Tyson wins the Mushroom Cup!

Jacob's First Communion

Mother's Days

This is the only "Day" holiday that I can think of that actually lasts longer than one day. Why? Because we have so many mothers. You have your mom, your mother-in-law, grandma(s) and baby mama (hopefully you only have one).

Kids love to party on weekends

If you ask any parent what their plans are for the weekend, more times than not, it will involve a kid's party (either attending or hosting one). And the more kids you have, the higher the chance you will be spending your weekend at a kid's party. And if you have a big extended family, forget about it. Last weekend was more of the same (celebrated Collin's birthday at the Kemah Boardwalk) but this time I went without parental help (Lynn) or my eldest, helpful son (Jacob) and brought Andrew and Tyson with me. This had disaster written all over it.

Random weekday off

My boss "forced" me to take PTO (paid time off) in April so I gladly obliged by taking off last Monday. I love being off on weekdays, especially when everyone is either at work or school. The city is so calm... well, less chaotic. So this was how I spent my day off... as seen through the eyes of Tyson and myself... with the use of my cell phone and Android's default camera app (picture filter #4).

An Easter I don't want to relive

Let me tell you about the fun stuff first. In the morning, we had an Easter egg scavenger hunt. We kept the clues really simple like "Where do you begin and end your day?" (their room) at which point they had to find the hidden egg, which contained a clue to the next egg. The clues eventually led them to their Easter gift basket which included various books and toys. It's like Christmas in April. For lunch, we went over to Lynn's aunt's house to celebrate with her family... and that is where I experienced the worst feeling ever.

Andrew, my super-loving child

Dazzling Daniel's Magic Show

My nephew Daniel turned 5 years old and had himself a magic themed party this past weekend. As for the name Dazzling Daniel, that was the magician's idea. The show was quite entertaining but not for the tricks (some seem pretty simple) but for the magician's over the top energy. How he sustained it for that long seems amazing to me. I guess you gotta love what you do.

"You've got mail" (from your dad?)

It's been documented that my parents are still stuck in the 20th century but they are slowly making some progress. Actually, it's only my dad. My mom isn't as eager to learn or adapt. She still has a candy bar cell phone that plays an obnoxious midi, 8-bit sounding ringtone. My dad on the other hand has been using an old computer I gave them, obsolete by most standards (it has a floppy disk drive), but it's a good start. I don't think my dad will be doing any video editing or Photoshop any time soon.

Soccer Saturdays begin once again

Tyson's long overdue haircut

I've been putting this off for way too long but I finally gave Tyson a haircut last week. Even though I gave him a trim once before, this would be the first time I cut his front/top hair... his last remaining original baby hair. But it was getting absurdly long. His bangs from time to time would get stuck in his nose, glued in by his boogers. The middle of his hair in the back was abnormally longer than the rest, making it seem like he was growing a rattail. His hair now touched his shoulders. It was time.

Spring Break week-ish

I don't usually get much time off for Spring Break but after shifting my schedule around (a perk of my job), I stretched it out to almost taking the whole week off. We didn't do anything big... just good ol' quality time with the family. So what did we do first? Go to Target, duh. Okay, what about lunch? Mission Burrito (another family favorite). I know that doesn't sound the least bit exciting but I enjoy those relaxing, low-key days at times. BUT, it was Spring Break after all so we had to do more than eat burritos.

On Spring Break...

The Minimalists

Last night I dragged Lynn along for another book signing/talk. We went to see The Minimalists. I just recently discovered them while reading my many news feeds during a lunch break. (Pulse and Feedly are awesome). Hmmm, minimalism... that sounds like an interesting concept. Recently I've been complaining about how we're running out of storage space and how nice it would be to have a bigger house. But maybe that was the wrong solution. Maybe we just have too much crap. Unnecessary crap.

Free ballin'

Last week, we began the potty training process with Tyson. Two and a half years old was the deadline to lose the diapers since that was when Andrew was fully trained. Oh how I don't miss those days. Now he's running around without a diaper, no underwear, with only shorts on. Free ballin'. There were many accidents but as of now, I feel like we're almost there. The pee aspect he has down but pooing, not so much. He's not a big fan of sitting on the toilet, especially on the kid potty seat. "No Thomas," he says referring to the Thomas the Tank Engine potty seat. Not sure why. Maybe he thinks he'll fall in since he's so tiny.