Please pass the wiener....schnitzel

WHAT NOW?

The conversations around our dinner table can be very entertaining for me and my lovely wife. Especially when the two individuals providing the bulk of that entertainment (our two girls) are on their "A" game. Last night we had a little BBQ going. I'm talking hot dogs, potato salad, fries, the works! With a meal like this there actually isn't much talking, just eating. The peace wouldn't last however when I uttered these, now famous in our house, words. "Can someone please pass me the wieners?" I know it's kind of an old fashioned term for hot dogs, but sometimes I like to go old school with my vocabulary. Well, the looks I got from both of my girls reminded me that while my comment may have been innocent enough, the term wiener has a whole different meaning in the world of grade schoolers. My oldest, after trying to wrap her brain around the fact that Dad just announced the word WIENER at the dinner table said "Dad, that's gross!" My youngest then breaks into what I assume is laughter, but is mostly snickers and heavy breathing. My wife, always trying to keep our girls away from such thoughts, starts in with "well you know, that is what some people call hot dogs." Then, out of know where comes the somewhat accurate history lesson. "In Germany" she continues..."they make hot dogs called wiener schnitzels and that is where the term wiener actually comes from." Thank you professor, but at this point we have used the term wiener so much that it wouldn't matter how we tried to justify it, all our girls heard was WIENER, WIENER WIENER...BLAH, BLAH, BLAH...WIENER. Now our oldest has joined the barley breathing laugh parade. My wife tries to close the matter by saying "so do you understand the difference between hot dog wieners and the other kind?" To which my daughter replies "ya, but I don't want to eat any wiener because they might have hair on them!" "OK, can someone pass me the hot dogs so I can eat now???"

PEACE OUT DADS!!!

Not ready for my baby to grow up

It has been amazing to watch my two girls grow up. Even more amazing is how fast time seems to goes by when you have kids. I still remember the diaper changing days, the crawling days, the first words days. How is it even possible that I now have a 1st grader and an almost kindergartner? "K", my oldest, has always done things ahead of schedule, from what I hear. I think she just has a desire inside her that pushes her to do things as soon as she can. My youngest, "R", is totally different in that nothing seems to bother her and she won't be rushed into anything. This has always given me the comfort that she won't grow up as fast and I'll have my baby girl longer. Well, things are changing, and fast. This weekend she picked up a book and was reading part of it to my wife and I....I don't know how or when this happened, but there she was, reading. She has also shown the ability to spell. She wanted to write Saturday on something and asked me to spell it for her. I told her to try first, and she proceeds to tell me s-a-t-r-d-a....WHAT?!?! Where did this come from? "R" has always had an amazing memory, so much so that my wife and I count on her to remember things we can't, but this was like going from zero to sixty in 5 seconds. What's next, a wiggly tooth? I don't know if I'm ready for my baby to grow up...but it looks like it's going to happen anyway.

PEACE OUT DADS!!!

Random Thoughts

1. There is nothing that takes the excitement of an Easter Egg Hunt away faster than cold rain, but it does give you a good reason to hit Starbucks afterwards.

2. I don't think I have ever seen my wife more excited about something than she is about wii fit. I must film her playing because there is nothing I find more entertaining than that.

3. Going on field trips with your child's class could be one of the most enjoyable parts of being a parent.

4. While watching an infomercial for some 70's love song music collection, hosted by Tony Orlando and some lesser known female, my wife made the comment that Tony Orlando had died several years back and then wondered why Tony Basil (of 80's "Oh Micky" Fame) was hosting it. Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that woman's head.

5. Loosing your spring vacation tan is sad.

6. When you think you can't go on, or can't finish a project, or can't run say...16 miles, you need to dig deep and push forward. You can't duplicate the feeling of reaching the end.

7. When you are trying to sleep with a stuffed up nose, there is no replacement for nasal spray.

8. I think our memories get worse as we age. My 5 year old remembered a phone number she heard on the radio two weeks ago.....what?!?!?

9. The NBC show Heroes is losing me. I have loved it since my wife got me hooked on it after season one. If last night's show is any indication of what is to come I'll be looking for new entertainment on Monday nights.

10. I have the opportunity to spend a ton of time with my family this summer, go on business trips with my wife, and basically keep my part-time-stay-at-home Dad status, or get a 9-5 like everybody else. Should I even be thinking about that option?

PEACE OUT DADS!!!