"The First Day Of What!?"

School, man, school!! While the summers always seem to come to an end way too soon, the school year drags on and on until it ends, then everyone says, "Wow, that year went by fast!" But that's what happens when your kids go to school long enough...it always seems like the last five years almost didn't happen. Now normally we all go have breakfast somewhere before the first day of school, but apparently that's no longer the "in" thing, but I managed to walk in with Zach for his first day of first grade! Emmy knows how it all works so she didn't need me going in there with her and going "Oh Daddy's going to miss you soooo much!" She got someone named Mrs. Boyer and she seems to like her. Zach got Ms. Frey. Ms. Patsy Frey. Didn't know the name Patsy was still making the rounds these days, but what are ya gonna do? Here are a few pix:



Everytime I try to comb Zach's hair he flattens it out until he looks like Moe Howard. Emmy looked very nice. She's really coming into her own fashion style. Zach needs a little help sometimes though. If we'd let him he'd wear nothing but plain white t-shirts every day.



Zach: "Um, Dad, how long are you going to be standing there taking pictures of me?"
Me: "Oh...just until you become an adult...oh man...I promised myself I wouldn't cry..."
Zach: "Good Lord man, get a hold of yourself."



This is the picture that is on his locker right now. Pretty good shot. I like the "Zippity Doo Dah" lyrics behind him too. We used to sing that to him and say "Zachedy" instead ha ha. Ahh, memories...

Got off early today due to the Labour Day weekend coming up! So I went to Emmy's soccer practice and about fell asleep. Not because soccer is so boring, but because Cari and I haven't felt good for about a week! And when I don't feel good, I don't sleep well at all! I tried to sleep on the field but the ants wouldn't let me. So I followed Zach over to the park part of the soccer field and they have these hills set up for bike riders. Zach didn't have a bike, but he had his scooter!:



Can't you see the fear in his eyes? He tried three times to go down this thing but after some scrapes he finally succeeded:



Never put a Flickr video on my site before. But this is a good way to start.

It really does seem like yesterday that I was walking Emmy into the cafeteria before her pre-k class started, and now she's got one more year before she starts junior high! Zach has a ways to go though. Hopefully he will realize how much fun these years of his life can be and not be so moody. He always seems to see the cup as half empty and finds it hard to believe that anyone likes him when he's in trouble for something. When he does that I sit next to him and try to make him laugh, even if it's about something dumb. I feel guilty sometimes because I don't seem to have much energy for things that Emmy wants me to check out or watch on TV with her, but I try my best to keep up with her.

"Say It Ain't So Lance!"

Just for the record, I do not think Lance Armstrong cheated anyone. I've been keeping up with this story since it broke yesterday, and actually for a while now since it's been an ongoing witch hunt to try and ostracize someone who has raised nearly half a billion dollars for cancer research all in the name of justice. No tests of his have come up positive for anything...ANYTHING...but the hunt continues. Now he says he doesn't have it in him anymore to keep fighting and keep defending himself to people who seemingly have nothing better to do than go after someone "just because". I bet most of the world is on my side in this too. Moving on...

Went to the Ranger game last night!! We thought the game before, on Wednesday, would have been the better one, since a certain Adrian Beltre knocked three home runs!! But we went last night, and there was a fair share of spectacles:



Love this shot! I don't see the Marines doing any kind of salute on the field, and I love the team with their caps off during the Star Spangled Banner. Really patriotic.



Apparently when starting picther Roy Oswalt hit a Twin in the previous inning, that meant the pitcher for the Twins was allowed to try and hit a Ranger, and in this case, that meant a fast ball at the head of Josh Hamilton! Well, the umpire decided to toss the pitcher! Then the manager Ron Gardenhire AKA Santa Claus came out and argued so much the umpire tossed HIM too! Man it was awesome.



Needless to say, the Rangers won 10-6, and now have a six game lead over the Oakland A's and a TEN game lead over the stupidest team in the world, the Angels! Why are they stupid? They actually have a worse record than they do last year despite spending $320 million on two people. They can have CJ Wilson. Oh, and he's 9-10 this year with an ERA around 4.00. Money well spent.

Saturday we went to Babe's Chicken House to celebrate Emmy's 11th birthday with my side of the family. Well, half the crew got sick and didn't make it, but Grandma, Dad and Caroline sure did:



Me: "Come on Dad, smile a little! What's the problem?"
Dad: "I wanted a hamburger, not chicken! I wanna go home right now!"
Zach: "Aww, cheer up Greendad! Look, I'll smile big enough for the both of us!"
Me: "Did you really think 'Babe's Chicken House' would even have hamburgers??"
Dad: "A guy can dream, can't he?"


Yes, they made Emmy do the chicken dance. I may have unintentionally blurted out that it was her birthday to the waitress...and the manager...and the cooks...and the busboys...the cashiers...hostess...

Took a drive through Colleyville last week during lunch. I found a street called LD Lockett, and the houses and scenery are really nice. As I was driving, I passed these guys:





They seemed very excited that they had some company! The donkey either wanted me to pet him or wanted to eat my hand. Either way, I kept my limbs to myself. No one wants to sit next to a guy who smells like livestock, right?

We've had to learn some new things at work this week. Now I usually just go with the flow and take care of Mike...TCB...CYA...but others seem to want to cry and whine all the time. Come on people. The job market out there isn't great, and other than being here till 7 all the time, it's not bad up here. Very blessed to have the life I have and the people in it. Part of me thinks I worked hard for it, the other part thinks God has a special aura around me and is always helping me along the way. Maybe it's a combination of the two.

"Say It Ain't So..."

Aw man, my former comedy hero, Ron Palillo, has passed away at age 63. He wasn't really a hero, but he was my fave Sweathog on Welcome Back Kotter. Also, I can do a really good impression of him, which made people laugh who had heard of him or the show. Which wasn't many. But this makes the 2nd Sweathog to die this year, with Robert Hegyes' Epstein dying earlier, also of a heart attack. Man, what is this country coming to when seemingly healthy people can drop because of a heart attack, but large people out there live to 100? Dad used to record episodes of WBK on VHS tapes for me. Was one of the nice things he did for me.

Emily had her second of three birthday parties! Cari took her and her friends to Sweet n Sassy on Saturday afternoon then Zach and I met them at Genghis Grill for some good meals, THEN we made our way to the Melting Pot for some chocolate fondue:



Ads you can see, Emmy isn't crazy about me taking pictures of her when her friends are around. But we had a good time.

Went to the Ranger game Sunday! Yeah it was hot, and the seats weren't that good, but we still had fun. Even the boy got into the swing of things:



See? He was swinging it over his head like he was tabledancing. Hopefully he has loftier expectations of his life then stripping for money. Is there anything loftier than that? Maybe...maybe not.

Zach and Emmy even got to run the bases after the game!:





The line for this thing was out the door! I mean literally...you had to go through three tunnels to get to do this. Cari showed tremendous patience waiting in line with them. Where was I? Camped out behind home plate with some employees waiting to get that "perfect picture" of course! Also, I was scooping up souvenir soda cups. I could only find two! I'll have to get them on here at some point. Blue and cool!

I went to Barnes and Noble today at lunch and read a Calvin And Hobbes book. One strip was where Calvin asks his dad for a piggy back ride and his dad says he's tired so Calvin lays on this guilt trip about how one day he will be too big to give piggy back rides one day and that he should do it every chance he gets. Really made me think of Zach since he wants one every chance HE gets ha ha. I usually will give him one even when he doesn't ask. But it kind of made me think about how no matter how much you do with your kids they still get bigger, and time is a resource we just can't stockpile for later.

I made this picture to show what Zach and Emmy looked like at age 4. I couldn't find a decent one of Zach shock shock but I managed to create this:



They look so much alike at that age. Same big brown eyes, same big smile. Homefully Heaven has a time machine so I can re-live moments like this.

"A Bit Of Trouble This Week..."

Say what...?

Well, let me start from the beginning. Zach and his friend (along with Emmy) have spent the past week at Camp Thurman. Two weeks a year we send them there and they get to swim, hike, and shoot real BB guns and bows and arrows. It's a lot of fun. Would be a lot more fun if it wasn't 150 degrees outside during the summer. But ah well. Well, apparently, Zach and this friend have been making more than their share of trouble on Wednesday or Thursday to the point where his counselor felt the need to call Cari and let her know exactly what they were doing. I don't want to get into the specifics of it, cuz it'll only make me mad, but it wasn't like Zach to act like this at all. Through a little deducing we figured out that his friend liked to tell Zach to do these things while not doing them himself, and then doing it only when it was started. It's nothing dangerous, mind you, but it's a lot of making noise and not listening. We gave him a spanking last night. And by we, I mean me and Emmy. Emmy had made a decorative kite she wanted to give to her counselor "Zeus", but the boys hid it, then lied to Cari when she asked them if they knew where it was. Oh she was so mad. And we knew that he was lying. Funny how kids always think they're smarter than their parents. I was kind of like that, but it was more instinctive than anything else. Here's Zach at Camp Thurman:



As you can see he really enjoys it. So, we made a decision to take this other kid out of the equation and get Zach back on the straight and narrow. And it starts this weekend. We were all supposed to go out to Southlake Town Square for Emmy's birthday party at Sweet N Sassy. It involves make up and manicures, so Zach and I were going to hang out elsewhere while all this was going on. Well, he's grounded from going, so I'm staying home with him. Then, later, we were all going to go to the Melting Pot for some chocolate fondue which Zach just craves so much. Yep, he's missing out on that as well. Which means I miss out on it. I really hate laying down the law like that. With Emmy I've never had to do it with a few exceptions on some schoolwork-related issues. But with Zach, and I guess maybe most boys, everything has to be a challenge. I mean everything. We have to threaten him into brushing his teeth, and one of us has to go in and watch him do it or else he won't. I think about my childhood a lot and all I can seem to remember is the trouble I made and how angry people would get at me. I'm sure I wasn't getting in trouble all the time, and maybe I was actually tolerable to be around. Not that I want to remember only the bad times, but it seems like there's always some right there to recall. Zach and Emmy love it when I tell them stories of when I was a kid. I remember Mom doing that for my sister and me when we were that age. I guess we all make mistakes we wish we could have back. Hopefully Zach won't let this define him and keep making strides to be a better person. I've never met anyone who could charm strangers the way he can. Case in point: We go to the Ranger game a few months ago, and Zach managed to get two guys to buy the sign he made for $25! I could never do that. I don't know many people that could, let alone kids. If he ever decides to be something big, I don't know anyone who could stop him.

Some of my favourite pictures are of me and him. Here are a few:



Okay, so I'm not in this one. But I posted it anyway because he's changed so much from this moment.



This one is my fave. The fact that he wanted to be right there and get a picture meant a lot to me.



I have this one printed and on my desk at work. Still gets a laugh when someone passes by and sees it.



This is the "hidden park" as we call it. Why? We literally found this place quite by accident. But it's become one of his favourite places. Mine too.

I'm going to be as patient as I can with him. Instead of raising the hand, I'll try another approach. He tries to put up a front whenever I want to get into a deep talk about feelings and junk. But once he relents, he will open up about all kinds of things. I think I'll stay with that. A good talk never hurt anyone, right?

"Emily Is How Old??"

ELEVEN!!!

Yes, it seems like just yesterday that she was brand new into the world:



Here she was, at around six months old. She's always been a fun kid, always ready to go do something fun and always finds fun in everything. I really wish I had a digital camera from the day she was born like I did with Zach, but there's no use in crying over spilt milk. Not that I would drink milk straight out of the jug. Eww! So, we went to her favourite place for dinner...the Garden Of Olives:



Emily: "Roses are red, violets are blue, who just came out of the closet? You know who!"
Me: "And I think we ALL know who that is!!"
Emily: "What does that even mean? What closet?"
Me: "Aw, don't make me explain what that means man...now I can't reveal my big secret!"



Aesop's fables! I had a copy of this when I was a kid and it really taught me some valuable life lessons, like...when you can't have something, act like you never wanted it anyway, just like the fox and the grapes. I found this at my home away from home, Barnes & Noble , and I knew she would love it. Sure enough, she started reading it when she got home and couldn't put it down. I really wish I knew what happened to my copy. Ah well. I can borrow Emmy's if need be. I bought this as a present that Zach could give to her. For some reason, he didn't rush out and buy a present and a card for her. This is a mystery we may never solve.



This is the card "Zach" got for her. It said "We live in a world of microwave bacon. How could your birthday not be happy!" Ahh, good times...



I think the shirt says it all. I seem to have devoted my life to making sure they never forget how to laugh. As long as I keep my current face, somewhere, someone will have a good laugh.



Homey don't ya know me! Pretty good shot of Zach and I. He "found" a fitted Rangers cap at Camp Thurman when he went there last. I think they had too much stuff at lost and found and were only too eager to let someone have it.

Tomorrow I'm gonna try to get Zach and Emmy to get out of the house in the morning and do something they way we used to do years ago before we got too busy. Emmy and I used to go everywhere...literally. The Water Gardens, Botanical Gardens, the Downtown Barnes & Noble, a bunch of parks. Hopefully we can find something really fun to do. Some of my favourite times were getting up early on Saturday and just hitting the road and not knowing where we would end up. We usually ended up at a Starbucks for a morning treat. I hope she remembers some of these things when she's older. I have brief flashes of things like that and I really wish I could recall more of it.