"It's Christmas Time...In The City..."

Yes, the time for egg nog, caroling, and gift-giving and buying as rapidly approaching us! As anyone who reads this blog o mine knows, my favourite time of the year has always been Christmas. One of the few Christmas memories I can recall was when I was around 16...or maybe 17...not sure. I actually watched my sister open every single one of her presents and then re-wrap them and then look surprised when she opened them up again. Oh what an acting performance I witnessed that morning. Meryl Streep would be so impressed she would have given her one of her Oscars.

Moving on...

Finally got our tree up!



Gotta love two kids that can set it up and decorate it all by themselves! I strung the lights with care, but they did the rest. They're so awesome. So awesome that we took them to Six Flags (along with Emmy's friend Ryann who now seems to be campaigning to be my third kid ha ha):



This could have been a better shot had an iPhone not been used. They sure know how to light up the place.



Schweddy Balls ice cream? Leave it to Ben And Jerry's to capitalize on a Saturday Night Life sketch from 15 years ago.



A lifesize nativity scene? Check. I like this shot due to the light hitting it in just the right way.



This shot is pretty cool. They ran green lights all the way to the top of the orange tower.

Well, my lovely Sentra is more than likely entering the final stages of its' life. Firestone wants like $1,000 to fix everything. Daniel is looking at it tonight to see if there's anything he can do. But hey, I got 11+ years out of it, and that's more than a lot of people get out of a car. Cari has assured me we can swing a car payment if we need to, and I really want a new one. Or, at least, one that wasn't built in the last millenium. Soon...soon...

"Thanksgiving Time...is here..."

And not a moment too soon! A four day weekend is always welcome, but after a 24 day Advocare cleanse in which we couldn't eat anything yummy, Thanksgiving lunch was very welcome. We went over to aunt Candy's house in Waxahachie and there was quite a bit of the family there. I wish we could get together more than twice a year. Maybe we should all try to do that more often. Anyhoo...I brought the camera and took a few pix:



There's a lot of animosity between Mom and Uncle Tom in this picture. Right before I took this picture Mom and Tom were arguing over who was a better Prime Minister for England, Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair.



Fortunately, they made up by agreeing to disagree. Man, just one Thanksgiving without having to hear that argument would be my grown up...Christmas...wish.





Croquet! Aunt Candy bought a croquet set and Zach and Emmy just loved playing with it. Maybe ol' Santa should bring one for the family and leave it under the ol' tree...eh?



Tony decided we all wanted to relive our glory days and play some touch football. Well, we played about 20 minutes and then we all did this. I guess everybody gets older. I appreciate the back rub Emmy gave me though.

But the day before that, we went to Dave and Buster's in the Highlands:



Here Zach is trying to play the greatest video game of all...Dance Dance Revolution! I've played it with Emmy before a couple of times at Alley Cats, but Zach was hopping everywhere like a crazy person. At least here he was getting points for doing it ha ha.



Emmy's friend Ryann is in the background. She seems about as silly as Emmy is, which is probably why they get along so well. There's a whole story behind all of that. Long story short, one of Emmy's former friends pretty much turned on her and things may not ever be the same between them again. We've encouraged her to reach out to this person to try and see if there's anything left to mend. Who knows...

Emmy has started volleyball again! I had my camera all ready to take some good action shots only to have the batteries die after like three pictures. Here's a pic...literally:



Emily: "Watch out everyone, I'm serving the ball NOW!!!!"
Me: "You don't have to shout that everytime you serve!"
Emily: "But...what if they're not paying attention and someone gets hit in the eye?"
Me: "Are you kidding? You'll probably win the point."

It's gotten really cold the last week or so. I'm going to be getting the tree up and lit and the house lights on as well. Emmy always gets the tree all set up for me. I sure do appreciate her. Zach always helps get the ornaments on the tree. I appreciate him as well. Cari always goes out on Black Friday and shops till she drops so that she can get the best deal. I always appreciate her, even if she thinks I don't ha ha. Every Christmas I always try to make it better than last year. Even if I can't, at least I tried. Different candles, different decorations for the house...I even cleaned out the fireplace in the hopes that we might light a fire this year. This year I'm going to try and recap some of my favourite Christmas memories if I haven't done so already. It's hard to believe that was such a long time ago...and there's no way to relive it at all. Just brief flashes of gifts...too brief.

"All About Sparky!"

Who the heck is that?

Well, calm down and I'll tell you. Sparky is the Build-A-Bear turtle that all the kids in Zach's class have to take care of for a weekend. Well, no one takes care of a plush animal quite like Zach does. And by that, I mean I find all of his either behind his bed or under his bed or stuffed in hard to reach areas. Well, he took care of this one a bit better:



Here we are at Genghis Grill after what was probably the worst day of my life. Cari and I had a bad argument that morning and I was mad about it all day. I went to the mall at lunch and when I was about to leave my car's alternator pooped out and I was stranded. No one...no one could come by and pick me up so I had to call Cari. Well, needless to say, she wasn't in any mood to help me out. But, she came and got me and we got my car to Firestone and they fixed it. Plus, thanks to the NRH police giving me a ticket for expired inspection, I managed to get that fixed too! Took three days of driving around but the oil change place across the street finally got it to pass. Ugh...long week.



Just what every kid needs: a stuffed turtle, a shotgun, and the remote control.



I asked Zach to strike a soccer pose and he gives me Karate Kid. Oy. Sparky looks like he's having fun though.

Emmy played in her very last soccer game as well. She says she's done with soccer. She didn't have the greatest season. When it's hard to run and all these girls are just flying by you it takes its toll on the ol' ego. Probably why I only played one season of soccer. Nothing like a big fat man is short orange shorts screaming at you that you're not playing the right position ever. Which I wasn't. I had no idea what I was doing out there. Just run and kick blindly. Anyways...we had the soccer party at CiCi's, where else?:


Emily: "Coach Amy, I can't breathe! Can you please move your hair?"
Amy: "Quiet kid, your dad's trying to get the 'perfect picture'!"
Emily: "Hurry and take the picture Dad! I only have 30 seconds of air left!"
Me: "Hold on, I just need about 35 more seconds to get this shot..."


Aww, that's a better shot of Emmy. Not sure what the woman in the back is looking at. Maybe checking me out? Can't say I blame her ha ha.
So Emmy says she is done with soccer. But she's really good at volleyball and softball! I was good in those sports as well. Still am if you ask me. I just don't play them as much as I used to. Maybe there's a league for people like me somewhere. But at least Emmy gave it her all for over 5 years on the soccer field, and that's about all you can ask from your kid. Well, that and good grades. Love me some good grades.

"Zach is How Old!?"

SEVEN!

Geez, where does the time go? Seems like just yesterday Zach was learning how to walk and not scream his head off when he didn't get his way. Well, he's still working on one of those things, I'll let you figure out which one heh. But now that Zach is seven, now I can really wrestle with him without constant fear of breaking him in half. Not that I want to hurt him mind you, but I'd rather him take me on if he gets a fighting urge rather than someone at school. I was never much of a fighter in school, but there was a time when I managed to get some revenge. I'll tell it later at some point. Moving on...we had Zach's party at Pump It Up! Lots of loud kids running around like crazy people. Good times...



Zach: "Hey Dad, who am I doing an impression of?"
Me: "Um...Guy Smiley?"
Zach: "No man, it's a department store mannequin!"
Me: "Now how am I supposed to guess that?"



Dylan asked me to take a picture of her doing a back flip. Well, I took almost 20 pictures before I got this one. She's one fast kid.



I asked both of them to smile and I get that ha ha. We tease Zach sometimes that Cheslea is his "girlfriend", and who knows, maybe at some point they may be just that. I try not to do that though, cuz I hated it when my parents did that to me the one time I actually showed interest in a girl. Geez, that was...28 years ago? Have I told that story lately? Ah well...



Aww, the gang's all here to enjoy all the snacks Cari got together! We had Chex mix, apples, carrots, and of course...cake!



We couldn't find a Power Rangers cake so we got an Avengers cake! Hey, the next best thing, right? When I asked Zach what he wished for, he goes, "A better mom and dad!". Not his finest moment, but what kid says the right thing all the time, right? Certainly not mine ha ha.

And now...some gifts:



A Legos garbage truck!! I told my dad to get this for him since Zach's interest in Legos was semi-renewed by going to Legoland last week.



A Nerf crossbow! The darts this thing fires are huge! I think Zach alreday broke this thing unfortunately. You aim this at someone and they'll back down right away! Zach's already hit me in the back a couple of times without me knowing.



This thing is pretty cool. It makes a sound when you throw it like a bomb being launched! We have kept ourselves busy before Emmy's soccer games with this thing.



Ahh, the Overall men together again! I think I'll have this one printed up and give it to ol' Dad as a Christmas present. I should give more presents like this to people.

Well, now that Zach has had his birthday extraordinare, who's birthday is next? Oh yeah...it's mine!! Numero 38 just on the horizon. Geez...seems like such an old age. I'm thinking back to when my parents turned 38...I was 16 when Dad hit it and 18 when Mom hit it. We had just gotten back from Canada. All I could think about was how if I could manage to not uproot my family and go to Canada I'd feel like a pretty good dad. Now that I look back on everything, I really doubt Dad's grand plans for his family included going north of the border. He did what he had to do. How far do some parents go to ensure their family is taken care of? Some do it right, others do it wrong. By wrong I mean stealing or lying because you think you have to. You should never have to resort to things like that. So far I haven't, i don't think. Let's keep it that way.

"One Eventful Week!"

Why is it that half of the kids that Zach knows has a birthday in October?? Makes for a long month of birthday parties. But this one was pretty cool. Zach's friend Nicholas had his 7th party at a place all of us have been trying to go for a while but haven't. Talking about Legoland! We tried to go last year and there was a line out the door. A few pix:



Here Zach is putting together a car that can be raced down these raceways:



He managed to win a few, due to his car was streamlined and not two feet high like some of the other kids ha ha.



A Lego-made Dirk Nowitzki? Believe it! I would estimate it took about 4,000-5,000 to make this. Zach looks short by comparison...but I guess we could say that about anyone eh?



The two of them are literally like nitroglycerin. I had to make Zach come over twice and sit in time out because he was a little too wild. Boys will be boys I guess.

And now...on to Miniland! The Legoland folks decided to create an entire exhibit of their favourite Texas landmarks together and create this little city:



Cowboys Stadium! Wow, it's just like being at the real stadium...except I didn't need $800 to park and buy tickets.



Looks like the players on this field are having a better season than the real Rangers. Why? It's October and they're still playing!



Great Wolf Lodge! Me and Zach have never been here so we don't know what we're missing. You can miss a lot for $400 a night.



Me: "Okay Zach, say cheese!"
Zach: "Um, I'm behind you Dad."
Me: "Really? Then who is this in front of me?"
Zach: "I had a Lego replica built of me!"
Me: "Wow...that's really good!"

Sunday we went to yet another birthday party. Gage and Zach have known each other for about 3 years and we never turn down a chance to go to Country Critters! Emmy sure had a fun time:



No, that wasn't a real ear of corn. I wonder where she gets her silliness from sometimes.



Kissing a scarecrow? Is that what we've sunk to when we have to do this in order to get laughs? Actually it was pretty funny. All Emmy.

Then, Wednesday...Halloween!! Zach decided to be a Power Ranger since apparently they're the greatest thing in the world right now! Emmy decided to be Catness Eberdeen from Hunger Games:



Pretty scary yes? I myself was terrified. They managed to get a good haul of candy since we went to their cousin Ethan and Dylan's neighborhood. They know how to give and give.

Afterwards we went to said cousin's house so Zach could open some presents!



A paper airplane kit? Well, Zach has been making paper airplanes constantly and sometimes they fly, sometimes not. But this thing that I found at Barnes and Noble for only $15, is perfect for him. Teach him how to make em right by golly.



A new UnderArmour shirt! Zach just loves these. He thinks it shows off his incredible muscular physique. Maybe one day it will ha ha.



A new Power Ranger! His first one actually. Hopefully we can keep this one together for a while. Not sure what Cindy is doing. Maybe reminiscing about those days gone by...

Saturday Zach is having his big-time party at Pump It Up! Haven't met a kid yet who doesn't like this place. Especially Zach. He can never stay still for very long when there's bounce houses to jump on. I'm really proud of him for doing well in first grade and not getting in trouble. If anyone knows how to get in trouble it's me. Kid you not, I got a paddling in school once a year while I was in Fairmeadows. I never told my parents about any of them until years later and then they were like "No you didn't...". Ah well. One time I found an old cigarette lighter in the grass so I decided to try and light grass on fire, which was impossible since it was out of fluid. Not my best decision, mind you. Well, this dumb girl decided to snitch on me and, well...you know what happened. Good thing some parts of your life go by faster than others. It's more fun to look back and laugh than to live it now and feel bad.