Mark of Fridays: Read all about it

Mark of Fridays: Fall fun!

Mark of Fridays: Dodgers fan at Wrigley

Mark got to a Cubs game for his 5th birthday! He liked Wrigley Field, but he still rooted for his favorite team, the Dodgers. For some reason, Matt was very suspicious of old Cubs players.

Mark of Fridays: Making the jump

This would make a cool flip book. 

(Matt was trying out a new camera setting at the orchard.)

Mark of Fridays: Apple pickin' good time

After playing baseball for Mark's birthday, it was time to pick apples for Lynne's birthday, an annual tradition. This year, the Hanleys headed for Honey Hill Orchard , an old-school orchard in Waterman.
The kids loved it!

Mark and Anne of Fridays: What elephant?

Mark of Fridays: Target Field

 Perhaps you recognize this young man from the All-Star Game? The Twins let him hang out on the field whenever he wants.

Mark of Fridays: Meeting Adam Eaton

Mark got to meet Adam Eaton, centerfielder for the Chicago White Sox, and all-around nice guy. And rather than have him sign some slick photograph, Mark drew his own picture. And Adam Eaton signed it because he is an all-around nice guy.

Quotation Mark Mondays: Great jokes

Matt tried to tell Mark a joke: Why was six afraid of seven? Because seven eight nine!

Mark replied, "Really? Why would seven eat nine? Did that really happen?"
This led to a lengthy discussion about the mechanics of this particular joke, which managed to take the humor out of the whole gag.

Undeterred- and, in fact, inspired - Mark decided to write his own jokes:

Q: Which kind of trees get the sickest?

A: Ash trees, because they get emerald ash borer disease.

Q: Why are there restaurants?

A: Because people need stuff to eat.

Q: What did the dog do when he saw a lion?

A: He ran away.

Quotation Mark Mondays: Toots

At dinner, Mark lifts up from his chair, slightly.
Matt: "Mark, did you just toot?"
Mark: "Yep!"
Matt: "Mark, don't do that and you don't lift yourself up like that."
Mark: "I have to. If I don't lift up, I'll balloon up!"

Quotation Mark Mondays: Rules

Mark:  "I'll follow your rules, Dad, because someday I'll want my kids to follow my rules.  Except I won't do all the same rules as you because I'll want my kids to be happy.  I wouldn't do the three book rule (we read three books before bed each night).  But I would want my wife to be happy.  So I would only do four books."

A Bedtime Story

Scene:  Our house, bedtime.  Lights were out.  Books had been read.  We'd settled in for the bedtime story.

Matt asked Mark what he'd like to hear a story about.  Mark said:  Animals.  Rabbits, squirrels, and birds maybe.  Ok, Matt said.  Then he began.  This is the story he came up with, off the top of his head, without any hesitations or delays before or during the story.

Once upon a time, there was a tree.  Squirrels lived in the trunk of the tree, rabbits lived in a hole under the tree, and birds lived in the branches.  They all lived happily, playing together. 

Then one day, the squirrels decided they didn't want to share their tree anymore.  They ran down to the hole under the tree and chased out the rabbits.  Then they ran up to the branches of the tree and chased out the birds.  Then they ran up and down the tree trunk all day, playing in the branches and even the hole underneath.  It was really fun... at first.  But after a while they started to get bored.  When they wanted to play a new game, they only had squirrel games to play and only squirrel ideas of what might be fun.  They started wishing the birds and rabbits would come back.

"But how will we get them to come back?" a squirrel asked.  "I know," said another squirrel, "we can write a message on some acorns, and throw those acorns out into the woods.  Then the rabbits will see the message and come back."  "Great idea," said the first squirrel. 

So they wrote a message on the acorns, threw them out into the woods, and waited.  After a little while a rabbit picked up one of the acorns, saw the message, and said to one of his rabbit friends (in a low voice, with a New York cabbie-ish accent):  "Hey did you see this note from the squirrels?  They want us to come back to the tree!"  So the rabbits talked about it and decided to move back to the tree.

The squirrels were happy to see them, and they started running around and playing in the tree together.  But they all still missed the birds.  So the squirrels left the tree and went far, far away from the tree and even the whole forest.  They went to a place where they could rent a small airplane capable of skywriting.  (An aside:  Mark, do you know what skywriting is?  And a brief explanation).

The squirrels went up in the airplane and wrote a message to the birds, in the sky.  It said:  DEAR BIRDS:  PLEASE COME HOME TO THE TREE.  WE MISS YOU.  WE ARE SORRY WE MADE YOU LEAVE.  LOVE, THE SQUIRRELS.

It didn't take long before one of the birds saw the message in the sky.  He said to his bird friend:  (whistling).  And they his bird friend replied:  (whistling).  So they flew off toward the tree.

When they got there, the squirrels said:  "We're so sorry for being mean to you and making you leave the tree."  And the birds replied:  (more whistling).  And then the birds moved back in.

So then the birds, rabbits, and squirrels all played and played in the tree.  Sometimes they played squirrel games, sometimes they played rabbit games, and sometimes they played bird games.  And everyone was happy.  The End.

Quotation Mark Mondays: Baby Kisses

Mark: "I don't like baby kisses."
Matt:  "Why not?"
Mark:  "Because babies kiss with their mouths open.  It freaks me out."

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

It's been a busy few weeks here at the Hanley Houses.

Santa visited Mark and Anne at our old house.  It was a great day--Anne got a new rocking horse, Mark got games and new markers (a dream come true!).  We also got to spend lots of time with family--Christmas Eve with the Hanleys, Christmas Day with the Seagos, Dec 28 with the extended Majewski clan.  With two healthy kiddos and so many family members who love us, we felt truly blessed.

Then, on Dec 26th we packed up the Christmas tree and started filling our house with boxes.  We spent most of the 29th moving boxes from the old house to the new.  On the 30th, movers came and carried out all of our furniture.

We celebrated New Year's in the (mostly unpacked) kitchen of our new house, with hats, blowers, and a water toast... just before bedtime at 7:05 PM.  (It was scheduled for 7:00 sharp, but then Anne pooped and delayed the festivities.)  Despite the early hour, lack of real champagne, and lots of really sore moving muscles, it was our best New Year's Ever.

2013 brought us so much:  a beautiful and healthy baby girl, a new and stable job for Matt, a house for our kids to grow up in.  We are very happy and ready for 2014!

Eight month Anne-iversary

The stats: I'm just a plain old healthy little girl. I'm too big for my bouncy chair and big enough for a high chair. I'm too big for the baby carrier, but not big enough to sit facing forward. I'm big enough to aggravate my brother, but not big enough to play with him. And I fit perfectly in my mom's arms, but I never lie still.

Best friends: My brother, of course. I light up whenever he walks into the room. Now, for some reason or another, he doesn't seem to share the same enthusiasm for me. I've heard that Mark always says nice things about when I'm not around, but not so much when I show up near his toys. Despite the fact that he made a rule that he can play with any of my toys whenever he chooses, there doesn't seem to be reciprocation. He's constantly worried I'm going to grab his letters, his cars, his markers, his Presidential flash cards, his math game...actually, now that I think about it, a Presidential flash card would be pretty tasty. Mmmmm....presidential flash cards. Yum. I won't eat them. Maybe just gum them up for a little while. Mmmmm....

Enemies:  Can you even imagine what it would be like if bits of hard bone started erupting out of your body? What if you were just sitting there, minding your own business, laughing at a sock, when teeth started growing right out your hands or ears? Wouldn't feel too good, would it? Well, it doesn't feel much better coming out of your mouth. Trust me on this. I've got two on the bottom and a batch more popping out on the top. They hurt! So, sure, I cried. For like a minute or two. But that's a lot for me!

Favorite place: My favorite place is....right...over...there. No, wait. It's ... right ... over ... there. In fact, it's wherever I see somet

hing I can grab. (And I have some laser vision. I can spot a speck of paper at 500 yards.) So, my whole house is now my favorite place. I just slap my hands down on the ground and drag myself all over the room. Dad says it's not an official crawl because I don't lift up belly, but what does he know? He hasn't crawled in, like three centuries. He's really very old.

Things I like: I like to eat people's faces. One of my favorite people's faces to eat is my cousin, Hannah. Whenever I look at her I think: "That girl is adorable. I think I'll just grab her cheeks and munch on her nose." Hannah doesn't seem to understand why this is fun. She's quite terrified by it, actually. But do I let that stop me? No way!

Things I don't like:  As I mentioned before, laying still is generally pointless. I have places to go. And I don't care if I have to dive out of an adult's arms to get there. It doesn't matter to me if I'm having my diaper changed or my parents are dressing me. I don't even care if I don't know where I'm going. I just have to go! Right now!

Major accomplishments: I almost wave a little, which I think is hilarious. I babble, which I think is hilarious. I've worked out an incredibly high pitched scream, which I think is hilarious. I found a little girl who looks just like me in these big glass windows in the bathroom. I think that little girl is hilarious. 

Quotation Mark Mondays: Animals Facts

Leslie:  I think I know which state I will be for your state party, Mark. (For Mark's brithday, everyone was asked to wear state apparel or represent a state.  It's what all the cool 4 year olds are into.)
Mark:  What?
Leslie:  I'm going to be Alaska!  I'll wear all white and wear my penguin hat.
Mark:  Penguins don't live in Alaska, Aunt Leslie.
Leslie:  What??  They don't?
Mark:  Penguins only live in Antarctica, South Africa, and New Zeland.  And those are not states.

---

Lynne:  Why don't we go upstairs and get dressed?  We can go super fast--like ninjas!
Mark:  Ninjas are not any faster than regular people.
Lynne:  Well, what's fast then?
Mark:  Cheetahs.  But they're only fast for short distances.

Mark of Fridays: Play Ball!

Matt and Mark, after their first-ever father-son game of catch.  Matt says in was one of his Top 5 Days, ever.  And that's despite the fact that the ball didn't land in Mark's glove even once.  But he did catch one with his chin.

Quotation Mark Mondays: I feel the need for speed.

"Dad, I am built for speed."
- Mark Hanley, prior to his first race

Mark competed in his first race last week, a 100-meter-dash in Geneva. It took him more than three minutes to run a relatively short distance. But there's actually a pretty good reason.
Prior to the race, Matt tried to explain to Mark how it might work. Matt gave him the basics: you'll all line up, the man will say go and then you run all the way to the finish line.
Matt added in that he might have to run in a certain lane and he should be careful to stay in the lane so he doesn't crash into other runners. Mark had some questions about this lane issue (mainly, 'What is a lane?') and then seemed ready to run.
Mark was super excited for the race. He lined up in the second row and stared down at the finish line.
Matt saw the start of the race (pictured below) where Mark took off with his super speed and a look of grim determination. There was about 40 kids in the race, all heading to a big red arch, that covered about half the finish line. Matt lost track of Mark near the end but he seemed to be doing pretty well. Matt headed to the finish line, but Mark was nowhere to be found. There were dozens of kids and Matt searched everywhere. Matt started to feel that panic of a missing a child. Did he wander off? Was he hurt?
Nope, nope.
Mark wasn't lost.
He was still on the track, running.
Sort of.
Because the finish line arch didn't cover all the lanes, the organizers had placed cones in the other four lanes to funnel the kids toward the arch. So when Mark was about 87 meters through the race, he came up to the cone.
And then he stopped.
To be fair, his legs and arms kept moving, like a video game character that has hit a wall, but continues to run. Mark just ran in place, right in front of this cone.
Why? Well, he later explained that his dad told him to stay in his lane. But this cone was in his way. So he just stayed in his lane, awaiting further instruction. Once, Lynne and Matt found him, they pointed Mark to the finish line and he ran through.
He's a great kid.

Quotation Mark Monday: Little known Presidential facts

"Dad, did you know that William Henry Harrison couldn't smell? He didn't have a nose. He only had eyes and a tongue. He had to lick everything."

Quotation Mark Mondays: Requiem for the large Kentucky Orange Bears

“Dad, did you know there are no more orange bears? There are no more Kentucky Orange Bears. They all died. They got hurt and they all died. You can't see them any more. There are no more Kentucky Orange Bears and they are all gone. You can’t see them anymore because they all died.”

“Oh no!”

“They all died, dad. The Kentucky Orange Bears. The big ones. The big Kentucky Orange Bears are all gone but you can still see the medium Kentucky Orange Bears and the Little Kentucky Orange Bears. You can still see them all over the place, but mostly at zoos. Mostly at the Orange Zoo. There are medium sized Kentucky Orange Bears and there are small sized Kentucky Orange Bears at zoos now. They didn’t die. The large Kentucky Orange Bears all died. But you can see the other Kentucky Bears at the Orange Zoo. The Orange Zoo is closer than the Brookfield Zoo. It IS closer than the Brookfield Zoo. Closer to us. You can see the Kentucky Orange Bears there at the Orange Zoo – but only the medium sized Kentucky Orange Bears and the little Kentucky Orange Bears. The big Kentucky Orange Bears all have died.”

“Really?”

“Yep. They have Kentucky Orange Bears at the Orange Zoo. You go a little bit down 59. Fifty nine. You go a little bit down 59, you turn this way. It’s even closer than Brookfield. They have Kentucky Orange Bears there. There are orange giraffes. There are orange elephants. There are orange flamingos. There are no orange skinned kimodo dragons. There are orange skinned tigers and lions and beavers. And that’s all there is there. And there are orange parks there, too. There are five little orange parks. And you can feed Anne there. And they also have the Kentucky Orange Bears. But only the medium sized ones and the little ones. Because all big Kentucky Orange Bears died. And next will be purple, okay? Actually, those are bears, too. There are no moose.”