Happy Epiphany from the Sparks!

Well, here we are, happily sitting pretty at Epiphany in twenty-fourteen, fondly reflecting on the myriad of things that went on in what now seems a distant twenty-thirteen. It’s hard to remember back to last winter or spring, but I’ll do my best in recollecting the year that was for the Sparks for your enjoyment and edification.

This video is a little thing we like to call "the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree". My dad did it with my brother and me back when we were about this age, and we've done it every year since. Here's this year's edition with Emmie and Nate, Jill dutifully holding the camera.


Nate turned four back in the summer, and his love of superheroes hasn't diminished in the slightest. His artistic ability has really blossomed and he spends at least a half an hour a day drawing new pictures of heroes and their various adventures. Much like his father he’s also taken a shine to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to the point where Dave taught him (and he subsequently memorized) the theme song (to the old cartoon, of course). Nate is currently loving pre-K at Jill’s pre-school and is looking forward to Kindergarten at our neighborhood elementary school next fall with his friends.

The family last Easter

Nate realizes he's holding jelly beans

The kids in the bluebonnets last spring

Emmie has developed her own strong personality. In contrast to her brother, she’s rambunctious, adventurous, and runs most everywhere she goes. She’s learned to jump on or off nearly every piece of furniture in our house, and follows her brother around everywhere. She looks up to him and mimics most of his moves, even going so far as to claim some of his old pajamas and clothes. Her curly, crazy, bouncy head of hair is always on the go, usually looking for her brother.

With the cousins in Branson!

Last summer saw the Sparks take two fantastic vacations to go visit both sides of our family. First we joined Jill’s side of the family just outside lovely Branson, MO, and enjoyed the swimming, running, and lots of eating meals together with three generations of the Ross clan. In case you’ve never been, the hills and lakes outside of Branson are just as enjoyable as the varied shows and spectacles in it.

Seriously, we had to add this picture

Nate is as big as a bear

We also traveled overseas to Greece with Dave’s parents to visit with Dave’s side of the family, spending a little over a week outside the small village of Leptokaria in the foothills of Mt. Olympus. Emmie met her namesake, Dave’s grandmother Emilia, and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins (once removed, that is) Yiorgos and Nikos on the shores of the Aegean Sea.

Walking through Mt. Olympus

Just playing on an old Venetian cannon. Y'know, standard kid stuff.

Theo Kleanthis picks mulberries for Yiorgos and Nikos

At the beach

Sandcastles with Grandpa

Nate, Dave, Yiayia Emilia, Emmie, and Yiayia

Dave is still happily working away in the Survivability department at Bell Helicopter, keeping the choppers up when the bad guys want them to come down. He’s been working a bit on the new V-280 Valor (which you can watch cheesy videos of on Youtube), and is looking forward to first flight sometime in 2017. Also, he’s now an Inventor, proud holder of U.S. Patent #8,590,827, which he’ll be happy to explain to you some other time.

Over the summer Jill switched jobs at the Pre-school, moving from the infant room to being the Curriculum Coordinator. Her new role has her helping make life easier for the teachers by collecting and sharing age-appropriate curriculum for the kids.

Penultimately, she’s helped with a new online weekly letter from each class to let parents know what their kids have been up to each week. She’s currently in the midst of a massive pre-school book re-organization which will allow the teachers to quickly find books related to the topics they’re teaching that week.

Additionally, Jill has been keeping busy growing a new little bundle of joy in her womb, set to arrive in mid-March. Nate and Emmie can’t wait to meet their new baby brother, and Dave is excited not only for the baby, but that Jill’s nesting phase is hopefully over for a bit.

At the Texas State Fair

Happy Epiphany from the Sparks!

Shave and a haircut...

Below is not quite Nate's first shave ever, as he's been shaving with me in the evenings on several occasions now. Here it is for you to enjoy in all its foggy splendor. Thanks to Jill for manning the camera and de-fogging the lens. Please note that Nate's razor still has the cover on, and that Jill does not, nor has she ever, shaved her arms. Also, be aware that you're about to see a hairy man's hairy chest and back. View at your own peril. Lastly, be aware that the whole "shave and a haircut" bit is one of my proudest accomplishments as a father.

For me and my gal

For those of you not aware that the full moons have names associated with them (who knew?!), this Saturday the 29th, in two days, is that old favorite, the Harvest Moon. It’s the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox, which is apparently also time for the harvest to come in. Please note that whoever named it thusly did not live in Texas – today our high will be somewhere in the low nineties. But the nicest thing about the Harvest Moon is an old tune written back in the early 1900’s that, for one reason or another, has hung around for a very long time. I fear that, like so many other songs, it will be forgotten by the march of time; consider this my part in its preservation.

I probably first heard the tune on some garage-sale purchased VHS my folks bought for me back in my childhood days. While I initially attributed it to a Disney Donald Duck video (which included “The Spirit of ‘43”, a propaganda piece about paying your taxes), it seems that after a bit of research that it was a segment in a longer set called “Farm Foolery”. And lo and behold, it’s on Youtube. The song (along with a bouncing ball!) comes in at about the 4:30 mark. Make sure to watch through to the end for some actual animation.



With that lodged firmly in my adolescent brain, it was no wonder that many, many years later I would become quite endeared to Leon Redbone’s tin pan alley show. Part of it is in joy that someone else is trying to preserve all these old tunes, but mostly it’s a joy to realize that others actually like these old songs as well. Redbone is a delight at keeping this stuff alive. If you ever have a chance, see him live. He is even more of a delight in person than on the records. His fumbling, shuffling, mirthful voice comes through delightfully. Also, if you go to a show you are very likely to hear him whistle. And happily, he almost always plays a little “Harvest Moon” at each show.


It’s not that hard a tune to learn, and the chords are easily floating around on the internet. Some range is required to sing it, but not much. This Saturday try crooning it your gal, and enjoying the look on her face when she wonders why you’re singing a 100+ year old song to her. Plus, when was the last time you got to sing about spooning?

Emmie turns one!

Alright, so last Saturday was Emmie's first birthday party, which, for you studious observers, was two days late. Not too much exciting on her birthday (except for Nate getting more and more excited over the upcoming party) except of course for a delightful excursion to Braum's. We initially tried to feed her a tiny scoop of ice cream with a spoon, but she proved pretty interested in Nate's cone (orange sherbet). At the point of the video I had traded my butter pecan for Nate's orange, and then let Emmie go to town on the cone. Cue the video:

This looks a lot like when Nate had his first cone, except that Nate, being a little older, managed to snap off the bottom tip first thing. Emmie had a bit more trouble, seeing as her teeth aren't quite in yet, particularly on the top.

Emmie's party on Saturday was partly courtesy of Fisher-Price. I'll leave Jill to explain it for those more interested, but basically there's a way to sign up wherein you get to host a party and Fisher-Price provides the toys. Then you get to keep the toys. Win-win-win. We'll be posting photos and video of the party later, but as always, the fun part is when Emmie eats.

Not shown on the video, but Emmie took care of the cupcake in about two minutes. Just wolfed it down. Also, Nate has some lungs on him to put out the candle at that distance. I've got a feeling he'll be a trumpet player one of these days.

Post-script:
For those of you paying attention, while we both now have iPhones (4, no S), I still prefer using the FlipHD for video. The iPhone is too awkward to hold for horizontal video, and vertical video only works when you're watching it on an iPhone. Flip's quality is still a bit better.

Nate at the park

Just your average day at the park with Nate. One thing of note is how much fun Nate had on a playground nominally designed for 5-12 year olds. Yes, some of the ladders were too much for him, but some weren't. He got down all the slides on his own, and even managed to pysch himself up for the more difficult tasks:

And yes, there are squirrels at the park too. Nate was confused as to why the squirrels were playing on the playgrounds, and whether or not they would go down the slides. Also, according to Nate, squirrels eat leaves, but only at night. Fun times.

Some notes for lawyers from a juror

Ok, so last December I had the joyous opportunity to be selected for jury duty. It was a civil case, so we the jurors never had to worry about putting anyone away, but over the course of the trial we did realize that we could be doling out some hefty damages. While I could get into the details of the case, suffice to say that it was a two week long slog through the intricacies of commercial window installation, and why it's really, really hard to renovate old semi-dilapidated buildings. However, a few notes fow lawyers on some annoying things we as jurors mentioned while deliberating:

1. We can tell when you are acting. Perry Mason was a fun show, and it might have given you the desire to go into law in the first place. However, you are not an actor - you are a lawyer. All the fake indignation, all the fake surprises, all the raised tones of voice had the overall effect of making us take you less seriously.
2. Do not coach your witnesses. We had a good laugh in the jury room when we all recalled how the lead lawyer for the plaintiff, on multiple occasions, picked his head up, scowled, and vigorously shook his head "no" to his lead witness who was being cross-examined by the defense. Lawyers, you're less than thirty feet from us. Do you really think you're that sly that we won't notice? Even if the other side doesn't object, you make yourself look really, really bad.
3. Do not hang your case on a logical absurdity. To sum up a mildly complicated case, the plaintiff claimed that the contract was not complete because of some defects. Now, the extent and number of defects was contested, but the plaintiff's logic was that any defect at any point in time in the future was a sign of improper installation, and hence the contract had not been completed. At some point a warranty has to go into effect. The plaintiff in this case wanted us to believe that the work had to last effectively for eternity for the contract to be fulfilled. Needless to say, we eventually decided (after being initially split) for the defense.

All in all it was a good introduction to the civil court system. However, I have to question the wisdom of plaintiff and defense when hiring lawyers who make the above mistakes. For $200 an hour you should expect more than this.

Our curly haired kid

It's been awhile, so enjoy some cute video of Emmie playing around in the tub. Of particular note is her hair - curly and getting curlier every day. Jill absolutely loves it. The drawing in the tub is courtesy of Nate. It's just tub crayons, so nobody go worrying that he's marked it all up or anything.