Blog

  • Playing games with Dad

    Playing games with Dad

    Joe loves playing games but in our house it is hard to find someone to
    join him. Dahlia decided to play with Dad but this game of Blokus
    consisted of the yellow pieces and the green pieces having
    conversations and setting up house.

  • Posing in their gowns

    Posing in their gowns

    After Dahlia’s trip to the emergency room the pediatrician nurse reminded me the girl’s were overdue for their well-check.  Once at the doctor’s office the girls did their best to make their gowns fashionable. The nurse checking us in had the same heart condition (SVT) as Dahlia does. Everyone checked out fine and no shots were required.

  • Variety show planning

    Variety show planning

    This year I decided to help organize the annual variety show at the
    school. We had our first meeting where we delegated tasks and
    finalized the theme for the show. This year it will be “Camp Quah:
    Final Jam” a play on the movie Disney’s “Camp Rock”. Practices will be
    on Wednesdays in January with the show being on the last Friday of
    January. I know January will be crazy for me.

  • Our new parlor sized guitar

    Our new parlor sized guitar

    I decided to buy Monti a smaller sized acoustic guitar to learn on. I
    bought a used Art and Lutherie Ami guitar off Craigslist. After
    getting it home and playing it I am guessing it is going to be pretty
    tough for Monti to learn how to play right now but I actually like the
    smaller size for myself. Ugh! Real guitar playing is a lot tougher
    than that Rock Band.

  • Trapeze

    Trapeze

    In addition to the swings we bought a trapeze for the garage. We have
    a large 6′ x 10′ – 8″ thick landing mat to go under the trapeze. I
    should have the girls ready for their Vegas act in no time. Monti has
    already created a song for their act called “Swing Girls.”

  • Photo shoot for our Christmas cards

    Photo shoot for our Christmas cards

    We all got into a rockin’ mood by watching ipod commercials before
    trying to get some live action dance shots for our Christmas card. We
    put U2’s “Vertigo” on repeat and everyone danced to it while Joe
    and I took turns snapping tons of shots. After that I had a date with
    my old pal Photoshop. Joe told me I could only work one day on the
    card because he knew I could get very hung up on the details. (I kept
    it to one day too).

  • Swings in the garage

    Swings in the garage

    Dahlia has been begging for a playground and our yard is just not
    right for it. Last weekend we started thinking about adding some
    swings to the garage. I bought the stuff and Joe hung them up. They
    LOVE the swings! To quote Monti, “She is the luckiest girl in the whole world.”

    Video unavailable (Google Video, discontinued 2012).

  • Denny’s for our Thanksgiving dinner

    Denny’s for our Thanksgiving dinner

    After leaving the water park exhausted we realized we were also
    starving. Nothing much is open Thanksgiving evening off the
    interstate except Denny’s so that is where we had our Thanksgiving
    celebration with Boca Burgers and mac n’ cheese. Monti added a bit of
    traditional Thanksgiving by getting mashed potatoes as her side item.

  • MagiQuest at Great Wolf Lodge

    MagiQuest at Great Wolf Lodge

    Throughout the main areas of the hotel were kids running around waving
    wands at anything and everything. It was absolutely killing Monti not
    being involved in whatever they were doing. We headed to the gift shop
    to see what it was all about. The game was called MagiQuest and it
    required the purchase of a wand and a game. Once we had a wand we were
    able to activate quests that sent us throughout the hotel trying to
    find symbols or hidden objects. When you came across one of the
    objects you needed you would wave your wand at it. The game kept track
    of what objects you had collected and what quests you completed. The
    objects could be found on 5 different levels of the hotel. We played
    for a total of 3 hours and we walked a countless number of stairs. It
    was a big hit with the girls. On a personal note I am still having dreams involving my unsuccessful search for the howling stone wolf.

  • In the water park

    In the water park

    Dahlia was pretty scared of all the slides except for the ones in the little kids area. Both girls agreed that the wave pool was their favorite. Monti went on every slide she could. Nothing was too scary for her. She even stood under the large bucket that drenches those below it every 5 minutes or so.