"Christmas Time Is..."

PAST!! But what a time it was! I think the reason most people say Christmas comes and goes so fast is because they narrow it down to a few days of the month. But I say nay-nay. I make the whole month of December Christmas time! That way it seems a lot longer! We had a few get-togethers before the big day:

My sister's house on Christmas Eve:


Zach: "Hey, are there any other presents in this box?"
Me: "For the last time NO! Now would ya get out of there?"


Mom: "What is this...a Texas Rangers shirt?"
Me: "Yes! Cuz they went to the World Series this year!"
Mom: "Silly rabbit...don't you know I'm a Mets fan?"
Me: "Um...why? On second thought...don't answer that."


You have no idea how disappointed I was that wasn't real ice cream.

That night...


Zach: "Hey Dad, do I look like a fountain?"
Me: "Um, sure...whatever you say..."


Look at the muscles on this kid! Pretty soon she'll be fighting me with no remorse or pity...hmm...better learn some ju jitsu fast!


hey look, some Harry Potter books and DVDs! Thanks to best niece ever Megan for those! She must have gotten my letters...and texts...and phone messages...

Then...Christmas Morning...


Wow! Look at the bevy of gifts!! All of us must have been good...like really good.


Emmy got her very own camera!! Now I can impart all of my photography wisdom upon her...that should take about a half hour ha ha.


Zach got a Paper Jamz drum set!! He's gotten pretty good at playing "All-Star" by Smashmouth ha ha.


Cari: "Wow, what a great thermos! Now I can carry coffee around and it will stay warm!"
Me: "Or it can keep cold drinks cold...you could have hot coffee AND cold lemonade at the same time!"
Cari: "Ugh..."

And one of my fave presents Cari and I both got:


Don't we look adorable!! Well, I think we do!

THEN...for lunch at Grandmother Overall's...


At the gift exchange, Zach won this handy-dandy blanket! Cuz we never have any of those around, right?


And Emmy got a lovely watch set! Now she has three I think. If it's good enough for Tony Stark, it's good enough for her.


This one was taken at Woody's insistence. He said so himself...or did he?

All in all I think we had a pretty good holiday season. We really made the most of our Six Flags passes too. We went down the snow hill, saw the shows, and drank enough hot chocolate to fill a bathtub. Don't measure, I have it all worked out in my head.

"And...Action!"

Yes, Zach had his big school play a couple of weeks ago. Funny how I forgot to mention it until now. I guess we get busy around the holidays. My vacation this week has been a spree of stores, buying and returning, and the ocasionial slice of pizza at Sam's lol. Anyways...on with the show!


Ribbons and bows...
Stuck to my nose...
Ribbons and bows...
from my head to my toes...

Yes, that was a real song ha ha.


Zach: "So when is this kid supposed to be born anyways?"
Shepherd # 2: "Oh you can't rush the birth of Christ!"
Zach: "Oh yes you can! It's called a c-section!!"

Emmy also had a Christmas show! Unfortunately, as always, she managed to be hidden with the exception of this pic:


Still smiling, so that's good ha ha.

Cari has to go to work today so it's just me and the kids! I still have to wrap her gifts and I'd rather her not see them until Christmas morning! I still have to print and mail our Christmas cards and letters but hopefully once all of that is done we can go and do something fun. It's like 55 degrees out there which is my dream weather. Is Christmas really 2 days away? Unreal. Of course, it's been Christmas for me since they started playing Christmas music on 103.7 Lite FM. Love it love it.

"204 Minutes Until..."

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!! And not a moment too soon. I thin I'm officially past the thrill of the office that is officially Healthmarkets. It's too bad that everything that made this place special is now a thing of the past. Ahh well. Nothing good lasts forever, right?

Had our Christmas get-together at Grandma's house last night with Dad and co. Picked me up a new (and bigger) battery for my camcorder which was duely needed!! Also got this:


It's a Dallas Stars cap! You may have guessed that already. Pretty snazzy eh?

Zach got these:


More Legos!! I never know what to ask people to get him for Christmas since he has like everything. I guess it's better then his going without, eh?

Emmy got:


A shirt!! Can't have too many of those right? Maybe ya can.


Found this for Dad. He wanted "Catch-22" but no one seems to have it anywhere. I always thought the longest day was when Dad told all those Army stories...? Maybe I was wrong.

We also had Xmas with my mom's side at my cousin Tony's house Saturday night. We got to talking about Josh and what we can do to carry on what he was trying to accomplish so we set up a scholarship in his name and collected some canned goods and some socks to give to homeless people rather then do a gift exchange. Funny how no one felt deprived, but rather blessed with more. I still think about him and why he did what he did. When you never get depressed about anything, it's that much more difficult to imagine anyone feeling that sad that they feel like life isn't worth living.



This song is my new "I think of Josh everytime I hear it" song.

Group photo:


Cari found the timer function on our camera!! Four years we've had this thing and I had no idea it even had one. Kudos babe!!

"They Say It's Your Birthday...!"

Still?

Yes, now we come to the time of year when we celebrate MY birthday!! I think I got 27 Facebook posts wishing me a happy birthday. Aww...I never felt so loved. Well, I'm sure I did, but it escapes my mind right now. So far I have gotten a lovely cherry computer tower shelf from ol' Dad, a $50 Amazon.com gift card from Mom, and a cool iPod speaker system from Keri! Plus a big book of trivia and a new wallet from Cari! A few pix:


This one I love. Goin' on Facebook I say!


Me: "Hey Mom, what's in this cake?"
Mom: "Well, it's carb-free, sugar-free, and dairy-free!"
Me: "Um...yeah...?"
Mom: "So to answer your question, I don't know. Maybe wheat and grass."


Mom looks so pissed that Emmy gets to use my videocamera and she doesn't. HA HA

Every year around this time I completely surround myself with Christmas nostalgia...you know, the tree, the music, the lights...and I wait for that moment when I get officially in the "Christmas spirit". Well, that moment happened Monday night on my way home from work. Don't know what brought it on but I felt like "Hey, get excited, it's Christmas time!" We took a couple of drives around our neighborhood and looked at some lights. We may have to wait until the 23rd to get our hot apple cider. Cari has to work until about noon so I'm planning on surprising Zach and Emmy by taking them downtown Ft Worth then hit the Barnes & Noble and get a hot treat. Can't wait!! My vacation begins Tuesday 12-21-10...one week and counting. In the past I would want time to go faster so I could enjoy something I was looking forward to. Now I try to enjoy the journey leading up to it. Gotta take my foot off the gas in my old age lol.


The best present ever.

"They Say It's Your Birthday!"

Well it's my birthday too yeah!

Okay, enough singing...

Sunday we had young Zachary's 5th birthday at the YMCA for an indoor swim party!! Was a lot of fun. My biggest concern was that Zach wouldn't get enough presents, but thank goodness that wasn't a problem. A few pix:


Is that not the coolest cake! It was even a real mask that Zach wore for about an hour...then the flies started coming after him cuz of the frosting.


This is a pretty good pic of me and the boy. I made sure he was in front so he would hide my muscular flab.


Becky: "Mike! Don't tell jokes while I'm eating my cake!"
Mike: "Um, I thought everyone had heard the one about why the chicken crossed the road."
Becky: "Well, everyone HADN'T!!"



I got him these shirts a while back. Didn't know whether to give them to him for his birhtday or Christmas. I guess we have our answer yes?

After the partay, we went to Babe's Chicken in Arlington. And thank you for building one in Arlington. Best chicken EVER!! After dinner the waitresses brought out a biscuit with a candle in it, I thought for Zach, but Cari told themit was my birthday too. So...



Waitress with red eyes: "Dance Mike!! DANCE or else I'll zap you with my laser vision!"
Me: "How long is this song anyways?"
Waitress: "We have 127 more verses to go! We should be done in an hour!"
Me: "Help."

So far my birthday presents have consisted of a great oak shelf Dad built for my computer so we have a place to store stuff, a new big book of trivia and a wallet from Cari and the kids, and $10 from a co-worker!! Wasn't that nice! I used it to buy lunch for Emmy and I on Wednesday since I was off. We had a great time. We sit at a reserved table near the window and we can see the kids lined up outside. I would point at one of them until they looked at me, then Emmy would whisper something to me then I would look at the kid again and act shocked that they did whatever Emmy whispered which was nothing. Gave the kids a good scare though ha ha.

Number 36...man oh man. when I started this blog i had just turned 30. Did six years go by already? It sure did. I used to think time went by too fast. Now lately I've been thinking it goes by at the right speed. Sometimes too slow, sometimes too fast. But it always evens out. The question is...are you enjoying the ride? And are you ready for when the ride ends?

"The Lists Are Done!"

Yes, Zach and Emmy have finished their lists to one Santa Claus over the weekend. Emmy has been making them since 2007 so she knows what she's doing. But Zach is a rookie, so of course I helped him a bit. All I had to do was suggest things he may want and write them down. Hmm...come to think of it, I did all the work! Little bugger. Here is his list:



Man, is he greedy or what? ha ha. Actually, I had to think of all of that then run it by his Highness to see if he wanted it or not. Of course he did. He did write "DS" as well as his name. Good times.

Here is Emmy's list:


She took things a bit farther and printed it instead of writing it out. I tried to convince her Santa may reward the work you put into your list a bit more but she already had it done and printed. A laptop, eh? Ol' Santa may have to get a part time job to swing that bad boy. We shall see.

Emmy had a Veteran's Day sing-a-long a while back:

Why is she always sandwiched between taller kids...(sigh)

Emmy: "Dad, why is that kid making a dumb face behind me?"
Me: "Eh, who knows...but now he can't run for public office for fear that THIS PICTURE will someday become publicized!"
Emmy: "Um, public what?"

She ALSO had her end of season soccer party too:


Emmy: "Ha! I got a trophy and Baldy Balderson got nothing!"
Me: "Hey now, don't call him that."
Baldy: "No, it's true. My actual name is Baldy Balderson."
Me: "Um, wow...your parents must have been clairvoyant then?"
Baldy: "Sadly, yes...(sigh)"


145 attempts to take a group shot and THIS was the best one we got...

Man, Christmas time is here!! I've got some plans to get some cool gifts for a select group of people. And they won't even see it coming. Now if we can just get a decent lunch break during work I may be able to accomplish this. It's true what they say...as you get older it becomes more about what you give then what you get. Not that I haven't made a wish list on Amazon.com, mind you. 50+ items just waiting to be purchased for yours truly. Hopefully people don't deviate from the list. What's cool is I can't remember half the stuff I added to it. Surprise!!!