Darby tries ginger ale:

Darby: Blech! This is yucky!
Chris: Do you want some more?
Darby: ... Yes.

And reported by his mom:

Erika: Good painting, Darby. What is it?
Darby: It's a guy throwing up!
Erika: Yep, that's what that looks like.

I'm sitting at the kitchen table when Darby comes running up.

"Daddy, Daddy! Mommy did something bad!"

Immediately I hear Erika from somewhere in the distance: "WHAT?!"

Sadly, Darby's explanation was incomprehensible, so I never could figure out what he thought she'd done. But I'm sure it was terrible.

Nature or nurture?

In iTunes I maintain a playlist of songs Casey likes from the stuff he hears me playing. His recent requests to add songs have included the following:

• Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67, "Fate": I. Allegro con brio -- Beethoven
• Bust a Move -- Young MC
• Black Horse and the Cherry Tree -- KT Tunstall
• In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida -- Iron Butterfly

That's the tip of the iceberg, believe me. He seems to be adopting his father's eclectic tastes in music.

Justice at 4

Hey neat, I just found an old file on my computer. I know, right? But it gets better! Apparently I knew I'd want to remember this, so I jotted this exchange down. It's more than a year old, but here's my attempt to explain jurisprudence to an inquisitive 4-year-old:

Casey: What do the police do?
Chris: They're there to enforce the law. We have lots of special rules that keep people safe and keep them from hurting each other, and the police are there to make sure people aren't breaking the rules.
Casey: The police make sure people are sharing?

And:

Casey: What do the bad guys do?
Chris: The bad guys break the rules.
Casey: Do bad guys like to climb on the table?

Quote[s] of the [Holi]day

Ah, a day at home with the kids. So here's one from each:

Casey: Hey, Daddy? Remember last year, when the Twins lost too many games?
Me: Well, I try not to, but yes.
Casey: Maybe that will happen to the other hockey team that's playing the Wild.

Thanks, Casey. I love when he tries to cheer me up. And actually ... the Wild are looking surprisingly good so far.

And:

Darby: I want pie sauce, too!
Erika: It's not called pie sauce, Darby, it's whipped cream.

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Here's one I saved from a month ago:

[Darby is wailing, profoundly upset.]
Chris: Darby, what is it? Why are you crying?
Darby: *chokes back the sobs* Casey called me a cabbage!

???

Well that didn't take long. I came home on time today:

Casey: I'm eating something!
Hmm. He's not supposed to have food downstairs, and he hasn't been upstairs since I got home.
Chris: What are you eating?
Casey: I saved a fruit snack in my cheek!

Service will resume

I've been enjoying the Quote of the Day concept and didn't mean to fall silent. The kids crack me up as much as they do anybody else, and my interest in jotting that stuff down remains at a high level. It's just that I'm in a tight spot at work and haven't had time to see the kids, and it's harder to report things I'm not there to witness. But rest assured I'll get back to it as soon as I can.

In the meantime, let's all ask Erika where the next batch of photos is!

Darby: I want another show!
Erika: Sorry, Darby, it's time for bed.
Darby: But I'm hungry!
Erika: It's time for bed, Darby. Let's go upstairs.
Darby: To get a snack?

Nice try, Darby. Nice try.

Quote of the Day

Casey, while I'm reading a book at bedtime:

Pause! You have to pause it! [He runs from the room.]

Quote of the Day

Darby: I'm getting big with candy corn!

Quote of the Day

Darby: I'm an outer space spacestronaut! We're going to the moooooon!

Happy birthday, Darby.

Someday, we'll need this post so Darby knows where his college money went

Darby: Mommy, I'm hungry.

Erika: No, you're not.

Darby: But I am hungry!

Erika: Darby, you just had two dinners.

Darby: But I want ... I want ... I want two more dinners!

A short play about dinner

Chris: Which do you like more? Carrots or potatoes? Which one's better?

Darby: No! Carrots can't turn into potatoes!

[We regard each other silently.]

Chris: What! We've got here, is. Failure! To ... commun'cate!

Darby: [Roars laughter.] "Commun'cate is not a vegetable!"

Adventures in verb tense

Darby:

When I was a hockey player, I should shoot the puck! Like WHOCK! That's how you do it, with a hockey stick.

New feature: Quote of the Day

I need to write some of this stuff down. So this is how it's gonna be, at least when I remember to do it. And when the material's interesting enough, which I guess I can't promise every day. But I've got a good feeling.

Casey:

"I don't have a runny nose! I'm just sniffing to keep the goo in."

Well done, Casey. Funny AND horribly disgusting! That's some distilled essence of parenthood right there.

Apple Picking

These pictures were actually taken today, so I'm current again. For the past couple years, we've picked apples at Appleberry Farm. The kids ask to go back there because there's this big tree they really like to climb around in. Chris and I like it because they serve these amazing cider brats with apple-onion relish. And they sell good cider. And this year, they had a couple new tire swings. When we were done goofing around, we picked about 16 pounds of apples. Chris has big plans to spend all day Sunday peeling and slicing so he can make us an apple crisp.

Vacation!

For our first-ever family vacation that didn't involve staying with relatives, we went to a water park resort in the Wisconsin Dells. I'm going to take a break from my minimal-commentary streak to tell you a little story that I find really amusing. Casey took swim lessons and played soccer in August, but Darby's not old enough for either, so he spent most of the month watching Casey from the sidelines. He seemed to do okay with that. I played with him at the park next to the pool, and Chris or I kicked a ball around with him adjacent to the practice. But when we told the boys we were taking them to a waterpark, Darby immediately burst into tears. His first thought was that this was going to be yet another thing that only Casey got to do. Poor guy! Of course we took him on vacation with us.

Before we left, we did a quick early celebration of Casey's birthday. He turned ... five! Ooo, five looks a little ominous. I'm not sure I'm ready for this.

 Casey uses his fingers to show how old he is. Next year he'll need two hands--oh my.

 This is a very special Denny's where famous rock stars hang out. We asked Casey and Darby to pose like Jake and Elwood.

 They have no idea who this is. That's so weird.

 I can never just get everyone to just look at the camera and smile. Someday.

 Good pirate faces. This is at Crabby's, a pirate-themed seafood buffet.

 This is in the lobby of the hotel. It's called the Clock Tower, and three times a day it comes to life with animatronic animals and a ridiculously lame song about nature. Casey loved it. Chris and I sat through it more times than we would have liked.

We spent most of the time at the water park, but I don't have any record of that because I didn't want to have to keep track of my camera. But it was tons of fun, the kids had a blast, and we would definitely go back.

Henry Vilas Zoo in August

 I couldn't get them to smile, so I just told them to make "mad" faces. They're much more cooperative with that request.

 I didn't manage to get Darby's chin in this picture, but there are so few photos of me, here you go.

 Chris has the wingspan of an eagle.

Cooling Off

It's fall now, but sometime back in July it was still blazing hot.

Indiana Trip

I took the boys down to Indiana to visit my family in early July. Krista and I went to a music festival, and the rest of the family came over for a cookout on the 4th, and we set off a few small fireworks. For some reason the only time I thought to get out my camera was after dark, and you can see how that turned out. I don't know, I kind of like this first one.

 That sparkler really wasn't as smokey as it looks here.

 Darby watches the fireworks.

 Oh, look, I managed to get one photo in daylight. This is Kevin, my youngest nephew.