Visitors from Afar...

My family was able to come out to visit with us a few weeks after Liam Matthew came into our world.

Abby and Brielle were hanging out and having a great time while Jonah and Alex hung out and played on the computer. A water fight was fit in there somewhere... I think I went grocery shopping and missed all the action.

My Mom brought along a large amount of plants from home to help decorate our yard. Some Hydrangia, Rose of Sharon and Canadian Redbud were planted in the front where there is a lot of light, and several ferns and lily of the valley were placed in the back to make this area a little nicer to look at.

I'll post photos of plants later, for now here are some pics of the family!!!

Landlord firsts...

Since purchasing our house we finally set everything up to rent the apartment at our house. Everything was set and cleaned and working nicely. Of course, that's when the toilet decided to give us some trouble.

The toilet valve leaks just enough to make it run almost constantly.

So being the handyman that I’m not, I opened up the tank to take a look. I’ve had to do a little work on toilets in the past, so it wasn’t a completely alien view to me. That being said, this toilet looked like it just fell from the International Space Station. What I was expecting to see was something called a “Flapper” a funky valve attached to a chain. What I found was some plunger looking device growing out of the hole to the toilet bowl with a lever attached to the handle of the toilet.

I went to the local hardware store and he gave me a flapper… He said this would do the job. It didn’t…

I went back to this hardware store but they were closed, so I went to another one armed with me trusty cellular phone equipped with my handy dandy camera. The guy looked at the picture on my tiny screen and scratched his balding head. "I don’t recognize that thing but let’s look", he mumbled as we weaved our way through aisle upon aisle of things I hope I’ll never need. We finally stopped in front of a ton of tubes and plastic things. He grunted and pointed and started scratching his head again. I looked around and suddenly saw the alien device that sat in the toilet tank. Would you believe it was called a toilet valve… Imagine that.. calling it something that it actually is… So I bought the thing and read through the directions and started scratching my head as well… (There must be something contagious about plumbing…)

The instructions told me to remove the tank from the bowl of the toilet. But of course never mentioned HOW to do this. Great…

So I went to my savior, the Internet. I quickly found what I needed and began to sob. Apparently hacksaws, tape and other utensils are also needed for this project which complicated the process even more..

Several expletives flew from my mouth as I ranted and raved for a while about toilets and those who manufacture them.

The likelihood of my getting this to work is next to nothing. I found out that it’s actually easier to install a brand new toilet than to install this piece of crap into the old piece of crap crapper!

My next step is to head out on the quest for a new toilet.

Here he is!!!

Liam Matthew Engel has finally made his appearance! He was born on June 23, 2006 at 5:15 PM. He weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long. Everything went very well with the delivery with both Holly and Liam doing very well. The little guy started screaming right away and is very healthy.

Here are a few photos, I'll post more later.

So far the little guy is very calm. Hopefully he keeps this attitude... I'm sure we will have some Parenting 101 Blogs with him as the focus in the near future...

Parenting 101: Quick List

Currently the blogger site does not have an option to group blog entries by category, I'll put this notice out with links to all of the current Parenting 101 Blogs and any others that are similar with Calvin and Hobbes on the scene. Hope you all enjoy these!
Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes
Pre-Parenting 101
Jonah in the funny papers... Friday, February 24, 2006
Jonah, Once again in the funny papers Monday, February 27, 2006
Jonah / Calvin at dinner Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Sometimes, they are just too smart for our own good... Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Jonah was hoping... Thursday, March 02, 2006
Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes
Parenting 101 Blogs
Parenting 101 Friday, March 03, 2006
Parenting 101: Dinner Monday, March 06, 2006
Parenting 101: Dinner table manners Monday, March 06, 2006
Parenting 101: Listening Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Parenting 101: Bath Time Thursday, March 09, 2006
Parenting 101: Reading between the lines... Friday, March 10, 2006
Parenting 101: Snacks... Monday, March 13, 2006
Parenting 101: True.. But Why?!?! Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Parenting 101: Mornings Friday, March 17, 2006
Parenting 101: The things we do for our kids... Monday, March 20, 2006
Parenting 101: Where do babies come from? Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Parenting 101: Dinnertime Fun Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Parenting 101: Tonight's Bed Time Plan... Friday, March 24, 2006
Parenting 101: Housework Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Parenting 101: Starting a Club Thursday, March 30, 2006
Parenting 101: Finance Monday, April 03, 2006
Parenting 101: Home Improvement Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Parenting 101: Where do they get these ideas? Thursday, April 06, 2006
Parenting 101: Testing Boundaries Friday, April 07, 2006
Parenting 101: Shaping their minds Friday, April 14, 2006
Parenting 101: Television Thursday, April 20, 2006
Parenting 101: Labor Pains Monday, April 24, 2006
Parenting 101: Driving Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Parenting 101: Only the facts... Thursday, April 27, 2006
Parenting 101: Shopping Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Parenting 101: More Questions Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Parenting 101: Bed Time Friday, May 05, 2006
Parenting 101: Meal time Monday, May 08, 2006
Parenting 101: Questioning your reasoning... Monday, May 22, 2006
Parenting 101: Summer Vacations Friday, May 26, 2006
Parenting 101: Just a little fun... Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Parenting 101: Couldn't be closer to the truth... Thursday, June 01, 2006
Parenting 101: Writing stories Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Parenting 101: Lunch on a daily basis... Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Parenting 101: Reading and what they learn... Thursday, June 15, 2006
Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Matt Engel Matthew Engel Matt Engel Matthew Engel Matt Engel Matthew Engel comics
I hadn't realized how many of these I've made so far. Once again, Enjoy!
Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes

Oh, Oh it's Magic...

My buddy Cliff sent me this video today... I hadn't seen this magician before. I guess I haven't spent much time on A&E lately...

I've seen David Blain and his act of levitation, which appears to be more camera trickery mixed with astonished reactions from onlookers who are in a specially selected angle for view.

This guy has a different way to do it. I'm impressed.

Enjoy!





I found another of his videos that gives you an idea on how he does some of his tricks...

Parenting 101: Reading and what they learn...

Since Jonah has been learning to read, he is absorbing so much information. While we are driving he is reading the signs as we pass by. He even tries to read to his sister every now and then. Most of the time she enjoys it, other times she just wants to rip the pages apart. I guess that's part of the "Terrible Two's" we are going through right now.

I found a series of Calvin and Hobbes clips that fit this situation pretty well. I can see Jonah doing this at any moment.

Enjoy!

Parenting 101: Lunch on a daily basis...

Setting up school lunches can be a pain...

It's a lot easier to throw some money in a baggie for the kids to get lunch at school, but it's a bit more economical to pack a lunch for them. Whether they eat it or not is another thing all together.

We make a weekly trip to the Warehouse center nearby to pick up many grociery items in bulk. The bulk pack of snack chips for lunches, the puddings and of course drink box/pouches.

Invariably the wrong choice has been made in drink or sandwich ingredients.

Jonah: "I don't like these drinks."

Mom/Dad: "You picked them out at the store,
so you have to finish them before we buy more."

Jonah: "I hate them!"

Mom/Dad: "Sorry, you will have to make do."

What we usually find out at this point is that he chose this particular drink because of the cool pictures on it. Not the flavors.

The same thing goes for Cereal. We recently went to the store and Jonah really wanted the Cocoa Pebbles. No complaint from me, I grew up on the stuff (although fruity pebbles in my opinion are much better.)

The next morning I get breakfast ready for everyone and Jonah doesn't want the Cocoa Pebbles. Holly and I remind him that he chose them. The then he discloses that he just wanted the toy that came with it...

Blast from the past...

My office mate came across this video and I thought I'd share it with you here as well.

It reminds me of when I was younger and watching television with the family. Enjoy!

4 Years Ago Today...

Today, Holly and I celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. Looking at that number 4 makes it seem like it wasn't that long ago at all that we took our stroll down the aisle back in Frankenmuth Michigan with all our friends and family in attendance. It feels like we have known each other forever. Which, I guess, is what marriage and family as all about. Well at least a part of it at least...

A lot has happened in our lives since we were married. The day after our wedding we spent part of the day watching the Bavarian Festival Parade which fills my old home town with tourists of all ages. Consumption of much beer and Bratwurst is a prerequisite for this event. The next day we left for our Honeymoon in South Beach, Miami. Our initial plan was to stay in South Beach for a few days then drive down to the Key's. This didn't really go as planned.

We planned our trip at the same time as Monsoon Season, not on purpose. Not exactly the best time in terms of weather, but we were Newly Wed's... We had a Suite overlooking the ocean. That's about all we really needed for the duration.

There were several days where it was nicer and we were able to venture out without being drowned. There was one particular morning where I decided to walk to the nearest Dunkin Donuts. We had driven past a number of times and it didn't seem all that far. It wasn't that far by car. By foot it was a bit further in time. It turned out to be a mile away. About halfway there it started to rain. Of course I had no umbrella, which is probably just as well because the wind would have blown it apart in no time. My cellular phone was left charging in the room. It was one of my more brainy days...

I made it to Dunkin Donuts, ordered our food and asked for extra bags to bag everything up in for the walk back. This time I was walking into the wind. Now this wasn't as terrible as you would think. The rain was very warm. It actually felt like I was walking in the shower, it was that warm. I kept watching for Holly to pull up in the Convertible we had rented and pick me up out of the rain. She never showed up, but I made it all the way back to the Eden Roc after being gone for 2 hours.

Walking through the lobby was a real treat. My clothes were completely saturated. What was interesting is that the wind had dried my back off while I was walking into the wind. The rain was hitting only the front of me on my walk back. I received some rather peculiar looks as I left sandal shaped water puddles on the marble clad floor.

Upon arriving to the suite, I found Holly on the bed lost in a television show. She looked at me and started to laugh asking what happened to me. Apparently she had no idea that it had been a down-pour outside... I glanced at the wall of windows and watched as the rain ran down in a sheet.

A puddle grew at my feet as I stood there dripping with the bags of Dunkin Donuts treats. They say a picture is worth a thousand words... Here you go.

Looking back, the walk itself was not all that bad. It's a memory I will carry with me for the rest of my life which will always make me smile.

We had a great time on our Honeymoon, rain storms not with standing...

So far I hadn't posted wedding details and honeymoon details. Some of the details of the last four years together are chronicled in the Moving blog entries which can be found below:

The Move (Packing)
The Move (communications) sidebar
The Move (on the road)
The Move (the rest of the way...)
The Move (the morning after)

Holly has been the best wife I could ever ask for. She has brought Jonah, Brielle and the new addition (6/23/06) into my life which has brought me much joy. I Love them all dearly.

Happy Anniversary Babe!

I Love you,

Matt

Parenting 101: Writing stories

Jonah has really gotten into creating his own books. We recently went shopping for office supplies and bought Jonah his own ream of paper to write his books. Considering he had already gone through several reams of our printer paper, we figured this to be the best idea.

He starts off by drawing the pictures of the story and then goes through and writes out the story. He has several stories written already. All of them are quite good, of course being his father I guess there's some bias there. But for just turning 7 and still in the early stages of reading, both Holly and I think he's doing very well.

The first story of his that I have scanned in is a variation of the Three Little Pigs that we all grew up with. I'll post some of his original stories soon. I haven't had the opportunity to scan them all in yet. Please forgive the quality of this first book. I'm working out the bugs between Adobe Acrobat and my scanner.

Here's the story in Adobe PDF format. The Three Little Pigs - By Jonah Hercules (More stories to follow...)

If you don't have Adobe Acrobat reader, you can download it from here:

Parenting 101: Couldn't be closer to the truth...

It's always a pleasant surprise when the kids do something by themselves that you usually have to ask them 5 or 6 times to do.

Brielle is still in the molding stage. Holly says that because she is a girl she likes to help. I'm not sure if it's because of her gender or not, but she really does like to help. Generally the help is counter-productive, but she's happy to help and is excited about the praise she gets.

On the flip-side of this is Jonah. There are times when he takes care of all the things we normally have to ask several times for. These times generally have use getting to the point of a time-out or loss of some kind of privledge. It's always a pleasant surprise when he does things when he is not asked. If only it was that way all the time, but I don't recall doing that either as a child, so I guess I shouldn't expect it from my own children.

This Calvin comic fits this situation perfectly. Enjoy your day!

Parenting 101: Just a little fun...

Sometimes a Dad's gotta do, what a Dad's gotta do...

I Love my children. I preface by saying this in that some things you think of doing, you never would becuase you love your children. Although in your head it seems very funny...

Both Jonah and Brielle are funny and loveable in their own ways. They are two great kids. With a third on the way, we can't help but wonder what he will be like. We'll be finding out soon enough. June 23rd appears to be the date to induce labor.

As for some of the fun things you think of saying or doing with your kids, several of the Parenting 101 blogs deal with pulling your kids leg every now and then. This one is no exception.

Sometimes you just want a little peace and quiet... Or to give them a small taste of their own medicine...

This Calvin comic reminded me of how Holly and I direct one or both children to the other to get them out of our hair for a few moments...

Parenting 101: Summer Vacations

It's almost Summer time...

Soon the kids will be home all day and people will get to take vacations. I'm not sure if we'll be doing much traveling with the little one coming in the end of June, but other people will be traveling.

I recall the days of being trapped in the back of my parents Caprice Classic as we drove to Northern Michigan or across the border into Canada on one trip or another. My father was a Real Estate Appraiser how would take jobs with the State of Michigan to value property for road expansion projects. A number of summers took us to different parts of Michigan while my Dad checked out buildings and vacant land stretching along endless highways.

On several occasions my Mom would come along, on a few it was just he and I on these trips. I have some very good memories about these moments in time. When I was older, around 17, my Dad took me up to the upper peninsula of Michigan to Marquette and several of the outlying towns.

There is a part in Marquette where there are walking and biking paths. We went out to one of these points and found an area to walk out on. There was a section where you could walk out and look down to see Lake Superior and the caves created by the never ending waves crashing up against the limestone.

I recall scaring the bejesus out of my Dad when I walked out on an outcropping of rock and looked down the side of the cliff. I don't recall if there was a railing or not, but it really surprised my Dad that I did this. In retrospect it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I was 17. That's my excuse.

My memories of traveling when I was younger are a bit more cloudy. I have this feeling that it was a situation not too dissimilar from Calvin on one of his road trips with his parents. This is so true of Jonah and Brielle is starting to follow this path as well.

Enjoy the Calvin and Hobbes!

Parenting 101: Questioning your reasoning...

Kids are wonderful... but sometimes...

Jonah and his Brothers

Jonah had a visit from his Brothers Caden and Callan this weekend along with their Grandma, Aunt and Cousin Kiara.

They had a great time running, jumping and screaming through the house. No injuries, thank God.

Here are a few pictures to show how they all look. They all had a great time!

Callan is on the left with Jonah in the center and Caiden on the right. It's hard to believe that Jonah and Caden are the same age!

Here they are Cheesing it up on the couch. They have Kiara in the middle of them hanging out with the boys!










Brielle was fast asleep by the time they made it from New Jersey. Here's a picture of her this morning on her way to school with Dad. She was in a rush to make sure that I didn't leave without her. No time for pictures Mom... I gotta Go!!!

Ding, Dong, The Blazer’s Gone!

As they say, all good things must come to an end. In my case it’s the legacy that has been the eight years of owning my Chevy Blazer. To be honest, it hasn’t been THAT bad of a vehicle. In it’s history, I had to have some warranty work done on her just at the end of the warranty period. I had a bad bearing in one of the wheels which was making a ton of noise and scaring me senseless while driving.

Over the eight years, she gave me 158,000 miles of traveling. For the most part everything was ok… Except for a couple of things…

• Early on, the seat adjustment lever for the drivers side kept falling off. I eventually just left it and hadn’t used it again.
• There was a panel that had the hatch release and hatch windshield wiper controls that popped out and wouldn’t go back into the dash. (the pins had broken off) It reminded me of a Stephen King movie where a corpse was walking around with it’s eyeball popped from the socket dangling by the optic nerve. (Sorry about the graphic visualization, but it’s fairly accurate minus the gore.)
• There was a tray that you could hold change in that again, the pins broke off and the whole thing would fly out of it’s holder when I would make a tight turn.
• Both the tray and the panel were temporarily fixed with tack putty and eventually permanently fixed with super glue.
• The windshield wipers would work when they felt like it. I would sometimes have to drive several miles before the wipers would begin working again. Thank God for Rainex to bead up the rain on the windshield and make it easier for me to see without the blades running.
• The windshield cracked pretty badly a year ago during winter. After a particularly bad dumping of snow the melting then freezing snow filled in a small chip and turned it into the grand canyon across the windshield. (We didn’t bother spending $200 to replace it.)
• If I would drive further than 35 miles in one setting the transmission would have issues going from first to second. A lurch would occur scaring myself and any passengers I may have had onboard at the time.
• A couple years ago, I was driving to a meeting at work and suddenly found steering control very difficult as if I had a flat tire. I quickly pulled over to assess the problem. I looked at my drivers side tire and found that it was leaning inward at about a 25 degree angle. A connection broke that holds the wheel in place. I also found out that there was more damage to the other wheel but it wasn’t an immediate danger. We fixed the wheel having the problem and let the other stuff go.

Now that I've itemized it like this, I guess I did have a number of issues with it. Considering our Toyota Avalon has only had a flat tire... once.

Thankfully nothing ever happened with the vehicle causing any accidents. We could have pumped over $2000 into it to keep her running well, but out expanding family would not have fit into my “single-guy” blazer. The 2 doors and the rear bucket seats do not allow for 2 car seats and a 7-year-old to fit legally or at all…

So the Quest for a new vehicle began.

We finally decided to modify our situation and NOT get a brand new vehicle. We really liked the new Honda Pilot and the Toyota Highlander, but the cost was more than we were willing to pay. So we started checking out the Certified Pre-Owned (used) vehicles. We ended up finding one with low mileage and all the features we wanted for below the blue book price. No complaints from us!

Holly and Jonah picked up the new Toyota Highlander and turned in the Blazer. Holly asked me if it bothered me getting rid of the vehicle. To a certain extent the vehicle was a reminder of how my life was changing around the time of getting a new job and buying my new vehicle. I’m not much for nostalgia on physical items, although I’m a packrat at heart. But seeing her go was a little bitter sweet. I no longer have to worry about driving an unsafe vehicle for both my safety and my family.

The vehicle had not passed it’s safety inspection and didn’t have new registration because of it. Hence my uneasiness every time I would pass a police officer on the road. That is a thing of the past.

So I’m happy to get to drive the Avalon while Holly uses the Highlander. We may swap every now and then, but that’s how my parents used to work their vehicles. My Mom would use the new car, and my Dad would get the older one. I have no complaints, because now I have a moon roof…

Parenting 101: Meal time... (comic)

Could not be more true to reality...


This happens in our house about every other week. One minute it's the greatest thing ever, then it's worse than liver and onions...

Parenting 101: Bed Time

Bed times are a blessing... and a curse...

7:00 PM
"Come on Brie Brie, it's time to change your clothes. Give Jonah hugs and kisses Good Night!"
Starting a whimpering cry, Brielle starts to chant the mantra, "No Night, Night. No Night, Night." She begrudgingly gives her older brother hugs and kisses all the while chanting her claim that she doesn't want to go to bed. That's about as bad as it gets. Although it tugs greatly on the heart strings, she goes to bed pretty well.

8:00 PM
"Jonah, it's time to turn off the TV, brush your teeth and get your comfy clothes on." At this point Jonah finds every excuse in the book to delay bed time. Generally we have to repeat the above statement 2 or more times before the television turns off. Then he came up with all sorts of "important" questions that can't wait before he brushes his teeth.

After the teeth are scrubbed clean he comes out to give us hugs and kisses goodnight. This is generally accompanied by several more questions that couldn't possibly wait till morning or his head would certainly explode.

After being shipped off to bed we have to remind him to stay in his bed several times as we hear him roaming around the upstairs trying to do anything other than sleep. The occasional trip back downstairs with the most important question followed by us being exasperated and telling him he will lose TV time if he doesn't keep himself in his bed.

All of this usually lasts until 9:00 or so. Sometimes a little later... Then it's just us time.

Unfortunately we are generally exhausted from the day and veg on the couch. I'll Rub Holly's feet while we watch House, American Idol, Medium or any other of our favorite shows. Then off to bed to put an end to a long day and refresh us, if only marginally. for the next long day ahead.Calvin is always getting himself into trouble. This is probably what we have in store for us in the not too distant future... Enjoy.

Parenting 101: More Questions

Jonah has some interesting insight for a 6-year-old. Well, almost 7. He turns 7 tomorrow, which he is VERY excited about.

As I was saying... He thinks of things on multiple levels which amazes me... We were watching something on television the other evening, and he made a comment about how before Adam and Eve sinned everything was in black and white. Then everything was color after the original sin.

Where this came from, I have no idea... But anyone that has any background with religion and knows the story of original sin will have an idea of what this is about. I was floored. That a 6-year-old would come up with such a comment really made me think about it in a different way.

A couple of years ago when Jonah was in Pre-K, they were learning about music. Beethoven to be more specific. Jonah commented that Beethoven's music was rather dark. We asked if his teachers had said this, and he said no, that it was dark like the basement to him...

Another music angle on this was even earlier. Holly and I were married in 2002. Jonah was 3. For a while before the wedding, we had different kinds of classical music playing in the car, trying to figure out what chamber music to use during the ceremony. Pachelbel's Cannon in D was one such piece. About 2 years after we were married, Jonah was humming the tune in the back seat on the way to or from somewhere. Holly was surprised that he remembered the tune.

He just said that he liked it.

I'm going to start putting more of his deep thoughts out here to both remember the moments and share with all of you. The boy is definately bright, there's no doubt about that.

Jonah has also taken to writing books. We have been encouraging him to do so and he's becoming quite the artist now as well... I'll be publishing a few of his books on the web in the near future. He's very excited about making these books and thinks it's great that I'll put his stories on the web.

When it comes to questions that Jonah asks, sometimes its more fun to make things up. This is too close to reality...

Parenting 101: Shopping

Shopping with children should be considered cruel and unusual... for the parents.

I remember when I was young and wanting to go shopping with my Mom. Usually I would beg and plead for some kind of trinket, or a pack of baseball cards. That's the only part of the shopping experience I really recall. I do recall my Mom telling me that I couldn't come shopping, and now that I have kids of my own, I completely understand why.

It's as if the automatic doors leading into the grocery store transmogrifies your child into a tiny monster that has no concept of self control.

"Mom, I want THAT sugar packed cereal with the guy from my favorite cartoon on the front of it"

"Dad, can I have those popsicles with the super heroes on it?"

Then the daughter gets into the mix... Instead of sitting in the cart seat, she wants to walk. Unfortunately this means that she tries to run away from me at every possible opportunity. And she thinks it's funny...

It IS kind of cute, but not when you are dodging other shoppers trying to grab the screaming 2-year-old.

Maybe the next phase of shopping centers will have a setup like McDonalds and Burger King have developed with the huge indoor playground with hamster tubes to crawl through and balls to jump into. This could be supervised by one parent while the other can leisurely pick out the correct groceries.

This could make the shopping experience a bit more enjoyable for the parents as well.

The alternative, which we recently received coupons in the mail for, is having the groceries delivered to our door. For about $6 we can have everything we would normally shop for brought right to our door at a time we specify. We may test this sometime soon. My only concern is the quality. I don't get to choose which tomatoes that I think look good or how fresh the asparagus looks. We'll see...

Until then we will continue the battle of grocery shopping.