A New View

We're almost finished with the long-awaited screen porch. Here are some pictures from our first evening of play in the new room.

I bought a pressure washer last week and put it to the test today on the kids' play set. Sure beats the scrub brush and soap that I used last time!

I'll be starting a new adventure at church next month. I'm going to be a host, leader, etc. for the 3rd-5th grade children's church hour. Their biggest concern when I went to practice yesterday was if I can memorize lines and sing. Check & check. I just hope they don't ask me to dance.

I finally found a local place to take Noah out on the 4-wheeler. I was hoping to go today after church, but I failed to prepare like I needed to yesterday and other things today took priority (see below). Hopefully we can go in a couple of weeks if the weather cooperates.

Since the weather was nice this afternoon and we were not out on the 4-wheeler, I decided to carve out the mega-pumpkin. Noah and I looked at about 50 stencils online before we settled on this one.

A New Hobby

While in Florida a few weeks ago I asked my dad if we could take Noah fishing one morning. It was just a few minutes with a pole in a pond in the middle of a cow pasture, but I think it took.

He's been talking about fishing lately so today I decided to make it official. I paid for my license and let Noah pick out his very own fishing pole. The Cars fishing set was in the running but got thrown back when he spotted the Spider Man package (with bonus stickers). We had a great spot and perfect weather not far from our house. We made it for all of about 15 minutes before the quacks got the better of him and we had to trade the poles in for some duck feeding.

On the way home I couldn't resist pulling over at a little pumpkin patch to pick out a carver.

He wanted to practice a little more when we got home. His cast is not bad for his first day!

What better way to end the day than with a Halloween cupcake in your pajamas.

Lazy Days of Summer

I've been reminded lately of why it is so great being a kid in the summer. Grilling out, eating watermelon, watching lightning bugs, letting ice cream drip down your chin, and of course swimming in the pool. I've never been the pool type, I guess because growing up in FL we had easy access to a creek, ponds, afternoon rains, etc. Heck, my brothers and I even turned an old satellite dish into a pool to cool off. I also always thought that it took a lot of work keeping them maintained with chemicals and cleaning. However, we recently picked up this kiddie pool on steroids and it has been just absolutely wonderful. I know the water level is only 2ft deep, but I swear I look forward to getting in every afternoon more than Noah does.






After we come inside each evening we all get on the carpet for a little wrestling until Anna's bed time. When Anna goes down Noah turns to his newest obsession: a game called Hi Ho Cherry-O. You basically spin a wheel, take some fruit off of a tree (or add some back on) and repeat until someone runs out of fruit. I love how excited he gets to play over and over and over again. Add this to Chutes & Ladders & the Memory card game and we are raising quite the little gamer. If you currently have or have had a 3 year old and have some game suggestions please let me know.

Question of the Day

This question came to me this morning, I'll let you guess why. Here you go:

When is it appropriate (if ever) to answer your cell phone in a public restroom where others are taking care of business alongside you?

I'm looking for opinions on this one so don't be bashful with the comments.

And no, it was not me that answered said phone.

My Rusty Thumb

Many moons ago I had a knack for growing things, or at least that is how I remember it. I decided this year that Noah needed to dig in the dirt for more than just worms so off we went to buy some seeds for our garden. I'm still learning how the seasons work this far north so we started off in a small greenhouse to avoid the frost and then transplanted. Noah didn't care too much about the seed planting, but he's taken an interest in helping to water everyday. The strawberries are all but given over to the bunnies that inhabit our backyard, but I have high hopes for the rest.



This is how it's looking now.







Noah has an exciting new evening activity. Take a look...

And then after we get inside it is time for his favorite computer activity.

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

Two young-uns in the tub.









They're growing up fast!

Daddy Day Care

What better Mother's Day present than to spend three days relaxing, shopping, eating out, watching movies and SLEEPING IN with no children. I decided that this was far superior to any other gift I was eyeing (the new toaster ran a distant second), so this morning Kimberly started her well deserved and overdue weekend away.

That means that I'm in charge of keeping the kids (alive) and being reminded of how hard Kimberly works every day, all day, with a clock that I swear is moving slower than it should. How she keeps her sanity with the slobber, eating, cleaning, bottles, naps, constant requests, grumpiness, and all the Caillou episodes I'll never know. I'm so thankful for my wonderful wife and for her daily sacrifices.

The house is a mess and I have some clothes to wash, but I made it through day 1. Here a few shots of our outside time.

The Traveling Toddler

For any fellow travelers out there that think they (like I) have mastered the art of business travel, I invite you to spice things up and take a toddler along with you the next trip you go on. It gives you a whole new level of compassion and empathy for the screaming kids on the plane or the runaway toddler in terminal B.

After parking at the airport, Noah was so excited waiting and watching for the bus to take us to the terminal. Waiting for the plane was a hoot after we found these...

I mentioned to the ticket agent about Noah's peanut allergy and it got us to the front of the line to board. If you ever fly Southwest you know how big a perk that is. Here's the happy boy pre-takeoff.

After the scenic tour of Tampa thanks to Papa's GPS, we made it to Ft. Green where we viewed all the changes that have taken place since our last visit. One of Noah's favorites...

We went out on Papa's boat in Tampa Bay. 72 degrees and not a cloud in the sky while it was snowing back home. Ahh sunny Florida...

We spent one whole day with Noah's birth family where they celebrated the big 3 for him a little early. I think he likes being the star of the show.

Cows, cats, horses, bees, barns, boats, trucks, cars, presents, cake, balloons, Sonny's BBQ, home cooking, playing with cousins, riding the Kubota, and playing in the spa. What more could a boy ask for in life?

Noah had such a great time and so did I. I think we bonded during our travels. It must have something to do with smelling his stinky breath and pushing him back over to his side of the bed all night long.

Dragging a little from the return trip we finally made it home and we were so happy to see Mommy and Anna. Thanks again so much, Memaw and Papa!

Used Cows For Sale

If you happen to be driving in Kentucky northbound on I-65, make a mental note around mile marker 78 to look to your right. There is a giant sign advertising just what you might need. That's right, used cows. I wrote down the number to call if you want to ask about new ones. This is almost as good as the sign in someone's yard near Paducah, KY advertising kids for sale.

This past week I made consecutive day runs to Louisville and Memphis . 26hrs on the road, 800+ miles, and a lot of bad radio. Besides the 8 or so inches of snow on the roadside heading to Memphis, one of my favorite sights was due to an awful traffic jam getting out of the city. My trusty GPS routed me through some tiny back roads where I passed a teenage girl riding a horse - while on a cell phone.

I'll be heading out of town this week for a little r & r in sunny Florida. Noah and I are looking forward to 85 degrees and visiting with my family. I can't wait to share the stories and pics when I return.

The Latest in Building & Traveling

I'm sorry I let February slip away without a post. I started the month off with a trip to Salt Lake City for business. My goal was to entertain a couple of customers while helping them to learn all about one of our products. For dinner one night we made our way to Park City which is apparently a well known ski town. If you're like me and don't ski, it is pretty much a tourist trap. We did, however, eat at a restaurant owned by Robert Redford if that matters to anyone. Checking out the people there and the stuff they sale in the boutiques (for the two guys that read this, that's a small shop with a very small selection of over-priced merchandise) helped me realize there is a whole culture to the ski town that is far, far from life in middle Tennessee. Here are a couple of pictures to prove I actually went there and am not making this stuff up.

From there I spent some oh-so-precious free time finishing out a room in the back portion of my workshop. Noah calls it "Daddy's House". Electrical outlets, insulation, siding, ceiling, lights, insulated sub-floor, carpet, and trim. Yeah, that pretty much took up February. I still have shelving to go and a little bit of trim and I'll be ready to move in. The picture is old, but you get the idea of where I'm working.

Business has been slowing this month so I found myself making cold calls for the first time. Think of me in a tie like a door-to-door salesman except that I'm going to schools instead of houses. Yeah, yuck is right. I found that low expectations are the key in this game. If my goal is to say hello and drop off some information I'm much less likely to be disappointed than if I expect to actually sell something. My favorite bit of info came from a poor little rural school where they informed me they get their computers from donations in the community and that the teachers just started using email this school year and would not welcome additional technology just yet. I refrained from volunteering to show myself the door.

And just because you actually read to the end of the post, here are a couple of bonus pics for you.