Happy Mardi Gras

Lib was cleaning out a cabinet yesterday morning and she found a bag of green beads. As you can see Paige enjoyed playing with them. It started with her winter hats, but she enjoys trying to put things on her head. The green beads were no exception.

Although the beads were purchased for St. Patricks Day, with yesterday being "Fat Tuesday" and Paige getting into the spirit I wanted to share this picture.

Gated community

Paige, I hope you are enjoying it. While living with your parents, your current setup is as close as you will get to living in a gated community.

To be completely honest our version of living in a gated community provided very few of the benefited of other gated communities. According to eHow the top advantages of living in a gated community include:

1) No Through Traffic: While getting around the gate is difficult (we are currently in the market for a new gate that is easy to open so we can walk through) with a three year old sister there is no limit to through traffic. Lucy loves to try and climb over the gate or simply pull it down.

2) Security: The gate does provides mom and dad some peace of mind that Paige won't go down the stairs head first. It also allows her to crawl freely and mom and dad to be hands free for a bit each day.

3) Property Value: Any property value gained by having a hand me down, plastic ,removable gate on the top of our stairs (Spoiler Alert: Value added= $0 or less) is easily cancelled out by paint and food stains in the carpet.

4) Children's Safety: In a gated community I can understand how children can play easier with less cars and unknown people around. I don't get how the gate keeps kids on their trampolines (more on this story in a later post), chairs from tipping over, and small objects out of toddlers mouths.

The reason we "moved" to the gated set up is Paige's new love, borderline obsession, with climbing the stairs. Since she recently mastered turning around and going down the stairs feet first we have been having trouble keeping her off the staircase. Her up and down trips are quite cute and she is very proud of herself.

If I had my druthers as to which skill Paige would have worked on I would have picked walking or hitting her mouth with a higher percentage of her food. Nonetheless this accomplishment is noteworthy.

In the future if Paige ever has a job interview on the second floor it will be good that she can get up and down the stairs. Hopefully she doesn't crawl the stairs or reverse crawl down when that day comes!?!?! Also if the person interviewing her happens to mention that he or she lives in a gated community hopefully Paige will proudly respond, "Me too!"

Dude Report: March Madness Preparation

Two dude reports in a row! I will get back to posting about being a stay at home dad soon. The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is one of my favorite sporting events of the year. Now that we are over half way through February the countdown to March is really heating up.

This weekend is BracketBuster Weekend . A select group of mid-major teams hoping to improve their chances of making the NCAA tournament play each other. To celebrate this weekend I wanted to post my current throughts about the fast approaching NCAA tournament.

The Mountain West is for real. Both San Diego St and BYU will make the Elite Eight and one will make the final four.

I want to predict that Duke is an early upset target, but Nolan Smith and Coach K will not let it happen. They will be beat by a better team in the third or fourth round.

The ACC and is very weak this season. Duke and North Carolina are the only teams worthy of making it out of the first round.

The Big East will put 10 teams into the NCAA tournament. As a Wisconsin native I hope the tenth team is Marquette, but it is more likely to be Cincinnati.

Notre Dame has quietly had a very, very good season. They have earned a 2 or 3 seed and if they shoot well could make a deep run in the tournament.

It will take a very good performance by any team in the tournament to eliminate Pittsburgh. West Virginia and Syracuse on the other hand will likely eliminate themselves because they can’t put the ball in the bucket enough.

Upsets very much depend on matchups but Florida, UConn, Kentucky, and Louisville are four teams that should earn a four seed or better that could lose first round.

My final four for this year’s “tournament darlings” are: George Mason, Old Dominion, Wichita State, and Cleveland State. With two teams coming from the Colonial Athletic Association, you could say I am a fan of the conference. This also this means that George Mason or Old Dominion will need to get an at large bid.

Living in Big Ten country I have to believe Ohio State and Wisconsin are equip to make a deep tourney run. With that said, Purdue is the team to watch. Many wrote them off when Robbie Hummel went down again, but they have NBA talent and have beaten many good teams.
Some of the toughest teams to bracket include Tennessee, St. John’s, and Kansas St. These three teams have proven they can beat and lose to anyone on any night.

The final net of the season will be cut down by Texas. They will win the tournament with defense.

In the words of Mike Tice, "Enjoy the season!"

In the words of Andy Williams, "It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

Warm up Week: Dude Report: Grilling

In honor of the unseasonably warm weather we have been having this week I wanted to do a post about grilling. With highs of 39 degrees or above from last Sunday through tomorrow, with tomorrow topping out at 49 degrees, everyone in our house is looking forward to Spring. Unfortunately with the calendar still reading February and our address reading Minnesota, we know we have more winter ahead. We will take the warm weather when we can get it and continue to daydream about the summer days of grilling in shorts while consuming cool beverages.

Libby's company as a holiday gift sent all of their employees a Omaha Steak combo package. The package included steaks, pork, chicken, burgers, gourmet hot dogs, potatoes, and even cheese cake. I almost send Lib's boss a thank you note myself! Also, included was book called Great Gathering Guide & Cookbook. To get everyone thinking about the approaching grilling season I wanted to pass along Omaha Steak's 10 Tips For Perfect Grilling.

1. Clean and preheat grill on high.
2. Lightly oil food before putting on the grill. This helps the searing process and prevents sticking.
3. Season food as desired before grilling.
4. High, direct heat from the grill sears the surface of food and searing contributes to the ultimate flavor and juiciness of the food.
5. Use tongs/spatula to flip food on the grill, as forks damage the food.
6. Keep the lid on the grill as much as possible as this helps regulate the temperature and prevents flare-ups.
7. Keep a spray bottle of water handy to tame any unexpected flare-ups.
8. Use the 60/40 grilling method. Grill for 60% of the time on the first side, then flip food product and grill 40% of the time on the second side. This will evenly cook the product.
9. Place cooked food on a clean place. Do not use the same plate for raw and cooked foods to prevent cross contamination.
10. Allow food to rest for 5 minutes between cooking and consuming. This will help the food to retain moisture before cutting.

This is being labeled a dude report not because I don't think "dudettes" can't rock the grill, but because I admittedly feel manly when I grill.

I hope you are enjoying the weather in your neck of the woods and I look forward to grilling with you soon!

Normal Tuesday, except I cried

Around our house, like millions of other homes, we have a night time routine that we try to adhere to. Libby puts Paige to sleep around 7PM. A little before 8PM Lucy goes in the bedroom with an evening snack to watch a recorded episode of The Berenstain Bears or Caillou. While she does this, I typically finish cleaning up the kitchen, have a beer, and catch a couple sports scores. When Lucy's show is over we read some books, use the bathroom, brush teeth, and then turn off the lights.

While this is the ideal plan, more nights then not there is at least one curveball. From wanting two snacks instead of one, not wanting to put her pajamas on, or not wanting to brush her teeth we feel like we have heard it all. If you are a parent you know the delay game and all its inner workings. Paige even got in on the act last night. At 7:45PM Paige, who is usually asleep for the night, woke up and decided she wanted to hang out for a couple more hours!?!?! It is amazing to think that some day these kids will be teenagers and we will be begging them to get up out of bed, but I digress.

The reason I mentioned the night time routine is because on the night of Tuesday, January 12th, during the 20 minute window that Lucy watches cartoons I started watching President Obama's memorial speech in Tucson, AZ. Without diving too deeply into politics I will admit that I am fan of the President. He is a gifted orator and I enjoy listing to him speak.

When I tuned in he was eulogizing those who were lost in the terrible, terrible shooting in Tucson. The last victim that he discussed was nine year old, Christina Taylor Green. As he described her activities that included gymnastics and swimming, I couldn't help but think of my girls. Lucy is currently taking a gymnastics and swimming class. Christina's interest in meeting her representative made me think of the excitement Lucy has when she is learning about something new or preparing for an adventure.

I am not sure if it was fatigue from a long day or what, but I started to well up thinking about Christina and her parents. The President then went on to discuss that earlier in the evening Representative Gabrielle Giffords had opened her eyes for the first time since the shooting. I had never heard of this Rep. Giffords before the incident, but that didn't keep me from losing it.

I am not someone who cries often, so I found myself asking myself, why are you crying, what is wrong with you. In addition to trying to lean on fatigue as an excuse, I concluded that this is what parenting does to you. Parenting has made me feel emotions (including happiness and stress) at a stronger level then ever before. The incident reminded me of the depth of the love parents have for their children.

Before the president had concluded his remarks, Lucy was yelling, "Daddy! The show is over." Quickly I was brought back to the present moment and back into our nightly routine. As I headed into the bedroom I tried put myself together, but was quickly greeted by looks from Lucy and Libby that said, "What the hell happened out there?"

I briefly explained the situation to Lib and before we could discuss it too much, Lucy had a couple questions of her own. First she asked if I was ok. When I replied that I was, she quickly moved on to more pressing issues. These issue included, but were not limited to, finding out how much older Brother Bear is then Sister Bear and why Papa Bear always wears the same thing.

January 12th by many accounts was a very normal Tuesday. I will look back and remember this day not only because I turned into a blubbering mess after watch a few minutes of a speech, but because in the midst of our normal routine I was reminded of how much I love the routine and those I do it with.

Beard Update

This post has nothing to do with my facial hair or "no shave November". This is about my three year old daughters various pursuits of facial hair.

Before I dive into Lucy's beards, I want to celebrate the Twins resigning our favorite mustached pitcher, Carl Pavano. In addition to winning 17 games and striking out 117 last year, Carl found time to grow a thick, dark mustache. I am excited to have him and his 'stache back for two more years.

Early last winter Lucy used a black marker to draw a beard on her face. I blogged about and posted a picture last December in a post titled The Circus was in Town.

This updated beard picture was taken during a bath last week. Typically both of the girls get bathed together, but for some reason Lucy has the opportunity to take bath by herself. We/She celebrated the occasion by filling the bath with bubbles and doing what kids have done for generations...gave herself a beard.

Lucy's white beard seems to be showing her age!?!?! All white beard jokes aside, it is amazing how much can change in a year. Lucy's development continues to keep us on our toes and occasionally turn some of our real hair grey, but more frequently then that she amazes us and makes us laugh.

You can call me Walleye

Happy New Year everyone.

One of the things I love about blogging is that there are no deadlines or limits to vacation days. With that said, if I would have known after my December 9th post that I wasn't going to post again until January 6th, I would have a least turned my out of office on.

As I settle in to 2011, I am excited to get back in the flow of posting regularly.

I kicked off the new year by keeping a traditional alive that I participated in for the first time last year. I jumped into Lake Minnetonka. The temperature outside was around 4 degrees and it was windy. Not a good day for swimming.

The Lake Minnetonka Ice Dive is a great fundraiser for the American Lung Association, and despite the weather the event had over 900 jumpers again this year. Before you complete your first jump you are labeled a guppy. After you complete one jump you are a minnow. Footage of my first jump was posted last year during a post titled First name I got called this year. After two completed jumps you are a Walleye. With two jumps completed...you can call me walleye.

The goal is to complete 10 jumps and earn the title of shark and a cool bathrobe. The cool shark bathroom, while not pictured, is much nicer then the one I used this year. See for yourself below.
I really enjoy the novelty as well as the comradery of this annual event. I also enjoy the symbolism of kicking off the New Year with a real "slap in the face, let's get pumped up, have a great year" shock to the system that jumping in a frozen Minnesota lake provides.