White boys can't dance

My brother in law Paul loves to dance...dance...dance. He bought the dance pad for his Playstation 2. He says that he got it because his daughter Elise loves to dance on it. But the only time I have ever seen him use it is after Elise was in bed. The sad thing is is he is pretty good at it. His wife Laura is worried that soon Paul will get bored with using the dance pad and start going out clubbing.

IVR Cheat Sheet

My Dad found this great IVR Cheat Sheet. It gives you all the short cuts so that you can actually talk to a human being when calling customer service lines.

Christmas with the In-Laws

We spent Christmas day with Beth's side of the family. Libby loved being held by her Aunt Laura. We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Bartman's around 1 p.m., and had the thermostat turned down and windows open 5 minutes later. Everyone knows that it will be hotter then Hades at their house so they try to dress appropriately. Rudi must have forgotten.



In his haste to cool down, he drank all four beers (bud light nevertheless) before dinner was over.


My niece Elise received a cool popper machine that plays a song as she drags it around. I got a great monkey ornament from my Aunt Rhonda.



At about 4 p.m. we packed up and headed over to Grandma Bonner's house. We ate again and then opened presents. Rudi got a beautiful handmade poncho just like Martha Stewart wears. Beth's Aunt Margie and Uncle Brian and her two cousins Hilary and Breque came up from Florida. We hadn't seen them since Errin and Rudi's wedding and they hadn't met Libby yet.



This is a picture of all of the Bonner girls. For some reason, only girls are born into this family. Beth is the oldest grand-daughter at 31 and Libby is the newest great-grand-daughter.



This is the greatest picture I have ever seen. It hangs at Grandma Bonner's house. Everytime I see it I wonder how that awkward girl in the middle could become my beautiful wife. Every year the girls all say they are going to get the picture retaken so that this one can come down. Hasn't happened yet, and if it does I will make sure the picture hangs over my fireplace.

Christmas with the Kurts

Because of my paranoia about missing my flight and it being a busy travel weekend, we left a good 2 hours and 15 minutes early for the airport. We ended up finding a parking spot immediately and the airport shuttle was right there to pick us up and drop us off at the terminal. It took us no more then 5 minutes to get through security. So we ended up sitting at the gate for about an 1 hour and 55 minutes. The flight was very uneventful and we got in to Detroit about 20 minutes early. My brother Dan picked us up at the airport and was nice enough to allow us to use their car the entire time we were up there.

You can read about the rest of the Kurt Christmas celebration here, here and here. Also you can see a ton of pictures here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Reason #214

Reason #214 why internet dating usually isn't a great idea.

It's a Christmas Miracle

An image of Jesus was found in a nacho pan. You can read the entire article here. I'm happy that they have decided to stop using the pan.

It's ON!!

I challenge Rich to a Google Fight!!

To the Docs we went

Libby had her 4 month well check visit today. Dr. Geiger was very happy with her weight gain. She now weighs 13 lbs 1.5 ozs and is in the 45th percentile. She is 23 1/2 inches long which puts her in the 25 percentile. Her head is also getting bigger; where once she was only in the 5th percentile, she is now in the 25 percentile. Libby was very good for most of the appointment, until the Doctor attempted to put her cold stethoscope on her chest to listen to her heart beat. Libby started screaming and screamed through all 3 shots. Libby fell asleep in the car before we had left the parking lot and took a 3 hour nap when we got home.

I hope this picture is acceptable to my brother Dave.

JDLR

Today I went to the Dermatologist's office to have a mole that J.D.L.R. Dr. Beard removed the mole because she didn't like the cut of it's jib. It was a bit of a challenge bringing Libby along. She was very good in the waiting room, smiling and cooing for the nurses and receiptionists. But as soon as we got into the exam room, she screamed like a howler monkey. Luckily I was able to calm her down by the time the doctor came into see me. Because I had not put anything down for employer or a work phone number, she knew I was a SaHD. She told me that her husband is also a SaHD and that it was supposed to be just for three months, but that was 2 kids and three years ago.

My Buddy and Me

Libby's cousin Elise gave her a dolly last time we were up in Michigan. Libby loves it. She has named her "LeeLeeLeeLee". Libby loves to bite LeeLeeLeeLee's pigtails and arms. She also tries to give it big kisses, but ends up just eating LeeLeeLeeLee's face. Click here to see some of the biting.

My Bad

My apologies to my brother in law Rudi. In a past post I told the world that our Grandma didn't make him a stocking like she has for everyone else. I was wrong. His wife Errin sent me this photo today of Rudi's stocking. I know it may look like it is made of newspaper, but Errin assures me that is just bad lighting. And as for the spelling error, it is an easy one to make, I've done it myself. I also know the photo is legit because it was taken on top of the couch that Beth and I gave them when we moved to Memphis.

Once again, I'm sorry Rudi

Move over Kevin and Errin

There is a new teacher in the clan. On Thursday Beth was bestowed the title of "CLINICAL INSTRUCTOR" at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Beth would now like to be called Doctor Professor Beth.

Christmas in Memphis

It is finally up and decorated! The usual tradition in the Kurt family is to go out the day after Thanksgiving and cut down your Christmas Tree. But since I didn't feel like hauling the tree all the way to Memphis, Beth and I had to go out a few weeks later and pick it out down here. We went to this great little tree farm out in Cordova, TN. Not sure why, but trees are much more expensive down here, we put out almost $200 for this one. It looks great though, well worth the money. As a matter of fact we have had alot of people say the tree looks so good that it must be fake.



All of our stockings, except for the dog's, were made by Beth's Grandma. You are officially received into the family when your stocking arrives in the mail. The only person on Beth's side of the family who hasn't received theirs yet is Rudi. Grandma says that she is going to wait a few years because she isn't sure the marriage is going to last (her words, not mine). So hopefully next Christmas Rudi will be part of the Bartman family.

Gone but forgotten?

My sister Boom does such a great job of making us feel missed while we are living down in Memphis. This week Gabe and Allie each send us a card they had made. The top one Gabe made for us and the bottom one is Allie's. Both sides of the envelopes were covered in beautiful stickers. Also every once in a while Susan sends Beth short movies she makes of the kids singing or dancing around. Beth LOVES watching them. At random times when she is studying on her laptop in the other room I will hear the movies being played over and over again.

Apparently others in my family don't miss us as much as my sister does. My oldest nephew had a birthday party on Saturday and we didn't even receive an invitation, we didn't even know it was going on until my parents called us on their way home. I realize that there was no way we could have made it up to the party, but it would have been nice to have been invited. I even thought maybe I was being a bit sensitive about this, but when I mentioned it to Beth, she felt hurt also. Beth always thought she had a special bond with the nephew's mother. Beth said "I always thought we were more then just sister-in-laws, I always thought of her as my oldest sister." The entire family was there having a good time. It really would have lifted our spirts to have at least been included in the celebration by having received a phone call or something.

Maybe after Beth's three year fellowship we won't move back to Michigan. Apparently we are gone and forgotten by some of the family.

Good Eats

Libby had her taste of "people" food today. She ate about 2 tiny spoonfulls of rice cereal and she GOT MORE ON HER THEN IN HER. Click here to view more of the meal.

Libby's new Glasses

Everyone always asks who I think Libby looks more like, me or Beth. Well I have figured it out, Libby is definetly her momma's baby. Not only is she already wearing glasses, they are kinda big on her, but she will grow into them. She also has stinky feet and toots just like her mom.

Crock Pot Recipe

My sister in law Cathie is really starting to become a pretty good cook. Her Creamy Chicken Stew is one of our family's favorites. She wanted to post it on her husband Dave's blog but he wouldn't allow it. So here you go Cathie:

Creamy Chicken Stew

3 boneless chicken breasts cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 26 oz can Cream of Chicken soup
1 10 3/4 oz can Cream of Celery soup
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
garlic powder to taste

Spray inside of crotchpot with butter flavored cooking spray. Place chicken in cock pot. Add carrots, celery, and onions. In a bowl, combine soups and spices. Spoon over chicken and veggies. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir and enjoy.

It can be served over dumplings, rice, mashed potatos or biscuits.

Nothing tastes better on a cold winters day.

**For larger familes recipe can easily be doubled.

Picture Day

We took Libby in to Sears to get her Christmas/3 month picture taken. We had a 4:30 appointment, which was pushing it in terms of her good and smiley time. Libby is the happiest and smilest baby in the world, except from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. each day. It is better for her to either be eating or sleeping during that time. As usual (from what my sister has told me) Sears was backed up and we didn't get in until about 5:20. While Libby didn't cry at all, she didn't smile and was not at all interested in getting her picture taken. So after 10-20 medicore pictures were taken, Beth and I decided to reschedule the pictures on Monday morning when Libby will be more cooperative.

As we were waiting in the waiting room, this guy was sitting in a childs chair reading a kids book. When his 1 year old daughter came up to sit on his lap and read with him, he pushed her away and told her that it wasn't a book for her. What a tool.

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Rudi's parents can now stop calling him useless and saying he has done nothing with his life. Because of his blog I now know what they were talking about on the latest episode of Family Guy. You can read an article here all about this fun Peanut Butter and Jelly song. Watch the Family Guy clip here. It really is the best show ever.

The only time it is good to yell "I have diarrhea!" is when your playing scrabble. Because it is worth a crap load of points.

Damaged Sportcross

I took the car into the body shop today the the Lexus Dealership had recommended. I wanted an estimate before I called the insurance company because if it was only going to be around $500 I didn't want to have to submit a claim. To my untrained eye it looked like something that could just be buffed out, and when I mentioned that to the body shop they laughed at me. They came back with an estimate of just over $3,600. They have to replace both doors. Mario, who wrote up the estimate was saying that he had never seen a Lexus stationwagon, and had to call the dealership about a few questions he had about what was painted and what might be a decal, and the dealership said they were hard cars to come by. After the estimate I called the insurance company and put in a claim. Team 1 will be repairing the car this week. And luck would have it, when I got the auto insurance I also got the rental car coverage (cause it was only another $15 a year). So I am dropping the car off tomorrow in the A.M. and picking up the rental car across the street.

Corn Mash

I have received requests from many family members for my recipe for Corn Poon (as it is called down here in the South). I made it for Thanksgiving Dinner and it was quite the hit.

1 stick butter or margerine
1 can corn
1 can creamed corn
1/2 cup sour cream
1 box (8 oz) corn bread mix

Melt butter in large bowl. Add both cans of corn, sour cream, and corn bread mix. Mix well. Pour into large oven safe dish with lid. Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

I also add about 2 tablespoons of tangy BBQ sauce for that extra kick.

Trip home

Libby and I started out from Canton today around 6:15 a.m. for the long drive to Memphis. As usual Libby was a doll and slept 95% of the way there. It took us almost 13 hours. While going through Indianapolis, IN I felt the car starting to pull and knew that I had a flat tire. I am assuming that I wrecked the tire when I side swiped the tree on Friday. It is only a slow leak so I am hoping it can be repaired. I was trying to drive on it slowly until the next exit came up, the sign said 1 mile. But then I saw a cop sitting on the side of the road with his lights on. So I pulled over in front of him and went back to him and let him know I had a flat tire and had a baby in the car. Apparently Indiana's finest didn't want to get cold so he sat in the car while I froze my butt off changing the tire. As always I had to empty everying out of the hatchback to get to the full size spare. At the time I had 4 cases of Leinenkugel beer in my trunk, 2 cases of Berry Weiss and 2 cases of Apple Spice, neither of which are available here in TN. So I am sure the cop was wondering why I was hauling the beer around. If the cop had been nice enough to get out and help me I might even have given him a six of his choice. Needless to say Libby and I were very excited to see Beth when we got home.

Jon talk Thai real good

On Monday Libby and I headed over to Canton to visit Beth's sister Laura and her daughter Elise. The four of us went to visit a J.R., a guy who I use to work with, at his new business venture. He opened up a coffee shop called Port City Java. He plans on opening up more throughout the metro Detroit area. The food and drinks were excellent. I had a peach smoothie and a Thai Chicken salad. Afterwards we went to Trader Joes because I had never been. I picked up some chocolate pancake mix, wasabi cashews and thai chili lime cashews.

This is why my nephew Gabe will never be able to date.

My Special Brother

This photo was taken by a random 15 year girl who was sitting on a bench in the mall. Dan, Kris, Susan and I all went out shopping at 6 a.m. on "Black Friday". We ended up at the Lansing Mall at around 8 a.m. While at the mall we walked by the Santa Claus display and I thought it would be fun for my brother Dan to take a picture of me in the elf cut-out. I gave him my Treo PDA and set it all up for him to take pictures. After 8 tries I was so frustrated, I asked this random girl to come over and take the picture for me. She did it no problem on the first time.

Thumbs Down

Thumbs down to the Sportcross. On Friday I was going to go out with some friends who I use to work with. Beth's parents were nice enough to babysit. We were leaving my parents neighborhood on the way over there and while going around a hilly turn we hit some ice and slide into a tree and lamp post. The tree sustained minor damage as did the light post. Luckily neither Libby nor I were injured and the airbags didn't deploy so the car was drivable for the rest of the week and the trip home to Memphis. But I did make sure that we never traveled in the snow or ice. The car is fine for living down south, but since it is a rear wheel drive car, it sucks for up north. My Dad was kind enough to let us use his car. Brought back memories of having to ask Dad to use his car when I was 16.

Thankgiving, Part 1

We got back late last night from our two day Thanksgiving extravaganza. We started the shin-dig off on Thursday at my parent's in Dewitt, a little different than usual. Instead of my Mom doing ridiculous amounts of cooking, the girls did all of the food and the guys helped serve the it. Dan and Dave had had the honor of carving the two turkeys.

We had a huge amount of food this year, plus we had some special guests. Not only was this Libby and Ben's first Thanksgiving, but Will brought his girlfriend Monaca as well.

This may not sound like a big deal to you, but to run a significant other through the Kurt gauntlet is more than more relationships can bear. To put anyone that you care about through this test is pushing things to the edge of the envelope. Will is family, considered a brother, and therefore needs to go through the same right of passage as everyone else did when they brought their significant others over. Monaca held her own against the best that we could throw at her as Will sat there with his thumb in his mouth, rocking back and forth in a comatose state, seeing his relationship flash before his eyes. My Mom had briefed us all before hand to be on our best behavior, some claim she even announced"This may be Will's last chance at Love, and you better not ruin it".

Rather than continue watching the Lions get destroyed against Atlanta, Kevin and I took the kids outside to play. It was 15 degrees, with a wind chill that made it feel like zero. Ouch. My parents have a decent hill in the backyard that leads into a swamp, so we figured we'd give it a try for sledding. We wore a decent path down until we could get some decent speed going. The only problem was at the bottom, when you hit the weeds, the sleds would stop and the kids would go flying. They seemed alright with that.

Another momentus occasion happened yesterday: I returned a pair of socks to my Dad. This may not sound like a big deal to you, but for the past 30+ years, we've been borrowing socks and t-shirts from my Dad during various occassions, and NEVER has one been returned until now.

Apparently I am has taking my role of being a stay-at-home Man Mom to the next level. I'm not sure the beads match.


We came back in and warmed out, while Emily got a chance to cuddle with her Grandma. We headed over to Cathie's parents around 6, which is only a few miles away, to begin Part 2 of our Thanksgiving.

You can view the pictures from both days here.

Home for Thanksgiving

Libby and I left Memphis at about 5:30 a.m. CST for the long trek up north. It had been in the mid-50 to 60's and sunny in Tennessee so I am definely not use to snow and freezing temperatures. The trip took about 12 hours to make which is very good for traveling with an infant (it usually took me about 11 1/2 hours driving solo). Libby was so good, she spent the entire trip sleeping of staring at the back of the seat. She made the trip with only three diaper changes and 4 bottles, I perfected the art of bottle feeding while driving (don't worry it is much safer then it sounds). One of the handy things about our car, the Sportcross, is that the front passenger seat folds down into a sort of table. So I used that to change Libby on instead of having to take her into rest area bathrooms. A huge boon was my new video iPod. I LISTENED (not watched) 10 episodes of Family Guy and the first disc of An Evening with Kevin Smith.

Happy Baby

After feeding Libby this morning, Beth put her into the bouncy seat. Libby was having so much fun, she was laughing and smiling for her mom. See more of these smiley pictures here.

My Baby and Me

After raking up 16 large bags of leaves today, Libby and I relaxed on the couch. The weather was perfect, 65 and sunny. I guess there are a few good things about living in the mid-south.

Smiling Baby

Libby is growing up so fast. She is starting to outgrow so many outfits and she is already going from size 1 diapers to size 1-2. Her cheeks are getting bigger and she is smiling more and more. Especially when her Mom comes home from a long day of work. Click on the picture to see more of her smiling.

Happy Birthday

Today is Stretch's 6th birthday. The only family member who has called him so far is his Aunt Susan. She had forgotten to call yesterday on Beth's birthday. Stretch's cousins Gabe, Allie, and Bender all sang Happy Birthday to him. Gabe even added a "woof woof" to the song.

Dave Joins the Fun

Will sent me this picture of 2 big weiners.

Here you go Boom

My sister Susan, was complaining that I wasn't posting enough pictures of Libby on my Blog. Here is Libby sleeping/crying on our new footstool/coffee table.

Libby hair is continuing to grow long in the back. She is starting to get a bald spot, but Beth has figured out a way to comb the hair over so it is not very noticeable.

So close to walking

Isabelle is one day younger then Libby, but is almost ready to start walking. I have been practicing this with Libby everyday for the past week with no results. I think Libby is getting to chunky and her legs aren't able to support her.

Sad baby

The only reason Isabelle is crying is because the bottle is empty.

Libby and Isabelle

On Saturday, Isabelle and her parents came over for dinner. Libby was kind enough to share her play-mat. Libby is trying to teach Isabelle how to take a bottle, while Isabelle is trying to teach Libby how to stand.

Great Investment

I have found a great stock for those of you looking to invest some of your hard earned money in. It is Dynamic Materials Corp. It looks like a winner. I am sure my sister Susan will want to invest.

Code Black & Blue

***Guest Blogger Dr. Crash Kurt***


As many of you know, I am working at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Presently, I am taking care of some of the sickest patients on the bone marrow transplant service. Part of my role is to respond to "codes" when someone has gone into cardiac arrest. Because every minute counts, I generally run to these events. Well, yesterday almost changed all of that, as my life practically flashed before my eyes. I was in a full-out sprint, coming around a corner by the nurse's station, when another nurse running to the same code, collided with me. The result wasn't pretty. There I was laid out on the floor behind the nurses station with my head spinning from the impact of the collision. Unfortunately, the incident was witnessed by no less than ten other people, including the attending physician on service. I imagine it was sort-of like watching a train wreck, where you're horrified it's happening, and yet you can't take your eyes away. Needless to say, I never made it to that code, and thank goodness it ended up being a false alarm. (By the way, Joshua, the nurse who apparently is in top physical condition, was unharmed from my tackle.)

Today, at our morning meeting about the patients, Ken, one of the nurse practitioners, explained he had gotten a call from risk management regarding my fall. He stated that they sent over a piece of protective equipment for my use while on the transplant service. Pictured above is my personalized helmet for use on the transplant service. I guess I will never live this down. But just so you know, it's Dr. Crash Kurt to you.

New toy

***This Post has been approved by Dave***

About 18 months ago I bought an Archos multi media player at Best Buy, for some reason I decided to buy the 4 year extended warranty for an extra $40. After using it for about a year, the battery life on it really starting sucking. So I brought it back to Best Buy to get a new battery as part of the warranty. Since they had stopped carrying it, they gave me a Zen Creative multi media player. I barely used the thing for the next six months, but I was going to bring it on my trip to MN, so I took it out and noticed that the external speaker on it kept going in and out. So I once again brought it back to Best Buy to get it fixed under the warranty. They shipped it out, but then called me a week later saying they don't have parts for it, and since they stopped carrying them, they gave me a brand new 60 GB Video iPOD plus $165 store credit. Yay to the extended warranty. And I still have 2 1/2 years on the original extended warranty.

A Picture Share!

Thank you to Errin and Rudi for allowing Libby and I to stay at there house this past few days. Since they didn't have a crib for Libby, she had to sleep on their woodle named Obie. She was very comfortable.

A Picture Share!

This restaurant at the MOA serves nothing but PB&Js. They have over 800 types of jelly, but only 2 kinds of peanut butter.

A Picture Share!

Libby liked sleeping in this bin full of cheap Swedish monkeys.