A gift 20 years in the making

Trust me, Boydee is PUMPED in this photo.

Allow me to explain.

When I was a kid, I collected comic books, beginning at age... 9, maybe. I still have my first comic book ever, and I'm pretty sure it was a Marvel Tales from 1984... I would have been age 7 at the time. I hung on to it, then one day I discovered West Coast Avengers and then, even more important, the G.I Joe comic, and I was hooked.

I started collecting toys at a much older age... probably 14, maybe 15. Weird, I know. I had money (I started working as a host at Tippin's in Wichita pretty young, then quickly started waiting tables) and I'd go to Walmart (back then it was spelled Wal-Mart) and I'd put a box of super hero toys on layaway. This is just what I did.

(Who knows how much money I spent on comics and toys while in high school. It's a mystery. But there's an easy answer as to how much I spent on dates: $0.)

So recently I went back to Mulvane and now I'm getting my toy collection re-assembled. A lot (but not all) is stashed away safely in Eudora. It includes some cool stuff, too, like the complete set of the original "Batman" toys from the Michael Keaton movie. (Here's an example from eBay -- not my auction.) 

It also includes some stuff that I think is cool, but it's not very valuable in the collector's market.

But guess what? I've got a little boy who thinks Spider-Man is pretty cool. And Venom? He's the best.

So why not wrap the two of them up and give them to my son? I'll finally get to play with them now, ha! That $4 spent at Wal-Mart in 1990 finally gets its pay-off. 

Somehow Boyd missed this box at first on Christmas day... then found it a little later. I was downstairs when he started opening it. Adrianne tells me he freaked out, he was so excited, but I have to admit I missed it. I managed to barely snap this pic before he opened Spidey. (Venom has already been ripped open and is lying next to Boyd there by his knee.)

I've been a collector for a long time. I've always thought there are three things that make collecting sane: 1. personal satisfaction of the hobby; 2. the potential investment; 3. the potential gift for the next generation.

The gift of Spidey and Venom to my 4-year-old? I might not have known it in 1996, but it was a pretty cool Christmas gift in 2015. 

Merry Christmas!

More game pics

Hhh

Boyd's first KU game

Took place this Saturday! And we did have fun... even though, after the pre-game introductions, Boyd said to me, "Dad... this was a bad idea."

He enjoyed the halftime dunkers... and the popcorn... and he did watch for a little bit...

But yeah, overall he probably wasn't ready for it yet. Just ask Rod and Ben, who were coincidentally sitting three seats down from us... or an old college friend, who was sitting right in front of us...

My college friend told me at halftime that he brought his boy (similarly aged) recently, and that they made it the whole game... but that it wasn't much fun.

Part of the reason I wanted to get going was because B.J. was rubbing his eyes... I could tell he was tired. No sense in fighting it, I figured. 

Adrianne rescued us, and picked us up midway between Allen and West Coast Saloon... where I left the truck.

(I think Boyd's favorite part of the game might have been the bus ride to the game... all good. One of these days, his favorite part of the game might be the Rock Chalk Chant... or taking his girlfriend to the game... or throwing a big dunk down in the face of some punk from Iowa State...)

For the record, we made it through the first half. We'll try again, someday.

North Coast Media holiday party

Left to right, Brian, Adro, Marty and Jeff at Hofbrauhaus.My designer,
the Indomitable Pete, is in the background in green.

We had a blast at the North Coast Media holiday party this last week. 

Yes, Adrianne made the trip with me to Cleveland. I was celebrating 5 years with the company, and she hadn't seen our headquarters yet... I convinced her it was a good time to come up and check it out, meet all my co-workers, and see what a REAL holiday party looked like.

Adro's new NCM BFF is Karey, who is a kindred spirit in that she's also an accountant,
and doesn't understand how I can be so bad at submitting expense reports.

I think Adro had a great time. I thought she would. And the most commonly asked question I heard that evening from my male co-workers, was something akin to, "How's a dumbass like you end up with a hottie like that?"

Kevin (CEO), Rick (retired sales guy) and me.

We also went out to a nice dinner on the first night, the CEO hosted me, my publisher (Pat), LM's publisher (Bill) and all our wives. It was a fun dinner, great steaks and too much red wine. Adro proclaimed it was the best meal she's ever had (and that's what I proclaim every time I eat at Red in Beachwood, Ohio — place is amazing.)

Before we left we took a quick spin around the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, then a flight back home. Adrianne enjoyed Cleveland and I loved having her there with me. We agreed that the next time we bring the kids, and check out some of the outdoor fun, like East 4th Street and an Indians game (preferably against the Royals) at the Jake.

Suspicious turkey

 

Boyd may have unintentionally named my fantasy football team next year: Suspicious Turkey.

It was a weekday morning, 7:15 in the morning, Boydee munching on some lousy breakfast cereal at the island in the kitchen. He suddenly started staring through me like I wasn't there. I thought maybe he was half-asleep... turns out, he was staring at the artwork hanging on the refrigerator door (pictured). 

"Dad, my turkey is suspicious," Boyd says to me. I'm a little shocked that there's a suspicious turkey in the house... and by Boyd's use of the word.

"Why is that, Boydee," I ask, looking at his turkey on the fridge.

"It has too many feathers," he says. "And there's no mouth... a turkey needs a mouth."

"And maybe because it has three eyes?" I ask.

"NO, DAD," Boyd says. "It's supposed to have three eyes...!"

Not to burst your bubble

Boyd has been a good boy lately. Well, he did punch a 9-year-old boy in the face recently... But that's a story for another day.But, uh... This weather isn't going to last...? (Sorry, headline that doesn't make sense.)

Evey Jones, spelling bee champ!

Congrats to Evey for winning her class spelling bee today! She is on to represent Mrs. Golay's 3rd grade class on Jan. 13th!

From an email I received from her teacher:

Evey is our class spelling bee winner. The school spelling bee is on January 13th. 3rd, 4th, and 5th will travel to the Eudora Middle School for our school spelling bee. Parents are encouraged to attend. I will send home a packet for her to practice and she will have practice time each day at 2:30.   We will leave around 9:30 and return around 11:15.

I am so proud of her!!


Ashley Golay
3rd grade
Eudora Elementary School

Happy 9th birthday Evey!

Today was Evey's 9th birthday, so we took her wherever she wanted to go for dinner to celebrate. Like Boydee, she chose our favorite place, Tres Mexicanos.

We left Eudora a little early because I needed to return all of the WOW! Cable boxes (we switched to DirecTV today, the first day of a two-year commitment.) My hands were full, so I asked Evey to carry my keys and lock the door behind us. I showed which key was the house key abd how to hold it (teeth up).

She started walking in front of me. Wearing black boots, a cool blue coat my mom got her, a fun color-it-yourself book bag Grandma Judy got her, and with the sound effect of the jangling car keys... she looked like a teenager heading to her own car. Oh wow!

But then she struggled locking the door with me holding that pile of stuff, bringing me back to reality a little. Good!

Evey's epic 9th birthday party

We have wrapped up Evey's birthday weekend, and WHEW! Was it a big one!

Special thanks to Adro, who made the whole thing happen, and along with Evey... the two were amazing party planners!

We started off at Laugh Out Loud, with somewhere between 7 and 700 kids we were responsible for (OK, it was 8 kids, I think, that were on our watch.) LOL was good, but also stressful at times... I snapped at two kids, but I also made a few friends when I bounced my 206 pounds up and down on the air bubble, possibly breaking it (sorry LOL).

After we left LOL it was girls-only for a sleepover party at our house. We had 19 girls sleepover... it was Evey, Ava, Adira, Bella, Regan, Ryleigh... Abby. OK, maybe it was 7 girls. It's a blur.

I learned a lot about how some kids consume candy, their sleeping peccadilloes, their manners, etc. And I was at times impressed by little girls who said please and thank you.

And I also stepped in chewed bubble gum within 5 minutes of being back in the basement after everyone left. (Evey, who turns 9, still doesn't chew bubblegum, by her own choice. Jeez, we're spoiled.)
 

OK, I'm being dramatic. It was clearly a group of good girls — how else to explain everyone getting along, and then asleep by midnight? Adrianne reported that a few of the girls even volunteered to help her make the beds, and that many brushed their teeth without being asked. (I quit popping in on the girls after a while because I'm pretty sure at least one of them was a little afraid of me.) 

So, will we ever do that again?

(Shakes Evey's new Magic 8-Ball) 

All signs point to "NO."

Men at "work"

Weekend adventure

Oh, man. I'm about 6 beers in, with 4 of those being 90 Shillings. Jayhawks just took a brutal L. And there's bad guys pinned down in Paris. Add on top of that, they just showed the video of the dad talking to his little 5-year-old about flowers vs. guns. GULP.

***

Took the kids on another adventure this weekend, this time it was just me and them and YES, we brought fishing poles. In fact, Boyd got out money from his piggy bank to buy his own pole.

That, to me, was a sign that we definitely needed to go fishing, even though I didn't think Boyd was mature enough for it yet. There's hooks involved in fishing, and I didn't want anyone taking one in the hand or worse because Boyd was too young to handle the responsibility of a fishing pole...

Well, we went to Walmart and found Boyd a fishing pole. It was $10. I told him to keep his money, that his Papa, my dad, his namesake, would want to buy his pole for him... because fishing was one of my dad's passions.

Boyd was pumped. For our adventure, we went back to Baldwin City, and started off at the lake.

The weather was a little worse, as the wind was consistently pounding us. In fact, it blew my makeshift tackle box -- a cardboard box filled with a mini-tackle box and some other tools -- into the lake. Frustrating.

I showed Boyd how to cast, not expecting much. And guess what? Little guy caught on right away! He loved casting and reeling in. He didn't want to leave the lake when it was time to go!

We came back to the lake and fished the opposite side, hopeful for a wind break. It was worse. We didn't catch a goddamn thing, but at least on the other side we had a few nibbles from some keder. At least some of the worms were consumed, partially.

Just imagine how much fun Boyd will have when an actual fish is on the other end of the pole???

***

The sweetest moment of the weekend was on Sunday when I walked by BJ's room. Again, the piggy bank was out.

"Son, what are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm getting money out so I can buy Mom and Grandma fishing poles," he said.

***

Adrianne has completed the backyard project, and it looks awesome. She will be joining us for this weekend adventure.

Hope she's used to not catching fish!

 

Gone fishin'

With my best friend.

An adventure to remember

The kids throw rocks at Douglas State Lake in Baldwin on 1... 2... 3!

My mom came over to visit for a few days recently. Her visit coincided with our "new town adventure."

Me and the kids have been hanging out on Saturdays while Adrianne works on her backyard project (the backyard project needs a code name. Will discuss with Adro.) We've been mostly playing golf and then getting lunch. Two Saturdays ago I told Evey we'd take golf off for a week, and instead "go on an adventure to a new town." I told her we could find the local playground, see if they had any cool shops downtown, and then cap the visit off with a lunch at the local Mexican restaurant.

In my mind we'd be visiting Baldwin City, and indeed that's what we did.

But the cutest thing was when I saw Evey's wall calendar recently. On every Monday is written "WATCH SUPERGIRL." And in the notes section on the bottom of the month, it reads "On Saturday Dad is taking us on an adventure to a new town."

Clearly Evey was excited. So I was hopeful our trip wouldn't dissapoint.

And it did not. The agenda follows:

• Me and Boyd get haircuts in downtown Lawrence
• Library stop, me and kids get books
• Drive to Baldwin City, both kids fall asleep en route
• Go to Douglas State Lake and explore, skip rocks in water
• Get shot down on comic book store that was there a year ago (the kids have a comic book they're looking for); comic book store went out of business, apparently
• Find amazing playground equipment, play
• Lunch at El Patron, which the kids loved, especially Evey
• Venture back to a different part of the lake for a little more rock skipping
• Short drive home

The kids want to do the same adventure this weekend and I think, weather permitting, we will... except this time I'll bring our fishing poles.

It was a great adventure, and I'm glad my mom was able to join us, it was fun having her there with us!

Welcome to the family Baby Vale!

The Jones Family is very excited to welcome a new cousin to the extended family! Vale Romero was born in the early morning hours of Sunday, to a lovely couple, Jason and Jackie Romero.

Evey went with her Grandma Judy and Grandma Virginia to Kansas City today to represent for the Jones Fam and say hello to this new bundle of joy.

We all look forward to meeting Vale in the near future. The Romero Thanksgiving is going to be a fun one this year, everyone is excited to see this little baby girl!

Happy Halloween 2015

Thanks to Judy for sending this photo to me. Love Boydee going with the Peter Parker/Spidey look for the Halloween parade at Montessori School. He looks so good, people need to see his face!

Great weather for Halloween last night, a cool, crisp night, perfect for walking up and down Eudora's streets.

I had Adrianne take photos of all of us in front of the house (me, the kids, plus Evey's friend Abby.) Evey and I were pirates, Boydee threw me under the bus and refused to don his pirate costume... stuck with Spidey for the trick or treating.

***

By the way, it was 70 degrees today, Nov. 1st. The kids and I went and played golf... I was in a T-shirt and shorts! Evey's swing looks great, plus she dropped a 30-foot putt today and was like, "Oh." I was like, "EVEY, BOOM!!!"

After the round Jeff asked Evey what her shot of the day was, and she could barely recall the putt. But we all had fun, and that's what matters most!

***

I'm sitting here nervously waiting for game 5 to start... could the Royals win the WORLD SERIES tonight? I'm nervous/excited. I don't claim to be a loyal Royals fan from back in the day, but they sure have been fun to watch, a likable, exciting group.

***

Adrianne has been working like crazy on the back yard. It's looking good! My contribution? I take the kids and play golf, or to lunch, so she can have quiet time, uninterrupted!

Pretty good deal, huh?

I may have just committed to some labor of my own, though... if we have a sitter one of these weekends. Yikes!

Tomorrow is Halloween

Sneak preview :

Golf Saturday

 

Fun weekend here. Busy, but good.

This weekend was the last soccer game for both kids (Boyd's team won big, Evey's team lost big.) More important, it also marked the first time that me and the kids went and played golf together. 

Boyd once again drove the bus. I talked Evey into joining us. We had a blast.

Boyd wasn't as focused with his Sissy around... but he still was pretty good. Meanwhile, Evey got her swing working, and even hit No. 8 green from the tee! I even have it on video! I'll post it soon.

Never a bad golf round that ends in chocolate cake, right? 

Boyd wanted to go back on Sunday, I had to tell him no -- he needed a little rest, plus it seems he might be getting sick...

But we'll be back soon!

Happy 9th anniversary, Adrianne!

This is what most couples do on their 9th wedding anniversary, right?

Take their 8-year-old to the dentist, the 4-year-old to Rick's to watch the ALCS, then meet up upon the conclusion of the dentists' appointment?

Because I think that sounds pretty amazing! HA!

We'll celebrate for real tomorrow night, OK babe?!? (And good news: we're still enjoying the new car we bought for each other as our anniversary gift!)

Rest In Peace Snickers

Jones family dog, from Oct 2014 to Oct 2015. Approximately 10 yrs old.

You will be missed, nerd-dog.

A great student, a better friend

Adrianne and I have been pretty busy at work lately, which means we haven't had a whole lot of fun lately. It's run-run-run every day and night. Try to keep up with dinners, homework, laundry. Everyone's a little frazzled.

Everyone except for EVEY, who is in the midst of a 4-and-a-half-day weekend. Must be nice!

It's a break at school for parent/teacher conferences. We scheduled ours early, Wednesday at 3:30. Evey came with me and we headed over to visit with Mrs. Golay.

I was happy, first of all, to see that Evey is making straight As in 3rd grade. In her own self-assessment, she downgraded herself in science and math. Mrs. Golay said, "I don't know why she's put herself at red (downgraded), she's great at math."

We talked about the homework, and how sometimes I don't get what the math homework is trying to teach. (Sample question: If Jerry needs to add 25 plus 3, but before he adds 3, he adds 12… what does he need to do now? My answer: He needs to stop adding random-ass numbers to simple math problems.) But I get that we're tip-toeing into algebra… and algebra and sarcasm don't mix.

And frankly, algebra and me don't mix.

But Evey is doing great in school and the teacher really had no recommendations… Evey is at "Tier One" in all her subjects, she has no special assistance, just doing her thing and learning like a big girl.

And then Mrs. Golay told me something about Evey that really melted my heart… she asked me if I knew there was a special needs student in the class, I said yes. Mrs. Golay told me that Evey is helpful with this student, treats him as an equal and a friend. "She's a blessing to have in class," the teacher told me.

GULP! So proud of my girl. She could be making straight Cs and we'd work on it, right? But to hear that she's just a good kid, has a kind heart? So rewarding.

I've told her about a hundred times I'm proud of her. I also told her we'd have to celebrate the "straight As" soon. I get the impression that she thinks that she should be doing better. I'm fine with that.

I'm just so PROUD of her.

Birthday pic

Boyd's golf swing, age 4

Here is a video of Boyd hitting golf balls at Twin Oaks over the weekend, meant to post it but couldn't do it from my phone...
 

And maybe you'd be interested in this column from my magazine, where I write about Boyd's first golf lesson... http://digital.golfdom.com/sep2015#&pageSet=5

Highlight of the weekend

Boyd's interest in going golfing on Saturday... It was his idea!

Quatro Exitos

Happy birthday, Boyd!

Happy birthday Boydee!

Boyd turns 4 on Monday, so we brought him, for the 2nd year in a row, to Worlds of "Fun."

I'm not a huge fan of this place , but I'll admit the weather is perfect for it. I think Adro and Judy enjoy it. I found beer here this year, so I'm enjoying it more...

Also, Adro bought some kinda food pass, where we get free food (entree plus side) every 90 minutes. So I've turned that into my own private gameshow, trying to maximize that thing's value. (I think it cost $37?)

Beer is $8 a cup, but it is craft beer. (Same price as Bud, FYI.)

My biggest complaint about WO"F" is that inevitably, a child will have a breakdown -- overwhelmed by the rides, the long day, etc. -- and I'll bark at someone. But maybe not this year???

Blood moon over Eudora

Good day here on Sunday. Smoked ribs and they turned out pretty good, got the yard mowed, looking good, plus a fridge full of beer and a blood moon?

Adrianne was wore out early, but rallied for the blood moon. I had chairs set up in the back yard, and some oldies playing. Adro decided to bake some cookies. As the moon was coming up, I wandered to the front yard and saw the new neighbors across the street sitting in their driveway. Invited them over for fresh baked cookies later, and went back to the back.

 The new neighbors came over (note to self: Dave and Kris) and joined us. Nice folks, older than me and Adro, big sports fans, good neighbors. Adro came out with cookies. I got some extras and passed a few over the fence to the Browns. Decided it was a good idea to smoke a cigar.

 The blood moon was cool and the kids enjoyed staying up late and running around the yard. I enjoyed sitting outside and just shooting the breeze, a few beers in hand. Felt very small town America.

Was exhausted this morning, but a cool way to spend a Sunday.

Evey and Dad's day at the K

So I had this coupon book, with 4 free Royals tix and a dozen half price tix. I've been trying to use them all season but kept putting it off... There were some restrictions, like they could only be redeemed Sun-Thurs, Hy-Vee zone only, etc. it was a Boy Scouts fundraiser, I think we spent $40 for the book.

We were all going to go on Sunday, but then I decided midday on Wednesday that me and Evey should go on up, just the two of us, for that night's game.

We got to the parking lot, and gridlock. While waiting to pay to park, I pulled the ticket out if the book. That's when I saw it: the whole booklet expired on Sept. 9th. DAMN!

But whatever, we'll just buy tix, right? So we walk all the way up there, bypassing a few scalpers. We enter the chute for the ticket windows... And then some guy, a little older than me, stops me. "You guys need tickets??" He asks. I shrug because I'm looking to buy something cheap. "I've got two. They're free. You're going to have to come with me, but... You're gonna want these tickets."

I say sure.

"Is that your daughter? I've been waiting you two... I almost gave them to a couple college guys..."

We then followed this guy and his friend... To the Diamond Club... And then to the 8th row, directly behind home plate!

(This story to be continued , I'm tired of typing on my iPhone!)

Boydee tells a knock-knock joke (Evey helps out)

Dos Half-Mexicanos

Took the kids to arguably their favorite restaurant last night -- Tres Mexicanos. Didn't feel like cooking last night since I'm on a quick business trip these next two days.

Picked up Boyd from Montessori School for the first time. Met one of his teachers, she said he's doing great at the school. "He's always so happy!" was what she told me. Which is nice, because at home he can sometimes be so GRUMPY.

Strange moment of the day: Cell phone rings, it's Eudora Elementary School. "This is Seth," I answer, expecting the automated call service to be reminding me about an early release day, or somesuch. Instead? "Hi Daddyyyy!" Evey's voice sings. "Uhh... hi Evey. What's up?"

She was concerned about who was picking her up, there was some confusion... and even more confusion on my part after she called. (But we worked it out.)

The weekend that was

Pretty good weekend here at the Casa de Jones.

On Friday we had the Lipford wedding reception. I left work early to hit golf balls at the range, to get the weekend off right. Picked up Evey, then double-cut the front yard (unbelievably, no one noticed.)

Then the Neutebooms and Littlejohns came over to the house for a few pre-party beers. We still have the old bed in the downstairs living room, which made the seating a little awkward. But we had a good time and then were off to the reception.

The reception was at the Lackman-Thompson barn in Lenexa, my old stomping grounds (my first ever internship was next door at the Lenexa Chamber of Commerce, thanks to my sister. I was 20.) The food spread was solid. The music, not gonna lie, did not live up to my expectations based on Lip's excellent taste in music. That's OK, I'll blame the DJ. The Neutys had to bolt early, unfortunately, something to do with a child younger than 7 missing mom, I'm sure. We soldiered on a little longer than wrapped it up ourselves.

I barely managed to avoid the dance floor.

***

Saturday Evey and Adro had cousin Jackie's baby shower; Boyd and I had a soccer game.

Me and BJ were out the door by 9:30 for his 10 a.m game. I'm coaching his team. We have a young team, but cute kids.

Boyd refused to play for the first three quarters (OK, he was on the field, but he didn't do much). We hung tough until the third quarter, when Christian gave up maybe three goals in the quarter. Since Boyd wasn't doing anything anyway, and with a big deficit now, I elected to put BJ in goal for the fourth quarter.

Surprise, surprise. Boydee actually played goalie, making three saves. One was a save on the outskirts of the goalie box, which was cool because a lot of the players are nervous about venturing that far away from the goal mouth. I'm trying to teach these kids to pounce on the ball when they can, BJ actually did that!

He pitched a shut-out quarter, then celebrated by blatantly crashing the oppositions' post-game treats line. Sneaky, Boydee. Real sneaky.     

We then headed to Lawrence to see Mike Amyx at the barber shop. We both walked out looking sharp. Just in time for the KU band to march down for the band day parade. Timing? Perfect.

Watched as much of the parade as we wanted to, then walked to the library. Boyd played and played and played in the library while I read Action Comics #23-25, Superman # 8 and # 9, and World's Best Comics # 1 (collected in one volume). Man, were those Superman comics were bad back then. Mind control? Drugs to make Lois forget what she saw? A war on gambling? Yeesh.

From there Boyd agreed with me that we needed nachos, so we went to Wayne & Larry's. Boyd played a little Golden Tee while I watched college football. The nachos were decent. Chilling with BJ was... golden.

From there, home, where Boyd fell asleep on my chest as we watched Zathura together.

That night, Adrianne bought a much-needed couch at IKEA, to remedy the situation from Friday, of having friends sitting on a bed awkwardly trying to look cool. Now we have a couch that converts to a bed and we got it for a steal... the basement is once again an awesome place to watch football.

***

Sunday BJ and Adro went to church while me and Evey hung out. I mowed the back yard. Evey read comics and watched TV. Laundry ensued.

Then it was time for football, and I watched a whole lotta football.

Grilled dogs and brats for dinner. Watched most of my three fantasy team go down in flames. Fell asleep on the new couch downstairs flipping between NFL and US Open tennis.

The moral of the story?

It was a good weekend.

I want a lousy Golden Age Superman comic.

And it might not be worth the effort to double-cut the front yard.

Happy birthday Adro!

Do like Boydee, and take the rest of the day off...

Mt. Recycle

As long as we're renaming mountains, let's rename the recycle bin... It is now known as the pile of sh- uh, I mean, Mt. Recycle.

Carefully constructed by Adro Jones while I was in Austin over the weekend. And no, she does NOT have an engineering degree.

Evey and Boydee jamming

From my iPhone, I think this is from August 2014:

Boyd started at Montessori School!

Good news! Boyd started at Montessori School on Monday, and he LOVED IT!

He is unlike me. I hated my preschool, Kindercare. I cried and cried and cried until Mom finally pulled me out and watched me at home until I was about 12, I think.

The worst thing Kindercare did? I remember crying to Mom, "They put CHICKEN in their SPAGHETTI!!!"

***

I wasn't there for this, but, from Adro:

Boyd, Evey and Adro are watching TV in bed while I was away on business. A bra/panties commercial comes on TV.

"Mom?" Boyd says, getting her attention. "...sometimes I see these commercials with these girls... and I wish those girls were real... and that they could come out of the TV... and hold me."

That's my boy! And yes, son, I've wished that before too. ...but it was, uh, 15 years ago...

***

Adro held Boyd's hand on his first day walking into Montessori School... and he went in, no problems.

The next day? "Mom, can you not hold my hand today?"

***

Both kids have soccer practice in full swing. I'm coaching both teams again. Practices are Mondays, 5:30-6:30 for the big kids, then 6:30-7:20 for the little kids. It makes for a loooong Monday.

But this Monday was awesome, because when we came home, tired and sweaty, Adro had made a big pasta dinner with fresh side salads and a fresh loaf of bread from Sprouts in Lawrence. All I had to do was sit down!

Evey suggested that this become a regular Monday night tradition. I agreed with that idea. And then she had an idea for Tuesday night dinners...

Taco Taco Tuesday? No.

Salad Tuesday.

No thanks!

Two peas?

In a pod...

Monopoly men

Miss these guys

2015 in San Diego for the day...

National Root Beer Float day!

Evey and I celebrating this wonderful day on Thursday... Following the long drive to, and then halfway home from, Pierce City, Mo. (Evey didn't like her DQ float very much... And actually, I didn't either.)