The Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch today. Unknown to most it is also carrying some very small passengers. One of the onboard experiements involves some butterflies, or rather, some soon to be butterflies. I invite you to check out the link to watch video of the soon to be butterflies. If I read correctly the camera will take a picture every 15 minutes to make a full video to observe the transformation and other habits in a micro gravity environment. Lucky little bastards. I want to go to space.

http://bioedonline.org/space/STS_Mission_129.cfm

If the link doesn't work just delete the end parts and go to the home address.

I often watch my kids play together. I always get a smile on my face when I see my son act as a true big brother when he teaches or helps his little sister with something. Right now they are sitting across the room playing with a doll house together. For some reason listening to their interaction is peaceful. It soothes me to see them play together and have their little kid conversations. Sometimes I have to ask The Boy to translate what The Girl says, which I find quite funny. I like knowing that the two of them rely on each other and they always have each other to play with. Regardless where we live they have each other to lean on for friendship.

I grew up as an only child. My younger sister died when I was a child. The age difference between us was about the same as between my children. I often wonder what I missed out on by not having my sister with me. I never had someone to lean on during many hard times growing up. I learned to play by myself in my room or I simply didn't interact with people. Meeting new friends was difficult because I often moved abruptly from one place to another, usually involving new step-dad's at the same time.

About ten years ago I was finally able to visit the grave of my sister. I was the first family member to visit her since she died. Unfortunately, we lived in the midwest when she died and nobody lives there anymore. I didn't expect to have so many emotions when I visited her. It was the first time I really felt like a big brother. It was a nice feeling.

I envy my children and others who have siblings they call their best friend. I hope they realize how important their family is. Nothing or nobody can ever replace your family.

As you can see from the title I have yet to take any new HNT pics, so you get something from the archives. Again, I'm hoping most of you have never seen this before. A couple of years ago I took a basic course in what is commonly referred to as MMA. Let's call it work related ;) As you can see it was somewhat of a physical course. I have to say it was one of the most educational courses I've ever had. But doing this stuff all day, every day really wears you out...plus you get pretty sore. I was a Tylenol taking fool! Too bad I'm not in the same shape.


I guess I just need to label my pictures as clicks. Nobody seems to remember that I do it. I suppose it could be a special treat for those who click, but I like the responses I get. Call me vain :)

*CLICK*

At what point do children lose their innocence? The Boy will soon be 5 years old, yet he is still so naive to the trappings of life. He has a neighbor friend who is 6 and this friend seems so much older than my son. There seems to be no "little" boy left in him. I'm not ready for my little boy to be like that.

I really don't want my kids to get old. I like how much they need me. The Boy will climb up next to me and snuggle like a kitty. In the mornings The Girl will climb into bed with me and we "hide" under the covers. They are both so cute and precious I can't imagine them being grown up. Is there a way to freeze time so I can keep them this way? I need to be needed.

Seriously? I thought small businesses would want to get work and a good reputation. We've had two in home furniture repair companies come to the house to fix our bed. Neither one of them called back with estimates. We even called each one in an attempt to push things along. One never called us back and the other is still "trying" to find parts. I know we have a unique handmade bed that needs special attachments for the rails, but at least tell us what kind of progress is being made. The answer, "I emailed a company that makes handmade furniture a week ago but haven't received a reply" doesn't cut it in my book. That just means you forgot about us.

All I want is my bed fixed so Tazgirl and I can have sex without the bed banging against the wall behind the headboard or the blanket chest behind the footboard. It really gets distracting when it makes so much noise and we're both afraid it'll wake up The Boy.

I really hate incompetence. It drives me absolutely crazy.

When I was a child I used to be force fed vegetables I wouldn't eat. I'm not talking being made to sit at the table until the food was gone. I'm talking about having the food shoved into your mouth. This was most notable with asparagus. I don't know what it is about me, but asparagus actually makes me gag when it hits my throat. I don't have much other success with vegetables, especially green vegetables. I think I have some very strange or maybe too many taste buds. I've never been able to eat veggies without a physical reaction.

The Girl is a freaking eating machine. She'll eat anything in front of her. The Boy on the other hand is exactly like me. I swear, it's like watching myself grow up again. He is like me in every way. We attempt to get him to try new foods when we have dinner. Last night I gave him one spoonful of mixed veggies and one spoonful of buttered noodles. I sat with him at the table for over an hour while he squirmed, back talked, laughed and generally made excuses to not try his food. I'm not about to force him so I try to make it fun for him. I totally understand how he feels, but I also want him to try new foods.

Near the end of the saga he got all upset and told me he hated me and didn't want me around. He said he only wanted one boy at the table and didn't want to go to the football game with me this weekend. He's never talked to me like that before and it was hard to listen to. So I took him at face value and left the room. He then got extremely upset and came chasing after me. He climbed into the recliner with me and said (through many tears) that he didn't want me to leave him and he would go to the football game with me. I was nearly crying myself. I felt so bad for making him think I would leave him. I didn't expect that kind of reaction from him.

Tazgirl took him back to the table and he ate his food. He then came back to me and apologized for talking ugly. I told him I was proud of him for eating the food. We talked for a bit and just snuggled together. I felt like the worst dad ever. He is such a sweet boy. He's certainly getting older and testing new boundaries, but we had never experienced anything like this before. He'd never said such hateful things. I know he really doesn't mean it, but they still stung. I almost crawled into bed with him last night because I felt the need to be close to him.

I don't want him to remember these eating episodes like I do, but I also want to try and expand his diet. I also worry he is so much like me he has the same issues as I do. If things get bad again I'll probably just leave him at the table before he gets all worked up and just check in on him. He's always tried the new food in the past, last night was just unique. Supernanny says to leave the child at the table and her techniques work pretty well. What have you all done or experienced?

I've pretty much used up all the photos from my shadow series. I hope you've enjoyed them. However, I neglected to plan ahead and prepare anything for this week. So I'm going to reuse some very old photos I still have in my account. These might be re-runs for a couple of you but I think most of you will find them to be new.

A question for those of you with kids in the house. Do you feel weird whenever the kids see you naked? Today I was taking a shower and both kids came into the bathroom. This obviously isn't the first time, but every time they see me I feel sorta weird. I feel real weird when The Girl sees me. I don't want to answer any anatomy questions, she's just too young. I know it's not a big deal but I would rather they didn't see me naked. The Boy has already made comments about being as big as me when he gets older. I don't want to hear any comments from The Girl!

I hate to say it, but I remember a couple times seeing my mom get dressed in front of me when I was a kid. Luckily I don't remember any details, but I do remember it happening. I guess I don't want my kids to have those kind of memories.