Talent Show

Talent Show 2009 from Jason Sutter on Vimeo.
Ella and her friends just performed in the school talent show. As you can see, they got the crowd to participate pretty well. Ella was excited about this show for weeks.

Little Surprises

An interesting thing happened this morning. I woke up like usual. Asher woke up like usual. Marley woke up like usual. Ella woke up, which is unusual, but that isn't the interesting thing. All my kids made their beds, got dressed, ate breakfast, and were ready for school early without any coaxing. What brought on this change? A chore chart. We charted their chores and told them we would figure out an allowance later. They are all over it. This has got to be worth 4 times what we will end up paying. If I only knew, I would have made the chart years ago.

The Longest Day of the Year

I used to believe the longest day of the year was the summer solstice. However, this weekend that belief was dashed as I learned the longest day of the year is in fact the play-a-thon for Valley of the Moon Little League. This was the first game of the year for our 8, 9, and 10 year-old boys. We arrived at 7:30 am for 6 one-hour games. We didn't make it. 13 boys, 5 hours, 12 innings that kind of math is a full day for anyone.

Asher spent a part of the day at his favorite position, short stop. He caught a fly and made a play to first. You can see in the picture, he also spent some time at catcher -- 1 inning. Near the end of the inning, he caught a ball in the stomach where he wasn't well protected and decided his catching career was over. You can see in the picture above why he got hit. He was a bit spooked by being so close to a batter and kept standing up. He said, "I'll play outfield or sit on the bench, but I am not getting behind the plate again." His strong suit is infield anyway, so it is probably for the best. He hit well going 6 for 6 on the day but was a bit disappointed there was no stealing. Well, starting the next game, he will be happy to see that stealing is on the menu.

I guess what really made the day long aside from organizing and maintaining 13 over-excited but ehausted boys is that we had picture day the next day. It made it feel like one long day. Nothing is worse than running boys through pictures. Thank God it is done.

Let the Games Begin

We are officially entering baseball season. Tomorrow is Asher's play-a-thon. It is 24 innings in one day. I doubt we'll make it. Ella starts softball next weekend. I am the assistant coach on both teams, so although it is easier than being the head coach, it is a lot of practices and games to attend. Asher will be playing shortstop and catcher.

I feel horrible for Ella. Her first game is next weekend as well as pictures. Unfortunately, Asher and I were given Sharks tickets for Christmas on the same day. So that is a bit of a pickle.

On the lighter side, Ella and I made a podcast last night. She wanted to make a movie about her doll house. She loves it so much that she wanted to share it with the world. And she was adamant that it should be on YouTube. So now I'll share it with you.


Ella's Doll House from Jason Sutter on Vimeo.

Overwhelmed by inertia

It has been too long. I have had many things to write about. So many in fact, that I never did any. I kept thinking I would need a big chunk of time to get caught up, which I never had. Instead, I didn't post anything. I don't have more time, but I decided to do what I can.

First off, Ella just turned 7. She had a great birthday. 14 girls for the first half of the day. She just started softball, so one thing we got her was a helmet with pony-tail hole and a new softball. As you can see, she really likes it. She decided to go to sleep with the thing. We haven't had much chance to play yet with the weather, but we should have more practices soon.

The other thing that Ella is doing is Daisies. She had her first award ceremony the other night. She was so proud. It has been tough because Asher is usually the one with stuff like this. Fortunately for Ella, she has some "things" now too.


Marley loves her sisters and has been enjoying preschool. She cracks us up with her zany antics. Her new favorite thing is skating in the house. Since we don't have any floors, that works out fine.

Asher is all about baseball. He starts his first game on Saturday. He will be playing shortstop, catcher, and pitcher.

House update:
We are a few weeks away from our kitchen. We are waiting on the cabinet doors. We also have to put in the backsplash, but the doors are keeping us from moving in. The counters went in nicely. If I had it to do over again... well, speculating does no good. Thank goodness we are close.

Superbowl

What a heartbreaker. Sure, the game was close. We were rooting for Arizona. But that isn't why I felt compelled to write about the Superbowl. I spent this Superbowl sitting with Asher at a party. There were a dozen of his friends playing outside and up on the playstation, but we sat together and watched the whole game. Excited about each advance for the Cardnials, commiserating about each downturn. This is the first time Asher has been so invested in a game on TV. We watched the entire game together until the tension got too great with 4 minutes left and he had to leave. He came back once they went ahead. With their change of fortune, he was ecstatic and gleeful. He hugged his friends and danced around the room. Then the fateful last 2 minutes. All his joy seeped out as Pittsburgh marched down the field for the lead. It was poignant to see how bad he wanted it. When Pittsburgh scored, he fought back the tears and asked if we could go. With 35 seconds left, we stayed, because you never know... But it wasn't to be.

Today will be memorable. We had such a nice father-son time, but his heart was broken with the outcome. Bittersweet.

Overdue Update

Two months! That is a long time. But I have been occupied, so it was tough to find the time. Here is the run down, two months in two paragraphs or less.

November is always busy since we have 4 birthdays, coming into Christmas, we were pretty worn out. But we had a great time with our family renting out Pump it Up. The kids will always remember having the whole place to themselves and their cousins. I think Jeremy and I will always remember going at each other with the boxing gloves. Kate is walking and attempting to exert her will. Marley loves preschool and is just a bundle of energy. Ella went to Arizona with her Grandmother to see Stef's cousin Carley, and had the time of her life. Girls night every night, toenail painting, dress-up, they had a blast. Asher is into baseball. It is humorous to me to see how quickly the sports shift depending on the season. Asher didn't touch his baseball glove since the last game last year. He was all soccer. Then even a week before baseball tryout, it was all soccer and football. "Dad, I don't know if I really like baseball anymore." Tryouts come, and every second since has been about baseball cards, baseball magazines, and most of all, playing catch with me or by himself in the backyard. Today we actually went and bought a new glove. He probably would have slept with it tonight, but he asked me to put his name on it instead. Ella just finished her first grade play. She had the lead role as a narrator and loved it. Here is the video for it.

Ella's First Grade Play from Jason Sutter on Vimeo.

It has been 2 months, so a house update is in order. Right after the last bit of work (stucco, windows, counters), we tore out the downstairs bathroom and laundry room. It seems rather... well... stupid, I know. Why start something new with so much unfinished. However, we had reasons. Probably not the best, but reasons. We had a debris pile to get rid of before it rains. Since we knew we were tearing those things out this year, it made sense to do it when we had the debris box. Secondly, the laundry room still had a rat-ish smell when it rained, so we guessed there was rat nests, poop, etc in the walls. On this second point I was a little worried that I missed my guess when we started ripping stuff out, but at the last piece, I struck paydirt. The smell was located. It must sound funny to be excited about finding rat remains in your wall, but understand that means I can get it out. Under the landing in the staircase on the other side of the wall was what looked like a rat disco lounge before they were all poisoned. So there was a lot to clean out. I know I am going into great detail, possibly too much on this point, but please understand that I am excited. I can confidently say that our house no longer smells like rat poo when it rains or gets too hot and sweltery. That is a good feeling, let me assure you. So, I drywalled both rooms immediately and all was back together before Christmas. The cabinets are all finished. I am staining them in the evening and will put on the last coat tomorrow night. As for the counters... who knows. But I think we are close. I have finished staining them, and they are now in the garage waiting to be sealed. I expect to place the cooktop into place on Tuesday, and start hanging cabinets next week. Look, here they are in my garage. So a New Year's date was not realistic, but Valentines is actually possible.