Hosecara!

Well, as life's gotten busier I've been very bad keeping this blog updated, but Cara said something today we had to put into the blog and not lose, so I'll catch up on a couple anecdotes.  Today was Palm Sunday, so Anna was telling us what she learned in Sunday School, about all the people shouting "Hosanna, Hosanna!"  Cara added that they also shouted, "HoseCara! HoseCara!"

The other day there was a spider on the floor, and when I got home Cara kept telling me about the "speeder" in the other room and how they need to just look at the "speeder" and don't touch the "speeder."  I ended up putting the "speeder" down the toilet.

Anna is a very good helper with Eddie.  She loves being the mommy.  It's apparent when she's talking, though, that she believes that one day she'll grow big enough to be the real mommy, and by that time, mommy and daddy will have shrunk down to be the babies that need to be taken care of.

Anna and Cara really like fried rice, just like daddy, so I get two boxes now everytime.  After I give everyone rice from the first box, and start to get seconds, Anna clearly gets nervous.  "Don't take too much from the box, daddy!"  But if I ask if she's afraid it will be all gone, she assures me she's not afraid of that.  But then she'll need to make sure that there's another box in the bag.  But don't worry, she's cool, nothing to worry about.

And finally, the last one I can remember for now…  Beth was telling me in code that she thought Anna was sick.  But Anna gets upset if you say that, so she spelled it out - "I think Anna is S-I-C-K."  But that still upset Anna - she protested, "No, I'm not!  I'm A-N-N-A!"

Anecdote of the day

Today after playing at the park, we got some chicken Mcnuggets and fries from McDonald's.  As usual, I got some sweet & sour sauce to use just in case the girls didn't finish their nuggets.  We must have played hard enough to make the girls hungry, because they both ate all their nuggets, which is rare.

This time, though, Anna actually asked to have some of the sweet & sour sauce, which is a first, because she never tries anything new and has always just eaten her nuggets plain or with ketchup. She actually liked it, too, which surprised me.  I asked if she liked it and said that it's called sweet and sour sauce, and she said "Yeah!  It's apple sauce for your chicken!"  Ok, I guess it's the right color…

I know it's been awhile since I've written anything - life's been very busy, work's been busy and frustrating.  I plan to write some entries to catch up on what the girls have been up to the last couple of months.  Today I uploaded a bunch of new pictures to our photo gallery for the last couple months, so you can enjoy those in the meantime.  They're under Day-to-Day->2008 Summer, Day-to-Day->2008 Fall, and Vacations and Trips->2008 IndianaIllinois.

Little shopper

There's a grocery store that Beth likes to use, when possible, because they have little miniature shopping carts for kids to push around.  I think it's a great idea.  Anna insists on having her cart, and only her cart, loaded up with the groceries.

And completely unrelated to that, the other night Anna found my noise-cancelling headphones and tried them on.  She was very pleased that they could make it so she couldn't hear the thunder, and said, "I love your ear muscles, daddy!"

The Money Store

A friend asked Beth the other day if we were going to sign Anna up for soccer.  Anna had said something about dancing before, so Beth asked her if she wanted to be a soccer player or if she wanted to dance.  Anna replied, "I want to be a dancing ballerina in my tutu!"  She loves this tutu - everything with the tutu these days.  Beth said that we'll have to ask daddy because dancing costs a lot of money.

Apparently Anna had been thinking about it the rest of the day, because that night at bedtime, she asked Beth again if she could dance, and was very distressed when Beth said, "We'll see, we have to ask daddy" again.  Anna then made the suggestion, "But daddy could just buy some money to have for the dancing!"  Hmm, that would be nice depending on their prices, but a money tree would be better.  Maybe it's time for a little lesson on money and an allowance…

Am I really that old?

Do I look like this?

Tonight at the Morris's 4th of July party, I was chatting with Fran Morris, catching up. In the course of the conversation, she cautiously asked me, "So Dave, how is your health these days?"

"Huh," I thought, "this is a new one." It was such a general question, I was trying to comprehend what would have sparked it. Do I look sickly? I didn't think that was it. Do I look older than I should at 32?  No, I didn't think that was it, either.  Is there an unspoken age that I've now reached where people just know they better ask about your health?  If so, is 32 that magic age? Seems young to me.

"Uhhm," I replied, "my health?  It's uh, fine, really.  Nothing exciting - I don't even think I've been to the doctor since high school!"  That seemed to surprise her, so now I really wondered what was wrong with me.

Hoping she wasn't opening a can of worms, Fran cautiously told me why she asked. Apparently, Tony, the hispanic pastor of our old church, leads their Bible study.  Two years ago or so, he apparently got the impression from somewhere that I had multiple sclerosis, so I've been on their prayer list for two years!  I was certainly touched that they prayed for me, but it's pretty funny - except for the real person with MS who's been missing out on all the prayer.

Now I have to wonder who told Pastor Tony that I had MS. I'm willing to bet it's the same person that told us that the Morrises had already moved out of Ohio and made us miss their parties last year.  Whoever it is - they must be stopped.

Still growing...

In a previous post, I noticed a little sign of Anna growing up - she stopped putting two feet on each step as she climbed stairs.  She's now all but stopped having to have her kitty and blankets with her wherever she goes.  She does keep them in her bed, though, and sleeps with them every night, along with her pink snowman slippers.  Today in church she actually sang with her VBS class in front of everybody.  Before, she'd cling to her teacher, but this time she asked us to sit up front so we could see her, so we did.  And I think it helped her confidence, because once she saw us, she got a big smile on her face and sang out.  And she'd smile big throughout the other songs when she'd glance over and see us still there, watching.  She can also count to at least 5, maybe 10, thanks to her friend Dora the Explorer.  She knows some other Spanish words as well, though "perrito" comes out as "burrito."

Cara is now walking down the steps standing up, but still using two feet per step.  She is very, very independent, but still loves to copy whatever her sister does or says.  She likes to sit on the kitchen counter and watch Beth do whatever.  She is still a big mess at the table - yesterday we had spaghetti and that Texas Toast garlic bread with cheese.  She ate the spaghetti with her hands, and after licking the cheese on the garlic bread, she peeled it off bit by bit to eat just the cheese, then somehow ate a hole in the middle of the bread, and was trying to put the bread on her arm like a bracelet.

In other kind of sad growing up news, I may need to start limiting how much the girls, at least Anna, can jump on my belly.  The girls like to hold my hands while they leap up and pounce on my belly.  Anna's getting big enough now, though, that it's starting to hurt!

Both girls are very scared of thunder - Cara probably only because Anna screams whenever she thinks she hears a little thunder.  When a tiny roll of thunder came during naptime and Anna freaked out, I tried to calm her down by saying it was just the sky burping a little, and she just needs to say, "Excuse you, sky!"  That seemed to work, a little, we'll see.  But now whenever she gets scared by thunder, she says, "I'm scared of the burping!"

Lucky to still be alive

My mom recently sent me this picture of her first time "rapelling," if you can call it that.  I had to laugh, because it reminded me of my first time rapelling at summer camp.  I hate what I call "low heights," meaning I'm just fine riding on or piloting an aircraft, but if I'm standing on a cliff where one misstep will obviously cause a painful fall, I freeze up.

Anyway, I was absolutely terrified, but they made all of us do it.  I was frozen up, maybe a quarter way down this 100 foot cliff, when my whole harness thing started to slip off.  I started yelling, "Oh crap! Get me down! Get me down NOW!!!"  Everyone started laughing, but I didn't see the humor in being 75 feet in the air with my safety equipment tenuously wrapped around my ankles instead of my groin, where it was supposed to be.  I guess I got my skills from mom.

Scary clothing

Beth: I need to go put on my capri pants.

Anna: Why do you need to put on your creepy pants?

Career choices - 1st edition

Yesterday Beth asked Anna what she wanted to be when she grew up.  In what I'm sure is only the first of many interesting career choices we'll hear from the girls, Anna replied, "I want to be a jello maker!"

If I do say so myself...

As Beth was putting on Anna's new pajamas tonight:

Beth: Do you like your new nightgown, Anna?
Anna: Yes - I'm beautiful!!

Everything is finger food

Cara is forever our high-maintenance child.  The other day, we were eating dinner.  I forget if it was spaghetti or what, but I'm sure whatever it was she was making a mess of it.  Even though she has a fork and uses it, halfway through dinner she'll put the fork down and use her hands, whether it's spaghetti, corn, or mashed potatoes.  Anyway, she started using potatoes as hand lotion or something again, then sticking her face in her plate to eat whatever it was.  Beth said, "Cara, use your fork.  You're not a horse!"  To which Cara immediately yelled, "NEIGHHHH!!!"  Zing.

"Oh Toodles!"

On the show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, there's a thing called "toodles" that always provides the gang with four "mouse-ka-tools" that they use to solve a particular problem or get out of a jam.  To get their mouse-ka-tools, they always have to say "Oh, Toodles!"  For example, if Mickey had to reach something way up high, they'd yell "Oh, Toodles!" and toodles would come along, and Mickey would ask you which mouse-ka-tool would help him reach whatever.

Recently I was playing with the girls outside.  They like to have me take their ball and kick it really high in the air, then they chase it.  One time I kicked Anna's ball and it got caught in a tree.  As I was thinking of how to get it down, Anna yelled, "Oh, Toodles!"  So we pretended Toodles came along, and I got a pole from the garage and was able to get the ball down.  Then Cara yelled, "Oh toe-does!"  Anna quickly corrected her with, "No!  We don't need Toodles anymore!"

Now they like to take turns doing this, where one will say "Oh Toodles!" (or Toe-Does in Cara's case), and the other one will say, "No, we don't need Toodles!" Then they both have a good laugh.

Why I work

This morning as we're all getting ready for the day, Anna asked where I was going.  I said that I was getting ready to go to work.  She asked why I have to work, and I said, "So I can get money to let us live in this house, and have clothes, and have food."  She added, "And have dessert!"

Anecdotes for March 14, 2008

Cara likes to pretend, at random times, that she's either a puppy or a kitty.  It's not hard to guess which it is.  If it's a puppy, she'll walk up to you and state, "Woof." Then she'll lick you.  If it's a kitty, she'll walk up to you and state, "Meow."  Then she'll put her head on you.

She's not very ticklish on her feet.  I've tried it several times, but it doesn't faze her.  In fact, it turns out she likes it.  When you stop "tickling" her feet, she'll grab your finger and pull it back to her feet to have you keep rubbing it.  She likes when you lightly caress her face with your finger, too.  If she happens to be sitting in your lap, relaxed, she'll grab your hand and pull it to her face.  Then she'll do it again if you stop.

Last week I brought home a "surprise" on a couple days for the girls to entice them (well, to entice Anna, mainly) to eat their dinner.  The first time the surprise was a big chocolate chip cookie.  The second time it was gummy bears.  Beth brought the girls by the office this week to sign some papers.  Anna wanted to stay with me at the office and was sad when she had to leave.  On the way home she told Beth that she wanted a surprise when they got home.  It turns out the "surprise" was well-defined - she later revealed she wanted a cookie as the surprise.  She still likes to play hide and seek - only when it's her turn to hide and you finish counting, she yells, "Over here! Over here!!"

Yesterday at preschool everyone wore green, a leprechaun visited the school, and during chapel they learned all about Easter.  Did Anna tell us any of this?  No - when Beth asked what she learned in chapel, she said that Mrs. Sacardi said that the ants go outside.  Apparently, an ant had crawled onto Anna's hand, and it traumatized her, and her teacher had to reassure her that the ants live outside.  Anna still plays with a "money purse" that she made in Sunday school weeks and weeks ago.  She loves that money purse, which is a paper plate folded into a cup-like form with a string through it for the handle.

Last night at about 1am, Anna woke up screaming in terror.  Woke everyone up.  Cara woke up and was scared at the screaming and started crying herself.  I asked Beth what happened, and she said that Anna told her that she dreamed an ant was crawling on her hand and got scared.  I guess we know who's not going to be an entomologist.

The Butter Monster

Well, it was bound to happen.  Cara discovered an unattended tub of butter, and she was in heaven...

First car wash

Today we were out and about with the girls, and on the way home we decided to get some gas and a car wash, since the car was very salty.  It was a touchless car wash, so there were no scary brushes whapping against the windows or breaking our antennas.  The first couple passes of the bar just lightly sprayed soap onto the car, and the girls were enthralled watching it, almost enjoying watching it.  But then on the 3rd pass, which was the first rinse, the bar was spraying water rather hard, and that's when the Anna got scared, covered her ears, and said she wanted us to leave.  I think Cara was actually ok until she saw Anna scared, then Cara started crying.

It reminded me of the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark towards the end, when they've opened the ark, and one of the ghosts comes up to the main bad guy after someone else had proclaimed, "It's beautiful!" [the light soap spray] Then the ghost suddenly turns into a scary demon, the horror music starts blaring, and everyone is screaming in terror [the rinse].

Life keeps marching forward

It's been awhile since I've posted any updates.  Things have been very, very busy at our house.  Lots of things around the house that needed to be done to list it.  At least one of us has been sick pretty much since December.  I'm only now actually feeling "normal" without the congestion, coughing, and runny nose that I've had since mid-December.  We're all finally healthy again.  Beth has been very busy coordinating the MOPS group at our church.  The girls have been very busy themselves, playing, going to preschool, making messes.

Cara really does anything and everything Anna does.  If Anna tells me anything, Cara comes right up and says the same thing. Though she still talks like a baby, we can understand the words she's saying most of the time.  She's still in love with butter and would eat it by itself for every meal if we let her.  The other night, we had crescent rolls, and she, of course wanted butter on hers.  Then she went ahead and pinched all the butter off the roll with her fingers and ate the butter straight.  Don't worry, though, she still eats very well, and she'll eat your dinner after she eats hers, so be sure to have extra.  She'll even catch you if you have something in your mouth - I tried to eat some Whoppers candy without her knowing.  I put them in my mouth behind a door so she wouldn't see, but then she saw me chewing and kept pointing to my mouth saying, "Want some! Want some!"

Cara is also starting to potty train and desperately wants to wear panties like her big sister.  She's used the potty successfully a few times, but is still learning.  She also likes to jump on daddy's belly now, but only for a minute; then she wants to be held upside down, just like I do with Anna.  She then repeats over and over, "Ook meeee, Anna! Mommy, ook meee!" telling everyone to look at her upside down.  Almost daily (and Beth might say many times in a day) she asks for "Hoasie Wide," aka "Horsie Ride," aka the William Tell Overture, so she can run around and around.  When it's time for bedtime, she's protesting now, saying "No - no stowees!" (no stories), "No, no naps!" and "No, no bet!" (no bed).  But fortunately she's still easy to put to bed.

Anna still loves her snowman jammies very much.  Just tonight she asked for them specifically and cried when we said not tonight, but tomorrow she could wear them. She wears the snowman jammie slippers faithfully, though.  She's made lots of friends at preschool and talks about them a lot.  She gets very excited when they come over to play or when she gets to go to their house to play.  She really likes when our photo gallery screen saver comes on and she can watch the pictures.  She remembers Titi Toni and Titi Edna very well when the Orlando reunion pictures come up.  She also loves the Curious George blanket that Aunt Raquel made her for Christmas.  She frequently insists that it's the one and only blanket she wants to cover her at night.

She understands the idea that we're trying to go live near Mama Jet and Papa Nick's house. She gets very excited when she thinks about it, and frequently reminds us that we're going to do that, and that someone has to buy our house first, then we can move.  She's visiting them with Beth in late April (Beth's helping her mom organize a yard sale). When we ask if she wants to fly on an airplane, she says no, "because I'm too big!"  I didn't understand what exactly that meant until Beth pointed out that whenever she's actually seen an airplane, it's been very small from being so high in the sky, so Anna must think that she couldn't possibly fit into that tiny little airplane.

I've been quite busy myself between home, the girls, choir, and especially work.  I'm the only person that has been developing the mission planning software (MPS) for two satellite missions being launched this year and flown by Orbital Science Corporation in Dulles, VA.  To really simplify what MPS does: it is a tool used in the mission operations center (MOC) that repeatedly analyzes the predicted satellite orbit and assembles the nominal command loads that get uploaded to the satellite for execution, checking for conditions that might damage the satellite in some way.  I really could have used another developer to take some of the workload (the original plan), but since that didn't happen, just about every MPS-related question or task falls on me, for either mission, and recently from several groups with Orbital looking at possibly wanting their own customized MPS for upcoming missions. The two missions for which I'm currently developing the MPS are:

• Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), launching Summer '08. This satellite's mission is to build a "picture" of the boundary between our solar system and interstellar space.  Think of it as the shock wave made by our solar system as it moves through the larger galaxy. Here's the official mission website.
• Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), launching December '08. This satellite's mission is to act as a space-based platform to observe sources and sinks of carbon dioxide in the effort to better understand the carbon cycle and improve predictions of any future increases in CO2 and its impact on climate change.

I also traveled to Seattle for a work-related seminar earlier this month, which explains the Seattle shirts you might see the girls wearing in some of the pictures in our gallery, which I've updated with some new pictures, by the way (Day-to-Day, 2007-2008 Winter).

Well, that probably brings us somewhat up to date for now.  I'm sure there are things that have happened in the last month that I've forgotten and didn't have time to sit and write.  Maybe things will slow down enough I'll be able to write more often.  Or maybe I'm kidding myself…!

Still loving the snowman jammies

Anna really likes the silky snowman jammies that Titi Edna and Abuela brought from Puerto Rico to our reunion in Orlando last fall.  Tonight she begged to wear them again, and when she finally got to put them on, she sighed and said, "Oh, now I am so comfortable!"  She's even wearing the snowman slippers in bed right now.

Excuse you

Whenever the girls pass gas, they smile and say, "Was that you???" as if they're already trying to pass the blame onto someone else.  They probably actually started saying this because that's what we'd say to them when they were much smaller.

Yesterday, though, Anna said something different: "Oh, I burped in my bottom!"

Hide (over there) and Seek

Anna has started wanting to play hide and seek from time to time. It came out of the blue (for me, at least), so I'm not sure if Beth started playing it with her, or if she learned it in preschool. Her version of the game is pretty easy.  Last night, she asked to play and wanted me to count first.  So I closed my eyes, counted to ten, and said, "Ready or not, here I come!"  When I opened my eyes, I turned my head and saw her laying on the couch with her eyes closed.

I took a turn hiding, and on her next turn hiding, she "hid" on the couch again, only this time mommy sat in front of her to at least partially hide her.  When I came in the room and said, "Hmm, where is Anna," Anna yelled out, "I'm right here behind mommy!"  Then she said it was my turn to hide, and she also told me to hide on the blue couch. I guess not knowing where I'm hiding made the game too hard for her.