A New Month! (Monday, 02/01/10)

Well, January is behind us. Now to look forward to a new month. It seems some exciting things are going to be happening for us, so stay tuned!

Lydia has been more involved in her homework lately. College life is in full motion for her! Papers, studying, and tests. She is trying to keep focus on what needs to be done, and she can't wait until she is finished!

Mysia is doing well. We remind her that she is now five, and with that comes new responsibilities. She's very helpful at times, especially once she gets motivated. Lately, she has been inquisitive about everything, and has no problem speaking her mind!

Malachi is growing up fast. There's no way you can call him a baby. Potty accidents are few and far between (except for bedtime). He is one energetic little dude!

I'm keeping busy at work, and at home. I'm still working on my website, getting that portfolio put together! For those interested, I'll be posting more stuff up there soon! I've actually got some new designs I'll be revealing as well!

~Matt

Tech Post: Object Dock (Monday, 02/01/10)

Over a year ago I made a post about how I discovered the Dell Dock, and how I had installed on my computer. It's a dock similar to the one that is found on the MAC operating system. There are some major differences, but the idea is still the same.

Well, several weeks ago, Sam introduced me to another dock developed by the same company that was even better. So I installed it to see if I'd like it. And.... I do!

This dock is very similar to the one found on Apple's operating system, and is also easy to use. To make my Visa feel more like the MAC computer I have at work, I placed the dock on the bottom of the screen and moved my vista toolbar to the top of the screen. It took some time to get used to, that's for sure, but I'm satisfied with it's functionality and simpleness! It's also nice to have all my program shortcuts readily available without having to go to the program files list or go to my desktop. Oh, and speaking of desktop, it's not cluttered at all!

~Matt

Clowning Around (Sunday, 01/31/10)

Vans were canceled due to the back streets not cleared off of snow, so I got to drive Lydia and the kids to church. I also slept in a little longer than I usually get to on Sundays!

I spent the afternoon working on some photos of the kids. While I was doing so, Mysia sat on my lap while I was touching a few up. She was watching and commenting on what I was doing, so I decided to show her some extreme things I can do with photos, and I started turning Malachi into a clown. With each color change, she giggled! When Malachi woke up from his nap, I showed him what I had done to his picture, and he laughed at it with a huge smile!

Just clowning around!

~Matt

Snow-day (Saturday, 01/30/10)

Wow! 6 inches of snow!

The car was covered! We really didn't want to venture out into the stuff, so we canceled our plans on going to the gym for our family swim, so we played couch potato, and watched Sesame Street's "Follow That Bird". It was one of the gifts Mysia got for her birthday. I got a kick out of the fact that the brother and sister Dodo birds are named Donnie and Marie! Ha!

I worked on the finishing touches to Ronnie's website, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Now to work on my own!!! Lydia worked on her homework. She is trying her best to stay on top of it! We had leftover pizza for lunch and then the kids went down for naps.

Gampa (Lydia's dad) stopped by and gave Mysia her birthday gift. Later on, Grandma Taylor and Dallas stopped by and brought over birthday gifts too! Her birthday has been extended! lol!

I took both kids out to play in the snow. We were out there for at least 20-30 minutes. It was enough time for them to get wore out and snow in their gloves!

After the kids went down for the night, I made a late run to Walmart for our weekly grocery shopping while Lydia did more homework. I'll definitely do the shopping in place of doing homework...! I had put in my time with college years ago, and I'm not missing it!

~Matt

The Snow... and Mysia's Party! (Friday, 01/29/10)

It hit! That four-letter word.. SNOW!

At first, it wasn't too bad, but it didn't stop. Blanketing the entire town all day, it was very pretty to watch, but yet sad at the same time.

We had scheduled a birthday party for Mysia at 6:30pm, and the snow caused several to call and say they weren't going to make it. We had been asked if we were going to cancel and reschedule it. But I couldn't... Mysia had already put off opening her gifts on her birthday yesterday, and we weren't going to expect a five year-old to really understand. Would you want to postpone your birthday party that you've been patiently waiting for and looking forward to? It just wouldn't be right.

Plus, we had made a ton of cupcakes the night before! Some had to be eaten soon!

Because of the snowstorm, I was allowed (along my other coworkers) to leave early. So Lydia picked me up around 4 and we headed home. We did more cleaning and getting ready for whoever might show up. I put on some part music (sung by Dora the Explorer), and blew up some balloons. It was enough to raise the excitement level for both Mysia and Malachi!

As the snow kept falling outside, we got several confirmations from those saying they wouldn't be able to make it. Mysia was saddened with each report, but I promised that no mater what, we'll still have a party and have fun. We did get a call that Lycia was going to come. That gave Mysia some excitement.

Before 6, Lydia started baking the pizza, and we ate. Lycia made it in time and we started the party. We celebrated with strawberry cupcakes, strawberry ice cream, and strawberry kool-aid! We then had Mysia open up her gifts. She enjoyed that part the most. We then sat down and watched one of the videos we had got her.

It was a good evening, and even more... Mysia had a great party!

~Matt