Rollin’ In The Leaves

First you rake them all up…

Then you run in them…

And jump in them…

And tackle in them…

And roll in them.

And then dad does all the rest…

The End

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

Ava, Autumn & The Sun

This is just a picture post. And it speaks for itself. Enjoy…because I know I did…

Ava & Her Pumpkin

Gathering Leaves

Throwing Leaves

The Last Practice

Christopher had his last practice of the season last Thursday. It has been a long season and he has learned so much from his coaches and the other kids on his team. I can’t remember a time when he has been so into sports. He has been playing sports since he was 3, but this was the first time that he was really INTO playing and football is his favorite. So a big thanks to the coaches and here’s to a great Spartans season! The Starter Bowl is Tuesday & Wednesday and I will be there to cheer the team on! Go Spartans!!!

The muddy practice field

Christopher (aka Clayton) waits to play

The coach gets in on the action

Uh…Christopher? Ya gotta get in the stance big guy…

The coach gives them the play

The last team post-practice meeting

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!

Konversations With Kids: The Greatest Book…EVER?

So my wife picked up some books for the kids over the weekend. Guess they were having a sale somewhere and she allowed them to pick out 3 books each, no matter the topic, on anything that they would want to read about. Ava picked out a book about a multi-colored elephant and some books with princesses. Christopher picked up a book on the human body, a book about a boy & his dog and then THIS book…

Yes. Walter The Farting Dog Goes On A Cruise.

Now…I’m not up on my children’s books as much as I used to be, but I’m pretty sure there was no such line of books when I was a kid. That being said…it was an interesting read. Funny though…I remember not too long ago when I used to be the one reading the books. Now Christopher is reading to me! And the story went something like this…

Christopher: “Blah, blah, blah…and the dog farted.” (giggle)

Turn page.

Christopher: “Blah, blah, blah..look at these people dad (pointing at pictures). Aren’t they funny looking? ‘And then the dog farted.’” (snort)

Turn page.

Christopher: “Blah, blah, blah…look at the fart smell dad! (pointing at picture of dog farting) I bet THAT stinks! (giggle) ‘And the dog farted.’”

Turn page.

Christopher: “‘Blah, blah, blah…and then the dog farted.’ I bet that boat was smelling pretty bad by the time the trip was over. Don’t you dad?” (giggle)

Turn page

Pttttttth…

Me: “Christopher…did you just…”

Christopher: (laughing hysterically) “Yeah…I farted!”

The End

The End Of “Things”

I hate clutter. I don’t like messiness. It drives me crazy when there are little piles of stuff everywhere. And when you have 2 kids, you KNOW it’s gonna happen. I can’t help myself that I’m a neat freak. Truth be told…I’m not really a bonafide, completely 100% neat freak. Actually I’m only about 70% certifiable. Because I don’t mind dust or even messiness when it’s HIDDEN from my view (like in drawers, or closets, or under beds). I just don’t want to SEE it anywhere. So…having 2 kids and having issues with clutter is a problem. But I’ve been thinking lately that maybe I need to relax a little. Not get so stressed out when there is stuff laying around. Know why?

It ain’t gonna be around forever.

My kids are growing like weeds and eventually…I’ll wake up and they’ll be gone. All I hear is how fast kids grow and if the last 7 years are any indication…it’s true. Looking through photo albums and pictures on my computer and I see my son when he was a baby. He’s not a baby anymore. He’s playing football and hanging with the kids in the neighborhood. He’s one of the best readers in his class and he’s growing bigger and stronger every day. He likes playing the Wii more than playing with his pirate ship that he used to think was waaaaaay cool.

My daughter practically grew out of every piece of clothing she had this summer. Gone are the days where we could just let her go without wearing a shirt and shoes. Ava is very particular about what she wears. She has an opinion on everything and has learned that Daddy will pretty much do whatever she wants me too. She’s my little princess and she can make me wilt in the bat of an eye. It’s not something I’m proud of…but she has my number. And she has grown up so much in the past 6 months alone…I can’t imagine what it’s gonna be like in another year.

So we have stuff cluttering every corner. So there are toys on every step. So there is a box full of dolls in the hallway. So there are so many toys on the dresser that I can’t even see the top. What of it? It’s not gonna be here forever.

So what I need to do is this…enjoy it while I have it. I need to play with the kids and the toys and enjoy the time I get to see these high-priced pieces of plastic that line every nook & cranny of our house. Play with the stuffed animals and doll babies and things that make noises because all too soon they’ll be gone. They’ll be replaced with old pictures of the times when I SHOULD have enjoyed having them around. And then I’ll be kicking myself in the butt for not appreciating every single second that they were here, cluttering up my life and driving me crazy. I’ve got a long time before the end of “things”…but it’s not as far away as I’d like to pretend.

So this is me relaxing…and enjoying every, miserable little second of stuff everywhere that I can. And hopefully, someday, I’ll remember what it was like when I wanted to play. And I’ll be able to remember those times when I did.

Of All The Things…

My kids have stuff. And lots of it. Like just about everyone else their ages, my kids get stuff from me and their mother and their grandparents and their friends and their friends’ parents and eventually stuff starts to pile up. There’s nothing you can do about it…it just can’t be stopped. And of all of these things…all the hundreds of dolls and balls and lockblocks and Star Wars figures and Polly Pockets and Legos and Pokemon cards and stuffed animals and Wii games and baseball gloves and play kitchen parts and dress-up clothes and makeup and light sabers and Transformers and Disney Princess accessories and Power Ranger play action figures and whatever else stuff my kids have piled in various rooms all over our house. Of ALL of these things…the one thing that gets the most attention? More than any stuffed animal or blankie or Pokemon X cards (or whatever) or ANYTHING?

This freakin’ thing…

Good job Mom. Excellent Christmas gift. Who woulda guessed that a drum kit would be THE plaything du jour.

Dammit.

Ava’s 1st Day of Kindergarten

Dunno what happened but I forgot to post this last week! Here are some photos of Ava’s first day of kindergarten! She is attending full days and has loved every second of it so far. The only downside…getting up at the crack of dawn!

Getting her hair done for school.

All ready to go!

On the road to success!

Heading to school.

Ava LOVES art!

Football & Family

A beautiful Saturday for football and today, Grandma, Grandpa & cousin Alarik made the trek all the way from Zanesville to watch Christopher take the field.

Proud grandparents.

Watching the action.

Truthfully…Christopher didn’t get many offensive touches. But he DID make a great TD saving tackle! It’s from a good distance, but hopefully you can see him catch up with the running back and bring him down!

Distracting the opponent with a quick game of thumb wrestling.

Taking his helmet off after the game.

The post-game meal.

A great day!

And his team pictures came back on Thursday. Check out THIS cool card…

Carson Palmer Can’t Do This

Christopher’s first game was scheduled for today. Unfortunately the other team couldn’t field enough players to play against his team (his pee wee league has 3 teams: green, white & black), so the black scrimmaged against the white team and Christopher made the most of it. He’s still working on his defense but his offense seems to have no trouble putting it in the endzone. He scored 2 touchdowns today, both on quarterback sneaks! Here are some pictures and a video of him scoring his 2nd TD. Watch as he heads outside, only to cut back, shake off a few tacklers and rumbles into the endzone for a TD celebration!

Ready to play!

Taking the field

The pregame CHARGE!

He came ready to play!

A beautiful day for football

The BIG play!

The end of the game (I gotta get a camera with a zoom lens…)

Great game dude!

Canoeing, A Castle & Smellyfoot

What better way to spend the day than to get out into the great outdoors and paddle downstream? So Saturday morning, that’s what we did. My buddy and I threw our kids in car and headed out to Loveland, OH to do a little canoeing. Once we got all settled and the kids A) stopped asking questions & B) got used to the canoe, it went pretty well. And the weather was perfect!  A little overcast and around 70. On our trip, we saw ducks & a crane and some fish and we saw a medieval castle and we even managed to get a glimpse of the famous Sasquatch (or Big Foot, for those of you who don’t know). Sounds too good to be true…right? Well…here are the pictures from our harrowing adventure…

We piled into the car

On The Bus

A rowdy group

Out on the water

Hey! How did they get in front of us?

Me, My Kids & My Farmers Tan

There he is!!! Do you see him?!?!

The water ain’t so bad!

Canoe Hopping

The Captain

Hiking to the castle

A man & his castle

Are there REALLY knights in there?

The fire pit

The End of our Journey

Football Is For Boys…Right?

It’s that time of year again…Football Season! And we have it in full swing at our house. Christopher & all his friends are playing football (first game Sunday! I’ll post pictures!), I’ve been gearing up to work some NFL games (starting next week) and Steph and her friends are already looking at the high school, college & NFL schedules to see which games they can attend this fall.

And with school starting this week, so did high school football here in our little town. So we walked to watch the team scrimmage, just like last year at this time. And this year, Ava was just as excited as the boys! Except she was more excited about getting a snowcone than she was about football. Oh well…

Got her pigtails in and ready to cheer!

It’s not a long walk to the field

Hangin’ with the boys

Sleepyhead