Thanksgiving 2009

This year Thanksgiving was held at my brother’s home. Frank made tables and everyone chipped in to prepare food for the day. My family brought rolls & Steph made some killer pumpkin bread! So…what did we have for dinner? Hmmm….

Turkey.

Turkey.

More turkey.

The BIGGEST turkey.

Billy fried a turkey.

So we had 2 turkeys and a half ham for 19 people. We also had all the stuffing, potatoes, green beans, desserts and breads you could think of. It was a huge meal and we still hardly made a dent in it. Guess leftovers are in order for today! We all had a blast and it’s always great seeing family together for this day…my favorite holiday of the year! Here are some photos from our family get-together. Hope you had a wonderful day as well!

Frank “sliced” up the ham

Ready to eat!

Pretty girls

AJ givin’ me “the eye”

I’m not the only one taking pictures!

Chatting online with my sister in Florida

Dad finished his meal in 8 minutes & 32 seconds. He didn’t break his record this year…

Look who got the leg!

Seriously cute!

All the grandkids

Ava gave Steph a ceramic Santa she painted!

We are really, really happy!

And now for dessert!

Guess what Christopher wants for Christmas?

Another Turkey Day done, another 10 pounds added.

Happy Halloween 2009

Halloween is always a fun night on our street and this year was no exception. We even managed to hit another street other than our own! Both kids practically RAN from house to house, however once Ava’s bag started getting heavy, she slowed down a bit. Here are some photos from the night’s activities. And yes…that IS me in the clown wig. I kinda like it. Maybe that will be my next style! Once my hair grows back, that is…

Gladiator & a Pumpkin Princess

Grab a handful!

Is anybody home?

I knew EVERY piece of candy that Ava got all night long…

Hope you had an awesome Halloween!!!

Football Finale

A Long Season Ends

The past couple of days, we sat through gorgeous fall temperatures to watch Christopher play in his final 2 football games of the season. The first round his team didn’t play very well and they lost, so the next day they played for 3rd place in their league. They ended up winning that game 22-6 and Christopher had a touchdown and a few tackles. Here are some photos from the games!

Christopher got to ride WITH the police escort!

The Pee Wees cheered the Starters as we headed to the game

The Run On

It was a beautiful night for a game

The cheering section

All Done

Top 9 Reasons I Love My Wife

9 years ago this week…

9 years we’ve been married. 9 long years. And you know being married to me ain’t easy. But somehow my wife has done it and she has done it with grace and style. There are a multitude of reasons why I love her, but these Top 9 will do for THIS year. But NEXT year I’m gonna have to come up with something better than this to profess my love…

9. She lets me be me
I’m not the easiest shlub to get along with. I can be cranky & moody & sometimes downright obnoxious! But she puts up with me and gives me her “opinion” when I need it. Usually she is a voice of reason in my overloaded brain.

8. She’s supportive
I can really get stressed out about things. Everything from money to work to the kids. It all gets in my head and I get all worried and crazy. But she brings me down to earth and keeps me focused. She has this way of dragging my worries & concerns out of me. She can be relentless when it comes to forcing me to talk about all the crap in my head and I don’t think I could survive without her!

7. She’s  funny
As she will tell you, she IS funnier than me. I don’t necessarily agree…but everyone always laughs at her jokes. Me? I usually get the “What are you talking about?” look and an uncomfortable silence. So yeah…maybe she IS funnier than me…

6. She’s a great mother
My kids are wonderful and she is the main reason why. They love her unconditionally and when I’m gone for a few days, she takes care of them and loves them and makes sure they are well-behaved. Without her I’m lost when it comes to dressing the kids, feeding the kids, fixing their hair, etc…

5. She’s hot
14 years into our relationship and I still find her to be as gorgeous today as she was when I met her. No lie.

4. She’s charitable
When she told me she wanted to quit her job and work for a charity that would pay her very little but it would make her happy, I was skeptical. But she just seems to glow when she talks about how well the charity is doing and how much they are doing for pediatric cancer research. I recommend that if you haven’t heard of “The Cure Starts Now“, you look it up. Seriously…is there any cause better than one that is trying to help save children?

3. She’s beautiful inside & out
I know…I already said she’s hot, but this is different. Because I think she IS hot…but being a beautiful person is totally different. She doesn’t have a bad intention in her body. She is always looking for the equality in life. And that is one of her strongest qualities.

2. She gives me my space
This might not seem like a great reason to love my wife, but when I need alone time, she gives it to me. When I’m gone for a while for work, she trusts me. When I need time with my friends, she tells me to go. It’s nice not being smothered, because when I need my time alone, she gives it to me. Thanks honey!

1. She’s an awesome friend
If you need an ear, she is ALWAYS available. You will never have a better friend than my wife. She can talk to just about anyone and if you need help with anything, she will drop whatever she is doing to be there. I used to think her allegiance  to her friends was a little much, but I see now that it is just who she is. She loves to socialize and she is at her best when she is around people. Unlike myself, she is an open book…and she is always supportive, even if she doesn’t always agree with your opinion. It’s one of her best qualities and I love that about her!

Today…and STILL smiling!

October Comes Knockin’

Well damn. Summer is now officially over.

When October hits my calendar, I know the seasons are definitely changing. Today I worked my final baseball game of the year. Today is also my Dad’s birthday (happy 71st Dad!) and there is a distinct nip in the air. Summer FLEW by and now it’s time to throw on some flannel and get ready for those long winter months when no one comes out of their homes until April and you can smell the dry leaves falling off the trees. Truthfully…I LOVE October and fall in all it’s glory. In these here parts (that’s a southern way of saying “Here in Kentucky/Ohio”), it’s downright beautiful from now until early November. It’s one of the reasons why I wanted to get married in October. And we did coming up on 9 years ago. It’s also the birthday month of my Dad, my Mom, my youngest sister and my niece. It’s also the month for one of the coolest holidays of the year! So needless to say, October is usually very busy.

To celebrate, here are some of my favorite pictures taken in October from years past. Enjoy…and welcome October!

Today Was A Most Excellent Day…Part I

If I could bottle up a day and keep it for myself, today would be one of those days. It was a gorgeous day, sunshine with a light breeze, temperature a little on the hot & humid side, but overall…as pretty as it gets here in Cincinnati. Although I had driven all night to get home from Canton (I arrived around 5:30am), my energy level was pretty high considering because I knew what I had in store for the day…football & a birthday party! And the day didn’t disappoint in any way.

First…football. As I have noted, Christopher is playing pee wee football for the first time and I’m not sure how many times I’m gonna get to see him play. With my work schedule, I might only get to a few, so I wanted to see him even if today was a scrimmage. And he was awesome! He played quarterback and led his team to at least 6 scores! And on one, he faked a handoff to the fullback and tucked the ball away for a quarterback sneak and scampered into the end zone! Amazing!!! And I didn’t get one picture. In all my excitement, I just wanted to watch it happen and remember it forever. But here are a few other shots at the game…

We are the green team…and Christopher is right in front of you

After the game…

Today Was A Most Excellent Day…Part II

Later in the day, we had Ava’s Fancy Nancy 5th Birthday Bash! Scheduled a week AFTER her birthday due to work schedule conflicts, today turned out to be a very good day for it! Although it was a little hotter than we would have liked, it still was a beautiful day for a lot of different activities. Stephanie prepared all the food and drinks while Shayne & I set up the makeup tent. There wasn’t a “schedule”, but there was a lot on the agenda. Here are some highlights!

A Fancy Nancy theme and parfaits are on the menu!

All the girls got their nails done…

including Ava’s which were pretty pink!

Meanwhile the guys all played kickball over at the neighbors house

Run Robert…Run!

Everyone lined up for a parfait

They were scrumptious!

A random picture of me with 2 babies…to prove I was there.

Up next?

Waterslides!

Slide dude!

The lineup

Time to open gifts!

What a pretty dress!

Steph will be taking THESE to the next football game…

Everybody wanted to see the gifts

And then apparently there was a concert in the basement.

So if I were gonna sum up this day I would have to say…today was a most excellent day.

The End

“The World Is An Imperfect Place.”

Today we lost the eyes of my generation. In the 1980’s, there was no one more successful at his work than John Hughes. He wrote and directed some of the greatest teen comedies of that decade and of all-time. His works include “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, “The Breakfast Club”, “Some Kind Of Wonderful”, “Sixteen Candles”, “Weird Science”, “Pretty In Pink”, “Career Opportunities”, “She’s Having A Baby” and “Home Alone” among others. His films will forever have a place in history because of their ability to show the world through a teenager’s or a child’s eyes. Whenever I want to reminesce about my youth, I watch a Hughes comedy and I remember. Today…I celebrate the life of a great filmmaker and the memories that he brings me.

I steal now from a line written by John Hughes himself. It’s from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and, for some odd reason, it works when remembering this talented writer/director…

“Oh, he’s very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads – they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.”

Yes, we do. And he was.

Rest In Peace, John Hughes. Your work will live forever for anyone who has survived their teen years.

Ava Turns 5!

Today my daughter turns 5 years old. Can I just say…it has just been amazing watching her grow and learn. She has accomplished so much this year and with every day she gets smarter and more enjoyable to be around. I know at some point this will change. She won’t want to be seen with me, she won’t want to be around her brother, she will want her own space. But for now, I love holding her hand, watching her in the backyard trading Pokemon cards with the boys and listening to her sing to herself when she thinks no one is listening. She is getting so big, so fast, and I wish I could just bottle up this entire year and enjoy it for the rest of my life.

So many memories in a 365 days…and everywhere we went, everything we did, Ava ALWAYS has an open mind and is willing to try anything. She loves drawing and art. She loves her sweets (yes…my daughter is a sugar-holic), she loves resting her head on my shoulder when she is “sleeping” in the car and I have to carry her to the house. She has learned all of her alphabet and is adding and trying to subtract. She loves watching Disney movies and has an amazing smile. I love everything about my daughter right now and she can do no wrong (except swallowing pennies…which, I was told, will NEVER happen again! LOL). She is forever my “Pretty Princess” and I can’t wait to see where this coming year takes her.

Happy Birthday Ava. You are the light of my life. And may your 5th year be as amazing and enjoyable as the last!

Love,

Your Daddy

For some fun memories of this past year with Ava, go here, here and here. And then THIS one…which pretty much sums up our relationship right now. Love these posts about my daughter! And now…I gotta go eat some Fancy Nancy cake…

The Summer That Was

Dude…June & July were crazy busy! And not for work related reasons either. Mostly just for kid-related reasons. And house-related reasons. And summer-related reasons. Needless to say, my blogging has taken a hit because, quite frankly…I’ve been really freakin’ busy up in here! And now that August is rolling around, I’ll be busy working and making some money to pay off June & July which were a lot slower than normal. Oh well…I got to spend some quality time with my family, my friends and lots of smiling faces (except when I was yelling. Hey…I get a little stressed sometimes). Here’s a recap of this 2 months…

I gotta new nephew

I drove to Memphis with Newman to visit JT

Our home renovation was finished

Ava has a loose tooth

Christopher started football practice

We hung out with friends

Cousin Alarik visited for a week…

so we went to the zoo…twice.

We cooked out…A LOT

We bought stock in the latest trend…animal pillows.

Have I mentioned that Ava’s tooth is loose?

And there were so many OTHER things that I don’t have pictures of…such as golf camp, tennis camp, basketball camp, football camp, cheerleading camp, Steph’s class reunion, the kids visited Grandma & Grandpa and an endless cycle of eating out with friends, having friends over for dinner and basically just doing things with friends.

*sigh*

And now…back to work for me. I’m working 24 days next month. Ugh.

Buuuut…ya gotta make money somehow…right? Look for me to get back on the blogging hot & heavy here soon. Thanks for the patience. Oh…and I deleted the Lady GaGa post that was basically generating over 2,000 hits a day for myself. It got out of control with people leaving rude & obnoxious comments. Seriously…anyone THAT smitten by a musician (and an odd one at that) should really consider getting a life. But it was interesting for awhile, just seeing how many hits I could get out of it! LOL

Oh yeah…AND I moved my office from the basement to the upstairs, moving the kids toys to the basement so they would have more room to play. And we rearranged the living room moving the basement couches into the upstairs and the upstairs couch downstairs and we moved the hutch into the kitchen and the …

Oh…nevermind…

2 American Icons Gone…

I am only 40, yet the hands of time keep pushing forward. Farrah Fawcett, although not my favorite Angel, will always be known as the girl in the red one piece swimsuit. That bright smile and that swimsuit (and what was in that swimsuit) was as much a part of the 70’s as John Travolta and disco. That poster hung on more than one of my friends’ brothers’ walls. Even as she was replaced time and time again by supermodel after supermodel, no one could ever forget that smile…and that swimsuit. Farrah Fawcett was a supermodel BEFORE there was such a thing. Now she is gone, succumbing to a long-standing bout with cancer, but her memory and her smile will never be forgotten. 

Michael Jackson will forever be known as The King Of Pop. With pop hits that spanned 3 decades and enough celebrity gossip to fill countless books, his memory will last forever in time. Like Diana or John Lennon, his death will never leave the American psyche. Whether you loved his music in the 80’s or whether you were turned off by the reports of his lifestyle later in the 90’s, Michael Jackson was a celebrity unlike any other. I personally will never forget the first time I saw “Thriller” on MTV for the first time. Or how I practiced the moonwalk for hours, trying to get it down “just like Michael”. Jackson is the only iconic 80’s recording artist that I have not seen perform live (Prince, Madonna & Bruce I’ve seen) and now that opportunity will never happen. Michael Jackson…an American icon for a generation gone at the early age of 50 from a heart attack.

Both will be missed for years to come.

…and on a totally unrelated topic…BOWLING!

Also to add to my day, my Mom & I took the kids to the bowling alley for a couple of rounds. Can I just say that Ava has really picked up on how to throw the ball down the alley, Christopher broke 100 and I still suck. But we all had fun, even though the music was blaring and the kids wanted food, slushy’s, food and more food. Oh…and they wanted to play video games. And more food…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!

Ready to roll!

The cousins had fun also!

I got no form…

and Uncle Frank has no game!

All smiles!

Christopher rolled a 103! Way to go!

Stale nachos and cheese are tasty…

Happy Birthday Chuck!

I’ll let you figure out which one is Chuck…

Today my best friend from high school is following me into the 5th decade of his existence. Chuck turns the big 4-0 today and it’s about time. So many stories from when we were high school buds, cruising Maple in the infamous VW, music up too loud, hanging at the mall, playing hoops at the square. Those were great times! Now we’re both older and Chuck is a little balder, but he’s still one of the greatest guys I know and he’s still one of my best friends. I don’t get to see Chuck as much as I would like…he lives in Columbus and I live in Cincinnati, but we see each other maybe twice a year and it’s all good. We chat on the phone occasionally and we talk sports and about what we’re up too in our busy lives.

I couldn’t let this birthday go by without telling my FAVORITE Chuck story because truthfully, it might be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. And it would be a diservice to my blogger friends if I didn’t allow everyone else to get a good chuckle on this morning of his 40th birthday…so here it goes!

Chuck and I were training to be on the cross country team back in 1987. Personally, I wasn’t a big fan of running through fields of corn and over hills, but I dragged Chuck into training with me and then I talked him into joining the team as well….aaaaand then I promptly quit and joined the golf team. But that’s not the funny part of the story! The funny part starts…now…

So Chuck comes over to my house one day. We were gonna go for a quick run, get a few miles in and then probably go out cruising the main strip in Zanesville (I have no idea what we were gonna do after our run…I’m just assuming since there really wasn’t anything else to do back in those days!). Chuck tells me that he is still sore from the run the day before and his legs were bothering him. So I tell him that my Mom bought me some Ben Gay for when MY legs hurt and that if he needed it, he could use it. So we went into the house and I gave him the tube  and I went back outside to stretch. Well…a few minutes later, Chuck comes out and he’s feeling the burn a little bit. As I’m stretching, Chuck is really fidgeting around. I mean, he’s literally bouncing up & down. And then, as I’m watching, he starts running around in the yard, screaming about how it burns and grabbing at his shorts! I had no idea what to think! What the hell was he doing?

So then Chuck runs into the house and jumps into the shower with his clothes on! I might be embellishing a bit, and I don’t recall what happened after that, but all I remember is Chuck running around in circles screaming about the burn and grabbing his shorts as he ran back into the house! Come to find out later, he had put the Ben Gay on his legs and then gone to the restroom. Apparently without washing his hands.

Do I have to explain it further?

The Ben Gay had gotten on his…well…his private parts.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

OMG!!! I about peed myself laughing when I found out. I have never let him live that down and it is, to this day, one of my fondest, funniest memories of any of my friends!

Chuck…you are one of my dearest friends. Seriously, I wish I could celebrate this momentous occasion with you! Have a great 40th birthday and enjoy your day! But seriously…whatever you do…stay away from the Ben Gay! LOL

Your Friend,

Alan

Happy Birthday Christopher!

All this talk about what a good dad I am, but today I am working on my son’s 7th birthday. Oddly enough, it was 7 years ago when I was concerned that I would have to work when my wife gave birth to him. We should have planned better! The Derby happens the weekend following his birthday every year, so that always clogs up my schedule.

This year, Christopher has had a great time in 1st grade. He is a stellar little athlete, playing football, basketball and throwing the baseball with me in the backyard. He has also learned to ride his bike and has become quite the ladies man! (Ok…I threw that in there. But he does have a crush!) And he has done amazing work in reading & math! He is one of the best in his class as far as reading is concerned. And that is awesome!

Happy Birthday Christopher! I love you and I can’t wait to celebrate your birthday with all your friends in a couple of weeks!

Love,

Your Dad

The View Ain’t So Bad

 

Standing in my kitchen, looking out at my backyard. Two children are playing, not aware that I am watching. It’s a beautiful morning. The sun is shining. The birds are in the trees. Bees are buzzing frantically.

I see her hair bounce as she runs across the lawn. I watch him climb the fence; careful not to fall, little man!  They are smiling, laughing, carrying on. It’s what kids do.

It makes me think about my childhood and the adventures I used to have on Saturday mornings. No school. No worries. Just me and my imagination. My imagination isn’t what it used to be, but it’s still there in the back of my mind. Occasionally it likes to come out and play. But it usually takes a little prodding, a little push. And then I’ll take the leap.

Things aren’t easy anymore. Life isn’t without worries or concerns. But what I am watching now is really all that I can ask for. The smiling, laughing and carrying on is what keeps my life in check. It’s what I am here for. And that is awesome.

So I sit at the kitchen table, read my paper, sip my coffee and realize that the view here ain’t so bad. As a matter of fact…it’s the most beautiful view I will ever have.