Two minutes of silence

Heidi was burned out from the kids.  We all went to the gym, and on the way home, she wanted to return some stuff to home goods.  The kids were all riled up in the van for the ride home but I can pretty much tune them out.  Scott whined about Tyler taking some toy of his and wanted Mommy.  I said, "What, do you want her to go back there and take back your toy?  No.  You can deal with your own problems."  At home, they were a disaster.  I said,

"EVERYBODY IS GOING TO CALM DOWN!  WE ARE HAVING TWO MINUTES OF SILENCE!"

"but Daddy,"

"Shhh."

After shushing them for the first minute, we enjoyed the second minute in peace.  Man, one minute of silence.   It was nice.  When it was time to brush teeth, Tyler walked away from the bathroom and said, "But I'm going to show Kira something."

"NO!"  I yelled.  He turned around and brushed his teeth.  Jeez.  

Things are different with this generation of kids.  I told Scott that at his age, I was desoldering radios with my own soldering iron.  Heidi asked him if he wanted a radio to talk apart and he said, "No, I just want to play video games."

I wonder if Dad had to wear ear plugs when we all traveled in the van.  I think he really is deaf in one ear from not wearing ear plugs while doing dentistry.  He can't hear the turbo in his truck anymore.

I feel like an average parent.  But you know what?  I'm the only dad these kids have.  At least school drop-off and pickup on the bikes is going well.  Yar.

My berfday

It was my birthday weekend.  I always have high expectations for my birth week and a lot of that burden has fallen on Heidi.  I was talking to Steve this week and he said, "When you hit 30 or 35, your birthday becomes less about you and more about spending time with those you love."

I had already ordered my computer stuff and my parents got me some memory for the macbook and an Alpinestars beanie, so I was pretty much set with gifts.  Then Heidi stepped up and made homemade snickers, rather than a cake, because that's what I wanted.  Then she surprised me with some household items we needed, like glasses, towels, ingredient canisters, and a stretcher for my silly back.

My birthday fell on Sunday and I woke up early to stretch and get the bacon going.  I was determined to be happy, because even though it was my day, I was going to make everyone else's day good by being in a good mood.  You can't go wrong with bacon, and I also prepared french toast and orange julius.  Mmmm, it was tasty.

Mike asked me to swap lessons with him in elders quorum, so I taught lesson 21:  Loving God more than loving the things of the world.  It was a good lesson.  I always joke about teaching, "It's easy.  You just ask the questions at the end of the lesson, get a discussion going, and just moderate the discussion."

Then the missionaries came over for dinner.  The kids were already in Sunday-afternoon-hyper mode, but it was even more pronounced with the presence of our missionary guests.  We put them to bed at 7:30 and then Heidi and I watched a Netflix.  It was a good berfday.  I think Heidi was happy that I was in a good mood.  Okay, bye.