HANNAHSBut

Yesterday I was the "Special Feature" at Riverview's Ladies' Morning Out ministry on Thursday mornings.  I had the kids come with me and they watched a video on my computer in my office while I was doing my thing.  When I was done I came and collected them and we left.

This morning, however, I came into my office and noticed that three post-it notes were stuck to the table on my desk.  Apparently the video didn't keep their attention and they wanted to draw.  Hence (click to enlarge):

The two seemingly handlebar mustachioed creatures on the left are new to me.  I've never seen either of my kids draw them before, so I'm not sure what they are, or who it was that drew them.  But they don't look very happy.

The center drawing is Jamie's signature: a penguin (yes, that's a penguin).  Apparently the penguin lives on a hill under a tree, and it's a bright sunny day.

The third picture is Hannah's signature: a cheetah (yes, that's a cheetah).  The text seems to read "HANNAHSBut."  Here's what I think happened: Hannah drew the cheetah and wrote her name above it, hence the "HANNAH."  Her big brother came along afterward, and added the "SBut."  I assume he meant for it to say "HANNAH'S (a) But(t)" but due to his limited spelling and grammar capabilities, was only able to get out "HANNAHSBut."

Aside from one of my children calling the other a butt, it was an amusing start to the day.

UPDATE: This morning The Mrs. asked Hannah about the cheetah picture with the text on it.  Hannah said that the text says, "Hannah and Spot" (the name of the cheetah) although all she got out wast "HANNAHSBut."  I guess in her mind, "Spot" is spelled "sbut."  I guess I'll cut her some slack.  She's only 4 after all!

The Whitewashed Daredevil

Today was a great day to go sledding: 40 degrees and sunny.  It was warm enough that the kids didn't have to dress too heavily in order to go sledding.  The local hill we frequent had a nice sized jump which, of course, Jamie had to try.  Here's the result of his first go at it with some decent speed while his sister looks on from a distance.

Oddly enough, Jamie is somewhat of a daredevil when it comes to more extreme ways to have fun.  He's more than willing to take risks, and when those risks result in injury, unlike most kids, he doesn't let that stop him from taking even more risks.  He does things at age six that I've never done in my life because I'm too much of a wimp.

This demeanor of his is interesting, because in most other areas he's more timid and simple.  But show him something risky and potentially dangerous or challenging recreation, and he's right there to do it.  Like my sister says, most young kids have a dangerous side to them, but once they get hurt they usually wise up and grow out of it.  Not my kid.

For example, his complaint about the high dive at the community swimming pool is that it's not high enough.  I guess he'd prefer one that's twelve feet tall in instead of the 8 or 10 foot one that is there.  And this six year old is insisting that he wants to try water skiing this summer on Uncle Matt's boat.  We'll see about that one.

In the mean time, maybe I should get him some skydiving lessons.

Father's Day

Here's what my kids got me for Father's Day.

Fun at Family Camp

This past week my family was graciously treated to a week of Family Camp at Village Creek Bible Camp.  This was the first Family Camp I had attended since I was probably eight years old.  We had a blast - Dad, Mom, and kids.  Below are some links to videos that we took of our time at camp (all of the kids, of course).

While I was camp pastoring at Junior 2, the camp asked me to introduce a Bible verse song (basically a verse from the Bible set to music).  I chose 1 Timothy 6.12 by The Rizers.  We sang it at Family Camp too, although this time my kids wanted to help "lead" it.  Here it is.

Jamie and I had the opportunity to build a model rocket and then launch it on the last day of camp.  He chose to build "The Zinger," a small one-stage rocket that flies up to 600 feet in the air.  We called it "The Flight of the Zinger."  There was a minor hangup that you can sort of see in the video, in that the rocket's parachute cord wrapped around the fins, preventing it from opening.  This meant that the rocket dropped like a rock back to earth.  Thankfully a nearby staff member caught the plummeting rocket in his hat, softening the blow.  Jamie loved the whole process of building and launching the rocket.  We built the rocket early in the week, but didn't launch it till the last day.  Every day between building and launching it, Jamie had to check on it several times.  He'd simply go into the craft room to make sure that it was still where he left it.

A couple times during the week they invited kids to the front of the room to do some dancing.  It's amazing how when funky music gets played, kids just can't help but dance.  It's also interesting how no one has to teach them how to dance - they just do it.  Must be instinctual.  Ferg and Han jumped right in and got funky.  

Jamie loves archery, or as he calls it, "Archery Arrows."  It's become his favorite thing to do at camp.  The other two times we were there this summer we only got to do it for about 10 minutes in between rotations when no campers were around.  This time, however, we participated in a whole archery instruction hour.  This meant Jamie could shoot arrows for a full 60 minutes.  I never figured he'd keep an interest in it for that long, but to my surprise, he just kept shooting and shooting.  The incredible thing is that he missed the target almost every time, but he kept wanting to shoot and shoot.  He probably shot somewhere around 75 arrows.  6 landed on the target, and each one was like a present at Christmas.  It was fun to watch.

While the adults were in chapel, youth volunteers were teaching the young'ns to memorize Ephesians 6.10-13.  Some people don't think that young kids can memorize scripture.  I've shown this to be untrue here and here.  For some reason I can't get the video of the kids reciting the verses to upload to Youtube, so you'll have to take my word for it.  They did a great job.

Kids Make Dad Smile

This has been a rough week.  I've been sick and mostly out of commission since Saturday, and this is one of the busiest weeks of my year.  Next week I'll be at camp for almost the whole week, so needless to say, there's lots of work to be done.  I've had to work weird hours so as to not infect my coworkers while still be able to actually get some things done.  I haven't been home much, and I feel continually ill.  Ugh.  Like I said, a rough week.

Cut to tonight.  I get home from my meeting, and I found the following video, made for me by my wife and kids.



I've got a great family.

Florida Trip: Day 4

Today was the free day of the Triennial Conference, and my family chose to go to Disney World.  We left by about 8:30 this morning and arrived to at the park around 9:00.  After paying the hefty parking fee we rode the monorail into Disney World and started riding rides, having fun, and dropping money like we had holes in our pockets.  We took 294 pictures today, all of which we obviously can't post.  But for a brief selection, see here.

Jamie and Beetz get ready to take off on Dumbo.

We started out by riding the Dumbo ride, and then went on to Winnie the Pooh.  After that we moved on to do It's a Small World, and a few others that I already don't remember (I'm totally shot).  I do remember two rides significantly: Peter Pan and Pirates of the Caribbean.  I remember the Pirates one because it was an absolutely horrible decision to have Hannah go on that.  She was really scared.  The ride was really dark and had some skeletons in it, and at one point there was a pirate ship "shooting" canons at our boat.  I think that's what freaked her out the most.

I thought the Peter Pan ride was the best one we went on all day.  You start out in a ship that's on a track, and as you go along, you can see that the track eventually ends.  I was actually kind of nervous as I saw our car moving towards the end of the track, but we weren't slowing down.  As the track ends, the ship sails up into the air and spends the rest of the ride taking you all over the place from a track on the ceiling.  It was rather unexpected, and the rest of the ride was visually stunning.

Han was really excited to see Cinderella's castle.

It was somewhere between 90-95 in Orlando today, so needless to say, everyone was really hot and sweaty as the day wore on.  One thing that Disney World does well is air conditioning: all of the ride waiting areas are air conditioned, which is kind of strange, considering that none of them are enclosed - it's just cool air going right outside (something that would drive my dad nuts if he were ever there: "We're not paying to cool down the outside!").

Considering Han's recently diagnosed illness, and since both kids were up half the night coughing last night, the day got kind of long pretty quick.  There was some whining and crying, but I think the kids enjoyed themselves well enough.  We got back to the hotel room tonight, ordered pizza, and the kids were out like lights.

Now for some of my personal thoughts about Disney in general.  All my life I’ve heard about how great Disney World/Land is, and how life-changing of an experience it is to there.  Well, I never got to have that experience – until today.  Growing up in a family of modest means, we never had the money to go on vacations to places like Disney World.  In fact, the biggest vacation we ever took during my childhood was a road trip in a 1976 Winnebago to Mt. Rushmore in the Black Hills, South Dakota.  And that was fine with me.

Needless to say, I’ve had kind of a bad reaction to all the folks who have told me how amazing Disney World is.  In fact, I’ve even had people express disbelief that I could actually be a functional human being without having been to one of the Disneys at some point in my life.  Guess what: I’m a normal human being.  My family just didn’t have the money to do that stuff.  I turned out alright.  Actually, I think I’m better for it.  I don’t want to come off as some kind of self-righteous anti-Disney snob, but I balk at the idea that an experience at Disney World/Land is an essential part of a kid’s growing up experience.

My wife, on the other hand, has been to Disney World four times and has fallen in love with it.  Contrary to the way that I was not a Disney kid, she was.  She idolized Cinderella and wanted to be a princess; she fell in love with all the characters and wanted to be Minnie Mouse; whatever.  The point is, that she is one of the folks who believes that, although it may not be essential to a kid’s growing up experience, a visit to Disney World can be a great part of a kid’s life.

Our differing perspectives have caused no small amount of marital discord and difficulty planning our activities whilst in the Sunshine State.  Nevertheless, I relented and we visited Disney World on this, our free day, from the NAB Triennial Conference. 

Now that I’ve been to Disney, I can’t say I’m too impressed.  In fact, my impression of Disney World is basically that it is a more elaborate version of Valley Fair.  Admittedly, I’m not really into amusement parks in general, or rides or roller coasters (nor have I ever been), and I was never really into Disney stuff as a kid.  Of course I knew who all the Disney characters were, but I never had the toys, stuffed animals, t-shirts, or anything else.  I didn’t even really care for the movies or TV shows that much.  I was more into riding bikes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Trek, and baseball when I was a kid.  So there is probably a disconnect that exists that limits how excited I can even get about something like Disney World (then again, I’m not much for Valley Fair, or even the State fair, for that matter).

One thing that did stand out to me, though, was how the good folks at Disney have seen fit to strip you down and shake every dollar you own out of your pockets.  There is a fee or charge for everything Disney.  And anything you might actually want, or even need, to buy is exorbitantly priced.  Our lunch today was from a café that served Burger King-quality food, from which we purchased a hamburger, cheeseburger, hotdog, three French fries, and two pops.  Total price: $33.00.  It wasn’t even that great of food.  Given the price of admission, the parking costs, the food costs, and all the merchandise costs, they must be raking in an amazing amount of money there every day. 

Overall, though, it was a fun trip, and I think the kids enjoyed it (illness and lack of sleep may have hindered their ability to have as good a time as they might have were they in good health and spirits).  At least now I know what all the hype is about, and what I supposedly missed out on as a kid.  But I’d still like to go back to the Black Hills some day!

Florida Trip: Day 1

The Mrs. went through the house this morning at about 5:30 AM waking the slumbering and calling them to prepare for departure.  The family rose from their slumber post haste, got dressed, and got to the airport, thanks to my early-rising mother.

The airport process went smoothly, even though I was totally uninformed regarding the new airport security procedures (our honeymoon was the last time I flew - nine years ago!).  Thankfully a flight attendant was in line behind me and walked me through all of the things I needed to do.  I wasn't searched or groped by TSA agents, but looking back on the process I think I dodged a significant bullet.  I didn't realize it until after the fact, but the shorts I had chosen to wear today recently had the zipper tab break off.  The zipper still works fine, but there's no tab to hold on to, to pull the zipper up when need be.  To remedy this situation, a few weeks ago I found a thin piece of metal with pointy ends that I was able to stick through the zipper and bend the metal around it, creating something I can grasp with my fingers in order to zip my fly.  I hadn't even thought about the potential ramifications for me if that quick fix was discovered at the airport.  I can't imagine a piece of thin, pointy metal would be welcome on airplanes, considering that they won't even let you take a nail clippers on board anymore.  Especially when it could be construed that I was trying to smuggle the pointy metal onboard via the zipper on my shorts!  Nevertheless, I went through the metal detector and set off no alarms and raised no suspicion.  I think I'll credit God for blinding the "eyes" of the metal detector and letting me through without any repercussions.

Our nervousness about our kids' potential bad reaction to flying was unfounded.  They loved it, and had no problems whatsoever.  Ferg loved looking out the window, and Han commented, "I like that ride."  I, on the other hand, remembered why I don't like flying.  It's strange.  I tend to get all excited every time I fly, and I love watching the speed and power with which an airplane takes off as it leaves the ground.  But then, after about five or ten minutes of flying, I'm ready to be done.  The novelty of it wears off on me pretty quickly.

We landed at Orlando International about five minutes ahead of schedule and proceeded to ride the shuttle to baggage claim, where Betsy and I split up: she to baggage claim, and me to go pick up our rental car.  The rental agent told me to go into a specific lot and just pick any SUV I wanted, and that the keys were already in them.  I found the key, alright, but it was nothing like anything I had ever seen before.  In fact, it wasn't a key.  I knew that some models had switched to this type of ignition system, but I'd never used one before.  I kept putting the device to the steering column, thinking that some kind of electronic signal would be conveyed and the car would magically start up.  I finally had to approach the lot attendant and admit my ignorance.  Turns out the key needs only to be somewhere in the vicinity of the center console, the break needs to be applied, and a button pushed in order to start the engine.  So off we went in our Dodge Journey.

The weather in Orlando today has been a pleasant and dry 90 degrees.  Not too bad, considering the weather back home is over 100.

We arrived at the Ramada Westgate at around 3:00 PM, local time, and The Mrs. and I proceeded to take a nap.  The kids were supposed to nap too, but I think they were too excited and just chatted with each other.  We eventually awoke and headed down to the pool.  Something funky about that pool water.  It was bath-tub warm, and it was very salty.  Hopefully not "people salty."  Hopefully there was just an abundance of chlorine that gave it the weird flavor.

The Ramada Westgate is located on what I'll call "Disney Rowe."  The theme parks are not far away, and every other structure and building on this street sells Disney T-shirts and tickets to the parks.  Lots of money to be made on that, I imagine.

We ended the night early, and I'm the only one who is currently awake as I write this.  The kids are both asleep, and The Mrs. slumbers peacefully beside me.  Tomorrow we're going on a beach adventure, which should truly be an adventure, since there are no beaches near Orlando, and we have no idea where we are going.

NOTE: see this page for daily pictorial updates from our trip.

Gone to Gator Country

In about nine hours I'll be on a plane with my family headed to Orlando, Florida.  I've been to Florida five times before - well, that is if you count layovers on my way to Jamaica.  One of those was an over night layover.  Does that count?  Anyway, this'll be my first time spending a significant amount of time in the Sunshine State.

The reason for our visit is the 2012 Triennial Conference of North American Baptists.  This is a conference held by North American Baptists ever three years, as indicated by its name.  This will be the fourth Triennial Conference that I've attended over the years.  The previous three I attended either as a teenager (and so went to the youth portion of the conference) or as a volunteer youth leader (and so also went to the youth conference).  So then, this will be my first conference attending the main sessions and even the business sessions (lucky me).

The first Triennial Conference I attended was in, I think, Alberta Canada.  A couple of unique things about this conference (at least things that stick in my memory) were that it marked the first time I ever raised my hands during a worship song.  I remember having a lot of trouble with it.  I felt like a complete phony doing it, and probably for good reason.  I also remember that the speaker said that he was in "an intimate love relationship with Jesus Christ."  Being a teenage boy at the time, my mind immediately went into the gutter and I remember chuckling at it: here was a grown man describing his relationship with Jesus as an "intimate love relationship."  It was a concept that was totally foreign to me at the time.  It's interesting to think back on my immaturity.  To cap the trip off, the small group of kids that attended the conference got to be "bumped" from their flight on the way home.  It was announced that the plane had been overbooked, and that anyone willing to give up their seat would receive a voucher from the airline for use on a future flight.  We all called our parents and got the OK, and the airline put us up in a hotel for the night and paid us a few hundred bucks each to take a flight the following day.

My second Triennial Conference was as a 19 year old in Sacramento, California.  What I remember about this conference most was two things: the speaker, and the day trip to San Francisco.  The speaker was one Francis Chan, long before he had risen to notoriety on the international stage.  In one of his messages, he quoted J. Vernon McGee, who said, "This is God's universe, so he does things his way.  Now, you may have a better way of doing things, but you don't have a universe."  This quote stuck with me since that conference, and it's been one of my favorites ever since.  The day trip to San Francisco was memorable as well, if for no other reason than that it's a cool city to visit.  "Cool" being the operative word, here.  I remember being floored by how cold it was when I got off the bus and stood on the street corner in Downtown San Fran.

My third Triennial was held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Not too much I remember about this conference, but that was probably because it was held two weeks before I was to be married.  I suppose my mind was on other things.

So now my family and I will be flying down to Orlando, Florida tomorrow to attend this year's conference.  From what I hear, the conference is only about half full, so that's kind of disappointing.  Plus, I wonder who's idea it was to start the conference on July 4...in Florida, no less.  Florida in July.  I suppose the up side is that there won't be too many tourists.  This is also a strange location considering that the majority of NAB churches are either in the norther and western portions of the North American continent.  Oh well.  I guess I can't complain too much about attending the conference for free and staying at the illustrious Peabody Hotel for absolutely nothing.  All I have to pay for is my family's travel to and from the conference (which is no small expense, mind you).  The speaker for this year's conference is once again Francis Chan.  I'm excited to hear him speak.

Needless to say, we're a little nervous for the kids, as neither of them have ever flown before.  We were in the backyard last night and a plane flew over our house.  I told the kids that we would be in one of those planes in just a couple days.  Han said, "I don't want the plane to come down."  Smart kid.  Although I did have to explain to her that the plane had to come down in order to land.  All in all, the kids seem pretty excited about it.

So here's to safe travel and a profitable conference.

That's Funny, Dad.

A few days ago Ferg, the Hanburger, and I were playing out in the yard. Han got up on the swing set, and Ferg tried to follow by going up the slide. He fell down half way up and slid back down, which Han thought was hilarious. She started cracking up, so I went and got the camera.

Halfway through she notices that I'm holding a camera and says, "Cheese," as though I were taking a picture. I guess she hasn't wrapped her mind around video yet.

The Biggest Sandwich Ever

My kids love this book. It's called "The Biggest Sandwich Ever." For some reason, they have both been really drawn to it. They both have gone through phases where they want it read to them each night (the youngest one is still in this phase). They've heard it so many times that they've started memorizing it. Here's Ferg's "reading" of the book from December of last year.



Now the Hanburger has started memorizing it. Here's her "reading."



If nothing else, it just goes to show you what kids are capable of. My kids certainly aren't geniuses, nor are they particular adept at memorization. But if they hear or see something enough, they will pick up on it (scripture memorization, anyone?).

A Variation on the Jump

The kids wanted to build a jump tonight, so we did. Except, by the time I came into the living room after gathering the pillows, the kids had thrown them all on the couch. They said that instead of having the jump on the floor as usual, they wanted it on the couch, and they would just run into it. It didn't look nearly as fun that way to me, but they seemed to like it.

Cabin Ball!

Another night on "The Jump."

"Let's Build A Jump."

One of the most funnest things we do at our house is "build a jump." A jump is a big pile of pillows and soft blankets, stacked up in front of some sort of apparatus from which one can leap into the pile of pillows. The tradition of "building a jump" started at my mom's house. She's been watching our kids, and from somewhere she got the idea to stack up pillows and have the kids jump on them. They love doing it, and now they constantly beg us to build a jump. The last few times we built a jump at our house we've had the camera out.

We push the automan up against the wall and Ferg jumps off that
onto the pillows.

Apparently jumping is hard work. After a few goes, Ferg tells me he's
sweaty and the shirt comes off.

Han's approach to the jump is a bit different. She's too small to
jump off the automan, so she just runs across the room and faceplants
into the pillows. As she runs she says "Ready, set, go!" It's super cute.

Apparently Mom is immune to the excitement a jump brings, as evidenced
by her checking her email during the craziness.

Ferg shouts "Cabin Ball!" every time he jumps. I think he means
"Cannon Ball," but it's close enough.

Han eventually got up the nerve to let her brother drag her off the
automan onto the pillows. She still doesn't quite have the concept
(or ability) of jumping down.

Our Exciting Day

It's 9:36 PM right now, and it's been a long day. Last night at about 7:30 PM, our Bible study group was just leaving our house. Our kids really look forward to Fridays because all of our friends come over with all their kids, and a lot of playing and craziness ensues. By the time everyone was leaving, Betsy was holding the Hanburger as we were starting to get ready for bed, and Betsy noticed that Hannah seemed warm. She took her temperature and it came back at 101. We didn't think that much of it (Ferg had been just a little sick during the week). That night, about 2:00 AM, Hannah woke up crying and coughing. Betsy went into her room, and Hannah proceeded to cough/throw up a lot of phlegm. Betsy gave her a nebulizer treatment, and she fell right back to sleep. At about 6:00 AM, Hannah woke up again doing the same thing, except this time her cough was a lot worse. She coughed up a lot of phlegm again. What was happening was she was coughing up a lot of phlegm into her throat which caused her to gag, and she ended up kind of gagging out a lot of gross yellow stuff. It was not a pleasant thing to watch or listen to as it happened.

By 9:00 AM this morning, Beetz and I felt she should be seen, so Betsy took her to an urgent care center. They said she probably had croup, and maybe pneumonia. They prescribed steroids for the croup and an antibiotic for the supposed pneumonia (I say "supposed" because it turns out she doesn't have pneumonia, which makes me wonder why they would prescribe her medicine without knowing what she had).

Anyway, I went to get some things done at the church while the kids were down for nap (1:00 PM). I had quite a bit to do today to get ready for the "big show" on Sunday. Also, we had arranged to buy 1/4 of a cow and I was scheduled to pick up my share of the beef this afternoon. By 1:30, Betsy called me and said she was ready to call 911. Han's breathing had become very irregular and labored. I could actually hear her wheezing in the background as I talked to Betsy on the phone. I told Betsy not call 911 yet, and that I was coming home, and that we could take her to the ER. So I left the beef and started driving home. On my way home, Betsy called me again and said she really thought we should call 911. Hannah's breathing was very labored, and she couldn't seem to get any breath. So we called 911 and the ambulances came right away.

By the time they arrived, Jamie had awoken from his nap. I tried to reassure him by telling him to look at the cool trucks that had come to our house. We just told him that Hannah was sick and needed to see the doctor, which he seemed to be OK with. The paramedics wanted to bring Hannah to the hospital to get her some treatment, and we agreed. As Betsy and Hannah got into the ambulance, I had Jamie look out the window to watch the trucks. At some point, he caught on to the seriousness of the situation, because as Betsy and Han were getting into one of the ambulances, he watched and screamed "Hannah! Hannah Jane!" It was incredibly touching to see how much he cared for his little sister and was concerned for her well-being. What a great big brother.

The hospital confirmed the diagnosis of croup, and added that it was a pretty serious case. Each time they medicated her for the croup her breathing improved, but once the medicine wore off it became labored again. The doctors decided that Hannah needed to stay at the hospital to be monitored. The medication wasn't "sticking," so keeping her in the hospital seemed the smart thing to do.

So that's where she is right now. Betsy is with her at the hospital, and Jamie and I are at home. I was able to tell him that Mom and Han are having a sleepover at the hospital, and he seemed OK with that. I wish we could have taken him to see her, but the hospital doesn't allow visitors under five years old for fear of spreading germs, which is understandable.

Han's cough is still really bad, and she's still gagging on a lot of phlegm. She's pretty uncomfortable. Every time she coughs you can tell she's in a lot of pain. It sounds as if someone has replaced her throat with two pieces of 60 grit sandpaper and they're rubbing together every time she coughs (in fact, when the doctor came into the room for the first time, Han coughed, and she said, "That's a croup cough! Where are my med students? They should be here, because that's a textbook croup cough.")

All in all, it's been an interesting day. I've never had to take one of my kids to the hospital in an emergency situation before. I've never had to watch one of them struggle to breath before. It makes a parent feel powerless, but it turns out that's the perfect place to be.

Funny, Cute, and Gross Stuff That Happened Today

FUNNY: Every Tuesday my mom takes my kids to the local community center swimming pool, along with my sister and her youngest. They usually go swimming for a couple hours, and then head on over to McDonald's for lunch and some time in the playland. Today my kid was at the playland and told my mom he needed to go to the bathroom, which he went and did. A while later, after he had gone potty, my mom went into the bathroom and found a pair of underwear on the floor (this is normal behavior of Jamie - he doesn't really like to wear underwear). She confronted him and asked him if he took his underwear off and left it in the bathroom. He confessed that he did. When my mom insisted that he needed to wear his underwear, he said (in a very LOUD voice - loud enough for all in McDonald's playland to hear), "But I want to go commando!" "Going commando" is the state of being of not wearing any underwear, and it's a term we use frequently at our house. He's picked up on it, and uses the term quite a bit - even in public places, apparently. I wasn't there, but I was told the whole McDonald's playland was laughing.

CUTE: Each night Jamie sings some songs before he goes to bed. Every night he insists that we sing "The B-I-B-L-E" and we always do. I guess Han has picked up on this song too, because tonight she was singing the song like this: "Da B-I-B-I-B...Bibo!" Yeah, her spelling and pronunciation might need a little work, but it was pretty stinkin' cute.

GROSS: For some reason, my kids have a habit of coughing so hard that they make themselves throw up. I was in the basement tonight, taking a shower, when all of a sudden I heard a lot of crying coming from Jamie's room upstairs, and the I could hear the water pipes moving water to somewhere in the house. A closer listen led me to realize that the bathtub was filling up for some reason. This was at about 8:45 PM, which is 45 minutes after the kids' bedtimes, so a bath at this time of night was not usual. I came upstairs and the smell of hot barf met my nose as I walked down the hall. Jamie was in the tub, washing the puke off himself. His Turkey a la King was all over his bed, blankets (even his "blue blankey!"), and even a little bit on his stuffed Thomas. After he washed up I sat with him for a while, until we could find a replacement blankey while his regular one went into the wash.

All in all, having kids is awesome - even when they puke while you're in the shower.