We Carved
Growing up I didn’t carve too many pumpkins so as an adult I have always sucked at it. I blame it on lack of experience and the fact that my brain has a hard time seeing the negative space. Kristin, on the other hand, is pretty dang good at it. She’s always had a way better pumpkin than me.
This year I decided to cheat a little and get one of those stencil things that tells you what parts to cut out and takes care of the whole “negative space” thing. Cooper and I chose the pirate one. That’s right. It’s not death or poison or anything gross or scary. It’s a pirate pumpkin. The teeth were pretty tough but I think it managed to turn out okay.
Kristin and Aiden chose the spider one. Again, not because it’s scary, but because the bug guy killed all the spiders at our house and we were missing the ones that once covered our front porch. Now for the next couple weeks our porch can have a spider living on it agian.
Blue went with the traditional. Triangle eyes, round ears, sharp teeth and arm holding a sword style. And if you look close you can see that this traditional triangle eyed pumpkin has eyelashes that a woman would die for. Since I will be in Virginia on Halloween it was fun to have a little bit of that with the kids tonight. And tomorrow? Roasted pumpkin seeds.
Do you carve?
Positive Post Tuesday
I’ve been home for the past year or so. Not like I haven’t left the house, but I’ve been home. Around my kids, around my wife, and I got used to it. I’ve been home so much that I forgot how weird it was to be out on the road for a stretch of days and just how awesome it is to come home after that stretch.
Yesterday I got home about two in the afternoon and Kristin and the boys and I grabbed lunch and relaxed a little. It’s weird to only be away for a few days and realize how awesome it is to be home. The boys and I were able to wrestle around a little, we had dinner together, and it was great to be able to tuck the boys in for bed time.
Now, I know there are people out there that travel way more than I do and are gone for a lot longer stretches of time, and I don’t want to be one of those guys that is always complaining about being away at work, but this first stretch of time felt like a long one. I know it will get better and I know it will get easier, but one thing I hope doesn’t stop is my excitement to see my family. Today’s Positive Post Tuesday is simply about being home. It’s about being around my favorite people in the world and paying attention to every minute of it I can.
What’s your Positive Post Tuesday about?
What’s Your Fear?
What is one of your worst fears? Something that has the potential of keeping you up at night?
We discussed this question tonight at our Bible Study home group thing. We went around the room and talked about fears ranging from heights, to bridges, to death, to elderly women.
I shared with the group that one of my fears that is sort of ‘always there’ is dying first. The thought of unexpectedly leaving my family and leaving Kristin to be responsible for everything is something that lingers as a fear to me. I know it’s something that I shouldn’t be dwelling on much, but since we were talking about it that was my answer.
So what’s yours? What’s one of your worst fears? Comment anonymously if you need to.
The Ham Festival
For the past two years I have been out of town for The Ham Festival and Kristin has taken the boys on her own. It’s a little festival south of Nashville, with fair style food, bounce houses, petting zoos, a bunch of other little craft booth things, and several hundred people. I think Kristin likes to go because it’s a small town thing and probably reminds her of Gilmore Girls, but we all had an awesome time today. The boys got to pet some llamas and a tiny donkey, and we even got to ride a train pulled by a painted lawnmower. Tonight there are supposed to fireworks but we decided to make it a day thing and be home in the evening.
Now I am watching the end of the Miami / Florida State game that I somehow got sucked in to. I don’t know a thing about College Football but somehow this is a pretty cool game.
Wednesday Night (Updated)
We’ve spent a lot of time this month in the care of medical professionals. I suppose that’s to be expected with three boys, but nothing can prepare you for that feeling of your stomach turning inside out and loosing your mind all at once. Last night was easily the worst experience of my life and I pray not too many of you can relate.
I don’t know how many of you out there have had the unbelievable misfortune of holding your baby as their eyes roll back into their head, their body convulsing uncontrollably, and between shakes feeling like there are no muscles inside them at all. For those of you that have, I’ve joined in that fear, and I pray to never experience that again.
As soon as I got home last night, Cooper was in his highchair waiting for dinner and didn’t even look over at me when I walked in the door. I walked up to him and noticed a blank stare on his face and his arm start to flex over and over. I picked him up and the seizure started to get worse. This is the moment, as a parent, you truly have no idea what to do. I tried to get him to respond with no success, and had Kristin call the ambulance. Ten minutes later or so, he had thrown up several times and was still not responding to anything.
Once the ambulance got there he had stopped seizing, but his eyes were still rolling around and not responding. For what seemed like the longest ambulance ride to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital possible, Cooper was given oxygen, and was hooked up to all sorts of machines. I sent out a Twitter and was immediately flooded with encouragement and prayers. This online community blows me away daily.
Once we got to the hospital Cooper was responding to us talking but still wouldn’t talk or move around that much. After much poking and prodding… and a popsicle, he started to come around and was acting more normal. What seemed like an entire day of trauma truly only lasted about three hours. The doctors checked him out, watched him off and on and finally told us it was a result of some virus and a really high fever spike. Turns out that’s a pretty common thing but, no doubt, something a parent can never get used to. Even as I write this, I can feel my throat closing up and my stomach turning.
So, Kristin and my date night to The Swell Season was cancelled, and instead we spent the evening in the emergency room. It’s disappointing, but I’m glad it happened before we left for the show. We have some great neighbors that helped us out a ton and sprung into action as soon as we needed them. Thanks for everyone’s prayers and spreading the word. Cooper’s doing better today, his fever is still off and on and we are watching him pretty close, but he’s eaten today and woke up asking to watch Clifford, so he seems a little more normal. Thanks again everyone. Your prayers meant so much to us.
Star Wars – The Clone Wars
A couple weeks ago Kristin came up with this clever way to give the boys incentive to obey. She drew these little trees on paper and each leaf had a number. If the boys were asked to do something and did it the first time they would move up the tree one spot. If they were asked more than once, they moved down. We told them that when they reached twenty-two at the top of the tree they could go see Star Wars – The Clone Wars. That’s a big deal for for a six year old and a three year old, but it’s also a pretty big challenge to get to twenty-two.
Anyway, yesterday the boys finally reached their goal and we made plans to leave after dinner and have a boys night. We stashed ‘cheaper than theatre’ candy in our pockets and went to the theater. I hadn’t heard anything about the new Star Wars movie, but the boys were super excited about it. Now, one thing I can say is that I think they should have made all the Star Wars movies like this one. I might offend some Star Wars geeks out there, but this is easily the best Star Wars movie out there. I know the other ones were revolutionary for their time and all that, but the problem is they had bad actors and they were written poorly. Come on. Tell me you don’t agree.
Anyone else seen it? Heard anything about it? Weirded out by Jabba the Hutt’s gay uncle?
Nim’s Island
Since Blue is in school now we have decided to initiate the “weekend” into our lives. See, ever since we’ve been married Kristin and I have rarely had a real weekend. With my job weirdness we just made whatever day I was home or “off” a weekend, but now that Blue has started school, we officially have a Friday night. Since this whole new Friday night thing is new to us, we have decided to start having movie night.
Tonight we went over to Kristin’s dad’s house barbecued some hamburgers and watched ‘Nim’s Island’. I was almost asleep during the previews but ended up making it through the whole movie. And surprisingly enough, it wasn’t terrible. I mean, yeah, it’s a kids movie, and yeah it’s unrealistic to think Jodie Foster could travel to the other side of the world in a day and a half to rescue an eleven year-old girl that’s living on an unknown island by herself with her friends a sea lion, a lizard and a pelican, but The Matrix wasn’t real either, so I can get past that. Anyone seen it?
What was your favorite kids movie growing up? I’d have to go with “The Goonies”.
Six
Today Blue turns six.
This little man holds a special place in my heart. Like most parent-child relationships this kid can drive me nuts and melt my heart all within a matter of seconds.
Today, we are having “family birthday” where Blue says he’s in charge. We’re headed to Chuck E Cheese’s for lunch and games, then Blue and mom are going on a birthday date to see Wal-E and maybe shopping for a hat. Tomorrow is the friends party. It’s a pirate party with swords, treasure, and a monkey cake, because that’s what Blue wants.
Happy Birthday Blue!
