WHAT!

I'm not sure if I've posted this picture before, but every time I come across it when I'm scrolling through pictures I think I should. My son received a tool kit for Christmas one year and he loved the drill. His little sister loved it too, but instead of pretend building, she loved to poke the drill in her ear and let it run. Don't worry, it was way to big to go in and cause any harm. I laughed every single time I saw her off in a corner, concentrating hard, drilling away at her head. Kids are fun.

Not My First Rodeo

We have a phrase in Texas, "It's not my first rodeo".  It's meant to explain that you've been here before, done this before, and you know how the game works. My assumption is that is originated in actual Rodeo competition as a way to let others know that you didn't need instruction about how to hang on to a bull or what not. Having never ridden a bull, that's pure conjecture.
Today at my son's preschool was rodeo lunch. They do this every spring during the time when the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is going on. They have hot dogs for lunch and then play rodeo games like lasso the rocking horse and stick horse races. It's fun. Today, as the parents gathered and wondered what to do, a number of faces turned toward me and asked where they should do. They knew that this was not my first rodeo. I pointed here, here, and here and put people in their places and things worked our great. One thing I've learned through the years is that it's not so important who is in charge, just that somebody is. Things go much smoother if there is one face to look to when a question comes up, even if that face is making up the answers.

The day went great. Everyone had fun. Only one stick horse racing injury that I'm aware of. The kids went home tired and the parents took a lot of pictures. It was a little bittersweet for me though. This isn't my first rodeo, but it was my last.

Boxes

Little kids like boxes
They like to climb inside
Pretend that they are on a boat
And take them for a ride

Half Pipe

Last week I took my wife to the dentist. I didn't need to, she's perfectly capable of finding the dentist on her own, but by doing that I was able to hang out with her for an extra hour or so on the drive to and from. It was nice. While she was getting her teeth cleaned my youngest and I went grocery shopping and explored a small public skate park near the dentist. I scoped out the ramps, read the rules, and wondered if the kids would like to come back.

Asking a nine year old boy if he wants to go to a skate park is like asking if a fish pees in the water. The answer is so obvious that you feel silly asking the question. So we went. My older daughter had some work to do so the three youngsters piled into the car along with a couple of boards and helmets and pads. We had a good time. Nobody is quite ready to drop in on the halfpipe but they had a lot of fun going back and forth and sliding down on their feet. Ramps that any one of them would jump off without blinking are quite intimidating when you're riding on wheels. It's going to take a few trips to really get the hang of things. We had fun and nobody got hurt. We'll certainly be back for more.

Slow Day

I'm calm! Who says I'm not calm!

I was pretty excited about today. The only thing on the calendar was my wife's dentist appointment. Looks like some time off for daddy. Just had to drop the little kids off at the elementary and then drop my oldest off at school across the street. I headed back to the elementary because I had to prepare a couple of deposits for the PTO and then take them to the bank. Not the close bank, but the far away bank because they're the one with the automatic change counter and it's more time efficient to do it that way than to count it all by hand. I was lucky enough to make it home in time to load my wife and youngest up and head off the the dentist. I didn't really have to do this, but if I didn't then I wouldn't really see my wife at all today. While she was at the dentist my son and I went grocery shopping and checked out a neighborhood skate park. Then we picked my wife up and had an actual legitimate treat, a lunch out. That was my morning. In a few minutes I've got to head out to pick up the little ones from school and then we'll go to the library for our weekly book retrieval. We'll make it home in time to head back out and pick up my oldest and her friend from after school science club practice. That should leave us all sitting down to dinner after which I'll be awaiting a phone call from the friend's older brother who I have to pick up whenever his track practice ends.
I'm glad I get an easy day like this every now and again because the busy ones wear me right out.

Special Boy

I feel the need to make this picture public. He's a special boy.

Crew

Recently hired a work crew to help me spread some gravel. With their help it took only slightly longer to finish the job than it would have taken if I had worked alone. It was a lot more fun though.