Dear Arianna, January 22, 2013

Dear Arianna,
    School has been very tough.  At first I was excited to go back, and to go back with a good friend of mine, but the class has turned out to be nothing more than an eight-week test prep class.  I love to learn, and I feel more like I am just cramming to pass Cisco tests, which is very discouraging.  What makes it even more difficult is that the class goes on late into the evening, often time up to 10:30.  You see, there are some other folks in Daddy's class that haven't worked in IT for very long, if ever, and a lot of questions are being asked about their home computers and networks  and not about the class work.  It makes the class 45 minutes to an hour longer each night than it has to be, so you can imagine how sad I was when I finally made it home last night and you were asleep.
    We only got to spend about a half hour together yesterday, and that was our morning routine of getting ready for work and school and taking you to class.  You were very excited that the book fair has come to school.  You looked at book on Tuesday and you will be performing after church on Sunday  along with us being able to pick up the books that you want.  That should be very fun.
    The only picture that I was able to get of you was with my phone when I rushed upstairs to see if you and Mommy were still awake.  You were asleep, so I went back downstairs and had toast and bananas for dinner. Thankfully, there is only six more weeks of this class and then I really need to decide if I will go froward with the next course or not.  My true educational love continues to be anthropology, and IT, I think, will always be to me the great paying college job.

My beautiful sleeping girls

Love,

Daddy

Dear Arianna, January 21, 2013

Dear Arianna,
    I did not forget to write you letter yesterday, it has been floating around in my head and I am writing it now when I should be studying for tonight's test.  It was a very busy work weekend for me, and even Martin Luther King's birthday was not a day off from work.  I ended up having to work most of the day, and you were a great girl.  You've really gotten very good at understanding and being patient with Daddy as I work from home.    One thing that you kept insisting upon yesterday is that after I was done working, you wanted to go to the park.  You didn't care that it was 5 degrees Fahrenheit with windchills of 10 below zero.  I told you the only way we would go is if you put on your snow pants.  This argument went back and forth for about an hour before you conceded on the pants.  I bundled you all up as snug as a bug in a rug and we trekked out to the park.
    The park surprised us with a new piece of playground equipment.  They had pulled out an old jungle gym that had seen better days and replaced it with a new gym that looks like a red stage coach.  You had a lot of fun and were very pleased that your snow pants allowed you to slide down the slides even faster.  You tried to use the sandbox, but it was frozen up like the tundra of Siberia.  About about 20 minutes, we were both frozen solid, and headed home.  We had a lot of frozen fun.  Here are the pictures:

    After we got home, I warmed you up and fed you and then Mommy got home.  She was shocked that we went to the park.  Then, I had to go up to my office and study for about four hours.  After I came back downstairs  you played Boggle for the very first time.  You were not happy that you didn't win (Mommy did) but you were happy while playing.
    Well, sweetheart, I have to pack up to go to school.  I love you.

Love,
Daddy.

Dear Arianna, January 20, 2013

Dear Arianna,

    Today was a day full of the domestic arts.  Despite my wishes, I was paged out again at 2:00 AM this morning and worked until about 4:30 AM.  As you can imagine, I had a lot of trouble getting back to sleep.  I am only vaguely aware of you and Mommy taking showers this morning, but by 9:30 AM, I decided to drag myself out of bed, too to see if a shower would wake me up.  It didn't, but at least I didn't stink anymore.  We did do our normal Sunday routine of going to church.  You were happy because Phoebe was there today and were upset when you didn't get to play with her after church.  You were happy, however, that your friend Jacob may be coming over soon.  Play date coordination can be hard with all of the parents working and on different schedules, but we are doing our best.  I fell asleep right after we got back int he car, so Mommy went to subway and got a cheese pizza for you, a tuna sub for her, and a buffalo chicken salad for me.
    After we ate, you and Mommy headed to the grocery store and Target, while I stayed up to catch up on some sleep (again).  I had trouble falling asleep, but then I came to that instant cure to insomnia -- football!  I decided to concentrate on just how silly and banal and hyperbolic football announcing is and with Ian and Turlough jumping on the couch next to me, I fell asleep within minutes after turning on the game.
    When you and Mommy came home, I unpacked the groceries while you took a nap on the couch.  Luckily, football is good at making all of us tired!  Then Mommy decoded it was time to clean out our pantry, because we couldn't finds food we actually would eat in there, and it was so packed that we couldn't put anything in.  As we went through the three shelves, we were pulling out pasta, cans, and mixes that had expired as far back as 2008!  It felt like our little pantry is a TARDIS -- certainly much bigger on the inside than the outside.  As Mommy checked dates and pulled stuff out, I was responsible for pouring out the contents of t boxes into the garbage and the cans into the garbage disposal and cleaning up the scans and boxes to put in the recycle bin.  Naturally, all of this excitement woke you from your nap, and fortunately for your Mommy and Daddy, Mommy got you a color-your-own Rainbow Dash Pony from Target, which you painted away on while we cleaned the pantry.  In fact, you are still working on her right now and just had me cut holes in a pony dress made out of a baby wipe.  I love your creativity.
    And now, for today's pictures!  Here you are modeling the new cleaned pantry:

Now with unexpired food! 

    And here are some great pictures of you painting Rainbow Dash:

There's the dress you are making with a baby wipe.

You have the look of "something's not quite right" about the dress.

And here's the dress with the leg holes.

    So today was another domestic kind of day, bu we spent int together as a family.  Mommy has to go to work tomorrow while you and I have the Day off for Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday.  I am going to have to study, so I hope that pager doesn't go off again tonight. You are asking to go up to bed now, so I'll just say that I love you and I'll write again tomorrow.

Love,

Daddy 

Dear Arianna, January 19, 2013

Dear Arianna,
    There so much to write about today.  The day started with Ian and Turlough meowing and knocking on the office door.  They are used to me opening the door for them at 7:00 AM so they can come out from their nighttime sleeping room, and they have no concept of the weekend.  They woke you up, and you woke Mommy up, and Mommy opened the door.  I got paged out by work at Midnight and then again at 2:30 AM, so I was pretty much dead to the world until about 10:00 AM.  Then, we had eggs and pancakes, and you once again helped us cook by cracking the eggs.  This time, I have a video of it:

    Since I was still very tired from working through the night on my job, Mommy took you out craft shopping while I took a nap.  Here is your day in your own words (with Daddy typing as fast as he can to keep up):
    I want Daddy to know that I am so tired after all of my playing.  Today I went to the crafty store with my Mommy to get crafty stuff.  Then I cracked the eggs myself when I made eggs today.  I wanted syrup to go with my pancakes.  I went to the bakery with my Mommy to get treats and I wanted a lot of sweets because they are so tasty.  The bakery smelled so good and I picked a cookie that was shaped like a heart.  
    When I was awake I woke up my Mommy today because of the cats, so we had to open the door because they wouldn't stop meowing and making noise, so I went downstairs with them to play and then when I tried to go back to sleep, they kept me awake because they are so playful.
   At the craft store, I got fake flowers and yarn for my blanket.  We bought colors and I bought a chocolate which was for me.  I painted my dinosaurs, but I didn't want to use all the paint, because I want to paint more dinosaurs with glow in the dark paint and we are going to paint them tomorrow because we need to make more dinosaurs and it is too dark right now and we need more light.
   When it was night, my Dad and I  played the monster game where I hide, because he was trying to catch me, and when I got scared, I would run and then the kitties got scared, then we played until we were done racing and chasing.  Then Daddy wore me like an Arianna hat and then an Arianna shoe.  Then I played my Pony games, and then Daddy and I made two puzzles of robots and planets, and then I got super super tired because of all the things I did today.
   That's all.  Now I want to read this from the top to bottom.  Good night, Daddy.  The end.
    Now, how could I top that letter?    We did take a lot of pictures of you today, so here are some of your photo adventures with commentary.
   While I was still asleep in the morning, you did play with your kittens, and here is some of the kitten action from the day:

 

 

     You also helped Mommy feed the birds and squirrels today.  It was a beautiful sunny day of 48 degrees today, but it already plunging tonight (we can hear the wind) and it will be only 15 degrees tomorrow.  Here are some outdoor pictures:

 

     As I went to lie die to take a nap, here are your kittens using me as a big pillow.  I guess everyone likes Daddy's Big Tummy:

     As you said, your dinosaurs did get painted today.  I really like how these pictures of you came out.  I also liked your pose with Ian and the Heart you painted all by yourself with your extra paint:

 

  

     And here are the delicious treats you brought home with Mommy.

     And finally, what better final pictures that my two intrepid explorers home from a day of adventures:

     Now, it is getting late, and hopefully I will get to sleep through the night.  We had a lot of fun today, and I hope that we can have more of the dame tomorrow.

Love,
Daddy

Dear Arianna, January 18, 2013

Dear Arianna,
    I was expecting this letter to you to be the one where I wrote about all of our crafting adventures tonight and the super dinosaurs that we all painted together.  Well, it started out that way.  As I was writing the letter for the Seventeenth this evening  you and Mommy were right next to me in the kitchen mixing the dinosaur paste and putting the magnets inside for them to dry and harden.

    After that was done, you decided to lay down for a little bit while they dried.  At the same time, my work pager went off and I had to go do after-hours work at my computer and your Titi Alma called to talk to your Mommy.  Before we knew it, you were sound asleep.
    We waited for you to wake up, since you hadn't eaten since I gave you a peanut butter sandwich around 5:00 PM, and Mommy was going to make you some pasta, but I guess you were like I was on Wednesday night -- Just so darned tired that you can't wake up.  Not to worry, though, your little Ian and Turlough snuggled up right next you you and you all slept comfy-cozy on the couch.

    We fed our five indoor kitties, as well as Orange outside while you slept.  Mommy even went over and brought dinner to your Titi and cousins tonight, while I stayed home with you and did work and organized my Doctor Who audio plays on my computer.  (I know, Daddy really knows how to party on a Friday night, don't I?)
    Your dinosaurs did finish hardening and we took them out of their molds, so they will be all ready for us to paint tomorrow.  Even though I am on-call this week, we do have a three-day weekend, so let's see what adventures await us and I can't wait to see how you color your creations tomorrow

Waiting for your paintbrushes

Love,
Daddy