The Kids with Gramma and Grampa Kendall

I surely haven't updated many pictures on the blog in forever as well.  Need to keep the blog footprint alive.  Look at everyone and their smiling faces.

Back for 2016!

We've been idling a bit on the blog but I promise to come back in 2016 with lots of new random information...

Mary Jane, Jack, and Betsy have wandered their way into the new year.  Only Mary Jane so far has wondered what this whole "New Year" thing is all about.  According to her, the new year starts on December 7 every year.  Well, it is her birthday after all so that at least makes sense.

I gave the girls a treat today and drove them over to "Mama Place" (aka McDonalds) so they could have a Happy Meal as well as some playhouse time.  Unbeknownst to me, the toy right now in the Happy Meals is none other than Shopkins.  Oh dear, not the Shopkins.  Yes, the Shopkins.  I don't even know how to describe them.  Miniature shopping items?  Something like that.

Anyway, Jill has now updated the look so I can go back to the website and not worry about it saying it's 2007 or something.  More tomorrow...

Mary Jane Erb: the Next Vin Scully

Mary Jane and Betsy Jo have both learned the art of announcing.  Here Mary Jane tries her first attempt at hitting off a tee.  Betsy Jo follows with slightly better results.

Much Delayed Blog Post: Mary Jane's First Flight

Due to overwhelming laziness, illness, and distractions, I have not tended to my blog as much as I should have in the past six months.  But here are some pictures of Mary Jane's first airplane flight: a brief jump to Phoenix.

Here Mary Jane is gleefully pulling her luggage through LAX.  Most people think it's a complete drag but for her, it was a badge of honor.  Many times I offered to hold her bag for her.  She declined adamantly every single time.

Here Mary Jane enjoys a dinner out with Daddy.  She gets to chow down on a burger, some fries, and an orange juice.  Wow.  Special!  Normally she doesn't respond to close-up pictures like this but she was so in the moment regarding her food that she was surprised. 

She took over the camera at some point and took a nice photo of me completely zoned out by the window.  I guess I went into my own sleepy Zen mode waiting for the call for our plane flight.

 

I love this photo.  Here Mary Jane stares off into the vast blueness of sky and sea.  We had taken off and are slowly turning around from the westward trajectory of take off to the eastern path we must take to get to Phoenix.  The awe that she has mirrors the glow from the window.

And down there is the Palos Verdes Peninsula.  Somewhere down of the far eastern side is San Pedro.  Go Stars.

Jack Is Concerned That His Father Is a Goofball

Little Jack may be about 9 1/2 months old now but he's already starting to get concern over his father.  He thinks that Daddy is a bit odd.  While it was a Three-Hat Tuesday for Mary Jane, Daddy decided to wear one of her "hats."  This just looks silly as Daddy has a pink bucket on his head.  He then later sang something to the effect that "he keeps in there all day."  Mommy was nowhere to be seen during this photo shoot.

The Mad Hatter

Relaxing in the Leaves

My hard workers also need to relax as well.  A little play and a little relaxation works well.  They didn't make leaf angels in this video but it is exceptionally cute.

Too Cool for School

Some Saturdays you just want to sit around in your shades.  I'm not sure if Mary Jane is signing any autographs today.  But if you're willing to blow bubbles in the back yard, she may be willing to follow you.

A True Family Photo

Now that is a family photo.  We used the letters of our last name -- which are situated high up in the living room -- and allowed our little ones to hold them for a precious birth announcement photos.  Jack was about a month old (maybe younger) for a sequence of photos for his birth announcement.  Betsy has a quiet smile about her and Mary Jane's hair is tossed about like she's her father!

Best photo ever... of course if my last name were Johnson, I might think otherwise.

Mary Jane Leads the Erb Caravan

Mary Jane is slowly mastering her tricycling ability.  In this video, she's working her way down Stanwood, the street adjacent to Dewey.  This was only her second time circumnavigating the block.  Hey now, it takes her almost 30 minutes for the whole trip.

Betsy was sitting in the wagon and was not in this video.  Betsy, at this point, can make the walk around the block but often lingers and wants to pull off flowers.  Oops.  Thus when she gets a little... tired and distracted... I place her in the wagon and off we go.  It's the Erb Caravan.

Smile!

Mary Jane says she's taking a picture of me.  Yay!  A picture of someone taking a picture.  How meta.

Long live The Who!

Early Summer Fun with Family

A busy Sunday afternoon with Uncle Greg, cousins Ryan and Connor, and Jenna came by to visit the girls.  Mary Jane and Betsy Jo were overjoyed to see Uncle G and their cousins this afternoon.  Any chance to show off their abilities is something they look forward to.  And any chance to play with water as well.

Hey, no breaking the hammock!

Every Day Is a Fun Day in the Backyard

With a hammock and a water table, who could be happier?  Well, not Mary Jane because the water table was upside down.  No problems, Daddy turned it right-side up for her.  Time for the splashing to commence.

The Battle of the Headbands

So there it is... Betsy Jo says GREEN while Mary Jane says PINK.  Such are the controversies which these girls will stoke for the next seventy years.  I think they will have their superpowers soon enough.

Not quite sure what their powers will be... I'll have to save that for a longer, more truly inspired blog post.

Fire Station Open House!

Oddly enough the firemen rarely use this any more.  Most of the firemen at Mar Vista are on the older side and might actually get hurt on the landing.  But it remains as a symbol.

 It's been a double fire truck week for the girls.  On Thursday, Mary Jane and Betsy Jo went to the local fire station in Westchester.  (Some of those pictures must be on Facebook somewhere.)  But that was completely unrelated to the open houses run throughout all of LAFD today.

I was struggling with my Saturday morning run... on my quest to finish the Pasadena half-marathon... when I passed a bunch of fire trucks parked out on a street.  I thought, "Oh, bad fire" or even "Someone was shot!" as it was down by Oakwood.  But no, it was an open house with a pancake breakfast!  Ah, no better way to celebrate a morning than with a pancake breakfast.  Ironically, Mommy and Mary Jane were fixing a pancake breakfast while I was running out and about through the Venice and Mar Vista area (today's run: 7 miles).  We didn't ever make it to the Venice pancake breakfast (maybe next year) but I did take the two girls to the Mar Vista open house.  It's the one over on Venice and Inglewood.  Yes, where the old Break Shot used to be. (Now how would you remember that?)

There weren't that many people there that late in the day.  Mostly moms with young children so I fit in quite well with my girls.

Mary Jane and Betsy Jo had fun wandering around and climbing onto and off of the fire trucks.  No hats were worn though.  That's too bad.  

Daddy and the Girls

ABCD!

In my humble opinion, this is a classic video of Mary Jane busting out her alphabet to me while sitting at the dinner table.  Betsy is having fun off to the left of the screen and Mary Jane feels like she is entertaining the masses.

Having Fun at Music Class

Talking 'bout My Generation!

 Mary Jane and Betsy Jo thoroughly enjoy their Sunday morning music class over on Venice Blvd.  One man, one guitar, nine or ten children, random assortment of parents, noisemakers, scarves, and a tunnel.  What more could you ask?  Mary Jane and Betsy both jump up and down on the trampoline (that's what Baby Natalie is balanced on in the picture below) with aplomb.  Can't say that I've ever used 'aplomb' before in a sentence.

 Two girls with their jeans and Who t-shirts ready to dance!

You mean it's time to go?  Boo hoo!

Cooking in the Kitchen

After Daddy cleaned the back yard kitchen with Mary Jane and Betsy Jo this afternoon, Mary Jane decided to cook her own meal.  Wisely using the microwave, Mary Jane cooked her pretzel with a great deal more efficiently.  After all was completed, she proudly proclaimed, "It's my lunch!"  Yes, it is your lunch... and a good one at that.

The Best Laid Schemes o' Pandas and Giraffes...

Mary Jane and Betsy Jo with their animal backpacks

What, me a British lit teacher?  Never.

Anyway, I had this great idea yesterday to see if I could take a walk around the block with Mary Jane and Betsy Jo wearing their animal packs with the "leashes" that would be tucked on each arm of mine.  I knew it would be difficult: the girls do walk at different speeds, have varying walking interests, and don't necessary listen to commands.  Then again, that could also be my sophomores.

I wore Mary Jane's "leash" with my left hand and Betsy's was on my right.  The first 50 feet worked splendidly.   They both giggled and ran intermittently.  Mary Jane tried to escape the gravitational pull of Daddy but was unable to extend more than the 3-4 feet in front of me.  She'd slow down, wait for my long stride to catch up to her, and then take off again.  That worked well for a few houses.  But that was not the problem.

Alas, poor Betsy, she didn't feel like walking.  She was in her Ferdinand the Bull mode.  Betsy wasn't necessarily smelling the flowers -- well, it is spring so it would be as good of a time as any -- but she did want to see all the sites of Dewey.  Never mind that she had to keep pace with Daddy who trying to slow down Mary Jane.  Being tugged at both ends wasn't too helpful... it did make me think about the gravitational pull of the sun and moon upon the Earth.  Seriously!  It did.  That's what I get for spending too much time covering the Space Race and other extraterrestrial (ouch!) things for AD this fall.

Betsy before the fall

Finally, the flop occurred.  Betsy Jo could take no more and fell down with a thud.  Mary Jane kept trying to tug me forward which would then drag Betsy on the sidewalk.  Not a good idea... so I made my executive decision and turned for home.  Mary Jane was not too happy about it as she wanted to get some bamboo for Paul, her stuffed panda.  He's quite the needy panda.

Of course the drama didn't end yet with these excessively cute animal backpacks.  Mary Jane realized that if she stepped on the "tail" of the backpack, Betsy would... yes... THWACK.  Right on the paved driveway.  I should have seen that coming but then again, I think I was annoyed at my shoe lace becoming untied a few seconds previous.

This anecdote was not to criticize the producer of those animal backpacks.  They seem to serve quite a good purpose.  But one dad, two girls, two arms... as Jesus once said, ain't happenin'.  OK, maybe he didn't say that... but maybe he did.  Once.  In Aramaic.

No Fooling! Erb Family Back at Home

The Venetian, where we stayed last night

After a long vacation in Utah (no worries, many pics and videos to be placed on the blog in the next few days), the Erb family stayed one night in Las Vegas before heading home this afternoon.  There is no truth to the rumor that Mommy taught Mary Jane to say, "Vegas, baby!"  Mary Jane only can say, "Las Vegas!"  And no, Daddy did not teach her to say, "Viva Las Vegas!" either.

Before leaving for home this morning, Daddy wisely placed some action on the Dodgers this afternoon.  A 4-0 victory over the Hated Ones gave Daddy, a lifelong Dodger fan, double satisfaction: an Opening Day victory as well as money in the pockets.  As the old saying goes, "Baby needs a new pair of shoes!"  Indeed, I think Betsy Jo does.

The Dodgers iconic logo

Jor-El Made the Right Decision

The Erb Women

Oh, how could one not look at Miss Jill, Mary Jane, and Betsy Jo and not love their infinite cuteness.  And they all adamantly remind us all that, yes, Superman was indeed adopted as well.  Jor-El and his wife made the right decision. 

Mary Jane and Betsy Jo will be Supergirls... our Supergirls.  Will they bend steel, fly faster than a speeding bullet, or leap tall buildings in a single bound?  Maybe.  But we don't need them to  in order to be our daughters.  They will love us as parents and we will love them as children.  And I'll do everything in my power to prevent whatever metaphorical Kryptonite there is out there from harming them.  Now if for some reason, they pick up a few supervillains along the way... that's on them.  I can only give advice.  (I think I'll cut the Superman conceit here as you and I both know Clark Kent's adopted father doesn't make it much past the first act.)

At some point there should be a musical score from John Williams backing this post.  OK, maybe not but that's how I feel.

Mommy Playing with Our Girls

Amidst all the bunny comments, Bruin basketball, and Academic Decathlon triumphs... sometimes I just need to step back and admit how much I love my women.  They are strong.  They are funny.  They are the best.