Halo Flu - a month late...

So, for the last month or so, I've been working my way through Halo's 1 and 2 in preparation for the release of Halo 3. One of the things I like about the Halo series is that it's not a "kill everything that moves" game - there's actually a plot. I wanted to catch up on the story line before I got moving. I remembered most of the plot of 1, but since I had a one-year-old around the house when Halo 2 came out I wasn't able to play it at full volume and missed some of the story. I still have small kids in the house, but I figured out a way to hook headphones up to my 360. When it came to replaying the games, I knew that I wasn't in a hurry to finish because I wasn't going to be able to get Halo 3 until Christmas anyway.

Well, Wednesday of last week, I received a copy of Halo 3 mailed to me in an unmarked envelope. A gift I do appreciate (in case the random gifter reads my blog - you can consider this post to also be my thank you note), but it gave me a bit more incentive to finish Halo 2.

Well, I finished Halo 2 last night. Then I got "sick". My wife said that the smells eminating from the bathroom and passing out around midnight were convincing enough to take a day off from work.

So, I got to play a while today. My favorite part so far is a little Easter Egg that I found wandering down a random hallway. Two characters with voices STRIKINGLY similar to Simmons and Caboose on Red vs Blue arguing over knowing the password necessary to open a door. I got myself clobbered just so that I could share the moment with Melissa.

Perspective...

Last night, my daughter refused to eat a chocolate covered strawberry that was offered to her. "Dad," she whispered to me, "I don't want to eat a dirty strawberry."

When she was offered an ice cream bar last night, it seemed that "dirty" ice cream is acceptable.

Highlights of our vacation

Roger (driving through Glenwood Canyon):
"I know the guy that made that!"

Imagined on a sign entering Utah:
"Welcome to Utah: Inspiring Sarcastic Comments Since 1896"

Katrina (seeing the pool at the hotel):
"That pool is bigger than ME!"

Katrina (after watching the fountain at the Bellagio):
"Do it again Daddy!"

Katrina (upon arriving at the vacation rental in Running Springs, CA (a beautiful resort town in the mountains)):
"They even have a TV!"

Katrina (referring to the groom):
"So, who's the guy?"

Katrina (after getting off 'it's a small world' - her third ride of the day):
"Can we go to Disneyland now?"

Katrina (leaning in my shoulder while eating dinner at Disneyland):
"I had a great day Dad..."

Roger (upon arriving at our final hotel - after navigating California for 6 days relying almost entirely on road signs):
"Hey look! A road atlas!"

Roger (noticing how disoriented Alex was upon arriving back home):
"I suppose that to him it's like he's been away from home for a year."

Yep, she's a girl!

(Trying to get Katrina to sleep last night.... She was crying... I was doing what I could to console her.)

K: Daddy! I'm not sleepy!
Me: Are you hurt?
K: No!
Me: Are you sad?
K: No!
Me: Well, why are you crying?
K: I'm crying for fun!

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?

So, Katrina was doing paints at Grandma's house today. After she painted the above shape, she pointed out to her mommy, "It's pi mommy!"

My Birthday Present

Yeah - she loves me...

Living a Parable

So, a short summary of my life:

1. Our school district is switching student information systems in less than a month. Part of my job description is to support the whole school staff through the whole process. Part of my job description is to train all of the teachers at my school how to use the system - most importantly, how to take attendance on April 3rd. (It's also a personal goal to train a few other people in just a little more than just attendance to make my life easier in the long run.)


2. The staff meeting where I was planning to introduce everyone to the primary concepts of the new system got cancelled today because of a pep assembly.


3. I had a four day training on the new product about three weeks ago - I have yet to recover from taking four days off.


4. On the last day of that training, I received notice that (thanks to decisions at the district) Apple Computer was shipping almost 100 new computers to my school - to arrive within the next week. I don't have storage space for 100 computers.


5. My son had surgery on a dermoid cyst last Wednesday. All went well, but I missed yet another day of work and he seems to only feel the pain at bedtime. He also learned two tricks this week: crawling and pulling up. These are two really fun tricks for a child with eight fresh stitches over his left eye. He likes to practice these at bedtime too...


6. The bookkeeper is ending the budget cycle next week so that purchases have time to amortize by the end of the fiscal year. Suffice it to say that I still have budget money to spend.


7. Today, I got a call from my wife while I was at work saying that she had thrown up and that she would like me to come home as early as possible.

I think that sums up the primary points - there are other points, but they involve that I still have family life, normal job duties, and stuff going on at church - so on to the parable.

Tonight, my son was having trouble falling asleep and, of course, only I could attempt to comfort him. It was obvious that he didn't want me, he wanted mommy. It was obvious that his eye was bothering him. It was obvious that he wanted to be moving around and not lying down.

I found myself saying, "If you would just slow down and rest here with daddy, you would realize that everything is going to be okay!"

hmm...

Yeah, she's gonna need extensive counseling...

Last night, my wife and I were playing a game. I made a good play and said "Oh, yes!"

My sweet daughter responded "Wyoming!"

Baby's first Star Wars quote...

OK - so we all know that she was quoting her daddy quoting his favorite Han Solo line. But I couldn't have been more proud.

Last night at dinner, I asked her if she wanted more chicken for dinner she just looked at me with a confused look on her face and simply said "It's me!"

It's an obscure quote, I know, but hey - it's me!

Anonymous confessions of a lunatic friend...

This is for a friend of mine: Sunday night my friend had a baby dedication for his 4-month old son. During the dedication, he read a letter of dedication that he and his wife (mostly his wife) wrote together. Now he is getting all sorts of compliments for the things he shared - his wife is getting nothing. Please pray for her that she would realize that the compliments are about the letter and not the horribly sappy way in which the letter was read.

THAT'S my GIRL!

The other day we were in the car listening to CD of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. My two year old daughter actually complained, "Not Vivaldi, daddy! Beethoven!" :)

Our kids?

So do you think this is what our kids will look like?

I never understood...

There are some Bible verses that I don't think I fully understood until I had kids.

Psalm 73:21-23
Psalm 131:2
Isaiah 64:6
John 3:3-4
Deuteronomy 10:16
Genesis 7:9-10