2 Pirate Girls...Arrrrrrrrgh!

This picture has nothing to do with anything, except to point out how totally adorable Beans is. The picture was taken during our summer trip to Chicago. It was cute for me to watch my kids playing and swimming at my childhood beach.

Here is the meet of this post, for the girls birthday Katy, Kathy and I got them a play set. We intended for Kathy to put it together, as she is the handiest of the three, but she wussed out, so the duty fell to me. And when I say duty I mean doodie.  In this picture I am not attempting to lift the structure, but rather to screw in a bolt. At some I'll give you some screw and bolt stats but they are in the garage so lets just say there were lots, and I was scared anytime that I had to drill, screw, or hammer one of them in.

One of the nice things about this job was getting to pre-drill the drilling holes, so that I'd drill a 1/4" hole and then drill a 1/2" hole through it. That might be what I am doing here.

Starlin Castro.

When Katy was a girl and would want to help her dad he would tell her to, "Hold your head in just the right way." which is a great talent to have and one she displayed marvelously on this project. But for our kids that shit doesn't fly, they had to help drill and hammer. So much so that the biggest fit we had was, "god dammit dad you are taking a long time." but when Nyssa found out that Leila had helped me use the socket wrench and I didn't have something she could socket right then. As you can see in the picture above I solved that issue by leaving the hand holds off of the rock wall so the girls could put them on.

SEE!

At dinner last night Nyssa wanted me to ask the waitress if she had forgotten to turn on the cubs game on the tv, because it wasn't on yet...Starlin Castro

One of the exciting things of this project was that I got to put up the railing and the roof of the tower. I don't know why that attracted me, but it seemed somehow substantial to be building the outline of a building, rather than hanging, say, a fake telescope (which I also enjoyed doing). 

Sometimes that which is substantial carries a risk of substantial injury. Believe you me, I had to ice that puppy. But God what a sexy foot.

I have nothing to say about this picture. Although durring this project I realized that it is not ADD, because I pay attention, it is DDD, as in the Devil is in the Detail Disorder. That is where I struggle mightily.

After the girls ratcheted the climbing wall, they could enter and exit as they wanted. And so they did, making me glad I did not attach the swings when the booklet said to.  About the instruction manual: It was really good and easy to follow. especally for the first half of the book. The second part you could tell they got a little bit tired and began to make small mistakes. Like where to put the rope? What those 2 holes are for? What to do with these 2 left over pieces of wood? What about this half bag of nuts and bolts and screws? Minor questions. 

One of the exciting aspects of the project was that it might fall down and crush my children or my neighbor children.

Starlin Castro

Here is Leila looking up and her daddy with big proud eyes. Don't believe me? Look at the picture.

As I said before,

One day this summer Nyssa walked into the living room and when she saw a pile of laundry that had been folded she got all excited and yelled, "Oh my gawd mom look at this!" On the day I attached the pic-nic table and awning she said, "You didn't do much today." Ha!

I finished the thing right at dark, and this is a picture of their first swinging. I had a funny reaction to finishing, I was happy--my daughters were thrilled and thankful, I was proud--with just a little help i had managed to put this thing together and I was sad. I didn't know why until the next day.

Holy shit. My children were going to be playing on a 700 pound contraption held together by my wit and ingenuity.

So yesterday morning (Sunday Morning) I put the finishing touches on the beast. I drove 6 stakes into its heart, mounted one steering wheel, and aimed one fake telescope right for the neighbors dinning room. Arrgh Matey! The good ship Darwin Barney was launched!

Darwin Barney

But let us not forget the most important thing about this project...Starlin Castro.

Spring 2011

Moms in Motion party. I like how Nyssa and Ruby have their "babies" in their laps.

Going through all of the pictures we've taken--and not being terribly selective--it is constantly amazing how beautiful our babies are.

Leila is so funny, she's two right but you almost never get her with a "normal" expression.

This is about as straightforward as she gets, with a silly crown and dirty face.

My littlest princess. I love how our kids dress in mid-spring. Especially Nyssa, they never seem to mind wearing to many hats, gloves, and mittens. So silly and so not-self conscious.

Nyssa and Aysha.

Superman's big sister.

She is either about to take a piss test or sing with Aretha Franklin.

"No uncle Gordon I don't want to go bowling with you."

"It is in the 50's so I better put my hood up the entire time we are in the grocery store."

Kaitlyn came to visit for Easter. She is just about the sweetest girl you could ever imagine.

See.

We took the Burly on a family outing to the new big deal bike path. The reviews were mixed.

Our friends Katie and Laura during my visit to Oakland. 2 nicer ladies you may never find.

From My Phone.

When Katy goes out of town one of the kids always gets sick. This time they didn't, they just got into bed with me to watch the Cubs game.

They don't leave me any room in our bed, but they are still so sweet to be around.

This is a statement: From tears to smiles is night and day. Whenever they are laughing and smiling seems to be the greatest thing in the world. And yes I know that is cheesy.

Nyssa getting ready to perform her dance in the big dance room. She really likes to perform, is very intent about it, and so I am looking forwards to her dance in three weeks.

We had a chance to go to a daddy daughter dance sponsored by her daycare and her dance center. She was really excited to go to the dance, although once we arrived it took her a full hour to actually begin to enjoy herself.

I wish this wasn't washed out, I have the feeling she;d be truely lovely. As I told her during her extended warm up period, "I love spending time with you." I mean what else could I do? she wouldn't talk, she wouldn't dance, she wouldn't kick balloons around. But, I mean, I meant it.

Our little sick beauty watching Dora.

Feel like making a skin suit? Put the lotion in the basket in our Rolo basement.

The great thing about being slow is that I am constantly learning. This week I learned exactly how much shit we should have insisted Bob remove from the Rolo house when we bought it. Or we should have removed anytime within the last nine years.

Photos I didn't take.

As a parent it is my obligation to point out the startling resemblance to Andre the Giant in this picture.

Better but?

Nyssa and Ruby at Ruby's going away party. Someone gave Ruby a gift and she ran over to her mother and exclaimed, "But it is not my birthday." Children are totally selfish and self absorbed but at the same time they are not.

Kathy took this action photo showing Leila jumping on the trampoline

God help me. I have no problems with dance classes. Big problems with dance costumes.

This is not the 20's, Nyssa is not dancing in Cabaret. She is not the product of a drug addled broken home (yet).  Why the unnecessary crotch reveal?

After the egg hunt. Nana did a great job utilizing the uneven terrain of our unmowed lawn to befuddle the children.

More pictures of face painting at the Kohl Children's museum.

Nyssa really wanted to be in this picture. Look how beautiful Leila Beans is.