My checklist for getting ready is simple:

1. Get in your PJs
2. Go to the bathroom
3. Brush your teeth
4. Get into your bed
5. Go to sleep

The battles start with Step 1.  Oftentimes, we’ll tell the kids to get in their PJs before bedtime.  This way, when bedtime arrives, we won’t be yelling at them to hurry.  However, the kids are never quite ready to start getting ready for sleep.  They’ll cry about how early it is, how they can still see the sun (applicable in the summer when the sun seems to set at around midnight), or how they’re in the middle of their TV program.

When they get their PJs, they insist on changing in the living room.  Remember that TV program they were watching?  That becomes a distraction.  Left to their own devices, they’ll sit half undressed watching Dora’s latest attempt to ward off Swiper’s kleptomania.

Finally, with the kids in bed, the time comes for Steps 2 and 3.  Go potty and brush your teeth.  We have only one bathroom downstairs and it is too small for one person to be performing Step 2 while another person does Step 3.  This means that someone needs to go first.

Most times, when it comes to boys, asking “who wants to [INSERT SOMETHING HERE] first?” will result in the boys jockeying to claim the right to be the first.  It doesn’t matter if the first and second place both get identical ice cream sandwiches, carbon-copy coins, or twin toys.  The goal is to be the first one to get the item or get to do the activity.

Except for bed time.

They never want to be first for bed time.

A few weeks ago, in a fit of cleverness, I devised a system.  I told NHL and JSL that we’d go by odd numbered days and even numbered days.  Since NHL was our 1st child and the number 1 is odd, NHL has to go first on odd numbered days.  Since JSL was our 2nd child and the number 2 is even, he goes first on even numbered days.  (I wonder what will happen when NHL realizes that there are more odd numbered days in a year than even numbered ones thanks to 31 day months.)

This seems to work pretty well.  They still protest, but I just say “It’s an odd/even day so you go first.”  Usually, that will quiet them down.

Now that we’re up to Step 4, things tend to quiet down a bit.  JSL needs to say good night to everyone and give them kisses and hugs, NHL is content to just jump into his bed.  Battle won?  No, just lulling us into a false sense of security.

Now comes time to go to sleep.  This is where they pull out the big guns.  First, JSL will need a nightly drink of water.  (Which must be taken when the lights are out and after he’s laid down to sleep for some reason.)  NHL will try to talk to us about his day or some random TV show plot.  JSL will claim to have had nightmares (before he actually falls asleep).  And so on and so on.

Eventually, the bed time music and dark room turn the tide and the kids lose the bedtime battle.  Still, we emerge, not victorious, but frazzled and weary.  How many more battles must we wage before they go to bed without complaining?

It’s been way too long since I’ve done a Cooking With TechyDad segment.  It’s not that I haven’t been cooking.  I’ve just been sticking to tried and true (and somewhat boring) recipes.  Picking 39 pounds of apples gives me the perfect excuse to try something new.  We had some frozen pie crust in our freezer so I figured this would be the perfect time to try making an apple pie.

First, I collected my ingredients: apples, sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, and salt.

Next, I peeled and sliced the apples.

After this, I added the sugar, salt, cinnamon, and lemon juice.

After mixing, I had my pie filling.

My pie crust had been defrosting during this, so I put the apples into the shell and topped it with another defrosted crust.

It didn’t look the best, but I knew that looks only matter so much.  I made a few slits on the top and into the oven it went.  Before long, the pie was done.  I was actually surprised at how good it looked.

Our mouths were watering.  Just look at that delicious crust.

After the pie cooled, I sliced into it and… disaster!  The apples had released their juices, flooded the pie, and soaked the bottom crust.

Taking the first slice out, the slice fell apart.

Obviously, I needed some kind of thickening agent in the filling.  Something to bind or thicken the juices so they didn’t just flood the pie.  The pie tasted terrific, don’t get me wrong, but next time I try this, I’ll tweak the recipe a bit to improve the results.  And, with over 15 pounds of apples left, I will definitely have the chance to try this again.

Have you ever made an apple pie?  How did you avoid a pie flood?

There’s another woman in our lives and her name is Kimberly.  We met Kimberly just eleven short days ago and she’s already turned our routine upside down.  Before Kimberly, B used to knit or browse on her computer at night until she fell asleep. Lately, when it comes time for bed, B snuggles under the covers with Kimberly until she (B, that is) falls asleep.  I will find them there laying side by side and I will need to move Kimberly out of the way before I can get into bed.  I get a bit of time with Kimberly also, but mostly B has claimed her for herself.

In many ways, I just can’t compete with Kimberly.  She’s much thinner than I am.  Than I’ll ever be.  And the stories she tells!  I have about ten stories I can tell.  Ask me to tell more and I begin to repeat myself.  Kimberly, last time I counted, had over fifty.  She’s pretty decent at games too.

So who is this invader of our home and our bed?  What does she look like?  Here’s a photo:

This, ladies and gentlemen, is Kimberly Kindle.

See how thin she is?  We’ve already loaded her up with 50 eBooks and a few games like Jigsaw Words.

But why name an electronic device?  B started it by saying she wanted to come up with a name for our video camera.  I agreed that it needed a female’s name.  I had my reasoning.  (Let’s just say that I argued that the cheap, Flip-style camera we also had needed a male name.)

Meanwhile, I had won a Kindle Keyboard and we both took to it.  Except B seemed to claim it as her own.  With the video camera getting a name, it seemed only natural to give the Kindle one as well.  And as I’m a fan of alliteration, Kimberly seemed to fit perfectly.

And that’s how Kimberly Kindle invaded our lives.  Maybe tonight, I’ll change things up by laying down on the couch with Kimberly and having some fun… reading Peter and Wendy, that is!

Do you have a Kimberly Kindle (or perhaps her cousin Nancy Nook) in your life?

My boys are big toy car fans, especially Hot Wheels cars.  Heading down the toy car aisle is a dangerous affair as the kids will want “just one more car.”  (Never mind the giant car bin in the house.)

The boys were eager to design a Hot Wheels Custom car featuring themselves.  First, we needed a photo.  This would have meant a long search through our photo archives, so I decided to take a new one.  Here are the boys posing:

Those two smiling faces would soon be on a car.  We chose the car type and decided on a name for vehicle.  There is a character limit (21, if I recall correctly), but we came up with a good one.  We even got to choose the cardboard backing.

After ordering, we just needed to sit back and wait.  Then, the cars (see disclaimer below) came and the boys were eager to rip right into them.  Here’s where we ran into a problem.  The cars looked so nice in their packages that I didn’t want to open them.  Here before me was a Hot Wheels car with my boys on it.  I didn’t want that banged around and tossed in the box along with all the other Hot Wheels toys!

(Click to enlarge.  The pixilated text on the car is from my photo editing since I don’t typically post NHL or JSL’s real names online.)

Luckily, the boys were easily distracted and the cars “disappeared.”  They will be put away and given to the boys in the future.  For now, I’m enjoying them in “mint” condition.

Although I didn’t open the boxes (yet), much is apparent through the packaging.  The cars look just like they were purchased from a store.  If that store stocked cars with your custom photo, name and cardboard backing.  The photo quality is great as is the text on the side.  It all looks exceptional.

Price-wise, it is more expensive than your average Hot Wheels car, but this is to be expected.  Given the price of your typical custom photo product, the $7.99 (plus shipping and handling) isn’t too pricey.  This would definitely be something I would recommend to give to someone as a gift (or get for a gift for yourself).

Disclaimer: Thanks to MomSelect, I was given a code for a free Hot Wheels Customs car and free shipping.  The free shipping actually covered the cost of shipping two cars, so we decided to buy (and pay for) a second car.

As you read this, I’ll be offline celebrating the holiday of Sukkot.  It may be a more minor holiday than Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur, but I like celebrating these holidays.  Now, I’m not Orthodox.  I do things like take photos, watch TV and the like.  One thing I don’t do, though, is use my phone or computer.  I use the holiday as time off from anything work-related (which includes all computers as I program websites for a living and phones as I could otherwise take calls from work defeating the purpose of being “off”).  Instead, I spend the time with my family.  The forced time offline means that I interact with my family more.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Do you regularly take vacations from social media/computers?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #109

The day after Yom Kippur, we were deciding what to do with the boys.  NHL had off from Hebrew School, so this was a rare opportunity to do something fun the whole day.  We started it off by going apple picking.  Perhaps it was the Irene and Lee rains or perhaps it was the freakish 80 degree day (resulting in shorts instead of our usual apple picking pants), but we didn’t have as much fun.  The apples didn’t look as good and we got tired quicker.  After much complaining, we called it a day and headed out.  Of course, being hot and tired didn’t stop us from picking 39 pounds of apples.  Yes, THIRTY NINE POUNDS!  Much slow cooker apple sauce will be made.

(As usual, click on the photos to enlarge them.)

After apple picking, the boys were tired and thirsty.  We considered going for ice cream, but every place was too crowded.  Besides, the apple orchard had affected B’s breathing.  (Which was already impacted from recovering from being sick.)  We needed a nice spot to relax for a few hours and B’s parents’ house got chosen.

After a short rest, NHL wanted to do something.  B and I considered it and we came up with going on a leaf-photography trip together.  First, we went home and dropped off the apples.  (This is when I weighed them too.)  I got NHL’s camera and off we went.

First stop was back to B’s parents’ house to drop off the car.  Then, we began walking.  As we walked, we talked and occasionally took photos of interesting things that we saw.

Despite the warm weather, there was no denying fall was in the air.

Eventually, we reached our destination: A local pond.  As I had guessed, the ducks were spending some time by the shore.

NHL spotted a small playground nearby and I let him play there for a bit.  Then, we went back to taking photos.

It was nice spending some quiet time bonding with NHL and he did me proud by spotting some nice shots.

Before long, though, a mistake I made prior to us leaving caught up with us.  I had forgotten to get NHL to go to the bathroom.  We had no car, there was no bathroom at the pond and we had a good 10 minute walk back to B’s parents’ house.  NHL held it in and didn’t complain much as we walked back.

Along the way, we spotted landmarks, like the stairs where we saw a chipmunk hop by as we had walked to the pond.

As we got closer, NHL was definitely slowing down more and getting a bit more cranky (as any tired, potty-emergency-stricken kid might be).  Still, he had moments when he’d ask me to take a photo.  Like of this tree that he thought looked like a monster.

In the end, we made it back.  We had a great time, made some great memories, and have some great photos to boot.  I need to take more of these walking trips with NHL before the snow begins to fall.

The story explaining the above will appear tomorrow. Stay tuned.