Gotta Get the Pumpkins

Halloween is just around the corner, and this means we had to go hunting for pumpkins.  Typically, this means we head to Dimler's farm because it is 8 minutes away and they have a bounty of pumpkins. 

Yes, you read that correctly, I live 8 minutes from a bounty of pumpkins.  This year though, we pulled up to Dimler's and to our dismay there was a sign that read:

Due to a very wet Spring, our pumpkin crop did not come in this year.  You are more than welcome to walk the patch and if you find a pumpkin, you can have it for free. 

Those Dimler's, always honest and providing value.  You can get a dozen ears of fresh grown corn for $2.50.....and they knew that a bad pumpkin should be free. 

Unfortunately, the pumpkins were really bad.....so....as she always does...my bride had a Plan B.  "I think I saw a pumpkin patch 8 minutes the other way from our house" she said. 

You read that correctly, apparently we have TWO pumpkin patches within 8 minutes of our house. 

So we went.  And I am not ashamed to tell you, we have a new pumpkin patch.  Because not only were the pumpkins great.  But there was this:

That's right.  This pumpkin patch had wildlife as well.  There was also this little friend of Ashley's:

And although I did not get a picture....I swear to goodness sakes out of the brush came a Pomeranian hopping like a rabbit to play with the kids.

These are my girls:

This is my littlest when she got too hot:

Contrary to when she is too cold:

Whether they are hot, cold, petting cats, or keeping track of their younger sisters....I love my girls.....

So many females......

If you don't have kids.  This is what a 9 year old birthday party looks like.

Because my oldest let her younger two sisters participate, I love my girls.

My littlest, is now my oldest

They grow so fast, it's what you always hear

But I promise it's true, and it's something I fear

 

See my oldest turned nine this past Sunday

She celebrated with friends and had a fun day

 

Don't get me wrong, I was happy for her

But I don't remember nine years, it is all a blur

 

She's the best little girl, so polite and so kind

A sweeter girl, I'd dare you to find

 

I'm scared of the day she won't cuddle anymore

Thank god her littlest sister is still not quite four

 

Someday she'll read this blog and hopefully know

I love her more than I'll ever be able to show

 

 

Because they are innocent, loving and kind.....I love my girls

Who wants some clothes?

So, I am not sure if it is becuase I started crying when my wife asked if I wanted  a fourth kid or if she could simply see it in my eyes that I did not need another female in the house, but somehow she has come close enough to accepting we are not going to have a fourth kid that she was okay with me selling our baby clothes and baby accessories and maternity clothes.  I told her I was going to have a garage sale.  She said something along the lines of "Give it all to charity, you are dumb."

Trying to defy her wisdom, I am currently sitting here:

At this point, I would tell you it is going "mildly well".  The highlight so far has been selling a rocking chair glider (purchased by the wife in the morning, picked up by the angry husband in the afternoon).

But, after my synopsis of the days events, I have decided to write a brief "Best Practice" for garage sale shoppers.  Please, if you will be swinging by my garage sale. read the following five points first.

1)  Commit.  Please stop drivng by, slowing down, and then not stopping.  Really, you saw the 4,000 items I have for sale from behind the wheel at 3 miles an hour.  You do understand that you chose to go "garage saling" yet you are not stopping at garage sales.  Why don't you drive to Target.  Go in and walk by all the cashiers and then go home.  You would be using your time just as efficiently

2)  The person running the garage sale did not do this "for fun".  We have a ton of merchandise that we don't need.  That does not mean that it is poor quality, it is just that I don't need it.  I did not set up every table, and make my parents come over to help price and fold clothes because we thought it would be "a hell of a good time".  So please treat my items with respect.  If your kid thinks it is funny to unfold all the clothes and shout "this is pretty" I find it should be your responsiblity to fold the clothes back up.

3)  Really you need one thing?  A guy came to my garage sale today and said "I'm just looking for some silverware"......I punched him in the face.  Okay not really.  But I advertised this sale as baby and maternity clothes and he thought it would be a great place to pick up a five set of forks.  Why don't you browse.  Perhaps you would like that cuisinart coffee maker that I am practically giving away.

4)  Do you really need to haggle over everything.  I am selling 300 feet of electrical wire.  I am asking $20 for it.  Johnny Old Guy stopped by and literally yelled at me "how much for the wire"  When I told him $20 for all fo it, he huffed and left.  Listen Tommy Tightwad...I am asking for 6.67 cents a foot...loosen your wallet.  When I was little, my family used to strip electrical wire that my dad collected from the dumpsters of worksites he was at so we could sell the copper.  Don't haggle over a good deal.  If you think $60 is too much for a used stroller, let's talk....but if you want to argue that you should pay fifty cents instead of a dollar for Gap children's clothes...leave.

5)  I brought change, you should too.  My first customer today perused my quality offerings, and selected a book, a toy truck and one baby shirt.  She owed me a $1.50.  She gave me a $20.  REALLY?  You decide to go garage sales for the day and the smallest bill you bring is a $20.  Because I had been prepared, I paid her back $18.50 in change.  Because I was pissed, I gave it to her all in quarters.  Sorry Betty Big Bills, next time bring something I can break or spend more money.

Those are my five hints for buyers today.  I have to go now because a wind storm is hitting my garage sale.  More fun for me.

Because my oldest told me she was running the cash register, and my 6 year old told me a dollar is the right price for a bottle of water "because it is ice cold"...I love my girls.

We Should all think like Children More Often

For those of you who do not live in Minneapolis, you probably wonder why those of us do.  We had a 60 degree day a couple of weeks ago, and on April 3rd, we had a winter storm warning, and it snowed about 10 inches.  Literally.

So many people complained, traffic was horrible, most people gave up and didn't go to work, so many people questioned why on earth do we choose Minneapolis to live our lives if we have to put up with snowstorms in April.

Without us knowing Katelyn (8) and Addison (3) instead did this:

Thankfully, my neighbor saw and took this picture.

Because they can see a smile in the biggest storm, I love my girls.

Look out Disney

So, we are leaving for Disney in "one more sleep" and this is how my youngest is preparing:

No explanation necessary, cause I love my girls.

Shakopee holds many secrets

Fantasy Football is something I am fond of. For those of you counting, I have three daughters, and a wife....none of which whom like football. I thought I might have had Ashley on the hook, but she keeps telling me she is my Sunday Night Football girl, and then when Sunday comes, and I tell her to get ready for football, she says she is my Monday night football girl. I have yet to catch up to the night. That being said, my Sundays are typically filled with getting the kids out of their pajamas and trying to help with breakfast, because at 11:30 I tune into football....for pretty much the rest of the day. But, as you may know, Katelyn recently celebrated her 8th birthday. Typically, all of the girls get a 'mommy and me" day to celebrate with just mom. This year, because Katelyn is pretty much the nicest human being on earth, she said that she wanted to take all of her sisters to the corn maze because it was so much fun last year. So her mommy and me day was Katelyn and family day.

This is us at the corn maze in Shakopee.  No, we have no idea why Ashley is posing for her Hollywood glamour shot.

Shakopee holds this little secret that isn't so little.  It is this huge corn maze, with different things to jump on, ride on, climb on, etc...that I can see why Katelyn had so much fun last year.

The only problem was....we went on Sunday....and arrived at 12:03....to late for me to set my fantasy lineups.  I lost in both leagues.  Simply because I did not check before we left for the corn maze.

I most likely would not have won either league I play in....but it did not help to lose only because I did not check my fantasy football.

That being said......I would trade all of my fantasy leagues every year to see again the smiles of my little girls climbing around in a corn maze or a corn pit.

Because the oldest is nice enough to share her day with her sisters, I love my girls.

She never knows

I have been away from posting for a while, and I would love to blame it on life and being too busy and what not, but I have two sisters who manage to keep the world updated....so I thought I better try.

My kids are amazing, more amazing then yours,  (although I am sure I am biased)...but my wife is more amazing than all and I have never explained why.

So, why.....

1)  Kelly has an ability to put her kids first, no matter how the day has gone.
2)  She runs a million dollar company, that she would throw away if any of her daughters said they did not get enough attention.
3)  This company she started with an intern now has clients like Cargill, Land O Lakes and Ecolab
4)  She has never missed an event for her girls...whether it is reading to the first grade class or going on a field trip to the zoo
5)  She sends me a "week in review" to help me know who needs to be where and when
6)  She lays out all of the kids clothes each morning......including mine.

I could go on and on with what she contributes...but what I want to share with all of my readers is this.

Monetarily, we have been successful....but the sole reason my kids will succeed is because they have a MOM.  I do not know how she does it.  I am consistently amazed that she runs our household as she does.

Sadly, as with many moms, she does not hear "good job" enough.  She NEVER KNOWS how much she is needed.  But tonight, she is in Chicago...traveling for business.....and my girls could not have cared becuasethey got to say goodnight to her, they got to see her thanks to Face Time and they know that before she left...she laid out all of their clothes and told dad what their snacks should be.

So, I share with you this not because I think you should reach out to Kelly and say "good job" but because all of my posts only talk about my kids.

I am hopeful that in the future when they read this, they will read about an amazing gal who helped raise them.

Kelly, your achievements will never be documented enough, but please know that you are an amazing individual.

Because every time I ask them if they love me, they ask me where mom is....I love ALL my girls...

We made it 5 innings

My company was kind enough to share our Twins tickets with us so I got to take my girls.  We made it 5 innings, which was four more than I thought we would.  Just as an FYI - they had me buy these hot dogs, for $5 a piece, and then as soon as I took the picture, they both gave me their hot dogs.

Thanks Mosaic for the tickets, Thanks Katelyn and Ashley for doing a boy thing :)

Because they cheered as loud as anyone when a home run was hit (I think because there were fireworks)  I love my girls.



My Little Pianist

This weekend was a great weekend all in all.  I got to go to what is known as Shakopalooza III.  This is a friend of mine who lives in Shakopee and each year he invites about 30 friends to head to Canterbury to watch the Kentucky Derby, then back to his house for a poker tournament.

Poker, horses, blackjack, friends.  I am looking forward to Shakapalooza IV already.  Thanks dear for taking care of the home front while I was running around playing.  Although I didn't win on the Derby, Kelly and the girls watched closely as they each had me bet for them.  Katelyn bet on Goldencents, Addie bet on Charming Kitten, and Ashley was cheering for Uncle Charlie.....we don't know why...there was no horse running named Uncle Charlie.

Then on Sunday, we had my nieces confirmation.  Congrats Maddie - thanks for letting us come celebrate.  Then we had a little time before the first piano recital in the Smith house.  Ashley has been taking piano lessons for about 8 weeks, and last night was her end of the year recital. 

After hearing a preview at Aunt Kerry's house, Kelly and I were a little nervous as to whether or not Ashley would deliver.  Apparently though, if you put a new dress and some sparkly shoes on your 5 year old...she can tickle the ivories with the best of them.

Ashley kicked out Rockin Pony Ride and was the cutest little girl there.  She loved dressing up like a princess and had no fear performing in front of a pretty big group.

This one on the other hand..... well it might be a little while before she cares to "get all cleaned up and in nice clothes"

Because one is the cutest little girl in the world even when covered with chocolate, because one is the cutest little girl in the world at a piano recital, and because when I asked the oldest one if she will always be my little girl she responded "Daddy, I have no control over life's mysteries"....I love my girls....

Why I hate "pursuing my MBA"

As many of you know, I have made a living reviewing resumes and finding people jobs.  Everyone knows that the coolest people in the world have their name at the top of their resume followed by some sort of initials that represent a certification or accomplishment.  Bob Thompson, CPA or Mike Williams, PHD etc...

Being that I am not sure what I understand less, accounting or the medical profession, my best option was to get my Master's degree.  As I decided to wait until I was 37 to start this adventure, I think I will be about 45 years old before I can write Daniel Smith III, MBA.  (I compensate for no initials currently by putting "the third")

So, the first class I decided to take is The Practice of Statistics for Business and Economics.  For those of you not pursuing your MBA, let me translate that for you.  The Practice of Statistics for Business and Economics basically should be called "Everything you learned and already forgot because you never use it in HR"

It is a little intriguing, I have learned to use Excel and something called MiniTab (an actual software program not a "small tab").  I have been able to do regression testing, hypothesis testing, graph like a maniac, etc..etc..

So, why do I hate pursuing my MBA.  Because tonight, while I am in class for the next three hours trying to determine the difference between a confidence interval and a prediction interval, my gals are doing this:

Becuase they could care less if I have any initials after my name, I love my girls.

Apparently, we have a son too......

Mom - I just want to make sure you know I am NOT referring to a fourth child.  You see, this weekend was our cat Spencer's birthday.  This is what my wife came home with:

 I was mad we spent money on a cake for a cat.  Then the kids started giggling and singing happy birthday to the cat so I was a little happier.

Then Kelly told me that the cat would be doing this:

You say what, eating his cake.  NO.  He is eating a piece of the salmon that my wife made him for dinner.  I was mad again that the cat got salmon for his birthday...until Katelyn gave Spencer her card:

I was happy that Katelyn's card was so cute.  I was mad when I realized cats can live to be twenty.

Because they accept Spencer in their family, but I still catch Addie pulling on his tail often, I love my girls.



My loving wife and Mother-in-law took the older two girls to Disney-on-Ice (or whatever the heck it is called) and when Kelly asked if her daughters could take a picture for dad, this photo was Ashley's response.  Reminiscent of "What you talkin about Willis?"

As many of you know, I have three girls.  The first two of these are very different.  Katelyn is the most loving, kind, considerate girl you ever met.  Ashley is the  most loving, kind, considerate girl in the world who will also punch you in the face if you say anything mean to her older sister.  We joke that we are saving for college for Katelyn and bail for Ashley.  The jury is still out on Addison, but she is leaning toward Ashley's way of life....

Every night, when we put our kids to sleep, we read a story, talk about our day, and discuss whatever is on our minds.  Sometimes we skip the story, sometimes we talk longer, but the key is we spend time with each of our kids as we say goodnight. 

As I was putting Katelyn to bed last night, she told me the following story:

Katelyn:  "Daddy, when you and mommy did not know each other, I was just a little spec in heaven. When you and mommy fell in love, I was sent to mommy's tummy from heaven.  They pick the good daughters to be with the good mommys, so I got sent to mommy.  You do know that the mark on my nose is the mark left when the angel kissed me goodbye."

I swear to everything holy that I am not making this up.  Katelyn has a birthmark on her nose that is a little bump of skin.  We told her it made her special, and when kids asked about it at school she could tell them it was a birthmark.  We NEVER told her it was where the Angel kissed her goodbye.

I am not sure what Ashley's version of this story would have been, but most likely it would have involved her punching whoever asked her about the mark on her nose.

Because one was kissed by an angel, but all of them are my angels, I love my girls.

Why the two year break?



Where have we been for Two Years?????


So, I have received countless e-mails from my fans asking why I have not been blogging.  When I say "countless" you should know I was asked by my mom and my wife.  The reason I have not been blogging is a little angel named Addison.

Addison Danielle Smith was born two years ago on this date.  For those of you keeping score, you got it...three girls.  Everyone has asked "don't you wish you had a boy"... and the reality is no.  I don't wish that.  I am not sure what I would do with a boy.  Most likely, he would pee on me often and I would try to enroll him in gymnastics at least three times.

So, today Addison celebrated her second birthday.  She dressed up as Minnie Mouse, and had the time of her life at the Mall Of America.  Thanks to everyone who came out last night to celebrate and thank you for all the gifts.

I am back now, and will be posting more regularly.  I just wanted everyone to know what was keeping me away :)

Because I have watched a five and seven year old be the best friend possible to their baby sister, I love my girls.

Twenty Eleven

The last day of 2010 was sad in that Luvae Anderson, Kelly's grandma passed away.

She was 94 years old, and I can only imagine all that she saw in those 94 years. I am currently reading a book called "How to Live". It is one person's account on the search for wisdom. This person decided the best way to search for wisdom was to interview a series of individuals all over the age of 70.....for wisdom comes with age.

The author should have interviewed Luvae.

The Anderson's lived in Albert Lea. Lionel and Luvae built a home, and a family through trying times that I have only read about in books. Lionel amassed considerable wealth by working for the same company for 40 years, and investing in little companies like IBM when a computer weighed about 4000 lbs and took up 3600 sq ft. Lionel made great decisions...but as they say...behind every great man is a better woman.

The support behind Lionel was a little spitfire named Luvae. If she were to be interviewed for "How To Live", she most likely would have shared little gems like "you can reuse those little brown bags you pack your lunch in...." She would have told the author that lunch is not a meal to be eaten as quickly as possible and consisting of whatever you can heat up fastest in the microwave. Rather, sit down...enjoy each others company, and have a good meal. Then take a nap.

I first met Luvae about 8 years ago. Kelly took me down to Albert Lea to meet her grandparents. When I was introduced, Luvae politely said hello and then turned to Kelly and said "How is Mike doing?" (Mike was Kelly's long time boyfriend from high school). Obviously, I would need to work to earn her respect.

Over the past 8 years I came to know a grandma who cared deeply for her family, who would speak her mind, and was highly independent. After Lionel passed away, we occasionally would visit Luvae, but it was tough to get on her schedule. That is right, this was the only 92 year old I knew who had a busier social schedule then I have had in 35 years.

Luvae was excited to hear when we were pregnant with Katelyn. When we told her a couple of years later that we were pregnant with Ashley she emphatically replied "oh goodness...." as she knew my wife ran a business and did not stay at home....

Luvae eventually accepted that Mike was no longer going to be in the picture, and was a wonderful great grandma to our kids. Every time we got together, it was fun to chat briefly with her to hear about her schedule, and learn about everything going on in Albert Lea. Until a year ago, Luvae could still be found driving around town in the Buick. Spitfire.

So, it was a sad end to 2010, but I can only imagine that Luvae wanted to bring in the new year with Lionel and as my older sister said "I am sure heaven just got a little livelier".

So what will 2011 bring? Obviously we hope health and happiness to all of our friends and family, but one thing we know for sure is that we will be bringing one more precious little princess into the world. We don't yet have a first name for our little girl, but Kelly suggested that Luvae be her middle name.

I can't think of a better tribute, and how lucky the little one will be to have such a strong role model represented in her name.

Because my littlest continuously yelled "Happy New Ear" and tackled me with a hug...and my oldest ends every night by saying "I love you, Happy Dreams"......I love my girls......

I don't have a chance.....

So, one of the things we deal with in the Smith household is daycare. We have it pretty good in that our daycare is two houses down from our house. It makes it easy for drop off and pick up. The only problem arises when our daycare lady, Rhonda, requests a vacation day. Either my bride or I need to take off a day of work to be home with the kids.

Side story here:

I often get asked why I still refer to Kelly as "my bride" even though we have been married for 6 years. It dates back to my days as a used car salesman. I had heard the used car manager, Whitey Herzog, talk about his bride. Not knowing Whitey well, I figured he had just gotten married. I learned a little while later that he had been married for 22 years. After a while, I got to know him and one day asked why he referred to his wife as his bride. He said that she had been his wife for 22 years, but that it all started the day she became his bride. So, Kelly will forever be my wife, the mother of my children, and the love of my life, but it all started the day she became my bride.

Back to Main Story:

I like to think I am a good father, but when it comes to who my kids would rather stay home with....I don't stand a chance. You see, when I stay home it is typically a day filled with some sort of cartoon marathon (i.e. Spongebob or Scooby Doo) microwave corn dogs for lunch, and some Wii or computer games.

When my bride stays home with the kids they get this:

Rolling dough, making cookies, and decorating them. This is how the day started....After of course chocolate chip pancakes, and some Christmas Carol singing.

A Jam packed day with mom that led to this:

So to me, she will always be my bride. To them, she will always be their cool mommy who is good at everything and super fun to be around.

Because they still "pretend" to be excited when I get home from work.....I love my girls......

Christmas Cards Can Be an Adventure

So....the Minnnetrista Smith's are much like any household in that when Christmas comes it is time to send out the Holiday Cards. Our cards are much like those you receive, pictures of the little ones with Holiday wishes to our friends.

The household rule is that we continue to send Christmas cards to everyone who sends us cards....so if you want to stay on the list, make sure to send us a card to.

Why is it an adventure you say....well, we took our kids to Target for the photo op to pick our Christmas cards. My 5 and 3 year old were beautiful in their special Christmas dresses and were angels during the photo shoot. I am very excited to send out the Christmas cards this year as the pictures turned out fantastic.

One caveat though....we finished with the photos, and of course then needed to sit down to pick which photos we liked best. The kids were playing in a little area for kids and we started looking at photos. We turned around to check on the kids after 1.5 minutes, and the three year old was missing. Literally.....missing.

We yelled for Ashley and immediately sprinted out of the picture area, my bride heading east, me heading West. Yelling, SCREAMING her name as we tried to figure out where she went. It was the scariest 2 minutes of my life. The Target photographer had picked up the phone and declared a kid missing, so they shut down the exits....

After a frantic search, I was told that my kid was on the other end of the store, and my wife was with her. It turns out that Ashley did not know where we were, and decided to go looking for us. We were two feet away, but with our backs turned she did not recognize us and therefore she went on a hunt. In thirty seconds she had ended up on the completely opposite side of the store. What can I say, apparently the kid's got some wheels.

We hugged her for a good 19 minutes when we found her and even received three hugs from random mothers that were helping us in the search.

Never again will I make fun of a parent who misplaces their kid. Where as I used to say "how could they lose their kid", I now understand and instead of making fun of their parenting skills will always assist in the search.

The good news is that the photos did turn out spectacular. As a matter of fact, when we went to pick up the photos, the photographer told us that our kids were selected to be used in their advertisement on the walls. They wanted to use my little princesses likeness on their walls. So, if you head to the Super Target on 101, you will see my little ones smiling back at you on their portrait selection wall.

Our compensation for this: Four dollars off of our purchase.

Hey, it's four dollars I didn't have yesterday.

Because one has speed rivaling Flash Gordon, and both were so cute they earned dad four dollars....I love my girls.....

So much to be thankful for......

As we approach another Thanksgiving....I have been thinking through what we are thankful for. First, thanks to my older sister for hosting Thanksgiving this year. We have traditionally hosted Thanksgiving, and although we enjoy it....for those of you who know my wife, you know there is always a plan attached. I refer to the spreadsheet created by my wife when preparing for the feast as "The Matrix". The matrix is an excel spreadsheet that defines what needs to be done from cooking to cleaning, and the timing in which all of them need to be done.


This year, there is no matrix, as Kerry has volunteered to host. Thanks be to Kerry.

For those of my readers who have not heard, we are also thankful to be welcoming our third little princess into our family. As much as I tried to tell everyone that we were having another girl, we did not officially find out until yesterday. Here is the first picture of [insert name here].

That is the new littlest girl sucking on her thumb. These ultrasound pictures require a little imagination...but that is what they told me. I prefer the above picture over this one that was also taken:

In this picture, I see no thumb sucking or cute little baby girl. I don't know about you, but I see an alien.

My two girls were very excited to learn that they would be having another sister. When told, Katelyn exclaimed "Yes!" and did a little fist pump. When we told Ashley, she exclaimed "Can I go play the computer..." (We are working on the excitement level with Ashley).

For those of you keeping score, this means that there will be Kelly, three little girls, a female dog., leaving the only two males in the house to be me and.......Spencer.

Spencer is the cat. As aforementioned in previous posts....I hate him. But, when we (and by "we" I mean my beautiful bride) told him, he seemed to take the news well:

Because all my girls (including the one in the oven) will understand when dad needs to go down to the basement and watch something besides Barbie, Dora, Strawberry Shortcake, TinkerBell, E News!, Keeping up with the Kardashians, Kendra, to take in a ballgame....I love my girls....

Putting the plan into action......

So, for those of my readers who have not yet met me....you should know that I am a fan of food.

I also have Crohn's disease.

This is a blessing and a curse. You see, Crohn's disease is an intestinal disease that causes anyone who has it to frequent the restroom. This is the curse. The blessing is that since food goes right through me, I don't think I have gained as much weight as one should when consuming as much food as I do.

One of my vices is Chinese food. I have found that a single order of Chinese food is good...but a Chinese buffet is something special. When I die, I am pretty sure that my version of heaven will have multiple Chinese buffets each boasting of 110 fresh items daily.

One of my favorite Chinese joints is in Plymouth. I found it one day while on a lunch break. It was great. I frequented it often. It is one of those mom and pop Chinese places that the owners run themselves...and I think this one is actually called "The Chinese Place."

I don't often go to lunch with anyone, so I frequented it often alone. After a multitude of visits, I figured I couldn't keep this gem all to myself any longer so I invited a few friends in my department to attend one day with me.

True story, I walked into the place, with 4 other people from my department and the owner walks up and in her cute little voice she says "Oh so good to see you. ha ha...(literally she said "ha ha") One of my co-workers on cue said "what's so funny" and I swear to god she replies "Oh...he usually come alone...."...

I tell you this story because at the end of the feast you are given the fortune cookie. My fortune cookie on this day said "You will become an accomplished writer"

Obviously, Confucius knows what he is talking about...because I think fame and fortune is right around the corner. If you read my earlier post, you know that I recently sold a lunchbox on e-bay. To my pleasant surprise, the gentleman who bought it paid me rapidly and sent me the following feedback:

Positive. GREAT SELLER< RAD LUNCHBOX< WILL YOU BE MY WRITER? Now, I don't know much about the buyer other then his name is Jack and he lives in Illinois. So I googled "Jack, Illinois and Publisher" It turns out that there are 1,457,453 hits to "Jack, Illinois and Publisher". So, I don't think it is that big of a stretch to assume that the Jack who bought my lunchbox IS a publisher and wants me to write some sort of novel that will most likely sell millions of copies.

I am relatively sure this is the EXACT same way J.K Rowling got her start.

Because I know they will help me stay grounded when I am rich and famous.....I love my girls.

Three Letter Words

I have been working with Katelyn on spelling. Being that spelling is about my wife's only nemesis...I thought best that I take charge of Katelyn's spelling education.

She is five. We have some time to learn, so we have been working on three letter words. I would say the word, and she would sound it out and spell it.

Run.....Cat......Fun.....Two......she did really well. You may think 4 words is not a lesson...but when all your kid wants to do is color of play computer, it was good to have her attention for 9 minutes. Then she impressed me. She said:

"Daddy, you forgot one. B. O. O. BOO!"


She was right, although I don't know that their costumes would have scared anyone this year:

Katelyn is obviously a cat. She has had a plethora of costumes this year as their was Halloween at Dance, Halloween at Preschool, and Halloween at Daycare. She was Sleeping Beauty at all of these, (thanks Mom for sewing an unbelievable likeness) but for Halloween we needed to be warm and Katelyn wanted to bring back the cat from last year.

Ashley is a horse. Thanks to Target, we found a cute little outfit. Ashley's legs were the back legs of the horse...and the rest of the horse was stuffed that she held up by the reigns. She ran around all night yelling Giddy Up! Occasionally though she would all of a sudden lay down. When I asked her one time why she did this, she looked at me and said "the horsey is dead...."

?????????????

I am hoping that she simply thought her costume was scarier if the horsey was dead versus having some sort of psycopathic tendencies....

Because they have two very distinct personalities...one as gentle as a "Meow" and the other riding a dead horse....I love my girls......