While I’ve seen lots of praying mantises in my time, I’ve never seen one the size of the behemoth that settled on our front door last evening.  He seemed to like the place, as he was still there after 11 when I went to bed.  The pictures maybe don’t give a lot of scale but he was in excess of 6 inches.  Maybe he flew in from the tropics as a result of Fay?

Wow.  I did it.  In this day and age of internet spoilers and other media talking about the ending to the last Harry Potter book the week it came out, I managed to somehow submerge myself into an information blackout until I finished the book.  I still can’t believe I didn’t inadvertently hear about the ending although some radio shows sure tried over the course of the past year.  I would quickly switch the station when there was any mention of the book.  I even avoided reading synopses of the latest movie in production in case I read som ...

Today is Katie’s first birthday.  In keeping tradition with how she came into this world, she’s been sleepless the past two nights.  Therefore Mommy and Daddy are hopped up on caffeine in order to get through the day.

Ever since I found out in our first ultrasound where we learned we would have a girl more than 5 yeas ago, I knew the day would come where I would eventually have to deal with a certain scenario.  No, I’m not talking about Ally bringing home a Hell’s Angel or a two-timing professional athlete – that’s my cross to bear in a decade or so.  No, I’m not referring to Aunt Flo – she’s only 5 and that will be Mommy’s job to explain.  No, I’m not referring to her getting into a fighting match with her sister – I’m sure that will come soon enough once Katie starts to say “no” to her on a regular basis.

I’ll get back to being Cranky James later this week, I swear.  In the meantime, yesterday was a big milestone since it was my eldest daughter’s first day in kindergarten.  Maybe it was because I’ve been dropping her off at her Montessori class since she was 18 months old but the morning was tear-free, albeit one that Megan and I dreaded.  Your first child’s first day in real school is a huge milestone and you thank whatever deity/innate object you can that you have a) had a healthy child for that length and b) a child who is ready for school and looking forward to it.  Sadly, we also live in an age where I ...

I’m not sure about the future direction of this blog (if it even has a future) but it seems to be kid-centric the past few months which was one of my “no nos” when I created this thing.  I’m not sure if I’m temporarily mellowing out but the angst of a really crappy July has passed and a new month is upon us.  Maybe it’s the fact that my oldest daughter is starting kindergarten next Monday, but I have just been in “Daddy Mode” in regards to all my modes of communication as of late.

On Tuesday we took one step closer to officially joining the Cult of Mac by adding 2 iPhones to our roster of household Apple products.  We had planned on getting the phones by year’s end but our hand was forced due to an application that we had trouble loading onto Megan’s Blackberry Pearl for work.  Since it is an essential piece of software for her work (ePocrates) and even T-Mobile and Blackberry phone support couldn’t resolve ...

Today is Ally’s fifth birthday.  It’s also her last day at her Montessori school since she starts kindergarten on August 11.

Here is my absolute favorite picture of her.  She couldn’t have been more than a day or two old in this one.  We had put sock ...

I’m curious what other parents’ policies are on other birthday parties.  Nothing is more sucky than having to take your kid to a party for a kid you don’t know and parents who you also don’t know.  You hope that you might recognize another kid’s parents at the party so you can at least have idle chatter with someone while your precious seedling gets hopped up on sugary confections.