Azure and Zarah hanging out with Dad – September, 20-22, 2013

Friday September 20th 2013

Courtney texted and asked me if I wanted to watch the girls this weekend.  I said that I would leave the decision up to her and the girls.In in one of the texts she threw in some of her newly acquired “divorce speak”  Saying; “Its all about the children” ( a statement I had never heard her say in the last 9 years). So either she thinks I am recording our conversations or she has been watching too much “Dr. Phil”.

Brooklynn was going to  be in her first tennis tournament today, and I wanted to see it, so I told Courtney that  I would be at the “Indianapolis Racquet Ball Club” at 5:30 p.m. She could meet me there with the girls if wanted.

Brooklynn’s match started at 6:00 p.m. and lasted until 8:15p.m. Courtney arrived 6:30, I met her outside and put Azure and Zarahs stuff in Deeya’s car.We watched Brooklynns game as best we could. We were in the viewing area behind a big window and Brooklynn was playing 6 courts over so she was hard to see. Brooklynn almost walked away with a “W”. She gave it a great effort. She was sweaty and her face was flushed by the time the match was over.

We went back to Deeyas and watched a Video on the projections screen of their last visit. Azure, Brooklynn and Zarah were cracking up over the part of the video where Azure and Zarah were riding on each others backs. The link to part of that video is HERE!. Franklin went an picked up a couple pizzas from Dominos to celebrate Brooklynns Tennis Match. It was delicious. After eating the 3 girls played in the basement with the Zhu-Zhu pets and were having a great time. A little later it was Brooklynns bedtime. Azure, Zarah and I snuggled up on the floor mattress and watched “The Wizard of OZ”.

You Tube: “Oh Auntie ’em, there’s no place like home!

It was Zarahs first time seeing it. She really liked it. Azure made it to the part where the Wizard flys off in the Balloon by himself, then she fell asleep. After the movie I put a pull up on Zarah and we went to sleep.


Saturday September 21,2013

I got up at 9:00 am. Both the girls woke up a few minutes later. I made Zarah a bowl of Mini-Wheats and Azure a bowl of Krave. Zarah wanted to watch “Princess and the Pop Star” again so put it in. Azure played “MineCraft” for a few minutes while Zarah sat on my lap and watched 10 minutes of the movie.

Deeya came down stairs to get Brooklynn for her reading time. Azure went with her. Azure read 1/2 of “Bad Kitty for President”. They each read for a full 60 minutes. While they were doing that I helped Franklin get into his VPN for work and cleaned the Kitchen. Then Franklin made Oatmeal for Brooklynn and Azure. They ate ate the table, while Zarah and I played “Restaurant” in the basement.

Brooklynn and Frank and Deeya left for the tennis match at noon. Azure
came down stairs and joined Zarah and I in the restaurant game. I had
pretend eggs, and grapes, and carrots, and toast, and water, for my
meal. I asked the girls “what games does Mommy play with you?”. About
an hour later I set up the bounce house and we had a good time playing together.

Then we went outside and took a bike ride around the path. It looked like it might rain so we cut it short. Then we sat on the back porch and each had a Mini-Snickers. At 3:00 P.M. we went back down in the basement and played “Animal Rescue” for a while.

Azure wanted a guitar lesson, so I gave her one while Zarah took a bath. Azure is doing really well. Her chords sound much better this week. and she is able to change from one to another much quicker. She played and sang “If you’re happy and you know it.” I was a proud papa!!!

After the lesson was over I decided to play and sing Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Coldshot” for Azure. I wish I would have filmed it. She had such a great look on her face. After Zarah was out of the tub and dressed I decided to play it for her also. Zarah had never heard me play a guitar and sing at the same time before. Here are some pics from her reaction. Awesome….

Click for a bigger pic of our smiles!

Deeya and Brooklynn got back a little after 5:00 P.M. Deeya called Azure upstairs and told her she had a present for her. She had Azure close her eyes. And she gave her a bright multi-colored carry bag with a pink owl on it. Inside it had a journal and pencils and sharpener and a book and some bookmarkers. This is to encourage Azure to keep track of her reading time so that she can win a bicycle at her school. Azure really liked it. I asked Azure if she would read to Zarah and I at bed time tonight. She said she would.

We played for a while and then we took another bike ride around the bike path just before dark. While we were on the path I told Zarah that I saw a deer out here on the path the other day. She said “Did you shoot it?” I said “No, I just wanted to watch it.”

At 8:00 P.M. Brooklynn came downstairs and the 3 girls giggled and screamed and ran around in the basement playing Hide and Seek and other silly games until 9:30. Franklin cooked veggie burgers for all of us. Zarah and Brooklynn really liked them. Azure said she wasn’t hungry. I ate 3 of them without bread. Guess I was hungry.

At 10:00 I pulled the mattress out in front of the projection screen and put in the movie ” Tangled”.

Azure and Zarah played with some toys on the mattress while I sat in a chair beside them and typed this out.  We all fell asleep around 11:00 p.m.

Sunday September 22, 2013

We got up at 8:00 a.m. Franklin made Oatmeal with Bananas Brown sugar and almond milk it it for me and the girls. I combed out Azure and Zarahs hair and got them dressed for church. We left the house at 10:05 a.m. Azure and Brooklynn read their books on the way. Azure finished her book. She did a great job and Deeya logged it for her in her reading journal.

I  took Zeebers to the lil kids sunday school. She had a good time. She gave me another picture from a coloring book. ( This time it wasn’t colored at all though. lol). She said she wanted to color it later. We were all going to go to lunch but Franklin had to go to work, we picked up  a couple of Dominoes Pizzas. On the way we stopped at Wal-Mart and I got Courtney a money order. We got back to the house and ate. Brooklynn and Azure wanted to play together for a while so I took Zarah outside and we went out and fed the Chickens and took another bike ride around the path a few times. This time we both saw a deer by the path!

Later around 3:00 pm Andrew came over to help Brooklynn with her home work. Zarah and I took a ride down to Speedway and I bought her and Azure “Strawberry Bottle Pops”. They both tore into them.

Then we went outside and picked a bunch of Cherry Tomatoes out of Frank and Deeyas garden. We got 50 or 60 of them. We cleaned them up in the kitchen sink Azure and I ate a few of them. Zarah said she doesn’t like tomatoes. I said “Do you like ketchup?”. She said “yes”. I said “Ketchup is made out of tomatoes”. I doubt if that really sank in since she is only four. But oh well, ya never know. Andrew, Brooklynn, Azure, and Zarah all started wrestling down in the basement. They had a ball. It wore me out just watching them. I got out the video camera and filmed a couple of minutes as they were winding down.

About 7:30 P.M. Judy gave Azure and Brooklynn a bath upstairs. While they were doing that I got Zarah some apple juice in a sippy cup and she laid on my chest while we watch “Annie” the movie version with Carol Burnett in the basement.

Around 8:00 P.M. Courtney came in to pick up the girls. They wanted to play longer. They wanted me to spin them around and to ride on my back. After a couple of quick rounds of that we went upstairs and got their stuff together. Courtney was irritated with me and she made sure to let me know that as we walked out to Tims (Courtneys’ new B.F.F. )  Cruiser. Azure started crying because of it. Deeya came out and went over to talk to Tim while Courtney yelled at me. For what ever reason, Courtney told me she had copies of all the text messages I have sent her. etc…etc… etc…

After that I watched a sermon by Andrew Curry ( Sarah’s husband ) streamed from GraceChurch.org at 9:00 P.M. I went to bed at 11:00 P.M. I slept like a rock.

Addendum: I called Azure at 5:00 P.M. on Monday to ask how her day at school was and the first thing she said was; ” I read for 15 minutes on the School Bus today”.  AWESOME !!!