Parents! Go read this now!

Good for a laugh, for sure, especially if you have more than one kid.

http://www.anymommyoutthere.com/2011/04/then-and-now.html

Easter Soundtrack

A couple songs...take a few minutes to listen and reflect over the next few days.

Easter Fun

A few Easter-related links for you:

Easter Story cookies

Zombie Bunny

The annual Easter song of the Droogsmas (don't laugh at its cheesy-ness)

And an Annie quote for you: I am drinking delicious blood!

It took me a few days to understand what the heck she was talking about....finally I figured that the Easter video she's been watching at daycare talks about the Last Supper. At least she isn't learning about vampires and such :)

Trump

Jeez, I didn't even touch on the Donald Trump issue in my political post! A commenter at National Review summed it up well:

Isn't there something about a Trump presidential candidacy in the Book of Revelation where the angels pour out the bowls of God's wrath upon the earth? If the Republicans nominate Donald Trump for President I'm building a rocket and shooting myself into the sun. It would be less painful than watching the election returns of an Obama/Trump contest come in.

Couldn't have said it better myself :)

Ah, technology

Daddy Sam got an iPod touch for Valentine's Day. It was his reward for slaving away in the tundra of North Dakota. He loves it and the kids REALLY love it, and now I love it, too. Sam took a picture of little Sam this morning and emailed it to me. It was a nice surprise when I sat down at my desk to check my email. I think he was proud of the outfit he put together....
(Sam's shirt has a full dumptruck on the front and says "Can you dig it?")

Anne!

Not to totally ignore my firstborn....Anne is here, too. She is also adorable, though she knows how to push my buttons more than her brother does. The fact that we can get exasperated with each other does not bode well for the teen years. She is very cute when she sings songs or makes up little stories. Right now she is very interested in Easter and Jesus and reading her Bible.

Here are the kiddos, brushing their teeth:Hamming it up at dinner:
So cute!
Some memorable quotes from recent weeks:

"Do deer eat ice cream?"

"I just need to tell you something!"

"If you don't give me the fruit snacks, I'm just going to cry!"

"Will you read when Jesus dies on the cross?"

"Daddy, you are growing up!"

"If I am good, can I have gummy bears?"

Sam!

Opa got a great photo of little Sam yesterday. He was showing off his new haircut and his sweet Wild suit. We used to call it his "little Todd Richards" outfit, but that isn't really relevant anymore.

Sam is doing all kinds of cute things these days. His vocabulary expands every day--some fun things he says are "see ya", "big DeeDee" and "walk, please walk!" He can also identify the letters T, D, S, and A, though for "A" he just says "Annie!" He loves "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and does all of the hand actions. He's learning the NHL logos just like his sister did, and he can identify the shapes of star and heart. If you ask nicely before bed he will give you a little peck of a kiss and say "Wah-voo" :)

First Home Haircut

Sam Roman received his first at-home haircut today. One thing I've learned about having a son is that boys need haircuts all the time! Sam had 3 haircuts before today's, which ties him with Anne in the "All-Time Haircuts" race. In order to save money and stress, we invested in a simple hair clipper and went to work. Just for the record, Dad did the cutting....

Here he is before, adorably shaggy:

Ready to go, comforting cup of milk in hand:

This was the face he made during most of the cutting:

Showing off his new buzz:

Big boy haircut--no more baby locks!
I knew he would lose his "baby" look once we went with a clipper cut instead of a scissor cut, but I think he looks pretty cute. He was walking around rubbing his head saying "Haircut! Haircut!" And, as Sam said, it will always grow back.

Frankie says: Relax

This blog rarely wades into the political, since I am familiar with the stances of most of my readers. However, I am in an interesting position as a Republican voter in a deeply Democratic world (teachers and librarians are notoriously liberal...I am a combination of both teacher AND librarian...liberals abound in my day-to-day life)

In the Republican world there is much debate about who the nominee for President will be in 2012. No one knows for sure, and I am certainly not educated enough to wager a guess. What I can tell you is who it will NOT be. I write this for my handful of liberal readers who need to CALM DOWN about the potential nominations of:

Sarah Palin

and

Michelle Bachmann

While I find these women to be excellent role models, they are far too polarizing to ever get support from the delegates at the RNC. You either love 'em or hate 'em, and we GOP-ers know that we need a unified party to topple the Obama regime. So stop your yak-yak about a Palin/Bachmann ticket, 'cause it ain't gonna happen.

Also not going to happen is a Mitt Romney nomination. Too liberal, too Mormon, and he's from Taxachussetts. Barf. Take your sacred underwear back to the eastern seaboard and get out of my life.

The Westphall house offers no prediction on who will take on Obama in 2012. Gingrich? Pawlenty? Christie? I did shake hands with T-Paw once, and we love a bit of national attention for MN, but that's nothing to base a decision on.

Democrats, relax. We crazy conservatives will continue our pattern of nominating an educated white male for President. Sarah and Michelle will continue to appear on Fox News just to get you worked up.

Little Somethin' to Make You Laugh

Saw this on TV last week...enjoy!

The Sport of Kings

Here is little Sam at Oma's house, enjoying his new favorite pastime: golf. Or, as he calls it, "gols" Opa is smart and has a nice set of plastic golf clubs for Anne and Sam. At home we give him a real golf club and just tell Anne to watch out!

Outside!

Sam Roman loves to play outside. "Side? Side?" he will ask, then run and stand by the door, like a dog that needs to be let out. He and Anne got plenty of fresh air yesterday playing at Oma's house and then again at home. Oma was kind enough to snap a few pictures and record a few videos for me. (Videos to come later...)
Such a happy little guy.