Larry.org

Here’s an example of how it’s fun.

So you’ll begin seeing more videos in my posts I think.

It’s always amusing to run accross this while we are doing our holiday decorating.

David continues to grow up quickly. In the last few weeks he’s really been joking around a lot more than he ever has before. Most of these jokes are related to inserting the words pee pee or poopy into a song or a statement.

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Speaking of songs, it’s really fun to hear him play around with melody. He knows a few songs now, so he will occasionally just start softly singing a tune to himself while he’s playing. He also makes up little nonsense songs on his own, which I really enjoy as I’ve always enjoyed doing that myself.

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The other day he looked at Laura very seriously at the breakfast table, and said to her:

David: Mom, I have something to tell you.

Laura: Yes, David, what is it?

David: Mom, I know you like apples. And I also know that Daddy likes apples.

Laura: Yes

David: But Mommy, I do not like apples.

We naturally found this to be extremely amusing.

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I came home from work last week and David greeted me at the door. As I walked in I held up my hand and said “High Five”. He looked at me and, out of nowhere ran me through the whole:

“Gimme Five, Up High, Down Low, Too Slow!” routine.

I don’t know where he picked it up but he found it very amusing how stunned I was that he pulled it on me.

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It’s amazing to play with him and talk to him. He’s such a smart kid. I don’t know how it’s possible that he’s about to turn 4 years old. I remember before we had David, someone telling me that the great thing about having kids is when they are old enough to have conversations with you, and how it gets better and better as they get older. Now that we’re getting into David’s fourth year, I can see how that’s true.

I get, um, alot of email..

The other day someone in my family decided it would be fun to send one email to literally everyone that they classify as family.

I have a large family. They have spouses, cousins, aunt's, uncles, parents and children. This is a long list.

So I responded to all, not realizing that all was so big.

My favorite response came from my brother Dan. It was one word: Unsubscribe.

So I've another reason to make use of my favorite GMail feature. The mute button. I do admire my brother Dan's response though. Thanks to my co-worker Josh Gomez for pointing this out to me.

So I'm glad I responded to the email but Dan's response was simple. I don't have time to join this discussion, and I don't want to be included in it anymore.

The mute button is easier and less prone to offending but really it's a little unfair. I don't like getting email I don't want to receive and letting people know that I don't want it prevents me, my mail program, and my mail server from having to filter it out. This is why email is basically broken. We'd rather just delete it or easily filter it out than ask someone to stop sending it.

more...

I had to study for a month to go to a rock concert. I mean, every day before the concert, my musical selections were predetermined, all so I could feel "ready" to go to a rock concert. This is probably the antithesis of rock-n-roll.

Let me explain. My husband is very musically inclined. I like music, but not as much as he does. He prefers music so much that he won't wake up to an alarm, but he will wake up to music. He will also wake up to me yelling, but that's not very melodic. However, it is song-like, in that it has several loud choruses, spaced about 7 minutes apart.

So, when the husband's new favorite band The Hold Steady was coming to town, on his birthday, we made plans. The plans included lining up Grandma for overnight babysitting, and booking the "Romance Package" at a local resort. So I had a quite a bit invested in the evening. I figured I'd better enjoy the music as well. So to do that, I had to listen to it. A lot.

My husband aided and abetted this effort by giving me an iPod Nano for Mother's Day. (We have a three-year-old son, so big ticket purchases are rare. Except if it is for him.) "You've needed an iPod for a while," he said. By chance (not), the first download included two Hold Steady albums.

So that's what I listened to, every day. In the car, Hold Steady. Doctor's waiting room, Hold Steady. At work, Hold Steady. At first my response was, "This is very loud and I don't understand the words." (Yes, I'm one of those type of music listeners.)

After looking up the words, I started to appreciate the songs. At first, I thought it was odd, since the band are guys in their 30s, singing about kids in their teens getting high and trying to deal with the Catholic version of God in Minneapolis.

Then I started to feel the common elements. I've been a teenager, I've been in my 30s. I grew up Catholic in the Midwest, and some of my family lives in Minneapolis, so I'm familiar with many of the local place references. I haven't ever gotten high, though. But I have gotten drunk. I can also appreciate a good turn of phrase, such as, "Shoes and socks, baby, socks and shoes. We spent the night last night in Newport News."

The night of the show arrives. We get to the hotel and drink the cheap champaign we get as part of the "Romance Package". We also enjoy the very large "executive" suite, complete with huge conference table. We were upgraded, since it is the dead of summer in Phoenix, and not much is happening in town. The hotel is literally 1 mile from our house, and I chose it because I wanted the fun to start as soon as possible when we left our driveway.

Yesterday, Laura was having kind of an allergy headache and needed to lay down for a while after I got back from church.

It was about 11:00 and it occurred to me that 1) David and I had no idea what to do 2) the Red Sox were in town.

There was no way that we were going to make the game though because it started at 1:40 and David goes down for his nap at 1:30 (ish).

So then I think to myself.. if we bring water, pack up a lunch and buy the worst tickets in the ballpark, we can have a nice time in the air conditioned ballpark.

So off we go and got a Brandon Webb action figure as a promotional item.

Here's a photo of me and David at the ballpark.

We had a pretty nice trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina again this year. The last two days we had to deal with Tropical Depression Ernesto.

It was great to see everyone in the family and spend so much time together.