Daniel and Lauren Attempt Dog Training

With the help of Vic Garcia and his dog, Pete (above), Lauren and Daniel attempted to take Pete for a walk around our backyard last week. Results were, um, mixed.





Lauren's training method was to try "running screaming from the dog in terror"!

Little Mermaid, or Burrito Lady?

My daughter (pictured above) wanted to become a mermaid, so my wife wrapped her up tight in a blanket. Voila! I kind of thought she looked like a burrito, though. Made me think of that jingle for Chipotle restaurant, "hey, hey, hey, burrito lady ... drive me crazy ... burrito lady".

Musical Friday

One of my favorite things to do is put on Chris Tomlin's "Hello Love" CD while I'm riding in the car with my daughter Lauren. The first cut is "Sing Sing Sing". Lauren sings along with the song really loudly and is pretty cute. Song here:



Here's another version, done live at a concert. They do the melody slightly differently. Very cool part a little after the 3:00 mark where the band stops and lets congregation sing, then comes back in big.

Musical Friday -- Cinderella

My daughter Lauren (above, getting ready for ballet class) is 4. I was looking for a clip of a Steven Curtis Chapman song I like called "Be Still and Know" (link here). Over on the side, I saw another link about something called "Cinderella", which I had not heard before.

I wasn't prepared for what was about to hit me like a 2x4 while I was sitting in my cube at work. The video comes first, then a clip of Steven explaining the story about how the song was written. The inspiration came from a frustrating evening trying to get his young adopted girls to take a bath, when they just wanted to play and dance (really funny part is about "pray quickly -- no praying for children in Africa!"). He remembers later that his oldest daughter has left the house and how he used to play with her, and then writes this song about cherishing the times with your daughter while she's young.

His daughter was killed in a tragic family accident not long after the song was published. Thinking of that, and then also thinking about my own daughter (and how fast she's growing up) made me cry. It's a little tough when something like that sneaks up on you out of the blue when you're trying to look normal and stoic at your office. ... trying to say things to a co-worker like, "Dang, these allergies are really rough today! (sniff)".

Be careful, especially you dads out there, before watching this at work. You've been warned!

Good luck trying to get your kids to smile for portraits!

This Christmas and New Years holidays, many attempts to take family photos will be made. For families attempting this with younger children, this can be tricky. The only tip I can offer is to take thousands of shots in the hope that you'll get a couple of good ones.

Here's a couple of recent attempts I tried with Daniel and Lauren. They're doing that "fake photo smile" I taught them perfectly!

How to Bond with Your Daughter

I took Lauren out to run a few errands a couple of weeks ago. It's sometimes nice to get Daniel and Lauren apart from each other so they're not fighting. They often seem easier to take care of with just one parent on one kid than when we're all together.


Of course, taking them to a fun playground and giving them Amy's Ice Cream doesn't hurt, either.

Lauren's birthday, Sauza Tradicional

My daughter Lauren had her 4th birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I forgot to do a post about it. Like my mom's tequila-bottle birthday cake at Thanksgiving (see previous post here), we also got my daughter's cake from Erin McCormick. She did a really good job on a "Mater" cake, the redneck tow truck from the Disney movie Cars. We had a few friends / relatives over to our house for her party, and I made martini-style margaritas with jalapeno-stuffed olives. These turned out to be quite a hit and I may make these again for future gatherings. See photos below, more photos on Flickr here.

Margarita martinis I made were as follows:
2 oz Sauza Tradicional Reposado tequila (one of the least expensive 100% agave tequilas, about same price as Hornitos, less oak flavor than Hornitos)
1 oz Cointreau
Fresh juice of 1/2-1 lime
1-2 tsp simple syrup to taste
1-2 tsp juice from jalapeno-stuffed olive jar to taste

Combine ingredients in shaker with ice. Shake, strain into chilled martini glass. Garnish with jalapeno-stuffed olive.

Mater Cake

Lauren and Daniel