Kids Say Things

So, I owe it to my loyal reader (i.e. Megan) to keep up the blogging this year, especially since I've gotten off to such a great start.  Now, granted, I missed last week because of that one reason and all, but I'm back to it this week.

As you know, Megan, Max wears glasses with a significant prescription.  This week, when you were looking at him you noticed that his glasses were covered with smudges, fingerprints, and other vision-obscuring dirtiness.  When you asked Max how it was humanly possible for him to see out of such dirt-covered lenses his response was: "Because I have really great eye sight."

Stock Photo: Max

When we were at Alison's basketball game last week (remember, Megan, you were there), I was trying to get Kaitlyn to cheer on her sister.  I showed her how you raise your fist by your ear in the cheerleading position while yelling out encouraging phrases at the players (or while disparaging the referees like I do).  She was finally pursuaded to give a try with a "Go Ali!  Woo!" which got progressively softer after she started.  Her reflection on how it went: "I kind of lost my confidence there at the end."



Stock Photo: Kaitlyn

Stock Photo: Alison

Avery is becoming obsessed with Just Dance 4, which, Megan, you will recall that Santa brought for Christmas, and now walks around the house singing "Here's my number, call me maybe."  Fortunately, she mixes it up occasionally with another number: "Ever ever ever ever ever ever ever, We-eee!"  Yep.  Just how Taylor Swift wrote it.

Stock Photo: Ava

Olivia doesn't say anything funny, but she now laughs when you tickle her!  (Less so when I do it.)

Why am I blogging again?  These are all stories that you told me.

Little Miss Olivia

For those of you who rely exclusively on our blog for information about our family, you'll be relieved to know that Megan is not currently 58 weeks pregnant.  Our sweet Olivia Jane was born 9/9/12 at 7:15 a.m. weighing in at 7 lbs. 11 oz. and measuring 18.5 inches.

Since Olivia is the fifth child, we don't really have any pictures of her yet, so here is a months-old photo of Ava I was able to find--which is probably what Olivia will look like in a few years.

Kidding, of course. Mostly. Here's the real story:

I was watching some football or basketball game late on Saturday night, and had briefly fallen asleep on the couch. When I came to, I shuffled up the stairs to our bedroom and found that Megan was there pacing the room and had, on her nightstand, a notebook with two columns-- (a) times (such as 10:17 p.m., 10:25 p.m.) and (b) durations (such as 45 seconds, 30 seconds, etc.). Even though Olivia's actual due date was still a few days away (on 9/11), I vaguely understood what was happening--having gone through this experience only four times previously.

We texted a great friend from church, who was remarkably still awake at midnight, and she agreed to come over and sleep on our couch to be here with the other kids while we headed to the hospital, where we arrived a bit after 1 a.m. or so. I guess we must have been watching the BYU football game because it was only when we checked in at the front desk that I realized that both Megan and I were both wearing BYU Football t-shirts (from which the nurses on duty concluded that we must be a newly married couple, fresh out of undergrad, about to have our first baby...suckers!)

After getting checked in and confirming that Megan was, in fact, pregnant...I mean, in labor...we got settled into the room, and waited patiently for the drug dealer...I mean, anesthesiologist...to show up so that Megan could tell him that she loved him (I can't remember if that was before or after he stuck the massive needle in her back or not).

As the father-to-be, I was politely offered a recliner to sleep on which, based on how well I slept leads me to believe, must have been an airline seat in a former life. Have you ever tried to sleep well on one of those airline seats? I mean, they hardly recline, and then they aren't that comfortable to begin with, and then there's the incredibly loud noise from the engines, and...wait this isn't about me. Sorry, I got distracted.

Anyways, Megan did some stuff and then Olivia came flying out and into the world first thing in the morning.

About an hour or two after she was born, I quickly went home to pick up the kids to come meet their new baby sister who were all bouncing off the walls and excited to take turns holding her.

We're so glad Olivia has joined our family.  She's such a happy baby and truly is loved by every one of her siblings.

Here are some other early-life pics of Olivia Jane--since more recent ones will be forthcoming.

Triskaidekaphobia

Even though I absolutely demolished last year's goal of blogging by an astonishing 200%, I've still decided to raise the bar this year and try to blog more than the 3 times that I did all of last year--if I can remember how to do this.  (In fact, it's been so long since I've blogged, I'm sure my audience now consists only of people stumbling upon this blog while Googling "triskaidekaphobia" and "comings and goings" in the same search string, myself, and the one of my children who keeps insisting that I publish her PowerPoint presentations here.)

So, dear two non-me "Comings and Goings of Nathan and Megan" readers, what can you expect from me this year?

1. A Catch Up on Nathan + Megan Family Activities since March 2011.  Since that was the date of my last post, you're probably asking yourself what on earth has happened to us since that time with self-inquisitions like: 

• "It's only been 10 months, but have they moved?  Again?"  
• "Have they had the baby?  (If not, Megan would be a very unhappy camper at about 56 weeks pregnant now!)  What did they name it/her?"
• "Have they gone on any trips or had any Christmas's to Remember?"  
• "Have they written any witty end of 2012 letters worth posting here?"  

(As usual, though, I'm making no guarantees that these updates will be chrono-logical, eco-logical or just regular-old logical either.)

2. A Posting of Various PowerPoint Presentations.  This will probably be one or two from Kaitlyn's fine collection of decks on topics such as music, love or donuts, but I may throw in Ali's birthday plan (despite it's lack of financial analysis), or my own POV on the state of U.S. government spending.  (I know...they all sound riveting.)

3. Long and Pointless Rants Exceeding 140 characters. Unfortunately, all my short and to-the-point rants will be found on my Twitter feed with the hashtag: #allcomingsandgoingsofnathanandmeganatblogspotdotcomshortandtothepointrants.  And, all of my observations about the things I'm about to eat and times when I'm standing on an escalator will continue to be found on my Facebook page (once I find my password).  So, that just leaves this blog as my only forum for going on and on and on (perhaps giving new meanings to the "goings" of Nathan and Megan).

So, that's it.  Sit back and enjoy the wait for these and other wonderous topics this coming year from yours truly.

Good Lines From Today

I love the things my kids say.  Here's a representative sample--just from today:

Ava (while pointing at herself and smiling big, because she knows what she's doing): "Dad!"  (I've been trying to teach her her own name, by pointing to her and saying "Ava".  She knows her name, but she points at herself and says "Dad" to be funny and laugh.)

Max: "Kate?  When are you going to get bath-tized?"  (In fairness to Max, it does look like a big bathtub.)

Kaitlyn, trying to argue her case that we should go on a family-ish walk: "Mom, how about the rest of us all go for a walk and you can stay home and watch The Firm?"  (She clearly overheard Megan earlier in the day who said that we had DVR'ed it but not watched it yet.)

Alison: "Dad, when you knocked Kate over you made child dominoes!"  (I accidentally bumped Kaitlyn into Max and they both fell over.)

Classic Dad, Classic

Since I already demolished my 2012 blogging goal of posting once for the entire year, I thought I'd go ahead and be an overachiever.  Besides, according to my informal spy networks, the faithful blog reader(s) of the Comings and Goings of Nathan and Megan are growing anxious for some new entertainment news.

The other day for lunch (or was it dinner) we were in rush so we decided to have Kraft® Macaroni and Cheese.  Megan, of course, did all of the real work, but after I reminded the kids to thank their mom for the meal, I decided to get in on some of the credit.  I said, "Yea...Mom did the simple stuff with just adding the final ingredients, but I did most of it.  First, I had to find the pot to cook it in.  And, it wasn't in the first place I looked.  Then, I looked in the dishwasher and it wasn't there either.  Then, I looked somewhere else and finally found it.  After that, I had to  go all the way to the sink to fill it with water, and then determine which of the burners to cook it on by carefully matching the right burner with little picture next to the knob on the stove.  Then..."

Before I could finish, Kaitlyn just looked at me and shook her head while saying, "Classic Dad.  Classic."

Speaking of food, we stopped by a Wendy's on the way home from a quick Saturday morning trip to the Columbia South Carolina Temple.  As we pulled into the gas station next door, Alison started crying; I mean sobbing.  We asked her what was the matter.  She responded, "My hamburger meat keeps slipping out of the bun and getting ketchup all over so I literally can't eat my hamburger!"  It was fairly tragic.  After our first suggestions at a remedy were scoffed at, we were finally able to re-wrap the burger in the paper wrapper to keep the slippery meat from escaping her bite.  Fortunately, we are all able to laugh about it now that someone else cried over something equally ridiculous at the dinner table a few days later.

Since Max has so much feminine influence in his life with 3 sisters and a mom, I've been trying to make sure he's getting more man time in his life.  We recently signed him up for flag football at the local YMCA.  I showed him the "man shake" to use in a lieu of a hug wherein we 'high five' but then pull each other in close to bump opposite shoulders and then smack each other on the back as hard as we can stand.  I also started trying to call him "best friend"--as in, "Let's go outside and play soccer, best friend" or "Hey, best friend, do you want to watch Jake and Neverland Pirates?"  Unfortunately, it didn't even last a day (or the better part of 30 minutes).  After trying to invite my "best friend" to go upstairs and play cars he looked at me sternly and, "Dad, we're not best friends.  We already talked about this."  Man, it's no good when even my 4-year old son is embarrassed of me...around the house. 

I think Ava is sensing that she's not going to be the baby in the family forever and is becoming increasingly lazy.  She can go up and down stairs just fine.  But, if you are upstairs and don't pick her up and carry her downstairs with you, she now lays down on the floor and cries while pointing down the stairs, all while giving you a look that implies something like "What you can't even carry your own poor, helpless daughter down the stairs?"  She also now refuses to hold her own sippy cup up at the angle necessary to cause the liquid to reach the sipping mechanism.  Oh, she can do that too; she's been doing that for 6 months.  But, she just wants to show who's boss--and clearly she is.

Megan also said something funny the other day.  I think it had something to do with the Jim Carrey movie, Leap Dave William, since we just celebrated Leap Day by wearing our traditional blue and yellow garb.

Happy New Year!

Ok. So, it's New Year's Day. Time for some resolutions. I thought that the faithful Coming and Goings blog reader(s) would want to know what was on my list. Here you go:

1. Contract the cold that has been going around various people in both Indiana and North Carolina. (A little bit of each one for good measure.)
2. Post on the blog.
3. Once.
4. For the entire year.

Wow. I'm done and we're not even 24 hours into the new year yet. How's that for efficiency?

In case there were too many words on this page for your liking, here are some photos from December of the kids doing various and sundry random things. (Sheesh! It was only 84 words...)

Happy New Year!

Gone in Sixty Seconds

I think it's ESPN or SportsCenter that has a sixty second recap of the day's top sports stories or highlights. Since I am now woefully behind on the year, I thought I'd just give you--the faithful Comings and Goings of Nathan and Megan blog reader(s)--the sixty second recap of everything important that has happened this year that I haven't blogged about yet. Then, we'll be all caught up. Get your timers ready--and read fast!

1.  Ali's Birthday

Alison turned a whopping 9 years old. She had a party.  In Indiana.

 At the party--

• Ali was the only girl who was invited.
• It was a basketball party.
• They played basketball.
• Avery was a good cheerleader and watched from her stroller.
• Megan was a good mom and managed the whole thing, including picture-taking.
• Ali got lots of presents relating to basketball.
• Basketball.

2.  Nauvoo
We drove to Nauvoo, IL (passing "And I Oughta..." IL along the way) for a family reunion on my side of the family.

While we were there--

• Ava learned how to eat her new dress.
• We went to the temple.
• We went up in the spire of the temple and looked out over the Mississippi river.
• We got locked in Carthage Jail.
• We had various and sundry family firesides and events.
• I played guitar at one of said events (along with my cousin Carrie).
• We saw Grandma and Grandpa!
• We loved seeing and hanging out with Mike and Marilyn and their kids.
• We swam at the Indoor Pool.
• No one got sick, surprisingly (as always seems to happen on our vacations--see a A Christmas To Remember, for example).

3.  Michael's Wedding / Trip to Denver
Megan's brother Michael met a girl named Heather.  They got married.  In Colorado.  We went.  It was only 2 days after we got home from Nauvoo.

While we were there--

• Kaitlyn dug up dinosaur bones.
• Megan held Avery.
• Max got a girlfriend (nevermind the sippy cup).
• The cake was delicious.
• Kaitlyn posed for the camera.
• We went to Red Rocks.  Twice.
• Nathan held Avery.
• We went to the Denver Acquarium and swam with (or looked at...whichever you prefer) sharks.
• Fake sharks ate Nathan's head.
• We met that sea turtle from Finding Nemo, dude.
• We saw, but did not swim with, real tigers.
• Ali was not eaten by a tank of piranha.

4.  Max's Birthday
Max turned a whopping 4 years old.  He had a party. In North Carolina.

On his special day--

• He got pirate cupcakes.
• He blew out candles.
• He got a gumball machine he was excited about (and ate every gumball for it within the space of approximately 60 minutes).  This toy now sits, discarded, in a corner of his bedroom.
• He had a party at the park with some of his new friends.
• He also received a punching bag, Paper Jamz guitar (which Ali got for Christmas last year and decided to give to Max since he played with it more than she did), and some other stuff you can see in this picture.
• He was surprised at the spread he came down to first thing in the morning.

5.  Ava's Birthday
Ava turned a whopping 1 years old.  We had a small, family party (+ 1 of Ali's friends who happened to be over.)

On her special day--

• She got a Build-a-Bear.
• She got a giant music-making block, probably called a Learning Cube, or something like that.
• She got a baby iPhone.
• She learned how to climb onto the dishwasher.
• She cried when Max kissed her.
• She got a whole cake to herself.
• She stuck her face in the cake and couldn't believe she had to eat such a huge treat without any help.
• She ate wrapping paper.  Probably.

6.  Hawaii
Megan and I went to Hawaii for our 10 Year Anniversary.  Even the flights there were relaxing (although I did have to fight the urge to turn the lights off and on, push the "call stewardess" button, crumble crackers on the floor, kick the seats in front of us, switch seats about 15 times and use the bathroom about 20 times just so it would feel like a normal flight with the kids).

(Of course, while we were in Hawaii, Avery started walking!  We saw her first steps via emailed video.  Thanks to Megan's parents for watching the kids so we could go.)

While we were there we--

• Went to Oahu.
• Wiped out surfing.
• Hiked up Diamondhead and saw a sunrise.
• Took a picture of a picture of the Diamondhead volcano mountain thing.
• Saw rainbows almost every day.
• Attended a swap meet to purchase Hawaiian goods.
• Went to Pearl Harbor.
• Took a picture of a picture of Pearl Harbor.
• Saw dolphins swimming in the ocean through the incredibly blue and clear water.
• Drove by Uncle Bo's Pu Pu grill.  (Sounds tasty.)
• Ate ice cream every day.
• Kept stopping on our drives to pull off a random beautiful beaches.
• Went to the Napali Coast.
• Went snorkeling.
• Saw waterfalls and mountains only accessible by boat.
• Saw the Laie Hawaii Temple.
• Went to the Polynesian Cultural Center.
• Saw wild roosters.
• Saw a stormtroopers mask spray painted on the ground by Opekea Falls.
• Took a picture of sand.
• Watched surfers and a sunset on Poipu beach.
• Canoed the Wailua River.
• Boated into incredible caves.
• Saw that our rental car keys warned us not to do something, but the image behind it was all blurred, so we probably did end up doing it.
• Attended the Kauai 1st Ward.
• Sat by the pool and read books / Kindles.  (No Applied Mergers and Acquisitions this year.  This time it was What Customers Want.)
• Discovered a giant metal flower petal.  Or, it could have a been a submarine propeller.

7.  Halloween
We dressed up for Halloween.  We counted our the candy, but, sorry, no graph this year.

Halloween costumes were--

• Ali was a DJ (she made the turn tables herself)
• Kaitlyn was a fashion model (when isn't she?)
• Max was "IncrediBoy" (he didn't want to be called 'Dash' from the Incredibles)
• Ava was a duck (so she could keep warm)

And there you have it.  You're up-to-date, in only sixty seconds (give or take).  I think this should count as 7 individual blog posts--which will bring my annual total to 21--just 2 behind my overall total from last year with a month and a half left to go!  Futbol.