Less Noah and Dad Time

Noah waits for the final session of VBS to begin.

Noah and I really haven’t spent a lot of time together this week. It has been mostly in the car shuttling from home to school to church and back home again at the end of the day.

Thursday marked the end of the evening session of Vacation Bible School. We spent the week being fed by the wonderful volunteers in the kitchen. Mealtime was fun to dine with the same folks each night. A couple of the families were the dad’s and their children.

Noah seemed to notice Thursday night that he and I hadn’t spent a lot of time together this week. He didn’t want to go to bed. He wanted to hang out with me.

Or he wanted to see the Heat and Thunder play in the NBA finals. If this was the World Series, I’d let Noah stay up to watch the end, but not the NBA Finals.

I don’t want child protective services to be called on my parenting abilities.

Double Booked

Noah let the Cardinals put him to sleep.

We have a couple of nights where we are going to be double booked with the boys’ activities.

Tuesday was one of those evenings.

Noah had VBS at six. Levi had Kindermusik at six.

We borrowed from one event to make both work during YBHA XI.

That is what happens all the time with families. We are just now entering the double booking time of our lives.

Nothing eventful other than Noah was a little wound up before bed. He tried falling asleep for 15 minutes, then walked down the stairs saying he couldn’t fall asleep. That may have been because I read Dr. Seuss’ “The Sneetches” to him in an active way before bed. He may have been a little wound up after my reading. Oops. My bad.

After Noah came downstairs, he was able to watch the Cardinals lose to the White Sox. I think Noah could tell the Cardinals gave up in the game.

He was asleep soon after the last out was recorded.

So much for my exciting read of the star-bellied sneetches. The excitement before bed thing is why we don’t let the boys watch “The Incredibles” before bed.

Summertime Tradition Returns

Levi helps water the trees. And grass. And his dad.

Summer brings warm temperatures, ice cream, baseball and Levi getting all wet from a hose.

It kind of happens every year. Levi “helps” me water the garden and other items.

Monday night Levi and I were giving a little drink to our newly expanded garden. Levi wanted to water the trees. Last year, we couldn’t turn on the hose without ending up with wet shirts, soaked shoes and socks. It is good to see Levi continue the tradition in 2012.

He and I were at home alone while Noah was at VBS. Mom was in the air officially beginning YBHA XI.

This picture gained a little attention on the social media networks. It was just a little timing and luck to get the shot.

I was on the east side of the spray looking back west into the sun. The backlight hit the water and boom, we had the shot. I did put it through Instagram, but did very little to the shot, a little saturation of color and I took the top and bottom out of focus.

I now have a lasting memory of Levi captured on “film”.

I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Time For Another Adventure

I plan on not wearing a shirt the entire time you’re gone, mom.

You were beginning to wonder, weren’t you?

I mean, it has been awhile since we last found out how those two little boys survive in the wild of Ankeny without their mother.

Their father left at home, alone.

Yes folks, it is time for another installment of Yeager Boys Home Alone.

Are you ready?

This is installment number 11.

We begin with the tradition of a departure photo. I plan on having Levi shirtless the entire time Amy is gone. It is summer, right?

Noah poses with mom before bed.

Noah started VBS Sunday night. So summer is here.

He and I went to Jefferson earlier in the day to see some family. This also gave Amy a chance to pack and make sure all systems were a go prior to her departure.

The church will feed us for this week. We should be fine on rations.

Now this weekend, that may be another adventure. This is longest “planned” trips for Amy. Not since the legendary YBHA, when a volcano stranded her in Europe, has she been apart from her boys for so long. That was back in 2010.

We hope for no repeats in delays and just safe travels all around.

Godspeed.

A few more things

Grandpa Fish with Levi and Noah following inspection of the tractors.

I have to make a second post in 2012 that says I’ve been busy.

What happened in May?

I was elected president of the Iowa Broadcast News Association.

Started coaching Noah’s tee-ball team for the second time. The Reds are playing good ball.

Went to a few Iowa Cubs game.

Planted a garden after cutting out a bunch of sod.

Had a Go-Pro camera run over twice on Uncle Gordon’s farm.

Checked out the Lego’s in a Reiman Gardens.

Continued work on the Call Committee.

Didn’t have a chance to tell you that Brooke Bouma and Megan Salois are pregnant.

Watched Noah “graduate” from Kindergarten.

Went north to the great town of Elgin.

Spent time on the farm.

And to start June, a friend and colleague Mark Pearson passed away. I hope June gets better.

What has happened?

I have no excuses. I’m not going to claim an active lifestyle on my lack of blogging.

I guess I’ve cashed in on the nice string of weather. For one thing, days on end of 80 degrees in March have finally come to an end. And that’s only because we are now in April.

Thank goodness.

I was getting tired of always being outside, drawing on the sidewalk, playing baseball or soccer in the backyard, going to the park and not wearing a jacket.

Seriously, what has happened?

Well, to sum it up easily, life happened.

Amy returned from Europe earlier in the month.

We played outside.

I mowed my lawn 3 times in the month of March.

Amy and I bought bicycles and actually tried to use them. I guess exercise is important to good health, who knew? Amy does, but I’m still getting used to it.

We actually used vacation days with the boys in a trip to the QC. As you can see in the picture, we just sit in hotels playing on the iPad and DS.

It was on that trip that I learned a good friend from my Girl Scouts Night on Broadway, died. Brian Nelson (tribute story by another great friend David Burke) was such a great person and talent. It was awesome to stand next to him to get my part. No one can replace that voice in the show and it makes my decision to return last December all the more meaningful, as that was my last time talking to the copy editor of the QC Argus/Dispatch before he passed on March 17.

We saw old friends in new places and entertained along the way.

Then there were trips to get frozen yogurt.

I suppose Call Committee at church took a little time. We are looking for a new pastor for care and discipleship.

We hosted two members of the Ritterchor from Wartburg College. Our guys were communication arts majors. They weren’t even at the house 10 hours, but we still managed to bore them to tears with tales of Castle Singers and KWAR. The group was well received at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. We hope they remember us in Ankeny the next time they drive by.

I did get to meet the new director, Lee Nelson. He’s an incredible talent and Wartburg is lucky to have him.

And now this week, baseball begins. The Iowa Cubs will open the 2012 season to some of the coolest weather we’ve had in weeks. The boys are summer are getting the same luck as last year, great weather in Des Moines when the team was on the road, but when at home, bring the cold, rain and snow.

We did have some family health issues with Grandpa Bob Lehmann attempting to play Superman and ending up in the hospital. Mom and Dad survived a month together in Florida and Kris was able to return with them, hitting every 3rd McDonald’s along the way back to Iowa.

And maybe I play Words With Friends a little bit….

But being a dad is what I love to do. Spending time with the clowns is the best medicine for any day. Amy gets attention, too. You have to keep the boss happy.

Maybe next time we’ll get back to the business at hand, telling you who is pregnant on what TV station and maybe dig up some old hat pictures to keep you entertained.

Until next time, good knight.

Home Alone Again For A 10th Time

Amy and her boys prior to her world adventure.

This post is a little behind the times, but the Yeager Boys are home alone, again. This is the tenth time we’ve been left to fend for ourselves.

We are in the middle of a week where we try to survive on pizza and Goldfish crackers. So far, the diet is holding up and so are we.

The boys had some entertainers this week as I had some church commitments.

So, we’ve been getting by. The boys probably think this is a win-win for them. They get a fun babysitter and don’t have to have ‘stinky daddy’ every night mama is gone.

We attempted church on Saturday night. That was interesting. It was noisy collection weekend where we were encouraged to bring loose change and the kids would collect the coins.

Noah was holding metal bread pans to catch the clanking money. Levi wanted to join the fun. Levi proceeded to walk to the front of the sanctuary, walk past his brother and start climbing the communion railing. Lutherans traditionally don’t move that fast. But I did that night. I think my mother would say I’ve always moved that fast in church since I was that age.

School is in session. The boys seem tired every night and morning.

They are getting food, albeit hot dogs for Levi.

Mom has nothing to worry about.

Or does she?

Painting up the final day

Grandma Paula helps Levi watercolor.

We are almost done.

This 9th installment of the Yeager Boys Home Alone was a good one.

No blood, no broken bones and we were all upright on Mamma’s return.

Grandma Paula and Grandpa Wil helped us earlier this week and were called upon again this week.

The State says Veteran’s Day is a holiday, so we were off Friday. That means we had to tape Market To Market on Thursday (you can watch my North Dakota economy story here). I needed to be there through the taping, so I needed a lot of help.

Noah has Kindermusik after school. He seems to like the music class. Grandpa had the honor this week. Thanks to him for that.

Levi stayed back with Grandma. They had such a good time that by the time I arrived, Levi said I could go. He wanted to stay with Grandma.

Noah likes his TV. I wonder where he gets that from?

Do you blame him? They played with watercolors.

I think Noah had a good time, too. He was into Clifford when I arrived.

Those boys were so tired when we got home, they didn’t have enough energy to wrestle.

By the time they were asleep, Amy was getting up in Amsterdam to head west. Her flight from Minneapolis to Des Moines included the Lehigh men’s basketball team. They were headed to Ames for a game with Iowa State.

She’s home and the house was quiet by 8p. That’s a nice end to our week. Thanks for reading this week.

When a brother attacks

YB Snow Removal.

Wednesday was a big day for the Yeager Boys. It started with heavy wet snow all over the driveway. Actually, it started with an automated phone call from the school saying Noah’s building was delayed because of a power outage because of the heavy, wet snow.

I am in charge of shoveling the driveway. The task is a little harder to do with Amy gone, but it can be done.

Before I could get my snowblower started, my neighbor Jerry had a path blown clear. Noah was the guide man and Levi helped move snow as well. A big thanks to Jerry for his work.

By the time Noah got to school, it was almost time for me to come back. Wednesday was the scheduled Informance day. This is a chance for the kindergarteners to show off their reading skills to family members.

Here, I’ll let Noah explain.

Earlier in the evening, we tried to explain the day, but Levi wanted no part of it. For the record, when we started recording this video, Levi was sitting on my lap, watching Noah being interviewed. You just never know when a brother will attack and start wrestling.

It didn’t end well, but that was typical of our evening.

This message brought to you by Culver's.

Wednesday night I took a chance.

A chance that the boys would be able to handle a night out for dinner. We attempted Culver’s, which, I’ve determined, is the place where young families and the retired community go for dinner. At least that’s who’s there the nights we go to get a butter burger.

Once my boys consider it safe to talk to a stranger, they do so. Noah was having a nice conversation with the table behind him.

They enjoyed watching Levi eat ketchup.

This was between ketchup bites.

Not on his fries.
Not on his hamburger or his applesauce.
But off his finger that he would dip into the ketchup cup and into his mouth.

At least he got a little salt in his diet.

Then we attempted Target. Kenny Rogers was right, you’ve got to know when fold them and walk away. Dinner was respectable. Target was terrible. Noah ran into a friend from school and they spent a few minutes playing chase the hat. And that was a highlight of the trip.

Boys will be boys, I know.

Sorry for the delay in posting. My internet is having trouble remembering the third thing to make it work properly. Just like Rick Perry.

New Raygun shirt.

I also the net to order my Raygun  Battle of the Weatherman TV Weather guy T-shirt featuring the 8 and 13 guys like Ed Wilson and John McLaughlin.

Too bad they’re not wearing hats. Maybe another Megan Salois pic in a hat will be coming soon.

I think a media column will be coming soon. There’s a lot to report. Any tips for me? Is Jeriann Ritter or Matinka Slater or Katie Ward pregnant again? How about Keith Murphy‘s mustache?

Awesome.

Wrestling, basement ball and more trains

1. 2. 3. Wrestle.

A day doesn’t go by when I don’t have to ask Levi to get off his brother. Levi is the younger and so far, doesn’t seem to mind that Noah is older and bigger. Levi will just walk up where Noah may be laying on the floor and just sit on his brother’s head.

It looks a bit like wrestling. So far, it is just more of a hug than a poke. I know soon this will turn to punches and maybe tears and eventually blood. I better freshen up on my first aid. It will be needed soon.

We made it through tears at supper. Levi did continued to stand during dinner like he did last night.

Basement ball.

We took the post-supper fun to the basement.

The last few winters have included Noah and I playing a version of baseball. We’ll call it basement ball. It basically it hitting a ball with your hand running the bases we’ve set up in the basement.

No bats allowed in the house, even when mom is away on a work trip, so we work on hand-eye coordination. It is quite fun and beats sitting on the couch watching TV.

Levi thought he would get in on the action and keep home plate in place by standing on it.

Levi went back to his train table to entertainment.

He’s been doing better at playing tee-ball when we’ve been outside. He now will hit the ball and run to first. Before, he would hit, go get the ball and come back to the tee and repeat. This would frustrate Noah.

Following his not hitting the ball, Levi went back to the train table down the first base line. He really likes driving his trains or as he calls them, “choo-choo’s.”

Now I’m having to pull up train videos on YouTube so he can see them in action. Every time I pull out my phone, Levi wants to see trains. Noah liked trains when he was this age, but nothing like this.

On Saturday, Levi and were hanging out by the train table and shot this video. It was quite fun.

Pillow fight.

And once the basement ball game was done, the boys went back to what they know best, wrestling.

It was more of a pillow fight.

We also played hide the eggs. I can’t tell you how valuable little plastic eggs are in our house. We can use them year-round to keep sharp on our egg hunting ability.

Coming tomorrow…. a snowy morning and a big day at school and how I should have listened to Kenny Rogers. I mean the bearded one and not the former Texas Rangers pitcher.