Proving you do learn things as a parent.

Man is that treacly! And the best thing is right at the end Leila is climbing over me to give Nyssa a hug.

I came down the stairs the other day and found this:

This is what Leila looks like when she is sick. 

Springtime pictures without any flowers

A bunch of pictures from springtime.

Here is Nyssa with her first sort of drawing of a body.


Ruby, Cole, and Nyssa at Ruby's house.

The siblings: Cole, Leila, and Greta


Sisters and Brothers


These pictures are old. Old enough for Leila to need a sweater.


What follows are a bunch of pictures from Nyssa's first dance recital:
"Every girl can be a princess."


I can't prove to you thats Nyssa, but the girls entered the stage on tip toes
running to their designated spots.


Nyssa missed most of the classes leading up to the performance
but she was still able to spin and bow along with her friends.


Not just a princess, but one with a wand.


She learned quickly that if she didn't know what to do she
could look at her teachers off to the side.


At the end they had all the dancers come out for a final bow.



Nyssa really liked the girls in red, the peppermint patties,
I'm impressed with my photo-taking skill.


ooops! Back in time. Here is Leila at Easter.


Nyssa and Josie


Nyssa, Leila, and Jo-Jo


Josie and Nyssa flashing the secret sign.

Back when Nyssa wanted to ride her bike, before she realized 

again it went to fast.

Neither Katy or I remember when this picture was taken
but Leila is so cute with her chubby fingers.
 

More chubby fingers! This picture might have been taken

anytime till mid-may, when the stockings finally came down.

 

This was in April, after Leila took her first ever pee'p in the toilet.

Not yet to be repeated, so she's no Fullin

 

Here is Nyssa, showing how.

 

a new hair cut

I have intended to post videos and pictures of a lot of diferent things that have happened in Nyssa and Leila's lives the last month or two. We have many cute pictures and Leila can say lots of sunny words. But I haven't had the time and I think part of me does not want to remove my dads obit from the top of this site. It has surprised me how I've liked to open the link and see the picture of him holding Nyssa. And I am also surprised by how much he is still with me, a part of my thoughts. That is what happens I guess.
Anyhows, these are pictures from the last couple of days. Mostly taken with Alicia and her babies-- Ruby and Leila, and mostly taken with her camera.

Leila's great skill right now is collecting dirt around her mouth.

And by around I mean ear to ear, eyes to chin.

The other (less great) thing about Beans is that she is soooo
Cute, and tries to smile big for pictures but often it just looks
like she has been caught farting into a balloon.

I do not understand bloggers new picture user...and I fear I can no
longer upload video (And if that is the case it will be a great example
of the "bundling of features and what I hate about technology and why
for "all its freeingpossabilities" it will be____ (How the hell would I
know what it will be? why it will be __ just another feature of capitalism.
 The girls are (L to R) Ruby, Leila, Greta, Leila. I don't know why they
are stretched out like this. I blame google (which I do more and more:(

What I loved about watching these pictures be taken was how
excited the girls (but especially Leila) were to get their pictures
taken.

Ruby, Greta, and Alicia are raising chickens--much to my delight and
Katy's rightful concern. they came to the post office as 1 day olds in
a cardboard box full of holes. The girls have like 60 of them and Alicia
is super good about showing them to the girls, even bringing some to
Childserve to show the kids. 

At first the chick would start to flap its wings and Nyssa would startle
and stand up, dropping the chick like 4 inches. Alicia was great at
explaining they were just practicing flying and wouldn't hurt her, and
eventually Nyssa got comfortable enough that one of the chicks flapped
up onto her forearm and sat their like a raptor on Dan O'Brien's arm.

But Nyssa is 3 and so eventually got bored. "I'm done," she said.
And Alicia took the chick from her. "Can I hold the other chick?"
Nyssa asked, because language is a great and funny thing.

I am not worried about Leila's over-sized hands I am just glad
that the chick got out of their without being crushed.

This is a perfect example of the trouble of taking Beans' picture
she is not pooping, she is not nervous, she is saying "cheese"
Can't you tell?

I tried to take a quick MacBook picture of Nyssa's hair but Leila 

wanted part of the action so we didn't really get the full effect. I 

Tried to take like 4 photos and they all stunk. Mostly because of 

the face in the bottom left, but also Nyssa's loving on Leila got in

the way as well.

So I got out the camera and tried to get a good picture to post.

Unfortunately I'd just given her a pudding (partly for the story below).

I can't take photos. But whats worse is even though Katy told

me Nyssa'd gotten a hair cut, when Nys ran into the house and began 

hitting me--a rich mans 3 year old hug--and I hugged her too, I didn't

notice anything. The poor girl had to stand next to me for two minutes 

chanting, Hair, Hair, Hair, before I noticed. Whatashitfucker.

I wanted to take pictures not only because she looks so different

than she did this morning but because she looks almost like an

 entirely different girl. Look at the pictures with the Popsicle, Nys 

is a big girl, she looks mature, but something about her now looks 

old. I know I will laugh at that when Nyssa is 6 or 7, but that doesn't

make it untrue tonight.

Of course she is doing something with her upper lip. I think just trying 

to show her teeth.?. but I can't be happy and proud of the whole proces.

Can I.

So Katy steps in thinking she can do better. Which you can argue she did.

She removed the pudding. Placed her in a lighted room. Showed some

of the stains on her shirt. And fianally allowed her cute-ass arms and hands

to take a part of Nyssa's perfect personality.

A final aside: I really am so proud of my girls not just what they can do but just also what they try to do. They try and try and try and it is wonderful.

A second final aside: When Nyssa is (hungry, tired, nervous? we aren't quite sure) she'll say, "My tummy hurts like a butterfly flew into it." What the hell kinda diagnosis do you give that? Last night Nyssa told Katy, "My bottom hurts like a butterfly flew into it." 

A third final aside: I really love these kids. I mean look at their faces. Look at how easy and giving and clear there eyes are and how great there cheeks and how angelic Nyssa's hands look. And then listen to Leila saying, "No."or Nyssa yelling as I try to answer one of her 1,000 questions, "That is not

what I was asking." Their great!

My Fathers Obituary

Frank Gordon Reeder
Wilmette

A lawyer in the best and truest sense of the word, Frank G. Reeder died Friday, February 19, 2010 by the shores of old Lake Michigan. A life long Chicagoan, Frank lived the majority of his adult life in Wilmette. He died peacefully under the care of Midwest Palliative and Hospice Care Center, an organization with which he had a long relationship. A daughter was with him at the time of his death.

Dad with Nyssa

Frank received his B.S. (Accountancy), with honors, from the University of Illinois in 1957, and his J.D., with distinction, from the University of Michigan in 1962. Frank spent his legal career under the purview of his sole employer, Vedder, Price, Kaufman, and Kamholtz (VPK&K), where he represented and counseled businesses (both closely held and public) and not-for-profit organizations on a wide variety of corporate and business issues. He also represented and advised individuals on various estate and financial planning, tax, real estate and other legal matters. He retired in 1997. Frank was a member of the Chicago, Illinois State and American Bar Associations. Since 1972 he served on the board of trustees and various committees for The Hadley School for the Blind.

Elizabeth, Dad and Nyssa

Frank is survived by his wife Karen, two daughters Laura (Paul) Ciccantell and Elizabeth (Amanda) Reeder, son Gordon (Katy) and four grandchildren, Katie, Jack, Nyssa and Leila; brother John (Rose Ann), and sisters Anne (Dick) Buckley and Mary Kay (Dan) Burke, and their children and grandchildren.

Dad and Nyssa

A special and resolute thank you belongs to Helena Adomaa, who served as care giver, pest, and friend during Frank's last two years. Her efforts cannot be over stated as she helped to broaden and maintain his health. The family wishes to thank all of the attendants, nurses, and doctors who made his struggle as graceful and extended as possible. The process was often unclear, their care not always understood, but their spirit and intelligence were resolute.

Dad and Leila

Frank figured that donations to all of the charities representing all of the ailments he possessed would be too lengthy and confused and so, in lieu of flowers, he respectfully requested donations be made to the Frank G. Reeder Scholarship at the University of Michigan Law School.

Frank's wish was that his final good-bye be filled with joy, so a memorial celebration will be held this summer to coincide with a Cubs home stand and his granddaughters first professional baseball game; about this event he would surely agree, “but you the living, you're stuck here with the Cubs, so it's me, that feels sorry for you.”

Dad, Amanda, Mom

And that is the way he would want it. When the time came that we might feel sorry for him, he knew it was time to go (and true to his nature he arrived at the train station several hours before his ride was due). Fast to laugh and thoughtful with his sense of humor, he was private, logical, and his own best counsel-sometimes a difficult trilogy for a family. But he was kind and giving, and excelled because he walked gently through his day. In death, as in life, we'll continue to hear him calling our names from a long distance away, and wonder, what the hell does he want now? We love you.

I haven't posted since Halloween?

Thats ridiculous. And I apologize to my legion of fans.
Here is a post you'll like: http://www.practicalfarmers.blogspot.com/

Also, Who wants a brat?



Here are some pictures from Christmas:

Halloween Night

We'll upload pictures of Halloween later, probably by Thanksgiving. There is a picture 2 posts down that pretty much does the job.
We got our H1N1 shots today--well everyone buy Katy--it wasn't so terrible. We waited in line for a hour and a half in a line that moved pretty good. Then we went out to lunch as a thank you to Nyssa for being so cooperative.
When we got home Katy went to put Leila down for her nap and as I was doing my breathalizer Nyssa got out a blanket and laid down on the sofa and fell asleep. So that is where she took her nap. I took half of mine in the chair and half in bed. I have been feeling better the proof being that I spent half of last night and all of my nap laying down. So I wake up unable to hear in one ear, at least I'm not coughing.
When I got up it was time for Halloween proper. Katy and Nyssa cleaned and I started dinner. Then I hemmed up Nyssa's Abby-Kaddaby costume and started to carve our pumpkins. Not my best Pumpkin effort, I threw down 2 in 35 minutes. which is pretty good.
Our friends Alica and Matt and Ruby and Greta came over for dinner (Ruby is a Mudskipper with Nyssa and Greta is a Duck with Leila) and then we went out trick or treating. I do not get it, but I had a lot more nergy as a 6th grader than these 3 year olds did. We T&T'd for about an hour, hitting like 15 houses and then were pretty pooped.
When we got home...AND THIS IS THE REASON I AM WRITING...we dumped out the candy on the sofa and Nyssa picked up a box of DOTS and said, "These are what aunt Muermann had." And she was right. The last time Nyssa saw Aunt Muermann was the 4th of July, it is also the only time she's ever had DOTS.

Here are three videos from our friends the Patitz's. I've written some poor things against that family in the past, but I was mostly only joking.

2 stories

I've got 2 entries for the there is a real difference between girls and boys file. (I am not predisposed to believe in this file, but I think these are both sound examples)

1) we went to a Halloween party on Sunday for which Nyssa dressed up as AbbyCaddaby of Sesame Street fame. Her costume was basically a blue dress with fairy wings, pink pig-tails, and a wand. As we were leaving I thought I would be a be a good and proactive father and tell Nyssa that I expected her to share the wand with her friends if they wanted to see it (I also told her not to wave it around and clobber people with it). Nyssa and Leila turned out to be the only girls at the party. That night as Nyssa was going to sleep she said to Katy, "No one wanted to play with my wand at the party. They just wanted to play with trucks." (I think she thinks that my judgment of what would happen, and her friends judgments of what was fun, were incorrect.)



2) Since I've been sick for like 2 weeks and Katy has had a cold all week, Katy's co-worker sent dinner home for us tonight. We had to pick it up from a separate co-worker of Katy's, which necessitated Katy going inside Susan's house. Nyssa decided she wanted to go in as well (but that she wouldn't knock on the door herself) and by the time I got to the door with Leila and Nyssa Katy was coming out. As we were not invited in, we turned to leave, which prompted a fit from Nyssa. She really wanted to go inside. She really didn't want to go home. She refused to get into the car seat. Nyssa was still crying as we were leaving town when she said, "Susan's hair used to be more curly."


(pictures by Nana)