Day one: occupy Boydee

This is the first night with Momma out on business... No need to occupy Evey (she occupies herself) but Boydee needs entertainment...

Uno, tonight, and a little bit of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

(I mean, hey, why not?)

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No, they did not color tonight. This is an old photo. But Boyd DID wear the same Jammies tonight.

(And also... No nighttime diaper!!! Aghhhh!!! Wish me luck, those are fresh sheets...)

Locker room talk

CC

Well, well, well... look who got to tour the KU Men's Basketball facilities, including the film room, player's lounge, coaches' locker room and players' locker room?

That's right, your pal Jonesy!

My buddy Rockhold won a charity auction for the experience. He could take 9 people with him. Very cool!

Someone asked the guide at the end of the tour, "Do you give this tour all the time?" And he said not often at all, and that, in fact... we were the first non-University employees he had ever shown the locker room to!

That made us all feel privileged, even more so than we already did. Then the guide said, "Yeah, I saw that I was supposed to give a tour today and it was during a women's game... I texted my boss to confirm, he said, 'just do it.' I really figured it was the president or someone coming in here today!"

Got a good laugh.

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Somebody left their McDonald's All-American shorts laying on the ground in the shower. I told the guys, how ballsy is that? Because you know he did it on purpose, just to yell out, "Hey, anybody seen my shorts anywhere? They say MCDONALD'S ALL-AMERICAN on them..."

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One more thing on the facilities (and I'll happily show you all my iPhone photos next time I see you): I admire the height and width of all their doors, shower stalls, sinks, etc. 

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Evey got a 95% on her math test today! Only missed one question. They're doing long division, and I can tell she enjoys it and really "gets" it because she always seems happy when she talks about it.

I hope she has a strong math game for a long time, because I'm worthless! Adro can of course help her out... but I just fear the day Adrianne is busy and I have to take a look at math homework... I'm screwed.

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Adrianne leaves for GIS 2017 tomorrow... I'm up chilling, watching her pack and get ready. She's going to be gone for TEN DAYS!!! We're going to miss her.

She asked me with a straight face the other day, "Are you having a Super Bowl party?"

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Speaking of parties, please save the date: Friday, April 28th. I'll have just turned 40 (on the 26th) and we're going to have an epic party somewhere... details to come!

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The political climate is ridiculous right now. It feels like a sick joke.

I avoid political talk as often as possible... but I'm proud that the Joneses were contributors to the $21 million donated to the ACLU over the weekend.

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An old Adam Strange comic. Great character design.

For bedtime stories I typically tell Boyd original Adam Strange stories. Adam Strange is an older DC Comics super hero... I always start off the stories with, "Once upon a time there was a space cowboy! And his name was... (Boyd sings, 'ADAM STRAAAAANGE!) ...and he surfed the cosmos, looking for trouble!"

I've been on a little bit of a roll lately. Recently Adam Strange visited Rylon 17-B (he usually visits Rylon-7, Boyd doesn't seem to mind) where he fought the lava monster... then last night, I told Boyd about Adam Strange's first meeting with 'Green-Gan,' a powerful alien he met at a space refueling station that was an enemy who later became an ally. I promised the story of their first team-up tonight. 

Good news/bad news: Boyd reminded me tonight I owed him the story of Adam Strange and Green-Gan's team-up. But I had mostly forgotten the details of the previous evening's story.

S'ok. I winged it. And whenever I end a story, I try to sum up why the story was important ("...and that was the time Adam Strange learned to never use a solar blaster when fighting an Umbala Bug!") And if Boyd likes the story, he'll quietly clap and say, "Good story, Dad."

I got a "Good story, Dad." tonight.

Green-Gan will go on to fight another day!

Beans, beans, good for your heart

Great weekend here! Busy but GOOD.

How about that Jayhawks W on Saturday? So pumped, and so surprised!!

Oh yeah I also got to tour the KU locker room this weekend... More on that (with photos) soon...

Sooooo gooood!

Uno!

Boyd has been wanting to play Uno lately... Lots and LOTS of Uno.

He's a fun opponent, and he's pretty good. Interestingly, he's hard to beat downstairs (Avengers deck) but more easily defeated upstairs (Batman deck.) not sure I understand the why... But he'll play either spot no problem.

When the game ends, he wants to see what cards are left. "Aw, Dad, you had a skip!" If he wins. When he loses, he shows me how he COULD have won...

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I look at this photo, and maybe it's the long sleeve Superman T, but I feel like I've traveled back in a time machine to face myself in Uno.

Wonder if I was this handsome/ornery/skilled etc.? Hard to know...

Boydee likes to party

The strawberries are gnoshed

The kids wanted a snack on MLKJ day. Me and the kids were off, Adrianne had to work.

Evey suggested strawberries. A good, healthy snack!

The kids ate away. Boyd asked if he could throw his away because he was done. From a few feet away it looked like he had untouched strawberries in his bowl. "Boyd, can I have your leftover strawberries?" I asked. "Yeah Dad but I don't think you'll want them because they've been gnoshed."

I looked in his bowl, and sure enough, nerdo had take about one big bite out of each strawberry and left the rest behind!

Thanks Boyd!

Baby arm!

Wait a second... do I have a baby arm?!?

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Well, still mad about the Chiefs game but happy the Jayhawks won in Ames. We've been watching a lot of sports in the "man cave" the last few days and guess who joined me?

Yup, Boydee Atticus. He's in. He likes the idea of shouting when you lose at Uno, shouting at random referees on TV, of munching chips with no regard for the crumbs.

We worked on the Jonesy high-five (perfected by me and a young Evey, when she still thought I was cool) as well as a "bro-hug" (which Boyd has down now.) Boydee also has a favorite track on the jukebox: 1813.

"Rock Chalk Chant."

Don't play 1318 -- speed metal.

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We had several days off. Evey Jones reads this blog but I'll admit, at age 10, she'd rather read the back of a milk carton, or just tell her dad he's weird. 

The worm has turned here at the Jones house. I feel like Evey is just as likely to endorse my next idea as she is to throw it under the bus... also, I occasionally scare her now... she just thinks I'm weird. Sigh...

She still likes my cooking, but she's A-OK reading quietly or listening to Taylor Swift on her headphones. When I break in... I'm interrupting... which is new.

It was good while it lasted.

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Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka died on Sunday. That was my guy when it came to pro wrestling. Always thought he was cooler than Hulk, Undertaker, Ultimate Warrior, etc.

We named our college band after Snuka: The Jimmy Snuka Heart Attack Band. 

At least it was stomach cancer at an old age that got Snuka, not a heart attack at a young age. Time waits for no one... though I think Snuka cheated it for a long time, based on his death-defying leaps.

S U P E R F L Y ! ! ! !

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Glad we all survived ice-mageddon 2017.

Over-rated!!!

Stay off the roads

Thank God we cancelled school on Friday... Look what could have happened!

Hard labor

After Boyd was in BIG TROUBLE for hiding on Christmas Day, I put him to hard labor as punishment!

Good job on recycling buddy!!!

DINO!

Seth & Adro

I feel like "Seth & Adro" would be a good band name, if I was musically gifted all all. 

Seriously, what would I do? Play the triangle? Scream into the microphone?

Poor Adro... she's the only talented one on the new band, "Seth & Adro." She sings like a bird. Seriously, have you ever heard her sing? Birds are jealous. 

Ahh well. We have a good band name, at least. 

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It was a really good Saturday today.

We started off with breakfast at the house, then I told everyone to just relax — we were in no hurry. So I started writing something for my fantasy football league (which I won, btw) and the kids did their thing. 

Next thing I knew, Adro was ready! She’s never the first one ready!

We headed to Lawrence. Boyd and I needed haircuts. 

Took the girls to Starbucks first, for whatever they buy at Starbucks. Then dropped them off at Sunfire Ceramics while BJ and I hit the barber shop. 

The barber shop went by quickly — BJ and I both look sharp, I think — then on to return some library books before hitting the Toy Store.

The kids had gift certificates. I had no interest in shopping at the Toy Store, a place that for some reason stresses me out. So Adro gave me the pass to go next door to Minsky’s to grab a beer.

It’s 1 pm on Saturday and I’m peacefully drinking Winter Ale while watching college basketball, while the kids were shopping for toys.

Sublime.

After an hour or so, they all came over. I got the appetizer cooking (ordered), then the pizza. The kids ate well, we were all happy. 

On to Raven book store for Evey and Adro, Quinton’s for me and Boyd.

If you haven’t been to Quinton’s upper level yet, check it out. 80s arcade games, cheap! And no one seems to go there, most of the times I’ve been there, it’s me and whoever I brought with me and no one else.

We played games for a bit, then headed home.

Adrianne got busy rearranging Evey’s room, I got busy watching KU basketball.

Talk about a good Saturday!

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Friday was rough.

Work went by too fast (not enough completed in the work day) and then mid-afternoon I found out a guy I’ve known for 20 years is terminal. Then that airport shooting happened… and I got a call for my mom from some creditor… I just felt sick, all around. 

Adrianne and Boyd came home, and Adro was like, “what’s wrong?” and I just felt tired, overwhelmed. 

I’m glad Saturday was such a better day. Saturday was PERFECT.

2017: the year dreams are made

Weird. For some reason Blogger won't let me see what I'm writing unless I'm writing in BOLD.

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Well, happy new year! I just looked back at my number of blog posts and I see that 2016 was my worst year blogging EVER, numbers-wise. Sorry. I didn't realize I was that far off my mark, actually. 

I'll try to pick up the pace in 2017. 100 should always be a goal. That's about nine posts a month, a reasonable clip. And sometimes it's as easy as emailing a photo. You don't always need my witty remarks, right?

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Boydee had a birthday party for Claire and Charlie on New Year's Eve, at the bowling alley. Nice time.

But the highlight of the party came early, when Boyd was handed the note below, from the birthday girl. 

Boyd got home and we read the letter to his mom. Then Boydee gave her his "sly dog" look, below.

That's my boy!


B