Mondays

I used to dread free, unscheduled days with the boys. Now, they are a chance to breathe.

Early Morning Bubbles

What do you do when you wake up super early, to an unexpectedly beautiful morning?

Break out the Bubble Color Labs that you found in your Easter baskets and head outside, of course!

Quoth Drew

Quoth Drew earlier this week in response to my request that he try to go back to sleep for a bit, him having woken up an hour or two earlier than usual in the morning: "My body has all the rest it can handle. If I get any more of the rest called sleep, it will spill out of me!"

Outcome: After much reluctance, he agreed to try and did in fact get more rest called sleep, with no spilling to be seen (thank goodness.)

Drew's Joke (drum roll please....)

So I taught Drew to tell his first joke.

Drew runs to Annie and says, “Mommy, say ‘Hoot’.”
Annie: “Hoot.”
Drew: “Hootin’Annie!”

He can’t get enough of this joke, though I’m pretty sure he doesn’t understand it. He'll tell it 10 times in a row. He really enjoys that other people think it’s funny and laugh. Even on the 10th consecutive time, I laugh heartily. I can't help it.

Garrett tried to follow Drew's act once.

G: "Daddy, say 'Hoot'."
me: "Hoot."
G: "Hootin'Annie!"
me: "Oh, buddy...my name is not 'Annie'."
G: (pensive look)

Just for fun

see more Funny Graphs

Jim and the Boys at the Car Show

Wednesdays, 6pm, Carrie Cerino's Italian Restaurant. The boys just love cars. I try to keep them in the wagon to protect other people's paint jobs, but they just want to get closer.

Tonight

Sitting together at the computer watching Stelvis videos here.

Spring '09 Slideshow

Spring has sprung. The garden is tilled/dug. Most of it is planted. They boys continually want to be outside, which is fine if it isn't already 9pm. It's a good time. We hope you enjoy the pictures.

Now with Video!

Another small victory on the technology front, we now have the ability to load videos onto our computer, chop them up into manageable file sizes, and post them to the blog. Special thanks to my brother John for helping me locate the right hardware for the task. We've had this video camera for well over a year now and we can begin archiving the footage we've captured. Look for more clips in the future.

For now, enjoy some classic jumper-fest footage. D&G were approximately 10 months old here.

Also check out yesterday's post for bee installation videos.

Spring Fever

Time has flown by once again, and somehow it is already heading into mid-April. So it's about time for a quick update...

We've been keeping busy as usual - just day-to-day life for the most part. We have gotten to see some friends that we don't see too often over the past couple weeks, and are looking forward to seeing more friends and family this week.

Drew & Garrett keep getting bigger and bigger. They are talking up a storm, and it is amazing to hear what words they decide to break out. They are such smart little guys. Unfortunately one of the words they have learned recently is "mine". Needless to say, it's one of the most popular (to some). However, they have also learned "sad" and "happy", and if someone is sad, one or both will come right over and say "hug, happy", which is bound to have the desired effect. They are also learning the names of some birds now that we've been keeping the bird feeder next to the kitchen window filled.

It has been wonderful to be able to get outside again, for all of us. Drew and Garrett are in their element when they can be running around the yard with their wheelbarrows, rakes, shovels and rocks - helping out or working on projects of their own design (for instance systematically moving the rocks from our front path to a pile at the bottom of the slide...). The picture above is from this morning - clearing the remnants of yesterday's snow from their building site.

Jim's been doing quite a bit of work in the yard, getting the garden ready for the year, clearing out some of our "landscaping", and generally puttering around. He's been in his element, too.

I've been trying to get over one cold or another for the past few weeks - finally, knock on wood, I'm starting to feel better. So I haven't been doing as much work outside yet, but have enjoyed being able to hang the laundry outside again once or twice, and taking the boys to the park to see the ducks and geese, and am looking forward to more once it gets warm again.

There will be more to come in the near future as we gear up for this year's garden and more. But for now, enjoy some new pictures and the hope of Spring...

Drew: (Points to Daddy's face)
Jim: What? My nose?
Drew: No.
Jim: My lip?
Drew: No.
Jim: My nose hairs?
Drew: Yeah.
Jim: Are they sticking out?
Drew: Yeah.
Jim: Do I need to cut them?
Drew: Yeah.

Thanks, Drew. I'll get right on that.

A glimpse into the analytical mind...

Caution - the following post contains insight into Jim's thought process. Steel yourself, or just decide now to not read it.

So my co-worker sends me an email. It's a joke, and the punch-line is at the very bottom, so far down that I can't see it when I first open the email.

Question: Which runs faster, hot or cold??

Joke Answer: Hot. Anyone can catch a cold!

Jim's Answer:

Temperature is a measure of the kinetic energy within a given system. As molecules vibrate and move, they collide, and release energy in the form of heat. The more molecular movement, the more collisions, the more heat, the higher the temperature.

But also consider that higher temperature (more movement) molecules are moving faster past one another when they do not collide. This faster movement is able to partly overcome the inter-molecular forces of attraction (van der Waals Forces), which in turn allows for more expansion*. This expansion leaves more "open space" between molecules in the solution. The end result is a lower density. For a given material in the liquid state, the lower density has a direct effect on viscosity, which is the material's resistance to flow.

So, assuming all other factors are equal**:

Cold water = lower temperature = less molecular movement = higher density = higher viscosity = less flow = slower "running"

Hot water = higher temperature = more molecular movement = lower density = lower viscosity = more flow = faster "running"

Therefore hot runs faster.

*This expansion is not due to weakened van der Waals Forces as may be experienced with molecular shearing of non-polar molecules or chemical decomposition resulting in lower molecular weights or loss of mass balance with the solution. The van der Waals Forces remain constant as long as the number of molecules and their molecular structures remain constant.

** Other possible factors which may impact flow rate include varying pressures of water through different fluid systems, vertical free-falling water under different gravitational fields, presence of solutes (for example, mineral content in "hard" water) in solution, ratio of isotope content in the molecular structures (such as Deuterium aka "heavy water") etc...

Tonight

So when your mommy's not around and you're crying because your daddy will not let you watch any more Stelvis video clips online, a couple of chairs and a blanket can work wonders.