Squirrel vs. Rat

When I was in a psychology class in college my professor posed a question to the class that I have often thought about. She asked why do people think squirrels are cute and rats are gross? She said they are essentially the same animal, one just has a fuzzy tail. I am guilty. I think squirrels are cute. I know they are rodents and carry many diseases but I can't help but to think they are cute. I have even been guilty of trying to sneak up on one and try and pet it.

Rules

As a young dad I have learned a few things along the way. One of the most interesting things to think about are rules and their evolution as the days go on.
I have learned to stay away from certain terms when setting rules. These are the "set in stone" words. For example: I will never ________ or, we will always ____________. These are likely at some time going to need to be amended for some special circumstance.
I like to have game plan rules. Like, we will, if available, all sit at the table to eat dinner. We then have the flexibility to change if need be.
Today I implemented a new rule that I don't envision us changing:

"We will not walk outside without our pants on."

That's one that I hope sticks around for a while.

Influence

I blogged a while back about us going to Going Bonkers with some friends of ours. It was a wonderful night and the kids loved it. Here are some pictures to prove it. Lillian had such a good time in the little kids area, there was a spot where she could climb 4 little stairs and go down a slide. She must have done it 1000 times. Here she is going down all proper while her buddy takes it head on. She must have taken mental note because the next time around she went for it.

Go Lilly!

Love Love Love that girl!!!

I Can Read Minds

This series of pictures was taken at the pond right before we got our fish on. It was a great night and Landon was so excited. She has talked about it ever since. When we got home she wanted to look through all the pictures that mommy took so she could see her big catch. When we came across these three we got the biggest chuckle. So here goes, here is what she is thinking:

"Yeah, I'm cute. Now let's fish."

"I don't know what 'the bird' is, but I think I may be giving it

to you under this goofy smile."

"What? Me? I wouldn't.... Well, maybe I would. Now let's fish."

We had a wonderful night and will cherish the memories forever. There are pictures of the fish but I will have to share them another time. I just couldn't pass up posting these gems.

Little Bunny Foo Foo

This picture scares me. There I said it. I am not ashamed to say it. And if I was at a camp in the woods and turned around to see this thing chasing me I would say some "choice" words.

And that is just what happened to a friend of mine. When I heard that story I laughed till my side hurt. But then I could totally sympathise with her. The best part of the story is that the whole thing was caught on camera. Boy would I love to see that, to sympathise of course. I would never want to see it just so I could laugh so hard I peed.

On My Heart

We are starting to think about a birthday party for sweet little almost 2 year old. So naturally we thought about the splash park (one of her favorite hang outs these days.) But while thinking about it for some reason the contrast of her beautiful life was somehow connected in my mind with little girls all around the world that don't have the same opportunities. It wasn't hard for me to quickly look through the pictures on our computer and find the one below of her playing in the crystal clear water at our local splash park. It unfortunately also wasn't hard for me to find the next picture either. The cup in that little girl's hand isn't for playing, it is for her drinking water. It breaks my heart to think that 1 in 8 kids around the world don't have access to clean drinking water. And out of those, 4500 will die today because of a water related disease.

So there spawned my idea. What if at her party we could raise money and awareness for these little girls. What if we could all bring a little and in turn make a huge impact. For $20 we can provide a child with clean water for 20 years through charitywater.org. The picture below could be replayed every day for the next 20 years because of our generosity.

Fishing

Yesterday we went and got Landon a fishing pole. You would not believe how happy this made her. She danced all over the store when she got it. Then we she got home she called her Pops and had a whole conversation about bobbers. It was awesome. So, this morning how else would you expect her to watch cartoons:

11:30

There are many sounds I can think of that you never want to hear at 11:30 PM. One such sound is your dog gagging. That is how I awoke last night and it was NOT fun. My first thought was get him outside he is going to yack. Then in my half asleep state I realized he was under our bed. OH NO! Our bed isn't very tall and somehow he squeezed his round little body under there. NOT good at all. Right then, amidst my panic, he puked. Then it hit me, this clean up process is going to take a while. So I had to turn on the lights (Mandi was not happy about this, she slept through the commotion), get my pregnant wife out of bed, remove the dog from under the bed, move the bed, then start cleaning. My gag reflexes were in overdrive and Mandi was zero help. It was a long process and I still have to figure out how to get the bed back where it belongs. But that is a task for later. We have to get to story time at the library....

Legal Mombo Jombo

We recently got new medical insurance. Joy! And now we are trying to figure it all out. Bottom line, we have to pay and pay and pay and eventually there is an end in sight. Well we hope anyway.
So we started trying to think ahead (I know, noble idea) for the delivery of baby #3 and how much the whole thing is going to cost so we can budget accordingly. Not that it wont be worth every penny, we just have to start planning.
I for one don't understand all the lingo these insurance people use. Maybe I am uneducated or just slow but it seems to me they talk with terms that only they understand. I called on the phone only to be frustrated so Mandi sent an email. So we can go slow and try to digest it all.
Here is an example of one of the phrases we heard:
"For covered In-Network services that are currently considered at 90% of the allowed amount, the benefit level would increase to 100% of the allowed amount once you have met both the deductible and out-of-pocket maximum."
See what I mean? That's crazy talk!
Now here is the final paragraph that I thought was particularly interesting:
"The information provided in no way represents a guarantee of payment. The benefits quoted are general and based upon the information present on our computer records and may not reflect information recently received. Benefits for any claim will be provided according to the eligibility, terms, and conditions of the participant's contract at the time the service is rendered. All services must meet medical criteria for coverage and are subject to all contract limitations or exclusions."
Is this just on long way to say if something changes between now and then don't rely on what I just said? What a good way to cover your tracks.
I think I will start including something along those lines at the end of everything I say. And I'm going to say it real fast, under my voice, and with my fingers crossed. Ha. Gotcha.

Blurred Lines

Friday night we had to privilege to go to a 16th birthday party for one of our friend's daughters. We went to Going Bonkers which is a big indoor play area from kids off all ages (including the 28 yr old dads). Not were you would think a 16 year old would pick but given the families involved it was a good time.
As I sat with the people there, all families from our church, I thought about all the ways that our lives are connected and how fun it was to all come together and spend time playing.
There were 4 families which equalled 11 kids which equals good times.
1st story line: The Kuders, which it was their daughter's bday invited us all because we are friends first and foremost.
2nd: I am in charge of weekday childcare and the Kuders are on my team
3rd: I work in the nursery on Sunday, the mom of one family is a vol in the nursery on Sunday
4th: The Kuders are Landon's teachers on weeknights
5th: The Kuders are Lillian's teachers on weekends
6th: Another girl there was Lillian's teacher when she was in the younger hallway
7th: The lady from the nursery was Lillian's teacher when she was a newborn
8th: One guy was on staff at our church
9th: When I was teaching elementary kids on weeknights I was one of the Kuder girl's teacher
So you can see our lives are all intertwined. And it is awesome.
So when Landon went off to play with the Kuder girls in the play area she came back to me all excited and full of stories. She kept telling me what all her "teachers" had taught her. I know there are a lot of story lines above, but the Kuder girls have never been her teachers. She was so confused.
Which got me thinking: how awesome is it that we are so engaged in connecting on so many levels that Landon can't figure out what title to call people. There are so many ways we could identify each other if we chose titles, but instead we just call each other friend.

Guess What We Found

Oh yeah! We found a new splash park that has been right under our noses. This is a favorite way to spend summer evenings around here. We go to the same one over and over and over again. It is great, that's why we have been about 100 times. Free, cool, and loads of fun. But when I found out about this new little gem we had to go on an adventure to find it. And it was well worth it. The girls played hard there last night followed by sleeping hard.