Review

Amelia asked me to look back to see the first picture on my phone.  I really had no guess as to what it would be or when it was from.  It turns out, it reminded me of a few things...


1) my kids are adorable

2) my kids have gotten way too big

3) I should look back at old photos more often

4) It's time for me to get a new phone

Missed

Meggan has returned home from her trip to Philadelphia.  In case she had any doubts how much she was missed, Everett made her this...whatever it is....


"Love you, Mommy.  Hope you like my picture"

Partied Out

Despite being sick all week, I went out to a comedy show Friday night. Everett had a sleepover with his best buddy last night.  While Everett was partying hard, Amelia and I took in our 5th annual Daddy/Daughter dance.  This has put us in the perfect storm where all three of us are tired and grumpy.  The fourth corner piece of this puzzle is Meggan left for a work trip today.  So, you can make that tired, grumpy, and alone with each other.  I'm not sure all three of us are going to survive the week....and I'm pretty sure I'm the weakest animal in this wilderness.  They looked pretty happy (and tired) at lunch today, but I think they were just excited to be powering up for their mutiny...

Review

Here is a review of our day away....

We started off with delicious donuts....of which Everett took mine and ate it....

 Everett worked on his style while we hit a few stores (no, I did not buy this hat)....

We repeatedly rode the elevator up and down as Everett decided to stick his butt to the glass for the people below...

We had a very traditional pajama/Lego battle in the bed...

Return

The men have made their return from our annual overnight stay of fun and mayhem.  I'll post pictures tomorrow.  For now, just know we packed in eating donuts, playing games at Dave and Buster's,  swimming at the hotel pool, going to the movies, riding go-karts, shopping at the mall, watching football, and ordering room service into one day. 

7

This guy turned 7 today....

Tomorrow, he and I are going on our annual father-son "Men's" overnight trip.  This is the trip where we do whatever Ev wants.  So far, the only thing on the agenda is eating ice cream and ordering room service.  In preparation for such a manly outing, neither one of us shaved our faces this week...and we were both equally successful at growing a decent beard. 

It's the Thought

Meggan sent a bouquet of cookies to my office for my birthday.  While I absolutely love the thought and appreciate the effort, I wish the cookie company delivered it as a bouquet instead of 5 sticks and a pile of cookies.

40

I turned 40 yesterday.  I know, I can't believe it either.  40 is the age where old people say "You're in for the best years.  You're finally starting to figure out what life's all about" and young people say "Bro, you need to start checking off items from your bucket list soon".  I suppose time will tell which perspective is correct.  For now, I'm going to enjoy today, I'll tally up the scores in another 40 years. 

Real Woman

My truck has a large sunroof that the kids want open as often as possible. This led to the following conversation this morning...

Amelia: Daddy, will you open the sunroof

Me: Not a chance

Amelia: Why not? I want it open!

Me: I do too...but, not when it's 39 degrees outside.

Amelia: Well, I still want it open.

Me:  Why would I open it on a day like this???

Amelia:  Because I'm tough and I'm not afraid of cold air.  I'm a real woman. 

Everett:  A real woman wouldn't want to freeze her butt off. That's a dumb woman. A real woman wouldn't want to open the sunroof just to try to look cool. 

Me: Tell her, son. 

Amelia: Shut up, Everett. 

She then rolled down her window and proceeded to freeze us.  I'm not sure where Ev got his knowledge of women or keeping it real, but I know where Amelia lost her good sense....staying up until after midnight last night at a sleepover.  The girl needs her rest or she turns into a mean drunk. 

Decade

I looked back at the first time I posted on this blog.  It was January 6th, 2009.  Here we sit almost exactly 10 years later.  It's hard to believe I've been posting on here for a quarter of my life.  It's had its period of strong posts and weak posts (generally coinciding with the demands of my actual career).  It's had happy posts, funny posts, and occasionally sad posts.  I've had times where I thought about redesigning it, adding various forms of content, and trying to generate readership.  I've had far more times where I've thought about stopping the posts altogether.  Then, Meggan and I will spend a night clicking through posts about toddler Amelia,  sweet little Sophie, and baby Everett.  In those nights, I'm reminded of why we have it in the first place. As I've said on here before, it's not a blog.  It's a 2,500+ page memory book for our family.  It's like the old grandparent who sits around the fireplace telling stories of days gone by...only this grandparent never forgets.  It's been a wonderful 10 years and I hope I'm blessed enough to post for another 10. 

Pizza Monsters

These two don't eat much, but when they decide they're in the mood, look out.  Yesterday, Everett told me he was going to "terrorize some pizza"....and then he and Amelia both ate 7 slices each (for reference of slice size, I ate 4)....

Lessons Learned

While we were really sad that Grandma couldn't make the trip, we were happy to still get to see Grandpa this weekend.  I think it was an especially fun time for Everett as he and Grandpa traded expertise...

Grandpa taught Everett a few tricks from his youth...

And Everett repaid the favor by mercilessly beating Grandpa at Nintendo while dancing and talking trash the whole time....

Back to School

Breaks with your kids are always nice. You get to sleep in late, snuggle, watch movies, and do a host of other things you normally don't have time to do.  That said, by the end of the break, they're bored, fighting, making messes, and you realize that maybe they need a little time at school to keep them sane...or maybe it's time at school to keep their parents sane....or maybe both.  Either way, these kids need to go to school because it's getting crazy around here.