I Want to Paint Mommie!

Mommy, Daddy, and Me are all on vacation! But I had to go work at Sally's on Friday. Daddy and Mommy woke up and took me to daycare so I could eat [rice] crispies and play with my friends. They said they were going to go paint my room after visiting the Home Depot.

When I got home, my new room was a mess! Mommy and Daddy had painted it all grey! I wanted to paint, but I they didn't want me to get messy. *LB sniffs* Besides, it was kinda stinky. They took me to go get a crown with the King and I played for a little bit too, it was fun!

Mommy and Daddy didn't tell me they went to the Lobster place and had endless shrimp for lunch though. :)

Saturday we woke up and had some pancakes at Perkins for breakfast. It's Daddy's favorite food. I put down five silver dollar pancakes and some eggs. I think Daddy was happy he didn't have to give me any of his pancakes to help fill me up. THEN I got to watch movies ALL day while Mommie and Daddy painted my room Blue! Big Bright Blue! They were good and did two coats that day...one while I was sleeping. They heard me singing when I woke up and we all giggled.

We took a break at Lunch to have Olive Garden for lunch, then Daddy went and got some Taco Bell for dinner that night.

Sunday was more TV and movies for me after some cereal for breakfast. Mommy and Daddy painted green on the bottom of my room, then Mommy got SUPER excited and painted some white poofy clouds on the roof of my room. She was SO excited. We broke and had some Pei Wei for lunch, then Daddy got some movie called DaVinnie Coded and some pizza for dinner. I didn't get to watch the movie though.

Monday was relaxing day. Daddy had to go to the library for a meeting, and Mommy had to go see the doctor to be patient. The nurse was nice to me, though she wanted to steal my curls. Then we went to go see Mommy's work, Straub the Builder. Then, we at at T-REX!!!! We ate under the dinosaurs tail and I got to help Mommie make a dinosaur. It was fun! Then we came home for a nap. Daddy slept too. He snores loud. Then we woke up and at at Fritz's at the Crown Pizza where they deliver the food to my table by a train! And there was a train in y window!

Then we came home and went night night. Right now, I'm really hungry, but I keep telling Daddy I want to color. Hopefully Daddy and I will have some cereal so I have some energy to color. :)

How to Coax an AT-AT

Halloween

Pirate Little Blue had an excellent Halloween. We got all dressed up in our pirate garb in the morning and paid headed to daycare. We left his sword in the car at daycare though, the babies might have gotten a hold of it and started hitting people. *hint hint wink wink*

Once I picked him up, in pure awesome daycare fashion, he had a skull and crossbones painted onto his cheek. We dashed home, caught up with Mom, put the skulls on his belt, and headed out Burger King for a quick dinner.

In oddball fashion, I had to threaten Little Blue with going home if he didn't eat his dinner. From I want my applesauce to there's cheese on my sandwich, there's pickle on my sandwich I want to sit next to the fountain can I play I want to open mommie's straw I want onion rings I want french fries I don't want dinner

"LITTLE BLUE," I said. "You take a bite of your sandwich or we're going home and we won't see PaPa or the library tonight."

"Da..."

"NO. Eat, or we go home."

"Can Mommie help me?" he said, very sheepishly.

"Use your nice words and see if she'll help you."

So we finally got that settled, headed to the "monster" store to pick up a candy bucket, then Pink put her delicious witch makeup on, then headed out.

We visited PaPa and Grandma, and they were getting kids pretty regularly. We gabbed for a bit, then missed Aunt Pink because she was doing her own family rounds. We hit a house next to Grandpa's house because Little Blue wanted to follow the other kids around, but once the "library" word was uttered, he made a mad dash to the car to head that way.

Needless to say, the wild and crazy Youth Services department was ecstatic (to put it VERY mildly) excited to see Little Blue and troupe. We visited for a bit, then headed over to my desk to get directions to Veggienerd's GPS coordinates. On the way, we hit up K. Sad for some sugar, then Blue had a genius idea.

Sue Ellen is always giving a hard time for taking the laffy taffy and not the jolly ranchers...

Oh, look, the Jolly ranchers are at the bottom of her jar.

*pours the whole jar into Little Blues bucket and whistles innocently*

We snuck out and headed over to Veggienerd's place and met Mr. Veggienerd as Veggie gave Little Blue the good stuff. Little Blue definitely put on his mojo and got a couple smiles out of Veggie.

Next was a pit stop over to the Lackman Library to visit Distant Shoreline and the rest of the Lackman crew. We all got our picture taken with Bookington and Pink and Blue rested in the YS area for a bit while LB had some fun with the pillows, dinosaurs and letters. Poor Double H was really disappointed she only had a pad of Answers Anytime post its, pencil, and a small back scratcher (that Little Blue broke on the way home), but it was still fun.

Afterwards, we headed home, gave Little Blue his choice of candy, which he didn't like so Blue got to finish, then we did the evening duties and headed to bed.

Pink and I did the parent duties and went through his candy to look for open bags and stuff he couldn't eat. Blue got the jolly ranchers, Pink got the nucky ucky gross Whoppers, but everything else we left for Little Blue.

Now, if he finishes his dinner every night, Little Blue can take his pick of candy for dessert. Tonight, Smarties reigned supreme.

Thanks to friends and family that made it possible. :) Make it easier for Pink and I, and Blue absolutely loves is.

Little Blue is an excellent co-pilot

Saturday Pink, Little Blue and I were bit by the lazy bug, so instead of firing up the grill for some pineapple burgers, we headed to Red Robin.

This week, it's been hard to tell the Nextel Cup boys were in town with the increased traffic with varying license plates and a lot of show cars (read: real race car bodies, but a non-adjustable setup race care with a low end engine and exhaust to make it sound like a real race car), so I didn't surprise me there was a Nextel Race trailer at one of the new stores in Olathe.

So, I told Pink Little Blue and I were going to go play. :) Lunch first though.

Pink got her Hawaiian burger and I had an A1 Peppercorn sandwich while Little Blue wolfed down some mac n' cheese and cantelope. Then, we all headed over for some fun.

Well, more fun for Little Blue and I, Pink did her best to be entertained, but then saw a SuperClips close and dashed in to go have her hair washed and a little trim.

Little Blue and I took a look at the show car and waited 10 or so minutes to ride the NASCAR simulator. Inside the trailer are two mini cars facing away from each other with a digital projector over each car. The image is displayed on a 3 panel "windshield" just over the nose of the car. Inside each car is a realistic car setup, with a co-pilot's seat.

Since Little Blue and I were the first to enter, he got to pick which car we'd be in. I knew it was either and orange Home Depot sponsored Tony Stewart car or a red Budweiser sponsored Dale Earnhardt Jr. car. (for the record, one of Pink's boyfriends is Dale Earnhardt Jr.). Little Blue picked orange, so in we climbed.

I had intended for me to mash the gas and for Little Blue to drive, but Little Blue was just happy to get in the front seat so he got in on the passenger side. It took a little coaxing to get him in, so I dashed around the car and got into the driver's seat, and once he saw I was in there, he leapt into the seat. He put on his seatbelt, I strapped in, and we were ready to go.

I prepped him outside that it might be a little noise and the car would shake a lot, but I don't think it was enough.

The screen turned on, and the announcer said to start the engines. As I flipped the switch to get the engine started, the shocks that made the "ride" into a simulator lifted the car 8-10 inches off of the ground, then raised the passenger side of the car up to simulate the banking. As soon as the car began to lift, Little Blue's hands instantly went to either side of his seat in the white-knuckle/this-is-going-to-be-scarey-fun position.

I hollered over the rumble, "You okay buddy?"

"Yeah Daddy! I'm ready!"

I saw the emergency stop button in case we needed it. If I needed to press it, the shocks would reseat the car so we could get out.

I looked over and he was doing okay, so we decided to go for broke.

I put the gas down and we ended up being the car in the lead right off the bat.

After a half lap, I realized we started in one long line, not the typical two row start, so I nearly lost the lead in the first turn because I took the turn high so a car almost snuck in underneath us.

I got in front of him just in time down the backstretch and we maxed out the engine at 192 miles per hour. Since I was in the lead, I was pushing against the wall of air and all the cars behind me were taking advantage of it and nudging our rear.

The second corner came up and the car tried to sneak in below us again, but I got down low enough to make sure there wasn't any room to get by. Came up towards the start finishline for two laps to go and the guy finally got ticked off enough and tapped me hard enough to get the car loose and the entire car wiggled. SO much better than any forcefeedback controller. :)

Once we got back into turn 1, the other simulator competetor decided to have a little fun and spin us out. The car rocked pretty violently and gave the feeling of spinning out, but the actual car didn't spin.

"Daddy! What happened?!"

"We crashed buddy! We spun out?!"

"Go get em Daddy! Get the bad guys!"

I laughed and got the car facing the right way and we finshed the race 19th out of 20th. The computer competetors kicked our butts, but we beat the other people racing with us. :)

The car doors automatically opened once the ride was over. I popped our seatbelts loose and Little Blue gave the attendant a high-five as he climbed out of the car.

We went and met Pink in while she was getting her hair done. Little Blue was all excited and told Mommy about it.

"Did you have fun driving the car Little Blue."

"I was a little scared."

"Was Daddy a good driver?"

"No, he crashed. I was a little scared."

Ah, good fun.

Arg Daddy!

A couple weeks ago Mommy and Daddy took me to the feztible. Mommy got me all dressed up as a pirate, but I really didn't like the crinkly shirt, so I fussed for about 4 hours (Daddy says it was 5 minutes) and Mom and Dad let me wear the shirt backwards. I had a white shirt, striped pants with a red sash over around my waist. Mommy and Daddy also let me bring my pirate sword I got from McDonalds when one of Mommy's boyfriends was in a pirate movie, but somehow they "accidentally" left it in the van when we were at the festible.

Next Mommy and Daddy had to get ready. Daddy had some really poofy pants and some neat boots that laced up the side. He had a funny poofy shirt too.

Daddy helped Mommy get her boots on. Mommy had a hard time tying her shoes. *giggle*

Mommy got her shirt on, and Daddy had to sew Mommy's shirt closed. It was funny because Daddy said he knew how to tie it, but I saw him start over a couple times, and I could tell Mommy was tired of having a broken shirt. But, Daddy eventually fixed it.

Finally 40 hours later, we were on our way to the Festible! Most of the time Mommy and Daddy just walked around holding hands while I kinda wandered around. I was pretty shy for a bit, but after a while Daddy gave me some macaroni and cheese in a bowl made out of bread and I was ready to PLAY!

They had an area where there was a pirate ship and I got to drive and climb all over, and I found some slides. Then some pirate lady came over and scared me! I latched on to Mommy's leg until the pirate lady gave me some gold! I told her!

We also saw some jugglers, a magic man, and and Robin Hood and Little John toss Maid Marion into the water.

Then I got in trouble for getting too close to the water. I was sad.

Then I kinda started to get tired, so Mommy and Daddy carried me for a bit, then we went back to see some horses! I didn't get to ride one, but I got to ride Llama!!! I think Daddy said something about a Quake or something. Mommie looked a little worried when I went to go ride by myself, but it was a lot of fun! I had a good time!

The Mommy and Daddy decided it was time to go, but I wanted to ride the elephant! Daddy came up with me and we rode. It was fun, but the elephant was a little wobbly.

Next I wanted to ride the Camanimal. Camanimal!!! But, Mommy and Daddy told me they were out of money and I couldn't ride the camel. I didn't want to ride the camel, I wanted to ride the camanimal!

But, they said I could ride it next time...so I decided to go home with Mommy and Daddy. It was fun, and I can't wait to go back!

Dude! I got a tat!

Kudos for Camera-Gal and Pink for pulling this one off.

For the second time this week, I had to work 10+ hour day, but by virtue of scheduling, I was able to go pick up Little Blue from daycare and pick bring him to the library so we could hook up with Pink, and then they'd go home.

After spending some time in Admin where Little Blue was getting his shy mojo on with the Business office, we headed back to "Daddy's Office" because I'd left my cell phone in the car and wanted to tell Pink we were at the 'brary.

Someone was nice enough to bring in a HUGE barrel of animal crackers, so after I picked up LB's eyeballs off the floor and let him get one, we head back to my cube.

We start talking to Edh and our custodian, DJ. Turns out, Edh was working on our orientation this evening and needed a cover sheet, so LB and I fire up the computer and get to work. I send the print-out to the IS printer, and LB and I walk up the hallway to pick it up.

*LB snags another animal cracker*

LB marvels at the printer and really wants to yank the printouts before the printer is done with them, so we test his patience...get the copies, and I tell him Edh needs them and if he can take them to her. With four pieces of card stock in hand, he walks back towards my cube...

*LB snags another animal cracker on the way*

And hands them to Edh. Edh's is so happy to excited have LB help her out that LB blows her a kiss on our way to go wait for Pink in Youth Services.

We head over and I start talking to Camera-Gal about how I was joking going to leave LB over there till Pink shows up. She said she'd just be happy to take him home right now, so I joke about the car seat, and she said she could just take mine. We chuckle about it and LB starts playing with the foam blocks he loves to fiddle with every time we come in.

About five minutes later, Camera-Gal ask LB if he wants a stamp, and knowing he had no clue what one was, I offered up the back of my hand to let LB see what it was.

"Look Daddy! You got a paw!"

Camera-Gal is slowly bribing LB into coughing up his hand for the stamp when I notice Pink come in and gives me the finger.

NO! not that finger!

The shush finger! She wanted to surprise LB...

Camera-Gal notices Pink walk up and asks LB, "Do you think your Mom might want a stamp?"

"Umm, yeah!"

*Pink, from behind LB, sticks her hand over his shoulder and receives her stamp*

*LB looks at the hand, then up at Camera-Gal, then turns to see Pink and bursts into a joyous "Mommie! Mommie!"*

Camera-Gal eventually gave LB his tat, but I wasn't around to see it, I had to get back to work.

LB was in bed by the time I got home, but when I woke him up this morning, I saw his tat...and because of the way he slept, he had a blue paw shaped hickey on his neck because he snuggled up so warm some of the ink transferred from the back of his hand to his neck.

Dude! I got a tat!

Kudos for Camera-Gal and Pink for pulling this one off.

For the second time this week, I had to work 10+ hour day, but by virtue of scheduling, I was able to go pick up Little Blue from daycare and pick bring him to the library so we could hook up with Pink, and then they'd go home.

After spending some time in Admin where Little Blue was getting his shy mojo on with the Business office, we headed back to "Daddy's Office" because I'd left my cell phone in the car and wanted to tell Pink we were at the 'brary.

Someone was nice enough to bring in a HUGE barrel of animal crackers, so after I picked up LB's eyeballs off the floor and let him get one, we head back to my cube.

We start talking to Edh and our custodian, DJ. Turns out, Edh was working on our orientation this evening and needed a cover sheet, so LB and I fire up the computer and get to work. I send the print-out to the IS printer, and LB and I walk up the hallway to pick it up.

*LB snags another animal cracker*

LB marvels at the printer and really wants to yank the printouts before the printer is done with them, so we test his patience...get the copies, and I tell him Edh needs them and if he can take them to her. With four pieces of card stock in hand, he walks back towards my cube...

*LB snags another animal cracker on the way*

And hands them to Edh. Edh's is so happy to excited have LB help her out that LB blows her a kiss on our way to go wait for Pink in Youth Services.

We head over and I start talking to Camera-Gal about how I was joking going to leave LB over there till Pink shows up. She said she'd just be happy to take him home right now, so I joke about the car seat, and she said she could just take mine. We chuckle about it and LB starts playing with the foam blocks he loves to fiddle with every time we come in.

About five minutes later, Camera-Gal ask LB if he wants a stamp, and knowing he had no clue what one was, I offered up the back of my hand to let LB see what it was.

"Look Daddy! You got a paw!"

Camera-Gal is slowly bribing LB into coughing up his hand for the stamp when I notice Pink come in and gives me the finger.

NO! not that finger!

The shush finger! She wanted to surprise LB...

Camera-Gal notices Pink walk up and asks LB, "Do you think your Mom might want a stamp?"

"Umm, yeah!"

*Pink, from behind LB, sticks her hand over his shoulder and receives her stamp*

*LB looks at the hand, then up at Camera-Gal, then turns to see Pink and bursts into a joyous "Mommie! Mommie!"*

Camera-Gal eventually gave LB his tat, but I wasn't around to see it, I had to get back to work.

LB was in bed by the time I got home, but when I woke him up this morning, I saw his tat...and because of the way he slept, he had a blue paw shaped hickey on his neck because he snuggled up so warm some of the ink transferred from the back of his hand to his neck.

Even this one made me cringe

We were at a party for Pink's boss Saturday night, and Pink and I were enjoying dinner while Little Blue was out running around in the yard playing with all the other kids out there.

After a couple minute, LB figured out we had sneaked inside to get a bite to eat, so he joined us there...no doubt to try and steal grapes from Pink's plate and watermelon from my own. I got up to get a drink, LB got up into my chair.

And as he was trying to scoot closer to the table...

The chair slipped on the hardwood floor...

And his mouth met the top of the table on the way down to the floor.

Pink had a moment of shock, but she wasn't a tenth of a second behind me when I picked LB up off of the floor.

Inwardly...I had to sort of chuckle. Just before I reached down to pick him up, I could see the gears working in his head, "What in the heck just happened to me."

I picked him up, and Pink was right there with me checking him out. He was sobbing pretty hard, but it wasn't until he went into full blown tears that I saw his mouth was soaked with blood. Dr. Dad doesn't think very straight, so Pink pushed me into the nearest bathroom.

Occupied by a little girl.

We were given directions to the upstairs bathroom and Pink grabbed some paper towels on the way. Pink flew up the stairs and by this time, LB had settle down enough to talk.

*sobby, blood covered mouth* I got a big owie Daddy!!!!!!!

I know buddy, did the chair slip and did you hit the table.

Yeah Daddy!!!!

Does your mouth hurt?

Yes Daddy!!!!

It'll be okay, I've got you and Mommie and I are going to make you all better.

Okay....*sobbing sniffles*

That was one heck of a fall buddy, you must be a tough guy.

*sobbing* Mmmmhmmmm

Once we sat him down on the counter, I think we were going to wash his hands, regardless of the fact that his upper lip was growing larger. It took us a moment to get him to open his mouth, but once I got him to give him his mean face (teeth mashed together and growling like a dinosaur, and I had a quick flash of Edward Norton flashing a smile full of blood ala Fight Club) and Pink dove in and cleaned up the crimson and drool.

Low and behold if LB didn't giggle while we were making faces. He let me lift his upper and lower lip to check everything out and I couldn't see anything, and he didn't bite his lip, so odds are he split his lip somewere behind his upper lip...and due to the youthfulness of his body, the bleeding was nearly stopped after 3 minutes in the bathroom.

We got an ice pack for him, but he wouldn't let us keep it on his face long enough to do much good. We dabbed a couple bloody spots up in the few after minutes, but he was fine after that. Had a hard time talked for the next 20 minutes or so...then I'll be damned if the swelling was already starting to go down.

He wanted to go play, so Pink and I watched him like a hawk...but not close enough...

Three minutes later...

He tried to climb onto a swing and I was there just in time to twist him into a pretzel to make sure he didn't slam his head into the ground. I don't think he understood you can't lean back in the swing without holding onto the chain.

More tears, but he wanted to swing, so I sat in the swing, put him onto my lap facing me, so we swang for about 45 seconds until he decided it wasn't all the little girls were making it up to be, so he wanted down.

Hawk watch continuted for about another 10 minutes, the bleeding had stopped, but LB was otherwise okay...with a fat lip.

Then the kids started to get a game of soccer going, and LB wanted in.

III, the owner of my wife's company, was also there, so he immediatly took Jonathan under his wing, and every chance III got, he'd try to stear the ball to Jonathan so he could get a kick in. Once LB would kick the ball, he'd run up and tell me how excited he was and missed a couple passes in repeating the process.

Then III started dominating one side of the team, so I stepped in, blowing the dust off of the soccer pamphlet I'd buried since Middle School or so, and balanced the team out. I never went on the attack, but was a line of the defense for our goalie. A couple times III got it passed me, more than once I just stood there like a wall and let III bounce off of me, LB got it passed me at least once, and I supposedly tripped up III (I say I froze because I had about five 5-13 year olds around me and III was in the mix, and I know he fell, but whether I tripped him up or I lodged the ball against my food and he tripped over the ball was up to debate).

We laughed, I made sure he was okay, and he made sure to rub it in for the rest of the evening.

Pink'll be lucky if she gets through Monday without hearing about it. :P

LB became addicted to the slide and finally learned that sliding on your bottom IS fun and not scarey. Up until a week ago, LB would come down on his stomache, hands and toes slowing his decent, often coming up with a couple blisters after a trip to McD's playlands.

His lip did start to bleed again once he ate cake, but quickly stopped. We kept him hydrated the rest of the night and slept hard all night long and during his nap today.

Ooh! And on a fun note, after doing some rearranging in the basement, we hauled up his Nemo tent into his bedroom and LOVES sleeping under it at night and during naps. He wasn't using it much before...and we might as well take advantage of him enjoying sleeping on the floor. I did put a blanket down for him and his boppie (which he loves to use for his pillow).

Long, stressful weekend, but full of fun too.

Independence Day 2006

The Pamphlet family spend the day relaxing, with a little bit o' grilling and big booms tossed in.

Two memorable moments of the day was when Little Blue started watching Blue's Clues and began interacting with the program. Periwinkle was dying to show Steve his her new magic tricks and asked all the kids in the audience, "Do YOU want to see my magic tricks?"

To which Little Blue replied with an emphatic, "No!"

*Pink and Blue both have a deep belly laugh*

After dinner, Little Blue and I headed up to go to the bathroom, did our duty, then headed down to see everyone getting ready to head out to the fireworks.

"LB, you ready to go see some fireworks?"

"Yeah!"

"Great, lets go!"

"Umm, Daddy?"

"Yeah champ?"

"Can dose kids (Gma and Gpa) come with us?"

*chuckle* "Of course those kids can."

Little Blue was also enjoying the Big Booms, and one or two might have gotten the better of him if it wasn't for Pink's hand to hold onto and and Grandpa Blue's lap. Afterwards, just before we were getting ready to leave, he asked, "Mommy? When is the movie going to start?"

*Pamphlet family laughter* There's no movie buddy, just pretty Big Booms.