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!
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