This is a marker for the tale posted in the Seminole Chronicle (click here to read).  Here’s the intro: Festival season around here is the best time of the year. The weather’s great, the festivals are fun… it all comes together. Just before festival season, however, is when you end up having the most unusual […]

During our last vacation, we visited Chatanooga. One of Chatanooga’s primary attractions is its aquarium. It’s been so successful, in fact, that they built another one right next to it. One is fresh water and the other is salt. They are really quite impressive – even for someone who lives just up the road from […]

N is in an interesting phase where he’s identifying his emotions and trying to display them. If he gets hurt or upset, he’ll tell you that he’s angry, sad, or whatever, and then do his best to maintain the appropriate facial expression. You may remember when his older brother went through this phase. The other […]

Just in case I might have been starting to think too much of myself after the last tale, N provided me with a little reality check the other morning. Most mornings, he wakes up very early. By early, I mean around 5:45 to 6 am. Since I try to get up between 6 and 6:30, […]

As you may remember, I’ve been trying to acquire a good nickname for myself with the kids. I’m not alone in this problem. J has one that she’s not terribly happy about, either. The other night, I may have finally made some progress. You see, over the past several months I’ve been working hard on developing “Daddy […]

C is one of those kids that likes to be active. Sightseeing is fine, as far as he’s concerned, as long as it is done at the same time that you’re doing something else – preferably something involving running, jumping, singing or dancing. So, on this past vacation when we rode on the riverboat in […]

Our regular bedtime routine ends with me taking the N to bed. Over the months, this routine has evolved into a pretty well-defined thing. After we read Good Night Moon, I pick him up, turn off the night light, sing Rockabye, and then put him in his crib. I tuck the blanket around him and he […]

One of C’s closest friends is a girl who lives just up the street. They play together every chance they get, and one of their play activities is dress up. C has a whole bunch of costume type things that we’ve accumulated over the years: hats, old jackets, bits and pieces of halloween costume remnants, […]

On Saturday, N came down with a fever. It was a pretty substantial one, breaking the 103 mark at one point. When you have two young kids and one gets that sick, the parents have to split up. The only hope of keeping his brother from getting sick is to keep them completely separated. In […]

The kids are very interested in the word “poopie” right now. I’m not sure if this is a phase all kids go through, or if we’re just lucky, but everything is “poopie” this and “poopie” that. Of course, I’m doing everything I can to stop it. We’ve had serious discussions about words that you don’t […]