Not to be outdone

After Heather hurt herself on Friday (see previous post), I took it upon myself not to be outdone. After all we did have a pretty big weekend planned, consisting of hours upon hours of cleaning the house for our open house on Sunday.
So Friday night was beautiful and so I thought that it would be a good night to get a little exercise. So I invited Don and Ryan over for a little basketball. We started playing at about 8 pm, and we were having a great time. By about 9 pm we were on our last game of "21", since it was starting to get a little dark, and I was driving along the baseline and was attempting a finger roll when I landed twisting my ankle. It actually sounded like a rubber band snapping. So after I rolled around the ground for a minute Don and Ryan got me a bag of ice and a chair to sit in. Then Don took off my shoe and discovered that my ankle looked like a water balloon, so we decided that the game was probably over and that we should get Heather, who was inside trying to nurse her injuries with a nice warm shower and relaxation.
So needless to say I got out of a lot of house chores this weekend. But you would be impressed with how much I can do crawling around on the floor to clean the house. Or if kneeling on a chair I can do quite a few dishes. And I did manage to mow the whole yard on the Deere without using the brake at all, since that is on the hurt right foot side. But seriously, Heather did most of the work getting the house into shape.
Here is a picture from Friday night....
and one from today... (go ahead, click on it. I dare you.)I am developing some very nice colors especially in near my heel and in my toes. Even the "webbing" between my two webbed toes is swollen, making Heather even more disgusted with my toes.
I told Heather that I really feel like a Laughlin today.
Special thanks to Ryan Barczak for the piggyback ride inside and the use of the crutches, and to Don Huff III for coming over to edge and push mow the yard that I couldn't reach with the rider. And of course to Heather, giver of the drugs, bringer of the drinks, cleaner of the house, getter-upper with the kids, hander of the crutches...etc.

Easter in the snow

Well, I can say that I have never hid Easter eggs in the snow before, but there is always a first for everything. Although we really didn't have much snow left by the afternoon when we did the egg hunt but it was still about 35 degrees at that time. Savannah and Sawyer had a great time looking for the eggs, although I don't know if Sawyer knew exactly what was going on other than we got him in his winter boots, put a Easter basket in his hand and sent him out looking for food. Then when we did the hunt inside for plastic eggs filled with candy, Sawyer was going crazy with the candy. At one point we saw him eat a Hershey's kiss...but we don't know where the foil went. Then a few minutes later, while I was attending to the ham, there was a commotion in the living room. So I went to see what was the matter and it turns out that Sawyer had five jelly beans in his mouth and the multi-colored drool was getting all over his new linen Easter shirt. When I was digging the goop out of his mouth I was expecting only one jelly bean but I just kept finding more and more in there. He wasn't very happy that I took all of his newly acquired treasure, especially when it tasted so good.

Here are just a few shots from our outdoor hunt. I'm sure Heather will add many more for you tomorrow.

So I was a little late to work yesterday...

So here is what happened...

I, along with two other cars, slipped on some ice when trying to stop for a red light and found ourselves stuck in the snow along the side of the road. I ended up pretty much facing the wrong direction, but luckly we were all able to avoid each other. So I was stuck but I was probably going to be able to get myself out. I was putting on my boots to go out and survey the scene and see if the other two cars needed any help when...

...here comes a red jeep cherokee....

...slipping on the same ice...

...and right when I got my second boot on...

...ouch...

...and then here comes a big truck...watch out!!!

Whoa, that was close.
(The other two cars left after that close call)

The lady that hit me called the police, who came and took the accident report,
and her husband, who was able to pull me out...

...and then I went to work, just in time for break,
and had some coffee.
(See yesterday's post for a picture of the aftermath)

Unexpected Snow

We had a little bit of snow today. Finally!

We were of course looking forward to some snow on the ground this winter and everybody in Michigan said that we were going to change our minds about that since it probably wasn't going to get above freezing between Thanksgiving and March. But that hasn't happened.
The snow today wasn't really much, but Savannah and I rushed out there to play in it a little bit since we didn't know how long it was going to "stick" around for. Heather said that it was like we were back in Portland and you knew that snow wouldn't stay around for more than an hour. So we went out to play and we ran around for awhile and then I pulled her on the sled and she even caught some snow on her tounge. Although she really didn't like that since she got snow on her face and in her eyes.
Right before we came in Savannah wanted me to teach her how to do a snow angel. I thought that she was being very brave since she didn't even like the snow on her face. So I told her how to do it, then I showed her how to do it. Then before I had her lay down to try I reminded her that she was wearing all her snow gear so that she wouldn't get wet at all and that it was going to be a lot of fun.
Here is the picture, you tell me if she is having lots of fun....

Happy Birthday Heather

and Don and Nicole too!

So we didn't really do anything "fun" like we had hoped, but we did have it all set up before we bailed because of the no babysitter issue. Sorry Don and Nicole for ruining Saturday night. But we did have some fun at home with the family.
And on Sunday, her actual birthday, Heather got to wear her new shoes that Savannah gave her to church, so of course it was a good birthday. After church I made a cake and SJ helped me decorate it. Then I made dinner for Heather after the kids went to bed; steak (which I was able to grill outside in the very nice 40 degree weather), popcorn shrimp, and bread. And don't forget the captain and coke. We had dinner on the couch and watched the last few minutes of the movie that we couldn't finish the night before because we are so fragile. So Heather, I hope that you had a good birthday!

On another note, Sawyer did it again. He likes to play a game of hide-and-seek with crucial items around the house. A while ago Heather wrote about his missing shoe, which we ended up finding in a storage closet only after buying another pair in the same size. But this time he has gone too far! He has lost the remote to the upstairs DVD player. It made it a little difficult to watch movies especially for lazy people such as ourselves. Well today it backfired on him. Heather put in his Baby Praise movie, that he absolutely loves, and she was not able to get past the menu screen only using the controls on the front of the DVD player. This did not make the Saw Man happy. Heather told me that during her attempts to get it to play Sawyer was yelling and banging his fists on the TV screen. Maybe that will teach him, but probably not. So far it has only taught us that we can't beat Sawyer at hide-and-seek.

The Sawman Walketh

We have just a couple of short videos of Sawyer walking from last week sometime when he was just starting out. This week he is basically walking more than he is crawling. I tried to get some of him to walking outside today, but I kept him on the grass due to his recent fight with the driveway. And the bumps in the lawn proved too much for his small feet and not as of yet perfected balance.
Enjoy!
(this first one is a good example of when we say he's so excited he falls down laughing)

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And a better attempt...

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And here is a bonus clip of an outing to Binder Park Zoo while Jenn and Greg were out visiting. We got to feed the giraffes which was a lot of fun.

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Game Night

We had a fun night last night. We had a little game night and four other couples came over for food, drinks, and games. The men hung out at the bar and the pool table until we were taken away from the 7-layer dip and subjected to a version of the "newlywed game". The ladies picked out five questions and the men tried not to get in too much trouble by answering them too far off. Then the men picked out five questions and showed the women that it wasn't that easy. Everybody did good and I don't think that anyone ended up in the doghouse. Possibly the biggest miracle of the night was the TV was never turned on at all (even though Michigan State was leading Notre Dame), but there was quite a bit of fantasy football talk and some trade proposals. But nobody drank enough to accept any trades last night.

Here are some things that we learned last night:

• Although it is not recommended, it is possible to keep the TV off when there is football on.
  
• 7-layer dip has an additive component in it.
• Some people use the word "Bu-coo" (meaning big) in everyday language
  
• Women have way too many shoes
• Yard work is considered housework
• My milkshakes bring all the girls to the couch
• Heather and I could not talk or talk forever
• Katie is not a blonde
• There is still some rivalry between high schools in Jackson, even though they graduated years ago
• Don is delicate, fancy, and honest while I am just odd (according to Apples to Apples)

Savannah scares me....

...litterally. At least once a week she comes into my room in the early morning, probably around 5:30 am when I am dead asleep, and just stands there and looks at me. I don't really know if she says anything or not, but when I finally happen to crack open up my eyes she is just right in front of me, staring at me with a blank look on her face. She scares the crap out of me, to use the parlance of our times. The picture to the right is what I see...my vision is a little grainy in the morning and there isn't much light so it makes it even more scary. You have to admit that even such a sweet girl like Savannah can be kind of scary if she is less than a foot away from your face staring at you while you are sleeping. To top it all off she is usually holding a limp (stuffed) animal in her hand, by the neck. Usually it is a helpless lamb but sometimes she goes all out and brings a moose in with her. One morning I woke up to this and I actually gasped and jumped backward and hit Heather. Then Heather was concerned that I might have scared Savannah. There wasn't much concern for my still-stopped-heart. After I escorted Savannah back to bed and requested that she doesn't get up until her clock says "7-0-0", I can fortunately fall back to sleep in about a minute. It takes Heather longer to fall back to sleep recovering from the elbow she just received as I fled for my life. I am still trying to decide if it is worse than what Savannah used to do. She would come in and hit the mattress near my head until I responded. I guess the best way to wake me would be to wake up Heather instead.

On more of a pleasent note, Sawyer got his Oregon Ducks football jersey in the mail just in time for their win over Stanford and he looks great. He looks very natural in it and he asks me if he can wear it all the time.
Go Ducks!

Boston Trip and The Bar

I just got back from a quick trip to Boston. Heather and the kids took me to the airport on Monday and picked me back up on Thursday. Over the course of the week I talked to Savannah on the phone quite a few times but I don't think that I really ever convinced her that I really wasn't working at the airport. The highlight of my trip was the Boston Duck Tour. It was a great way to see the city and hear a ton of history in 90 minutes. My tour guide was Paul from Revere, a section of Boston. The most important thing that he told us is how to drive in Boston. He said that if we looked all the stop lights and traffic signs as mere suggestions we would be fine. The city was really confusing to drive in since only one street went from one side to the other and they all switched names about 3 or 4 times on the way across.
I had a nice surpise waiting for me when I got home. Heather had finished lacquering the bar and she had bought and built a bakers rack in the bar too. And today I got a couple of Bar stools from Don and Katie. The bar is looking good, so stop buy if you get a chance. I will gladly serve you up a beer, a caucasian Gary or maybe I'll have more of that good sarsaparilla.
The next steps for the bar are to hang up the posters and maybe change the door into a half door. And then we can get some 8-Ball tournaments going on (Make sure to check out the new rules of play).
I checked this blog every night while I was away to see if there were any guesses for the movie quote last week but no one ever got the quote from "Back to the Future", "Whooo, time to change that oil!".

My Anniversary

First of all, sorry about last week's second quote. Maybe it was hidden too well or as Heather says it was a bit of a stretch. Anyway the quote was "wrap your lips around" from Kill Bill Vol. 2. And as the two hints suggest, Budd says this as he hands a margarita to Elle. I really liked this line so I guess it stuck in my head a little. I thought that Gabe would have gotten this one due to the fact that he owns this movie.
I had an important anniversary this past week. It has been 11 years since I have had the pleasure of having my hair cut by a professional. My last professional haircut was at 122nd and Sunnyside in some Great Clips or something on August 16, 1995, the day before I left for college. It might just be a coincendence that it was the last one that my parents were going to pay for, but maybe not. Anyway, since then I have had a couple of bad haircuts along my way of learning who should cut my hair (for free) and teaching myself how to cut it. Don Huff and I gave each other many haircuts during college, but since then I have no one to blame but myself. I also tried my hand at hair pigment removal. Let's just hope that I do better chemistry when my hair is not involved. A school newspaper article even noted that I was the "hypercolor hair boy".
Here are a couple of pictures of my hair over the years...


Mom - Thanks for this haircut.... or is that Holly?











At least it is off the neck here.









Whooo, time to change that oil!










Can you tell when I started "cutting" my own hair?
That hair cut was all one length, a "2". Now I have matured and I use 5 guards with the clippers, the 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8.














Check out the chin strap, I bet Heather would love that now.









Hyper-color hair boy






I look funny without some hair on my face.







Happy Birthday to Malone (could this be the big 3-0?) and also Happy Graduation to LD who just completed Police Academy. (Sorry, I couldn't think of any Police Academy quotes)

Life's Certainties

Life has many certainties. Although some may say that nothing is certain except for death and taxes.
People are always trying to tell me some of these certainties with regard to my kids. They are usually in the form of little cliches like "kids grow up too fast", or tell me to "cherish the time when they are young".
I have some examples from my own life. Things like home improvement projects will always cost more and will take longer than expected. Also you will always be vacuuming the house in the last hour before guests come over. I am sure that you have similar certainties in your everyday life too.
But now I have a new one that I would like to share with everyone. Never eat a coney island hot dog on the last day of the fair.
I probably should have known better even before I wrapped my lips around it when I saw the small hands of the carnie, who smelled like cabbage, serve it to me.
I feel much better today after about 12 hours of sleep. I think that the bad part about this is that it probably would have looked about the same coming back up. I should have been able to see the foreshadowing there.
Let me know if you have any words of wisdom to share with me; what you have found to be a certainty in life. Hopefully nothing about coney island dogs, since I have already learned my lesson on that one.

Runner's Up

Well we couldn't bring home the title this year. We lost in the soccer championship game 4-3. So I guess there is always next year. This does tip the scales in the direction of the glory years being behind me. Especially since after every game I am sore for a few days and I complain about playing kids who are half my age who are in shape and who have all the time in the world to ball, when everyone else is working and playing with their kids.
Anyway, I need some suggestions from everyone. Heather thinks that I should name our new, almost done, bar. So if anyone has any good names other that "Ryan's Bar" or "Cocktails and Dreams" let me know and I will take them into consideration.
Hopefully I will be able to get some preseason #20 ranked Ducks football games out here otherwise I am going to need to have Proctor set up a web cam for me and I can watch the game with him or something.
Something to watch for this season is that the Ducks are going with a three helmet lineup, a first in college football. And here is the local fan favorites, Michigan, talking about it and setting up a little rivalary for September 8th, 2007 (when the Ducks play at Michigan).

The Truth (or at least as Ryan tells it)

Since I get the priviledge of giving Heather a break from writing every Sunday, I thought that I would provide some clarity for everyone and give you my version of the truth.

Sawyer may not be doing as well as Heather may want you to think. She might say that he is a little "big" for his age, but the truth is that he has a bit of a weight problem. I have seen him grab Cheerios six at a time and they can get lodged right inbetween two of his chins. You should recognize this picture from our trip to the beach, but now I want to show you the angle that Heather would like to keep hidden. Notice the extra large mid-section.

Sometimes I get nervous while feeding him because of the way that he looks at my fingers like they are vienna sausages. Also it is tough to tell him that meal time is over, I would advise anyone doing so to covering their ears...and watch their fingers.
Not to bring up another problem but you should see the way that Sawyer hits the bottle. I would estimate that he downs 3 or 4 bottles a day and he never goes to bed without one. I have even seen him have one in the car. I am thinking about getting him into a 12 step program, as soon as he can count to 12 that is.

If you are as concerned as I am please make comments to open Heather's eyes to the elephant in the room...before we have another elephant in the room.

Thank you! I will be here every Sunday, and remember to tip your bloggers.