Kids update...

So this is my last chance to get in a post for September and i thought i'd use it to catch everyone up on the kids. Bailey and Noah are both in school this year. Both attend Northern Hills with Noah in pre-K and Bailey in Kindergarten. This has had a positive affect on Noah because Bailey will bring home 2 books every couple of days and read them to him until he memorizes them. Which sounds bad at first because it appears that he can read when he is just memorizing the books but he points out the words and keeps up with the story. And really most of us don't read these words you see them and you know what they are because you memorized them way back in kindergarten. So basically were setting Noah up to be the freakishly talented reader next year. Of course that's what Bailey is this year. She also getting really good at basic math and has started dividing numbers and counting by two's and not slow, she's counting quicker than she would by one's. its weird but so is she most of the time. Reagan is about the same, still wants to go to school everyday. its funny how the older kids make the younger one's learn faster. Taylor is walking 6 to 9 steps at a time, she still hasn't said mama. feel free to ask caryn about that <---obvious sarcasm. thats about all for now. coming soon, halloweens costumes 2008. last year the kids were vegetables, 2006 the kids were the wonder pets, 05 they were carebears and before that we were themeless.

Trading Places...again

Well I'm heading back to Meridian, we had a manager give some short notice and so I got some short notice. 2 weeks to be exact. There are a lot of pluses and minus' to this move, but I'm leaving a store that just started training certification and heading to a store that lost this status. Which is very important to me because I'm the one in charge of training. Meridian will be much slower and even though its kind of a fixer upper because of a lot of turnover, it shouldn't be too difficult to get turned around.
Also, we recently spent the weekend at Branson. This isn't entirely uncommon because we used to go quite frequently when Caryn's parents owned a time share. But we went back for the first time in a couple of years to use some silver dollar city season passes that we bought this year. I mean you go twice and you save money. Well Bailey and Noah got to ride their first roller coaster. Fire in the Hole! It isn't much of a roller coaster but its inside a building, its very dark, and while it doesn't do anything for the bulk of the ride, the end is 3 small drops and its very jerky. Noah freaked out, Bailey loved it. So since Caryn doesn't do the rides, nor do her mom and dad, and her nephew colton has never been much of a rider either. So after years of not getting to ride the rides or just riding the little ones, or waiting in line by myself. I finally have my co-pilot. At 5 years old she is the only other brave person that can ride the rides. We rode so many different rides and she never got tired.

Bye Bye Manny

So this post has nothing to do with Manny being traded to the Dodgers. Anyway, tonight Caryn took one of our children, just one, to Hobby Lobby. Bailey is a girl. A girly girl. Caryn isn't so much. Bailey is more like me in the fact that she likes to shop and shop, of course eventually there must be some buying but sometimes shopping is enough. So basically Caryn is gone from the house easily twice as long as she expected. I had the other 3 for dinner and a bath. Now the funny thing is that everyone is expecting some great story about how here I am as a hopeless dad stuck with 3 kids but it was quite different I kept looking for the other kid. I mean 3 kids just felt easy. It was weird. It made me think about all the times I see people struggling with their one kid in the grocery store or even the lesson the other night about involving our children in our day to day activities. It really suprised me that more people don't just take their kids with them. I've always got at least one kid with me, usually more. Of course Caryn has them trained well and I somehow teach them that Steinbrenner is evil and its obvious that the good behavior comes from her instruction not mine. But all things considered, tonight was just too easy.

My jungle

So a few of you know of my hatred for mowing. Every year I can give you a different excuse for why I let my lawn get out of control but the truth is that I just hate mowing. Anyhow, here is this years excuse and honestly its really not that bad, thats just what the guy who sprays our yard referred to it as. We have had this drainage issue since we bought the house and have finally developed a plan to permanently deal with the water and make it look good too. We are currently in phase 1 of this 3 phase project. So we built a retaining wall. I personally spent 3 weeks working on this, digging the trench when the ground was too high, filling in the dirt when the ground was too low, carrying the railroad ties, and filling in the dirt behind the wall. Now, it should be noted that others have helped. A big thanks to JC, Phillip, Micah, Doug and of course Caryn's dad Terry. Back to the story, then the rain came. almost all of the dirt that I filled in disappeared into my backyard. Basically, phase 1 is just that, only part of the solution. I got depressed about the project and left the backyard alone. So I did mow the rest of the lawn, and the front lawn about once a week. But where the wall is, I didn't touch it. And now we have a small line of shade weeds. Its really sad when the best method for mowing the grass is a hatchet. And yes, I really was using the hatchet. So now I'm about half done with the lawn and we'll finish phase 1 and start phase 2 within the next couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted. Anyone want pictures of the jungle?

Not another sports post!

I mean seriously, Red Sox is in the blog name. But anyhow, we went to a Redhawks game with the kids (minus Reagan) on Tuesday. I highly recommend this as a family out and about event. We had a great time and there were several moments that the kids actually paid attention to the game. Mostly we had to explain why we were saying "lets go Redhawks" instead of "lets go Red Sox." And Noah booed the Yankee's for the entirety of the game and kept asking where steinbrenner was. The kids were bummed when we didn't eat at IHOP after the game but did pretty good with the late night.
Reagan came home today, she's been at her grandparents house for the last 4 days going to their VBS. Noah and Bailey had swim lessons this weeks so they couldn't go and she was all by herself. So she got more spoiled, which is fine. I missed her sooo much. It was good to see her lying in her bed when I got home.
Oh, and so now after the pool party we went to yesterday, my three oldest children have all almost drowned this summer. FYI, I am totally against ever having a pool. Why? Every summer (and I'm so sorry if you've ever been affected by this) some child drowns in a pool. Whether its the neighbors pool, or their pool, or the grandparents pool. So they freak me out. So 3 weeks ago reagan who is sitting on the first step of the pool next to me, not even wanting to be that much in the water, suddenly jumps into the water while I'm holding bailey not even paying attention. She sinks a couple of feet before I see her and pull her out. All is well, shes a little scared but really not that freaked out. Other than she didn't get back in the water. Bailey in the same day falls off of her floatie and sinks. This one barely counts because she was drowning in water in which she could have stood up in. Anyway, she didn't get back in the water either. Yesterday was a little different. Noah didn't have any floaties on because he wasn't going to get in the water. He was so afraid that we'd make him swim, he wouldn't put them on. Then, when he is on the other end of the pool, he reaches out to get a kickboard in the water and falls in. He did good, he kept his head above water about 15 seconds, enough time for me to run about halfway around the pool. And he was still kicking when i jumped in and pulled him back up. He did great though.

And now the entire family is home and all is well. Next big event? Peach Festival, 8 days away.

You know you're getting old when...

Well ya know there are the normal things like when Bailey started school, and then the fact that both Noah and Bailey will be in school next year. But those don't really make you feel old they just make your kids seem old and you wonder when that happened. No this is worse, the first band I ever saw in concert is having a reunion tour. THATS how you know you are getting old!
While most of the girls and preston probably had the New Kids on the Block Cassette and Rick was jamming out to his Styx 8 Track, neither of these bands are the one i'm talking about. The Toadies just don't seem that old to me. Its been 13 years since I saw them in concert the first time, 13 years! And I'm gonna trek to Cain's Ballroom on the 29th to watch them in their almost assuredly lack of glory. The music will probably sound about the same but now I'll be the lame old guy. Sad.

You've just won the super bowl, what are you going to do now?

We're going to Disney World! But not until next June. Have you ever been to Disney World? or Disney Land? Most adults that I know that have been as a kid do not have that desire to go as an adult. But for me, I think i'm more excited than my kids. But we are doing the unthinkable. We are driving our FOUR children to Florida to go to Disney. Yes, I've mapped it out and I think that I will be able to get enough sleep the night before to drive the distance, stopping only for gas, food, and bathroom breaks. We are giving ourselves 24 hours to get there. Sound completely nuts? it probably is, but for me getting there is just as much fun as being there.

So now we have started the massive planning process. Trying to figure out which parks to visit, where else to go, where to eat, and how to do it all fairly cheap. Plus we're organizing with Caryn's Mom, Dad, Sister, and nephew. So as much as it is for our kids, it is for everyone as well. Anyway, so we need ideas. Anyone who has been or knows someone who has been. Let us know where we should go and what we should do. The only certainty is that we will spend at least one day at the Magic Kingdom and that we will be staying in both Orlando and Daytona. We'll be gone a total of 10 days with 2 of them driving so we've got plenty of time to do whatever. Talk to us, let us know.