Circus time!

Last weekend before the madness of moving hit, we took the kids to see The Greatest Show on Earth. That’s right Followers, the “family” circus was back in town! I posted about taking Alli to her first circus just over two years ago when she had just turned one, but now it was Aiden’s turn to go take in the spectacle that is the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus for the first time. In addition to taking our kids, my brother’s wife came to town and brought their two kids as well. I don’t recall if their oldest has been to the circus before, but you can never see the circus too many times.

I was a little worried about taking Aiden to the circus, as he doesn’t get quite as entranced with things the way Alli did at that age. If something caught her attention that she really liked, she could sit there for hours and just look at it, taking it all in. An almost-two-year old boy doesn’t work quite like that… So needless to say I was a little anxious to see how everything was going to play out. Luckily, we had reinforcements – Tatsy, Aunt Bacon and a friend of Mommy B’s came with us to help corral the kiddos for the duration. I wasn’t worried about Alli, as she’ll sit and watch full-length movies now without batting an eye. Ah, how times have changed since having to swap out Elmo’s World every 22 minutes.

But all my nerves were put to rest when the lights went out and the music started. The kiddos were completely spellbound once all the performers started coming out to do their various acts. All the lights, colors, sounds and sights were enough to keep their attention for an extended period of time. Basically all I had to do was keep handing Aiden snacks (go figure) and he would just sit in my lap or the seat next to me and just stare. During one section of the performance, he must have really liked the music as he got up on his seat and started to dance. He also got really excited when the elephants came out to do their stunts. He held his arm up to his nose like a trunk and did his best elephant sound. It was adorable to watch… just like when we took Alli for the first time.

I don’t know how they do it, but the folks that run the erstwhile family circus now really know how to put on a show. They have acts and find performers that simply amaze me every time I go… and that’s saying something coming from someone who’s been going to the circus for the past 30 years. Not to mention I’ve read a few books on the subject, so being able to impress someone who’s ancestors started the friggin’ thing is quite the accomplishment. Even if I didn’t have kids to take, I would go just because of the pure entertainment value.

All in all, it was a great afternoon had by all. Alli was a saint just watching the show and munching on popcorn, and Aiden behaved himself long enough to make it through the show. Every time we go, I always think about how the performers and management are oblivious to the fact that there are actual Ringling descendants in the audience. When we walk in, there’s no backstage entrance or special viewing section. And when we walk out, we have to walk past the protesters who claim the animals in the show are abused – just like everyone else. Yes, we have to pay full price for our tickets. No, I didn’t punch any of the protesters. But my mom flipped them the bird… which was entertaining to see.

I remember taking Alli to her first show, and trying to describe the overwhelming feeling of pride I had seeing her face as she watched. Well, I got to experience that feeling again this past weekend as I watched Aiden witness everything for the first time. Hopefully one day they’ll get to share that same feeling with children of their own. And if not, I just hope they can appreciate what their ancestors started over a century ago and see that their dreams still live on in the smiles of the millions of people that attend each year.

My family has always been a clan of entertainers, and that’s exactly what the circus aims to accomplish. Well guys, mission accomplished. Can’t wait to go back the next time you’re in town.

Homework assignment

In light of all that Mommy B and I have going on next week with the big move, I'm going to give you all a little homework assignment to entertain yourselves with until we're able to make time for the blog. I don't anticipate getting much sleep over the next week or so, which means your favorite blog will be on a short hiatus for the time being. I'll try not to neglect youse guys too much because I'm sure you're all just dying to know how much of a pain in the rear end this move will be.

So, without further ado, here's your assignment. It won't require much of a change to your daily activities:

I just want you to watch and observe how certain people are portrayed in the media these days. Specifically, how men are portrayed versus their female counterparts in television commercials. You know the kind - car commercials where a heterosexual couple is looking to buy a car, or they're looking to save hundreds on insurance, or even going to the store together. It doesn't even have to be commercials or shows where both male and female characters are present - just carefully watch how men and women are portrayed on TV in general and see if you notice a trend.

I've mentioned before that I'm a pretty observant person... at least I think I am. Over the last couple of years, I've noticed certain attributes embodied by the overwhelming majority of male characters (and that's a key term: character) in TV commercials and many shows these days. I'm going to withhold my personal observations until a later time as I don't want to influence your thus far unbiased and completely objective opinions. I'll reveal my thoughts on the subject and tie it in with some other things I've noticed as well.

Wish us luck, y'all.. it's going to be a busy week!

The finish line is in sight

It’s so close, we can almost taste it. Things are really starting to ramp up/wind down towards completion, so let’s get right to it.

Mommy B has completed another quarter for her Master’s degree, and only has two left to go! She has one class this upcoming quarter, then two preceptor-type classes to wrap up the program. I know she can do it, and I’m so proud of all the hard work she’s put in thus far. Keep up the hard work, hun – you’ve got a whole cheering section behind you!

We’ve completed our new home search and have settled on a nice little gem in the Rivertowne Country Club subdivision in Mt. Pleasant. The sellers accepted our offer a couple weeks ago and we’ve been diligently working through the inspection and appraisal processes since then. Not to mention filing for a new loan, shopping insurance (both home and flood), and gathering more paperwork than I ever imagined. The only thing that’s not on file somewhere is my latest urine sample. Oh wait, yes it is – for the life insurance policies Mommy B and I took out a couple months ago. Woof.

Anyway, the appraisal for the new house came back 10 grand more than what we’re paying, so it’ll be nice to walk into the house with some equity already built up. I had Pops come in to perform the inspection on the house and he brought back a list of mostly just minor issues. Most of them were standard for the age of the house (it’s about the same age as our current house) so just require a little maintenance work. Same went for the inspection on our current home – so hopefully we won’t be out a bunch of cash to get things fixed up for our buyer.

All in all, we’re getting very excited (and anxious) about the move and starting over again. On the one hand it’ll be hard to say goodbye to Mommy B and I’s first house, and to the place where both our children (and dog) were brought home for the first time. We spent countless hours turning that house into our home, getting it just the way we wanted – but you can only do so much with the space and layout you have without a major undertaking. So we’re going to wipe away the tears, swallow the lump in our throats and embrace the endless possibilities of our new home. And all the fun that comes with redecorating, reorganizing, and re-falling-in-love with the new house that will become our home for many years to come. I have to keep reminding myself (and Mommy B) that we weren’t forced into this situation due to financial concerns or other dire circumstances, but rather willingly made this decision for the educational future of our children. They are our top priority at all times, and making sure they get into good schools when the time comes was the driving force behind making this move. Getting the new house to look and feel the way we want it to may take some time, but we can rest easy when going to bed at night knowing that the A-team will be able to attend some of the best schools in the state until they graduate high school.

In other news, the ski trip to Maggie Valley went better than I ever could have expected. Mommy B is a natural on the slopes, and she is a great student (duh). She fell maybe three times in two full days of skiing which I told her was pretty damn impressive. We started slow on the bunny slopes – but that only lasted about 20 minutes. After about 3 runs, she was ready for something bigger. So we went up to the next size hill where I had her practice her wedge and working from one side of the slope to the other. She killed it right away and barely needed any help from me. I would ski in front of her (backwards) and give her pointers as she went along. I was almost as impressed with my backwards skiing ability as I was with Mommy B’s natural ability. It wasn’t long before we were heading further up the mountain for more difficult runs. By the end of the second day, I actually convinced her to come all the way to the top of the mountain (at which time I took a picture to mark the occasion), and we skied all the way down together. She hasn’t mastered the slalom yet, but she did amazingly well for having never skied in her life. We spent both evenings relaxing in the private enclosed hot tub that came with our cabin, then “slept in” both mornings until about 7:30 so we could make it up to the slopes when they opened at 8:30. We missed the crap out of the kiddos, but they were having fun with Grandma C without us. All in all, it was a nice relaxing weekend away – and we both survived without any major injuries to speak of!

Which bring me to the kids. They are becoming more and more their own independent little people. Alli’s new fascination is with puzzles – she’ll kneel down on the floor and put together a 20-piece puzzle all by herself. Granted, she’s had a little practice with Mommy B’s help beforehand, but now she won’t even want us to help and she’ll proudly proclaim “I did it all by myself, Daddy!” when she finishes. Just this past weekend, she dug a toy frying pan out of their play kitchen and held it poised next to her head ready to strike and said “Who are you? And how did you find me?” For anyone who’s ever seen Tangled, you’ll know where that line comes from. Mommy B and I about lost it – not only did she have the line from the movie memorized, but then she dug through all her old toys to find a frying pan just like the one Rapunzel had in the movie. I’m telling you, this kid has quite the sponge for a memory.

Aiden is still obsessed with any and all cleaning products – the broom, dustpan, vacuum and he’s also found the spray cleaners under the sink that he likes to place in random places around the house. A couple weeks ago, he accidentally colored on the wall with a dry-erase marker at which point I busted out the 409 to scrub it off. Well, he must have watched me do it because the very next morning he opened the cabinet, took out a spray bottle, grabbed a paper towel from their easel, held the spray bottle up to the wall (as if to spray it) and proceeded to scrub the wall in the exact location where I had done so the day before. It was absolutely adorable to watch and I’m so glad Mommy B and I both happened to witness it. It was one of those moments that could have happened at any time and if both of us had been looking the other way we would have missed it completely. Similar situation just a couple nights ago – we were grabbing dinner out with the kiddos (which never happens) and Aiden was sitting on my lap for a minute before we left. He noticed that he had accidentally dripped something on my wrist, so like he had seen me do to him all night, he grabbed an unused napkin off the table and proceeded to dab it on my hand to clean it off. Both times he was completely unprompted, which speaks volumes to how much that kid picks up on things. It’s one thing to tell a kid to do something by providing simple, multi-step instructions and having them do it. It’s a whole different ball game when you don’t say anything and the kid does it anyway. He may not have the speech skills his sister had at 22 months old, but that boy is sharp as a tack. I can’t wait to see what trick he pulls out next.

A snow day in the South

It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, watch out! Some people can’t imagine seeing snow in Charleston, South Carolina… especially during those 97-degree-and-humid summer days. Well, it does happen every once in a while… and you better believe people lose their minds when it does. The city completely shuts down, basically. Call in the dogs and put out the fire, we’re hunkering down for the duration. What many people up north don’t understand (because they don’t show it on the news) is that places like Charleston don’t have fleets and fleets of snow trucks equipped with plows and salt… they have boats instead. To make matters worse, people who aren’t from here don’t understand the geography of this town – and that is you have to cross a bridge to get just about anywhere. The Charleston harbor is formed by the convergence of three rivers, making just about every part of town either its own peninsula or island which severely limits your transportation options. When one road shuts down (especially a major one,) all hell breaks loose… and that’s when the weather is good!

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that when it rains somewhere that has a lot of bridges then freezes overnight, you aren’t going anywhere the next day. Especially when there aren’t any salt trucks coming your way. A good half inch or better of freezing rain followed by sleet made traveling on major roadways damn near impossible. So, basically all of Charleston shut down yesterday. Mommy B and I were notified not to come to work and the kiddos school was closed too. Both being from Ohio, Mommy B and I couldn’t help but laugh. We recalled having 4-6 inches of snow on the ground in Ohio and getting maybe a 2-hour delay. But we shrugged it off and decided to make the best of it.

About mid-morning, actual snow started falling outside, so we decided to bundle up the kids and take them out to see it. If my memory serves me correctly, we haven’t had any real snowfall in Charleston since February, 2010. No, I don’t have a photographic memory regarding the weather. Although, since it rarely snows down here one would think you’d remember each date it happens. The only reason I remember that specific date is because Mommy B and I were supposed to fly to Maui the next day but ended up having our flight cancelled. If you thought driving down here in snow was bad, that’s nothing compared to flying. Anyway, that was also the night we found out we were pregnant with Alli. It was quite the special occasion, indeed.

We all went out into the backyard to see the magic. Alli has seen snow in Ohio before, but I couldn’t recall if Aiden had ever seen anything like it. There really wasn’t any snow on the ground, just a thin sheet of ice on everything. It was probably about 25 degrees or so when we went out, so everything was still nice and frozen. The kids had a blast picking all the icicles off the patio furniture and throwing the piles of sleet at Scarlett, who was having a ball (just like four years ago). We then went out front and scraped a bunch of ice off my car and the mailbox. Mommy B and I even got some pictures and video of them playing around in what is a pretty rare sight for this town. However, the fun didn’t last too long before the kids started getting cold and were ready to come back inside. A little later on, we ventured out to the grocery store to grab a few things we might need for this weekend. Luckily we only had to cross one bridge (yes, just to go to the grocery store) and it wasn’t in horrible shape. That didn’t stop the Charleston drivers from going 25mph across it, but that’s beside the point.

All in all, it was a pretty fun day off. I got a little laundry done and Mommy B got a little schoolwork done, and we pushed our home buying process a little further down the path. The kids got to stay home (not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing to them) and play in weather that doesn’t happen very often around here. We tried to move away from it, but not quite far enough apparently. But hey, I can live with only seeing snow once every four years.

Because why not?

It seems that Mommy B and I are real gluttons for punishment. Even though neither of us have ADD, we can’t seem to “sit still” in life – we’re always changing things around and shaking things up. Life would just be too boring otherwise, right? Allow me to bring youse up to speed on everything we’ve piled on our plates recently. After all, with my metabolism I never did like having an empty plate.

Mommy B is still grinding it out with her schoolwork. She’s only a few months away from obtaining her Master’s degree in nursing, which I’m so proud of her for working towards. It’s not easy being a mother of two small children, taking Master’s courses, oh, and she’s got this little thing on the side called a full time job. She’s almost there, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m optimistic that it’ll all be worth it in the end.

I’ve taken on some new responsibilities at my job as well. My direct manager left the company just over a month ago so now I report directly to her former supervisor. My “new” manager has tasked me with some rather important duties that could get me some serious street cred around the company. I’ve also volunteered to facilitate a Project Management Professional (PMP) study group for folks at the company who are looking to get certified. I’ve been looking for a chance to share my knowledge and experience since obtaining my PMP certification back in May 2013, and this opportunity recently presented itself. Not only will it help me stay up-to-date with my knowledge on the subject, but will also count as continuing education credits to maintain my certification. Not to mention it’ll look good for the company (and me) if a whole group of people get certified thanks to my help. I’m all about giving back…

We also decided a couple weeks ago that we want to sell our house and move to another part of Charleston. We still like the area where we are now, but the public school situation is pretty dire at the moment and likely isn’t going to drastically improve for some time. They’re working on it, but it won’t be up to par by the time the A-Team comes romping through. Plus, we’d like a little more square footage (a.k.a a play/media room) for the years to come. So, we contacted an agent, got the house cleaned up and put the old girl on the market Thursday of last week. We had a showing on Friday and another on Saturday morning, and we had offers in our email by Saturday night. We were basically batting .1000 – two showings, two offers. Holy crap. We’ve been looking at potential properties all along, but nothing was really grabbing us like our current home did when we first walked in. That was, until last night. After looking at probably 15 houses or so (and countless more online), we’ve narrowed it down to two houses in the Mount Pleasant area of Charleston.

We thought it would be best to strike while the iron was hot and put an offer in on a house we saw for the first time yesterday. Real estate is moving fast in this town as we saw first-hand with our own house! After viewing the last few houses, we went back to the agent’s office and stayed until about 9pm last night ratifying the contract on our own house and putting an offer together on the house we want. We’re scheduled to go back to our top two houses this afternoon for one more walk-through, and I’m bringing my parents so they can give us their thoughts. I’ve feigned modesty about my father’s construction background in previous posts, but I’d really like the big man to “inspect” both houses and give us the details. He’ll give us the cold hard truth about each property – if he feels the layout would work for us, if there are any structural issues, if certain things will need to be replaced soon and anything else his decades of experience might expose to us star-struck youngins. So we’ll see how that goes. I knew going in that the home-selling/buying/moving experience is one of the most stressful that a couple will ever go through, and the timing isn’t helping matters much.

In other news, our home computer died last week. The good news is that it isn’t software-related and the hard drive is still intact, but the power cord and DC jack are no longer changing the battery. And as we all know in this modern age of technology that no battery means no computer. The nerds at the repair shop said it would take 3-5 business days to order and ship a new DC jack, then just an hour or so to install it. The whole deal would only run us about $150 and change, but the headache of having to borrow my parent’s computer while Mommy B tries to complete her schoolwork has added another stressor to the equation that we’re trying our best to deal with. Not to mention the fact that the number of emails we’ve been trying to send back and forth to get the housing situation squared away has complicated matters even further.

Before things really started heating up with the house sale/search, Mommy B and I had booked a weekend trip to Maggie Valley, North Carolina so I could take her snow skiing for the first time ever. I learned how to ski when I was in 4^th-5^th grade, and did it all through high school. Granted, most of my slope time was on the steep crags of Perfect North Slopes just across the Ohio border in Indiana. We’re talking 300-foot verticals here, nothing to be messed with. Well, in a couple weeks I’m taking her to the Appalachian Mountains to get her on some real ski slopes. We’ve booked a cozy little cabin at the base of the mountain (with a hot tub) and are looking forward to spending a couple days on the slopes – all by ourselves. Grandma C has been kind enough to book a plane ticket to Charleston to come take care of the kiddos while we’re shredding the fresh powder. I’m hoping that we can still make the trip in the midst of all this housing drama, so that could be pending.

Our kids? Oh yeah, them…

Alli is still every bit of a nut she’s always been. I know we’ve said it numerous times before, but it’s really like having a small person around the house. She’s extremely articulate and will tell you exactly what she’s thinking and what she needs or wants. I never would have thought that I would have had some of the conversations I’ve had with her and she’s not even three and a half yet. I can only imagine what the next couple years will bring. She has started coming into our bedroom on the weekends and climbing into our bed with us for snuggle time. Well, Mommy B and I wish it was snuggle time because in actuality it has become Alli blabbing to us about anything and everything that’s on her mind. From what she learned in school that week to what she’s going to eat for breakfast that morning to what she wants to watch on TV… the girl is an endless stream of consciousness in the mornings. She’ll still have a meltdown for a ridiculous reason (as most three-year olds do), but she’s to the point now where we can usually talk her off the ledge easily because she understands so much of what we say to her. I swear, being a parent should require a Master’s degree in Psychology. Unfortunately most of the people having kids these days barely have a degree in anything.

Aiden is slowly but surely expanding his vocabulary. More and more words are making their way out of his mouth, even though he certainly knows what he wants to say. He’ll point and pull and drag you to whatever it is he needs or wants. He’s still a Stage 5 clinger, and he’s definitely into his Terrible Two’s early – just like his big sister was. Don’t give him something he wants, and it’s bad head and big crocodile tears… instant crisis. His latest trick is to nod or shake his head when you ask him a yes or no question. It’s pretty encouraging to see his development take form in something like that – where he not only understands what you’re asking him, but also knows the proper non-verbal response to get the desired result. I know their school has taught them baby sign language since they were infants, but seeing him grasp this more adult-like non-verbal communication is pretty impressive for a 21-month old.

I’m sure I’ll say this again numerous times before the deal is done, but I’m so thankful to have my parents just down the road during this stressful time. As anyone who has ever sold and bought a house (while having small children and a dog around) knows, there is so much that goes into prepping, showing, viewing and closing that it would be darn near impossible to do without help around. My parents have been so accommodating for us the last few weeks – running over to the house to quickly straighten things up and take Scarlett with them so the house can be shown, or to just babysit the kids while we tried to look for new houses without having to drag them along. I know they love spending time with their grandkids, but we’ve had to have them available at a moment’s notice for weeks now, and I’m sure they’ll be glad when the process is complete as well. We’ve talked about the moving situation with them and they understand that now really is probably the best time for us to make this move. Of course, they probably think we’re crazy for doing it now anyway… because, why not?

Christmas vacation

Goodness, where to begin? Over the past few years, we’ve alternated going back to Ohio for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year was the year to spend Jesus’s birthday in the wintry North. That’s right Followers, we once again packed up the family truckster and trudged our blood-thinned selves north of the Mason-Dixon Line to spend Christmas with what’s left of our families in the Buckeye State. This was actually panning out to be a pretty good trip as we had quite a few things planned while we were back home.

First was a stop in Cincinnati to see what was left of my family. Since my parents don’t live there anymore, we stayed with my uncle and his wife whose kids are grown and gone. We got to see another uncle and his wife and (mostly grown) kids, as well as gorge on some famous Montgomery Inn ribs after spending nine hours in the car. The kiddos did amazing on the whole drive up, which made things much more enjoyable for Mommy B and I. We stopped a couple more times than usual, just so they could get out of their seats and run around a bit… and so our big girl could use the potty like she always does. But the extra stops made it totally worth it. Anyway, Alli fell asleep in my cousin’s room without issue (she’s always been our good sleeper), and Aiden slept for a few hours before deciding he didn’t like his accommodations in the Pack ‘N Play and commandeered our bed. It rained pretty hard that night, so that didn’t help matters much. He woke up every hour, couldn’t get comfortable, and tossed and kicked us as much as possible. Needless to say the three of us were rather worn out the next morning. However, that wasn’t going to stop us from enjoying the festivities we had planned for that day.

We drove a few miles north of Cinci and met Grandma C to exchange cars. That’s right! She took the kiddos the rest of the way to Findlay while Mommy B and I headed downtown to catch a Bengals game. As luck would have it, they were not only playing at home that weekend, but their opponent was none other than Mommy B’s longtime favorite – the Minnesota Vikings. The weather was as pleasant as it could possibly have been for a week before Christmas in Ohio – mid 50s and partly cloudy skies. We got the best of both worlds – Mommy B got to see her Purple People Eaters live and in person (which she’s never seen before) and I got to see the Bengals put a stomping on the visiting team. Thanks to an early 30^th birthday present from Mommy B’s father, we were able to enjoy all the action from the 14^th row on the Bengals sideline. It was by far the best game I’ve ever been to, and I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it with anyone else.

After the game, we headed towards the Dayton area so Mommy B and I could meet up with some friends from our past lives. Unfortunately Mommy B’s friend wasn’t feeling well that night, so she got to play 3^rd wheel with me and my friend. Turns out, this particular friend is moving (back) to Charleston this fall. Small world we live in. After dinner, we headed back to the Cinci area to spend the night with my Best Man – Big Worm. Yeah, we’re big on nicknames around here. We hadn’t seen him and his wife in a long time, and we were excited to meet their new baby girl. Even though we were tired from the night before, we stayed up late catching up with them as though we had never been apart. He’s the reason Mommy B and I met in the first place, so the least we could do was spend as much time with them as possible. The next morning he treated us to a homemade breakfast… a small payback for all the homework I helped him with back in high school.

Then we headed over to meet the jeweler where I bought Mommy B’s engagement ring. As she mentioned in a previous post, a few weeks prior one of the prongs somehow got bent back and her diamond went missing. We were there to pick out a new stone for her ring and ended up having them all sized and soldered together. She actually ended up getting a “nicer” stone than the one I had picked out for her back in 2008. A small consolation prize, I know… but she’ll get over it I think. After that was all settled, we headed up to the great white tundra of northern Ohio as we watched the mercury drop. We arrived in Findlay a couple hours later and decided to make one last child-less stop for lunch – Steak ‘N Shake. It was just as horribly-glorious as I remember it.

After being reunited with the kiddos, who come to find out had already seen all the family members in town, we settled in for a nice Christmas holiday. We spent the next couple days staying indoors relaxing, opening presents, and stuffing our faces with all the typical homemade Christmas food. All I wanted to do was eat and sleep – I think the bears are on to something here. Speaking of sleeping, Grandma C somehow managed to get the kids to sleep in the same room together! We’ve never really tried something like that (because we never had to), but Alli claimed a twin bed and Aiden took a new liking to the Pack ‘N Play. She simply put them both to bed and firmly told them it was time to go to sleep. After a few minutes of “talking” to each other, the cold got to them and they passed out. And they slept like bears too… not waking up for 11-12 hours at a time.

The kids were naturally much more into Christmas this year, especially Alli. She was more than happy to help her little brother “open” his Christmas presents and show him how to use them. However, there was one present that Aiden didn’t need any help with. That would be the toddler-size Dyson vacuum cleaner that Mommy B’s dad got for him. Holy cow, you should have seen this kid’s eyes light up when he saw the box. It was like watching a younger version of a Christmas Story. We don’t even have a Dyson vacuum at home, but he sure as hell knew what it was. We magically obtained a few C-size batteries and he was off to the races. Grandma C had the cleanest carpet in the neighborhood with Aiden around that week! I couldn’t complain about my presents either, as Grandma C had picked up eight (yes, 8) six-packs of Great Lakes Christmas Ale for me to enjoy during the holidays. Obviously I wasn’t going to drink it all while we were there, but I made darned sure it all fit in the car on the way home.

After having Christmas at Grandma C’s house, we went over to the Great-Grandparent’s house where the kids were spoiled even more. They were also total hams – hugging on and playing with everyone as if they had seen them every day of their lives. Once again, no Stranger Danger there – which I guess is a good thing (for the time being). Alli played all over Great Uncle Tim, and Aiden found Grandma Great’s Dirt Devil and spent the rest of the evening cleaning the family room. The next couple of days were pretty lazy, but that’s the point of vacation, right? Grandma C and Mommy B took Alli to see her very first movie in a theatre. They saw Frozen, which apparently is very good even though it’s target audience is probably a little older than Alli. But, she’s always been ahead of the curve. Mommy B tells me that she was absolutely enthralled – she sat in her seat (with her popcorn of course) the whole time and watched the movie as intently as any three-year-old possibly can. I’m a little sad that I didn’t get to share this experience with her, but I thought they could all use a three-generation “Girls Day” so I stayed home with Aiden and we watched football. Well, I watched football and Aiden vacuumed.

The week had come and gone, and it was time to head south again. We packed all the Christmas presents (and my beer) into the car and aimed to make the entire drive home in one shot. Again, we took our time and made some stops so the kids could get out and run around a bit. This probably didn’t make some of the gas station attendants very happy, but if they’ve ever been on a long trip with small kids, they’d understand. After 13.5 hours of driving (including two delays for construction), we pulled into our driveway around 11:30pm that night. We were hitting the maximum amount of time allowed in the car for the kids, as they were getting a little cranky at the end before falling asleep. I won’t mention the fact that the gas light came on as we were about 30 miles outside of town and no, I repeat, NO gas stations were open directly off the highway. Oops. We coasted into Summerville and were able to gas up without waking the kids, but it had Mommy B in a mini panic attack. But, Dad-E saved the day and got everyone home safe and sound.

All in all, it was a great trip. We got to see family and friends that we hadn’t seen in a while, and the kids simply could not have been better in the car. After our last trip home (in which Alli threw up in the car twice just as we were getting back to South Carolina), I was worried that we might be in for another trainwreck crazy adventure. But since they’re into longer movies now, our lives are much easier. I’ll take 5 Toy Stories over 20 Elmos any day. My mother has always told me that they get easier to travel with as they get older, and the A Team proved her right on that one. I’m so proud of how much they’ve grown and how well-behaved they are – most of the time, that is. I’m also thankful for the amazing family we have – both here and back in Ohio. They love our children so much and it shows in how they act towards them when we visit. In fact, even though Grandma C was worn out after the week we spent there, she’s already planning her next visit down here so Mommy B and I can have a weekend without the kids! We’ll call it our joint 30^th birthday weekend away – and I’m taking Mommy B to the mountains of North Carolina to teach her how to snow ski. I know we’ll miss the kiddos while we’re away, but I know they’ll be in good hands with the best family members anyone could ask for.

Odds and Ends

With the holidays right around the corner, it’s hard to remember to keep up with the bloggin’, ya know? Couple that with the fact that Mommy B’s birthday is 4 days after Jesus Christ’s, and that means I have a lot of presents to get all at once. Of course that also means I get to coast from now until our anniversary in June, but I digress. What are the little boogers up to these days? Well, just about everything…

Alli is getting bigger and smarter by the day. She is learning so much at school and is growing in more ways than I can even keep up with. She has so many friends in her class (many of which are almost a full year older than her) that each day she comes home talking about what she did with a different kid that day. Her teachers do a great job of implementing the school’s curriculum and we see it in her vocabulary each week. Not just the fact that she’s learning new words, but what they mean and the context in which they are used. They delve into sensory and visual cues and talk about how they differ. Hot-cold, near-far, in front-behind, on top-below, loud-quiet… that kind of thing. So she not only knows those words, but also what they mean in the larger scheme of things and how the words relate to the object/person/feeling in question.

She’s completely potty-trained and has been for some time. She very rarely has an accident and if she does it’s usually because of something outside her control. Even though she doesn’t really like to, she can completely dress herself (or undress herself which is typically the case), including putting on her shoes. Her movies of choice at the moment are any of the Toy Story trilogy. She knows and loves all the characters, and will recite random lines from the movie at random times. “Daddy, you are a sad, strange little man.” Thanks Ms. Buzz Lightyear, I’ll keep that in mind when you start bringing boyfriends around.

Aiden is also growing like a weed. He’s only a few inches shorter than his big sister and he’s only 20 months old (today)! Sometimes I feel like they weigh the same when I pick them up… even though Aiden is “smaller” still. The kid is thick – and I’m not talking baby rolls/Michelin Man thick, I’m talking solid. He doesn’t look that heavy when you reach down, but when you slip a disc because you didn’t lift with your legs – don’t say I didn’t warn you. And I can’t say I’m that surprised, the kid eats like he’s been in prison for a 10-15 stint. Don’t get me wrong, there are still times where he won’t each much for a certain meal but for the most part he’s a miniature version of his father. A human garbage disposal. Alli can still house some grub too, but she’s getting a little more moody about it these days.

Not when it comes to certain meals, though. This past Sunday my parents cooked breakfast for us while Mommy B stayed home and worked on papers. There was a total of three adults and the A Team in attendance – and they scrambled up a dozen eggs, an entire package of bacon, and a 10-inch diameter, 3-inch thick coffee cake. I even brought our faithful Golden, Scarlett, along to help mop up. Guess how much was left? Let’s put it this way, Scarlett was sorely disappointed with the scraps. I think there was even one point where I saw Aiden double-fisting it with a strip of bacon in one hand while shoveling in Tatsy’s scrambled eggs with the spoon in his other hand. Alli mowed through her eggs (so of course I grudgingly gave her more) and had more than a couple strips of bacon all by herself. Tatsy said next time she’s going to get the 18-pack of eggs just to be safe. They’re barely out of diapers! I shudder to think of how it’s going to be when they hit puberty. I’ll probably be better off just buying a chicken… and a cow while I’m at it.

While Alli is obsessed with Toy Story, Aiden is obsessed with the vacuum. I don’t know what it is about the vacuum or the Shop Vac I use to sweep the hardwood floors, but the kid simply cannot get enough of them. The first thing he’ll do when Mommy B gets home with them is to run over to the closet where the vacuum resides and pull on the door handle. If he’s lucky enough, we’ll open the door and get the vacuum out – at which point he sprints over to the couch and plops himself down like he’s about to watch Old Faithful erupt. Once the switch is flipped on, he stares in a trance until the rug is completely clean at which point he’ll say “All done!” The only bad part about this that we have hardwood floors throughout our entire first floor so there really isn’t much for us to vacuum.  But, we have the cleanest area rug in the whole neighborhood!

We’re making our annual trip back to Ohio soon. We’ve decided to make a short stop in Cincinnati to see what’s left of my family that still lives there, catch the Bengals (my team) game as they stomp play the Vikings (Mommy B’s team), and see some friends before heading the rest of the way up to Findlay. Then it’ll be fun times with Mommy B’s family since they haven’t seen the kiddos in over a year or so. I’m not looking forward to all the driving, but the kids aren’t really at a good age to fly yet. There are just too many things that have to stay on schedule and when you put your travels in someone else’s hands, that’s not a risk I’m willing to take yet. I’d much rather have my own car handy if we needed to get out of dodge if a bad storm is headed our way.

All in all, things have been going pretty well recently. Mommy B has been keeping up with her school work, and I give her tons of credit for keeping her nose to the grindstone. Work has been going well for me, with new opportunities on the horizon. I’ve been able to take a little time to reflect on all we’ve been through as a family this year and I’m very proud of all we’ve accomplished. Next year seems equally as bright, and I’m hoping that everyone has a chance to count their blessings with those they love. Hopefully I can get another blog post in before this year ends, but I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and happy New Year.