Yes, that time of year has come when every kid must actually take a bath, and actually put on not only clean clothes, but nice clean clothes. Here is Emmy's last class picture she will have at JB Little:
Aww, she looks great. Always cracks me up how there are kids that think dressing up means getting their nicest t-shirt out of the dirty clothes hamper and putting them in the dryer to "freshen them up".
Here's Zach:
Not sure why the hang dog look on his face. He's so sensitive sometimes. Somewhere there's a woman who will be able to channel that for him in the right direction.
Emmy also finished up her last soccer season...maybe forever...:
I think she enjoyed playing soccer as long as it was fun. But this league was all about playing perfectly and any mistake was magnified and she just didn't want any part of it. I don't blame her.
I remember when I would have those class pictures taken. One year I wore a shirt that said "Seattle" on it. All the letters were on a different colored umbrella. Another year I think I wore either a Popeye shirt or an Incredible Hulk shirt. Seems like no one ever knew it was actually picture day.
Well, not so much a car, but more of a behemoth! On 5-4-2013 we made a trip to Carmax to test drives some minivans, but not necessarily to buy one. Well, we found the one. The. One. A 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan with 28,000+ miles on it, and fully loaded. DVD Flip down screen:
...which is really cool because Zach and Emmy can watch movies during those long drives, say to Dallas, or Fort Worth, or the 7-11 a third of a mile from our house.
Man, just look at that dash! A lot fanicer then my 1997 Sentra. Then again, anything is fanicer then my 1997 Sentra. Anything. You name it.
I like the display. Looks like something Captain America would drive!
What's cool is I can open both sliding doors and the trunk door with the remote! Plus I can start the van form the remote so if it's hot I can get it started ahead of time and cool it off before we even get inside. That will definitely come in handy this summer. Gets a little toasty around here in July.
So what happened to the Sentra you may be wondering? Well, calm down and I'll tell you. My cousin Moriah, all of 18 years old and in need of a cheap, cheap, cheap car, decided that $500 was a fair price to buy the car I've been driving since Clinton was in office. So, I sold it to her...and explained all the little quirks and habits that you must know about in order to drive it. Hopefully her brother can work those things out and she can get another 16 years out of it! 205,000 miles...and counting.
Yes, it is that time of year when the kids of JB Little take the field to compete in such heat-exhausting events as the 75 yard dash and tug of war! It's also the time of year when I actually get to use my sick days! Usually in May and September. If ya got em' use em', I say. Now Emmy's been doing this for a while, but this was Zach's year to truly shine! Here he is running the 40 yard dash:
Second place ribbon!! That's my little Usain Bolt!! Or Carl Lewis...depending which generation you're from.
Hula hoop!! He lasted longer than some of the kids but hips don't lie.
Me: "Okay Zach, the idea is to pull the rope harder than the other team!"
Zach: "Gee, ya think!? Get over here and help me!"
Me: "Gee, I would, but it wouldn't be fair to the other team dude..."
Zach: "Always a technicality with you, eh Pop?"
Afterwards, I went and got the Saturn inspected and brought both of them lunch:
Zach had McDonald's, Emmy had Subway. That's a lot of driving in one hour!
Then, Friday, it was Emmy's turn to shine:
Here they had to work a hula hoop down the chain of kids while they all held hands. The boy sure doesn't seem very enthused at having to hold Emmy's hand. Eh, what does he know. I couldn't get a picture of Emmy getting the hula hoop because her teacher chose to stand in front of each kid as they were moving the hula hoop. Some people...geez.
Emmy: "Hey Dad, how far did I kick the soocer ball?"
Me: "Let's see...official measurement is three feet!"
Emmy: "That's all!? I demand a recount!"
Me: "Judges? What? Two feet? Aw man..."
Here Emmy is in the shuttle relay! They won this event if I recall correctly. She's a lot like me. Not a fan of running but once we start we can usually smoke the competition.
I managed to get the garage organized quite a bit. Lots of stuff sitting around not serving a purpose, so out it goes! Found a couple of things people had been looking for, which usually happens when things get put up. Was a fun four days though. Went to Starbucks like, a lot, and Mom and Keri even came out to watch Zach and Emmy's games! Always nice to step away from the office for a while.
A lot of humourous things happened over the last week or so...first of all...
My horn...all 16+ years of it...decided to start honking by itself anytime it felt like it. Sure, everyone else got a big kick out of it, but it was embarrasing driving the kids to school and everyone looking over like "What did I do to you? I'm not in your way!". What you see here is me disconnecting the horn. I was hoping the problem would sort of go away on its own. I'm procrastinatoristic like that.
I had heard about this for a whilebut couldn't find the clip until now. Apparently Harrison Ford had some choice words for Chewbacca for fooling around with his wife ha ha. Who knew?
Me: "Hey Keenan, can I have some of that turkey leg?"
Keenan: "Um...I don't have very much left..."
Me: "Ohh...cuz...it looks like you have about 3 lbs. of meat on that bad boy..."
Keenan: "What can I say, I'm re-e-e-ally hungry..."
My Photoshopping skills notwithstanding, I wish they sold these things at ACE volleyball center. It's a long 2 hours sometimes. And those metal chairs don't help either. But I like watching Emmy play volleyball. She brings an intensity none of the other girls seem to have. Hopefully that will translate to good teamwork.
Grandma turned 85 this week!! I didn't take any pictures, namely because it's one hectic meal with everyone running around. I took a picture of Dad and his kids with Grandma:
