August 6, 2012
Goodbye Mom
Well as I am sure those of you that will read this already know that my mom passed away about three weeks ago. Writing was always therapy for my mom. When her and my dad were arguing about whatever it was they were fighting over she would write him a letter telling him off or giving him a piece of her mind or even expressing her hurt because he had hurt one of us. She never mailed those letters to him and probably as my sister goes through old notebooks or papers she will find some. I began to wonder what she would blog about if this was her last blog and in her way try and continue to heal myself. I know for one thing she would talk about her grandkids. She loved each one of them as the individuals they are. She spent wonderful countless days with Kim's kids and she loved each day and for my kids it was a lot of phone calls and each visit was precious. She loved Josh's take on the world. He is fearless to a degree and funny to a fault. She and Josh shared quiet moments and when something frustrated him she just listened to him. Samuel is very quite and stoic never really prone to give you much of a reaction or over tell a story. She loved when they would have a quiet moment when he shared whatever he had going on inside. Kaitlyn is the oldest and sometimes the most ridiculous. She would just listen and mom would love to hear about the latest adventures in her pre-teen life especially the times she would misspeak or make up new and interesting words. Tyler is the builder and loved to talk her ear off. When they were on the phone he would disappear and lay on my couch upstairs and talk about lego's or whatever. She loved that his words were greater than his years. Then there is Lauren. Of all my children she took my mom's passing the hardest. She cried and still does from time to time as she passes the picture on the fireplace. She simply just says "I miss Grandma". And then I guess she would tell you about what was going on with each of her kids. She would talk about Kim's work at Perkins and the struggles and triumphs there and how proud she was of her. Then she would talk about Tom and his cool new car and how proud she was of the work he was doing. Then she would tell you about Texas and me and the job she never really could remember the name of but she did remember I worked at a bank and I had a very cool sounding title. Then she would want to hear about you. Mom loved to hear about others struggles and what they were going through. She loved to help people move through their problems and find solutions. She lived a tough life never really having much but she had experiences that she would share and if you needed something whether it meant sacrificing her own wants and needs it was yours. She loved her friends whether she had seen you in the last 20 years or just yesterday my mom always was ready to listen or as Linda said at the funeral sometimes she would fill the time with stories and laughter and you never had to say a word. If it had not been for my grandparents who knows where we would have ended up. So I am sure that she would tell you latest on them. They were always there to fill in the gaps as we were growing up especially when mom had to work whether that meant a hug, a ride or someone to talk to they were there. Noone should have to lose a child and I hope they know how much we all love them. I guess when I think about my mom and all of she was to me I beleive I will miss her laugh and the way that no matter where we lived she made us feel like that was home. We moved alot as kids once my mom and dad divorced. And it would have been easy to become discouraged by our situation and I suppose that she did but that is not what I remember. I remember coffee runs late at night when I should have been in bed. I remember coming home from my after school job at Wendy's at 2 am and her waking up and talking about stuff till 4. I will remember calling when something good or bad happened and hearing the pride in her voice or a calm reassurance that it won't be that bad. When she passed away on July 13th I lost a mom and my friend. The hardest part of these last 3 weeks is the almost nightly phone calls just to hear her voice and to share something no matter if it took 10 mins or 2 hours. Not a night goes by that I don't reach for the phone and realize that she is not there. Not a night has gone by where I don't feel the pain of her loss. But the lessons and life she lived taught us to not look at the pain and dwell on it but instead it was to pick up the pieces and move forward. We will try and live that lesson she shared. It will be hard for Kim, Tom and I. We are Carolyn's kids and for a little while I think she would understand if we looked back and missed her.
December 13, 2009
A quick post about my sister
Awhile ago I was going to post this about my sister Kim. She went through what I would term a messy divorce. I don't know why I never posted it but I feel like now is a good time to post it. I love my sister and that does not mean that we don't fight or get angry with one another but she will always be my little sister. Anyway what I wrote...
So as many of you know my sister is going through a divorce. It is tough for her and for her boys. And rather than dwell on the things that are transpiring and pointing out that in times of stress and great conflict we find the true character of those around us I realized how much all of this makes me appreciate who my sister is. My sister and I have always been close my mom claims that we share a brain. I don't know that I would agree although we can finish each others thoughts. She is the funniest person I know and one of the few people who can make me belly laugh. So as I watch from my hut here in Texas as she struggles with what to do I am amazed on all she continues to try to do. How do I help transition my family from 4 to 3? How do I explain to my boys what is happening without turning their dad into the bad guy even if some of his decisions are not in their best interest? How do I share my struggles with people without them taking a side?
As her brother I watch helplessly not knowing what to tell her what can I do to help her. I want the best for her and in some small (more small somedays than other) the best for him. I wish that my baby sister did not have to walk this journey without me there to help her and I wish she did not have to make these decisions without a map of what the future will look like. I wish many things that I can not make happen but one thing that makes me sleep a little better at night is that my sister is strong. When I went through some of the toughest times in my life when I did not see an end to my trials she was right there. She picked me up and made me laugh or just listened when I was ready to give up. I beleive that people may underestimate her determination and her desire to insure that her boys are taken care of. I hope that at the end of the day that God will give her the peace that He has his hand in her and the boys life and that He will insure they are provided for even if money isn't there and the situation may seem hopeless.
So while I will continue to worry about her, I know that she has the strength of character, strength in God and the capacity to do anything. One day I hope I can grow up to be just like her.
So as many of you know my sister is going through a divorce. It is tough for her and for her boys. And rather than dwell on the things that are transpiring and pointing out that in times of stress and great conflict we find the true character of those around us I realized how much all of this makes me appreciate who my sister is. My sister and I have always been close my mom claims that we share a brain. I don't know that I would agree although we can finish each others thoughts. She is the funniest person I know and one of the few people who can make me belly laugh. So as I watch from my hut here in Texas as she struggles with what to do I am amazed on all she continues to try to do. How do I help transition my family from 4 to 3? How do I explain to my boys what is happening without turning their dad into the bad guy even if some of his decisions are not in their best interest? How do I share my struggles with people without them taking a side?
As her brother I watch helplessly not knowing what to tell her what can I do to help her. I want the best for her and in some small (more small somedays than other) the best for him. I wish that my baby sister did not have to walk this journey without me there to help her and I wish she did not have to make these decisions without a map of what the future will look like. I wish many things that I can not make happen but one thing that makes me sleep a little better at night is that my sister is strong. When I went through some of the toughest times in my life when I did not see an end to my trials she was right there. She picked me up and made me laugh or just listened when I was ready to give up. I beleive that people may underestimate her determination and her desire to insure that her boys are taken care of. I hope that at the end of the day that God will give her the peace that He has his hand in her and the boys life and that He will insure they are provided for even if money isn't there and the situation may seem hopeless.
So while I will continue to worry about her, I know that she has the strength of character, strength in God and the capacity to do anything. One day I hope I can grow up to be just like her.
May 14, 2009
Return of the Blogger Part One
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!
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 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
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