Engineer or Artist?

The other day I was watching Kade as the girls were taking a nap.  I was upstairs getting something from my computer and as usual...got a little distracted.  After about 10 minutes I noticed that Kade had gotten really quiet downstairs...and as you know that usually meand I am going to be spending the next hour fixing something.  Much to my surprise, I found Kade in the garage building something.  Here is the finished product - he had balanced a piece of wood on the handle of the push toy and put all his markert on top...not too shabby.  I wonder if this means he is going to be an engineer or an artist??

I would like to get Senor Kentucky Royal's Opinion On This One...

Yesterday I was in the cafeteria at my place of work.  I was having a discussion with a co-worker as we were waiting to get our afternoon coffee.  Mid-sentance I stopped cold.  My co-worker must have thought that I was having another brain-fart moment as he stood there looking at me with that WTF look on his face...but politely not saying anything.  Then I pointed and he saw what was so befuttling me:

That's right...chicken (Pollo) flavored potato chips!!  I was able to resist my natural "manly" urges (to try anything unusual)  for exactly one day.  This morning I had to go back and buy a bag.  My mind was racing.  What would this taste like ... Fried Chicken??  

The answer:  Yes...... 

Yes it tasted like fried chicken...but....it tasted like a mouth full of fried chicken skin/fat...not good. I only got about 10 chips into the bag before I started feeling nauseous (something not easily done).  It went in the trash.  Experiment completed --> Chicken Potato Chips are NOT good.  

Interestingly enough...there was another bag of chips sitting right next to the chicken chips...this one flavored "mayonnaise"...hmmmm...it's a good thing tomorrow is Saturday and I won't be able to give in to yet another bad creation.

Me and My Cellphone 2

It's been a while since my first "Me and My Cellphone" installment...and the pictures have been accumulating on me...so I better get back at it before I forget about it. Here is a picture of what caused me to be late getting home the other night. A rather bad day for the local delivery truck. I guess all those signs in the US warning about vehicle height limitations are worth the money.

Officially 5...but can she run for President?

Today the US State department hand delivered Avery's brand spanking new Passport and her Consular Report of Birth Abroad (I think they slang that into CRIBA somehow). I know...what amazing service the US Embassy in San Jose provides!! This means that she has claimed her US citizenship thus making the Cavagnaro clan officially 5 in the eyes of the US Goberment. Don't worry Obama...you will still get us for the same amount of taxes due to the phase-outs on the child tax credit...unlike the Octomom.

Anyway, as proof...here is her passport photo (looks a lot like Payton's) and a picture of her new US Birth Certificate - the famed CRIBA.

I have also attached the State Department letter which accompanied our delivery...really...click it and read it. I would think that Hillary would be proud of the work of Senor Kentucky Royal. I think he deserves a promotion...at a cherry posting...say...something like Malawi?? But seriously...I think this is a hoax. After all it is supposedly signed by someone named John T. Ice...but if you look at the signature it clearly states John S. Ice so I think the whole thing is a sham. I will have to ask Hillary about that sometime...or maybe Senor Stanky since he seems to pretend he knows something about this stuff.

Lastly...as a public announcement. Remember that March 28 is Passport Day in the USA. A little (ok a lot) less exciting than March 14th...but hey...this is the State Department after all...

On Saturday, March 28, the Department of State will celebrate “Passport Day in the USA,” a national outreach event to provide passport information and accept passport applications from U.S. citizens from coast-to-coast and border-to-border. Citizens should check travel.state.gov for official times. For this day only, appointments and expedite fees are not required for those applying at a Passport Agency.

From Jen...

Avery's 1 Month Checkup

Today was Avery's 1 month check-up. The doctor was happy with her overall growth...apparently she is right about 50th percentile in everything.

02/19/09: 7lbs 1 oz and 19 inches

03/18/09: 8lbs 8 oz and 21 inches

On a separate note, tonight we are packing for our quick beach trip this weekend (heading out to the Betz's condo in Jaco). I am hopeful we can get a picture of all three kiddos on the beach for next year's annual Christmas card...so I was looking at getting the camera ready.

As I scrolled thought the pictures that were still on the camera, I ran across these two gems. The first one is a picture that our maid apparently took of Payton after "doing" her hair. The second is a self-portrait by Kade...what a masterpiece. I have a suspicion it would be his Facebook profile picture if he had a Facebook page.

Kade, you are soooo scrambled!

Last weekend Kade had a moment of brilliance. He got a ball-point pen, took off the top, proceeded to draw a line from one end of our living room wall to the other and then dropped the pen at the end of the wall and walked away. (I sense my parents are laughing right now for some reason...). Later that night, The Mrs. asks me what we should do: "How do we punish the kid that does not care about anything?". The age-old parent standby: "Ground his sorry little butt --> No TV and no playing outside for one day". Wonderful, we are already grounding our little 5 year old :-(

So...this morning (the day after the grounding) I was driving Kade to school and we had the following exchange:

Kade: "Dad, am I scrambled today?"
Dad : "What?"
Kade: "Am I scrambled today?"
Dad : "You want scrambled eggs for lunch?"
Kade: "No, I want to play with you outside after work."
Dad : pause...thinking...processing...ahhh..."Are you asking me if you are Grounded today?"
Kade: "Yeah....that's what I said. Am I grounded today?"
Dad : "No Kade, you are not scrambled today"
Kade: "Great!"

Happy St. Patty's Day...from Avery

School Photos

It's that time of the year again... With the start of each school year in CR comes the obligatory C9,000 school photogs. The interesting thing is that neither kid is smiling or making some really strange face?? I mean...what's up with that?!?!















Whenever I try to get photos around the house they always turn out like these...(yes, he is protecting his frozen waffle...don't mess with Kader-tot's waffles!)















Then there are the class photos...those are always a special treat for the parental units. It will be a lot of fun to look back on these photos after the kids have started to forget their time in CR. There is no denying their Tico friends now!

As Payton would say "Earth to Obama...Calling Obama"

This is the difference between campaigning and governing.  When you are the President...just saying that you are going to increase taxes on corporations down the road (corp tax rates or cap-trade) is enough to send them running for the hills.  Gee - who would have thunk of that? 

ZUG, Switzerland, March 12 (Reuters) - The tidy towns and mountain vistas of Switzerland are an unlikely setting for an oil boom.

Yet a wave of energy companies has in the last few months announced plans to move to Switzerland -- mainly for its appeal as a low-tax corporate domicile that looks relatively likely to stay out of reach of Barack Obama's tax-seeking administration.

Over the past six months companies including offshore drilling contractors Noble Corp and Transocean, energy-focused engineering group Foster Wheeler and oilfield services company Weatherfield International have all announced plans to shift domicile to Switzerland.

"Switzerland has a stable and developed tax regime and a network of tax treaties with most countries where we operate," Transocean Chief Executive Bob Long said in a statement in October, when it announced its move. "As a result, the redomestication will improve our ability to maintain a competitive worldwide effective corporate tax rate."

Hopefully he starts re-thinking his anti-business platform before all the corporate tax base is overseas!

Avery Grace - almost 3 weeks old!

I have been getting complaints from the natives that I have not been pushing up photos of the Avery....so here you go. These are from today.

A bit of a smile...

Getting tired of the photo shoot

Happy again

Scratch that...We Are Moving to North Dakota...To Live With Woody-Woody!

This weekend something terrible happened to me...I became an old fart.  I now officially remind myself of WoodyWoody (a.k.a. Woody).  As such, I will be moving the fambly to North Dakota where I can bitch about the weather all winter and yell at the Prarie Dogs all summer...at least that is what WoodyWoody says they do in ND.

You see, on Saturday night...our neighbors decided to have a birthday party.  Come about 11pm, they were still rockin' so loudly that they were waking up the kiddos...and waking up Kade is NOT easy to do.   So I put on my slippers and walked over to the neighbor's in my pajamas.  The funny part, when the guests inside their house saw me standing in the door...all the men turned and pretended like they did not see me.  As such, the wife ended up falling on the grenade (nice guy huh).  

Apparently the language of "pissed off" cuts through all cultures equally.  She pretty much knew what the hell I was there for before we spoke any words.  I did not pretend to speak Spanish and she did not pretend to not understand English...that was nice of her.  She appologized and the music level was low for the remainder of the evening.  All was well...except for the fact that I felt like I was 90 years old....I guess 3 kids will do that to you...

10. Thou shall not covet your neighbor's....

A while ago...the CherkyB published a blog regarding his "Beloved" snowblower.  Given the fact that he owns his beloved...I suppose Moses would say he was in the clear. 

BUT...recently a new temptation has entered my life.  Senor Stanky finally go his basketball hoop in-country (the Lifetime 71524 54" Makrolon® Polycarbonate Portable Hoop Goal Basketball System).  And so now...there is sits...out in front of our house...just tempting the unholy to covet away.  When I confronted Senor Stanky regarding this dillema he has put me into...he replied that as long as it was not his wife that I covet, then I may covet away.  Which raises an interesting theological question:  Is it a mortal sin to covet a basketball hoop when you have the approval of it's owner?  Oh...the issues we good souls must torture ourselves with...   

Just in case you failed CCD:

1. "You shall have no other gods before me.
   
2. You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
   
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
   
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
   
5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
   
6. You shall not murder.
   
7. You shall not commit adultery.
   
8. You shall not steal.
   
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
   
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s."
    

Moving to Massachusetts

Today I came up the stairs and saw a couple of boxes full of toys blocking the stairwell.  Noting the remarkable silence, I moved the boxes to one side and proceeded to seek answers. The first clue was found in the kids rooms...they were packing more of their toys into another box.  So I leave them alone (since they are not beating each other up nor messing with my stuff) and head over to the answer lady.  

Rob:  "Hey Jen, what's up with the boxes of toys?"

Jen:  "They are packing for Massachusetts.  Apparently they are leaving today."

So if you happen to see two kids in Massachusetts without any winter clothing or clean underwear but lots of toys...you know to ship them back to....

Birthday Wish...

Let me start by saying that it just would not be a birthday unless someone threw up on me. This year the honor goes to Avery Grace. Well done honey! So small...yet so much to offer!!

This year I had a tough time coming up with my birthday wish. You see...my dillema boils down to a problem which any person in the world should strive to have..."what does a man who has it all, really need?" The Mrs. did very well answering that call in the gift area this year...NFL Sunday Ticket, Guitar Hero for the Wii and a 7 pound Avery Grace. A very good showing on her part indeed this year!

But as I gazed into the "forest fire" of candles (as Kade called it) sitting on top of the cake the kiddos decorated...I reflected upon the importance of the birthday wish. To make it bigger than oneself...to add depth...to make it a truly grand. And then it came upon me like a bolt of lightening.

Now, one is not supposed to share their birthday wish, as we have all been told that this supposedly invalidates the wish...but I suspect that is just another conspiracy foisted upon us like Valentine's Day or the Tooth Fairy. So here goes...my birthday wish for my 34th Birthday:

I would like all the politicians...who believe

they can spend my money better

than I can...to go to Hell!

In addition: I am officially renouncing my registration to the Republican Party. I am tired of their hypocricy. The fact they lumped in as many earmarks in the latest budget as the Democrats is an embarassment. They had the chance to stand on the high ground and squandered it away. Now before all you Obama-Crazy-Liberal-Sensitive Types out there get the idea that I am joining the Democratic party...let me disavow you of that notion before you can even PayPal your way to my bank account. You are JUST AS BAD. As such, I have decided to start my own political party. Please come join in the quest to right America!

The Honest Americans Party

someday I may just have a few dozen members ;-)

Movie Night

Tonight was movie night in the Cavagnaro house.  All 5 of us watched "Lady and the Tramp" and ate brownies from Pam ;-)

Speaking of which...our Costa Rica Friends are GREAT!  Last Monday we went out with Jen's parents before the left.  Then Tuesday night Andrea brough over dinner...then Wednesday Heidi...then Thursday was Anna (and Tamera)...then Friday was Kelly...and we got an extra meal from Caroline for the freezer.  Saturday was a block basketball party (more on that later) and we cooked ribs.  Sunday it started again with Pam bringing over dinner - just in time for movie night!!  Supposedly most of this week is covered too!  Unbelievable.  The friends we have made here are Wonderful!  Thank you everyone...it has made a HUGE difference.

And as a side note...Avery's umbilical cord fell off tonight (day 10).  Jen handed it to me and asked me if I wanted to keep it...uh...that's just wrong.  Right up there with the folks who save those first teeth...I mean come'on...that the hell are you going to do with a 20 year old tooth people???