Beautiful weather

Even though Texas has its roller coaster weather, I do enjoy those 60-70 degrees days during the winter as the rest of the north is getting hammered with sub-zero temps. It's only during the summer that I spend my time on realtor.com and browse the different places I'd like to move to but won't since it's too dang expensive and I'm not getting richer anytime soon. But it's fun to dream.

Bobby Deen wrote a cookbook

You might be asking, Bobby who? You know, Paula Deen’s younger son... the one who was in the news lately for being a racist. (The mom, not the son.) Being from the South, is anyone really surprised? I mean, who isn’t racist? I’m sure my mom’s racist and I still like her. But anyway, that’s Paula Deen, who I don’t really care for but I’m a fan of her son. His show, Not My Mama’s Meals, is about making healthier alternatives to his mom's calorie-dense, heart clogging recipes.

Happy birthday to Jacob

My first born son is now eight years old. Has it been that long? He's tall too, up to my nipple now... or chest (for those who cringe at that word). He will definitely be taller than me... it's only a matter of when. So for his birthday, we decided that he would be denied of any big party since Andrew constantly gets screwed for his birthday (like last year how he spent his entire birthday in a car).

Year of the horse

Happy new year! It's the year of the horse which means... I don't know. No one in this family is a horse. So... whatever. Sorry to anyone who is a horse or horse lover. I'm very indifferent towards this year's animal. The dragon and tiger are so much cooler.

Icepocalypse

The Icepocalypse, or ice apocalypse, or The Ice Storm, or whatever you want to call it first came to Texas last Friday. At the first sign of a possible freeze, people in Houston panic and go, "Oh, hellll nah. There be ice on mah car. Ain't no body got time for that. I gots to stay home." Maybe it didn't happen exactly like that but close enough. The city panics. The news is running non-stop winter freeze coverage. They shut down schools and major bridges so I stayed home Friday with the kids. No big deal. That was until the Icepocalypse II came yesterday.

5th anniversary (Salt Lake City, UT)

Last weekend Lynn and I took a trip to Salt Lake City to celebrate our fifth year anniversary (without the kids of course). Only five years? It only seems longer because we've been to together for almost ten years. To be technical, the day of our anniversary isn't until a couple more days but we wanted to catch the beginning of the Sundance Film Festival. This trip would mark the fourth time that I've been and I hope to keep coming back.

Andrew rides a bike!

Goals for 2014

It's a new year and time for the obligatory New Year's resolutions. But when I was thinking of my goals from the past, it was so nebulous. Like stay healthy or eat better. It needed to be more defined. It needed to be measurable. And it shouldn't always be a fitness goal or something you dread (like give up soda) but it should be something fun too. So with that, here are my 2014 goals.

New Year's Eve at the zoo

We spent New Year's Eve at the Houston Zoo to see Zoo Lights. Our kids love animals and they love looking at Christmas lights so this was the ultimate combo. It was a festive ambiance with the millions of lights all around and music playing everywhere. The cold weather helped too to put you in the holiday spirit. It was surprisingly nice. Tyson especially enjoyed it. He walked (more like ran and jumped) almost the entire time. With his little legs, that must be an equivalent of running a marathon.

Christmas (3 days of chaos)

I don't know about you but this year's Christmas went by crazy fast. It was way more busy and hectic... getting things together for the family... planning, decorating, organizing... there was no time to sit back and enjoy it. Just lots of happy, crazy chaos (as seen with the first picture on the left). I've been off of work for a week now but I'm tired. I need time off from my time off... a break from my break. Things need to slow down. Oh, and it doesn't help that Andrew's birthday is the day after either. At this rate, he'll never have a traditional birthday party.

Our Christmas card (not envelope)

Dear Santa

One more week until Christmas!

Elf on the shelf

Do you know about the elf on the shelf? I didn’t. I’ve seen it in stores around Christmas time but it never crossed my mind to look at it… that was, until we received a special package from “Santa Claus” or as I found out, their Aunt Julie. (To my kids who may read this in the future, the secret’s out. Boom!) It’s interesting… basically the elf is Santa’s eyes and ears, reporting back to Santa on a nightly basis when the kids are sleeping, because how else could he keep track of the millions of kids around the world. He has elves to do his dirty work!

Foolish me