Colemans' Couch

A parental milestone

2011-12-01T19:44:00.001-06:00

Kids hiding from the camera. Elizabeth is
on the left in the turquoise sweatshirt.

I am sure most parents go through this eventually. Tonight, it's my turn. Our house has been invaded by seven teenagers to hang out and generally celebrate Elizabeth's 14th birthday.

So it's just Dad and eight teens. Fun!

We started the night with the kids assembling pizzas, featuring all of Elizabeth's favorite toppings (pineapple, black olives, onions) and several others. Thankfully, I even had alfredo sauce and some leftover roasted chicken on hand for one pair of girls who requested it.

Yes, there are boys at this party, three of them, in fact. They're watching a movie (Super 8) with the lights mostly off at the moment but I'm around the corner in my office with the light on and there's a light on in the stairs, too.

Before we got around to dinner, the kids were huddled around a laptop, watching clips from Saturday Night Live. That includes one famous sketch that aired when these kids were literally still in diapers. For those who are wondering, it involves Alec Baldwin and a particular takeoff of an NPR cooking show, with a dish that has a slightly naughty name. Originally aired in December 1998.

These kids are a riot. Elizabeth had good friends. There's some interesting things being said around the corner, but part of being the cool dad is letting it roll off. Maybe Elizabeth and I will talk about it tomorrow.

As a parent, my patience level varies wildly, as I'm sure most parents' does. Thankfully, I'm in a good mood today and a house full of teens is not a problem.

Blogworthy

2011-11-12T21:54:00.004-06:00

So many moments have been blogworthy in the past month but I have failed to record them here. I'm waiting for laundry and nothing is on t.v. so I find myself without excuse.

Colleen was reading the back of her Tangled DVD (without pause or hesitation I might add - she's a great reader). One phrase caught my attention and I asked her what an "unlikely duo" means. She said "a duo is two people performing together to share their talents and unlikely means that you wouldn't put them together normally but it actually makes sense this one time."

I think she gets it. Again. I was going to list the other dates I made a post similar to this, but going through them I realize there are too many. Just take my word for it.

Colleen O'Lantern

2011-10-12T13:41:00.007-05:00

Colleen lost a tooth (Mom helped) and hopefully that one in the middle will come out soon too.

We are a little surprised that it has held on so long. She hasn't perfected the art of eating away from a loose tooth. She'll chomp right in on her food, loose tooth and all. Every mealtime we expect it to go but it has been days. This one has staying power.

Robert lost a tooth too but not so dramatically as Colleen this time around.

Other tooth news, Elizabeth got bands (green and purple) on her braces.

Year of the Rock

2011-10-07T12:05:00.003-05:00

There seems to be a confluence of curriculum in 1st, 4th, and 8th grades in the Bloomington Public School system. All three kids are doing earth science this year. Elizabeth's science class began with an overview of the geo-spheres and now they're discussing geologic time. Robert was waxing poetic this morning about metamorphic rocks and just a few weeks ago they were studying erosion. His classroom worked with models of the Elwha Dam so they could predict what will happen when it is removed. Colleen's classroom is keeping it simple and fun by gathering a rock collection.

Speaking of our good earth, what's with the trees this year? Our leaves all turned and fell but our neighbors' trees are mostly still green. Should we be concerned?

In defense of editing

2011-09-25T23:45:00.000-05:00

There was a point about seven or eight years ago when I realized that I would not end up working at a newspaper for my entire career. Within the past few years, I had a similar epiphany about being a journalist.

I've been a journalist, by anyone's definition, since January of 1993, when I started covering the men's basketball team for the student newspaper at Catholic University. I became the sports editor the next fall, then was No. 2 at the paper the next semester. Before graduation, I was hired as a part-time agate clerk for Baseball Weekly, and after a winter off, came back full time when the 1994 baseball work stoppage was settled.

I have always been an advocate for editing, even at a student newspaper, which was sometimes a tough sell. At Baseball Weekly I spent hours watching over Margaret McCahill's shoulder, learning even more about editing. I eventually became a copy editor, and grew to pick up a lot of other skills along the way, some related to journalism, others to project management, content strategy, social media and web analytics.

But even though journalism and editing are not as valued as they once were, I will always be an editor, deep down. And what has happened to editing over the past few years is troubling.

Proofreading is not a replacement for editing. And spell-check is not a replacement for proofreading.

Recently there was an insert into our church's weekly bulletin with a letter from the church school's principal. It contained an error, where a sentence read, "... with food, fellowship and games run by out 8th graders." I don't know how many eighth graders are out. Spell-check doesn't know the difference between out and our. We also received a newsletter from the Bloomington public schools with a typo in the very first sentence of the lead story, which was a letter from the superintendent of schools.

And these are our educators. It's difficult for me to accept this from people paid to educate our children, even though I know they are simple typos. It's the lack of attention and care paid to writing that's the issue. But it's not as bad as it could be. I see posts from some people who home-school their children which are also riddled with misspellings and I cringe.

There's a local online news outlet that consistently confuses its with it's. And said news outlet doesn't seem to read its Facebook feed's comments to see what people are saying about its coverage, which is a social media failure even if there weren't errors.

The irony hasn't escaped me that I am writing this defense of editing on a blog, which is one of the least-edited mediums there is. And I know that newspapers place less and less emphasis on editing with every round of layoffs. But editing is not a luxury. As Arthur Polotnik said, "You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke."

Everything can be edited: news copy, blog posts, emails, Facebook statuses, tweets, you name it. And if you're a company which interfaces with the public, you should hire me to do it.

Smells like autumn

2011-09-23T12:18:00.000-05:00

All three kids are in school full day for the first time and I am still at home all day, but now with a little more time on my hands. With the youngest two out the door by 8:15, that's plenty of time to think about dinner.

Yesterday morning I took advantage of that time to put a pork roast in the slow cooker. But instead of the standard pulled pork recipe, I gave it a bit of a autumn flavor, subbing out the onions for two medium-small Honeycrisp apples and adding a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar. I sliced the apples nice and thin so that they would basically fall apart. We don't like as much of a vinegar taste to our pulled pork, so I put in about half the normal amount and used water for the rest.

I just love how a roast fills the kitchen with the aroma of a meal to come. It cooked even more quickly than I anticipated, so it was ready to taste when the kids came home. Elizabeth loves just about everything, so she was easily pleased. Robert was intrigued, and ended up liking his sample as well. As for Colleen, well, you can't account for taste from a 6-year-old.

Next time I plan to add another half an apple, and I'm thinking about putting the onions back in for more of a savory flavor. It worked great on toasted buns, to keep the sandwich from falling apart, although Elizabeth campaigned for egg noodles. That will have to be some other time, however.

Keeping my word chops up to date

2011-09-18T11:56:00.000-05:00

I was pleased that Cate came up with a pretty good use for an old comforter that otherwise we would have gotten rid of, so I tried to give her a high five. She looked at me, puzzled, and said something to the order of, "I don't do high fives very well, you know."

I know this. I responded, "Just trying to bring you into the fold. Would a fist bump be better?"

I demonstrated a fist bump. She didn't seem enthused. So I said, "How about a forearm bash, you know, like Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire?"

I showed her how they did the forearm bash. She suggested that it might be painful, and responded, "They actually did that?"

I said, "Well, it was the '80s, so they were all hopped up on steroids."

Cate responded, "In that case, why didn't they just hug each other?"

I told her I thought Canseco and McGwire must not have been that testosterone-depleted.

Then I thought better of it. "Or that estrogenal." (Accent on the second syllable.) I walked away to go back to what I was doing, then turned around. "No. The word should be estrogenous." (Think of it rhyming with erogenous, or more to the point, androgynous.)

Cate actually laughed. A genuine, not mocking laugh.

One last dash of summer

2011-09-15T08:55:00.000-05:00

Something's coming!

The kids have been back in school for almost two weeks but this morning the weather reminded us for certain that summer was over. Before summer ended, however, Robert and I reached a goal we have been talking about for almost as long as we've lived in this house.

Our little boy loves trains, has loved trains for as long as he can remember. And while our fourth grader's days of watching Thomas the Tank Engine have been long left behind, there are plenty of other ways to enjoy trains around here.

There are train tracks about six blocks from our house, the perfect distance, in my estimation. They are close enough that you can hear trains blow their horns, but not very loudly. I wouldn't want to live much closer.

I don't remember whether Robert came up with the idea or I did, but at some point one of us heard a train whistle and thought it would be neat to go down to the tracks and watch it go by. And as we were riding bikes one day, it occurred to me that Robert was definitely capable of riding with me to go see one. And it's been our goal ever since, although for more than a year, we hadn't even attempted it.

Cate has started working an early morning shift, so I've been either with the kids all morning while working at home, or lately, making sure they get fed, dressed and out the door to school. In the last week before school started, Robert came downstairs to me in my office and said, "Dad, can we do something today?"

It was right around noon. Normally I would have to say that I couldn't, but the previous day Verizon had let me know that my contract was being cut by a little over two weeks. I'm a very loyal employee but was still reeling from that punch to the gut, so I was a little more open to, say, taking a long lunch. The train goal popped into my head, so we went out to the garage, made sure all of our bikes had enough air in the tires, and set them up, ready to go at a moment's notice near the garage door.

Satisfied we were ready to go, we went inside to wait. We were not waiting long, however. I hadn't even gotten my shoes off when I heard the first whistle of the train. That crossing point is almost two miles away, and the freight trains don't come through the neighborhoods very fast at all. I alerted Robert, who hadn't even heard it yet, and we sprang into action. Open the garage door, water bottle from the fridge, helmets, let Elizabeth know she was in charge of Colleen, and bolt.

Robert is one happy camper as the train goes by.

While we're riding, we get the ultimate reminders of our destination. The train horn sounds at three other crossings before it gets to ours, on Xerxes. Robert is saying, "it's getting closer!" and I'm certainly wishing he had a multi-speed bike so he could go faster, but he is pumping his little legs off. Three quarters of a mile, with a slow, gradual uphill grade and a busy intersection in between takes a 9-year-old a long time with one gear, but we end up making it in plenty of time. The train is still several blocks away when we get there.

We settled in a spot very close to the tracks, much closer than the cars' stop line. The train blew its horn as it approached our crossing and I acknowledged the drivers so they knew we weren't completely oblivious.

As the train went by, Robert marveled at how large it was. He hasn't been this close to a moving freight train in quite a while, and of course, it's bigger than the light rail train we've ridden to the ballgame. The train wasn't very long, and the show was over in a couple of minutes, but he loved it, so it was worth the trip. And the timing couldn't have been better.

Mission complete.

A long night at the ballpark

2011-07-02T13:20:00.008-05:00

After the vacation, the kids and I have been getting reacquainted, sometimes more than others since Cate has been working a lot this past week. And when an opportunity to get four Twins tickets dropped into my lap pretty late in the week, I decided to take them out.

Colleen had never been to Target Field and we hadn't been to a baseball game all together since last year's incredible trip to Wrigley Field. We had the ability to get there really early, as well, as it was the start of a holiday weekend, and do some things none of us had been able to do at our new ballpark.

We've always had the opportunity to look at this wonderful glove sculpture just outside the ballpark but never had a chance to get pictures taken with it because the line is usually pretty long. But not when you show up at 5:15 for a 7:10 game.

Robert forgot to put on his Joe Mauer jersey, but in the end, it didn't matter -- Mauer went 3-for-4 and Robert had a great time. But that came much, much later.

Robert and Elizabeth filled Colleen in on one of their Target Field tips: the great chicken fingers. So they had chicken fingers and fries while the Brewers (boo!) were still taking batting practice. I have always looked longingly at the Kramarczuk's stand, selling locally made brats and sausages, but they are very popular and the line is also usually long. But not that early in the day, so I had the best ballpark bratwurst I've ever tasted. Also, somehow by the luck of the draw (how do we keep meeting people at Twins games?) I saw a former co-worker walking down the concourse while we were eating and recognized him, although neither of us could remember the other's name.

About 30 minutes before the game, they pulled the tarp out to cover the field, prompting groans and boos. But Robert had already pointed out the clouds approaching, so we were prepared. Our seats were under the overhang, lower deck, left field, but we decided to move back anyway and wait out the first wave of rain.

The second wave (like white-out, Elizabeth says) was stronger and we walked out into the concourse. Robert and Elizabeth both asked when we could go home (my response: when the game is over!) but Colleen just rolled with it, sitting on my lap. We had fun communicating with a little girl standing in front of us -- I asked Colleen if she thought the girl was four, Colleen thought five. We were both wrong. I caught her eye and held up four fingers to her with a quizzical look on my face, but the girl shook her head and held up three. So cute!

We'd been at the ballpark for about four hours before the game finally started at 9:11, two hours late. And Robert made a friend, too -- a man in his 20s next to us chatted with Robert all night, showing him stuff about the game, telling him about the Brewers, chatting about nerf guns, the Brewers' stadium roof and the like. I thanked him profusely for putting up with Robert, and he said he coaches high school cross country, so he's used to it. I'm pretty sure there's a big difference between a 14-year-old and a 9-year old, though!

Colleen the 6-year-old at a game was a bit different than Robert the 6-year-old was. But she was very into whatever everyone was cheering about. Admittedly, with three kids with me instead of one, I didn't give her as much individual attention as Robert got at our ballgame around that age, but she certainly screamed loud at appropriate times, sang every word of Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and only once asked me when it would be over. But late in the game, she put her head on my lap and went to sleep for a while.

So it was a late night, but thankfully the Twins won. We got to see Jim Thome hit his 594th career homer. In fact, as Thome came up in the bottom of the first with Mauer and Michael Cuddyer on base and two out, I was thinking, "We better score here, or we might not score all night." As Thome's ball went over the fence, I saw the guy next to us, a Brewers fan, shaking his head. When I asked him about it later, he said it was because, "there are only three hitters in the lineup who can hurt us, and they just did."

Final: 6-2 Twins. We walked in the door about 12:15 a.m.

It's quiet

2011-06-16T12:22:00.003-05:00

One of the worst things about working from home is summer, when the kids are off school and generally around the house a lot. The kids have done a good job respecting my office space and not coming in when I have the door closed. I don't usually have too many conference calls right now but who knows what they might interrupt by walking in, in addition to my concentration.

But this year we start the summer vacation off with Cate and the kids off for two weeks to visit her mom in Philadelphia. So it's definitely been quiet.

After a pretty depressing Monday I decided I wasn't going to work in my office downstairs for the rest of the time they're gone. It's functional but there are no windows, it's always a little cooler down there and I just couldn't stand the thought of being in a box for two weeks. So I'm sitting at the kitchen table, with easy access to the radio, a ceiling fan, windows and doors to open as the weather permits, that sort of thing. It's one thing to work in the box when Cate and the kids are around because I can always pop my head out, go upstairs and be social. But on Monday, of course, there was nobody to socialize with.

While they're gone, I've had thoughts about cleaning up the house (don't know how far I'll get, but I did start), doing the laundry, trying to get some yard work done, stuff like that. The winter coats can be cleaned and stowed for a couple months. I have easy access to the kitchen as well, which is a mixed blessing, but I'm cooking up jambalaya to eat tonight and freeze for future consideration. I've gotten to hang out with some friends and I still have Minnesota Chorale rehearsals. I'm also doing a singing workshop on Saturday, which I'm looking forward to, trying to extend the comfort zone.

It'll be strange not having the kids here for Fathers Day, but we knew that going in. It's more important for them to have time with their grandmother than with me right now and if we're flying four people halfway across the country, we need to get them their money's worth in terms of time.

So, yeah, look me up. I've got some free time!

Almost 9

2011-06-03T22:33:00.004-05:00

Robert was teary-eyed at bedtime. He said, "I'm going to miss being 8." I assured him that being 9 will be just as awesome. Tomorrow we'll start his ninth year with a celebratory waffles and ice cream breakfast.

Braces

2011-05-23T11:35:00.006-05:00

Here's our newly metallic Elizabeth. She only got the upper braces today. She'll be back in 8 weeks for the lower. Besides a headache, she's doing fine. After reviewing the "don't eat" list, she's a little sad that she won't be enjoying corn on the cob, caramels, or Fritos for a while. Right now she's taking a well deserved nap. Time to add a new tag for the blog: braces.

Earth Day

2011-04-22T19:28:00.005-05:00

Colleen has been asking if she could plant a tree for Earth Day. She settled for planting some Nasturtium seeds for the trellis in the backyard. Both she and Robert had a good time. We let Robert dig because he is so good at it. He got a little carried away for our tiny seeds. Colleen shouted to me, "Mom! Robert's going to China!"

Now we sit back and hope that we've seen the last frost.

Overheard

2011-04-04T10:54:00.002-05:00

The older kids are playing a game online.

Elizabeth: "It's being glitchy. Even though I have all the blackberries I need, it's not letting me in."

Me: "How many iPhones do you need?"

Elizabeth: "Huh?"

Robert laughs. He gets it.

Stone knives and bear skins

2011-04-02T11:22:00.005-05:00

Remember how we had to explain to our kids what a computer disk was, a cassette tape, a record player, how to dial a phone?

Well, we've reached a whole new level.

Colleen came up to me and said, "Mom, how do you pause your TV?"

I told her that we actually can't pause my TV.

"Why not?" she said.

The TV in our bedroom is 18 years old. Needless to say, it's not HD and it doesn't have a DVR. And even though we've only had a TV with a DVR for less than two years, Colleen apparently doesn't remember it being any other way. And by the way, we thought this TV was not long for the world when we lived in Sterling.

Loose Tooth

2011-03-05T15:14:00.006-06:00

Colleen has a loose tooth! I've been slow to realize that, as my youngest child, she'll have all the last "firsts" of the family. *sniff*

What the kids know

2011-03-02T10:14:00.002-06:00

Friends of friends of ours just had a baby, 8 lbs., 9 oz., and as Cate noted, that's a pretty big baby.

Colleen overhears the conversation and says, "that's no big deal, it's just a little baby." I told her that was pretty big for a baby.

To try to drive home the point of what it must be like (since I don't know, obviously) to carry that big a baby inside you, I decide to teach Colleen a lesson. I ask her, "do you know where the baby comes from?"

Colleen answers, in a sing-song voice, "Uterus!"

I hope all of her children are at least eight and a half pounds.

How many days hath November?

2011-01-07T10:26:00.009-06:00

30 days. And December had 31 but we missed them all on the blog. So I'll do a quick recap with photos if I can dig some up.

November was full of Nanny. She planned a nice long visit and it went beautifully, capped off with Elizabeth's birthday and Thanksgiving at Neil & Alicia's new home. Elizabeth was trilled to receive a Kindle from Aunt Jeannie and Nanny. Her first purchases for the Kindle were a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and sequels). She was blessed with many thoughtful gifts from loved ones near and far: antique pins from Aunt Claire whose relative also had the initials EGC, a new poncho hand-knit by Nonna with crazy pom-pom gloves to match and Star Wars pancake molds from Cousin Amelia (soon to be a Big Sister herself).

December was cold but that didn't stop Nonna from taking the kids on special trips. She took Robert to see a production of Robin Hood at the Children's Theater. Elizabeth accompanied Nonna to the Guthrie Theater to see A Midsummer Night's Dream, which happily prepared her for recent study of iambic pentameter in school. Colleen and Nonna had a great time together at the Nutcracker ballet. Also, Colleen and Amelia visited the Macy's Santaland display at Macy's downtown. The cold (rather the 20+ inches of snow that fell on Dec. 9-10) also contributed to the infamous Double Sleepover. Robert was sleeping over at Nonna and Da's while Colleen was with Amelia on Friday night. We weren't able to pick them up until Sunday and even then it was rough going on the Minneapolis streets.

That brings us right up to Christmas and post Christmas. Christmas was wonderful, low key and fun (kids looking happy/wacky on left). We did a small gathering at our house on Christmas Day, possibly the first time we've hosted but I'd have to check the record (aka ask Patrick). The next day all available Colemans gathered at Pat and Donna's. Then Patrick and I happily abandoned our children for a trip to Las Vegas :) Here we pose for a photo with the Hoover Dam.

Not a radio fan

2011-01-07T10:13:00.008-06:00

In the car this morning, Colleen and I were listening to the radio and a Janis Joplin song came on, Piece of my Heart. I automatically cranked up the volume but Colleen protested, saying "Is that lady injured or something? This song is awful."

So I turned to another station. Forget You by Cee-lo was on, right at the part where he cries "Why?! Wwwwwhy?!"

Colleen says, "Turn off the music. It's too depressing."

Next time I'll bring the Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat CD she received as a Christmas gift from her godmother, Jennifer. That she loves! I think this photo conveys the awesomeness of Joseph.

Odd

2010-10-29T22:24:00.008-05:00

Like most people (I hope), I find some odd things while sorting laundry. Tonight I found the following in the pockets of Robert's jeans:

rock
quarter
Lego person head
AAA battery
pencil top eraser
empty Milky Way wrapper
half a yellow crayon
rubber band
green froot loop (uncrushed)
and.... drum roll...
a clove of garlic

Perhaps it's Halloween related. Whatever the case, I'm glad I checked the pockets before throwing them in the washer/dryer.

How about you? What crazy things have turned up in the laundry at your house?

Finally, Autumn

2010-10-15T16:56:00.009-05:00

We can't seem to make sense of the weather lately. We saw 80 degrees last week. But now we're back to wearing sweatshirts, rather than shorts.

The snap dragons we planted for Colleen's birthday in April continue to bloom into October. Here you see they are slightly crowded by fallen leaves but still going strong.

A leaf blower is a handy tool, especially when there are four children waiting to jump into leaves. Do you know how hard it is to get all of them to look at the camera when there's a giant pile of leaves to be scattered? The photo below is earlier this week. You can just see Amelia in there sitting in front of Elizabeth.

While searching for photos I came across this photo of Amelia and Colleen (lowest), taken one year ago and shown here for comparison.

Fun with The Works

2010-10-02T16:46:00.005-05:00

As an end-of-the-summer gift, Nonna got us a Groupon for The Works, a handmade mini-science museum in Edina. This morning we went and spent many hours there. The kids even ran into a few friends. Although they enjoyed the zoetrope, pneumatic bike, binary machine, giant zipper, pulleys and a foaming lab experiment, their favorite things to do were building and racing K-nex cars and the foam bricks. Literally hours and hours of building walls and knocking them down, over and over. Huge fun!!

There are lots of photos on Flickr.

Robert's singing debut

2010-09-30T20:54:00.004-05:00

Robert has been in the children's choir at church for a year now, and Mary, the choir director, suggested when the summer started that he and I should cantor a Mass together.

I wasn't quite sure he was ready, and I couldn't really get Robert to practice music with me. But during the school year we also have a weekly prayer service before religious ed starts, and since those are geared toward the kids, it's all stuff the kids know, including Robert. So he stood up there with me, with his own microphone, and sang.

Once I knew he had it handled, I just tried to stay out of the way and let him do his thing. He did great!

I hear through the grapevine that Cate was beaming with pride. Robert also said he got plenty of compliments.

P.E.

2010-09-29T08:50:00.006-05:00

Robert came to me this morning, feet dragging, shoulders down, and said in his why-me? voice:

"Mom, this is the day. It's the one mile run. I need a protein bar or something to get me through this."

I gave him a Clif bar which he promptly flipped over to read the nutritional information on the back. With relief he said, "Thank goodness. 10 grams of protein." Then he shuffled off to the bus stop, resigned to his fate.

... and beyond!

2010-09-27T14:25:00.004-05:00

Colleen showed me a new trick - pinching a rubber band in half. I said "Great fish, Colleen!" to which she replied,

"It's not a fish, Mom. It's infinity!"

That'll teach me not to underestimate a kindergartner. I asked her what infinity is and she told me that "infinity is a lot. It goes on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and evvvvvvver." Yep, she knows what she's talking about. What are they teaching kids in school these days?

I think we have a problem

2010-09-18T23:31:00.004-05:00

Setting the scene, Colleen and I are in the kitchen on Saturday. Colleen comes in to look at the calendar.

She asks, "What day is it today?"

I told her it was the 18th.

She said, "What regular day?"

I told her it was Saturday, Sept. 18.

She said, "OK," and left.

Two minutes later she comes back into the kitchen and says, in a voice worthy of a confessional: "Mom, I think we have a problem. I forgot to go to school yesterday."

Colleen stayed home from school on Friday because she was sick. But we had never told her she wasn't going in to school.

I gave her a hug and told her she would go back to school on Monday.

Cousins Group Photo, sort of

2010-09-01T16:49:00.007-05:00

Every August since moving to Minnesota the cousins have posed for an official photo. I think I'll leave the photography to Neil or Patrick because this is what happened when I tried. Sigh.

Don't we all?

2010-08-04T14:07:00.004-05:00

We've overheard some good stuff over the years. Here's one from this afternoon. I was in the kitchen and the kids were downstairs playing I don't know what. There was some excited, unintelligible chatter, then this....

Colleen: "I will not run for my life. Why are you always telling me that?! You have issues with running I think."

Colemans at Wrigley, and more

2010-07-26T14:21:00.010-05:00

Phew, what a whirlwind! Day Two of our one and a half in Chicago ended sometime around 11 p.m. when we finally got out of Wrigleyville. Although we had to leave the ballpark in the top of the 11th, hey, we had three kids happy (despite the look on Robert's face, promise) up until that time. With the Cubs-Cardinals game tied and no end necessarily in sight, we walked. The go-ahead run came up as we left Wrigley and the noise of Cardinals fans was deafening.

Robert was very much into this ballgame, rooting hard for the Cubs because we had Cardinals fans behind us. They loved the kids, especially Robert wearing his Joe Mauer jersey. I had thought perhaps he would not be the only person in Wrigley Field last night in a Mauer jersey, although I don't know that for a fact. (We did see a bunch of Twins hats and shirts and one Denard Span jersey.)

Earlier in the day we attended Mass at Nanny and Pa's parish in Niles, Ill., where Nonna and Da were married. We visited Nanny's grave, the first time for any of the kids, none of whom were alive when she died in 1997. That was followed by a trip downtown to go to the top of the Sears Tower (Robert refused to call it by its new name, the Willis Tower, and they were still selling Sears Tower memorabilia). The kids were great with the hour-plus wait in line. Colleen was a little scared but not so scared she wouldn't go up to the windows and look out.

Plus we had found a free parking spot on the street just two blocks from the tower.

It took us a while to get to a spot on the beach -- where does one park to get to the lake? We drove around a lot and finally found another free spot on the street. We did well on parking early in the trip, which made the $20 we paid to park near Wrigley more bearable. So we had to walk three-quarters of a mile to get there, in flip-flops, not a problem. Unfortunately, because of high levels of bacteria, they were not allowing people in the water. Robert was bummed out about it but got over it by eating one of the best cheeseburgers he's ever tasted. (He got one fresh off the grill because the ones already cooked and wrapped all had tomato on them. The kid behind the counter wanted me to just pull the tomato off. I told him my son was allergic.)

They also built sand castles with the John Hancock tower in the background. Colleen was sad when we had to leave, but not for long. We also saw no fewer than five rabbits on the lawn of apartment buildings along Lake Shore Drive on the walk back to the car.

The ballgame was a great time, too. Everyone got free T-shirts (I saw another fan wearing theirs when I stopped to get the kids into the bathroom somewhere between Des Plaines and Rockford.) Colleen didn't ask "when is it done?" until the sixth inning or so, and didn't make life too miserable when she was trying to take a nap in the ninth and 10th. Robert got very upset when Colleen was rooting for the Cardinals, following the crowd behind us.

Other highlights.

Colleen was a great walker, all weekend. I put the stroller in the trunk but never pulled it out.
Colleen sang every word and every note of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Better than Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly did, if you ask me.
Driving down Waveland about an hour before game time and just watching the crowd.
Robert letting Elizabeth use his camera pretty much all weekend without a complaint. She made use of the panoramic feature, including the shot at the end of this post of Wrigley about a half-hour before game time. Click the image for a bigger version.
The giardiniera at Wrigley, immediately made me wish I'd gotten the Italian beef sandwich instead of the sausage, but I put it on anyway. Nice and hot.
We couldn't get down the Obamas' street on our visit to the Hyde Park neighborhood. Blocked off by Secret Service.
Elizabeth was a trooper, a couple of times, especially taking Colleen to the ladies room in a couple of key circumstances while I either had to stay in a line or stay with the car.
The trip home was pleasantly uneventful. A special shout-out goes to the nearly full moon, which was bright and helped keep fatigue away until the pre-dawn light took over in the final hour of the drive.
The kids slept all the way. And then for five more hours after we got home and poured ourselves into bed.

Great day in Chicago

2010-07-24T22:39:00.007-05:00

Thankful for the following:

Rain that happened before we got here.

Kids patient enough to wait for dad's deep dish pizza.

A museum that has membership reciprocity with the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Two little kids who think sleeping on the pullout couch in a hotel is a cool adventure.

A cool IMAX film everyone could enjoy.

Dessert for four for $2.50 at Target.

An oldest daughter who can get the youngest one bathed.

Hope for such good fortune tomorrow.

Photo: The kids outside the Museum of Science and Industry, posing with an R2D2 mailbox.

Midnight Mumblings

2010-07-23T00:05:00.001-05:00

The latest installment of Midnight Mumblings, where one of the kids walks into the room three-quarters asleep and says something nonsensical. Tonight it was Elizabeth again.

"It was the floor. It wasn't the books. It was the juice, so it didn't get hurt."

She says this while showing me her water bottle.

Elizabeth also wandered into the bedroom a couple nights ago and said, "I was just checking where everyone was. Where did everyone go?" Everyone was in their proper bed. Except her. She didn't remember getting up when I asked her the next day.

So far, Colleen has always been coherent, at least when talking to me.

More about Dimensions Academy

2010-07-22T23:47:00.004-05:00

We've raved a couple times about the school experience that Elizabeth has received here in Bloomington and ranted (more privately) about the poor experience we had in Minneapolis public schools.

Minnesota Monthly magazine caught on to all the fuss about what's going on here in education in Minnesota, and specifically in Bloomington, writing about Dimensions Academy, the gifted program Elizabeth spent her past year in in sixth grade, and Elements, which Robert will be joining next year as a third-grader. Many people commute their kids from our former Southwest Minneapolis neighborhood to take advantage of the program, and in fact, Robert has a friend with an older sibling who gets driven in from Prior Lake to attend Bloomington schools for the DA program. Even not in the Elements program this past year, Robert received just a fantastic education from his second-grade teacher, Mrs. Evans.

I shudder to think of where we might be living and where the kids would be attending school if the gifted and talented coordinator at our Minneapolis school hadn't told us, off the record, about Dimensions Academy.

I recommend reading the article.

Four days in ...

2010-07-15T23:29:00.004-05:00

So we're four days into our grand Bloomington adventure. Cate is safely in Ireland with Patty and Jeannie. And so far the kids have gotten all their meals, have been to bed on time, the laundry and dishes are caught up and all that jazz.

Elizabeth is trying not to let the extra authority go to her head. I do definitely need her help, just because I'm still working at home during the day. But in the afternoons she has taken to crocheting upstairs in our bedroom while watching TV. She needs her alone time, after all, and basically neither of us is going to get much of it the next few weeks. She and I also have a touch-base meeting every night, where I encourage her to speak freely. She did ask one good question and I hope she will continue to be honest.

Robert shows most outwardly how much he misses his mom. Colleen will mention Cate in passing and Robert will instantly look a little sad. He mopes. He recovers. He doesn't like to talk about it. Tonight he didn't feel much like dinner but he was quick to remind me that he had a whole sandwich for lunch instead of his usual half, so I didn't make a big deal out of it. He asked if he could have cereal for dinner, but I told him cereal for breakfast, PB&J for lunch and cereal for dinner was not going to cut it.

Colleen is doing great so far. She doesn't have a whole lot of worries. Someone gets her breakfast in the morning. She plays on the computer, reads books, gets outside a little bit but has a hard time getting her siblings to go along with her outside. She and Robert each got a new Webkin in a care package from Patty, while Elizabeth got a Harry Potter game for the Wii. My goodness, they can kill a lot of time with those things!

Elizabeth has the night off, sleeping over at a friend's house. Much deserved. There she doesn't have to help get anyone ready for bed or clear dishes. Well, she might have to clear the dishes, not sure.

For a high-tech guy, I keep the calendar pretty low-tech. Any new appointments or items for the to-do list are on the one-a-day calendar on the desk in my home office. Tomorrow is pretty busy. Robert was invited to a classmate's birthday party, Elizabeth needs to be picked up from the sleepover, Colleen is spending the night with Neil and Alicia and Elizabeth and I are going to a family get-together. So, today we had to go out and buy a gift and drop Elizabeth off at her friend's. Also, Mom came over and picked up the kids and took them to the park for a few hours, helping them knock an item off the bingo card.

Sorry, no pictures. But I promise they are all still alive.

This summer's to-do list

2010-07-13T23:22:00.003-05:00

Two down, 23 to go. The summer bingo card is Cate's concoction -- a way to keep the kids engaged, perhaps, or keep them from asking to do too many things? Not sure. But what we have is this:

So far only the free space and one other have been marked off in the few days since Elizabeth drew this up. And click on the image to see a larger version -- the details are worth it.

Some of these are things Elizabeth wants to do, some Robert wants, some Colleen wants. I have something on this list, too.

When the first bingo is achieved, we take a trip to Dairy Queen. If we get the cover-all, well, we'll figure something.

Meanwhile, we'll see you at the bandshell sometime soon, or maybe riding the trolley!

Safe travels

2010-07-12T19:45:00.004-05:00

As we speak, Cate is on the trip of a lifetime, as she's heading to Ireland with her mom and sister.

There were more than a couple of tears shed by the youngest members of the family today as we dropped Cate off at the airport. She won't be back for more than two weeks.

I hope she thinks about us but doesn't worry. We'll be fine. She's left town for a week at a time a couple times before in the past couple of years, so we can take it. Meanwhile, I'll whip these kids into shape.

Ehh, who am I kidding!

Have fun, Cate!

Welcome to Xzandorf

2010-07-05T05:09:00.000-05:00

In looking back at a few old posts, namely ones with the label Somehow the kids all smiled and looked at the camera, I was reminded that Elizabeth dubbed a "planet" set up in the center at Linden Hills Park as Xzandorf.

At the time I noted that word was not in Google's database.

This is no longer the case.

Do note that all of the other references are newer than Oct. 31, 2008.

Grillin' with Grands

2010-07-04T00:43:00.005-05:00

It's way too late in the evening to think of anything clever but I wanted to share the latest photo (taken by Uncle Neil) of the kids. Here are Pat and Donna with their four grandchildren. We had a great visit last weekend. Good food, good company.

Losing part of the family

2010-07-01T10:10:00.005-05:00

Nikki was a much-traveled, well-loved cat, and had been part of the Coleman family off and on for as long as the kids can remember, until she died Tuesday night. We believe she was 21 years old.

Nikki was not actually our cat -- she was Jeannie's cat. But she's lived in our house off and on for probably 10 years. Cate's family rescued her when she was abandoned by downstairs neighbors in the Chesterfield Apartments in Levittown, Pa., sometime before Cate left for college in the fall of 1990. Nikki was not fully grown yet. She had been left on the balcony of the apartment when the renters moved out and they heard her meowing.

Nikki lived with us for most of a decade, starting in our Reston townhouse, where she joined us and Todd, before Todd died in November 2001. She came with us when we bought the house in Sterling and Patty took care of her there before Patty left for Ireland.

She loved the back of the chair, and as a baby Robert (this photo is April 2004) loved to play with her. She was very calm and peaceful, sitting almost like a statue of a cat. She would roll over and expose her tummy for you to pet. She had an insistent purr, probably like most cats, but really wanted you to continue petting her.

My brother, Ryan, has long been a cat lover and took Nikki home with him on a 20-some-hour drive after covering the Stagg Bowl in 2007, at a time when we had three kids and were still trying to manage two children who were under 5 along with two nearly full-time jobs. We visited her a couple times at Ryan's place while living with mom and dad. But she came to live with us when we bought the house here. And we've known she was on her last legs for a long time.

Nikki was diagnosed with breast cancer about six months ago, and it was clear the spring in her step was long gone. When she was younger, the kids used to love playing with her, using the flashlight to throw spots on the wall or the floor that she would attack. She and Todd co-existed well. Nikki only walked out onto the back deck of the house in Sterling a few times, and a quick rattle of the food container always brought her running back.

She never lost her love of eating, however, or her plaintive meow when she thought it was time to be fed. She couldn't jump up on the kitchen countertop anymore, but the table was still accessible (if she was able to use the chair as a launching point). To the last, she would be so insistent on eating that she would stick her head in the food bowl while you were pouring it, meaning you had to battle her to get the food in the bowl and not all over the floor.

When Nikki went to the vet Tuesday night, we knew she wasn't coming back. Elizabeth understood. Robert had been prepped many times but still didn't fully understand until I called him over, sat him on my lap and told him Nikki would not be coming home. He cried. Colleen perhaps still doesn't understand -- last night she talked again about "when Nikki comes home from the vet" and I decided to use the D word in response and tell her Nikki died. She had a sad look on her face, and I told her it was OK to be sad, so she cried. But she was on to the next train of thought in a couple of minutes.

Todd died the night before Thanksgiving in 2001 and we buried him at the edge of the backyard in Reston, eventually covered by a flagstone to keep scavengers away. We'll do a short memorial service and place a marker in our garden for Nikki.

Thanks for letting her be part of our lives, Jeannie.

The things you hear at night

2010-06-26T00:30:00.003-05:00

My goal isn't usually to embarrass the children, but I just have to say: One of our children makes nursing sounds when sleeping at night. This child hasn't nursed in a while. Heck, none of them have.

Just saying.

A good question

2010-06-24T11:30:00.003-05:00

One of the benefits of working at home rather than 'nameless office park Verizon facility' is that my home office is a lot more like any other newsroom. I have more than one computer at my disposal and satellite television next to my desk.

While the marathon tennis match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut was in progress this morning for the third day, I invited Robert in to witness history and made sure he understood that what he was watching had never happened in the history of professional tennis. And I explained some of the rules of the game to him, which, he informed me, are different from the way tennis is played on the Wii.

The fifth set is tied somewhere in the mid-60s at this point, in the third day of competition after it had been suspended twice because of darkness.

Then, Amelia walked in, saw the television, and promptly asked Robert, "who win?"

Indeed, such was the 11-hour question. About 20 minutes later, it was Isner. And Robert had long since returned to the Wii.

Pasta on the patio with Pa

2010-06-21T14:00:00.000-05:00

Going out to dinner

2010-06-16T19:38:00.009-05:00

As the family got larger, going out to dinner gradually went by the wayside. It was about the time that Robert started needing his own meal, then Colleen came along and took up space and attention and made it a lot more expensive and less enjoyable to just sit around a table anywhere, let alone out to dinner.

But lately we've ventured out a little bit, and it's been downright pleasant. The kids can read the menu for themselves and decide what they want. We don't have to do the talking for all the kids when the waiter comes. There's no wrangling a highchair.

Tonight we went out to dinner courtesy Mom and a gift card to The Cheesecake Factory from about 2002. It's been in my wallet for the better part of a decade, unused. With a brand-new baby in the house, we weren't going out anywhere, and in those days finding babysitting wasn't a given. The Cheesecake Factory has been loud and difficult to get into -- who can wait 40 minutes for a table with kids in tow? Dinner out for a while was destined for pizza places or semi-fast food (Cate and the kids eat McDonalds while I walk over to grab takeout from Chipotle), or the occasional trip to Applebee's.

And not that The Cheesecake Factory is so darn fancy, either.

So it sat, unused. Mom would ask (bug) me about it on occasion, and you know how gift card issuers used to like to charge a fee for not using the card. So I thought perhaps it might have had its money run out. When cleaning out my wallet I would see it and wonder if it was still good, but always hang onto it, even while assuming the worst. I told Mom many years ago that we had used it, just to get her off my back about it. (Nagging me about something is a sure way to keep me from wanting to do it.)

But today I looked up the phone number of their gift-card balance check line, punched in the number and was somewhat surprised to find it was still good for the full value, so we packed up our somewhat larger and older family and went. We got there about 5:30, so seating was not an issue at the only Cheesecake Factory in Minnesota. We had a nice meal, everyone ate until they were full, and you can see above that there are plenty of leftovers for future meals.

The only downer: Elizabeth is too old for the kids menu. We knew that already and loyal readers of the blog have already seen her tastes run to the expensive end of the spectrum, but we have a no-steak policy. She had a Thai chicken pasta dish, Robert had pasta with marinara, etc., and all the dishes were gigantic.

And Robert had a good time afterward playing around the gigantic horse, which is actually part of the P.F. Chang's exterior next door, but so be it.

So, Mom, thanks. Finally we used it.

One year of one car life

2010-06-06T13:51:00.004-05:00

We're about one year into living with just one car. Our Nissan Sentra bit the dust after it was totaled about a year ago. At that time, I thought it would be only a temporary situation, but we ended up having to take that insurance payment and rolling it into the down payment for our house.

So here we are. As a result, I work from home about 95 percent of the time. We can't always do the things we'd like to because we can't be two places at once. We've gotten by with occasional lending of vehicles by friends and relatives, but don't have the money to afford either the down payment or any kind of monthly payment.

Meanwhile, we keep looking at vehicles that can seat more than five -- not that we are going to have more children, but so our growing three can spread out a little bit. Or if we want to, say, go buy a snowblower, we can transport one. Or when we have guests in from out of town, all of us can go somewhere in one vehicle.

Cate and I have had two cars for a while, but it was deceiving. We've never had two car payments at once -- the second car was almost always one bought or gifted from a relative. I was sure we'd be able to save money in our new house but income is flat and my health insurance went from bad to awful last winter.

Reminds me, I should really be writing my freelance pieces for USA Today rather than writing on the blog. Whoops.

The day Robert turns 8

2010-06-04T11:52:00.004-05:00

I don't particularly remember third grade with any fondness. I didn't know the term then, but I feel comfortable in retrospect in saying my teacher was a prick. Going into third grade, Robert will hopefully have a bit of a different year.

We celebrated Robert's last day of 7 last night with a quick trip to Dairy Queen (don't tell Elizabeth) and Robert was particularly wired all evening. Elizabeth stayed home and put Colleen to sleep, but that's OK -- she is particularly eager to earn money for a purchase she has in mind, so we'll see if she can make it.

Robert was greeted at school by his friends, who wished him a happy birthday en masse as he walked in. Presents will come tonight, but he also got to sign up for one of his first big-kid/grownup privileges last night: Robert now has a gmail address. I suppose we could give him access to write his own blog posts, too, but that will have to come later.

One of my first emails to Robert was to thank him in advance for not waking me up at 6:45 a.m. like he did eight years ago today. Thankfully, he complied.

And tonight, pancakes for dinner!

Robert's journey continues

2010-05-28T14:38:00.004-05:00

I really should let Cate write this blog post, since she has worked very hard on this all year, but we only have a few minutes to blog today, so I'm here to report that Robert got into the Elements program for the Bloomington schools for next year.

After a disastrous first-grade year, we weren't sure if Robert was going to realize his potential, but he's really blossomed at Ridgeview and with Mrs. Evans as his teacher.

Elements is the relatively new second- and third-grade version of the Dimensions Academy (gifted and talented) program that Elizabeth is in. Cate has been painstakingly collecting Robert's work and tidbits for this program ever since we found out we couldn't apply for the program last year. (We didn't have the test scores and Minneapolis Public Schools was extremely unhelpful. We were glad to commit to leaving MPS for Bloomington even though we didn't have a house here at the time.)

We are so psyched. He is going to do great.

Colleen is a kindergartner!

2010-05-26T14:46:00.003-05:00

Many a milestone in the past month or so, some of which we've missed talking about. Robert made his first communion in April and Colleen turned 5. Robert is riding his bike with super-duper confidence, which is a nice change over last summer.

But yesterday was Colleen's preschool graduation, so she is now officially a kindergartner. She made some really good friends in preschool, including Tess, whom she only talks about all the time. I chatted with her dad picking Colleen up from school yesterday and was glad to find out the feeling is mutual.

I came armed to get pictures of the "graduation" ceremony and a photo of Colleen and Tess. What I wasn't expecting, though, was the coordinated outfits.

Not that 5-year-olds are capable of coordinating outfits. Heck, this was the first time Colleen had ever worn this. You can click on the photo for a larger version but the only real difference is that Tess is wearing a butterfly and Colleen a mermaid.

Happy birt

2010-05-24T23:54:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to take a moment to wish our oldest daughter a happy half-birthday. So Elizabeth is just six months from being a real teenager -- unlike the emotional teenager she sometimes is.

I had a shopping errand to run tonight and took her out with me. We were successful. Then she just casually mentioned it was her half-birthday. (Sure enough, May 24, you could look it up.) So, when I stopped for gas I brought her in to the convenience store and told her she could pick something out of the ice cream treat freezer.

A little private time.

The drain brain

2010-05-15T00:56:00.003-05:00

Robert is a big fan of listing pros and cons. If you want to know every eventuality or consequence to even the simplest choice, Robert is the one to ask. He can dream up dozens of consequences, several times removed from the initial question.

Recently he debated whether we should fix a slow drain in our bathroom sink. He googled the problem and found several easy fixes but he hesitated because seeing the water in the sink might teach Colleen exactly how much water she was using and possibly wasting when she brushed her teeth. Then he changed his mind because he didn’t think it would take her that long to learn that lesson and it would probably be more expensive if the clog got larger over time.

He told me that “plumbers are expensive because they are skilled at stuff nobody wants to do themselves.”

Robert offered to help me plunge the drain but, as he said, “for safety issues” he didn’t want any part of pouring boiling water down the drain.

Eaty gourmet

2010-05-08T20:47:00.007-05:00

I'm sure we all remember the great stuff we used to make ... or make our parents make, as a kid. Peanut butter and banana sandwich, grilled cheese with a pickle in it, some potato chips on top of our bologna sandwich.

That last part was important. It was the only way I could choke down the bologna sandwich on wonder bread that went with me to school for lunch on occasion. (Sorry, mom.)

Well, Colleen has been experimenting for herself lately, and using most of the same materials I'm sure we all used. Except that the other day, she took it one step further.

This is Colleen's banana dog. It's a banana with peanut butter and grape jelly on a hot dog bun. She pretty much ate all of it. In fact, I'd say it might not be that bad.

Oh, Robert!

2010-05-06T22:48:00.004-05:00

I'm such a sucker. Just before bed Robert came across one of his favorite non-cartoon t.v. shows - Build it Bigger. I let him stay up to finish the program. They were in a gold mine in South Africa. Robert was exhausted but fascinated.

Quote, when they blasted a few tons of rock: "I could totally do that."

Photo No. 1: Tired Robert watching TV.

Photo No. 2: Robert perks up when the host and crew experience an earthquake a gazillion feet below the surface of the earth.

Happy Easter from the Colemans!

2010-04-04T11:24:00.008-05:00

The pork shoulder is about ready to fall off the bone, so I don't have time to write, but it was a full first Easter in the new house. Although we had opportunities to spend the day with the extended family, we had some things we needed to get done, like find some of the good hiding places for eggs in our new yard and the like.

We took plenty of photos but in brief:

All dressed up for church -- similar to what we wore to Amelia's second birthday party the day before but different enough that it deserved another photo.
Easter egg hunt in the backyard. Cate and I banished the kids to the basement for a little while while we put the eggs out in various levels of difficult hiding places.
Cate crocheted Easter baskets for each of the kids. You can see them in the photos. Elizabeth just said, "I really like my basket, Mom!"
After the kids all found their eggs, they hid eggs for me and Cate to find. One got lost in the shuffle and another accidentally went over the fence for our neighbors to have.
Pork shoulder has been marinating since yesterday afternoon and has been roasting in the oven since 11 a.m. today. Ready to pull it momentarily, which is why I'm being brief.
Visited Pa, and there's a photo of him with the kids in the photos link above.
Lots of chocolate was consumed.
Hello to all we missed today!

And then some other items from today:

After Colleen got dressed this morning, she looked at the mirror in the living room and said, "Ooh, I look good!" And she did. She was twirling -- the dress is definitely made for twirling.

If you get a chance to look really closely at the photos from Amelia's second birthday (also on Facebook) and compare them to the photos from today, you'll see that Robert is missing a tooth. Cate pulled it yesterday afternoon. It had already been knocked looser in a Monopoly accident on Friday afternoon (Robert hit his own face maniacally shaking his dice) and Cate finished it off.

The kids gave a name to each of the 24 or so plastic eggs we got for hiding. So sorry that Jose didn't get to fulfill his Easter destiny of being hidden and then found. The kids were playing with him in the basement and he never got out.

Elizabeth: "We ate awesome cake that Mom made yesterday. There!"

Some of the eggs in today's hunt didn't have rewards, but challenges. I think Elizabeth was a little confused when she opened an egg that said, "Hop on one foot for a minute." She was not allowed to continue egg hunting until the minute was up. Colleen found one that said, "Do five jumping jacks," and another that said "Go kiss Daddy." I was surprised when she came tearing around the house and grabbed me around the leg and kissed me. Elizabeth also found one that said, simply, "This is a plastic egg."

We got a chance to test out just a few of the great hiding places in our yard. Elizabeth's egg was hidden on the roof of the garage, for example. Robert's was hidden out of his reach in a tree. I buried one halfway in a planter box and another underneath the chin of a decorative rabbit in the front yard. Each of the kids had one with his or her name on it and a special treat, then they were competing for the rest of the eggs.

The forsythia are in full bloom at Nonna and Da's, as well as the pussy willows.

An Easter Story

2010-04-02T18:32:00.007-05:00

At the breakfast table, Colleen tells a story to Amelia ---

Once upon a time in a galaxy far away, Jesus was coming to town and everybody was there saying "Yay! Yay! You rock!" and Jesus was tired so they gave him a donkey. He was riding the donkey and there were kids there and they said "Hoshana!" And Jesus said "I'm the King of Peace!" Then they had dinner and Jesus got in trouble with the police and they arrested him and threw him in jail. And they lived happily ever after - except then he died. But that's okay because he came back on Easter morning. But then he went away again. It's all very confusing. The End.

Amelia clapped and said "Yay! Yay!"

Speaking of hats... Aunt Jeannie made these for Christmas

2010-03-12T13:15:00.005-06:00

Colleen's turn

2010-03-12T11:11:00.006-06:00

"Mom, why is my hair so large and can you shrink it for me please?"

I usually try to accommodate anything said with a please. So today I'll be blow drying Colleen's hair straight(ish).

In this picture Colleen's "joyous" hair is restrained by a hat I crocheted. I can't remember what she was looking at but this is one happy little girl.

Elizabeth's turn

2010-02-26T11:09:00.004-06:00

The setting: Elizabeth is reading in the upper bunk. I'm reading to Colleen who is in the lower bunk. Colleen has a whole pile of books she wants me to read. I'm exhausted and decide that one story is all I can do. She's obviously disappointed. I have a great idea and say, "Maybe Elizabeth can read you some of her book."

The comeback from Elizabeth: "MOM! Are you insane?!? This is the Klingon Dictionary!!"

I'm sure it's pretty easy to imagine the pre-teen inflection associated with the italics and CAPS in that quote.

Robert's turn

2010-02-26T10:49:00.008-06:00

Robert got all dressed up for Picture Day on Wednesday. With his fresh hair cut, church clothes that Nanny got him for Christmas and a clip-on tie, he was ready for his close-up.

When I picked him up from school he said, "Mom, I think I attracted 10 girls today. I looked really good."

Not expecting such a sentence from my seven year old son, I sputtered, "What?!" He confidently replied, "Girls like when guys dress up. You always say I look cute."

True.

When she sings

2010-02-18T00:47:00.003-06:00

We have a daughter who doesn't like to sing for her dad. That dad smiles intensely and gets all warm inside when he hears said daughter sing. Usually that happens when she sings along to songs on the radio or on the CD player in the car. It's all he can do to say nothing and just enjoy the moment.

And that's fine.

But she can definitely sing.

The mysterious missing box

2010-02-01T15:04:00.002-06:00

Shortly before leaving Virginia, I put all of the important paperwork for my corporation, the one which runs the D3sports.com network of Web sites, into a cardboard box. It was in the kitchen in the spring as I was working on the taxes, and sat there afterward, as we got packed up and headed out.

Move to Minneapolis. I had kind of thought we had the box among the stuff that we left out of storage and drove out with us. But no dice -- we searched through our unpacked belongings many times, for months, checking and rechecking every cardboard box. It contained the rest of the business checks, paperwork dating back years, receipts, the whole nine yards. I looked through our storage containers as much as I could for this mysterious missing cardboard box without luck.

Buy a house, move to Bloomington, unpack the storage containers and get everything out of mom and dad's house. Still nothing. If we have this box, we officially have no idea where. In the meanwhile, we've closed down and opened a new corporation and checking account, so business can continue.

Well, Neil and Alicia are getting ready to sell their place and are looking or some temporary storage, so they came over to help us organize our garage and set aside some space for them. In the process, a bunch of things came inside. In looking through them in my office this morning, I opened a plastic storage container with a lid that had a bunch of files in it.

Bingo.

A year and a half later, mystery solved. Guess we changed the box it was stored in, throwing off the entire search.

A little knowledge ...

2010-01-30T22:33:00.003-06:00

Colleen and I were in the grocery store today, with a coupon for tortilla chips. We were trying to decide which ones to get, when Colleen read the labels and said: "Get that one, mommy. It has zero trains in it!"

Presenting the two-time champ

2010-01-28T01:07:00.005-06:00

Cate has done it again. The defending St. Thomas the Apostle jello creation champion pulled off the repeat.

Last year, granted, the title was as much a result of Robert's charm as anything else. It was a wedding cake that fell apart and got rebranded as a volcano. This year, we made one entry, and made it work. You can see at left here, Robert defending the Colemans' jello entry from the grazers.

These are not Dots. These are jello dots -- several different colors of jello molded in tiny ice cube trays. In the end, a fairly simple result, but clever and time-consuming, including the precision with which the molds were poured.

Watching Cate pour a lot of work into this (and a lot of jello) this afternoon, and stress out over it, I was ecstatic to find out that "we" had won.

Wednesday night is church night for us, starting with Robert's children's choir practice at 5:30, followed by a community meal, a prayer service and religious ed classes. While the kids and Cate (who assists the kindergarten class) are in class, I'm in church choir rehearsal. When Cate and the kids came into the church to wait for us to finish, I motioned for Robert to come up and sit next to me so I could ask him who won.

It was a close vote, apparently. But not in my mind. Best dish, hands down.

Cate also prepared her grandmother's seafoam salad, which is a green jello whipped with cream cheese and pears, layered. Surely not doing the concept justice. (And Cate wasn't blown away by the imprecision of the family recipe card handed down, either!)

The other part of jello night is playing Bingo, and the parish has these vintage cards from the 1950s. This year, Colleen put her reading skills to the test for a while, playing one card. For most of the two-digit numbers, one of us would have to translate, but she enjoyed it enough to keep playing for three or four rounds before losing interest.

The movies of our childhood

2010-01-27T09:30:00.003-06:00

Elizabeth is coming of age, a little bit, and we've slowly allowed/encouraged her to read more mature books and watch more mature movies.

Shortly after we moved into our new house -- which seems somehow to have become a blog-free zone, for which we apologize -- Cate and I brainstormed a list of the quintessential movies of our childhood. For example, when I was Elizabeth's age, I remember Pa taking me to see War Games in the theater. I remember specifically because I got up to go to the bathroom while he was asleep and got in trouble because he woke up and I was gone!

Many of these movies fly past us on DirecTV, and we try to capture them on the DVR. Elizabeth has already watched War Games and Ghostbusters, which is a Cate personal favorite. She's also seen Raiders of the Lost Ark. Here are the other movies she and I identified:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Back to the Future
The Birds
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
E.T.
Field of Dreams
Hoosiers
The Hunt for Red October
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Jaws
Space Camp
Star Trek (original cast, movies 2, 3, 4 and 6)
Star Wars

For Star Wars, that's the original trilogy -- it's funny to hear Elizabeth and Robert refer to the movie we all know as simply Star Wars by calling it Star Wars: A New Hope.

These are primarily movies of the late '70s and '80s, but I would say almost anything is up for discussion. What would you add?

You can NOT be SERIOUS!

2009-12-09T16:11:00.004-06:00

Colleen got into the car this afternoon after preschool, and immediately said, "Mom, I have a problem. Mrs. Carr said to bring boots and tennis shoes to school tomorrow.

"But I don't have boots. And I don't play tennis."

We'll have to see what we can do. Been a fun day here with the snow. The kids loved playing outside in it yesterday. It's been prime hot chocolate weather.

Yep, we're still here

2009-11-30T12:55:00.011-06:00

General apologies for the huge gaps between posts. This fall seems to be busier than most. Here are a few cute stories we missed sharing. Hopefully I can add some pictures tonight.

This morning in the car, Colleen was singing a song for her preschool Christmas show, over and over. Robert was annoyed and "asked" her to stop. I reminded him that just a couple weeks ago he was singing his Thanksgiving songs (pictured at performance) and how it annoyed Elizabeth at the time. I asked him if he remembered what I said to her. He said with a scowl, "That I was definitely allowed to practice singing. I hate it when you're right, Mom."

Colleen was complaining about the sun being in her eyes in the car. I said that we could bring her sunglasses next time. She said, "My sunglasses don't work. The sun is boiling my blood! Do something!" Evidently her old sunglasses didn't cover enough of her eyes and would let the sun through. So the next time we were at Target we found these huge bug-eye sunglasses. Now the sun doesn't boil her eyes anymore.

Besides working extremely hard at school and earning terrific grades to prove it, the past few weeks for Elizabeth have been about The Birthday. Twelve years old last Tuesday. Colleen told everyone at preschool - "yesterday she was eleven and today she is twelve." Her birth"day" was actually drawn out over a couple of weeks, starting with Nonna taking her and a friend, Jack, to a wonderful performance of The Wizard of Oz at Hopkins High School. She had a blast; there were actual flying monkeys. Then two books from Mom and Dad that she just couldn't wait 5 days until her birthday to read so she got them early. Then her actual birthday with a package from Nanny (beautiful Guardian Angel that now hangs over her bed) and cupcakes with the special-made cinnamon butter cream frosting. Then from the St. Paul Colemans she got "awesome" Smencils and cold hard cash to go toward her new desk chair (note to self: get E to Ikea!). I confess that I succumbed to the ease of using the Thanksgiving gathering for the official "Happy Birthday!" where she (and others I hope) enjoyed her favorite Pineapple Mallow Pie (thank you to Betty Crocker and to Nonna for the loan of Betty Crocker) and got the coveted Star Trek reboot DVD from Uncle Ryan. She and Robert watched it 3 times the next day. With all the extras and commentary, they watched it practically all day.

We took advantage of our Friday off to clear some more boxes from the living and dining room so more and more it looks like we live her permanently. It's a great feeling to get the number of boxes down to regular storage, not moving boxes. Our garage is ridiculously large and my next big project is to organize the storage in there.

On an unrelated note - hey, where's the snow? The weather is very un-Minnesota-like at the moment and we're getting nervous about Christmas. Robert asked me after Thanksgiving, "Is it possible that we won't have a white Christmas?!"

Settling in

2009-10-30T18:25:00.004-05:00

It seems like every waking moment is taken up by one thing or another, whether it's working, singing or just getting the house in order. Cate and I have a list two memo pages long of things that the new house needs.

The girls' room was probably the first to be completed, due in no small part to the fact that Elizabeth, first of all, was capable of unpacking her stuff by herself and secondly, was very motivated to get her books out of the boxes they've been in for nearly a year and a half. Click on the photo for a bigger version and get a look at a slice of our backyard.

One of the first things I did when we got into the house was hang photos. Maybe that's not the usual top priority, but I wanted to get something of ours on the wall, since even in Sterling we didn't put a whole lot on the walls. Here there are nails in the walls all over the place already for us to take advantage of.

But all in all, we are enjoying living by ourselves and living at our own pace and to our own standards, even though we've raised those standards in the past year.

As for what's new: the kids are enjoying school and Cate is off to look at a preschool next week for Colleen. We've met neighbors on each side. No other 11-year-old girls, 7-year-old boys or 4-year-old girls yet, however. We've spent a couple of days just raking leaves, though it's hard to get too far when there's been about 25 rainy days since we moved in.

The fridge has been restocked -- multiple times now -- and the pantry and spice rack are pretty much back to normal. There must be, somewhere, one more kitchen box we have to unpack, unless we broke four bowls and lost eight spoons from our original set. I started to unpack a box a few weeks ago that was marked stemware, looked at the newspaper that it was wrapped in and thought, "that's odd, I thought The Washington Post didn't look like that anymore." (Yes, I think in italics when necessary.) On closer look, it was paper from the summer of 1996, and they were Patty's stemware. So they're back in the box.

Patty has been out to visit and the kids had a great time with her here for a little over a week. I'll let Cate write more about that sometime.

Snow, already?

2009-10-10T11:26:00.004-05:00

Less than a week in the new house, and this morning I woke up to this in the backyard. Unbelievable for Oct. 10!

Surely some Minnesota native is going to come back with a know-it-all response, but I don't want to hear it.

Meanwhile, having a great time in our new house so far. We will post more, with pictures, at some future point, promise.

It's a very, very, very fine house

2009-09-30T21:20:00.003-05:00

The basement has a TV, an electric piano and some toys.

The kitchen has a table and two chairs.

The living room has a rug, a chair and a table.

The refrigerator contains the remnants of a 12-pack of Diet Coke, two jars of pickles and a container of mustard.

But it's our house. Finally. Thank goodness. Back to the unpacking tomorrow.

Yo tub

2009-09-23T11:13:00.002-05:00

"Guess what I saw? I saw a fire engine made of cake!"

"No way," Cate says, playing along, "you can't make a fire engine out of cake!"

"Yu huh! I saw it! I saw it on Yo Tub!"

Those of us who have been reading for more than a few months might more readily recognize this Web site as YouTube. But that was how Colleen described to Cate recently the results of her apparently random surfing.

Perhaps Elizabeth bookmarked it for her, or maybe she just somehow stumbled on it from another link or video. But it's become her favorite destination on the Web of late. She can watch baking and cooking shows literally for hours on end. Howdini has a bunch of videos demonstrating various cakes: panda cakes, mermaid cakes (with fruit rollups for fins), turtle cakes, rubber ducky cakes, blue jean cakes, butterfly cales, teddy bear cookies, guitar cakes (she loves the bright green icing), barn animal cupcakes, jungle cupcakes ... the list literally goes on.

She speaks fondly of the doll cake Nonna made for her fourth birthday, patterned after one that she made for Elizabeth for age 2. She is so ready for birthday No. 5, which won't come until next April of course. When that time comes, she may have a hard time deciding what cake she wants. But she knows how to make them all. How many 4-year-olds know what a crumb coat is?

Video below.

Hooray for a new school year

2009-09-17T13:15:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was Day 7 for Elizabeth and Robert in their new schools. I picked Elizabeth up yesterday and asked her what she did in school and got a 20-minute explanation of a really cool project they did in their science class.

Beats the heck out of fifth grade. She's really fired up.

What a drag it is getting old

2009-09-15T20:15:00.005-05:00

We haven't written about Pa much in the course of this blog and the 13 months we've been back in Minneapolis. Truth be told, I often don't know what to say to him or about him.

Pa is 96. He lives on the other side of the lake, in a nursing home. When we got here, he was still in assisted living, where he had his own two-room apartment with a little kitchen and a bathroom, and 24-hour assistance. but some months back, Pa got to the end of his savings and had to let them go, put the apartment up for sale and had to move into the nursing home wing of the facility. Only through the generosity of my cousin Chris does Pa get a room to himself.

Nanny has been gone for 12 years now. Pa lived in the old house in Niles, Ill., with help, until one day he drove his car through the back wall of the garage and Mom brought him here to live in Minneapolis.

It's hard to visit him sometimes. Pa still functions pretty well, mostly knows who we are and who the kids are. That's especially true for Colleen. When we first moved here, Colleen would be very shy when we'd get to his room, and if we spent an hour there, she wouldn't warm up until the final 15 minutes. That shyness went away a little while ago and now she is very playful with him, and I know he appreciates it. When I think about what he's gained by living what can only be seen as beyond his expected time, I know that relationships with our kids are on the list.

We brought him over on Labor Day for dinner on the patio and just hung out. He hates the food in the nursing home but to be honest, he can't taste it anyway, so it doesn't make much difference. He spent a good amount of time trying to recreate these great paper airplanes he used to fold when we were kids, but couldn't quite figure it out.

Mom gets exasperated with her dad, calling at all hours, not always remembering who he's spoken to already or what they've spoken about or agreed to. And Cate, bless her soul, has taken Pa to heart in our time here. We went over to visit on Sunday and Cate basically drove the conversation. I sat there in awe of her.

Tonight Pa called -- having trouble with his television remote for the first time in a while. All Pa wants to do is watch the ballgame, and sometimes he gets in his own way. There are too many buttons, and he really only needs five of them. He gets so frustrated. I went over there to fix the remote and he wanted to know what I had done, but I couldn't tell him because sometime he might want to fix it himself. And that would only make it worse.

I don't want to be 96. Sure, 85 maybe. And fifty years from now, maybe 96 will be the new 86. But old and frail and unable to help myself, that's not something I want to be. I don't care how many great-grandchildren I would live to see.

But I don't get the sense that his time is up. The last time I spoke to Nanny, she was deep into the throes of Alzheimer's, and even though I only got the true Nanny for a couple of minutes, I was thankful because I knew I wouldn't get another chance.

I have yet to feel that with Pa.

The wonders of Mylar

2009-08-28T21:12:00.002-05:00

Robert got a Mylar balloon at his birthday party, with Star Wars characters on it. You know Mylar, the shiny helium balloons.

Today, about 11 weeks later, it finally fell.

That must have been some funky helium.

Elizabeth and J.J. Jumper

2009-08-04T22:03:00.002-05:00

In March 2001, Catholic University won the national championship of Division III men's basketball. Cate and Elizabeth drove down from Reston, Va., on game day to see them play in the title game, which I was in Salem covering for D3hoops.com. They got there just before tipoff and cheered us on as the Cardinals beat William Paterson.

After the game, pyrotechnics blew from the ceiling and confetti poured down on the floor. There was jumping and celebrating, net cutting and the whole 94 feet. Or nine yards. Since I was working, I was there long after the game, and Cate and Elizabeth were, too, with Elizabeth walking around the floor, picking up the colored strips of paper and stuffing them in a popcorn box.

It's her only memory of the game. She was not quite 3-1/2.

The following November, the Harlem Globetrotters came to Catholic University for an exhibition game, part of the spoils of victory. It was a packed house, and I was sitting on the floor, taking pictures. Elizabeth, at times, was sitting next to me. So was Jack Lonergan.

Jack is the son of then-Catholic U. coach Mike Lonergan. He is a little over a year younger than Elizabeth. But of course, he's in the gym all the time. That's his second home.

J.J. Jumper, the official mascot of NCAA basketball, was there entertaining the crowd. At one point, he was tossing out shirts to the crowd. Elizabeth was just about to turn 4. She was dying for a shirt, and supplies were running low.

Jack, Elizabeth and I were sitting on the sidelines near center court and at one point J.J. turned his back and Jack bolted for a shirt. You know, as much as a 2-year-old can bolt.

Elizabeth turned to look at me and I told her, "Go ahead!"

I mean, she was running out there with the coach's son. Who was going to stop her?

She got back to our spot on the sidelines, beaming, before J.J. turned around. Jack got his too. The shirt was an XL, down to her feet.

She's had it ever since, and in fact, she's sleeping in it tonight.

And seven years later, it's still big.

Fa ... so, la-ti-do

2009-08-02T21:48:00.003-05:00

When I auditioned for the Minnesota Chorale two months ago, I figured I was in it for the notes. Not the ones I'd be singing, but the ones I'd hope to get from the director. As in, "here's why we didn't select you and here's what you can work on."

So, when I was not only offered a spot, but offered it on the spot, I was a little surprised. And the whirlwind to being back on stage at Orchestra Hall two months later has been a rush. Six weeks of rehearsal, twice a week, almost three hours a night, learning a piece of music (Aida) I not only had never sung but had basically never heard before, in a language I'd never sung in before. (Why not Latin? Ugh.)

Other things I've done -- I've sung on a big stage (Kennedy Center) with a large group in a full orchestra. But this was a little different. There were more tenors in this performance (25) than every other choir I've sung with, combined.

I was a little worried when I had a really sloppy first act in Saturday morning's dress rehearsal, but I nailed down almost all of the loose ends.

In all, it was a lot of fun, certainly a great first project with the Minnesota Chorale. It's sounding like a lean season for the Chorale because of budgetary cutbacks with the Minnesota Orchestra, so it's perhaps not the best time to join the group, but many people have been in the Chorale for decades, and clearly, they must be desperate for tenors, since they took me. We'll find out later this week what else we'll be doing this year -- the thing about the Chorale is not everyone does every project, so I might only sing in a couple of things with them this year. But so far, it's been just a blast.

Very enthusiastic audience. Our Aida (Latonia Moore) was just spectacular. Verdi, of course, wrote a beautiful opera.

And afterward, Cate and I got to go out for a little late-night refreshment.

Gap kids

2009-07-23T20:35:00.005-05:00

Who lost a tooth now you ask? Robert!

He lost his first tooth at bedtime tonight (evidently a good time to lose teeth, who knew?). He calmly handed me his tooth and said "It's out." This doesn't seem to bother either of them. Doesn't anyone freak out when losing a tooth anymore? I remember coddling my loose teeth until they were hanging literally by a thread.

Robert doesn't really get to have a gap tooth picture though. His permanent tooth has been coming in steadily right behind. He still looks like a shark though, the spot right next to his new gap has both the baby tooth and the permanent one behind it.

Okay, so that's an inventory of Robert's teeth, just in case the world was wondering. Now, he's off to sleep. Right, Robert?

Pizza on the grill, round two

2009-07-23T11:48:00.005-05:00

We went back to the pizza-on-the-grill concept last night for dinner and I was pretty pleased with how they turned out. We'd planned to do this a couple weeks ago but the propane tank ran out at the wrong time, so we ended up cooking them inside, which took a lot longer and was a lot less fun.

We didn't have Neil's expertise rolling out the dough, and that's my least favorite part so Cate took care of it and I stuck with the grilling part. Cate and the kids had plain cheese pizza, nothing too fancy. (We'd eaten up all the pepperoni from a couple weeks ago.) Elizabeth had red onions on hers as well.
By the time we got to mine, we were basically out of pizza sauce, but I wasn't too broken up about it. There was plenty of other stuff to work with. Mine has pesto, red onions, artichokes, chopped basil, sun-dried tomatoes and a little bit of cheese on it. (My camera's phone doesn't do justice to anything with colors in it, I'm afraid.)

The best part was that there was leftover crust from the kids' pies for me to eat, so I only ate half of this pizza. Heading downstairs to go reheat the other half and eat lunch now!

With this blog post, we reach the 200 mark for Colemans' Couch. Once upon a time I thought we might do something more creative with post 200 but it took a little longer to get here than I anticipated with just three posts in May and five in June.

Capturing Colleen's attention

2009-07-21T21:29:00.003-05:00

It's hard, and it's been harder of late, to get our youngest child's attention.

That's why it fascinates me to look at her face when I am reading Colleen a good-night story. She is so incredibly focused, even if it's a book we've read before.

I love those moments.

The perfect capper to a long day

2009-07-20T13:42:00.005-05:00

At about 10 p.m. last night, Elizabeth came into our room and handed me a tooth. It had been loose for a while, no worries, but just figured it was the only way our pretty packed Sunday could end.

No money under her pillow. Like Santa Claus, something we don't really subscribe to. We did the rewards when she was younger.

Robert still has yet to lose a tooth. He's at the dentist, now, though, with one tooth really wiggling and another pushing it out. Like with the bicycle, he's afraid of the pain, so he won't eat on that side of his mouth and won't eat corn on the cob at all.

Of course, none of this compares to Saturday. Sunday was supposed to be the easy day, while Saturday we started the day with a Bloomington Chorale concert at the farmer's market in Bloomington and finished with a family get-together because Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Jim were in town from New Hampshire. That and I left in the middle to go sing at 5 p.m. Mass and returned later. Sunday was just supposed to be the golfing. And just ours, not Tom Watson's.

Tee for two

2009-07-20T08:20:00.005-05:00

Well, I wish I could drive like Cate, and I think Cate wishes she could putt like I do. And that was the upshot of our first husband-wife full golf outing, part of a pretty packed Sunday this weekend.

As I said when Cate and Jennifer went golfing a couple of weeks ago, we haven't been golfing together since a pitch-and-putt outing sometime in the mid-1990s. And by full outing, I mean nine holes of a par-three course, but hey, it was time outside and without the kids.

I only had two holes of my personal nightmare. I've always feared I would be unable to make solid contact with the ball and would end up dribbling the ball up the fairway 20 yards at a time. Then Cate gave me a couple of pointers (oh, you mean I shouldn't stand centered over the ball?) and I finished with a par and back-to-back double bogeys. Hey, for us that was a high point. We each parred the 71-yard sixth hole, and Cate bogeyed the opening hole, but other than that it was fairly dismal. We finished one stroke apart; definitely would consider it beginner's luck.

Stuck behind a fivesome that included a 3-year-old, it took us just about two hours to play the nine holes. But the kid could swing and had at least one drive off the tee that was better than mine. Made for a lot of waiting, though.

Thanks, of course, to Neil and Alicia (again) for the use of their clubs and Kyle and Jennifer for watching the little ones. And there's one more Pretty Packed Sunday post to come, probably on my lunch break.

He's got a ticket to ride

2009-07-19T21:09:00.005-05:00

Robert wasn't, shall we say, the most enthusiastic learner of the ins and outs riding a bike. I guess in the end many kids aren't. I mean, who likes falling off and skinning their knee, right?

To add insult to potential injury, the bike we've had Robert practicing on isn't exactly the best suited for a barely 7-year-old. It's probably a bike he would be riding next summer, even the summer after. It's tall and it's heavy. But he's been a gamer and this afternoon he finally got it. I mean, it has a hand brake and a coaster brake.

By got it, I mean he rode the bike by himself, four houses before coming to a relatively controlled stop. He rode it so far that I had the chance to come out from running alongside him and ran backwards out ahead of him.

We had been up and down the level section of the block in front of the house three or four times already and he was getting kind of tired of the process before I pulled out the card I was hoping I wouldn't have to play -- his friend, Cate Jensen, learned to ride her two-wheeler earlier this week and we were about to take him and Colleen over there for a play date.

"She's going to be very proud she can ride her bike. You're one more trip up the block away from being able to say that yourself. Wouldn't you like to be able to say you can, too?"

Bingo. And he had a good time at the Jensens, too, from all I've heard.

Congratulations, Robert!

We don't have photos or video from today, but here's a clip of a previous attempt.

Almost-reader Colleen

2009-07-13T21:33:00.003-05:00

Colleen has been making leaps and bounds with her pre-reading skills.

Many, many times in the past couple of months she has asked us "how do you spell... [insert any random thing within her sight line here]?" but she's branching out on her own now. She's taking her best guess from a few letters.

Today on a trip to the zoo, we had some funny ones. We parked in front of a sign that said "Remember you are parked in the Gibbon Lot." Well, Colleen told me she was glad we were going to get Dippin' Dots (that really frozen pellet ice cream). I told her not today. She angrily pointed, "But that sign says Dippin' Dots!!" There was some foot stomping and hrmph-ing. She certainly likes her sweets.

And later we stopped to have a snack at an eating area and she asked me, "What's a zoo coffee?" She was reading the "Zoo Cafe" sign.

This reminds me that we need to find her a preschool for this fall.

I missed my camera

2009-07-11T14:13:00.003-05:00

I've been without my camera for a little over a year before finally getting it repaired (thanks Ryan, and Canon). So for a long time I've been borrowing Cate's, or Elizabeth's, or dad's. I am just glad to have it back.

Been a nice week-plus here since Cate and the kids got home. Spent some time down at Lake Harriet last night visiting the Lake Creature (don't ask) and just missing the end of the concert at the bandshell ... again. But a nice long walk and the kids even almost fully cooperated with a group photo.

A hole in three

2009-07-05T21:22:00.004-05:00

It's been two and a half days and Cate is still talking about her golf outing from Friday.

Cate hasn't picked up a golf club since she and I went to a pitch-and-putt sometime in the pre-Web age. She used to golf much more regularly as a teenager, took a few lessons, but didn't have anyone to golf with.

Meanwhile, our friend Jennifer had the day off on Friday, like most of us, and has been looking for a golf partner herself. She's been threaten... promising to take Cate out golfing since we got here 11 months ago and on Friday, the planets aligned.

Cate had just a great time. She's been talking about things that I've only heard on television, like doglegs and that sort of thing. It was a nine-hole par-three course and it seems Cate and Jennifer were a good match, as they finished within two strokes of each other. Both came back raving about the fourth hole, which Cate parred after both got on the green with their tee shots.

Thanks, Neil and Alicia, for lending Cate your golf clubs.

"I'm consistently inconsistent," Cate said. She'd also like to thank "that great man, Theodore Wirth, who had the great foresight to include a park with a golf course in North Minneapolis."

No photographers were permitted at this outing.

Where did everyone go?

2009-06-28T11:33:00.004-05:00

It's been kind of a quiet June on the blog, and for that I apologize.

Currently, Cate and the kids are visiting Patty at the Jersey Shore. I hear they're having a good time and loving the water. They also visited the Philadelphia Zoo and the Franklin Institute.

I'm still in Minneapolis. I auditioned for and got into the Minnesota Chorale, which sings with the Minnesota Orchestra in Orchestra Hall downtown and all sorts of good stuff, so if I had gone, I'd have missed the first two or three rehearsals for our Aida concert in August. I'd have been pretty royally screwed. Luckily, there were good airfares and they could fly instead of us all driving.

The kids spent their last days in Lake Harriet school a couple weeks ago. We'll be putting both Elizabeth and Robert in Bloomington public schools next year. Elizabeth got into Dimensions Academy, a gifted and talented program that is at one of the junior highs. We feel pretty fortunate that she got in, since the program starts when kids enter fourth grade and there aren't many spots that open up after that.

Hope you and yours are doing well and enjoying the beginning of summer.

A birthday for Robert

2009-06-06T16:43:00.010-05:00

We had friends over to celebrate Robert's birthday today, and although it was the first rainy day in six weeks, we grilled anyway.

Cate had already come up with the idea of doing pizzas on the grill, and although I had never attempted such a thing, we went for it. The Taste section in Thursday's Star Tribune wrote about making pizza on the grill, too, so it seems we weren't the only ones thinking about it.

Cate and my mom assembled this massive list of possible toppings: Pepperoni, chicken, homemade Italian sausage, Neil's fresh basil, tomatoes, mushrooms, black olives, peach chutney, anchovies, roasted garlic, hummus. Then, all of these grilled vegetables: red peppers, poblano peppers, scallions, red onion, leeks and pineapple. Also, fresh and shredded mozzarella, and tomato sauce.

Process was a little slow, but basically every pizza came out great. It was a cold, wet day outside and we went four kids pizzas at a time, then two individual grown-up pizzas at once. Neil was in charge of rolling out dough and I was in charge of grilling. Guests were in charge of selecting their own toppings and for the most part, I assembled them and cooked them. We had the grill on fairly low, cooked the crust for 4-5 minutes, flipped and put the toppings on, then cooked until the cheese melted.

It was nearly two hours in front of the grill, all told. And I saw some great combinations of toppings go by. Elizabeth had black olives, red peppers, pineapple and red onions. I saw something with sausage, chicken, basil, tomatoes, a veggie or two and just a sprinkling of cheese. A handful without tomato sauce. Just cool stuff. We would definitely do this again. (Ryan's photos included here.)

And when the group got big and involved some newcomers, we went with name tags. Ryan's girlfriend and her daughter were there, as well as friends of ours that hadn't been exposed to the whole group yet. People were named, and most of them labeled. To wit:

Robert: Birthday boy
Cate: Patrick's wife, Birthday boy's mom
Elizabeth: Robert's awesome sister
Colleen: (Not sure, though she is certainly awesome as well.)
Mom: Nonna, mother of the brood
Neil: Neil
Alicia: Alicia
Amelia: Mom Alicia, Dad Neil
Ryan: I don't know, but I later saw it stuck on his forehead.
Jennifer: Colleen's godmother
Kyle: Belongs to Jennifer (I hear Jennifer wrote this)
Cate: Just the first and last name
Max: Just the first and last name
Carrie: Friend of Patrick (the world-traveling soprano -- my label, not theirs)
Charley: Journalist (I didn't write this personally but when I refer to Carrie and Charley around the house it's as "our soprano and journalist friends")
Lindsey: Lindsey
Jazmine: Jaz, Jazzy

Robert received cool stuff, a couple of things which I'll spotlight: Finally, his own poncho, which Cate crocheted for him; a kite from the Jensens (he has been dying to fly a kite for a long time); bases for the backyard from Ryan; a crocheted creation from Neil and Alicia; a crystal mining set from Nonna and Da.

And no pony, no moon bounce, no Chuck-E Cheese, great 7-year-old birthday. Thanks, all, for coming and sharing an otherwise dreary day with us!

Farewell, sweet Nissan

2009-06-05T21:50:00.005-05:00

It's been across the country three times and been on its last legs for more than a year, but it took an inattentive driver to finally put our 2000 Nissan Sentra out of commission.

Not our driver, of course, but the idiot who couldn't read a green arrow. Or read a green arrow he didn't actually have.

The car was drivable, of course, but it doesn't take much damage to total a nine-year-old car with 113,132 miles on it. Once the frame was bent, that was all she wrote. That and the check State Farm wrote, that is, which might have been the book value but was far more than we ever could have gotten on the street.

I had to pour power steering fluid into the car every couple of months because it had a slow leak. The air conditioning stopped working in 2007, maybe 2006. CD player hasn't worked in more than a year. The trunk couldn't be released from inside the car. The remote car locks stopped working. The headlights were dimming.

And we'd just decided to bite the bullet and put new tires on it and replace the battery last November.

This was the car, if you remember, that I wasn't sure would make it to Minnesota. We pondered selling it before leaving Virginia, and even when we decided to move it, we didn't pack anything essential in it, thinking that we might have to abandon it on the side of the road in Indiana somewhere. But it got here. And it lived outside all winter, but never once did it fail to start, even on the coldest days of the year.

We're going to try the one-car life for a little while, anyway. It's been almost a week so far, and I've been working at home a lot. The house is pretty crowded, though, and about to get more crowded with school out soon, so I don't know how long that will last. So we'll be shopping.

Last day as a 6-year-old

2009-06-03T22:58:00.008-05:00

Robert and I went to a Twins game Wednesday night as an early birthday present. He loves to go on the moon bounce that's outside the Metrodome before we go in to the game, so we headed over there. We were surprised to find this sign next to it.

Last chance!

The game wasn't nearly as fun, nor were our neighbors as interesting as the last time Robert and I went to a game, but we still had a good time. Robert was much more into watching the game itself this time, and since we had seats upper deck behind home plate, the game laid out right in front of him, much better than deep in left field.

But I think the $25 a ticket was more than I've ever paid for a regular-season baseball game.

Happy Birthday, Robert! Hard to believe he's going to be 7!

The dangers of a reading child

2009-06-01T15:36:00.003-05:00

Cate and Colleen were in Creative Kids Stuff earlier this afternoon, and they had some books on sale. So, naturally, Colleen wanted one.

"No, Colleen," Cate said, as she relates the story. "It's a workbook."

The workbooks are basically homework exercises. Elizabeth and Robert have been through many a workbook in the past few years.

"But Mom," Collen said, "it says 'preschool' on it and I'm going into preschool next year."

Next thing you know, she'll know how to spell, too, and we'll have to change how we talk around her even more.

What hath T-ball wrought?

2009-05-30T09:29:00.003-05:00

'No, that's OK, you're not very helpful, Cate. I'll just go and micromanage him myself.'

-- Cate's response, mock quoting me, after she offered to take Robert to T-ball and I declined

Party weekend

2009-05-09T13:27:00.009-05:00

Last weekend was a pretty busy one in the Coleman household, as we celebrated Colleen's fourth birthday party, Elizabeth made her First Communion and Robert had his first-ever T-ball practice.

Saturday was a beautiful day to be outdoors, so we tried to make the most of it.

The weekend hadn't started off so hot, however. I tried to take the new grill that we bought Mom for her birthday and Mother's Day out for a test drive, and, lo and behold, the Weber grill caught on fire. Spent a couple hours Friday night at Home Depot and on the phone with Weber, so I was less than happy. Thankfully, our neighbors let us borrow theirs for Saturday cooking.

Colleen's aunt and uncles and godmother and family came over Saturday afternoon for cake and presents and the fruits of the grill and we had a great time. Nonna made Colleen the traditional doll-in-a-cake cake, similar to what she made for Elizabeth's third birthday when we were here for Thanksgiving in 2000.

Colleen got a great set of clothes, a kickball for backyard playing, a tricycle (honest-to-goodness red metal trike with assembly required and everything), books and Wii paraphernalia. Too often Colleen has been forced to play a spectator role while the older two play, but now she has her own Wii controller.

On Sunday, Elizabeth made her First Communion, part of a gigantic class at St. Thomas the Apostle, 60-some kids split over six Masses. We've been doing her preparation work ourselves so she didn't have to sit in a class full of 7- and 8-year-olds, and that was an interesting experience. I'll be glad when Robert goes through the class with everyone else and we just get to sit back and smile.

And Robert had his first T-ball practice. Today they actually played their first "game" -- you know, the one where everyone bats, they play about three innings, there's a minimum number of outs, everyone changes positions, coaches stand in the field. Mostly a lot of hitting and running, sometimes throwing the ball in the general direction of first base.

Robert got a new glove for the occasion (don't ask whose signature is on it, though at least Derek Jeter hasn't tested positive yet), but we drew the line at cleats. There are a couple kids on the team who wear them, though, one who has his own baseball pants.

And this morning, everyone had a coat. Brr.

What reading level is required to put someone to sleep?

2009-05-06T00:48:00.003-05:00

Colleen seems to be able to go to sleep with someone of a fourth-grade level reading out loud to her. Robert brought a very nice reading progress report home with him from school today that has him reading at a fourth-grade level.

We got a full display of this tonight, as Robert and Colleen kicked Cate out of their room at bedtime, and Robert read poems to his little sister. Cate and I heard one of our favorites, Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too, in which Robert didn't even hesitate with the words "mulligan stew."

After that poem, Robert came out to ask us if we'd heard it, and I went back in with him to "close" bedtime and get what I was sure would be an easy save. Colleen surely wouldn't need more than a couple verses of Silent Night and she would be out like a light.

Except when I got in there, Colleen was already in her bed, out like a light. So Robert gets a complete-game win.

Four

2009-04-28T13:26:00.007-05:00

Happy Birthday, Colleen! Cake will come later. I promise.

This morning I asked Colleen what she wanted for breakfast, waffles or a bagel. She looked around the kitchen curiously and said "I don't see a cake." She thought the cake came first thing, like finding a quarter from the Tooth Fairy under your pillow or something. Cake will have to wait until her party on Saturday but she did recieve three phone calls today with special birthday wishes from Nanny, her Godmother Jennifer, and Nonna (on her own birthday vacation in sunny Iowa).

And... she and Cousin Amelia had their first fight at lunch. Amelia really wanted to trade her sippy cup for Colleen's water bottle. Amelia tried to hand it to her but Colleen said, "I have my own water. I don't want yours." Amelia grunted and tried again a few more times, with pointing and everything. Amelia finally gave up and chucked the sippy cup at Colleen's head. She's pretty strong and of course hit her mark. Colleen whipped around and shouted at her, "Amelia, you are so rude. I don't like you anymore and you are NEVER getting my water!" Amelia screamed right back, something which will in the near future be "MINE!"

The argument didn't last past Amelia's tears because Colleen then gave her a kiss on her cheek and told her "Poor little kid. Don't be sad. " Amelia forgave her too, leaned in for another kiss and patted Colleen on her shoulder. Amelia then handed her some watermelon to share and Colleen accepted it. Awww.

Colleen just came in as I'm writing this. She wants to know why her name is everywhere. I told her that I'm writing about her birthday. She wants you all to know that she looked but there was no cake.

Sleepy girl

2009-04-23T22:22:00.000-05:00

Singing a rainbow

2009-04-22T21:42:00.005-05:00

Robert said something tonight that triggered my memory of seventh grade choir. Here are some of the songs we sang.

Keep in mind, this is 1985.

Theme from Ice Castles
Ben
Brian's Song
You Light Up My Life
Sing a Rainbow
For church, Pass It On and Amazing Grace.

So Robert got three completely new songs for him tonight. And I got to curse this steel trap of a brain that can remember every lyric from songs from 24 years ago but not to fold the shirts the way Cate wants them.

What she said

2009-04-20T22:57:00.005-05:00

Was it wrong that you had to go on even numbers?

That's what Elizabeth just stumbled into our room to ask us. She used to do this all the time when she was littler, stumble out into the living room, rub her eyes, while we were watching TV, and say something completely incoherent.

Then again, Robert has been known to do the same.

I kind of miss those days.

Saving the Earth

2009-04-20T19:07:00.005-05:00

Shame on Minneapolis North High School for not recycling pizza boxes. Cate and Elizabeth rescued these 56 boxes that were destined for the trash bin following the city-wide fifth grade math competition.

Yes, fifty-six. Cate and Robert flattened them out and bundled them up, and they're going out tomorrow with the recycling. Just in time for Earth Day.

At said competition, Elizabeth brought home an honorable mention ribbon and worked with a team that earned another honorable mention ribbon.

I quizzed her as she came home, and it's a legitimate honorable mention, putting her in the Top 15 of 250-plus fifth-graders who participated. (Division III football fans know how I hate fake honorable mentions that simply honor everyone.) Twenty-three kids from Lake Harriet Community School took part, with one of her classmates taking home some pretty impressive honors.

About the recycling, I can say we've been glad to be in a neighborhood which is part of the rollout for the city's composting program. We generated a ton of recycling when we lived in Virginia and this house generates even more, thanks to the newspapers. Can't imagine that all ending up in landfills.

Still the Beatles

2009-04-15T12:57:00.002-05:00

I'm working from home today and a Beatles song just came on the radio. Colleen jumped off her chair, literally, and ran over to the radio, before announcing Here Comes the Sun!

It's all right.

Happy Easter from the Colemans!

2009-04-12T20:39:00.001-05:00

Quote of the day

2009-04-12T13:38:00.002-05:00

After 9 a.m. Mass today we all had brunch at the homestead. Afterwards, Pa (you know, our 95-year-old grandfather) told Ryan, "you're getting fat."

Ryan paused for a second, before blurting out, "you're getting old!"

Oh, and Happy Easter, everyone. Photo to come.

Tales from the bedtime

2009-04-11T12:59:00.002-05:00

While I've been at church the past two nights, Cate has taken more of a hands-off approach with bedtime, leaving Robert and Colleen to their own devices after a short time.

This involves a lot of giggling and shoving. And eventually, sleeping.

Thursday night, Colleen sang songs to Robert to try to get him to go to sleep. Her memory is rather limited, but she sang Mary Had a Little Lamb, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jingle Bells. But Robert had enough pretty soon, and stopped listening.

"I think Robert loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, you go try that."

So Colleen goes back to the bedroom and asks, in her customary outdoor voice: "Robert, do you still love Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? Robert? ROBERT? RO-BERT??"

Colleen came back and reported: "Mom, Robert stopped talking. I can't see his face, there's a pillow over his face."

Yes, Colleen, that's the international sign that he's sleeping.

"He stopped talking!"

Cate replied: "You stop talking! Go to sleep!"

Robert related later that he wasn't really asleep. Robert playing asleep and lying still for any amount of time is a tremendous effort.

Last night I got home before they fell asleep. Robert had been singing for Colleen but was already out of songs, so I finished them off. "I don't sing Up on the Roof or Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," Robert told me.

Future diva, that one.

Kids and their technology

2009-04-07T22:07:00.004-05:00

I recently discovered that Colleen can shut down the desktop computer by herself. In fact, she's so good at it that it takes her about two seconds to do. Click the Start button, hit Turn Off Computer, select Shut Down, bam.

Also, when her turn is done with the computer and Cate or someone else takes over the browser, she says, "Open a new tab -- I'm not done with my game!"

Elizabeth keeps her email account more organized than anyone else I know -- she has all sorts of tags filtering her email by -- I don't know, sender, subject, color, Harry Potter book referenced, etc. And Robert is the expert in terms of switching the television from the DVD player to the Wii. (Not enough inputs for both, so only one of them can be plugged in at any given time.)

We three kids

2009-04-05T22:56:00.003-05:00

The kids went to pet farm animals at the garden store, you know, just another typical Sunday. But the real purpose of this post is to introduce the newest photo of the three kids. Now if only we could have gotten them all to both smile and look at the camera at the same time.

Not so much. But at least nobody was poking anyone's eye out.

We also had brunch at Dixie's on Grand, thanks to a gift certificate from Neil and Alicia for Christmas. Thanks!