The First Leo and Some Miss Cleo

Being away from my boys the last few days, I'm starting to feel the holiday blues. Outside from those who have to be apart for work, military service, etc, no mommy or daddy should ever have to spend time away from their children during the holidays. Especially when they're little. I miss them. I miss their energy and their smiles. I miss their excitement for all things Christmas. I miss their hugs and kisses. I miss feeling like a family.

Last night was our church congregation's annual Christmas party. Talk about feeling alone in a crowded room. It was beautifully done and lots of time went into making it a great event. But nothing can replace a papa's two little toeheads. I don't think I'll be going to those things alone anymore.

Not that being at home is much better. For example, in the past, our little family of four had stocking holders that spelled "N-O-E-L." When I was putting them up this year, it dawned on me that we're not a NOEL-sized group anymore. A real cheery holiday realization. So dad had to improvise. We now apparently pay homage to either the Little Einsteins or a certain Titanic actor. Take your pick.

Lest this post wallows in self-pity, let me loosen it up a little. Everytime I walk past the fireplace and see "L-E-O," I can't help but think of...Miss Cleo, of course. Is it just me, or does anyone else miss her? Well, have no fear. Below are some old school Miss Cleo soundboards. So many favorite lines. And such a soothing voice. Here's to you, Miss Cleo...Merry Christmas to you and yours. And Leo.

Goooood day to ya, dahlin. Can I get your first name and your birthday, please?

www.abcarcade.com/ms-cleo-soundboard.html

www.realmofdarkness.net/sounds/cleo/cleo-soundboard-3.htm

On Your Mark, Get Set...Yikes, I'm Not Ready

Monday, August 24, 2009. While this isn't exactly "hot off the press," I couldn't NOT leave a post of Noah's first day of school. It seems like sooo long ago now. He's grown up a lot in the past three months since starting school. In a way, I couldn't be happier about that. And yet, there's part of me that wishes he could stay little forever.

The first day of school is obviously a big deal for the student. But it's also a huge day for parents. I didn't sleep much the night before, and I was counting the minutes until dismissal all that day. I'm so glad it went well and that he's loving school. Now if I could just get him to eat something other than peanut butter and honey sandwiches for dinner...

The sign outside Noah's classroom.

Standing in front of the school on day number one. Can't you just see the apprehension oozing out?

The old man and the rookie. About to enter a whole new world. Both of them. I now know what Nemo's dad felt like.

This kind of somber, sad face didn't make it any easier for Dad to leave his boy at school for the very first time. Thankfully, he has a really, really awesome teacher, and she made sure that sad face didn't stick around long.

I didn't want Noah having to deal with daycare on top of his first day of school. That's a long, tough day for a 5-year old. So I arranged to work from home that day and pick him up right at 2:45p. Here he is after school, starting to get his smile back.

Back home in his element, there was no more nervousness about school. Just being his old, silly self and enjoying a cold one.

Giving a shout-out to all of his new, soon-to-be kindergarten friends.

The first day of school was a big deal for the entire family. So here's Nutty celebrating the occasion with a popcicle too.

Gettin' His Float On

Thursday, November 19, 2009. Turkey Float Parade Day. Noah's school does an annual event where the kindergarten students each make a turkey float (a potato decorated like a turkey and placed onto an upside down shoebox lid with a string for pulling). At precisely 8:30a, with dozens and dozens of parents lining one of the hallways and all of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students lining most of the rest of the hallways of the school, the kindergarten students begin a single-file procession through the halls with each of their individual floats. And since it just wouldn't be a parade without costumes, they each wore a vest made out of a brown paper sack and a hat made out of construction paper. Macy's aint got nothin' on this Turkey parade!

Besides getting to see Beeju happily displaying his turkey float for all to see, my favorite part of the event was how the school incorporated all of the students (non-kindergarteners too). I thought that was a really great idea. It was cool to see all of the older kids cheering on the kindergarteners and applauding as they brought the parade all the way back through the halls after the initial passby. Based on the reactions of the kindergarten classes, I think it really made them feel good. I know that Noah, for example, couldn't stop smiling. And there are few things that a Papa loves to see more than an ear-to-ear grin on his boy.

Wish I had a good shot of his turkey float. But alas, "Photographer" isn't exactly my middle name. (Incidentally, if it was, I would definitely opt to be called "Shooter" instead of Ben. I've always wanted to be Shooter. I've even got the finger-gun thing down. But I digress.) Here are pics of each of the two parade passes...dang, that kid is cute...

Give That Boy a Ribbon

The other day, Noah came home from school wearing a blue ribbon on his jacket. He had come home with ribbons on a couple of times recently, but it was always a ribbon for saying no to drugs, etc. So I didn't look close enough to read the writing at first. But then he was complaining that the pin was hurting him, so when I went to take it off, I noticed what it said - "Student of the Month."

Apparently, he was nominated by his teacher for the Student of the Month award at his school. That's not at all surprising, because he is such a good kid and always EXTRA conscientious at school. But, at the same time, it was completely surprising, because I didn't know that such an award existed.

Needless to say, I'm soooo proud of my Beeju! He has some really great things in store in his future. It's just impossible for anyone to love their child anymore than I love that boy. He and Nutty make me so happy. Congrats on your award, Champ! Keep up the good work.

There's No Need to Fear....

I promise to put up a post or two about the boys later tonight. But first, a quickie from church today. Some of you know that I currently work with the 14- and 15-year old young men. In class today, one of them was teaching the lesson. It was all about good versus evil, built around a number of examples he was using of heroes and villains. Most of them came from the scriptures - David vs. Goliath, Jesus vs. Satan, etc - and he did a terrific job. It was very well thought-out, and he really has a good grasp of the scriptures. So keep that in mind. There were just two brief moments that made me love the lesson even more.

1) As he was listing out various hero-villain combos on the white board, in the middle of all of the scriptural examples, he included Batman vs. The Joker. He didn't elaborate or comment, and he clearly wasn't looking for a laugh. He was very serious. And really, who can argue with Batman and The Joker?

2) After he had gone over his last hero-villain example, and as he was wrapping up the lesson, he commented that not only could people be heroes but animals too (which was a good point). And then this very serious comment: "You know, like Underdog." Again, not looking for a laugh. And not getting one, by the way. Except from me. In my head. Man, I love these young men.

So in honor of our furry protagonist, a couple of my favorite Underdog lines...

"Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog,

It's just little old me, Underdog."

And from when someone would complain about the damage he caused...

"I am a hero who never fails.

I cannot be bothered with such details."

He's crafty...and he's just my type!

November 3 (pm) and November 4 (am) - I haven't posted anything in ages, so this is my attempt to get back on track. Just a couple of quick pics of Noah's first special homework assignment of his young career. His teacher wanted the kids and their families to work together on creatively decorating a turkey they were each given on construction paper.

I was both excited and nervous to work on this with him. First problem: uh, zippo legitimate craft supplies in my house. So the kids and I had to pitstop at a couple of stores to stock up. Second problem: Papa's a dude with very little craft creativity. I have few qualities that can seriously compete with my inability to sing on-key for "Most Obvious Void" in my talent spectrum. But my lack of art skills is one of them.

Fortunately, this was a kindergarten project. Papa can do kindergarten. So we pulled out whatever crafty type materials we could find, along with an eclectic mix of cotton balls, yarn, fishies, marshmallows, candy corn and straws. Next thing you know, we've got ourselves one bad mother turkey. Beeju's favorite part: giving the turkey eye ball legs and feet. He thought that was hysterical. Dad's favorite part: eating 10 marshmallows and 10 fishies for every one that made it onto the fowl. I refer to it as "product research."

I'm kinda diggin' this art stuff. Bring on the next project!

That is one proud little man holding his turkey. And that is one absurdly proud daddy holding the camera. Best part was the time together. The turkey just took care of itself.

An up-close of the glittery gobble gobble.

Camping Adventure

September 25, 2009. So for a month or two, I've been telling the boys that we would go camping as soon as it cooled down (camping in this part of Texas during the summer is insane). When we finally got some cooler temps this week, we were all excited to plan our campout for this weekend. All week we had nice, cool nights. And wouldn't you know, as soon as it's time to put up the tent last night, we have an all-too-familiar muggy, sticky night. I had to bust out my camping fan (and shed some clothes) just to give us a little bit of relief in the tent. We also had to fight off quite a few skeeters. Nut definitely took the brunt of that battle...he's got the bites to show for it today.

But all in all, I wouldn't trade our camping adventure for anything. (Although, next time, I'll bring a book or my laptop or something to occupy me after the boys fall asleep.) When we woke up, they begged me to leave the tent up so we could sleep in there again tonight, so I take it they had a pretty good time too. Now, if we could just get some more fall weather, we can start planning our next campout.

Beeju doing his best wild animal impersonation, and Nut peeping through the window. Noah was eager to go exploring for some "nocturnals" - one of his passions. We only found a bullfrog, but that seemed to satisfy their need to see an animal.

Taking a breather after some intense rounds of "Chutes & Ladders" and "Candy Land."

Beeju cooling down with some refreshing chocolate milk.

Nut, Froggie, Mater and Lightning McQueen getting ready to zonk out. Night, night boys. Sleep tight. Papa loves you!!!

Almuerzo con Mi Nino

September 25, 2009. I went and had lunch with Noah and his kindergarten class today for the first time. (I use the term "lunch" loosely since his class eats at 10:15 am.) Loved it! And unlike the Nazi-style elementary cafeteria at the Dallas school where my friends Marc and Jenn and their adorable kiddos are, this place was full of the energy and giggly conversations you would expect from a room full of 5 year olds. It was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to go back.

I especially loved getting a giant hug and kiss from my boy during the day. And as he was walking away, just before he went through the doors, he turned around and blew me a big kiss and waved like crazy. What a sweetheart! I just can't get enough of him.

He wanted to capture a "fish face" shot too, so here it is. Cute Beeju!

A few nights ago, I walked past the boys' room and could hear giggling coming from the closet. So I went to investigate and found this. Noah, perched in the top corner of the closet, trying desperately (and unsuccessfully) to not bust out laughing. Not sure what his pose is here, but it was something goofy. I took several more, but they just kept getting sillier and sillier. And the pics got blurrier and blurrier as I was laughing harder and harder. I tried to take a wide shot so you could see how high this is. The bar that those shirts are hanging on is about 6 1/2 to 7 feet high. I'm still not really sure how he got up there. I guess where there's a 5-year-old will, there's a way.

And Miles to Go Until I Work, And Miles to Go Until I Work

So normally my 40 mile commute takes me 60-70 minutes each way. After 6 1/2 months of that, I've mostly gotten used to it. But when it took me well over an hour and a half the other day (thanks to a horrific backup on the Grand Parkway), I decided to add up some of the things that slow me down each day. Gee, you think these things have anything to do with why I can't do 40 miles any quicker than an hour?

1 railroad crossing
4 school zones
11 stop signs
35 traffic lights (almost all of which seem to have an affinity for red)

And, on rainy days, at least 50 bagillion drivers who seemingly have never, ever driven when it's wet outside. But I digress.

I'm thinking of chartering a helicopter. I wonder if the firm would approve putting a helipad on top of the building for me. Oooh, except that one of my former clients had an executive get his head lopped off by the company helicopter. Ouch. So on second thought, I'll just be sure to pack a snack and load up on some CDs for my drive in the morning.

Hey Pest Guy, You're Bugging Me

(This post might not make as much sense to non-Mormons, but you'll still get the point.)

So today was my quarterly pest control service. The guy came and started by doing his thing around the outer perimeter of the house, in the yard, etc. Then he came inside to do an interior treatment. I was busy working, so he just went about his business.

Out of nowhere, he appears next to me, and we have the following exchange. Keep in mind, this was not a family member or a long-time friend or anyone that I had even spoken to for more than 30 seconds. This was the pest control guy. Who I had never met. The pest control guy. A stranger.

Pest: "So...you just got divorced?"
Me: (looking up from the computer, confused) "Uh, yeah. I did."
Pest: "So you got excommunicated, huh?"
Me: (genuinely shocked) "What?!? No. What makes you think that?"
Pest: (looking at me as if he caught me in a lie) "I saw the pictures of the temple in your closet."
Me: (thinking, "this pest control appointment has gotten very bizarre, very fast") "Actually, I just barely got those pictures framed and haven't had a chance to paint and prepare the wall they're going to be on."
Pest: (again with the "lie" look) "It's cool, man. Been there, done that. I was Mormon and got divorced too."

At which point, there's silence. I grabbed a pen and signed the pest control report he had laid on the counter. He walks out the back door and then turns around and says, "hang in there bro, hang in there." And off he went with his bug sprayer.

Huh?

Ambition

Beeju's school had a parents-only event tonight. The first part was a meeting for everyone in the cafeteria to introduce us to all of the teachers and staff and have a brief presentation by the PTO chair. Then we all separated into our individual classrooms to have a presentation by the teacher. As a side note, Noah's teacher has so far been amazing! We are SO lucky to have such a great school with great teachers right in our neighborhood. I hope the boys never have to change elementary schools. But that's not the point of this post...

In Noah's classroom, there's a chart on the back wall entitled, "What we want to learn in kindergarten." Then going down the chart is each child's name and a brief phrase about what they want to learn. A lot of the answers were "Mary - how to read" or "John - how to tell time." One boy put "how to be a Power Ranger." My boy was a bit more aggressive with his goal. "Noah - how to drive daddy's and mommy's cars." Atta boy, Champ!

One of Noah's friends was a bit more content to let the teacher dictate whatever she wanted: "Tanner - stuff." I love kindergarten!

Preschool Graduation

Thursday, May 14, 2009. This is going back in the vault a bit, but when we went to a birthday party for one of Noah's preschool classmates this weekend (a post on that to come), it reminded me that I never posted about his preschool graduation. So here it is.

A slightly blurry shot of Noah receiving his "diploma" from one of his teachers. This was my favorite part of the entire night. When each child walked out, the school director would say, "John Smith, future ________" and then fill in the blank with what the child wanted to be when he/she grew up. As you might guess, there were lots of doctors, nurses, teachers, firemen, etc. When Noah's turn finally came near the end, she announced, "Noah Simiskey, future daddy." At which point, the entire crowd let out an "ahhhhhhh" and my heart just about burst with pride. How on earth did I get so lucky?!? I definitely don't deserve to have such adorable and loving boys. But I'll take it!!

A slightly better pic of my man in his robe with his diploma.

Beeju (silly face and all) with his teachers. They were so, so great! I have a class photo on the fireplace mantle, and Noah often likes to say good morning to Ms. Jolie and Ms. Adrianna when he wakes up. Everytime we drive down to Pecan Grove, he asks if we can detour over to his old school.

Beeju and his best friend, Jake. I'm only posting this because I know that Noah likes to look at the pics on my blog, and he'll want to see Jake.

Papa getting his first tickles/squeezes in post-ceremony. This was the brief after-party in his classroom.

The pic of Beeju on the wall outside of his class.

The after-after-party - Jamba Juice and another "crazy pose" by the graduate. For a couple of months, just about everytime a camera came out, Noah would strike a silly pose. I have a couple from graduation that I didn't post here of him doing it on stage. And if you watch the video below, he busts one out at the very end of the performance. He might not have stayed in the "crazy pose phase" so long if I hadn't died laughing every time he did it. I wish I had a tenth of the charisma and personality that this kid has.

This is Noah's class performing "Twist and Shout." The video is a couple of minutes long but worth a viewing. My favorite parts: (1) Beeju's studly pointing at the girls on either side of him during the lyrics "you know you look so good" about 15 seconds in, (2) his air guitar performance starting about 56 seconds in, and (3) his "crazy pose" at the very end when the music stops. Classic Beeju! The guys also performed "My Girl" later on which was another hit with the crowd.

Ok, ok, I know...this was PRESCHOOL graduation. But still. I'm dang proud of my "future daddy." It was a big adjustment for him going to school this year, but he did so great. I just couldn't be a prouder papa than when I look at my boys and see how great they are and how much potential they have. They each have very, very special destinies ahead of them.

Congratulations on your big night, Beeju! I love you!

Everything in Its Place

Noah and Sam (especially Noah) have always like to organize things. For a long time, Beeju would ask me if he could mess up his room, just so he could have the satisfaction and joy of cleaning it up. And he often will just mill about the house looking for a mess to clean up or something to vacuum. Normally, he was a very sensible and good system for putting things away, stacking them up, etc. But occasionally, the "system" is only known to them. I wish I had more pictures to illustrate this, because it happens all the time. But these were the only ones I could find.

For some reason, they felt like my normal, orderly line of shoes wasn't "proper." So they reorganized my closet for me and stacked my shoes in various spots, including on top of these paint cans.

This was how they organized their Cars paraphernalia.
My kiddos even like to have order when they eat. What a Nut!

Big Boy Beeju Turns Five

Pool Party: Saturday, August 8, 2009.

Actual Birthday: Sunday, August 9, 2009.

Celebration at Papa's House: Monday, August 10, 2009.

Darn it. I was just looking through my pics to decide which ones to post and realized that I hardly took any. Blast! Well, I'll post two from his birthday and then a couple of other random shots.

Uh, is somebody excited to open his presents??

There aren't many things better in the world than to watch a young child opening a present, discovering what the present is and just being full of glee and happiness.

Here's the "old guy" taking a rest from jumping on Uncle James and Aunt Shelley's trampoline. He's not as young and vibrant as he was back when he was 4. This guy has always, always been a jumper. Even before he could really walk, he would jump, jump, jump around the apartment back in Chicago. He loves the (hideous) red couch in my front room because it's "bouncy like a trampoline." Beds, couches, floors...it doesn't matter. Just as long as he can jump.

One of the presents that Beeju got was a long alphabet puzzle. Now one of his favorite games to play is having me mix up and hide the puzzle pieces to see if he can find them and put them all together. This shot is him measuring himself to see "how many letters" tall he is.

There is nobody on this earth that I would rather sit and hang out with than my Beeju. He's my best friend. Whether in person or on the phone, we can chat endlessly about this and that and everything in between. Happy birthday, Champ! I love you like crazy and can't wait 'til our next conversation.

Little Nutty Turns Three

Pool Party: Saturday, July 11, 2009.

Actual Birthday: Sunday, July 12, 2009.

Celebration at Papa's House: Monday, July 13, 2009.

I haven't much been in the blog posting mood the last 6 weeks or so, but it's time to try to get back on schedule.

The calm before the storm. This is before the boys came over. The pic on the card is my poorman's rendition of a mack truck like on the movie Cars. Nut and Beeju have both been obsessed with that show for months now. So I made the "Sam Mack" for the card's cover.

Cute little guy was out of his mind with excitement as soon as he walked in the door and noticed presents and a card waiting for him. Here he is peeking inside his card while I scrambled to get a pic or two before the mayhem of present opening began.

After looking at his card, Nutty wouldn't put it down. That boy opened all of his presents one-handed. And as you'll see below, he wasn't about to let go of it anytime soon.

Here's Puzzle #1 finally completed. Nutty's still proudly guarding his card.

After you put the two gigantic puzzles together, you take them apart in a certain order and stack the pieces on top of each other to make this 3-D image of Lightning McQueen. Nutty had moved on to greener pastures at this point (those puzzles took a while!), but Big Brother was enthralled.

This was a few hours later. Nutty was still holding tight to his card. At his insistence, it eventually made it into bed with him. Talk about melting a Papa's heart. My love for that boy knows no bounds. Happy birthday, Sam! Daddy loves you thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much!!

God Speed

Today I said goodbye to one of the dearest friends I've ever had. Well, it's not goodbye yet, because he hasn't officially left. But I know he's leaving next month. And as of this morning, he is no longer my bishop (pastor). There's no way for me to adequately bid him farewell. What he has meant to me is absolutely immeasurable. As I've said before, he is my Captain Moroni. I would go to the end of the world at the drop of a hat for him. He has been such a rock of support, especially during the trials of the past 12 months. He truly has the Light of Christ and is a man of God.

He and I have shared countless experiences together, many of which are too special to talk about in a casual setting. I will treasure every single one of those for the rest of my life. He's my brother and my friend, and I love him with all my heart. I've struggled mightily to deal with his pending departure (this blog post is another attempt to try to deal with it), but I'm excited for him and his family to go on this new adventure.

My prayer for him and his family comes from the Old Testament (Numbers 6:24-26)...

24 The Lord bless thee, and keep thee
25 The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee
26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

God speed, Josh! I will miss you dearly, my friend!

Yankee Doodle Dandy

I love July 4th. Aside from being a fun, relaxing holiday, I've always been very patriotic with tender feelings for this great country. I remember being a really young boy in Lake Jackson and getting quite upset that one of the banks in town was flying a U.S. flag that was tattered. So I wrote a letter to the editor of the Brazosport Facts to voice my frustration. The letter was published and within a day or two, the bank had changed out the flag for a new one.

Apart from satisfying my desire to see more respect for the flag, that taught me an important lesson about being involved in the community and voicing your opinion for good. I've never said this to anyone, but one of my great regrets is never having served in the armed forces. It's something I thought about doing many times, but I never did it. Those brave men and women are true heroes, and I wish so bad that I had the courage to do what they do day in and day out.

Another random patriotic memory that just came to mind. I was at a National Boy Scout Camp in Virginia/D.C. during a couple of weeks in the summer of 1989. One night, GHW Bush came and spoke to us and before he spoke, Lee Greenwood put on a mini live concert. Of course the highlight was him singing "God Bless the U.S.A." That song always gets me. But hearing it live just before getting a visit from the sitting president was phenomenal. Talk about getting goosebumps.

Alright, enough rambling from Grandpa Sausage. On to the pics.

"Uncle Sam" in all his glory. Sporting a hat and star-on-a-stick that he made at school for their parade and proudly wearing his firework jammies. Which is a little ironic given his feelings about fireworks (see below).

Stopping off at Buc-ee's on the way to the beach for some Independence Day rays. Pictured in between Nut and Beeju is my nephew Charlie. My brother, Stan, and his kids (including Charlie but minus Sarah) and two of James and Shelley's boys - Aaron and Daniel - filled out our party.

Nut building a sand castle with cousin Jack. That's Daniel looking on. He was nursing a foot after stepping on something in the Gulf.

Buried boy #1. It took three times as long as it should to do this because Mr. Chuckles kept dying laughing which kept breaking up the sand. Not that I minded...that laugh is so contagious and relaxing.

Buried boy #2. Sam started out enjoying the sand burying. For about 3 seconds. Then it was just a chore for him to endure. So we rushed through it as fast as possible, got him to stay there long enough to snap a pic and then he was outtie. Looks like he's sleeping here, but I think he was trying to keep the sand out of his eyes.

Beeju was TERRIFIED of the fireworks again this year. So he begged me to let him sleep in my bed. Here's the Little Man with his Monkey (partially buried), blanket and another frequent guest - someone he calls his "baby sister" (he really wants a baby sister, can you tell? Heart-breaking because I really want one for him too.). BTW, her name is "Natalie."

When big brother's excited or happy or sad, more than likely, little brother is excited or happy or sad too. So of course Nut grew terrified of the fireworks too. His entourage just included the usual suspects - Froggie and blanket.

In the time it took me to brush my teeth, Beeju was out like a light.

And when big brother is out like a light, little brother isn't far behind. I love fireworks. But I love me some cuddle time with my two boys way more. Happy 4th, boys! Happy 4th, America! God bless this great country!