Extreme Adventure Kathy

My wife is awesome! Some people "talk" about losing weight and exercising in the new year ...other's grab fitness and a new body by its scrawny little neck and force it to drink protein shakes and join a boot camp. Ergo, Kathy ...Extreme Adventure Kathy.

When Kathy makes her mind up she's going to do something ...look out!!! It's what I love most about her and why I'm extra proud of her, right now. She ran in one of Jeff Watter's Adventure Run's this past Saturday which took her out of the house bright and early on a blistery, snowy Saturday morning and didn't find her back home until well after lunch time (that's Kathy with the pink sleeves). They ran up hills, down hills, along rivers, did push-ups, ran, ran, and ran. Wow!
I'm doing all my chores and minding my Ps and Qs so my li'l Demi Moore-slash -G.I. Jane doesn't kick my butt.

Love you, honey :)

He Writes the Song that Makes My Whole World Sing

Saturday we attended the Barry Manilow show at The Palace of Auburn Hills and I was reminded why I fell in love with the 19-year-old-Kathy those many years ago and, actually, may have fallen in love years earlier with the 15-year-old version, I just didn't know it. And though my ticket said Sec 213 and failed to indicate these seats couldn't be further away from the stage, my wife made this ticket worth more than gold and the best seat in the house.

If I had known how overwhelmingly excited and happy Kathy would be at a Manilow show, we'd have gone to see him years ago.

"Excuse me, SIR! This is the ladies room."

Ah, my wife. Just when I think she's done all the hilarious things she'll ever do, she goes into the ladies room and sees someone who doesn't appear to belong there. "Sir, sir, sir," she yells (and I can see her from the concourse)! She thought this person was a man. "Sir. This is the ladies room," she continues. The "man" turns and says, "I know." And if Kathy hadn't come running out of the ladies room laughing hysterically, she might've found herself in a very uncomfortable situation where she had to back pedal and explain why she thought this was a dude. Instead, I have a funny story to rival the 10-Year-Reunion Bathroom Staircase story and a few Key West stories.

Oh how I love my Kathy. As my Grandpa used to say ...there's only one Kathy in this whole world as we're stuck with both of them. I never really "got" this expression, but I love it and use it, often.

Robert was our usher. How do I know this? Kathy made best friends with him. He was in charge of handing out glow sticks so the audience could sway-along with their favorite Manilow tunes. Kathy decided these were fun and asked for (2) additional glow sticks for our kids. "Three kids," she told Robert. He didn't believe it and said something like, "no way do I believe YOU have three kids." Many women might've taken this as a charming compliment, but my Kathy charged back to our seats on a mission to produce photos and make him eat his words. And she did. But not before the Grandmas seated behind us asked if they could also have glow sticks. Kathy obliged, showed Robert the photos, and returned with an armful of sticks. A nice young couple next to us asked where we got the glow sticks. Kathy handed them our two and then shouted, "Robert! We need more glow sticks." So, thanks to Kathy, our entire section had glow sticks and we were ready for "Mandy", darn it.

We had a great time dancing and singing along with the Grandmas and with Robert. My date for the evening even shed a few tears during "A Weekend in New England". As the story goes, when Kathy was a little girl, she used to sit at night and sing this song out her window and into the night sky. For me, I can't imagine a cuter, nicer story. I'm pretty sure Kathy regrets sharing this story with me while we were dating, because I've told it many times (much to her embarrassment). I'm not sure I even knew the song ...but I knew it when I heard it Saturday because Kathy screamed and sang along as if she were right back on Bridle Creek. I kinda a felt a little like I, too, was back on Bridle Creek, trying to impress Kathy, make her laugh, and make her fall in love with me all over, again.

As for the show, it was rather eventful. We laughed at the opening band. Kathy took forever to order a drink at the Palace bar acting as if she'd never seen a drink menu before in her life. And Barry Manilow barely made it in from Cleveland due to his flight being canceled. He came jogging out onto the stage about 5 minutes before he should've gone on and told us all to go get a drink and he'd be out in no time. He had just spent six hours in a car driving like heck to get to Auburn Hills and needed a minute. It was quite comical. His show, then, felt very casual and friendly and it was truly amazing how he made a 15,000 person audience an intimate setting. It's like he's been doing this for a while.

The show was late, the snow was blowing and the night air was frigid and cold ...but ...the show was hot, my date hotter, and the entire evening warmed my heart and rekindled my love.

I know ...sorry. I promise my next post will be more on the "cute" side and less "mushy."

It's the Holiday Season...

I'll only tease you with a brief glimpse of the amazing photo session we had for our Christmas cards and annual family photo.

Jimmy inches ever closer to being fully potty-trained. This morning he hopped up on the big-potty all by himself and had himself a little morning constitution. He got the blimp from Cars.

There should be more, right?

Our vacation plans are set. Round-trip, non-stop tickets to Vegas for less than $170 per ticket ! ! ! Insane. Kathy and the kids will travel for two weeks and I'll join them for the second week. 4 months away, and yet, I'm already excited.

Coming soon ...my family's Christmas Card letter ...blog-style.

Walking, Skipping, and Strutting

It's official: Ada's walking. Took her15 months, but she's there. She can also retrieve things, pretend she's sleeping on command, and enjoy the nuances of a rousing game of bubble-gum-bubble-gum in-a-dish. You may also know this game as catch-a-tiger-by-the-toe or as eeny-meeny-miny-mo. Point is ...she loves it.

Sadly, and I'm only writing this because they can't read, some boys in Marylin's class are claiming Santa as phony. First, I want to go yell at these kids myself. But, second, our Marylin has become a star defense attorney on behalf of Santa.

"I told them they are wrong! I mean, who brings presents? We leave him cookies and carrots for Rudolph, and in the morning, they're gone," she argues. "They'll see," she continues.

We've tried not to dwell on the topic, but she keeps bringing it up. I can only tell her that the notion of "no Santa" is ridiculous. Simply ridiculous.

4 1/2 year olds should believe! Luckily she does. This happened Monday and that evening Kathy and Marylin went to Somerset Collection (no ...not a "mall" ...puh!) and when Marylin saw Santa she yelled, "I love you Santa! I believe in you. I know you're real."

My wife just smiled ...I would have bawled. Apparently our Marylin is Shirley Temple.

Lastly ...who says a father
can't have fun playing Barbies
with his daughter? I've
refrained from making Ken
talk like Huggy Bear, but I
have made him strut.

Boo! (A Halloween Entry), Pt 1

Aunt Denise made a good point whilst eating dinner last night. When did Halloween become a "season?" She firmly believes that Halloween used to be a week ...tops. And I concur. In fact, I remember it as a single night. One night of candy, dress-up, a costume parade at school, and maybe a week-long pumpkin contest or something.

But not in today's world.

The Halloween season started about a month ago when Kathy entered us in Plum Market's scarecrow competition. The winning prize was a trip to Disneyworld. Having never built a scarecrow before (I know, can you believe it?), I think we did all-right. We chose a Hawaiian theme in memory of Mom/Grandma as this month marks 3 years since she passed away. We still miss her like crazy. Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote. We came awfully close. But in the end, some brat from Derby Middle School won ...check out her winning entry!!! Are you kidding!?!?!?! That's not even a scarecrow!!! It's a stack of junk leaning up against a stick. OK ...but since my kids might read this some day ...I'm a good sport. Congrats, bratty girl.

Next up in the Halloween season, a fun gathering of old friends at frat brother Paul Schmid's house. The man bought some land in the country, had a couple of kids, and has been keeping himself busy building his entire house himself. He and wife Karen invited us all out for the Spartan game, cookie decorating, a hayride to the pumpkin patch, fun, and laughter. Yes. We basically spent a Saturday in a Norman Rockwell painting. I kinda hope this becomes a tradition. My kids had a blast, as did we.

Moving on ...Zoo Boo. The Detroit Zoo has a nice event through the zoo with candy stations and cool pumpkin displays. Grandpa Mustache joined the Dave & Don Kowalewski families and we got in, got out, and got candy all before the rain really started coming down.

And lastly ...actual Halloween and trick 'r treating. If you can't tell from the pictures, Marylin designed her own costume. She likes butterflies. She likes princesses. So, what better than a Butterfly Princess? I told her to tell people she was from Ice Cream Land and that her house was made of marshmallows - I mean, as long as you're combining all the things you like, right? Why not? She didn't appreciate my patronizing her. But she told people and it made her smile even bigger and brighter, so I smiled bigger and brighter. Jimmy was Lightning McQueen's Pit Crew Guy while Ada went with the standard Pumpkin Elf get-up.

Once again, Uncle/Granpa Jerry and Aunt/Grandma 'Nise came over to have a spooky dinner and help with Ada while we took the older two around the neighborhood. Did this year's Pumpkin Hamburger Pie out-do last year's Brain Peppers? Hard to say. I'm going to call it a tie. Kathy and Aunt/Grandma 'Nise have set the bar quite high for future Halloween dinners.

All the pictures from the entire Halloween "season" can be seen here.

Have a scary one!

Three to the One

Hard to believe, but Jimmy is three and Ada is one. Don't believe me? Here's pictures to prove it.

We got lucky and both cooperated for many pictures and even a wardrobe and set change or two. If you'd like to see all 146 pictures (and who wouldn't?), you can find them here.

Jimmy is three. He is finally potty trained. He knows all his numbers. Most of his letters. He's ok on his tricycle. He's even stopped getting up at night and Jimmy is also starting to sleep in until 7:30 or later - much better than the 6:45 wake-up calls we got a few months ago. Jimmy loves Cars. We used the die-cast toys as incentive for him to learn to use the potty, so he has just about the whole set. Just in time for Disney to release a dozen or so more characters for Christmas. He loves playing with Marylin and really looks up to her. His best-buddy is his Snoopy doll.

Ada is one. She's really starting to make her voice heard. Ada's got about 7 or 8 words in her arsenal. Remember how I may have mentioned that she never cries? Well, it took her a while, but she's figuring out that crying has power. However, its still really not too much and too bad for her she's the 3rd child, so we're pretty much desensitized to crying. She stands. She stands and dances -dance to the beat, I might add. But still not walking (13 months at the time of this posting). Lack of walking doesn't mean she's not mobile. Oh, quite the contrary. Ada climbs stairs, up on couches, and uses furniture, strollers, and push toys to make her way around rooms. She puts fewer things in her mouth these days ...for a while there, EVERYTHING went right into her mouth. The other two never really did that. She laughs alot and she's famous for her scrunchy, smiley face.

Time is really flying by. Blog atcha soon.

Fall into Fall and Fall on Fall all Fall

It's Fall. And that means birthdays, leaves, pumpkin patches, and Halloween!!!

While I was away in Columbus watching MSU take on #1 ranked Ohio State University, my neglected family was getting together with cousins and pickin' and paintin' some pumpkins. All the photos are here.

We also celebrated Ada's birthday with the cousins ...and we all know it ain't official until you sing Happy Birthday with grandmas, grandpas, and cousins. Aunt Dana, as always, came through with a cake that was ...well ...#1. Don't believe me? Just watch Jimmy. He was unable to resist an early taste of frosting.

And finally ...leaves. Having lost my own trees, I've resorted to raking the neighbor's lawns so my kids aren't denied the autumn tradition of jumping in giant piles of leaves. Somehow, giant piles of grass just ain't as fun to jump into.

See all the leaf jumping fun at my flickr pages.