"Ready...Set..."

...GO!!! And go Zach did, as his wonderful Tate Springs Baptist School had its' annual Field Day yesterday. Ten events! Plus, Cari and I had to walk around to each event in the hot sun. We were wiped. And we just stood there for the most part. For me personally, standing requires as much work as actually doing anything. But I know Zach had a great time. He's so fast! Even at the very end he still had loads of energy. Here are a few pix of the day's proceedings:

Event One: The Turn 'N' Run


Zach: "So I'm supposed to turn the bat around using my body? What is this going to accomplish?"
Me: "Well, if you were part of the Barnett Shale mineral excavation team, you might find some valuable minerals if you go deep enough."
Zach: "Well, that's something...I guess...wait, what!?"

Event Two: Potato Sack Race


Zach: "You know...wearing these potato sacks makes it really hard to get around."
Me: "Oh those aren't potato sacks...those are manure sacks."
Zach: "EEWWW!"

Event Three: Egg And The Spoon


Yes, this event was as exciting as Zach is making it out to be.

Event Four: Water Balloon Toss


Zach: "So what's in this balloon anyway? Water?"
Me: "Nothing gets past you, does it?"

Event Five: Face-painting!


Hey, that's a pretty good picture of us! Zach chose to be painted like Jack Sparrow, and when the other boys saw it they had to have it too. My boy the trendsetter.

Event Six: Scooters!



Admit it: You'd do this too if they'd let you.

Event Seven: Bouncy Ball


He's completely off the ground! Lucky shot I got.

Event Eight: Bowling Toss

The wind-up...

...and the pitch:

Again, lucky shot. Check out how the ball looks like it is stuck to the canvas. Even though Zach missed his shot, I got mine.

Mercifully, after 2 hours in the hot sun, it was over. Everyone got a Bullet popsicle to cool off. Zach got a red one, ate half of it, then asked me if I would switch cuz he liked grape better. Then he did the same thing with Cari's orange popsicle. What a con artist. Here's a parting group shot:


...and here's a picture of Zach in front of his locker space:


I sure hope Zach enjoyed his time here. Barring some unforseen circumstance, this will be the only year he gets to go here. Is Zach really going into kindergarden in three months? I remember taking Emmy to kindergarten when Zach was just a baby. And now...now I get to take both of them to the same place and knock out two birds with one stone. Not that I think my kids are birds...or throwing a stone at them.

This just happened while I was on a call at work. I won Employee Of The Month for March 2011! Got $20 to Walmart! What to use it on...hmm...knowing me, I'm sure I'll find something useful...or frivolous ha ha. Saturday night we are going to Wal-Mart for an ice cream sampling! Only way to have more fun is when it's free.

Cari and I are going to go see "Hangover 2" Sunday night when I get home. Hopefully it is as funny as the first one. Love these kid-free Memorial Day Weekends. So glad Dad wants to hang out with his grandkids when he gets the chance...which isn't as often as we'd both like I'm sure. They just love him to death though. Glad we have a grandpa in our family that will stay the course and be an influence on us all just like Grandpa did. So many stories he told us...and could figure out anything. A rare breed these days. It's a shame we don't get to be with people longer down here.

"Batter Up!"

Well, it wasn't a Ranger game, but it was the next best thing! Jerramy got tickets to a Frisco Roughriders game Sunday, and he asked me if I wanted to go. So I did. And we did. Turns out there's only about a 4,000 seating capacity so any seat is a good seat. And, as always, I had my trusty camera on hand to capture the festivities:


Isn't that cool? Apparently you can rent out the pavillion for the right price. Imagine watching the game and cooking out and swimming all at the same time.


Jerramy: "My Country Tis...Of Thee...Sweet Land Of Liberty..."
Me: "Um, I don't think that's the song they're singing..."
Jerramy: "Hmmm...you're right...it sounds more like..."
Me: "It's Rainin' Men"?
Jerramy: "YES! That's it!"


Hey, great action shot!


Hey, great action shot!


Now that's a nice shot of us. I will be a-framin' it and a settin' it down at home. Nice use of Southern twang yes?

It was tied 3-3 after 10 innings so we left and about 5 minutes after that I think they won it. Ah well. We had a good time. They even had an all-you-can-eat lunch set up for us special members. I tore...it...up. Was so full...but so glad I took advantage. Free burgers and hot dogs don't come around too often, knowhutimean?

Afterwards Jerramy wanted to go see the Ikea since it was close by, so we did. Should have seen his eyes light up at everything they had. Should have seen mine too. Some really cool entertainment centers that I have to have now. NOW.

Campbell is coming up! This year hopefully nothing will pop up unexpectedly like last year and cause me to miss it. Geez, has it been a year already? Still have a lot of mixed feelings about how that went down. I was always under the impression that suicide meant eternal damnation. But...maybe...there's exceptions to that. Hopefully Josh is that exception. He's the only person I know who was funnier than me. Such charisma.

Hey, how about those Mavericks! I should have posted sooner about their current playoff run sooner, but...man, SEVEN games in a row where we just flat out dominated. Lakers who? What a way to send Phil Jackson out...being swept and making his team just look awful. Now we're in the Western Conference Finals and up 1-0 against the OKC Thunder. We didn't look great defensively, but Dirk was a monster on the boards. 48 points and free throws all...night...long. ESPN is still talking about how it might be the greatest shooting display in the history of the postseason. I'd have to agree! Here are some cool shots I found of ye olde Mavs:






Those are the main guys, right there. If we want a title, we know who to give it to.

"Mother's Day...Is Here..."

Yes, the time of year has come for me to pay homage to not only my own mom, but to Cari as well, who goes above and beyond for Zach and Emmy each and every day. Hopefully they won't hold it against me for not paying more attention the rest of the year if I show them how much they mean to me on this day ha ha. We got together at my sister-in-law's house Sunday for a Mother's Day omelette breakfast cooked by...the guys!:


Jay: "So you see John, by mixing the eggs and ingredients together, that's how an omelette is made!"
John: "Yeah, I know how to make an omelette Julia Child..."
Jay: "Ah! Are you saying I look like a giant Hungarian woman!?"
John: "Well, if the souz-chef hat fits..."


Tracy: "WHO GOT DA BOOZE!! WHO GOT DA BOOZE!!!!!!!"
Me: "Um...those bottles are empty..."
Tracy: "Ohh...um..."
Me: "Yes?"
Tracy: "What about...WHO HAD DA BOOZE! WHO HAD DA BOOZE!!!!!!"
Me: "Bullseye."


I bought this shirt over a year ago and I could never get it to fit right. But I kept working at it, and now I think I look pretty decent in it! Yay me.

Then we gave Cari her present:


It's a 3 month membership to Massage Envy! It was a pretty good deal. She gets four one-hour massages plus she can buy more services at the lower member rate! She's already planning one for this weekend, so maybe ye olde kids and I will have to find something to pass the time...I'm sure we can!

Last Friday Zach's school had a Mother's Day lunch (read: you bring the lunch) so Cari brought Zach lunch and they had a good time together:


I officially hate our camera! I found a new one at Walmart for the same price as the one we have now ($199.99) which Cari wants but we can't swing right now. What he made was a magnetic clipboard that can hold pictures and notes, etc. I had to move some of his WordJammer letters out of the way but now it resides on our refrigerator!


McDonald's! Where else, ya know? There are his BFF's Blake and Gavin in the background. They're okay I guess. Nothing against them.

Zach had his first T-Ball game of the season Saturday!:


Doesn't he look interested?? I didn't think so either. He's just in a deep concentration I bet.


Cari took this one! Great action shot! You can see me in the background videotaping the highlights, which...pretty much anything Zach hit and when he ran the bases.

I usually take pictures of his first game but none of the others, because...hey...seen one, seen them all, right? But one regret I have was not enjoying Little League a lot more when I was playing. I looked upon it as an intrusion on my busy life after school. You know, watching Brady Bunch reruns? But I did play two seasons and even managed to hit a home run. I'd give anything to relive that time in my life. Any magic genies out there waiting to be freed from a lamp?

"Emily's Home!!"

Yes, after a harrowing two days away from home, Emily made it home from her Diva Camp she got to go to since she sold 1,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies!! Gaw that's a lot of cookies. We still have em all over the cupboard and freezer. So I tell her to take pictures of what she did. And...well...


This looks like some kind of shark...? Emmy said the glass was two-sided...or one-sided...whichever one that lets them see the shark, but the shark can't see them. Probably a good thing.


Hey, she's home! I don't know what was more fun...getting up at 5am to drop her off or racing around to get there by 1pm to pick her up ha ha.

Emmy also had to do a project on Texas that took pretty much a month to finish. But, here is the completed project:


I really learned a lot researching facts for this thing. Texas is the 2nd largest state next to...? Alaska! Now I'm sure that was common knowledge to some of you but I always thought California was in the mix there somewhere.

We took Mom out for Mother's Day Sunday! PF Chang's to be exact. I tell you what...that had to be the worst service I've ever had! The waiter who looked like Bruno Mars only darker was nowhere to be found, and when he did show up he brought the wrong appetizer to us, the water glasses were constantly empty, plus other things that i can't recall at this time. But it was a great meal once it finally got to us.



We gave Mom "The Paris Wife" by Paula McClain. I'm normally not much of a reader but I saw some great reviews and I know Mom is always on the look-out for a good book.

We're moving at work...again...I swear, who knows how much wasted labor this place pays for. When I got here I was on the 2nd floor...then the 4th floor...THEN back to the 2nd floor...now we're changing buildings completely. The "B" building is a lot nicer and hopefully won't be burning hot or freezing cold like this one always seems to be.

So we had to take this survey at work and if enough people completed it we got two weeks of jeans and sneakers instead of just every Friday. Well, we got that. Plus we got December 23rd paid and off! So we get a nice 4 day weekend at Christmas plus any vacation time I managed to save. I have reserved the Week of July 18-22 and I hope we get to do as many fun things this year as last year. Maybe we'll even work a trip in to somewhere. Love me a good trip. Cari and I managed to survive the layoff scare that has decimated our companies which is good. Now it looks like things are back on the rise...including GAS PRICES!! $3.88 a gallon!? Are ya kidding me? Ugh...I tell ya...the Nissan Leaf is looking a lot better these days...