Happy *cough* anni*cough*versary *cough-cough* sweetheart!
I wish this past weekend would have been one filled with high romance and long passionate kisses. Instead, the boys and I got hammered into the ground by some kind of devilish chest cold. I can tell you now though I had plans..oh yes I had plans. I swear I did. Really.
Anyhoo. 7 years of marriage. What the H? How do you do it? Why do you do it? Why is the sky blue? Where is Jimmy Hoffa buried? All these questions...
Now if memory serves, we have been dating/going-out/seeing-eachother, etc. for...holy cheese...almost 14 YEARS! Is that right? Woah. Try this one; next year at this time, we will have been together for half our lives. Freaky. Cool, but freaky.
It seems like just yesterday I was standing in my parents' backyard holding you and asking you to be my girlfriend. I was 15 years old. If I had known all that hung in the balance of your answer, I might not have asked. What if you had said no?...
There would be no first kiss. I would never have gotten to know your absurdly large family so well. I wouldn't have had to face your Dad and his legal pad of questions when asking for your hand in marriage. There wouldn't be a ring under the tree on Christmas Eve for you. No hilariously boring wedding "classes." No wedding. I wouldn't have seen how beautiful you were in your wedding dress. No standing up, kneeling, sitting, kneeling, kneeling, standing, kneeling and sweating profusely in a rented tuxedo with a smile on my face as we took our vows. No kick-A reception afterwards. No San Diego. No first apartment. Nothing. There would be no us.
And there would be no THEM. No Jake. No Brady. Phew! Man, you really hit a homerun there slugger! I served it up slow and straight, but you really drove that sucker deep. How about that? All you had to say was one magic word, two times, and look what we got out of it.
Thank you for all that your life has brought to mine. You fill my heart up in ways my feeble mind can't express. I love you forever.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Putting the "O" in Zoo
So we went to the Zoo on Sunday. It's been a pretty regular Sunday kinda thing this past month. Summer is literally days away it seems, so we have to get out while we can. So, this Sunday we took 'ol Grandpa "O" to the zoo with us. Grandma Mimi was back in Louisiana for the weekend so it was just us 5 this time.
The place was packed, but it's big enough to spread around so it wasn't too bad. The boys had a good time just wandering around for a bit. Then we decided to get a bite to eat. All the usual suspects; chicken taco salads, chicken fry bread, etc. Again, I can't stress this point enough: If you live in the Maricopa County area..get your mouth to Cafe Lobo at the Phoenix Zoo. Rockin' food at crazy-cheap prices.
Anyway, after lunch the boys put the hard sell on "O" for some dessert. Jake wanted an ice cream-sandwich and Brady wanted cotton candy. Mmmmm...sugar. Jake ate his treat as usual, with no mess and not a drop wasted. Brady....well. Turns out he wanted just PURPLE cotton candy so he had to dig through the rainbow colored bag until he found the good stuff. He was just hurling it out at "O" as fast as he could. Hence the smile on the old man's face. The picture of Brady is classic B-man shenanigans. Give him sugar and opportunity and he'll make you belly laugh every time.
The place was packed, but it's big enough to spread around so it wasn't too bad. The boys had a good time just wandering around for a bit. Then we decided to get a bite to eat. All the usual suspects; chicken taco salads, chicken fry bread, etc. Again, I can't stress this point enough: If you live in the Maricopa County area..get your mouth to Cafe Lobo at the Phoenix Zoo. Rockin' food at crazy-cheap prices.
Anyway, after lunch the boys put the hard sell on "O" for some dessert. Jake wanted an ice cream-sandwich and Brady wanted cotton candy. Mmmmm...sugar. Jake ate his treat as usual, with no mess and not a drop wasted. Brady....well. Turns out he wanted just PURPLE cotton candy so he had to dig through the rainbow colored bag until he found the good stuff. He was just hurling it out at "O" as fast as he could. Hence the smile on the old man's face. The picture of Brady is classic B-man shenanigans. Give him sugar and opportunity and he'll make you belly laugh every time.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Opposites
I have come to the conclusion that for all Jake and Brady's striking similarities, they are actually complete opposites.
-Where Jake walks, Brady runs.
-Brady eats the protein first, Jake starts with the vegetable.
-Jake likes to read books, Brady likes to destroy them.
-Brady doesn't relly care for sweets, Jake will eat pumpkin pie until he explodes.
-Jake likes to cuddle, Brady likes to harass.
Is there a pattern there? If you haven't gathered thusfar, Brady is indeed the crazy one. Jake has his moments though. It's crazy how one dude picks up where the other leaves off. We get the full spectrum of boyhood, good and bad. Mostly good though.
Like this little scene that played out recently; I had been telling Brady not to kick the wall in the toyroom. He could only manage about 15 seconds of restraint and then his self-control would fail him. So, I went in and got in his face, raised my voice, and told him not to do it again or he was going to timeout. He was cool with that until I left the room and then he started crying. Not the usual angry cry but a sad cry. Like I had told him to stop breathing. Just as I was heading back in there, I hear Jake calmly saying,"It's OK Brady. He's not mad at you. He still loves you. He just doesn't want you to kick the wall anymore." I turn the corner and Jake has an arm around Brady's shoulders and Brady has stopped crying. What am I supposed to do with that? Jake is 3. 3 YEARS OLD! 3 years old and he's in-tune with his brother's emotional needs enough to embrace him and tell him his Father's not an A-Hole.
What did I do after that? What could I do? I backed out of the room and let the two "opposites" have their moment as one. Once again, I am humbled by the knee-high crowd. Nice job boys.
-Where Jake walks, Brady runs.
-Brady eats the protein first, Jake starts with the vegetable.
-Jake likes to read books, Brady likes to destroy them.
-Brady doesn't relly care for sweets, Jake will eat pumpkin pie until he explodes.
-Jake likes to cuddle, Brady likes to harass.
Is there a pattern there? If you haven't gathered thusfar, Brady is indeed the crazy one. Jake has his moments though. It's crazy how one dude picks up where the other leaves off. We get the full spectrum of boyhood, good and bad. Mostly good though.
Like this little scene that played out recently; I had been telling Brady not to kick the wall in the toyroom. He could only manage about 15 seconds of restraint and then his self-control would fail him. So, I went in and got in his face, raised my voice, and told him not to do it again or he was going to timeout. He was cool with that until I left the room and then he started crying. Not the usual angry cry but a sad cry. Like I had told him to stop breathing. Just as I was heading back in there, I hear Jake calmly saying,"It's OK Brady. He's not mad at you. He still loves you. He just doesn't want you to kick the wall anymore." I turn the corner and Jake has an arm around Brady's shoulders and Brady has stopped crying. What am I supposed to do with that? Jake is 3. 3 YEARS OLD! 3 years old and he's in-tune with his brother's emotional needs enough to embrace him and tell him his Father's not an A-Hole.
What did I do after that? What could I do? I backed out of the room and let the two "opposites" have their moment as one. Once again, I am humbled by the knee-high crowd. Nice job boys.