No sleep til 10,000

My company recently offered us an insurance discount if we participated in various activities. Scott's on a stress reduction program and I'm wearing a pedometer in a quest for 10,000 steps each day.

At first, I thought 10,000 was ridiculously high. Then I hit it one day. The next day I was jogging in place while brushing my teeth. Now, I can't watch TV without marching steadily toward that five-digit finish line.


One day when I hadn't left my desk very much, I was at only 2,000 steps when we got home so I started doing laps around our first floor. Pretty soon Will was giving me guided tours around the house, Charlie following behind or up on my shoulders.

So, I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised when Will asked if he could get a "thermometer" too. I had an old one and now he's doing laps around the first floor before dinner. Yesterday, I heard him tell Scott that when he jumps, he gets 34 steps at once.

He's predicting he'll get more than me every single day. Maybe, but I'm allowed to stay up later than him.

Math, exercise and friendly little mom-son competition. Can't beat it.

Grace!

Charlie has a new favorite activity: Saying Grace at meals. Every meal and snack and sometimes when we just make eye contact for a second or two too long.

It's adorable. It makes him clap and laugh and so happy that we let our dinner chill as we say God is Great, The Lord is Good to Me and Bless Us O Lord before Scott calls the whole thing off.

I got a little video of it one night. Bad angle, but his face is priceless.

Fun at the Building for Kids

Fundraiser extraordinaire

It seems like just yesterday that Will proved to have skills as a fund-raiser. At the ripe old age of six months, Will sold $200 in candles.

Of course, back then he could just rely on his looks. Nowadays, he's relying on his looks and his brother's looks .

Will is participating in the American Heart Association's Jump Rope For Heart Program and he'd like to send you all this special message:

"I would love it if the kids in the hospital don't get sicker. And I thank god for making me healthy. And I think my baby brother is very cute."

Anyway, Will's pretty excited about raising money to help kids with special hearts ... he's even set up his own personal website. http://honor.americanheart.org/goto/willtappa

He and the kids would appreciate any help you can give.

Christmas at the Flanagans'

A few pictures of the boys at the Flanagans' two days after Christmas, including another exterior shot of their cousin-in-waiting.

I Love Daddy

For those of you who have never been around for this annual photo shoot, that purple "towel" was something my mom made for my dad when I was a baby, to cover him up on his way out of the shower to getting dressed. Hard to see how that ever worked, but whatever.

On the occasion of my first Christmas, when I was about three weeks old, Mom took a picture of Dad wearing the towel and holding me. We've done it every year since, and for the past few years we've started doing it with my boys.

It's a neat tradition. But I would never wear a towel that small, even in my own home.

'Twas the night before Christmas ...

... and this is what Charlie and Will wore to church. It was a very argyle Christmas.

We love weddings

Our good friend Sean Fitzgerald got married recently and we were SO excited to go to his reception in Oshkosh.

He and his new bride Vicky threw a great party and we enjoyed every minute of it. A few of our favorite things:

- the beautiful display of cake! Cupcakes, bigger cakes and cakes with "Fs" on top!
- the photo booth with plenty of silly hats, boas and other accessories thrown in
- the dance floor that featured no one frowning at kids who like to play tag

Will made a ton of friends and we had such a blast watching him, we let him keep going until after 10 p.m. At one point a little girl grabbed his hand and brought him over to the karaoke book to pick out a song with her.

I watched in shock as Will casually looked over the book and pretended that he could read the song titles! Oh, boy, we have to watch out. He seems to go for older women, just like his father.

These are our snapshots from the photo booth. There are two strips attached ... one strip went home with us and the other went into a scrapbook for Sean and Vicky. Great idea, eh?

Recently seen on Facebook -- Jana edition

Will knows who the youngest one in our family is: Lego Barbera!

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It's going to be a long winter for Charlie. He gets cabin fever after being inside for an hour and seems to be terrified of snow. I had to carry him while I was shoveling to keep him from screaming. Yeah, that didn't work so well, but Scott did make it into the driveway at least.

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(On a trying car ride home from the UP) If there was an eject seat in this mini-van, I'd gladly risk hanging from a pine tree rather than be in this vehicle for three more hours. Sigh.

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Will informed us tonight: "I know what I'm ordering from Santa! A big box of joke items!"

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Not sure why, but we're attempting to take both boys to see Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. We may clear the theater if they see us coming.

Recently seen on Facebook

Jana and Will have spent about 30 minutes trying to perfect Uncle Nick's Mii avatar, with many heated exchanges. One day into owning a Wii and we're already nearing an intervention point.

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Clary Vaughn got us a Wii for Christmas, awesome gift. Frankly, I'm alarmed with how good Jana and Will were at boxing right off the bat.

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Will's new favorite song: 8-6-7-5-3-0-9, although he's still having trouble remembering all of Jenny's numbers.

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On the way into work Will and I discussed tonight's Packers-Ravens game. After a brief Ravens scouting report, Will declared "Yeah, but they're not half as good as Duke!" We're getting there ...

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Walking into the dentist's office, Will says "Daddy, I see someone who looks just like you." The guy was probably in his mid-60s. His follow up was "Yeah, he's bald ... oh, I guess he doesn't look like you."

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Watching ESPN hoops with Will, who is chanting "We are! (clap clap) Penn State! (clap clap)" He really taking more of an interest in the ACC-Big Ten challenge than even I am.

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Will and I are playing Army at Grandma's. We set up a prisoner rescue scenario, and in designing the enemy's compound Will made sure it included a dungeon, "a meeting room, and a room where they make laws and decide what battle they're going to fight next." Is he watching C-Span when we're not looking? A very practical... enemy he's devised.

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Worked with Will on his Christmas list tonight -- with him doing the writing for the first time. So far, only Hot Wheels will be showing up in his stocking.