Our Christmas

OK. It's been almost a month since I've updated this blog. I figure I should post SOMETHING. We're all in full out Christmas panic mode at the Stevens' household. The girls have been hyped up since about the day after Thanksgiving. And now we're at DEFCON 5 (or is it DEFCON 1. I don't know which is the most imminent). They can't seem to calm down. It probably doesn't help that they have been shoving sugar down their throats for the past few weeks what with all the Christmas parties they've been attending (at school and friends houses, etc). And today we made and decorated sugar cookies - with icing, sprinkles and M&Ms. If anyone who happens to read this comes by our house on Christmas I advise you to NOT eat the cookies. Most are covered with a fine layer of saliva from the kids constant hand licking and smoothing out the frosting with their fingers. Yummy!

Here are a few pictures from our cookie-making day. And also there is video of the girls singing their version Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer - or as I like to call it - Rudolph the Tone Def Reindeer. American Idol is not in their future.

Our Thanksgiving

A few days ago Patty came home from school with a turkey she made by stuffing a brown paper bag with tissue paper. Glued to it were its feathers and head. She showed it to me and seemed a little disappointed with her work. “What’s wrong?,” I asked her.

“Well,” she said. “I think it looks more like a peacock than a turkey.”

“I think it looks like a GREAT turkey,” I said.

“It doesn’t even have a snood,” she said. “Turkeys are supposed to have a snood.”

“What is a snood?”

“A snood is that little red thing that hangs from a turkey’s beak,” she said. “I learned about it in school. You didn’t know that? I thought you knew everything!”

Patty’s life lesson #1 – daddy don’t know squat…

Anywhoo… I hope everyone who reads this has a happy and safe Thanksgiving. We are headed to NOVA to have brunch/dinner with my family, and to participate in our annual Stevens family Thanksgiving Day football game. It’s a lot of fun and usually ends with someone running home hurt and in tears (usually me).

Our 15 Minutes

I have a theory that, thanks to the recent reality-TV explosion, each and every person in the world will have a chance to star in their own television show at some point in their lives. This may be our first and only shot.

A few months ago Kristin, I and the kids were approached by Virginia Commonwealth University to be participants in a VCU-produced TV program called "Secrets of the Sequence." It's a classroom teaching video series that focuses on a number of medical topics. They were interested in our family (who wouldn’t be!) because of the all the various medical conditions we suffer from (my eyes, Patty's eyes, Amanda's eyes, everybody's eyes...etc). A video crew spent a day with us, following the kids to a doctor's appointment, visiting our house, interviewing Kristin and I and shooting footage of the kids playing and us playing with the kids.

The title of the video we participated in is called All in the Family: Genetics and Family Health History and focuses on heredity and how our genes (not jeans - you Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants fans) pass inherited traits from one generation to the next (i.e. - eyes) and the importance of keeping a good family medical history.

The video is about 10 minutes long and is very informative. If you’ve got some time, I suggest you take a look. You might learn something ;-)

Fall Back

Ahhhh Fall...

This is what I have to look forward to for the next month or so. Raking leaves.

It's a lot of fun...well not really...It's a lot of back breaking work. Most folks in my neighborhood use bagger attachments for their mowers, leaf blowers or hire landscaping companies to do the work for them. Me. I use the old fashioned method. A rake.

It's good exercise, but I hate exercise...

One year I had the bright idea to use my riding mower to mulch the leaves. It didn't work out like I planed. The heat from my mower blades ended up making the leaves catch fire. My mower overheated and the drive belt broke. I was not a happy camper.

This year I'll stick with the rake. Wish me luck :)

12 Weeks

Kristin went to the doctor today (I think she actually saw nurse practitioner, or maybe it was a midwife) and everything is going well with the pregnancy. She’s just over 12 weeks along and we heard the baby’s heartbeat for the first time. It was a little scary at first because the doc/nurse/midwife couldn’t find one. But this was mostly due to the fact that the little Doppler machine thingy she used was low on batteries. With a new machine and new batteries, she found the heartbeat right away.

To me, the heartbeat sounded a bit slower than when I first heard Patty and Amanda’s. According to an old wives tale, a slower heartbeat means we’ll be having a boy. If it's from a bunch of old wives it must be true, right? A boy would be nice. But he’d have to get used to wearing pink. Cause we’ve got A LOT of girl’s clothes :)

In other news, Patty’s soccer career is officially over - for now at least. She had her end of season awards dinner last night and was handed her first trophy. Will she play soccer again? Who knows? She enjoyed being on the team. Liked going to practice and LOVED her teammates. But when game time came around, she spent most of her time on the field pouting. Her biggest complaint was the fact that she couldn't score any goals. Trying to explain to her that soccer is not all about scoring and is more about having fun with your teammates just went over her head.

Anywhoo...I'm off to watch The Office!

Three’s Company…or is it a Crowd? We’ll Soon Find Out!

Yep. Big news. We’re pregnant!

Inside Kristin’s belly, cooking away, is baby #3!

We’ve known for about a month now, but have been keeping it under wraps until Kristin’s first official doctors appointment. Everything is going smoothly. Kristin has even sneaked a peak at the baby (using an echo scanner-thingy at her work) and saw a heartbeat! The baby will be due sometime in mid to late May.

We’re very excited. And scared. Right now maybe a bit more scared than excited. Another baby means another mouth to feed. Another daycare bill. Most likely a bigger car (I’m anti-minivan, but might have to resort to buying one), more clothes, diapers, formula, bottles, etc…the list goes on and on. The only thing that there will be less of in our household will be sleep.

According to a USA Today article from a few years ago, having three kids is becoming more and more common. And for many parents, its easier going from two to three kids than it was going from one to two. I also found a helpful website, called www.havingthreekids.com, full of stories and advice from parents who have had, or are thinking of having, three kids. Let’s hope they’re all right!

We told Patty and Amanda the news and they were thrilled. Patty hopes for a boy and Amanda wants mommy to have two boys. One for her to play with and one for Patty. I don’t know about two boys, but one would be nice :-)

Oh I Wish I Were an Oscar Meyer Wiener...

OK Folks. Haven't written anything in a while. Not that there is nothing going on with the family right now. Big things are happening with us. I mean BIG THINGS...but that's for another blog entry....not today.

Today, however, as we were on one of our morning walks through the neighborhood, we saw that one of our neighbors was having a yard sale. We found something wonderful amongst all the junk, broken gadgets and other whatnot's. Something one of a kind. "Unbelievable!" I said when I first laid eyes on it. "A diamond in the rough!"

It's a kiddie sized Oscar Meyer Wienermobile!



I had to get it for the kids. The owner's wanted $25 for it, but I bartered them down to $10.

Awesome!

When I was a kid it was a dream of mine to drive the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. Haven't got the chance yet. It's still on my list of things to do before I die, though...right after sky diving and winning big in Vegas.

The ultimate would be for me to sky dive smack dab into the middle of Vegas, win a wad of cash, buy the Wienermobile and drive home singing "My Bologna Has a First Name, it's O-S-C-A-R..." all the way home!

Hey. A guy can dream...

D’oh!

God bless The Simpsons. The show has been on the air for 20 years now and it’s still able to make me laugh. Sure. Some folks think that The Simpsons “jumped the shark” sometime around season 8 (I think that’s when Conan O’Brian left the writing staff), and I somewhat agree. If I had to list my top 10 favorite episodes, most would be from earlier in the series.

But as I flipped on the TV last night to watch the season premiere episode, one line of dialogue from Homer had me rolling. After finding out that Marge was secretly working for an erotic bakery, this is what Homer had to say:

Homer: “Marge. You can deny me sex. You can deny me cake. But to deny me sexy cake. That is unforgivable.”

Hilarious!

Rock on Homer J. Simpson. You will always have a fan in me.

Farewell Orange Star

Well…It happened a bit sooner than I expected. On Friday, we lost one of our beloved hermit crabs. Patty’s crab, Orange Star, is now in crabby heaven, crawling among its distant (and not so distant) relatives, and looking down on us from above. Or, in this case, looking up at us from the bottom of the trash can.

Yup. No real funeral services for Orange Star. No burial. No Viking funeral as sea. Nada. When we found her (or him) dead on Friday, it was just a plop in the trash and we were done with it. We did not tell Patty about it. We wanted to see how long it took her to realize her crab was not in its shell. She discovered it this morning (Sunday). She was upset at first, but I explained to her that hermit crabs do not live very long (I later found out they actually can live more than 40 years!) and get sick easily. It also helped that Amanda said she would share her crab with her. Yeah. Amanda's crab is still among the land of the living...for now, at least. Guess I'd better start reading up on caring for these things. Apparently eating and drinking are pretty important for their survival...

Emergency Rooms are Fun

We had a bit of a scare on Saturday night - which resulted in an unexpected trip to the Emergency Room.

Amanda was running around our basement, getting some energy out, when she tripped and fell head first into a rocking chair. She smacked her head HARD. I mean, you could hear sound of the impact from across the room she hit her head so hard. She went one way. Her glasses flew another. Kristin took one look at her and knew instantly that we needed to get her to a doctor - quick. From first glance it looked like her eyeball was cut. It looked like she was bleeding in her eye. It was BAD. She was screaming, Kristin was crying, Patty was searching for her blue blankie for comfort (and picking up the pieces and trying to fix Amanda's glasses - she's such a good big sis!).

After getting some ice on the wound and calling g-ma and g-dad to come over and watch Patty, Kristin and I headed to the ER with Amanda. Since Kristin works at the hospital and has a bunch of connections, she was able to call ahead to let them know we were coming. Once we got there, we had no wait and got a room right away. Great, I thought. The doctor will see us, tell us everything was OK and we'd be on our merry way...NOT.

The doc said she'd probably need stitches. Oh, and a CT scan (they were worried that she might have been bleeding internally), and lets bring in a few docs from Ophthalmology to check her eyes as well. And someone from plastic surgery to look at the cut. And here's the kicker - she's going to have to be put under general anesthesia for the procedure, since the cut was so close to her eye the doctor wanted her to be asleep so she wouldn't move while they were stitching her up.




In the end - and about 4 hours after we arrived in the ER - everything turned out well. Her eye was fine and she only needed three stitches. Now she looks a bit like Rocky in Rocky IV (the one where he goes to Russia to fight). She's got a nice big shiner on her eye...and a permanent scar reminding her of the accident for the rest of her life.

It's never a dull moment at our house!

Soccer Mom

It's official. Kristin is a soccer mom.

Patty started her soccer career today. Look out Pelé. Here she comes! Doesn't she looks so cute in her new outfit (thanks to Aunt Linda), cleats, shin guards and soccer ball.

She did pretty well considering it was her first practice - which consisted of playing a game of red light, green light, dribbling the ball through a few cones and tossing the ball around with her teammates. Her first game is this Saturday, which will probably be rained out due to the fact there are numerous tropical storms/hurricanes headed in our direction this weekend! Yikes!!

Kindergarten!

Patty started kindergarten today. And she had a great day! We are so proud of her. She has grown up so much this past summer. I can't believe she's starting school.

Here she is all decked out in her new outfit, new book bag, new Jonas Brothers lunch box (don't get me started) and a handful of flowers for her teacher.


There were many fears on her first day. The biggest being that she would have to leave her beloved blue blankie behind (it's hanging off her backpack in the picture). it's been her security blanket for more than three years. She's taken it to daycare every day. She sleeps with it at nap times and at night. When she is upset, it calms her down.

Once at school, however, she found out she really didn't need it. She was kept busy all day long. Meeting new friends, and playing with new toys. She was most excited about the play doh. "It's only one color - yellow," she said. "But it's so big that it takes up a whole drawer!"

Yeah. She's played with play doh for years. But I guess there is something about school play doh that makes it more fun...

Other than the pay doh, she didn't have too much to say about her first day. It's probably a bit overwhelming for her. When asked about the other things she did today she just sighed and said "daaaad...I just don't remember, ok. Maybe tomorrow my teachers will teach me how to remember better."

Lets hope so :-)

Cut the Pie

We're back from vacation! And oh what a strange trip it's been.

Here are a few highlights from last week - as we bid farewell to another successful Stevens' family beach extravaganza:

• Maurie (my bro), in the first hour on the beach (before we even were able to check in to our cabin) sprained (and possibly broke) his wrist after getting wiped out by a wave. He and his wife Lisa spent about 5 hours in an Outer Banks urgent care center. His wrist eventually got better. And after a few days, was able to swim again. Yeah!
• The fish were biting more than usual. We caught a bunch, including spot, kingfish, and sheapshead. Michael (another bro) even caught a skate (he thought it was a flounder at first). Oh, and Patty caught her first fish! A spot (with grandpa's help). Course I didn't have a camera with me at the time so her accomplishment wasn't documented :-(
• Cornhole is a fun game. Yes Cornhole. Ever hear of it? It's basically a bean bag tossing game. My dad built and brought these two contraptions to the beach for us to play. He didn't think it would catch on, but we ended up playing the game all week. It was a blast (see pics below).
• Patty and Amanda were made for the beach. They spent hours playing in the waves, building sand castles, collecting sea shells, running along the beach and jumping off cliffs. They had so much fun!
• Crabs, crabs and more crabs. Just about every night we went crab hunting. Little (and sometimes not so little) ghost crabs emerge from their nests in the sand each night to feed and drink by the ocean. We like to chase them, catch them, and scream when one crawls across our feet or tries to climb up our leg. Patty was a little freaked out by them. But Amanda, on the other hand, LOVED every minute. She would even pick up the baby ones. One night she got hold of one, put it in a bucket, gave it a name (Freshie) and took it into her bedroom to live. I had to explain it to her that "Freshie" needs to go back to the beach to find it's mommy and daddy and would not be happy living in a bucket inside. She was heartbroken. She cried and cried and cried for her little Freshie. It was very sad. To make a long story short - we're now the proud owners of two hermit crabs - Freshie II and Orange Flower (Patty's hermit crab). They will live out their lives (possibly very short) in a small cage in our house. Patty and Amanda are alternating on who gets to sleep with the cage in their rooms at night. I can't wait for the cats to discover them...
  
• Oh and of course - we played cut the pie - a Stevens' family tradition. It's basically a game of tag, but you have to stay on the lines in the sand (the lines are drawn into the shape of a pie). Patty and Amanda caught on pretty quick. Below is a video of them playing with grandpa and their cousins, Jake and Will.
  

Here are a few more beach pics:

Patty and Amanda literally rolling around in the sand

Amanda is playing Frisbee with her cousin Summer

My brother Danny (Summer is in the background) playing a game of cornhole


Patty and Amanda on the last day of vacation :-(

Can't wait till next year!

5 More Days Until the Beach!

As we approach the weekend and our impending vacation, I'm finding it hard to concentrate at work. My thoughts keep drifting to the sun and the sand of the Outer Banks. We trek there on Sunday with the rest of my family - mom, dad, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews - for a week of swimming, surfing, fishing, drinking and lounging on the beach. I think there are 25 of us in all - sharing one house, eight bedrooms and four bathrooms. It's going to be sweet!

For a glimpse of what we're in store for, I found this short video from last year's vacation of the girls playing with a large pile of jellyfish (Yes. Jellyfish). Apparently Moon Jellyfish (what they are actually called) are abundant along the shoreline of Nags Head. As you can see, they had a ball!

(Don't worry. We made sure they washed their hands when they were finished!)

Party Foul

We went to a surprise party last night for Bryan, a friend who recently completed an Ironman competition (2.4 mile swim, 100+ mile bike ride and 26 mile marathon). And after all that he wants to do it AGAIN. He's pretty much messed up in the head.

Anywhoo...as parties go, it was fun. The beer was free flowing and the pizza was abundant. I schooled a bunch of party goers on the proper way to play flippie cups (a drinking game that involves flipping cups - its not very complicated) and pretty much drank my weight in beer.

Suffice it to say...I'm not feeling so hot today. OK. I've said it before. And I'm probably going to say it again. I'm NEVER EVER going to drink like that again...that is until next week, when we head to the beach for our annual Stevens-family binge-fest (ie - vacation).

The picture below is Bryan's brother-in-law. It's always hilarious to see a grown man passed out in a Hello Kitty bed, clutching a stuffed animal...

AAAAAHHHHHH Summer...

This past weekend we took a trip up to NOVA to visit the fam. My niece was having a birthday party and the kids were jonzin' for some grandma and grandpa love (ie - they wanted to get spoiled). The kids had a great time. We went to the pool and my parents were amazed with their swimming abilities. Patty is really getting good at jumping off the diving board. She's even started doing tricks...cannonballs and such. It's very fun to watch.

And much like her potty training, Amanda is taking it upon herself to learn how to swim, with hardly any help from us. When she wants to do something she just does it. It's amazing.

Here are some pics and videos for your enjoyment (these are from Saturday at our pool. We went to NOVA on Sunday).

They're not quite ready for synchronized diving yet...Maybe by the 2020 Summer Olympics :-)



Notice that Amanda is insistent that I go "really really far" so she can swim to me.


This is Patty swimming...and Amanda STILL wants me to go "really really far."

Wii Love to be Fit

Kristin's big present for me last Christmas was a Nintendo Wii - one of the greatest gifts ever! I've been hooked on games like Super Mario Galaxy, Guitar Hero III (And GH Aerosmith) ever since. I play so much GH that Patty knows just about all the lyrics to Foghat's "Slow Ride" and Poison's "Talk Dirty to Me." Luckily she has no idea what she's singing!

And last weekend I grabbed the last Wii Fit off the shelf at our local Target (there were three very unhappy people in line behind me). This was more for Kristin's benefit than mine. She's wanted one for months - she was never interested in jamming with me on the (fake) guitar and wanted to use the Wii for more than just a paperweight. I really didn't think I would enjoy it, but it's actually very fun. There are a bunch of games that come with the system that are fun for me AND the kids (skiing, snowboarding, boxing, etc.). And a few of the weight training exercises are even a bit challenging. Let's hope wii continue to use it ;-)

Otherwise, at $80, it'll be the most expensive scale we'll ever own!

On another topic. I had a job interview today for a position with the Dept. of Public Utilities (I hope no one at my current job reads this!). It sounds like it would be a good match for my meager marketing skills - and challenging enough to keep my interest for more that a few years. Cross your fingers!

Summer Pool Play

What would a hot summer day be without a nice cool dip in the pool.

With temps averaging in the mid to upper 90s during Richmond's summer months, our neighborhood pool is where you will find us most weekends (and many weeknights). Patty and Amanda are turning into little fish. Patty can swim about half the length of the pool before struggling (see video). She's no Summer Sanders yet, but I have no doubt she'll get there eventually. And today she jumped off the diving board and swam to the ladder with no help for the first time. A major accomplishment! We plan to sign her up for winter swim lessons to get her ready for next year's swim season.

Amanda jumped off the diving board for the first time today as well (I caught her of course). As usual, she was not afraid and wanted to go again and again. The kid has no fear. She'll jump to you whether you're waiting for her or not.



Here are a few more pictures of the girls enjoying the day at the pool:

Amanda chilling out on her beloved noodle

Patty catching her breath after her swim

Me and Amanda horsing around.

Welcome!

Well...I've caught the blogging bug!

I'd figured this would be a good way to update our family and friends on all things Stevens-related. Kids stuff, work (or lack there of), home life, my hatred toward cats, our ever growing laundry pile, home improvement projects...and clutter. Lots and lots of clutter.

Stay tuned...