The Future Wifey and Me, Rockin' my Trombone Tie and Suspenders! (Thanks to Veronica for the pic-of-a-pic!)

Wow… can’t believe it’s been sixteen years today since I first asked my beautiful and amazing future-Wifey to the prom!  And here we are – two cats, two dogs, and two incredible kiddos later – just as strong as ever.  It’s been an incredible adventure, and I know the best is still to come.  And I can’t think of any other person I’d want by my side for it!  Love you, Sweetie!!!

Say "Ah!"

Busy morning at the Dr. Katie Mullins Clinic for Little Sisters!  Fortunately for Violet everything checked out just fine.

Now let me just look in your ears...

Now take a deep breath...

A Shoe Full of Dinosaurs. (What else?)

Saw this the other day as I was getting ready to leave for work.  Not sure if they’re from Katie or Violet, but at the moment Mama and I are pretty happy just to have help with picking up the toys!

Ringo, Rollin' in his Malibu.

As promised, a quick update on our (more-or-less) Beagle, Ringo.  He went back this morning to see the neurosurgeon for his checkup.  The doctor said he was amazed at the progress he’s made in the not-quite two weeks since his surgery!  He’s basically released to set his own activity level.  We go back after Christmas to have his staples removed!  He’s well on his way to being a like-new puppy.  This is a pic of him enjoying the car ride this morning.

Katie-Bug, Christmas 2011

Just wanted to share this art project Katie made this week at Woodford Christian Preschool.  Sometimes the smallest presents are the best!

Katie-Bug Rolling Out the Gingerbread (Photo by the Author)

This afternoon while Mama and Violet-Bug were taking a nap Katie-Bug and I made us a batch of gingerbread men.  We cook together quite a bit, and she’s getting to be quite handy in the kitchen.  As I watched her working with the rolling pin to flatten out the dough, I suddenly realized I was watching family history in the making.  You see, the rolling pin belonged to my grandmother – Granny Ethel – and so what’s actually happening in this picture is a fourth generation of Mullins bakers in action!

The author with Granny Ethel, several years back. It's her rolling pin that Katie's using in the pic above. (Thanks to my cuz Deanna for scanning and uploading this pic!)

I thought I’d get the keyboard out this evening, and before I knew it we had a full-on duet happening right in the living room! Katie kept showing Violet which note to play, although I’m not sure exactly what song she had in mind.

Katie Drops Off a Dolly at Quest Community Church, December 2010

This is a picture of my all-time favorite Christmas memory to date.  It’s from last December, and Katie-Bug is a little over two years old.  She’s putting a doll in the toy donation box at Quest Community Church, our church.  And it’s all her idea!

We were in the midst of an ambitious toy drive, trying to fill an entire tractor-trailer (floor to ceiling!) with toys to send to the Faith and Community Christmas Store, a community-wide outreach program that tries to make sure that every kid has something under the tree Christmas morning.  In fact, just a week or so earlier we had dropped off some toys that Mama had scored as part of her Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal-watching.  We figured that would be about as much as we could afford as far as toy donations.  On the day this picture was taken, we had actually come to church to drop off groceries for the food drive.

But while the girls and I were waiting in the van in the parking lot at the grocery store where Mama was inside buying the food to donate, Katie asked what it was we were doing.  Mama and I had discussed how to approach the general topic of charitable giving with Katie, but ultimately decided she was probably too young for us to try and explain the entire process.  We had told her very much in passing that we were going to have a smaller Christmas at our house and try to help other people have a fun time, too.  And we pretty much left it at that.

But I saw an opening with the ‘what are we doing’ question, so I went a little deeper.  I explained to her that our family is really fortunate in that Mommy and Daddy both have good jobs and can afford to buy the food that she and Sissy like to eat, but that other little boys’ and girls’ mommies and daddies aren’t as blessed.  And so we take some of what we have and share it with them so they’re happy, too.  I reminded her of the toys we had delivered to the church the week before, and explained that we did that so that other little boys and girls would have toys on Christmas just like she and Sissy.

She said “Oh.”  I was wondering to myself whether or not I handled that properly when she spoke up again.

“What about a dolly?”

I looked at Katie’s face in the rear-view mirror and could tell she’d just had a fairly significant realization of some sort.  ”What do you mean, Sweetie?”

“I want to give the little girl a dolly.”

“What little girl?”  Daddy can be clueless at times.

“The little girl that doesn’t have one.  Can we get one here?”

I explained that this was a store that only sold food, but I asked her if she wanted to go to the other store across the road and pick out a dolly to take to church.  She nodded her head and grinned one of the biggest grins I’ve ever seen!

And so after we got the groceries loaded in the van we headed into the Christmas-shopping fray at Wal-Mart and Katie walked up and down the doll aisle for a good five minutes before she selected one.  She even decided at the last moment to buy a dinosaur ‘for the little boy.’

When we got to church, she took the doll and headed straight to the toy box.  As she reached up and dropped it over the side, she told the volunteer that it was for a little girl who didn’t have one.

It was amazing to see how she ‘got it’ despite her young age.  I really believe kids have an innate external focus that we, as parents, well-meaning though we may be, tend to point inward as they move into childhood.  And we definitely can’t expect any help from ‘the world’ on this one.  This little moment from last Christmas is a reminder to me and hopefully an encouragement to you that for our kids, it doesn’t have to be ‘mine’ or ‘I want’ all the time.  Give your kid the opportunity to help others this year and see what happens.  You’ll be glad you did!

CNN and the folks at Parenting magazine have an excellent ‘how-to’ article up today called “How to Teach Your Child About Charity.”  It’s definitely worth a read!

T-Bone Jammin' With Katie-Bug

Katie-Bug and I occasionally have jam sessions with her on ukulele and me on guitar, but this morning she asked me to show her what was in my trombone case.  So I obliged.  Then she wanted to try it – I held it up for her but didn’t think she’d get much of a sound out of it (if any).  Imagine my surprise when a fairly solid B-flat emerged – she even sustained it for a little bit!  I think she was almost as surprised as I was.  She’s a natural!

Katie-Bug Making Cornbread

Today (Monday, Sept. 26, 2011) is National Family Day and the kickoff for Family Week over at the awesome Make Time for Family blog.  The main goal of Family Day is to get families to eat dinner together, something that we do as often as possible in our home.  If you need resources to do so, the folks at E-Mealz are offering a free Family Dinner Plan in observation of this week – you can download it directly from their site.

I snapped the picture above a few evenings ago as Katie was stirring up the batter for cornbread to go with a three-bean soup we’d had going all day in the Crock Pot.  She loves to help in the kitchen, and she’s slowly but surely growing into a confident little chef.

That would be one of my suggestions if you’re new to the family meal way of life – make the dinner together whenever you can!  It’s a great way to teach kids about cooking (and you can sneak math into it, too) and, in my experience, at least, kids are more apt to eat something they help to make.  Here’s a short version of our ‘rules’ for family dinner:

• The TV is turned off.  Music is OK.
• Everybody who can help should help, even if it’s just to carry things to the table.
• Every house with a kid needs at least one dog (we have two), who hangs out under the table and helps with cleanup.
• We never say “don’t eat _______ because you won’t like it” for dishes with an unusual flavor combo or spiciness or anything else new to the girls.  The grandparents have a tough time with this one (“Don’t feed that baby a pepper!,” etc.).  The fact of the matter is we don’t know whether or not they’ll like something – and they certainly don’t know – unless they get to try it with an unbiased attitude.  Why on earth would you try to decide for someone that they don’t like a certain food?  A variation on that – I’ve had to make some conscious decisions, as has Mama, to not pass on our own food hangups to the next generation.  Don’t discard a recipe idea with Brussels sprouts just because you think you don’t like them so you think your kid won’t either!
• What’s on the plate is what’s for supper.  Kids can get picky and sometimes downright obstinate about not eating whatever’s in front of them.  That’s their prerogative.  We’re not one of those ‘microwave some chicken nuggets’ families – if they’re hungry, eventually they cave in and try the supper.  This can also be a point of contention with the grandparents, but let’s face it – nobody’s going to actually starve to death.  (And again, if they’re involved in the cooking, they’ll be much more likely to eat).  Just leave their plate on the table until they get around (or come around!) to it.
• Everybody talks about his/her day and things that are going on.
• Clean-up is also a family affair, so everyone helps clear the table.  Sometimes that works better than others.

Daddy, Katie, and somebody's random thumb.

It was three years ago right this very minute that our lives changed forever, for the good.  Happy birthday to my baby girl!

Birthday Cookies!

At Katie’s new preschool, each student has an assigned day to be in charge of snack time.  Officially, the snack provided has to be individually wrapped and, well, healthy.  The exception is on the student’s birthday, when the fare is permitted to be more festive.  As luck would have it, Katie’s very first snack time also falls on the day the class is going to celebrate her birthday (which is actually Friday).  So tonight, Mama and Katie baked sugar cookies.  After they’d gone to bed and the cookies had cooled, I iced them and added the names of each of the students in her room (with one for her teacher!).  Hopefully they’ll be a hit!

Incidentally, another birthday means another birthday cake.  This year Katie asked for a princess castle.  I’ve already gotten the pan and icing colors, and Saturday is going to be the big day – stay tuned!

Katie-Bug Strikes a Pose with her Dora Backpack

Wow, where the heck did three years go???  This morning, Mama and I loaded up the Swagger Wagon and headed over to Woodford Christian Preschool, where Katie hopped out and headed through the doors to her first-ever day of class.  She was excited!

Like this morning at breakfast.  Violet-Bug was finishing up her blueberry waffle, and Katie-Bug and I were eating ours and talking about how we were getting ready to leave for church.  We were running a little behind schedule, but not enough to be late.  Still, I mentioned that we would need to finish up soon, throw the dishes in the sink and get out the door.

It was one of those sentences you say without even really thinking about the content.  We talked about other stuff for the next few minutes until we were both done.  I said, “Ready to go?”  Katie got up and then got her plate from the table.

She helps clear the table fairly often so I didn’t pay much attention to that either.  She said, “I just have to throw my plate in the sink.”  I was still thinking it was ‘cute’ the way she copied what I’d said when I heard the unfortunate sound of shattering Corelle ware from the general vicinity of the sink.

That one was pretty much all my fault!

What happens when you "throw the plate in the sink" to get to church.

Violet-Bug Getting Ready to Tunnel to the Living Room

A little while back we bought Katie a play tent.  The tent itself was basically broken before I set it up (it had quite possibly the worst tent poles I’ve ever seen in my life – if you’re interested check out my review over at Amazon).  But there was a separate tunnel that attached to the tent, and that has held up pretty well.  In fact, Violet-Bug is starting to get in on the action!  I snapped this pic with my iPhone this afternoon just before she took off crawling toward me.  She loves playing in it!

That's An Ottoman Chock Full o' Sox (Photo by the Author)

Mama’s away this weekend, attending the annual Breathe Retreat with the ladies of Quest Community Church.  So this evening (or should I say, Friday evening) after getting some other things taken care of, I thought it might be helpful if I emptied out the two laundry baskets of the girls’ socks and put them away.  Not that there were two full baskets of socks; rather, each of our laundry baskets had a layer of socks on the bottom because it’s time-consuming to match them up and typically laundry is done on weekends when the girls are running at full force.  With two of them, a backlog can develop pretty quickly.

That was right at 11:00, since my thought was I could dump the socks out in a pile and pair them up while I was watching the late local news and then go to bed.

Right.

It’s just past 2:30 now on Sunday morning.  Turns out it takes a really long time to match up that many tiny little socks of all different designs and colors.  I still have a few orphans, but as you can see in the picture about I also now have 95 bona-fide pairs of infant and toddler socks.  As in five pairs away from 100.  As in 190 individual socks, all painstakingly matched up and ready to go to the drawer in Katie-Bug’s wardrobe.  Although, she’s known to pull stuff out of there to play with.  I may get a safety deposit box instead.

Katie and Violet playing in the living room.

Some days, obviously, go along with our plans better than others.  And then there are the days with the potential to go really badly, but which end up being better than anything you could have ever planned on your own.  Yesterday was one of those for me.

With Mama out of town all week for a conference, I’ve been keeping palatial Mullins Manor running on my own.  That’s two cats, two dogs, and two baby girls – so if you’ve been wondering why there haven’t been any posts this week, well, that’d be why.

Yesterday, though, was to be the girls’ last day this week here in Lexington before heading off to Nanny and Poppy John’s in West Virginia to spend a few days while I go to a conference of my own.  We were up by 7:00, with the girls enjoying breakfast (Cheerios for V, Fruit Loops for K) when our babysitter called – her little boy was sick.

Mentally, I ran through my various contingency lists and found that not a single option was valid.  (It was moderately reminiscent of one of my favorite Cold War novels, Fail-Safe. But that’s beside the point).  I didn’t have an option – I knew I had to call in and take the day off.  It was going to be an unplanned Daddy day!

And it ended up being the single most amazing day I’ve had in a really, really long time!  I found myself moderately overwhelmed at first, because except for maybe an hour or two here and there I don’t think I’ve ever been solely responsible for both of them at once during the day like that.  But I regrouped, and everything was fine!

While Violet took her morning nap, Katie and I built several different princess castles of different configurations using the couch, her slide, some tray tables and a couple of sheets.  We also used our structure to pretend that she was one of the three little pigs and I was the big bad wolf, but that didn’t last for too long because she stubbornly said she built her house with bricks and that I should go away.  Although we did master the dialogue from the 1930′s Disney version – “Open the door and let me in!” / “Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin!”

I made us a lunch of cheeseburgers and tater tots, and when Violet woke up we spent a good hour passing the ball around, just the three of us.

Luckily for my work schedule, the grandparents were able to move their plans up a day and they came to pick the girls up yesterday evening.  After they left, though, it struck me just how quiet the house suddenly seemed.  (Granted, Baxter broke that reverie pretty quickly with a piercing meow to remind me that it had been over two hours since he ate last).

I was sitting in the living room chair petting Ringo when, exactly three hours after they left, the phone rang – they’d just arrived.  Nanny put me on speaker phone and I was able to get Violet to jabber a little, but I could tell she was a little tired.  Katie was already off playing, and I couldn’t seem to get her attention on the phone.  I was about to feel sorry for myself and call it a night when I heard a tiny little voice in the background… “Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin!”

—————–

I mentioned that I’m off tomorrow for a conference – it’s The Uprising, at Quest Community Church.  In addition to our pastor, Pete Hise, we’ll also be hearing from Pete Wilson (of Cross Point Church in Nashville) and renowned author Erwin McManus.

I bring all this up here because it was at The Uprising 2010 that the idea first came to me to use my writing abilities (whatever they may be!) and a blog as a way to reach out to other Dads going all-out for their kids in a culture that, well, tends to devalue us.  Obviously it took a little while for things to get rolling, and it’s definitely still a work in progress.  I can’t wait to see what happens at the conference this year! RM

——

* Well, mostly Beagle. He’s a rescue from the Woodford County Humane Society – don’t buy a doggie when there are tons of Ringos out there needing a loving home!

Katie Strikes a Pose

I came home from work yesterday evening to find Katie-Bug trying to talk Mama into letting her play Risk.  Apparently we’re skipping over Candyland and Chutes & Ladders and going straight into military strategy simulations.  That nut didn’t fall too far from the tree, huh?

Baby's First St. Patrick's Day!

Square Logo

I’ve been thinking for a while now that I’d like to come up with some sort of logo for this blog – nothing fancy, but something to kind of differentiate it from all the other blogs out there on the interwebs.  But for all the many marvelous things that I am (ahem), ‘graphic designer’ is not on the list.  I worked in the layout department of a printing company for a couple of years during college, but that mostly consisted of running the film from our gigantic offset plate negative printer to the darkroom on the other side of the building to be developed.  It was a little nerve-wracking, actually, knowing that my position could be rendered obsolete at any moment should management discover late-nineteenth-century pneumatic tube technology. (Yes, that’s a link about pneumatic tube messaging. Roll with it.)

So anyhow, I wasn’t sure exactly what approach to take.  But yesterday at work, while I was on hold with a client waiting to verify some billing arrangements, I reached for my Post-It pad and my pencil and I started doodling.  First Katie-Bug with a balloon, because she got one the other day from our babysitter and it’s become her latest favorite toy.  Then I thought I’d draw Violet-Bug, and the only prop I could think of to give her (besides a hairbow) was her bottle.  But then I was still on hold, and it occurred to me that I could doodle myself in the middle and have, if not a professional-quality, at least a semi-passable attempt at a design.

I’m working on a banner design to replace the winterscape currently at the top of my page. If you have any feedback, leave a comment below!

Why, yes. That *is* bacon on my bookshelf.

Tonight after the girls went to bed, I was sitting in the chair in the living room working on a software project.  As I occasionally do when I’m trying to figure out something that’s convoluted, I let my gaze wonder across the room to the book cases.  And there, on the second shelf down from the top, in front of my encyclopedias, I saw… something.  Something brown and curly.  Something crispy.  Something… salty.  I got up and went over for a closer look.  And sure enough, there was a piece of bacon perched right there on the bookshelf.  It got me to thinking about all the ways life is different now that I’m a father.  For instance, pre-toddlerhood I can’t even remember the last time I found a breakfast meat hanging out on the living room shelf.  Come to think of it, there are worse things in the world than mystery bacon that just appears in random locations throughout the house.  I could get used to that!