26 posts from January 2008

Vintage McIlvaine

My maternal grandparents, Frank and Gladys McIlvaine.

Today on the way to Super Target, the kids overheard me asking Jason if I should pick up something for Valentine's Day.  I was trying to be discrete, but they always pick up on these things.  They didn't know exactly what I was talking about, but they knew I'd be getting them something...for some reason.  So they asked "Will it be chocolate???"  I said I didn't know, then I asked "Do you love Mommy or chocolate more?" Both Aidan and Alanna answered that they love Mommy AND chocolate.  "Good answer!" I replied.  Alanna said "But we certainly love chocolate!"  Then I asked Emory, who was feeling very grumpy.  She tersely said "no."

This is just something I don't want to forget! 

Emory loves the Disney/Pixar movie Cars.  Aidan and Alanna never would've seen this movie by her age, but being around them, she's been exposed to more...sooner...what can you do!?  She wants a Lightning McQueen (aka "white queen") birthday cake, like Aidan and Alanna's.  I've tried on numerous occasions to see if there is something else she might want, but no matter what I offer she says "No I want 'white queen' cake!"  One of the things he says in the movie is "Kachow!"  I love to tease her and say "Lightning McQueen says 'Ka-chigga, Ka-chigga!'", and she always exclaims "No, 'white queen' say 'Kachow!'"  or "Chick say 'Ka-Chigga!'"  Now, when something makes Emory happy, she always says "Kachow!"  For example, today we went out for lunch with Jason after touring a few preschools.  She did NOT want to sit in her high chair anymore.  I asked her if she wanted to sit in the booth with Aidan, and she replied "Yeah! Kachow!"

It always makes me laugh when she does this.  Sometimes she adds a little hop in for added enthusiasm.  I found a pair of (boy's) pajamas on Disney's website with KACHOW! across the chest and a picture of Lightning McQueen...she just might get them for her birthday.  :)

Snow Fun copy

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This is daddy's first entry in the blog....

After earning a bunch of stars for good behavior, Aidan, Alanna, and Emory had finally gotten enough to have a special night out with "just daddy." So Daddy came home early from work and all the kids piled in the car for a special night at Wendy's for dinner. They reminded mommy several times that she was not allowed to come with us....and Megan took it in stride. So off we went for a gourmet meal...

The kids did great and enjoyed more french fries and chicken nuggets than any human being should possibly be allowed to consume. Twice, daddy had to go back into line to get more food. Every time daddy was waiting in line...Emory, Aidan, and Alanna would yell out across the restaurant....."WE LOVE YOU DADDY! WE LOVE YOU DADDY." Emory even informed the restaurant that I was the "BEST DADDY IN THE WIDE, WIDE, WIDE WORLD!". Ordinarily I might have been embarrassed....but, then again, I don't embarrass that easily. Besides, it is a pretty good ego boost to have three people love you so unconditionally....and proclaim it to the world (or at least the patrons at Wendys). The people there couldn't stop laughing.

There was a grandmother there with her grandchild eating dinner as well. Her grandchild was about 9 or 10 years old. When they got up and left, the grandmother came over to our table and said, "I have never....in my life.....seen three more well-behaved children." This came after she had said, "you are one brave man" when we first walked into the restaurant.

All-in-all, it was a great night out with daddy. No offense to my wife.....but probably the best date daddy has had in a long time!

This is Emory's newest expression of choice...

DSCN0746

Cute, huh?

As I was cleaning up after dinner tonight, I heard a snippet of a conversation in the play room between Jason and Alanna.  They were "discussing" the concept of gravity.  How this conversation started, I do not know.  I heard Jason say something about "it's a force that makes you stay on the ground"  and "it makes things fall."  A minute or so passed, and then Alanna came to me to ask me what "gravity" is; I promptly punted this back to Jason.  I choose my topics of discussion, especially at the end of the day, carefully.  This would lead to a multitude of questions I wasn't up to tackling.  So she went back to Jason to try to decipher what this mysterious "gravity" thing is.  I don't really know what they talked about, but she happened to drop her Hello Kitty phone.  Then she looked at Jason and said "I don't like it when gravity makes my phone fall." 

She also announced at the end of dinner that she had a "bum cold."

We have yet to figure out what that means.  Any ideas?

As we were cleaning up the toys strewn about the playroom...the kitchen...and the family room,Aidan came across a stray goldfish cracker.  He ran to me and asked, "Can I eat it?!"  Of course, knowing it had been on the floor for at least an hour since we had a snack, I said "no" and asked him to throw it away.  So he rephrased the question...must've thought I just didn't understand the first time.  No luck.  So he asked one more time, again rephrasing... just to be sure I'm not totally dense, I suppose.  Still...no luck.  So he handed it to Emory,

....who ate it.