Let's see what could have been going on since last I blogged. Oh... not much I guess. The family still lives in the great state of Texas and we still only have three kids and we plan to stay that way. The mortgage company I worked for has been sold to a much bigger bank and the kids are bigger than ever. So now that we have caught up, on to some amusing stories from the last several months/year.
As those of you use to read my travels remember, the world around me tends to deal some things that make me laugh. Recently I was granted the opportunity (forced at gunpoint) to travel to California for my prison sentence ( I mean job). The trip out there began with Charlie the redneck cap driver. He is the cab driver that my boss uses when he goes back and forth to California on an almost weekly basis. As my boss is a very sophisticated man I expected a new clean cab and an older well groomed man. Charlie was not that man. Charlie arrived at my house on time dressed in cowboy boots, jeans, suspenders, and a cowboy hat. Charlie's cab smelled like maybe deoderant was not a requirement to ride in his cab. It also appeared that the last time the seats had been cleaned was right after the last rider got sick as Charlie placed the cab on two wheels rushing his fare to the airport. The final moment was when Charlie upon delievering me slightly naucious to the airport announced that in order to cover the tip we would just round the fare from $41.00 to $50.00. Now I planned to tip enough to cover his purchase of an evergreen tree to hang from the mirror and maybe a stick of right guard but $9.00 seemed a little steep.
The trip greatly improved when I got bumped to First Class. Nothing better than thinking you will be next to the man with the moldy toes in sandals to being placed in the big seats upfront. They even served a hot breakfast and all of the soda or tea or whatever I could drink. A word to the wise though is that when they do that and we drink all you can drink about half way throught the flight you will need to use the corner with a door they call a bathroom. When you're on the larger size it actually is better if you keep the soda can and use it as you will have an easier time then cramming into the bathroom. Then say your neighbor has fallen asleep and you get to do the pee pee dance in your seat for three hours. The only good thing is that upon arrival at the airport the bathrooms were next to gate. Disaster avoided!!
So the rest of trip was rather uneventful other than my boss attempting to poision me at a brazilian place in our great hunt to see Thomas Magnum. Seems that he lives close to the restaurant we ate at. All I know is that if he did he must have not had what I had because it was killer almost.
Upon my arrival at the airport for my return trip home I was still feeling weak and was very tired. I was trying to find something that would brighten my mood and then like a gift from God there they were. As I am sure you are all aware the pig flu (swine to be exact) has been going around. Now the news media may have made a mountain out of a pig pen but most people realized that if you stayed away from people who had recently visited ole mexico and their pigs/swine then you would not catch it. Obvousily these travelers had not recieved their CNN update because there they sat legs crossed and masks firmly in place. It was my great fortune that they were in front of me as we began to board the plane. It was then that a mysterious sneezing and coughing fit overcame me. As I sneezed and coughed practically on the back of their heads I kept mumbeling to myself something to the effect of "I sure hope that the trip to Mexico City to visit those orphans did not give me anything". For some reason that coupled with my constant sneezing and coughing caused them to recoil everytime. To my surprise and delight this lovely couple sat across the aisle a row in front of me. This allowed me to maintain my game for three hours. For those of you who beleive me to be cruel I think that God has placed in me the desire to spread joy to the world or at least entertain myself on a three hour flight.
So with that I return to my wife and my three wonderful kids. She found my story amusing and thankfully she gets me. Aint it great. I will post some kid pictures soon. Until then rememeber that I am back!!!! And I am sure I missed you more than you missed this blog!
May 14, 2009
May 5, 2008
A quick update
For those of you wondering what has happened to us here is brief update. Still in TX still breathing still have three kids and still missing all of you. It is nearing the end of the many exciting times here in our house. Once leaves second grade and heads to third grade and one is finishing his first year at pre-school. Kaitlyn has really learned alot. Reading and books are her hobbies and she loves to read to the little ones. Tyler has learned most of his colors in english and spanish as well as counting to ten in both languages. He has also decided that he is my little man. He has cried everyday I have gone to work for the past two weeks. Not sure why but he is my little man. Lauren is getting bigger everyday and we can not beleive that she is 14 months old. Andrea enjoy every minute because before you know it they are telling you not to walk them into the school but just to drop them off.
Not a whole lot else has been going on. Kaitlyn and I had the opportunity to go and see Avalon, Michael English, the Daniel Doss Band and Cadia. It was great. Thanks to a bad promoter the did not sell many tickets so we got front row seats right in front of the stage. It was awesome. If you get the chance to see any of them I would recommend them all. As most of you know I want to sing like Michael English when I get to heaven. I will say that his portion of the concert was the most moving as he shared what the last 14 or so years have been like. Never did he pull any punches but simply stated that he where he had been what it was like to get out of it and the struggles it presented for him. He only did three songs but no one seemed to mind. Avalon was incredible and Jeremi (I know with an I) was a great addition and I have not hit some of those notes since I was 8. The Daniel Doss band was great and Cadia was just getting started but did a great job. They were Kaitlyn's favorites because they are only in their teens. Anyway hope you all are well and I will write more when I can.
Here are some pics.
Not a whole lot else has been going on. Kaitlyn and I had the opportunity to go and see Avalon, Michael English, the Daniel Doss Band and Cadia. It was great. Thanks to a bad promoter the did not sell many tickets so we got front row seats right in front of the stage. It was awesome. If you get the chance to see any of them I would recommend them all. As most of you know I want to sing like Michael English when I get to heaven. I will say that his portion of the concert was the most moving as he shared what the last 14 or so years have been like. Never did he pull any punches but simply stated that he where he had been what it was like to get out of it and the struggles it presented for him. He only did three songs but no one seemed to mind. Avalon was incredible and Jeremi (I know with an I) was a great addition and I have not hit some of those notes since I was 8. The Daniel Doss band was great and Cadia was just getting started but did a great job. They were Kaitlyn's favorites because they are only in their teens. Anyway hope you all are well and I will write more when I can.
Here are some pics.
February 9, 2008
Ramblin Back into Bloggin
So I bet you are wondering where I have been. If your snot I mean not then why not. It has been since Thanksgiving since I last visited the blog land and not one note of concern was posted. No 911 calls to police to insure that me and the fam were okay. Now I attribute that to two things:
1) Someone of you know my mom and she has kept you up to date on the happs down here in the big D. Telephone, Telegraph, Tele Carolyn
2) You feared that you would be arrested when the police found that we were well and that I was just too lazy to get a new one posted
Now what we have here is too much information to share in one blog because well we had the Christmas holiday and then New Years the sale of the house in Florida and finally the celebration of Kaitlyn's birthday and the daddy daughter dance. So I will attempt to be brief so we better dive in.
Let's start with the holidays. Much to my surprise we had a very cold christmas. But it was great. This year we decided that we would go with a theme and we did the Chevy Chase classic National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. I played the roll of Eddie and boy let me tell you trying to find V neck sweater in 3X plus the white dickie was hard(not a real big seller I found out). But after my third trip to thrift store I struck gold. The hardest part was trying to wrangle the squirrel to put in the tree but thanks to a couple lucky Texas cowboys we were able to catch a three legged one we called stubby. Now before all of you animal activists out there think we electricuted little stubby in order to burn the tree up like in the movie we did not. We actually lured him out by rubbing some peanut butter on the back of Tyler's pants and boy do squirrel's love peanut butter. Thankfully with stubby only having three legs Tyler was able to stay away until we reinacted that scene and we could get stubby back in his cage. Actually stubby as we found out was not a he but a she (didn't think to check that) and we are now the proud grandparents of 6 little squirrels(we named after all my favorite cousins we have shaved all of the hair of the one named Jason I pierced both of his ears but he scratched the tar out of me). Finally, we reinacted the meal with Snot the dog. Now we really did not want that large of a dog underneath our table so we got one of the nieghbors down the street with a really bad cold and awful gas to play the role. What a time we had!!!
But really the kids got way to many gifts and we are blessed more than we probably deserve. We actually spent Christmas day with Kristena's grandparents which was great. They are great people and make being away from my crazy family during the holidays a little easier. It almost feels like I am with them when they bust out the card games. Now should Kristena's grandpa and grandmother try to get you to play by pretending that it will be just a friendly game don't let them fool you. They are card sharks. I won the first hand we played and for the rest of the game they shut me down at every turn. That would have been fine except it was $100 a piece just to get in the game and $50 a hand. Kristena and I had to sign over Kaitlyn's first year of college tuition before they would let us leave. (i am just kidding of course they wouldn't gamble on Christmas but they did charge us $10 a head for lunch : ))
We then had what I will term the Family Christmas at Kristena's grandparents the following weekend. We had to wait until after Christmas because my sister said she was coming but she had to wait until after Christmas when Wayne would be released from jail. It seems that Wayne has been parking in handicap spaces again and this time they had had enough. So off to jail they took him the funny part is they put him in the handicap cell with the bigger bathroom and the hand rails. He kept insisting he really was handicapped but when he jumped on the unicycle and jugggled fire in nude they thought he was crazy but because he had not registered with the proper agency so off to jail he went. Well that's not true either but really who can tell anymore. Anyway the truth is that Kristena's grandparents again crowded 1,100 people into their house. But this time I saw how Kristena's grandmother made enough food for everyone. The secret is......takeout! I saw her throwing away 1.100 Wendy's wrappers in the trash. No wonder I like her family so much that is something my mom would do. "Here kids" she would say "enjoy your home cooked Thansgiving meal from the local grocery store." Or we don't think we should cook this year all we do is end up with that full feeling that you get from eating real food. Let's all got to the pole barn with the Carosel and we can arm wrestle the people who's oven broke on Thanksgiving day for the wishbone. Oh by the way we had an awesome time at my Grandparent In Laws for Christmas both times. The kids love it and can't wait for us to leave them there.
Now onto more current events. Do want to know what the best part of living in Texas is??????????????(sorry button stuck) It is the TV schedule!!!!!!! Everything here comes on an hour earlier than it did in Florida or Ohio or anywhere else that is on the silly Eastern Time thingy. So Kaitlyn and I only had to stay up until 11:00 to watch Dick Clark drop the ball down the building. And did any else think that we could feed a whole bunch of people if we used a tennis ball from Wal-Mart instead of a Billion Dollar crystal ball that has 2.00 dollar lights from CVS strung through it. Did anyone who was on TV know it was that expensive? It is dark out shoot as much weight as I put on during the holidays I am almost a circle wrap me in lights and will slide that pole at Midnight singing It's a Whole New World.
Now we are onto Kaitlyn's 8th Birthday party. For all of you that have made this far in one sitting you are truly crazy, or a glutton for punishment but either way thanks. Now each year we have had some sort of party for Kaitlyn. I say every year but last year. Last year we decided to help the Disney machine take over the world and we took her to Disney World. This year we decided that we would have her party at our house.(Cue the ominious music) So we let Kaitlyn invite all 11 girls in her class along with the cute little neighbor girl who she plays with who is only 5 to her party. Thinking that most will not come..... All but one girl RSVP'd. Have you ever had 12 eight year old in your house with a Karoke maching playing songs from High School Musical??? If you get the chance don't! The only illustration I have is it is probably like if you jammed your head into the middle of a jet engine then told the pilot to give it some gas while listening to the greatest hits from the dump truck. I mean it was unbelievable. And they are like vultures. I have never seen that much food disappear since I followed a local wieght watchers group hit the Golden Corral right after wiegh in. And they are demanding. One little girl, let's call her bossy and her friend rude asked me after eating everything that wasn't nailed down if I knew how to make a milk shake and if so would I make her one???? What you just ate pizza, chips, cake, two end tables and part of the love seat and now you want a milk shake!? I might have made it for her except she ate both the handles of the fridge and I could not get it open. The important thing is that Kaitlyn had a blast. We can buy more furniture and I am sure Tyler and Lauren will not be afraid everytime someone says pizza. The important thing is that we made a memory that she will treasure for a life time.
Finally, there was tonight. I had the priveldge to escort miss Kaitlyn to the annual Daddy/Daughter dance at her school. It was a blast! She got to go get her hair done and then we had the helicopter pick us up at the house.( not really we drove the minivan) She was beatiful and I am quite honored that she has let me be her dad. Five+ years ago she and Kristena became a part of my life. She was this tiny little girl that was quiet all the time but was full of spunk. She is slowly turning into this young lady that has her own opinons on everything from the music she likes to the things I wear. I can not imagine a day without her being a part of my life.
Anyway I am voting for me in the presidental election because I think I would do I good job. Can't you imagine me settling the problems around the budget? Boys what we need to do is just shut the oven door and throw those pans out. If you can't cleanem you can't keep'em. Enjoy the pics and remember alot of this blog is based on something that might be somewhat true.
1) Someone of you know my mom and she has kept you up to date on the happs down here in the big D. Telephone, Telegraph, Tele Carolyn
2) You feared that you would be arrested when the police found that we were well and that I was just too lazy to get a new one posted
Now what we have here is too much information to share in one blog because well we had the Christmas holiday and then New Years the sale of the house in Florida and finally the celebration of Kaitlyn's birthday and the daddy daughter dance. So I will attempt to be brief so we better dive in.
Let's start with the holidays. Much to my surprise we had a very cold christmas. But it was great. This year we decided that we would go with a theme and we did the Chevy Chase classic National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. I played the roll of Eddie and boy let me tell you trying to find V neck sweater in 3X plus the white dickie was hard(not a real big seller I found out). But after my third trip to thrift store I struck gold. The hardest part was trying to wrangle the squirrel to put in the tree but thanks to a couple lucky Texas cowboys we were able to catch a three legged one we called stubby. Now before all of you animal activists out there think we electricuted little stubby in order to burn the tree up like in the movie we did not. We actually lured him out by rubbing some peanut butter on the back of Tyler's pants and boy do squirrel's love peanut butter. Thankfully with stubby only having three legs Tyler was able to stay away until we reinacted that scene and we could get stubby back in his cage. Actually stubby as we found out was not a he but a she (didn't think to check that) and we are now the proud grandparents of 6 little squirrels(we named after all my favorite cousins we have shaved all of the hair of the one named Jason I pierced both of his ears but he scratched the tar out of me). Finally, we reinacted the meal with Snot the dog. Now we really did not want that large of a dog underneath our table so we got one of the nieghbors down the street with a really bad cold and awful gas to play the role. What a time we had!!!
But really the kids got way to many gifts and we are blessed more than we probably deserve. We actually spent Christmas day with Kristena's grandparents which was great. They are great people and make being away from my crazy family during the holidays a little easier. It almost feels like I am with them when they bust out the card games. Now should Kristena's grandpa and grandmother try to get you to play by pretending that it will be just a friendly game don't let them fool you. They are card sharks. I won the first hand we played and for the rest of the game they shut me down at every turn. That would have been fine except it was $100 a piece just to get in the game and $50 a hand. Kristena and I had to sign over Kaitlyn's first year of college tuition before they would let us leave. (i am just kidding of course they wouldn't gamble on Christmas but they did charge us $10 a head for lunch : ))
We then had what I will term the Family Christmas at Kristena's grandparents the following weekend. We had to wait until after Christmas because my sister said she was coming but she had to wait until after Christmas when Wayne would be released from jail. It seems that Wayne has been parking in handicap spaces again and this time they had had enough. So off to jail they took him the funny part is they put him in the handicap cell with the bigger bathroom and the hand rails. He kept insisting he really was handicapped but when he jumped on the unicycle and jugggled fire in nude they thought he was crazy but because he had not registered with the proper agency so off to jail he went. Well that's not true either but really who can tell anymore. Anyway the truth is that Kristena's grandparents again crowded 1,100 people into their house. But this time I saw how Kristena's grandmother made enough food for everyone. The secret is......takeout! I saw her throwing away 1.100 Wendy's wrappers in the trash. No wonder I like her family so much that is something my mom would do. "Here kids" she would say "enjoy your home cooked Thansgiving meal from the local grocery store." Or we don't think we should cook this year all we do is end up with that full feeling that you get from eating real food. Let's all got to the pole barn with the Carosel and we can arm wrestle the people who's oven broke on Thanksgiving day for the wishbone. Oh by the way we had an awesome time at my Grandparent In Laws for Christmas both times. The kids love it and can't wait for us to leave them there.
Now onto more current events. Do want to know what the best part of living in Texas is??????????????(sorry button stuck) It is the TV schedule!!!!!!! Everything here comes on an hour earlier than it did in Florida or Ohio or anywhere else that is on the silly Eastern Time thingy. So Kaitlyn and I only had to stay up until 11:00 to watch Dick Clark drop the ball down the building. And did any else think that we could feed a whole bunch of people if we used a tennis ball from Wal-Mart instead of a Billion Dollar crystal ball that has 2.00 dollar lights from CVS strung through it. Did anyone who was on TV know it was that expensive? It is dark out shoot as much weight as I put on during the holidays I am almost a circle wrap me in lights and will slide that pole at Midnight singing It's a Whole New World.
Now we are onto Kaitlyn's 8th Birthday party. For all of you that have made this far in one sitting you are truly crazy, or a glutton for punishment but either way thanks. Now each year we have had some sort of party for Kaitlyn. I say every year but last year. Last year we decided to help the Disney machine take over the world and we took her to Disney World. This year we decided that we would have her party at our house.(Cue the ominious music) So we let Kaitlyn invite all 11 girls in her class along with the cute little neighbor girl who she plays with who is only 5 to her party. Thinking that most will not come..... All but one girl RSVP'd. Have you ever had 12 eight year old in your house with a Karoke maching playing songs from High School Musical??? If you get the chance don't! The only illustration I have is it is probably like if you jammed your head into the middle of a jet engine then told the pilot to give it some gas while listening to the greatest hits from the dump truck. I mean it was unbelievable. And they are like vultures. I have never seen that much food disappear since I followed a local wieght watchers group hit the Golden Corral right after wiegh in. And they are demanding. One little girl, let's call her bossy and her friend rude asked me after eating everything that wasn't nailed down if I knew how to make a milk shake and if so would I make her one???? What you just ate pizza, chips, cake, two end tables and part of the love seat and now you want a milk shake!? I might have made it for her except she ate both the handles of the fridge and I could not get it open. The important thing is that Kaitlyn had a blast. We can buy more furniture and I am sure Tyler and Lauren will not be afraid everytime someone says pizza. The important thing is that we made a memory that she will treasure for a life time.
Finally, there was tonight. I had the priveldge to escort miss Kaitlyn to the annual Daddy/Daughter dance at her school. It was a blast! She got to go get her hair done and then we had the helicopter pick us up at the house.( not really we drove the minivan) She was beatiful and I am quite honored that she has let me be her dad. Five+ years ago she and Kristena became a part of my life. She was this tiny little girl that was quiet all the time but was full of spunk. She is slowly turning into this young lady that has her own opinons on everything from the music she likes to the things I wear. I can not imagine a day without her being a part of my life.
Anyway I am voting for me in the presidental election because I think I would do I good job. Can't you imagine me settling the problems around the budget? Boys what we need to do is just shut the oven door and throw those pans out. If you can't cleanem you can't keep'em. Enjoy the pics and remember alot of this blog is based on something that might be somewhat true.
November 25, 2007
Goodbye to Turkey Day and Hello Black Friday!
Well as most of you have realized Thanksgiving is over. If you have not realized it then we need to have you checked. We had a lovely day at Kristena's grandparents with her side of the family. Her side of the family includes two aunts with two husbands (not apiece) 11 cousins, one cousin in law and her grandmother and grandpa. It made for quite a crew. Her grandparents decided that there were to many people to crowd around two tables and so we split into several different crowds. Married more than 10 years and/or over the age of "40" (wink, wink) in the main dining room. Married less than 10 years and under the age of 40 still in the house but at the kitchen table. Everybody else ate in the garage. Including Kaitlyn and Tyler the two youngest and as of right now the only great grand children. Lauren was sleeping/screaming in the back bedroom as we all chowed down. A very efficient manner of seating and allowed the conversation not to go from the Disney channel to what ever current event was going on. It was great to get to know everyone a little better and the food was awesome. I did wonder how you plan to feed that many people. I think that it is like a bible lesson. Kristena's grandmother took one little ham and fed the 5,000 it was a really a miracle. The greatest miracle occurred later in the day when Kristena's aunt Kelley got her to actually play a card game. For those of you who know her Kristena has never been a card player but she actually held her own. The kids had a blast and they loved playing with "the cousins" who they had not seen in a long time.
The last turkey miracle I think was practical joke from the big guy upstairs. It snowed. After all of my bragging about the weather over the last two years God decided that he would finally listen to the prayers of my family and give me a what I had coming to me and it snowed. Now if all of you can manage to make that happen how about we use our powers for good and get that house in JAX sold. Come on people focus!
Another miracle occurred the day after Thanksgiving and my little, itty, bitty sister turned something... anyway it was her birthday. Now I would normally know how old she is by simply adding one to what she turned last year but truthfully a lot has happened and for the life of me I don't remember if she turned 30 or 31 last year. All I know if that she is crazy and she is my sister so I can say that. She will be here on Dec. 22ND don't tell Kristena its a surprise. Kristena loves surprises I am sure she will love having all of my family here through the holidays. (just kidding maybe)
In my recent tradition I braved the morning crowds and headed out for some sale items at Super Target on Black Friday. Now to understand how it went let's just say the store opened at six and I was home by 6:15. You wonder why would a smart, handsome and fairly intelligent person like me want with those types of crowds. All I have to say is "FLAT SCREEN TV". I convinced (berated and begged) Kristena until she finally agreed that this was a sound purchase. So got up and headed out into the cold and it was cold 37 degrees when I left the house and picked the side of the store where they were stacking them when we did out recon the day before Thanksgiving. As the doors opened we were off. I headed to where my intelligence had told me they would be stacked but alas they were not so I ran towards(lumbered is more like it) electronics. And there they were. But by the time I had shoved the two old ladies over in front of me the bearded women with the pierced eye brow and the breath that smelled like cigarettes and two day old coffee had tagged the last one. As I saw her bellow out to her toothless husband to back the house up to the door that she got the TV I became somewhat angry. Not just because she was picking her teeth that were in her hand with a piece of something she had pulled from her bra strap no it was that Target had not seen fit to make sure that there were enough of these deals to go around. So in an effort to salvage my morning I headed to the toy section where several parents were busy replacing the joy of Santa Claus for the children with the battle cries of "GRAB THAT ITS THE LAST ONE SON!" or "DID YOU SHE HER SHE TOOK THAT RIGHT OUT OF MY HAND". That's because these parents felt it was okay to drag their little ones out into the cold at 5:00 to stand in line with no coats to have them fight for toys. The worst situation was the new mom with her new baby no hat, no gloves who was standing in line in the 37 degree weather. I don't mean to judge but I think that there is nothing worth all of that. Kristena and I have decided that from now on we are making the kids and each other all of our presents out of left over pasta. I have made her a nice Macaroni necklace with a matching bracelet that I think she will love. I had to lick the sauce off it but that is love right?
So let's see so far we have Great Thanksgiving, Black Friday Blues, and oh.... I should inform everyone about my recent medical problem. It is not life threatening but is quite uncomfortable. It is most painful when I walk on it. It is called brace yourselves it is shocking "Dry Toe". It is an ailment that effects the big toe in my case on my left foot. It causes the skin to dry out to the point of cracking causing severe if not debilitating pain especially if your sock rubs against it. I am currently on an aggressive and hopefully successful treatment plan of lotion rubbed onto the affected area 3 times daily. It is a little embarrassing to whip my sock off at Applebee's but the Doctor said if I don't treat it could spread to my other toes and eventually cause "dry foot" which is harder to cure. Your prayer and financial support would be appreciated. I have contacted Benny Hinn ministries and sent in a dish towel to have him pray over it but have heard nothing back.
Well that is it. I need to perform the final treatment before bed and it is getting late. I thought I would leave you with a few pictures of the kids actually just of Lauren you parents know what it is like she is our shiny new penny and well we have a short attention span and forget to take pictures of the other two. Kaitlyn is doing great and school and got straight A's for the first nine weeks. Tyler is still trying to convince the world that Christmas should be pronounced as "CHRIST" mas. Maybe he will be a preacher someday. Little Lauren is crawling all over the place and has a little cold. Between her cold and my Dry Toe we sure have had it rough these last couple of weeks. Well I am off to bed. Hope you all had your fill of turkey over the holidays and found one thing to be thankful for.
PS Please quit praying for the snow and cold weather it was funny at first but not so much now!
The last turkey miracle I think was practical joke from the big guy upstairs. It snowed. After all of my bragging about the weather over the last two years God decided that he would finally listen to the prayers of my family and give me a what I had coming to me and it snowed. Now if all of you can manage to make that happen how about we use our powers for good and get that house in JAX sold. Come on people focus!
Another miracle occurred the day after Thanksgiving and my little, itty, bitty sister turned something... anyway it was her birthday. Now I would normally know how old she is by simply adding one to what she turned last year but truthfully a lot has happened and for the life of me I don't remember if she turned 30 or 31 last year. All I know if that she is crazy and she is my sister so I can say that. She will be here on Dec. 22ND don't tell Kristena its a surprise. Kristena loves surprises I am sure she will love having all of my family here through the holidays. (just kidding maybe)
In my recent tradition I braved the morning crowds and headed out for some sale items at Super Target on Black Friday. Now to understand how it went let's just say the store opened at six and I was home by 6:15. You wonder why would a smart, handsome and fairly intelligent person like me want with those types of crowds. All I have to say is "FLAT SCREEN TV". I convinced (berated and begged) Kristena until she finally agreed that this was a sound purchase. So got up and headed out into the cold and it was cold 37 degrees when I left the house and picked the side of the store where they were stacking them when we did out recon the day before Thanksgiving. As the doors opened we were off. I headed to where my intelligence had told me they would be stacked but alas they were not so I ran towards(lumbered is more like it) electronics. And there they were. But by the time I had shoved the two old ladies over in front of me the bearded women with the pierced eye brow and the breath that smelled like cigarettes and two day old coffee had tagged the last one. As I saw her bellow out to her toothless husband to back the house up to the door that she got the TV I became somewhat angry. Not just because she was picking her teeth that were in her hand with a piece of something she had pulled from her bra strap no it was that Target had not seen fit to make sure that there were enough of these deals to go around. So in an effort to salvage my morning I headed to the toy section where several parents were busy replacing the joy of Santa Claus for the children with the battle cries of "GRAB THAT ITS THE LAST ONE SON!" or "DID YOU SHE HER SHE TOOK THAT RIGHT OUT OF MY HAND". That's because these parents felt it was okay to drag their little ones out into the cold at 5:00 to stand in line with no coats to have them fight for toys. The worst situation was the new mom with her new baby no hat, no gloves who was standing in line in the 37 degree weather. I don't mean to judge but I think that there is nothing worth all of that. Kristena and I have decided that from now on we are making the kids and each other all of our presents out of left over pasta. I have made her a nice Macaroni necklace with a matching bracelet that I think she will love. I had to lick the sauce off it but that is love right?
So let's see so far we have Great Thanksgiving, Black Friday Blues, and oh.... I should inform everyone about my recent medical problem. It is not life threatening but is quite uncomfortable. It is most painful when I walk on it. It is called brace yourselves it is shocking "Dry Toe". It is an ailment that effects the big toe in my case on my left foot. It causes the skin to dry out to the point of cracking causing severe if not debilitating pain especially if your sock rubs against it. I am currently on an aggressive and hopefully successful treatment plan of lotion rubbed onto the affected area 3 times daily. It is a little embarrassing to whip my sock off at Applebee's but the Doctor said if I don't treat it could spread to my other toes and eventually cause "dry foot" which is harder to cure. Your prayer and financial support would be appreciated. I have contacted Benny Hinn ministries and sent in a dish towel to have him pray over it but have heard nothing back.
Well that is it. I need to perform the final treatment before bed and it is getting late. I thought I would leave you with a few pictures of the kids actually just of Lauren you parents know what it is like she is our shiny new penny and well we have a short attention span and forget to take pictures of the other two. Kaitlyn is doing great and school and got straight A's for the first nine weeks. Tyler is still trying to convince the world that Christmas should be pronounced as "CHRIST" mas. Maybe he will be a preacher someday. Little Lauren is crawling all over the place and has a little cold. Between her cold and my Dry Toe we sure have had it rough these last couple of weeks. Well I am off to bed. Hope you all had your fill of turkey over the holidays and found one thing to be thankful for.
PS Please quit praying for the snow and cold weather it was funny at first but not so much now!
November 3, 2007
Fall in Florida... I mean Texas or whereever we are!
Well it is fall and unlike Florida we actually have that season here in the Big D. It has been cool enough a couple nights to kick the heat on which means that the place smelled like new furnace all night. That was of course after I climbed through the attic to switch on the gas to the furnace because the builder after testing the units turned it off. Imagine my big old self trying to not miss a rafter as to not have my Chevy Chase moment and come shooting through the ceiling. It was quite funny. Even funnier was to see me try to stretch my midget legs across the piles of stuff to get back on the ladder which actually screamed as I navigated back down it.
Well this last week has seen us doing lots of fun things here starting with taking the little ankle biters to the pumpkin patch. This was especially fun for Kristena because as you might have gathered she is a little on the cheap side and this little event was free to the public. You only paid for your refreshment of choice if you choose to buy one and for a pumpkin if you chose to purchase one. There were no requirements but they had a train for the kids to ride, little house to climb in and some of the inflatable sweat boxes that kids can't get enough of. The all come out of them smelling like sweaty gym socks with a dash of latex. But it wears them out and they sleep so well after 6-8 hours in the them who can deny them that fun. This was little Lauren's first trip to look at the great pumpkins and as you will be able to tell by the photos she had a blast. She sat in the midst of the pumpkins for about an hour just smacking them and occasionally falling over but never cried. Kaitlyn loved running up the haystack and jumping off like the Bionic Woman and Tyler well he loved playing in the pretend houses slamming the doors and telling the other kids that this was his house and to get out. At the end of the day all of the kids past out in the car and Kristena and I stopped at our favorite restaurant for a nice dinner while they slept in the van. We parked the van close to a window so we could watch the car and they only cried during dessert so that is okay right???
The second big event here was Halloween. We thought about canceling but the chance to have the kids go around and collect candy that we won't allow them to eat so that Kristena and I have plenty to eat at night was too great to pass up. As is our new tradition, one we started when we were in Florida, we went to a local church and did their version of trunk or treat. Now before I move on I need to step up on my soap box concerning dressing our children for Halloween. The following costumes are in no way shape or form acceptable for children to wear:
Hooker(or other outfits depicting ladies in the worlds oldest profession)
Stripper(I ain't talking about the stuff you use to get paint off a board)
Wench (Not what you use to get a truck out of a ditch)
Chipendales Dancer(No boy should have a bow tie as his only article of clothing on the top half of his body)
Now a note to the parents especially you ladies out there if the top is too small to hold the girls in check maybe this shirt is not appropriate to wear to an event where there are small children. Especially if they are prone to shoot out and displace the eye of a small child every time you bend down to place candy in your child's bag. In addition, a note to all of the wanna be Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders out there. They do not hold additions at the local Church Halloween Festival. They are especially not looking for anyone wearing the top half the outfit that has more wire running under neath the top half of it than the San Francisco bridge. You will also find it hard to make the team if you are in your late 40's and have a gut like mine showing through your outfit. (just helpful hints from Big John). Finally to the men out there it is never ever acceptable to have your butt crack as a part of your costume. It does not matter if you paint eyes on side of it and pretend its a smile it is still not something any of us wants or needs to see. So if the pants don't stay up then buy some suspenders or cover it with a long shirt but please let's leave the cracks to the sidewalks.
Well the other big event is that Lauren is starting to do some baby sign language. Her only sign so far is for milk. She does it kind of half heartedly sometimes when we ask her to like we are bothering her. And then there are other times she does it like her little life is depending on it. Tyler learned this sign first as well and loved to show off but Lauren is a little more shy than Tyler. In addition, she has begun to crawl a little. She is not up on her hands and knees but she is getting where she wants to go. She is also very aware of when Kristena and/or I leave a room. Depending on who is her favorite that day that person had better not leave her without taking her with them. If not you will get the world's saddest cry from the world's cutest girl.
The other two big kids are doing well. Tyler continues to push his limits and the limits of our sanity as he learns his boundaries. He has declared himself the parent of one or all of his animals and this has given him unlimited authority of all of us. There are many Tylerisms that I will post in the top ten sometime but for now just pray that God gives us the patience to keep from putting a lock on the outside of his door and sliding his food underneath his door until he is 18. Kaitlyn just got her first report card (grade card for the older crowd) and got straight A's for the first 9 weeks of the year. Based on inflation and the cost of everything today we figure we have to pay $800 an A in order for this to help pay for her college.
The final highlight of our house is Kristena has started taking cake decorating classes at the local Michaels. I have placed a few pics of her first few cakes. I think she did a great job. Anyway until next time I am signing off. Go Bucks! Go Cowboys! and GO ME!!!!!!
Well this last week has seen us doing lots of fun things here starting with taking the little ankle biters to the pumpkin patch. This was especially fun for Kristena because as you might have gathered she is a little on the cheap side and this little event was free to the public. You only paid for your refreshment of choice if you choose to buy one and for a pumpkin if you chose to purchase one. There were no requirements but they had a train for the kids to ride, little house to climb in and some of the inflatable sweat boxes that kids can't get enough of. The all come out of them smelling like sweaty gym socks with a dash of latex. But it wears them out and they sleep so well after 6-8 hours in the them who can deny them that fun. This was little Lauren's first trip to look at the great pumpkins and as you will be able to tell by the photos she had a blast. She sat in the midst of the pumpkins for about an hour just smacking them and occasionally falling over but never cried. Kaitlyn loved running up the haystack and jumping off like the Bionic Woman and Tyler well he loved playing in the pretend houses slamming the doors and telling the other kids that this was his house and to get out. At the end of the day all of the kids past out in the car and Kristena and I stopped at our favorite restaurant for a nice dinner while they slept in the van. We parked the van close to a window so we could watch the car and they only cried during dessert so that is okay right???
The second big event here was Halloween. We thought about canceling but the chance to have the kids go around and collect candy that we won't allow them to eat so that Kristena and I have plenty to eat at night was too great to pass up. As is our new tradition, one we started when we were in Florida, we went to a local church and did their version of trunk or treat. Now before I move on I need to step up on my soap box concerning dressing our children for Halloween. The following costumes are in no way shape or form acceptable for children to wear:
Hooker(or other outfits depicting ladies in the worlds oldest profession)
Stripper(I ain't talking about the stuff you use to get paint off a board)
Wench (Not what you use to get a truck out of a ditch)
Chipendales Dancer(No boy should have a bow tie as his only article of clothing on the top half of his body)
Now a note to the parents especially you ladies out there if the top is too small to hold the girls in check maybe this shirt is not appropriate to wear to an event where there are small children. Especially if they are prone to shoot out and displace the eye of a small child every time you bend down to place candy in your child's bag. In addition, a note to all of the wanna be Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders out there. They do not hold additions at the local Church Halloween Festival. They are especially not looking for anyone wearing the top half the outfit that has more wire running under neath the top half of it than the San Francisco bridge. You will also find it hard to make the team if you are in your late 40's and have a gut like mine showing through your outfit. (just helpful hints from Big John). Finally to the men out there it is never ever acceptable to have your butt crack as a part of your costume. It does not matter if you paint eyes on side of it and pretend its a smile it is still not something any of us wants or needs to see. So if the pants don't stay up then buy some suspenders or cover it with a long shirt but please let's leave the cracks to the sidewalks.
Well the other big event is that Lauren is starting to do some baby sign language. Her only sign so far is for milk. She does it kind of half heartedly sometimes when we ask her to like we are bothering her. And then there are other times she does it like her little life is depending on it. Tyler learned this sign first as well and loved to show off but Lauren is a little more shy than Tyler. In addition, she has begun to crawl a little. She is not up on her hands and knees but she is getting where she wants to go. She is also very aware of when Kristena and/or I leave a room. Depending on who is her favorite that day that person had better not leave her without taking her with them. If not you will get the world's saddest cry from the world's cutest girl.
The other two big kids are doing well. Tyler continues to push his limits and the limits of our sanity as he learns his boundaries. He has declared himself the parent of one or all of his animals and this has given him unlimited authority of all of us. There are many Tylerisms that I will post in the top ten sometime but for now just pray that God gives us the patience to keep from putting a lock on the outside of his door and sliding his food underneath his door until he is 18. Kaitlyn just got her first report card (grade card for the older crowd) and got straight A's for the first 9 weeks of the year. Based on inflation and the cost of everything today we figure we have to pay $800 an A in order for this to help pay for her college.
The final highlight of our house is Kristena has started taking cake decorating classes at the local Michaels. I have placed a few pics of her first few cakes. I think she did a great job. Anyway until next time I am signing off. Go Bucks! Go Cowboys! and GO ME!!!!!!
October 5, 2007
Updates from the edge of the border....
Well as you all have guessed we have been busy and if you mean by busy not really doing that much you have guessed correctly. Things here on the edge of Mexico (actually we are about 7 hours from the border) are doing very well. As you can see from the families other blogs we had some visitors here at the Huffelranch and we had a great time. We had scheduled my mom to fly in over the Labor Day holiday because well she wanted to see the house and we thought free baby sitter and night out for the parents. I arrived at the airport to retrieve my mom and in typical Carolyn fashion she arrived with a lot of fanfare in the form of a young man chasing her up the ramp with a wheelchair trying to get her to sit down in it. Despite my mom's best efforts to shew him off he literally kept circling her until she finally gave in and accepted his offer of a ride to the top of the ramp. Much to her displeasure he insisted in buckling her into it and then racing her to baggage claim. It was quite a site to behold. Lucky for my mom we were having a cold streak here in Texas and it was a nice chilly 96 degrees for our walk to the car.
Later that evening after packing her in ice to cool her down we sat down for a quiet dinner and a little chat. We talked about everything that had been going in my mom's world except for her little secret. It seems that her and Kim and planned a sneak invasion of the Huffelranch. And at 10:30 on Friday night our door bell rings. This is odd because no one has ever rung the bell at 10:30 I go to see who it is and no one is there. Then as I am looking out the window it rings again. This time I see someone waving from the sidewalk and a little boy pokes his head from the corner of the doorway which literally scared the hair on my face white. (actually it was already pretty white but this finished the job). It seems that Kim and her boys were at Wendy's in Columbus made a wrong turn and 14 hours later before they could find a place to turn around they found themselves at our doorstep. At first I thought they were just trying to figure a way back to the interstate but it seems the came for a visit and my mom who has never been a great secret keeper had kept one. Our Huffellites were sound asleep but were shocked to see their cousins asleep in next room. The played just like I remember playing with Kelley, Jason and Andrea (except no one lost a tooth in anyones head) when I was but a wee lad. It was great visit and we sure enjoyed our time together!
Let's see what else has happened since last I posted....Kaitlyn started school and she loves it. With the move coming after she had made so many friends we were worried about what type of class she would get and would the teacher be nice and all of the usual stuff. What Kaitlyn got was a great teacher who believes the best way to teach is to make everything a song or a cheer. Kaitlyn thinks that this is great and we love hearing the songs we are just glad that this teacher will not be teaching her sex ed class as she gets older. I am not sure I want Kaitlyn coming home saying...
2-4-6-8
who do we not want to date
that's all I have for that cheer but which is probably is best.
Tyler is up to being Tyler. He and Josh decided that they are best friends. And Tyler thinks that we can just drive down the street to Josh's house and they can play. He is also currently fascinated with the word "butt". Everything he says he usually finds someway to work the word butt into it. For example, we have some grocery stores here in Tejas named "Tom Thumb". So one day he walks into the room where Kristena is sitting and a Tom Thumb commercial comes on and he laughs and says "Tom Thumb that is funny but Tom Butt would be even more funny!" He continues to try and out think Kristena and I. He sometimes does. The other days he was in a mood and was being really extra rotten and I was getting on to him and I said "Tyler I thought you said you were going to be good today." He looked at me and said "Daddy I did not say I would be good all day." I did not read the fine print so in this case I will take the blame.
We finally have started to make our little house a home and started painting a couple of the rooms. We started with the babies room because she was basically living in Kristena's scrap room and we thought we should get her into her permanent digs. We painted the room a nice light shade of purple and got her all moved in today. Then Kristena painted the girls bathroom a very hot pink. In the pictures it looks a little red but when you walk in it is really hot pink!!! Kaitlyn loves it and Tyler thinks its great and now he says pink is his favorite color.
Well that's it for now. Sorry to all who I have not responded to your blogs. Lauren is in her own room and i have no more excuses. Kristena is starting a cake decorating class tomorrow and we are all looking forward to tasting her homework!
Here are some pics from the last 60 days!
Later that evening after packing her in ice to cool her down we sat down for a quiet dinner and a little chat. We talked about everything that had been going in my mom's world except for her little secret. It seems that her and Kim and planned a sneak invasion of the Huffelranch. And at 10:30 on Friday night our door bell rings. This is odd because no one has ever rung the bell at 10:30 I go to see who it is and no one is there. Then as I am looking out the window it rings again. This time I see someone waving from the sidewalk and a little boy pokes his head from the corner of the doorway which literally scared the hair on my face white. (actually it was already pretty white but this finished the job). It seems that Kim and her boys were at Wendy's in Columbus made a wrong turn and 14 hours later before they could find a place to turn around they found themselves at our doorstep. At first I thought they were just trying to figure a way back to the interstate but it seems the came for a visit and my mom who has never been a great secret keeper had kept one. Our Huffellites were sound asleep but were shocked to see their cousins asleep in next room. The played just like I remember playing with Kelley, Jason and Andrea (except no one lost a tooth in anyones head) when I was but a wee lad. It was great visit and we sure enjoyed our time together!
Let's see what else has happened since last I posted....Kaitlyn started school and she loves it. With the move coming after she had made so many friends we were worried about what type of class she would get and would the teacher be nice and all of the usual stuff. What Kaitlyn got was a great teacher who believes the best way to teach is to make everything a song or a cheer. Kaitlyn thinks that this is great and we love hearing the songs we are just glad that this teacher will not be teaching her sex ed class as she gets older. I am not sure I want Kaitlyn coming home saying...
2-4-6-8
who do we not want to date
that's all I have for that cheer but which is probably is best.
Tyler is up to being Tyler. He and Josh decided that they are best friends. And Tyler thinks that we can just drive down the street to Josh's house and they can play. He is also currently fascinated with the word "butt". Everything he says he usually finds someway to work the word butt into it. For example, we have some grocery stores here in Tejas named "Tom Thumb". So one day he walks into the room where Kristena is sitting and a Tom Thumb commercial comes on and he laughs and says "Tom Thumb that is funny but Tom Butt would be even more funny!" He continues to try and out think Kristena and I. He sometimes does. The other days he was in a mood and was being really extra rotten and I was getting on to him and I said "Tyler I thought you said you were going to be good today." He looked at me and said "Daddy I did not say I would be good all day." I did not read the fine print so in this case I will take the blame.
We finally have started to make our little house a home and started painting a couple of the rooms. We started with the babies room because she was basically living in Kristena's scrap room and we thought we should get her into her permanent digs. We painted the room a nice light shade of purple and got her all moved in today. Then Kristena painted the girls bathroom a very hot pink. In the pictures it looks a little red but when you walk in it is really hot pink!!! Kaitlyn loves it and Tyler thinks its great and now he says pink is his favorite color.
Well that's it for now. Sorry to all who I have not responded to your blogs. Lauren is in her own room and i have no more excuses. Kristena is starting a cake decorating class tomorrow and we are all looking forward to tasting her homework!
Here are some pics from the last 60 days!
August 5, 2007
Here are the huffelchildren....
I thought I would post a quick blog so that everyone can see the littlest huffeldinks. We have been very busy and to my aunt marsha and cousin andrea sorry about not getting back to you on the house in Dublin. I never heard anything back from any of contacts and with the sewer flowing down the driveway I never got to tell you that. I also need to tell a couple of people happy birthday. First to my brother Tom who during the haste of us moving never got to tell happy birthday. So happy belated birthday little man (can anyone else get away with calling you little man other than me? Distance does have its priveledges!).... Then to my cousin Keever. Imagine me yelling this so that at your advanced age you can hear me HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!. Actually I have always admired Keever and his honesty and the way he has always been a great father and provider for his family. I admire his faith and his unashamed way of living it. So Keever it was your birthday and that big check is in the mail. (i am hoping that at his age he will have forgotten that I said I was sending one).
Finally, Happy Birthday to Kristena's grandpa. We are glad to be in Texas and can't wait for many days where Kristena and I can come over eat your food and leave the kids for (insert the amount of time that you think your sanity can handle them) ..... just kidding but really when do you want them : ).
Lastly, to my mom. Mom I just wanted to remind you that in less than 300 days you too will be 60 years old. So we have been making a list of things you might like:
1) A cool walker with racing stripes and a work bag mounted to the side. The walker can be wired with a radio, programmed with a cell phone and maybe wireless internet. You need to be mobile for the grandkids.
2) Someone to come over and change those pesky light bulbs. Are you sitting in the dark yet?
3) A new Kleenex. The one that has been wadded up in the bottom of your purse since the 60's has to be getting a little worn.
4) A cup like grandma and grandpa have for your teeth.
5) A personal shopper for the local 7-11. If they don't have it there then why do you need it?
6) Round trip tickets to and from Texas whenever you want because we miss you!
Finally, here are the pics I spoke about earlier. Hope this finds each of you well. Please pray for my sister and brother in law Wayne as they prepare for their trip to Africa. I am sure that the Native African people will love Kim's sense of humor and who doesn't love a guy who can juggle fire and put a roof on a house all at the same time.
Finally, Happy Birthday to Kristena's grandpa. We are glad to be in Texas and can't wait for many days where Kristena and I can come over eat your food and leave the kids for (insert the amount of time that you think your sanity can handle them) ..... just kidding but really when do you want them : ).
Lastly, to my mom. Mom I just wanted to remind you that in less than 300 days you too will be 60 years old. So we have been making a list of things you might like:
1) A cool walker with racing stripes and a work bag mounted to the side. The walker can be wired with a radio, programmed with a cell phone and maybe wireless internet. You need to be mobile for the grandkids.
2) Someone to come over and change those pesky light bulbs. Are you sitting in the dark yet?
3) A new Kleenex. The one that has been wadded up in the bottom of your purse since the 60's has to be getting a little worn.
4) A cup like grandma and grandpa have for your teeth.
5) A personal shopper for the local 7-11. If they don't have it there then why do you need it?
6) Round trip tickets to and from Texas whenever you want because we miss you!
Finally, here are the pics I spoke about earlier. Hope this finds each of you well. Please pray for my sister and brother in law Wayne as they prepare for their trip to Africa. I am sure that the Native African people will love Kim's sense of humor and who doesn't love a guy who can juggle fire and put a roof on a house all at the same time.
July 27, 2007
Texas and what's it in the driveway with the flies on it!?!
Well in case you thought we dropped off the face of the earth the truth is that we just moved to Texas over the last few weeks and have not had the ability to get a post out to everyone. So we made it and our house is finished and we are 90% settled. Our trip with three little ones went pretty well. We left on a Friday and drove about 600 miles to the hotel where the filmed the last documentary on cockroaches and 20/20 filmed their episode about why you don't sleep on hotel comforters. Really I did not know you could find sheets that color of yellow. But luckily we only need to sleep there and not move in. We then proceeded to drive into the town we are now calling home. Our house was nearly done and we were able to find a lovely Holiday Inn Express that had just opened and their sheets were white!!! We then proceeded to Kristena's grandparents where they made us a lovely dinner of a fried chicken and then some Lemon pie. The kids had a great time getting to spend the evening with Great Grandmother and Grandpa. The "meds" we give the kids when we travel must not have worn off because they were great and fooled the great grandparents into letting them stay the night a few days later.
Since then we have moved into our new home. As with any new build we are working through some of the problems that come with our new abode. The biggest issue has been the sewer. Because of the crunch we placed everyone under and the fact that I scheduled the delivery of our furniture for the day after we closed the builder decided that he would assist in insuring we could close on scheduled and withheld an important fact... we could not use the water, toliets or showers until they could get to the house the next morning to fix it. Now while this may not have been a problem back with Laura Ingels roamed the hills it is nowadays a big issue to have waste streaming down your driveway so we complied with the no flushing rule and rough it in our new house. This was the same night the kids were at their great grandparents so at least they had running water and the ability to flush. So the next day we faced the prospect that we could not shower and could use the bathroom but could not flush it until later in the day. Add to that four movers setting box after box down it was not a glamerous event. Then sometime during the morning session of digging up our front yard the builder and his crew determined that it was not an issue that they were having but was an issue that the city was having so they called in the big guns. The city arrived with a giant garden hose hooked up to a tank of water and attempt to give our sewer line an enema. This is so we could have some "relief" so that we could make it until another crew could assess the true root cause of the problem the next week. Then as the sun rose on our first Sunday in our new home so with it came the river a "stuff" (too graphic to describe) floating down the driveway. We went from being the Huffeldinks to the Pooperdinks in a matter of minutes. Following the initial plague soon came the second which was the plague of the flies and stinch. One emergency call to the sewer department later, their crack emergency team arrived and said yep you got a problem and we will have crew out in the morning to see what they can do. This led to them digging up approx. 1/3 of our driveway to repair a sewer line that the gas company broke. The morale of the story is if you rush things sometimes you end up in deep poo(important lesson someone should put it on a bumper sticker).
Anyway we are alive and well. I would post pictures but well we are still waiting on all of our new furniture. I will write more later but wanted to let everyone know we have arrived and other than the normal stuff everything is going okay.
Since then we have moved into our new home. As with any new build we are working through some of the problems that come with our new abode. The biggest issue has been the sewer. Because of the crunch we placed everyone under and the fact that I scheduled the delivery of our furniture for the day after we closed the builder decided that he would assist in insuring we could close on scheduled and withheld an important fact... we could not use the water, toliets or showers until they could get to the house the next morning to fix it. Now while this may not have been a problem back with Laura Ingels roamed the hills it is nowadays a big issue to have waste streaming down your driveway so we complied with the no flushing rule and rough it in our new house. This was the same night the kids were at their great grandparents so at least they had running water and the ability to flush. So the next day we faced the prospect that we could not shower and could use the bathroom but could not flush it until later in the day. Add to that four movers setting box after box down it was not a glamerous event. Then sometime during the morning session of digging up our front yard the builder and his crew determined that it was not an issue that they were having but was an issue that the city was having so they called in the big guns. The city arrived with a giant garden hose hooked up to a tank of water and attempt to give our sewer line an enema. This is so we could have some "relief" so that we could make it until another crew could assess the true root cause of the problem the next week. Then as the sun rose on our first Sunday in our new home so with it came the river a "stuff" (too graphic to describe) floating down the driveway. We went from being the Huffeldinks to the Pooperdinks in a matter of minutes. Following the initial plague soon came the second which was the plague of the flies and stinch. One emergency call to the sewer department later, their crack emergency team arrived and said yep you got a problem and we will have crew out in the morning to see what they can do. This led to them digging up approx. 1/3 of our driveway to repair a sewer line that the gas company broke. The morale of the story is if you rush things sometimes you end up in deep poo(important lesson someone should put it on a bumper sticker).
Anyway we are alive and well. I would post pictures but well we are still waiting on all of our new furniture. I will write more later but wanted to let everyone know we have arrived and other than the normal stuff everything is going okay.
June 29, 2007
My eight things and other really big news....
Well I have taken the challenge thrown down by my cousin Kelley which is to tell eight things that are interesting about me. Well I tried my best to narrow it down to just eight because well let's face I am pretty interesting and people do tend to flock to me so here's some of the massive list that I came up with.
1) I am allergic to all dairy. Now that has never stopped me from eating a big bowl of ice cream however most people don't want to be around me a couple hours later as my body converts the dairy from a liquid to a gas......enough said.
2) I really do like me quiet time. Now that is hard with all of the voices that are in my head and my loyal public crying out for more and more of my classic humor but sometimes it is nice to take a good book into the "office" and hide out for a while.
3) I don't like mimes. I don't like to taunted by someone in makeup who can't find their way out of an imaginary box. I especially don't like it when they tease you with their silly hand gestures. I think we should outlaw mimes.
4) My mom is my hero. We kid her a lot about the Mcdonalds as our sole means of nutrition but the reason we did that was that she was working her tale off for at or just above minimum wage to make sure that lights stayed on and we could afford to get from point A to point B. We all turned out okay Kim's a little crazy and Tom needs a trim and well I am me so great job mom and thanks for showing us that with a little hard work, enough blood pressure medicine and just the change from between the cushions we can do anything.
5) I miss winter. Now if you ever repeat that I will call you all liars. Winter is really a great time of year. The snow the hot chocolate the cozy fires all make for great memories. Now if you could just turn it off when you want now that would be great.
6) My favorite snack is a good deli sandwhich. There is nothing better than a great sandwhich with ham, turkey and roast beef on a nice sub roll with mayo, pickels(lots and lots of pickels), onions, banana peppers and a little salt and a little paper. Yummy!!!
7) I really believe I have the best brothers and sister in the whole world. Kim always knows how to make me laugh about things that no one should ever laugh about. Tom under all of that noise has the best heart of anyone I know. I always know that if I need him he will always help out. Then there is my little brother Justin. I don't know Justin as well as Tom and Kim because well he is a little weirder than both of them but what I do know is that during my dad's last few months no one could have done what he did.
8) I don't really know what I do at work most days. While the companies I work for think I do a great job if I really paid attention imagine what I could accomplish. I have been very fotunate that I bluff a good game. I figure I need to really buckle down this time before some one figures it out. So if anyone has a "dummies guide to mortgage banking" I really could use it before July 30th.
Well now that is done on to the bigger news. Kristena is pregnant!!! Just kidding!!! Really I am. Actually we signed the contract on our new digs in the Big D yesterday. Actually the process was quite fast. We decided we did not want to live in corporate housing because well it is corporate housing and we have had nothing but bug infestations, dirty/hairy tubs and rotten floors in corporate housing so Kristena and I decided it would be a great idea if I flew to Dallas and did a mad dash for a house. The realtor assigned by our relocation company picked me up at 7:30 and we were off. I was certain that I already knew which one we were going to buy but if you put lipstick on a pig its still a pig. And the first had great lipstick but it sure was one ugly pig. For any of you about to list your home here are Big John's keys to selling your house:
1)Remove all hair from your drains. Nothing say "YUCK" like one of your back hairs springing out of the tube drain.
2) It does not hurt to wipe the dirt. Take a lysol wipe and remove at least the top 5 layers from the counters.
3) If you use wallpaper make sure that you use the glue on the back. Wallpaper peeling down the wall is not a strong selling point.
4) Pick colors that are not "original" colors. If the Home Depot person asks you
"are you really sure that is the right color?" then maybe you should not make that the accent wall in the main living room.
5) Finally no one wants to see your underwear, used swimming trunks or anything that might be worn directly against your back side.
So needless to say my favorite was a dud and then some. So by the time lunch came and went my enthusiasm was starting to fade. Then like a ray of sunshine there she was in all of her beauty. 3200+ square feet of glory. I called Kristena and she started researching the schools. And I began the negotiating with the builder. We came to the table wrote the contract and boom we got it. Let me give you some of the vital stats:
3260 sq. ft
5 bedrooms plus a study which could be a sixth bedroom. (no crazy ideas mom)
3.5 baths
Covered Patio and Fenced yard
Granite Countertops
Stainless Appliances
Butlers Pantry with walk in pantry
loads of storage
and one of the nicest neighborhoods you can ever imagine.
There are 5 pools, tons of walking trails, a bunch of playgrounds, shopping close by and a great clubhouse. It really is better than we could have imagined. I have attached so new photos of the new place for your viewing pleasure. Each of you are invited to come stay for a bit and see the place.
Well that's it time for dinner. Love to all of you. We are on our way to the Big D on Friday.
1) I am allergic to all dairy. Now that has never stopped me from eating a big bowl of ice cream however most people don't want to be around me a couple hours later as my body converts the dairy from a liquid to a gas......enough said.
2) I really do like me quiet time. Now that is hard with all of the voices that are in my head and my loyal public crying out for more and more of my classic humor but sometimes it is nice to take a good book into the "office" and hide out for a while.
3) I don't like mimes. I don't like to taunted by someone in makeup who can't find their way out of an imaginary box. I especially don't like it when they tease you with their silly hand gestures. I think we should outlaw mimes.
4) My mom is my hero. We kid her a lot about the Mcdonalds as our sole means of nutrition but the reason we did that was that she was working her tale off for at or just above minimum wage to make sure that lights stayed on and we could afford to get from point A to point B. We all turned out okay Kim's a little crazy and Tom needs a trim and well I am me so great job mom and thanks for showing us that with a little hard work, enough blood pressure medicine and just the change from between the cushions we can do anything.
5) I miss winter. Now if you ever repeat that I will call you all liars. Winter is really a great time of year. The snow the hot chocolate the cozy fires all make for great memories. Now if you could just turn it off when you want now that would be great.
6) My favorite snack is a good deli sandwhich. There is nothing better than a great sandwhich with ham, turkey and roast beef on a nice sub roll with mayo, pickels(lots and lots of pickels), onions, banana peppers and a little salt and a little paper. Yummy!!!
7) I really believe I have the best brothers and sister in the whole world. Kim always knows how to make me laugh about things that no one should ever laugh about. Tom under all of that noise has the best heart of anyone I know. I always know that if I need him he will always help out. Then there is my little brother Justin. I don't know Justin as well as Tom and Kim because well he is a little weirder than both of them but what I do know is that during my dad's last few months no one could have done what he did.
8) I don't really know what I do at work most days. While the companies I work for think I do a great job if I really paid attention imagine what I could accomplish. I have been very fotunate that I bluff a good game. I figure I need to really buckle down this time before some one figures it out. So if anyone has a "dummies guide to mortgage banking" I really could use it before July 30th.
Well now that is done on to the bigger news. Kristena is pregnant!!! Just kidding!!! Really I am. Actually we signed the contract on our new digs in the Big D yesterday. Actually the process was quite fast. We decided we did not want to live in corporate housing because well it is corporate housing and we have had nothing but bug infestations, dirty/hairy tubs and rotten floors in corporate housing so Kristena and I decided it would be a great idea if I flew to Dallas and did a mad dash for a house. The realtor assigned by our relocation company picked me up at 7:30 and we were off. I was certain that I already knew which one we were going to buy but if you put lipstick on a pig its still a pig. And the first had great lipstick but it sure was one ugly pig. For any of you about to list your home here are Big John's keys to selling your house:
1)Remove all hair from your drains. Nothing say "YUCK" like one of your back hairs springing out of the tube drain.
2) It does not hurt to wipe the dirt. Take a lysol wipe and remove at least the top 5 layers from the counters.
3) If you use wallpaper make sure that you use the glue on the back. Wallpaper peeling down the wall is not a strong selling point.
4) Pick colors that are not "original" colors. If the Home Depot person asks you
"are you really sure that is the right color?" then maybe you should not make that the accent wall in the main living room.
5) Finally no one wants to see your underwear, used swimming trunks or anything that might be worn directly against your back side.
So needless to say my favorite was a dud and then some. So by the time lunch came and went my enthusiasm was starting to fade. Then like a ray of sunshine there she was in all of her beauty. 3200+ square feet of glory. I called Kristena and she started researching the schools. And I began the negotiating with the builder. We came to the table wrote the contract and boom we got it. Let me give you some of the vital stats:
3260 sq. ft
5 bedrooms plus a study which could be a sixth bedroom. (no crazy ideas mom)
3.5 baths
Covered Patio and Fenced yard
Granite Countertops
Stainless Appliances
Butlers Pantry with walk in pantry
loads of storage
and one of the nicest neighborhoods you can ever imagine.
There are 5 pools, tons of walking trails, a bunch of playgrounds, shopping close by and a great clubhouse. It really is better than we could have imagined. I have attached so new photos of the new place for your viewing pleasure. Each of you are invited to come stay for a bit and see the place.
Well that's it time for dinner. Love to all of you. We are on our way to the Big D on Friday.
June 21, 2007
Look Out Big D Here Come the Huffeldinks!
Well for those of you who have not talked to my mom or my sister the Huffeldinks are taking our show on the road again. After much discussion with my local fan base we determined that Jacksonville was way to small of a town for all our talents and we have decided that Dallas might be a better fit! Actually I finally got an offer from a big mortgage company in Dallas to relocate us to the metroplex. Whew...what a relief it is to know where the next check is coming from and know where we will be. Our move date and my start date are still a little unofficial but the one thing that is not is my last day at the old salt mine. That is July 6th at 12:00. That is only 10 days of work (well considering I have only had about 4 hours worth of work each day minus my bad case of short timers it will probably be more like 3 hours of work between now and the 6th). Kristena is so excited that she wet herself when I called. I mean really real water right down her leg. Actually, I was so excited that I wanted to tell my mom but she never leaves her cell on (because some older folks don't see the value in charging said cell phones) and then she was in the bathroom or stuck on the floor and the phone was on the counter. So instead of calling me on my cell phone she called Kristena who stole my thunder!!! Then Kristena said she wants to buy a house big enough for her mom and my mom to come live with us!!!! I think she just wants lots of free baby sitters because the bigger the city the bigger the bargains! They double and sometimes triple coupons at the grocery stores. we will need a big house to store the stockpile.
Just a few last details that we need everyone to pray about a quick sale of this house so that we can quickly buy another house in the big D. Who evers prayer makes that happen will get to keep whichever kid they want for at least 6 months. The other detail is pray that the spell my name right on my new business cards I would hate to be Johns Johns for 6 month while they reprint them. Although it would easy to spell.
The otter (southern for other) big news around the old home place is that Lauren had her first bowl of big girl cereal tonight. Can you believe she is old enough to eat cereal!!! Kristena is thrilled because let's just say that she has established a new world record for breast feedings in an day. The old record was 110 but our little growing girl topped out at 215 times. Now that might be a little of an exaggeration but not by much. Daddy is hoping she sleeps through the night now that she is eating all of her new food. If not I am prepared to blend up an entire T-Bone steak if that will fill that little belly.
We reckon that we are fixin to get the little possems to the hay loft for a little shut eye before the rooster gets up over yonder. (translation I need to go because we have a lot to do and the kids are driving us to the crazy place). Remember the prayer challange at the lovely prize of 6 months with one of the fine Huffeldink children and wait if you take the boy we will throw in two boxes of fruit snacks and a half taken bottle of prozac for you. (you'll need it trust us)But wait there is more if the house sells before the end of the first week we will throw in 42 pounds of frozen chicken from our stockpile for all of your effort. So don't wait begin your prayer and fasting now before its too late!
Love,
Big Daddy, Big Mamma, Blondie, Grumpy, and Knuckles Huffeldink
Just a few last details that we need everyone to pray about a quick sale of this house so that we can quickly buy another house in the big D. Who evers prayer makes that happen will get to keep whichever kid they want for at least 6 months. The other detail is pray that the spell my name right on my new business cards I would hate to be Johns Johns for 6 month while they reprint them. Although it would easy to spell.
The otter (southern for other) big news around the old home place is that Lauren had her first bowl of big girl cereal tonight. Can you believe she is old enough to eat cereal!!! Kristena is thrilled because let's just say that she has established a new world record for breast feedings in an day. The old record was 110 but our little growing girl topped out at 215 times. Now that might be a little of an exaggeration but not by much. Daddy is hoping she sleeps through the night now that she is eating all of her new food. If not I am prepared to blend up an entire T-Bone steak if that will fill that little belly.
We reckon that we are fixin to get the little possems to the hay loft for a little shut eye before the rooster gets up over yonder. (translation I need to go because we have a lot to do and the kids are driving us to the crazy place). Remember the prayer challange at the lovely prize of 6 months with one of the fine Huffeldink children and wait if you take the boy we will throw in two boxes of fruit snacks and a half taken bottle of prozac for you. (you'll need it trust us)But wait there is more if the house sells before the end of the first week we will throw in 42 pounds of frozen chicken from our stockpile for all of your effort. So don't wait begin your prayer and fasting now before its too late!
Love,
Big Daddy, Big Mamma, Blondie, Grumpy, and Knuckles Huffeldink
June 2, 2007
Aren't you the world famous Huffeldink....
Well it has been a while since my last post (except my ode to my little wife)so let's catch you up from April. In the last month, for those of you who did not have time to get my gift in the mail (Marsha, Kelley, Andrea, Rodney, Scott and actually the list really does go on) I turned 35 years old. Now as most of my blogger nation is nearing eligibility for retirement this may not seem that old but to my wife who constantly reminds me she is only now 27 this seems ancient. While I had hoped that the company I work for would declare my birthday a national holiday they did not so I spent my day at the office. I did get to spend the evening with my wife and kids at Tire Kingdom as on the way to my birthday dinner Kristena blew out a tire.(too much off roading in the mini van) After paying for a new tire we attempted a quick dinner at the local IHOP (kids pick) which ended up with a screaming baby and Kristena and I finishing our meal at home.
The good news is I am continuing to downsize my cute and cuddly frame from XXXXL to XXL. I have lost a whopping 58 lbs as of Thursday which is great unless I remember how much more I have left to lose which is somewhere between a small town in Rhode Island and 100+ lbs. I am less than half way there but the good news for me it is only making me cuter. Which I thought was almost impossible but seems to be happening. How you ask??? It seems that the extra fat I was carrying was preserving my rugged good looks and as I shed the pounds it is allowing them to surface even more. I am thinking about selling this beauty secret on the internet as the Hostess Transformation Plan. Eat all you want for 5 years then shed those pounds to reveal the more beautiful you. Only costs you three clogged arteries and some stretch marks, bad knees and a belly button you put a flag in.
On the job front things are interesting. As you might imagine being told that in a few short months your job is disappearing can shake your confidence a little. And then after a month and several interviews later to be faced with the reality that you are not the only fish swimming in the job hunt pond is also a little sobering. But this last week has been a very suprising week with a few new opportunities persenting themselves and some interviews scheduled for next week. These least favorable of these is a job way out west in Portland, Oregon. When I told Kristena about it all she knew is that it is where the Little People from the TLC show are from (we think). And how cool would it be to have little neighbors? Of course they could not help change a light bulb or get anything off a tall shelf but they seem like a lot of fun. The opportunities all are pointing to a possible move which means more stress and more grey hair which means more people thinking that I am Kristena's dad and not her husband.
The kids are doing great and getting bigger everyday. Kaitlyn just finished first grade and was not excited for the year to end. She has developed into a social butterfly that likes to make new friends. It was also the end of Brownies for this year which means thankfully we can begin planning our cookie buying stragety for next year. Tyler well.... "he likes to move it, move it". That is his new favorite song from the movie Madagasgar (?) Actually, he sings every where we go. We can be heading down the toy aisle at Target and he will burst out in song. He seems to learn something new everyday. Some of it is good and well some of it is...
Lauren has discovered that her hands taste like chocolate or it least it seems that way. It is good she does not have teeth or we would have to rename her "knuckles". We have finally found her tickle spot and she finally gave us a little chuckle. There is nothing more heavenly than a baby's first laugh although the sound of all three kids being asleep at the same time before 10:00 is pretty close.
Well I am going to post a big slide show of pics so that all of you can see that really we do have gorgeous children. I asked Kristena how we got such good looking children and she said "Honey, with your boyish good looks how could they have been ugly?" That's when I woke up and she was telling me to go get Lauren because she was crying. It was a good dream though. Hope you all still enjoy my nonsense!
The good news is I am continuing to downsize my cute and cuddly frame from XXXXL to XXL. I have lost a whopping 58 lbs as of Thursday which is great unless I remember how much more I have left to lose which is somewhere between a small town in Rhode Island and 100+ lbs. I am less than half way there but the good news for me it is only making me cuter. Which I thought was almost impossible but seems to be happening. How you ask??? It seems that the extra fat I was carrying was preserving my rugged good looks and as I shed the pounds it is allowing them to surface even more. I am thinking about selling this beauty secret on the internet as the Hostess Transformation Plan. Eat all you want for 5 years then shed those pounds to reveal the more beautiful you. Only costs you three clogged arteries and some stretch marks, bad knees and a belly button you put a flag in.
On the job front things are interesting. As you might imagine being told that in a few short months your job is disappearing can shake your confidence a little. And then after a month and several interviews later to be faced with the reality that you are not the only fish swimming in the job hunt pond is also a little sobering. But this last week has been a very suprising week with a few new opportunities persenting themselves and some interviews scheduled for next week. These least favorable of these is a job way out west in Portland, Oregon. When I told Kristena about it all she knew is that it is where the Little People from the TLC show are from (we think). And how cool would it be to have little neighbors? Of course they could not help change a light bulb or get anything off a tall shelf but they seem like a lot of fun. The opportunities all are pointing to a possible move which means more stress and more grey hair which means more people thinking that I am Kristena's dad and not her husband.
The kids are doing great and getting bigger everyday. Kaitlyn just finished first grade and was not excited for the year to end. She has developed into a social butterfly that likes to make new friends. It was also the end of Brownies for this year which means thankfully we can begin planning our cookie buying stragety for next year. Tyler well.... "he likes to move it, move it". That is his new favorite song from the movie Madagasgar (?) Actually, he sings every where we go. We can be heading down the toy aisle at Target and he will burst out in song. He seems to learn something new everyday. Some of it is good and well some of it is...
Lauren has discovered that her hands taste like chocolate or it least it seems that way. It is good she does not have teeth or we would have to rename her "knuckles". We have finally found her tickle spot and she finally gave us a little chuckle. There is nothing more heavenly than a baby's first laugh although the sound of all three kids being asleep at the same time before 10:00 is pretty close.
Well I am going to post a big slide show of pics so that all of you can see that really we do have gorgeous children. I asked Kristena how we got such good looking children and she said "Honey, with your boyish good looks how could they have been ugly?" That's when I woke up and she was telling me to go get Lauren because she was crying. It was a good dream though. Hope you all still enjoy my nonsense!
May 29, 2007
She's still younger than me.....
Well today is a big day in the Jones family house. Today is my wife's 27th birthday. That's right today we are celebrating the birth of the great woman behind the great man. (that sounds bad but really it is true). Actually in a lot of ways I am the man behind the great woman. As my personality can at times be a little overwhelming I made a quick top ten list of my favorite things about Kristena so that maybe she will know just how much we all love her:
10. Her enthusiasm for everything. No one gets more excited to get a great deal on a bottle of shampoo, a bunch of free hair dye or some free razors. CVS make no money on us. She is also my biggest cheerleader and fan.
9. She never complains that my hair is turning grey. She teases me about it but her day will come.
8. She is super talented and crafty. With three kids she is had to place her crafty needs off to the side but she still has more talent in her pinky than most anyone I know.
7. She has a kind heart for others. Since she is such a bargain shopper she has chosen to take lots of our 'stockpile' items and give them to charity. We never throw anything away we give it to others first. I message to our kids I hope they will always remember.
6. She listens. As most of you at times have been forced to listen to me rant you know this takes a really special person to do day in and day out.
5. She wants the best for her family. She takes the time to read to Tyler and have special mommy/daughter days with Kaitlyn even when they are being stinkers. These are memories that they will never forget. Lauren does not realize how lucky she got when God gave her this mommy.
4. She is always there when I need her. When my dad was sick and getting worse she alway just let me talk about it whenever I needed to. She never asked alot of questions except do you need to go back to see him. When I felt I needed to go we moved money around so that I could fly back and forth and she even made the trek to Ohio when she was pregnant and not really wanting to make a huge drive in the winter so that the kids could see him one more time.
3. She is funny. Sometimes the things she will do and say almost make me wet myself. Something she should get use to. I am 8 years older than she is and eventually she will be changing my diapers too : )
2. How much she loves her babies. Even though sometimes they can be a handful she weathers each storm and loves them more than anything. She is a super mom and is their world.
1. The number one thing is that she is her. She is just a beautiful, smart, and funny as the day I chased her down and begged her to go out with me. I hope that this in some small way tells her just how much she means to me and the rug rats. We love you and Happy Birthday!
10. Her enthusiasm for everything. No one gets more excited to get a great deal on a bottle of shampoo, a bunch of free hair dye or some free razors. CVS make no money on us. She is also my biggest cheerleader and fan.
9. She never complains that my hair is turning grey. She teases me about it but her day will come.
8. She is super talented and crafty. With three kids she is had to place her crafty needs off to the side but she still has more talent in her pinky than most anyone I know.
7. She has a kind heart for others. Since she is such a bargain shopper she has chosen to take lots of our 'stockpile' items and give them to charity. We never throw anything away we give it to others first. I message to our kids I hope they will always remember.
6. She listens. As most of you at times have been forced to listen to me rant you know this takes a really special person to do day in and day out.
5. She wants the best for her family. She takes the time to read to Tyler and have special mommy/daughter days with Kaitlyn even when they are being stinkers. These are memories that they will never forget. Lauren does not realize how lucky she got when God gave her this mommy.
4. She is always there when I need her. When my dad was sick and getting worse she alway just let me talk about it whenever I needed to. She never asked alot of questions except do you need to go back to see him. When I felt I needed to go we moved money around so that I could fly back and forth and she even made the trek to Ohio when she was pregnant and not really wanting to make a huge drive in the winter so that the kids could see him one more time.
3. She is funny. Sometimes the things she will do and say almost make me wet myself. Something she should get use to. I am 8 years older than she is and eventually she will be changing my diapers too : )
2. How much she loves her babies. Even though sometimes they can be a handful she weathers each storm and loves them more than anything. She is a super mom and is their world.
1. The number one thing is that she is her. She is just a beautiful, smart, and funny as the day I chased her down and begged her to go out with me. I hope that this in some small way tells her just how much she means to me and the rug rats. We love you and Happy Birthday!
April 19, 2007
Losing weight, losing my job, and losing my mind....
Well that sounds ominous doesn't it so let's start with the good things and then we will end on a low note. Or better yet let's get the bad out of the way...we just found out that our site is being closed and as of November 1, 2007 I will be unemployed. Now I get a really nice severance package (which sounds bad because severance means to have something severed or cut off yuck) which will keep money coming until about April 08 but we have some options which might mean another move this time to the Big D(Dallas for all of you Yankees) but at least one would mean us staying here and me working for another company here in town. Your prayers and cash donations would be apprecaited. Please send them to my work address so that Kristena doesn't know I have money (oops forgot she is sitting next to me).
On to better thoughts.....As I mentioned a few blogs ago it is time for me to downsize. So I began this process almost a month ago as I was afraid that the county was going to start measure and tax me as a house. So after 30 days of diet and exercise I have lost a whopping 38 pounds. Now not to diminsh my accomplishment but in an effort to frame this in the proper context 38 lbs. to me is like taking a bucket of sand off of the beach. There is still plenty more where that came from. However, I am quite excited that I can see my shoe laces again and at times the tops of my big toes. I am hoping at some point to be able to scratch my ankle without having to take a deep breath and hold it while I bend over. I passed out the last time I scratched my ankle and it was pretty embarrassing.
As I mentioned above I have been going to the gym again. As we now have three kids and I love to see them in the morning when they get up I am not going in the morning but instead during my lunch hour at work. If you have been keeping up on my blog you will know that I have had several interesting experiences at the local YMCA and recently I had another. I went to the gym and had a great, sweaty workout and when I sweat it sometimes smells like when you are trapped behind the pig truck on the way to the farm I needed to take a shower before returning to work. So I pulled my gym bag out of the locker only to discover that I forgot a towel. Well being the resourceful lad I am and also taking into account that no other men were at the gym I thought I would use the paper towels in the locker room. You are thinking man quick thinking big man....well it was I great idea except this towel dispenser has a sensor that only allows a sheet to come out one at a time. Now assuming that I am almost 6 feet tall and in spots almost that wide that is a lot of paper towel. So how many waves of my hand over the sensor do you think it took in order to get enough paper towels to dry off. Let's just say....that I am lucky that due to my high fat content and the fact that everything jiggles when I move the sensor picked that up so it only took about 10 minutes to get enough paper towel to sufficently dry me off. The moral of the story is....well there isn't one just don't forget your towel when you got to the gym.
Well baby Lauren is doing great and looking more like her mommy everyday. She is still as perfect as the last time. The big kids (as we are now calling them as we often can't remember their names) are getting quite excited about the arrival of their new outdoor playset. We have invested one of their college funds in this item so they better love it. Well we will post again soon. Love to all.......
On to better thoughts.....As I mentioned a few blogs ago it is time for me to downsize. So I began this process almost a month ago as I was afraid that the county was going to start measure and tax me as a house. So after 30 days of diet and exercise I have lost a whopping 38 pounds. Now not to diminsh my accomplishment but in an effort to frame this in the proper context 38 lbs. to me is like taking a bucket of sand off of the beach. There is still plenty more where that came from. However, I am quite excited that I can see my shoe laces again and at times the tops of my big toes. I am hoping at some point to be able to scratch my ankle without having to take a deep breath and hold it while I bend over. I passed out the last time I scratched my ankle and it was pretty embarrassing.
As I mentioned above I have been going to the gym again. As we now have three kids and I love to see them in the morning when they get up I am not going in the morning but instead during my lunch hour at work. If you have been keeping up on my blog you will know that I have had several interesting experiences at the local YMCA and recently I had another. I went to the gym and had a great, sweaty workout and when I sweat it sometimes smells like when you are trapped behind the pig truck on the way to the farm I needed to take a shower before returning to work. So I pulled my gym bag out of the locker only to discover that I forgot a towel. Well being the resourceful lad I am and also taking into account that no other men were at the gym I thought I would use the paper towels in the locker room. You are thinking man quick thinking big man....well it was I great idea except this towel dispenser has a sensor that only allows a sheet to come out one at a time. Now assuming that I am almost 6 feet tall and in spots almost that wide that is a lot of paper towel. So how many waves of my hand over the sensor do you think it took in order to get enough paper towels to dry off. Let's just say....that I am lucky that due to my high fat content and the fact that everything jiggles when I move the sensor picked that up so it only took about 10 minutes to get enough paper towel to sufficently dry me off. The moral of the story is....well there isn't one just don't forget your towel when you got to the gym.
Well baby Lauren is doing great and looking more like her mommy everyday. She is still as perfect as the last time. The big kids (as we are now calling them as we often can't remember their names) are getting quite excited about the arrival of their new outdoor playset. We have invested one of their college funds in this item so they better love it. Well we will post again soon. Love to all.......
April 8, 2007
Grandma was here and other haps from the wild side.....
Well I realize it takes me a while to get from post to post. The fact of the matter is that we are busy really, really busy. With the addition of Lauren to our family we have very little time for writing, sleeping or other general things. Actually the real reason is that the computer is still is in Lauren's room and I type like I am trying to hammer a nail through a piece of steel and that for some reason keeps her from going to sleep.
Anyway....last week we were excited to have Kristena's mom, sister and brother come down and visit for a few days. Once we told the kids that they were coming the quickly divided the group. Everyone wanted to spend the night with grandma in the hotel and then Kaitlyn wanted to play every game we have in our house with Aunt Sydney and Tyler decided that he and Uncle Nick would be best friends. Tyler was so excited to have Uncle Nick come that he made me stand outside on the porch watching for their car. Once they were here Nick and Tyler were could not be separated. Kaitlyn did make Sydney play every game we had and everyone went to the hotel and spent the night with Grandma just like they planned. Luckily for Grandma Huskey we had laid out the ground rules before they left in order to make sure that Security was not called. We figured that they might receive a life time ban if that happened again.
The second day here was spent shopping and grandma doing what grandma's do best and that is spoiling the little beggers. Which is what they become once the realize that someone is actually going to buy them something. Kaitlyn got some new duds and a candy vending machine and Tyler got big boy boxer briefs and a new truck and trailer along with a lot of other things. Tyler got new underwear because.........
*****************************HE'S POTTY TRAINED*************************************
That's right other than a few minor night time slips he goes all day long!!!! We have not changed a Tyler diaper in 3 weeks 6 mins and 37 secs. and for that there can be no words of thanks. Unfortunatly, my mom is nearing the age where someone will need to change her diaper so one out one right back in : ).(just kidding becuase we are hiring that one out). Well back to my story....We had an awesome time with Leslie, Sydney and Nick. She even brought something for Kristena and I 2 cases of chips. And by cases I mean cases. She has a solid contact, a really close "friend" named Doug who works for Frito Lay and he delivered. Luckily, Doug had heard that I was trying to downside and sent us a case of the baked Lay's and the rest were the individual bags for the kiddies lunches. With Kristena's other stockpiles and the new chips we are looking to screen in the back porch and add some selves. So thanks to Doug and Leslie we don't have to buy chips until Tyler starts college!
Today is Easter and while the reason for the holiday has nothing to do with a bunny or a bunch of eggs we still decorated the eggs and rushed around last night to put together the easter baskets. Last year at Easter Tyler was just coming out of the hospital and was in no mood for anything but this year was a special year because it was our first as a family of five. Of course Lauren was in bed when Kaitlyn and Tyler went through the Easter Baskets and was awaken to the sounds of Tyler saying "THANK YOU EASTER BUNNY FOR MY CARS!" at the top of his lungs. The Easter egg hunt was a little different than last year because it was freezing down hereI this year. It is somewhere in the 50's today and that is about 35 degrees cooler than it has been this week. We went from shorts to jackets and sweats.
Well I think that is it for now. It is time for me to find the couch and pass out for a little while. Oh by the way lost 5 pounds and hoping that dinner and dessert today did not hurt that too much. Anyway Happy Easter to all of you!!!
March 18, 2007
Life in the fast lane.....
I thought that phrase best descripes our life here the the sunshine state. Since the new baby has arrived we have been so busy watching her poop, sleep, eat and.........well it seems I forgot that is all new babies do. This baby however loves to sleep. She sleeps about 18 hours a day and we get about 6 hours of straight sleep every night now. Which is incredible!!! As you can tell from the pictures she really is the most beautiful baby in the whole world. Now some of you may have thought you had the most beautiful baby but we have done the research and she is.
One of our favorite moments since she has arrived has been Kristena being able to put pigtails in her hair. Well sort of... As you can tell from the photos she has my grandpa's hairline lots of hair on the sides and the middle is a little empty. But Kristena pulled all of her side hair up and rammed it into a couple of hair thingys and boom you have midget pigtails. Lauren looked a little confused and because she has such little hair and Kristena had to pull them so tight she had constant surprised look on her face. Poor Kaitlyn had to wait until she was 5 in order to wear pigtails as she was a bald little baby. Tyler would love to wear pigtails but he will have to wait until he is uncle Tom's age for us to let him grow his hair that long.
Our first official overnight visitor since the new baby was Grandma Jones. Overnight meaning we have no room at our house so we made her get a hotel. The kids loved having her here and they especially loved spending the night at her hotel room. The made some wonderful memories like having security called because they were partying to loud and on Monday when we had to have their stomach's pumped due to all of the Oreo's and poptarts they ate with her. Actaully Tyler finally "passed" the last sprinkle from the poptarts just the other day. Tyler called my mom and told her that we were going to by her house down here by us if not she could come live in his room. Kristena said that would be fine but I think we had already agreed 3 kids was enough and adopting a fourth when she is almost 60 is out of the question.
Actually having mom down here makes me a little homesick to be near family and friends especially when we would like to have a quiet dinner out somewhere like Las Vegas. But then we see the weather reports and I realize that we will just suffer here. So that is all I have for now I wish I could tell you that we had won the lottery and I was sending each of you a $10,000.00 but that is not the case. Enjoy the pics and remember it isn't called the Sunshine State for nothing.
One of our favorite moments since she has arrived has been Kristena being able to put pigtails in her hair. Well sort of... As you can tell from the photos she has my grandpa's hairline lots of hair on the sides and the middle is a little empty. But Kristena pulled all of her side hair up and rammed it into a couple of hair thingys and boom you have midget pigtails. Lauren looked a little confused and because she has such little hair and Kristena had to pull them so tight she had constant surprised look on her face. Poor Kaitlyn had to wait until she was 5 in order to wear pigtails as she was a bald little baby. Tyler would love to wear pigtails but he will have to wait until he is uncle Tom's age for us to let him grow his hair that long.
Our first official overnight visitor since the new baby was Grandma Jones. Overnight meaning we have no room at our house so we made her get a hotel. The kids loved having her here and they especially loved spending the night at her hotel room. The made some wonderful memories like having security called because they were partying to loud and on Monday when we had to have their stomach's pumped due to all of the Oreo's and poptarts they ate with her. Actaully Tyler finally "passed" the last sprinkle from the poptarts just the other day. Tyler called my mom and told her that we were going to by her house down here by us if not she could come live in his room. Kristena said that would be fine but I think we had already agreed 3 kids was enough and adopting a fourth when she is almost 60 is out of the question.
Actually having mom down here makes me a little homesick to be near family and friends especially when we would like to have a quiet dinner out somewhere like Las Vegas. But then we see the weather reports and I realize that we will just suffer here. So that is all I have for now I wish I could tell you that we had won the lottery and I was sending each of you a $10,000.00 but that is not the case. Enjoy the pics and remember it isn't called the Sunshine State for nothing.
February 16, 2007
She's here.....
Well as you might have heard Valentine's Day was a huge day for us here in our household. We finally got to have our little baby girl. She was born about 4:00 on Valentines Day and was 7lbs. 5 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long. She is beatiful and we are having a ball getting to know our new little one. Mom and baby are doing well now. Kristena is still very tired and suffered a really bad series of headaches and migranes but those have thankfully stopped and she is getting around very well. Hope you all enjoy the pics of her.
February 7, 2007
Well what have you got to say.....
That is what I am thinking right now. What do I have to say? What is there to write about.....Well we are still waiting for the arrival of baby Lauren. Kristena is ready to have this baby now but the baby is enjoying her current home in her belly and seems to be in no hurry to come on out and meet the rest of the family. The last few weeks have been incredible as we watch her stretch out and see her little arms and feet poke out of her belly. It amazes me that inside Kristena's belly is a new life. Something that one day will be all we are and more. I look at Kaitlyn and Tyler and my hopes and dreams for them are so much more than they can even imagine right now. Tonight, I was telling Kristena that at work today during an unusually long meeting I started daydreaming (I wonder if that is what Bill Gates does during a meeting?) about what it will be like to take Kaitlyn to college for the first time. The dream was so vivid (I sure hope I did not actually go to sleep) that I decided we needed to have a plan, so I started sketching it out on paper. First she can only go to a college where every semester they have a parents weekend, that way we can "legally" check in on her. Then I would like it to be a Christian college(too many "party"boys at big schools) then I remembered Kristena saying that it can't be anymore than an hour from home. Well that ruled out every college around us.... soooo I realized it would be easier and cheaper if she just did correspondence courses from a room in our house because by the time I factored in her tuition, room and board, books, tracking chip in her purse, backpack, cell phone and car (not to mention the full-time body guard to keep the boys away) we can't afford for her to go any other way. I have reviewed my plan several times and Kristena thinks that maybe I have gone a little overboard but I think that it is just me being practical. As Kristena keeps reminding me our children will want to live close to us forever so this plan may just work for us.
The other thing I seem to be thinking about a lot lately is my weight. Everyday I realize that my stomach and practically every other part of me is getting larger and larger. I went to the gym a couple of weeks ago and I realized that I currently have reached a mass that I may actually qualify as a small planet. If I get any larger I think I will actually start to have a gravitational pull and will at some point have smaller people pulled in around me. Now that would be embarassing but it would give me the appearance of being really popular. But onto my point and I think I have one. I have been wondering what to do with my new found largeness and I think that I have no choice but to lose it. You see there is nothing worse than being so big that you get wedged into a booth at a restaurant or when you belly gets so large that in a heavy rain storm you can actually see where the water sweeps off your gut and like the edges of a roof forces the water out over your waist past your thighs and smacks you square on the knees. So I started researching how to make this roundness become more ovalish. All the websites say you should start by making a journal of what you eat so I started to think back to Friday of last week:
Breakfast- Cereal Bar and Water
Mid-Morning Snack- Yogurt bar more water
Then it all went bad......really, really, really bad
Lunch- Two Roast beef sandwhiches with Cheese and Mayo, 8 chicken wings, a small salad (that's healthy right), five glasses of sweet tea, a couple handfuls of chips, a one huge piece of baby shower cake
Mid-Afternoon Snack- 4 more chicken wings and a glass of diet of coke (thought I should be careful)
Dinner- Salad Bar at Ruby Tuesdays, a steak and fries, and 4 glasses of Sprite....and oh a ice cream cone from Chick Fil A before we picked the kids up from parents night out
The count of calories 1,007,006: total fat grams 90,750. Based on that I would have to run around the entire planet 11 times to burn the calories I ate that day. Factor in the fact that I am so heavy that running would cause a heart attack or my knees to explode it would take me 70 years to burn off Friday's meals. But as my sister Kim and I always say I really don't think my eating habits have anything to do with my sudden weight gain do you? Well anyway I have declared today the end of the cycle (like I haven't done that before) and the weight loss challenge is being launched now or as soon as I finish the ice cream in the freezer. So those of you need some motivation or want take a few pounds off today begins the Big John weight loss challenge. Each week or so I will post the losses on the ole blog and let's see if that will help keep my accountable. Anyone who would like to join me in my newest attempt to look more like Brad Pitt than John Candy or Chris Farley please feel free to join me. I would post my current weight but I am trying to figure out if I put it out there in kg if it will seem smaller. Anyway, I have been working on this so long that I am starting to forget what else I have to say. By the way congrats to all of you Colts fans for winning the superbowl. It would have been a better game if the Bears would have played a quarterback but hey it was great to see you all win one.
The other thing I seem to be thinking about a lot lately is my weight. Everyday I realize that my stomach and practically every other part of me is getting larger and larger. I went to the gym a couple of weeks ago and I realized that I currently have reached a mass that I may actually qualify as a small planet. If I get any larger I think I will actually start to have a gravitational pull and will at some point have smaller people pulled in around me. Now that would be embarassing but it would give me the appearance of being really popular. But onto my point and I think I have one. I have been wondering what to do with my new found largeness and I think that I have no choice but to lose it. You see there is nothing worse than being so big that you get wedged into a booth at a restaurant or when you belly gets so large that in a heavy rain storm you can actually see where the water sweeps off your gut and like the edges of a roof forces the water out over your waist past your thighs and smacks you square on the knees. So I started researching how to make this roundness become more ovalish. All the websites say you should start by making a journal of what you eat so I started to think back to Friday of last week:
Breakfast- Cereal Bar and Water
Mid-Morning Snack- Yogurt bar more water
Then it all went bad......really, really, really bad
Lunch- Two Roast beef sandwhiches with Cheese and Mayo, 8 chicken wings, a small salad (that's healthy right), five glasses of sweet tea, a couple handfuls of chips, a one huge piece of baby shower cake
Mid-Afternoon Snack- 4 more chicken wings and a glass of diet of coke (thought I should be careful)
Dinner- Salad Bar at Ruby Tuesdays, a steak and fries, and 4 glasses of Sprite....and oh a ice cream cone from Chick Fil A before we picked the kids up from parents night out
The count of calories 1,007,006: total fat grams 90,750. Based on that I would have to run around the entire planet 11 times to burn the calories I ate that day. Factor in the fact that I am so heavy that running would cause a heart attack or my knees to explode it would take me 70 years to burn off Friday's meals. But as my sister Kim and I always say I really don't think my eating habits have anything to do with my sudden weight gain do you? Well anyway I have declared today the end of the cycle (like I haven't done that before) and the weight loss challenge is being launched now or as soon as I finish the ice cream in the freezer. So those of you need some motivation or want take a few pounds off today begins the Big John weight loss challenge. Each week or so I will post the losses on the ole blog and let's see if that will help keep my accountable. Anyone who would like to join me in my newest attempt to look more like Brad Pitt than John Candy or Chris Farley please feel free to join me. I would post my current weight but I am trying to figure out if I put it out there in kg if it will seem smaller. Anyway, I have been working on this so long that I am starting to forget what else I have to say. By the way congrats to all of you Colts fans for winning the superbowl. It would have been a better game if the Bears would have played a quarterback but hey it was great to see you all win one.
January 21, 2007
It has been a long good week....
Well I have taken a little break from the blogging over the last few weeks. As those of you who read this know my dad past away a little over a week ago. It seems unreal that he is not among the living anymore. We would have liked for him to be here a lot longer. But as we all have discussed he loved his grand babies. He was a great grandpa and would have love to hear some of the stories I will share in this blog. I have included a couple of pictures that were taken in September right after he was told he was sick. Tyler and I took a road trip and as you can see from the pictures playing with his cousins and 15 hours in a car took their toll on him. He slept on him for about 2 hours that day. His loss has been hard on Kaitlyn. She has been very thoughtful about it and after Kristena told her about his passing she cried and then decided that the best thing she could do was send him a note on a balloon. So after I came back from the funeral we had a little ceremony. She picked out a balloon that he would know came from all of us and sent it off. We watched it until it disappeared she was worried some other angel might get it but we assured her that he got it. She wants a picture of him that she can keep in her room. She was really sad tonight that she would not get to stop and see him the next time we went to Ohio. We told her that we would still go see Uncle Justin and Grandma Loretta at their new house and that made her feel better. As we attempt to move forward from this moment please continue to keep Loretta and the rest of us in your prayers.
Now on to the subject my dad would have wanted to hear, about his grand babies. Well this weekend we took the kids to Disney World. We originally wanted to take the kids as close to Kaitlyn's birthday as possible but since Kirstena insisted on having another baby we moved it back a couple of weeks.(she wants me to clarify that it was all my my idea). So in typical Jones family tradition we loaded up the mini van and headed to Disney World. The trip started too easy and we quickly realized that the bad luck that typically follows on vacation was still with us. At about 7:50 Friday night we arrived at our hotel room bags and children in hand. As we approached the room we realized that we had been placed in the building where the were having some sort of summer camp for high school girls who smoke. I thought maybe we had wondered into a rehab center but nope our room was just down the hall. Wanting to spare the children the sight of teenage girls from all over the world swapping Marlboro's we pulled out our room keys only to find out they did not work. I immediately called the front desk and they contacted the dispatcher and sent someone on their way. 10 minutes later I called them again. This time I stressed that I had a very pregnant woman and two small children with me and could the please step on the gas. 10 minutes after that I called this time a lot madder and again stressed that my very pregnant wife was not feeling well and that my 6 year old was getting ready to pee all over the front of the resort. This time the woman at the desk let's call her Mrs. Don't Care told me to hold and see would find out what was taking so long. After holding for 11 mins 23 sec(per my cell phone) I called back this time and was very rude and just as I was beginning to check my nice voice for my mean angry voice I young came to our door. Unfortunately, he concluded the keys did not work (future brain surgeon) and he needed to get a palm pilot to reprogram the door. This palm pilot must have been in Georgia because 10 minutes later we are still standing outside our room with Kaitlyn doing the magic peepee dance and Tyler saying "this room is broken let's go get one that works". Finally, the young man (let's call him Mr. Concrete-In-My-Pants) returned this time with a young lady with also concluded that the keys did not work. Then they said that we probably will have to get us a different room which they start to say will require us to go back to the front desk which is about 1/2 mile away. I told them I did not care how they got the keys back here but no one from our family was doing it. This time the say the engineer is just around the corner and maybe he can get the door to work. So Mr. I Restate The Obvious arrives and does what anyone would do he tried the broken keys in the broken door and tells us they don't work. To which I wanted to say....well you know what you would have wanted to say. Finally, Mr. Obvious whips out his magic palm pilot and reprograms the broken door and after an hour we walk into our room. And much to our delight the room was very nice but the walls were so thin I know that the man next door has nasty gas and his wife snores like my mom. And every time some one flushed the toilet it sounded like the ball from Epcot was rolling thru our room. If one more employee had told me to have a magical evening a was going to take their magic wand and ram it up their.......
Luckily for us the next day was much better. The weather was great. In the sixties all day and the kids had a blast. The highlight of the day was supposed to be the Princess Luncheon at the Castle. It was great even though some person who obviously does not have children thought it would be a great idea to hand a plastic sword to two year old before we sat down to eat. Then that same person decided to give us all glasses that were about eleven feet tall and were great targets for said two year old. Kaitlyn loved the luncheon and got to see all of her favorite princess and had her picture taken with them all. Of course she would have loved the luncheon more had they had a little midget with a cart selling stuff all the way thru lunch. After going to the happiest place on earth with Kaitlyn I realized that all we had to do was take her to the closest shopping mall and turn her loose. Kristena and I have now seen every gift shop in the Magic Kingdom and we think they should have more seats and clearance sections for the parents and a corral for the smaller children.
Tyler's favorite part was probably getting to drive the race cars. They have a speed way with the cars that follow the rails. So I took him on the ride and let him drive and I must say he drives better than Justin and almost as good as my mom. I had to work the gas and the brake for him but he steered us around. Actually I have whiplash from the experience but hey anything for a good time. Kristena did great. Even though Friday before we left her doctor told her that we should not go at all. He has had two patients go into labor at the Magic Kingdom. She did not but I know she is ready to have this baby. She is doing great. Continue to pray for her strength as we near the end of pregnancy and the arrival of the baby.
Well that is about it. I hope you enjoy the pics. On a more serious note my cousin Jason and his brother-in-law Josh pastor at a church in Michigan that they started almost three years ago and while his brother-in-law was diving on vacation in Mexico we broke his neck and nearly drown and now does not have feeling from his chest down. He is showing some signs of improvement but could really use every ones prayers. I have included the link at the end of this blog and if you feel so led I believe they are or have set up a fund to help with the medical expenses and the cost of his wife's housing in Miami.
http://www.greenhouseministries.org
January 11, 2007
The hardest day of my life....
Well it is finished at 9:20 this morning my dad's struggle with this disease ended. He entered the hospital last night with severe breathing issues and a lot of pain and this morning with Tom and his wife Loretta there he took his last breath. I think that when things like this are about to happen God gives us a sixth sense. All week I had a feeling that something bad was about to happen concerning his health then last night Tom called and said they were taking him in. Then a short time later Kim said take a look at some flights just in case. And by 10:00 last evening Kim told me they were giving just a couple of days to live. As I flew to Ohio this morning my one thought was I just need to be there. Just to tell him once more that I love him and that no matter what ups and downs our relationship has had over the years he was and always will be my dad. Unfortunately, I did not make it there in time. As I sat in his hospital room staring into the empty shell that was once my dad all I could remember were the good times. The times that made me laugh, the times that he would hug me and give me one of his overly wet sloppy kisses and tell me he loved me. Those are the things I will miss. His life in many ways will be considered a time of missed opportunities with his children but in an odd sort of way it has made me cherish the moments we did have even more.
So as I lay down to try and get some sleep tonight, I wonder what tomorrow will have in store as we continue the process of laying him to rest. Tonight I will close my eyes and hope that he knows just how much he meant to all of us even though our days together were far to short. So tonight my heart aches and I am sad but as we are promised our God is there to carry us when we are not sure we have the strength to go on. I am blessed to have a wife who has been there all day today and listened to me even when I was not making sense. She has been my rock in the last 24 hours and keeps me going when I just don't want to go on. A daughter who has a soft, kind heart who cried for me and then got busy making a note to send with a balloon into heaven so that Grandpa would know she loved him and that she would miss him. And a sister, brothers and mom who have made me laugh and cry today. No one can have a better support team then I have. God has richly blessed me and for that I am forever thankful.
So as I lay down to try and get some sleep tonight, I wonder what tomorrow will have in store as we continue the process of laying him to rest. Tonight I will close my eyes and hope that he knows just how much he meant to all of us even though our days together were far to short. So tonight my heart aches and I am sad but as we are promised our God is there to carry us when we are not sure we have the strength to go on. I am blessed to have a wife who has been there all day today and listened to me even when I was not making sense. She has been my rock in the last 24 hours and keeps me going when I just don't want to go on. A daughter who has a soft, kind heart who cried for me and then got busy making a note to send with a balloon into heaven so that Grandpa would know she loved him and that she would miss him. And a sister, brothers and mom who have made me laugh and cry today. No one can have a better support team then I have. God has richly blessed me and for that I am forever thankful.
December 21, 2006
Santa Claus is coming to....
Well we took the kids to see that round, old elf and no they did not wonder into the bedroom while I was sleeping. No we went off to see Santa at our local library. We were going to take them to the mall to see him but the mall closest to our house requires us to put their bullet proof vests on and I have to wear one of those fanny packs with the zipper pocket in the front. Kristena looked forever for a money belt in XXXL all she could find was one pink fanny pack but that's okay safety first. The downer about the mall is that everyone and their brother is at the mall this time of the year and well they don't all bathe and use deodorant and then they want to cough and hack all over us and the kids. I find it hard to maintain my holiday cheer when the mom with the 17 kids with runny noses keep wiping their boogers on the back of Kristena's pants.
So what was I talking about.... Oh that's right our trip to see Santa Claus. Tyler was extremely excited to go see him, more because Santa was going to arrive on a fire truck than because he got to sit on his lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. Kaitlyn was excited to tell him wanted she wanted but she could not remember what she wanted. So as we waited outside for Santa, Tyler decided to make a new friend with the camera man for the library. He was about 50 or so and Tyler told him about Santa and that he was coming to our house and what he wanted for Christmas. And then as we heard the sirens in the distance they could barely contain their excitement. Unfortunately, we had to wait outside for him but luckily we were all bundled up in our....shorts!!!! Gotta love Christmas in Florida.
Once we got inside the children's librarian decided that it would be a great idea to make all of the kids sit down with Santa in the room and listen to two books being read by the assistant librarian. What she failed to do was instruct her young granddaughter to wait until Mimi was finished reading before running circles around the room with snot shooting from her nose and as Mimi read the stories the child interrupted with each page turn with shouts of "MIMI, MIMI". This would have been cute but the child was starting high school (just kidding she was probably only nine). Of course our kids know better Tyler just waited until the room was quiet and whispered to Kristena "I don't like Mrs. Claus, I only like Santa Claus". We don't believe that this will effect what Santa will leave him but you never know what kind of influence the wife has on the husband!
After this the kids finally got the chance to sit on Santa's lap and both got to share with him what the really wanted for Christmas. Tyler wants a rocket ship like the one on Higgly Town Heroes and Kaitlyn wants a camera and a bag to put it in. What we failed to tell Tyler before he sat on Santa's lap was that just because he asked for the rocket ship did not mean that he got it that very night. This realization was a hard one and required him to be removed to the van until he settled down.
Well that is it for now. We will post post Christmas. We are trying to come up with a plan to continue the magic of Santa Claus and we will let you know if we were successful. Merry Christmas everyone and remember we always love cash or gift cards!!! : ) No seriously we do....
December 18, 2006
And they said it would never happen......
I opened up the comments from my last post and there it was the last thing expected. After smashing my head on my keyboard and being awakened by the EMS team I scrambled back to my chair to confirm what I had seen and it was true my cousin Andrea commented on my blog!!!!!! Somewhere Angels are singing and the devil is getting his coat!!!! It has happened. I would post more but I am so overwhelmed with this moment that the tears are clouding my eyes so much that I can bearly see. To celebrate I am going to eat another piece of chocolate(actually I was going to do that anyway) but so you don't have to go to the old blog here is the proof! And they said that Christmas only comes to the nice, take that Santa.
Alright, where is the outline version...you PROMISED me an outline! Since you are so curious, I will tell you what has me so busy. Friday night I had a Christmas party to attend plus a Martina McBride concert to go to. Saturday I had to prepare for my dinner party that I was having on Sunday evening, plus squeeze a trip to Marion in for a wedding. Sunday, I went to church and then cooked all afternoon for my party at 6:00. I finished the dishes at 10:00 and then fell into bed. Now, this week I have three nights of board meetings for work and then I head to Marion on Thursday evening for the Christmas weekend. Now, you may say that these are special circumstances, however this schedule is really not out of the ordinary for me. Do I hear a boo hoo in the background??? Now, I really have to run, for fear my boss will walk up behind me and find me blogging! :) In all seriousness, I love you and I had a great time visiting...even though I was harassed! :)Andrea
I have sent this to be framed to hang in my office. Stay tuned next time maybe I can finally get the Pope to comment I am on a roll!
Alright, where is the outline version...you PROMISED me an outline! Since you are so curious, I will tell you what has me so busy. Friday night I had a Christmas party to attend plus a Martina McBride concert to go to. Saturday I had to prepare for my dinner party that I was having on Sunday evening, plus squeeze a trip to Marion in for a wedding. Sunday, I went to church and then cooked all afternoon for my party at 6:00. I finished the dishes at 10:00 and then fell into bed. Now, this week I have three nights of board meetings for work and then I head to Marion on Thursday evening for the Christmas weekend. Now, you may say that these are special circumstances, however this schedule is really not out of the ordinary for me. Do I hear a boo hoo in the background??? Now, I really have to run, for fear my boss will walk up behind me and find me blogging! :) In all seriousness, I love you and I had a great time visiting...even though I was harassed! :)Andrea
I have sent this to be framed to hang in my office. Stay tuned next time maybe I can finally get the Pope to comment I am on a roll!
December 14, 2006
Another one so soon....
Now no one pass out but I decided not to wait 30 days before I posted again. I usually don't know about what I will write about until I type the first few sentences but hey if we are luckily it will make sense and have some humor to it. So let's get you up to date with everything that has happened since my last post. I made a whirlwind trip to Ohio. I had the wonderful opportunity to fly to Ohio for a few days to see my dad. He continues to decline and the most visible signs are his declining speech and his loss of hearing. The most startling difference is his dramatic weight loss. He has lost almost 30 pounds by my guess since I has lost saw him almost 6 weeks before. His appetite is not good and he takes a lot medication just to keep him from having seizures. My brothers and sister are doing an amazing job of keeping me informed of his condition and to them I say thank you. There is no time table for when everything will happen but we are thankful for every day he is still here.
On a happier note while I was home I got to spend some time in the evening with my family. Most notably I got to spend a quality evening with my cousins Marsha, Keever, Kelley and Andrea. We sat up and talked and ate some of the Christmas cookies they made until after 12:30 in the morning. I got to see Andrea and Jon's wedding DVD and it made me feel like I was there. This is normally where I would say something sappy about how much I wish we could have been at the wedding... but sadly based on my conversation with Andrea there is a good chance that she will not have the time to read that heart felt sentiment. Andrea is faced with the demands of.......well I am really not sure what she does all night but she sure is busy. Andrea is just so busy doing.....well she never really said what she is busy doing but I am sure it is very important. After all I am the cousin who brings so much joy to her life when she thinks about all of the great times we had together, if she had the time she would surely take a moment and say...well....something....anything. But Andrea you keep on doing.....well you know what it is that keeps you from commenting and remember my blog is here right where it has always been. Don't feel guilty as you are(insert important event or project that is taking up all your time)....that I make Kristena sit at the computer all day constantly refreshing the comments page hoping...praying that you will post. The doctors says once you comment on my blog, the crooked finger she is getting will most likely heal itself but should she ever lose her voice we may never be able to tell what she wants. I hope the other new mom's in the maternity ward won't make fun of her : (
It was great to get to catch up with them and during a very tough weekend I got to just laugh and make jokes. It was like time had stopped and for a second it felt like old times and we were all kids again hanging out at Marsha's house drinking the best sweet tea on the planet. No one loves Christmas like Marsha and no one decorates for the holidays like she does. Everything was so pretty that it almost made the single digit weather worth it(but it sure was cold). The feeling was carried over when I returned back to my grandparents and my grandma and I sat up until 2:00 in the morning talking. I still had a buzz from the sweet tea so I am glad she wanted to talk or I would have had to run circles in the living room until I fell over. So thanks grandma and grandpa for letting me stay there and a special thanks to my mom who for Christmas bought me my ticket and then picked me up at the airport, drove me to Marion and then took me back to the airport on Sunday morning at 4:50 in the morning. That was after she and I watched the Gaither Vocal Band until midnight and then we talked for another hour and then we decided we better go to bed. I told her we could stay up all night for all I cared because I don't mind being the large man on the airplane snoring with my mouth hanging wide open. Sure keeps people out of your row. If I am really in a non-social mood I will forget to put on my deodorant and refuse to turn the cooling vents on until I get a real solid sweat going then I turn them on to blow the stink around. Kristena says its gross but it makes sure I get the arm rest.
While I was gone Kristena decided that it would fun for her and the kids to make a gingerbread train. I personally thought she had lost her mind but my wife is nothing if not determined. She tells me that they were perfect angels during the process. We never did eat the whole thing but
as you can tell from the pictures the kids had a blast. Actually Kaitlyn took it very seriously and as you might guess Tyler was just interested on how to get the icing out of the tube and into his mouth. It sure was great to see them when I got home. Kristena is never afraid to try new things and loves to make things for people. This year before I left on my trip she made a package of homemade goodies for family. By the time I left Ohio most of them were eaten.(especially the cake balls...I love them cake balls) When I came back she made another huge batch of cookies and other homemade goodies for her family and then sent all of her leftovers in for my 50 staff members. By the end of the day the had all but licked the containers clean. My staff is like a group of starving animals. They see someone walk in with food and then they draw straws and send in a scout to find out what it is and if it is for everybody. Sometimes our attorney's send in food for everyone so I know if there is something I want I pick through it and take it before they know it is there. If not they will have mauled it before I can even tell what it was.
Well I am not sure if I will post before Christmas but first let me tell you that the one thing I have already gotten for Christmas is a great family. My wife and kids make the holidays better than I could ever imagine. As my dad gets sicker and sicker it makes you consider what's important and Kim, Tom and I decided that every day is important and that we should live for today and always be sure those who we love know how much we care. So with that Merry Christmas from us where it is Cloudy and 75.(I know a little chilly but we are finding a way to stay warm) But they promise the sun will be back out tomorrow and we will have to bust the shorts out! So to those of you up north we will pray the winter is mild and the warmth of our love for you will keep you warm while you shiver and freeze and bundle up before you go to get your mail : )
December 5, 2006
Sorry it has been so long.... Part Duex
Well it has been way to long. I checked and it has been over 30 days and here I sit with very little to share. Much like the rest of my family it has been a long few months. My dad as most of you know is in the midst of lung and brain cancer and he does not have a lot of time left. The cancer that is cruelest is the brain cancer. It has taken some of his speech away and is slowly taking his hearing. He is doing as well as can be expected and even though he stills has seizures he seems to be trying to keep his spirits up. Despite his cancer and the difficulty he is having he is still in there and every once in awhile his sense of humor comes out. He has always been a funny guy in his own irreverent way. The other day he was trying to tell me something and his mouth would not move with his thoughts and the words were getting jumbled and he paused and just simply said "oh sh##!" as clear as a bell. Now to some this might be offensive but to me it let me know that he is still in there and despite his current condition he still has some fight left. I am off this week to see him again this weekend to hopefully take him out to get some lobster something he has never tried and well he is trying get some of those "I will do it later" boxes checked off.
Now on to better updates. If you have ever read this blog you know that my son is a little me. He has no idea that he is a little guy and he believes he is an adult. The other morning while I was getting his cereal before I left for work he walked into the living room where Kristena was eating her cereal on the couch and sat down. Then sitting there with a sly little smile on his face he looked at her and said "hey, what you eating baby?" Say what? Now before you think I call my wife baby I do not. We have no idea where he heard this but he thought he was the cutest kid ever. He just sat there and smiled that proud smile as if he had just told the greatest joke ever. My wife and I nearly wet ourselves laughing. He is full of these little gems. Yesterday I checked my voice mail and on it was a message from him and he is screaming at the top of his lungs "Mama is making me lose my mind!" I am sure that it was the other way around but he thinks it is great to tell her that at various points during the day.
Kaitlyn is well... ever the princess. She got her first report card and on it she got straight A's. She is growing so fast that we may have to put Kristena back to work to keep her in clothes. The things that she is learning in First grade have me in awe. They are currently starting basic geometry and last night she had homework on vertices and some other stuff I don't remember. I would check her work before she turns it in and make sure she has the right answers but I took geometry almost 20 years ago and I have had to delete a lot of that information in order to make room for more(some would say I never really learned it but hey they probably don't post to this blog!). Since I last posted we bought Kaitlyn all new "big" girl furniture. She loves it. Mostly because it came with a desk that she can write at. It is perfect for her and hopefully it will hold up until she gets married. Of course she is not allowed to date until she is 40 so we may have to replace the mattress before then. Buying her new furniture meant that Tyler got her old stuff. And with the new baby on the way the room that was Kristena's scraproom is now going to be the baby's room and that meant buying new furniture for what was the kids play area so Kristena had a place to scrapbook. So that is the real reason I have not posted. I am exhausted from building furniture. Back in the old days I would pretend I did not know how to do it and Tom would come down and do all of the hard work but he refused to get on a plane or drive all the way to Florida so Kristena and I (with Kaitlyn and Tyler's help) did it all. I think we did I pretty good job!
Kristena is ready to have the baby and she is doing very well. She has been tired some but has been feeling better than she had there for a while. The next few months will fly by as we get ready for the next little Jones baby. The other day I was thinking about an old friend of mind. He is a pastor in WV and I had not spoken to him in about 5 years. Not because of anything we just lost touch. So I fired off an e-mail. And guess what he is still out there. It is always nice to have someone that no matter how long it has been you kind of just pick up where you left off. You know they are a good friend when one of their e-mails tells you that you must have had a face transplant because your wife is way to pretty to be married to the guy he remembers. I have a couple of friends from college like that. So to Harv and Rod thanks for being those friends that I can always call. And Scooter while I have not known you that long (or I would have fixed that walk better by now) you and I are long lost brothers the only difference is you got the brains and I got the looks!
Good Night All and enjoy the pics!
October 31, 2006
Halloween with Cinderella and Mickey
Well tonight was trick or treat night here in Florida. So we bundled them up (just kidding it was 75 and we got to wear shorts!). The highlight of Kaitlyn's evening was getting to be all dolled up like a princess. Kristena put her hair in a bun and put some of her make up on her and then fixed her crown on the perfect little head and there stood the prettiest little princess in whole world. As soon as the costume hit her little body her demeanor changed. When Kristena asked her to turn the kitchen lights off on our way out Kaitlyn turned to her and said "A princess does not turn the lights out." She also did not want to be called Kaitlyn just Cinderella. When Tyler said "I want to sit by Kaitlyn". She turned to him and said "Just call me Cinderella." It seems like not to long ago she was a little two year old going around the streets of Marion with her cousin Samuel and now uses all of her money to buy books. Where do the years go.
Tyler decided long before Halloween got here that he was going to be Mickey Mouse. For those of you who don't know Tyler has been in love with Mickey since the first Disney cruise we took earlier this year. Ever since then he can not get enough of the mouse. He has two stuffed Mickey's and a stuffed Minnie and half of the space on our TIVO is filled with episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. So tonight he got to be the mouse. He then got to live out another of his big time dreams he got to sit in a real fire truck. Actually that was the highlight of his entire evening. He too has changed alot over the last year. Last year during trick or treat he was still perfecting walking this year he was telling the people at our church that he liked their trucks and he was a whiz at getting candy at every stop we made.
Well here hope you enjoyed the pictures. They sure are cute. Good night to all.
October 27, 2006
Back to bloggin....
Well I just checked and, by george(wonder which George, hopefully not George Michael he is weird), it has been more than a month since I have posted a blog. Now the surprising thing is that it just seems like yesterday that I typed that we were having a little girl and then boom here we are a month later. Hardly seems possible. For those of you who don't know or might be checking this blog out as a link from the other members of my family the wife, kids and I just returned from our trip to Ohio. We made the trip because as most of the regulars know my dad has terminal cancer. He is doing treatments to buy him more time and about 2 weeks ago finished his radiation treatment and started his chemo last Thursday. Kristena and I decided that we wanted our kids who are young to know him when he was better than he will be later. So everyday we were there we went over to visit. My dad is a real trooper. He did not ever complain when we were there even though I know we has exhausted and felt horrible. (my wife says I am a baby and cry everytime I stub my toe). The biggest change from a month ago was his face was swollen, he had lost a lot of his hair and he has to use a cane to steady himself. He really has no energy and words come slowly at times and the worst part of that is that he can think normally and then he really struggles to say it. For those of you have met my dad you'll know that talking has never been a problem so this I would say is the most painful side effect of the cancer. The kids handled it very well. Every day Kaitlyn made him a card or picked him something out of the yard. Tyler took him a car because those are his most prized possessions. He always says anytime someone gets hurt "I give them one of my cars and they feel better". I don't know if he ever left one there but his heart was in the right place.(actually he always made sure he had his cars when he left but he did let my dad touch them once)
One of the benefits is that my entire family lives in the same town in Ohio. So when we go to see my dad we get to see everyone. Well I say everyone lives in the same town but for at least the second time my mom has move back to Columbus. ( she usually moves within the same selection of towns) She made the trek all but one day from Columbus to our little town. I would like to believe that she made it for Kristena and I but nope it was to see our kids. We stayed with my grandparents which was very nice because it is better than a hotel. The crazy old guy that runs this hotel charges for water and makes you leave a quarter everytime you flush the toilet but we love him, kids stay free and if you buy the meal plan they even let you eat there. (just kidding grandpa it was only a nickel to flush the toilet and Kristena had a coupon buy one night get the second night free). As my mom had just moved Kristena decided mostly because I told her about my mom's shopping habits(who knew you could buy all of that at United Dairy Farmers) to take her a few items from her stockpile as a house warming gift. When she told me about the idea I thought great idea we will throw in some toilet paper maybe a bottle of shampoo and call it a day. Oh no this box weighed about as much as our van. We were lucky the mountains we had to cross on the way there were small or we would have had to pray for a strong tailwind to get the van over them with the load we were hauling. For the record Marsha we included a 12 pack of toilet paper so you can stop and use the bathroom after your next trip to the Cracker barrel.(watch out for the guy selling the Rolex's on the corner on the way into her neighborhood, I don't think they are real!He offered me a bag of dimes or was it a dime bag)
The real highlight for the kids was the opportunity to play with their cousins Sam and Josh. After Tyler and I made our last trip all Tyler talked about was going back to ma and pa's house to play with Josh and Sam. Kaitlyn and Samuel have always been buds. They remind me a lot of Kelley and I when were kids. Kelley always bossed me around and told me what to do but I would have done anything she said because I thought she was greatest thing since individually wrapped twinkies or those little quarts of ben and jerry's ice cream... man I love me some Ben and Jerry's. (actually I don't remember her ever bossing me around but I remember Jason convincing me to ride our bikes places where Marsha told us not to. And us driving way to fast back from the State Fair one year). Kaitlyn and Sam played like they spend everyday together. I don't remember the two of them ever fighting. Kaitlyn cried a little on the way home because she missed everyone. Her real highlight was Grandma's piano. She learned where middle "C" is and now she wants to take piano lessons. So does Tyler. I just keep telling them to just keep telling great grandma that you really wish you could take piano lessons but mommy and daddy can't afford a piano and they promise to practice real hard and maybe even cry a little maybe grandma will get you one. (just kidding grandma unless you already have one picked out. I baby grand would look best in our living room) Tyler and Josh are so close in age that the think to do the same types of things. Those things are usually the last thing we told them not to do. For example if you told them not to shut the back door to the back porch then two seconds later the door would be shut. Tyler was ready to go back to Ohio as soon as we said we were back in Florida. He still tells everyone who will listen that " we are going back on our trip to Ohio to see ma and pa".
Kristena was not quite as thrilled to go. Not because she does not like my family or because she is pregnant and idea of spending about 15-19 hours in a car sounds about as thrilling as a blueberry and coke enema. No it is just that this time of year in Ohio the chance of seeing the sun is about as likely as seeing a pig with wings delivering pizza's.(don't ask it is late and the pictures are little weird). So as we crossed the Florida border on our way to Ohio we pulled along side the road and had a good cry and said good-bye to the sun. And true to form it rained and was dreary pretty much our entire trip. The sun peaked out one day just long enough to tease us. Then on our way home as the sun began to show itself she and I had to stop and just hold each other as we felt the ice wash from our veins and the sun warmed us. Tears of unspeakable joy. I don't think I have cried like that since Tyler was born or we ran out of pop tarts. Now that is all to say Florida really is the sunshine state. 80 and sunny today feels like fall outside!(don't be haters the snow really is pretty it is just hard to have a good cook out with a foot of snow on the ground)
Well the rest of the weekend was great. I have the best brother and sister in the whole world. Tom is great with the kids and allowed Kaitlyn to use him as jungle gym. Kim is great. My mom always says that we share a brain. That maybe be true because lately I feel like she must gotten custody of it. She always make me laugh. We always take the joke way to far or just to the point where she, Tom, Kristena and I are the only ones laughing. I think we are trying to get my mom to laugh so hard she wets herself. I think we got close to that on our first night there. One time we were all watching Bill Cosby on the tonight show when we lived in a trailer somewhere in the middle of no where. My mom got laughing so hard she literally wet herself. Ever since then I have been trying to replicate that moment. With her age and the fact that her ability to "hold it" is getting weaker I think I have a pretty chance.
We went to Kim's church on Sunday, well it is not really her church. She does not have her own religion were we all go and worship her. She might like that but I wonder what the hymns would be. "How Great She Is", "Because She Lives", "Victory in Kimmy". I wonder if the scientoligists sing hymns. Do they sing something about "There is a crystal where the aliens all come to take us home" I don't know. Maybe before I make fun I should check it out. Maybe Ron and his followers know something I don't. Nay, I think you have to be able to jump from a standing position onto a couch and that would require me to strap rockets to my ankles. Actually their would probably have to be a countdown like when they launch the space shuttle. Now what was I talking about.... Oh that's right my siblings are very cool if you get the chance you should get to know them.
Well I think that is about it. Work for me is busy but good. My responsibilities keep getting expanded which is better than them shrinking. Kristena and baby Lauren(for those of you who don't know we have decided on Lauren) are doing well. This baby gets blamed for a lot of things. Everytime Kristena wants something and I seem reluctant she tells me"But the baby wants.." I am such a great husband that I jump and get it for her. Now if she says the baby wants a new diamond ring then we may need to explain to Lauren the difference between needs and wants before she even gets here. Well I am mispeling eveyting az eyes getin tird. So I better get to bed. I will not make promises about when I will get around to posting again but I will try and do it more often. Until then enjoy a picture or two of the kids. Love to y'all. Sunny and 75 tomorrow. Burr might need a jacket!
September 27, 2006
Is a boy like me I said!
That was Tyler's reaction to the news as the technician informed us that baby grape is a girl. He was so upset that we finally told him that he was right so that he would quit yelling at everyone. So everyday we mention it to him and he always answers that same way "No baby is a boy like me I said!" . He just laugh and know that come next year he will figure it out. Now Kristena and I were surprised but we shouldn't have been. You see the first clue was that Kristena felt that the baby was a boy. And you see she was been wrong with the other two children and well it is now official her streak is still going. (thankfully we are stopping at three so she will not get the chance to try again.) Kaitlyn's reaction was one of utter joy. She can not wait to share her wisdom with a little sister and she thinks it is great that the girls will outnumber the boys. Kristena and I are quite excited and the doctor was able to confirm the expected due date of early Feb. 2007. Unlike when Tyler was born we won't have to worry about whether the new baby will need a coat to bring her home in because it will most likely be in 90's by then. It sounds like great weather to have but it does get a little tiring after a while.
Kristena has been quite busy lately with her deals. We had begun to run out of some of our staples (coupon lingo not really sure what that means, I thought staples were the things that hold your papers together). So anyway as I have said in the past that she can shop like nobody's business. Well what I probably have not mentioned is that there is some sort of secret society, well actually anyone can join so it is not real all the secret, where the folks on the message boards share deals and tips on getting better deals with each other.( my brother would tell you that they are committing some sort of criminal act) So the deal of the week this week was on pickles. For those of you who don't know I have a pickle addiction. I am on the verge of joining a 12 step program to deal with the problem but I am not ready. So this week pickles were on sale at our local Publix for BOGO (that is coupon code for Buy one Get one for Free. yep that's right there is separate language that you have to learn it's like Latin). In addition to this great deal Kristena had cut coupons out of the paper for .50 off of one jar. And the store will allow you to us 2 coupon's even though they gave you one of the two for free. That deal would have been good but then she got what is called a "Blinkie"(the coupons that spit out of those machines as you go up and down the racks of groceries) for .55 off of one jar. This brought he price to .69 for one. We now have 20 jars of pickles. I am as happy as a big in slop or pickles however you want to view it. Now before you all think that this is all just about pickles she also got laundry detergent (ALL Small and Mighty) for a buck a bottle. That works out to .03 a load. Now that's a deal. She gets so excited everytime we get another great deal like that most of time we have to run out purchase the items right away.
Kaitlyn is doing great in school. She has been really great as we get closer and closer to the due date. She keeps showing more and more maturity as we cruise close and closer to the end of the first semester of school. She is going to be such a big help to Kristena when the baby gets here. No names for the baby yet but please continue to keep us in your prayers. My dad is finishing his radiation for the brain tumors and will then start chemo for the liver tumors. This will be the real tough part. Pray that he will have peace and the strength to withstand what the next few months will hold. He is concerned that it has spread to his stomach and they are going to run some tests to be sure that is has not. Thanks to all of you who have been sending up prayers for us and him. It is great to have friends and family like all of you. (and if I don't know you and you are checking out my blog for the first time thanks also!) Well Kristena, just came out and told me I need to get to bed so that I can function tomorrow.
Kristena has been quite busy lately with her deals. We had begun to run out of some of our staples (coupon lingo not really sure what that means, I thought staples were the things that hold your papers together). So anyway as I have said in the past that she can shop like nobody's business. Well what I probably have not mentioned is that there is some sort of secret society, well actually anyone can join so it is not real all the secret, where the folks on the message boards share deals and tips on getting better deals with each other.( my brother would tell you that they are committing some sort of criminal act) So the deal of the week this week was on pickles. For those of you who don't know I have a pickle addiction. I am on the verge of joining a 12 step program to deal with the problem but I am not ready. So this week pickles were on sale at our local Publix for BOGO (that is coupon code for Buy one Get one for Free. yep that's right there is separate language that you have to learn it's like Latin). In addition to this great deal Kristena had cut coupons out of the paper for .50 off of one jar. And the store will allow you to us 2 coupon's even though they gave you one of the two for free. That deal would have been good but then she got what is called a "Blinkie"(the coupons that spit out of those machines as you go up and down the racks of groceries) for .55 off of one jar. This brought he price to .69 for one. We now have 20 jars of pickles. I am as happy as a big in slop or pickles however you want to view it. Now before you all think that this is all just about pickles she also got laundry detergent (ALL Small and Mighty) for a buck a bottle. That works out to .03 a load. Now that's a deal. She gets so excited everytime we get another great deal like that most of time we have to run out purchase the items right away.
Kaitlyn is doing great in school. She has been really great as we get closer and closer to the due date. She keeps showing more and more maturity as we cruise close and closer to the end of the first semester of school. She is going to be such a big help to Kristena when the baby gets here. No names for the baby yet but please continue to keep us in your prayers. My dad is finishing his radiation for the brain tumors and will then start chemo for the liver tumors. This will be the real tough part. Pray that he will have peace and the strength to withstand what the next few months will hold. He is concerned that it has spread to his stomach and they are going to run some tests to be sure that is has not. Thanks to all of you who have been sending up prayers for us and him. It is great to have friends and family like all of you. (and if I don't know you and you are checking out my blog for the first time thanks also!) Well Kristena, just came out and told me I need to get to bed so that I can function tomorrow.
September 17, 2006
Boys are back in town....
Well it has been awhile since I last posted so I thought before the begging becomes too much for me to handle I would drop an update out here. First let me say I am truely a blessed person. I drove last weekend 14.5 hours to Ohio all by myself with a two year old. He was great except once we crossed into Ohio. I excitedly shared with him that we were almost there and that we were in Ohio. Each time I would tell him that he would angerily respond "No we not in Ohio, I said!". Finally, I gave up. Then as we pulled into Marion I called my wife to let her know we were in town and had safely arrived. I explained to her what Tyler had been doing so I thought it would be cute if he repeated it for her. So I said Tyler we are in Ohio now. This time he thoughtfully looked outside the windows and said "Yep, we are in Ohio". That was about the last time I really got a chance to see him sit still for the rest of our trip. From there on he was constantly on the move. He loved playing with his cousins Joshua and Samuel. They instantly became the best of friends! He also loved hanging out with his grandparents and Uncle Tom and Aunt Kim. He, like the other kids, loves Uncle Tom maybe its because Tom is able to fix all the toys that they break or maybe its all that pretty hair.
Tyler and I also got to spend sometime with our counsins Kelly and Sue(Sue's not really my cousin but she has been around so long that she has gained honorary status) Aunt Marsha and Uncle Keever. I had not seen their new addition to their house and all I can say is WOW! Next time I come into town I am bringing a towel and my rubber ducky and hitting their gigantic pool...I mean tub. Tyler could have taken swim lessons in there. Tyler loved Kelley and Sue's dogs. As soon as he hit the door he dropped out of my arms and let the dogs lick him all over the face, neck, arms and anywhere else they wanted. He spent the rest of our short visit chasing them around the house. We now wants mommy and daddy to buy him a puppy.
On Sunday, I got to sing at the Dayspring church. It was fun seeing everyone again. It seems like this church has really changed since I was a kid running in and out of the basement of the old Bennett street building. My cousin Andrea came up from Columbus I would like to think just to hear me sing but I think it was because Marsha was making one of her famous Sunday dinners. Anyway, the facility there is great and it is good to see that it is still growing. After a great lunch at grandma's we went over to see my dad. If you have read my previous entry you know that my dad recently found out that he has brain and liver cancer. For the first time in a long time all of his kids were in the same room and as if that was not emotional enough for him my sister surprised him with a redone picture of his parents. He has no actual pictures of them and his mom passed away almost 20+ years ago. His dad is very sick and with my dad being as sick as he is it was too much for him to handle and he broke down. I don't remember the last time I saw my dad cry or even if I have ever seen him cry but on Sunday he must have teared up about 15 times. Every once in a while he would look around the room and it must have hit him that it might be awhile before we would all be in the same room again. About half way through our visit Tyler was exhausted and he collapsed and slept on my dad for about two hours. That was one moment that I am sure I will never forget. My sister was able to capture a few minutes of it for me and I will always cherish those pictures. Finally, it was time to go and I as I leaned in to tell him goodbye he and I both shared a good cry. I don't know how much time he has left and really only God knows that but we made up for a lot of time over those couple of days.
To give everyone a quick update on my dad he started radiation on the brain tumors on Thursday and he seems to be doing okay. The doctor's are giving him somewhere in the 1-2 year mark provided everything goes the way they think it will. So we are blessed to have the time we have.
We are busy here. Kaitlyn and Kristena seem to have survived Tyler being gone. I truely believed that they missed him I am not sure they even knew I was gone. Tyler slept a ton on his first day home and slept with mommy and daddy his first night home. Kaitlyn got her first interm report card and is getting straight A's. She and my mom have decided to be pen pals. Kaitlyn sent her a card with a picture of my mom she had drawn. The best part of the picture was the hair she gave my mom. It was a big black football helmet. I nearly lost it when I saw it. She did not understand why I was laughing but it was great. She has started brownies and that means girlscout cookies are coming up. I plan on buying her into a great prize!!!
Well that's it for now. Kristena and baby grape are doing really well. The baby is starting to kick hard enough that I can feel it. We go on Thursday to find out if we are adding a boy or girl to the herd. Well I have to run to the store Kristena will shoot me if I go out to lunch again. Good night to all.
Tyler and I also got to spend sometime with our counsins Kelly and Sue(Sue's not really my cousin but she has been around so long that she has gained honorary status) Aunt Marsha and Uncle Keever. I had not seen their new addition to their house and all I can say is WOW! Next time I come into town I am bringing a towel and my rubber ducky and hitting their gigantic pool...I mean tub. Tyler could have taken swim lessons in there. Tyler loved Kelley and Sue's dogs. As soon as he hit the door he dropped out of my arms and let the dogs lick him all over the face, neck, arms and anywhere else they wanted. He spent the rest of our short visit chasing them around the house. We now wants mommy and daddy to buy him a puppy.
On Sunday, I got to sing at the Dayspring church. It was fun seeing everyone again. It seems like this church has really changed since I was a kid running in and out of the basement of the old Bennett street building. My cousin Andrea came up from Columbus I would like to think just to hear me sing but I think it was because Marsha was making one of her famous Sunday dinners. Anyway, the facility there is great and it is good to see that it is still growing. After a great lunch at grandma's we went over to see my dad. If you have read my previous entry you know that my dad recently found out that he has brain and liver cancer. For the first time in a long time all of his kids were in the same room and as if that was not emotional enough for him my sister surprised him with a redone picture of his parents. He has no actual pictures of them and his mom passed away almost 20+ years ago. His dad is very sick and with my dad being as sick as he is it was too much for him to handle and he broke down. I don't remember the last time I saw my dad cry or even if I have ever seen him cry but on Sunday he must have teared up about 15 times. Every once in a while he would look around the room and it must have hit him that it might be awhile before we would all be in the same room again. About half way through our visit Tyler was exhausted and he collapsed and slept on my dad for about two hours. That was one moment that I am sure I will never forget. My sister was able to capture a few minutes of it for me and I will always cherish those pictures. Finally, it was time to go and I as I leaned in to tell him goodbye he and I both shared a good cry. I don't know how much time he has left and really only God knows that but we made up for a lot of time over those couple of days.
To give everyone a quick update on my dad he started radiation on the brain tumors on Thursday and he seems to be doing okay. The doctor's are giving him somewhere in the 1-2 year mark provided everything goes the way they think it will. So we are blessed to have the time we have.
We are busy here. Kaitlyn and Kristena seem to have survived Tyler being gone. I truely believed that they missed him I am not sure they even knew I was gone. Tyler slept a ton on his first day home and slept with mommy and daddy his first night home. Kaitlyn got her first interm report card and is getting straight A's. She and my mom have decided to be pen pals. Kaitlyn sent her a card with a picture of my mom she had drawn. The best part of the picture was the hair she gave my mom. It was a big black football helmet. I nearly lost it when I saw it. She did not understand why I was laughing but it was great. She has started brownies and that means girlscout cookies are coming up. I plan on buying her into a great prize!!!
Well that's it for now. Kristena and baby grape are doing really well. The baby is starting to kick hard enough that I can feel it. We go on Thursday to find out if we are adding a boy or girl to the herd. Well I have to run to the store Kristena will shoot me if I go out to lunch again. Good night to all.
September 3, 2006
He might be....
That seems to be the phrase that keeps playing through my mind. For those of you who don't read my sister Kim's blog it has been a rather eventful week for our family. It started with a call from Kim that my Dad was taken to the ER after having what they thought was a minor stroke. After some tests they let him go home only to have EMS bring him back two days later. This time they were able to identify what is causing the stroke like epsoides and that is brain cancer.(wow that was very hard to type). This concerned the doctor's as it is not common for cancer to form in the brain it often starts somewhere else and then spreads. So they did a CAT scan yesterday which revealed that the cancer most likely started in his liver and is spreading. He won't know where to go from here until after his bioposy on Tuesday. So the phrase started as He might be okay to facing the reality that He might be dying. So as I sit here trying to figure out how to prepare myself for the worst I am also leaning on something that Tom told me tonight that is we don't know anything for sure. There is nothing we can do until we know what we are facing and then we go from there. So the boy inside me wants to believe that my dad will beat this but the man needs to face the worst which is that he may not make it. So I reflect on our past and I try to find a way to cope with this so that I can keep moving. You see, my dad and my realtionship has always been different we went through a long period of time when he and I did not speak and then out of the clear blue sky he called and since then we talk about once a month. Everytime we talk we always never fail to tell each other "I love you". When he called a couple of months ago and came down I told Kristena that I thought he might be sick. While I loved having him and Loretta visit is was something he had very rarely done. As I look back most of my memories center around being angery over his lack of involvement in our lives. So as I face the possibility that I could lose him I begin to regret that time wasted. It seems foolish to have gone for such a long time and not really spoken to each other to realize that there were years lost for reasons to this day I don't remember. So as I looked tonight into Kaitlyn and Tyler's faces and fought back the tears I promised myself that no matter what the kids did or said I never want them to stop talking. Shame on me if allow a moment to pass without stopping long enough to soak in whatever it is they want to take the time to share because before I know it Kaitlyn and Tyler (and the new baby) will have their families and I will be sitting by the phone hoping for just a few moments of their time.
I was driving to the grocery store tonight and I was listening to my Gaither Vocal Band CD and the words to this song overwhelmed me. The song is called "Through": "When I saw what lay before me. Lord I cried what will you do. I thought He would just remove it but he gently led me through." As I cried in my car I cling to the words in that last phrase that even though I wish God would heal my dad and just remove the entire situation I know that somehow he will lead me, my dad, Kim, Tom, Justin and our families through this.
So as you go to sleep tonight make sure those around you know how much you love them. We are never promised tomorrow but we have this moment. I hope that each of you knows how special you are to me. Don't let petty things keep you from loving those around you. So if there is someone that you have not spoken to because of something that happened a long time ago call them this week because at the end of the day it does not matter who is right or who is wrong what matters is that we love each other.
I was driving to the grocery store tonight and I was listening to my Gaither Vocal Band CD and the words to this song overwhelmed me. The song is called "Through": "When I saw what lay before me. Lord I cried what will you do. I thought He would just remove it but he gently led me through." As I cried in my car I cling to the words in that last phrase that even though I wish God would heal my dad and just remove the entire situation I know that somehow he will lead me, my dad, Kim, Tom, Justin and our families through this.
So as you go to sleep tonight make sure those around you know how much you love them. We are never promised tomorrow but we have this moment. I hope that each of you knows how special you are to me. Don't let petty things keep you from loving those around you. So if there is someone that you have not spoken to because of something that happened a long time ago call them this week because at the end of the day it does not matter who is right or who is wrong what matters is that we love each other.
August 26, 2006
Ode to a good brother.....
A few months ago my sister Kim whose blog is linked on this page wrote about our less famous brother Tom. I promised near his birthday that I would give you some info about Tom and well I realized that I never posted my blog about Tom. Things got so hectic that I let the moment pass. So here we go this blog is devoted to my long haired, grumpy, always there when I need him brother Tom.(not Thomas, Tommy, TJ he is just Tom). Oh and before I forget mom it is K-R-I-S-T-E-N-A she is your only daughter in law (that we know of) if you can not remember how to spell it just call her Mrs. Huffeldink : ).
So where to begin perhaps I should begin with an apology to Tom. It seems though I find it highly unlikely that when we were kids I never let the poor child speak. My family contends that when questions were asked of Tom I would never let him answer(those of you who know me must find this very hard to believe). I believe that this may be the reason to this day that often times when he is asked a question there is an uncomfortable silence as he waits for me to answer. I picture him sitting at a drive thru and clerks asking if he would like fries with his order and him just sitting there waiting to here my voice call out "no, he does not want fries with that I however I will take his fries." So Tom I am giving you permission to answer the phone, talk to the pizza guy and sorry for never letting the world hear all of those thoughts you wanted to share. Never mistake his silence for not having something to say. As I have learned so much later in life there is a lot of wisdom behind that pony tail and I wish I had let him share it with me sooner.
Some time ago I was a senior in highschool(to some of you it will seem like yesterday according to my wife I rode a dinosaur to school and did my homework on a stone tablet) but on to the tale. Towards the end of the year I found myself in a very public and very embarrassing situation. I was out of school for the better part of two weeks and my situation was quite the point of discussion. But no one was allowed to say anything bad about me. You see my brother would not let that happen. As the story was told to me a young man decided one day to use my situation to improve his social status (it seems he thought by trashing me people would overlook his obvious body odor) however it seems that Tom got wind of some of the things that he was whispering in the hall and shared with him how his health might be impacted by him opening his mouth to speak about me again. You see while some people would make fun of Tom when we were kids because he was quiet and not nearly as social as I was there was one thing that they would not do and that was cross him. You see while I would talk my way out of the situation Tom found that knocking you into another world worked so much more effectively. Now I don't condone violence and I don't like to talk about that summer very often but when I needed him most there he was. I never been a great big brother to Tom we ran at opposite ends of the social spectrum but at the end of the day he was there for me when I was at my lowest. One of biggest regrets in my life is that I did not step up and defend him a little more often, so Tom if I did not say it then thanks for protecting me when I could not do it for myself.
Ever wonder how kids decide who they like and who they don't like? I have. All of the young kids in my family have at one point or another not really cared for my mom. It has nothing to do with her. My theory is that the kids wonder why she is always wearing that brown football helmet(just kidding mom). But the one thing that can be said for certain is that all of the kids in the family love Tom. They often perfer him to their parents.... sometimes. They think he is the best thing since sliced bread and individually wrapped twinkies. When he comes in the room there is the moment where they all wonder who he is but they can always get him to smile which is somewhat of a miracle at times and before you know it he is down on the floor playing with them and then they are following him everywhere. I personally think the reason they prefer him is that he bribes them by making them fantastic gifts. So far he has made my kids three awesome pieces. A highchair and crib for Kaitlyn and a wagon for Tyler. Tyler loves to ride in the wagon and on occasion tries to sleep in the crib. Kaitlyn moved the highchair into our kitchen for a while and fed her dolls at the table. We had to move it out when Tyler kept trying to sit in it. He acts like it is such a chore to make them but underneath all that complaining there is an Uncle who would give his life for those kids. Tyler and I are making a trip to Ohio in a couple of weeks and Tyler can not wait to play cars with Uncle Tom. I think Tyler is hoping Tom will whittle him a car out of a toothpick which if it can be done Tom can do it.
I could go on and on about Tom. Tom is someone that I can always count on. When Kristena and Kaitlyn moved into my apartment at Easton I knew I could ask Tom to help. He drove all the way down to Columbus on a Saturday and carried all of that furniture down a flight of stairs and then unloaded it in a blizzard. When our computer hard drive crashed Tom sat on the phone for 4 hours and helped me install the new drive, reinstall all of the new software and made sure that when I turned it on it did not blow up on me. If it is one thing that I know for sure in my life it is that no matter where I am or what kind of situation I am in I can always pick up that phone and call Tom and hear him say "What do you want?". Love ya Tom!
So where to begin perhaps I should begin with an apology to Tom. It seems though I find it highly unlikely that when we were kids I never let the poor child speak. My family contends that when questions were asked of Tom I would never let him answer(those of you who know me must find this very hard to believe). I believe that this may be the reason to this day that often times when he is asked a question there is an uncomfortable silence as he waits for me to answer. I picture him sitting at a drive thru and clerks asking if he would like fries with his order and him just sitting there waiting to here my voice call out "no, he does not want fries with that I however I will take his fries." So Tom I am giving you permission to answer the phone, talk to the pizza guy and sorry for never letting the world hear all of those thoughts you wanted to share. Never mistake his silence for not having something to say. As I have learned so much later in life there is a lot of wisdom behind that pony tail and I wish I had let him share it with me sooner.
Some time ago I was a senior in highschool(to some of you it will seem like yesterday according to my wife I rode a dinosaur to school and did my homework on a stone tablet) but on to the tale. Towards the end of the year I found myself in a very public and very embarrassing situation. I was out of school for the better part of two weeks and my situation was quite the point of discussion. But no one was allowed to say anything bad about me. You see my brother would not let that happen. As the story was told to me a young man decided one day to use my situation to improve his social status (it seems he thought by trashing me people would overlook his obvious body odor) however it seems that Tom got wind of some of the things that he was whispering in the hall and shared with him how his health might be impacted by him opening his mouth to speak about me again. You see while some people would make fun of Tom when we were kids because he was quiet and not nearly as social as I was there was one thing that they would not do and that was cross him. You see while I would talk my way out of the situation Tom found that knocking you into another world worked so much more effectively. Now I don't condone violence and I don't like to talk about that summer very often but when I needed him most there he was. I never been a great big brother to Tom we ran at opposite ends of the social spectrum but at the end of the day he was there for me when I was at my lowest. One of biggest regrets in my life is that I did not step up and defend him a little more often, so Tom if I did not say it then thanks for protecting me when I could not do it for myself.
Ever wonder how kids decide who they like and who they don't like? I have. All of the young kids in my family have at one point or another not really cared for my mom. It has nothing to do with her. My theory is that the kids wonder why she is always wearing that brown football helmet(just kidding mom). But the one thing that can be said for certain is that all of the kids in the family love Tom. They often perfer him to their parents.... sometimes. They think he is the best thing since sliced bread and individually wrapped twinkies. When he comes in the room there is the moment where they all wonder who he is but they can always get him to smile which is somewhat of a miracle at times and before you know it he is down on the floor playing with them and then they are following him everywhere. I personally think the reason they prefer him is that he bribes them by making them fantastic gifts. So far he has made my kids three awesome pieces. A highchair and crib for Kaitlyn and a wagon for Tyler. Tyler loves to ride in the wagon and on occasion tries to sleep in the crib. Kaitlyn moved the highchair into our kitchen for a while and fed her dolls at the table. We had to move it out when Tyler kept trying to sit in it. He acts like it is such a chore to make them but underneath all that complaining there is an Uncle who would give his life for those kids. Tyler and I are making a trip to Ohio in a couple of weeks and Tyler can not wait to play cars with Uncle Tom. I think Tyler is hoping Tom will whittle him a car out of a toothpick which if it can be done Tom can do it.
I could go on and on about Tom. Tom is someone that I can always count on. When Kristena and Kaitlyn moved into my apartment at Easton I knew I could ask Tom to help. He drove all the way down to Columbus on a Saturday and carried all of that furniture down a flight of stairs and then unloaded it in a blizzard. When our computer hard drive crashed Tom sat on the phone for 4 hours and helped me install the new drive, reinstall all of the new software and made sure that when I turned it on it did not blow up on me. If it is one thing that I know for sure in my life it is that no matter where I am or what kind of situation I am in I can always pick up that phone and call Tom and hear him say "What do you want?". Love ya Tom!
August 22, 2006
Growing Old Gracefully.....
Ever hear that phrase used. Usually you say that as it relates to someone who is about my mom's age you know 80 or so. But as I have crossed into my mid-thirties I realize that this is simply a lie. At least in my case. It would seem that I am aging like lettuce ages gracefully in the frig over the span of a week. For those of you have not seen it then you did not have the opportunity to open the frig in our house when I was a kid. But onto my point. It would seem that as I have begun the aging process some strange things have begun to happen. It all started with the grey hair. Now on some grey is distinguished. My uncle Keever looks great with grey hair. I however have not been so blessed. I just look like someone who time has not been kind to. Then the other day I learned an important lesson that grey hair has different rules than regular hair especially as it relates to your eye brows(?). This became apparent the other day as I glanced at myself in the mirror while washing my hands at work. It would seem that most eye hair lays nice and flat unless it is grey. Once it turns grey it begins to form its own pattern. The pattern that my grey hair had decided to form was that of horns above each eye. How long they had been that way I did not know but my eyes had horns!!!! As soon as I got home I waited for my loving wife to share with me that my eyes had horns but not a word. It would seem that she looked at me everyday and did not notice the horns above each of my eyes. So that night as she laid in bed I did what any strong manly man would do and I tweezed the grey right out of my eye brows and gave them a wonderful arched look. I now look a little like Vestal Goodman without the teased hair. If I ever decided to relive the moment when I dressed as Mimi from the Drew Carey Show for Halloween I would be half way there. Kristena did not notice the horns were gone but if one of my tweezed hairs would have wrapped itself around her tooth brush I'll bet that would have made her take notice.
The next horrible thing that happens at least to me is the addition of ear hair. Now I must say that this is the last place I thought I would sprout a hair. And it is not like it is just one hair that I can pluck and never worry about it again. Oh no, no it seems to be more of a recurring issue. The worse part of it is that is actually impossible to pluck them with out crying because it feels like it is connected to the hair that has mysteriously sprouted up on my toes. So if I try and pluck an ear hair it causes my leg to jerk up the air. Which would be fine if I was flexible but I am not and I pull a hamstring everytime I try and yank one of those bad boys out. I saw the other day that Mark Lowry used Nair on his ears something that I may need to try. So if you ever call the house and Kristena tells you that I am Naring my ears don't laugh it is probably true. After all of that I tried to look on the bright side if I ever go bald I'll just let it and my back hair really grow out and create a really weird comb over. The problem is that all of the hair in my ears and on my back is turning grey to so I won't make me look any younger. I guess I should have paid more attention to my great uncles at our family reunions and realized that one day there I to would go. Hang one second I need to pick my ear wax out with one of my car key's.......Ahh now that's better. Nothing like scratching a whole in your ear drum with your car keys to make the time pass.
Tonight would not be complete without a couple kids stories and a few pictures. So let's start with Kaitlyn. She started 1st grade and just finished basketball season. She started the season as probably one of the least experienced and least intense players on the team. By the end of the season she actually went after a few loose balls and made a shot....during warm ups. Now that may not seem like a big deal but compared to where she started this was monumental. She could dribble and shoot and really liked it when the season finished. She can not wait for next season to start. I think one of the highlights of the year was watching her when she was not really all that interested in the game as she danced and sang the songs from Disney's High School Musical. The game was being played all around her and yet there she was twisting around, clapping and just singing along to the music playing in her mind as the other team dribbled by her. When we would ask her about it she would just smile. Nothing makes you smile more than watching your daughter off in her own world while all the time 9 other 6-7 year olds were trying to play a game of basketball. Gotta love her!
Then there is the little man. He has decided that he wants to be the next Food TV chef. The other night I was making Chili(I know 115 degrees in Florida and I am making Chili ask my unborn child why) and he drags one of our kitchen chairs over to the counter and says "I cook with you Dad". I thought that meant he just wanted to watch me cook. Oh no by the time I got done cutting the peppers and onions he needed his own pan with his own utensils and was making onion peel and peppers soup. So everytime after that if I go into the kitchen to make a sandwich he drags his chair over to the counter and says "I need to cook". It is hard to get him to leave the counter after he is done especially if he thinks that Kristena or I are going to start cooking something else.
Well that's all I got tonight sorry it is not much but hey I need to get into the bathroom to pluck my brows, trim my nose hair and try and die my hair (the ones on my chest, back and arms and that is a lot of hair). Getting old ain't easy and it sure isn't pretty. Love to all.
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