Trouble's a-brewin'...

So I'm upstairs changing Emily's diaper... I finish up and carry her downstairs to make some cuts for work on the deck... oh yeah, and to check on the boys. As you can see, they decided to create a "tight-rope" out of my 10 foot 2"x4".

It only made sense... the freezer and workbench were about the same height and the 10' stick spanned the gap quite nicely... obviously, the stunt begged to be created.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, David was having his turn and Conbo was collecting a sleeping bag to give him the necessary boost to get up on the freezer.

So, being the devout blogger (and bad dad) that I am, I weighed my options... save my sons' lives or grab the camera. Needless to say, I put you - the viewers - ahead of my children's safety. You're welcome.

This is the thrilling sequel to yesterday's trouble.

Apparently, CaraLee had been inside, sipping martinis and chatting online when it dawned on her that she had 2 more kids aside from the one she had put down for a nap earlier. (For those of you who know CaraLee, you know that's not true. For those of you who don't know CaraLee, I don't care what you believe because you'll never be able to tell on me.)

Anyways, CaraLee went outside to check on the boys. (An increasingly important job.)

They were in the Buzza-Fort... naked.

Naturally, they had a very legitimate reason... they were cold. Wait. It will make sense in a second... They were cold, so they got naked, then bathed in warm water. Apparently, the warm water was in the squirt guns.

Boys...

Emily is 2!

Two years ago, today, Emily Carol Buzza was born. It seems like just yesterday I had the parenting thing all figured out. David was well on his way to manhood and the challenges of Connor were beginning to work themselves out. Then... Emily happened.

I laugh at the thought that people actually write books on parenting. There really isn't a pattern you can follow that will work with every kid. I don't know... maybe we're the only family in the world with three such different kids, but it seems to me that they're all so... different. And as far as "different" goes, Emily is the differentest.

At first glance everybody will notice that she's cute. Check that, very cute. The second thing you'll probably notice is that she knows she's cute. Call it good self-esteem, call it vanity, whatever... she knows she's got it "goin' on".

Underneath that cute exterior lies somewhat of a tempest, however. While both of the boys threw their fair share of fits, neither of them were as convinced that they would actually win the battles of the will. Sooner rather than later, the boys would concede the point that we were the mommy and daddy and that we were the boss. Emily doesn't always see it that way. We're working on it.

However, after all is said and done, there's nothing like the affection of Emily. When she chooses you to give her attention to, it's like being drawn in by a tractor beam. I don't know how many times I've caught myself just staring at her. She's a special girl. Happy Birthday, Emmers.

Happy (belated) Mother's Day!

Okay... I admit it... I'm a bad blogger. I was so enthusiastic about contributing to this thing on a regular basis, but then life got in the way. Also, I usually blog from school and I don't always have pictures to add to it from here. I suppose that I could suck it up and just blog without them but... oh I don't know. In the meantime, I'm really enjoying saying the word "blog". It's got a ring, doesn't it?


Hopefully this will make up for my absence. These are pictures from CaraLee's Mother's Day gift.

A couple of weekends ago, CaraLee had an all-day thing at the church. I had arranged with a work colleague to meet in Fort Langley and have him take some pictures of the kids.

As an aside, I can always contact Dave if you're interested in having him do any photography for you. He was fantastic to work with and just a great guy.


All things considered, the kids were great. David battled with the urge to wiggle his loose tooth during every shot. Connor had it in his head that posing for a picture meant pursing your lips and tilting your head. What is TV teaching my kids? Emily, however, was in her element. Good grief... we took about 100 pictures and almost 75% of them were just of her. She just didn't take a bad picture! This is the one I chose to develop for CaraLee.

All of the group ones were tough. To get three kids to not look as though they're in the 5th hour of a drinking binge was a challenge to say the least. For this group picture, the photographer tried to get the boys to "find the bug" on Emily's flower. It worked!

And now my penance for bad blogging is done.