Tuesday, June 23, 2009

my girls

my little artist



Drea did this drawing at daycare. I don't know if you can really see it that well but I was very proud of my little artist. I think this is great for a three year old! The drawing is of Drea, Mommy and Daddy - in order. She told me "See, I was wearing pigtails in my hair that day." Oh yea, she said she forgot Charlotte.


This picture is Drea designing a picture frame at the art festival we went to in Morgantown last week.


Here she is painting a rock. She loves arts and crafts.


This was a special project Drea and I did with some leftover printer ink packaging from work that we were "recycling." After my friend Emily guilted me into reusing it - no really, thanks for the idea Emily. (I paid you back with the cardboard!) It turned out really neat - there were 8 individual pieces and we decorated each of them and then glued them together to make this little piece of art. She gave it to Daddy for "Daddy's Day" as she called it. He's still not sure what it is but it looks like a Lego and he loves those.

my little talker



Watch this video of my little talker. Sorry I seem to be jiggling the camera a little for the first 20 seconds or so.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Man Camp and Other Stories

This past weekend some friends and I went camping in NJ. It was just the guys and we had a lot of fun. We call this annual trip Man Camp. Our wives laugh at us and say we put more effort into Man Camp then any other thing we do. This year we even made t-shirts. Below is a picture of us in our shirts. I know we are dorks, but we are men and that is what we do.



As much as I love Man Camp at some point during the trip I do miss my girls. It just reminds me how much I love the outdoors and how much I want the girls to love it, too. Two side stories to go along with Man Camp. First, when I told Drea I was going she said she wanted to go and when I left she said, "Daddy don't go I'm going to miss you." That didn't make it any easier. The second story (which really isn't a story) is Charlotte got so big in just three days. Speaking of how big she is, here is a cute video of her laughing and smiling at Mommy.





Here is another video of Drea doing Patty Cake with Charlotte....watch carefully at the end of the video when Drea gets to the mark it with a B part. There is no way Charlotte is not going to be tough.

Some closing thoughts:

  • Most of you know that I am a Phillies fan or should I say the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies, anyway, I don't get to see them play that much so when they are on National TV I always try to watch it....and they always lose. Well, I guess not all the time since I did watch the World Series and the won that.

  • Drea is beginning to use the computer and mouse on her own, she is growing so fast. It is nice she can do that on her own, but in some ways I wish she still needed us....I guess you just have to let them grow up, but I just wish they would slow down.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Daddy's Dancers

Sunday was the Dance Recital and I had three dancers to watch. Stacey still dances and loves it just as much. I think she has danced for 15-20 years. This was Drea first true dance recital. She has been in other shows (Christmas and made a guest appearance two years ago), but this is her first that she has danced in. Charlotte made her stage debute, she was quite the cutie!




Here is a video of Drea's Dance

Here's the Finale of the Recital. The video is about four minutes long. In the beginning you can see Chad's wife, Jody, she is the second from the left in the group of four dancers in the front row. Stacey, Drea, and Charlotte make their appearance around the three minute mark. Stacey and Charlotte are behind Drea. Drea is the dancer on the right side that is in front of everyone else being a total ham.

Some other thoughts about the Recital:

  • The recital seemed really quick this year, usually it feels like it last forever and it is never going to end. This year it was different. I think this was the case because........

A. The recital was at East Side High School and the auditorium is air conditioned, opposed to being at Fairmont Senior which isn't air conditioned.

B. There were less dancers, which made for a quicker recital

C. I'm beginning to actually enjoy these things

D. All of the above

Sorry, I guess I'm still in state testing mode.

  • My Mom flew in from NJ to watch the girls dance. It shouldn't amaze me since it is the 21st century, but air plane travel is amazing. My mom spent more time in the airport in Pittsburgh, then it took her to fly back to Philadelphia. Not only that she was back in Philly before I was back to Fairmont. It blows my mind.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Hey Daddy Guess What....

  • That is Drea's new thing...she says it about 157 times a day...at least she doesn't say chicken butt

  • Speaking of guess what look at these pictures of Charlotte




  • Now look at this one, notice the shiny earrings....Charlotte was a real trooper she only cried about 5 seconds for each ear and that was it.

Here is the first swim of the summer and Charlotte's first ever swim, she wasn't to happy about it...it was really cold!

  • I love West Virginia, I specifically remember being in 6th grade chorus (I know those that have heard me sing are probably laughing, but at my school anybody that tried out made the chorus) and singing County Roads and it having a impact on me. I don't know if that means anything, but I thought it was cool that I really liked singing it then and I still like singing it now.

  • Friday was my last day of school....whoo hoo....school's out for the summer, school's out for the summer....oh wait I have a summer job that starts on Wednesday, never mind

  • I know that it has been awhile since we have blogged, but that saying, two is like ten is true. Usually, when we get the time to blog we would rather sleep. Seriously, things are going great and Charlotte is sleeping longer periods though the night. We are looking forward to an exciting summer and can't wait to share our adventures with everyone.

  • By the way I decided not to join facebook at this time...I'm over it.