Valentine's & Presidents' Day

Another busy, hectic (yet fun) weekend. On Saturday, the big boys got their first stripe/promotion in BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu). Sure, every kid gets a promotion once they put in the time (not skill based) but I can really see their progression. In the last class, they did "king of the mat" which is a drill to submit/beat the other kid and the winner stays on for the next person. During the whole time, it was Jacob and Andrew who were the kings of the mat and not once did they have to get off. They dominated. But they were exhausted. I was so proud.

Year of the monkey

Chúc Mừng Năm Mới (Happy New Year)! This is my year, the year of the monkey. This only occurs every 12 years (yes, I'm 48 years old) so I hope it's a good one. This also marks five years since I started this blog. My first ever post was also about New Years. Crazy how time flies. What's more amazing is that I actually kept my goal of posting at least once a week. Here's to another five years and more...

Baby boom

Anniversary weekend

This last weekend Lynn and I celebrated our 7th year anniversary. In the years past, we tend to do something "special". On our first anniversary we went to Tahoe. In 2011, Park City. 2012 was an outlier because we didn't do anything but tend to vomiting and pooing kids. 2013 we're in Breckenridge. 2014 we're back to Utah. 2015 was spent in Houston being a tourist and eating the best food in the city. So for 2016, we gotta do something big right? Nah. Not with baby Elliot in the picture.

MLK Day

The kids got Monday off for MLK Day so I arranged my work schedule accordingly to get that day off too. My plan was to take the family out to The Heights, to walk around and explore since the weather was going to be really nice (sunny, 60 degrees). But then I got a call on Monday morning and I had to go in to work. Bummer. I broke the news to the boys and they were pretty bummed. I was more bummed that they were bummed. But I was still determined to go so after I finished my work, I took the two big boys (since Tyson suddenly got sick).

Random cell phone pictures

Andrew, the human back pack.

Goals Smoals

What are "smoals" you ask? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's the thing I do where I change the first letter of the word with an "sm-". Like if you were to tell me it's cold outside when the temperature is in the upper 60's, I would reply with "cold smold." Basically I'm changing the word to be as ridiculous as the idea that was said. In this case, goals. Every year we come up with goals and resolutions for the new year and every year it all sounds the same. When I jotted down my goals for 2016, it was the same exact goals from last year. Lame.

Christmas 2015

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas doesn't apply this year. It feels nothing like Christmas but more like spring with all of the humidity and no sun. It's so yuck. And I've said it before and I'll say it again, Christmas came and went way too fast. Does it ever slow down anymore? Probably not until all of the kids are grown up. Oh well, it's all worth it to see their faces light up when they open up their presents. During the gift exchange, I caught Andrew saying on multiple occasions, "This is totally epic!"

We're going to need a bigger mantel

Dear Santa (or whoever)

Every year we have the kids write their Christmas list (so us parents have a clue on what they really want). And every year, they question the existence of Santa Claus. And lately their belief of all things fake (Santa, Elf on the Shelf, the tooth fairy) is quickly fading, especially for Andrew. If there is a discrepancy of any kind, he'll question it (he got that trait from me). And there have been times when he's called us out on them.

Elliot's birth announcement

Movember part deux

Thanksgiving day

Thanksgiving means eating to the point your pants no longer fit... and then going for seconds. It means watching football all day long as you recover from your overindulgence. It means watching the Cowboys lose once again in what seems to be an annual tradition. It means spending time with your family. It means shopping online for things you don't need during the (why is it still called) Black Friday sales. But what it really means is that you should be thankful you can do any of this at all.

Big brother Andrew

Biking home (alone)

Have you ever heard of the term helicopter parenting? According to dictionary.com, it is a style of child rearing in which an overprotective mother or father discourages a child's independence by being too involved in the child's life. It seems more prevalent in this generation of parents and it needs to stop.