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Realizing our boys were desperately needing time away from each other as well as time WITH us, the parents, we have started giving each of them a special night almost once a week.  A night when one boy gets to stay up later than the other to play games or trains or whatever.  The first week Art, Ben and I played Parcheezi.  It took us three Special Nights to finish the game. (I won!)  Lewis usually wants to make a train track with us and the night he first gave up his gackoo he had a special night with me.  We played crazy eights and he clobbered me.  Three in a row!  Last night Art had his special night and went to The Saints game with Ben.  Minor league baseball - eleven innings!  He didn't get home until 11pm!  I just LOVE this picture of them together that Ben sent from his phone.  That is love and mutual enthusiasm right there in a picture.  I love it.

My sister remembers that Art gave his cousin, Charlotte, his gackoo about a year or more ago and that he was bribed with the prize of a fancy talking dinosaur for giving it up.  True!  TRUE!  He went to sleep gackooless looking at the picture of that toy.  And let there be full disclosure that Lewis gave up his gackoo knowing full well there was a prize at the end of his struggle.  After he makes it through the week he will get a remote control car.

Here is a post from the Momma around here.  And it's about time I started hearing my moniker from the girls.  Or should I call that a MOMiker?!?  It took 21 months for them to name me.  They've been saying Art for months, Papa for almost as long and have a whole battery of words.  Netta is even imitating two and three word phrases, for God's sake!  ("I like it", "baby toy", "car ride", "Bailey, WALK!")  But finally I am being greeted and called for by name.  Just this morning Netta woke up cheerfully calling out, "Momma?  Momma!" Bailey does not have as many words and phrases as her sister, but many of the words she has are complete and very clear, like dog and book.  She has had fluid in her ears on several occasions which may be delaying her sound acquisition.  A little doctor visit may clear that up.  In the mean time she says a lot of things clearly and a lot of things blurry and also just  continues her general observan...

Pacifiers are a drug.  They transform a speedy body into an instantly  lethargic one and are a constant magnet for Lewis. When he's tired or  cranky or overwhelmed he'll head to his room and take a h it. Ever  since he was born he's used a pacifier ( lovingly called a gackoo in  our home). But he decided a couple days ago that he was going to give  his gackoos to Oscar (Jessica's cousin Cait's one-year-old little  boy). So today he brought them to Oscar's birthday party and  actually gave them away.      He got ready for bed tonight as usual, not mentioning the scary thing  about to happen--sleeping without a gackoo for the first time e ver. Even  though he didn't mention it we knew it was on his mind. Jessica  had already prepared him and told him she'd help if he had trouble .  So, as promised, she got in bed with him after he couldn't sleep.        "Mama?" he  said eventually, tearing up a little as she snuggled next to him, "I  wis...

Lewis took many photos with my little camera last week. And, to my delight, he even asked for his own camera one day so he could 'put photos in the newspaper' (I'm on the hunt for a used little digital camera, have one?).

The other day Josh had Arthur over to his house and helped him build a birdhouse. It's a thing of beauty. Thanks for the photos, Ashley.

We met my father and step mother at the Wisconsin Dells for a few days last week, but before we met up with them we stopped by the cottage in Wisconsin for a night, overlapping with some other folks. Here are some photos. Jessica's Uncle Brian throws the boys around in Fish Lake. The boys show Emily a huge beetle Art found.

My mother just sent me this photo and I thought I'd share it. Cause I'm proud of her! She helps teach kids at a pottery studio back home in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

We're back from our mini-vacation (I'll post a few more photos soon).

She just sent me this photo from their time together a couple weeks ago.

We are at the wisconsin dells where we met up with my father and step mother, they drive over from north carolina after working a craft fair in michigan.we are going to crazy water park today. --sent from my handheld device--

we're going to be away on a short vacation and will return late next week.

A friend invited us to a puppet show the other night, a free event sponsored by their neighborhood (the theater passes around a jar after the performance). The theater company has a plethora of 'driveway tour' shows, all free and open the public, which can be found here . They're a super creative and fun group of people. Of the three shows they're performing this summer Jessica most enjoyed 'The Amazing Cow Boat' and 'The Adventures of Katie Tomatie'.

This is at times hilarious and other times hard to watch. I took this stealth video after I heard some wonderful noises coming from their room after I plopped in the same crib. Netta and Bailey take turns sitting on each other, and Bailey takes a loooooooong turn (I had a hard time not stepping in to save Netta). But it ends well! [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2XAbtpEuVQ?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fhELNh4LOY?rel=0&w=640&h=480]

My friend Todd just sent me this photo from my trip last month to oil boom country in North Dakota to work on a documentary project with him. We were waiting near train tracks for a fancy shot with a tiny HD video camera (put it on the tracks for a train to run over--worked once and then later tried it again and the camera jumped up from vibrations and was instantly crushed to pieces and lovingly dispersed along 500 feet of tracks). While waiting we had couple cold Minnesota imports, however when trying to open mine on a door, I cracked off the entire glass top. Drank in sheer desperation anyway. Here's more of our (mostly Todd's) work: www.blackgoldboom.com

A couple weeks ago my brother Josh took Art and I out sailing on his boat Calypso in lake Minnetonka. It was windy enough where we actually had to sit on one side of the ship. We all swam, including Arthur, who has a newfound confidence in water. We even dragged him (slowly) behind the boat for a bit. Kind of like poor man's skiing I suppose.

Jessica and I are approaching our ten year anniversary August 4th. It'll be 15 years since we've met. I don't want to make a post that makes everything sound so perfect and beautiful. It's hasn't been and we're continually learning more about each other, learning to forgive and express our love. We've been to couples therapy on many occasion (something I'd recommend to everyone, even in good times--we always walk away having learned how to better communicate). But as we grow old together and get wrinkly (rather, more  wrinkly[Speak for yourself! - Jess]), there's no one I'd rather grow old with. Jessica is so beautiful and confusing and brilliant and honest and fun. She's my best friend, my lover, my parenting mentor, my safety net, my wife. Happy almost anniversary Jessica, love you.

Yesterday we went blueberry picking with Evva and Oscar and their parents Erin and Mike. At Rush River in Wisconsin as recommended by Lewis' preschool teacher Jen (about and hour and a half drive). It was a picturesque place with bushes bursting with blueberries. Everywhere you looked you see ripe blueberries, it was pretty spectacular. Apparently it's been an unusually good season. The woman there said we were welcome to stuff our faces and we all did (Netta and Bailey have had some bowel movements of entertaining colors...) Afterwards, on recommendation of the folks there, we drove two miles to swim in the spring-fed super cold Rush River. There was a muddy bank that the kids couldn't get enough of and across the river spring water trickled down--it felt like ice water. A fun outing that I sense might become a tradition. Not cheap, though. We spend $60 on the berries. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzxtBtZVNf8?rel=0]

This is the last post from our recent trip the cottage. We went for a day trip to Roche-A-Cre State Park in Wisconsin. The first half of our time there was pretty miserable as we walked along a super buggy, swampy trail in the woods with hot grouchy children. But then! We had some food and found the trail leading to the top of Roche-A-Cre Mound there was a spectacular look out (up  303 steps) . Jess and I each strapped a baby to our back and crossed our fingers the boys, or my mother :), wouldn't whine about being tired (she has a bad knee right now). Amazingly Lewis, who often says "mine legs are tired," flew up the steps and was the first to the top. I was fun watching him climb with such enthusiasm. Arthur however, is scared of heights and crawled at times. But he powered through and we all reached the top. The view was really spectacular. Lewis and his amazing legs. Arthur and unnamed sister. Thanks, Ma, for taking the photo of us at the top. Sorry we didn't get ...

In case I haven't mentioned it to you in person, the girls do have at least one secret twin word, a word they use that only exists in their personal lexicon.  I'm sure there are others bubbling up but I have only noticed this one clear word,  "Ni-noh".  They say it when they want to trade toys.  I know if I hear it from another room that I will look in and find them swapping plates or push-toys or spoons or whatever.  I will be on the lookout for other secret words.

Last night all four of us went to see fireworks at Powderhorn park. Jessica and I have been taking advantage of my mother being in town often with multiple date nights and evenings out with the just Art and Lewis that otherwise wouldn't be possible. Thanks, Ma! Anyway, Lewis went to bed around 7:30 but, as he requested, we woke him up a couple hours later and went to see fire works in the 90-degree heat.

We watched a parade, rode bikes in a parade and then sat around Nance and Brian's house for about 6 hours doing nothing. We did nothing inside and outside in the 101-degree record temperatures. Here's a photo of my mother with Bailey (left) and Netta watching the parade. It was the first time Jessica has dressed them exactly the same, something she's been looking forward to for weeks. They were incredibly cute. There just something about seeing them dressed the same that's fun. See the rest of the photos after the jump! The carnage. Butts and beer. A happy Charlotte. Watermelon heaven. Bailey and Bob. Lewis and his teeth. That night all 11 of us packed in around table for six at the tasty Galactic Pizza in Minneapolis.