Making Christmas Plans

Christmas is soon approaching and there’s almost no chocolate left in the Countdown To Christmas Calendar. I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but I think we need to celebrate Christmas like they do in Puerto Rico. We just party all the way until January 6th. Then, just for laughs, we tack on an extra eight days of Christmas just so we can have an excuse to keep the festive spirit alive. It would also put off having to take down the tree and lights.
As the week comes to a close, we’re prepping for our big journey up to snow country. The thought of spending 18 hours in the car is not an especially pleasant one, but fortunately the ends justify the means. It’ll be great to have the whole family together for Christmas, and hopefully there will be plenty of snow for all of us kids to go and play in. Kasia has her snow suit and she’s just dying to try it on... and God knows that she won’t be using it around here anytime soon.
And speaking of Christmas in the great state of North Carolina, and I highly recommend the Christmas ballad “Christmas in Carolina” by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. It’s just the thing to help swing in the holiday season.

Merry Christmas!

Wow, has it really been a whole month since the last time I wrote in my journal? Where does the time go. In that time we went to the Outerbanks for the twins’ birthday party. We celebrated Thanksgiving. We decorated for Christmas. And we painted our guest room to a color other than blue. Yep, a lot sure has happened.
Going down to Salvo to visit Karlie, Bryan and the girls was a great time as always. I really love their house. I’ve always said, if you can’t stand a house with solid construction, built out of quality material, then you’ll probably hate their place. Everything in that house just feels so solid that it makes me feel like my house is going to blow away is a strong wind comes through. We’d like to thank the Philips’ clan for having us and giving us such a wonderful time. The highlight of the trip: Brad ate seafood. I keep trying to tell people that it’s not that I haven’t tried it, but I just don’t care for it. I ate some smoked wahu that Bryan was cooking up, and it was ok. At first it was pretty good with a nice smokey flavor, but then the fishy taste comes out and that’s what I didn’t care for.
Thanksgiving was also another wonderful feast. Kay and Mama Bea had us all up to their place where we feasted on turkey and stuffing and sweet potato casserole. I was particularly proud of myself for not over doing it and actually leaving room for dessert. Normally I just get so stuffed on turkey that I skip the dessert part. We then went to visit Judy and Darrell for dessert and they had a first class spread of sweets. Judy did not hold back in her pie baking and they were all tremendously delicious. I have to admit though that I did stuff myself on dessert.
The day after Thanksgiving was spent putting up Christmas decorations. This year it was a lot easier for us to fit our 9’ tall tree into our house since our ceilings go well about 9’. We didn’t have to do the engineering miracles from last year just to get our tree to fit. We also put up some of the Christmas villages that Kara had. Though, since we have a toddler running around the house, the places where we could put them were somewhat limited.
Now we’re getting ready for Christmas, but I’ve got to tell you that it’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it’s 75 degrees outside. I find it strange to be wearing shorts and tapping my sandals as I’m singing Let It Snow. Fortunately, for Christmas we will be heading up to Chicago and hopefully they will still have some of the snow that they are currently blessed with. If you pray at night, please keep us in your thoughts and pray that we get snow for Christmas. Kasia would really love it. It has nothing to do with Kara or I wanting snow, but it’s all for Kasia. That’s the kind of selfless parents we are.
Oh, and we did get our guest room painted. It’s now a color called “Peanut Butter.” That’s kind of the fancy name for brown. It looks really good though, and once we get everything cleaned up in there, I’ll post some pictures.
Merry Christmas and a have a happy New Year!

At Trip to the Zoo

We are definitely getting our money’s worth out of our zoo membership that we got back in August. Already it has more than paid for itself, and Kasia is becoming an expert in identifying all the animals. She has gotten so into the zoo state of mind, that often she is found saying things like, “Where’s the lion? Are you sure there’s a lion in there? Because I can’t see anything.” Ahhh, how I yearn for the old days at the zoo where it was just an animal in a cage. You didn’t have to spend 20 minutes searching the “natural habitat” only to realize that the animal you’re looking for is actually asleep under a log and all you can see is the tail. But I digress.
November 4 was the Kylie and Kinzlie Philips’ second birthday, and as a special birthday treat, the whole family made a trip to the zoo. And since everyone knows how much Kasia and I enjoy going, we were invited along for the ride. It was fun just to watch all the girls play together and have a great time. The trip ended on a climatic note as all the girls went completely crazy all at the same time outside the monkey cage. You can see it for yourself in the “Movie” section of the website

Backyardigan Addiction Revealed

Kasia was never one for watching much television. She would occasionally sit down long enough to watch ten minutes of the Lord of the Rings, but other than that she had better things to. That was until her Granny introduced her to the Backyardigans.
Suddenly, she’s mesmerized by the TV. She can’t get enough of it. In the mornings, she’ll sit on the couch, clutching her Backyardigans DVD while screaming until we turn it on. But what is it about the Backyardigans? Was it the colorful characters? The catchy songs? The fun little dances? Maybe it was a combination of all three.
Or so we thought, until Kara observed something in the end credits. Who is that doing lighting? Kasia Cieryt? Did our daughter know that another girl shares her name was working on the show? Possibly.
So now she knows that while her name be different than a lot of others, it’s not like we just made it up. There are Kasias out there... the challenge is trying to find them.

Let's Party!

It’s been awhile since I last updated the site, but what a great couple of weeks it has been.
On September 20, my brother Eric and his family flew back to the states and stayed with us for a couple of weeks. It took a couple of days to get over the jet lag, but eventually everyone got into the swing of things. The first number of mornings, Alex and Noah were waking up super early because their bodies hadn’t yet shifted to the change in time zones. After that, Noah just kept on waking up early because he wanted to play with Kasia. Alex then felt compelled to wake up because it had been eight hours since he’d last watched Cars and needed his fix again.
While they were here, we went to the zoo to see the animals. Alex was so excited that I think we missed half the zoo. The entire time it was, “WOW! What other animals are there!” and then off he would run. We also went to the Children’s Museum in Portsmouth, which was a great time. Alex truly found his heaven in that museum as there is an entire room dedicated to Thomas the Tank Engine and all the toys. I’ve never seen a little boy look so happy.
The main areas of excitement though lay in discovering the movie Cars (did I mention that Alex enjoyed watching it?) along with discovering the Backyardigans. Kasia used to never watch TV, but she’s now an addict. She sits on the couch, points at the TV and screams until Backyardigans come on. As for me, I’ve seen everything way too many times now, and I can’t sleep at night because I keep singing Backyardigans songs in my head. They are that catchy.
But the big event during their visit was our wedding celebration party which we had at our house. We had everything: a big tent, plenty of food, plenty of drinks, and plenty of fun. My mother and Susan did a great job finding decorations and giving the event a “theme.” They did a wonderful job The weather managed to hold on and the rain we feared would hit us, didn’t happen. If you were there, we hope you had a great time and we thank you very much for coming. If you couldn’t make it, we’re sorry and we’ll have to get together some other time. In the end, we had a wonderful time and were extremely happy to see everyone.
And now, it’s over. Eric, Susan, and the boys have left for Chicago, and the house is eerily quiet. Kasia still runs around looking for Noah to play with and gets frustrated because she can’t find him. The tent is gone, and suddenly our whole backyard just seems so empty. It’s a strange feeling when you spend so much time and energy over planning and worrying about an event and then suddenly it’s over. Now what are we supposed to do with our time? I guess we’ll just have to paint the guest room, bathroom, and redecorate our entire great room. That may keep us busy.

Paint By Numbers

Apparently, we have become the final stop for second hand toys in our neighborhood. Most of the kids who live around us are in the 9-14 age range. That’s just about the time when they have to go through their closets and start to clear out their kiddie toys. And where do those toys end up? That’s right, in our living room. Kasia is getting a huge kick out of it because it means bags and bags of new things for her to play with and discover.
One of the things that she has discovered to play with is paint, apparently. Neither Kara nor myself saw the little container of face paint amidst the dolls and Disney Princess magic wands. Then that fateful moment happened while I was sitting on the couch, cleaning out a box of old receipts. Kasia was playing quietly in the corner by herself. From where I was sitting, it appeared as though she found a hand mirror and was having fun with that. A few minutes later she turned around and came walking over to me with purple and pink paint smeared on her face, from ear to ear. She looked like Braveheart about to go into battle. This stuff was everywhere. In her hair, her cheeks, everywhere. So I immediately did what any self-respecting parent would do. I ran and grabbed my camera. The result is what you see above. Enjoy.

Oh, to Be Young Again

Well, if finally happened. I finally turned 30. That momentous occasion in life where you stop being in your 20’s and start acting grown up has finally happened to me. The world has forever changed, in my eyes anyway. Music is always turned up to loud. I keep thinking how good kids have it these days. And the TV show thirty-something finally makes sense to me. The next thing you know, I’m going to be sitting around all day watching re-runs of Matlock. Old is as old does, right?
But I do have to admit, that other than the “idea” of being in my 30’s, it was really a non-event for me. Kara and I went out for pizza, and then just enjoyed a quiet evening to ourselves as the little one spent some quality time with Granny Smith (apples). There was no moment of depression. No thought that the “good ole days” are gone. I think that I’ve done quite well for being around for 30 years. I went to college (to see what they know); found and married a beautiful, fantastic woman to spend the rest of my life with; have a wonderful daughter; bought a house; and served my country in the US Navy. I’ve seen more than half of all the States. I’ve been to a dozen different countries. And now I’m a homeowner.
Not bad for an old thirty year old.

I Completely Forgot

Amongst all the hustle and bustle of getting our house ready for visitors, I completely forgot to mention how Kasia’s last doctor’s appointment went. She grew three inches and gained a pound. It seems as though she is actually getting skinnier. I wish I had her problem. The problem for us is that it becomes next to impossible for us to put pants on her that won’t fall down to her knees. But on the plus side, she is still growing, and I guess that’s a good thing.
We also recently went to the zoo, and I’ve posted some of the pictures from that up in the photo section. Kasia had a great time, though she wasn’t really into having her picture taken. Every time I was about to snap one, she’d run away. Maybe it’s my camera. Maybe there’s too much of a delay from the time I push the button to the time the picture is taken. I know that they make them now where it’s almost instantaneous, but I need something better. I need a camera that will take the picture before I push the button. I want a camera that is so smart it knows when a great photo opportunity is about to happen. Kodak? Can you hear me? Hint, hint. I’d buy one.
So while my daughter wouldn’t have her picture taken, the flowers were always willing. So I ended up with a number of really nice flower pictures, and one decent one of my daughter pouting on the bench. Or maybe she’s trying to swallow her lip? Who knows.

The Painting is Never Done

Kara and I have discovered that we have a talent. We have the ability to paint together and actually have a good time. Apparently this is a lot rarer than I thought. It seems like everyone I talk to just can’t paint with their spouse. In fact, my dad called me to ask if Kara and I were still talking to each other. Are we still talking? Of course we are. We couldn’t be happier.
But we did get two bedrooms painted and now we just have every other room in the house left. The previous owners of the house had a deep affinity to the color yellow, and we just don’t share their passion. So Kasia now has a room that is Tinker Bell Green and our room sounds like a thunder storm with the colors Downpour and Distant Thunder.
If you happen to be in the neighborhood, stop by and take a look. I’ll show you the “accent wall.”

Our Trip To Hoffman Estates

Whenever I told people that I had decided to drive to Chicago with Kasia, they all looked at me like I was crazy. “16 hours in the car? Straight? With Kasia?” Then they would usually chuckle under their breath and tell me I’m an idiot. Sure we could have flown, but dealing with a toddler sitting on my lap for two hours is not my idea of a good time. I’d rather just drive it.
And truth be told, it wasn’t that bad. For the first hour or so she’s a little cranky, but then she just settled into the drive and was great for most of the trip. She slept a lot and danced to the music on the radio quite a bit. It all went great.
The only problem was that after sleeping all night, by the time I got to my parents house at 4:00am, I was ready to sleep and Kasia was well rested and ready to play. So I had to stay up for another hour playing with her and hoping that eventually she would go to sleep.
Kasia was able to spend some quality time with her grandparents and once again proved that she is better well behaved around them than she is with us. I swear, she will be a perfect angel when Grandma and Grandpa are around, but the minute they leave she turns into something else entirely. She’ll start grabbing things off of shelves and making a huge mess. Then when the grandparents get home, she just sits in the middle of the floor and plays with her toys.
We were planning on going to the park quite a bit while we were up there, but it ended up raining pretty much the entire week. One day there were even tornados in the area and we sat in the house listening to the warning sirens go off. But we kept ourselves busy and Kasia was able to charm a whole new group of people.
So if you thought that we were crazy for making the drive, then we’re still crazy, and we’re doing it again. Come Christmas time we’re going to try it one more time. May the Force be with us

A Beautiful Bride and Groow

Pat and Stacy’s wedding can be summed up with the word: Miracle. It was a miracle that Pat was able to find someone as good as Stacy and convince her to marry him. It was a miracle that I was able to think of a toast at the reception. It was a miracle that my mother didn’t squint in the pictures of her at the church. And it’s a miracle that Kasia did not fuss at all during the ceremony. What a miracle in deed.
Everything went as perfect as could be. The weather was wonderful and the rain that had been plaguing Chicago all week had gone away. The bride looked stunning, and Pat was able to stop being a groomzilla long enough to enjoy his wedding.
After a night of dancing and drinking, we called it quits. We had a blast the entire weekend and it was worth driving 32 hours (there and back) with a toddler.

Happy Birthday America!

I have to say something first. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! YOU ROCK!!
That’s right. It’s that time of the year again where we celebrate our butt whooping of the British two hundred years ago by lighting off fireworks and trying to not get our fingers blown off. Fortunately for Kara, Kasia, and myself, we all managed to come out of the holiday with all ten fingers and ten toes. My car came close to getting hit with a Roman candle, but that was about all the damage we had.
No 4th of July would be complete if it didn’t contain a cookout, and no cookout is sufficient unless it takes place at Sandy and Kenny’s. Thankfully, they decided to have a cookout/pool party and even more thankfully, they decided to invite us. Kenny had both of his portable grills fired up and we had hamburgers and hot dogs aplenty. Much like Father’s Day, we had more food than people which meant that I had to pick up the slack and eat more than my share. For Father’s Day, Shawn and Chatam were there to lend their stomachs, but they’re now in Switzerland for two weeks dining on chocolate and... ummm... whatever else they eat in Switzerland. Apparently they’re going to France to dine on escargot. We’re all awaiting the story on that one.
But I digress. We dressed Kasia up in an adorable little denim dress for the 4th because nothing is more American than denim. Sadly, she decided to wear her bathing suit for most of the day and spend her time in the pool. She has become such a little water baby. No matter what the temperature is (either outside or in the pool) that girl wants to be in the water. Luckily that also applies to her taking a bath now.
When we got home, we discovered the difference between living in the country versus living in the city. Apparently out here everyone has their own set of fireworks. It seemed like each house was trying to outdo the next. We didn’t have to go and fight the crowds to watch a good fireworks show, all we had to do was stand in our drive way and marvel at the bursts of light in the air. Kasia was all tuckered out from her time in the pool, so she missed most of it.
Kara and I had a nice time just standing under the stars and gazing in the fireworks over head. That is, until we had to start dodging the incoming Roman candles that were heading our way.

A Feast of Magnificent Proportions

We hope that all you fathers out there had a wonderful Father’s Day and felt truly appreciated. We here at the Gruetzmacher household managed somehow to really enjoy our day.
The day could be summed up by saying that it was full of really good food. It started out with Kara making pancakes for us, and they were delicious. Then as the day progressed, the rest of Kara’s immediate family came over for an enormous cook out. Despite the fact that there were only six of us (plus Kasia), we had enough food to feed sixteen. It was amazing. Steaks. Pork loin. Rice. Peas. Corn on the cob. Watermelon. Mashed potatoes. Rolls. Cantaloupe. And the thing was that it was all incredibly delicious. The steaks were cooked to perfection. The pork was perfect. Corn... perfect. You couldn’t have asked for a better meal. And then while the fathers all went and relaxed on the couch, the ladies cleaned up. Now if you could tell me there was anything better for a Father’s Day gift than that, then I don’t know what it is.
After dinner, Kasia and Chatam went outside to play with some bubbles. I think they both had a great time. I know I got some great pictures of them playing, except that Kasia constantly has that pacifier in her mouth. I would take it out, but then she just picks up rocks and chews on them. So if I had to make a choice between the two, I’d rather her chew on the semi-sanitized alternative. Maybe one day she’ll give it up. Or maybe she’ll become like her Grandpa and just start chewing toothpicks. Or she’ll become like her father and chew on straws. Anyway you look at it, it doesn’t like it’s going away anytime soon.

A Memorable Memorial Day

What a weekend. First, we would like to thank Karlie and Bryan for allowing us to stay at their place over the weekend. Thanks to Karen for her generous hospitality as well, and of course to the little people out there who made our weekend so much fun.
For the longest time we’ve been meaning to drive on down to the Philips’ new beach house and see what they’ve done with the place. Unfortunately with our own move preoccupying our time, we haven’t had the chance. Well, no more excuses. Over the Memorial Day weekend we decided to drive on down and see what our fellow North Carolinians are up to. First off, they have a beautiful house. What I really like is that it’s easy to find. From our house we exit our neighborhood, turn right, then drive all the way down until we pull into their driveway. You couldn’t ask for easier directions.
So went down for a visit and spent some serious time on the beach. The last time Kasia was down there was last labor day, and I don’t think she had that great of a time. She couldn’t walk, couldn’t crawl, couldn’t play, couldn’t do nothin’. It must have been really boring. This time around though all that has changed. She had a blast playing in the sand and digging little holes. She discovered what sand tastes like, and she must like it because she kept sticking her sandy fingers in her mouth.
Then somewhere on day two, she finally got brave enough and discovered the ocean. Keep in mind that this girl hates taking a bath. If you put her in a nice tub full of warm water and toys, she screams like she’s getting her toe nails ripped off. Yet, allow her to walk into the ice cold ocean, and she can’t seem to get enough. We’d carry her back to the chairs and she’d immediately go wandering back to the water. This has led me to believe that maybe bath time will go smoother if we just use really cold water. (On a side note, I discovered that she’s not as bad if you use the “frying a frog” method. You know the saying about how if you throw a frog on a frying pan, it’ll immediately jump out, but if you put it on a cold pan and then heat it up, it doesn’t do anything? Well, I’ve never tried it with a frog, but with Kasia and a bath it seems to work. Put her in an empty tub and she’s fine. Fill it with water, and she’s fine. But try to put her into a tub that’s already full, and she goes ballistic).
But I digress. The beach was perfect and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. Kasey and her kids were also down for the weekend and added to the fun. The only sad part was that it eventually had to end and we had to make our way home. On the bright side, we discovered that it’s only an hour and a half to get down there, so we’ll probably be making the journey a few more times this summer. That is if Karlie lets us, and if not... then I guess we’ll just have to pick the lock and let ourselves in. One way or the other we’re getting our fill of the beach.

Mother's Day and Beyond

Kasia surprised her mother on Mother’s Day by getting up super early and screaming. If either Kara or myself spoke baby, we would be able to understand that she was shouting, “HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY, MOM!! YOU ARE THE GREATEST!!” Unfortunately, to our untrained ears, it sounded just like “WAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!” Once Kasia builds up her vocabulary, we’ll be better off.
Being that it was Mother’s Day, I got up and let Kara sleep in. We would have surprised her with breakfast in bed, but that would have meant waking her up, and I didn’t want to risk that. So we waited for her to wake up on her own and served her breakfast in the kitchen, at a table.
The rest of the day was spent up in Virginia Beach as we visited Kara’s aunts and uncles. There was food and fun, yet shockingly no music. No, wait, there was music. For some reason, Sandy decided to blast Barbara Streisand really (really) loud, and then she left the room. Maybe she didn’t like it as much as she thought she did.
As far as our house is concerned, not much has changed. We have worked some on the yard and hopefully within a couple of years we’ll have some decent grass. We were also able to clean up the garage enough that we can now actually park a car in it. I never thought that parking a car in a garage would count as an accomplishment, but it really is.
Kasia is still growing like a weed. Actually, I think she isn’t growing as much, but her hair is. There is so much hair on the top of that girl’s head that she’s beginning to rival her mother. She’s also getting a lot more teeth. Her molars are now coming in and she’s not feeling too good about it. Why do baby’s think that just because they have new teeth cutting holes through their gums, that it gives them the right to act cranky? I just can’t understand it.

Where to Begin?

Suffice it to say, we’ve had a pretty busy month. So let’s skip the small talk and get right down to it.
We bought a house. We moved into the house. We will never again move to a new house... at least we won’t move our stuff by ourselves. My body simply can’t handle another weekend like that again.
It all started on Friday the 27th. We closed in the morning and quickly got to work on the move. Granny Kathy kept Kasia all day so that we could move fast and without interruption. We spent the next several hours loading up small boxes into our cars, along with miscellaneous thing that didn’t get packed. The more we accomplished on Friday, the less work we’d have to do on Saturday.
For Saturday, we rented a 24’ U-Haul which is supposed to be for moving a four bedroom house. As we looked at it, we thought that it might be a little too much, but it’s all they had left. Thank God we got it. Despite taking down several loads the day before, we still managed to completely fill the truck. After we unloaded everything, we also discovered that somehow, we were able to stuff a one bedroom apartment with four bedroom’s worth of stuff. Our new house was full already.
It was a long and tiring day. They don’t make pain killers strong enough to make me feel better after that day. But on the plus side, we did get to meet our neighbors. In fact, we have met more of our new neighbors in the first two days than we did in two years at our apartment. Our next door neighbor even brought us dinner (stuffed shells in cheese and red sauce). Who does that? I didn’t know that neighbors still did things like that anymore. Well, I’m glad to say that they do.
Now that we’re here, I suppose we’ll have to start getting all the normal things that a house demands. Apartment furniture just doesn’t cut it here. We’ll also need a dining table because eating on dinner trays just doesn’t work in a house. And don’t even get me started on all the lawn care stuff we’ll need to get. At least we have the patio furniture for the front porch. We’re all set in that category.
In other news, Kasia is officially a walker. It’s not just something she does from time to time anymore. She has abandoned crawling and will now just walk. The only time she crawls is when she is going up or down steps (which she absolutely loves) but that’s mainly because we make her. If it was up to her, she’d probably want to walk up and down those as well. We’ve also noticed that she sleeps a lot better in the house. Her naps are longer and she now sleeps later in the morning. I’m not sure why that is, but you definitely won’t be hearing us complain about it.
We are now unpacked, for the most part, and are trying to figure out where we go from here. We want to paint, but we’re not sure which colors. We want to replace the carpet, but we don’t know with what. Fortunately we opted to not get cable at the house, so we’ll have more free time to discuss it. We do have a pair of rabbit ears for the TV, and we can actually get in a couple of stations pretty well. Fortunately, one of those stations is FOX, which seems to be all we watch anymore.
Slowly but surely, we’re beginning to feel at home. The place already feels like home, and in the coming months that feeling will only continue. So if you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by. If you need to spend the night, that’s fine. We have a guest room now.
By the way, our new address is:
195 Green View Rd
Moyock, NC 27958

Gruetzmacher. Kara Gruetzmacher

It’s official. Kara Smith is no more. She is now Mrs. Kara Gruetzmacher.
After we got married, we held off on changing the name since we were moving soon and would have to change all of our stuff to North Carolina anyway. Well, now that we’re move, we went and had her name changed. As a lifetime Gruetzmacher, I just want to say how thrilled we all are to have her on our team now. Sure there are drawbacks (like having to spell your last name for everyone), but you never have to worry about somebody else in the room having the same name.
I also went and got my North Carolina driver’s license. For the first time, I have a license from a state other than Illinois. And for the first time in eight years, I actually have an updated picture of myself. I am now, officially, a resident of North Carolina.
After all, if I’m going to live in Carolina, at least it’s NORTH Carolina!

Another Easter, Another Egg Dye

Can you believe that it has come to the point already where we are beginning to repeat holidays? Kasia has now celebrated her second Easter, and I believe that she had a lot more fun with this one than she did with last years.
Now, because she’s only one, the Easter Bunny was very nice to her and didn’t hide her Easter basket too hard. In fact, it was kind of hard to miss. It was filled with candies and plastic eggs and lots of easter grass. Boy, was it ever filled with easter grass. Kasia too quite a shine to the plastic strands of Eastery goodness. Soon we found out that we had a floor that was made of easter grass along with the couch and parts of different chairs. The stuff gets everywhere. It makes me wonder why they use the most annoying stuff for these children’s holidays? Easter has the fake grass that gets everywhere, and Christmas has the fake snow that is equally as annoying.
For dinner, we went over to Aunt Judy and Uncle Darrell’s house. It was very nice and the food was all wonderful. Kasia of course enjoyed the stairs. That girl is a climber, and anything she can climb, she will climb. The one bit of relief that I have is that she is also good at coming down from the things she climbs. She knows that she has to turn around and lower herself down the same way she went up. I think that’s a lesson she learned after many hard landings from doing it the wrong way.
We hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter and that when you’re in town, you come and visit us at our new house in Moyock, NC. We haven’t moved in yet, but it’s only a week away. I can’t begin to describe just how excited we are. And if you happen to be in town April 28, please feel free to come help us move. We’d greatly appreciate it.

First Blood: Part II

I had sent my men to get my revenge for having blood drawn on me. I hired a couple of ex-Soviet thugs to do their worst. Their mission was simple: get Kasia to apologize for making me bleed.
The storm outside was picking up in ferocity as my men went to work. Kasia was in her rocking chair, her head drooped down in exhaustion. It could all be over, whenever she wanted. All she had to do was talk into the microphone and apologize. Nothing fancy. Nothing too tough.
As the lightning flashed through the windows, her eyes were lit with a flash of fury. She grabbed the microphone in her sweaty palms and leaned into it. In a voice barely above a whisper, she began to speak.
“Daddy.... Daddy, I’m coming for you!”
I’m not sure what happened after that, but she must have had outside help. Both of my Soviet thugs were found dead the next day, and Kasia once again came after me.
Well, she did it again. Though not as dramatically as all that, she was able to once again pierce my skin and draw blood. This time though it was almost a little more vicious than the last time. Somehow she had found a broken stick that had at one time been a part of a puppet she has. The end had broken off and was rather sharp, so I decided that it was best if she didn’t play with it. As I went down to take it from her, she moved like a ninja. With one swift stroke, she jabbed my hand with her new found spear before crawling back to reestablish her fighting stance.
I glanced down as my palm and noticed that once again, I was bleeding. The little booger. That’s twice now that she’s gotten me. She even got her mother the other night by clawing her lip and drawing blood. This is getting out of hand.
So the tally is now up to three. Three times she has drawn the blood from her parents, and we have yet to get revenge. The question I now ask is, where do I find more ex-Soviet thugs?

Kurious Kasia at the Zoo

Since the weather has once again turned beautiful here in Virginia, Kasia and decided to take a trip to the zoo. This is actually the second time that Kasia has been to the zoo. The last time we went was last summer, and I don’t think she enjoyed it very much. Though it was hard to tell because she was asleep for most of the trip. This time, however, she was able to get the full experience.
The biggest shock of the day was that we saw the miracle of all miracles. There was a male lion lying out in plain sight of everyone. Not only that, but he was actually awake. Considering that lions sleep around 22 hours a day, this was really quite a shock.
All total, Kasia saw lions, tigers, elephants, and a few giraffe that came really close. I was able to carry her on my back for most of the trip so that she could see over the fences that seemed to block her vision of everything at stroller level.
The big thing that she enjoyed at the zoo were the fountains. As soon as you enter the zoo, there’s a small plaza with fountains that you can run through (if that happens to be your thing). Kasia loved looking at them. She loved listening to them. But she did not want to run through them. I guess if she did, that would be too close to taking a bath, and that just isn’t going to happen.

More House News

We are now closer and closer to purchasing a new home. We made an offer on the pictured house. It was accepted, and a contract was then drawn up an signed. Assuming that everything goes well, we will close on April 27. Between now and then we just have to inspect numerous things and wait. Considering the house is only four years old, there’s really nothing much that worries us as far as the inspections go. It’s the waiting part that is difficult to live with. It’s just that we want to move in now because while we love our apartment, it is just making us feel claustrophobic.
The low down on the house is that it’s a two story, four bedroom house with 2.5 baths. The master bedroom sits on the first floor, but until Kasia is grown, we’ll probably use it as an office. The second floor has three bedrooms and the guest bath. The first floor features (say that ten times fast) the great room with a gas fireplace (it’s propane... just to make Hank Hill happy (again with the alliteration. What’s up with me today?)). The front also features an attached two car garage along with a very nice porch for sitting on to watch the sunset and sipping lemonade.
The backyard, as I mentioned before, backs up to the golf course. While we weren’t crazy about it at first, we’ve come to realize that there are certain advantages to it. The backyard is also rather large, which is great for playing around in, but bad for having to mow. The one thing it doesn’t have yet is a deck, and that’s my first priority of things to do. The guy down the road built a screened in porch and deck onto his house, and I know that I can totally beat that. It’s just that I have zero experience when it comes to deck building. So if anyone out there has any ideas or tips, I’m more than willing to listen.
I’ve put some of the pictures up in the Photos section.
All the other pictures that I have are just of the bedrooms, and there’s nothing really exciting about looking at someone else’s furniture. I’ll post more pictures when I get some, or after we move in and all of our furniture is in there. Now THAT’s exciting stuff.