And Tom working on Gramma Jean’s computer that she hauled from Michigan so he could update it to Windows 7.
Category Archives: Technology
Road Tripping
We spent just a hair over 12 hours on the road to get to Florida… It went fairly smoothly and was actually quite relaxing without the kids (i.e. worrying about snack breaks and potty stops and whining and napping).
I got caught up on my blog entries and a mini stack of parenting magazines, Alice was texting updates and pictures…and we Skyped with Owen while flying down the highway:
The only annoying thing was the toll roads in Florida. First it’s a turnpike but you have to pay along the way (not just at exits). Then you think you’re getting off the turnpike but wait there’s an exact change only booth on the other side of the traffic light….so you’re apparently off the turnpike but still on a toll road that only has exact change/sunpass lanes and we don’t carry change. Then we hit a manned toll booth and got change…but then we were on I-75. WHAT?!? It was maddening (we’ve obviously never taken that route).
But we made it to the hotel without major incident. 🙂
Daddy keeping Katie busy in the morning
Kids being silly
Tom was playing a video on his camera and the kids were being silly!
RIP awesome Dawson Crocs Boots
I hate when companies change a good product. Owen has Crocs “Dawson” boots that I LOVE but he’s outgrown them.
Of course when I go to buy a bigger pair (easy, right?), that style has been COMPLETELY redesigned and now instead of boots they are slip-ons that look just like most other Crocs. 😡
And if I decided I wanted those? Oh well, no one has them in stock or they aren’t available in Youth sizes (at this point I don’t even care—the point is they aren’t available in Owen’s size).
It took me forever to find a perfect pair that wouldn’t be super warm (since we rarely need winter boots), came up high enough in case there was snow, would work for rain, and weren’t super expensive. And now I have to do it all over. Similar ones by Keen are twice as much. No thanks.
Ugh.
The post-party party
We had the gang over after the gymnastics party so we could hang out and visit—with everyone’s busy schedules (and with Trimble’s living back on base instead of in the same neighborhood) we rarely get together anymore. We ordered pizza for dinner and had a few drinks while the kids played. We had Owen open his gifts sporadically throughout the night and then had him blow out candles on his cake (I had forgotten candles for the gymnastics party). He loved opening his presents and pretty much every response to every gift was an excited “WHAT!?!!” It was super cute.
Then he opened his big gift from us—a used iPhone 4—and he looked at it like “Huh?” and immediately said “Daddy, this is yours!” and tried handing it to him. He completely didn’t understand that it was for him, even after I showed him the Lego Indiana Jones wallpaper. He was just too excited about all the other Lego/Ninjago/Star Wars stuff. We should have kept it until after all the excitement of the day was over.
Building one of the smaller Lego sets he got:
Taking his birthday picture…that I didn’t technically need to do because it wasn’t his actual birthday!
Playing iPad games together
Katie being silly Skyping with daddy
She just decided to lay down next to Maggie.
I love that I could temporarily exit Skype to take a real picture!
Fun with Alno and brother
I found these jammies while I was looking for something else—I swear I had pics of Owen in them but I can’t find any…
ALNO!!!
“Hello!”
She knows what a phone is!
Half the time I give her my phone for “Alno” she does this instead:
Skyping with some cousins
Doug and Marie and the kids are at Gramma Jean’s house so we all Skyped. Owen had to show them lots of his Christmas presents and Katie was a bit of a whiny mess…though Robert got her laughing with a few rounds of peek-a-boo!
Help save the Rialto!
Check out RESTORE THE RIALTO THEATER on Kickstarter!
The Rialto Theater has been in operation continuously since May 29, 1915. During that time it has been owned and operated by the same family. It is probably the oldest family-run movie theater in America.
Over the next few months, Hollywood studios will stop producing movies on actual film. The cost of the new digital equipment is beyond what an independent theater in a small town can afford. That’s why the Rialto is asking you to make this crucial investment with us.
Restoring the Rialto Theater means once again making it the best there is. That’s why this project is not only about buying a digital projector, but also replacing our seats, redesigning our concession and lobby areas, and refurbishing the historic paintwork and look of the theater. The result will be a state-of-the-art venue—by today’s standards—that also preserves the most important piece of historic architecture in our area.
I have backed this project, and wish I could afford the “get your name on a seat” level—but my husband would kill me!
Crunchy Numbers
>>> What a difference eight months makes
The visitors came from more than 68 countries—most came from The United States but the United Kingdom and Romania were not far behind.
Surprise! Pop-up Katie!
I was working on my laptop when this happened:
She’s too smart for her own good.
Katie was on my lap this morning trying to get my phone out of my pocket. I was ignoring her. She was babbling something but I wasn’t really paying close attention. So she gets off my lap, goes to get the Elmo doll, and brings it back saying (her version of) Elmo. Then tries for my phone again.
Then it hits me. She wants to play the Elmo app on my phone.
She’s too smart for her own good.
Phone Fun and a New Outfit
Elmo saves the day.
Katie is in 100% meltdown mode because Owen is taking a bath without her. I had to bring out something new and interesting because she WAS NOT INTERESTED in anything.
Elmo app to the rescue!
Today was a Facebook day.
Nothing really blog-worthy happened today…but I did post a few things on Facebook that I thought I’d share here:
Up today? Toy Story. Both are fully entranced. Unfortunately, we only got to see about 10 minutes of the movie before our network decided to flake out…and an hour of messing with it did nothing. Which leads to…
I am so sick of our worthless wireless network that there just might be 500 yards of ethernet cable running through the house when Tom gets home.
On the best of days, I don’t have the energy for two sick kids (with one super snotty girl). On a day like today when I am feeling exhausted and headachy, I REALLY don’t have the energy to be up and wiping noses every two minutes. But when you can see the snot fly through the air during a sneeze…you can’t really ignore it. At least Owen can (mostly) do his own and can kind of help with Katie…but I still need to intervene a lot.
Aww crap. I just realized Katie is likely teething. It’s about the age and would explain the extra chewing and slobber. Yeah, you’d think I would have thought of that before now…but no.
I’m so glad Owen didn’t want to take a nap today so that he could fall asleep on the couch at 4:45. 😐
And I just had to be a mean mom and wake Owen up from a nap. I just couldn’t let him take a long nap at this time of day when his bedtime is 7:30…because I am NOT giving up my nightly alone/me time if I can help it. Especially since I want to go to bed early since I’m not feeling the best.
How can one tiny girl produce SO much snot?!
Of course the best time to find out the humidifier in your kid’s room is dead is at bedtime. GRRR. Unfortunately, this means a trip to town—since it’s the weekend, Amazon wouldn’t get here until Wednesday…and with a coupon at BB&B I can get $10 off. Blurg.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
This just happened. I’m guessing Katie spilled milk I didn’t see and the laptop was sitting on top of it and it dried and…baked on? So it ripped off part of the ottoman which is now stuck to my laptop. Ugh.
I guess the bright side is the laptop still works—unlike when Owen stepped on it and cracked the screen.
Whatcha doin’?
He’s doing something that’s making noise so she has to be right up there. (He’s practicing writing letters on the iPad.)
Owen’s explanation of the MSU win.
We were Skyping with Daddy and he mentioned that Sparty won.
Owen: Yes! They did! The green guys got lots of points and the red guys just got some.
More photo booth fun!
Photo booth!
One of Owen’s books has photo booth strips on the back cover and tonight we talked about what that was. I have an app for that, so he got to see how they were taken!
Owen’s Halloween Party
I walked into controlled bedlam. Or maybe it just felt that way to me, since I am unaccustomed to being in a room full of little kids. 🙂 It was actually quite calm—just noisy. I regret not taking a video so you could fully understand. 🙂
Katie loves coming in (which she rarely gets to do because I leave her in the car while I run him in or pick him up). She gets into everything. I tried to keep her corralled with cheese and crackers today but it only lasted so long.
Then daddy called so he could see the party.
It didn’t last too long, though, since we couldn’t hear each other due to all the ambient noise. But what was funny is that the teacher saw me holding my phone up and was like “Oh, what do you have there?” I’m guessing she thought I was showing Owen something or taking a video. When I told her it was Owen’s daddy on Skype she was really surprised! And excited! So she got to meet Tom briefly today. (Again, it was loud so it wasn’t much more than “Hi! Nice to meet you!”)
Peekaboo with daddy
Watching Katie videos
Katie loves daddy!
Holy crap! Owen is pretty good at hitting!
Papa wanted to surprise Owen with his own baseball bat so he got it the other day and planned to give it to him after school before his dentist appointment when we’d be at the playground.
Then after a few quick attempts and after getting his grip and stance corrected, he was hitting most of my pitches! We were stunned. They weren’t perfect, of course, but I’d guess he was at least making some sort of contact on 80% of them…and probably good contact on 50% of those! He even smacked me with a ball a few times and had me ducking more than once as a ball whizzed by me.
While we were playing, Tom happened to Skype in, so he could watch Owen! It was awesome! Tom loved it!
The first picture I took…with my new phone.
Of course, it’s a kid!
And all was FINALLY well in iPhoneland.
I’m not sure what exact piece it had been missing, but this morning I had a fully restored phone complete with folders and contacts (with only a few very minor blips like missing passwords and a few previously-deleted apps that appeared again). But you can believe I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief…