What's your phone number?

I was reading a picture book with the boys a week a go or so and I would point to something and say it in Spanish and they would repeat it back to me.

Every now and then I would just point to a picture and ask them what it was (in Spanish).

They were doing pretty good until we got to a picture of a frog....which is sapo.

Cal spoke before thinking about it too much and said zapato!... which is shoe in Spanish.

Sapo / Zapato - they sound pretty close together. The funny thing was how funny Clark thought it was. He was laughing hysterically and from then on had to yell ZAPATO!! every time I pointed to a picture. Actually it got a little annoying, but overall, it was pretty funny.

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This afternoon we all went to the sprinkler park and while we were there Cal said:

"Wow Dad, you have big feet! How come I don't have big feet like you?" "Because" I answered "you're still little Cal." "But I want to be big like you."

"Cal, you will be at least as big as me when you're 15"

"Daddy...what's your phone number?"
"What???"
"What's your phone number?"
"How old am I?" I asked.
"YEEES!...how old are you?"
"28"
"Ooooh."

A conversation I was able to hear during those last few moments before the boys fell asleep the other night:

Cal: Daddy...do dogs eat bones?

Me: Sometimes, but mainly they just chew on them to clean their teeth

Cal: Oh...Daddy...can I have a kitten?

Clark: No Cal!! You can't! Mom doesn't like cats!

Cal: Bud Daddy, I want a little kitten.

Clark: Cal!! They bite!!! He will bite you!!

Cal: My kitty won't bite me....

Clark: ...well, they bite me!....Cal! You have to buy food for it at the store!! It cost $12.00...or $100.00!

Cal: Oh

Both were asleep within the next 30 seconds. I bet Cal dreamt about cats that night. He's definitely our little animal lover.

Our Pet Turtle

Elden seems to be doing well. He hasn't been gaining weight as fast as the doctor would like, but at least he's growing.

Ruth and I have been alternating going to church since Elden came home. She is at church right now with the boys. The girls had really runny noses so they're home with me too.

Kelly and Chris moved this week. We were all very sad. We had them over for dinner about a week ago and Ruth went with Kelly to play Bunko last Friday.

On Tuesday I went bowling with Clark and his class - which was fun. We all walked over to the bowling alley. A lot of the kindergartners acted like that was the furthest they'd ever walked in their lives - maybe it was. While we were walking there was this little girl in the other kindergarten glass that knew Clark and was trying to hold his had while we walked. He let her for about 30 seconds and then decided he didn't like that. She turned around and told me that Clark wouldn't let her hold his hand and asked if she could hold mine. I guess she's used to holding somebody's hand when she walks. Anyway, she held my hand the whole way there. I think Clark had a good time bowling. The kids seemed more excited about the balls rolling back than they were about actually bowling.




Clark finished school last week. He scored in the 99th percentile for the nation on their standardized testing. He also received the National Physical Fitness Award. That's like the second best one. He was pretty close to getting the Presidential one (which is the highest). We only did that program my 5th grade year and I didn't get the Presidential one either.

Work was really busy this week. We processed over 1000 soldiers this week - over 500 of them on Thursday and 300 on Friday...and only one Med-board (keratoconus).

This week I signed up for the unit softball team and we had our first practice yesterday. It was pretty good. At least I'm not the worst one there. It would be more fun if I knew more people, but maybe I'll get to know the people on the team. I recognize a lot of them from the hospital, but I don't really know any of them.

After that I watched the kids while Ruth went grocery shopping. Sebastian was over here too. Our van has been making a new rubbing/grinding sound up front so when she got back I took it into the shop. I should have taken care of it sooner because since I waited until the end of the week Firestone was the only one that could do it in time for Ruth and Elden's trip up to Columbia for his MRI. I took my bike with me and rode home. When I got home Clark was playing with his friend Patrick from school that he always talks about. His little brother and Mom were here too. The Mom left a couple of times to do some stuff and once to take the younger one home. When the younger brother went home we went outside to play.

While outside Cal and Sebastian found a turtle in our backyard. It was in its shell but we put it in a little bit of water and it came out and swam around for awhile. The kids were completely entertained the rest of the afternoon. They were pretty good with it too - considering.





We let the turtle go last night while the kids were getting ready for bed. I couldn't help but think it was out neighbor's pet or something but I convinced myself that there was no way a pet turtle could escape somebody's house so I didn't ask.

Last night Ruth and I played Othello. She added another win to her many-many-game winning streak.

Spanish #2

Hace mucho que escribo algo en español. Ultimamente he sentido un poco frustrado con el idioma. No me ayuda que no he estado leyendo nada en español ni mis niños han mirado tantas peliculas en español. A medida que Clark y Cal crecen el diálogo que quiero usar con ellos me cuesta mas y mas. No sé que necesito harcer, pero sé que tenemos que subirlo todo un nivel. Seguramente, tengo que ser mas escricto con los niños menores (Shanna, Haley, y Elden); o sea, si no me hablan en español no les responderé. Necesito mejorar mi habilidad de hablar el idioma. Ya sé que necesito leer y escuchar mas español, pero lo que en realidad creo que me ayudará mas que todo es tener una buena conversación con un hispano cuanto a mendo que posible. Tengo una vecina de Honduras que me hablaba en español de vez en cuando, pero ultimamente solo me habla en el inglés. Bueno, con esto me basta. Ya sé que hay muchas cosas que debo hacer para mejorar mi español – ahora viene el desafío a cumplir con lo que he hablado.

I was just adding my pull-ups to my original post but later realized that software used to notify you of updates doesn't show the update unless you actually make a new post.

Anyway...

11 May 2009: 9
12 May 2009: 9
13 May 2009: 10 - Half way there!!!
14 May 2009: 10

16 May 2009: 10
17 May 2009: Ahhh, the day of rest!
18 May 2009: 10
20 May 2009: I seem to be stuck at 10, so tonight I did 10 sets or 4
21 May 2009: 6 sets of 4
22 May 2009: 12
23 May 2009: 5 sets of 5
25 May 2009: 13

28 May 2009: 4 sets of 5
30 May 2009: 10 sets of 5
04 June 2009: 5 then 10
06 June 2009: 3 sets of 5
12 June 2009: 9 sets of 6
13 June 2009: 18!!!!!!
15 June 2009: 17
22 June 2009: 4 sets of 10

Pull-up's

So I bought this "iron gym" thing to hang over my door and do pull-up's with.

Tonight (30 April 2009) I did: 5

01 May 2009: 6

03 May 2009: 6

04 May 2009: 6

05 May 2009: 7

06 May 2009: 8

07 May 2009: 8

08 May 2009: 8

09 May 2009: 5 (rough day :)

I'll try and do them every night I'm home and I'll tell you how many I did.

My goal is 20 in a row.

Two wheels are better than four!

Clark has learned to ride his bike!!!

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If you need more details, read on - otherwise skip down to the pictures. You can probaby guess they are of Clark riding a bike.

Last summer Clark wanted a bicycle. I found a fairly nice one on Craig's List that cost us $10 plus gas to get it plus several hours of my time giving it an overhaul.

Clark was excited to ride it - until he actually got on. He let me push him a couple of times (both of which I could tell he had the balance to learn quickly) but just felt too scared.

He told me he wanted training wheels so I got him some. He already knew how to ride one of those little scooters so riding a big bike w/ clunky training wheels was pretty lame.

Clark has ignored his bike ever since. His friends here can ride their bikes but Clark has been content to keep up with them on his scooter (which works pretty well so he didn't have a lot of motivation to learn to ride his bike).

The day before yesterday they were all out playing and Clark told me he wanted his bike, so he went up and got it. He rode it around with the training wheels but was getting frustraited with them - like I said, 2 wheels are better than 4. I told him I'd take them off and he said that would be fine. I gave him a push and he just started riding.

We've been riding bikes to and from school the last couple of days and he rides it all afternoon when he gets home. He's so proud of himself!

Here's some pictures:



Here the stick Cal threw into the front wheel of Clark's bike -
Just kidding - Cal would never do that, but as you can see he is a great admirerer of sticks.

Today when I was out with the kids Cal and Shanna were having fun watering the garden that Grandpa Bartholomew planted for us.

Our Kitchen's Bath

Not too long ago I had a post called "Clark's Shower". Read on to see why this is titled "Our Kitchen's Bath".

We've had an ant problem in our south kitchen no mater how clean we keep it (and you all know how clean Ruth and I can be) or how often the pest-guy came and sprayed. They just kept coming back. So we decided to swap kitchens. I moved everything from our south kitchen over to the north kitchen and then had a friend come over Thursday night to help me move the washer and dryer from the north kitchen in the south kitchen.

The move went fairly well. The cupboards are different on each side so I couldn't match our north kitchen to our old south kitchen perfectly but pretty close.

When I hooked up the washer I found that the cold valve on that side had a leak, so I had to just shut if off. I'll have to call maintenance to come and fix it.

The next day during lunch as I was getting things ready to go up to Columbia after work I realized I had to do a load of laundry. I didn't have time to wash and dry, but all I really needed were some socks for Clark. I decide to just wash them and let them dry in the car.

When I got home I picked up Cal from the baby sitter and started loading the van up. Cal and I were just about to leave and pick up Clark on the way out of town when I remembered Clark's socks in the washer! I went down there and the entire kitchen floor and first 3 feet of carpet on either side was full of water!!

At first I thought there was a leak in the hot valve too, but when I looked back there I realized that I hadn't secured the plastic drainage tube very well. Sometime when I was at work and it was draining, the force was enough to eject it out of the hole and spill water all over! I dried as much of it up with towels as I could and ended up being a little late to pick up Clark. We came back home and I finished cleaning up.

We had a good trip up to Columbia Friday and down to Memphis and back home on Saturday. I'm sure Ruth will write all about it on our family blog so I'll let her "tell all". I will say it was sure fun to see our girls again! At the same time, it's a littler weird; it's like we're babysitting them for somebody else. I'm sure after a few days we'll all feel like things are back to normal.

When we got home last night the house stunk down in the basement from the wet carpet. I sure hope we can get it cleaned up enough that it smells normal again!

So two weeks ago the Army sent me to Las Vegas for a Vision Conservation conference. It was basically a 3 day class about keeping people from hurting their eyes. There were a handful of optometrists, some occupational nurses, and some industrial hygienists.he

On the second day we went on an exclusive tour of the Hoover Dam. A chance to see places there that only employees see. Our tour guide was one of the mangers of the plant.

Enjoy the pictures.


This is a bridge that they're building across the canyon. From this view the dam is just to my left. It was quite the sight. I think for most of us it was more interesting than the dam.

As you can see the water level is way down - I think they said almost 100 feet.


For all of those that saw the movie "Transformers", I found the tanks where they keep them.


A view from the top - the Nevada side.


This is one of the spillways. This is the one on the Nevada side. It's definitely the largest drainage pipe I've ever seen.

This is the hallway we went down after we went down the elevators. Notice the granite floor, tiled walls and ceiling, and fancy light fixtures. Although this is an industrial plant in the middle of the desert, all types of craftsmen were utilized in the dam's construction (obviously to put people to work).

Generators.


The CONTROL ROOM!

The two pictures above are of one of four LARGE pipes used to bring water from the resiviour to the turbines.

Our tour guide showing us a diagram of how the dam works.


The upper portion of the turnbines. The turbins are below us here and the generators are above us.


Here we are on the Arizona side looking at the end of the pipes that go to the generators. If they wanted to bypass the generators the water would come out of the holes up there on the cliff wall.


Me at the bottom.


Some pictures of the cool designs in the floors. These Native American-inspirered floor designs were all over the place. Very cool.

A Picture Up-date!

Here's Ruth and I the last weekend - with baby Elden still inside Mom.



Here's a couple of pictures from Clark's first school music program. He was one on of the "crows" on the left set of bleachers. His and another kindergarten glass did "The Three Billy Goats Gruff". It was pretty good.

Clark did a GREAT job singing and doing all his actions and what not properly and on cue. I have to admit, I was a little surprised as we've never been able to get him to go up and sing with the primary kids in church.


Here's me with Elden while he gets a little tan. His bilirubin levels were a little high so they had him under this light for 2 days. They took him off the light today and he tested normal all day with out it so hopefully he's done with that.


Here's me holding him. We have to hold him under our shirts so that he can stay warm. He has been breathing on his own now for a couple of days, is off the blue light for the jaundice, the hole that goes between two chambers of the heart that closes when a baby is born finally closed today,and he got his feeding tube put in. They fed him tiny amount of Ruth's milk 3 times today and he had several messy diapers too, which they tell me is great!

Let's just hope he doesn't get too used to eating through his nose.

I'll stay up here with Ruth for a couple of more days. Then I'll go back to work on Wednesday. I do get 10 days of paternity leave, which I'll probably use when the baby comes home.

Besides being really tired, having a really sore belly, and being away from family, Ruth is doing pretty well.

Here's some pictures from my cell phone

I'm on my way to bed. Grandma and Grandpa are taking Clark and Cal down to Mississippi to see their cousins and sisters tomorrow and all of next week. I'll be heading back up to the hospital tomorrow morning.

English doesn't make sense

Yeah, so I know most of us already know that English doesn't make sense - especially when compared to other languages such as Spanish.

That's why, when we find something that doesn't make sense in Spanish we have a hard time accepting it.

As you probably didn't notice, one of the phrases in my last post was "desde luego".

Desde = since
Luego = later

Somehow these two combined = "of course!"...yea, of course, exactly what I was thinking. I found a forum addressing this seemingly non-sense phrase and was enlightened by what I read.

The forum started with a question asked by a gringo much like myself asking somebody to explain how "desde luego" (since later) can mean "of course".

One of the first posts in reply to his question said something to the effect of "First, tell me why the words 'of' and 'course', when put together, equal 'certainly' or 'yes'."

There you have it...I bet you never thought about the phrase "of course" and how those two words together can mean what they do.

If fact, a very common way to say "of course" in Spanish is "Claro que si" or "clearly yes". Now that actually makes sense.

Lo que aprendi del Prisionero de Azkaban

Words or phrases I have learned while reading Harry Potter in Spanish

Most of these are from Book 3, although some are from Book 2, and none are from Book 1. I learned after reading book 1 that I should write down what I didn’t know and thought would be useful.

Book 2:

1. Parpadear – to blink

2. Encoger – to shrink

3. Blandir – to wave something around

4. Atizador – poker (in fact, I believe it was the poker that one of the twins was “waving around”)

5. Cachivaches – knick/knack, old thing etc..

6. Cobertizo – shed (or shelter out in the woods)

7. Estallar – to explode, pop, burst…

8. Entornada – ajar – like the door is ajar (la puerta entornada o esta entornada la puerta)

9. Colcha – bed spread

10. Bala de cañón – Canon ball

11. Alfézar de la ventana – window sill

12. Pecera – fish tank

13. Baraja – deck of cards (can also say: cartas)

14. Apostar – to bet

15. Mirar de reojo – to look out of the corner of your eye

16. Chaleco – vest

17. Prado – meadow or field

18. Turnarse – to take turns

19. Cuenta bancaria – bank account

20. Repisa – mantelpiece (or bracket)

21. Estante – shelf

22. Echar us vistazo – take a peek

23. Huésped – guest (more commonly called: visitante or invitado)

24. Pellizco – a pinch, like to pinch somebody – dar un pellizco

25. Regatear – to spare or be stingy with

26. Umbral – threshold (of a door, or just the normal way threshold is used in statistics)

27. Pescuezo – a less common name for “neck”

28. Remedio – solution or remedy

29. Sacudir – to shake, shock, or beat (“agitar” is to shake, “sacudir” is a little more violent)

30. Agacharse – to bend over or duck down

31. Hacer ademán de.. – to make a gesture of…

32. Echar a perder – to spoil or go bad

33. Frotarse – rub (frotarse las manos – to rub ones hands together) – restregar - to rub HARD

34. Estrujar – to press, squeeze, or wring out.

35. Menos mal que – It’s a good thing that, thanks goodness that, I’m so glad that…etc… (Menos Mal! => Thank goodness, Thankfully!)

36. Puñado – a handful (literally only, not figuratively as far as I know)

37. Musitar – mumble, mutter, etc..

38. Escaparate – a shop window or display window

39. Desde luego –I never heard this in Nicaragua, but it’s just another way to say: Of course!

40. Merecer – to deserve

41. Ahumar – to smoke fish or meat, or to fill a house with smoke (fumar is to smoke a cigarette)

42. Guiñar – to wink ;)

43. Dorso de la mano – back of the hand

44. Capullo – cocoon or flower bud

45. Colocar – to put or place something somewhere

46. Destapar – open or take lid off

47. Tener los [dedos] entumecidos – to have numb [fingers]

48. Abrirse camino – to open up a path or make way for…

49. Suela – sole of your shoe

50. Trozo – piece of something bigger or a piece of something broken off of..

51. Despistado – absent minded, distracted, or, to throw off the scent or confuse in verb form – reflexive verb = to get off track

52. Arrancar el carro (or auto) – to start the car

53. Despejada – deserted or empty (like a place, not a container; that would be: vacío)

54. Tablero – first saw this word in the book as a car dashboard, but later leanred that it also is like a counter top, or board for cutting on, or even a board for a board game.

55. Guantera – glove compartment

56. Comprobar – to check or test

57. Tirante – strap (as a noun) or tense (as an adjective)

Book 3

1. Pillar por sorpresa – to catch by surprise – also, to “get a joke” I don’t get it, “no lo pillo”

2. Arman mucho revuelo con – they make a big deal about it, or make it sound really cool

3. Contraseña – password

4. Hacer muecas – make faces

5. Quebradizo – brittle, fragile

6. Estar harto de… – to be fed up with…

7. Carraspear – to clear your throat

8. Estar en remojo – to leave something to soak

9. Tras de…besides example: besides coming late…(tras de venir tarde…)

10. Por la comisurade la boca – to say something out of the corner of your mouth

11. Arrimar(se) – to move or bring together, ex: arrimar also a algo – to move something up against something

12. Desgana – lack of appatite or enthusiasm, or, reluctance – “hacer algo a desgana”

13. Bostezar – yawn

14. Estropear – ruin (break)

15. Empuñar – to clutch, grab, hold onto with the fist…

16. En cabestrillo – in a sling (cast)

17. Pelar – to peel fruit, or skin an animal

18. Chachi – variant of “cool” or “neat”

19. Apetecer – to “feel like”, want, be “in the mood” for something – to fancy something

20. Plagada de – infested with…

21. Ojeras – “bags under the eyes”

22. Hacer trizas – break something into pieces

23. Llovizna – drizzle – lloviznar (to drizzle) Like rain of course

24. Escarcha – frost

25. Rociar - to spray or spinkle, ex:

a. rociar algo/alguien (de) -> to shower something/somebody (with)

26. pitido – the blow of a whistle

27. calado – soaked

28. la puntuación – the score (in games or competitions)

29. niebla – fog / mist

30. el cráter – crater (obviously)

31. alcantarilla – sewer ( the network of pipes under the ground: “las alcantarillas”)

32. crucigrama – crossword puzzle

33. asomar – to stick out; ex: asomar las cabeza por la ventana -> to stick ones head out the window

34. caserola, ollas, and cazos – pots and pans

35. desgastado – worn out

36. aguzar – to stimulate or sharpen, ex: aguzar las orejas (vista, or apetito) basically to perk up your ears, or eyes, or give you an apetite…

37. rendija – crack or gap in something; but not a broken crack, that’s: una grieta, or raja (if you’re talking about glass or porcelain).

38. Delatar – to betray or turn in; ex: lo delaté a lo policía (I reported him to the police)

39. Copos de nieve – snow flakes (believe it or not I never learned that in Nicaragua J)

40. Sentarse en cuclillas – to cower, or duck down close to the ground.

41. Enterarse – to find out about something

42. Encontrar (or tener) sentido - to make sense

43. Pavorosa – aweful/dreadful (not that useful, usually we’d just say horrible)

44. Incorporar(se) – to sit up from a lying-down position. (sentarse mas derecha => to sit up properly)

45. Acosar – to pursue closely, harass

46. Dar un rodeo – make a detour

47. Esquivar – to avoid, or dodge

48. Sobaco – armpit – also called: la axial

49. Contar con – to count on (somebody for something)

50. Plegado – folded or bent

51. Un absoluto desastre – Most of the time, you can translate English to directly into Spanish, but every now and then you get a phrase like this that is word for word.

52. Reñir – to tell off, or get mad at

53. Felpudo – doormat

54. Los manteles – table cloth (singular can mean place mat), can also use the word in “to clear the table” => “levanter los manteles”

55. Desmontar – to take apart, or dismantle (it’s second definition is to dismount something like a horse)

56. Te tendré informado – I’ll keep you informed

57. Hojarasca – dead leaves on the ground

58. Puño – fist

59. Nanay! – this interesting little word means: No Way!, or Not Likely!

60. Cera – wax (candle, ear, bee’s etc…)

61. Carecer de - to lack, like: he lacks talent (él carece de talento)

62. Paralelo – parallel (obviously)

63. Empate – tie (in sports) to tie = empatar

64. Hincha – fan (as far as I can tell this little word doesn’t change gender even though it’s genuine article does: el hincha, or la hincha)

65. El guardameta – The goalie!!

66. Aputes – notes (tomar aputnes = to take notes)

67. Siempre que = con tal de que (although I’ll probably still keep using the latter more often

68. El tiempo que haga flata – as long as it takes

69. Sorber – soak up or absorb

70. Lesión – lesion (again, pretty obvious)

71. Halgar – flatter

72. Hacerse añicos – to shatter or smash something to pieces.

73. Tenue – fine (when talking about thread or wire) or faint (when talking about sound or light).

74. Abertura – opening

75. Apodo – nickname

76. Cojear – to limp

77. Maciza(o) – massive or solid – ex: de roble macizo => of solid oak.