Rub-a-dub-dub, there's 4 in the tub!

Almost got all four looking at the camera.


Ella is a good big sister! Hold on tight, he's slippery!

I think Luke's face in this picture says it all. Time to get out!

Sweet Baby Luke

Luke has been sleeping for a good 8 hours at night, before needing to eat again, since he was 2 and a half months old. Tomorrow he will be five months old and he blessed me with a gift last night. ELEVEN hours! Count them folks. ELEVEN! Went to bed at 8 pm and I didn't hear from him again until 7 am! What a good boy! I would have enjoyed my first uninterrupted night of sleep in five months too, if one of my three year old angels hadn't had his own melt down at 2 am because his sippy no longer had ice in it and I refused to go get him some. (I'm really not that cold hearted, just not a routine I want to begin at 2 am.)


So here he is all snuggled in for bed tonight. Let's hope he has a repeat of last night and Noah doesnt. :)

*And for the record, I know it is not safe for babies to sleep with blankets in their crib, but this is how Luke wants to sleep. He needs a blankie in both arms to snuggle with during the night. Unfortunately the blanket I bought for him to be his "lovey" weighs about 80 pounds and is sweltering hot. (Postpartum brain, not always the best for making decisions with) So he lays on top of it now. I am just afraid that he is going to be attached to the white blankies he cuddles with instead. And if Luke loves his blankie the way our other kids love their blankets, white is not going to be a good color to start with. Ah! An excuse to go shopping! :) Maybe next week when Luke and I fly to GR to meet Max we will have to hit the malls!

A new Addink children milestone

The "pre-children Jason and Paige" would have been absolutely, mouth hanging agape, horrified, I am sure. Had they witnessed anyone else parent their children this way, they would have gone home in shock, exclaiming that when they have children, they would never even contemplate that this could be acceptable. How could people even consider this an appropriate parenting technique?!?!

So Paige rented our kids some videos today. At an actual video rental store! And then let them watch them!

Now, I realize that Grandma and the aunts have long been indulging their video viewing habits, even going so far as to rent videos. But that has never occurred at our house, until now. Paige claimed that she had told the kids she would tape Curious George for them (a horror by itself!), but then forgot to do it, so she had to go rent the video. Then she found that they had other cool videos, so she got a few of those as well.

When she called to tell me, I gave her the appropriate amount of grief (see pretty much the first paragraph above.) I, of course, would never stoop to such parenting techniques...

Ummm, creepy!

So I posted a video a while ago about celebrities singing a praise and worship song to Obama. Now they have enlisted the help of the children...

This one has been making the rounds on the conservative blogs today. And I agree with them... very creepy. It's like a bunch of kids learning a Sunday school song, but singing to Obama.

------------------------------------------

WE'RE GONNA CHANGE THE WORLD Music and lyrics by Lily Campbell, age 9

We're gonna spread happiness
We're gonna spread freedom
Obama's gonna change it
Obama's gonna lead 'em

We're gonna change it
And rearrange it
We're gonna change the world.

------------------------------------------

Not that I want to make any rash comparisons, buuuuuuut...

The garbage man cometh...

waaaaaaaay to early at our house. Approximately 6:43 AM today.

 

No... freakin... way...

Guess I know what I am doing for the next 103 hours...



I was searching for the video of the Palin interview with Katie Couric on CBS, and noticed under the "TV Classics" section, a link to MacGyver. This was my absolute favorite show as a kid (well, at least up until he turned into a fruity environmentalist.) Awesome!

No comment necessary

(Paige was already cleaning it up by the time I got down to take a picture)

Happy Birthday Ella!

Our baby girl turned 5 years old today.

Hard to believe how fast the time flies (earliest digital picture I have of her, about 9 months old, in Rocky Point)

Meet Max

Congratulations Julio and Erin! We can't wait to meet the little guy in person!

Pickin' in the Pines

Paige and I headed up the hill to Flagstaff last weekend to visit our good friends Jonathan and Katie and to take in a little bluegrass at Pickin' in the Pines. We headed out Friday afternoon with Luke in tow. Grandma came over to our house to watch the older three for the weekend. After the drive up to Flag, listening to some informative talk radio (Paige's favorite!) we met up with Jonathan and Katie, as well as Paul, for dinner. Then off to Jonathan and Katie's house to crash in their spare bedroom.

Saturday morning we headed out to the Pine Mountain Amphitheater for some Pickin' in the Pines. Paul had already grabbed a spot up on the grass, so we dropped all our stuff by him. I wandered around the amphitheater a little bit, and noticed that there were seven tables up near the stage, each with a "Reserved" sign on them... and one empty table with no sign at all. We decided to go for it, so we moved all our stuff up to the table and pretended it was reserved just for us. Why no one had taken that table yet, I have no idea, but it turned out great for us. We got our own table, close to the stage, under the shade. It was perfect!

We got there a little late and missed the first couple of acts, so the first band we saw was Steve Smith and Hard Road.

Luke curled up on top of the table and fell asleep to the twang of their guitars...

He was awake for the next band though, Spring Creek...

Jonathan enjoyed reading through a National Review magazine...

and Paige and Katie chatted away most of the afternoon.

Paul and I were the biggest two bluegrass fans, so the other three were good sports by hanging out with us for the entire day. Even though they insisted they were having fun, I know the immersion in hillbilly music eventually bored them. I think it was good for them to be exposed to some culture though! (In case the sarcasm doesn't translate... between myself, Paige, Jonathan, and Katie... the last one you would call cultured is me.)

Next up was The Billy Pilgrims. I even managed to get a little video of one of their songs.

The sun eventually made its way under the awning for a short while, so Luke had to borrow my hat to shade his bald little noggin...

Carolina Chocolate Drops were up next, and were definitely the highlight of the show (at least for me.) They are more of a traditional folk band instead of a bluegrass act, but the the crowd loved them and they got some major applause. If you ever get a chance to see these guys, don't miss it. Unfortunately it doesn't look like they are headed anywhere west of the Mississippi for quite a while.

Somehow Luke managed to sleep through part of their act.

Just so you don't wonder about my dietary choices, the bottom of my T-shirt, hidden by Luke, says "Tasty, tasty murder." While Luke slept, he missed out on this fantastic band. I got a few of their songs on video. Get ready for some good toe tappin' foot stompin' tunes...

Georgie Buck, with Dom working the jug and the "clacker" (or whatever the technical term is.)

Rhiannon with a very cool solo...

A guest on the mandolin...


Cornbread and Butter Beans

Hi Ho Fiddle I Day, with dancing by Dom and Rhiannon...

UPDATE: One more video from someone else on youtube. Yes, I think she is playing a kazoo...

Luke did however wake up in time to get in on a little backrub action from an entire line of bluegrass babes! That little guy is a chick magnet! The 4th and 5th girls back were actually in the band contest, and were pretty good.

We hung around for the last few acts, and then headed out to dinner. Sunday we headed back down to Phoenix. Jonathan and Katie are moving back to Utah, so this is probably the last time we will see them in quite a while. It was nice to get out of the heat, spend some time with friends, and hear some great pickin'!

Media bias? Naaaaaaahhh...

This is a little late, but better late than never. I didn't realize I still had this on tape until just the other day (Tape? People still actually use that? Yup.) It's Gwen Ifill on PBS, following Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican national convention. Am I the only one that picks up on her visible disgust (or dissappointment?) in her reporting? Even Paige commented that she looked depressed...

Update - 9/30/08: Apparently, I am not on crack...

From an article by Michelle Malkin, on NRO:

During the Republican National Convention, the PBS ombudsman fielded numerous complaints about Ifill’s coverage of Sarah Palin’s speech. Wrote Brian Meyers of Granby, Ct.: “I was appalled by Gwen Ifill’s commentary directly following Gov. Sarah Palin’s speech. Her attitude was dismissive and the look on her face was one of disgust. Clearly, she was agitated by what most critics view as a well-delivered speech. It is quite obvious that Ms. Ifill supports Obama as she struggled to say anything redemptive about Gov. Palin’s performance. I am disappointed in Ms. Ifill’s complete disregard for journalistic objectivity.”

And apparently the above video has been posted on a few websites, because the views and comments have suddenly jumped way up.

Update #2 - 9/30/08: So I went to send an email to Michelle Malkin to let her know that I had the Ifill reaction she referenced on youtube... and discovered where the sudden increase in views and comments was coming from. Her homepage! Cool! Now as long as people don't find their way back here and start some giant political debate on this post...

Update #3 - 10/1/08: And now World Net Daily

Our kids love flags

For a long time, Paige has used flags as a distraction for our kids on car rides. If they start acting up, she gets them to look out for the first flag they can spot. Now they absolutely love to find flags, and any time they spot one the back of the van erupts in cries of "Flag! Flag!"

So today we took them all down to the 9/11 memorial by Tempe Town Lake. Unfortunately, we arrived just as a 50 mile long wall of dust barreled into Phoenix.



"Whoa dad... look at all the flags..."



Our biggest challenge was keeping our kids from whooping and hollering in excitement, in the middle of what is intended to be a slightly more somber and quiet experience.



I tried to convince them to sit perfectly still, "like statues," while I tried to get a picture of the flags flapping. They did pretty good, but it is awfully hard for a 3 year old boy to remain perfectly motionless.



On the way back to the car, Levi insisted on pulling Ella, "all by myself." I was amazed how far he actually made it. After about 100 feet, he said "Dad, I'm not th-trong enou-ch. You need to help me." Not a problem kiddo...



I find it hard to believe that this happened 7 years ago. Every anniversary, it seems like it was just yesterday. But at the same time, it seems like so long ago, it is hard to remember just what life was like back then.

Ewwwww!

Paige found this puppy hiding in the water slide today. She said she screamed like, well, a girl. But instead of squishing the thing, she somehow captured it inside a tupperware container.

Which gave me the opportunity to dispatch it properly when I got home.

Mmmmmmm, tasty!

Luke tried out his first cereal last night. He wasn't exactly sure what to do with it...

but he definitely was not pleased when Paige stopped feeding it to him!

Since he was covered in cereal, into the bath he went.

Then tonight he busted out his slightly offensive new T-shirt. Like father, like son!

Palin, Voddie Baucham, and women in "office"

Via the A-Team blog, I ran across this video:



1) As the A-Team said, a debate over the actual meaning of the Bible? People citing verses? Actually appearing that they really believe it? On CNN? Who'd've thunk it...

2) Voddie Baucham is a great speaker. He did a men's conference at EVBC a while ago. It was incredible. The guy is entertaining, smart, and most important of all... takes his Bible very seriously.

3) On a woman as a VP (or President)... a couple of years ago, I would have said "no way." In fact, I did say that. Lately, I think I wouldn't take such a hard line on it. And since I am obviously excited about Palin, I guess I am OK with a woman president.

Thoughts? Do you agree with Voddie, or the two ladies ganing up on him?

There is something wrong with our children...

Ella will be attending school tomorrow as Rudolph...

- - -

Ella, following Paige and I upstairs to change her youngest brother's massive diaper blowout, which somehow jetted all the way up his back: "I love poop! How does such a little boy make so much poop? I want to see it!"

And she really is fascinated with the stuff.

- - -

Paige, to Levi: "Why did you just pour milk into your ear?!?!?"

- - -

There were several other stories, involving body parts, that Paige says I can't share with the whole world.

- - -

This is just a sampling from a single day. Our pedatrician assures us such behavior is perfectly normal, just discovering their bodies. Paige blames me for their behavior. Seriously, we shake our heads in disbelief...

Oh... my... goodness...

Noah: [wailing at the top of his lungs]
Ella: [sitting next to him with a guilty look on here face, clutching "her" toy]
Paige: Ella, why is Noah crying? What did you do to him?
.
.
.
Ella (her exact words!): Stuck my finger in his b#tt. But he took my toy away!

How do you even respond to that? Granted, the boy wasn't wearing any pants (big surprise) and, ummmm, presented her with a target. But that will be the last time he turns his back on his big sister. They don't tell you these lovely details in the parenting books...

I'd like to find the guy...

...who invented blue suckers. He obviously didn't have children of his own, although he certainly knew how to market to them. We were cleaning blue drool off of everything. But at least Levi and Noah had fun!

Showing each other their tounges...

Noah scowls in disapproval at Levi's excessive drool...


And yes, once again, our boys are sine bracae (supposedly Latin for "without pants", at least according to some random web translator.) I did read a post on my second cousins' blog the other day, and apparently the pantless urge is genetic.

One more political post...

This pretty much sums up how I felt about Sarah Palin's speech last night. It was even better than I expected.

I'm just nerdy enough...

...to find this funny. And educational! :)