Zac is trying to wear the vest Gary & Nell got Claire for Christmas here and we were able to get a shot before he ran out of it. I think it's just a touch too big for him!
We have had an enjoyable couple of days with Claire up here from KC. She was supposed to be up on the 26th, but snowstorm after snowstorm really did a number on travel plans for many people and delayed my trip down to pick her up as well, so we came on the 29th.
It has been a bit of a sparse Christmas compared to what we're used to, but I have to say it's been nice to be forced to focus on the things much more important than how many gifts I can buy my children and my lovely wife. When you love someone, I think it's alright to want to shower them with gifts, just as God has done for us, although I'm speaking more monetarily. It's also great, though, to take a step back and realize the gifts of family and love and life are even more exciting than all the things I wanted to buy. Hey, I can provide these gifts year round and, when funds allow, I can still buy the other things for those I love. It doesn't all have to be at Christmas or about Christmas just because it's the season set aside for those things. :)
Well, it's either a hat or a phone. This is Zac's dirty clothes hamper and is one of the few things he doesn't try to use as a phone. We've given him an old cell phone and he's pretty good at "Hello", then talking on it, then "Bye bye" as he slams it shut (it's a flip phone). And this last part is why I'm hesitant to ever actually hand him my phone to let him talk to anyone. :) Other than the phone, he'll use anything from a measuring spoon to one of his toys to mimic what he's seen us do. Very cute and still doesn't get old.
Couple of pics to post for you today. Zac dropped into the bin we use for his toys a week or two ago and Katy was able to capture it. Then just the other day he was playing with this acorn piece for a toy (from a kid meal with an Ice Age theme) and had it just stuck to his nose. Thought we'd grab a pic and share. :)
Also, haven't weighed him in awhile, not that it's important at this stage, but we did realize the other day he kept hitting his head on the dining room table and seemed to have a long reach. I grabbed the yardstick today and measured him at 32 1/2 inches. No wonder he keeps hitting himself. :)
Wanted to be sure to get a picture up of Zac's Halloween costume this year. You may recall that last year he was a tiger. This year, a cowboy. Super cute outfit for him. He did enjoy getting to eat just a little bit of candy last night and got to show off at Lee Ann Baker's and at Gary & Nell's. All enjoyed seeing him and we had a nice, relaxing night. I think Katy enjoyed handing out candy at her mom & dad's house, and since we'll likely never be home on Halloween night, that might be her future each year here forward. :)
It was a beautiful day in the upper 50s yesterday, and today we hit 70, believe it or not. Despite our cold winters and sometimes too much snow, I love the weather we get the rest of the year here in the eastern part of Nebraska. Great thunderstorms, beautiful stormy skies and sunsets, even amazing blizzards when they come. Wouldn't trade it for anywhere!
Zac's Aunt Mickie & Nana took him and his cousins to get their pictures taken last week. This is the one we received a copy of. It sat nicely on the dining room table, underneath another piece of paper...right up until the cats decided they had to play with it. This is not the first time something like this has happened. It's almost like the smell of the picture, somehow, is attractive to them. At any rate, I pulled the picture in and edited it, touching up the areas they bent, which just happened to be over Zac's hair and the right side of his face. Hopefully I did well enough to make it somewhat hard to notice.
So it's October 21st, and so far no more snow of any consequence since the last post. Just a few flakes here and there, and those are mostly inside our house. :) Zac will be dressing up for Halloween as a cowboy and get to experience the fun of getting candy for the first time. Last year he was that cute tiger, which I posted on here. Gotta say, this is one cute kid.
Well it's October 10th here in Omaha and we're receiving our first snow of the year. Ummm......WHAT?????? I know, I know. Some of you are thinking, "We've been having snow for a few weeks now; what's the big deal?" Yeah, I don't care. This is Omaha, and while we occasionally receive some flurries in October and, about every 10 years or so we get a blizzard in October...wait...it's been 12 years since the last big October snowfall. OK, but that was around Halloween. We just BEGAN October! Not cool.
Know who else thinks it's not cool? Zac, apparently. We took the opportunity to let him walk around in the snow a bit. His excitement may have been tempered by a desire to go back to bed, or that I wouldn't let him hold his pig initially, but either way, he was not a fan. But, just to prove to him years down the road that he at one time did not like snow, here are a few pics for us to enjoy the morning by, as well as his Ed Grimley/Alfalfa pic from this past week. :)
Katy took this pic of Zac earlier today and though I've shared it with a few of you, I felt the need to post it on the blog tonight. It's almost too cute for viewing, in my opinion. I mean, don't you just want to melt looking at that face???? As you can see, Katy dressed him in the little jean jacket (yes, Levi's) she picked up for him at a consignment shop and he's holding his favorite thing in the whole world, his stuffed pig. This is that pig he received his first Sunday at Crossroads Fellowship down in Odessa, TX when we lived there last year. It's crazy how important it has become to him. He can't sleep without it, though he functions just fine without it otherwise. :)
Katy and I are enjoying the fruits of both of us having jobs now, but please continue to pray for us as we work through overcoming two years of struggles while I was rarely employed. God has blessed and continues to do so, and we want to assure we continue to honor Him with our first fruits. :)
Been a long time since I put out an update, and I'm sorry for that. Though we've trimmed Zac's hair a few times now, Katy had an opportunity this afternoon to get him an actual haircut after hers was done. By all accounts, it went very well and the ladies at the shop just loved him! Katy tells me he kept taking his hands out from under the smock and clapping his hands. He is indeed a lot of fun!
OK, so I realize this isn't the most pleasant picture in the world, but Katy did capture this "moment" Monday as Zac had wedged himself between the kitchen chair and the table. See, lately if a chair is left out away from the table, Zac sees it as an opportunity to climb on, stand up and then play with Katy's computer. But this time, I guess he still felt he could have the same fun, only to find himself somewhat trapped between the chair and the table. Poor little guy! He'll figure it out soon, I'm sure. :)
I'm writing this, effectively putting words in Katy's mouth, but I think she would agree this has been a very nice birthday weekend. Not only did we get to see each other for the first time since last Sunday morning, but we've gotten to do so many different things we couldn't have otherwise. Friday night, my boss and his wife graciously took us to a steakhouse in Pleasanton, CA, called Hap's, in part if not in whole as a way of celebrating Katy's brithday. I should preface things by stating that you know we know beef in Nebraska, right? Hap's understands that, and serves "...Angus, Midwestern corn-fed beef, aged 21 to 28 days", which means that it likely came from Nebraska, or maybe even Iowa. Now, we've had some great steaks. There are two spots within Omaha, Cascio's and Gorat's, that are both extremely good, old-style Italian steakhouses. In my humble opinion, they couldn't hold a candle to Hap's. The Filet Mignon was far and away the best steak I've ever tasted. And that was only after having lamp chops and tempura-battered shrimp as an appetizer and then a red pepper dungeness crab bisque that can only be described as heaven in a bowl. I've never had soup like that.
It was an amazing evening filled with great conversation, great food and a meal finished off with a ridiculously good chocolate creme brulee. Are you kidding me??? Wow! I must say that today as we discussed last night several times, I couldn't help but smile in my enjoyment of the memory. Katy and I have had two dates since Zac was born and the last was for a few hours in advance of our anniversary last November. To get to spend an evening with a great couple, with great food and atmosphere and the conversation and all of that was just wonderful.
Today, Katy's birthday, we decided to drive south of San Jose down to the coast, headed for Carmel, which is a bit south of Monterey. While the weather on the coast was cool, cloudy and foggy in many places, the view was still something to behold and we very much enjoyed getting out a few times to hear the waves crashing. We started the day by doing McDonald's for a quick breakfast, then headed south. We stopped first in Capitola, a bit south of Santa Cruz. That was a bit disappointing in many ways, but we did spend some time walking above the beach and watching some surfers catch some small waves.
We then headed toward Carmel, driving through farmland along the way, which was a big surprise to both of us. We knew California had large farming areas, but it hadn't occurred to either of us that any of those areas would be so close to the ocean. It's too bad we didn't have a way to buy some of the fruit, which was all priced better than you'll see in any store. So just after Monterey, we caught what's called 17-Mile-Drive, which is this twisting, winding, very hilly drive through the Pebble Beach area. There are, I think, four golf courses and a bunch of homes, and once you have driven over to the coast, the views are very enjoyable. We stepped out of the car along here to get a few pictures and watch the waves crash against the rocks. Many people were doing this and all of them were apparently willing to pay for the drive. We obviously did as well, but it was a shock when we shelled out the $9.25 to do it.
Fortunately, we got that money back. Along the road you go through the famed Pebble Beach golf course, which hosts major PGA events every year. They even have a shop on the grounds named "2010 U.S. Open", where everything has that theme. Spyglass Hill is also along this stretch of road. Now, I love golf, but at my skill level, I'm not willing to pay whatever their greens fees are to shank one into some $3 million dollar home along the coast. :)
So Katy and I stopped and ran through a few shops on the Pebble Beach course campus there, then ate at the Gallery Cafe, which sits with a view of the first tee box and from which you can also see the ocean just above a building to the west. By spending at least $25 in one of their restaurants (not hard to do), you get the initial $9.25 back in cash, which was nice. We drove the rest of our piece on this road, exiting at the Carmel gate. We'd been told that'd be a nice place to visit.
The beach did not disappoint, though with the sand being so fine and so soft and so deep, and the hill getting down to the beach being fairly steep, it was a bit taxing for us going down and then back up. We did walk along the beach for a bit and get very unexpectedly wet when a wave crashed in further than we thought it would. We had water up to our knees and it was not even a little bit warm! But, we really enjoyed it and then headed up into the town to see the shops. While the town is very quaint and has pretty architecture, I cannot possibly imagine living there. However, if you like a constant traffic jam and tons of people all trapped inside one square mile of space, this will feel like home! Way too busy, way too touristy, just not a very relaxing space. No wonder we found so many people jammed into the beach parking area and at the beach. That said, we found great souvenirs there and it was the one spot where we stopped and got our feet wet, which was a goal for today.
We then headed back to San Jose and dinner at Genji downtown, which is a Japanese steakhouse, the kind where they cook dinner for you at the table. The food was OK, nothing special, but we still enjoyed ourselves and really just had a very pleasant, relaxing day despite the travel. I think Katy felt this was a unique way to spend her birthday and even though it didn't feel quite "normal", it was fun nonetheless. :)
Wow. Has it been this long since an update? I suppose it has, and I apologize for that. Since I haven't grabbed any new video or pics of Zac recently, mostly because I keep forgetting to recharge Katy's camera, I thought it might be fun to post an older picture today along with a more recent one. I mean, sure, he's only 18 months old and a "now and then" comparison isn't a huge difference, but in his case, it kinda is. :)
Well, we've overdue for a new video or pic or something. How about one of each?
The video I took today is of Zac playing with a kid toy they give out in Taco Bell kid meals. It's in the shape of a guitar pick and plays music of sorts with movement, so he finds it to be great fun. How quickly we get tired of hearing the guitar strums is yet to be determined.
The picture I'm putting up today is apparently how Zac feels about pull-ups. We'd been working on seeing if we could potty train him, since he had shown some interest. Right now, we've decided to hold off a few weeks and try again as he's determined it's just not something he wants to do at the moment. This moment was captured this past week and sums up his opinion on things.
I just wanted to get a quick post up today alerting you that I've added four more videos from last night of Zac walking around the house. I didn't have enough lights on, so they aren't the easiest to see, but hopefully they are OK. As always, you can click on one video, then the rest will show as an option after you've watched it, or you can click on the Family Videos link on the lower right to access all of these as well. Enjoy!
I know. I know. You're thinking, "What the heck?" Well, I try to be clever on this here blog and grab your attention with the titles so you'll be intrigued. Intrigued yet? Well, maybe you should watch the video below and see how you feel. :) This is our first actual captured video, taken yesterday, July 19, 2009, of Zac walking. He's been taking some steps and then Thursday night he walked about 8 or 10 feet on his own initiative. We finally caught it on video yesterday. Now, here's the funny part for us. We've been waiting all this time for him to walk. And often times Zac will do something we think is funny or we want to share with others, so when we go to Gary & Nell's, we'll try to get him to do it but he never will.
Yesterday, however, he decided to change all that. He wouldn't walk to Nell when we first got over there, and we thought perhaps he just wouldn't or that maybe we'd have to get him on the carpet in the living room first. But nope, he had other plans. As I went to sit down, behind me Zac decided to just start walking. He walked from their dining room area clear into the kitchen, and then he was off. We were there for about 2 hours and he just walked and walked and walked. I know this will get old at some point, but for now, it's great to watch! Nell caught a really good one yesterday with her camera and as soon as I get that, I'll post it as well.
Thought we'd get out of the house this weekend and take Zac down to Lincoln to visit the Children's Zoo.
Why that zoo instead of the amazing one we have here in Omaha? Well, it's about half the price, for starters, and I always like going down to Lincoln for a change anyway since I grew up there. We also spent some time at the Sunken Gardens, where there was a wedding or two today, at least, and across the street at another garden and a fountain as well.
We had a great time and Zac got to pet a goat, a guinea pig and a dove plus feed a llama, a goat and a camel. :)
We made sure to drop by DaVinci's for my favorite pizza in the entire world and Katy had a chance to enjoy one of her favorite pasta dishes, which is a creamy tomato sauce made by combining marinara and alfredo sauces. So good!
Frequent readers of this blog will recognize the title of today's post is at least partially correct. If you recall, Zac took a header into a kiddie pool several weeks ago but I don't think that could be considered officially going swimming. Yesterday, however, at the house of our friends Craig & Dee, Zac had his first experience in an actual pool. He enjoyed it quite a bit, though the infant float thingie (there on the left) we bought to let him enjoy the water turned out to be a bust. It appears he has more interest in bending forward to drink the water, much like he does in the tub, than just sitting and enjoying it.
He also had a fun time on an electric train that runs around on a track, as you can see by the second picture. Craig has these pedal trains he created that are run by hand (behind Zac), but Zac isn't quite big enough to do those yet, so he had this little plastic track set up for him to enjoy. He went around and around and around on this thing and really enjoyed it! The lever just below the steering wheel there is what makes it go and stop. Once I showed him how that worked, he did it on his own. I was quite impressed!
That's right. You heard me. I couldn't think of a super catchy way of saying this, so that's my title for tonight's post. The reference? Zac's successful, though clearly accidental, use of his potty tonight right before his bath. For pictures, I bring you the potty itself and Zac in the tub, after the fact. Clearly he's super excited.
Those who read this blog hopefully recognize the boundaries of propriety and will understand why the one picture is with the lid closed rather than open. I just didn't feel it was necessary to show the end results and I'm known to be a truthful guy, so I figure you'd believe me anyway.
Even though this was accidental, we've begun trying to get Zac used to the idea of using his potty as we fully intend to have him trained by the time he is 2, if at all possible. Yes, mostly it's a ploy to save money, but also, we don't want to deal with it any longer than we have to, so we have a fairly aggressive goal. :) So, he won't walk yet, but he's willing to use the potty which, by the way, stays in the bathroom in our house. We only have the one level we actually live on, so we figure he can get used to going to the bathroom in the actual room from the start and it's not a huge problem for us because we only have the one floor. That's it, folks!
Well, time for a new entry. I'm overdue by quite a bit. Today I bring you Zac determining exactly how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop (one, by the way), and two of Claire's at-bats from her softball game last night. Her team won 16-4 and won their league with a 9-0-1 record. Yes, a tie was in there due to time constraints of a game.
Claire is with us this week in Omaha and we're very much looking forward to spending the 4th of July with Chad & Mickie, watching the fireworks off their back deck. Great spot to watch!
Today we bring you a few pictures of a fun afternoon we had at the home of, now let me see if I have this right, Katy's grandma's cousin's granddaughter Cory (sp?), along with her husband Chris and daughter Addison, her mom Pat and dad (was it Ken?), her brother Ben and his wife Robin and daughter Andi (sp?), as well as Gary, Nell, Mickie, Jamie, Mandy and Ryan. Cory and Chris live here in Omaha, but the rest of their crew are up from the Baton Rouge area to cheer on LSU in the College World Series. Fortunately for them, LSU has made it to the championship best 2 of 3 which begins this coming Monday.
The first picture I'm sharing is when I first put Zac around the kiddie pool in the backyard that he, Mandy, Ryan and to a certain extent Jamie were really enjoying playing with. Not in the water, but just splashing it. See that gal off to the right in both pics? That's Robin, also known as "that person who saved Zac's life". Because...
In picture number two you can see the kids having fun splashing in the water. Zac decided at some point when it was pretty much just him at the pool to put his face in the water. He does this in the bath as well and has great fun with it. It was all fun and games until he got a little too excited and went, head first, into the little pool. I saw it happen and yet, before I had even taken a step, Robin had scooped Zac out of the water. We were impressed that as soon as he fell in, he rolled over on his back and got his face out of the water. Now, the look on his face, which obviously we did not capture in picture, was certainly one of a bit of fear, but he calmed down pretty quickly and even went back to the water a bit later to have fun splashing around. Good boy!
We had another life-saving moment as well this afternoon, this one by ME! As Jamie and Addison were on the swings, I was helping each of them get moving and holding Zac in one arm. Mandy wandered over from the slide area of the playset and right into the path of Addison, happily swinging away. Just as she was about to be whacked in the head by the swing, I put my hand in the way, which brushed Mandy away and kept the swing from hitting her in the head. Mandy, in what was an absolutely hilarious reaction, dropped to the ground as though she'd been felled by a bomb and lay there completely motionless until Nell came over to pick her up. You kind of had to be there to get the full effect, but just that image of Mandy taking the fall and not moving a muscle until her Nana came to get her was very, very funny!
I was just looking through the pictures we've taken of Zac over the past few weeks and have noticed a bit of a disturbing trend. It would appear we've crossed over into the group of parents who take most pictures when their children are naked or half-naked. And while I fully agree that these will be GREAT for blackmail when we need to get his attention as a teenager, I am wondering just a bit about the necessity of posting this type of picture over those where he is fully clothed. As such, I'm also included one where he is dressed so you don't think we've become weird or anything.
So, first picture is Zac trying to put keys into the lock in the front door. It's interesting what kids pick up. For months he's recognized what his comb or brush is for, but in the past few weeks he's really latched on to paying attention to uses for his toothbrush, Q-Tips, keys and also the ceiling fans. Ceiling fans are particular favorites anyway, but since he began mimicking us by moving his arm in a circular motion and saying "round and round" as he works on his letter "r", it's a little more fun. Also, we may have good news. We've been fretting over the possibility Zac may be a lefty since whenever we hand him food, he always goes for it with his left hand and he'll even feed himself with utensils, with our help, with his left hand. But yesterday as he and I were rolling a ball back and forth to each other, he always used his right arm. Hopefully this is the start of something positive! Can't have him being one of those weird lefties, after all. :)
The second pic is the as promised fully clothed Zac. Sunday after church, he fell asleep on Katy's lap before we could even get lunch ready. Thought it'd be nice to share with everyone. Have a great day!
Zac has picked up a number of "skills" based on things we do for him. For instance, given the opportunity, he will attempt to comb or brush his hair and will even try brushing his teeth. These things have been going on for a little while, but tonight after his bath he picked up a new one, cleaning his ears with a Q-Tip and also using a Q-Tip to put Orajel on his gums. Now, he didn't have anything to put on his gums, but he wanted to try anyway. So, I was able to grab a picture of the ear cleaning in action. Enjoy!
This weekend, we were able to go down and watch Claire play softball Friday night (won 17-4) and then she came back for the weekend. This is not only the first time I've seen Claire since Christmas, but also the first time she and Zac have had opportunity to spend any time together. You'd think we'd have pictures of this to share. Your line of reasoning would be wise and should be correct, but unfortunately, Katy and I have misplaced her camera. The phones work alright, but not for capturing anything you really want and I really wish I knew where it went. Perhaps the cats have run off with it and are taking funny pictures at night?
At any rate, we had a wonderful weekend and it was just such a blessing to have Claire up here and to get to spend time with her. Can't wait to get back down for a few more of her games yet this season!
Thought we'd put up a quick note to let everyone know Zac took his first steps tonight! Woohoo! Apparently, the way we are working with him is beginning to pay dividends as we've been able to get him to stand a few times a day as well. Tonight, Katy was walking with him back into the living room after his bath. Maybe it's because he was distracted by the cats and wanted to go see them in the bathroom, but as he neared and saw them and Katy let go, he took two steps before collapsing into my arms. So, steps by surprise but steps nonetheless! :) Him taking actual steps, with balance and all, was so surprising we weren't prepared to capture it on video. In the place of having that, I'm adding this pic I took about 2 weeks ago after he woke up from a nap. His hair is very important to him, as you can see.
It's accurate, however, because this morning, after Zac had finished his massive-sized Rice Krispies and a large piece of banana, he picked his dish/bowl up and decided to try to lick it clean. This had not happened previously and caught me a bit off guard. Had I been thinking, I might have caught it on video instead of in pics, but here's one to enjoy anyway.
Zac has not been feeling completely up to par the past few days, today included, but you wouldn't know it listening and watching him in this video clip. Katy was helping him take a bath, which we do with the shower running, and he was cracking himself up as he splashed the water that accumulates in his little tub.
Caught Zac just a little bit this afternoon banging a set of keys against our front door but initially laughing like crazy at Millie, who was looking at him through the window right around the corner from the door. We've been working with Zac quite a bit this week on walking, putting forth more of an effort to get him to recognize it's something he should be doing. I guess our thought previously that he'd walk when he wanted to wasn't quite right for him, so we're adjusting. :)
When Katy brings him out of his room after a nap or a changing now, he'll call me and say "See?" as she helps him walk down the hallway. It's VERY cute and I'll try to catch it on video sometime soon if at all possible. And once he walks, we'll get that up as well. Have a great day everyone!
I had Zac really laughing quite a bit right before this, but didn't have my phone ready to capture it. So I grabbed the phone and took to chasing Zac around and getting him a little riled up right before bedtime tonight. Sorry about the quality and lighting, but I was on all fours going after him and didn't have many lights on.
I wish our cats were as excited about Zac as he is with them. Because of this, it's tough to catch him getting to play or chase them on video but I was able to get a little bit of it earlier today to share with everyone. The cats don't excite him as much as his Uncle Dan and Aunt Stacy's two black labs did, but he does get a kick out of them.
Just wanted to drop a quick note to everyone. We're back in Omaha for good, arriving last Friday night, May 1st. We've been furiously unpacking and getting settled back in to our house. It feels so good to be home and we're very, very thankful for God's grace and love in getting us home to Omaha. More pics to come soon. Zac has been doing some new things we need to capture on camera to share with everyone. Take care!
Have a few pics to share today. Yesterday, we took my Mom and Dad down to Hot Springs to visit the Mammoth Site. It was pretty interesting, though Zac did not share any enthusiasm for it whatsoever. However, we still enjoyed it and it was a beautiful day. It was 70 degrees down in Hot Springs while only 57 up in Custer (about 35 minutes away). Google Map it if you are uncertain of the geography, but the altitudes are a bit different.
At any rate, today, the day before we are set to leave, it was a bit chillier, mostly in the 40s and edging up into the 50s a bit until this evening, when it decided to begin snowing again. Yes, more snow. On April 30th. I know, I know. We've seen this before, just last year at this time, right? But still, it does throw you when it happens because we don't live in an area where this is a fairly common occurrence.
So tonight we took a drive, going up part of Needles Highway and then back down into Custer State Park and finally back to our motel. We took a few pics along the way and wanted to share them with everyone. Headed back to Omaha in the morning and then it's time to unpack! So excited...
We have successfully made it to Custer to return Dan and Stacy and are now enjoying a few days of rest before worrying about heading back down to Omaha. As you can see by the first picture I've attached today, we had a bit of a repeat of last May's trip to Custer. Yes, that means snow. Our trip up on Saturday was uneventful until just before Hot Springs when we hit rain. By the time we were north of Hot Springs, and going through Wind Cave National Park, the snow was strong enough to where we could see maybe 500 feet in front of us. We had several lines of buffalo cross in front of us, forcing a wait three times.
We also didn't get to enjoy church Sunday morning as Dan had to cancel due to the heavy snow. This next picture gives you a pretty good indication of just how much we received. This was outside our motel room. We're staying at The Bavarian Inn this week.
Hopefully, by the end of the week, Zac will have caught up on sleep enough to not be tired all the time and falling asleep on Katy, as he did yesterday.
Just a quick note and then hopefully some new pics in the next few days. We are back in Omaha and so, so happy to have the trip done. It was quite an adventure this week getting everything packed up in time and out of the apartment we had in Midland. Dan and Stacy arrived a few minutes early on their flight Tuesday night and that's the only thing that happened even close to on time!
We planned to get out of town by 9 Tuesday night, but instead were out a bit before 10, then it turns out moving trucks are not made for speed, so a 90-minute trip took 2 hours over to Sweetwater. The motel cost considerably more than we'd been told it would be, but that's just how it goes sometimes. We got to sleep late, got up early, but still didn't get out until around 9:30 or 9:45. Then, we managed to take what is normally a 12 to 14-hour drive and turn it into almost 18 hours, arriving in town well after 2 a.m. Dan and I then had to take the truck to the house, unload my Jeep, then drive back to Gary & Nell's in Bellevue. This meant getting to bed around 3:30 in the morning and then, just to make it fun, I had to get up at 8:15 so I could be back at our house by 9 for the movers to unload! What fun!
Needless to say, I crashed last night before 10:30 and slept until 7:30 this morning. Tomorrow (Saturday) morning, we're off to return Dan and Stacy to Custer and that's another 9-hour drive. What fun! At least we only have 1 vehicle instead of 3 for this trip, meaning we have a better shot of sticking closer to that 9-hour window. I hope to update soon with pics and or video this week! Take care everyone!
Well, I wanted to get an entry in here before we have to shut things down Tuesday morning and I don't have a good shot at doing anything for at least several days. We picked up the rental truck today and the movers are coming first thing in the morning to load it up. Of course, since Dan & Stacy don't arrive until about 8 p.m., we'll have a long day of not much to do while we wait for them. Originally, the movers were to be here around 3:30 in the afternoon, which would've left us plenty of time during the day to pack the last few things up. With the change in plans they gave us today, Katy and I have been furiously packing everything so the movers can get at least 98% of it loaded in the 2 hours or so they'll be assisting.
We do have a few things we can get out of the house to do, fortunately. We have a number of items we'll be donating to Goodwill, and we need to run by the cable company to drop off the cable box and modem. Plus, then I need to bubble wrap the big TV and get it ready to load into the Jeep. Meals will be a bit of a challenge, and I know tomorrow night we'll head over to Odessa to hopefully eat at Chik-Fil-A one last time and then head to the mall for a bit to use some time before we have to head to the airport.
Once Dan & Stacy arrive, we're on the road, planning to stop about 1-1/2 to 2 hours east of here in Sweetwater for the night. This will give us a little bit of a leg up on the trip and keep us from hitting Oklahoma City during any part of the rush hour on Wednesday. We may hit it in Tulsa, but Tulsa is considerably smaller so it shouldn't be a big deal.
Please pray for us as we make this 1000-mile trek. It's not an intimidating trip at all, but it's time consuming and any time you are driving a larger moving truck, it adds a different element and slows you down a bit as well. Take care, everyone, and I'll update soon!
Thought I'd quickly pop this video up today. Zac was watching Sesame Street a little while ago this morning and I don't know if the section on drums gained his attention or if he saw a monkey and decided to do this, but suddenly he began pounding his chest, so to speak, to his music table. I'm assuming drums, but you can see a bit of it here.
Well this is Easter number two for Zac and this year we got him a little basket full of some goodies. These pics are of him checking out his new things and I should note he has become especially pleased with the little stuffed chicken in a half egg shell we bought him. Note also he has a firm grip on his pink pig, which he received his first Sunday at our church down here. He loves that thing and it's like his security blanket, but in pig form.
Another new item today is a video that should be showing on the right, or again as always you can click on the Family Videos link below that to catch it. What we have noticed is that Zac definitely favors his left hand and his favorite color at the moment appears to be red. When we placed 3 Pez candies in front of him Sunday, he initially went for the one on the left, but then quickly grabbed the red one. Not the pink one, mind you, but the red one. We tried to capture this on video and he does go for the red one eventually on the first try, but aims for the left one on the second try.
So, we may have a crazy southpaw son, but at least his favorite color is right. Go Big Red!
Well, of this we are VERY excited. It's been a challenging almost 9 months here in west Texas and we are more than ready to return home. Neither Katy nor I had any idea we'd be here for such a short time when God asked us to move last summer. I don't think anybody ever expects to leave so quickly after a move, especially one that was 1000 miles in distance.
We now begin the process of wrapping things up here, making necessary arrangements for a moving truck, flying Dan & Stacy down so he can drive the truck (because I will not), ending utilities and cable and all that fun stuff. If there is any benefit to having moved often, especially across country, it's that the process of doing all this is not unfamiliar. We have our list and just have to accomplish those things there and will be in good shape. Probably the toughest thing is timing, as the truck will be loaded up on the 21st in the late afternoon/early evening. Then we have to shampoo the carpets lest the complex steal the $600 refundable portion of our $1100 pet deposit. You read that right. Don't get me started.
For those of you wondering how this came about, let's agree that God does indeed move in mysterious ways. How else could we explain dozens of visits to our house without a single offer with interest rates extremely low and an $8000 credit from the government for first-time buyers on the table? It makes no logical sense, but it was a means for God to show us we needed to move back to Omaha. We don't have definite income yet, so please pray with us that we will have income soon after moving back.
One of the things we were warned about early on here in West Texas was how the winds will go weeks without stopping. I will say that, to date, we haven't run into that, however they are fairly constant and today we're having one of those gusty, windy days we've become used to. Thing is, the winds here blow around plenty of fine dust and dirt that ends up in your teeth, hair and pretty much everything. This is the reason people here get so bothered by the wind all the time. At least in many other places, where grass exists, the winds don't blow around all the extra dust. One good thing, though, is that the winter storm system that has been so busy this week dropping blizzards and tornadoes, depending on your location, isn't coming quite this far south. The snow and freezing rain stayed about 2 hours north, as expected, and then 4 hours north Amarillo got hit pretty good today. Good for them. They can have it. :)
Took these pics today of Zac with his music table. We purchased this for him for his birthday after seeing how much he loved something very similar at Christmas Nell had bought for Ryan and Mandy to enjoy. He loves this thing and plays with it every day for quite a bit of time.
Also, look for more videos today over on the right. I uploaded 4 new ones just showing Zac playing around today.
That means Zac, not me. I'm very picky. Zac...not so much. Generally, his rule of thumb appears to be, "if I can grab it, I can eat it." I must say that as a parent, this is really not a "talent" I appreciate of his.
Today, he decided to try to eat a bug. Yes, a bug. About 3/8" long, black, lots of legs. A few of these have shown up over the past few weeks and usually the cats see them first and that alerts us to its presence. Not today. Today, Zac found it, put it in his mouth, then came crawling over to me drooling more than usual. As we'd already pulled wood and cardboard out of his mouth so far this morning, it wasn't a surprise that I'd have more to search for.
What was a surprise was that it was an alive, kicking and, if I could hear it, I'm sure screaming, black bug. Ugggh. I can watch Andrew Zimmern eat this sort of stuff on the Travel Channel without issue, but I have no desire to see my son do the same.
Thought I'd toss up a few new videos today, which should show for you over on the right before too long and, as usual, you can click the link further down on the right to see all videos if they aren't showing. This is one we took today when Zac was dancing a little bit while at his music table. I can't capture him doing stuff like this very often because once he sees the phone or camera come out, he immediately races to come touch it.
Fortunately for all of you, the Internet has not yet been able to capture "smell-o-vision". If it were, you too would be able to enjoy the new aroma that emanated from Zac after his nap this afternoon. I've named the smell in the title of this blog entry but words really cannot describe it. To my knowledge, Zac's cousin Ryan is the only other child on the planet able to create such "joy". Meanwhile, enjoy the video. :)
I used to have a MySpace account, back before Katy and I became an item. I decided I no longer needed it once we were dating, however, because for me, at my, ahem, advanced age, it only made sense as an introductory spot for people I might date.
Here's the well-known thing about MySpace, though, and joked about often. The pictures people post of themselves are always these introspective, looking off into the distance, "who in the world took that picture?" type of thing. Or, they might be things like this one of Zac, where the pic isn't centered on him. Does Zac have a MySpace account? No, that would be silly. He won't need to worry about dating for at least another year or two...
Fitting my lifelong goal of equating as many situations to movies, music or television as possible, I give you today Zac's Flock of Seagulls moment. Took this pic last Saturday and, though it's not completely obvious, his hair was suspiciously similar to that which we equate to the musical group whenever see this style.
Now, this hairstyle was also made popular in flashback segments of Friends where we saw Chandler and Ross in their collegiate days. Flock of Seagulls is kind of the quintessential 80s band, the one everyone recognizes and expects to hear on an 80s segment of music on any radio station. The primary song, "And I Ran" can be seen and heard here if you like. If you'd like to see the video that is responsible for the Flock of Seagulls "look", check it out below. Enjoy!
We have a bit of a debate going on in the house right now. We have seen evidence of possible chicken pox on Zac, but it's not really spreading or turning into more if indeed that is what it is. The other possibility is that he has little hives from the clothing he's worn the past 3 days, which were given to us by his babysitter and which I hadn't washed on my own. However, this seems to be an unlikely source if only because he's worn other clothes she'd given him before I washed them and had no issues at all.
Again, though, no real spreading of anything or other signs, though he has had a fever off and on for a few days. Other than this, he is in great spirits, as you can see from this picture I took yesterday. I also just uploaded a new video on the YouTube site, so that should show shortly, or you can click on the link to the right lower down that says "Family Videos on YouTube" and see all the videos uploaded there. Enjoy the weekend everyone!
We don't take pictures of the most distressing times for our children. That would only add insult to injury, and since Zac had a distressing afternoon anyway, let's post a fun hair picture. I think this particular one reminds me of the professor in the Back To The Future movies. Or, same guy, whatever character it was he played in the TV series, Taxi. Anyway, Zac's hair has been a constant source of fun and a few days ago when I took this it was no different.
So, the needle, you ask. Well, you may recall an earlier post where I lamented the fact he couldn't get his one-year-old shots even a day early from the pediatrician here. Since we don't currently have insurance for Zac or me, this left only the option of taking him to the city health clinic for his needed shots. Now, getting one shot is bad enough, but when you get four, and the needles seem to be longer than the depth of your leg, it can be a rough time.
Poor little man was already super tired as he'd been up since a little after 10 this morning and we'd waited an hour to get in for the shots around 2:15. So, innocently sitting in my lap and fairly calm, he was startled by the immediate pain of the first shot in his right leg, then one in his left, then another in his right, then another in his left. This might be only the first or second time he's had that cry kids get where it starts, then all you hear is silence while you await the big payoff. Fortunately, the very nice nurse handed him a candy cane to look at and that seemed new and exciting and served to distract him from his pain.
So, a rough afternoon for my little dude, but I'm sure he'll forget all about it by the time he wakes up from his nap. :) Claire told me this afternoon she's so happy she gets shots in her arm now because she remembers how much they hurt in her leg before. I have to admit I'm a big pansy when it comes to needles anyway, so I never look and don't have any desire to. Good thing others don't mind so they can help keep us healthy!
Zac is trying to wear the vest Gary & Nell got Claire for Christmas here and we were able to get a shot before he ran out of it. I think it's just a touch too big for him!
