Look Out LaVar Burton

As Spencer was reading Rainbow Fish to me tonight, I commented on how well he was using his voice to give flow and feeling to the story. He looked at me and deadpanned, "It's called expression Dad."

Where The Red Fern Grows

Spencer and I have recently started reading this book together. I last read it almost twenty years ago and I am loving reading it again with my son, especially since he is only one generation removed from my dad (who grew up on a 34 acre farm) but is being raised in suburbia. Bare feet, coon hounds, overalls, traps, walking 20 miles in the middle of the night, wanting something so bad it makes you sick to your stomach....good stuff.

New family addition- --LUCY

This is our newest little member of the family. We will post a few more pics along with the funny stories. The kids are so excited to finally have a puppy. She is only 8 weeks old and is a miniature Chocolate Dapple Dachshund. She will only get to be about 11 pounds at full grown. (A light sack for some of our family and friends' dogs!) She is really fun and the kids love her to death already! She is a perfect fit here!

Happy Valentines Day

Sophia was very excited for her first school valentines party. She woke up very early to take a shower and insisted on having curls in her hair with a HUGE bow and her special red dress from Grandma Lu and Grandpa Tom. Right before leaving for school I caught her in the bathroom sneaking some of my lip gloss. hmmm...we will have to keep a close on eye on this one!

Fun with G.I. Joe Action Figures

This made me laugh. I can only hope for my kids' sake that the victim isn't Finn!

If She Were a Superhero...

She'd be Maddie, the Efficient. This is what Maddie's garage would look like if she were a mechanic. The only thing missing is the labels she would undoubtedly make. This girl is so much like Tina on the organization/efficiency scale it's scary. A company I ran into at the Coffee Fest tradeshow in Seattle ended up sending me like 5 boxes of syrup samples in plastic viles. Tina was tired of looking at the boxes and had asked me to do something with them. We decided to keep all the samples of 3 flavors and ditch the rest. I asked Madeline if she wanted to help me by tearing open the boxes and setting aside the keepers. Less than 20 minutes later I found three Ziploc freezer bags full of syrup viles labeled with a Sharpie as follows: Chocolate, Caramel & French Vanilla. She needs to get a job on one of those HGTV shows where they help people get organized. Tina and her could make a killing!

Me? Anal? NO!

Sadly, I could totally see myself doing this.

I was going to sign this entry, but it occured to me that there'd be no question in anyone's mind as to whether Tina or I posted this.

When life hands you lemons...

This actually happened last August. Tina posted it then, but it got deleted. It's a story I am proud to remember and share...

The kids must have heard Tina and I talking about the spend-down dollar amount on her insurance coverage for her disease management drugs. As we were in our bedroom talking about it, the kids came down the hall explaining how they were going to get mom the money she needed by running a lemonade stand. Madeline and Spencer explained how they were going to use a box they'd made as a stand with cupboards and doors on it. They told us, "We just need Lemonade." Spencer said they were going to charge $2.30/cup. Madeline told him that was too much and said he'd originally wanted to charge $10.00/cup "to make more money." The look on her face and tone in her voice was priceless as she stood there saying, "$10.00...FOR LEMONADE??!!" I asked Spencer if he would pay $10.00 for a glass of lemonade and he said, "No way." To which Maddie replied, "See." Right before bedtime I caught Spencer in the kitchen pouring over the calendar and holding a pen. I asked him what he was doing and told him he better not be writing on Mom's calendar without talking to her first and he said, "Dad, I am figuring out when we're gonna do our lemonade stand." The whole thing brought Tina to tears. This whole first year and a half with MS has been an emotional ride for our family, particulary of course for Tina, and she and I were blown away that the kids would go to those lengths to try to help their mom. It truly makes me proud to be their dad and I feel more blessed than I can describe to have the family God has given me.

FORE!

All five of us played a round of golf tonight after dinner and Sophia came out on top for the first time. As she was standing on her chair, arms raised and shouting "YES!" I said, "It must feel good to be the littlest one and be the champion, huh?" Sophia says, "If you were me, you would know how good this feels!"

So that's why they use two swabs...

Update. Spencer has Strep Throat after all. Apparently they swab the throat with 2 swabs because they do a quick 6 minute test AND a more detailed test. The first came back clean and I left Urgent Care yesterday with that understanding. Tina got a call today saying he actually has Strep Throat after all. Hopefully our friends, co-workers and church family aren't planning a fly-over bombing of our home ala the movie Outbreak. Good times.

Williams, party of three

I only wish the lady who called that out worked for a fine dining establishment. I just spent 3 hours (from 1 o'clock to 4 o'clock, the last hour of which at the expense of the first quarter of the Super Bowl) at the Valley Urgent Care with Spencer and Madeline. I can't think of anything I'd rather have spent my time or money on for three hours of my life. But with both of them running fevers and Sophia already having been diagnosed with Influenza A, we had to take them in for the throat/nose culture as well. Since I've been sick since Thursday, I got checked out too. I've yet to decide whether the best part of the waiting room portion was it's 2 hour duration or the screaming child who serenaded a good portion of it. Spencer pulled through a Defcon 5 panic attack and made it through the throat and deep nose probe. As frustrated as I was with the situation, I really felt bad for him. He has a lot of Tina's hypochondriac tendencies in him and genuinely gets stricken with fear and panic. I was glad to finally go home, and even more glad to find that all of our labs came back negative for Strep Throat and both Influenza A & B. We all were given prescriptions for preventative medications since we are dwelling with Sophia "The Petry Dish" Williams. Did I mention that I'd rather have been doing something else?

Don't Drive Angry!

"So put your little hands in mine, there ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb...babe."

"Ned. RYERSON. Needle Nose Ned, Ned the Head. Come on buddy, Case Western High! Don't tell me you don't remember me, 'cause I sure as heckfire remember you."

"I don't know where you're headed, but can you call in sick?"

"Sweet vermouth, rocks with a twist."

"No thanks, I've seen Larry eat."

Hands down one of the best comedies ever written. I love that my kids have taken to loving it almost as much as I do. Once again this year it didn't happen, but Tina and I have vowed to throw a huge Groundhog Day bash one year. For now, we'll have to settle for watching the movie AGAIN and listening to Sophia say, "Wake up all you woodchuck chuckers, it's GROUNDHOG DAY!" Oh, and uh, "Sorry folks, six more weeks of winter."

Sick Day

We woke up this morning to Sophia telling me she was dizzy. Then I noticed that she was feeling hot and I took her temp. It was 103.2 We took her right away to Urgent Care. They can actually run a test now to determine if you have the flu or not. They swabbed her nasal passages and the test came back positive for Influenza A. So they have told us that she must stay in and away from anyone for the next 5 days and also it is highly contagious so be prepared for the rest of the fam to end up with it. Dan is already sick and Spencer is now having chills and vomiting as I blog. wow! Anyhoo I had to take this picture because when I saw her on the laptop it made me think back to how lame it was to be sick when I was kid. We were lucky to have cable tv that allowed more than 20 Channels. What a difference.

Wild Winter

Last week was nuts! It snowed a ton then some melted and we had iced up slush that was about 6 inches thick and then it snowed again and again. Will it ever stop?

Snow Day

After the crazy several days of snow fall, the kids actually missed 3 days of school last week. They were the first school closures in Spokane in 11 years. This was the last snow day home from school. They had a blast creating their own little snow hills to sled. I believe Spencer named his "Spencer's Wickey Hill"




Afterwards the kids all came in to warm up with hot cocoa. I caught them just before they called a toast. It was really cute.

Game Night

After Maddie's party the church had a family game night for the remainder of the evening. The KaRen kids brought some fun games along. They worked hard at trying to teach our kids and even the adults how to play their different jump rope games.

Happy 9 Maddie!

The Luau was a great success. A lot of hard work but Maddie was determined to have the best party ever!!! We all had a great time and she had a ton of fun with her friends.
Some homemade palm trees by Dad and Mad
Uncle Bill and Aunt Sue let us borrow their snack shack that they use in the summers for snow cones.

The homemade pinata. Not our sturdiest year but nonetheless very fun! Maddie went first and had a few good hits and then it only made it through one and a half other girls!

Maddie had her first slumber party with a few of her good friends from school.
Also a picture of my good friends and super party helpers, Sue and Deborah. I can't thank them enough for all their help decorating 72 cupcakes. We made many so Maddie could have some for school and so that we could have extra for the church family game night. They were really yummy! Lastly, her favorite gift of the night. Eric wrote her a very special letter and gave her the book "The Dangerous Book For Girls." She loves it. She has had it opened almost daily and even quickly changed her class project for January (in the last 3 days before the due date) to do a presentation about it. Good selection Eric!