You put the lime in the bathtub and shake it all up

Nationals Vs. O's game recap

Dr Doolittle look out

Hamslice Fishing Adventure

Vacation Pics and Video

Earlier this month, Hambone, Hamslice and I went mobile. We packed up the Avalanche and drove to Indiana, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan (and then back to Maryland) in one week. We were tired at the end, but overall had a complete blast. I have more videos, but can't seem to get them out of my phone (stupid Apple). Here's what I have so far...

Here we are at Navy Pier:



And here's a video about the Ferris wheel sign...



Here we are at Dutch Village in Holland, Michigan:

Fountain of Hamslice

Hamslice discovered the fountains in the inner harbor a few weeks ago. It was a ... refreshing experience, let's just say...

Hambone Smart Alec

In case some of you don't know what a Smart Alec is, keep reading.

We seem to have an extra strong-willed boy on our hands, so Hambone and I instituted emergency M&M measures. Hamslice's answer to everything lately has been to shout NO and then lay on the floor, immobile. And if he's tired of laying on the floor, he pretends to be deaf.

So, we have started a currency of M&Ms. If he says no to what we ask, then we ask again nicely if he would like an M&M for doing the task. Usually that works, but if he still says no, then we say "well if you don't do the task then no M&M for you."

So far he has been immediately jumping up to do the task when we say we're taking away the M&M, but I can tell this will only work for a while. According to Wikipedia, Hambone and I are the smart Alec's in this scenario. Wikipedia has no advice for how to continue exacting good behavior from my son.

Hamslice Home Movies

You all seem to enjoy these quite a bit, so here are a couple more Hamslice Superstar movies.

Hamslice Paints


Hamslice Businessman

He gets this from Mom

"I can't go poopies without the Reader's Digest!"

Hamslice Sings

Here are some movies of my little guy singing in the car. We don't quite have all the words down yet, but I'm happy to hear that he can carry a tune.

=)

The ABC Song


Baa Baa Black Sheep

Famous Hamslice

Our family was selected for BGE's energy savings household promo video -- you can see how much better we all look when there are professional video editors in the mix.

Hamslice Fisherman

One of our favorite activities is going to the Bass Pro Shop to look at the fish. Here's Hamslice getting "into the action". Just a couple more years before we can all get back to fishing as a hobby!

Monster Face

Mommy got a new phone that has a video camera in it. Now you will see Hamslice in Motion, like this:

Digging out

Today we begin digging out. Hamslice was a tremendous asset.

Homebound, Day III the Saga Continues

This is all going to be great to look back on, but this is my third day of hard time in the house taking care of Hamslice while Hambone plows for the entire day. (He just landed a City Emergency Team contract, so I officially have to stop whining about this)

I have been trying to cook to keep busy, but the derth of ingredients makes it a little tough. Last night was pea soup that contained a bag of dehydrated black-eyed-peas and some of our Christmas ham leftovers form the freezer.

That culinary experiment led to the discovery that Papa Johns across the street was open, but only accepting carry out orders. That means pizza is ready for us in 20 minutes. No muss, no fuss. That's the good news.

The bad news is that we're starting to run out of things like milk and toilet paper. We're living the cliche.

I'm also running out of fun things to do with Hamslice. Three days of kids movies is my absolute limit, so we're experimenting with splashy time in the tub and thinking about where there may be a street or sidewalk open to go take a stroll.

The house and I are also starting to turn on each other. I walk into room after room thinking, "My God this place is filthy." So this morning I cleaned Hamslice's room, including sorting all of the clothes in the drawer.

With the 10 inches of snow we're supposed to get tomorrow, this may be an endurance run. Stay tuned.

Snowmageddon II

Here are more snow pictures. This was so amazing to see that I had to show all of you too. We have officially broken ALL snowfall records for Baltimore. I can believe it!

These pictures were taken while Hambone, Hamslice and I were joyriding in the Bobcat. We had to put the plow away because there was too much snow. Instead we drove around with a giant shovel on the front of the Bobcat, lifting massive heaps of snow and carrying them to the sides of the road.








We call these people the Federal Hill Zombies. Nothing was open today, but people still wandered aimlessly around hoping to find something to do. They walked in the middle of the street looking like they would actually eat brains if it came to it.





And I have to ask "why bikes?" they were everywhere, as if bicyclists think a bike is an ATV.

Hamslice Snowball

Snowmageddon 2010 is underway. 2 feet so far (easily).

State of emergency was declared last night by the Governor, so this is officially cool now.

Last night we went to bed poo-pooing this storm because there was only about 2 inches on the ground and it was still 40 degrees. During the night, we heard a lot of thunder -- so much that it woke Hamslice up at 4am. We all peeked out the window at that time and whistled low and long.

Here's what we have:

Hambone and Hamslice plowing out the street together, and both having a marvelous time. Hamslice was so relaxed in the Bobcat that he fell asleep in the cab for an hour WHILE Hambone continued plowing.


This is the front of our house, looking south.
This is the Hamslice snow depth meter. His feet didn't go all the way to the pavement because he's too light, but waist deep is about a foot and a half or more. This isn't a snow drift he's standing in, it's the sidewalk au naturale.
This is Hambone trying to get out the back door to get to his plow. This took a while.
The view out the front window at 6:30 am
One more Hamslice measurement: see how high the snow is on the door? That's also not a drift.


Our yard, at 5:30 am.

Embarassing Bath Photos

I wouldn't be a parent if I didn't post at least one bath photo in public, right? Here you go...

Early Morning Fishing?

Have you ever gone fishing for crappie or bluegill? Well do you remember how the flop all over the dock once you bring them out of the water? It's chaos with the flipping and flapping and leaping into the air. You'd never forget it.

Now picture that fish at 5AM, flopping around in your bed, and then call that fish "Hamslice." That's what we woke up to this morning. Our little guy crawled into bed early in the morning, and a very noisy F A R T from one of us woke him up. For the next hour, he flip flapped in bed until we all woke up for the day.

We've got to get a lock on that bedroom door.

Whisper

Our little Hamslice is an early riser, and likes to get out of bed far earlier than his parents. As a compromise we let him crawl in bed with us after 5:30 for some snuggle time and (we hope) maybe some additional sleep.



Hamslice knows he's supposed to be quiet during this time, so he uses it to ruminate about things he has seen, or things he'd like to do during the day. And he talks to himself in a soft, feathery whisper.



He mostly says things like "Today I'd like to stay home from Montessori and play with Mommy" and "I want to go to the playground with the slides and tunnels."



But there's something about the sound of his whisper that lends a "Stephen King" tone to the discussion, making my hair raise when he says things like "Mommy's getting fat" and (terrifyingly) "I want to eat your eyes"