Yesterday I was "testing" our ten month-old baby Kenny. I started out by asking him, "How big are you?" (He showed us.)   Then I sang "Pat-a-cake," and he clapped along. Then I said, "What does the cow say?" Kenny said, "Mmmmmmm." Then I said, "What does the sheep say?" Baby answered, "Baa!" I thought that was really cool.  Besides "Mama," and "Dada," and "Duh" (for bird), baby says "Mmmm" and "Baa." I am looking forward to communicating mo...

Just the other day I wrote a weblog entry about removing bushes from in front of my house . Yesterday, that story got a bit more interesting.  While I was at work, my wife decided to start digging around the area where the bushes used to be.  Once the bushes had been removed, we were able to see about a six inch section of what appeared to have once been a wall that we had thought had been removed. Anyway, my wife started digging, and she uncovered a nice little stone...

I needed a new water heater for my house.  I decided to buy an on-demand electric water heater from Menards.  After checking (with the clerk, the brochure, and with the website) whether the appliance was compatible with my house's electricity, I went ahead and ordered it.  (Of course it wasn't in-stock.) Once we got the box open, we learned that our electricity wasn't compatible with the water heater.  (We needed 2x240 instead of 1x240.)  I wasn't concer...

The day before yesterday we took our baby to TARGET (department store) shopping. Here he is posing there: He LOVES to push the cart.  First he tried on his knees, then he stood up and "went for it."

Hello there. This evening I was taking a few pictures of baby Kenny.  His mom put some really cute pajamas on him, so I decided to get out the camera. Here are what the pajamas look like: Kenny REALLY likes our bird, Pipio.  He walks over to the cage and "talks" to the bird all the time.  He says, "Duh...Duh...Duh..." (Which is apparently his word for "bird.") Just posing for the camera:

Tonight for dinner, my wife is making us a yummy home-made pizza.  She does a good job with those. We went out to the garden to get some tomatoes to put on the pizza. We have gads of tomatoes out there! Here is today's haul:

Today has been a busy Sunday.  I intended to watch the Vikings game from three o'clock; but before that started, I had to get some yardwork done. The first thing that I did was cut the grass.  It had been two weeks since I had last done it, and it was beginning to get a little long.  I like to cut the grass on Sundays because I enjoy listening to the sports radio programs on WCCO radio (especially during the Twins' season!) The second thing was removing some bushes that...

Last Friday, our friends Rob and Nancy had a baby.  It is a little girl named Isadora. She is a cute little one.  The baby is long and thin.  She seemed awfully alert for such a young baby.  Maybe she'll be a bright little girl Congratulations Rob and Nancy! Baby cuddled with my wife: I was able to coax something that resembled a smile out of the little one: Kaco, Kenny, and Isadora: Here's me and the new little baby:

For those of you who are regular readers of my weblog: You will know that I have a nine month-old son.  You will also know that I am very interested in my vegetable garden.  In this weblog entry, I will put the two together. Yesterday, we let Kenny enjoy our garden-grown tomatoes.  It seemed that he really liked them!  He had such a happy face as he was eating them. After a while he had enough of eating, and he started to push the squashed tomato around the ...

Hello there. I am at home now.  My legs are a bit sore and my body is a bit tired, but I am in good spirits.  Today my parents came with my wife, my son, and I to the Minnesota State Fair. We ate all sorts of yummy fair food, and we saw all of the fair sites.  It was a happy day. As I am a bit tired from my day, I will let the following three pictures do a bit of my communication for me: Kenny had a happy time.  He likes looking at crowds of people.  Babies t...

In the school district where I work, the kids will come back to school next Wednesday, and the teachers have been back since yesterday. Before going into work yesterday I was a little sad because I wasn't ready for my summer vacation to be over.  I had such a nice time relaxing with family and friends.  I wasn't looking forward to getting back into the daily grind. Returning yesterday, I was greeted by the of happy faces of colleagues who welcomed me back to work.  Ever...

When I came back from Japan, I was really looking forward to seeing how my garden had progressed while I was gone. On first inspection I found that I have many many tomatoes (perhaps 100s), and a big pile of green beans.  Upon further inspection, I have found a number of ripening giant- and regular- cucumbers, as well as some green peppers.  (I think that I will even have a few jalapenos before long.) I picked two cucumbers and a green pepper today.  The green pepper wa...

I lived in two different apartments when I was working in Japan from 1996-2001.  Each apartment was located near a McDonald's restaurant. The McDonald's at the first location was located inside of a department store, so I was unable to enjoy McDonald's breakfast (known in Japan as "Asa-Makku.")  At my second abode, I was happy to learn that I would be living by a McDonald's which served breakfast. I like to treat myself with McDonald's breakfast on lazy weekend (or holi...

Hello there friends!  I hope that all of you are having a nice day. I am enjoying my last Friday of this year's summer vacation at home with my wife and my son.  Sadly, my wife is in bed sick with a sore throat and fever; so it will be my job to keep the baby entertained for the day.  (I'll do my best!) The first thing that we did this morning was to go in to the doctor for Kenny's 9-month check-up.  He is 29.5 inches (75cm) long, and he weighs 21 (9.545 kg)pounds. ...

Hello there. It is eight o'clock in the morning, and I have already had quite a day.  My wife, my, son, and I all woke up at around 4:15 this morning.  (It is our first evening back after an extended trip to Japan, so our schedules are all messed-up.)  We decided to go to a family restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast, we relaxed a bit at home.  As soon as the sun rose, we went outside to look at my garden (I have a TON of beans and tomatoes!)  After assessing ...