There are weekends filled with video games, pajamas, and comfort food. This was not one of those weekends.
On Saturday morning we packed the boys up in the minivan and took a shopping trip to buy new shoes and a few other assorted clothing items. We got back to the house just after lunchtime, and just in time for Dean (Dina's dad) and Karen to show up. Dean was there to help out with some house projects, so over the course of the afternoon we pressure-washed the deck (that was the big project), leveled off some gopher mounds, moved and staked the big wooden swingset, and figured out why our bathroom exhaust fan wasn't working. Washing the deck was fun, though being wet and in the wind was a bit chilly later in the day. The wood is a totally different color now; it's quite amazing. This week we plan to stain the deck; it should end up looking really nice. Staking the swingset down was fun, too. We had stakes that were 2x4's cut into a point on one side, and I pounded them into the ground with a sledgehammer, then screwed the swingset to the stakes. My swinging hand was weak at the end of the day, and there's still a little residual soreness today. Maybe I should take up shovelglove to get in shape...
Sunday started out slow with coffee and breakfast. (Aside: we recently bought a Keurig coffee machine, and I like it. It's coffee on demand.) It was rainy, so we couldn't do much outside. Instead, we started getting ready for our Big House Reorganization Project. We're going to move Caden and Rohan, who are currently sleeping in our room, into their own beds in what is right now Griffin's room. Since all three boys will be sleeping in that room, there won't be room to play in there, so we're reorganizing our downstairs family room to make better use of its space as a play room.
Anyway, we moved most of the big play furniture and toys out of Griffin's room into the garage, and moved all of the toys/furniture/junk we'd accumulated in the family room into the garage as well. (Note that in this operation, my wife is the brains and I'm the brawn. She's a very good organizer; me, not so much. She mauls me in competitive Tetris.) Then we (meaning Dina) figured out how the room should be arranged, and we started moving stuff back down. We've got the play room most of the way there now...part of it is a little den area with a futon, easy chair, and TV, and the rest is toys and games. We were up pretty late. More work to come this week!
This morning I was able to carry the productivity forward. I installed a safety gate at the top of our deck stairs so Dina will be able to let the little ones play out there. I really should have worn gloves, though...it was way too wet and cold to be dealing with a metal gate. My hands were not happy.
This week we'll be continuing the BHRP, and getting the house ready for people to come over on Saturday. Should be fun!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Innovation
Apparently our bath toys just aren't cool enough. Rohan decided he needed something new during his bath tonight. Unfortunately, the nearest thing he could reach outside the tub was a full roll of toilet paper.
Granted, it was pretty cool to see the whole thing swelled up - I'll give him that. And I can't fault him for wanting to try something new. But cleanup was a pain. :-)
Granted, it was pretty cool to see the whole thing swelled up - I'll give him that. And I can't fault him for wanting to try something new. But cleanup was a pain. :-)
Monday, April 20, 2009
New update
Been kinda busy the last few weeks, so I haven't had much time for blogging, but I'll try to catch you up now.
The weekend before last was a lot of fun. On Thursday night, we had a birthday party at our house for Keefe, Gretchen's younger boy. That whole side of the family was over: Gretchen and Vidi, with Devin and Keefe; Guy and Dara, with Lizzie; and of course Dina and I with our boys. Griffin was in heaven playing with all his cousins. A very wild and excited heaven. Lizzie and Keefe spent the next two nights at our house, which was a lot of fun. On Friday I worked, but then on Saturday we all went to an Easter egg hunt at Fish Lake Park in Maple Grove. We had lunch with Grandma Cathy and Todd at a nearby Fuddrucker's (at which Todd ate the largest burger I've ever seen in person...the "one pounder" that essentially had a round loaf of bread sliced in two for a bun). The next day we went over to Dara's parents for Easter dinner. It's a little odd being invited to your wife's brother's wife's parents' place for a family meal, but we know them fairly well, and they're good people. We had lots of fun enjoying the fantastic weather and playing outside with all the kids.
On Monday we got our taxes finalized and got a nice big return. We decided to stimulate the economy a bit. More on that later.
This last weekend Dina was involved in a convention for her Mothers of Multiples group. She was attending the convention as a M.o.M., but was also putting on a scrapbooking breakout session. She had 32 people show up - pretty good! Her convention ran from Friday until Sunday, so I had the boys for the weekend again. Friday during the day I had the boys to myself, but that night my mom (Grandma Lynn) came up to help out. It's always fun to have her around; she gets along so well with all the boys. On Saturday we decided to go around shopping for a new TV with our tax return money. I didn't necessarily plan on buying that day, but wanted to start looking at screens. I ended up finding a great open box deal at Best Buy for this:
It's a 47" LCD tv from LG. It's got the features I was interested in (LCD, size, 1080p, 120Hz refresh rate, all the i/o ports I need) and it was a great price. And it looks great! We've already had a ton of fun playing games, watching movies, and watching HD TV channels.
After bringing the TV home we drove over to Elk River to my uncle Gary's house. We try to get over there each year around when he makes maple syrup. He had already collected the sap but wasn't boiling it yet since it was so dry out there; he didn't want to start a brush fire. So we just hung out, let the kids run around in the yard, and relaxed. It was a lot of fun. Plus I traded some of my homemade beer for some of his homemade maple syrup. Bartering for the win!
The next day Dina came back home, and the kids were very happy to see Mama. We had a relaxing evening around the house, which was great.
Today I overslept by an hour and a half, and missed my bus downtown. I drove to work, and found out that my company is trying to buy Sun Microsystems - whoa! More to come on that later. For now I need to get back to work. Farewell!
The weekend before last was a lot of fun. On Thursday night, we had a birthday party at our house for Keefe, Gretchen's younger boy. That whole side of the family was over: Gretchen and Vidi, with Devin and Keefe; Guy and Dara, with Lizzie; and of course Dina and I with our boys. Griffin was in heaven playing with all his cousins. A very wild and excited heaven. Lizzie and Keefe spent the next two nights at our house, which was a lot of fun. On Friday I worked, but then on Saturday we all went to an Easter egg hunt at Fish Lake Park in Maple Grove. We had lunch with Grandma Cathy and Todd at a nearby Fuddrucker's (at which Todd ate the largest burger I've ever seen in person...the "one pounder" that essentially had a round loaf of bread sliced in two for a bun). The next day we went over to Dara's parents for Easter dinner. It's a little odd being invited to your wife's brother's wife's parents' place for a family meal, but we know them fairly well, and they're good people. We had lots of fun enjoying the fantastic weather and playing outside with all the kids.
On Monday we got our taxes finalized and got a nice big return. We decided to stimulate the economy a bit. More on that later.
This last weekend Dina was involved in a convention for her Mothers of Multiples group. She was attending the convention as a M.o.M., but was also putting on a scrapbooking breakout session. She had 32 people show up - pretty good! Her convention ran from Friday until Sunday, so I had the boys for the weekend again. Friday during the day I had the boys to myself, but that night my mom (Grandma Lynn) came up to help out. It's always fun to have her around; she gets along so well with all the boys. On Saturday we decided to go around shopping for a new TV with our tax return money. I didn't necessarily plan on buying that day, but wanted to start looking at screens. I ended up finding a great open box deal at Best Buy for this:
It's a 47" LCD tv from LG. It's got the features I was interested in (LCD, size, 1080p, 120Hz refresh rate, all the i/o ports I need) and it was a great price. And it looks great! We've already had a ton of fun playing games, watching movies, and watching HD TV channels.
After bringing the TV home we drove over to Elk River to my uncle Gary's house. We try to get over there each year around when he makes maple syrup. He had already collected the sap but wasn't boiling it yet since it was so dry out there; he didn't want to start a brush fire. So we just hung out, let the kids run around in the yard, and relaxed. It was a lot of fun. Plus I traded some of my homemade beer for some of his homemade maple syrup. Bartering for the win!
The next day Dina came back home, and the kids were very happy to see Mama. We had a relaxing evening around the house, which was great.
Today I overslept by an hour and a half, and missed my bus downtown. I drove to work, and found out that my company is trying to buy Sun Microsystems - whoa! More to come on that later. For now I need to get back to work. Farewell!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Great weekend with the boys
This weekend was a lot of work, but ended up with an early birthday present and a lot of fun.
On Friday I got out of work early to go to an physical therapy appointment for my wrist tendinitis. It was a pretty standard appointment, but they added Light Therapy for pain relief. They basically shine a very expensive flashlight on my wrists for a while. It seems a little voodoo-ish to me, but it did actually seem to help with the pain. Anyway, after that I met up with Dina at the church where her Mothers of Multiples group was setting up for their Spring kids' sale. Dina was working the setup, so I took the kids home and took care of the night routine.
Dina had to work at the sale on Saturday morning, and the kids got us up bright and early, so it was a full day. Since I was up early and had a little time, I grabbed this video of Griffin off our camera and put it online. He's singing his "tractor song" from his trip to the zoo the previous day. The kid is ready for metal:
Dina stopped at home after the sale and finished packing for her well-deserved night away with girlfriends in St. Cloud. She took off and the boys and I did a lot of playing the rest of the day. One of our favorite things is to get a bunch of musical instruments out and just make a lot of noise. I love it! I usually play my didge, and we all have a good time.
The night was a bit long, because when Caden or Rohan wake up at night they expect their mama to be there with them, but we got through it with a fair number of hours slept, so I was happy.
On Sunday I spent a lot of time catching up on cleaning and other domestic-y stuff since I basically just messed around all of Saturday. When Dina was on her way home she told me that she was bringing an early birthday present home. She picked up Guitar Hero: Metallica for the Wii, and also picked up the drum kit for Guitar Hero: World Tour. We didn't buy the full kit with drums when we bought the game around Christmastime, so it's cool to have the drums now. Awesome birthday present! Dina also picked up Endless Ocean and Mario Party to take advantage of a "buy two get one free" deal at Target.
I waited to play GH: Metallica until the kids were sleeping. Man, that game is fun! It was a lot like playing bass along to tapes (here, for you kiddies who don't know what tapes are) when I was a kid. More game-y, of course, but the feeling is similar. The available song list is pretty good; there's a good selection of non-Metallica songs in addition to tons of Metallica stuff. I did pretty well playing bass on Hard mode, and guitar on Medium mode. Then I decided I needed some more tendinitis, and cranked up the difficulty for guitar on All Nightmare Long. I was defeated. Here's why (this isn't me, but shows how crazy the song is):
On Friday I got out of work early to go to an physical therapy appointment for my wrist tendinitis. It was a pretty standard appointment, but they added Light Therapy for pain relief. They basically shine a very expensive flashlight on my wrists for a while. It seems a little voodoo-ish to me, but it did actually seem to help with the pain. Anyway, after that I met up with Dina at the church where her Mothers of Multiples group was setting up for their Spring kids' sale. Dina was working the setup, so I took the kids home and took care of the night routine.
Dina had to work at the sale on Saturday morning, and the kids got us up bright and early, so it was a full day. Since I was up early and had a little time, I grabbed this video of Griffin off our camera and put it online. He's singing his "tractor song" from his trip to the zoo the previous day. The kid is ready for metal:
Dina stopped at home after the sale and finished packing for her well-deserved night away with girlfriends in St. Cloud. She took off and the boys and I did a lot of playing the rest of the day. One of our favorite things is to get a bunch of musical instruments out and just make a lot of noise. I love it! I usually play my didge, and we all have a good time.
The night was a bit long, because when Caden or Rohan wake up at night they expect their mama to be there with them, but we got through it with a fair number of hours slept, so I was happy.
On Sunday I spent a lot of time catching up on cleaning and other domestic-y stuff since I basically just messed around all of Saturday. When Dina was on her way home she told me that she was bringing an early birthday present home. She picked up Guitar Hero: Metallica for the Wii, and also picked up the drum kit for Guitar Hero: World Tour. We didn't buy the full kit with drums when we bought the game around Christmastime, so it's cool to have the drums now. Awesome birthday present! Dina also picked up Endless Ocean and Mario Party to take advantage of a "buy two get one free" deal at Target.
I waited to play GH: Metallica until the kids were sleeping. Man, that game is fun! It was a lot like playing bass along to tapes (here, for you kiddies who don't know what tapes are) when I was a kid. More game-y, of course, but the feeling is similar. The available song list is pretty good; there's a good selection of non-Metallica songs in addition to tons of Metallica stuff. I did pretty well playing bass on Hard mode, and guitar on Medium mode. Then I decided I needed some more tendinitis, and cranked up the difficulty for guitar on All Nightmare Long. I was defeated. Here's why (this isn't me, but shows how crazy the song is):
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Monday already? I'd better blog.
Another weekend, another blog post. I should change the title of this blog to "This Is What Corey Nash Did Last Weekend." Something is better than nothing, though, so here goes.
Friday I left work a little early and picked up a pair of prescription sunglasses at the local eye doctor's. I haven't had sunglasses that I could see clearly through since...ever. It's pretty sweet. I kept wearing them even when I didn't need them, because it's so nice to finally have them...in the house...at night...while sleeping (kidding, but I wore them a lot). After picking up my sunglasses-of-wicked-awesomeness, the family and I got in the minivan and drove out near St. Cloud to pick up a Creative Memories shipment for Dina. We then drove over to Duelm, MN, for a benefit dinner for my cousin's husband, who has been having some pretty serious medical problems. It was a GREAT turnout, and it was good to see a lot of family that we haven't seen in a while. It was fun to let Griffin run around, Rohan toddle around, and Caden get passed around. We stayed until late evening, then headed home.
On Saturday Dina had a display table at a local trade show during the day, so I was at home with the kids. In the morning we had a lot of fun playing, and after lunch we went to visit Dina for a little while. After we got home the kids took turns sleeping, and I did some cleaning and managed to watch the Battlestar Galactica series finale. Wow...from epic space battle scenes, to character story fulfillment, to head-scratching mysteries, the finale had something for everyone. It wasn't perfect, but it was very, very good (though I can see how it could be frustrating for those looking for the answers to every loose thread). That night we all went to bed very early and got lots of sleep, which was great, because we all needed it.
Sunday was a busy day. We got up and I made waffles for breakfast, then we starting cleaning the house and doing laundry. After lunch when one of the twins was taking a nap, I bottled my batch of Liberty Cream Ale. I ended up bottling outdoors since it was so nice, and man, that was really a treat. Bottling takes some time, so I basically got to sit out in the sun for a good long while. It was a bit windy, but it felt good to soak in the sun. Griffin was outside playing all over the yard, and he kept running up to the table I was using to try to help me. "I'll help you stir! Can I soak a bottle? Can I put the cap on? Can I give you the caps?" It was pretty cute.
Later Dina and I started getting the deck ready to be a play area for the kids. We have a water toy that's basically a waterslide for toys, and a plastic toddler's swingset that we put up on the deck. We're going to install netting around the railing and a solid gate to block off the stairs, then Dina will be able to hang out with the toddlers on the deck while Griffin plays in the yard.
After that I took care of Caden and Rohan in the house while Dina and Griffin planted a bunch of flower and vegetable seeds in little starter pots. That'll be a fun project for the two of them to share through the spring and summer. It's always good to give Griffin some one-on-one time with Mama since he has to share so much of his life with his brothers.
After the kids were in bed Dina and I stayed up late wrapping up a bunch of household stuff we wanted to get done before the weekend was done. I was tired this morning, but it felt good to get a lot done over the weekend.
Is someone still reading this? Amazing...it can get pretty boring. Normally my "weekend journal" posts are kind of a letdown by the end. Well, time for that to change! My posts will end with pizzazz from now on, this I swear to you! So, for this post, I end with...fireworks!
Yeah, still kinda boring. But you're still reading. ;-)
Friday I left work a little early and picked up a pair of prescription sunglasses at the local eye doctor's. I haven't had sunglasses that I could see clearly through since...ever. It's pretty sweet. I kept wearing them even when I didn't need them, because it's so nice to finally have them...in the house...at night...while sleeping (kidding, but I wore them a lot). After picking up my sunglasses-of-wicked-awesomeness, the family and I got in the minivan and drove out near St. Cloud to pick up a Creative Memories shipment for Dina. We then drove over to Duelm, MN, for a benefit dinner for my cousin's husband, who has been having some pretty serious medical problems. It was a GREAT turnout, and it was good to see a lot of family that we haven't seen in a while. It was fun to let Griffin run around, Rohan toddle around, and Caden get passed around. We stayed until late evening, then headed home.
On Saturday Dina had a display table at a local trade show during the day, so I was at home with the kids. In the morning we had a lot of fun playing, and after lunch we went to visit Dina for a little while. After we got home the kids took turns sleeping, and I did some cleaning and managed to watch the Battlestar Galactica series finale. Wow...from epic space battle scenes, to character story fulfillment, to head-scratching mysteries, the finale had something for everyone. It wasn't perfect, but it was very, very good (though I can see how it could be frustrating for those looking for the answers to every loose thread). That night we all went to bed very early and got lots of sleep, which was great, because we all needed it.
Sunday was a busy day. We got up and I made waffles for breakfast, then we starting cleaning the house and doing laundry. After lunch when one of the twins was taking a nap, I bottled my batch of Liberty Cream Ale. I ended up bottling outdoors since it was so nice, and man, that was really a treat. Bottling takes some time, so I basically got to sit out in the sun for a good long while. It was a bit windy, but it felt good to soak in the sun. Griffin was outside playing all over the yard, and he kept running up to the table I was using to try to help me. "I'll help you stir! Can I soak a bottle? Can I put the cap on? Can I give you the caps?" It was pretty cute.
Later Dina and I started getting the deck ready to be a play area for the kids. We have a water toy that's basically a waterslide for toys, and a plastic toddler's swingset that we put up on the deck. We're going to install netting around the railing and a solid gate to block off the stairs, then Dina will be able to hang out with the toddlers on the deck while Griffin plays in the yard.
After that I took care of Caden and Rohan in the house while Dina and Griffin planted a bunch of flower and vegetable seeds in little starter pots. That'll be a fun project for the two of them to share through the spring and summer. It's always good to give Griffin some one-on-one time with Mama since he has to share so much of his life with his brothers.
After the kids were in bed Dina and I stayed up late wrapping up a bunch of household stuff we wanted to get done before the weekend was done. I was tired this morning, but it felt good to get a lot done over the weekend.
Is someone still reading this? Amazing...it can get pretty boring. Normally my "weekend journal" posts are kind of a letdown by the end. Well, time for that to change! My posts will end with pizzazz from now on, this I swear to you! So, for this post, I end with...fireworks!
Yeah, still kinda boring. But you're still reading. ;-)
Monday, March 16, 2009
Weekend update: Kobolds edition
What an awesome weekend! Friday night Dina had the first part of a scrapbooking retreat she was hosting at our house, so I took the boys outside for a walk/trike ride as the weather was getting so nice, and then got to hang out with them downstairs. Caden and Rohan are more fun every day as they move from babyhood to toddlerhood and start to develop their personalities.
Saturday during the day was the second part of Dina's retreat, so I got to hang out with the boys all day. We went and played at Ridgedale (they've got a pretty fun kids' playground area), had lunch there and did some driving around after we were done. We tried to find a park for Griffin to play in since it was so nice, but it was far too wet everywhere.
Saturday night was the St. Patrick's Day party at Ryan's place, with A Flock of Kobolds providing musical entertainment. The Kobolds are a few friends (Ben, Ryan, Lundo, Travis, and myself) that play traditional Irish music, sea chanteys, and pirate songs. It's brilliant. I play Irish tin whistles (and occasionally the didgeridoo), but that night was the first time I'd actually played with the rest of the guys, having previously been practicing to their prior recordings. It was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to hear and see some of the recordings. The only bummer was that my wife had to leave early in the second set due to babysitter drama (so she missed all the dirty songs). Funny enough, though, when she left, the CD that in the car was the Kobolds rehearsal CD I'd made, so she said she felt like she was listening to the show on the radio.
I plan to post pics and/or videos if I can get my hands on 'em.
Sunday was a day to catch up on things around the house. It was low key and a perfect after-party day. And FREAKING GORGEOUS outside, which really lifted my soul.
Aaaaaaaand now it's back to work.
Saturday during the day was the second part of Dina's retreat, so I got to hang out with the boys all day. We went and played at Ridgedale (they've got a pretty fun kids' playground area), had lunch there and did some driving around after we were done. We tried to find a park for Griffin to play in since it was so nice, but it was far too wet everywhere.
Saturday night was the St. Patrick's Day party at Ryan's place, with A Flock of Kobolds providing musical entertainment. The Kobolds are a few friends (Ben, Ryan, Lundo, Travis, and myself) that play traditional Irish music, sea chanteys, and pirate songs. It's brilliant. I play Irish tin whistles (and occasionally the didgeridoo), but that night was the first time I'd actually played with the rest of the guys, having previously been practicing to their prior recordings. It was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to hear and see some of the recordings. The only bummer was that my wife had to leave early in the second set due to babysitter drama (so she missed all the dirty songs). Funny enough, though, when she left, the CD that in the car was the Kobolds rehearsal CD I'd made, so she said she felt like she was listening to the show on the radio.
I plan to post pics and/or videos if I can get my hands on 'em.
Sunday was a day to catch up on things around the house. It was low key and a perfect after-party day. And FREAKING GORGEOUS outside, which really lifted my soul.
Aaaaaaaand now it's back to work.
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