Thoughts from my 2 year old...

I was in the kitchen yesterday and heard Thomas yell, "it's a dinosaur!"

"Where?" I yelled back.

"Over here." He said in that all too cute voice of his.

So I walked over towards our front door and saw this shadow on our wall:


It took me a few minutes but I saw it. Gotta love his imagination.

Conversations with my son...

So we are walking through Target and Wesley says, "Bam!"

I reply, "what?"

"Bam!" He repeats. "You spray it on, wipe it clean and it sparkles."

So I look to my right and sure enough there is a cleaning product that I have never heard of before and my 4 year old is selling it to me. I asked him where he heard that and he said he learned it from a commercial.

Lesson for me? He really listens (and retains) everything. That was actually very funny.

As I was writing this he walked up to me and said, "Dad, how do I talk with the devil?"

with a puzzled look I asked, "what do you mean?"

"Well" he explained, "the devil is a bad guy. And I have to talk with him to tell him about God so that he can be a good guy and learn discipline and then he'll be nice."

I had never thought of this. So we went back and forth and decided that we will think about how to do this. Any ideas?

Random thoughts...

It's hailing like crazy. The past two weeks has been a whirlwind. I have been meaning to blog but haven't taken a moment to sit and actually do it. All of us have been sick. Here are a few highlights of the past few weeks:
















- Thomas with a long-time friend from Portland, Kian. After we got home Thomas was singing, "Kian, Kian, Kian, Kian." He has found a new buddy.



This was a special moment - me tickling Thomas in the car... what a laugh.











Another long time friend, Mike Leon (now known as Mike De Leon - his artist name) has his art show opening in downtown San Francisco. We drove up to see it and I was very inspired! We were room mates over 10 years ago. Back then we were both working on our thesis together as we finished our final years of undergraduate work.

We cried, laughed and struggled on top ramen - but ultimately made it through. Since then, we have gone on to work, move our families to the Bay Area and have children. My wife helped them deliver their little girl, we have gone on vacations together, etc... and now he just fininshed studying at Berkley with some famous art dude that I have no idea what his name is. This piece below? It's yours for the small sum of $60,000.
















And you can stick these on your mantel for $1,700 - I just asked him to still talk with me once he hits it big :)
















This is the exact place I was standing over 13 years ago when a man named John O'hara walked up to me out of the blue and asked me to attend his church. I went there to take this picture when I was in Portland. Little would I know that this 1 minute interatction would change the direction of my life. I don't think a day goes by that I don't think about it and thank God that he allowed me to be standing there. John is now teaching my son, Wesley, in his class on Sunday - how ironic?















Today's most special moment was while I was at work with a vendor/client of mine. The phone rang and it was Wesley (via a little help from mom). He said, "dad, guess what? I just got my red ribbon in swimming class!" He was bubbling with enthusiasm. "And dad I did all my swimming right. And I listened to my teacher. And now I am going to lunch with mom. And Dad." he said. "yes?" I replied. "I love you. And I miss you." That was enough to melt a man's heart.

2 + 4 = Trouble

Just a warning...when your children are both quiet and out of sight for more than a couple of minutes, be afraid...be very afraid. I had such an instance this morning. Then I heard whispers. I went to check on them and found that they had taken the bunk bed ladder, detached it from the bed, carried it down the stairs and were in the process of standing it up in the hall closet to reach a game on the top shelf. I was both amazed and disturbed at their resourcefulness. I took the ladder and placed it on top of the top bunk with a stern warning (and went downstairs to laugh). A few minutes later, the same whispering...I went upstairs, and both boys were sitting on the top bunk playing. How did they get up there? By climbing up the footboard, of course. I guess all I can do now is pray for God to protect us from paralysis...

My cat...

Neo - he has been with us for 5 years. He is almost 15 years old.
every night he sleeps right next to me. If I gone he goes crazy. Rather he drives Wendy crazy.

Gotta love him...