Tournament Day and a Birthday Party

Yesterday, we got up early to go to the Taekwondo Tournament in Arlington, TN.  This was the boys' second one, although Wilson didn't spar in the first one.  The boys wore shorts and I think that they regretted that decision as we waited for about 20 minutes in the 50 degree weather for them to open the door.  They both performed very well, each taking 2nd place in sparring and Joshua placed 3rd in pattern form.  We had several of our TKD University people there who did very well and I was very proud of my boys and all of our participants.  You can check out the pics of them below.

After the tournament, we took the boys to America's Incredible Pizza Company in Germantown.  I'm not sure if you've ever been to one, but it's like a Chuck E. Cheese on steroids.  They have all of those games that give you tickets that can be redeemed for some piece of plastic toy that probably cost $0.11 to make.  They also have put-put golf, bumper cars, go-karts and a mini-bowling alley.  The place has an all-you-can-eat buffet of pizza (of course), salad, fruit, pasta, vegetables and several dessert options.  We played the put-put golf, which is something that we had never done there, and Wilson was so funny placing the ball down then putting his head on the floor to "line it up." The boys always enjoy it there.  Of course, it's not fantastic for those of us trying to lead a lower-calorie existence.  I tried to resist the pizza.  Really, I did.  Little did I know that those tables possess gravitational force equal to that of a black hole.  We should really get some physicists over to investigate.

On the way to the Pizza Company, we set the GPS to go to the location.  Granted, from where we were, there was not much of a direct route, however, the thing had us going around on Hwy 385 around to Hwy 40 and back for a total of 22 miles.  Whipping out my trusty iPhone, I double-checked the Garmin.  It, too, apparently wanted me to take the same route.  I was looking at the Google map and there was a smaller road that was more direct that I could take.  I do have the Garmin set to "fastest route" - that is typically how I roll.  I don't see, however, why it would want me to drive an extra 10 miles on the interstate to save 2 minutes.  Come on.  You're kidding me, right?  Does it know how much fuel is or that our Sequoia is a gas-guzzler?  Don't get me wrong - I do love our GPS.  It's gotten us plenty of places when we had no idea where we were going.  I just wish that it would "learn".  Like, for instance, if I didn't want to drive through Orange Mound....EVER....there should be a way that I could indicate that.  You'd think that every day I drive to work and go past Exit 81 on Hwy 78 to get off on Exit 86, it would figure out that I don't want to drive on the slower road with red lights for not an appreciable difference in distance.  (Note to the GPS - it's not a "faster route").  I'd like to be able to push a button on it to indicate when something isn't right, whether it be information about a POI (Point of Interest) or to let it know that I'm really not driving on grass and rivers - hey, there's a road here!  OK.  Enough about the GPS.

We then went home and took a nap - almost all of us, which was nice.  That's something that I rarely do anymore.  Granted, I will sleep in until almost lunch from time to time, which is something that I used to never do, but I'm not much of an afternoon napper.  Chrissy, on the other hand, is a pro napper.  I do have an advantage that I can fall asleep within a couple of minutes when I'm trying - usually.  We were awakened by a call from Billy Gillentine.  They were on their way to Sekisui in Southaven, which is our current favorite hibachi restaurant, and wanted us to join them.  That was a nice surprise and we took the boys to meet them and had a great time.  I hate that we live so far from each other, as we really do enjoy spending time with them.  I do, however, have sympathy for any restaurant that gets exposed to the Gillentine-Hooker combination, as we tend to push the limits of noise, cleanliness and dinnerware sturdiness. Rebecca, their daughter, has taken a liking to Josh and she sat by him almost the whole night.  Very cute.

This morning, we got up and went to church at Maples and I think that we are going to move our membership there from our respective churches.  Neither one of us have been to them in a very long time anyway.  We really do like the people there and I feel very comfortable there.  I feel like God has led us to the right place and I'm looking forward to becoming a member of their congregation.  I would love to sing in the choir and I hope that I'm able to, but my schedule is not very conducive to me making rehearsal (or even church, for that matter) on a regular basis.  Guess I'll talk to Joey, the director, and see if we can roll with the punches.

This afternoon, we went to a birthday party for Chrissy's cousin, Greta Booth.  It's Ruth's sister's (Annette) granddaughter.  It was in Batesville at Trussell Park.  I haven't been there since we went after a softball player who got hit in the head with a softball back in my EMS days.  As we were pulling up, I was asking Lynn what all it offered and he was telling me about the baseball, playground and also tennis courts.  Wilson saw them as we were pulling up and said, "We can't play tennis.  We don't have any tennis."  Ah, the minds of children!  The E-vite that we received stated "No gifts please."  I thought maybe we should get her something anyway.  Would that be offensive to ignore the request of the parents?  They did meet in the Peace Core.  Maybe that was in line with how they roll.  I wouldn't want to make the other guests feel uncomfortable by having a present there when they didn't.  Yeah, scratch that - there were gifts.  I think from about everyone but us.  I really felt really badly for not having something for the baby.  She's one, so she probably won't hold a grudge.    Paul and Traci (the parents) reinforced that the invite said no gifts and that they were mostly from immediate family.  Lesson learned - have a gift ready in the car and then pull it out based on the situation.  Sorry, Greta...I'll make it up to ya! (Also, you may be thinking the pic below to the left is just terrible - like I used my iphone to take a picture of the camera display screen because I didn't have the adapter to actually upload the picture itself.  You know I'd never do that, right?)

We had planned on going to the Cedar Hills Farm in Hernando for all kinds of fun activities tomorrow, but as the dog is soaking wet after being let in, I think we'll probably scratch that and go see the Toy Story 1 and 2 3-D release instead.  Last thing we wanna do is take the three boys through a mud pit.  I work on Tuesday and Wednesday, then I'm off for 5 days.  Got a campout this weekend and that'll pretty much guarantee that rain will come.  Look for it Friday night, people!  Until next time...

Open House, Clean House, Visit from Mom

My circadian rhythm must have taken a hit somewhere along the way. Was it all the 24-hr paramedic shifts? Was it the late-night jaunts to Tunica in my younger days? Was it med school or residency? You will note that the time is 12:20 a.m. That might not show up as the posting time, but trust me - I'm staring at the clock as Chrissy has just finished with me a Vampire Diaries marathon and now is watching Kate + 8. (Yes, I have already deleted Jon - get over it)

Whatever the problem is, she also has it. We have always been late-night people. Come to think of it, her parents are kinda late night people as well. When we hang with the Taylors, you can be certain that bedtime does not come before midnight. Part of this is because they are such cool people to hang out with - much cooler than we.....well, me, anyway. This does not change with us being at home. And poor Chrissy gets up at the crack of dawn to get all the boys ready and off to school. Most days, she lets me sleep in and that's really nice. I should get up and help her more on the days I don't have to go to work. I do feel badly about that. (Obviously not badly enough to get up). I'll work on that.

Today, Mom came to visit. It's a rare thing for her to drive up this way, so it was nice. She needed some shoes and also to get her nails done. Chrissy has introduced Melinda to the world of manicures. That is so funny to me. In no way did I think that she was coming to see me, but I forced myself into their itinerary anyway. Sort-of. I did not accompany them to the nail salon (I'm not that crazy), but I did go to lunch and shopping with them. We ate at Red Robin - Yummmmm. I had the Ensalada Chicken, which was actually very good and fit in fairly well with the diet. We then went over to The Avenue at Carriage Crossing to get my Mom's shoes and we also ended up picking up the boys some more school clothes. Josh has grown so much. Apparently, it's not cool for boys to wear capri pants. After we spent it up and the Children's Place, we went back to pick up the boys from school and let MeMe meet Jack's teacher. It was quite an enjoyable day.

Tonight, we had open house at Pleasant Hill Elementary. We got to visit with the boys' teachers and they are doing very well. Wilson's teacher is Ms. Creech and I so feel for her. She said that Wilson is very smart and somewhat loud (shock) and that he also has trouble staying in his seat (double shock). I have to say that his behavior marks have so drastically improved that I'm cautiously optimistic that he's about to turn the corner on that. You can say I told you so later. Joshua's teacher is Ms. Baker and his Spotlight teacher is Ms. Cagle. They both had great things to say about his behavior and classwork. Apparently, he's Mr. Hyde at school and turns into Dr. Jekyl at home. Getting him to do his homework is like trying to get a cat into a bathtub. He will do a couple of things, then need some water. Do a couple more and then need a snack. Do a couple more, then bathroom break with an irresistible urge to dance around the kitchen on the way back and complain how loud Wilson and Jack are. He manages to stretch 30 minutes of work into 3 hours. Wilson, on the other hand, finishes his work in about 2 minutes. Granted, it's a bit beneath his level at this point, but that should get better - right? I am, however, very proud of my boys - they are both doing so well.

Yesterday, we spent most of the day cleaning. Don't let that statement lead you to believe that our house is clean. I lie here in bed and glance over at the top of my bedside table at the newly deposited layer of dust. I can see why people would just want to not exert that much energy for something so quickly undone. And the boys didn't have any part of that. Anyway, we still had the office to do and that is a chore that would probably require a day by itself. The office is the room where everything that doesn't have a home gets shoved that doesn't end up in our rear entry. We had planned to finish the house tomorrow, buy my sense of purpose has been somewhat diminished by the neo-dust that now mocks me.

One thing I do want to do tomorrow is clean out our master closet. There are boxes in there that have remained unopened from our move. Also in the closet are clothes that I must part with. I probably will have to go shopping a bit after I get it cleaned out, but I don't mind. You see, I made the mistake before. When I lost a bit of weight last year on NutriSystem, I took my "fat clothes" (ok....fatter clothes) and kept them up on the top shelf in the closet. Yup. They sat there until I had to start wearing them again due to my lack of diet diligence. I have now lost back down to close to where I was last summer - not all the way there, but close. I am doing things differently this time - no NutriSystem, but rather keeping a check on my calories and eating some Healthy Choice meals with the occasional interjection of Red Robin. This is working well for me so far and I think that it will continue to do so.

This time, those fatty (-ier) clothes are getting donated to GoodWill. Tomorrow, I'm going to make that happen and make a commitment to becoming less of myself. You know what I mean. I think that it's OK to go and buy a few smaller clothes. It's a shame that I apparently donated the ones that I was wearing on the way up to the size I was - the Good Lord knows that I'd probably throw them back on again in a heartbeat. We have been trying to get all our pictures organized on the iMac and I've made a painful realization that I will apparently wear the same shirt almost 10 years. Usually, Chrissy makes me go out and get things for myself. Or she will be going to pick up something for herself and be passing through the men's section and see something that she likes for me and make me get it. I do get new clothes for Christmas and birthdays (Ruth has excellent taste!), but I seem to have those few shirts that have that Energizer Bunny quality. I think that sometime this week, I'll go out and pick me up some XL shirts for Fall. It's nice to not have to pay that extra fee for the XXL stuff. Maybe one day I'll get down to just L, but I'm just going to take it one size at a time.

Tomorrow, there's nothing on the agenda but church tomorrow night and that's a good feeling. I work Thu/Fri and then I'm off for another three days. My schedule this month is pretty good. We have the Taekowndo Tournament on Saturday and I'm sure that I'll put up some pics of that. Until next time...

Camping, Martina and the Ark

This past weekend, we went on our first camping trip with the Cub Scouts. We had a brand new tent. The boys were excited. Yessiree, we were raring to go! The plan was to go on Friday and leave Sunday morning in time for church. I got off work on Friday afternoon and headed to Chewalla Lake near Holly Springs, MS. Chrissy picked up the boys and met me there. We got the tent set up by dark and got settled in.

Then came the rain. We were already in the tent, rainfly in place, so we felt pretty good about it. Then came more rain. Inside the tent. It's really hard to go to sleep with water dripping on your face. You would think that the sound of rain would be soothing....mesmorizing....sleep-inducing. Not so much. We stayed awake until about 3am. Please see the radar picture below.

That rather narrow band of rain was moving northeast, meaning that we just stayed in the rain. For hours. People were packing up and leaving at 1am. We finally drifted into slumber and awakened the next morning to soaked sleeping bags and clothes and most everything else except for the stuff that was in our sterlite lock-top storage container......that was outside in the rain. We kept waiting for Noah to ride by to pick us up, but I think the boys scared him off.

Call us weak. Call us non-troopers. No true Scout would abandon camp early, right? Well, you try sleeping in soggy sleeping bags. We did stay until late Saturday night after we forced a campfire into existence by sheer will and perseverance. We were determined to get those smores roasted despite the wet wood. No charcoal starter for us!

We got up on Sunday and went to church, which was nice. I'm learning more about the Methodist theology. The people there are great and I think that we will really like it there. Joshua sits in "big church" with us, but Wilson and Jack are in another service for children. I do dread Wilson moving into "big church". We all know how well he does with sitting still and being quiet!

Our plans for that afternoon were to meet my brother and his wife, Brad and Ashley, for a visit to the Mid-South Fair and then on to the Martina McBride concert that night at 7pm. The fair has moved from it's former Memphis location to Southaven in transition to it's permanent home in Tunica. I think that people were afraid of bodily harm when in Memphis where it was located. Don't get me wrong, I do love the fair, but this one seemed a bit rinky-dink when I compare it to the Mid-South Fair of my memories that was next to Libertyland (now closed). We ended up not even taking the boys back - after Six Flags, I think they would laugh in its face. We were supposed to meet Brad and Ashley at 2pm at our house. They got there at 6pm. I don't know why I was surprised - that's just how they roll. We stopped through the food section and grabbed some chicken on a stick (yum) and some BBQ nachos (super-yum) - all of which were fat free and on our diet (in our minds).

We then saw Martina, who is a very small woman in stature - but not a small as the "World's Tiniest Woman" that Chrissy, Brad and Ashley paid $1 each to see. Based on the covert video that Ashley captured, I would find it very hard to call her "tiny" - she was a bit wider than she was tall (29"). They also had the World's Tiniest Horse, which we did not pay to see. I would, however, have paid to see the Tiniest Woman riding on the Tiniest Horse - I bet that would be a hilarious sight - but we left her in her tiny chair watching her tiny TV. But I digress. Martina was very good live and put on a good show. For those of you who have never seen her, I would highly recommend.

We had a great time with Brad and Ashley. I think Brad would have rather had bamboo shoots shoved under his fingernails - he's not a big country fan - but he suffered through with no permanent brain damage and I'm glad that he came with us.

I think our next outing to Desoto Civic Center is for the Monster Truck show in January. Billy and I are taking the boys and I think that it will be fun for them. Well, that's all for now folks. Until next time...

The iMac and the Reptiles

This week has been great. I only had to work a couple of days, which was nice since I had worked a fair number of shifts last week. I would love to say that I got a ton of things done this week that I've been putting off, but that'd be a lie. I always seem to have grand plans (to-do lists) and sometimes things work out, but this week, I've just been trying to get re-organized. I blame it on my PC.

This week, I decided it was time to update my iTunes software on my PC as well as my iPhone. I upgraded the software as I've done several times before and all of a sudden, my iPhone was just a blank screen telling me to connect it to iTunes. I kept getting "an internal error has occurred" and I couldn't restore my phone nor get it to upgrade to the new version of the OS. We do have a couple of Mac Minis - one that is a media computer for our TV and the other that the boys use. I ended up having to hook the iPhone up to the Mac to get it to restore, but then when I tried to get my backup to work on the PC, it would re-erase the phone again. I reinstalled iTunes, rebooted and everything else I could think of, but to no avail. I got really ticked off and (somewhat impulsively) drove up to the Apple Store.

Chrissy and I have been toying with the idea of getting Macbook Pros for ourselves for Christmas. This is something that I can totally live with, as we tend to use our laptops for less important purposes. I thought that would be a great way to ease into the world of Macintosh. My desktop, however, is a different story. On it resides all of our photos, financial information and pretty much everything fiscally and professionally important. I installed an extra drive in the PC called the "M" drive on which all of this resides and I have it backed up to Mozy every night. I think I may have mentioned in the past being a nerd. Just reinforcing it some.

I grew up PC. It's familiar. I know how to get around. But it has increasingly become more frustrating lately due to not being able to quite do the things I want with ease. I especially love how well the Macs handle video, pictures and music. I want to make some DVDs of our old home movies for my parents. I want to finally get our pictures in some form of organized existence and displayed somewhere besides the innards of the computer. My brother in law has been pulling us ever so gently over to the world of Mac. Sidney, I could take it no longer.

We went to the Apple Store about two weeks ago to check out the aforementioned Macbook Pros. A very eager guy with a beard and turquoise shirt was there to help guide us in our choice and to answer any question that we might have. He was overly enthusiastic about our plans to switch our laptop lives over and came short of jumping up and down. We decided that we would probably order online due to wanting a couple of configuration changes that they didn't offer on systems sold in the store. No wonder, then, that when I hauled tail up there that particular day - Thursday - that it would be the way-too-happy-to-be-alive bearded Apple guy to help me yet again. I walked out with a 24" iMac just a few minutes later and headed back to the house.

Once I got the iMac back home and unboxed it, I plugged it into the wall (one plug, mind you), attached the keyboard and mouse and turned it on. This thing is huge. I thought my other PC monitor was big, but this thing makes it pale in comparison. Freaking ridiculous. We have a wireless HP printer. It found and added the printer without me having to do anything other than say OK. We still can't get our laptops to print from that printer. Good grief. There is a bit of a learning curve, but I'm getting there. Now I plan to spend the next few weeks transitioning our stuff over to the Mac and that'll be the end of my having a PC for my primary machine. Kinda scary for me, but I think I can do it!

Needless to say, I've been spending more time that I should messing with my new computer. We have also had the boys' Taekwondo and Scout activities. Friday, Chrissy went to one of her friend's house for what I was told was a "girls night out." I took Wilson and Josh to the movie "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" along with another boy, Justin. It turned out to be a pretty decent movie. Of course, we went to see the 3D version. Those glasses have come a long way from the red and blue lenses that we got a Pizza Hut to watch the monster show on TV! Chrissy got back home and informed me that there just a bit more to her "girls night out" than she led me to believe. Funny, I just figured that it would involve alcohol and girl talk with the possibility of a stripper - you never know with these married gals. I never thought it would be as bad as a Pampered Chef party!! Of course, I'm kidding. She bought something that I'm sure we can use. I'm just thankful that they didn't suck her into selling that stuff! Way to hold out, baby!

Today, Josh's Webelos den met at the library and made terrariums for some seeds that we planted. We're supposed to bring them back in a month to see how they're progressing. Hope that Josh got a different thumb for that stuff than either Chrissy or I have or those poor plants are doomed!

After Taekwondo, we met up with Angie and her boys and Rebecca at Chick-Fil-A for lunch and then Angie and I headed over to Repticon with the boys (and Rebecca). This is a "reptile and amphibian show" that we found out through the Scouts website. All the boys were in Scout uniform and got in free, as did Rebecca because of her age, so only Angie and I had to pay. Don't the boys look good in their uniforms?

What the heck is that on the back of that poor turtle, you might be wondering? What kind of horrible torture did those Hooker boys concoct for helpless amphibian? "Call PETA!!", you might be tempted to exclaim. No, that's the turtle's price tag. Pardon, say again? Yes, the turtle was for sale, as was every other caged, container-ed and aquarium-ed creature present in this "reptile and amphibian show". Instead, you should read that "reptile and amphibian MARKET". Turns out, I think that they want to lure us to the Arena with the idea that we are going to get our Scouts a nice educational experience when all we get is a bunch of animals that are so cool , the boys just HAVE to have one. Thank you, but I think I'll decline on taking home anything that could eat Jackson. Call me crazy, but I'll just stick to the dog that we have.

After that lovely, scaly extravaganza, we loaded up and headed to David and Jessica Anderson's house for dinner. I don't think that they knew what they were getting into. Their house was much too nice to have us over. They have three children - Warner, Brady and Artie. The older two are roughly Wilson and Jack-aged, with Artie turning one next month. The boys played relatively well together with some minor squabbles. Wilson tried to break his leg on the trampoline, but just couldn't quite do it. He did almost break Artie by trying to run him over with the motorized 4-wheeler, but Jessica was too quick on the draw, narrowly snatching Artie from Wilson's wheels of death. That may be an exaggeration, but anyone who knows Wilson has to imagine it pretty well. :) Josh and Warner went on a fire-fly finding mission, which turned into moth-catching, which somehow morphed into frog-finding. They were pretty happy with their capture - see below - but we managed to convince them that the tiny fire-fly catcher was probably not the best habitat for their four-legged friend and they released him back into the wild (a.k.a., the yard).

We had a really good time and hope that the Andersons weren't so traumatized that they block their entire memory of us. You laugh. It's happened.

Finally, we have decided to have a Christmas party on December 11th, so save the date! Even if you don't receive an invitation, please come on over! We want to try to have some sitters come to keep the kids upstairs and let the grown-ups visit in relative peace. It's a good dream, right? Till next time.....

Sunday

What is this?!?!?!? TWO posts in the same day? Have I gone insane? Well, my wife always accuses me of writing more of a novelette than a post, so I couldn't go and tell about two days' activities on one post or I'd definitely be proving her right! (which she usually is anyway)

Today, we got up and went to church at Maples United Methodist Church in Olive Branch. I have been feeling really convicted about the fact that we don't yet have a church home and the boys definitely deserve it. I grew up in Thaxton Baptist Church and Chrissy grew up in Senatobia Presbyterian Church. We therefore had much discussion about which denomination we would try to find a home in. We have visited a few churches, mostly Baptist at my behest, but none of them really seem to fit. Since moving to Olive Branch, Chrissy did try to attend one Sunday with all three children (I, of course, was working) because Joshua woke up that morning, got dressed and told her that he wanted to go to church. Apparently, it was a bit like herding cats. That was this summer after the boys got back from summer camp, which was church-based per our choice. She had not been brave enough to try it again without reinforcement. (No, we don't mean physical or chemical restraints!)

The entire time we were in Jackson, I was in school or residency, moonlighting or working, or we were traveling home to see our families and running around like chickens with our heads cut off. On top of that, there was always a defined period of time that we were going to be in Jackson and it didn't really feel like we would be getting into a "home" church while we were there. We did try to go occasionally to church, but it was not a priority. That was a big mistake on my part - I should've done better. We moved here just over a year ago (Chrissy and the boys 2 years in December) and we have totally been slacking yet again. These are not meant to be excuses - there really aren't any - just trying to provide some hint of our mindset. I suppose that the important thing is that we are actively trying to correct that.

We got to the church today and found all of the boys' rooms and got them all dropped off. The nice Kelly Peel told us that we were in luck for our Sunday School class - there was a brand new session of classes that the pastor, John Sudduth, would be giving called Discovering Maples. Today was the first of six lessons, during which we would learn all about the church and the Methodist theology as well as how decisions were made in the church and what their goals and outreach activities were. Of course, this class was geared for new members (and visitors as well) and it just so happened that we chose to go on the first Sunday it was offered. (Thank you, God!)

I'm not sure that I totally understand all of the fundamental differences between the Baptist and Methodist doctrines. Googling it just got me a bunch of stuff that didn't really break it down. I'm hoping that I can learn more about it. I really did like the congregation that we have met and the pastor seems extremely nice. Chrissy says that there are a lot of similarities that she has noticed between Methodist and Presbyterian. I did notice during a baptism today that it was more of a sprinkling than the dunking I was brought up with. I know that there is this unspoken rule (OK, maybe not that unspoken) about not discussing politics or religion, but I this is more of a fact-finding mission if you would. If anyone has any thoughts on this, I'd be happy to hear them.

After church, we quick-changed in the car (for me - off with the tie, roll up the sleeves and change into casual shoes) and headed over to Ashleigh Barney's house for her son Tyler's birthday party. Chrissy knows Ashleigh from Taekwondo, and our boys know each other, but I haven't spent that much time around her (she thought I was a nurse) and I'd never met her husband, Ryan. It was mostly their family. They were all very nice, the boys were well-behaved, no blood was shed and nothing was broken (except for Josh's tooth again, but that was at church). All-in-all, a very successful outing!

Ryan is originally from Cincinnati, but they moved here when he was 8. It turns out that his Dad, Bob, lives in Spring Place - the neighborhood in which we are going to build our house. Small world! Ryan's grandfather, Charlie, was also there and he was hilarious. I'm not even going to guess how many hot dogs that man ate. He's 92, by the way. Totally awesome.

I have to admit that I'm always nervous about hanging out with guys at stuff like this. As most of you know, I'm not the typical good Southern boy. I don't hunt, fish, work on cars, race, smoke, dip or follow sports nor am I able to name wrestlers simply by their outfit. I'm a bit of a geek. I can tell you about the latest teardowns of the new Ipod Touch that has a blank space for a probable camera in the next version. I can tell you any number of recent movies I've watched, although I'm not the actor/actress encyclopedia that my sister-in-law Shannon is on such things. I can still remember how to finger all the notes on an alto sax. (that makes me a band geek, doesn't it?) I don't actively play sports, although I do have an interest in golf (Ryan plays) and I was able to shoot a few hoops today although there is no hope for my sons if they inherited that particular gene from me. I do like Ole Miss football. OK, maybe it's more about the Grove, but I really should try to start following that some so that I can at least pretend I know what the heck is going on so other guys won't think I'm a complete idiot. Either way, I do have some very good friends that I've developed relationships with over the years that ignore these things about me and to them I am forever grateful.

OK, off to bed soon. Catch you guys later!

Hummingbird Festival

Saturday, we went with the Pack 234 Webelos to the Hummingbird Migration Festival just outside Holly Springs, MS. Of course, there was Taekwondo for the boys as well, so I took Joshua to his practice first and went on to the Festival with Chrissy, Wilson and Jackson following on around lunchtime. Apparently, this year was a bit shy on the actual hummingbirds and they had various explanations as to why, but there were several other activities and animals that kept the scouts busy! It's funny that I worked out of Holly Springs and Byhalia for quite awhile as a paramedic and never knew that place existed!

I definitely think that we'll go back to this place next year. It's Sept 10-12, 2010, in case you want to come and join us. We didn't get to go frog-finding or go on the spider walk. The boys, did, however, get a lot of interaction with of the serpentine persuasion - see below.

After we finished at the Festival, we went to visit my cousin, Rachel, who had her baby girl, Lorelai Elaine Westmoreland, on September 11th. We buzzed down to New Albany to visit for awhile, then we met up with my Mom and Billy Joe to eat dinner. We went to a place call Taylor's near Pumpkin Center. It's a family fish and steak place and it was really good. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a good place to eat in that area! You can check out pics of Chrissy and Lorelai below as well as the ever-popular babysitter (Nintendo) with Jackson and Brennan.

Finally, I cannot close out this post without poking a little bit at my wife and her new purse, which you can find pictured below. I lovingly refer to it as the bilious purse. Go ahead. Look at it, and tell me it ain't so. I actually can't complain very much in this respect at all, as Chrissy is not one of those shoe and purse queens who have a different color set for every day of the month (or more). She went and got another purse because - get this - her other one was TOO SMALL to find anything in. OK. Not sure I get that. Especially since, after getting the new purse, asked me for a D-ring to attach her keys to the strap. To be fair, she is sitting her telling me that there was too much crammed into the other purse and she did not, in fact, implement the D-ring idea. I suppose that it's a totally foreign idea for me and that women out there will totally get what she is saying.

Well, that's enough fun for this post. See you on the flip side!

The Long Silence Ends....

Wow. I can't believe that it's been almost 4 months since the last post. I'm not sure what happened. I was doing fine and then all of a sudden, it was like I lost it. I can't possibly begin to summarize what has been going on for the last few months, but I can try to tell you what's going on now. We'll play catch-up later.

We are chillin' at my mother-in-law's house and just enjoyed a fantastic Labor Day cookout. Thanks to Lynn, Ruth, Sid and Chrissy for all of their hard work!! Have I said in the past my in-law's are awesome?

I've worked the past couple of days and have a couple more before I'm off for one and then back for three more. This schedule is a bit off of the way I normally work, meaning that I've got a bit more driving than I'm used to. I definitely like it when I can work back to back and spend the night there in the call room. The flu season seems to have hit very early this year and I cringe when I think of what January will be like.

Chrissy is enjoying having all the boys in school. She thought about doing Rodan + Fields dermatology products, but I think that it really didn't fit her style. She's helping out at both Jack's school and at the boy's school. I think that suits her more. I know that she doesn't want to go back to teaching. For now, the boys are plenty to keep her busy!

Jackson has started 3-K at SBEC with Miss Greer. His day is as long as the boys (almost). He gets dropped off before 8:30 and picked up at 2:45. At first, I think it was a bit of adjustment. Going from being able to munch and do as he pretty much pleased to a semblance of a schedule. He has done very well. His teacher thinks he is precious. Guess he's got the wool pulled over her eyes! (Just kidding. He is the most precious of the three right now.)

Josh and Wilson have started 4th and 1st grade, respectively, at Pleasant Hill. Joshua's teacher is Ms. Baker and Wilson's is Ms. Creech. Joshua seems to be doing well. I'm a bit nervous about Wilson. So far, the promise of differentiated instruction has not held true. The stories that he is getting sent home to read are like "See Dan run after Jane" or something like that. This for a child who is reading books about the solar system. Good grief. Hopefully, the Advanced Reader program will kick in soon and help that along. And I think he's familiar with the letter K, thanks. He received all "S" for his behavior this week - which is a GOOD thing - and was totally excited.

Josh is taking guitar lessons once a week. He really likes it, but he needs a little more dedication in the practicing department. Apparently, he thinks that the guitar fairies will come during the night to program his mind in the way in which he will play. Hopefully, that will get better soon.

We had Taekwondo graduation this past week. Joshua has moved up to red belt. He is really doing well. Following that is red-black, recommended black, then black! Wilson has also really taken off. He's up to purple belt. I'm very proud of both of them. Pics are below.

We had a great summer. Took a couple of trips to Six Flags and the boys had a blast. I'm going to work on uploading some pics to our PicasaWeb account, which you can visit anyway if you want until then.

OK. That's enough rambling for now. I promise to try to be better about my updates. I'm working swing shifts for the next couple of shifts, so no guarantees!