The Payoff Pitch

The AtHomeTrio went on their own road trip last night. We went to the ballpark and finally got to see a winning effort. The Princess had fun, but she wanted nothing of sitting in my lap. She only wanted to sit in her own seat, on top of the diaper bag. The Talker was his usual self, entertaining the crown with his dancing and cheering. At one point he got bored with his sister and me, so he went and sat down beside the people in front of us. He even stayed down there after he turned and told the guy "Your not Uncle Lemon."

We left in the 6th inning, which might explain the win. But, we were there long enough to see Danny Klassen hit a Grand Slam Homerun! The first I have ever seen. The Talker was dancing in the aisle.

So now, AtHomeDaddy's record for the season stands at 1-3. The team's season record, 3-4. And the big payoff of the night? Keep the kids up to 9:45 and The Talker sleeps until 8. The Princess? Dunno? Still asleep and it is now, 8:45! I'd rather have that than a grand slam, any day!

Road Trip

The Boss Lady is going out of town tomorrow. She and several of her teachers are traveling a couple of hours away to visit a school that is very similar to theirs. They get to compare notes with someone else and see new approaches to dealing with common problems.

Me? I'll be holding down the fort for 36 hours, solo. I think the kids and I might sneak out to the baseball game Wednesday night for a few innings.

But, counting tonight, I have been to three games this season and they have lost all of those. They won all but one of the others. So, maybe the team will pay us to stay away. Then, the kids and I can go to a movie or to the indoor playground.

Do You Know the Difference Between 350 Degrees and 450?

Yes, technically the answer is 100 degrees. But in AtHomeDaddy Land, the answer might as well be, burned brownies.

I was trying to bake some brownies for The Boss Lady's birthday dinner. While I was feeding The Princess AND cooking The Talker's lunch. And two out of three ain't bad, right? I got the kids fed and down for nap. And then I noticed the smell.

Brownies burn very well in a convection oven. Especially if you accidentally add 100 degrees to the temperature setting on the oven. Dang, and I was being SO smart. I remembered to take off some bake time, since I was using the convection system.

If only I had read the directions closer. Or at all. Then The Boss Lady would have brownies tonight for her birthday dinner. Now I guess it'll be Ritz crackers with strawberry icing on top. Just like last year. That makes it a tradition, right?

Happy Birthday, Boss Lady. Hopefully the kitchen won't still stink when you get home.

The END of the Weekend is Near

The AtHomeFamily has made use of the local highway system this weekend. Saturday morning we headed downtown to the Kars and Kids Car Show. Thunderstorms and bad weather were predicted, so there were not too many kars (or kids). It was still an awesome time. I'll post some pictures over at TruckinDaddy, soon.

Today, after church, we headed out to watch the local minor league, triple-A baseball team, Round Rock Express. It was hot, the Express lost and we left early. Definitely not a total loss, though. The kids got free baseball gloves for attending, and since it was a Sunday game, the team has family activities outside of the stadium before first pitch.

The Talker got to ride a horse and he got to slide on an inflatable slide lots of times. The inflatable obstacle course almost proved too tough, but he finally climbed over a big wall and finished the entire thing with only a little help from dad.

We were supposed to do "Mommy" things this weekend. After all, it is The Boss Lady's Birthday, Monday. Lucky for me, The Boss Lady enjoyed getting to do lots of family things this weekend, even if they were things that The Talker and I picked.

But we finally did "Mommy" stuff, when we went out to dinner tonight, with Uncle Lemon, My So Called Aunt and their children, Beautiful and Gorgeous. Our kids were well behaved. Theirs? They acted better than 1 year old Golden Retriever puppies. And since their puppies are really nice dogs, that is saying a lot.

The Boss Lady is going out of town Wednesday and will be gone for 36 hours. Should get exciting around here, about mid-week.

The Weekend is Near

This morning started a little early for The Boss Lady. At 3 am The Princess was running a fever. Since she is teething, just had shots, and is prone to urinary tract infections, The Boss Lady called our Pediatrician. This morning, we all headed down to The Pediatrician's office. The Talker and I skipped out on the fun and went to the park across the street. We chased ducks. We climbed trees. We played on the playscape. We won this morning.

They? The girls got to sit in the waiting room, waiting to get a 'sample' so they could test for another urinary tract infection. No urinary tract infection!

And no, I still have not folded the clothes. Yes, the pile is getting bigger, and yes I had to shove a lot of clothes out of the way so I could sit down on the couch. And yes, I dressed the children right out of the pile this morning. But that just means fewer clothes to fold tonight, right?

I should be folding clothes...

but I decided to post some more recent pictures instead. Enjoy.

Here is a picture of The Princess at the park, taken about two months ago.

This one was taken during our Saturday Easter Egg hunt. That's my girl. Who cares about eggs when there is a truck to play with!

The Talker got to drive a lot of tractors at the fair, three weeks ago.

Try as we might, getting both in the same picture is a real trick. This was from about a month ago.

And here, you can check them out in their Easter best.

One of these days I'll actually update the kid's webpages, but this will have to do for now.

Late to the Party

The Boss Lady and I have not rented a movie in a long time. Blockbuster once reported us to a credit agency for a $3 late fee. And that pretty much did it for us.

But now, our grocery store has installed an automated DVD machine. You scroll the titles, pick one and it charges your credit card $1 a day. After 14 days, they charge your card $25 and you own that movie. Great. Now if they will ad some self-checkout lines, I will finally shop in peace. And I won't have to deal with the creepy 132 year old checkout woman.

Last night, needing mindless entertainment, we rented Dodgeball. Watching Rip Torn chunk wrenches at people from his wheelchair is well worth the dollar. Maybe it was not worth the $25 keeper fee, though. I had it back at the store before 10am.

Tonight's Feature Presentation, Friday Night Lights.

Amen, Brother

Russ, over at The Daily Yak, has a post up, about his wife and her recently hectic schedule.

Even though our schedule is not really crazy right now, I can sure share the sentiment. And by linking to his, I don't have to type all of the mushy stuff. Thanks, Russ.

But mainly, Thanks, to The Boss Lady.

I Once Hated the Time Change

But The Princess is still asleep, and The Talker has only been up for 35 minutes! Gotta love those legislative geniuses that gave us Day Light Savings Time!

The kids both had doctor's appointments yesterday. Once they FINALLY woke up, we rushed around getting dressed and out of the house. The Talker evidently has really big tonsils. And they only get bigger until the kid is 7 or 8. If they stay in that long. We shall see.

And the doc's advice about the boy's raspy voice? "Try not to let him talk loud, or yell" He is getting nodules on his vocal cords because he is always whooping and hollering when he plays. Keeping him quiet? Not a chance. Not even if we gagged him and kept a pillowcase over his head.

And The Princess? She got her one year shots. Plus one shot that we missed because of a urinary tract infection, at nine-months. Handled them like a queen! She cried for less than 30 seconds. And her moron daddy had left the pacifier at home.

She napped on the way home, so we went to the neighborhood park. Lots of kids and moms out there, so The Princess got lots of sympathy for her three band-aids on her legs.

The Boss Lady has gotten to come home from work early the last couple of days. So she has had time to play with the kids outside, before dark. Makes life gooder for all of us. Especially since it is not dark until about 10 minutes before bedtime, right now.

Having a Ball on Her Birthday

The AtHomeFamily is out of babies. We only have toddlers around here. The Princess turns ONE, today.

And continuing a tradition we started on The Talker's first birthday, she got a giant rubber ball for her birthday. You know the kind that they stick in 8 foot tall wire bins at Target or the grocery store.

Yep, that's it. And you know what? The Talker still has his big red ball, two and a half years later. And he still plays with it. Tell me another toy that still gets played with almost daily, two years later, and maybe we won't be so cheap on the kid's next birthdays...

We are going to hit all of the cool places on her birthday. Target. The mall. The grocery store. Since we all went to the auto parts store last night, I guess we will skip that. Maybe next year!

Insert your own rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" , here...

Birthday Party Success

The Princess will be 1 year old in a few days. So we had a birthday party for her this morning, after church. It was a small party with a few neighbors and several of the kid's cousins. The kids all had a blast, and there were only a few tears shed.

The mommies talked about stuff that daddies don't care to discuss in public. The daddies talked about the truck. What a great party. Even if most of the dads almost got in trouble, because we were outside looking at the truck, instead of watching the opening of the presents.

But it is all good. Because there are cupcakes left for breakfast!

The Busy Before the Storm

The inlaws have landed. There are at least three hotels within two miles of here. Lucky for me, they are using those accommodations.

Since they were only here for a while today, and The Mother of the Bride brought three of our nieces down with her, I spent the morning (after a little truck time) getting the yard ready. I got all of the mowing, edging, weed-eating, and blowing the clippings off of the driveway and patio done before lunch.

It would have taken all day, but I went out in jeans and a sweatshirt. By 11, it was almost 80 degrees and I was overdressed. Nothing like dehydration to make me mow faster!

Hang Out Day

Recently The Talker has decided he likes "hanging out here", or playing at home for those of you not schooled in cool-kid three-year-old speak.

So today, we hung out. We played animals, with his hundred or so little plastic animals. We played cowboys with the red and yellow and blue cowboy men and Indians. We played with the Fisher Price Little People. We read books.

All good stuff. And a good day to be inside, since the wind was blowing 25 miles per hour almost all day long. I did not really want to risk going out there anyways. Neither of the kids weighs much. They might have taken flight in the breeze, today.
Except for that quick trip to get Krispy Kreme doughnuts, this morning. The boy and I were hungry and we found $10 laying by the computer. That trip was work the fly-away risk. But otherwise, it was a great day to play inside.

A little blogkeeping

I have updated my blogroll list. I deleted a couple of sites and I finally found one that was MIA.

A big "sorry, bud" goes out to Eccentric Father. Turns out I posted it to ADHDaddy by mistake.

Lake Run

The kids and I headed to the hike and bike trail, downtown this morning.

Yeah, I know, gas is pricey. Too bad. We had to get out of this house for a while.

So we walked the trail with 8 or 10 other SAHDs and their kids. The Talker got to feed the ducks and chase pigeons and The Princess napped most of the way. The weather is beautiful, so it was a great morning to be outside.

1 2 3, It's Story Time.

The AtHomeTrio went out to see The Boss Lady at work yesterday. We ate lunch in her office and made a large mess. Then we left.

We stopped at the mall, to window shop and to play on the indoor playscape. And to burn the last of their energy before naptime. Worked like a charm. She? 2 hours and 15 minutes. He? 2 hours and 40 minutes. At the same time!

Me? Could have been productive. But no. Read truck stuff online. Watched Law and Order (twice)! and played in the driveway for a few minutes.

Good times.

This morning we are off to story time. Not at the cool bookstore downtown. Are you nuts? Have you seen gas prices?

And the bus? Yeah, do YOU have a hour and a half to spare to get downtown? With two multi-appendaged beasts on your lap? Yeah, I thought not.

We are going to the chain store a couple of mile away. Besides, the kids really like the old man who leads the story times out here. He sings in Spanish, talks with puppets and plays a ukulele. And not even the really cute story time lady at the cool store can beat a ukulele and a spanish speaking alligator.

Day Four...

of the last long wekend before summer.

Saturday morning we all went to the easter egg hunt. The kids had a blast and it was awesom to see some of our old friends from church. We have all scattered to different areas, some teaching teens or in the nursery and some. like me, just getting older and moving to the "Older Class". Of course, hanging out with these guys makes me want to go back to the old group, so that might happen soon.

On the way to the hunt, The Boss Lady informed me that she and The Talker did not attend last year's festivities. Not that it matters to you, but I believe in full disclosure.

Sunday morning, we were off to church and it was chilly when we got home. So The Easter Bunny slept in. The kids went Easter Egg hunting in the front yard, after naps. They made a pretty good haul. Good for daddy, becasue someone has to eat all of that chocolate.

Today, we are hanging out at home. I might play with the truck a little bit, but no money will be spent on it. At least I can snack on candy while I am out there.

The Weekend Just Keeps Going

Friday, The entire AtHomeFamily went grocery shopping. You would think that two adults who each grocery shop for the family could make this a quick trip. It drove me nuts. The Boss Lady walks the aisles in a different route than I do, and she buys different stuff. It was weird. But at least she had to backtrack a couple of times. I always seem to miss something, too.

We all survived the grocery run, so the kids and the wife played inside and in the backyard, while I played in the driveway. Actually, they got most of the house cleaned, while I made a big mess.

The Boss Lady is good like that. After 2 1/2 years at home, I still rarely get anything cleaned up while both kids are awake. She can make cleaning the living room exciting enough that both kids will pitch in a little. I have to wait until one of them is asleep and the other is occupied. Then I try a quick strike. Getting one room clean, or one chore done. I can get several things done each day, this way.

Last night, we walked the neighborhood and visited with Racecar Man and his family. The kids had a blast playing in their yard and The Boss Lady got to talk about something other than trucks for a few minutes.

This morning, we are heading out to a friend's house for a multi family Easter egg hunt. Last year, I skipped out, so The Boss Lady could see her friends and hang out with the boy for a while, before The Princess arrived. But it turned out that I was the only husband/daddy to skip out. So I'll be going this year. Egg hunting and lunch. Two of my favorite activities!

Sorry to Ignore You

I've been a little pre-occupied with the new truck. Sorry for not blogging more here, on the site that started it all.

So a recap of current events:

First and most importantly, The Boss Lady is on a FOUR DAY WEEKEND! Yeah!

The Princess is now choosing to walk a lot of time. She will stop crawling, stand up and walk the rest of the way to her destination or some other great distraction along the way.

She also has a tooth! Beat her brother by a month on walking and three weeks on getting first chompers.

The Talker has gone completely insane for Buzz Lightyear. He has a pair of Buzz pajamas that he has worn all day long. He might of slept in them last night, too. I know he was begging to wear them tonight, but they stink. So no dice. No more Buzz pajamas until they visit the space-washer out in the garage. Even so, the Buzz dolls, both big and small, will sleep in the bed with him, so life is good. I just hope he does not bend his laser while he sleeps.

We hit the hardware store this morning to return some toys, oops, tools. On the way home, we stopped my old office so the boy could play in the giant sand play area. On the way home, I asked if he wanted to eat lunch at McD's. Luckily for me, he wanted Chic-Fil-A! McD's playscape is bigger, but Chic-Fil-A's is not as "scary".

So the day was wasted, running errands and goofing off, but at least we did not have to eat at McDonald's. Yeah!

Meet Dishwasher, the Midget Babysitter

Our dishwasher may be small, but it is one heck of a good baby nap inducer. The Princess cannot resist a little snooze if we are sitting in the kitchen, while the dishwasher is running.

Right now, she is sitting between me and the dishwasher. And snoozing away.

So I should really be glad we picked the smallest capacity dishwasher. More loads per week = more naps! And that is what AtHomeDaddy is all about.

Now, I wonder if she will sleep with the clothes washer running... Maybe I should roll her out in the garage because the washing machine is ALWAYS running around here.