Spring? Give Me a Break!

Shannon and I have both gone back to college this semester, which may help to explain why my postings have been even more sporadic than usual of late (read: nonexistent). Anyway, this week is our Spring Break. We still have to work, so we're not going to go off to the beach and get blitzed like more traditional college students. I think we'll just stay home and PLAY IN THE SNOW! Maybe Spring Break should actually take place in, I don't know, the Spring. That's just a thought. Anyway, enjoy the pictures Maggie and I took this morning.

"I Loved My Locks" or "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow"

The following is a slide show from the most traumatic event of my life. Well, I don't guess it was that bad. Still, the first hair cut I've had in the last four and a half years was quite a change. I had sixteen inches cut off, fourteen of which were able to be donated to Locks of Love.

It's Shannon's turn now.

In other news, the Baker Monkeys are getting ready to take our annual pilgrimage to Holden Beach. While we're there we're planning to stop off at the Myrtle Beach Medieval Times so Caleb can see what a great career being a knight really is.

In the mean time, enjoy the carnage.

"This song has no title."

On Thursday I decided to borrow the minivan from Shannon ostensibly because I needed to take Josh to baseball and Maggie and Caleb to gymnastics. For some reason those three don't really like to ride together in the back of the Mustang. I was just trying to cater to their wishes and make them as comfortable as possible. Well, that and the CD player in the Mustang is broken and the one in the minivan works just fine. But I was mostly just thinking of the children.

Anyway, with the possibility of enjoying some music for the evening commute available I decided to break out a CD I bought a while ago but don't really get to listen to often, Vernon Reid's Known Unknown. It's a fantastic disc, but as it's a Vernon Reid CD there are a lot of guitar pyrotechnics that don't always go over well at home with their requisite ear-bleeding volume.

The older two (Josh and Maggie) are really getting into music and its meaning. They will ask what songs are about or try to figure them out based on the lyrics. Sometimes the results are surprisingly insightful, and sometimes they're just surprising. Known Unknown is an instrumental album, so their decoding skills were over matched.

As we're driving along and jamming out to a song with a particularly cool groove, Maggie asks what the song is about. I try to explain to her that it's an instrumental song and that sometimes instrumentals have a kind of deeper meaning or emotive message to them, and sometimes they don't really have an obvious one. Also, I explain, you can tell a lot about whether there is an intended message in the instrumental by the title, as that's the only part that has any words. So Maggie, who is really enjoying this song, asks what the title is. I look down at the CD case to see. The track we are listening to is called "Voodoo Pimp Stroll". I think about it for a little while, saying nothing as I try to evaluate the situation to provide the best possible and most age appropriate response. Maggie asks again, insistently.

I'm stuck. Maggie's not the type of child that will just let things go. I've tried this before, with McDonald's and Wal-Mart, when she's asked me why I won't go to either one. I never wanted to have that conversation with her as a five-year-old. She's just not ready to understand the moral arguments. For a while just saying that it's something I don't do worked, but she's so darned inquisitive. So finally I broke down and explained point by point in great detail all of the things that I loathe about those two institutions, blowing her mind a little more than I had wanted to. All because she just won't let things go. I am not about to try to explain what a song called "Voodoo Pimp Stroll" could be about. I don't want to get into a conversation with a five-year-old that uses the word "pimp" in any way, shape, or form. I'm out of options, so I lie.

"This song has no title," is my reply. Conversation over. We pull into the gym's parking lot, park the car, and go inside, where she has much more important things to do.

I'm Dreaming of a White Easter

Josh and Maggie just got back from going to the beach with their grandparents to quite a surprise. Although we didn't get snow for Christmas, it appears a "White Easter" isn't out of the question. It's colder right now in April than it was all December, and as you can see in the photos below, we got some snow yesterday for Good Friday.

Also, I realized something this week while I only had Caleb to care for. While it seemed like life got a little more complicated with each birth, I think that was just because we had a new baby to deal with. When they get bigger, having only one is a whole lot more difficult. Shannon and I were all that Caleb had, so I became his new best friend. That was cool for a while, but there was no let up. Whenever he was bored, hungry, or needed anything, he came to me. No matter what I was doing I had to deal with his request or the consequences of not dealing with it. There was none of that "go ask your brother to help you" stuff that I'm used to being able to do. There was no sub-letting of my parental responsibilities to a sibling all week. I'm exhausted! Well, without further ado, I present you with our wonderful Easter(ish) snow:

Requiem for a season

I would apologize for the amount of time that has passed since I last posted, but that has become something of a distressing habit. These last two weeks have been especially busy, as we have been at the crossroads of basketball and baseball seasons. As I mentioned earlier, I was asked to help coach Josh's basketball team. Much to my surprise, however, I have also been enlisted to help coach Josh's baseball team. It is becoming very clear to me that if you want to be involved in youth sports, as well as anything involving youth, you pretty much just need to be willing to show up. Anyway, basketball season officially ended yesterday, and I would say that it was a very successful season, as measured by two things.

First, our team, while not particularly good, made as much improvement from the first game of the season to the last one as any team in any sport I have ever seen. Not only did we become competitive, but we actually dominated a couple of teams the same way that we were dominated in our first game. We rebounded well, we defended enthusiastically, and we had a couple of players turn into fairly reliable scoring options, especially in the lane. We worked on getting the ball inside, and like most teams that do this, when the ball did go inside consistently, good things happened.

The second, and far more important reason that the season was a success is that the kids had a lot of fun. This was most evident at the party after our last game. The seemed to really enjoy each other's company, and were all excited about coming back and playing basketball at some level next season (not all of them will be at the same age level next year).

My overall evaluation of my experience helping to coach this team is that I never knew coaching could be so much fun or so rewarding. I enjoyed playing sports when I was younger. The baseball and basketball teams that I played on were the cornerstones of my daily life when I played, occupying a majority of my energy and attention, even if I was never a particularly good athlete. This was only rivaled, and then ultimately overtaken by my devotion to guitar. Coaching has provided for me the same kind of joy that playing did, but without as much insecurity and anxiety.

Basketball season is over, but baseball has begun. I am typing now using an arm that is as sore as it has been since I gave up baseball twelve years ago, because I spent most of this week throwing batting practice. I think this is going to be a lot of fun.

Baker Monkeys on Ice / Giant Picture Post

In honor of it being freaking frigid here I have decided to get off my lazy duff and post the previously promised pictures. Actually, I'm not sure that the two have anything to do with each other and I do find it a little ironic that my version of "get(ting) off my lazy duff" involves sitting in front of a computer. That said, it is so cold outside (2 degrees) that I was thinking of working on a new musical extravaganza called "Baker Monkeys on Ice", and I'm pretty sure that the cold has affected my brain and thus led to this little bit of inane rambling that precedes the pictures that are to follow now:

From Adam's party...

From Maggie's gymnastics...

From UK gymnastics...

From Skybourne Studios (Baby, It's Cold Outside)...

I think that's probably enough pictures for now. I hope you have enjoyed this photographic gluttony!