My Frakkin Blog!

Okay - finally - I was wondering if the frenzy was ever gonna end.  Well, Christmas and the New Year festivities finally ended today.  All the decorations came down and were put away.  The house really looks bare now.

Christmas was a big hit with the kids this year.  As stated previously, Ryan was really in to the whole spirit of it this year.  While I totally expected him to get us up at 5am - he actually woke up at normal time - 8:00 and then got us all up.  Mary’s parents came in and were staying with us - they were actually up before Ryan.

Anyway - he came in all excited about Santa coming and all the presents that were there.  Kylie slept through it.  After Ryan opened up a few presents - we decided we really needed to go wake her up.  She had a great time opening up her presents as well - but - she still hasn’t really figured the whole thing out just yet.

I spent Christmas day doing what I usually do - putting together all the toys that Santa brought.  With the exception of about a 3 hour break when Mary’s Uncle’s and Aunt came for dinner - I pretty much spent the whole day doing that - into the night.

But - I got a Wii from Santa.  After everyone went to bed and after I finished with the last of the toys that needed to be put together - I spent the rest of the night playing Need for Speed and Nerf N-Strike.  Wow - time really flies when you’re playing those games.  Before I knew it - it was 4:30am.  I had to just shut the thing off or I would have been up all day.

I spent some serious time on that thing over the past week - so - I wouldn’t say I’m burned out - but - I’m definitely over it and ready to incorporate blogging back in to the routine.

So - I hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, Boxing Day, etc and a safe and Happy New Year.  I’m really looking forward to what 2009 will bring!

Also - I see that BSG will be on Jan 16th for those of you that are interested.  Unfortunately, it appears it will be the last episode of the series.  Bummer!

Okay - got them downloaded!  Here are just a couple pictures of the outside of our house, at night.

Hopefully, you guys can make out these pictures okay.

These are the best angles I could get.  I was thinking about taking these at twilight - but - wasn’t sure if the full effects could be seen.  I think I will try to take some twilight pix tomorrow and see how they look.

After looking at all of these pictures, maybe you have noticed the same thing I have  - it is noticeably dark on the right side of my home.  Looks like I’ll need to put up some more lights, at least on the right side of the house.

I’ve also noticed that the corner of the house, just behind the choo-choo train needs something else.  Mary has to work tomorrow - so - I told the kids we’d hit target or walmart and see what other kind of lights or light-up yard ornaments we can find.  They’re really looking forward to it.  In fact, I think I’m looking forward to it too!

Alrighty - got the first set of pictures to show you guys - these are from the inside of the house.  Mary is still buying things to put up on the inside - so - as she continues to add - I’ll take a few more pictures and post them up.

First - a couple different angles of the Christmas tree.  Also - if you take a look at the mantle to the left - you’ll see the countdown calendar that I referenced in an earlier post.  Also - you’ll see that mantle is very bare - well - long story short - while I was putting the Angel up on the top of the tree - I hit the mantle on the way up - which knocked down and broke all the ceramic figurines.  I owe Mary a new Manger with all the pieces, a couple Angels, and one Santa Claus.  Oops!!

I also had to repair the mantle - I knocked it loose!  Also - you’ll notice there are only two stockings - Kylie’s and Ryans.  We actually have 11 - one for each kid, one for Mary, one for me, and one each for the dogs.  But, we figured with a 2 and 4 year old - it would be safer this year if we didn’t put them all up around the mantle.  I would rather have had the stockings up - at least I wouldn’t have broken all the

And - here’s one of the steps.  Mary likes to collect different figures - here’s the beginning of them.  I’m sure there will be more by the end of this Christmas.  Anyway - this is the last of the pictures for tonight - I don’t want to overwhelm you all!

Also - you’ll notice a gate around the stairs - some of you may remember the whole Kylie saga last April when she broke her arm.  For those of you that are new - she fell down from the third step there and broke her left forearm.  I’m kinda lazy and don’t want to hunt through the archives to post it up here - but - if you follow the tags for Kylie - you’ll find the broken arm posts.  Anyway - that gate is now our and her protection.  She can’t get up the steps any more on her own.

Yup, feelin’ like a kid again!  I always do this time of year.  I think part of what is making this so exciting for me is the excitement that Ryan experiences every day.  We have a count down calendar on our mantle that we update every morning.  Actually, we let Ryan change it over.  He’s starting to get countdown fever - and - it’s catching.

Likewise, he’s starting to learn all the Christmas carols and he’ll just break out in to a song at any time in any location.  I have a tendency to join him!

Well, tomorrow I will finish putting up the lights outside.  I’ll get both daytime and nighttime pictures and post them up here.  Mary did a great job on the inside as well.  I’ll get some pictures of that and post them here as well.  I’ll try to spread them out a couple days so not to bog the page down with picture loading.

Anyway - how about you guys?  Anybody else starting to feel that buzz in the air?

Well, we just got done watching that Christmas Classic - Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. I have watched this show every year since I was a kid and when my older kids were just kids. Maybe I’ve changed, but, wow - I certainly saw this show completely different this year than any other year before.

Is it me or is this actually kind of a sad story?  It sorta makes all those reindeer, elves, and Santa Claus look like hypocrites doesn’t it?

First - the head elf completely disses Hermes because he wants to be a dentist instead of an elf - so - he sings this song about being a misfit and a nitwit - then runs away. Personally, I think he was discriminated against because he’s Greek?

Next - Santa and the reindeer make fun of Rudolph for being different. This kid can jump higher and further than any of those other reindeer, but, he is discriminated against just because he has a red nose?  And -Clarise’s dad says “No doe of mine will ever be seen around a red-nosed reindeer”  RACIST! So, Rudolph sings that same song about being a misfit and a nitwit - then runs away (editors note:  just how the heck is it that both Rudolph and Hermes knew the same song?)

Then, Hermes and Rudolph meet next to a Christmas tree.  Hermes announces that he is “independent” and Rudolph exclaims the same.  I never really noticed this next line - but - it’s a classic- Hermes then says - ‘Hey, let’s be independent together’ - I actually laughed at that line. Then they run away together.

Hermes and Rudolph run in to Yukon Cornelius after they both run away and Cornelius kinda looks over them while at the same time trying to hunt down that bumble!  First - I don’t know if we should really trust this bearded old man who’s been out in the wilderness on his own for a really long time - with kids!  Seriously, what’s up with that?  Rather than help them find their way back home to the adults - he takes them with him.  Wouldn’t that be like kidnapping or something?

On their journey - they come across misfit island where all the unwanted toys live.  How the heck did all those broken toys get there anyway?

Well - I think we all know the rest of the story.  Rudolph’s mom and Clarise go searching for Rudolph and get caught by the bumble - Rudolph, Cornelius and Hermes come to the rescue - Hermes goes all Dentist like on the bumble and then Cornelius goes all suicidal attack and they both go over the cliff.  Well, after that the survivors all go back to the North Pole where Rudolph and Hermes are suddenly accepted!  What hypocrites!!!

Additionally, Santa makes a special trip to misfit island and picks up all those so-called unwanted toys.  First - if Santa is supposed to be omnipotent and know everything - why didn’t he know about these toys?  If they really are unwanted toys - how the heck is he going to unload them?  Is he going to drop them off with all the poor kids and cheat them out of the new unbroken toys?  Sure - what the heck - they won’t know any differently, right?

Oh well..maybe I’m gettin to be an old fuddy duddy or something.  In any case, I still think it’s a great show.  As a kid, I know I really enjoyed it for what it was - a great Christmas story about some misfits who overcome adversity and help to save Christmas.

Happy December everyone!  Welcome to the last month of 2008!  This is my favorite month and my favorite time of the year.  From this point forward I will be waiting in anticipation for Christmas day to arrive.  There are three reasons why I get excited waiting for Christmas:

Being a Christian - I can’t wait for the day to come to help celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord.  I know it probably isn’t his ACTUAL birthday - but - even symbolically - it’s a great day

I love seeing the anticipation in my own kids’ eyes and the build up leading up to the day that Santa Claus arrives.  I remember the anticipation myself as a kid.  Believe it or not, I was 9 years old before I found out the “truth.”  However, as an adult, I still believe because there is a Santa in all of us!

I especially love the festive feel in the air around this time of year.  All the brightly lit homes, the frost nipping at your nose, toes, and fingers (yes, even in Florida it gits a bit chilly this time of year); the smell of pine trees all around; fires in the fireplaces; and there seems to be more cheer all around.

This month always brings more optimism for me as it seems more people are helping others and trying to be good.  It is a feeling of hope that there just may be a chance we could all get along everywhere around this world.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me - but - I’m just really happy we finally made it to December!

Well - better late than never!

Mary had to work today - so - it was just me and the kids all day.  We’re actually going to celebrate our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow.  The day is going to be quite busy.

Anyway - Mary tells me that working on Thanksgiving day in a hospital turns out to be the same as any other day - extremely busy.  I can attest that hanging out with the kids on Turkey day isn’t any different than any other day I have them when she’s at work - extremely busy!

We had a good time today.  However, I realized that this is actually the very first Thanksgiving where I did not watch any football games!  And..you know what?  I hate to say it, but I didn’t miss it like I thought I would.

Considering how busy tomorrow is going to be, I’m not entirely sure I’ll get back out here - but - we’ll see.

Hope everyone had a great  Thanksgiving.

Well - like I said, I took tons of pictures at Saturday’s concert.  I figured I would share a few more of them here tonight.  I have so many to share - but - I promise, I will spare you all!  I don’t want to be known as that guy that shows the vacation pictures every time you visit the blog!  LOL - kinda reminiscent of the old slide projector vacation pictures thing, eh?

Here’s the first one - this is Murray saying hi to the audience

And..this one is Anthony.  I’m not entirely sure exactly what he’s doing there.

This one is Sam.  They were doing Rock-a-bye Your Bear.  If you don’t know the history - this is the guy that took Greg’s place.  Sam was one of the Wiggly Dancers and Sir Singalotta before they passed the yellow shirt on to him.  Apparently, Greg became too ill to continue performing.  That’s too bad.  I really liked that guy.  He had a great voice.

And..this one is Jeff.  Ryan really likes him…especially when he gets to wake him up!

This one is Henry The Octopus.  He’s kinda creepy if you ask me.

And, finally, here’s Dorothy the Dinosaur

Well..that’s it.  Between yesterday and today - that is all of the Wiggles and The Wiggles Friends!  We really had a great time there!

Hi All - as promised - here are a few of the pictures I took at The Wiggles Concert this past Saturday. I’ll only post a few up here tonight - I’ll post more up over the week - I got a lot!

First up - We got one really happy and excited boy here!

And..if you recall from yesterday’s post - I mentioned that Kylie started coming down with something just as we were leaving…here she is at the start of the concert - she laid in my lap the whole concert

And…here’s The Wiggles coming out in The Big Red Car

And..then I got a really great shot of Wags The Dog

And - this last one here is of Captain Feathersword. He slid down these silk …whatever? As you can see - by the time he got to the bottom - he ended up head first…that guy is a nut!

You can also get a good look at just how close we were to the stage! Way to go Mary! She bought the tickets. Anyway - that’s it for today. I don’t want to fill up the whole page today with pictures.

Like I said, I have many many more - but - I’ll go easy! LOL. I’ll just post up some of the really good ones. And..as I said yesterday, if you have young ones and haven’t experienced it yet - I highly recommend catching a Wiggles concert when they come to or near your town. These guys are great and the kids just love them!

One of the great things about living in Florida is the great weather we have in “the winter.”  The weatherman says our high for tomorrow should be in the low 80’s!  Gotta love it.

This past weekend we went to Ryan & Kylie’s pre-school Fall Festival.  It is a fundraiser and festival all rolled in to one.  The kids had a really great time.  There were two big bouncers, a balloon guy, a karate exposition, a fire truck, lots of crafts and games, and lots of food!

The biggest draw was the raffle.  Since the beginning of October each of the classrooms have had the parents of the kids bring in items for the raffle.  Each classroom had a theme.  Kylie’s class was camping outdoors and Ryan’s class theme was cooking out.  There are 9 class rooms so there were 9 different things to choose from for the raffle.  Each raffle ticket was $5 apiece.

I bought 5 tickets and later Mary let Ryan buy another ticket.  I placed 3 tickets in a raffle for Toys for Girls and Boys - there must have been close to $300 worth of stuff in that one.  I put one ticket in A Day at the Spa - hoping to win something for mommy - and then one ticket in for Family Fun Night - which included lots of games, tickets to movies, gift certificates to places like Chuck-E-Cheese, and other family fun stuff.

The ticket that Mary let Ryan buy went in to the Toys for Girls and Boys.  Well, when the raffle started we were hanging out next to that table with all the toys on it.  At each table they went to they chose the nearest kid around that table to draw the tickets.  When they got around to the table with the toys - they were reaching for Kylie to come up and draw the ticket - she wasn’t having any of that!!!  So, they asked Ryan to pull the next ticket.

Ryan so much wanted to win all those toys that when they asked him to draw the ticket I was preparing myself for the big let down.  I was thinking - how could they possibly ask a 4 year old little boy to pull the ticket and then have them announce that some other kid won all those toys.  My chest was already tightening up just thinking about the look on his face as some other little boy or girl came up to claim that wondrous prize.

They held the bucket up above his head - he plunged his little hand in there and fished around a bit trying to grab on to one.  He pulled it out and was getting ready to look at it - mind you - he’s still 4 - so - he can’t really read yet.  He didn’t even get a chance to look at the ticket he just pulled out.  The head of the school grabbed the ticket from him before he could pull it down.

As soon as she looked at the table, her jaw dropped.  The D.J. with the microphone didn’t even get to put the mike up to her to announce the winner.  She just turned and looked at my wife and I with a stunned look.  Mary looked at her and said “Is it us?”

Yup - that’s right - Ryan pulled his own ticket in the drawing!  My first reaction was - whew - what a relief!  Then, it hit me too - Holy Cow!  He drew his own ticket!  Not one of the three that I put in there - but, the one that he “bought.”  Talk about a lucky boy!  He instantly became the most popular kid there.  Mind you - there had to be close to 50 or more tickets in for that raffle.  That was the biggest and most popular prize going.

I could list everything that was on that table - but - it is a VERY long list.  There was a sheet that came a long with the prizes that detailed everything on that table.  It filled up a full 8 x 10 sheet, single-spaced.  There were some toys that were beyond Kylie and Ryan’s age - we’ve already talked to Ryan and told him we were going to give those away to kids that don’t have toys - he was perfectly fine with that.

Now - on to the subject of this post - it was a beautiful day - not too hot, not too cold - sun shining all day long.  Later that evening while I was getting read for bed, I looked in the mirror.  I actually did a double-take.  Was my face a little pink?  Funny, I didn’t feel flushed.  Then I looked at my arms - and looked closer at my face - yup - I actually got a bit of a tan - on November 8th!  Awesome!  I’m never leaving Florida!