• It’s been too long

    I know this is going to sound crazy, but I ate my first PB&J in several years this afternoon. Yeah, I know that you’re thinking. How can someone who loves peanut butter as much as a guy like me live without a staple for so long? Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t forsaken the creamy peanut stuff. I’ve had plenty of grilled peanut butter sandwiches in the mean time.

    What can I say? I just haven’t been in the mood for jelly.

    Today I put an end to my jelly free streak. I’ve been feeling a bit run down the last few weeks and a little grape jelly suddenly seemed like just the thing.

    It was just as good as I remembered.

    Two pieces of toasted wheat bread. A freshly stirred jar of natural peanut butter. A bit of honey. A couple teaspoons of grape jelly. One appetite satisfied.

  • Slow mo

    Adam is a lot like a lot of other 3-4 year olds: he has one speed (hint: it isn’t slow). Earlier this evening we were getting close to the little one’s bed time and I was hoping to slow things down a little. That was when I decided to put a little Kauffman ingenuity to the test. We’d been having a marathon father-son goof-ball session and my super slow-motion routine was a hit. You name it and doing it in slow motion was good for a burst of laughter. I’ll admit this strategy wasn’t perfect. Producing fits of giggling doesn’t usually help get the kids in bed. It turns out pretending to be slow doesn’t necessarily lead to a slower heartbeat or anything else you’d associate with relaxation. Sure I could have tried to sit down with a book, or any of a number of tried and true strategies for getting ready for bedtime… but what fun is that? Now take a kid who knows nothing of 70’s television and show him the beauty of slow motion power run (a la Steve Austin*) – now that’s a recipe for good times.

    Ah, but the problems really started when Adam’s own ingenuity kicked in. Through his own experimentation he discovered super fast-motion was even funnier.

    Yeah, that didn’t really work out at all.

    *I was a little disturbed to learn a google search for “steve austin” results in a whole bunch of hits for some wrestler, rather than my second favorite 70’s/early 80’s TV super-hero (my favorite of course was Mr H). What is the world coming to?

  • Red Belt

    Red Belt

    Beth brought her new red belt home tonight. Now she starts down the home stretch to her black belt. In her school, red is the last colored belt. There are two intermediate levels which can take six months each to achieve before she’d begin final preparation to test for her black belt. She’s a little worried about having enough time to get in training, with her academic schedule already looking pretty full, but I’m trying to preach a wait and see approach. We’ll worry about it when we get there.

    In the mean time, tonight was pretty cool. You should have seen her. She’s so proud.

    So are we.

    I would have taken this picture outdoors, like the previous pics, but the weather hasn’t been cooperating.