The Facts of Life

So I'm walking back from the library yesterday with the girls, and out of the blue Abra asks me "Dad, how do animals mate?"

(Uhh, isn't Brenna supposed to handle this question? Well, I'll give it the old college try.)

So I explained that animals try to find a suitable partner, and then they get together and nest and have babies.

Abra: Yes, but how do they mate?

Hmm, no avoiding that question really. Straight-up question deserves a straight-up answer. Luckily Thalia is half a block ahead looking at flowers.

So I explain the biological activity: "Well, the boy animal puts his [censored] into the girl animal's [censored] and that's how they make a baby." (I didn't really say "censored", it's just that I still can't quite type those words knowing that my Mom reads this blog...)

Abra: Eww.

Long pause.

Abra: Do you do that to Mom, too?

Long pause.

Me: Uh, well, yeah, sometimes.

Long pause.

Me: Hey, let's go catch up with Thalia.

Bailout, Abra Style

So recently the girls and I were chatting about fiscal responsibility ("Dad, why can't we go to Disney World?" "Because I'm CHEAP!") and finances ("How much money do we have, Dad?" "Can't we just go the bank and get more?"), etc.

I made the comment that the girls were doing very well, that their piggy banks were stuffed with cash (which they were, at least until Abra went on a recent book-buying binge).

Anyway, when we went to bed later that night, I found this on my pillow:


If it hard to see, at the bottom there is a dollar coin taped to the page, surrounded by the words "Keep it, Keep it, Love Abra"

Yes, I'm so cheap I'm now receiving a bailout from my 7 year old daughter....

Media Update

Yesterday evening I came home from work as usual and am wandering around the house, thinking of dinner, and suddenly the phone rings. Caller ID says "WEWS" and so I hand the phone to my dear wife to answer. She answers it, and I hear "Yes. Yes. Yes he is, may I ask who's calling?"

Uh oh.

She hands me the phone and says "WEWS news for you."

Uh oh.

I'm instantly wondering if Carl Monday has been digging through my trash. (ok, yeah, i know -- different channel).

"Hello?"

So as it turns out, it's one of the very nice local anchors, wanting to talk about Hubble. As you may have heard, astronauts are in the process of upgrading the Hubble Space Telescope. This is a good thing, since its been many years since the last servicing mission, and Hubble is seriously in need of some attention.

After chatting with him for a bit, he suddenly says "Can we come interview you on camera? We can be there in 30 minutes." Uh.... okay... sure.

So I quickly get in touch with the college's ever-helpful communications director / media relations person who says a) "WHAAAT??", b) "Have you been drinking?" (well, yes), and c) "you should totally wear one of your hawaiian shirts". So I go change into a hawaiian shirt.

A few minutes later, a white van pulls up and the anchor and cameraman get out. Abra runs up, looks at the van, and say "Are we getting a new car?" No such luck, kid.

I ask them where they want to do the interview -- inside or out? They come inside, look around at the house, and quickly say "Let's do it outside." OK, yeah, good call. And so we go outside and do the interview.

These things always throw me off (particularly when I am "off duty" and at home). I feel like a babbling idiot on camera -- I'm not good at talking to newspeople on the fly. Anyway, here's the link to the video. You have to sit through a short ad, and then the story -- I'm close to the end. Evidently there wasn't much useful in my babbling, since they used a very short clip. Don't blink or you'll miss it.

Adoption, Part One

So we just got back from the courthouse downtown. Thalia's adoption is complete, and I can now drop the "step-" from my stepfather title for her. Abra is up next -- her adoption will happen later in the summer.

So what did we do to celebrate? Well, we took the girls to Bob Golic's Sports Bar and Grille, where we celebrated with lemonade and french fries. Do I know how to treat my girls, or what? Sadly, Bob was not there to celebrate with us....

Mother's Day

So I'm still not quite getting the hang of mother's day, I think. I just looked out the window and saw this:


Hmmm, something tells me I probably should have been the one doing that today....

Yet Another Reason Why I Love My Wife

I walked into the kitchen the other day and found this:


So I'm not sure which I'm more impressed by: the fact that she's saving the last few drops of the old syrup bottle into the new syrup bottle, or that she's doing this using generic ValueTime syrup.

Bestill my cheapskate heart!

Thalia

OK, so here is a random assortment of recent pictures of Kid #2.

First of all, when we get packages in the mail, it turns out the boxes are often just the right size for shipping Thalia:


Now as it turns out, Thalia had a very important day yesterday: her very first Thalia-only invitation to a birthday party for one of her friends. No big sister coming along to hog the spotlight. So Thalia got out her new dress for the party, and looked beautiful:


Then this morning I was out doing my usual Sunday morning shopping (i.e., hitting CVS and Target with the weekly flyer in hand, buying all their loss leaders). And I spotted a shirt just the right size for Thalia. So ON IMPULSE and even though IT WASN'T ON SALE, I bought it:


Later in the afternoon, after eating a big bowl of blueberries, Thalia got a severe case of blueberry face...

...although I must admit I was a bit hesitant to post this picture since it looks like something you'd see on thesmokinggun.com, and is probably sure to bring child protective services knocking at my door.

And then of course, since I was taking pictures of #2, #1 just HAD to get in on the act, and sprung into the camera's viewfinder.


But the funniest part of that picture is not Abra, but the expression on Thalia's face....