Fireplace Conversion

Liz has been feeling overwhelmed with all the books we have for the kids and bothered with our current scheme of Anneliese's books being in the office which is inconvenient for her.  So, on a whim she said she wanted me to build a bookcase for the inside of our fireplace since for the past four years we've had a child gate blocking "useful space" according to Liz (now that's Southern California thinking).  So, a few days later I'd whipped up and painted a bookshelf that drops right in.  The backside would make a woodworker cry (I don't have a table saw or anything to help with straight cuts) but I figured all the molding I had planned was going to obscure most flaws.  So, there you have it, six cubic feet of storage that doesn't take up any additional space!

Strawberry Pickin'

Daddy finally took a day off from work to go on one of the recurring Stroller Strides field trips to Tanaka Farms in Irvine.  I'd heard stories of how they hand you fresh vegetables along your tour and that the kids would eat everything so I finally got to see for myself.  Everything was pretty darn good fresh out of the ground (and washed)...carrots, onion, spinach, celery.  Afterwords, we got to pick fresh strawberries!  Some of us paid for a basket to fill while others (read me) were allowed to eat all we could on the spot.

In other news, Anneliese has fallen in love with Oreo cookies and has figured out the same horrible "cheeeese" smile that Ethan did at the same age.  We also finally made it back to El Dorado Nature Center for a family walk and discovered that they'd spent the last five months redoing the whole river than thinning out the trees. It's a little sparse now but I'm sure it'll fill in time.


Click here or the album for more photos for March!

Continuing Curse of the Church Laptop

The church computer screen acted glitchy for a few seconds every 10 minutes during practice this Sunday, almost like the screen cable to the computer was going faulty. But during the first song of service I noticed it happening again except this time I noticed it was also affecting the projection screens.  Shortly after the first song of the service, the screen went to garbage and then a single thin white horizontal line and that was it.  I told the musical director and pastor that we were going to have to wing it.  It could have been worse.  It didn't die in the middle of a song.  The church has since bought a new Dell so we'll see if we have any better luck.  Seems like these things happen more on my watch.

Paradise City

So I started playing a new game on the computer called Burnout Paradise which provides nice mindless driving with excellent crash physics.  The game is set in a fictional Paradise City and the game intro is "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses.  It's hilarious because both Ethan and Anneliese love the song and headbang to it.  Ethan is trying to memorize the chorus.  Ethan loves watching me play but has gotten brave enough where he now asks to either be in charge of the speed or the steering, just not both. He's always asking when we can play so we can try to win a new car.