I scream, You Scream

We all scream for ice cream. For some reason the ding donging of the music from ice cream trucks seems to travel for miles. Over the past few weeks we have heard the ding donging tunes of a mystery ice cream truck, unfortunately it never passed our house. We would hear it off in hills in the distance, ding dong ding dong....whatever that stupid music is that it plays. We would picture kids running up to the truck to order over priced ice cream from some creepy guy that you really don't want your kids around. But it never came down our street. Secretly we hoped it would, but it didn't...until the other night.

We heard the ding donging get louder and louder. Dad yelled to mom, "THE ICE CREAM TRUCK IS COMING!!!" and picked up his daughter and ran outside to stop it in the street. Of course he had no money in his pockets and had to yell to mom to go get his wallet (which also had no money in it). The ice cream truck stopped and Charlotte smiled and giggled. The creepy guy we had pictured was not a guy but a woman. And she wasn't creepy at all. She immediately grabbed a chocolate and vanilla PushUp ice cream and handed it to Charlotte for her first ice cream truck fix. Dad had no money and mom was now at his side with a wallet with no green in it. "I'll be right back" dad said, and handed Charlotte over to mom as she stood at the side of the ice cream truck. Dad was off to raid his coin jar.

By the time he returned to mom it was too late. Like a drug dealer influences a junkie just out of rehab, the ice cream lady had handed mom a ChocoTaco ice cream. Dad pulled the change out of his pocket. Not enough to cover both the PushUp and the ChocoTaco. The ice cream lady trying to now hook my wife and my daughter on her ice cream says, "oh dont worry about it." I'll be back next week. Great. Now she will be coming by every week and dad will be guilted into buying crack ice cream for his ladies.

Thanks Ice Cream Lady for making my daughter an addict.

Our Thoughts and Prayers

About a year ago we started following the blog of Jenna Jurgens. We know her sister Tamra and we started following her story of how a 34 year old mom of three was battling cancer for the second time. As if it isn't difficult enough just being a mom, being a mom battling cancer and for the second time is just amazing. Just when she thought she won the battle for the second time the cancer came back, this time in the form of Leukemia, and she also found out she was pregnant with her 4th child, a baby boy.

Her story and her blog touched our hearts. Here was a loving mom, with a baby growing inside of her, having to start the biggest fight of her life for herself, her baby, her husband, and her three children.

We are very sad to say that we found out she lost her fight today.

Being parents really changes your perspective on life and on living. Dad gave mom a giant hug tonight and just held her to tell her how much he loves her. He also gave Charlotte a few extra kisses goodnight. I would suggest that no matter who is reading this, you do the same for your family. Enjoy every moment you can because none of us can predict the future.

Tamra had set up a site to help cover some expenses of her sisters upcoming bone marrow transplant Help Save My Sister. Those of you who feel like helping can still donate. I'm sure the money will go to good use helping a family who just lost a mom.

Blood Diamonds

If you haven't seen the movie, you should. It is pretty good and a true story to boot. The thought of finding a giant diamond in the rough has been in mom's mind since we watched the movie. Of course she will never admit to it but she has been thinking about it. On Sunday we went to the beach. Mom decided to tell Charlotte all about how if you dig deep enough you could find a giant diamond. So Charlotte's eyes lit up and she started digging. Great just what dad needs, another woman who loves diamonds. She kept digging and digging some more (of course with a little help from dad). While she didn't find a diamond she did find some rocks and she did enjoy climbing into the giant hole in the sand.





The beach was very nice. We found a new spot and we really liked it. We are not going to tell you where because then you will tell other people and they will tell people and just like the secret redsox parking spot that is now always full because dad spilled the beans...well you get the point. If you really really want to know where it is just email us and we might tell you...for a small fee.

Dad also found the "secret treasure" room at the town dump. People leave old toys or just items that are perfectly good in there instead of throwing it out. I know, scouring your local dump is a little ghetto. But hey, we are trying to be frugal and lets face it, the attention span of a 18 month old is about the same as a moth. Why spend $50 on a toy only to lose interest in a few hours? Dad has been in the "secret treasure" room a few times and always left empty handed. (Not true he did pick up two small aquariums that mom will not let him put fish in). However last week he hit the mother load!!! He parked his car, looked around to see if anyone was watching him, and walked into the room. What did he see?? A perfectly good set of childrens plastic golf clubs, a complete set of wooden blocks with associated toybin, a plastic childrens chair, and a plastic toy carwash. A little bleach and water and these things would be like new!!! Charlotte loves them all. Especially the chair and the golf clubs. He is so proud of his dumpster diving skills. One mans trash is another mans treasure.


On Saturday we took Charlotte to Greely Park in Nashua to see her music teacher perform. Of course we also wanted to grab a couple of hot dogs and enjoy the beautiful weather. We walked the whole park looking for the "family fun day" event but couldnt find it. It didnt take a rocket scientist to realize mom had the wrong date. We still had fun and Charlotte got her excercise chasing mom around the giant wilow tree.




We decided to make a day of it and drive to downtown nashua for a little window shopping. Along the way we stopped at Martha's Exchange and sat outside for a quick bite to eat. Notice the Sour Apple Martini mom has in her hands (great example you are setting dear).

Dont worry, Charlotte had her share of treats too. Mom decided to bribe her by buying her a lollipop. She loved it.




Charlotte also got to enjoy her first concert (or as mom says Band Concert) at the town common. She loved dancing to the music of the band and loved being infront of the crowd.




Ohh we arent done yet folks. A few more things. First we have some more pictures of Grammy and Poppas visit with us. These are pictures from the farm. Our favorite picture, the one below where the goat is eating Grammys pants. Too funny.





Ok, now the last thing. Some of you didnt believe I got a trophy for Fathers Day. Here it is folks.

Fathers Day Weekend

So aside from the banquet and award, dad had a wonderful weekend. His parents (Grammy and Poppa) came for a little visit to see their "other" granddaughter. They were excited to see her and to also get to have some fried lobster and real chinese food. Amazingly Charlotte warmed up to them in no time flat, although we use the term "warmed up" very loosely. Sorry Grammy and Poppa...there is no picking up of your granddaughter for hugs. You want kisses? Mom or dad has to hold you to lean you over for a kiss. Tickles? Well you had better sneak them in at any chance you get. Don't worry the stranger aversion will not last forever. Look at the bright side? If someone ever tried to kidnap Charlotte she would scream and yell until she was blue in the face.

She had fun and loved learning. Grammy read to Charlotte the ABC's from the blanket she made for her when she was born. As you can see from the picture, Charlotte sat intently listening and learning.


Poppa bought Charlotte a dog that sings songs, counts, and does the alphabet. Amazing ly she can count. Well....sort of. She says, ONE, TWO....and she say EIGHT, NINE. We arent sure where the other numbers are. They are in her head, she just hasn't said them yet. He also brought her a light up dream bear with a remote control. It turns different colors and mom and dad can even control it from downstairs. It can light up her whole room, she loves it. Thank you



Thank you again for Grammy and Poppa coming to visit. It was so nice to see you. Now that you have experienced Charlotte having a temper-tantrum during a car ride, you can understand why we arent ready to do the 16 hour drive anytime soon. :)

Award Winner!!!

Thank you to everyone out there (especially my wife Shelby and daughter Charlotte) for voting me Father of the Year 2007!! I didn't realize how big of a following this site has and again I can not thank everyone enough for voting for me.

I really don't think I deserve the award but I do humbly accept it. I do what lots of other fathers do. I love my wife and daughter and dogs and I do whatever I can to take care of them and ensure they have a loving household. Thats about it. I spend as much time as I can with my family because I want to and because they make me smile and laugh and make me forget about everything that is bad is this world. For that they should get the award not me.


It was a little embarrassing receiving an actual trophy. I can't remember the last time I was presented with a trophy at a banquet. Plus getting up in front of a crowd of other fathers to speak when you are not expecting it is always a little tough. Thank you for listening to my speech and for laughing at the jokes. Yes I was very nervous but that was mostly because of the camera crews from the local media outlets. I would have expected the local paper, but the Boston news channels was definitely an unexpected surprise. I will post a video copy of the interview as soon as I get it.

Chase's Christening

So much for the daily posts. Sorry folks, it is just impossible right now. Plus the longer I wait the longer the post which means the more time it takes. There must be a way to blog without having to type. You know just take the electrical signals in my brain and post them on this site. Ok, bad idea.

Last weekend was the Christening for Chase on Long Island. Charlotte did great on the car ride there and miraculously we made it in record time. However excitement of the record setting speed of our arrival was short lived. The first night Charlotte slept horribly. She didnt want to go down to sleep and once she was down she didnt want to stay down. It could have been the excitement of seeing her cousins, or it could have been the fact her nap schedule was all screwed up, or that she was stuck in a car for hours, or that her teeth are still coming in, or all of the above. However, the next morning she was alert, happy, and was playing with Liam and Chase.

Charlotte and Liam got along very well. They played, although Charlotte more sat back and watched Liam the Tornado rip through the house. The amount of energy that kid has is so amazing it makes all of us exhausted just watching him. If he doesn't become a star athelete, I dont know who will. Charlotte absolutely loves her cousin Chase too. She kept checking on him and smiling and kissing him. So cute.

The were not a whole lot of pictures from the actual Christening itself. Charlotte was not well behaved in the church. We joked that when we touched her forehead with the holy water we were half expecting her to say HOT HOT HOT or start crying or something. She is certianly changing and growing and pushing her limits with both mom and dad. She can make us so mad, then suddenly do something so cute we just melt.
Charlotte in her Whale Dress.

Charlotte and Chase

Notice Charlotte is not smiling. This was after Church.

Charlotte getting ready to watch Liam tear through the house in his diaper. Does anyone know the cartoon Diaper Man?

Charlotte looking so grown up.

Yeah a little blurry.

Yummmmmm.

Checking on her little cousin Chase.

Ducks, Painting, Outfits, and Playgrounds

It was a busy week as you can tell from the title. Even though dad would LOVE to update the blog daily, it has been a challenge over the past few weeks. As the days get longer yard work takes over in the evening instead of blog posting. Not to mention this stupid digital camera that only half works. Who wants to read a blog with no pictures? I certianly can't blame you. Whats even worse is trying to cram everything into one blog post per week. Inevitiably something gets forgotten. Dont worry. We will be switching back to the mulitple posts per week so be sure to get back into the habit of checking this out daily.

Last weekend Charlotte battled what we thought was teeth coming in. She was miserable. However her fever kept spiking and she started puking. Monday night was bad. Tuesday night was horrible. 103.8 fever. Wednesday she seemed better. But then in the morning we suddenly heard a super loud bang. It was Charlotte. She was running in the hall and fell head first right into the corner of the door frame. An egg the size of a golf ball quickly formed on her forehead and she didnt stop crying. Eventually she settled down, but she was definately not right. After a few hours she started puking. Wonderful. Did she have a concussion or did she just have some stomach issues? We called the pediatrician. They said to bring her in. Good thing. We took her temp again and it was 104.7.

The doc said his usual schpeel about how it should get better in a few days and how she might have Roseolla (I think they love saying that). Then he checked her eyes. Fine. Nose. Fine. Mouth. Fine. Ears. Ears. Not fine at all. Turns out Charlotte got her first (and hopefully last) ear infection. And it was a good one at that. So good he even tried to have mom look into the ear with his thingymabob. So he wrote a script for some antibiotics (great we said we would never do antibiotics for her) and sent us on our way.

After a few days she started feeling better. We also learned that she has an inate talent to draw with markers. Not to be a kid satisfied with mediacraty, she has increased her talent to now include three markers at a time. Amazing.



Charlotte also got to try out her new yellow dress. She absolutely loves it and pranced around the house in it. She is growing up so quick. Here is a shot of Charlotte looking at colleges on the computer.


And a shot of Charlotte pretending she is at a kegger at college.


After she started feeling better we were able to take Charlotte to the park after work (it is only right down the street from our house). She used to love the swings. Then she hated them. Now she loves them again.


Dad found Charlotte her first catepillar. She thought it was neat for about a minute. Of course she didnt want to hold it though.

After the park dad took Charlotte on a ride around the neighborhood on his motorcycle. She loved it. Ok they didnt go anywhere. Just sat there and reved the engine.


Sunday we went to church again. This time Charlotte got to play in the nursery. She was happy because they had an elmo doll. Thats all it takes. After church we went to the Duck Race. It had been postponed from two weeks ago due to rain. However it rained today but the ducks were ready to swim. Grand prize was $1,000. We didnt win however Charlotte did get a pink balloon that got away from dad after about 30 minutes. He was never very good at hanging onto balloons. Sorry Charlotte.

They also had a big blow up bouncy thing. Even though Charlotte can't jump yet she still had fun.