Wednesday, September 26, 2007

A Weekend to Remember
















This previous weekend was one to remember as we flew up to New York and Connecticut for the Petroske wedding. It was quite a whirlwind, but worth every moment. First and foremost, I want to thank Denise, Dean, Zoe and Beau for letting us invade your home yet again and turning everything upside down. We love your new house and still can't believe you're officially New Yorkers. Debbie, George ... it was a great wedding and I think I speak for everyone when I say how great a time we had. It's times like those when you think about how little time we really have. It was a joy to see everyone and share in the celebration.

I snapped a few candids of the ceremony that came out pretty well so I thought I'd share with all. I'll post a few more later in the week also. For those of you who missed crashing at the cottage after the reception, here's a good one of Daniel on the breakwall, and what would a montage be without Pee Wee mucking it up for the camera??

It was so nice seeing everyone again and sharing in the special moment. And then, when you think harder about it, all moments are special.

More pics to follow soon ... click on any above to expand.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

What do these three pictures have in common?






The correct answer would be, what we did over the weekend.

Friday night, we took the kids out and had our first exposure to "Friday Night Lights" as we caught our first Flower Mound high school football game with some friends. An average crowd of about 12,000 was there to witness the Jaguars fall to the Grapevine Cowboys, 20-7. While the girls had enough by halftime, it took me everything I could muster to drag Daniel out of the stands. I had to basically bribe him that we'd come back another time ... which we will of course. Sitting next to some neighbors, we couldn't figure out why they kept throwing that flanker screen, so we drew up what was sure to be a better gameplan up in the stands. I will say this: high school football in Texas is big-time. Bands, majorettes, color guard, you name it ... and most of the community in full support.

Saturday morning I woke up and was feeling awfully mechanical. That doesn't happen very often, but after taking the boy to swim lessons, and a trip to the Home Depot, I had the tank off the toilet and there were parts everywhere. Our downstairs potty, not unlike myself, has had a chronic leak for a little while now. You name it, I replaced it, and had that little porcelain beauty working like brand new in no time. Two hours later, why was there a small pool of water there on the floor??? It was satisfying to find out today that NO! It was not my plumbing ineptitude after all, but a faulty valve on the supply line ...

The rest of the weekend Dawn and I took on the herculean task of cleaning up our landscaping, mulching and planting new flowers for the fall. Picking out flowers for us is a lot like picking out furniture: 5 minutes in, you're throwing haymakers. I just want to get in, get out, and get it done ... like most guys. I thought I'd come out strong with the old standby: "If you like it, then that's all that matters", but for whatever reason she was still asking my opinion. I got nervous and back-pedalled and suggested some mums again and the next thing I know it's an episode of WWE Smackdown. That's the hardest part really. The brute effort of pruning everything and cleaning all the clippings and the 16 bags of mulch are nothing compared to the actual picking of the flowers. I snagged a Gerber Daisy when she wasn't looking and went through picking off petals. "She'll kill me. I saved my balls. She'll kill me. I saved my balls ..." Wouldn't you know the damn daisy had 9 petals.

We'll see many of you this weekend for the wedding and we can't wait to see you! For everyone we miss ... I promise kid pictures with the next post.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

First day of (Pre)School

This past Tuesday was Daniel's first day of preschool, the same one Claire attended before she entered kindergarten. Check out these "before" and "after" faces! Going in, Dan the Man was exuding confidence and machismo ... Matchbox in hand, ready to face any challenge. Now check out that terrified little boy in the right hand photo! (Click on the photo to get a closer look at the fear). "you're going to what? LEAVE me here all day?? Fortunately, the sky did not fall, and he survived the first day with great success. Yep, once he found out there were girls there, our little lady's man likes school just fine now, thank you.