Adventures with twins

Layla's Birthday Celebration

2012-02-11T23:30:00.001-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

Thursday was Layla's turn for the big birthday celebration at school. See the Minnie Mouse dress? Daddy and Layla picked that out at the second-hand store together during our shopping spree last week.

One of her exciting duties in class was the privilege of holding the flag for the pledge of allegiance. Thank God they can still say that in school. Makes me proud of them for respecting the flag and our country.

We also had to buy a pair of black tights because she wore holes in the knees of her old ones while rough housing on the playground at school during the previous week. She already has a strong tendency to fit in well as a dressed-up princess and an outdoor play time girl.

See what I mean? The picture above is her dancer look. She holds her arm out straight with her hand flat and moves her shoulders to the beat of whatever song is playing.

I knew she would enjoy her special day in the spot light. A blessing of the situation is how Kendra was able to be there in class and interact with Layla and her class for the day. A true princess complete with her crown!

Layla's idea of a pajama party includes blankets, cuddling, and TV. We've been watching science movies about electricity, Planet Earth movies about caves, and the occasional re-run of Cars 2 since Easton is such a big fan.

Easton is noticeably absent from the pictures and blog post because he's been sick. His energy level and tolerance level have been very low for the past couple of days. He perks up about some things such as finding a gecko lizard in our front yard.

I turned over a big rock to fix a sprinkler head while my two helpers prepared to shovel some dirt and gravel. The gecko froze and Easton grabbed for it as soon as I brought their attention to it. You might notice the bloody stump where his tail used to be... We're still working on what "gentle" means. It wasn't malicious at all, but these guys have fragile tails. I comforted the twins by explaining how the lizard tail will grow back. They let this little guy crawl around on their arms for a several minutes.

We also went bug hunting just the day before in the green belt. We found ants, pill bugs, spiders, crickets, and a grub worm. These discoveries were like finding diamonds or gold for Easton. Each new creepy crawly creature scampering away from us was exciting for the twins. So much to learn...

See you soon!

Fore! I mean, FOUR!

2012-02-08T23:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Easton and Layla!

The twins finally turned four today and we had a wildly successful birthday thanks to Kendra's hard work and my... showing up and participating. I went in late to the office and then took off work early to spend as much time as possible with them. Besides, there's no need to be late twice in the same day. that was a joke about arriving late and leaving early, in case you didn't catch that.

Anyway, I caught a quick picture as they headed out the front door for school. Easton in his business-casual wear and Layla with her lovely curls and dress.

Earlier that morning Kendra took a few extra minutes to add some bounce to Layla's hair for their special birthday day at school. Actually, Easton has HIS special day at school because the teacher is smart enough to give each student their own special day. Layla's will be Thursday.

Easton was the line leader, and enjoyed many other privileges on his big day including wearing a crown and giving goodie bags to his classmates. Kendra was able to attend the class and watch as he shined in his 15 minutes of fame.

For their birthday dinner the 4 Webbs went to Rustler's Rooste at their request. Free bullhorn hats were big hit.

Kendra and I have been promising them the chance to eat Rattlesnake for several weeks. The twins were excited until the plate arrived. You can tell by the concerned look on their face that this was going to take some serious bravery.

Only took a couple of minutes to explain the snake bones and lead by example as we ate the little pieces. Then they dove in and ate the whole thing (except the bones and lettuce) especially once they realized the bowl of sauce is Ranch dressing. The twins will eat anything if given the chance to dunk it in sauce. The rattlesnake eating proves my previous sentence is not an exaggeration.

Layla learned to pose somewhere. I'm not sure where, but she's getting a little too good at it. Batting her eyelashes and tilting her head down with a sheepish smile. Then the shoulder turn thew me for a loop because that's a little over the top. After 15,000 pictures per year for 4 years it's easy to see why she's comfortable around the camera.

The best part of dinner for Easton was the cotton candy on fire. Mr. Earth Science Boy was in awe as his two favorite things were in the same bucket. The amazement of fire and the sweet dessert. he went to town on the cotton candy and they both turned into a sticky mess.

Then the grand finale of the experience was the big slide in the restaurant. They made 20 or so runs before we had to make room for other kids. This is my favorite picture of the week because nothing warms my heart more than seeing Easton and Layla happy.

We stepped outside on the patio, which sits high up on a hill overlooking the entire town. We watched the sun set during dinner so by the time we took the picture it was already dark.

At home we did the official cake and celebration. Thanks to technology Ouma, Oupa, and GG were able to join us via Skype on the laptop.

Kendra gave an extra effort to make them their desired cakes. Easton with Lightning McQueen and Mater. Layla with Disney princesses and pink frosting. I enjoy their birthday this year more than any birthday I've had for the past 20 years.

They opened a few presents, which included every Disney princess for Layla and a completion of the Cars 2 matchbox cars for Easton.

Last Sunday as I helped Layla get ready for church I noticed she didn't have many dresses in her closet. She out-grew all of them and we didn't inherit any from our hand-me-down friends. She has plenty of clothes and many princess costumes, but that's not the same as church clothes.

I gladly took her out on a Daddy Date to remedy the situation. We stopped by to get slurpees because she seems to think that is extra special when the two of us get one without Easton. Then we did some serious shopping. She gathered two rounds of 15 or so dresses and I helped her try them one. This one was a winner. More importantly, I see how she looks at herself in the mirror and smile with a grateful heart. That look, in case you can't tell, is confidence. pure confidence.

She is absolutely convinced she is the most beautiful girl in the world with or without the dress. My main role as a father for Layla is to call out her femininity and love her unconditionally. I will achieve this purpose by meeting her three biggest needs: Attention, Affection, and Approval. a.k.a The Triple A's. Those three words repeat in my head like a broken record continually when I'm around Layla. It's very simple: I know what her needs are and I am equipped to meet them. End of story. Her self-esteem is my responsibility alone until the day I give her away to her husband-to-be. Between now and then I can measure my success by the way she looks at herself in the mirror.

Except when Daddy picks out an ugly dress like this one.

That is the face of a disappointed Layla. She said, "Daaaaad... This dress is too buttony." I agreed and she couldn't get it off fast enough. I never expected to create a four-year-old fashionista, but here she is critiquing the dresses.

We walked down the line of dresses as she blasted dress after dress. "Too flowery, too green, too ruffly... This one, please!" she said. Then repeat over and over until we looked at every dress in the store. The two of us had a great time together. She remembers our one on one time more than anything. She fondly reminisces about our outings, which means this is her love language.

See you soon!

Attempted Video Log

2012-02-05T22:13:00.001-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

This is my first attempt at a using a video to share our adventures. Instead of typing the stories in line with the picture I took this video to give my stories a voice. Turn on your audio and play the YouTube clip. Then follow along with the pictures below.

At the library refilling the enormous bag to meet the reading requests of the next week.

One particularly interesting book about storm chasers where Easton was in tears when I told him we didn't have room this time to check it out.

Easton's got a kicking leg like you wouldn't believe

Layla has excellent dribbling skills and balance

Look out, co-ed soccer league! This dynamic duo could be explosive together.

New car seats after 4 years of comfy riding.

Easton... Like a boss.

Arizona Children's museum is extraordinary and the family day-trip was well worth it. 3-story jungle gym? Yes.

Did Daddy climb and slide too? Yes, absolutely. This is called "being involved" instead of playing on my cell phone like the other 15 dads on the ground floor.

Air current + tubing = magic for 4-year-olds.

Patiently waiting on the little one by showing good manners.

Grocery shopping shelves are intentionally accessible for little ones like Layla.

You want-a double pizza pie, eh?

Don't sass the chef!

Proof of Layla's silliness.

The man and the boy. Some day this will no longer be true, but for now he's mini-me. Here's a list of the job I have cut out for me for the next 17 years. Man Vs. Boy : http://www.manvsboy.com/list.php

Cactus. Owl. Conveyor belt. Oscillating guillotine fan. What more could a boy ask for?

Chocolate cone and blue scoop of ice cream, coming right up!

ride Faster, FASTER! on the iron horse...

Look ma, no hands.

Craft stations provided a door prize for our visit.

In awe of gravity and physics. Mr. Scientist is coming alive.

If you are UNDER 42 inches and enter our house, then prepare to play dress up whether you like it or not.

This is what it would be like to have quads at age 4. No thanks. Better Kendra for a day than me though!

Let me know if the video log was better or worse than normal and I'll adjust the delivery mechanism accordingly.

See you soon!

Snow and Ducks

2012-02-01T23:56:00.001-07:00

Howdy friends and family,

Monday after work Jacob offered to give me a free, guided trip to snow board in Park City Utah. The tricky part was that the plane departed in 12 hours. Can a corporate geek, father of twins, and husband do something this spontaneous? Why, yes. yes I can.

I checked with Kendra first because she is my first priority. She agreed to manage the house and school day for the twins. I wasn't around to make messes so that was probably a bonus for her. :) I cleared my work calendar with a few flex-time work hours, then bought the cheapest pair of snow board pants in town. My goggles hadn't been worn in 10 years since the last time I strapped myself to a board and ate snow. I can't believe it's been that long, but we don't get many snow days here in Phoenix where the powder conditions are right for snow boarding.

Anyway, my day started with a 4:00 AM wake up and didn't end until I crawled into bed at midnight. 4 hours of sleep followed by 20 hours of travel and snow boarding. That was a recipe for tired success. The trip was excellent including every last detail. travel timing, weather conditions, no broken bones... I love it when a plan comes together, like the A-team.

Meanwhile back at the ranch... Earlier this week I took Easton and Layla out for an afternoon of adventures which were much less extreme than snow boarding. We fed the ducks.

Layla dressed herself and I didn't realize Kendra cared until after we arrived home and she said, "did you go out in public with her outfit like that?" I said, "depends on what you mean by public?" I like the quirky outfits the twins pick out to wear so it doesn't even cross my mind to correct them. When I look at pictures of myself as a child where my parents dressed me in semi-stylish clothes my outfits still looked atrocious even though they were probably cool back in the day.

Easton and Layla know fractions! I know this because I asked Easton to tear a piece of bread in half, then give one to Layla. He split the bread into two unequal pieces then decided which one to give to Layla. Can you guess which one he gave her? Of course... the smaller piece.

Selfishness is not taught or learned. it is our nature and must be fought from the time we are able to choose until the time we die. Layla did the exact same thing with a piece of sandwich meat today also. It cracks me up to see witness the maturing process right before my eyes in duplicate. So much to learn and so little time to teach them.

Easton and Layla are 1 week away from turning 4 years old! Kendra and I are happy for them to reach the milestone, but mourning how they need us less and less. It sure is nice to sit and talk to Kendra in the middle of the day while the twins play Barbies and Cars (yes, together). Their imaginations are expanding so quickly.

We are discussing what to do for Easton and Layla's schooling. We could send them to public schools, home school completely (K-8) or do a hybrid where the kids go to school 2-3 days per week and Kendra home schools the other days. I just want the best atmosphere and environment for them to become the most intelligent well-rounded individuals possible by the time they are ready for college. Based on the escalating costs of college I figure a free ride to college will be worth about $300k by then. So I have $600K in costs riding on their schooling. No pressure though. LOL.

See you soon!

Caution, Hikers Crossing

2012-01-30T23:35:00.001-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

Easton and Layla are quickly turning in hiking nuts. Kendra mentioned her desire to go and you'd have thought the twins won the lottery based on their exuberant response. We wore long pants this time as a result of scraped knees during the last trip up and down the mountain. They stopped and posed mid-way up the steepest part.

We were there right before sunset, which allowed us to take advantage of the shadows for shade going up and great background scenery for photo opportunities at the top.

We even convinced a random hiker to take picture of the 4 Webbs. See all of the cars lined up on the street below? It shows the steepness of the mountain side we tackled.

Kendra and I spent most of the way up and down saying, "slow down, please!" because they were getting a little too brave with their pace. We made it all the way back to the ground level by our car without a single incident. Then Layla tripped over a rock and sliced her hand open. Nothing bad though. It was fixed with hydrogen peroxide, Neosporin, and a Snow White princess band-aid.

Kendra mentioned my hair was getting kind of shaggy and recommended I shave it off just for something different. I agreed and she cut it off that night! At church many people didn't even recognize me. It was a strange feeling to be treated like a new guy... kind of cool in a way. Kyle saw Kendra's handy work at church and asked to join in the free haircut coupon day. She agreed and he joined the summer cut club!

I have my own vacation day of adventure coming up tomorrow so it's time to get a few hours of sleep. I'll be dreaming of snow...

See you soon!

Mickey and Minnie

2012-01-29T00:42:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

We're already reliving the good ole' days when Ouma was here with us. The twins get used to her being around very quickly and take it for granted even quicker. Then when she's gone we have to leverage old photos, stories, and Skype to keep the sadness away. Here's one of my favorites because even though we have a dining table that seats 10 they were both crawling up in her chair.

Only a few more years where they can both be on a person's lap at the same time. Especially since they are in the middle of growth spurt. My back screams after a day of lifting them up and down repeatedly.

they'll never be too old to wear Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears though! Kendra's trip to LA was excellent from what I heard. She brought back a Mickey and Minnie Mouse hat for the twins with their name embroidered on the back. The ears are not a requirement for silliness and laughs, but they certainly don't hurt.

Kendra was very kind to bring those gifts and others home "directly from Mickey Mouse". Easton and Layla were extremely jealous of Kendra's trip to Disneyland. We did Skype with her once and it was an odd experience to sit with the twins while talking with Kendra on the other end of a computer. I missed Kendra desperately even though our time together at home was filled with so much fun and adventure of our own.

I finally bought the right cable to connect my canon T3 with the HDMI port on the TV. 30 seconds later the den turned into a circus while Easton and Layla ran around like crazy. This clip shows Easton and Layla doing some dance moves.

When Kendra is away I listen to music she doesn't like. I crank it up REALLY LOUD and get my groove on. For example, Daft Punk Tron Legacy soundtrack - Derezzed. Oh yeah.

Kendra lasts about 30 seconds before politely requesting I turn it off. Since she is so rarely away I made good use of my alone time. :)

Easton and Layla's birthday is just around the corner and the twins talk about it every single day... with us and strangers at the park and in the store and at church. Everybody who stops to listen will get an immediate birthday countdown soliloquy.

Birthday week, then Ouma and Oupa visit then my Mom and Dad visit. Our whirlwind of family and fun is just getting started. All 4 of us are anxiously waiting for the upcoming events.

See you soon!

Father Daughter Songs

2012-01-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

Howdy friends and family,

Kendra is home safe after her trip to the Rosa bed-n-breakfast. Luxury accommodations include long walks on the beach, dining at fancy restaurants, and an exhilarating day of princess hugging at Disneyland. I'm really happy for her to spend a few days away from us having fun with her friend. Even just a few days of stepping away from her Mommy is very valuable. We have always been supportive of each other taking time away from the family for mini-vacations of a few hours or a few days.

Each night I give Easton a hug and a kiss. He says, "good night, Dad" and rolls over to suck his thumb. Not much is required for him to drift off to sleep. Layla and I go through our verbal dance of compromise, which sounds like a lawyer and judge debating or an auctioneer selling merchandise. After books and new water in their sippy cups here is how it goes:

Daddy: Time for bed
Layla: Tell me a story, pleeeeease
Daddy: We already had story time with books
Layla: Sing me a song?
Daddy: OK, yes! One song.
Layla: No, threeeeeeee songs!
Daddy: Two.
Layla: OK.

then she chooses from my small collection of bed time songs:

Layla's song
Amazing Grace
I love you, Lord
Divine Romance
Jesus Loves Me
Oh Lord, You're Beautiful

I have no idea how my collection developed, but my criteria was:
- slow tempo song (not like Every Day I'm Shuffling)
- good meaning and lyrics (not like "when the bow breaks the cradle will fall")
- simple enough for me to pull from memory (repeat lyrics or a song I've hear 1,000 times)

I bring this up because I recently added a new song that meets a bonus criteria: It applies directly as a Father-to-Daughter song. I refuse to sing Wind Beneath My Wings, which is the only other applicable song I know. This one called "Don't Forget" by Brett Dennen and it's the best father daughter song I know. I'm open to others if you have ideas.

don't forget, don't forget
that I believe in you
should you forget, should you forget
let me remind you
that I am behind you
you are a secret waiting to be found out
soon be what everyone is talking about
may you spread your love like laughter
and find whatever you're after
open all your windows and let the music spill out
may you dance like rain upon a still lake
you make this world a beautiful place
no more crying, don't shun your light, keep shining
wipe your tears from your sweet face
don't be afraid should things happen to change
'cause change can be a beautiful thing
should things fall apart
be patient like a rainbow
life is loving and letting go

I sang it karaoke style lying next to her in bed because the song is on my phone. One ear bud for her and one for me. There's no question where our tradition started and why it is a nightly enjoyment for both of us. These are the same ear phones from when I sang for her at 2 days old.

After the song finished Layla said, "What does it mean, 'i believe in you'?" Her questions are getting progressively more difficult to answer with each passing day.

See you soon!

Bailout Hero

2012-01-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

One of the most heart-warming aspects of Easton and Layla's Daddy Day at preschool was reading the Q&A interview captured by the teachers.

Easton is surprisingly close with his answers. my favorite TV program is actually HIS favorite because I don't watch TV unless it is educational shows with them. I showed him a YouTube clip of a hail storm last year in Oklahoma, which he found extremely fascinating.

Layla was surprisingly accurate, especially about the happiest day of my life. She probably thinks I'm 4 years old because that's how I act when we play. :)

Easton made a new friend at the neighborhood park even though the age difference was huge. He brought his black gun and we chased each other around a while. The neighbor friend ran to his house and came back with a very similar gun. I had no idea that toy had such a wide breadth of age appeal. Can't remember who bought the guns for him, but it was a good choice!

I just received the biggest bailout since Wells Fargo and AIG! Kendra flew to Los Angeles on Friday for a Mommy vacation with her friend April. I was left all alone with Easton and Layla... for a whole 5 hours. Then my hero arrived via SouthWest Airlines: Ouma!

She was desperately missing the twins and seeking any excuse to visit. Kendra leaving town for 4 days was the perfect excuse. Ouma's arrival was an event all by itself because it was so late in the evening. I placed Easton and Layla gently in the car without them knowing anything about the surprise visitor. Their drowsy demeanor was instantly turned into elation like a lightening strike when Ouma stepped into the car.

Her time was well utilized to the point it felt like a vacation for me too. One of the outings was a fun trip to the Museum of Natural History. Easton was brave enough to be held by Ouma in front of the T-Rex... with a smile.

Layla is very sensitive to noises and meanness. everything the dinosaurs are made of. She found many other intriguing things to do besides listen to the roar of a dinosaur. For example, riding a sea turtle.

The crowd was nonexistent, which gave us open access to everything in the museum including the waterfall full of sand and faux gold flakes. Panning for gold was a good learning experience in case the gold rush comes back in California.

There is a display focused on movies where the set was based in Arizona. One of the black and whites played on the TV with a green screen behind it to add in our own two characters.

The huge, metal dinosaur outside makes for a great photo opp. It summarizes the mood and entertainment value of the trip. Easton and Layla enjoyed showing Ouma around their semi-familiar territory.

Another adventure we took was to the bead shop. jewelry means a lot to Layla. This kicked it up a notch because Layla and Ouma hand selected the beads then built the bracelet together.

That's one happy girl lovin' every minute of the attention and creation.

Easton was equally excited once I gave him some choices of pendents. A snake, dragon, train, and dinosaur were all in the running. I was relieved when he chose the train. Building the necklace with Ouma meant even more to him than I expected.

The wire inside is metal, which means they will last longer than previous attempts at jewelry wearing. Good thinking, Dad! The total cost was $14, but it was clearly a priceless experience for the twins.

Another thing one can do with $14 is buy one bag of cotton candy at the US Airways Center. OK, it was only $12, but still that was outrageous! We ate every morsel in the bag resulting in sticky hands and smiles for everyone.

Why did the chicken go to the US Airways Center? To see Toy Story 3 on ice!

Tickets were about $115 for the four of us, but I won them for free at work! It's hard to imagine forking out that kind of money for a 2 hour show, but I certainly got my money's worth. I've never seen professional ice skaters and I detest watching the boring "sport" on TV. However, they were awesomely impressive and I'm really happy we went. Ever seen an ice skating horse? I have... Here is a good pic of the other characters from the movie too. Slinky Dog was the best.

Layla's favorite segment was the one with Barbie and her workout friends. It was Barbie overdose for Layla.

One of my favorite parts was Ken and Barbie reenacting their first meeting to the background music of Dream Weaver. I was laughing at the humor and in awe of the performance.

Then the wardrobe show by Ken played out. The show did justice to the scene in the movie. Wasn't sure they could pull that off, but I was blown away by the choreography and professionalism on display.

Before we even arrived I was secretly hoping they would allow Spanish Buzz Lightyear to perform. It didn't disappoint either. Does this scene look familiar?

Why yes... Yes it does. With the minor detail of Kendra dressing as the Progressive Insurance lady, Flo, instead of Jesse.

Ouma's time with us was short, but completely enjoyable by all of us. She was able to spend some serious quality time with the twins. I was able to take care of myself and even have dinner with my friends.

I admit it was a chicken thing to do by accepting Ouma's offer to be here instead of taking the helm for four days by myself. No shame in my game. Not many people I know who have such a great mother-in-law they would willingly spend 4 days with kids her, but without their spouse around. I must also give big thanks to Oupa for sacrificing money and Ouma's time. Hope he made the most of the quiet, alone time!

See you soon.

Daddy Day

2012-01-21T22:25:00.001-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

Easton and Layla's preschool invited all fathers to participate in a morning of excitement. I gladly took a vacation day from work to participate. The day was well spent and we were successful by any standard. Each day after school I talk to the twins about their day. I can't believe they are already programmed to say, "fine." when I ask them how it went. Talk about a lack of detail... I pry and probe by asking specific questions about what letter they learned or what friends they played with. Because of this I at least knew the names of a few of their school pals. One in particular for Layla is named Lulu. As soon as we walked in the door she greeted Lulu with a big hug and celebration.

Then they dove right in and played barbies. One disadvantage of having twins (there are only a couple so far) is that I had to split my time between Easton and Layla while the other dads focused on their solo child. During play time I switched back and forth between playing dolls and puzzles with Layla to playing cars and marbles with Easton. Luckily the other dads watched whoever was not my point of focus at the time.

We had a huge day of excitement and one of the biggest events was "vehicle day". As a part of the dad's day we loaded up into a bus and drove slowly across the parking lot to a section where many vehicles were parked and available to see. The twins were ecstatic about the bus ride because that was their first time on a school bus.

One of the vehicles was an emergency city veterinary truck. There were cages built into the truck bed where Easton and Layla were able to pretend to be kitties in need.

The police motorcycle was a big hit for both of them. Layla was most interested in the fuzzy, comfortable seat. go figure?

Easton threw out his Lightening McQueen line like a boss while sitting atop the metal horse, "I am speed!"

The construction equipment was overwhelming. They were somewhat perplexed by the enormity of the tires and scale of the parts bolted to these beasts.

The smile on Easton's face was priceless. He sat up there for a few minutes pretending to pull the levers while making earth moving sounds.

Then came the bravery test. A hot air balloon was parked in the adjacent field for show. The guy inside the basket had to periodically pull the lever to add more hot air. That was accompanied by fire and a loud blower noise, which neither of the twins liked at all. After some coaxing by the balloon owner Layla bravely sat on the basket clinging to the post while I snapped a picture.

Easton took several steps back until I assured him he didn't have to sit on the balloon basket. For the previous week he keeps asking me, "why does hot air rise and cold air go down?" The question is a result of the weather and earth science books we are reading from the library. The balloon provided the perfect learning opportunity to see it in action. He hasn't asked the question since then...

Another high light was the police k-9 unit. The officer brought his attack do and a guy pretended to be an unruly villain. As the twins sat on each knee Layla leaned over and with a worried face said, "Why is the dog attacking the man?" Easton quickly responded, "bad consequences." Layla nodded her head. I grinned like a possum because even though many teenagers don't get the concept of good and bad consequences, my three-year-olds do.

I ushered the twins over to the nice police man and well trained dog to teach Easton and Layla how to respect authority and be friendly to the police... and his dog. They gently pet the dog and gave him a good hug for his performance.

I was offered an extremely generous deal on my buddy's Power Wheel's Jeep, which I gladly accepted. Easton and Layla need to learn how to drive sometime, right? The jeep has a steering wheel, gas pedal, revers, big tires, an over-sized battery, and TWO seats. perfect.

Their skills out of the driveway were a bit shaky, but after an hour or so of stick time they are both quite proficient at 4 wheeling. We didn't get to parallel parking yet, but there's always tomorrow.

Kendra is gone to Los Angeles for four days and boy do I have a surprise and lots of stories...

See you soon!

Two-sided Story

2012-01-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

I know there are two sides to every story. There seems to be two sides to the parenting story: The working parent and the stay-at-home parent. First, go read this well-written blog post with a perspective on the stay-at-home parent.

http://momastery.com/blog/2012/01/04/2011-lesson-2-dont-carpe-diem/

If you didn't bother to open the web page above and read the content then there is no use in reading below so just do it. now.

Since Kendra is not the blogger type I enjoyed reading her perspective and response to the comments she receives. Let me start by saying I can understand why she feels that way. Her story wouldn't be different if she had one or 10 kids and it wouldn't be different if she had singletons or quads. It seems to be unique to stay-at-home parents though. I'm curious to know if the women who gave her all the "carpe diem" advice were career women who felt bad about missing those years of their own kids?

I can understand how she would feel that way, but I am the "carpe diem" kind of dad. I am in a constant state of intense gratitude and ecstasy even during difficult times. Parenting is not treacherous or exhausting if it's done right. It's not like climbing a mountain at all. If you didn't enjoy climbing a particular mountain then you can choose to climb another one at a later date. If you did enjoy a particular mountain you can climb it again and again and again. You get multiple chances and have multiple choices. However, parenting is a one-time, one-way roller coaster ride where you don't get to pick the ride or the occupants that join you along the way. You either enjoy the ride by choosing to have a happy heart or you struggle.

My opinions only apply to the working parent. I'm not taking anything away from the stay-at-home mom who wrote the blog. I get about 3 hours every day of the week with Easton and Layla. 1 hour out of each day is sucked up by dinner time. That leaves only 2 hours each day to be a part of their lives in a meaningful way and develop their character. They are a reflection of Kendra and I. Not a perfect mirror (thank God), but a reflection none the less. They help me understand God. For example, Matthew 7:9-11 says, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! "

Before having a son I could roughly understand the concept. Now I get it. completely. Literally hundreds of Godly concepts are on full display day in and day out as I interact with Easton and Layla. It's more than just a show where I am in the audience. As they grow, I grow. I learn patience and grace and unconditional love and innocence and obedience...

As the working parent I consciously choose every day to intensely focus on those few hours we have together. One day very soon the cement will be dry and their personality will be forever imprinted. Our family won't be the center of their life forever and that's the time when I'll re-center my life more on Kendra and the house and my hobbies and life.

For the working parent who is doing it right, this is best described as "effort". She describes one scene with the swiped bra arranged over her daughter's sweater and lollipop undoubtedly found on the ground and three shop-lifted clip-on neon feathers stuck in her daughter's hair. To me that IS a moment to enjoy. I capture those moments on camera and display them here for all the world to see because even though those moments require EFFORT, I cherish them. Maybe, unlike her, I was not disillusioned with promises that this would be easy? Missed expectations will lead to disappointments. Some days are long and I spend 10 hours straight with them, but I keep a few key things in mind that lead me to a vastly different experience of parenting :

1. Parenting is temporary. The childhood difficulties will only last a few years, but so will the precious time together and chance to mold their lives. This journey is a marathon with a finish line (a.k.a. college graduation) so keep your eyes on the prize.
2. Parenting is what we were made for. God didn't design us to run 26.1 miles but people do it every day for some strange reason. We were, however, made to be mothers and fathers. This is God's design and he will not put more on us than we can handle. We don't get to choose our circumstances (excluding birth control), but we do choose our attitude.
3. I've never heard a single person say, "I wasted so much of my life raising my kids and I wish I'd have taken more time to play Xbox." There is a REASON you never hear this... It's because regrets only come when we squander our time and talents on things other than what we should.
4. Take time for parenting. It is impossible to "make time". We're finite beings with a finite number of hours we are alive. We don't get to make time out of thin air. However, we can TAKE time from one thing and focus it on another. I'm not talking about taking a 30 minute break in your day to stretch. I'm talking about taking the first five years of your child's life and prioritize the family over everything else.
5. Order determines priority. Facebook is not important. CSI Miami is not that important. 10 years from now an NBA game or afternoon mountain bike ride won't be missed. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with those things, but if they are ordered higher (more important than) my kids then I will have regrets and children who weren't fathered correctly. If the order is wrong then kids will seem like a nuisance for other things in our life which we deem more important. Here is the order in my life:
-God
-Kendra
-the twins
-work
-everything else including myself and friends
Sometimes I ask Easton and Layla, "Who is the most important person in the world to Daddy?" They quickly answer (correctly), "Mommy!"

Now that I'm done with my rebuttal and probably reduced my reputation to ruble, here's what's new in our world...

Each day I love coming home from work. When I walk in the door they scream, "daaaaaaad!" and knock me over with their twinpact hugs. That happens unless they are watching TV. In that case I hear, "dad, you're in my way and I can't see the TV." Can you guess which one I prefer? We are spending an extensive amount of time outdoors now that the sun is staying out longer and temps are cooperating.

Easton is working on his plumbers crack, but i'm not sure that's the career path he'll enjoy the most.

Daily he asks "can I be a _____ " (fill in the blank with a career). However, he's never asked if he can be a plumber. Astronaut, pilot, volcanologist, weatherman, race car driver, and trash man are the top requests.

The kid-sized basketball goal is next to the full-sized goal in our backyard. Rather than use the kid-sized goal they attempt to hit the plastic ball return hanging from the full-sized goal. We only have one rubber ball and some miniature traffic cones. Use what's available, right?

A most wonderful change has come to the Webb house recently. For the past 4 years, one or both of us bolt out of bed like firemen responding to an alarm. From birth until we moved Easton and Layla into their big-kid beds they would wake up and yell for us to come get them. Even after they moved to the big-kid beds they still waited patiently in bed until we arrived to get them up. However, recently they started getting up on their own and would come into our room for a good morning cuddle under our warm blankets. That was a much more pleasant wake up than the fire drill.

Yesterday was even more glorious than the new normal wake up. Easton woke up, threw his diaper in the trash, put on big-boy undies and slippers, and sat quietly at the kitchen table coloring on his over-sized drawing pad. I walked into the kitchen and cheered like a Dallas Cowboy cheer leader (except I was in my Forever Lazy).

Each day the independence increases. For now that is a sigh of relief for Kendra and I. They are almost old enough to get their own cereal and turn on the TV. That'll be the most amazing Saturday in years whenever that happens.

See you soon!

Getting lemons

2012-01-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

I caught a flu bug so the view from my bedroom hasn't changed much the past 3 days. My body gave me a few warning signs saying, "please take a break". However, my invincibility superpower did not kick in when I stayed up until 2:30 AM. The next morning my body said, "I triiiiiiiied to warn you, but Noooooo. you had to go and do this the hard way." So here i lie, Nyquil'd up, resting peacefully so I can head back to work with a healthy system.

The part I struggle with the most is how my absence around the house puts stress on Kendra, who took care of Easton and Layla without many breaks over the past three days. I'm grateful for their preschool days during the week to provide the much needed rest and chance for her to focus on something else besides the twins.

I stopped Easton and Layla on the way out the door for school to capture the moment. They looked so adorable with the over-sized backpacks I couldn't resist.

I'm tempted for Kendra and I to dress up like Easton and Layla and make a mirror "grown-up" picture complete with backpacks and her pigtails.

Getting into our new house sucked our entire life savings dry, but it may be paying dividends already through our bumper crop of lemons! Easton and Layla gladly helped me fill up a bag so Kendra could make a lemon pie and lemonade and lemon curd and 20 other lemony treats. As a side-note, I didn't even have to say, "Strike a pose" for Layla to do it.

Our lemon tree is drooping from the weight of all the fruit. Now we're waiting for them to ripen. I never knew how to tell, but luckily I have friends like David and Tam who were willing to show me the ropes. From what I understand, if you turn the lemon a half-turn by hand and it falls off in your hand then it is ripe. So much to know...

You may have noticed Easton's muscle shirt from the lemon picture. He flexes his arm muscles when anyone mentions the muscle shirt so I knew it was high-time he started working them out... one trash bag at a time.

Easton was psyched up to help with the trash and I was beaming with smiles at the thought of one day turning over trash duties to him. Some of the fringe benefits of having kids is starting to show fruit. literally.

That brings me to my tip-of-the-day, which is: How to teach a skill (yes, taking out the trash is a skill). Sounds simple, but so many people get it wrong. Here's how I believe teaching should be done:

First, talk about it and explain what to do, how to do it, and what is expected.
Second, do it by demonstrating correctly and explain while showing
Third, allow the learner to do it while watching and assisting
Fourth, allow the learner to do it complete from start to finish

I lean heavily on this because of Galations 6:4, which says, "But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another."

There is a similar guideline I live by for parenting: "Don't do anything for children once they can do it for themselves." Examples are: climbing up into the car seat (let Easton do it himself since he was strong enough to step up) and brush their teeth (Layla was thrilled to take this responsibility). On the other hand, Layla asked me to carry her to bed last night and I gladly complied. I walked extremely sloooooow because she hugged my neck tightly the whole way.

I don't think these are controversial concepts, but just tangible examples of what Kendra and I use as guidelines. Wishing I had a parenting guide with this stuff in it 4 years ago...

See you soon!

See Yourself... camera.

2012-01-13T01:32:00.002-07:00

Hello friends and family,

One of the Christmas presents for Easton and Layla was the Fisher Price See Yourself camera (thank you, B.J. and Debbie). It's a kid-proof camera with a lens that swivels 180 degrees. It takes pictures and videos. The twins picked it up and learned to navigate the buttons very quickly. Kendra and I spent a couple of days demonstrating how it works. We take a picture:

Then show it can be viewed through playback mode. The quality stinks, but the concept is very cool and it actually works. Not bad for$50!

Half of the fun is seeing yourself in the display while taking the picture or movie. It's the perfect camera for self portraits like these.

Easton is even more interested in it than Layla, which surprises me. He's taking hundreds of pictures and videos. Most of them are blurry because they haven't mastered the art of holding still while taking the picture. One of the best shots Easton took is this one of Dad, who rarely gets into the pictures since I'm always behind the camera. All of that will change soon with the two shutter bugs we created.

For some reason the twins believe whoever is in the video should be telling a story. This is humorous because at the end they are figuring out how to stop the recording.

Just thought I'd share the funny side of learning as the twins figure out how stuff works.

See you soon!

Years are Flying By

2012-01-10T23:44:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

My late-Tuesday post is motivating enough for me to call this a Way Back Whensday edition. I found this gem of a picture from when the twins were exactly nine months old.

The words that come to mind when I recall this stage of their lives are:

1. fragile - they were 100% dependent on Kendra and I for everything, yet they were mobile enough to get into trouble. We had to be careful where we walked, how we held them, where we took them, and a whole bunch of other extra cautions. Some of which we took to far because of the first time parent syndrome.

2. innocent - They had no concept of good or evil and no ability to choose either one. No sassing, no lying, no anger, no bad choices. just pure love and giggles. what a precious stage.

3. hard work - During this age Kendra and I were still in survival mode, but then it turned into manageable, but draining. which leads me to my simplistic view of parenting twins:

First year = survival - maritally and emotionally all we could focus on was survival and teamwork
Second year = hard work - It was difficult to believe we could give more of ourselves to them, but we did.
Third year = "year of the RE" - relief, recover, renew, rejuvenate, recuperate, recess, reengage
Fourth year = development - Now we're talking... I'm loving this age of questions, learning, playing, laughing, and watching them blossom.
Fifth year = ? Guess I'll find out starting in 4 weeks...

Continuing with the theme of this post, here is the "Word of the day": Recyclopath - n. 1) A person who militantly engages in recycling and is so hostile to simply throwing away garbage, it borders on mental illness. 2) Pejorative for an extreme environmentalist. example: She pees in a bucket and uses it to water and fertilize her garden--what a recyclopath!

Kendra is not a recyclopath, but if she goes dumpster diving in our trash for my yogurt cup to transfer it into the recycle bin one more time... just kidding. kind of.

Anyway, during our visits to the sandy parks Easton's small dump truck kept getting stuck in the sand and he lost interest. I decided to bring his indoor dump truck to the great outdoors and the wheels are big enough he can push it around through the deep sand. He was a tired boy this night.

I'm a big fan of participating in Easton and Layla's play time. I'll share in another post why I swing the pendulum so far to this extreme. Ouma gave a handmade cape to Easton and Layla a couple of years ago. They still play with them and occasionally I'll put one on too. This next picture depicts what Layla calls a "pajama party", which includes early bath time followed by playing with toys and a few minutes of movie time. Since I chose a montage of Toy Story 3 for the feature selection of the night I donned the Buzz and Woody cape with Easton's sharing consent, of course.

One of the many items Aunt Mary gave us with the house is a bird feeder hook pole. We have a humming bird feeder from our last house, but didn't take the time to set it up until recently. I took the twins to the store to buy the humming bird powder food. Then they took turns pouring it in the water and stirring to dissolve it into the juicy humming bird solution. We hung the feeder with care then I had to do some serious explaining. The twins immediately went inside and jumped up on the couch to watch the humming birds feed. I didn't want to steal their zeal, but I didn't want them to waste entire days staring out the window waiting for the little birds to show up.

I found it difficult to explain patience and how it might take several days for the birds to know we have their special nectar on tap at the casa de Webb. Each day they ask me if today will be the day the humming birds show up. I give them hope because I've seen humming birds around the neighborhood and they will find us soon.

Today it hit me that next week I will be flying solo with the twins at home for 4 days. That's 96 hours straight of quality daddy time. I'm excited, but a bit anxious about my sanity without my teammate by my side. Hulk Hogan is not quite so scary in the ring if you know you can tag out at any time. I'm psyching myself up for this monumental occasion.

I just learned we won 4 tickets to see Disney's Toy Story 3 on Ice while Kendra is out of town! There is a God and he knows what I can handle and how much. :)

See you soon.

Hikers Extraordinaire

2012-01-07T22:32:00.001-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

Easton and Layla are back to school, I'm back to work, and Kendra is back to running the household. OK, the truth is Kendra didn't take a break. That's the reason I decided at the last minute to give her a kid-free day on Saturday. Her instructions were to do whatever she wants whenever she wants without consulting or telling me or the kids. Just do it, as Nike says. After spontaneously throwing that out there when we woke up I realized that means I needed to plan some things for our special Daddy day together. 12 hours of playing Lightening McQueen and Snow White was not a valid plan so I dug deep in the parenting manual to come up with this:

1. make breakfast - doesn't get any easier than cereal, toast, juice, and fruit
2. run necessary errands and clean the garage - My attempt to teach the importance of doing what we NEED before doing what we WANT.
3. play inside with toys and read books - no brainer quality time to kill an hour
4. lunch
5. AZ science center
6. hike South Mountain
7. dinner
8. pajama party
9. the "Three B's" - bath books, bed

The first half of the day was low key and uneventful, but I know how much it means to Easton and Layla for Daddy to be involved in play time. We made serious headway on cleaning the garage because we are slowly working our way towards fitting both cars. Then was play time... I say, "what do you want to play? Anything you want to do is what we will do." For Easton it was hot wheels and for Layla it was pet shop.

Kendra got a little caught up in lunch time by making sandwiches. old habits are hard to break. I shooed her out of the kitchen and she went back to restoring furniture in the garage. We loaded up the car for the Science Center and the only disappointment was that our friends Trinity and Ben weren't with us. Last time we went included Trinity and Ben so it's understandable how the twins would expect them to be with us this time also.

The exhibits get more interesting each time we visit because Easton and Layla grasp more and more concepts between visits. The plumbing and piping section was particularly interesting because we just finished the bathroom counter and sink installation.

Behind Layla in the next picture is a wall full of pregnancy stages including the one right before birth. They grasped the concept well until I said, "Mommy's belly is where Easton AND Layla were just before you were born. There were TWO babies in there." Their jaws dropped open and Layla gave a long, "Whaaaaaaaat?" in disbelief.

The funniest exhibit is a camera which displays a huge image on the wall directly in front of the camera. A panel of buttons distorts the image in real-time. I jumped in with them and each press of a button squished a different area of the screen showing something like this.

The most interesting exhibit from my perspective was the wind tunnel. A lever controls the wind speed and the controller controls the aircraft. Easton's hair shows the velocity of the wind. He did a great job piloting the plane as it turned left and right.

The Science Center tour lasted two hours, but none of us were worn out in the slightest. We headed to the mountains for hike now that the twins are checked out on the standard operating procedures of hiking. The journey started out great with Easton bravely protecting his sister from the dangerous golfers nearby.

Then Layla's competitive nature kicked in and she ran so fast until she fell. The damage was minimal and she stopped crying after realizing Easton was trotting down the trail in front of her. She cried more about him being first than she did about the fall.

Easton bit the dust and is showing the minor abrasions on his palm. Nothing terrible, but enough to get dirt all over their outfits and teach them the hard way about hiking carefully.

As we approached the top they were all smiles especially with the promise of beef jerky and snacks which await them. This is one of my favorite pictures of the weekend because their smiles are genuine, the friendship and love are obvious, and the mountains in the background show their great accomplishment.

Our hike this time was mostly about encouraging them by praising their bravery and success in climbing the mountain. The experience wasn't pain-free, but they are both revved up about hiking because of the excitement I displayed before, during, and after. The parental mood is absolutely contagious for kids whether it is good or bad. The day was everything I hoped it would be: quality and quantity time sharing adventures together.

Today as we were leaving for church Layla grabbed my hand to walk with me to the car. She said, "Some day I will marry a boy and he will think I'm beautiful just like you do." I immediately agreed to reinforce her expectation, but inside I went through a range of emotions. I'm extremely grateful she accepts my attempts to call out her femininity. I'm shocked she understands this concept at age 3. I'm protective already of her heart when considering what boys she will encounter along the way to finding her husband. I'm excited for the next few years where she still wants to hold my hand and she thinks I'm awesome.

Life is great!

See you soon.

Advancements and Fears

2012-01-05T00:35:00.002-07:00

Happy New Year friends and family,

The backyard is becoming a regular hang out spot for the 4 Webbs. We eat out there more and more often because the warm sun and moderate temperatures make a wonderful combination.

One of my favorite feelings in the world is getting in the sun-warmed car after freezing in church on Sunday morning. Not sure why that memory sticks with me so vividly from childhood, but I still smile and let out a sigh of relief when I de-thaw in the warm car.

The twins are finding the joy in playing on the grass as opposed to the asphalt cul-de-sac in front of our old house. There is a not-so-surprising increase in playing soccer and kicking the ball around because the penalty for failure is much less. Falling on the pavement led to crying, scrapes and band-aides. Now the only thing to worry about is dodging the occasional dog pile.

I had the privilege of joining Easton and Layla through the Phoenix Zoo lights experience. A bonus of the season passes is that we get a couple of zoo lights tickets. Kendra stayed at home because her neck is really knotted up in pain. Daddy to the rescue! We had an intensely good time with some odd outcomes.

Layla conversed with the 15 foot tall giraffe puppet by asking him questions like "How do you play and walk?" and telling him about her upcoming birthday party. She invited the giraffe to the party, which got a good laugh from the 30-40 people standing around for the show.

Easton hid behind me repeating, "Daddy, I don't know what to say to the giraffe!" After watching Layla safely converse with the giraffe without being eaten, Easton stepped out as we were leaving and gave a big wave and "bye!" to the big fella. The giraffe said good bye to Easton. He walked away with a perplexed look on his face. I could tell he was trying to reconcile what just happened. He knows the giraffe is fake, but it moves and converses with them. What a conundrum for them to unravel...

Then we were given the opportunity to pet sting rays. I mean real life, swimming in the water sting rays! I squatted down to their level and asked if they were going to be brave and pet them. They both held their breath a few seconds then thoughtfully assured me they ARE brave enough.

When it was time to be brave Easton thrust his hand into the pool of swarming stingrays. His smile says it all.

Layla wanted to join in, but her caution kicked in overdrive. She watched as Easton ran his hand along the slick, rubbery wings of the sting rays a few times. Then the thrill of Easton's success overcame Layla's fears. She put her hand partially in the water so I had to help hold her out further where the sting rays were swimming by. She instinctively trusted me and reveled in the experience after observing Easton's bravery.

Easton would have never engaged in conversations with the giraffe if Layla weren't there to show him the way. Likewise, Layla would have never pet the sting rays if Easton were there to show her the way. This is a great example of how the two of them overcome fear and advance through life by building on the other's strengths.

The lights at the zoo were awesome, but most of them were very tall. I tried to take a picture of the twins with a lit-up tree in the background, but it's so high that I had to lay down on the ground with the camera to get decent shot.

The two In-N-Out sticker pages below describe the different (not better or worse) levels of Easton and Layla's skill sets. The idea is to take the sticker squares numbered 1-20 from one side and match the square on the other side to make a picture. Easton's is on the left and exactly what I expect. He was looking at each sticker piece and asking me scientific questions like, "what makes it stick, Dad?" He is very inquisitive, and organized, but doesn't care about getting each square in the exact location even though I know he could. Layla's is on the right and she nailed all 20 squares with precision for their location and orientation. I was shocked at how quickly she figured it out and the great job she did.

That situation is a prime example of why I love being a father of twins. I enjoy their individual personalities and character traits on full display at the same time.

Another thing I enjoy is sitting on my back patio. The Christmas decorations are down and since we bought new lights for next year we decided to make use of the lights for a year-around fence display. Makes the back yard very festive. As Kyle pointed out, all we need are tiki torches and some luau music to make it a party atmosphere.

The twins turn four years old in one month. Kendra and I are blown away by the thought of our sweet boy and girl turning four. The more they grow the less dependent they are on us. We realize the blessing in not being in such high demand, but also the tragic truth that they are getting older so quickly...

See you soon!

Good-bye 2011

2011-12-31T22:41:00.001-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

I can change and I have changed for the better, but I can't change anyone else nor their perspective of me. Took me many years to understand and believe that truth, but it's finally sinking in.

As I watch a friend's marriage on the ropes we are discussing his options. He wants to change and is changing. The problem is that his spouse is not supporting him or even allowing him to change. She is preventing him by continued criticism and disparaging words. One idea was for him to move out for 2 months to intensely focus on his own emotional and spiritual health. Then we sought additional counsel who brought up the conundrum: If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a noise? Likewise, if a person changes and no one is around to see it then does it really matter?

Once we worked our way to the truth it became clear. The answer is "debatable" for the tree making noise, but "no" for the relationship value of one person changing without the other person being involved. What good would weeks of solitude do for the wife who isn't around to witness the change? She would not be a part of the process. Anyway, even IF he goes through the metamorphosis of character and she is around, will she even notice? Some people refuse to see a person for who they truly are because their filter or lens is so fogged by history and bias.

I'm going the long way around to my point, but it is this: Who I am now is most certainly not who I was last year or 5 or 10 or 20 years ago. Yet, there are those who hang on to historical Bronson with my personal failures and see me through the same foggy 10-year-old lens.

Anyway, these past two weeks of vacation at home (a.k.a. stay-cation) were possibly the best two weeks of the past 10 years. This vacation is different than the previous 10 years because ALL vacation time previous to this one was consumed with travel and visiting relatives. I jogged down memory lane and couldn't come up with a single time since graduating college where I took vacation AND stayed at home for 10 days straight.

I took time for mountain biking twice in one week, which hasn't occurred since Moab 4 years ago. My friend's work schedule shifted so he is available to ride with me. I foresee much more mountain biking in 2012 than the previous years...

Did you know WTB makes a tire with the model name "Bronson"? I'm not making this stuff up. I saw another guy on the trail with my name on the tires and when mine needed to be replaced I jumped at the chance to have my name imprinted by the manufacturer on the tires.

My company gave us 4 tickets to go to the Zoppe circus. Reason # 2,296 we are the 4 Webbs and not five is because ticket combo packs come in groups of 4 only. We also received vouchers for concessions. Cotton candy was the overwhelming choice.

The Zoppe Circus claim is that no seat is more than 20 feet from the ring and I can confirm it is an intimate setting. The tricks, gags, and stunts this Italian family pulls off is outstanding. We spent the 20 minute ride home with each of us recounting what our favorite parts were.

We threw our first official house warming party with 22 guests. I'm amazed by how much more room we have to host this many people comfortably. The only publishable picture from the event is of the boys showing Easton how to operate the Wii remote. The gaming system single handedly entertained the kids the entire evening. Other pictures like the "chubby bunny" marshmallow game will remain off the grid for fear of retribution from the individuals involved. :)

Christmas presents this year were right on target for what Easton and Layla asked for and many gifts were so awesome we never thought to mention them before. Susanna gave a craft to build a princess crown for Layla and a craft to build an airplane for Easton. Easton and I tackled the plane together piece by piece. I glued it, then he painted it, then he put the stickers on it. Such a simple toy, but I enjoyed the process of building it. Kind of like a model car, but age-appropriate for Easton.

Another favorite gift is the tent. One pink princess tent for Layla and one blue rocket tent for Easton. perfect.

Easton's quickly adapting to the Valley of the Sun climate. The day time temperatures were in the 60s. Easton compensated for the relatively cold temps by wearing his mittens and fuzzy slippers all day long.

The Fisher Price Kid Tough See Yourself Camera is a surprisingly big hit with Easton. I knew Layla would love turning the lens on herself and taking pictures of others, but Easton also loves it. So much that taking turns is almost a battle. I may be on track to create two shutter bugs.

One of the most humorous Christmas moments was watching the twins attempt to contain their excitement as we waited to open gifts. They acted like freshly shaken cans of soda just waiting for the top to burst open.

An unforeseen change in the 3-year-old Christmas celebration is how much time I spent unwrapping, building, and playing with toys. Most toys were daddy-proof causing me to consider dynamite and bolt cutters as viable tools for removing packaging. Building and playing with the toys turned out to be one of those extra-enjoyable aspects which I wouldn't admit to in a Facebook post.

Our new sectional sofa is a magnet for cuddling and relaxing. Easton is growing into the protective big brother role very nicely. I like this next picture because it shows their happy demeanor and closeness with each other. Layla has the face of a loving, well cared for sister and daughter.

Easton yuks it up with a lollipop that looks like Mater from the Disney-produced Cars Movie. That there's funny. i don't care who ya are.

When the twins were born almost 4 years ago I had visions already dancing in my head of the adventures we would share. One of those adventures was to take a family hike. Every few weeks since they were old enough to walk it crossed my mind. Then I would realize their bodies and minds were still not capable of scrambling up the side of a hill... until now.

We took a 30 minute hike up the side of South Mountain. I pointed them towards the trail head and they took off climbing like a couple of Rocky Mountain goats. The views from the top were spectacular. Sharing them with Easton and Layla was even better. Their sense of accomplishment for tackling such a big hill was almost tangible.

Vacation is over and not it's time to get back to work. I have ONE vacation day scheduled for the first five months of 2012. Other than that I'll have my nose to the grind stone doing our best to make ends meet while saving for the three month vacation (sabbatical) coming up in September. I can do anything for 9 months...

Happy New Year!

The Days of Christmas

2011-12-27T23:28:00.001-07:00

Shalom friends and family,

I am a firm believer in English as the national language of the USA, but there are large gaps in our vocabulary. One of those is the way we greet each other. The words hi and bye are extremely impersonal and ineffective at expressing a proper emotion. I cringe every time the useless greeting comes out of my mouth as I approach the grocery clerk and bank teller. What we need is something more like the word shalom. It is a feeling of contentment, completeness, wholeness, well being and harmony. How about that for a better way to greet and bid someone farewell?

During the past week we said hi and bye to Ouma, Oupa, and GG. Yes, both unemotional words in one sentence. Partly because I'm sad they are gone already just when we were getting used to having them around.

With five adults in the house someone was always available to interact with the twins individually or together. Ouma let them stand on the little chairs for a cooking class about how to make homemade rolls.

Opening presents this year was 100 times more enjoyable because Easton and Layla were genuinely grateful and excited for the presents. Also, the contents was more prized than the box and wrapping paper unlike the previous three years. The person who wrote the 12 days of Christmas song must have had kids. We've been celebrating with meals and presents for days now!

The 4 Webbs were disheartened because our three visitors high-tailed it back to Sacramento for extended family gatherings. We understand and are happy they were able to return to see other rarely seen family members.

David and Tam were sensitive enough to notice and kind enough to invite us over for Christmas day at their home. They are our extended family here in Phoenix. One way we recognize this is by how comfortable Easton and Layla are around them.

Also the ability for us to have grown-up conversations with them while the two sets of twins are playing quietly together. The not-so-quiet moments are still great like when Ben is giving piano lessons to them.

The weather was perfectly pleasant so we took a leisurely stroll to their neighborhood park for some social interaction and high-flying swings. Easton was laughing like crazy asking me to push him faster. Someday soon he'll be ready for the solo swings, but for now I'm perfectly content to share in the experience with him.

Layla is becoming quite fashionable very quickly. Her purse is filled with all kinds of lip gloss, hair bows, and accessories. Now she has a bigger purse to store even more stuff for the long (10 minute) rides to Costco.

Easton and Layla comment daily about how tall they are getting and how much they are growing. We don't need to remind them or be reminded because we already have this conversation regularly. Sometimes I want to say, "Don't remind me! I want to be this size and age forever!" But of course I don't say that. :)

The extended vacation time at home is amazingly grand. I can't believe we haven't done this before where I take vacation just to be at home as the 4 Webbs without travel or visitors. What a concept! I'll have to try this more often.

4 Generations

2011-12-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas friends and family,

We are in the middle of a two week long Christmas celebration. present opening for the kids will be daily almost like Hanukkah, but without stifling religious rituals performed by the Jewish folks who sadly still live under the old law.

That's a different story... The 4 Webbs turned into 7 relatives with Ouma, Oupa and GG added to the mix. Their week-long visit was much more enjoyable than last time they were here because we didn't slave like dogs every waking minute in the midst of the move. This time we watched some movies, shopped, visited, and even had time for group adventures.

We even set aside a special afternoon to update the generations picture. Here is the first one we took when Layla was a mere 5 months old.

These are priceless pictures to me. Seeing four generations of wonderful girls in a single picture is amazing. One of the interesting things I notice is how all three ladies wore glasses for the new picture compared to the first one where none of them have glasses. Both pictures show the greatness and beauty of such a special occasion.

We also have one with Easton included because he requested to be in one as soon as he realized the photo opportunity in progress. I planned to get the twins in there already, but his request to be a part of it was a bonus.

Easton and Layla are sleeping in the twin trundle beds while we have visitors. That leads to hour-long giggling and conversations between them before they crash asleep. For the past three years they sleep from 8PM to 7AM, but with the one hour shift on the front end that means we get to sleep in on the flip side. However, our situation is like the wives tale about when an old Native American Indian was told the reason for daylight saving time he said, “Only the Government would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.”

They are best friends though so I wouldn't expect anything different. Even in the middle of the day when they get a lollipop they face the rocking chairs toward each other and have a blast chomping and rocking and talking.

One of our adventures was the outing to Schnepf Farms. The humongous acreage exceeded my expectations with the size and number of things to do on the property. I won tickets through works so we received the full tour of everything the farm had to offer including taking home a free home-made apple pie.

Our timing was excellent because the weather was great and few people were there during the workweek day-time when we went. We had a private hay ride through the orchards because no other patrons were around to join us.

The hay ride stopped at a fenced off area where several reindeer gathered by the fence anticipating our apples and bread.

Easton grabbed a handful of bread from the bag and started eating it before we explained the concept of what we were supposed to do with it. Once the twins caught on they were thrilled to have the gentle nibblers use their tongues and lips to snatch the food from their fingers.

That was my favorite part of the trip since I've never been that close in real life to reindeer. The Cool Bus had the perfect number of windows to capture our gang. Oupa played the role of bus driver well by hanging onto the steering wheel.

The 4 Webbs utilized the free ice skating passes, but one of us shined particularly bright. After Layla was strapped into her skates she stood up on them, walked over to the rink and straight out onto the ice.

The skates where real ice skates, but the ice was fake. They used a type of plastic interlocking board that felt awkward to Kendra and I since we know what the real-deal ice feels like. Easton ponied up and gave it a shot also. He did great for his first time on skates, but the balance required just to stand up wasn't comfortable for him. I'm proud he took the risk of going out on the fake ice for a few minutes. He tried something new and that's all I expect... the willingness to try.

Kendra and I gave role modeled the "give it a try" philosophy, but the experience was so unnatural that neither of us kept our skates on for more than 10 minutes.

Easton found his stride in the playground equipment. Schnepf Farms has a long wooden train with crawl spaces and ladders connecting the cars. He wanted to play for much longer than we allowed, but other adventures quickly grabbed his attention.

How about tricycle races through a hay bale race course? Ouma and Oupa were such great sports to jump in and participate in the fun.

The tricycles were slightly too big for the twins, but Kendra and Ouma pushed them through the tight turns and obstacle course parts.

Of course Miss Independent wanted to do it all by herself , but I could tell she was thinking how much more fun her big girl bike at home is compared to the difficulty of riding the tricycle.

The grand finale was in Easton's wheelhouse: a train ride! The train here is similar to the one in Sacramento, but with passenger cars. All of us hopped aboard the Schnepf Farms express to tour the other parts of the complex. An amusement park is onsite, but unfortunately it is only open certain seasons.

We'll certainly be back some day, but it was a long haul to get there so it won't go into our standard rotation of adventures. We talked briefly about how cool it would be to have their birthday party there, but then after thinking about how far away it is we decided not to even consider it.

The twins are 5 weeks away from being 4 years old so we are deep in negotiations for birthday party ideas. It won't include pizza though. That much I can be sure of. Almost every birthday party has pizza and there is never enough to feed all the kids and adults. What's up with that? Anyway, Kendra is very creative and will think up some awesomeness to throw into the mix.

See you soon!

Christmas Visitors

2011-12-20T01:34:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas friends and family,

The biggest holiday of the year is close enough I can use the greeting. Having three-year-old twins is shedding a whole new light on the excitement. I can't remember a Christmas this enjoyable since I was in grade school. Easton asks every day, "how many more sleeps until Christmas?" One thing we don't have this year is a count-down calendar. That would be a good visual measure for the twins to look at each day.

The most important part of the season so far is that Ouma, Oupa, and GG all arrived for a week-long vacation stay at the Webb resort. We took a stroll through our neighborhood to see the wonderfully decorated houses. It was one of the handful of times per year Kendra gets to wear her Uggs.

Here is our official 2011 Christmas card photo of the 4 Webbs. We've never sent out Christmas cards due to lack of interest. However, I religiously post enough pictures here throughout the year that anyone who cares to see us has a plethora of choices.

Easton and Layla aren't supposed to wonder into the neighbor's yard, but their desire to hug Rudolph was too cute to reprimand their actions. Instead I took a picture. :)

A particular house in our neighborhood has a decked-out yard. the owner dresses up as Santa and allows free pictures every Saturday evening in December. Another photo opportunity is the family Christmas tree which we gladly filled with our smiles

The best part of this holiday season is the time shared between the twins and GG, Ouma, and Oupa. Each day Easton and Layla spring out of bed and wait patiently for our three visitors to wake up. They are so excited to play barbie dolls and trains. sharing the simple aspects of life are what makes the twin's day. Walking through our neighborhood is another one of those memories they will talk about for months.

As we approached the extravagantly decorated Santa house I knelt down with the twins to give them final instructions. I said something like, "I know you two know Santa is not real, but you can NOT talk about that when we are in the picture taking line around the other kids". They agreed and then we approached the busy scene. Easton and Layla both turned to us adults simultaneously and screamed, "Santa IS real!" We didn't bother to correct them until later, but their first encounter with a fake Santa was an awesome sight to behold.

We also stopped along the way home for a photo opportunity with a nativity scene. I never claimed to be a good photographer so it's hard to tell what they are even standing in front of. Even an amateur like me can capture the sweetness of Easton and Layla on camera.

I promised Oupa a mostly-work-free vacation around the Webb resort, but installing the two remaining ceiling fans is above my pay grade. We also renovated the entire kitchen sink, but other than that I've kept the handyman jobs at a minimum. Lucky for Oupa he had the best two little helpers in the world.

As a closing story I'll briefly share how the brutal honesty of children is something parents quickly learn to navigate. I decided to shave my stubbly face. Part of the reason is that Layla gives me ten times more kisses with a clean shaven face. I shaved and then found Layla to steal a kiss. She put her hands on my cheeks and said, "Dad! You shaved!" I told her the reason is because I wanted to get more kisses from her. She tilted her head and gave me a big kiss. Then she looked intently at my face and said, "Dad, your face is smooth, but you still have a lot of hair in your nose. You should shave that part too."

See you soon!

Toasty

2011-12-16T21:41:00.002-07:00

Hola friends and family,

We experienced one of the 20 rainy days per year during a cool evening. Kendra was out running errands so I brought up the idea of going for a walk in the rain. The immediate cheers and hustle towards the coat closet made me excited to get out there and splash around with them.

Rain boots don't get much use so we bought Easton's boots 4 sizes too big so he can wear them once or twice before he grows out of them.. I'm not exaggerating either. He stuffed his foot in his house slippers and then stuffed that into the boot and they were still too big. I am absolutely certain he will fit into them some day and then out grow them. Unlike me who still has shirts from 11 years ago in my daily wardrobe.

Layla and I went on a Daddy date while Kendra took Easton on a Mommy date. We separate the car seats once in a while and take time for individual attention. Every time we do this Easton and Layla spend some portion of their adventure asking where the other sibling is. I thought each one would be happy to take a break from the other, but that isn't so at all. They'll get there eventually, but for now we are happy to see they miss their best friend.

Anyway, I took Layla for her first Starbucks hot cocoa. she wasn't fond of the flavor since she is my vanilla-girl. A while ago I recommended the link referencing 50 rules for dads of daughters. Number 48 is: "Ice cream covers over a multitude of sins. Know her favorite flavor." I take these recommendations or rules very seriously and I know her favorite flavor of ice cream, favorite snack, favorite cracker, favorite song, favorite color, and hundreds of other favorites. I know that she knows that I know. It shows in how vibrant she is.

Gregarious. The word struck a chord with me when Buck Brannaman from the movie "Buck" used it to describe his daughter. I looked it up and sure enough it works well for Layla also. Gregarious means : marked by or indicating a liking for companionship, sociable. That's Layla for sure. She chased Easton and I in a good game of tag.

Kendra discovered a pet we inherited with the new house. Meet Toasty the owl.

He sat way up high on the very tip-top of the tree on the other side of the greenbelt. The 4 Webbs stealthily walked across the back yard to get a better view. Toasty was the highlight of the day. I know this because the next two days were spent learning about owls. As we walked back inside from our owl adventure Easton's first comment was, "Tell me all about owls, Mommy!" His thirst for knowledge and openness to learn is music to my ears. Kendra pulled up some youtube videos, read through some websites, and I finished the night off with a bed time story about an owl. I am blessed because Kendra takes time to teach with a level of enthusiasm to match Easton and Layla's.

Ouma and Oupa and GG arrived safely this morning. All 4 Webbs are ecstatic about their week with us. I'll get a judges panel together to determine which recital video to post. :)

See you soon.

Occupy 4Webbs

2011-12-14T17:07:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

With all of the goofy, useless "occupy" movements out there I thought we should ride the wave and protest... something. Not sure what yet. Maybe I'll ask Easton and Layla to describe any perceived injustices in their lives and we'll stage a sit-in. In the mean time we are enjoying life and parenting.

Easton and Layla performed on stage for the first time. Their Christmas caroling for their preschool recital was outstanding. Kendra and I were smiling as though the twins were receiving a gold medal at the Olympics.

Before I get to the grand recital we have other adventures to cover chronologically. The 4 Webbs attended a birthday party of Easton and Layla's classmate. Other parents tell me the cadence of birthday parties will continue to increase for the next 10 years where at some point our entire weekends for months at a time will be consumed with buying gifts, eating pizza, and singing "happy birthday".

Kendra is the coolest mom. ever. While the kids waited impatiently at the table for the pizza to arrive she took over and led the party-goers in a game of duck-duck-goose. She didn't organize and then direct. She participated too!

Easton joined the team sport of duck-duck-goose until he heard the train whistle blow. He jumped up and searched the horizon for the train he knew was coming around. the party included a ride on the train Easton sought. Layla's expression brings a smile to my face. I'm not surprised she emphatically requested her two friends sit beside her on the train ride. They complied, but this may be a case of coercion.

Easton took a huge step towards manhood this day. He kindly asked me to sit in the seat behind him so he could be brave and ride by himself for the first time. My boy is growing up! His demeanor during the train ride was one of confidence like a conquering warrior.

One rainy day was highly exciting for Easton because his friend, Coleton, and his sister came over to play. I like to see Easton socially interacting with other good influences so this scene makes me happy.

On to Easton and Layla's first recital. I took the day off work to attend the festivities which included the morning routine of getting the twins ready for school. Kendra had their clothes lying neatly on the floor the night before so we had time for a dressed-up picture by the ole' Christmas tree before heading out the door.

Easton has always been one inch taller than Layla even when they were first born! Looks like he's already sprouting a bit faster than her...

The twins loved being on stage and I was as proud as any father could be. They followed directions, sang at an appropriate volume (unlike the loud-mouth girl by Layla), and performed all the hand motions like well-trained professional recitalists.

Their class came forward for a few special songs. Layla was easily the most beautiful princess on the stage. That's not just my biased view either! I'll bet any pageant director's official ranking would agree with me.

Easton was bribed to obey prior to the big event. I promised to give him two hot-wheels he's been eyeing for days. He made good on his end of the bargain and I did afterwards as well. His untucked shirt was the most humorous part of the recital. This kind of funny incident is a classic example of why parenting is so great.

The after party was delayed because Mary and Joseph were changing out of their costumes. They were the parents of a child in Easton and Layla's class who happened to have a real-life baby. The three of them were included in the recital making it even that much more special for the twins.

We sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus then blew out the candle on the cupcake.

Easton and Layla ate the frosting top and left the cakey bottom on the plate. I wonder where they got that from? Oh yeah... that's what I do too. Speaking of similarities, after seeing Easton's outfit for the day I changed into my matching clothes just for fun. same shirt, blue jeans, brown belt, and handsome smile.

This was the first time I rode with Kendra and the twins to school this year. This was a worth-while vacation day.

See you soon!

Christmas Lights

2011-12-09T01:02:00.001-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

Easton's insatiable appetite for playing with cars, planes, and trains reveals itself daily when he asks, "will you play with me, Daddy?" Even when I play for several hours during a day he still asks for more. I'm not complaining. I'm bragging. :) There will be a day when I'm not the coolest, smartest guy he knows and he'll want to do other things besides play with me. That is why I cherish these times more every day. He has a huge storage bin full of cars, planes, and trains. I know whenever I want to get his attention and have some fun all I need to do is pull the bin off the shelf and dump it out on his floor.

I received a gift card for Starbucks a few weeks ago. I don't drink coffee much, but Starbucks makes a great eggnog slurpee (frappuccino). Easton and Layla are also recipients of the gift because I took them out for a little Daddy time and gave them a vanilla steamer each. Tam gave me the idea because I don't like to give them much sugar or chocolate with caffeine especially late in the evening.

Sharing is a good idea in theory, but in practice giving them separate drinks avoids much confrontation. lessons i learned the hard way...

After vanilla steamers we walked across the parking lot as the drizzle and sprinkles came down. The mist is Arizona's version of raining. The twins were off the hook screaming, "it's raining! my nose is wet!" as they held their arms out and looked up at the clouds like the cover of Shawshank Redemption.

Once inside they head straight for the fish where they fight the urge to poke every glass aquarium. Then they realized a whole wall of kitties were waiting to be teased. We spent several minutes describing every cat including the color of their spots and how they were playing.

No, we're not getting a cat. Daddy is still allergic to them and my nose quivers just looking at the picture. No, we're not getting a dog. We are still cleaning up "accidents" from Easton and Layla. We don't need another unstable bladder until Uno and Dos get their act cleaned up... figuratively speaking.

Our new neighborhood is outstanding. We've talked to more neighbors in the past three weeks than we did the entire 10 years in our previous neighborhood. There are several kids close to Easton and Layla's age, which is an extra exciting bonus of living here. We rode our bikes to the park down the street. I say we because I'm not comfortable yet sending them there alone. Maybe in a couple of years?

We have yet to get any instruments for the twins because I can't seem to find good advice on what should be their first introduction to music. In the mean time we improvise. The three of us picked up a rock and banged on the playground equipment pipes. Each one had its own distinct tone and I got a kick out of Easton and Layla's response to observing the uniqueness of the sounds.

This weekend we gave Mommy a break by hanging out at the train park a.k.a. Strawberry Raisin train. I packed a bag-o-snacks to keep on schedule with meal times. The twins were given two crackers each just as a mad-scientist experiment. I wanted to see how they react to the hungry ducks who saw us sit down to eat. Both of them immediately wanted to give both of their crackers only if I would give them more crackers from the bag. I told them no more crackers and then watched the experiment play out. They conversed for a couple of minutes about how they easily would have given their crackers to the ducks if they knew more crackers were available. After pondering the situation they both walked over and happily gave both of their crackers to the ducks.

That's sacrificial giving.

I mention that short story because adults hit this same situation in life, even unrelated to Christmas, but choose not to give to those in need unless they are giving out of their abundance. I'm very proud to see the life lessons which are important to me are already being passed on to the twins.

After snack time we ravaged the playground area. Layla runs and runs and then runs some more. I spend most of my park time hanging out with Easton and keeping an eye out for where is Layla.

Easton is cautious and calculating, but adventurous none the less. He chose to do some solo rock climbing because the other boys playing chase and tag were not polite. I can't blame him. :)

My Saturday was completely consumed with home improvement jobs and getting the Webb house exterior into the Christmas spirit. The extra tall ladder came in very handy! Two of my neighbors switched from old-school ice sickle lights to the new fad of LED. Both of them gave me their old lights and I proudly accepted their "welcome to the neighborhood" hand-me-downs. What a blessing!

The huge, full moon shining over the Saguaro cactus is quintessential Christmas in AZ. Also the fact that I could NOT see my breath and was wearing a T-shirt. Life is good. My two week vacation starts in 4 days and i can't wait!

See you soon!

Music in the Air

2011-12-06T21:33:00.001-07:00

Hi friends and family,

I may change my name to Bron$on because apparently all one needs is a clever name like Ke$ha or lil' something and a microphone to become rich and famous. Now that I think about it, maybe now is the time to rename Ea$ton so he's already on the cutting edge when his career kicks into high gear.

Today in the car we were listening to the classical station. Layla calls it "fancy music". No argument here. They've seen enough Little Einstein to know what the terms forte and pianissimo mean. As the music plays we discuss what instruments they hear. One of the supposed reasons why classical music is good for kids is because they learn to differentiate the individual instruments in the midst of an orchestral sound.

Easton's favorite instrument is the flute and he is already declaring he will learn to play one. Layla chose the piano as her favorite. I'm looking for the right time to introduce an instrument to the twins AND to find out which one is a good first experience.

Anyway, life is going well for the 4 Webbs and we have no complaints. Kendra sheds a few tears of joy and gratitude almost daily for our new home. The gratitude is also prevalent for Layla. Tonight for bedtime she went through a whole list of things she loves. She said, "I love my polly pocket house I love my princess castle I love my... this thing." as she points to her headboard. I removed all punctuation in her quote because she doesn't pause even one nanosecond during her run-on sentences. Makes my heart happy when she does those cute things.

I sing Layla and Easton bedtime songs every single night since before they were born. Yes, I sang to them in Kendra's belly... Layla and I have a routine. I say, "I'll sing one song for you". She responds with her sweetest voice, "Three, daddy, pleeeeeeease?" then I agree to two songs and she chooses the songs. Tonight Amazing Grace was on the playlist, but something wonderful happened. Layla said, "Don't start yet! Let's sing it together, OK?" We sang our first duet and by the end of the song she was belting it out as loud as she could with a soulful twist. I've been waiting for this day for over 3 years. I'm thrilled she chose to sing along with me and her choice of Amazing Grace was the icing on the cake.

We lost the small point-n-shoot camera somewhere in the move. That means we're left with the monstrous DSLR and my crummy iphone 4s camera. Since I can't lug around a suitcase to carry the DSLR during church you'll have to make due with the iPhone picture. In the foyer of the church stands a tall, fully decorated tree so I took the opportunity to take a few pictures.

Our tree is as decorated as its going to get this year. We're budgeting to buy a truck-load of after Christmas items such as a fake tree, lights, ornaments, and other Christmas-y nick-knacks. This is the first year the twins are genuinely excited about Christmas and presents and family. Last year was fun even though they were only vaguely aware of what was going on. This year is going to be awesome. I can't wait to play with Easton's new toys... I mean for Easton to play with his new toys. :)

The word on the street is that Ouma and Oupa are driving to our house in two weeks. They may be bringing additional carolers named GG and Aunt Patti. Kendra and I are excited for whoever and how ever many come to visit.

See you soon!

Holiday Plans

2011-12-04T15:13:00.001-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

The delivery man showed up with our entertainment center for the great room. After it was built I installed the REAL entertainment components, Easton and Layla. They are much more enjoyable than any electronics I could add.

We chose this unit because it is large enough to cover a good portion of the 14 foot high wall. Also, we shopped on Craigslist for the last few months and discovered the price of this one (after negotiations) was about the same price. That's the only reason we bought new.

Kendra planned to have a family dinner at Rustler's Rooste. The missing piece of information we didn't know what that all banquets were moved inside the restaurant because of the light sprinkles across the valley. Instead of waiting 90 minutes for a table we just took advantage of the sweet indoor slide. No-Fear Layla didn't even wait for us to get the camera ready the first time.

Easton's exuberance was so loud he caught the attention of other kids and near-by patrons.

Layla asked me to join her down the slide so I gladly obliged. Hopefully I'll never get too old to have fun on their level whatever age they are.

Easton declined going down the slide with me because he wanted to be a brave big boy and go down all by himself. I appreciate the initiative and don't mind a bit for him to get these small "wins" to boost his confidence.

The 4 Webbs are staying home this year so we bought a Christmas tree in an effort to get our house in the holiday mode. The last time we set up a tree was 8 years ago! The twins helped me string the lights. I took this picture below before we turned them on for the first time. You can see in their face the apathetic look, but as soon as Easton plugged in the extension cord their faces lit up and they were filled with holiday cheer the rest of the day.

Especially when they helped Kendra hang decorations. She bought the shatter-proof kind for obvious reasons. The decision paid off only seconds after the twins got their hands on a few bulbs and smashed them into one another on accident.

The stockings were hung by the plasma with care... No, wait. There should be a chimney involved, right? Usually, but we live in Arizona so chimneys are almost extinct. Of those who have a chimney I would bet $5 no one lights theirs up more than five times per year. Anyway, this is improvising at its finest and an example of working with what you got. Kendra is so good at it.

Now all I need is eggnog and a long sleeve fleece to know Christmas is just around the corner. I have two weeks of vacation coming up for the last half of December so I'm excited about the quality AND quantity of family time coming up soon. Also, Ouma and Oupa are coming back for a redo of their vacation. Two weeks ago was an extremely labor intensive trip. We are hoping this time together will be full relaxation and enjoyment... and maybe a ceiling fan hanging or two. :)

See you soon!

The Happy Things

2011-11-30T23:35:00.001-07:00

Greetings Earthlings,

Easton's room is complete in a "Spaced Out" theme. He has bedding and posters and coat hooks and toys all geared towards aerospace. Kendra completed Easton and Layla's room so now we are working on den and great room. The great room entertainment center will be delivered Saturday and the bath counter top on Monday. Big area rugs and the sectional are in! Kendra and I are both very happy with the way the interior of the house is coming together. Still don't have a toilet in the master bath though. Sure wish I was more of a handy man, but I know when I'm in over my head. Have no fear experts are on the way! ...next week.

Kendra is getting back into some routines including preschool and play time at home for Easton and Layla. They each had dye and and a utensil and some other products in a bowl to make cool swirly designs. So much to learn!

Layla is learning the hard way about being a good sport. Recently she started bragging inappropriately and Easton is a sensitive guy. she says things like, "my pan is longer than yours" or "see Dad... I'm obeying, but Easton isn't". Those kind of comments set him off, which is very unfortunate. I'm saddened to see Layla figured out how to push his buttons this early in life.

Easton's only comeback is "You're NOT my friend", but after a few minutes of crying and hurting each other's feelings they are back to playing pet shop kitties. Such forgiveness is admirable.

I found this picture on the camera, but have no idea where this was taken or why. I think it was before Thanksgiving at Trader Joe's. I had a good chuckle after seeing it so hopefully it will do the same for you.

The twins are tired of going into furniture stores. We've been to every single store within 5 miles of our house... twice. or sometimes three or more times. The twins are so fed up with furniture store shopping we have to bribe them with a reward or treat or other good consequence like time at the park. Easton knows how to pick a comfortable chair now so that's a good lesson to learn early in life.

We're savoring the last bits of warm weather by playing in the park frequently. The twins wanted a change of pace so we drove to the lizard park. Layla wants to wear her summer tops indefinitely, but the season of cool is finally here. Easton is getting into super heros lately. Batman is his favorite even though he's never seen a batman cartoon or movie. He also thinks highly of Spiderman who adorns his hat. When we play together he wants to be Batman and I play Spiderman. At least we have our costumes already planned out for next Halloween. Kendra should be the Progressive insurance lady again. Her costume was awesome.

Anyway, Easton is earning his bravery badge by following in the footsteps of Layla across the barrier wall. His showing off is getting to be more overt, but he's a boy so that's to be expected. My job as a Dad is to continually answer the question for him. The question is, "Do I have what it takes?" and my answer always, ALWAYS is, "Yes, Easton, you DO have what it takes!"

Layla needs to get into gymnastics soon. Her core strength and skills are incredible.

The 4 Webbs are taking nightly walks lately. It was a chilly 61 degrees (wah, wah, right?) so Kendra busted out the full length fur coat and Uggs. The twins are amazed by all the Christmas lights. Each house requires a pause and kid-friendly explitives. Kendra and I are amazed we live in the wonderful neighborhood. Nightly walks through it are very enjoyable for all of us.

I titled this post "Happy things" because I have a whole other post which will never make it in publication on the 4Webb's blog because it contains the not-so-happy things...

See you soon!

Green in Regulation

2011-11-29T00:47:00.001-07:00

Buon giorno friends and family,

That's Italian for hello. Layla wore her special French outfit and greeted our new friends with a hearty "Bon Jour" when we arrived at the get together. Brandon knows a few languages and taught Layla how to say hello in Italian to add to her growing language credentials.

We spent an evening with Kendra's cousin's boyfriend's family. We had high expectations based on her cousin's glowing description. Impressed is not quite the right word... amazed is probably more appropriate. I've met a lot of great people, but it is something special to find great, classy people. Here are the 4 Webbs and Ouma and Oupa with Brandon. We watched the sunset from high up in the foothills overlooking Phoenix.

Here's a view of the residence showing the reverse angle of the balcony from the picture above. This may be the most awesome home I've ever been in. I'll have to think back through my memory banks to see if I can remember a nicer place than this one, but I doubt anything will come to mind.

As the sun set, the boys grabbed some golf clubs and wandered down to tackle one fairway before dinner. Oupa crushed a drive and Easton had his first golf experience. Easton watched intently as Oupa and Brandon worked their golf magic to get a green in regulation. That was no small feat for Oupa because he worked non-stop for the previous 5 days doing back-breaking manual labor helping us move.

Even Easton thought Brandon was cool because he preferred to hold his hand more than mine as we marched up the fairway.

We approached the green and could barely see the hole because the sun was completely gone. Even so, Oupa took time to show Easton how to find the bottom of the cup with his putting assistance. It's blurry, but the best i could do considering the lighting conditions.

Brandon and Oupa parred the hole. Easton loved every minute of the new experience.

One of the key tips I learned while talking to Brandon's family is how Brandon and his two brothers received their drivers license only after becoming an Eagle Scout through the Boy Scouts program. Kendra and I latched onto that idea instantly.

Ouma and Oupa left (sniff, sniff) and we were back to being just the 4 Webbs. The thanksgiving weekend weather was excellent so we took full advantage by spending time outdoors. We took an afternoon to play around at Desert Breeze park. I gave Layla the choice of riding the carousel or the train. Since she is into ponies the carousel won.

Big Time was all about the train. As we drove to the park Kendra asked the twins to name the train since it didn't have one. Easton said, "Raisin". Layla said, "Strawberry". So we named the train, "Strawberry Raisin". Easton and I rode it together while Kendra and Layla checked out the duck pond.

With all the playground equipment available we had a tough time getting the twins to stop and smell the roses. After a few attempts they laid down next to me to watch the airplanes and birds fly by. Those are the moments that mean the most to me as a father. There will come a day when they won't want to lay next to me on the grass, but for now I'm living the dream.

See you soon!

In the Neighborhood

2011-11-26T21:04:00.001-07:00

Hello friends and family,

What an unbelievable week, month, and quarter. My computer and desk are still in boxes so this is a more difficult task because i'm working on my laptop without my photo shop tools. I'll tell the long version of the story in reverse chronology because that's the way my pictures embedded for some reason. Whoever said "computers only do what you tell them to do" said that before the internet was invented.

We are fully moved in and partially out of boxes. I found my deodorant and razor so that is a start. I crop 90% of all blog pictures so you can see Easton and Layla's happy faces. The house picture works much better fully zoomed out to get an idea of the homestead. The huge saguaro cactus is a bonus with purchase of the home. Desert landscaping is awesome because I don't have to mow any grass.

A large portion of time is spent on the back patio for Arizonians this time of year. The light-jacket evenings make for comfortable conversations in the great outdoors. After a smashing success of a Thanksgiving dinner the ladies relaxed outside as the kids swam in the hot tub. Special thanks to Tam for joining forces with us to produce such a top-notch meal.

The dining room table had enough seats for everyone, but just to be comfortable we sat Easton and Layla at their own special table for our first big meal in the new house.

Our kitchen was like Grand Central Station during prep time for dinner. I learned a long time ago to stay out the way in these situations. They had it covered well. Even though we'd only been in the house for two days all of the cookware and ingredients were in their place.

Ouma spent many hours playing with the twins during their week-long visit. Her greatest contribution was keeping the them happy and engaged during the move and remodel. She contributed in such a huge way to the moving, cleaning, and helping, but her bonding time with the twins was what I hoped for more than anything. One particular afternoon she took them down to the green belt to play. They met a mother and daughter, Ruby, who are our new neighbors. Her personality is very similar to Layla. they were best friends within about 10 minutes of meeting.

Oupa and Ouma joined the twins for some cuddle time one morning in Layla's room. Oupa is an athletic work house. I already knew that much. However, I didn't realize he had the strength and will power to do heavy-duty manual labor non-stop for six days straight! The only regret from their visit is how we didn't have any big (or small) fun outings together. I'm already looking forward to their next trip here so we can play, relax, and enjoy some vacation time together.

Here is a picture of our first meal in the new house. Nothing else was set up yet so we used Easton and Layla's table to break in the kitchen.

No TV for entertainment? No problem... We have princess ballerina Layla to entertain us for hours on end. She even has her own "interpretive dance" like at the Swingle reunion so many years ago when I first met Kendra.

The twins are improving daily at their ability to "play together" without our constant supervision. Talk about a game changer... Kendra and I can actually have a conversation or complete a task without interruption or crying. Who'd have thought?

Kendra set them up for success by providing the two felt boards and ample felt knickknacks. Layla called for us to come see her work and we found Easton willingly supplanted the felt board.

during the move I tried to capture the twins for their first night in the new house. Instead I got Easton's silly face and Layla's unnatural stiff-as-a-board expression. They were both Wiley Coyotes running around through the unfamiliar surroundings all the way up to bed-time every night.

Our friend Kyle was a big help during the move. He did everything from demolition of tile to wiring up our entertainment center. Part of his return on the investment is admiration from Uno and Dos. When he comes in the door they show him the meaning of the term, "twinpact" by charging towards him with arms wide open ready to give big hugs. Kyle isn't all that experienced with little kids, but he's earned Easton and Layla's vote of confidence. They successfully tested the new couch rocker on the back patio.

The body science books Kendra chooses for them from the library result in interested conversations I overhear. They had an in-depth review of "what is a uvula" including the up-close and personal inspection.

Ouma and Oupa are already gone back to their normal lives in Sacramento. We are doing well to figure out what is normal now in our new place. The twins both expressed how much they miss Ouma and Oupa within an hour after they left for the airport. This is the hard part about family living in other states, but we are managing well in spite of it.

Our Christmas plans are up in the air, but we know we're staying in town. No tree or decorations this year because there is much more important work to be done like adding a toilet to our master bathroom. :)

See you soon!

Thankful for YOU!

2011-11-24T19:09:00.001-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving friends and family,

I am very thankful for you, my friends and family. More than any material thing, I cherish the people in my life and appreciate the relationships with those who choose to be a part of our life.

That being said, we are extremely grateful for the blessing of moving into our dream house this past week. Here's a not-so-short video clip of a tour through our new place. We decided to put most of our finances into the house instead of just buying stuff to fill it. We have a lifetime to fill it up.

Much more work to do and finally we have a chance to relax with David and Tam and their family on this wonderful Thanksgiving day.

See you soon!

Coming back to life

2011-11-24T02:10:00.001-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

My apologies for the lack of posts lately. Our Internet connection is up and running as of yesterday but my computer is still dormant in the garage. Our house is coming together wonderfully! Kendra and I are both very satisfied with the remodeling of flooring, paint colors, and elective upgrades like the bathroom vanity and light fixtures.

For the past 4 days we took breaks for 3 meals per day and a few hours of sleep each night. The rest of the time was spent getting the basics like toilets installed and beds built.

The twins are content with their new rooms and surroundings but as I expected they could care less what house we live in. I can tell they both just want us to stop fixing stuff and play cars/dolls with them.

I have pictures and movies including a walk-through of our house but now I need a computer to post it.

See you soon!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Imaginations in Full Swing

2011-11-18T21:56:00.001-07:00

Ohsuhoseyo friends and family,

The 4 Webb's house and kitchen are fully packed including utensils, food, and cookware. As you can imagine we are eating out often right now. Tonight we visited our favorite sushi restaurant as semi-celebration of completing the packing. The usual greeting from the sushi master chef guy is "Ohsuhoseyo" or some nonsense muttering of Korean origin. Layla said, "what did he say?" right in front of the guy. Kendra is used to these kind of awkward situations so she said, "I don't know, let's ask!" The sushi guy repeated his incomprehensible babble and Layla repeated it back to him. Easton jumped in on the action and gave his interpretation as well. The whole row of sushi guys got a good laugh from their attempted response. I was a proud father to see their openness to other cultures and friendliness.

Today was my first official vacation day of my ten days away from work. I'm already counting on it turning into a ten-day move-a-thon. Easton and Layla are getting more comfortable with the idea of moving to the new house. They wandered too close to our massive Saguaro cactus so they had a time-out on the driveway. They laid down to soak in some warmth since the daytime high was a chilly 74 degrees (holding up my sarcasm sign). The driveway is massive, but somehow the two of them wind up connected at the hip just like the best friends they are.

I have a nerdy tip-of-the-day because many people have misconceptions about computer passwords. The key point is: passwords suck, but a pass phrase is great. If your online account accepts a pass phrase, please USE it! Here is a cartoon to explain:

The 4 Webbs may be single-handedly saving the US economy. We are doing more than our fair share of stimulating the economy as a result of our home purchase and insanely expensive remodel... and we aren't even IN the house yet. Once we get there on Monday my next sizable purchase will be a new TV for the great room. Target acquired:

Maybe Black Friday will shave a few hundred more off the current price? We'll see.

The new iPhone has a reverse camera capability which means the screen and the camera are on the same face of the phone. Layla and I laughed so hard she was snorting as we took several pictures of us while watching ourselves be silly. I wouldn't call this cheap fun because the phone is anything but cheap. However, now that it is purchased the camera capability is free! This is one example of using our imagination during quality time together.

Because all of Easton and Layla's toys are packed up in boxes we are learning to use our imaginations during our quality (and quantity) time together. The twins are both still excited about paper airplanes for some reason. We walked down to the greenbelt and I brought a stack of paper. The neighbor boys came out again and I made enough paper airplanes for everyone to have two each. I'm not sure what is the price of 10 sheets of copy paper, but the fun we had was worth a million times more than the cost.

Ouma and Oupa arrived last night. I greeted them by saying, "Welcome to the chaos!" They are already being extremely valuable by just being here to spend time with Easton and Layla. Many rounds of playing chase and drawing have already occurred. The additional blessing of their willingness to help us move is huge. I have the best in-laws in the world. If anyone tries to challenge my ranking I will simply pull out this picture and say, "Ha! Top THAT!" notice the custom printed T-shirts...

We are 50% done with the move thanks to them and my friend, Jacob. Several trailer loads of stuff are already in the house and we will be into the new place by Monday assuming all the friends show up on Sunday who agreed to help us. We can see the finish line! The tile and paint are awesome. I'll capture a video tour guided by Kendra tomorrow before we clutter the place with our belongings.

See you soon!

Show Offs and Finished Tile

2011-11-16T12:17:00.001-07:00

Bon Jour friends and family,

I translated my friend's French comment and relayed the message to Layla. She lit up like a light when I told her he sent a message to her. I couldn't get to Babel Fish for the translation because Layla was tugging on my mousing arm screaming, "what did he say? what did he say?" It made her day and she said to say, "Thank you" for the compliment.

Individual bath time is a huge adjustment. Easton soaks and plays with his toy shark and cars indefinitely. I check on him occasionally to make sure he isn't shoveling bucket-loads of water onto the bathroom floor. 25 minutes later I have to sternly ask him to get out the tub.

Then there's Layla. Miss social butterfly. Being alone in the bathtub for any length of time feels like a form of corporal punishment to her. No sooner than she dips her toe in the water she asks me to sit on the commode and pretend to be Prince Eric so her Ariel water doll isn't lonely. She has the time of her life as long as Daddy is there to entertain with silly voices.

Even with my comedic talent, three minutes later she is begging to get out of the tub. Variety is the spice of life and daily sustenance of parenting twins.

Easton discovered what it means to show off. In a bit of irony Easton and Layla were invited by the neighborhood boys to play in the "kid's cul-de-sac" one street over. I agreed to chaperon as the twins branched out beyond our court. We found ten kids under the age of seven running around the kid's cul-de-sac. The ironic part is that we are moving neighborhoods next week after living in the same court for nice years! It was like a circus or zoo or something. bicycles circling like a WWII dog fight, frisbees whizzing by, and parents socializing while the chaos ensues.

Easton tried to show off and occasionally succeeded. This was his first attempt at riding with no feet on the peddles.

He fell more than five times and each time would jump up and proclaim, "I'm OK, Dad. I'm fine." This is a stark contrast to how he shed's a tear and has a pity party when this kind of thing happens in our house. After the quick reassurance he'd be back to his feeble attempts to impress the older girls. Here is one such older girl. She was nice enough to take the twins on a front yard adventure bug hunt. They captured several little critters while Easton and Layla crowded around to inspect each one.

For some reason as I looked at Easton sitting on the step ladder later that evening I saw him as a little boy instead of a toddler. I'm sure it had to do with his maturing and events of the day. Anyway, he agreed to pose for a picture as long as I promised to let him review it afterwards.

I would have been out of luck with my 35mm film camera if this were 20 years ago, but luckily technology allows the immediate feedback of reviewing pictures the second after they are taken. He looked at himself in this picture and said, "Look at the rocket on my shirt!"

The house is coming along slower than molasses. However, the floor and baseboards are almost completely done. They look incredible so the slow cadence will be worth it. Kendra and I are both very impressed and happy with the results. Here is the final wipe-down as the grout dries. I'm posting this one because it is easier to see the texture of the tile as it is wet.

This is the great room with the front door in the background. The paint splotches on the wall are Kendra's test colors. I can't remember which one she picked. Frankly, I could care less either. She is happy. Therefore, I am happy. It really is that simple. I gave her 100% freedom to remodel the house exactly as she wants it from floor to ceiling and everything in between.

She trusted me to choose our first house when we were married and she never saw it until after I bought it. Then she agreed not to spend any money on the rental house we've been in for over 4 years. She's been very patient and trusting of my housing plans. She deserves the chance to do things her way now that we are finally settling into our dream home.

The only trouble is that we are dumping so much money into the house itself we may not have much to spend on stuff to fill it like couches and mirrors and furniture. Not to worry though. We both understand we have a lifetime to fill it up with stuff.

For some reason I had in my mind Ouma and Oupa were arriving Thursday. Tonight Kendra informed me they won't be here until Friday night. My demeanor changed after hearing the truth. Now it can be described as: sad face, sigh, angry eyes, pouty bottom lip. Just GET here already, please!?

See you soon!

Time Allocation Defined

2011-11-14T22:31:00.001-07:00

Moving is very similar to a spring cleaning. So far we found Aunt Susie's watch (deep in Layla's jewelry box) and Neill's yellow and black sunglasses. Easton is modeling as proof we still have them.

We may very well lose them again as we move this coming weekend. My apologies in advance to Susie and Neill if their accessories don't make it safely across the street. I'm not sure why people (especially FaceBook users) have such a hard time with the words lose and loose. Here's your grammar tip-of-the-week:

If it has a voiced Z sound, then it’s “lose.” If it has a hissy S sound, then it’s “loose.” Here are examples of correct usage: “He tends to lose his keys.” “She lets her dog run loose.” Note that when “lose” turns into “losing” it loses its “E.” Loose is an adjective. Lose is a verb.

I know some of you think this is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black when it comes to my own grammar mistakes. It's just so much easier to point out the faults in others than ourselves.

Anyway, the oddities of raising twins grow daily. Now my quality time is scheduled according to the microwave oven timer. Easton begs me to play cars and build his train tracks. Layla begs me to watch her practice ballet and play Go Fish. Guess who wins? All three of us! I set the timer for 20 minutes and play princess Go Fish with my beautiful princess

Then another 20 minute timer for Easton and I to roll cars and trucks down the slide and make crash noises as they crunch together at the bottom. Maximum breakage and destruction of vehicles appears to be the goal.

After 40 minutes of one-on-one time we sit and read together: one Layla-picked book, then one Easton-picked book. That's a full hour round trip and everyone is happy. Especially Kendra who takes advantage by packing, cleaning, moving, arranging, etc.

Kendra's time with Layla yielded a French braid

to match her French outfit, which says, "Love from Paris" with a glittery stencil of the Eiffel Tower. All she lacks is holding some French fries or French toast and she'll be ready to visit my best friend in France. Kendra taught her how to say hello and good-bye in French. Layla spent the entire day greeting every Costco patron and church-goer with the traditional French salutation.

A new development for the twins is their new-found funny bone. They tell jokes to each other that make no sense, but still elicits a chuckle or snot from the listener. They make funny noises until the other acknowledges the sound by laughing. Mealtimes have all but lost their structure because they spend so much time making silly faces at one another while their taters get cold. Our parenting skills are being tested because it's so difficult to discipline when the parents are using every bit of our will power to keep from laughing with them. I have to tell myself "stop laughing this is NOT funny", but their laughter makes it even more humorous.

I'm not complaining one bit though. These challenges are minuscule and petty compared to what other parents have to face. We are blessed beyond belief to have such happy and healthy kids adding joy daily to our lives. I'm grateful every day. Part of my blogging desires come from my core belief of never taking these blessings for granted and wanting to share them with you.

See you soon!

In Limbo... Still.

2011-11-13T00:30:00.001-07:00

Hello friends and family,

The 4 Webbs are spending more and more time in our new neighborhood with each passing day. We are approaching the "big switch" day targeted for November 21st where we stay the night for the first time. Easton and Layla are feeling more and more comfortable with the idea of moving. We walked through the gate in our backyard to the greenbelt. This is where the twins will play because our yard is entirely rocks and cacti.

It's the best of both worlds! We don't have to mow the yard, but still get the benefits of playing in a big open field of grass. I can't wait...

From the picture above of the greenbelt if I turn around, the view I see of the neighborhood park is this:

Even though it isn't as elaborate as our old neighborhood park at least it is close enough we can walk to it. This is also the same park where Easton took The Big Fall exactly two years ago today. Life sure has a funny way of working out and I never would have guessed back then we would live in this neighborhood. This is how I know God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us.

Layla has a Disney princess coat with pink buttons and Easton has a blue Lightening McQueen coat. Their preferences in colors haven't changed since birth. Although I will say Easton has taken a liking to red because Lightening McQueen is red.

The 4 Webbs dined on the outdoor patio of P.F. Chang's in T-shirts . Well, except Layla who wore her princess attire. They both shine so brightly that we constantly get smiles attention even though they are 3 years old and not babies anymore. They shine in spite of the chocolate covered faces.

Layla dropped her fork so I gave her mine and used the handy chopsticks. Hey, it was a Chinese bistro! I wouldn't let a lack of utensils stand between me and cake!

Christmas is coming quickly. All I want for Christmas is... to finish the remodel and get into our house. Possibly a gift card to Lowe's or something since we go there DAILY. :)

See you soon!

Fall is Here and Gone

2011-11-10T08:50:00.001-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

Arizona experienced the one-week of fall where we go from blazes hot to 10 degrees above freezing. We bid a fond farewell to the fall memories and welcome old man winter. Well... At least it seems like winter to us thin-blooded Arizonians. Our mail is already forwarded to the new address so that means our walk to the mailbox is purely for the joy of playing Captain Hook and Jake and Izzie. Guess who is Captain Hook? Me. I capture Izzie and tie her to the mast of my pretend ship. Then Jake comes to save the day with a long sword (stick). He cuts Izzie's ropes then Izzie sprinkles pixie dust on the two of them. They fly away and leave me to be eaten by the crocodile. Add jackets, laughter, and cheers for the hero. That's the recipe for fun at the green belt almost every single day.

I'm not growing a beard on purpose. My laziness and indecision about shaving makes the decision for me. I gotta shave this scruff because my Indian blood only yields a few scraggly hairs across my cheeks.

One evening I needed to run some errands and Kendra needed a break from the twins. In order to pull off such a feat I had to bribe them with promises of a special treat. This night I decided to take them to the local coffee shop where we ordered up two mildly hot chocolates. Easton and Layla really enjoyed the taste, but the ambiance made it extra special. We sat outside next to the pond and lighted fountain. Plenty to see and experience.

There were at least 12 people in close proximity all intrigued by our little daddy date. Then Layla topped off the night by shouting (unprovoked), "Do you know what the best part of the night is? Spending it with YOU, Daddy". Every person within ear shot let out an audible, "aweeeeee" and one lady almost broke down in tears as she said, "That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard. Easton leaned over and gave me a big hug and said, "I love you, Daddy".

We will get hot chocolate every time I need a little pick-me-up because it sure worked. We received the official picture from our vow renewal a few weeks ago. I like the picture from my camera better than this one, but it was a meaningful occasion either way. Kendra is the light of my life and as she gets brighter my life becomes more enjoyable.

Speaking of lights... Kendra is on a mission to find new lighting for several rooms in our house. According to her research we can only afford Home Depot lights and Lamps Plus is a total rip-off. Not sure what other options exist, but I'm confident she will find tastefully designed lighting.

The flooring is over half-way done. This is the kitchen flowing into the dining area flowing into the den. If I turn around the other way it would show the hallway to three bedrooms, the bathroom, and powder room. The floors are very dirty and have no grout. I'm looking forward to seeing a room fully finished because I'm having a difficult time visualizing how it's going to turn out.

Kendra has the interior decorating forward-looking vision so I trust what she sees. We are still shooting for a November 19th move-in date and we're crossing our fingers everything works out to get into the new house by then.

See you soon!

Woopty-Woop Pwanes

2011-11-07T00:58:00.000-07:00

Howdy friends and family,

Having aunt Mary around brings out my inner mid-westerner. I think I used the phrase, "Y'all, I'm fixin' to go home". Nothing wrong with getting back to my roots. It's almost 1:00 AM. I have to let the tile installers into our house in 6 hours followed by a full work day and more manual labor. Why in the world am I blogging now? Well, it's because I'm so delirious from all the craziness of moving that if I DON'T write this down then I'll surely forget it. See the jack-hammer, respirator, and busted up flooring? I'm not messing around!

Tile starts tomorrow, whole-house painting starts Thursday, then move-in begins on Sunday culminating in an epic truck-load on the 19th. The timing is hysterical because Kendra's parents arrive on the 18th, just in time to help us move. I couldn't have planned it better if I tried.

Mean while Easton and Layla are hanging out at home with Aunt Mary. She rubs their back for quiet time, teaches new songs, and lets them throw rocks over the neighborhood wall. Aunts have certain privileges and responsibilities, you know.

Today between church and working on the new house I spent some quality and quantity time with the twins. Easton put his ear up to my chest and said, "Dad, your heart says, 'I want to play with Easton!'". That lets me know I'm loved, but I'm spending too much time away from the twins. On Saturday while Kendra was testing paint samples I busted out some instant, cheap fun: paper airplanes! My breadth of airplane making only extends to two types: loopty-loop and super-fast. That's it. Easton calls these, "woopty-woop pwanes".

I wrote I love Easton and I love Layla on each of their planes then let them draw a picture of themselves on the other wing. Very artistic, aren't they?

I miss my friend, Jason. At least we have Skype. Layla ran into the front room screaming, "Layla Ruth!" with a shriek, scream, and laugh when she heard us talking.

Nothing tastes better than chocolate cookie dough batter straight off Mom's blender beaters. The twins would do back-flips and recite poetry for a lick of the gooey deliciousness. The same response can be duplicated by waving bacon in front of your dog's face. Yeah... it's that entertaining.

One of the few bright spots through the moving saga is how much fun two big boxes can be for three-year-olds. They are having a blast climbing in boxes and covering up with them on their backs like a turtle shell. I imagine toys will be the absolute last box packed, but we're getting close!

See you soon.

Should've Been a Cowboy

2011-11-03T23:41:00.002-07:00

Howdy folks,

Manual labor while remodeling the house is leading to an intense appreciation for my day job. Thank God for college education. Most everything we accomplished over the past few days was fun for about 10 minutes. Then, no matter what tool or destruction or manly feeling, it dissipated into the thick cloud of dust and mundane monotony. Here's the a dusty "before" picture taken from the den looking towards the kitchen. The interior looks extremely shabby right now, but this is the destruction before the rebuilding. I look forward to the final product 12 days from now.

I've been a ghost for the past week as far as Easton and Layla are concerned. Nary a single bath/books/bed routine and my bedtime is past midnight consistently. That may work for some guys, but not this sleepy head. It's only temporary though so I can make it through anything for a few days or weeks.

The total quality time with the twins is about 20 minutes per day. Kendra says the lack of quality time manifests itself in their "acting out" which I take to mean disobedience, rebellion, etc. I'm not worried though because 3.5 years of continually pouring into their lives won't be negated by 2 weeks of chaos.

One other picture from last Sunday afternoon is this one of Layla. The flower on her face was painted by Tam at church. The Kinects pieces in her hand represent a pretend flower I gave her while we were playing dress up with Layla and Kinects car building with Easton. Anything can be a flower with enough imagination.

Kendra's friend Susan posted this excellent list of "50 Rules for Dads of Daughters" http://lifetoheryears.com/50rules. My favorite is #18: Tell her she’s beautiful. Say it over and over again. Someday an animated movie or “beauty” magazine will try to convince her otherwise. If you have a daughter I recommend reading the list. Consider it a baseline test to determine how you measure up.

The weather is perfect this time of year and when it gets this way we open the flood gates of park trips. Here we can see the twins digging up pretend dinosaur bones in the Duck Park playground. I tried to capture a candid shot, but they were both face-down focused on their archaeological find.

Kendra spent a morning at the watching wild boar and playing on the statues. Playing on the huge elephant gives them a real-life, tangible way to grasp the concept of size comparison.

Easton looks comfortable on the statue, but he's obviously never seen a rodeo. Of all the things he can be in life, I'm doing my best to steer him away from Cowboy as his profession. I'm on the opposite side of the Toby Keith song that says, "I should've been a Cowboy, I should've learned to rope and ride, Wearing my six-shooter riding my pony on a cattle drive". Ha! as if he'll ever want to do that...

Oh crap. Mary? Aunt Mary! I need to have a word with you about the cowboy hat and six shooters gift.

Just kidding. I'm not concerned a bit about him playing cowboys with cap guns. On the contrary I'm very happy he is getting some exposure to the concept. All of us played with cap guns as kids and we're not cowboys or crazy mass murderers. Then again, our parents thought it was a good idea for a 5 year old to sleep in the back window of a Cadillac without a seat belt while driving across the desert at night. OK, I guess it was just me.

Anyway, I'm out of bullets with only 6 hours to reload and start shooting again tomorrow. Yee haw!

Halloween Candy Rush

2011-11-02T00:48:00.001-07:00

Too tired to think coherently much less write at a kindergarten level. The house is officially ours and the occupants are gone a few days earlier than projected. We gave them 75 days notice to vacate and they used 70 days. Sure puts us in a time crunch, but we are so excited to be there that we don't even care about those minor details. We trick-or-treated in our new neighborhood while meeting all of our neighbors... in my Buzz Lightyear costume. After all, you never get a second chance to make a first impression!

Easton and Layla's attention span only lasted about 12 houses then they were ready to go home. Worked out fine because we didn't need more candy than they scored. On Sunday Layla went to church with me while Kendra stayed home with Easton because he had a fever. Church requested all children dress up as their favorite Bible character. Layla chose Queen Esther (with some guidance from Kendra). The costume looked lovely on her. She played the part perfectly even down to the hand wave and politeness.

We are tearing up pergo, linoleum, tile, and carpet. I appreciate my day job more every single day. This manual labor stuff is for the birds... 10 more days of reconstructing the home and we will be ready to move in on the 12th!

See you soon!

No puppy

2011-10-31T00:25:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

It is officially Monday October 31st, which means Halloween for everyone else in the country. Not for the 4 Webbs! It means much, much more. Today is the day we get the keys and garage door opener to our new home. It is the beginning of a boat-load of work and a new chapter in our lives. Luckily the move is less than 1 mile away so nothing else is changing besides the residence. Same school, same grocery store, same church, same In-N-Out burger. Wait a minute... all In-N-Out burgers taste the same so scratch that last one. Anyway, I'm happy to have everything else in our lives be consistent through this transitional stage.

The day after Kendra and I returned home from our honeymoon I moved her to Arizona. New home, new church, new work, new cleaners, new friends, new HUSBAND, every aspect of her life was turned upside down in a single day. That caused an extraordinary amount of stress on her that I didn't consider at the time. If only I had it to do over again. Since I don't, all I can do is say, "Kendra please forgive me for making such drastic changes in such a short amount of time" and move on with life.

Some people have recommended we get a dog or asked why we don't have one. To show my reason pictorially I give you exhibit "A":

Easton is tossing Bolt in a basket over his head. Layla is swinging Nelly by the paws over her head. Any questions? I feel sorry for the poor, unfortunately pup who lands in our house. I know they wouldn't treat a real dog like this, but I've seen them push otherwise docile dogs to the verge of growling. Besides, we have more than enough excitement around our house without cleaning up messes of a dog. We've talked about the possibility, but neither of us are excited about the required maintenance associated with owning a dog. Maybe when they a bit older, but probably not even then.

They haven't asked why Ben and Trinity have a dog or why Riley and Jaden have a dog, but we don't. Until then we'll keep the status quo. Don't give them any ideas! I'm talking to you, Ouma. :)

See you soon!

Snugglee and Snugglor

2011-10-29T00:27:00.000-07:00

Howdy friends and family,

As I whined over the past few posts about the busyness of life a reasonable person might infer I haven't taken time to catch up on blog reading. I got an email from Marisue who pointed out a particular post on my best friend's blog titled, "The wife loves to snuggle like a fat kid loves cake."

http://whereisjackbutler.blogspot.com/2011/10/wife-loves-to-snuggle-like-fat-kid.html

It really is as humorous and relatable as she suggests. He wields the English language like a sword so I won't even attempt to add or remove anything from his post. However, I can describe how this works out in the Casa de Webb and hopefully provide some support for his wife since I'm a fellow snugglor. Kendra feels the same way my friend does, but mostly because she's hot like a locomotive furnace. Her core body temperature is probably above 105 degrees. If any part of my body crosses the (very defined) middle of the bed then her temperature increases to 115 degrees or so one would think by her reaction.

I admit my halitosis breath attacks before my head finishes sinking into the pillow. Also, I breathe heavy all night long (think Darth Vader in a sauna). Even so, I cherish the nights where I get 3-4 minutes of snuggle time before she overheats and I'm relegated to the cold half of the bed. Our marriage is at a place where we laugh about this kind of thing. We realize if this is the most heated disagreement we have then our relationship is very solid. Anyway, I had a good chuckle from my friends blog post and I'm sure you will too.

The only pictures worth mentioning lately are from my new iPhone. The image quality still stinks, but it's better than what I had! If nothing else it is handy since I never go anywhere without my phone. Easton and Layla are so lucky to have such an awesome built-in playmate. Easton wanted to push his dump truck to the mailbox. Lucky for Layla we figured out early how duplicity diminishes disputes. Kind of like having two tubes of toothpaste so couples don't fight about how the other person rolls or squeezes. Layla, not wanting to be left out, requested her own dump truck. No problem! We actually have THREE dump trucks so when one of them chooses a dump truck the other one gets a choice between the second and third ones available. Now THAT's thinking ahead. avoiding single-toy arguments results in pictures like this:

instead of something out of Fight Club. See you soon!

Suckers

2011-10-28T01:16:00.001-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

The 4 Webbs are 3 days away from taking occupancy of the new Casa de Webb. Prior to hearing the official move in date today I was not excited because the only difference in our daily life was the missing money in our savings account due to the whopping down payment. Seeing a tiny number where there used to be security of a big number is not comforting. Logically I know the house is ours and we'll eventually get there, but now I have a target date and I'm giddy like a school boy. Were hoping to sleep the first night on Nov. 14th, but I'd hate for Ouma and Oupa to miss out on helping us move. :)

We're kicking it into high gear with boxes and trash flying everywhere. Each person entering our home MUST be read a disclaimer prior to entry otherwise Kendra is worried they might be put off by the clutter. Easton and Layla are taking all of this in stride. The rest of their lives are very structured and consistent. School, church, library, bed time, and everything else are firmly in place during this time of transition. They still fit in the rocking chairs very well so we'll certainly transfer them to the new place. The twins gnawed on their first tootsie-roll lollipops.

They experienced plain lollipops before, but I knew this would be entertaining. As we played together then kept licking and licking and licking. I waited patiently for one of them to reach the chewy surprise in the middle. Easton got there first and his expression was priceless. You'd have thought he won the state lottery based on his excitement level. He proudly showed Layla the tootsie roll awesomeness. She looked at her sucker and realized it contained the same chewy center. She chomped into it with no intention of seeing how many licks it takes to get to the center. Their enthusiasm made my week.

By the way, you might notice Layla has Oupa's calf muscles. Trust me, she also inherited his strength as well. Easton inherited my legs. Sorry dude... Nothing I can do about that!

Kendra braided Layla's hair in what I think is called a French Braid. I remember when she was almost two years old and still hairless. Back then I could visualize what it would be like to braid her long hair and now here we are!

Below we have the pre-concert picture of April, Kacey, and Kendra before they headed out to see Taylor Swift. I'm glad Kendra shared the experience with April. Kacey IS thirteen and the other two acted thirteen. I call that a successful night out.

Layla and Layla Ruth were princess'd out by the end of the three days together. The next time we are together my goal will be to get April and Kendra to duplicate a picture of the two Layla's. I'm talking about getting matching outfits and duplicating the setting and facial expressions.

I can't figure out exactly what is so special about this next picture of Layla with the Ariel doll, but I really like it. Could be because she looks so mature even in a tutu. She looks forward to her Tuesday dance class all week long. Daily she asks Kendra and I to sit on the couch as she flutters around to the classical music. She's got mad dance skillz.

The past three days were some of the most fulfilling in recent memory. I put together a team to support the church conference and we had a blast doing it. These two guys were outstanding partners in serving. I trust them with my life and money can't buy that kind of bond.

One of the many fringe benefits was the freedom to "sample" the food throughout the day. Nothing like a BBQ dinner at 11:30 PM!

Even though the conference was immensely satisfying I'm glad it is over. The long days made it tough to spend much time with Kendra and the twins. I'm looking forward to the weekend because even though we'll be packing and running around like crazy at least the 4 Webbs will be together!

See you soon.

MIA

2011-10-26T00:22:00.001-07:00

Hello friends and family. The Rosa family came to town for a weekend instead of digging their toes in the ocean sand 1 mile fr their house. That's sacrifice if I ever heard it!

Kendra and April joined thousands of screaming pre-teens at the Taylor Swift concert. They even went so far as to hand-paint signs on their shirts! I supported them completely and I'm very glad for them to go have some silly fun together. I hope Kendra never loses the young at heart fun side I was attracted to when we first met. The same genes are proudly running through Easton and Layla!

They loved every minute of play time with their old pal. Layla cried after Layla Ruth left and that's really difficult to watch because there is nothing a father can do to change the situation. However we openly discussed how we are grateful for the time we were given.

This is a short blog post from my iPhone because I've been volunteering for the conference at church the past few days. I'm looking forward to the weekend more than normal because I'm missing the evening daddy time I'm used to getting.

See you soon!

Funny Bunnies

2011-10-22T23:58:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

Aunt Mary blew through town and spent a night on her way to California. We stayed up until 1:00 AM talking, but still aren't close to caught up with everything going on. She'll be back through in a week for a longer visit and we'll have time to chat.

Based on what other parents tell me and personal experience from my childhood I expect Easton's toys to get bigger and more expensive over time. For now he's satisfied driving anything with wheels. The $5 toys are still a big hit. When I asked, "what do you want to play now?" He said, "Cars... no wait... Big trucks!" We hauled his not-so-big trucks down to the green belt and he had his first taste of rock crawling.

Kendra bought cheap, used tap dancing shoes for Layla. We have an instructional video from the library which teaches beginning ballet, tap, and something else. She's still loving her general dance class through the pre-school, but ballet and tap are on the top of her list of things to do. Especially now because she has the official shoes to practice along with the video. The tutu was her idea because when Layla does something she goes all-out!

Who would guess bunny ears and a hula-hoop can be this fun?

Watching kids grow is fairly universal for one or ten or twins or quads. However, some situations are twin-specific and those moments are truly the spice of life around our house. Easton and Layla took turns leading and following as they giggled and ran around the house inside the same hula-hoop. If they were different ages or sizes then this exercise would probably end with bruises and someone crying. Since they are twins it worked out fabulously... until they tried to go in opposite directions. That was a key learning for them. They just stood there facing opposite directions spinning their wheels and going nowhere. Then Layla turned around and they took off across the floor like the Marx Brothers.

There is a relationship-based philosophical concept in there as well. Two people moving against each other in a relationship will go nowhere, but when they point the efforts in the same direction there is no limit to what can be accomplished. I'm very tempted to recreate this picture with Kendra and I... Bunny ears and all.

Our move-in date for the house might be a week sooner than we expected. Seems to change from one day to the next, but we aren't stressed about it. I've waited for 4 years so an extra few days one way or the other doesn't matter. If things go well we might be able to give out Halloween candy to the trick-or-treaters. Three years ago we sat in front of Mary's house (our new house) with the twins passing out candy. We had no idea we would be parking our cars in the driveway three years later for the first time.

I remember that Halloween because we had Mr. and Ms. Santa Claus outfits ready for the twins to wear as costumes. The outfits were purchased for Christmas time. Because we already had them and knew the twins wouldn't remember the occasion we decided to use the Claus outfits for Halloween costumes. We arrived at the house to pass out candy and realized it was still 90 degrees outside. The twins were sweltering so we just took them off and dressed them in the new costume: Twin babies.

So much has changed in three years for Easton and Layla as well as Kendra and I. In some ways the twins physical and mental growth is equivalent to our emotional and spiritual growth.

There's a pattern developing so I'll just call it what it is: Here's my "Daddy loves Layla" song of the day. It's called Red Robin by Clark Richard. Here are the heart-felt lyrics I like most:

now our little lady’s out with daddy for the day
she fought the yawns but couldn’t stay awake
as I place her in the car
she’s out like a light
cause she knows I’ll get her home all right

if time could only give me
a moment to reflect
to smile on all that has been
to treasure what is left
though I won’t always be here
this you surely know
that I’ll quietly spot you
anywhere you go

Seems weird to know I'm somewhere in the middle of this story, but I'm feeling more comfortable in the daddy role more every day. My concern is that I'll figure it out and get it right just about the time they head off to college. :)

See you soon!

8,000 horsepower

2011-10-20T00:15:00.001-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

The most powerful force a person could ever experience in person is NHRA drag races. The space shuttle blast off is obviously much more powerful, but no one can be within 3 miles of it during take off. However, I stood a few feet away from the 8,000-horsepower, nitro-fueled funny cars going 300 mph. Here's a video I took of the view we had all day long.

The whole day was paid for compliments of my corporation. I won VIP parking, Bill Johnson's BBQ lunch buffet, and first class seating with an umbrella and unobstructed view of the quarter-mile race track from start to the finish line.

My friend David joined me for the day and we had a blast. We wore ear plugs with ear muffs over them and our hands pressed firmly against the ear muffs to seal out the insane decibels.

As the not-so-fast cars were running we watched as the crews fully disassembled and rebuilt the motors. This is as close as the average man could possibly get to something so powerful.

David has supported Geico through insurance premiums so we rooted for this car simply because he probably paid for the right front tire over the years.

I used to go with Uncle Dave to the drag races. I couldn't help but sense the irony of enjoying what probably would have been the best day of his life if he were still alive. It was a picture-perfect day from the close parking to the top-notch seats to the free BBQ by the lake track.

Normally the blog is about Easton and Layla and our family, but an experience like that is worth. That was the weekend of fun, but then I went back to work while Easton and Layla continued their adventure filled lives. A group of mommies and kids including the Webbs went to the zoo for entertainment. The rhinoceros was up and walking around, which Kendra said is a rare sight.

Daniel's little sister, Katelyn, joined in the zoo fun, but she's not quite old enough to hang over the railing for the cages.

The whole crew of kids lined up and this is a good picture considering how difficult it is to get even one kid to sit still and look at the camera.

Kendra caught a humorous conversation as Layla and Daniel walked hand-in-hand down the path. The twins are both excited about telling jokes lately. As a courtesy translation, Layla says "on my tushy tushy" meaning she fell on her butt.

The carousel is still high on the must-do list of zoo activities. Easton chose the dragon partly because he's trying to convince us to buy him a Night Fury dragon costume for Halloween...

Aunt Mary is coming into town tomorrow for an over-night stay with us. She's on her way to California for a visit with her friend and then she'll come back through for a week to tie up the loose ends related to the people living in our house through November 7th. Sure seems weird to say "our house" but I'm starting to like the sound of it more every day.

Kendra and I still have occasional arguments or disagreements. When I start one she calls it "being mean", but when she starts one she calls it "being passionate". :) 99% of the time they are related to unnecessary things like whether the kids should eat peanut butter for dinner or not, but occasionally they are about slightly more meaningful topics such as what couch to buy.

For some reason she has it in her head that we must make a choice between form or function (attractive vs. comfortable). I try to disagree by pointing out a couch can be both attractive AND comfortable. The comparison I considered, but didn't make because we both gave up, is this:

There are many attractive girls in this world. There are many nice girls in this world. There are many Christian girls in this world. Even though the odds are minuscule I managed to find Kendra who is ALL of those things and much, much more. I'm hoping the same scenario plays out in the couch purchase where we both get the attributes we want without sacrificing. After all... we only need ONE couch and know there must be at least one on this planet that meets all our desires.

Since Kendra doesn't blog (by her own choice) there will be no rebuttal or flip-side of the story (insert evil laugh) and no one is allowed to ask her about it either because that would make my blog powers useless to persuade people. As Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz says, "I have an intense, burning indifference." Whatever couch we get will need to last 10 years. If I get what I want, what will I complain about? Just thinking long-term, ya know.

See you soon!

Potpourri of Excitement

2011-10-18T00:56:00.001-07:00

Howdy, friends and family.

The past few days are almost indescribable. I'll give my best effort to do them justice, but the stories will have to be broken up in separate blog posts because time is limited more than normal lately. First the bad news... My great uncle Ronnie passed away today from a heart attack. From what Cousin Bud said he had a bum ticker for the last several years so it isn't a complete surprise, but sad none the less. I don't even remember the last time I saw him. Maybe once in the past decade?

He was one of those old guys who was SO old I thought, "He's never going to die and may outlive me even though he's two generations older than me". Emotionally I'm so disconnected with him that I don't think a grieving process is needed because I have virtually no memory of him whatsoever. The only connection I have is the compassion towards the family members I had a relationship with many years ago who are affected by his passing.

Now for the good stuff. We are wearing out the Phil Wickham "Response" album at our house and in the car. I call it an album even though we play it in digital format exclusively. What else do you call it? Anyway, Layla is getting more confident with her voice all the time. Kendra captured a clip of her singing along with "Heaven Fall Down". The head bobbing is from me grooving to all kinds of music around the house. She even closes her eyes a few times which is an obvious parroting of Kendra getting lost in worship regularly. It's a healthy sign of her growing up with the right influences in her life.

When Layla and I go on "Daddy dates" she requests I sing the Star-Spangled Banner. Gladly! I say and give it my best shot. My rendition is not as epic as what I consider the best performance in the history of the USA.

I just got lost in the Youtube vortex finding that last clip and wasted 35 minutes of sleep time... Hate it when that happens. Anyway, Layla and I are developing a singing aspect of our relationship where one or both of us break out in song occasionally. Every night she begs me to sing three songs. Then I say one. Then she says, "Two, pleeeeeeeeese?" and I agree. She request Amazing Grace then Jesus Loves Me... In that order. I put my hand on her cheek during the songs. If not she will search around for my hand and put it against her face. If I don't stroke her cheek she will rub her face back and forth across my hand.

Every. Single. Night.

There is something to be said for consistency. If I'm not able to get home she stays awake up to an hour past bed time just to go through our nightly routine. Some may consider that to be a bad dependency, but at her age I am perfectly happy to be the one providing the consistency and solid foundation. I can see more every day how extraordinary her confidence is becoming. Some small part of that is because she honestly believes me when I say, "Daddy will always be here for you and I love you all the time no matter what." Day after day I reinforce by saying it like a broken record.

Easton is clearly uninterested in singing or dancing, which is fine with me. I don't want to force any hobby or personality trait that isn't a passion for him. His current fascination focus is the human body. His recent favorite books are all about skeletons, muscles, nerves, and organs. Easton has a great ability to comprehend complex systems and concepts. I'm already jealous of his attention to detail and skills in this area. Today he proclaimed he wants to fly the Concorde aircraft. I don't have the heart to tell him they are no longer in service. It's possible by the time he is old enough to fly there will be super sonic transportation again. The crazy thing is how he believes and I believe he is completely capable of doing it. Sky is the limit for this kid.

The 4 Webbs were fortunate enough to get 4 free tickets ($124 worth!) to go see Phineas and Ferb Live. Yet another reason we are happy to have only two adults and two kids in our family. Here's a short video clip of a country dance set during the show.

And for those of you who don't bother to watch the YouTube clip, here's a good quality of picture of the stage and characters.

The show was well received by Easton and Layla. Although the choreography and production quality were great I couldn't believe people actually paid the ridiculous face-value of the tickets. Yikes! You can see the uncertainty in Easton and Layla's faces. That was due to the very dark conditions and the Star Wars themed fight scenes with light sabers. It was tame to say the least, but they are both very sensitive to the "bad guys".

The $7.00 popcorn box was the only expense of the trip so I gladly forked out a few dollars for the hungry kiddos. Kendra enjoyed the show as much if not more than the twins!

I'll have to save the rest of the weekend update for tomorrow's blog post. See you soon!

Puddles and Tips

2011-10-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

The 4 Webbs are home owners... we think. The title company was supposed to call on Friday to confirm everything is posted, but didn't. Guess we'll hear for sure on Monday?

We survived the hottest August ever recorded in Phoenix. I'm not sure if that is good news or bad news, just the facts. The troublesome part is that the summer just won't go away. It's mid-October, but lucky for us Kendra didn't pack the swim gear... yet. Otherwise, washing the car in the 97 degree heat this evening wouldn't have been nearly as fun. Easton and Layla were soaked from running back and forth through the hose.

The cul-de-sac was flooded all the way around so they ran laps splashing in the puddles. It's not like we get rain frequently enough to go play in the puddles. So we make our own!

Two clean, dry cars resulted in two dirty, wet kids. It was a fair trade though because I was entertained the whole time.

Don't play with your food! Most of the time this is part of the broken record spinning during each meal. However, there are times when it's just irresistible. Like a hand-full of raspberries with a hole in the top just perfectly sized for a three-year-old's fingers.

I took a few close-up pictures of Layla as she played on her princess computer. Then she asked if I would take a picture of her WITH the computer. She arrived at the show-and-tell stage of life over the past few weeks due to the introduction of it in school.

Now every time a new guest arrives at our house we have 5-10 minutes of the twins showing random pictures they drew and toys. Nothing wrong with that! By the way, I have a few key learnings to pass along.

1. interruptions - We learned how to deal with this by observing the teacher-student model at their pre-school. When a parent is talking to someone via phone or in person there is a protocol implemented to allow the child to interrupt. Commonly it comes across like this: "Mommy, mommy, mommy, MOMMY, mom.... Mommmmmm... MOMMY" until finally the mother cuts the conversation and says, "WHAT IS IT!?!?" Instead, the protocol we are teaching is for the child to quietly place their hand on the adults forearm and wait for acknowledgement. Then the adult places their other hand on top of the child's. That way the parent (or teacher) knows the child has something to say and child knows the parent is acknowledges the child's request. When the conversation is done, then the adult addresses the child with full attention. This is theory, but also works in practice. I saw it at school and we are working on it at home. Is this common practice? It could be common, but I just wasn't observant over the past few years until it really mattered with my own kids...

2. Free coloring pages. There is no need to ever buy another coloring book. Easton and Layla love to color and I found the not-so-secret way to go above their expectations virtually for free. With a coloring book there is a theme and some pages are more interesting than others. However, if you follow this process the child gets exactly what they request with immediate gratification. Here's how the amazingly simple process works:

go to google.com
type in "coloring pages" and whatever you want to find
click on the most appropriate link
Find the picture you like
Print it out. That's it.

for example, I type in "coloring pages airplanes" and get this result, which Easton loves: http://www.coloring-pages-kids.com/coloring-pages/transportation-coloring-pages/airplanes-coloring-pages/airplanes-coloring-pages-gallery.php

The twins give me very specific requests such as, "Ariel mermaid princess in a shell". I can do that! http://www.altelco.net/~coulson/PrincessColoringPages/ariel02.pdf

I print off three or four picture requests and have a great time with the three of us coloring the pages together. It's free and fun. two things I really like.

Speaking of free, I'm getting free tickets from work for excellent adventures. The weekend was jam-packed from the dual alarm clocks (Easton and Layla) to the moment I laid my head on the pillow. I admit it was busy only because we chose to fill it. Even so I'm looking forward to Monday morning getting back to work so I can rest. :)

See you soon!

Home Owners Once Again

2011-10-14T00:23:00.001-07:00

Pura Vida friends and family,

I'm missing my brother-from-another-mother who lives in Costa Rica. Kendra is teaching Spanish vocabulary to the twins and I have such a long history with Memo that he is virtually synonymous with Spanish in my mind. One year from now I'll be on my 90-day paid sabbatical from work. My dream is to spend a week in Costa Rica with Memo and a week in France with my other international friend, Ryan. Dreams don't always come true, but I'm at least going to throw it out here because the only difference between a dream and goal is a plan. Now I just need to start planning and saving. That brings me to the next topic: Home Ownership.

Kendra and I are official home owners as of Friday at noon. Hooray for the 4 Webbs! We don't move in for 5-6 weeks though. After more than 4 years of renting (happily) and investing/saving we pulled the trigger on our dream home. I held onto the down payment check so tightly that the title company lady had to pull extra forcefully to pry it from my miserly hands. That was a tough one. The single biggest investment move of my entire life just shifted a substantial amount of liquid assets (cash) into one of the MOST illiquid assets (real estate). My money still exists I just can't touch it... ever again. However, now I get the benefit of living in the investment, which is much more enjoyable than smiling at the .00001% interest the lousy banks pay.

Kendra's interest in Interior Decorating and DIY is off the charts. In case you want to see what SHE likes you can check out her Virtual Pinboard here. In case you are wondering, "what is a Pinboard?" here's the answer: "Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes."

The 4 Webbs are window shopping virtually every day. The term virtually means both "online" and "almost". Good grief, I'm getting quote happy. I should take a grammar class at the local Junior College so I can tame the over-quoting beast. I'll get right on that after Easton and Layla finish college.

Anyway, we are regulars at Lowes. Easton and Layla are both good sports about walking the isles with us. Sometimes they need a break and this unframed shower worked out well. It's a little too drab, don't you think?

The Christmas displays are an attention grabber especially for young kids. Their good consequence for obedience and good choices was 5 minutes roaming the Christmas isle. They stared at the blinky lights and tried on every hat including the reindeer antlers.

I took Layla on a Daddy date while Kendra took Easton on a Mommy date. Easton experienced the local train museum for the first time. I've been saving that for a special occasion just like this. Kendra said he loved it, but unfortunately no pictures from the adventure. I told Layla we were going on a Daddy date and she could choose to do anything she wishes. Her immediate response was a list of activities in the exact order she described them:

Look around the Disney Store
Eat a hot pretzel with cheese
Ride the mall train
Look at the jewelry in Claires

I was excited she knew exactly what she wanted and it was something I could easily accommodate. Off we went doing exactly what she wanted in the order she described. I want her to feel confident asking me for exactly what she wants so that she will feel confident in prayer asking God for exactly what she wants. I say to her, "Be specific in both cases!"

The Disney store has an electronic mirror where if you wave some product around it a video plays related to the character whose merchandise was waved. Here Layla and I are enjoying a brief clip from Tiana.

Layla will be Cinderella (again) this Halloween because the dress still fits her great and since we were in Sacramento last year no one in Phoenix saw her most wonderful costume. Kendra wanted to dress her up as Minnie Mouse, but I talked her out of buying a new costume by referring to the insane amount of money we are going to spend on decorating the new house and moving. Cinderella it is!

Layla has a nose like Toucan Sam. As soon as the tasty scent of Auntie Anne's was in air Layla took off and stood quickly in line to wait patiently for our turn. The lady in front of us had torn up fashion jeans. Layla thought she would be kind by fixing the perceived problem. I had to apologize for her poking the young lady in the butt trying to get the hanging strings (awkward). After my face turned from beet red back to normal tones we sat on a bench sharing a hot pretzel and cheesy sauce.

Then to the train for a never-ending ride around the lower level. Layla waved like a home coming queen in a parade screaming, "Hiiiiiiiiiiiii" and smiling brightly for all to see.

Lastly, we wandered around Claire's where she found a years-worth of gifts in the jewelry and make-up sections.

She zero'd in on a lip gloss kit with a pop-up mirror. I chose the container with a blot in one of the colors because the clerk agreed to give me a discount. Layla didn't care and I'm always lookin' for a bargain. Layla took less than 10 steps out of the store before excitedly asking me to see her lip gloss. I agreed, but not before preparing the camera so i could capture the moment.

I give you one of my finest works ever: Lip Gloss Layla

Hmmm... Does that look familiar? Why yes it does! Double points for the time lapse photography win. This is Layla discovering herself in the mirror for the first time when she was 8 months old.

Watching our twins grow is one of the most rewarding things I've ever experienced. Knowing they are experiencing unconditional love and a happy childhood is priceless.

See you soon!

Pride and Selfishness

2011-10-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

Top o' the mornin' to you, friends and family. Irish blood is in my genes along with German, Indian (slot not dot), and several other unknown blood lines of infamy. I think somewhere in my family tree is the care-taker for Belle Starr's horses. She was known as the Bandit Queen. We all have a history and as one of my mentors says, "Your past is either an anchor or a rudder, but it's your choice". It's hard to believe my life is approaching the half-way mark, but I'm highly confident I won't be in the same class of remembrance as Belle Starr. Thank God.

Aunt Susie's trip came to an end today after two weeks of full immersion into the 4 Webb's lifestyle. She was a joy to have in our home. I hope she comes again soon and often. Especially during the times of year when the sunny warmth of Phoenix looks more appealing than the rainy, cold NorCal weather. The only thing as sad as saying good-bye was realizing we did a terrible job of picture taking during her stay. Part of the problem is the unpredictable quality of the Canon SD1300 camera Kendra carries around. 75% of the images are too blurry to use. I miss my S90 terribly.

In 5 days we'll close on the house as we sign our name to the largest amount of debt in the history (or future) of our lives. We start the move to our new house in T-30 days. We kicked off the 4 Webb's economic stimulus package for the US economy by laying down a few thousand on a truckload of walnut-stained ceramic tile. When it's laid with a thin layer of dark grout it will look like a hardwood floor. Looks great and cleans easily, but no hassle of maintaining a hardwood floor. sweeeeeeet. From what I experienced in the stores all a person needs to do for riches is start a tile factory in Italy and sell to the US. Every time we saw a tile that costs three times the normal amount, the sales person said, "but THIS tile was made in Italy!" Whatever. I don't know or care where our tile was produced. It is exactly the color and texture of what Kendra is looking for and if she's happy then I'm happy.

Kendra regularly window shops online and at the brick-n-mortar stores for many other household items. We have a spreadsheet broken out by room with the items in it and cost for each item. Susie joined Kendra and the twins to check out a flea market somewhere. There happened to be an all-you-can-bounce bounce house in the middle of the wheeling and dealing. Two bucks and 30 minutes later Easton and Layla were worn out and covered in germs.

The cool weather brought duck park smiles since it is open for business once again this fall. Kendra's friend Susanna and her two little ones accompanied Kendra and the twins. Easton and Coleson are the same age and he needs that boy time since we don't have any other close friends with a boy his age. Oddly enough the best picture from the duck adventures shows the twins standing virtually on top of each other while Coleson feeds the ducks alone.

Layla's dancing is getting more creative every day. The two of us danced until I couldn't lift and twirl her around anymore. Easton joined in briefly (by coercion) as we did a ring-around-the-rosie kind of thing, but his interest in dancing is almost zero. He would rather read books about the human body and shout out, "Daddy your gallbladder is green just like the man on this page". Layla provides hours of performance quality entertainment.

I was happy to take a break from dancing to wrench on Easton's Tonka truck for a few minutes. Task switching is the name of the game and I'm a master at it with these two around.

During the past month with Neill and Jenny then Aunt Susie around, the twins' quiet time was in Easton's room on the trundle bed. However, after Susie left, Layla was moved to her own big girl bed again. I heard talking during quiet time and discovered "quiet time" without his best friend was not fun at all. He went to Layla's room and read books with her until I guided him back to his own room..

I hear about other twins or siblings who fought and hate each other all through life. What a shame. We established early on Easton and Layla would have a good relationship. We regularly declare, "You are best friends"! It's obviously working because they live it out day after day and grow closer all the time.

I picked a flower off a tree in the green belt then gave it to her in "prince charming" style. She said, "Why thank you, prince Daddy. I love it!" Those moments are the ones I hope she remembers when she chooses a husband some day.

It's midnight and Kendra fell asleep a long time ago. I'm alone in the dark with nothing but the warm glow of three monitors filling the front room. There are seven interesting books piled up on my desk. I stare briefly, but I don't feel like reading right now. I have an open internet connection with nothing standing between me and an unimaginable wealth of information, videos, and music about relevant topics.

Instead of searching for news or reading Facebook about some obscure acquaintance's nap I open the folder on my computer where the most recent pictures of Easton and Layla are kept. I reflect on the moments from their birth to now then relive the past few days with vivid coloring. Then my mind wonders off into the future thinking about the amazing lives they have in front of them. Some day Layla will get married. Even though I have several years to work through that process I'm already well aware that I MUST work through it. It's painfully obvious because I seek and find songs like this:

And I cry like a baby at the thought of watching her experience one of the happiest days of her life. The song is about a father giving his daughter away in marriage. Here is a portion of the lyrics in case the you can't watch the Youtube clip:

But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But its still hard to give her away
I loved her first

We pray for Layla's husband randomly during the day. out loud. in front of her. The decision of who a person marries is so crucial. There will never be a man good enough for Layla, but I want her to know what kind of man to find. Ultimately she will choose a man based on how I treat her and how she sees me treat Kendra. That's not a weight around my neck. On the contrary, it's a relief and a blessing. All I need to do is keep loving Layla and Kendra unconditionally and do my best as a husband and father to meet their three most important needs (Attention, Affection, Approval).

I've heard innumerable stories of people (men and women) whose father didn't love them unconditionally. The ironic part is that every father is given the responsibility AND the ability to love, but some choose not to do it. That gets me to the title of my post... The reason father's fail in anything worth mentioning is due to pride and selfishness.

Getting married exposed those two strongholds in my life. Having Easton and Layla provided the catalyst to break free from these two death traps. Daily I uncover more and more areas of my life where pride and selfishness rule. For this reason I can't point to a single day of change. It's more like an onion peeling layer after layer. I refuse to reference Shrek in any philosophical discussion, but you get the point. This next picture provides the best example I found to show what it feels like to be free:

I have no idea where the sculpture exists or who created it, but I identify with it. One of the craziest aspects of my journey is how I didn't even realize I was bound up like the first image in the picture. How can anyone be bound and not know it? That's a simple answer... Anything can seem normal if enough lies are believed and one persists long enough. How bizarre.

Courageous

2011-10-05T23:56:00.001-07:00

Hello friends and family,

Two nights ago I took a group of guys to see Courageous, the movie. What an outstanding example of defining what is a great father. If you are a father, please go see it. now. Don't read the blog, just get your shoes on and go the the theater. Seriously. just go.

It's taken a couple of days for me to process the story, but I think I have a good enough handle on it to share. My favorite quote is: "Some men will hear this and believe it but have no resolve to live it out." What an awesome call to actions for all fathers and husbands. Even though that is sadly true that many won't be any different than when they went into the theater I'm grateful for fathers who catch this as a call to action and then do something about it. I must get my hands on one of those "resolution" documents...

I received the concepts in the movie as a measuring stick to honestly identify where I am on the scale of fatherhood. The situations were incredibly real and raw, but I didn't relate specifically with any of the five fathers. Even though I didn't see a "you are here" star on a map, the concepts apply all the same.

Oddly enough I just talked with Kendra and Aunt Susie the day before about how I don't want to measure myself against my father in an attempt to be 1 tick-mark better than him. On the contrary, I want to be the absolute best father I can by pouring 110% into Easton and Layla especially during these impactful early years. The movie called out this specific point. I leaned over to the guys during the movie and whispered, "I JUST said that yesterday!" The movie wasn't a pat on the back for me, but it did give some confidence I'm moving in the right direction and some areas I need to work on.

Courageous was unlike any movie I've ever seen because I spent the entire 2 hours trying not to cry like a baby. The thought of losing a child or missing my kid growing up or even if I passed away what it would do to the twins being fatherless really hit me hard. One specific scene when a father denied his 9-year-old daughter's request to dance with her on a public lawn. He said something like, "no that's ok. you dance and I'll watch." I hate to spoil the movie, but it became obvious the father wished he would have danced with her.

I don't have a fear of regrets. That's not what motivates me to be as interactive with the twins as I am. What motivates me is knowing I am there for them and TAKE the opportunity to cherish these moments which already feel like they are slipping away as they grow up. I won't ever have to say, "I wish I would have danced with her" and whether Easton and Layla ever recognize the time and effort I'm pouring into their lives I'll die knowing this is my best effort. They are my finest creation and no job or tangible thing or accomplishment will ever be more important than taking care of my family. Every day is game day as a father and I don't treat anything like a casual practice.

I caught an example of this on video to illustrate what I'm describing. I could easily have told Layla when she asked me to be the chef, "No that's ok. you play restaurant by yourself and I'll watch", but Layla doesn't need a spectator. She needs an interactive father. I even wore my apron, just so you know.

I do my best to treat Easton and Layla equally with equal time. I play 5-10 minutes doing whatever one wants, then 5-10 minutes doing what the other wants. Easton is starting to understand boy time where the two of us do things alone. I announced my intention to visit the hobby shop to fix my RC helicopter. Easton immediately jumped up and said, "I want to go, but NOT Layla... just boy time" so we hung out in the hobby shop together and had the best time talking about the airplanes.

I've thought long and hard about what developed my sense of normal when it comes to kids. I attribute whatever success I find to two things: having an open heart and mind to realize maybe I don't know everything. secondly, reading articles and books. Kids don't come with an owners manual, but there is more information out there than I could ever consume regarding child rearing.

As Mark Twain once said, "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."

Some part of success comes from my parents. I acknowledge that. However, my father wasn't shown a good example of fatherhood from his and he did much better than his father. Just like my dad, I determined in my heart to be the best I can be. That means taking the necessary steps to consider what was modeled for me and improve as much as possible based on the "good books" I read and the input I receive from other great fathers. By the way, the Bible doesn't have all the answers otherwise there would never be a "Christian book store". Just thought I'd throw that in there...

I'm off chasing rabbit trails because I'm writing unfiltered as the thoughts are running through my head. The reason I write on the blog instead of doing a video is because I take lots of time to revise the content to avoid rabbit trails. maybe I'll try a video blog once just to show how much better my (normally) cleaned up post is than my rambling thoughts.

See you soon!

Swimming in October

2011-10-03T00:43:00.002-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

I'm not a big fan of labels or titles, but I discovered the term to describe Easton's primary area of interest: Earth Science. The broad category contains an all-inclusive look into his idea of awesome. The close second area of interest is aerospace. Those two cover 95% of his choice in books, toys, imagination, and movies. Our friend Jacob spent an evening hanging out with the 4 Webbs and he joined the fun by piloting our remote control helicopter as Easton sat amazed.

When I ask Easton, "what do you want to play together?" he sometimes answer, "cars and trucks!" He plays with the Mac diesel truck, but since the grocery store had a super sale on the Cars 2 movie toys I picked up a second truck so we can each drive around. I'm working hard to develop his leadership skills because Layla tends to railroad him into submission if given the chance. I help by being a good follower and encouraging him to lead us through trucking adventures on the car mat.

For the first time in the history of our twins Layla is taller than Easton. OK, so maybe it is a little cheating since she's wearing Kendra's high heels. Easton has maintained an official one inch height advantage since the day they were born. People still easily identity them as twins because their height and features are very close. I see other sets of twins were one is completely different in skin tone or hair color or size. Those are harder to spot, but Easton and Layla get smiles and comments every time we take them out because of their happy demeanor and twin allure.

Kendra dressed the twins for church and I couldn't help but grab the photo opportunity. They both look so perfect dressed like little angels.

I know they aren't really perfect because I'm reminded every single day. Even so I can't help but see them as whole, complete, healthy, and perfect for me. Layla gives me multiple chances per day to speak truth into her life. With each question presented I know the real question I'm answering is, "Am I lovely?" That's always, always in the front of my mind.

Today she took some markers and a coloring book to her bed for quiet time. Why Kendra agreed to such an obvious setup to go wrong is beyond me, but it doesn't do any good to cry over spilled milk or marker covered children. Layla used the pink marker on her hands, face, sheets, pillow case, bed rail netting, and several other places I have yet to discover.

I walked in and responded calmly and appropriately. My standard response is, "I love you no matter what, all the time." She immediately started sniffling because she knew it was wrong and bad consequences would follow. I laid down on the bed next to her and held her close. We talked for a few minutes about the mishap and then she said, "Does God still love me?"

Finally! the opening I've been waiting for... I started with a simple, "yes, God still loves you no matter what, all the time." Then we dove into a deep conversation about how God loves her even more than I do and how there is nothing she could ever do to change how much God loves her nor I. She's a smart cookie and her accepting this as truth was the first time I ever experienced what is "child like faith". As a kid I'm sure I had that because it is the nature of all kids. However, as an adult it is tough to grasp the concept until I experienced Layla's acceptance of the truth regarding how much her father loves her.

How could I ever be mad at my beautiful princess?

On a different day the same sweet girl wearing her ballerina tutu rode through the kitchen on her horse named Lucky. She took my heart and gave me joy then rode off into the sunset. Seems like a fair trade.

The silver lining to abhorrent, unrelenting heat in Phoenix is the excellent swimming conditions which last for months on end. I can tell this is the last hoo-rah for swimming this year. The idea of and afternoon swim elicited shrieks of cheering, but when it came time to actually do it, the shrieks were accompanied with whining about how cold it is. 84 degrees in the water is COLD for these two Phoenix-acclimated weenies

The twins were much more excited to lay on the warm pavement and pose for my unrelenting picture taking than to continue dog paddling through the chilly waters diving for rings.

Kendra and Aunt Susie experienced the West Side Story play with floor level seats. I'm really glad Susie agreed to accompany Kendra. Not because I disliked the idea of seeing the play, but because the two of them enjoyed and appreciated it much more than I ever could.

I had the privilege of hanging with the twins for an evening at home. We played our hearts out and the only productive thing we accomplished was painting Layla's finger nails. She sat in my lap and held very still so I could double-coat her nails with pretty pink polish.

I did a horrendous job. Layla would have done better by herself, but I loved sharing that experience with her anyway. It looks like I strapped a paint brush to a dogs tail and scratched his belly while the tail wagging produced the brush strokes across her finger nails. It's that bad... The beauty of dealing with three year olds is that they don't even notice or care! She is happy, I'm happy, Mommy probably won't be so happy, but it's my first try so I'm sure Kendra will extend me some grace as I learn a new skill!

My work week begins shortly and the extra curricular activities going on will ensure no moss grows under our feet.

See you soon!

comment responses

2011-09-30T22:30:00.005-07:00

Hey hey friends and family,

Here's your parenting tip of the week: Put enough ketchup on it and kids will eat anything. I have no idea where this came from, but trust me... it works.

I owe a few responses to recent comments so allow me to stir up the conversations and catch up.

Ma, the twins are growing well and almost hit the 40 lbs. mark requiring a step up to the next size of car seats. Easton is still one inch taller than Layla and has been since birth. The genetic features are starting to show through more clearly every day. For example, Kendra tells Layla, "you have Daddy's buns" because of her shapely butt. Easton has the "Swingle butt" as an inherited flat-as-a-board trait from Kendra's family. At church a few weeks ago a woman complimented Layla on her dress. Layla said, "Thank you! I have Daddy's buns." The woman looked at me to interpret whether she just heard Layla correctly. All I could do was agree and apologize.

I'd like to add more pictures of Kendra, but she doesn't go to a job every day requiring makeup, dresses, and getting ready. I don't mind a bit because her natural beauty is one of the reasons I married her. However, she doesn't see it that way so I must choose my post-able pictures wisely. Another reason she doesn't show up much is because when I'm with the twins and able to take pictures it is most likely because Kendra is taking a much needed mommy break doing something else besides whatever I'm doing with Easton and Layla. That being said, here's a picture of the 4 Webbs (including Kendra) from our trip to the park.

Easton and Layla woke us up in their usual manner with the common theme of, "I'm hungry". After a quick breakfast we dashed out the door (note the hats covering the hat-head look) and headed to the park. The twins unanimously voted for the Weeee-bump park so deciding where to go was a snap.

I dropped them off with Kendra and took care of the oil change for the Pilot. When I returned they were already red-cheeked from the heat, but having a blast. The requested I join them for a slide and since there are three next to each other I gladly agreed. The only way to lead is by example...

I hoped to take Aunt Susie to the Dinosaur museum, but after the park and running around furniture stores I was too tired to brave the museum. Maybe next week?

Best friend, Ryan. Dude! You're never on Skype? what's the deal-i-o? I'm dying to catch up but a phone call would cost $25 per minute and I don't even know your phone number. send me an email with you're available times and we'll schedule it in, ok. The fixie is still sitting untouched in my living room. It's still 105 degrees outside and that ain't ridin' weather for my work clothes. send me pics of yours. I didn't know you were so advanced to ride a fixie without brakes! My bike came with them already and since i'm riding through traffic I'd rather have the safety nets for the first few rides until i get the hang of it.

Joanie, I'm sure you and John found after getting married and moving (like we did) it's always good to have each other and there are times when no other friends are really a part of your lives. The difficult part lately is reverting back to the "you and me, babe" state after enjoying the benefits of couple friends for so long. I know... it's just a cycle and the only thing I can count on is change. :)

As for planning for the new house Kendra is happily spending hours per day researching, shopping, and thinking about all the decorating. We have our budget set and she's working through the difficult task of prioritizing all of the things she wants and narrowing them down to what we really need. We have a lifetime to fill up the house with stuff, but there are some big purchases she's been putting off for years so it's time to pull the trigger once we close on the house.

See you soon!

remarried

2011-09-27T23:53:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family,

I'm taking a break from the normal focus on Easton and Layla to share some "Jack Handy" style deep thoughts. I'd like to shine the light on the only person more important than Easton and Layla: Kendra. More specifically to share the truth I know regarding What Really Keeps a Marriage Together?

The story connected to the link above summarizes what took me more than 6 years of marriage to figure out. I consider myself to be lucky because some couples never figure it out and it shows.

Let me start by saying I am NOT committed to my marriage. That sounds bizarre, but please read on before adding a mean comment or passing judgement. I am committed to Kendra. Yes, we are married, but my commitment and covenant are with her not our marriage.

When I hear someone say, "I'm committed to my marriage..." it's usually followed by some struggling, barely surviving, desperate, sham of a relationship where two people are attempting to stay together for the marriage or for the kids or for the whatever (fill in the blank).

I don't claim to have all the answers or be an expert in any field, but I know truth when I experience it. The vows I said to Kendra on the day of our wedding formed a covenant between her and I. Not a vow that I will simply live in the same house as her or happen to sleep in the same room as she does. Those things are not what keeps a marriage together, but love does.

The English language is woefully insufficient to describe certain concepts and one of those is "love". For example:

I love this chicken sandwich.
I love your new hair do.
I love the way she sings.

How can the same word be used to describe the bond between a man and women which stands the test of time across multiple decades?

Here's the lesson of the day:

Eros, agape, and philia are the three types of love according to the Greek words. There is a fourth called storge, but that is simply "affection", which I consider to be eros love without the sexual motive.

Kendra and I had virtually zero philia love for the first few years of marriage. Once we recognized our lack in this area and made steps to develop the philia love, being married shifted from a struggle to a joy. Kendra is my best friend. The other two types of love follow closely behind, but the order of importance is... well... important. I've learned the real meaning of many words over the past few years. Trust, intimacy, and cherish are three that come to mind quickly. I haven't completely figured them out, but I moved from "I don't know squat" to "I'm actively working on those".

On Sunday our church wrapped up a great 4-week series on marriage with a renewal of vows. I cried. I admit it... I shuddered a couple of times while saying the words as I tried to hold in my emotions. Old habits die hard.

This time I made a special effort to look Kendra in the eyes as we said our vows. Almost 10 years ago when we were married my main goal was to repeat the words exactly as my Dad said them. That kind of thinking was "under the law", meaning my focus was on SAYING (doing) exactly the right words instead of BEING the man I was talking about by focusing on Kendra. I had no concept of the vows or what they really meant at the time, but neither does any other single person saying vows at their wedding. All of those things I promised sounded easy at the time, but it took the first five or six years to really comprehend how to walk out those promises through our journey of life together.

We have a certificate of the vow renewal I plan to frame, but the real jewel of the day is the picture showing two imperfect people who are living as "one" and having the best time of our lives figuring it out. Kendra and I were remarried on Sunday along with a few hundred other couples. The significance is in the heart behind the ceremony, not the ceremony itself.

Our new-found friends, Rachel and Jacob, are a timely, valuable blessing for both of us. Getting to know them and sharing life together is proving to be an adventure of its own. He has a motorcycle and like flying airplanes. With those interests he has as much in common with Easton as me.

Aunt Susie is joining in our normal daily life, but we haven't had many adventures with her yet. We are having great conversations (after Uno and Dos go to bed) and hopefully a chance for her to relax as needed. Easton asked to take Aunt Susie to the Dinosaur museum so we may take an afternoon to surprise him.

See you soon!

Inexpensive Toys

2011-09-25T23:52:00.001-07:00

Hello friends and family,

Only two days into our time with Aunt Susie and we're already functioning like a well oiled machine with an extra set of arms with which to love on the twins. The real purpose of her trip is to attend the Open My Eyes classes with Kendra and I. The focus is on emotional and spiritual growth through study, mentoring, and classes. I didn't know this until recently, but Kendra and I are slated to teach the class next session in the spring. The thought of me mentoring a large group of guys is a bit of a surprise because no one is really "ready" for the next step in expanding one's sphere of influence, but apparently my time is now.

Anyway, Easton and Layla are right on the verge of some major changes in our daily routines. The joint bath time is all but finished. Both of them love bath time because they play with all kinds of toys and have a laughing good time. We still have the foam letters and numbers in regular rotation of tub toys. They are showing interest in spelling words now that they have all the letters well understood.

I'm not certain of the exact age when boy/girl twins should start taking separate baths, but my observations tell me know, three and a half, is probably a good time. The extra effort of double bath times is not appealing, but I expect it will be good to have individual time with each one.

Aunt Joanie sent Daphne's binoculars to us many moons ago. The twins still have trouble sharing them with each other because it's still a hot commodity around the Webb house. Easton and I ran some errands and wound up at the Good Will store. He targeted a ratty, old stuffed animal dog as his toy to beg for. I know for a fact that Kendra would disapprove completely if I brought home a dirty stuffed animal from the Good Will store no matter how cheap it was.

Then I saw a pair of binoculars up on a shelf. I showed them to Easton and he dropped the stuffed animal on the spot so he could use both hands on the new-found delight. Bingo! the plan worked. $1.99 later and Easton was looking at the moon with more detail than ever before. He even took them down to the mailbox to look at the ants. As you can see he is looking through them backwards, but he'll figure it out eventually.

The heat this summer is just droning on and on forever it seems. Easton and Layla were so desperate to ride their bikes that we braved the hot afternoon just to get some outdoor, sweaty fun time.

Back at home Layla finds other ways to pass the time by fixing Kendra's hair. She's so proud of her bow creations and makeup artistry.

Then it was Kendra's turn to do Layla's hair. Turned out great, but unfortunately bed time followed so all the hard work had to be undone.

The "girl time" is exactly the kind of thing Easton avoids more and more. He regularly requests "boy time" where he describes an activity and follows it up with, "and NOT with Layla, just Daddy and me for boy time." Who could say no to that?

I went shopping for a $25 remote control car for Easton, but in my research I discovered a sweet deal on a brand new helicopter so I bought that instead. At the same time as I peeled open the helicopter box Layla found a measuring tape. Guess which one provided more enjoyment?

The measuring tape, of course. They take turns chasing it in. Layla extended the tape out towards Easton. Then, as she pushes the button to recoil it, he will chase it like a pit bull chasing a laser light. I had as much fun watching as they did participating.

On another occasion the twins discovered bubble wrap. With all of our moving supplies around the house they are finding more ways to entertain themselves with things that were never meant to be toys. They had difficulty sharing so I gave them each a 5 foot roll of it. Once they figured out how to pop their first bubble it was off to the races.

Speaking of races... For some reason the preschool did a craft activity where they color pretend holes on a pair of construction paper pants. Then they patched them up with pink pieces of paper and glue. That's not interesting enough for Easton and Layla so they turned them into the flying pants. Both of them run around waving the pants in the air like an airplane.

Easton adds his own wings and sound effects. I don't have ANY idea where they get these ideas...

By the way, Easton and Layla's new favorite YouTube clip is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Easton saw this clip and said, "Daddy, some day you and I can do this together!" Layla interjected to clarify her position by saying, "I don't want to do that... I just want to be a ballerina." Can't say that I blame her either

Summer is winding down, but Bahama Bucks snow cones are always in season. I took the twins there for a special treat this afternoon while Kendra and Aunt Susie did some window shopping for house stuff. The twins want to stay at home more and more as the days go by. If I offer to take them on errands I need to run both of them decline because playing at home is only second to going out for ice cream or a snow cone.

Note to self: Don't let Easton wear a white T-shirt while shoveling a blueberry snow cone in his mouth. They chose their own flavor and color. Easton chose blueberry and Layla chose pink bubble gum. Imagine that.

And along the same lines of thinking, they each have their own beach towel hanging up outside because the pool is still open for business with a mild 84 degree water temperature. I can tell summer is winding down though because they both shiver after getting out of the pool. Then they sit wrapped up in their towel on the living room rug for several minutes to warm up.

This was a great weekend for the 4 Webbs, but I'm saving the best for tomorrow's post: Renewing our vows.

See you soon!

Good-bye and Hello

2011-09-22T00:12:00.000-07:00

Groete vriende en familie, That's Afrikaans for my standard salutation in honor of Neill and Jenny, the South African's who graced our presence for 10 days.

I've been contemplating how to write about the past few days because they've meant so much more than words can express. There are many people around the world who would give anything to spend a few minutes with Neill and Jenny. We were blessed to have them personally involved in our daily lives for days at a time. They are more than friends and more than missionaries passing through. When someone (or two) pours wisdom into your life and invests in you as a person it is priceless. I learned so much about helping others, discernment, reaching out to those in need, true faith, and trust, and many other aspects of life. The best way I can describe it is "maturity and character building boot camp". Simply amazing.

They spoke for two meetings at our church and they were on stage for a few minutes in the main service to promote the meetings.

Neill and Jenny spent a few hours enjoying the peace and quiet at our house Sunday afternoon. Meanwhile, the 4 Webbs celebrated with Scott and Marisue. Their twin boys turned one. The official purpose of gathering was for the birthday party, but as parents of twins we know the real purpose... It was a "Thank God I survived the first year" celebration party for the parents.

I only remember parts of Easton and Layla's first year because it was all a zombie-like, insomnia-induced fog. I was in survival mode and our marriage was in survival mode. Talk about a feeling of victory!

Little did I know back then the second year would be more difficult than the first. Don't worry I didn't spoil the party with any warning shots of what's to come for our friends. The real sun rays of parental relief don't poke through the clouds until around 2 and a half.

Anyway, the cake was amazingly cool. Each train car was a mini-cake all by itself with candy as the cargo. Cool idea and it turned out to be as tasty as it was creative.

I don't remember what Layla was expressing or why. She has such an incredible way of showing emotion and a vocabulary of epic proportions.

Easton was given a big piece of cake, which I deemed to be too much of a good thing. I cut it in half and put half on Layla's plate. Easton is so easy going that all he cared about was ensuring he could still eat the gummy bears on his half. He is the very definition of contentment and I appreciate that more every day.

Our current house has 1800 square feet of space, but for some reason Easton and Layla stay within one inch from each other most of the day. They shared some chips while lying on the living room rug and for some reason it seemed like the sweetest moment ever to me. I'm certain there is another picture similar to this one from a few years ago, but I'm too tired to dig through 27,684 pictures to find it.

The good-bye for Neill and Jenny was difficult. Many tears and hugs preceded their departure even though we know we'll see them in a few months. In the mean time now we have three days to get our house back in order and welcome Kendra's aunt Suzie into our home for a 2-week visit. Here's the latest picture I have of Susie, which is from our last visit to Sacramento over the summer. She is Ouma's sister, the one in the sun dress.

Kendra and I are very happy to have her around for a couple of weeks. She hasn't spent much time at our house before since we visit Sacramento so often, but Easton and Layla know her by name. We're always open for family to spend time at the Casa de Webb. I'm looking forward to having Aunt Suzie here and sharing our adventures with her. See you soon!

Circus and City Lights

2011-09-19T01:41:00.000-07:00

Ladies Aaaaaaand Gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages. Welcome to the big top!

The 4 Webbs pulled Neill and Jenny willingly into our latest adventures including Easton and Layla's first trip to the circus. I can't remember the last time I saw the circus, but it's been many, many years.

I went to Circle K for the most delicious slurpees on the face of the planet. As I fished around in my pocket for 79 cents I noticed a display of tickets on the counter. The tickets were a free admission for a child to the circus. I grabbed 2 and pitched the idea to Kendra. The timing happened to coincide with Neill and Jenny staying with us and the day was open for activities.

All of us had an extraordinary time watching the acts and observing the twins as they experienced the magic of a circus. Neill and Jenny are such great sports. Easton and Layla are quickly growing attached to their Great Ouma and Great Oupa. Sharing meals and play time together is becoming an expectation so we are not looking forward to their departure on Tuesday. That'll be a sad day around the Casa de Webb. Anyway, here the four of them with the three ring circus in the background.

Easton and Layla both jumped out of their seats when the announcer said pony rides were available during intermission and after the performance. Neill and I stood in line with the twins during intermission, but were cut off at the last moment as the second half of the show kicked off. Afterwards we made a mad dash for the floor of the arena where we able to pop the kids right on the horses for a ride around in circles. Easton was brave and beamed with smiles the entire ride.

Layla waved to the bystanders including Kendra and Jenny. She acted like a princess in a parade. When asked what she liked most about the circus she said (with her yucky face), "I liked the pony ride, but that one horse pooped on the ground."

I love my Canon EOS T3. We were quite far up in the stands. The misters created a fog between us and circus acts. The bright sun outside made lighting difficult. However, all of those factors were no match for the awesomeness of the T3. The pictures turned out incredible given the circumstances. One elephant laid down while the other stepped over him. Never saw that trick before...

I can't juggle. I can't balance on a tube. I certainly can't do both at the same time. This circus crew made me realize my dreams of participating in a carnival are obsolete due to my lack of balance. Almost every act included some component of balance that I could never master in 100 years.

The flying trapeze act was outstanding. It's hard to see here but the dude in the air just jumped over the girl grabbing the bar as they switched in mid-flight.

These next two performers had no net under them! The one doing a hand stand spread his legs and the other jumped over him to the wire on the other side. talk about scary and fun... My feet were sweating and my heart raced while watching the daring duo.

Yeah, I caught the tiger jumping through the ring of fire... it was even more impressive in person.

We sat on the top, back row in the middle of the arena. Frequent potty breaks made the up and down efforts difficult on the stairs, but it was worth it for the great views and back support.

Layla decided to give Jenny's slippers a test run through the house. Her skills are matchless when it comes to walking in adult footwear. I'm convinced she could walk while wearing cement blocks in the shape of ocean diving fins.

The moderate temperatures continue to cooperate so I took the twins to the Dog Park for some sand castle fun. Sun glasses and sun screen are still required, but at least it's cool enough to play in the shade without shriveling up like a raisin in the sun.

We took a break under the ramada for snack time. The usual snacks include cheez-its, Welchs fruit chews, and capri-sun drinks.

No, this isn't a fire, it's a standard, gorgeous Arizona sunset from the top of South Mountain.

The twins and I took Neill and Jenny on the scenic drive to the top of South Mountain. Our timing was perfect. We caught the sunset and watched the city's night lights come to life.

The T3 camera proved its genius once again by capturing the moments with great clarity. Easton and Layla were amazed by the entire experience. I was impressed with their patience and ability to comprehend what we saw. They especially enjoyed the hiking up and down the lookout terrain.

Neill and Jenny have seen a lot of sunsets in their lifetimes. That's an understatement for two people who've travelled around the world 10 times. Even so they were still impressed by the view and colors in the sunset.

One last picture, which is my favorite of the whole day. Just moments after I fired off this shot the sun dropped below the horizon. I'm amazed at how quickly time goes by. There are noticeable changes almost daily in the twins as the learn and grow. At the same time the sun set behind the mountain in the blink of an eye. I'm ahead of the curve on several aspects of parenting. However, I'm always playing catch up with regards to how I should refer to the twins. First they were lint balls in Kendra's tummy. Then they graduated to potatoes, then newborns, then babies, then toddlers. Some time in the recent past they moved from toddlers to kids. For the next several years I'll refer to them as "the best kids in the world". That'll take some getting used to, but I love them just the same.

Only one day left to enjoy Neill and Jenny before we send them away with blessings to minister in Switzerland, France, India, etc. Sometimes visitors pass through our house and the trip ends with a feeling of not making the most of our time together. This is not one of those situations. We've done a great job of balancing making the most of their time with the desire to give them a chance to re-charge their batteries. No regrets and the great memories will be cherished forever. See you soon!

Weird is Relative

2011-09-16T01:25:00.002-07:00

Greetings friends and family,

An overriding philosophy of my company is "diversity". Sometimes it can be overbearing because there is an opposing school of thought which says, "Just because something is unique doesn't make it useful". I think a picture of a bent fork accompanies that motivational poster... The idea of diversification in life is equally important even as it applies to parenting. Kendra and I continually keep that in the back of our minds when it comes to the adventures of the 4 Webbs.

One example is the cultural aspect. We went to the park because the day time high dipped below 100 degrees. I mean that literally. We showed up with our bag of sand toys and for the life of me I can't figure out what other parents are thinking when they bring a car load of kids to a park without sand toys. really? come on. Anyway, the good outcome is Easton and Layla learn to share and we get a chance to interact with all the other kids.

In the picture are two Chinese speaking kids. They said Ni Hao (hello) and Layla said Ni Hao right back. She knows this from watching "Ni hao, kai-lan". then she said the chinese word for slippers, which is a random thing to do in the normal course of conversation. The Chinese boys' father said, "Do she watch Kai-lan?" and I smiled and nodded.

Also, there is an East Indian lady in the background and Layla played with her daughter on the playground equipment. Even though I mis-understand and sometimes dislike other cultures I am stretched socially to interact and be civil to a variety of people. Kids don't care though and I'm glad Easton and Layla know it's normal to be around so many different colored kids, languages, and backgrounds.

Easton and Layla are just as friendly and sharing and interactive with these kids as they are with their cousins. I'm proud of them for it. To me this environment is weird because we didn't have much diversity in my childhood. Not because my parents shielded me, but because it didn't exist in our towns.

Easton was happy to keep his tractor though. He's much more at ease with sharing when he is able to keep his most prize digger to himself.

Another area of diversity is the food. Some kids are content to eat Mac N' Cheese 7 days a week. Whatever works for them is cool. However Kendra does a great job of spicing things up with a wide variety of meals. For example, we ate chicken gyros with grilled mushrooms, peppers, and tzatziki sauce. I bet there are few 3 year olds who would willingly eat tzatziki sauce like Easton and Layla.

We also give them sashimi at the sushi restaurant (raw fish), which they beg us for. I have to fight for my delicious slices of salmon and yellowtail tuna. Dinner gets expensive quick when 4 people are eating sashimi. Most people would say that sounds weird, but for Easton and Layla sashimi is a standard part of our adventures. They eat hummus, cucumbers, squash, shrimp, alligator, you name it and they've either tried it or tried it and liked it.

Neill and Jenny are winding up their 10 day stay with us. The twins are already taking their presence for granted by expecting them to be around and play with them. Dual back rubs is a sure fire way to calm the twins down and make their day.

Some people may think it's weird to have anyone in their house for 10 days, but not us. Our families (we consider Neill and Jenny as family) are so great that we love the time together no matter when or where or for how long.

We are taking full advantage of them being here with nightly, deep discussions about a range of topics. Many people are excited to get 15 minutes of their time to share and listen to their wisdom. We get days at a time where we can really dig down into their wisdom and knowledge. Such a blessing for us to have them around...

Our plans for the upcoming weekend include a trip to the circus! The twins have never been so this will definitely be entertaining to watch them experience the circus for the first time. I'm just excited to do something besides work over the weekend. :)

See you soon!