Pure cute

Warning: this one has a pretty high cuteness factor. I admit that I should have probably trimmed this to make it a bit shorter, but I just couldn’t figure out where to cut it off. I’m a bit of a sucker for my kids, you know.

I guess there’s no doubt that Camren really likes his big brother! Camren is always looking to see what Quin’s up to. I had heard him giggle before, but I’ve never heard this kind of belly-laughing out of him. And of course, Quin has a captive audience…

Vivian grabbed this footage with our new Flip video camera that I hope will make getting and publishing quick little videos like this a bit easier. Should be good news for the Grandparents!

Today is not only one day closer to our annual family vacation, it is also my dear sister’s birthday.  Happy Birthday to my one and only sister, to the one who has always shared her laughter, her joy and her chocolate with me.  You are a great sister Nancy, and you are a great aunt to Quin and Camren.  Thanks for spending some time with us this week.  We all love you and wish you the best birthday.

Today we will celebrate 18 years of marriage by God’s grace.   I love you Rick!  Thanks for putting up with me for all of these years.

There were only six years between me and Glenn.  But somehow he always seemed so much older.  He had different friends, different interests, and had moved ahead of me in the growing up years so quickly.  As I reflect back over those years, I remember…

He played with cool toys like legos and lincoln logs.  He shared his toys with me and my sister at Christmas, since his stuff was so different than ours.  I remember playing with his hot wheels track and a mini air hockey table.  He liked science fiction shows like Lost in Space and Star Trek.  He had friends in the neighborhood that would ride bikes together before I could even balance without training wheels.  His easter baskets always contained white chocolate, since he didn’t care much for milk chocolate.  Some of his favorite things were lemon meringue pie, steak and potatoes, and Mountain Dew.  Glenn had an artistic flair – one I wish I had.  He was good at sketching and drawing.

He loved music, classic 70′s rock and roll.  He played the trumpet in the high school band.  He was an avid Eagles fan.  I have memories of him picking me up from school and blaring the radio SO loud, pounding on the steering wheel and singing along to the music.  Before I could even think of driving, he had a job at a local pizza shop delivering pizzas.  Finally when I was old enough to drive, Glenn (& my sister) took me up to the junior high school parking lot to practice and then out onto the roads in our little suburb.  He laughed as he coached me how to stay on my side of the road.

He once brought home a lost and scared siberian husky, and somehow convinced my dad that we should keep her.  Glenn loved to play games.  We spent many nights playing cribbage, 500, hearts, spades, you name it.  He also enjoyed badminton.  I remember playing with the family on many a summer night.  The birdie would inevitably end up on the roof of the house, and he and dad would somehow get it back down so we could continue to play until the lightning bugs came out and it was too dark to play any longer.

He had a girlfriend before I ever entered my adolescent years .  Her name was Kathy, she was his high school sweetheart and he married her.  Together they shared 25 years of married life and had three beautiful children, my niece Krystle and my nephews Shawn and Robert.  I regret that their years together on this earth are over, but pray that they will cherish many family memories together.

We have a pillow in our house with a sweet little saying on it.  I think it is appropriate as I remember Glenn, and I hope it will be true for my two sons who will be brothers for life.

“A brother is a lifelong friend.”

Though we didn’t always agree on everything Glenn, you were a lifelong friend, one that God put into my life, always older, always going before me.  I will miss you my brother and my friend.

I can’t believe that summer is now upon us.  I also cannot believe how neglectful I’ve been to post anything here.  My apologies to those of you that actually come by to visit.

We’ve been cruising right along through our weeks with the usual craziness.  We had a visit from grandma and grandpa and Aunt Virginia the week before memorial day.  Quin definitely enjoyed playing around with grandpa (especially with the new trucks he bought for him) while Camren sucked up all the love his grandma could possibly soak into him.  And of course Aunt Virginia is just tons of fun, and ever patient with Quin and Camren.  She joyfully squished in between the boys’ carseats to drive over to the annual Memorial Day parade with us.

Even though Camren isn’t consistently sleeping through the night for us yet, he is close.  He is already four months old.  It’s hard to remember what life was like without him.  He’s been busy smiling, laughing and making happy little baby squeals.  He is now up to 24″ and 12 lbs. 14 oz.  The cute little guy had his 4 month check up just yesterday and endured a few more immunization shots.

Quin is just a month shy of turning three.  He seems to be enjoying having a baby brother to smile at him, and he tends to ask pretty frequently, “Where’s Camren?  Can I see him?”  One of the funniest things he is doing these days is working on his persuasion skills.  He will now suggest things to me…”Maybe I play with my bubble mower outside….Maybe I have eggs and toast for lunch…Maybe I don’t take a bath.”  He is also starting to give us reasons for things.  An example from yesterday was when we were getting ready to head to the store and I told him we needed to get his socks and shoes.  He looked over and replied, “I busy.  I busy ’cause I coloring.”  Who can argue with that?  (Oh wait, I can..’cause I’m his mom!)

Rick has been adjusting to a crazy commute to work for a contract job about an hour away from home.  He’s been getting up insanely early so that he can be home early with all of us.  I must say that I like his schedule, but I know it is wearing thin for him as it is quite tiring.  Quin continues to be amazed when he is told that daddy is at work yet again.  He doesn’t seem to understand what a work week is about.

I’ll try to post again before July rolls around but I cannot guarantee it.

Last week on my drive back home from  some errands, I spotted a tiny car pulling out of the lot at the super market. Normally I don’t pay much attention to specific makes or models of cars. But I admit, this one caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, it was a little Chevy Chevette. Second, a little old lady was driving it.

I’m not one to be nostalgic, but in my family when I was growing up, we were a chevy family. Dad always bought American and always bought Chevy. I couldn’t exactly tell you why. I do know that the very first car my dad bought after graduating from college was a Chevy Corvette. Perhaps that was one of the things that drew my mom’s attention to him, who could say for sure. I know that our family had various cars over the years, but every single one was a Chevy. There was the Corvette, the Bel Air, the Impala, the Citation and the Cavalier.  

What is it about a car that makes it almost part of our home, and definitely a piece of our history. We take lots of little drives, off to school, practices, church, and family and friend’s homes. Then there are the long drives to visit family, to take vacations, to road trips just for kicks. Something about seeing that little Chevy Chevette sparked a few happy memories for me. The car I learned to drive was the Chevy Citation – not exactly an elegant looking car, but it sure took me to plenty of fun spots with friends.

No, I never had a chevette, but the lyrics to a totally amusing song by Audio Adrenaline, leave me feeling the same as the writer.  

Chevette

Twenty years ago I watched in awe
as my Dad drove up the driveway.
More than proud to have a brand new family car.
Thirty miles to the gallon
0 to 60, sometimes.
I remember putting down the back seat
and lying in the hatchback.
Looking at the sky watching trees go by.
I was the son of a preacher
and he was a rich poor man

no a.c.
and no FM
and no regrets
in my Chevette
yeah
in my chevette

The winter cracked the highway
and we tried to dodge the pot holes.
He never promised us it would be a gentle ride.
He never had a problem though,
keeping it on the narrow road.

no a.c.
and no FM
and no regrets
in my Chevette
yeah
in my chevette
yeah
in my Chevette
yeah
in my chevette

poor thing is up on blocks
but that car still
Rocks

seems like yesterday
(seems like yesterday, seems like yesterday)

my chevette
yeah
in my chevette
yeah
I had no a.c.
in my chevette
had window cranks
in my chevette
had vinyl seats
in my chevette
in my chevette
and no regrets
in my chevette

My chevy citation had no a/c, no FM, and looking back, no regrets.  What about you…do you have fond memories of the car you first learned to drive?  Or am I just nuts?

The boys and I are settling into a little more of a routine after a few months. Camren has delighted me by sleeping until 5 am a few times this week. That has certainly been a bonus and made quite a difference in my outlook and energy level for these new days without dad around.

Rick started a new job this week with Respironics. Besides myself, Quin has been affected the most by the fact that dad isn’t around as much. The first day Rick was gone, Quin asked where daddy was as soon as he woke up. I told him that daddy was at work. The second day Rick was gone, Quin didn’t ask right away. He waited about a half hour after waking up. When I told him daddy was at work, he responded, “again?” Yes Quin, daddy needs to work again today. He has asked every day and always seems surprised that daddy is back at work yet again. I guess having him home for 6 months really erased the memories of what things were like before.

Camren is starting to be more alert and awake. He’s smiling quite a bit more too which excites his brother. There have been a few crazy moments though. It’s not uncommon for me to run to the bathroom and hear Quin yell to me through the door, “mommy, Camren’s crying.” My favorite story about the crying is from a few Sunday mornings back. I was getting ready (solo since Rick was already gone for worship practice) and had placed Camren into his crib. Camren wasn’t all that thrilled to be left to himself and was starting to really cry. Quin came running down the hall saying, “mommy, it’s too loud. I close Camren’s door.” He proceeded to do just that! The sweet part is that he is thrilled when Camren smiles at him. I have to admit, I am too. I love these boys and I suspect we are in store for lots of excitement in the days to come.

Finally got back to arcade night again! We had a very low turnout, with most of the “regulars” not able to make it. But we did have two first-timers join us, which is always fun.

We played

• Jr. Pacman
• Robby Roto
• Star Trek
• Tutankham

And the scores…

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the time on Saturday to run down to the dollar store for the usual prizes. So we didn’t hand any out this month.

Highest score: Brian.

Lowest score: Tina.

Special kudos/thanks to everyone who came tonight because they all helped me unload the logs from the morning’s work at a friend’s house. I really appreciated the help.

We did a mini Easter egg hunt for Quin after his nap today. Viv “hid” 6 eggs in the family room. They were all in plain sight, so it was just fun for Quin to walk around and discover the next one.

The eggs were all from his Grandma Peterson who is always good for that kind of thing. Each egg had a couple of pieces of candy inside. We gave him the little basket that his Grandma had made (bought? – she at least customized it) and thought he would go around and put each egg into the basket. Instead he opened each egg and dumped the contents into the basket and replaced the egg back where he found it! It was very cute.

Here he is finding the last egg, along with a little “Happy Easter” greeting.

I’m a Christian child of the 80′s.  As such, I had the More Power To Ya album as a teen.  That album had a song titled “Judas’ Kiss” that had an interesting intro.  It was obvious that speech (or something) was being played backwards.  This was a tongue-in-cheek (and backwards) message from the band to the Christian community.

When played backwards, the intro said “What’re ya lookin’ for the Devil for, when ya oughta be lookin’ for the Lord?”  In the 80′s it was a pretty popular teaching (in fundamentalist circles certainly and maybe it was more widespread) that rock music had hidden meanings embedded in it that were influencing us all to do bad things.  I remember that the refrain “Another one bites the dust” was supposedly turning around to say “It’s fun to smoke marijuana” in our heads.  And there were supposedly other more evil sayings embedded in other songs — I remember “Hotel California” by the Eagles being a popular target.

The whole “back-masking” idea is pretty ludicrous, of course.  However, I remember being taught this in my church.  I explained it to my father and he quickly straightened me out.  He asked me to theorize a band playing on stage and having some backup singers that were chanting evil messages to me, but those messages were being spoken in German or Italian or some other language I didn’t know.  Would my brain be able to decode those messages and have them influence me?  ”No, I guess not” I admitted.  My Dad quickly replied, “At least those are actual languages!  You’re talking about noise that isn’t even a language.”  That kind of pulled me off the looking-for-Satanic-messages-in-music bandwagon.

I don’t know what Petra actually thought of the whole back-masking goofiness.  But they did put that piece of backwards speech at the front of “Judas’ Kiss”.  And, of course, we all had to find out what it said!  I remember playing it backwards on my turntable to find out the secret message, and then laughing out loud when I heard it!

Anyway, I’ve recently embarked on a project to rip all my old CDs and tapes and convert them all to MP3s.  Today, I ripped the “Petra Means Rock” best-of collection which has a copy of “Judas’ Kiss” on it.  So I thought it would be cool to have a version of the song where the intro has been reversed so that you can clearly hear the backwards message.  This was trivial to do digitally, so my MP3 album of “Petra Means Rock” has one extra track on it now.

Since technically this (maybe?) qualifies as some kind of mash-up, it isn’t a copyright problem for me to make the MP3 available here (??).  So here’s Judas’ Kiss (with intro reversed) for anyone who thinks that would be neat to have.