So THAT's Why They Do It...

Stefanie is back in school. She currently spends every Friday in a classroom in Santa Rosa to get back into "nursing shape." So some Friday's Marlene comes to watch the kids, and some times I take off work.

Today I took off work. The kids are on Easter break, so we all got up around 8 and started the day. In the spirit of full disclosure I always have the Mr. Mom thing with Michael Keaton playing in my head when I am on for the whole day. Needless to say, I had an agenda. Dutch babies for breakfast. Friedman Brothers hardware to get the parts to hook up the bathroom sink. Back home for Kate's nap and painting. Off to Napa Home Depot in the afternoon (30 minutes each way) to get the parts Friedman Brothers didn't have.

As an aside, let me discuss our media policies because they do have relevance to my current thoughts. Stefanie and I are cautious about some media. Our kids are well versed on the computer and have a plentiful collection of DVDs. We have a PlayStation 2 and a Wii. However, we limit the amount of time they get in a given week on all these media. The girls watch maybe 2 hours worth of TV each week, if that. Asher mostly only plays video games--usually 2-3 hours on the weekend. So when Asher asked for a Game Boy years ago, we said, "Absolutely not." I had visions of fighting with him at the dinner table, at the breakfast table, when we were walking through the store, while visiting relatives at holidays, while... you get the picture. "Put that Game Boy down!"

So, back to today. As I made breakfast, Asher asked if Sean could come over. Sure. He was at our house 10 minutes later, joined us for breakfast, and headed to the hardware store with us. Everything went pretty well. At little rambunctiousness in the store, that is to be expected. We made it back home, put Kate down, and asked the kids to play outside after I fed them lunch. 2 hours later, Kate wakes up, and we set off for errand #2 -- Home Depot.

Without making the story much longer, I just about reached the end of my rope. In the store, in the car, or in the parking lot, these 5 kids were all over the place and all over each other. We finally make it to the car to start the 30 minute drive home, and I am thinking, "If there was only a way to tone them down a few notches." Then it hit me, what I need is a few Game Boys! So even though I always thought I wanted my kids to talk to me in the car instead of playing a pocket video game, I realized today that there is a good reason so many kids have one.

The Biggest Fool

I had a meeting this morning at the Contra Costa County Office of Education. I am out the door at 7:30 and make my way through Vallejo and Benicia to Pleasant Hill. Somewhere in the middle, I get a call from Stefanie. The conversation goes something like this:
"Hey Jas."
"Hey Stef, what's up?"
"You know how I wasn't feeling well? I think it is morning sickness. I want to get a pregnancy test."

OK, let's take a moment for some background. Stef doesn't start up with her womanly cycles until she stops breastfeeding, so we were expecting this soon. I was aware of April Fool's day, but this struck so close to home that it didn't even register as a possible prank. Back to the conversation.

"Really. [silence]"

So Stefanie tells me she will get one later. She lets me go to my meeting and sweat it out. I call her back at a break, but she said, "I haven't had time to get one yet." So I am doing all this thinking. Where will this one go? If it is another girl, how am I going to pay for 4 weddings? The one question I didn't ask is how did this happen. I think I have a handle on that now. In any case, at 1:30, I call her a third time, and she finally lets me know that this is a prank. Obviously, this was a "good one." More surprising because Stefanie is a terrible liar. But I was left with a question for the rest of the afternoon. At what point does a prank go too far? This one certainly put a toe up against the line.

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.