A date with Mom and Dad

Emma stills enjoys being read too. Her favorite book is a book with stories about five of the Disney princesses. Little Mermaid and Snow White are the popular favorites. The other night she convinced her Dad to lay on the floor and read to her. It was so cute!

Look! Emma still has her smile. As you have probably noticed Emma's smile has been missing in pictures for the last few months. When the camera is pulled out Emma looks away or clamps her mouth shut tight. Finally we found something that worked at least that night. We asked her to show us her teeth. Yeah!

The loves of my life.

Well since James has still not made his appearance yet we decided to have one last fun outing with Emma before her life gets interupted. Saturday afternoon we headed to Kangaroo Zoo in North Salt Lake. It is just a big building filled with blowup bounce toys and slides. Emma loved it once she figured out what to do.

Emma was climbing the ladder to go down one of the slides when another kid decided he needed to stop her. He grabbed her foot and tried to pull her off. You can see the panick in her face. Boys....


Emma had a great time, I was able to sit most of the time and watch while Quinn walked around with her. It tired her out and got her ready for a good nights sleep. The best $3.00 we ever spent. Thanks Kangaroo Zoo.

Olympic Jobs I'd Love

The Olympics are over now, and many of us have gone back to wondering what we're going to watch on TV each night now that Bob Costas isn't in charge of that. But even as the Olympic glow fades away, I can't help but think about how great it would be to work at the Olympics. Here are a few of the jobs I'd love to do:


Olympic Snow Painter


Olympic athletes didn't used to be so wimpy. They used to throw their goggles on and just ski. Now, however, they used polarized and tinted lenses to cut down the glare and, that nothwithstanding, they still need somebody to spray blue paint all the way down the mountainside so they know where they're going. I would be perfect for that job, because I think the folks that do it today lack imagination. I would not only highlight jumps, turns, and out of bounds, but I'd spray motivational messages in the snow for them to see while they skiied. Things like smiley faces, or "John 3:16". Imagine how great someone could ski if they saw "The Force Will Be With You, Always" staring back at them. Also, I'd occasionally use yellow paint just to keep things interesting.




Olympic Figure Skater Opening Routine Position Choreographer

This is really the job that sparked the idea for this post. You know how the figure skaters take to the ice, then skate around a little bit, and then glide to the center and contort themselves into some funny pose until their music starts? How on earth do they come up with that? And what are they supposed to be? I want to bring some sense back into this. I'm tired of weird poses like a girl with one arm in the air and the other wrapped around her and her head tilted to the left and one knee slightly bent. What does that even mean? If you're skating to "Eye of the Tiger" then start with your hands in front of you like a boxer. If you're skating to something from the Karate Kid soundtrack ("Best Around" or, if you prefer: "Cruel Summer") then start in the swan karate position. If you're skating to some random concerto by some random dead guy, then why all the emphasis on an intricate position that nobody gets? Just stand there, looking straight ahead, like you're getting your passport picture taken.

This would be a fine pose if you were skating to "Stairway to Heaven."




Olympic Ice Skating Ice Litter Picker Upper

I would love to be one of the people who skates around picking up litter off of the ice after a figure skater finishes his or her routine. I'm not a strong skater, but I'd just love to be able to pocket some of that free stuff. Just skating around, stuffing my sweatpants full of the stuffed animals and flowers that fall on the ice. Because let's face it, Kim Yu-Na isn't going to miss a stuffed unicorn. But Emma would love one.




Olympic Champion Flag Passer Outer

I always had a dream of competing in the final round of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego." That never happened, but I could still flex my vexillogical muscle by watching a race, identifying the winning country, running over to the bench where all the national flags are kept, identifying the correct one, and delivering it to the winning team for use in their victory lap. Because how else can the South Koreans give the proverbial finger to the rest of the world except with a flag to wave around at everyone (and throw on the ground when they're disqualified). I would just love to be a part of that. And I'd still like to meet Rockapella.




Olympic Short Track Public Address Announcer

This is a cool job. This guy gets to tell everybody in the building to shut the heck up. Yep, he yells "shooosh" and everybody shooshes. Even the NBC commentators. Speaking as the father of a two-year-old, I know how hard it is to shoosh even a single person sometimes. But shooshing several thousand people must be euphoric. This guy also gets to say "Go . . . to the start" at the beginning of each race. That may sound boring, but there seems to be some prerequisite for this guy to have an Asian accent, and when you mix the words, the accent, and the intonation, the phrase just reeks of mystic power. Like Confucius himself was talking. Go ahead and ask Laura -- I've been practicing "Go . . . to the start" with an Asian accent for weeks now, and I think I'd do a darn fine job at the Olympics.




Olympic Cross-Country Snotcicle Groomer

Don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for these guys that cross country ski a distance which is equivalent to me making 2,000 trips from my desk to the candy machine. But dudes: you have frozen snot -- or snotcicles -- hanging from your face. You're embarassing yourself and your country. I don't suppose I'd love this job, as the title of this post indicates -- however I never thought I'd pick boogers out of my daughter's nose, either. So here we are.



Yes, the Olympics are over, but the spirit of painting snow, modeling other people, stealing stuffed animals, fantasizing about Greg Lee, impersonating an Asian announcer and touching someone else's mucus ... lives on.


Quinn

Emma's Bedroom and a playdate!

Yesterday we put the final touches on Emma's room. It is completely finished. I think it turned out really cute and she loves it. She did not have a problem switching to a new room at all. Now we will just have to wait and see how she does when we switch her to a toddler bed.

Emma with her tent. She is always asking us to get there with her. There is no way I'm can get in there right now but it is really funny to see Quinn do it.

The New Room!

Today Emma and I headed over to a friends house to play and get some of her energy out. They have three boys, ages 5,3 and almost 1. Emma had a great time and got a lesson in what it is like to play with boys. They first had a sword fight with pieces of foam. Emma would get into for a minute and then run over to me feeling a bit over whelmed and then run back and join in the fun again. She's never really had to assert herself like that before.

They also have a climbing wall in their house with a large bean bag beneath it. Emma loves it. She will even climb up a little ways and jump off. What a fun house.

Watching the boys ruff house.

Random Match-Up: Better Wizard

Who's the better wizard?


Dumbledore?

Or Gandalf?

Leave your vote in the comments section.

(Since I'm anticipating at least one extra-nerdy reader to ask: Let's say for the sake of this match-up that we're talking about Gandalf the White.)

Quinn

Catch Up!!

I can't believe we really haven't posted any pictures since Christmas. When I got out the camera I realized why. We haven't taken that many pictures since then. We have been very busy here getting things ready for the baby. Our first project was to create a playroom for Emma in the downstairs bedroom which up until now had been Quinn's man room. He has very graciously given it up. Down came the soccer jerseys and model airplanes. We painted one wall in the room red and then brought in all of Emmas toys (she has way to many and they were taking over the living room). She loves the room and is very excited that she has her very own table and chairs just her size. But most of all she loves making tents with her Dad.

In January was celebrated birthdays with Quinns family at his brothers house. They have the drums for rock band and Emma discovered these. She walked right over and just started playing. We had no idea she knew what to do with drum sticks. Since then she wants to play the drums at our house with anything she thinks looks like a drum stick.

Quinn also had a birthday on Feb. 2nd. He is an old man now at 31! Emma was all over the present opening giving Dad more help than he needed.
Happy Birthday Quinn we love you!!

Once the playroom was finished we emptyied out the 2nd bedroom upstairs stashing furniture everywhere else in the house so that we could get it painted and ready for Emma to move into. It is finally painted and hopefully will be put together this Saturday so we can start the process up getting used to a new a room and eventually a toddler bed. Any suggestions on how to go about getting her sleep in a toddler bed are welcome. I think she is going to enjoy her freedom way too much.

Emma watched 1 1/2 movies while we put the first coat of paint on. By the time we were done she was begging to not what t.v. anymore (which is something she loves). We sent her to Grandma's while we put the second coat on.

After Emma is set in her new room I can then get all my baby stuff out of the closet and ready for James. I hope it's all done by the time he gets here. Only 1 month to go!!

Merit Badge Earned: NES

I've just earned this merit badge, and you can, too. Make sure you meet all the requirements. Feel free to post a copy of the merit badge on your blog. I expect full credit, however.

Merit Badge: NES

Requirements

Do the following:

1. Before completing requirements 2 through 5, have your health-care practitioner give you a physical examination, to include the following:

a. that bright and rapid flashes of light do not cause you epilepsy

b. that your thumbs are of the proper flexibility and strength

c. that you are capable of sitting in the same seat for at least 5 hours.

Talk about how your practitioner tried to convince you to play outside and how you know that playing Nintendo is way more fun than that.

2. Explain the following:

a. The proper way to hold an NES controller

b. The difference between the standard NES controller, the NES Advantage, and the NES Max.

c. The proper actions to take when game cartridge won’t read, including:

1. The “Blow”
2. The “Breath”
3. The “Jiggle”
4. The “Jam”
5. The “Frantic Reset Push”

d. Why it is not necessary to wave your arms in an “up” motion while pushing the jump button.

2. Explain to your merit badge counselor the best games in the following genres:

a. Sports
b. Action
c. Adventure
d. Shooting
e. Silly

3. Perform the following Super Mario Brothers music themes to your counselor, either by humming or da da da-ing:

a. The standard theme, including the “time’s running out” variation

b. The underworld music
c. The underwater world music
d. The Bowser’s castle music
e. The flagpole music

4. Recite from memory the following cheat codes:

a. Mike Tyson fight on Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!
b. Extra lives on Contra
c. Turn Samus into a girl on Metroid
d. No goalies on Ice Hockey

5. Perform at least one of the following feats:

a. Defeat Great Puma in Pro Wrestling
b. Sack the opposing quarterback at least 28 times in Super Tecmo Bowl
c. Beat Medusa without the stopwatch in Castlevania
d. Beat any soccer game with any team other than Brazil
e. Complete a level of Kung Fu without throwing your controller in frustration

One step closer to my Eagle...

Quinn

I'm Just Trying To Help

Lauralee has been complaining recently about her pregnant belly ... specifically: not being able to bend over and pick things up off the floor.

So I bought her one of these:

She hasn't spoken to me for 2 days.

Quinn

By the by, if the idea of a pregnant woman dropping something and then taking time to deliberate whether it's worth it to pick it up makes you smile, then you've got to read this hilarious post, written by a pregnant lady herself.