"Damma an Dampa"

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit last week. They lavished as much love on the girls as they could muster in such a short visit. I'm sure they enjoyed seeing me and Amy, but I think we were in their peripheral vision compared with Autumn and Cedar. Check out many more photos from their trip on flickr.

Dear Cedar...

I was appalled when mom showed me this bunny suit she purchased just for you. I told your mom I thought it was hideous. Paws, floppy ears, even a tail. Kid torture. I told her, maybe, big maybe, just for Halloween. But she forgot and just had to show Grandma. It was as much of a monstrosity as I imagined it would be. You hated it too. So I was just writing to apologize. I tried to save you, but couldn't this time.

Love, Dad.

Nice Buck!

Recently I was watching a hunting show on the Outdoors Channel. A big white-tailed deer flashed across the screen. Autumn ran into the room pointing and yelling, "Nice buck! nice buck!" A while later the show was showing a dall sheep hunt. There was a group of 7-8 rams on the screen. Autumn walked in, looked them over, specifically pointed to the biggest mature ram in the group and declared, "Nice buck!" I had to put a ratchet strap around my chest to keep it from swelling too much with pride.

Where is she learning this stuff?

At The Airport With Tom

My dad is the first to admit, if you sit down next to him, you're fair game. So recently at the airport he and mom had a long layover and were siting in the food court killing time. A gentleman sits down next to dad. He's attired in full western wear: hat, boots, big belt buckle. Dad looks him up and down and says "I see you've got the hat and boots. Ever been on a horse?

Turns out the man was from Arizona, grew up on a ranch and was very familiar with horses. He and dad engaged in a long discussion of many horse related topics. If it had been me at the airport, most likely all I would have learned about him was that he liked to wear western clothes.

All in a Days Work

In order to catch the bear you must think like the bear.

Happy Birthday Autumn

Autumn turned two just a few days ago. Wow.

For more birthday fun be sure to visit flickr.

Flickr Update

For a few more pics check out Flickr.

Steve in the Kitchen: Mickey Mouse Pancakes

For my second installment of Steve in the Kitchen I present my world famous Mickey Mouse Pancakes.

Step 1: Make your mouse shaped batter and add blueberries or chocolate chips (one is beter, the other better for you. You decide).

Step 2: The flip. You gotta be aggressive here folks. Flip it like you mean it.

Step 3: The finished cake. Ain't she (I mean he) a beaut.

In the end, it doesn't matter if they don't turn out perfectly, as long as the customers are satisfied.

Bonus: For you master chefs out there you can expand the blueberry pancakes to blueberry eggs. Like I said, as long as the customers are happy...

Snow Days

Autumn helped me build this snowman last week. You can tell it is a boy snowman because he has antlers. It's also good to see that Frosty supports Rip City.

Conversations with Autumn

I think from time to time I'll try to post an interesting conversation between myself and a two year old. Here's my first entry:

Me: Autumn, what would you like to have for lunch?
Autumn: Ice Cream!

No, that's not a picture of ice cream. Those are green eggs (we were out of green ham that day).

Flickr Update

There are some more recent shots of the girls posted to flickr.
Be sure to bookmark this and previous flickr links if you want because somehow in all my tech savvy I have unintentionally created yet another flickr account. This is number four. Sigh.