Parking Lot Shuttle #4...Welcome Aboard !

I've finally made it. Yes, it's been a dream of mine to pilot some kind of "shuttle" vehicle for some time. From the first time I saw one of these in use was at University Baptist Church in Clear Lake. In their particular situation the church was using a nearby parking lot for overflow parking. To “shuttle” people (and shuttle was a VERY appropriate term since the majority of the church members with worked for NASA or it’s many contractors) between locations the church used small buses driven by volunteers. Oh man…was that ever the coolest church job ever. It was a service that was needed, appreciated and air-conditioned. The trifecta. How could I get in on this gig ?

Well of course at the time I was too young to drive. Something to do with the church’s insurance…whatever. I knew I could handle those machines. Once on a mission trip, when I was just a wee-high schooler, my youth minister let me drive the church bus around a parking lot. I even got to open and close the door. Yes I know, you can’t believe it. But it’s true. I was that cool.

So, dreams put on hold for a while, out next churches didn’t have such fancy parking lot services. Mind you it would’ve been a superb service to provide in Naperville in the winter. Not unitil we relocated back to Houston did I encounter the second coming…parking lot shuttles. LOTS of them. Scrambling around the parking lot, weaving in and out of the lanes, grabbing people, smiles galore. It was magnificent. This was where God wanted me. The icing on the cake…they were super long golf carts. The kind that hold 8 people. Super-stretch, Texas-sized ones…if only they had longhorns on the front. They do come equipped with snazzy vinyl zippered coverings for those “blustery” Houston winter mornings. Or to keep out the mo-skeeter, your pick. They were multi-functional.



The first chance I got (at new member class) I put down in my “ministry opportunity” box that I would like to be a parking lot shuttle driver. The ink wasn’t even dry on the paper before I got 2 phone calls and an email. After some length inquisitions about my golf cart skills I was trained on how to shuttle people from the lot to the back-drive of the church. Even some insider’s tricks on the traffic patterns of the lot, who has the right-of-way (it’s always me in case you needed to know) and how to swiflty navigate around the orange cones that separate the “shuttle lanes” from the lay-drivers. Oh and the most blessed part of this ministry…I was told that #4 was the fastest cart of the whole pack. Oh yeah baby…a swift 12 mph through the lot, wind whipping through those old ladies’s finely coiffed hair-dos and those old dudes’s toupee’s…major blessed excitement.

#4 Baby !!

Smocks, Cookies and Squeals

Paige attended her first Girl Scout info meeting shortly after we moved. I didn’t think much would come of it, typically it takes a modest amount of negotiation to get her interested in much more than staying home and drawing or reading. But for whatever reason this was different. She repeatedly told us she wanted to go and be a Girl Scout. So we (really I) begrudgingly agreed and she and Rachel went to the meeting. I still figured once they got home Paige would be nervous about doing it and my hypothesis that she’s not settled enough to do this and would back out at the last minute would come true. Boy was I wrong. In fact she was so excited the she got Rachel excited and I guess me too.

Not long after the intro meeting, we all went to Hockley Oil Ranch for a scout day. It was hot. I milked a cow; the kids rode horses and picked out pumpkins. It doesn’t sound like it should go together but it did. One thing Rachel and I both noticed was that there were 12 girls in Paige’s troop and the leader was a bit overwhelmed. She asked for help and Rachel decided that she would like to meet that need. This quickly turned into Rachel decided to lead her own troop. They split the girls up…Rachel took 6 and the other leader took 6. Rachel’s 6 turned into 10 within the next few days. Evidently the news hit the wire and at a book fair that week, moms were coming up to her and inquiring about being in her troop. I told her she must have been “all the rage” .

Smocks…that’s the Daisy Girl Scout uniform of record. It’s cute enough. All their patches just get ironed on anywhere. There’s a big daisy flower patch they get to work on through different activities, which Rachel has to come up with. Thankfully some over-achieving Girl Scout mothers have created websites and blogs to feed ideas. Because you know if I got asked to contribute the girls would be doing yard and housework to earn their patches. There are patches for almost anything you can think of.

Cookies…this is the first year Daisies were able to participate in the Girl Scout cookie sale. The idea of Paige selling things door to door makes me laugh. Halloween was interesting and thinking about her basically doing the same thing again (ringing doorbells and asking for stuff) was funny. But it worked. Of course if she found somebody who wasn’t interested in cookies she wanted to go home, she was done. However if someone bought some cookies she proclaimed she could do this all day..”I could sell 100 boxes mommy.” Ends up I sold some at work, mom sold some over the phone. All totaled we sold 97 boxes.

Squeals…Obviously 10 girls congregated at our house for scout meetings means 1000 decibels of shreaks, squeals and giggles. Jake and I usually take these opportunities to get out of the house and go do something manly: we go to my parent’s house and play video games or watch the news. Where it’s quiet, girl-free (mostly) and we can talk about whatever we like. I would like to say that Jake enjoys it, and mostly he does. But he does enjoy playing chase with the girls. Guess that’s practice for the future.

4greens

We've Found Facebook and it's Moved In

I remember hearing about Facebook when Elizabeth was working for OBU. It was social networking site for students. She was all about it…telling us how she used it to communicate and keep up with her students. Sounded dorky to me. What was wrong with email ? Whatever I thought, it didn’t apply to me or fit into my idea of keeping up with people. After all there was MySpace…and that was proving very useful for stalking people.

We tried MySpace for a while, using it mainly to post pics for family and friends to see. Of course something always bothered me about the fact that if my MeMa logged in to see pics of her precious great-grandbabies there would most likely be a scantily clad female on the right side, in a banner ad. Plus all these annoying friend requests from randoms that I had no interest in knowing. I found Google’s Picasa, cancelled our MySpace account and started posting there.

The only drawback to not being involved on a networking site is you can’t stalk people. There’s nothing Rachel and I enjoyed more at night, after the kids were in bed, than logging into MySpace or Xanga and seeing what the crazies were doing. Now we were cut-off from the world. I had a LinkedIn account, but that’s like trying to find out what’s going on in the word by reading the Opportunity Valley News (Orange joke). I got better scoop at kogt.com.

Chaise brought up facebook one day and mentioned that anyone could join now, not just students. Well that was it, I made an account and began the stalking process. I found out we were pretty late the party. Lots of our friends had already found it. Good, that would give us at least a month or so of good stalking before we had to maintain our own site.

It was refreshing that the site wasn’t wrought with skanky-ness and unsolicited friendship. Instead, Rachel…once she found out it was easy to navigate and you could log in through emails; that was it. She spends as much time as I do on it. Posting to walls, instant messaging (gasp), and making comments on people’s pictures or status. She even half-way arranged a social event using the site. This from someone who couldn’t attach a document to an email a year ago. We’re so pround of our Luddite. She’s growing up so fast. Now if we could only get her to use the GPS on the first try we’ll be good.

4greens

Merry Christmas / Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Yes Christmas was almost a month ago, but I did drive past a Vietnamese church yesterday and evidently it’s Vietnamese New Year…so I figure I’m still safe on that part of the greeting.

This was our first Christmas in Texas in 3 years. Let me tell you, it was nice to run around in shorts and flip-flops for a change. Although White Christmases are cool too…I’m so indecisive about what I want sometimes. For a week SOLID we entertained family members from several branches of the family tree, both Green and Finch. We enjoyed some great cooking thanks to Raye and her army of sous-chefs. And this year we ventured off the beaten menu and had surf and turf for Christmas dinner. It was fantastic. Plus it was nice not to have to head out to the airport multiple times over the holidays. GG and Big Daddy’s is only 7 mins away, so no additional drama there. We bounced back and forth all holiday season quite effortlessly.

The kids scored quite to load this year. Although this year Santa didn’t bring any large gifts…for some reason no one asked for anything of substantial size. This made Christmas morning a bit anticlimactic for me (of course it’s all about me right ?)…there were no huge toys. But they were plenty excited, even Lazarus. This was his first Christmas in 9 years without Baby. We lost her days before we left Illinois to cancer. Super sad story that I won’t be posting. Anyway…he was sufficiently bothersome (his usual self) and roamed around the living room looking for candy. He found lots of it later in the week. Did you know dogs could eat candy through the foot of stocking? Even Lazarus has some talent left in him.

Easy Bake Oven, new bike, Dora Pegasus, Swim to me Puppy, i-dogs, Hulk hands…a very eclectic morning but precious too.

Most of the week was refreshingly uneventful, with the exception of one evening. All of us were tired of “snacking” on leftovers, candy, junk, etc. Someone mentioned fried chicken and of course, instead of everyone moaning and saying “please no more” we all joined in “sure…that sounds GREAT”, let’s add on another layer of winter insulation to our bodies. It will make the New Year even more challenging; we all love a challenge right?

So I ventured out to the nearest KFC and attempted to order enough chicken for 12 people. Which really ended up being enough chicken for 30 people. The manager was wheeling and dealing with me too. It really was quite a unique experience. I’ve never bargained for food before, not in Spring, TX.

I get back and we attempt to enjoy the cheap, lukewarm fried chicken, smiling all along and refusing to admit that none of us needed it or that it really tasted bad. The usual activities then began, the kids started one of their many new movies they got for Christmas and the adults began a game of Mexican Train dominoes. AT the end of the game, my great uncle Archie Jaroy (pick one of the names, he answers to both…usually) got a little ill feeling and needed to get up from the table. I don’t need to tell you how it all ended, but just to give you some snippets…several of us bailed from the room, the garbage disposal was needed and Rachel entertained us all with her extremely sensitive and LOUD gagging reflex.

Poor Arch…but he’s better now. And Rachel and I have added yet another new word to our unusual and cryptic vocabulary…Arching. Plus we got to use this new term only days later with Paige. What a nice segue…guess I’m getting the hang of this…
As part of the adventure that is entertaining 6 kids and four adults (Rachel’s brother’s family visited for a few days over Christmas too) we decided to go out for brunch and hit the bowling alley. Cracker Barrel was chosen as the place lucky enough to host all of us (it takes 2 cars). We headed out for the 20 min car ride over to the Barrel, ate and headed back 20 min back to go bowling. Andy’s minivan is equipped with the ever popular flip-down DVD player. It’s a hit with my kids especially since our bus doesn’t have one. So Paige and Jake rode with the other cousins in the van while Rachel and I chose solitude in our car and typically Caleb, their oldest son. It provided us with a parenting break and let us only be Uncle Jason and Aunt Rachel for 20 min stints. It was nice.

When we arrived at the AMF lanes, Paige was getting out the van (she was in the very back row and watching a movie). She mentioned that she felt sick and needed to throw-up…Rachel acted quickly and tried to get her out. It all happened so fast…she Arched in the van and on the parking lot, shoes, clothes, anything that was within a 5 ft striking distance. Nice…in the van ? Yes IN the van, on the carpet, the seat belt…and all those little places that you don’t know stuff can get in until it does.

The next 30 mins were spent with Andy and me driving around the neighborhood with the windows down, the sliding doors open, my face out trying to find a car wash. We found one and we found some very potent body spray too (it’s amazing what you can find in a family of 6’s minivan).

You know what they say about a new word..use it 3 times and it’s yours..let’s not hold out for that 3rd time.

4greens

RSS Feeds

So I've stepped into 2007 century now that I know what RSS Feeds are...If you're still back in 2006 like I was just a moment ago then check this site out.

Commoncraft.com It's awesome. They explain things in "plain English." This is how I learned that I can update my blog and subscribers can see that I've done so...without me sending an email every time.

This is cool. Check it out. Click on this link and watch the short video. Follow it's directions then click on the "Subscribe to Us" gadget at the top right and hopefully you won't have to wait until the Summer to see if it works.

4greens

Circle of Life/Weather

I spent quite a bit of time writing about winter in the Mid-west. Lots of snow talk, fascination with the temperature gauge and coming up with interesting ways to pass the time when it's colder than God ever intended me to be exposed to.





Lo' and behold (a little Christmas talk...lo)...it stinking snowed here last week. Talk about a swift kick in the you-know-what. It was cold and the stuff fell from the sky.

Now to the credit of all who live north of the Red River...it wasn't snow that you could do anything with other than take it's picture. But it was white, it stuck to the car, the roof, the picnic table and your hair. I've included some pictures of what it looked like here. You have to look really close to see it...but it's there.


That little bit of home-sickness I had earlier this month when Chicago had their first real snow of the season. Thanks arctic cold-front for making me appreciate the crazy weather we can have here in SETX. Within 48 hrs of the snow it was 60 degrees.

Famous Rachel part deux

Before we bailed out of the Great White North Rachel had an opportunity to go to a food show in Chicago. Just to give you an idea of the gravity of that experience here's a few examples...

• For sports fans it's the equivalent of going to a world series game
• For NASCAR fans it's Daytona with pit passes
• For car fiends it's the LA Auto Show

Get the idea ? Well not only was it a huge-mongous exhibition of all things fancy foods but there were celebrity chefs there too. Some of you have already gasped at least once since you started reading this; for those of you that haven't let me go ahead and help you get it out of the way...GASP !

Now if you've known Rachel at all over the past undisclosed years that she's been alive, then you know that when she wants something she gets it...sometimes with carnage in her path. From the get-go she was on a mission to get signatures and pictures of her and the varios chefs that would be at the show. Once she actually got around a security dude and got a picture before the celeb could say "OK thanks folks...I'm outta here." Below you can see the results of Rachel's kamakaze mission.

Best part about the whole experience...for me at least...the loot that she brought home !!

And I thought I was too much of a perfectionist...

You gotta love the random-ness of the web...I found this while looking for some local hot spots to view house lights. This is incredible. It's a different take on putting up lights at the house. Not sure much about how MANY you can put up but how many seizures you can create with them.


ENJOY !!



Here's another one that was sent to me...even COOLER..!!

Long Time a-Comin'

First of all let me apologize for the long absence from blogspot. I realize that it’s a huge no-no to start blogging then just fall off the face of the earth with little or no warning. However since I’m starting to become full of holiday spirit and benevolence, I’ll post something to catch everyone up on things. Plus…getting Rachel to pick this project up has proven way more complicated than I had planned.

Most of you know now that we’re back in Texas (at least those of you that love to stalk each other using Facebook…this includes me too). Yes…another move and no I’m not addicted to moving; despite what the following timeline might try to prove otherwise:

1997 Shawnee, OK
1998 Moore, OK
2000 Seabrook, TX
2001 League City, TX (wow we actually stayed put for 4 yrs)
2005 Beaumont, TX
2006 Yorkville, IL
2008 Spring, TX

As you can see we’re on our 2nd tour of the Houston Metro. This time we’ve chose to be north of the action in Spring. Look us up if you find yourself close.

OK back to how we got back here. From recent postings you can see that we were enjoying our time in the Great White North even with its strange food and weather. The people are absolute joy. This was quite a surprise to us. Everyone knows that only Southerners are nice, right ? No one is a hospitable, warm and charming as people from the South (especially TEXAS). Not true. Mid-westerners, I mean real ones, not people from Chicago but people from the farm, are truly lovely folks. They are genuine and want nothing more than to enjoy their families, friends and Italian beef (I’ll get to that later…I promise). Why leave ? Well, it’s always the same thing…work. Despite our full intention of semi-settling in Yorkville for several years, job and God had other plans.

I’ll save you the gory details of the job junk. Needless to say things don’t always go like you want; large corporations don’t ask your opinion (gasp!) and despite your best intentions to land that dream job…it doesn’t happen. And with Houston being the “center of the energy world” most all jobs lead that direction. We figured this was inevitable just not so soon.

It was with very heavy hearts that we left Yorkville and moved back to Texas. But in all things there are silver linings, right ? My parents were also being transferred back to Texas after a brief stint in Delaware. We all decided to live within 15 minutes of each other so that our kids could grow up with grandparents in their lives. It was a luxury I had as a kid. Rachel didn’t grow up near her so this was a very attractive option. It definitely took the sting out of leaving our friends. Lots of tears were shed let me tell you. But you know…I was so glad that we settled in so nicely and so quickly. It was a tough move up wondering how life was going to be way up there with no one we knew. God has truly had His hand on us the whole time. All of us left a piece of our hearts in Illinois.

I’m not going to tell you that I don’t miss the weather. I miss the snow this time of year; it goes so perfectly with the season. Now I HATE it in Feb and March. But it’s not Feb and March now so I miss the snow. I do love the weather in Houston right now though. I get to phone my friends in Illinois and brag about the 73 degree afternoons. Call me fickle. I would like for it to snow at night and be 73 during the day. When you find that climate let me know.

The kiddos still ask when we’re going back to Illinois. We know that will eventually stop but it burns a little; especially when Paige asks. She’ll remember quite a bit about living there. We just continue to tell them that we don’t live there anymore. Texas is our home now.

Now that you’re sufficiently bummed out and no doubt misty-eyed from my dramatic writing…thanks for stopping by to read the latest. I plan on filling in the gaps in reverse, like one of those backwards Seinfeld episodes. It goes with the theme of our lives…things are NEVER in the order YOU expect them. Just remember that the ONE that keeps the order of the whole world has you in His hands.


The grass grows here too. We’re looking for how to care and feed it better this time.

4greens

Please pester Rachel....

I started the blog with full intentions of turning it over to Raye for care and feeding. Everyone knows she's way better at CARE and FEEDING than I ever was/am/will be, etc.

Please send emails and call her....pester her to update this website. I'm trying to pencil in some time on her schedule for Blog Training but that's been met with some frustration.

So...if you're at all interested (I assume you are or you wouldn't be reading this) in the following items please bug Rachel.

--We moved (AGAIN)
--Girl Scouts
--Food Network Star encounters

and many more...because you know we're not boring people.

J

Our Very First Dance Recital...

Paige completed her first year of Ballet I and made her debut this weekend. We were fortunate to have the event witnessed by Mema and several hundred other parents. Thankfully everything went very well. We weren't positive that it would based on some previous "public performances" (e.g, Christmas programs, Mid-year programs). BUT...Paige prevailed...and I have to say with some grace (from the Green's side obvisouly...) and excellent memory skills (again...from the same side of the family).

We'll need to work on skipping in a circle for next year's performance. Oh...and please do enjoy the pre and post commentary/entertainment.

How to Cuss Out Your Baby Brother

The kids have finally figured out how to insult each other with words now instead of hitting. Yes, they're growing up so fast.

We can thank such wonderful shows like Charlie Brown Christmas. My kids picked up "idiot" and "stupid" from Lucy. Of course like all kids, including myself at their age, they don't know it's a "bad word" until they use it and get in trouble. I can remember repeating a rather offensive word after hearing it on a Superman movie when I was 7. I don't think I've ever learned quicker than I did in that moment of realization that I used a "bad word" and thus must be punished.

Devious, I mean cunning, children are also quick to figure out that the tone of your voice, no matter what you're saying, can communicate disdain or frustration. Our oldest created the word "britchy" I think out of frustration from not being able to use "idiot, stupid and poopy-head." I'll just make a new word but use the same tone, that will let baby brother know I mean business. Now I know that it looks like and sounds like a very grown-up kind of word but I'm almost positive it's not a by-product of her mother's vocabulary; almost. Then there's the use of words by kids where they see it as a down-right cutting jab. This is the funniest and hardest to actually correct. The kids have a friend who thinks the word "stinker" is just the worst cut-down in the world. And I'm sure in his mind he's just waiting to get in big trouble for using it. But come-on (shelly) it's not a bad word and it's actually quite funny. The sincerity is definitely appreciated and it reminds me of one of my favorite commercials. Orbit gum has a "dirty mouth" commercial with two ladies and a man giving each other one heck of a tongue-lashing, only it's with "clean" words. Check it out below...





Oh, one more thing...eliminating part of an insulting phrase doesn't make it less bad. Telling your baby brother to "shut" instead of "shut up" doesn't fool your parents. Unless of course dad's watching TV and mom's cooking, then you can probably get away with it a few times.

4greens

Famous Rachel

Our dear Rachel has finally made it. She's becoming a regular icon in the wide world of gourmet food stores located in far western suburban Chicago revived downtowns along the Fox River. Give a girl a nice knife and a hot plate and she's gold.

I told you in the very first post that she had started working a few hours a week in a gourmet food store in the next town over. Best gig in a long time for her. Definitely in her element here. I mean she has a knack for taking a jar of something and turning it into a meal that's easy and tasty.

The store owner picked up on this real quick and asked Rachel to demo some items for an annual Open House. Long story short, it was a success and she had a blast. It went so well in fact that the owner asked if she would consider doing it a few more times. Before Rachel knew it she had become the "instructor" for some cooking classes the store was hosting.

The best part about it is the taste-testing. Every idea she had we get to try it. You wouldn't want her to have a bomb recipe right ? I'm doing all I can to ensure that doesn't happen. The neighbors are also appreciative of Rachel's new fame. Who doesn't enjoy free food ?

She's already had a Super Bowl open house and classes will start soon. I'll let you know when she schedule's her first throwdown with Bobby Flay.

Baby it's cold outside...

What to do when it's -10 degrees and sunny (Hint: nothing)

Freakiest thing...the colder it gets the more beautiful the sky. I'm sure there's some meterological explanation that I'm not going to figure out, I'll leave that to you and Google. It's the worst case study in irony that I've ever experienced. Probably akin to the desert mirage...you think it's gonna be so nice but NOPE. Sorry, tricked you again.

You wake up, wondering to yourself..."hmmm...it's so sunny out today; what a great day to go sledding (yeah that's now in our vocabulary) or whatever..." So you stumble into the bathroom, glance at the handy digital thermometer you have sitting next to the toothbrush (these things are an absolute necessity, I mean you become so fascinated with temperature up here that it's a part of your routine every day) and GASP!! What does LL.L mean in thermometer-ese ? It means it's too dang cold for even the thermometer to read...below -10F !

So cold that time seems to slow down...light bulbs don't glow as bright (for real), the car doesn't respond the same (ours actually came with a plug to keep the engine block warm) and your FACE feels like it's going to shrink up so tight it will snap. And don't think you're going outside "real quick" to get the mail or paper. I did that once and figured out that facial hair has just enough moisture to freeze. I swear it's turned some of it white already. Oh, and yes Virginia, boogers freeze. Like ROCKS, painful rocks. Man (I) was not intended to live in these conditions.

Even more sad, sunlight is so RARE during February that the weather dudes actually tell you how many minutes of sunlight we've had each day. So these bright sunny days are torture.

Then there's that comforting sound of the air ducts expanding and contracting as the heat cycles on and off. It's always so nice to hear "POP" in the night. No dear, it's not the Abominable Snowman, just the house, moaning.

PS- Have you ever heard of Frozen Fog, I didn't think so. It's really dense fog that occurs when it's below freezing. Check out the pic...if you can see it clearly...the fog freezes on stuff and it looks like whitefuzz.

Weird Things #2 - Food is Weird Here

You know I couldn't go too long without a food-related posting. Especially with Rachel working around it and the rest of us putting our fair share of it down our pie-holes.


I'll start with the pizza. Not the "Chicago deep-dish" stuff, just the regular pizza. Thin crust to be more specific.


Pizza is round. Yes it is, I'm not going to discuss Little Skeezer's square thing, pizza is round. But for some reason, up here, it's cut in squares. Evidently no one played with that toy as a child there you put the square blocks in the square holes and round blocks in round holes. Think about what happens when you cut a pizza that's ROUND into SQUARES. You're left with tiny freak pieces on the edge.


Hot dogs have vegetables on them. Relish, tomatoes, pickles, peppers...weird. Check it out, Google a "Chicago dog" and feast our eyes on that disaster.


Corn is royalty. It holds a special place in the mid-western heart, second only to soybeans. You don't mess with it while it's growing and you don't shun it in the grocery store. You buy lots of it, eat it, grow it in your front bed (see the Picasa site)...you can't escape it. You must respect it.


Don't worry though...it's not too weird to eat.

Back from the East

We made it back in 6 pieces. And that picture of the Griswolds in their Truckster was spot-on for the Greens in their Freestlye, cruising down the magnificent turnpikes that stretch from here to Pennsylvania.


All in all it was a nice trip. Sixteen hours isn't that long if you stretch it out over two days and add junk food, a DVD player, markers, a tomtom and a radar detector. Sprinkle in some skanky rest stops, a couple of priceline.com quality ho/motels and LOTS of McDonald's stops and you've got the makings of a perfect road trip. I felt like we were suspended for two days somewhere between a reality show (Fear Factor) and Cannonball Run.

We arrived disheveled but happy to be at our destination: Middletown, DE...in the middle of the First State, smack between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. GG and Big Daddy had transformed their home into a Christmas Wonderland complete with a massive supply of food and musical knick-knacks (is that spelled correctly ?). Bring on the Amish delights and real Coke.


Christmas morning (#4 for our family) was way fun. It's always a treat to see how excited the little ones can get over opening presents. The kids were excited too.


Yeah, I wrote #4. Christmas started in early November when Rachel's brother's family came to visit. #2 was when Grandaddy Dean came in December, #3 was Santa's first attempt at our house just before the journey East.


Everyone's Nazi came out...the wrapping paper one (grabbing the torn paper before it even has a chance to hit the ground), the bow one (snatching every bow that wasn't a victim of violent unwrapping) and the picture one (hurry, snap it so the next person can open their gift). It was fun.


Funny thing about having multiple Christmas mornings...it messes with the little brain. Every morning held the expectation of more presents. Poor Jake, he was never as excited about a new day than he was over the holidays. I think he finally caught on around the 28th.


4greens




It snowed while we were away. The grass was barely visible but still green...amazing how resilient it is.

Christmas Vacation

In the spirit of Clark W. Griswold...we'll be loading up in the Wagon Queen Family Truckster and heading East for Christmas Vacation. 800 miles, 2 days, 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 MUCH !

No I didn't mis-type, yes the dogs, no...East not South, yes the Truckster.

At the end of the week 4greens will load into the car (we recently put our SUV to rest and swapped to a "cross-over"; it's really a big station wagon) and head towards the First State (Delaware, history buffs) to spend Christmas with Big Daddy and G.G. It will be our first road trip as a family of 4...I mean 6. Can't forget the first kids, Laz and Baby. Maybe this will be Laz's last road trip. The dog years are creepin in on that old dude.

Our first stop will be in the Cleveland area. I've never been to Ohio and have no expectations. Besides, we'll be chained to the Ohio turnpike system. The scenery will be gas stations and fast food restaurants. Maybe we'll grab some souvenir buckeyes. Let me know if you would like one.

Weird things #1: You and you're house do not get along during Winter

Part 1 in a series of I don't know how long...

This is our second winter here in Illinois and as such we consider ourselves "experienced" when it comes to all things cold, snowy and icy. Most mid-westerners would not label us as experienced as we have labelled ourselves, but when you go through as much climatic change as we have in the last 15 months, believe me it puts you in a much different place than you were back in Texas. We've amassed a list if weird things that we've discovered only occur when the temperature drops and stays low.

Weird thing #1: The house

When it's cold outside (and I now define "cold" as temperatures less than 40) you tend to stay inside. Spending lots of time indoors can turn what used to be a nice, new, spacious home into a 6x6 prison. There simply are not enough floors to separate you from each other and not enough pay-per-view to keep you occupied.

Your house throws-up toys, shoes, clothes, couch cushions, blankets, jackets; it's reverse migration, it ALL comes out and doesn't really find its way back in. It reminds me of those penguin movies (either one, the animated of real-life); you know when all of a sudden 2 penguins turn into 20, then into 200, then into 5000. Before you know it there's a million of them in one place, all huddled together to brave winter. Instead of finding a nice cave somewhere, because there are so many caves in Antartica (just go along with me), they get out IN the elements to survive. Our junk does the same thing. And you can forget about trying to keep things "picked up" and clean. The carpets, the walls, the doors, all of them take on this winter hue and it's NOT white. I'm not slamming our capability to clean, because between you and me I can get fierce on cleaning the house. You just never have the chance to leave the house. It's a black hole, again like my feelings about Wal-Mart.

By February you hate your house, your furniture, the walls and that smell that results from the place being closed up for 3 months. We're not a gross family, but things stink after a while. It's no surpise that when the mercury rises above 50 people spring from their cages, in shorts and crocs, and begin congregating on their driveways. It's literally like animals coming out of hibernation. Last winter we would go weeks without seeing the people that live 30 yds from our house. I had no idea that the dude two doors down had 6 kids until they all busted out last spring.

So this year I'm not going to despise my house. We (me and the house) made a promise: it won't make me feel like a prisoner and I won't hold it responsible for winter weight gain and exhorbitant gas bills. Sounds like a deal.

4greens

Last week we had a pretty good snow, but you know what...the grass was still visible even through 4 inches of cover. Despite what gets dumped on us, even what appears to be harmless and possibly enjoyable, the grass is still there - growing. We have an obligation to nuture it and ensure it survives through whatever may come its way.

JibJabs are Jacked Up

For those of you trying to link to the JibJabs on the right side of the page...be patient. The site has just upgraded and added lots more stuff. I think they're probably getting so many hits that it's taking FOREVER to load some of the videos. They still work, just takes a while.

Nuttin for Christmas

FYI...4 1/2 yr olds still lack a sense of humor

Last night, at the end of a LONG day battling pre-schoolers, it was bedtime in the 4greens household. It's your typical routine: round up kids, change into "jammies", brush teeth, read books, rock, scratch backs, hum a song, turn on the nightlight, put just the right blanket on, find stink-dog, etc. Except last night the kiddos did not want to cooperate.

Minor segue...at Christmastime, my mother used to hum or sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" every time I mis-behaved. It was her "hint" to me that my behaviour better "straighten up !" or else I would be in for a less than stellar Christmas morning. I hated that as a kid; of course now it's hysterical having my own kids to torture.

OK we're back...so kiddos not cooperating at bedtime. Rachel starts singing "I'm Getting Nuttin for Christmas". I was inspired. Harkening back to the days of yore when I was reminded of Christmas morning by the tune MY mother sang. I raced to the computer and found a video slideshow on YouTube of some bad kids and this song in the background.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8735522593758706472&q=I%27m+getting+nuttin+for+christmas&total=9&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0


I played it loud and proud, singing along and inviting both kids to come in and watch. Of course this was extremely traumatic for our oldest, although you wouldn't have noticed initially. It all came out at bedtime. When left with her thoughts, lying in bed alone, I believe she began to recount the day and focus on that song. Tears began to flow and cries rang out "MOMMY !!" She was upset over the song.

Well, almost an hour later she finally tired out and gave up.

4yr olds have no sense of Seasonal humor.