20110228 + Playground & iPhone

20110228 - Up and boys off to school.  Had an early call, not so great.  Focused on the PC all morning.  Took a walk and ate an orange, wind was COLD in my face on the way back to the house and L blew her horn at me scaring me and the guy I was talking to on the phone. Ran to the bank, returned some DVDs and shipped Arno's Apple TV to him.  Home back to the desk and testing my brains out.  On last late call... D&I to his Boy Scout event. Home, straight to Bible Bangers.  Pretty heated discussion tonight...

20110227 + Up, cleand up, L&D to church. J&G cleaned up the mess in the basement; I got to give them 1 spanking for each LEGO I found left on the floor :-) Went through the paper, J playing guitar & G football. Then we played some hide-n-seek. L&D home. We got some lunch. I got some desk work done, G got a short nap, J dressed like Dracula, D practiced free throws, L got groceries. All back together and off to D&J's Basketball award ceremonies. J got a nice trophy and I got to go up on the stage with D. Home and the boys and I went back to the playground to shot some hoops and enjoy not being frozen while outside. Gma&paW came down an we all went and got some dinner. Back home and GpaW and I in the office getting his new iPhone set up. We got the basics set up and all magically syncing with the Google cloud.

20110226 - House Shopping :-)

20110226 - Up, Jeff picked up D&I and we went to look at an investment property. Home, gathered all boys and to J's basketball game; he got 2 buckets.  Got L's prescription, fixed Jeff's sink, got a pizza.  Home and relaxed / hung out a bit.  The boys & I to Easton. Got an Apple TV for Arno. LEGO store and the boys each bought something with their own $. We stopped in to Nordstrom's and chatted with our cousin Lucia. Stopped and got hot chocolate and a 40 pack of 'Tim Bits' doughnut holes for dinner. Home and all LEGOs assembled, doughnuts eaten. Back out for D's basketball game. It was a good game but they still lost. Home and watched 'RED', all boys to bed, watched 'Sideways' w/ L.


20110225 + Short work

20110225 - Up and at the desk all day long. Things not so fantastic work-wise, even for the short week it was... L home not feeling well. I took all the boys out to get movies and dinner. Home, ate, watched 'Mastermind'. All to bed pretty early.

20110224 - Up very busy day at work, strange things going on...  G had soccer today after school.  D sent to his room, missed dinner...  Dinner then G&I went out and registered D for spring baseball, got gas and candy.  Home played UNO attack with LJ&G. D still in his room...  Watched 'American Idol' and 'Grays Anatomy'.

20110223 + back to work :-(  stressful day, late calls.  Boys home, nice dinner.  D to basketball, JG&I played chess and checkers and watched 'American Idol'.

20110222 - Pins flying

20110222 - Up, L into work, the boys and I at home. Ivo & Hans over for a short discussion and making plans for the afternoon.  J&I to tax accountant, D&G home alone :-o Home with lunch and all ok. Ivo & Hans back, did some work, then played Wii with the boys. Hans & Ivo headed back to ORD.  J&I reading books and caught a cat nap.  All out for a nice dinner at Max and Erma's. Home and watched the A-team.  All boys to bed, watched 'Frantic' with L (sleeping).
End of a long, fast and good weekend.

20110221 - Gun & Blizzards

20110221 -Up in the am and the visitors from Holland showed up.  They showed me what they have been working on and it looks really cool.  I packed the car up; Hans rode shotgun, Ivo, Joe, LDJ&G got in the back.  We headed north to visit our friends at Spazzmonkey.   L and the boys stayed at the Farm and played, GpaW went with us to Spazzmonkey and all talked shop for a couple hours. Then back to the farm where we did some gun shooting in the blizzard like conditions.  The boys from the Netherlands did pretty good.  We had pizza in the farmhouse and then headed home on a very stressful drive down 71.  I have never seen it that bad before.  It took us 2.5 hours, a stop to clean the windshield off once and Hans had his hand out the window scraping as I continued driving :-o  We made it home just in time to set up the garage for a MasterMind Garage meeting.  Here Hans and Ivo showed there stuff to the guys and we had good discussion.  A long and very productive day.



20110220 - Marching

20110220 - Up and all to church, DJ&I in out Scout uniforms.  Had a really good Sunday School class today.  Home for lunch and watched 'For A Few Dollars More'.  We caught some naps, cleaned up house in anticipation of our guests arrival.  I Helped D with writing his story, spent only a short time at desk to catch up.  Out with the fam and watched 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'.  Played some games.  DJ&G upset Hans and Ivo couldn't get here before they went to bed.  Pretty nice relaxing productive day.

20110219 + A Lot in a day

20110219 + Up for J's 8am basketball game.  Lunch w/ all at Bob Evans.  Home put Lego together w/ G. D to a bday party, L got groceries, J&I cut the ornamental grasses down for Spring.  Then G&I had our first game of baseball on tha backyard diamond for the 2011 season :-)  In to get cleaned up and rest a bit b4 D's basketball game tonight.  To D's game and were surprised to meet Gma&paW there along with Louise and Paulette.  D's team got SKUNKED in the game...  Afterwords we picked up some dinner at the City Barbecue and home to eat and have some dessert and conversation.  All boys to bed, L&I watched a movie.

20110218 - D the BOY Scout

20110218 - Odd things going on at work...  Took a break for a planning lunch with Jeff & Chris.  Rushed back to work.  Ran out the door at 5 to help set up for the Blue and Gold banquet tonight.  It was a great night.  LDJG&I, Gma&paW and Gma&paB showed up for the banquet.  There were some nice presentations.  J got a very rare Recruiter patch and much applause and my little boy D crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts tonight.  Those 5 years went REALLY FAST....  Very proud of him for sticking with it and deciding to go on to Boy Scouts.  Home and Gma&paB stayed the night.  We stayed up late talking and laughing.

20110217 + Biz e days

20110217 - DAY OFF!!!!!  :-) And what made today even cooler was I got to go to Biztown with D and all his 5th grade classmates.  I got to help the kids run a business and it was really cool. They all had separate jobs and list of things they had to get done in a day.  They elected a Mayor (Seth) and got to deposit money and write checks.  I got to eat lunch with D and it was a really cool event and a good break.
G had soccer today, L got her carpets cleaned.  DJ&I hit the bank and the Apple store.  D strenght & Agility training tonight.  J&I designed his pinewood derby car.  I played the Wii with J&G and Watched American Idol, Gray's Anatomy. TIRED.

20110216 + Work stressful again today...  Ate, took D&2 of his friends to basketball practice and worked in the car.

20110215 - Drip Drip Drip...

20110215 - Up and at the desk.
G had valentines party at school.
D home late from school, he late study island,
J home late from school, he was jumping rope,
Another full day at work...  dinner.  After dinner I took the sap bucket and hung it on a tree in the backyard.  It is amazing to me.  Drip Drip Drip...  it just works, the sap drips out of the trees, year after year.  It doesn't care about work or who is hanging the bucket.  It just drips...  In to play the Wii, G SCREAMING about every game...  ice cream, more G screaming about the ice cream...  showers, G sreaming about shower... Joe over to start setting up the crosseyed church.


20110214 - Worked all day...  Unleashed at the Bible Bangers and had fun with it tonight.

20110213 + Guns 4 All!

20110213 + Up and out shopping.  Today we are looking for guns :-)  We went to a couple stores to compare prices and by the end of the day everyone got a new gun; EVEN LORI!!!  Home and the boys out testing theirs int he backyard.  L's friends stopped over and she went to a basketball game with them, the boys and I hung out and went to a Scout meeting and had dinner.  All back home to relax and get ready for a busy week.  Jeff & Chris over, we talked and played poker.

20110212 - Cya l8r Bud

20110212 - All up in the morning and dressed up.  Up to Delaware OH to the church where D&J were both baptized for L's Gpa Kraft's funeral.  It was good to see everyone but it was of course a sad day.  It was a nice service and GpaB read a note out of Lori's blog in remembrance of Bud.  We took him to the graveyard and I stayed in the car with the boys due to the loads of snow and ice everywhere.  We went back to the church for some lunch and then headed home.
Home and we got the garage ready for another meeting of the MasterMind Garage.  It was a smaller crowd tonight due to the weather but still a really good meeting.

20110211 - D Wins 1

20110211 - Up and another flat out fast wild ride of a day. As soon as I finished the STRESS day we jumped in the car to go to D's basketball game. No rest there, they needed a score keeper... Ugh. It was a really close game the entire time and in the last moments the boys got the lead and held it for just long enough to get their first victory! Now a quick stop at the grocery and a sub place, I didn't want subs..., for dinner. Home, watched the A-team w/ my boys and then kissed them all good night.

D&J had their valentines parties today. L went in to help. G played football while I was on the phone working.

20110210 - Bud

20110210 - Rang awake by a call. Sad news on the line. Howard 'Bud' Kraft, Lori's grandpa, left us this morning. I remember him as a very nice happy man and always will. We stumbled through our days and rushed through our dinner. I took D to strength training and then rushed to a scout meeting: the last Cub Scout meeting D will ever attend. For many years I walked with him through the ranks of Cub Scout. From here on he walks alone as a Boy Scout. I'll be close behind though. D and I stopped for coffee and cocoa for a minute. Just to stop. To look eachother in the eye. The rushing one day for all does stop. We need to look at eachother.



PS - Exactly 4 years ago today Grandma Winger led the way.

20110209 - Showboys

20110209 - Up in the am and on the show room floor. Had a couple of meetings and good prospects. Hung out until after lunch them packed up and headed to the airport. L called early today and her Gpa Kraft was taken to the hospital and the outlook is not good. I tried to jump an earlier flight but no luck. Got back to freezing Ohio at 1am.

20110208 - Up in the am and an entire day on my feet.  We had a reception after the show and ate and then had some dinner and off to bed.

20110207 - Scout n Vegas

20110207 - Up b4 the sun and on a plane to Vegas. Got here and met up with Norm & Brian. Set the booth up and spent 5 hrs on my feet. A bit different than sitting at a desk all day. I have ran into a lot of Old friends and coworkers. Up to the roof for dinner. ScottS sent me a pic of my boys being good at scouts.

L called and G broke his fever today, scouts for D&J went well. Had a good dinner and then down stairs to lose
$60 quickly :-o

20110206 + Fever Sunday

20110206 - Up and only L&D to church. JG&I stayed home, they r both sick :-S L&D home and we hung out all day. I got caught up on the blog and some things around the house and packed. J started feeling better and went out to play in the frozen sandbox. We stayed up and watched the Superbowl and Glee.

20110205 + J no basketball, home sick with real bad cough.  D over to Seth's to play.  G had a friend over, who happened to have a 7yr old sister with her...  so J&G played with some girls.  L talked to the mom for hours, I caught on blog.  All home, all guests gone, dinner and D&I out to his basketball game.  They got skunked again.  We tried to stop for a cup of coffee, but the place was closed.  Home watched some TV with the boys, all to bed.

20110204 - Up, G home sick, worked and watched him, calls most of the time, he did good.  Boys home from school, had friends over VerY LOUD!!!!  Finished up the day, out for pizza, L got groceries.  Home boys clnd up, watched some A-Team, bed.

20110203 - Up, exhausted from staying up doing taxes...  At desk all day, even had a call after 5 as L&J went back to the school for parent teacher conferences.  Out of the office, basketball experiment w/ D then getting dinner together (brats on the grill :-).  After dinner took D to scouts, got gas and took back a movie.

20110202 - Boys home from school, L to Dr.  All home for dinner and fried pickles.  J not feeling well.  We all hung out and watched 'Secretariat' and a bit of American Idol.  I then stayed up LATE and worked on taxes :-(

20110201 - Icy

20110201 - Boys home from school, it is an icy mess out there.  I worked all day :-(  Out for dinner.  I took boys out, roads way to icy to be out...  we hit the bank, meijer, blockbuster and got haircuts for all 3 boys.  home tried to stay up late, but fell asleep on the couch.