St. Patrick's Day and America's Past Time

So, before I begin I would like to point out that this is the third straight week that I am putting up an update. And to make you feel a little guilty I am going to tell you that I still don't have my lesson plan ready for tomorrow and I have an entire bag full of schoolwork to grade, but I am going to give you an update anyway! (Ok, really this is a nice diversion from lesson planning and grading, so I am not that torn up about it.)

Before we get to the holiday festivities I thought that I would show you what it looks like the first time that a four year old uses a nasal spray. Owen has been still struggling with a cold - we think it is allergies - and so Beki thought that she would try some nasal spray.

 "What the Duce?!?!?"

 "Ok, you've got this shoved up my nose, now what?"

 "Whoa....."

"Sneak Attack!!!!"

St. Patrick's Day

Owen was very excited this St. Patrick's Day, he got a special green ribbon pin to wear on his school uniform so that he wouldn't get pinched - but of course we forgot to take a picture. I made my classes at school listen to Floggin Molly - an Irish-American rock band before giving them a test (and watching students struggle on a test that I let them use their notes on -  notes that if I gave you without explaining a thing you could have aced the test) always brightens my day!

I love St. Patrick's Day, it is probably in my top 5 holidays. (In fact let's list them and see: #1 Christmas  #2 Thanksgiving  #3 Halloween  #4 St. Patrick's Day  #5 Easter) When you consider that I don't drink you are probably wondering why I like St. Patrick's Day so much. Well duh! For the same reason that I like the other top holidays - for the food!! If you just go out drinking on St. Patrick's Day you are missing out on some great goodness! I LOVE Corned Beef and Cabbage and Roast Potatoes, but March is the only time that Corned Beef is easily accessible, and the only time of year that my wife will let me eat it!!

In case you are wondering, The Boy loves the Corned Beef as well!

Great American Past Time

We signed the Boy up for T-Ball next month, which means that we need to start working on the basics. He came home from the store yesterday as excited as can be, because he had a new baseball mitt. So we went out and had lesson #1. (This is a big deal in the career of a father, teaching your son to play catch can set the tone for the rest of his athletic life!)

 He got the basket catch down pretty quick, and was very pleased with himself for it!

 We worked on starting to reach out for the ball and squeezing the mitt, but his mitt was tough to close (We hadn't put something heavy on it to break it in yet.)

 The problem with the "reaching up basket catch" is that the ball tends to bounce out and hit you in the face...luckily mommy didn't take any pictures of that. (Because it wouldn't be a game of catch with dad if the son didn't get hit in the face with the ball.)

 After we got over the trauma we worked on ground-balls...much safer.

 He liked the scooping action of the glove...

 And did a good job of always getting his body behind the ball!

We worked hard on how to throw, and while a lot of time was spent with him being silly, he did make a couple of pretty good throws.

Random Other Stuff

 Owen really likes to bang on the Costco Chocolate Raisin containers, but what to do with the lid...why wear it as a Yarmulke!

These next three pictures are just a fun juxtiposition on how my wife and I have a reverse relationship. The first two show her out working on the car.

 If you are wondering what she is doing, she is applying a water repellent to the windshield. 

 And while she was out working on the car, what was I doing you ask??

 MAKING REUBEN SANDWICHES!!!!!

(Have I mentioned that I LOVE St. Patrick's Day?)

 I almost forgot about Nuke. We have some friends who needed to get rid of a Beta Fish, and since fish are just about the only thing Beki isn't allergic to, we asked Owen if he wanted a pet fish. Of course he did, and he promptly named it "Nuke." I have no idea why, but it sounded like a good name to me, and so we now have a pet fish.

 Owen likes to watch him eat his food.

Up close and personal with Nuke!

A week of the Flu

As parents Beki and I have decided that we would much rather have one of us sick than the boy. Not only does it hurt to watch your child struggle with illness, but it also means that one of you has to stay home with him. I guess in normal situations this wouldn't be a problem, but for us it means that one of us will be staying home from school. We decided to mix it up and take turns, so Beki stayed home Monday and Tuesday, then I took Wednesday and Thursday, with Beki picking up Friday. The boy was pretty good about being sick, he didn't cry or complain much, just hung out on the couch and watched movies and cartoons. As we got later in the week he started to feel better and better during the day, so we would play games, or jump around a bit, but never for too long before he would say, "I need a little rest." The good news is that he is back to his rambunctious self, and was even able to go to his classmates birthday party.

On Thursday we got watching The Imagination Movers in Concert, and they got to a song where they were all bouncing on little trampolines. Owen jumped off the couch - which was a remarkable feat for someone who had felt like crap all week - and ran to get his little trampoline.

He then proceeded to rock out for a good two minutes.

This was about all of the action that we got out of him, but it was a pretty funny couple of minutes.

On Friday the Boy was feeling much better, and he and mommy made some Jello Jigglers.

While he isn't a huge fan of eating them, he sure likes to jiggle the jigglers!

Finally feeling better, Owen was able to go to a Birthday Party for some kids in his class at school. It was held at a bowling alley - which was an eye opening experience for Beki. In Utah it is not legal to smoke inside any building (of course this isn't that big of a deal because outside of Salt Lake City, no one really smokes), but outside of Utah when you think of bowling alleys you think of cigarette smoke and beer, which pretty much sums things up at this place of business. From what Beki told me, it appears that this party was for two kids in Owen's class and a child from an older grade, so there were 18,000 children running around the place while mom and dad got drunk...good times.

Owen wore his cape because the invitation said that the kids could dress up if they wanted to, and he wanted to wear a cape.

Now if this ball return looks small, it is because this bowing alley is not like the ones that we are used to in the normal world. This is duckpin bowling, which is just like regular bowling except for everything is smaller, which is good for kids, but still looks strange.

Owen had some difficulty understanding the underhand roll idea, he much preferred the shot-put method.

I must say that the cape greatly increases the awesome factor!

Since he is my son, Owen was also interested in the video games. (They didn't waste their money on them, but they are still fun to climb on!)

This is Owen's friend from school Jaden...they were getting in some survival practice for life in Prince George's County!

Overall the Boy had fun, especially when you consider that he had been stuck inside all week!

Pictures, Snobbery, a Love Affair, and Teachers

I missed last week, I understand your anger, but I am slowly getting back into the habit of getting these updates done as I get better at ballancing my time between making up a curriculum, keeping my family fed, and keeping you all informed. As always I'll start with the pictures of the Boy and leave my commentary about current world events and my love affair with a woman named Betty for the space after the break.

Owen loves superheroes - it doesn't matter who it is, whether they are a good guy or a bad guy, what their power is, he loves them. He was coloring one day when he suddenly morphed into...

 Shaw Man!!

 Why did he name himself "Shaw Man" and what exactly does that mean? I don't have a damn clue, but he was very insistent that he was "Shaw Man"

 Getting ready to cast a spell at mommy...

 Take that vile temptress!!!

The best part of "Shaw Man" is the lovely multi-colored residue that is left on his fingers when he transforms back into mild mannered Owen...

Our next door neighbor Nan had a friend move in from Ohio, and so we went over to help them unload the truck. While we were taking stuff out and putting other stuff in to take to storage, the boy noticed a small trampoline sitting in the pile to go to storage. He finally got up the courage to ask Nan if he could bounce on it, and so while we worked, he bounced. As we were finishing up the time came to put the trampoline on the truck, and Owen was kind of sad, but he got off so it could be loaded. Sensing his new found love for the trampoline, Nan asked Owen if he wanted to have it. As excited as he was about the proposition, Owen had to be sure of the terms, "For free" he asked? (Can you tell that money has been tight around our house?) 

 The best part about the trampoline is that now the boy doesn't jump on the couch any more!

 Most of his playing now involves his little circle of joy. (He is sitting on it playing with his cars as I type this.)

 As you can see we have also been working on our catching, which I am hoping that if he can catch while bouncing, he'll be able to catch when stationary.

  The boy gets homework assignments from school and this particular night it was to skate around the floor. I think that they had intended that you use paper plates and skate around on the kitchen floor, but Owen heard skate and went and found his skates.

He skates on the rug because the tile floor in the kitchen is a bit too fast for him.

 Skating by itself can be boring, so let's liven it up with Balloons!

This past Friday was a Furlough day at work for me, and a day off of school for the boy. I still had some things to do in my classroom, so I brought the boy's DvD's and we had movie day in my classroom.

 "Papa! This is just like the movie theater." Yes, it would be if I charged you $10 to get in, made you sit in a soda soaked seat, and charged you ridiculous prices for bad food.

After our "Movie Day" at my school, we went to the University to have some ice cream at a social activity with Mommy. We have turned our son into an Ice Cream Snob, (I'll explain below) and so he wasn't that interested in the sub-quality product being offered, but he was very interested in the stair railing.

 What could make mommy crack up like this?

 Why some good old fashioned Monkey Swinging of course - complete with sound effects!

 They went to find a drinking fountain, and I found it humorous how you can see that they have differing opinions as to the location of the drinking fountain. (I think the boy was right.)

Sadly for the boy, he has come down with a bit of a cold, which makes everyone's life a bit miserable around here. He is generally in good spirits during the day, it is evening and night time that he is the most miserable. One thing that always makes him happy is his collection of cars, which is growing:

He also has Mater, Ramone, and Flo, but they aren't included in this picture because they aren't race cars. (In case you are wondering, in this picture we have Shifty, The King, Lightning, Octane, Leak Less, and Chick Hicks.)

The weather is starting to get warmer, which hopefully means that we can start playing more outside (which also means that I can get back to taming the back yard, a monumental task in its own right.) Beki's exams are coming up in another month, so the stress levels around here will continue to grow, but I am sure that we will all cope. If you care to read below the break I will be discussing my love affair with Betty, how we turned our son into an Ice Cream Snob, and why the public hates teachers.