CKZCJ

Providers, Heros, Role Models, Play Mates, Friends, Dads. When you think about that title really encompasses a lot, or at least it should. I know that I still feel pretty darn safe when my dad’s around, he can take care of anything. I’m secure knowing he’ll protect me if anything bad happens to happen. Just like my boys feel safe with their daddy. To quote Z “everything’s just better with dad. He’s like the best man I ever met.” So this post is to honor all the dad’s I know and a few who are pretty special.

Clearly you can see that these boys love their daddy. So much that they both pooled their allowance to buy him a lifetime membership to an online game that they play so that he can play with them. It’s mostly the thought that counts.

My dad, who is also mostly known now as Grandpa or Pa. One of my favorite things in the world to do – go fishing with my dad. Don’t think he ever missed a single athletic competition of mine ever. From junior high to high school.

My Popa, my boys great-grandpa, and my dad’s dad. The one who slid down water slides with me as a child during our summer vacations to Port Aransas. I am still making fond memories with my Popa. Love him so much!

My mom’s dad. Raised and supported ten kids. I think by the time he got to us grand kids it was just time to spoil us. He always took us to play video games and eat pizza as soon as we would arrive.  A highly devoted man to both his family and his church. I only wish he would’ve told us more of his childhood. Miss him so much.

My two brothers. Oh how cute they were back then. They aren’t anymore. Not really. But their little babies are. One boy and one girl with another girl on the way. My youngest brother got the little boy everyone who ever knew him wanted him to have. One little cute stinker, just like him. And my other brother (the one who suffers from middle child syndrome) has a beautiful little girl with another girl on the way. He is so doomed, I told him to just hand over his man card.

So for all the dads out there and all the men who stepped up to be a daddy, keep it up. These little people really look up to you.

You know what’s a lot of fun, driving to town in the rain only to have it turn to ice on the wind shield. What’s even more fun is not being tall enough to see over all the ice that’s accumulating, being a chicken and pulling over so you husband can drive. I left my big girl underwear at home today. It barely got above freezing today and last week was full of fun too.

The cold began Wednesday morning when at 6am we lost power. We got the boys up, dressed and fed by candle light and little LED head lamps before we lost too much heat. Thursday the boys had a non uniform day so they could dress warm and as we pulled up to drop them off the teachers were going car to car saying the water froze at the main and school was canceled. Yeah! A fun day at the office with the boys. They were pretty good about it though and due to the repairs needed to the water lines school was also canceled for Friday. Good thing because when it got light enough to see Friday morning we had a nice blanket of white everywhere. That’s right folks, it snowed, right here in central Texas. I woke the boys up and helped them with jackets and out they went to play.

Big C decided he was still going to work and headed out in his Jeep for the 25 mile trip to town. The boys and I took pictures and came inside to warm up and eat breakfast, got clothes on and went back out to play. We found our green saucers from White Sands in New Mexico and did some fun sliding around. The boys played until their fingers froze and then we played games inside and I made some yummy broccoli cheese soup for lunch, we stayed warm by keeping the fire place stoked all day long.  By lunch any snow in the path of the sun was quickly melting away. It was all gone by the next day. We’ve had quite a long few days of cold and wind, the wind making it that much colder. I think most of my family likes the cold weather except when it forces us to spend many days stuck inside together! See all my photos here.

Christmas certainly pulled a ninja on me this year. It’s here and I’m so far behind and unprepared. Luckily the boys have been reminding me of the daily progress towards the day marked 25 on our calendar. They asked to “camp out” on the living room floor tomorrow night to wait for Santa. I had to remind them he’ll only come if they are sleeping in their own beds. I rushed to send out a few Christmas Cards this year but we have something we’d like to share digitally with all of our family and friends. Each month at school the boys memorize a Bible verse, a poem, and sometimes a song. We’d like to share their verses for this month with you. When it comes to CaseyJ I think he gives Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas Special a serious run for his money! Just click on the play button below each picture to start the audio…

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

From our family to yours we wish you a very Blessed and Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year!!

He goes by many names but to me it’s dad. Today is his birthday. I’m sure he could care less if I told you how old he was but I won’t. He’s a nice even number this year and was just shy of 26 years old when I was born. He lives “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today.  Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime” and made sure to pass it on to all of us. I remember thinking if the world did get all messed up we’d be okay because we could feed ourselves, or if the world flooded we had a boat to float in. I had a wandering mind even as a child. The one time the boat almost sank because someone forgot to put the plugs in I knew things would be okay because my dad was there and he could fix it. Turns out HE was the one who forgot the plugs and I didn’t panic too much because it was only 3 feet deep…. After that he bought a boat that didn’t need plugs….

My dad taught me to make friends with strangers, not to be afraid to try new things, to help everyone even if it’s not exactly convenient for you, and to work hard then play hard. I try each day to pass along the important things that he has taught me to my boys. Yes, even how to hold the football right or how to hook their bait (girls can do that stuff too). I know that sometimes he secretly watches episodes of Spongebob on his phone. Maybe it makes him think of his grandkids but I think he finds it so stupid it’s funny. He can sit and look up at the stars for hours, mix a mean Bloody Mary (too much *sneeze* pepper), and cook a mean rack of ribs. When I was in high school he never missed a single sporting event (as to which I am sure he did a lot of speeding to catch up with the bus sometimes) and was my biggest supporter. I never thought then that as I got older we’d become such good friends. Buddies who like to hang out together, but he will always be my daddy. Happy Birthday Easy Dad!

The boys and I had a ripper of a weekend! Since daddy was away camping the boys and I headed south on I35 as soon as school was out on Friday. We had some plans to chill at a hotel and hit up the Dave and Buster’s arcade for a bit but we have an issue with the Jeep that after it get’s hot it won’t start for about 30-45 minutes. It has to be something to do with electronics but…. The folks at the hotel we had planned to stay at were really cool and let us cancel without being charged and we crashed my aunt’s floor instead. The boys were seriously excited about Dave and Busters and I loaded up their cards with credits and they went a little crazy trying to decide which games to play! The earned massive amounts of tickets and had a blast.

Saturday morning after breakfast with some family we headed to Lackland Air Force Base to see the Air Show. I followed advice and parked off base and we hopped on a bus which dropped us off right at the gate, the line was long but moved pretty quickly. No problems with the inhaler and the metal detector. More on why we have an inhaler later… As soon as we walked in the boys and I spotted the B-29 Super Fortress and then we were doubly surprised to see a B-17G. We took some pictures and hung around there until after they fired it up then walked around some more. The planes were awesome but my youngest guy is not a fan of unexpected loud sounds and as soon as the first jet flew by at low altitude his hands shot up to his ears and stayed there. We were off to find ear plugs, which helped a little. Big ear plugs and small ears….

I did get to take some photos and had a few come out nice. The boys did a little shopping (talk about theme park prices) and found their favorite thing was a bullet necklace we bought from a crew in a gun ship from Kansas (they sold the stuff as a fundraiser). Because I bought two necklaces they let the boys and I tour the plane for free (it was $2 per person or $5 for a family). Zach got a kick out of sitting in a seat near the front of the plane. We lasted a little longer than I thought we would and I know they liked it (they are still talking about it).

We headed home after that for a movie night with pizza and popcorn. We started watching Pee Wee’s Big Adventure which after about 30 minutes we all decided it was lame (lamer than I remember) and switched to the new “Alice in Wonderland” with Johnny Depp. We camped out in the living room and watched TV until we all fell asleep. The boys were so well behaved and I love getting to hang out with them and doing fun stuff!

Every now and then I get a little OCD and feel a bit like Tony Shalub’s character Monk, at other times I feel a lot like him. In this particular instance I find myself picky about pens, yes the type you write with. Although I do much of my work on the computer I still write a lot. I have little notebooks that I’ll fill up, move the important stuff to digital notes then file or trash the notebook. Everything from phone messages to lists, drawings for designs and more.

I like felt tip pens but was always hesitant to splurge on any at the local office supply store. Then by some chance I stumbled upon a link from another blog I read to Tokyo Pen Shop. Then I spent the next hour looking at all the lovely pens! In that hour I managed to add a few select choices to my shopping cart like this and a few of these and nabbed a few extras for an upcoming friends birthday gift. I waited just a short time until I received my order -

Let me just say that I absolutely love these pens! They write effortlessly and the gift recipient is quite happy with theirs as well. Tokyo Pen Shop also has a selection of notebooks, pencils, and tons of other pens and they offer free shipping on orders over $25. So why are you still here? Go get to Tokyo Pen Shop!

Note: This is not a paid for review I just really like these pens!!!