Bobbing for apples

Will wanted to bob for apples after we played apple baseball. After getting a noseful of water, he thought it was pretty over-rated. Scott, on the other hand, turned out to be a natural, much to the boys' delight.

Apple baseball

Will got to play apple baseball for the first time in the U.P. He even used the "bat" I used when we started playing about 15 years ago.

Picking apples in the U.P.

My cousin Chad and I picked apples this weekend for apple baseball. It was so pretty, I had to go back with the boys for just a few more.

Fall fun in the U.P.

We went to Michigan this weekend to see my family, including my Aunt Jo, who was visiting from South Dakota.

It was an absolutely beautiful weekend. We climbed Sugar Loaf, hung out at the Black Rocks and enjoyed a lot of quality time around County Road MT.

Will at Lake Superior

Photos from Will's classroom

Memory Walk

And Will riding in a fire engine ...

What to do with all this money

Will, convinced that we're going to win $100,000 in the Subway game, is super worried that I'll spend our winnings on something silly -- like my dream house.

"Mommy. We don't need to spend money on a house, we have a house."

What should we spend it on?

"We could buy trophies and jewelry!"

How am I going to pay for all this stuff?

Now that Will has become an expert at kindergarten, he seems more willing to continue on with his education. To a point.

"Does everybody HAVE to go to college?" he asked.

Clearly, Scott and I had gotten too deep into the finances and logistics of post-secondary education.

"No, you don't have to go to college, but it could help you to get a better job," we told him.

"I have to get a JOB too? I have to go to school AND have a JOB?" he started whining.

We told him that we'd both had jobs in college to help pay for food and rent and cars etc. Plus, we both had taken out student loans.

"We have a college fund started for you though, so don't start worrying too much yet," Scott said.

"Plus, you can try to get scholarships like Mommy and Daddy did," I said, inadvertently sparking a Are you kidding me? I didn't get any scholarships, they all went to kids who didn't deserve them as much as I did look from Scott.

"Tell me how much this is going to be," Will demanded. "Give me some prices!"

I think he'll do just fine.

Final days of summer at South Park

Save the world, Bucky

This morning the boys and I were driving home from Waupaca after a morning of errands and parks. Will was upset we left the park, even though it was Charlie's nap time ... and more importantly, Badger gametime.

As he likes to do, Will spent the drive home negotiating, trying to get me to agree to watch the Badger game on the smaller TV in our bedroom, rather than our new, high-definition, DVR-enabled TV in our living room. Fat chance, kid.

"Daddy, you can't save the world by watching the Badgers!" he said.

True enough, but you can't save the world watching LazyTown, Kiddo. Sorry.

The man of the house

Scott had a finance meeting tonight so I was on my own to put the boys to bed.

Will was in his pajamas, getting ready for me to read another chapter of "The Finch's Fabulous Furnace," when the Schwan's man knocked on the door.

"Ice cream man alert! Ice cream man alert!" he whispered-yelled to me as I was rocking Charlie to sleep.

"OK. I'll be there in just a second."

I heard Will from the top of the stairs yelling down to the Schwan's guy.

"My mommy is putting my baby brother to sleep. My daddy isn't here right now but my mommy will be with you in just a second."

Grinning at his choice of words, I quietly shut Charlie's door.

Will repeated, "The Schwan's guys is here ... I told him you'd be right down," and then he added, in his loud whisper, "I didn't want him to think I was alone."

Roasting marshmallows and chairs and things

Knowing what the combination of food and Charlie have done to his hair, you can imagine the havoc he can impart on anything in the surrounding vicinity during meals.

A few months ago, in lieu of a high chair, Charlie ate in a little booster seat on an old desk chair that Scott bought when he was in Ohio after college.

What Charlie did to that chair on a several-times-a-day-basis was unspeakable. I washed, scrubbed and did everything I could to get it clean. I draped towels on, around and below. Despite my efforts, it nearly always looked like a papier mache casualty.

Then, one day my mom went to a rummage sale in Waupaca and bought me a high chair. I put that disgusting chair out on the deck and it's been there ever since.

Until, as Will says, "We made Mommy SO happy!"

Like a scene out of "Office Space" we set that thing ablaze. We cheered with each piece that crumbled into the fire. And, finally, when it was nearly all ashes, we roasted marshmallows over it.

I haven't felt this good since we unloaded Scott's black couches. Next up: The living room carpet ... just as soon as Charlie achieves bladder control.

Hi Charlie!

Our youngest son is a hit, and not just with the predictable crowd, women and old people.

Thursday afternoon I brought him by the school cafeteria, where Will was at after-school care. After stopping to dance in the hallway with the custodian, he sprinted into the cafeteria. "Hi Charlie!" yelled a little girl, who along with two others began following him around. A couple more joined in, as Charlie dutifully made his way around picking up the various balls lying around. It was fun.

Friday I took him by the school playground, and the scene repeated itself, only with the boys following him around. Will and his friends James (yellow shirt) and Dylan (gray shirt) guided Charlie around, not that he needed it.

The affection these kids show for the little guy is really something. When Charlie took a break to sit on my lap, James touched his arm and said "His skin is so soft!" Dylan took a good look at him and said "My sister is two years old!"

Just another one of those fun scenes to take in ...

Tubular

Last week when I picked up Will at Kidz Club, he asked me "Daddy, do I have four dollars at home?" Yes, I replied, why do you ask?

"Because I want to buy that tube from Devin."

Devin was holding a tube, maybe four inches in diameter and six feet long. It was quite a big cardboard tube.

"We can race cars down it," Will says.

But four dollars, really?

"Yeah, Devin made it cheap."

The moment passed, but not the sentiment. A week later, leaving the minivan on our way into school, Will was talking about that damn tube, looking under the seats for money. I told him we'd make it a priority to find a tube over the weekend.

Friday, when we got home after school, Will was sorting through money, presumably to buy some terrible goopy crap he saw at the IGA. He then reached for two rubber balls, street value of about three cents.

"I'm going to try to give Devin these for that tube," he says. Is that something you discussed with Devin? I asked. "No."

Should make for an interesting negotiation.

Give or take a decade

I've had a couple of recent Will events on my mind since Thursday morning. The sequence of these two events are as follows:

Scene #1. Will kicks off his socks near the dining room table. I ask him to pick up the socks. Will starts to pick up a sock, gets distracted by a Hot Wheel, and forgets all about the socks. I remind Will to pick up the socks. He turns, looks at them and kicks then around the floor. I ask Will to pick up the socks again. Will, who has been putting his clothes in a laundry basket for more than two years saying, "I don't even know where to put them!" After a bit of voice-raising, Will eventually picks up a sock. I find the other one under the table at about 10 p.m.

Scene #2. Scott and I escort Will to kindergarten on the third day of school where he promptly takes his agenda book and folder and walks over to his desk. Will carefully takes the chair off the desk, tucks it nicely away, opens his folder and agenda book to the proper day and stands in almost-military fashion by his desk until the teacher comes into the room. "Can I play now?" he asks her. "Did you do your jobs?" she responds. "Yes, I see you did. You can play now."

Let's review, shall we? This amazing woman got Will to listen and remember his jobs in TWO DAYS ... something I've been trying to do for 5+ YEARS?

"Wow, you've certainly found a way to motivate him," I tell her.

She's got a twinkle in her eyes when she says, "Well, I have been doing this for twenty years."

Great. In only 15 more years, I'll be able to get Will to listen to me.

Scandinavia Stomp

I went to a meeting in the Collect.com Auctions office where they had a plethora of bubble wrap. Of course, I thought of Will, and asked if I could steal a small piece for him. My friend Jill said that she would give me a bigger piece with even bigger bubbles! Check out this video ... the boys made quick work of it.

I almost feel like we saw Stomp when we were in New York City.

First day of kindergarten

Here are a few pictures from Will's first day of kindergarten. He had no trouble posing at home but after that, he repeatedly requested that we not take pictures. He also walked way ahead of us, which, I think, is the five-year-old's version of having your parents drop you off two blocks from the movie theater.