordinate cub scout awards, drive to scout shop and buy them, deliver them to the pack meeting, finalize the pack recharter, have a white elephant pot-luck at work, have a late-night quartet practice, and attend the ward Christmas party (all of this while watching kids on and off from two other families who had some issues), before starting all over again on Saturday.

Saturday was Priesthood leadership meeting in the late afternoon, followed by practice for the Spanish was musical number, then the adult session of stake conference, where it was performed. Sunday had stake choir rehearsal in the morning, then stake conference where I performed in the choir and sang a solo as part of the quartet. We relaxed after that by going to ward choir, where Amber played the piano, then stayed to practice the rest of the night with all the other musical numbers she accompanied.

Another week of meetings, school parties, birthday parties, practices and other miscellaneous obligations was followed by this Sunday, which was our ward Christmas program. Amber would probably remember better, but I remember nine musical numbers, only one of which our family did nor participate in. I sang in two choir numbers, the kids sang in two primary numbers, Olivia did a duet, and Amber played the piano for five of them, plus played in a viola duet.

This is already too detailed, but Amber had a bunch more stuff during the day I didn't even mention, not to mention trying to find time to go Christmas shopping. So we're glad that Christmas is approaching and people are leaving town and there are no more musical numbers or social obligations. Hopefully there are still a few cheesy Christmas movies left to watch on TV.

Big boy bed

A week or so ago I put Miles in his crib to cool off from a temper tantrum and closed the door behind me. To my surprise, the door opened soon after I left and he toddled out (to continue his tantrum).

Since bars could no longer contain him, we took the side off his crib to make it into a little bed, and after a few nights of wandering the halls (Amber found him playing the piano upstairs one night) he has done a good job of staying in bed.

So on Saturday I decided to put together his big bed. It had been sitting in the attic since we bought it together with Damon's bed (it's a bunk bed that we're leaving unbunked for now). Damon was an enthusiastic helper and soon it was ready to go.

Miles was thrilled. He didn't even want to read a book before bed, he just jumped in.

Good night, boys!

Technology update

I told Amber not to get me anything big for Christmas this year, because I was too impatient and ordered my own Christmas presents a couple months early this year.

My main computer for the last couple of years has been my Surface Pro (1), which I bought when it first came out in 2013, long before Surfaces were cool. I watched in envy as the Surface Pro line became vastly improved, so I decided I would get a Surface Pro 4 when it came out. I preordered when it became available and got mine in late October.

I've encountered a few odd behaviors with it, but overall it's been an awesome tablet/laptop. In addition to the better processor, it has a bigger screen, is thinner, not as hot, has a better stylus (with a way to attach it finally), face recognition for sign-in (very convenient), great speakers, and of course, runs Windows 10, has USB and microSD, etc, so I can do real stuff on it. Whenever I bring it anywhere, it always gets comments. All the other techies are jealous.

At about the same time I got my new Surface, I heard about and requested an invite for Google Fi, Google's new cellular phone service. My old phone (Galaxy S3) had started to betray me, by randomly draining the battery to where it was a constant worry, and I wasn't thrilled with the data coverage I got with Virgin Mobile (Sprint network).

Google Fi offers a similar pay-as-you-go plan, except they will only charge you for data you use, the phone works on either Sprint or T-Mobile networks, and you can make calls and send texts over wi-fi with no cell signal. I take advantage of this last feature by putting my phone in airplane mode at work, but turning on wi-fi, which greatly improves battery life. The cell/data signal overall has been better, and it automatically connects to trusted wi-fi networks in public places, too.

The one "drawback" is that I had to buy a compatible phone. I chose the Nexus 5x, and have been very satisfied with it. It uses the new USB-C standard, which is awesome all on its own. It has a reversible connector (no more guessing which way to plug in USB) and can transfer higher power loads. This means it can charge my phone very quickly (can go from 25% to close to full in an hour) if using the right charger. Apparently it can also handle higher data volumes, too, so you can use USB-C as a video cable instead of HDMI, but I haven't tried that yet. The only real problem I've seen is having to buy new cords, and waiting for everyone else to catch up to using it.

The phone itself is nice. It has a fingerprint scanner on the back to log in (these new biometric systems are a lot more convenient than I thought they'd be), good camera, etc. The only thing I dislike about it is that it doesn't have a microSD slot. But I'll take that over having my battery die in two hours any day.

Thanksgiving with Mom

I flew my mom out for Thanksgiving this year. The timing worked out well, because she just finished her physical therapy for her broken hip, and Heather was already planning on being gone for Thanksgiving anyway. She had to have her walker still, but we tried not to let it slow us down.

One of the first nights she was here we attended a performance of Closer than Ever, in which a friend of ours was performing. We didn't know what to expect, being community theater, but I thought it was excellent. The music was catchy and the songs were witty and fun.

I took the week of Thanksgiving off, so we had time to do some fun things together. One night we went to the Houston Zoo's Zoo Lights.

They have a guided walk through the whole zoo with lights everywhere. They expanded quite a bit since we were there last time, and we went earlier in the season so it was much warmer.

They also have music, both recorded and live, to enjoy (and dance to).

I think everyone had a good time.

The day before Thanksgiving I tried to take my mom to see the new James Bond movie, Spectre. We bought tickets, got some popcorn and drinks and sat and waited, but the movie never started. Eventually an employee came in and said it was cancelled because the digital file was corrupt. I got two free movie vouchers out of it, in addition to a refund on the ticket and popcorn, but it was still disappointing.

On Thanksgiving, Dan brought over his family and we feasted together. I uncharacteristically didn't take any pictures, but the meal was delicious, thanks to Amber and Hyde. That night we did a Thanksgiving play with dress-up clothes. We spent Black Friday as we normally do, decorating the house for Christmas, including the train, of course.

Before we shipped her off to Dan's house for the weekend, Amber and I took my mom out to lunch at the new Indian restaurant (it's about time we got one...) which we all enjoyed (a little too much).

Those were the big things, but for the most part we just had fun spending time together. We played lots of rounds or Rummikub, Racko, and Apples to Apples. Amber and Carmen learned to crochet from the master herself.

Grandma brought some new books for the kids and they read a lot together.

She also found some time to play Christmas duets.

And I even spent quality time with her proving you can find anything on the internet by buying an out-of-print CD and a discontinued crochet tool for her.

It was a great visit and I'm glad she was able to make it.

Halloween

The kids, especially the boys, have been obsessed with superheros for the last couple of months, so when it came time for Halloween, coming up with costume ideas was not a problem. Damon and Miles chose their favorite alter egos, Superman and Spiderman, respectively. Carmen opted for the Hulk, while Olivia broke ranks and chose Princess Leia.

Amber, of course, outdid herself as always and made everything you see here by hand (except the flip flops and the wig). The kids were so excited with their costumes they almost wore them out before Halloween even came.

We had a trunk-or-treat at the church earlier in the week.

After a bowl of chili, the kids knew exactly what to do and made short work of the parking lot.

A couple of days before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. We only got three, but Miles didn't seem to mind.

For Halloween itself, Amber took them over to Olivia's friend's house for a round of trick-or-treating, then they came back and did our street. We had had some serious rain earlier in the day, but the weather mostly cooperated that evening and they only got sprinkled on a little bit.

They were very excited about their haul, and have been eating candy ever since.

Damon riding a bike

A couple weeks ago I took the training wheels off of Damon's bike and had him try riding. He had no trouble balancing after a push, but was a little wary and wouldn't pedal fast enough to keep upright. We didn't really get around to trying again until this week, and this time it clicked. In the space of an hour he figured out how to not stop pedaling, how to stop, how to start on his own, etc., and by the end he was doing this.

He is very pleased with himself. He's especially excited that he can ride on his own when we go on family bike rides instead of riding in the trailer with Miles. I was excited that he figure it out so quickly. He was the easiest to teach by far.

Pinewood Derby

The Elders Quorum in my ward decided to hold a Pinewood Derby (for the big kids) and I couldn't pass up that opportunity. The rules were a little bit more relaxed, especially on weight, so I decided to have a little fun and hook up some electronics to it.

It took a little designing to figure out how to fit everything onto the car, but in the end I was able to cram an Arduino, two mini breadboards, a 9-volt battery, and lots of wires onto it to run 16 LEDs and a small speaker. Here's the final result before adding weights.

I was very pleased with the results and was even more pleased to find that it actually went decently fast and won a few heats. I didn't win in the end, but that wasn't my goal. I was, however, awarded the "Bling Bling Award", by what I assume was a landslide.

I had to tear it apart to get back all the electronics components, so I took a video after the race to remember it in all its glory. Imagine this going down the track.

Grandma Anne

We recently had a visit from Amber's Grandma Anne, who was in town to attend the wedding of one of Amber's cousins. She stayed for a couple days before and after the Saturday wedding and we had fun spending time with her.

She spent a lot of time reading with the kids. Carmen read every High Five magazine in the house to her.

She also passed along some of her expertise in needlework.

Amber's parents also came for a shorter stay right before the wedding, so the kids had lots of grandparents to choose from.

The wedding and reception went really well and it was a happy day for everyone.

We played Apples to Apples on one of Grandma Anne's last nights, and she showed her true colors with the cards she won ("Mean-spirited", "Crabby", and "Terrifying"').

I'm glad she was able to come and that our kids got to know her a little better.

Labor Day weekend and more

A few days after school started, Olivia lost a tooth then lost another tooth the next day.

Carmen is starting to get jealous. She hasn't lost any teeth yet.

With the start of school, the girls have started dance class again. This year we also signed Carmen up for gymnastics. Through fortunate work scheduling, I was able to be home early enough to attend her first session. The gym is well-run and she really seemed to enjoy it.

For Labor Day, we went shopping. First, I was in dire need of some new lawn-mowing shoes. My old shoes were literally falling apart and it was getting hard to mow with the soles peeling off the bottom and holes letting my socks get wet. (The picture somehow makes them look better than they actually were.) Normally I rotate out my running shoes, but my current running shoes are still in too good of shape, so I got a pair of $15 Walmart shoes (inset). We'll see how long they last.

The kids originally wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese for Labor Day so they could get tickets and get prizes, but I convinced them to use the money we would have spent there to just buy some better toys instead. We went to Toys 'R' Us and ended up with some Lego sets and a Batmobile with superhero figures. They seemed pretty happy with them.

The rest of the weekend the kids did what they normally do -- get bossed around by Olivia. One day she found an old remote control and decided she wanted to make a TV for it. One cardboard box, some plastic wrap, and a tablet later, she had the rest of the kids watching a movie.

On another day, she entertained everyone by reading an Olivia book to them.

Damon's tooth

Before our trip, I noticed that there was a worrying pustule forming on the gum line above Damon's front left tooth. Amber took him in as soon as we got back (which was also the first day of school, she had a busy day) and the dentist determined that it was infected.

It was not surprising that this could have happened, since it had essentially been broken in half a year ago (and subsequently cosmetically filled), but there was no saving it and Amber had to make the decision to have it pulled now (rather than later). Here he is at the dentist, his last photo with all his teeth.

Amber said he was very good throughout the whole process -- almost too good. She felt bad that he didn't seem to really know what was going on. When they told him the gas mask made him look like a pig, he would occasionally say, "oink oink".

He seems to have handled the procedure and recovery remarkably well. He hasn't really complained, but it did take him a while to realize that his tooth really was gone. It's sad to see his broken smile, but it's better than having the infection get worse, and x-rays confirmed he does have adult teeth coming, so he'll be gap-toothed just a few years longer than normal.

First day of school

The heat may still be here, but summer is officially over. The girls went back to school today. Olivia is in 3rd grade and Carmen is in 1st.

They seem happy to be back in school, and I think Amber's happy to have fewer kids around the house for a while.

Arkansas Vacation - Part 3

After a hot night's sleep in the tent, we were ready to find diamonds!

The diamond field is not nearly as glamorous as it sounds and to make it worse, it was hot and the soil was extremely dry. We spent the morning digging and dry sifting using our dollar-store sieves.

We found lots of interesting rocks, but no diamonds. We had lunch at a diner in town, then came back for more. The second spot we picked had such hard-packed soil that we could barely dig, so we tried some wet sifting in the water troughs, but didn't find any diamonds.

By this time the kids were worn out, so we got some slushies, then went to Dino Dig, basically a kid version of what we had just done.

In an air-conditioned, dinosaur-themed room, the kids got to dig in the sand to find polished gemstones. I think this was the highlight of the trip for them. They stayed in there for a couple hours, which worked out well since Miles had fallen asleep anyway.

We camped at the park again that night, but we weren't roughing it too much. Here are the boys getting ready for bed after a shower.

We had planned a flex day into the schedule and decided the soil conditions weren't worth staying another day. So the next morning, we went on one more hike through some very interesting forest (once we got off the paved trail), then headed home.

The drive home ended up taking a lot longer than it should have after we got stuck behind a truck carrying something so large that it took up both lanes AND had to stop at every telephone and power wire to have someone lift them higher (without letting anyone pass). Once we realized what was going on, our GPS made up for its earlier failure by finding us a good detour home.

Since we went home early, I had a free day to recuperate. I took Olivia and Carmen to see Inside Out, then we wandered the mall for a while. I ended up buying a Superman/Batman book for Damon (who is easily reading "Level 2" now), which has only fueled his obsession with superheroes.

Arkansas Vacation - Part 2

After our night in jail, we headed out on Sunday morning to attend church at the local branch in Glenwood. Our GPS had other plans, however, and had us take a shortcut on a one-lane, windy gravel road through the woods. Even that might have been ok, except that about 3/4 of the way along the shortcut, the "road" was covered with enough standing water to make me nervous. We backtracked and opted for paved roads from that point on and got there safely, but ended up being a few minutes late.

It was unfortunate that we were late, because none of the pianists in the branch had shown up, so they were singing the sacrament hymn a capella when we arrived. Amber volunteered to play the organ for the rest hymn and closing hymn, and I played the piano for primary. The people there were very nice and friendly and we had a wonderful time. They were hoping we were moving into the area, and assured us they could find us a place to live should we change our minds.

After church we drove to Lake Ouachita State Park, where we had a picnic lunch overlooking the lake.

We found a short hiking trail nearby and hiked a forested loop that went up a hill and back down.

I was very impressed with the natural beauty of Arkansas. All of our drives and hikes were beautiful; it was like a mix of the hills and deciduous forests of Virginia and the pine-heavy forests of southeast Texas.

On our way out of the park we stopped by the Three Sisters Springs, one of many natural springs in the area.

That night we drove back to Crater of Diamonds to set up camp. We couldn't make a fire because of a burn ban, but the kids were still excited to sleep in the tent.

There were also a few other creatures excited to sleep in our tent. We found a couple of these stick bugs around.

Arkansas Vacation - Part 1

Ever since I heard about Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, where you can dig for diamonds, I've been looking for an excuse to go. This year we needed a short vacation, so we planned a trip to southwest Arkansas to see the park and whatever else was in the area.

We drove there on Friday and arrived in the early evening for the first of two nights in these really cool Old West-themed cabins. There were several themed buildings (the bank, saloon, etc). We stayed in the Sheriff's office the first night, and then moved downstairs into the jail Saturday night.

The kids were very excited about getting to sleep in the jail.

They also had a bunch of fun activities for the kids, like a playground, corn pit, horseshoes, foam machine, and pedal car race track.

A foam party was just what the kids needed after a long car ride.

On Saturday we explored the sleepy little town of Murfreesboro. The shops all seemed to contain some combination of antiques and rocks/minerals. Here are the troops by a tree in the town square.

After lunch we headed to Lake Greeson just north of the city to go swimming.

The kids had never swum in a lake before and had fun finding differently shaped rocks. On the way out, we also saw one of the biggest spiders I've ever seen in the wild (Amber for scale).