Christmas Break

The Fall semester ended last week. It has taken me 5 days to decompress. Now to enjoy the rest of our break time (except for the time I will surely spend at work, of course).

Spent yesterday catching up on the to-do list. New baseboards are in the hall an coming to the rest of the house soon. (I mean SOON on a historical, glacial scale, not SOON as in "soon".

The kids are ready for Christmas. The Princess already has her new American Girl doll an The Talker has a new basketball goal These gifts came from my parents but were impossible to keep as a surprise.

And as far as surprises go, I revisited a moment of SAHD-ness recently when I had to get cash from The Boss Lady for her gift. I cracked under the interrogation and the surprise is blown. too.

Parade recap

We spent the morning at the Chuy's/Children Giving to Children/Blue Santa Parade. True, it may have the worst name ever in parade history, but it is also the greatest of all parades. For several reasons. One, it happens in Austin. Which is always cool. Two, the kids who attend the parade donate toys to the local Blue Santa program that is sponsored by our Police/Fire/EMS Departments. The toys are given to kids all over the area who otherwise might have nothing else to open on Christmas morning. And three, it is the one day a year that the kids can count on dad waking up way early. But really, it is about the balloons. This is the only parade all year that they use the big character balloons.

This year I hit downtown before 7am (several hours later that years past), but it was only 33 degrees out there, so I was confident that the crowd would be slow to form this year. And I was right! We still got our preferred viewing spot.

I loaded up the netbook and the cell phone, so I kept entertained with random Facebook posts and watching Groundhog Day on Netflix streaming, thanks to the wifi from the Starbucks across the street. The wait was a lot shorter this year, but much colder, so I would rate this as the toughest year yet.

Knowing that there are sometimes 100,000 people at this parade, I go downtown early and camp out on OUR spot. But we are always prepared for some fun while we wait. Last year the kids and I geocached downtown. This year it was chalk art in the street.

The Princess was proud of this drawing, her "Peace Sign Kitty"

The kids and I always stroll over to watch the crews blow up the balloons. This year they had Super Grover, King Prawn (?), The Grinch and the Coca-Cola Bear. The Princess was thrilled to see them inflating a My Little Pony balloon, but something must have happened with that one, it never made the trip down the parade route.

The pickup trucks stop at the end of the parade and the kids rush out to load them up with the donated toys.

Joe McDermott and his band. He is a local kids entertainer who the kids and I have stalked followed since they were babies.

The Biscuit Brothers and Buttermilk. From the PBS Show filmed right here in Cap City.

No PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIGE! :(

I'll admit, when I saw the weather report, I was not thrilled about sitting in a camp chair, freezing my fat butt off, just so the kids could see some parade. But at the last minute I decided to head downtown and park my blanket-wrapped carcass. The kids will be too grown up for all of this nonsense too soon so when the kids and The Boss showed up (with doughnuts, sausage kolaches and Dr Pepper) and they were bouncing around with excitement, then I was glad that we had continued this family tradition once more.

Patriotic Poetry Lucky for you it isn't mine

Yesterday afternoon the family and I were at a public event and the emcee recited a couple of nice pieces of poetry that seem highly appropriate to re-post on the Fourth of July. The first is called The American's Creed. It was written by William Tyler Page.

"I believe in the United States of America, as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.”

William Tyler Page, The American's Creed

A little more information about The American's Creed can be found here.


The second poem gives us all a moving and meaningful look at our flag. It is called Toast to the Flag and was penned by John Jay Daly.

Toast to the Flag by John Jay Daly

Here's to the red of it -
There's not a thread of it,
No, nor a shred of it
In all the spread of it
From foot to head,
But heroes bled for it,
Faced steel and lead for it,
Precious blood shed for it,
Bathing it red!

Here's to the white of it-
Thrilled by the sight of it,
Who knows the right of it
But feels the might of it
Through day and night?
Womanhood's care for it
Made manhood dare for it,
Purity's prayer for it
Keeps it so white!

Here's to the blue of it -
Beauteous view of it,
Heavenly hue of it,
Star-spangled dew of it
Constant and true;
Diadems gleam for it,
States stand supreme for it,
Liberty's beam for it
Brightens the blue!!

Here's to the whole of it -
Stars, stripes and pole of it,
Body and soul of it,
O, and the roll of it,
Sun shining through;
Hearts in accord for it,
Swear by the sword for it,
Thanking the Lord for it,
Red, White and Blue.

Have a fun and safe Fourth of July, everyone!

6

The Princess turned 6 today. And guessing by the way she fell asleep in about 39 seconds, I think she had a great birthday.

This weekend we were all over Texas, from Austin to Dallas and back again. But somewhere in the the crazy fun of hanging out with my brother and his family, my sister and her family and Mom and Dad a couple of times, we seemed to forget a couple of important things. Like buying birthday presents. Oooops.

We got home about 6pm on Sunday evening and The Boss and I had come up with a great plan to get the last of the birthday gear bought. It was a good plan and it would have worked. Except that when I came in from the 4 hours of driving, I sat on the couch for a few minutes and forgot about the plan.

About 10pm, when I was ready for bed, I headed to Wal-Mart to buy the presents. True, I could have shopped today, while the kids were in school, but I already felt bad enough about putting it off for that long, so I shopped in the dark.

The Princess loved her gifts and she could not have cared less if they had been purchased a week, or an hour, ago. But the highlight of the day may have been the cupcakes for breakfast. Since I was feeling guilty already, we had birthday cupcakes twice today. Once at breakfast, and again at dinner. I figured I could redeem myself with pink cupcakes.

And you know what? I was right! The Princess said she "had a great birfday." Which is all that really mattered today.

The boy is 8!

The Talker is now 8 years old. And he says it has been a great birthday, maybe even "the best ever"!

We are bypassing the big birthday party extravaganzas for the kids this year, in favor of smaller, more family focused (meaning cheaper!) events. Besides that, I turn 40 this year and I want to have the cool party!

Last night The Talker picked the dinner venue and he got to take one of his best buddies. The Talker chose to have his birthday dinner at our favorite steakhouse. That's my boy! We celebrated a day early since the boy's basketball team practices on Wednesday evenings and The Talker could not be dissuaded from attending practice.


This morning, before school, he got to open one gift. The Boss Lady, little sister and I picked out a Dallas Cowboys football set for his gift from the family. The Talker loves to play pretend football games in the backyard. He dresses in all of his gear, runs plays, scream and yells and even keeps score.

The Talker has several team jerseys and t-shirts, but so far his only football helmet has been from a Houston Texans play set that he has had for a couple of years. Now he can dress like a real winner! Ironically, I ordered the set from Meijer, who does not even have a store in Texas as far as I know, for $20 less than I could pick the same gear up locally.

Today at lunchtime I visited the kids at school, celebratory chocolate covered donuts in hand. Then for dinner I whipped up one of the kid's favorite meals, pork chops, mashed taters and green beans. OK, the kids could do without the green beans. The Boss Lady made an awesome birthday cake and we chowed down after basketball practice.

Considering we started this party at dinnertime yesterday and things are just now winding down, 28 hours later, I think The Talker's 8th birthday will be one for his memory book!

Here comes another year

I was just taking a glance back at the blog. I realize that I haven't posted as much lately, but sometimes I just gots nothing to say. Anyone who knows me will tell you that is never true. But I seem to know a lot of liars :)

Anyways, on to the Christmas update:

The Princess has been begging me to build a dollhouse for two years.
I didn't build it, but I did assemble the "Barbie Mansion."

The Talker wasn't too sure that there really was an iPod hidden in the bag of M&Ms.
And he wanted to know where the rest to the displaced M&Ms had gone.

Santa's belly, where else?

And because you knew I could not do a post without it,
a gratuitous egg picture. My hens are laying like crazy, making up for lost time I guess.

This is only 3 days worth of their eggs.

Other than all of this fun and egg-citement, we had a low key Christmas break. A couple of quick trips to Dallas and Ft Worth kept us on the road a little bit, but mainly the kids have played at home as much as they like.

A side note and some foreshadowing of the next topic to be beaten like an egg salad: You see what I did there? Planning is now underway for the Spring Break Backpacking trip 2.0. I am starting to decide where The Talker and I will venture next. Since last year's trip was a wet mess, we might venture back to the Sam Houston National Forest.

Fastest cleaning in West Austin

A co-worker of The Bass Lady's just called. The two of them have been working on a project for a while. Turns out the co-worker, with her family, are stopping by in about 10 minutes.

They are coming to our house.

On the day after a bunch of my family left.

And my family leaves a disaster in it's wake any time the herd goes away. I was planning to spend much of next week getting the house back in order. But we managed to get the public parts of the house "clean enough" in less time than it took the friends to drive across town. And I have to say, for 10 minutes work, it looks pretty good.

But no fair peeking in the garage or master bedroom, where the clutter was thrown while we were "cleaning".

Clean up day

Here is how the modern, urban chicken farmer rids himself of unwanted post-Halloween pumpkins.

Happy Trick or Drunk!

A year or two back I stole Halloween back from the kids. I started serving frozen margaritas to the parents as they cruised by. Honestly, we have to have some gimmick. We live on the "retired end" of a long cul-de-sac and never have gotten many Trick-or-Treat-ers. Last year the word was out and we were a hit!

The neighbors seem to have either gotten the idea or they got offended. There are several other outdoor parties tonight. So I had to find a niche once again. The hook this year? 2 TVs for college football AND margaritas.

Oh yeah, there is some candy, glow sticks and plastic bugs for those of the non-drinking age, too. Also, just to be safe, Bugs Bunny isn't drinking tonight, so he is driving the bar.

Bring on the Trick-or-Treat-ers

We never go too crazy with holiday decorations around here, but I can't resist a little something for Halloween. Add to that, Pops brought us two big floats that had drifted ashore on Matagorda Island and the kids and I could not resist.

I bet we have the biggest pumpkins in the neighborhood this year!

Besides that, who else has a ghost made of a bed sheet, a beach towel, a soccer ball and a couple of zip ties?

The (un)ususal holiday weekend

The Boss Lady works in a different school district than the one that The Talker attends. And the two systems don't often agree on calendars. The biggies, like Spring Break in March and Christmas Break usually match up, but the other, smaller holidays often don't.

Tonight was one of those rare Sunday nights followed by a Monday off of school for The Talker and The Boss Lady. The Princess and I are always home on Mondays since her school is only a 4 day a week program. So we all stayed up late and partied like rock stars in our backyard.

We strung some half working leftover Christmas lights over the playscape and lit a fire on the patio. Some friends stopped by and the kids had a great time in their night time fantasy land.


And tomorrow we are carrying on the festivities by giving the dog a bath.


Like rock stars, I tell ya. Really old, boring rock stars.

Welcome back to the routine

It is official, the holidaze are over. The Talker started back to school this morning and I drove the carpool. That is always a good way to wake yourself out of a three week slumber! The Boss Lady was back at her school on Monday. And The Princess and I start back in the morning. By Friday I'll be begging for a day off.

I had not even walked into our kitchen for the entire break. Yesterday I spent more than two hours cleaning and straightening everything out. After having The Boss Lady running the kitchen for almost three weeks, I had to reorganize the entire place so I could put away the groceries and find food for lunch.

You know, my buddies often ask me if this Stay at Home Dad thing is for real. My answer? Yep, this really is my life. After having someone doing the cooking for most of a month I just spent the better part of a day bitching and moaning because the kitchen was a disorganized mess. Pretty sad, no?

Welcome to my life.

Now I am off to do some laundry. If I can find my way out to the washer and dryer. It has been a long time, after all.

Christmas, check.

The presents are opened and the wrapping paper and boxes recycled. All of the grandparents have now sufficiently spoiled our children. The Boss Lady is now iPod rich, after she got one from her momma and one from her favorite husband.

Good times.

Next week we pack the stuff back into the attic and gear up for the rest of the school year.

C'mon summer time!

The quick highlights:

The Wifey - iPods
The Boy - Mario Kart
The Girl - Littlest Pet Shops a plenty
The Me - The world's hardest to set watch (And all of the cool kid's stuff.)

From one holiday to another

This afternoon, while I was putting out all of the lights and decorations in the yard, I finally decided that our Halloween pumpkin had seen enough time on our front porch. This was not one of the carved jack-o-lanterns, those were on the compost pile just a day or two later. This pumpkin was one that The Talker decorated with markers. So it was not rotting.

Yet.

Anyways, I broke the pumpkin open and let the chickens have at it. Need to entertain a flock of 2 month old chickens? Give them a busted pumpkin. They worked that gourd over for a couple of hours.

The lights are on. And The Boss Lady is home.

The wife was smart enough to get revenge this morning. I was sick and skipped church last week. So she pretended to be sick and skipped church this morning. Taking the kids to church solo is always an exercise in religious persecution. Keeping two kids from wiggling out of their seats is always fun. Much more when you can't yell at them to get the job done.

After church I went and hid in the one place kids aren't allowed at our house. The roof.

It took me many extra trips and lots of extra cussing to get the lights and Christmas decorations hung this year. But the job is finished. Lighted wreath, check. Polar bear inflatable, check. Tigger and Winnie the Pooh inflatable, check. Six strands of lights, got 'em.

But the best part of my set up? The remote control on/of switch that controls everything at once. I bought the system a few years ago and it rules! I have a little key fob remote that controls all of the Christmas lights at our house. No more running outside in pajamas to unplug lights when it starts to rain.

After I finished up with the decorations, the kids and I loaded up and took Marge for a cruise around the neighborhood. The weather is perfect and we wanted to make good use of a perfect December afternoon.

Pictures to follow tonight, once it gets dark enough to capture the full spectacle that is our yard.

Hail, hail the gangs all here

The AtHomeFam plus my parents are here already. 2 hours until parade time. Bring on the band.

Where is that parade?

Been here almost 2 hours. Still no parade. Or competition for viewing space. But the towing of cars away from the street has begun!

So at least I have cool stuff to watch.

Black Friday update

The AtHomeFamily did not do our civic due diligence today. We did not shop. Sorry if your stocks tank on Monday.

Well, that isn't exactly correct, The Queen Mother and The Boss Lady did battle went to the grocery store. That ate up a couple of hours of their day, but the nice thing is that afterwards the rest of us ate like kings (or at least court jesters).

Later in the day the kids, cousins, Bro and the wives and I headed over to the mall. Still, we did not shop. Instead we bounced.

The mall by us has a bouncer gym. So we walked in the side entrance, bounced, made one quick jaunt to the Disney store and then we bounced back for some more fun. All told we were at the mall less than 3 hours. Even found parking on the front row.

When we got home we ate more. And after that we snacked and had dessert.

So we busted the food budget, but we did not really prop up the economy today. But it sure was awesome hanging out all day with Mom and Dad and my siblings.

Good times.

Stuffing, check. Turkey, check. Laptops, check

I am hanging outside at our family reunion. No, I didn't get kicked out again. But they do have it inside of a metal building and the public wi-fi from the park across the street is weak. So no reception indoors.

A cousin is sitting in Ohio today and I promised him that I would bring a laptop to see if there was any net access out here in the sticks. I assumed there would be an open router or two around here, but I was pleasantly surprised when I found that there is also public access wi-fi in the little city park across the street.

I'll bring you updates if anyone gets too rambunctious, gets wild and drunk or starts a fight. Otherwise I'll be eating. See you after I gain another 15.

Happy chicken stew day!

Everybody does a nice Thanksgiving lunch. But hardly anyone knows how to finish up the day properly.

Luckily I am married to one of the people in the know. It is all about the chicken stew.

See, we do a big family reunion at lunchtime on Thanksgiving, cousins, aunts, uncles, several generations. But the real fun comes at AtHomeFamily Land, after lunch.

That is when The Queen Mother and Dad come over along with my siblings (and one who might or might not be a sibling- My So Called Aunt) and all of their families. 20 people hanging out, watching The Cowboys whip the Seahawks and then The Longhorns beat up on a bunch of poor Aggies.

The best part of the day? The gloating after the big win. The Aggies around here will have a lot to live down.

Second best? The chicken stew that has been cooking all day long. The Boss Lady and the kids worked on the stew for several hours this morning. It cooked all day. The super-duper sized stock pot is almost overflowing.

I skipped my usual chicken stew pre-meal sampling tonight. The pot was already in the refrigerator before I got to the kitchen. But please do not worry, I'll be the first in line, right after I finish eating some turkey.