091230 - To Friends Houses

091230 - Up and getting more stuff done around the house.  We worked on D's final coats of paint and then D went to his friend Seth's house and the rest of us hung out.  Later this evening I took D&J with me to my friend Chris' house to help him set up his new Blue Ray player and surround sound system.  What should have been pretty easy hook up took us 5 hours and two trips to Meijer...  D&J did good the first couple of hours and Karen, Chris' wife played games with them until 10pm then she drove them home.  We persevered and by midnight we had a fully tuned and functioning system!  Chris was happy :-)
L got the boys to bed in one room as G or D can't be in the room being painted due to fumes.  So they are one big happy family and Grant LOVES IT!!!

091229 - Painters

091229 - Up and out for some errands and lunch at Bob Evan's.  Then we found a geocache that was pretty close and pretty strange, big box right next to someones house...  But we did it!

Home and painting in Grant's room, soon to become Dylan's.  D putting on mose paint and then the foreman steps in to approve of the work!

091228 - Farm, Sleds and Pucks

091228 - Up and loaded into the car despite the boys wanting to stay at the Farm, looks lie great sledding...  Home and got the boys suited up and to the local golf course to stop the whining and get the boys an energy burn.  We had a good time on the slope and then made a stop at Tim Horton's for some hot chocolate.  Mr. Grant decided he was going to the car before everyone and L had to chase him out into the parking lot...  We ran some errands and then home and played the Wii for a bit.  Then D&I went to a Blue Jackets game with some friends.  What a great time!

091226 & 27 + Family Christmas

091227 - Up and the boys played with there stuff and visited the animals. Then we all headed to the Winger Holiday Party at the Terry's in Shelby OH. Good to visit with the family and the boys always have fun. We left and were going to head home but the snow was coming down in buckets so we stayed at the Farm one more night. The boys and GmaW were in heaven. Dad and I tried to get his network running but he has some bad equipment and they need to come out.

091226 + UP to the Farm and we had our Christmas with Gma&paW and the boys got way too much stuff. lots of snow and cold.

091225 - Christmas!

091225 - Boys up early, before the sun to see what Santa left them, Dylan knows better this year :-(
They all got something they liked and it was a good morning, non-stop until they collapsed. We headed to Nicole's for lunch and more gifts... Then back home for a couple minutes of quiet time before Gma&paW showed up with some more stuff and time to play with the new stuff.
A very nice day, but too short the joy that it brings. Hard to focus on the true meaning or get children to even realize what is going on in our over commercialized world. But how lucky I am to have all these family members around, be able to have them in my life and for me to be a part of theirs. These wonderful little boys I have, are growing and i know soon the 'Santa' will evaporate for them as they start to see the world. How I wish they could stay little and faithful in me for many more years than I know they will.
Merry Christmas, and lets hope time moves nice and slow, or at least I remember to enjoy the time I have. God willing and God Bless...

091224 - Family, Tie

091224 - I had a bit of work to do this morning so I would feel comfortable not working for the next week...  Got as much done as I could and then now time for the family.  Out and ready for the festivities to begin.  I helped L get the crazy 3 ready for the evening dinner at her cousin Jan's house.  I took a couple extra minutes with Jack and gave him some instruction on how to tie his shoes.  HE GOT IT!  my boy learned how to tie his shoes today using his thumbs, a bit different thn 99.99% of the population, but that is how Janck and I do things :-P

We headed out for the Christmas eve dinner and it was a nice fun event with lots of family and fun. We headed home and Gma&paB came with us to spend the night.  The excited boys were surprisingly so tired it was not a struggle to get them to bed???  Santa came and the damage was not too overwhelming...  Lets see how tomorrow goes :-)

091222 - Training

091222 - Worked all day, trying extra hard to get some end of year training done so I can take advantage of the work paid training for 2009 and then a new batch of cash for 2010...  While I was stuck inside working and planning the boys and lilly were having fun, too.bad it gets so dark so fast or I could have joined them.  Out of the office and dinner with the family.  Then L to the grocery and the boys and I watched 'G-Force'.  Lori and I stayed up and watched 'The Hangover', OH MY GOODNESS, we laughed so hard we thought we would wake the boys up.  GOOD MOVIE!!!

091221 - Sam's B-day

091221 - D&J didn't have school today so I had more than usual interruptions...  Here I had to take a picture of  'Captain Jack' for Grant that he set up in the living room.  Trying to get things organized for my end of year...  And Worked a full day. 

We all got ready and headed to Sam's birthday party where we had some food and cake and got to help Sam rip open his presents.

Home and trying to get moved over to Google Apps and get end of year for work, Business and Personal all lined up to try and get it done in the next 10 days and still enjoy the holiday...  :-o

091220 - AVATAR

091220 - Really busy day: out on errands, got gas, hair cut, Christmas shopping, lunch home.
Guy here to pick up Heely's he bought from us on ebay.
Loaded up the whole family and went to see 'Avatar'.  WOW, What a GREAT movie!  Everyone loved it, even L!  Went to Cici's for dinner.  Home, boys to bed and L wrapping presents.

091219 - Doc's Clubhouse

091218 - Up EARLY w/ the 3 screamin demons... Hans & Champaign joined us fo bfast and then East to Philadelphia and a couple of snow storms. I tried makinging a DVD of our wedding VHS; that didn't work out so good...
Chris & Jeff over and we headed into the hood downtown to Doc's Clubhouse, the ultimae man cave! We met up wit Doc, Rodney, Tim & Brent there for some holiday cheer, ribs, deer sausage, liver round and other stuff we weren't brave enough to eat...





Home for dinner and some Jenga and dancing, topped off with a run to Dairy Queen. Boys to bed and wrapping and a movie. A quick jump start to the neighbors car and another day done.

091218 - Singing, Ponies & Farm

091218 - Up and put in a couple hours. Then LJG, Hans, Champaign & I walked back to the school to join D in a whole school sing along.






Back home and when D arrived from school we all loaded in the car and headed to the Farm. Hans & Champaign got the grand tour. G showed Champaign how to give Nibbles a teat, and bless her city girl heart she did it with much anxiety.






Hans gave it a go too.






In to the barn for a swing on the rope and a view of the cows. We had a great dinner from Chinatown in the old farmhouse and GpaW gave a wonderful history lesson.
Drove back home, got the boys to bed. We sat around and chatted until the girls went to bed. Then Hans helped me try to find an acceptable place for the upcoming summer vacation.

091217 - Far Away Friends

091217 - Up and focused on one problem for work pretty much all day... Then quickly grabbed the fam and headed out to an unplanned funeral home visit for our neighbor Selma Horn. Selma was a kind lady and always so very nice to us and the boys. She lost her battle with cancer Tuesday night surrounded by tons of her family.
We then got dinner, stopped home to eat, a quick change, then off to the Columbus Zoo to meet some friends that had need driving in from Chicago all day. We met up with Hans, a buddy I work with from Amsterdam, and his girlfriend Champaign, from California currently working on her Phd in Chicago, to see the millions of lights at the Zoo. The lights were spectacular and it wasn't too cold, if one kept moving...

We got to see lights, monkeys, snakes, fish and have hot cocoa, all while my family actually got to meet people I work with and talk about. It is hard for them to realize I do actaully work with folks all over the world while sitting in my office at home. And it actually proved that I do have a job ;-)
We headed home, got some tired boys to bed, and stayed up for some very good enjoyable conversation with our guests. Now everyone settled in for the night, with a big day planned for tomorrow!