Blends With Savanna Grasses

Labels: Katie, Kids

No one would be surprised if your little daughters wanted to dress up as princesses for Halloween.  Here are our two little "Her Royal Highnesses":



Honestly, I think Katie (above upper) and Ava (above lower) just wanted an excuse to put on tons of make-up and to do their hair.  Savannah kindly photo-bombed Ava in all of her glamours glory.  The older girls decided to go in the exact opposite direction of the glamour of pageant princess and settled on HOBOS.




Savannah (above top) is channeling more of the "unwashed hippy" vibe.  Kaylee and Rebecca (above middle) are making their panhandler signs.  Kaylee (above bottom) is bringin' the hobo-chic.  All she needs now is a little unwashed funk to perfect her image.  I doubt that she got a lot of takers on her "free hugs" offer.



Typical for Anna (above), she was barely getting started on her Hitalia costume with the little hair flip when everyone else was practically finished.

Labels: Anna, Ava, Experiences, Katie, Kaylee, Kids, Savannah

She's guzzling the coffee now. At least it's sweet and creamy. :^)

Labels: Anna, Kids

My lovely Anna is singing on the front row on the far righthand side.

Labels: Experiences, Kids

Labels: Kids

Of all the things a Christian father wishes and strives to achieve for his children, a strong spiritual foundation is first and foremost. From that foundation, it seems like most every other good thing can flow.

Anna appears in this video about 1/2 way through.

Picnic, Baptism & Hail Storm of June 2011 from Friendship Community Church on Vimeo.

Labels: Anna, Kids, Parenting, Religion

She's slobbery and cute. No, not right now. This video is from January 2002. She also tries to yank out Emily's hair at about 1 minute before the end of the video. LOLs ensue.

Labels: Kids

She's already a beautiful singer at 2.5 years old. She just can't remember the words. LOL

Labels: Anna, Birthday, Kids, Parenting

This is the sort of look I get whenever I ask Katie for a hug or kiss. I hope it gets better when she's a teenager or else I'm done for!

Labels: Kids

...they don't. Yeah, it's like that pretty much all the time. Overall, it's a really positive and really cute relationship.

Labels: Kids

This gigantic Lego castle was a fun little project that the girls and I tackled on a cold winter night. The girls didn't even realize you could do stuff like this with Legos. Shame on me for not showing them earlier.



The bad news is that Dylan took all of the Legos over to his apartment. So we can't do another project until I buy a whole new set of Legos -- which I think I'll do very soon!

Labels: Kids

I put up a bunch of family photos from the holiday season through the end of 2010. If you haven't seen the kids in a while, check it out.

Labels: Experiences, Kids

I take the girls out every year for a little father-daughter time. We usually will blow off school, get lunch, and then I take them for a manicure and acrylic nails.

This year (2010) we went to the wonderful restaurant, Ms Scarlett's Tea Room. Very foo foo, but hey, I'm secure in my masculinity. And, most importantly, they had a ball.

Labels: Kids

Yeah, I know. I've been terrible about keeping this up to date. So here are some pictures to catch you up on activities at Kline Manor. So here are some fun things to see, grandma and grandpa, that we've all been up to.

At left, speaking at the PASS cloud computing seminar in Seattle.

I did a huge amount of traveling and speaking at conferences in 2010. It was a good year and all indications point to 2011 being even better. But I'm also trying hard to keep my travel in check and spend lots of time with the kids and with Rachel.

At right, the Chihuly Art Exhibit at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens

We've been able to do a LOT of fun things with the kids. Cheekwood is one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. The Chihuly glass art exhibit was neat and we all enjoyed it. However, the park was really dark in some areas and we saw more than one person turn an ankle in the dark. We even were passed in a crowded stairwell by some EMTs trying to get to a injured woman who tripped in the dark. Can you say "LI-A-BILITY"?!? One of the things that most amazed us that night was, believe it or not, the flashlight application built in to my smartphone - a very awesome HTC EVO.

At left, Ava goes all Jack Sparrow on us.

Halloween was great fun. But because our neighborhood has too much space between the houses, the kids went elsewhere to trick or treat. The kids brought back bucket loads of candy. I think they'd have made themselves sick if they'd eaten even 10% of it in a single evening. Even better - there was so much candy that they didn't even notice I snitched a piece or two. =^)

At right, we celebrate Rachel "Twix" Ramsey's birthday. Yippee, she's 18! And look at that awesome cake my beloved baked for Twix!

Rachel, Dylan's girlfriend of over a year now, turned 18. We luz her very much and had a little cake and ice cream for her.

At left, the choir of Mount Juliet Middle School. Can you find Savannah, Kaylee, and Anna?

The girls did lots of singing and have truly grown in there vocal skills. It's great to see the three of them singing some really challenging songs. I have this "Von Trapp" dream that they'll some day sing as a trio for me ... and the world. Now, if only our school choir directors would get their act together, the shows would be nearly professional quality!

At right, Katie and Anna at the beautiful Radnor Lake park.

I've been carving out more special time with the girls and I think that it's making a difference. Even little things like trips to the heated pool at the YMCA become special when you're totally mindful of the experience and undistracted by all the cares of the world.

At left, I got my favorite "Diablo" character action figure from Dylan as a present. With the beard, I'm starting to channel a little more of the berserker bloodline. Now, where's my chain mail armor!

Emily and dad at lunch at our favorite Thai restaurant.

Emily had a tough fall in 2010, no doubt. But she pulled through and is doing better than ever. I think 2011 is going to be an awesome year for her.

Labels: Experiences, Kids

Look at this two pretty girls. They don't get much more pretty than that, do they? Ava (on the left) do anything to get into a bathing suit. Any excuse will do, even in cold weather. And just in case you're wondering... The girls really love dress up and high heels. So, while they're sometimes a pill to get out the door to church on a sunny Sunday morning, they usually don't mind putting on a nice dress and shoes. Rachel did a nice little SmileBox photo album on the dress-up morning from the photo above on the right here. And yes, Katie (on the right) has a band-aid on her nose.


This photo (above) is from back in the summer time, but worth posting today in the fall. The weather was gorgeous and the lil girls (Ava and Katie, left and center, respectively) were showing me their newest moves from their gymnastics class, mostly cartwheels across the soft grass of our front yard. Anna (far right), and the neighbor's dog Marley, decide watch the exhibition.


Katie has also been on a hair braiding kick. She's been learning lots of new braids and playing with several new hairstyles. She did the braids above by herself without a mirror. That's pretty cool! It makes me smile when I see Katie and Ava interacting. Ava loves her big sisser so much and enjoys playing with her every chance she gets.

I honestly don't know where Rachel got the patience to help her put in those '50's glam-style soft curls (below), but she looks awesome. :^) Rachel also put together a really cute SmileBox photo album of Katie here.



Kaylee and Ava also spent the summer playing Upwards Soccer. I'm really proud of how much progress they've made and how much better they're getting. Here's an action photo of Ava just prior to her kickin' the snot outta d'soccer ball:



Soccer is just one indication that fall is finally here. In the old days, the start of school also meant the start of fall. But now that school starts just a couple days in to August, you have to look for other indicators. For us, it's been Savannah's football games at night (she plays clarinet in the school band) and Kaylee & Ava's soccer games on Saturday morning. I've really enjoyed taking the family to both. Not ironically, I've gotten my worst sunburns of the year at the Saturday morning soccer games. But it's all good! Rachel put together a great photo album here, also including some memorable trips to the Cedar Creek beach on Old Hickory Lake and Ava's ear piercing event.

Fall is also the time when I have to take a LOT of business trips. Overall, it's a big personal sacrifice in an otherwise awesome job. I'll post about those trips soon.

Cheers,

-Kev

Labels: Kids

Professionally, summer is one of the busiest times of year for me since there are multitudes of customers to visit and conferences to speak at.

Personally, summer is also very busy for me because it's a parade of birthdays and other significant dates. It's hard to keep up with all of it!

Dylan Turns 19

It's always a bit of a shock for me when I compare where Dylan is at his age to where I was at the same age.

At 19, I held two part time jobs (one was selling shoes on commission at the wonderful but now defunct Castner Knotts department store and the other was running my own computer pc-clone sales and services company, plus mowing lawns on weekends) and was constantly trying to put a buck in my pocket. Being dirt poor will do that to you.

Dylan, while he has a great job at a very good restaurant, is much more laissez-faire about money. Easy come, easy go. Money was such a big issue to me that I willingly stayed with my parents so I could save on rent and food. Here's a picture (at left) of us packing up his stuff to move into his new apartment - something I practically had to wrestle him to the ground to do.

Like Dylan, I also entered into a relationship at almost the exact same age that changed the entire course of my life. Dylan's girlfriend, Rachel, is a wonderful young woman who I simply can't speak highly enough of. She is good in so many ways. And she's also very good for Dylan. Her talents and characteristics compliment his in all the right ways. They both seem to have a good grip on what long-term commitment really means and understand, in many ways better than I did, what a positive and supportive relationship is all about.


Seventeen is the golden age of high school. I was a little older than Emily for the same grade levels, because I had one of those late birthdays that was right on the line where your parents could send you in early (and you'd be the youngest kid in all of your classes) or late (and you'd be the oldest kid in all of your classes).

My mom chose the latter. So, I turned 18 just a month into my senior year. Emily with her birthday in mid July, otoh, gets her entire senior year as a 17-year old.

Seventeen was an awesome year. The only worries were hangin' out with friends, keeping your grades up, and making decent scores on the big tests like the ACT and SAT. Of course, there was some time in there for part-time jobs. But that was on jobs where I got to hang out with friends to earn money to spend while hanging out with friends. And, in my case, there was some time in there for activities like theater, which was also all about hanging out with friends. It's all good. =^)

I hope, sometime during this year, that someone will invent a Nerf Car, so that you frequent fender-benders won't make a bit of difference to the body of the vehicle. Please - no more wrecks or tickets!





In my mind, Katie is still a tiny little tot. Whenever I pause to think about it, I'm always surprised how tall, articulate, and smart she is. She'll be taller than her mom by next year, I'd bet. She's going in to the 4th grade next week and she's doing great.

We've had to put a couple new rules in place to keep up with Katie. First, now critter caught in the yard or creek can spend the night in the house. We've had to many salamanders, frogs, toads, lizards, and turtles turn their toes up to the daisies while spending the night in a Glad-lock tub. She enjoys catching and studying these little critters so much that I wouldn't be surprised if she grew up to be a biologist.

Second, we've had to pull back on the frenetic activities inside the house. Your nerves fray pretty fast when someone is constantly bouncing on an indoor trampoline, pogo stick, couch, or basset hound. But, hey, if I had that kind of energy, I probably would too.

Katie also seems to be outgrowing a bit of her shyness. I've seen her talk to strangers without coaxing and play with kids she'd just met. She was so mature and responsible with the child of a visiting friend recently that I wondered if she was trying to impress someone. She assured me it was "just cause she wanted to". Wow! My little girl is growing up so fast!

Labels: Experiences, Kids, Parenting

Labels: Kids

We had a little cook-out today for the family to celebrate the birthdays of Savannah (12), Kaylee (11), and Anna (11, and 3 days younger than Kaylee). Rachel's folks came over, plus a couple close cousins and their families. It was great to have a wide variety of kids of various ages in the house.

Something happened, however, which really surprised me. Katie (8) has never paid much attention to kids littler than her. But somehow, for some unknown reason, Katie was really taken with tiny little Erlin and pre-kindergarten Ben. I'd never seen maternalism in Katie before. But again, much to my surprise, she happily took Erlin by the hand and led her and Ben out to play. She stuck by little Erlin's side the whole time, pushed her on the swing, looked out for her on the trampoline, and otherwise had a great time being a great host.

Like I said - never seen that before and had no reason to expect it. But it was wonderful to see it happen on it's own!

Labels: Kids

2010 has been a pretty unusual month, weather-wise. Although the temperatures weren't all that bad, we had more snow that I can remember in years. It seems like the girls didn't go to school on a Monday or Tuesday for the entire month of February, maybe even January too.


On the other hand, I got to teach Savannah, Kaylee, and Ava how to sled. They'd never really done that before and it was great fun seeing them get the hang of it.

Labels: Kids

The gymnastics studio were Katie and Anna have gymnastics every Thursday night has a weird sort of loft where all the parents can look down on their girls at play. I've had plenty of laughs up there and a few uh-oh moments. But mostly, I'm really impressed with the progress Katie and Anna have made.

Labels: Kids