Movies

Last night I took my nephew Kevin to the movies. He and I usually get together to see some of the more interesting movies that Shelly wouldn't go to. Some of the classics we have seen include Alien vs Predator and Alien vs Predator II & Tropic Thunder. Quality stuff. Last night we saw the new Tom Cruise movie Valkyrie. A true story of a German uprising against Hitler. The movie itself was good and we really enjoyed ourselves. Some of the most fun we have however doesn't even involve the movies. Take for example last night. The movie was packed. Every row was full except for the customary "empty" seat people leave between each other. Anyway, Kevin has one of these empty seats next to him. He felt fortunate and even used it to hold his coat. About 10 minutes into the movie however, this old man carrying a bag, stopped at our row and eyed the empty seat. We both stared straight ahead hoping he would move on, however he started down our row and sat in the open seat. Kevin politely moved closer to me to give the guy some room. We continued to watch the movie, when suddenly the guy opens up what looks like a garbage bag and begins to take food out of it. Kevin looked at me with his "What the?" face. The man first opened up a pizza box and proceeded to eat a slice. Now we know they don't sell pizza at this theatre so we know he smuggled it in. This started our creative minds flowing and we began ad libbing what would happen next. Poor Kevin tried to keep a straight face as I whispered "I think he's eating a lobster." Then it became a turkey dinner with "all the trimmins." At one point we even suggested he may be Hitler coming to see his own movie. A few well timed flatulent noises only added to the hilarity of the moment. Kevin was a good sport and we eventually settled in and enjoyed the show. I'm already looking forward to the next movie...Paul Blart Mall Cop seems to be a likely candidate!

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. The girls made our Christmas so much fun as you can imagine. Seeing Christmas through their eyes is something we cherish and are very thankful for. Julia's big gift this year was her Nintendo DS game system. Speaking of which I basically ruined her surprise on Christmas morning. Shelly had placed the kids gifts from us under the tree in a specific order. The plan was to have the girls open gifts in a specific order so we could surprise them at the end. I grabbed what I thought was a CD and passed it to Julia. She promptly opened it and yelled out "It's a game for a Nintendo DS!!" My stomach turned as I looked at Shelly...uggh..we had to think quick. I told Julia that the game was actually based on the DS system but was for the computer. She looked at me skeptically and then made a sad face. She continued to open her present until we finally gave her the DS system. Her eyes popped out of her head and she jumped for joy. Thankfully my goof was soon forgotten!

Today was one of my favorite days. Shelly and I attended Alexa's kindergarten Christmas party. I like going because I get to play with all of the kindergarten kids. This may seem crazy to some, but to me it's a chance to use all of my jokes and silly stories on the kids. They are not like most people who have heard them before . They are so innocent, believing and so honest in their remarks. Today at the party I ran a table and played a memory game with the kids. As the children came over to my table. I asked " Does everyone know how to play the memory game?" Most of the kids yelled out "Yes!!" I then said I didn't remember if I knew how to play the memory game. The kids didn't seem to get it. As we started to play I told one little boy that the winner of the game would receive a prize. He asked what the prize was and I told him it would be homework. He looked at me and said " Well you're gonna win and have to do all of the homework in the world!" To that I replied that I would fly to the moon, so as not to be in this world, therefore would not be subject to doing all the world's homework. The boy look perplexed and walked away. Shelly looked at me like I was a moron. Yes I win!! I love kids.

Take My Money, Please!

Is it me or does it seem like there is an overwhelming amount of people asking for our money this year. Case in point. Today the girls and I went to the local grocery store to buy some milk. We parked and walked in the door and were greeted by the Salvation Army lady ringing her bell. Unable to walk by, I stopped and gave Julia and Alexa some change to put in the red pot. Feeling good about ourselves we then proceeded into the store. The first thing we saw was a change bucket asking us to donate our spare change to the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. I threw in some loose change from my pocket. We headed through the produce section and were greeted by a store clerk sitting at a table asking if would like to donate to feed the hungry and put our name on a paper balloon to hang in the store. We finally made it to the dairy case to get our milk. We walked to the registers and again the cashier asked if I would like to add a dollar to my total bill that would go to charity. After our purchase we made our way out and were greeted by the local boys soccer team who are looking for donations to fund a trip. We ran to our truck and pulled out towards the end of the driveway...thinking we were home free...to only be met at the stop light by a man carrying a sign that reads " Homeless and Hungry" When I returned home I realized that was the most expensive gallon of milk I ever bought.

Christmas Vacation Week

Friday marked the begining of our Christmas vacation . Both Shelly, myself and the girls will be off from work & school for almost 2 weeks. Today I took the girls with me to the mall to "begin" my Christmas shopping. Ok well I actually have already bought a couple of things, but most guys reading this will relate to when men go shopping this time of year. The mall was a zoo as you can imagine. I told the kids that I was parking clear across the parking lot to avoid the chaos of those looking for close parking spots. We trudged through the slushy snow and finally made it to the door. We were in the store for maybe 2 minutes before I heard "we're thirsty "and then "we need to go to the bathroom." It wouldn't be a trip to the mall without hearing those words. We eventually managed to actually buy a few gifts between bathroom breaks. All in all it was a fun day to spend with the girls all alone with their Dad.

Let There Be Light!

Sound the church bells!! We finally can show our face in our neighborhood...Our Christmas Tree lights are now fully working!!

Tree Update

For those of you that are counting our Christmas Tree was put up almost 2 weeks ago and still only has 1 strand of working lights. Shelly assures me that she will make another attempt to get it lit today. Stay tuned.

Barf -O- Rama

A few weeks ago Shelly and I attended the girls school Christmas concerts. It's a special day for everyone as the girls get to appear on the school stage with their class and all the parents beam and make silly faces. That day started innocently enough. Shelly reminded me in the morning that I had to leave work on time that afternoon to be sure I made it to the school and got a good seat up front. I drove straight from work and was able to make it to the school in record time. I arrived before Shelly and hurried into the auditorium to save us primo seats. As I walked in however I saw that the first 5 rows were scattered with parents who were saving seats with coats, newspapers, and anything else they could get their hands on. I dejectedly took my customary seat back in the middle of the pack watching the others look smug in their secured seats. A few minutes later Shelly showed up. We sat and waited as the place really started to fill up. I strained to see if I could see Julia who's class was to be the first on stage. Finally the curtain went up and the parents clapped loudly. The teacher came to the front of the stage and thanked all of us for coming and proceeded to tell us what the children would be singing. I whistled and waved so Julia would see us. She sheepishly smiled and then ignored me. That seems to happens to most Dads. The music teacher started playing the piano and the first notes were barely audible..when it happened...the most unexpected, bizarre sight. There in the first row on stage a little girl in Julia's class, began heaving, one, twice, and then with one final heave came a stream of barf like I never seen before. It hit the floor and another stream followed soon thereafter. The crowd gasped, the children squealed....and finally the curtain abruptly closed. In an awkward attempt to distract us the music teacher began playing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on the piano. Soon the janitor came running with a mop and disappeared behind the curtain. It was both disturbing and priceless all in one. All I could think of was the scene from the movie "Stand By Me" where Lard Ass makes himself barf which causes the whole crowd to go into a hurl fest. Before the night was through, two other kids vomited on stage. It was the one time I felt fortunate that I didnt get a front row seat. It certainly was a night to remember

The Year Without A Christmas Tree

This past week we decided to put up and decorate our Christmas Tree. We have an artificial tree so it didnt involve treking out into the woods with a saw, but rather I walked to the garage and pulled it from its cobwebbed storage space. After dragging it inside, I sorted out the color coded branches and Shelly and the girls inserted them in place and fluffed them up. It was tedious work but in the end it looked beautiful. Next came the lights. This is where Shelly is in her element. Every year the girls and I know that when it comes to the lights, we leave the room and let Shelly take over. She becomes almost catatonic as she slowly drapes the lights in such a way that each branch is lit. There is never a bare spot to be found. If there were an award for the most valuable light stringer, Shelly would win it. After spending almost an hour and a half, she was finally done. The girls and I were then allowed back in to help finish hanging the ornaments and finally the angel went on top. Another perfect tree we thought. All that was needed was to plug in the lights. Julia did the honors and the Tree lit up in all its glory! We admired the tree for approximately 10 minutes when suddenly all the lights on the tree went out except for the 1 string at the bottom. It has been about a week since that day. Since then I have replaced those little fuses in the light plug about 6 times. Each time the tree lights, then blows the fuses and goes out. Shelly has changed and rearranged the lights yet we still have an unlit tree. Our goal now is to figure out the light problem before Christmas is over. Although Shelly is determined to see that the tree remains lit that we may have the tree up this summer. Stay tuned.

From Our House To Yours

Hello to our family and friends. We have decided to join the rest of the world and call ourselves "Bloggers" Although, you won't find us wearing all black and sipping lattes at Starbucks, we do feel it's a unique way to share with you the many happenings in our lives. We don't claim to be glamorous, exciting, or even remotely interesting. Like many families our days are full, our nights are long, and there never seems to be a dull moment. We hope you check back from time to time and enjoy our crazy hectic family adventures as much as we do!