Day 1,617 - First Field Trip (For Both of Us!)

I don’t know if you’ve looked at the weather but it’s raining today. In fact, it rained basically all of last night. According to the weather forecast, it’s going to rain some every day for the rest of the week. Not cool, right? The one solace that I can find with all of this rain in the forecast is that it hasn’t always been rainy. In fact, around this time last week, the weather was actually fairly decent. I know this because at that time, I was accompanying Ethan on his K-Prep field trip to the Red Barn Farm in Weston.

While I’ve clearly had a lot of different experiences as a stay-at-home parent, chaperoning a field trip was not among them. It’s not that I haven’t had interest in doing so. Quite the contrary. I’ve actually thought it would be fun to have that experience with my kids. Unfortunately, that whole pesky COVID thing in 2020 got in the way of Ellie even having field trips in preschool. As for kindergarten and first grade, the opportunity to chaperone a field trip just hasn’t been there. Therefore, I was more than excited to get to have that opportunity with Ethan.

As you can see, Ethan was unbelievably stoked about the experience.

As part of this field trip experience, Ethan and I were responsible for getting ourselves to Red Barn Farm by 9:00 am. In addition, we were told to pack a sack lunch for the two of us to enjoy in the picnic area. Neither thing was an issue; I’m just setting the stage for everyone. Upon our arrival, we joined a large mass of humanity made up of students from Northland Christian and their parents to wait for the tour to begin. After a few minutes, all of the boys from Ethan’s class were divided up into a group with their parents and we headed off to the barnyard, led by the knowledgeable Farmer Kelsie.

Our first stop was at the horse pen where we saw the horse (who I cannot remember the name of) who was apparently rather grumpy to be in his pen choosing instead to stand at the far edge of his enclosure and ignore the kids who were ready to see him. However, Ethan and his friends didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, they were much more interested in interacting with each other rather than checking out the animals. No big deal though.

After seeing the horse, we made our way through the barnyard, meeting the llamas, pig, piglets, calf, chickens, goats, ducks, and donkeys along the way. After we had finished meeting the animals, it was time to take a hayride to the pumpkin patch where everyone (yes, parents and kids) got the opportunity to pick out a pumpkin to take home with them. The kids also got a short presentation from Farmer Kelsie about how pumpkins and other plants grow, which led us to our final stop, the Red Barn Farm’s beehive. I have to say that it was actually pretty fun to watch the bees wander about their home and learn all about the varying structures of a hive. The kids actually seemed really engaged by it as well; especially when they were given a honey stick to enjoy.

With that, our tour was concluded, and it was time to head to the picnic area for lunch. There was just one quick stop along the way: the bathroom. As there was only one other dad on the trip, the two of us drew the short straw of helping with bathroom duty which was about as chaotic and unenjoyable as one might guess. After that, we found our lunch and sat down with a group of Ethan’s friends and their parents to eat away.

Overall, I’d have to say that my first field trip experience as a chaperone was fairly enjoyable. I always enjoy getting chances to talk with other parents, even if I normally am in the minority. Better though was the opportunity to get to watch Ethan interact with his peers and put faces with the names that he talks about every Tuesday and Thursday after school. Hopefully this is the first of many field trips to come that I get to chaperone. We’ll have to wait and see though.

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,614 - The "Get Along" Shirt

**sigh**

Let me go ahead and do that again, only louder for people who may not have heard it the first time.

**SIGH**

That’s better. You know, sometimes a good sigh can help all that is ailing the soul. Many different things can bring about a sigh such as that. In my experience, it’s caused by some kind of frustration or exasperation otherwise known as Ellie and Ethan.

For the most part, I absolutely love my kids and enjoy spending time with them. However, there are definitely those times when I find myself looking for the nearest corner to hide in or door to run straight out of (probably while screaming). Those times generally happen when Bethany is busy or otherwise indisposed, much like this weekend. Don’t get me wrong; I’m actually stoked that she had the opportunity to get away for an awesome weekend in Branson at our church’s annual women’s retreat. It’s just that nearly four solid days as the only adult in the house can definitely lead one to **sigh**.

As far as Thursday and Friday went, those were fairly simple days. For one thing, Bethany didn’t leave until around noon on Thursday and Ellie spent most of both days at school. Couple those with several park visits and our traditional Thursday night LIFE Group and all was well. Saturday, though, is another story all together. For one thing, the lack of traditional structure means that it’s only a matter of time until the fighting begins.

In case you’re wondering just what time this morning my role as referee began, it was at some point between 6:15 and 6:30. I don’t have a firm window on that because my struggles in sleeping last night kind of resulted in me being slightly tired. I can probably thank Ethan for that since he came to visit several times last night.

Once I was finally able to drag my weary self out of bed and make breakfast, I’m happy to announce that the fighting ceased…briefly. Once the kids’ bellies were full, it was only fitting that they found something to start arguing over again. In this instance, it was the blanket fort that Ellie erected in our living room floor. I want it to be known that I have no issue with a well-made blanket fort. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see one in our house. My problem is when it results in fighting between Ellie and Ethan due to concerns of structural integrity. Namely, if Ethan’s unable to climb on top of it without it falling apart, then a fight will break out.

Despite my best efforts to break up said fight, I could not do so. Therefore, the only thing I could do was separate the combatants. Unfortunately, their separation and my peace did not last long and they were back to the battle at hand. In the past, I’ve been willing to issue spankings or time outs in these situations, I felt like the issue had moved past that. Therefore, I decided to take the punishment to another level.

I headed to my room and dug through some old clothes until I found exactly what I was looking for: an old gray tank top. With that, I called both kids to me and first slipped it over Ellie’s head and put her right arm through one of the arm holes. The entire time I was doing this, Ellie was saying over and over, “Dad, what are you doing? Why are you doing this?”. Then, it was Ethan’s turn for his head to go through the head hole and his left arm to go through the arm hole. With that, I stated, “This is the “Get Along” shirt. You are to wear this for the next 15 minutes. If you take it off, we’re going to have problems. Understand?”.

While the initial minutes were met with much screaming (mostly from Ellie), they eventually communicated enough to find an activity to keep them calm until my phone alarm ring. While I’d love to say that the “Get Along” shirt fixed everything, unfortunately, I’d be lying. That being said, it did help reset their little minds enough that they were able to talk through their issues in a calmer manner the rest of the day.

In fact, we even got to have some fun between carving a pumpkin and watching “The Peanuts Movie” on the projector. Oddly enough, the one thing I never expected to be fun for the kids apparently was as this afternoon, both kids asked to wear the “Get Along” shirt again. That time I said “No” though. After all, it’s a punishment, not a reward.

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,603 - Breakfasts Out and Baking About

I have mixed feelings about days that Ellie and Ethan are both off school. Yes, it’s really special to get to have fun with them outside of our normal routine. However, if we don’t have anything to do with our day, then it will inevitably turn into crying, yelling, complaining, and bellyaching. Oddly enough, even if I do have something planned, the aforementioned crying, yelling, complaining, and bellyaching will likely occur. In other words, there’s no way to avoid said crying, yelling, complaining, and bellyaching so I might as well just have fun in spite of that.

With Ellie being off school on Friday and next Monday due to parent-teacher conferences being held this week, it was only fitting that we do something fun and out of the ordinary. When I asked her what she would like to do with her days off, her initial request was to go to the zoo and see the new aquarium. While I’m always up for a zoo trip, the chilly temperatures and overcast conditions on Friday made that prospect seem like it wouldn’t be as much fun and that Monday might be a better choice. Therefore, I asked her if she had a backup option. After putting in a little thought, Ellie decided it was the perfect day to go eat breakfast at Kate’s Kitchen.

Once Bethany left for work on Friday, the kids and I waited around home until about 9:00 when we decided it was the perfect time to go eat breakfast. When we arrived at Kate’s, it took a few minutes for us to be ushered to our table which ironically, was the exact same booth we sat in the last time we went to Kate’s. My hope with this visit to Kate’s was that I might be able to order one meal for the kids to share off the adult menu. However, Ellie wasn’t having any part of that as she desperately wanted the Kids Waffle meal mostly due to the presence of the whipped cream and berries that adorns it. Since I’m a pushover, of course I gave in and let both Ellie and Ethan order their beloved waffles off the kids’ menu. No worries since we don’t eat out much anyway.

Once we finished our meal, it was time to head home where we would spend most of the day since we are currently having the exterior of our home painted. Of course, I did have one more activity planned to help the day go by quicker. Ellie and I used to have a weekly tradition in our house of “Baking Friday”. That’s largely gone to the wayside in the last year or so due to busyness and the kids being at school. However, during my last shopping trip, I had picked up the ingredients for one of the kids’ favorite desserts, “Beach Cake”. It’s basically dirt cake only with vanilla pudding and graham crackers but still tasty.

Proof that our house is indeed being painted.

The first step was to let the kids take turns chopping up graham crackers in the food processor. Then, I gave each kid a large mixing bowl, a whisk, a box of pudding, and two cups of milk and stood back and watched as they each mixed up their supply of pudding. Then, with that, we put the pudding in the refrigerator to harden for a few minutes before we could finish our dessert. Once the pudding was hardened, it was time to assemble. We first added a graham cracker base to our dish before dumping the first bowl of pudding over the top of it. Ethan then carefully spread the pudding out over the graham crackers before we added another layer of crackers, complete with stray gummy worms for added delight. Then, Ellie took a turn emptying her bowl of pudding over our dessert before we finally topped with the remainder of the graham cracker crumbs and put it in the refrigerator where it would sit until dinner time.

Even though “Beach Cake” isn’t one of the most difficult recipes to make, it certainly helped fill the day for us. Not only that but it reminded me of how much fun it can be to create things with the kids in the kitchen. Also, it most definitely provided us with a tasty treat for after dinner.

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,591 - Ellie's Eyes

You know what’s frustrating sometimes about being a parent? You can think that you know the right answer about a topic and then find out later on that you were mistaken. Often times this can rear its ugly head when one is dealing with the topic of medical care for one’s children.

As I’m sure many people have noticed over the past few years, Ellie wears glasses. Personally, I’ve become so accustomed to seeing my daughter in her glasses that it looks weird at bedtime when she’s not wearing them. Ellie herself is so used to the feel of them on her face that she occasionally tries to go to bed at night while still wearing them. No, it doesn’t hurt anything but it probably isn’t very comfortable!

The reason for Ellie’s glasses has less to do with her slight prescription and more to do with the fact that she has one eye that tends to drift away from the center of her line of sight. The glasses were actually prescribed to help keep that occurring and they’ve been doing a great job. As a parent, the longer I can put off the idea of my daughter having surgery, the better.

Of course, part of Ellie’s condition means that we have to go to the eye doctor for checkups a couple of times a year to confirm that everything is doing well. For the past two years, those checkups have been at Children’s Mercy. While I can’t say enough nice things about the doctors there, I have to say that billing and insurance has been a complete nightmare. Any time she’s had a visit, it’s taken us months to sort out the financials of said visit. Not fun at all!

After our last issue as Children’s Mercy, we decided that maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to get a second opinion. Therefore, that’s exactly what we decided to do beginning with Ellie’s next eye exam, which coincidentally, was this morning. The new eye doctor of choice, Vision Source, right on North Oak a scant mile from our house. Ellie had actually been seen by them when she was one for a free infant vision screening. In addition, she’s always had her glasses made there so we were familiar with the establishment.

Upon our arrival today, we headed back to the exam room where Ellie received a glaucoma test (much to her massive chagrin) and had an image of her eye taken. From there, we headed back to the exam room where we would remain for much of the next hour and a half. Why do I know it was an hour and a half? Well, because we were able to watch almost all of Lilo & Stitch in between checks of her eyes. The biggest reason for that delay was that Ellie’s eyes just would not dilate the way they were supposed to. In fact, she eventually had to have additional drops put in (her favorite!) just to get them ready for examination. Finally, it was time to see the doctor!

Once the doctor came in, she checked Ellie over thoroughly and said that her eyes looked very healthy. However, she was able to see the drift that we had been having checked out regularly and essentially told us that we would be better off continuing to take Ellie to Children’s Mercy to keep tabs on it. The biggest reason why was that Children’s Mercy would be the ones to have to do surgery, if necessary, so it was better that they continue playing a role in her care.

I can’t say just how discouraging this was. As parents, we definitely had reached a point of intense frustration with our child’s medical care only to learn that there was really nothing else we could do. I guess the lone saving grace here is that Ellie’s situation is extremely mild and nothing serious. Regardless, it’s not much fun to convince ourselves we were doing the right thing by doing something different only to find out that we were doing the right thing in the first place.

That’s clear as mud, right?

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,586 - A Typical School Week in September 2023

So, it's been a busy few weeks. August 22nd marked the first day of school for both Ellie and Ethan. Yes, you read that correctly; Ethan is a full-fledged pre-school student. Don't make the mistake of calling him a preschooler though. He will pretty much immediately correct you and say "It's not preschool. It's K-Prep!".  Anyway, life has definitely changed somewhat for our family during this season.

Here's where I should say that Ethan actually only attends K-Prep at Northland Christian on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00 to 11:30 am. While it's not a huge amount of time, it's definitely changed life somewhat in our household. For one thing, it means Ellie, Ethan, and I all need to make sure we're dressed and ready to head out the door on those days by about 7:40. Then, we make the short drive down to 108th Street and head to Northland Christian's new Early Childhood Campus.

Once we arrive, all three of us hop out of the car and escort Ethan inside the building and up the stairs to his classroom where he inevitably hurries inside with nary a look back. The little man doesn't even say "Goodbye" or anything. Honestly, I'm excited that he's just so happy and enjoying school so much. He's stoked to arrive each Tuesday and Thursday morning and can't wait to tell me all about his day when I arrive at 11:30 and a teacher brings him out to our car.

Now, you may have noticed that on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Ellie helps me deliver Ethan to K-Prep. Once he's there, that actually leaves us with an hour to kill before Ellie needs to be at Fox Hill for school. On Tuesdays, we normally don't do much of anything exciting. For example, today, we just came home, played a board game, read a book, watched a short video, and made Ellie's lunch.

I know that it probably sounds silly but making Ellie's lunch was actually pretty fun today.  She asked for chicken nuggets in a thermos for her lunch today. No big issue there. However, instead of just making them myself, I asked her if she would like to help which she definitely did. She actually took care of almost the entire lunch making process start-to-finish. In fact, the only thing I did was cut up an apple for her. She did everything else with minor directions on my part. It's actually pretty fun to see her growing and gaining confidence in herself through simple tasks like making a lunch.

So, that was a Tuesday. On Thursdays though, our schedule is a little different. Since Ellie doesn't have P.E. and gymnastics on Thursdays, we go and play tennis for an hour to get her some physical activity. Ellie's actually been really interested in learning to play tennis over the last couple of years. She just needs consistent practice to get better. That's why I love the consistency of this time thus far. It's fun to see her building on her knowledge and carrying skills over from week-to-week. It's also just a really special activity for just the two of us to share once a week without the presence of Ethan.

I know that I really didn't say a ton of value in this blog. However, I just found it important for posterity to be able to look back and see just what an average school week looked like for us in September of 2023. It'll be interesting to me and the kids (and probably Bethany) so that's the most important thing, right?

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,576 - The One About Ellie's Baptism

I've gotten to be a part of many special moments in the lives of Ellie and Ethan. First time rolling over? Check. Crawling? Check. Eating solid food? Check. First steps? Check. Bike riding? Check. First day of school? Check. I think my point is made. Obviously I've been present for most of the big milestone moments in the kids' life. However, this past Sunday may very well have been my favorite moment of Ellie's life thus far as I got the opportunity to help baptize her in front of our entire church!

Ellie being baptized wasn't a last-minute decision or anything like that. It's something that's been talked about for a long time in our home. In fact, Ellie's been discussing this very subject for close to a year and a half!

Throughout our kids' entire lives, we've taken effort to make sure that we were sharing the Gospel with them on a near daily basis through Bible stories, family discussions over what we read, and praying together each night. Therefore, Ellie has always understood that the basis of our faith is that Jesus is the sinless Son of God and that He died on the cross in pretty much the most horrible fashion imaginable, taking the brunt of our sins so that we may one day have eternal life with God. While Ellie knew all the right answers, for the longest time Bethany and I weren't 100% positive if she fully believed or not. Those concerns were definitely put to rest though.

For one thing, sometime after we returned to church post COVID, Ellie began wanting to join us in church each week for service instead of going to Children's church. That was totally fine though as she wasn't a distraction and she even took her own little notes about the sermons each week. Over time, Ellie began asking more frequently when she could get baptized. Since we were still 100% uncertain, we encouraged her to have a chat with Sharon, our church's children's director. Sharon let us know that she believed Ellie was ready. After that, one of our lead pastors, Rustin, sat down with our family and after having a chat with Ellie agreed that Ellie really had put her faith in Christ and that it was time for her to be baptized. So with that, we scheduled the big day for the last Sunday in August, the 28th.

When the big day arrived, we were accompanied to church by both sets of grandparents who had come into town for the occasion. Finally, as the service began to wrap up, it was time for us to head to the stage. Rustin had asked me to share a little bit of Ellie's and our family's story before she took her place in the cattle trough on stage that our church uses for baptisms. A special treat that I did not anticipate at all was that I would actually get to help baptize my daughter. With Rustin kneeling on one side and me on the other, after Ellie made a final proclamation of her faith in Christ, we gently pushed her under the water and brought her back up. With that, Bethany wrapped a warm towel around a dripping wet Ellie and Rustin quickly prayed before she went to the back to get changed.

There's so much I love about this photo. Chief among them though is the massive smile on Ellie's face and the fact that her shoes are just haphazardly strewn about on the floor of the stage.

While it was ongoing, I certainly was just kind of living in the moment. However, the more I've thought about it, the more I realize just how special Sunday was. For one thing, I got the opportunity to help baptize my own daughter. That's an experience that I'm going to hold on to for a  very long time. For another, I'm proud of Ellie standing up in front of our entire church and proclaiming her belief and trust in Christ. That's something that Bethany and I have prayed for both of our children since they were born and to see it happen was totally amazing. God really does answer prayers; you've got to love it!

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,571 - The One With the Failed Pool Trip

I strive to be a pretty good dad. In fact, I take great pride in the fact that I'm not downright horrible at my job. Occasionally, I even get a modicum of credit from my children regarding my dad skills. On the flip side though, there are times that I absolutely lay an egg.

With Monday marking the final day of summer vacation, I always find myself dealing with a large array of emotions. For one thing, there's always a slight tinge of relief that I'm done trying to entertain/referee two very enthusiastic and opinionated children. On the flip side though, I'm generally pretty bummed about the summer ending. For one thing, I know that I only have a certain number of summers to enjoy with my kids while I'm young and I want to make them count. Also, I'm aware that I'm reaching the end of my career as a stay-at-home day which means it's only a matter of time before I need to plan out the rest of my life. Slightly scary proposition if I do say so myself.

Regardless of all of that, I always want to do my best to make each day count. As a result, when Ellie let me know that she wanted to go swimming for her final day of summer, I decided to make that a reality. It honestly seemed like an easy enough thing to accomplish on the surface as we have a friend who lives in the apartment complex across the street who was more than happy to give us her pool code. Therefore, as soon it seemed feasible to go swimming (9:15 am), we loaded up in the car and headed across the street.

As we pulled into the complex, I was somewhat surprised to see that the pool was empty on such a hot day. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the pool was locked and I had to break the news to two very sad children that the pool wasn't open yet. After taking a few minutes to navigate the ocean of emotions coming from my back seat, I was able to placate the kids by offering to take them to Kearney to a splash pad. So with that, we headed towards Kearney.

On the way there, I received a text from Bethany, who had checked in with her friend, confirming that the pool opened at 10. I happily relayed that news to the kids and turned the car around to head back to the pool. When we arrived, I made the decision to leave the kids in the car so that I could check the pool myself. Unfortunately, not only was it still locked but there was a worker in the pool treating the water. He informed me that it wouldn't be ready for swimming until after lunch. Fairly arbitrary window but I figured I could work with it. With that, the kids and I headed to Sam's Club to get a few items we needed to pick. And yes, we were still wearing our swimsuits. We're those people now.

Tell me how you really feel about our trip to Sam's Club, Ellie.

Around 1:00, I decided the time had come to check the pool again, so we ventured across the street only to find that it was still locked. At this point, you can pretty much guess that Ellie and Ethan were inconsolable. All I could do was start calling local pools to verify that they were open. The only problem is that every pool I called had just closed for the season over the weekend. Finally, there was no other recourse; it was time to go to Kearney.

Once we arrived at Kearney, it was not farfetched to say that I was feeling stressed. In fact, I was downright done with life. However, as I watched Ellie and Ethan splash in the water and listened to them happily shriek in excitement, I realized that it wasn't all bad. I could sit there and be bummed and frustrated about the course of the day or I could get in the water with them and enjoy my afternoon. For the record, I chose the latter and it turned into a pretty good day. Ellie and Ethan even thanked me profusely for taking them to the splash pad.

Who would have thought that a disappointing trip to the pool could have turned into a great afternoon at the splash pad? Not I but that just goes to show what I know.

#DaddyWrite