Weekend Event

We've been working in the garden this weekend. Trying to get it ready for spring planting. Everyone has gotten into the act.

There's the boys ...










The dogs are in the middle of everything ...

I promise I didn't fall asleep at the wheel ...

Of course, Karen is behind the camera ...

But, in the end, the only thing being lost is apparently the cleanliness of the house ...

Joshua Turns 10

Joshua turned 10 yesterday. He got what he wanted for his birthday: a DSLite and Pokemon Diamond. His party is tonight. He invited three friends over for burgers, an evening at PrimeTime and a movie. It will be fun.

My Latest ARN Video - Counting Bird

Here is my latest video.

http://reporternews.com/videos/detail/counting-abilenes-birds/

The Final Hurrah!

Before heading back to school for the Winter/Spring semester, we told the boys they could invite a friend over. By the time we got started, it involved eight boys, seven of which stayed the night in the house. Let's just say, it was intense.

In an attempt to run the energy out of them so they might actually sleep a little, I took them up to ACU to run around the track and play at Jacob's Dream. What they discovered was that the light on the ACU football practice field were on. At some point in their 2.5 hour football game, I stopped them long enough to get this picture.

Well, did my evil plan work? ARE YOU KIDDING!?!?! At 1:00 I had to get pretty loud so I could get their attention and at least have them get out their sleeping bags and lay down and try to be quite. From all reports, the last of them fell sleep around 2:30 in the morning.

Let's just say, it will be a long time before we do that again.

Movie with Jason

Twice a year, once in the summer and once at Christmas, we take the boys to bonafide movie at the theater. This year, we took all the boys to see "Bedtime Stories" with Adam Sandler. The good side of this movie is that for once it wasn't full of the usual Adam Sandler crudeness and sexual overtones. It was actually a good, clean movie that kids can watch. But, Jason is getting a little older and wanting to see more mature movies so he and I went to see Valkyrie, as evidence by the picture. I think Jason enjoyed being out with his dad, or maybe it was being out without his brothers. Either way, I had to capture the moment on my iPhone.



As for Valkyrie, it was a good movie but not a great movie. What made it less than great? In my opinion, the actors like Tom Cruise and others, made no attempt at sounding or acting German. I lived in Germany and Italy for ten years of my life. I know how they sound and interact. These actors didn't even make the attempt. I was also surprised to hear the "F" word in the movie ... quite prominently, I might add. In my opinion, a PG-13 movie should not have such language. Jason is only 11 but this is not even appropriate language for a 13-year old. I guess it goes to show that the rating folks in Hollywood really don't care what our children see and hear as long as they sell another ticket. The movie should have been an R rating. Shame on you, Hollywood.

After Christmas Skateboarding

We were blessed this Christmas season. Jonathan received a much-wanted skateboard for Christmas and spent the first four days skating every chance he got. Abilene has a nice skate park where other skateboarders ride their boards and use words like "Raw" and "Rad." Jon did really well and even went down a small hill or two on his skateboard.

This One's for Karen

I found this video on the internet, courtesy of one of my co-workers, and thought I would share it with you. This video is for all the mom's out there that have spent too many hours everyday trying to help their children grow and become productive members of society.

Craig MS Christmas Concert - Jason's First Concert

Jason is playing the clarinet in the Craig Middle School band. The band had their Christmas concert at Abilene High School last night. This was Jason's first public concert. They played two songs: Little Drummer Boy and Jingle Bells.

Jonathan's Christmas Program

Jonathan participated in the church Christmas program. He was a wiseman and brought his gift of gold to the Christ Child. I asked him after the show how he felt about it. He said he was nervous "because all those people were looking at me." We just told him we were proud of him and that he did his job really well. Thought we would share that small moment with you.

Two Updates on Jason

It was a good night last night: no seizures. After the seizures Jason had Monday night, you worry that the event will repeat itself. That was especially good for us because Karen was sleeping around town again last night. That is, she was doing a sleep study at Hendrick Hospital to see if they can do anything about her troubling sleep habits.

Secondly, we received wonderful news yesterday. Jason has been nominated to attend the Junior National Young Leaders Conference in Washington D.C. this coming spring. He was nominated by the teacher at his school that selects students from Craig based on his "scholastic merit, maturity and strength of character." This opportunity is not without its challenges, however. It costs almost $2000 for Jason to attend. We will be looking at our finances in the next few days to see if we can afford it. It looks like we may have to wait on the new flooring for the house. And, there is always the issue of Jason's seizures. Truth be he doesn't have them very often but the stress of a trip like this could be just the thing to set them off. One of the weeks available to him is the same week that I will be in Philadelphia for a conference. It would be very helpful if I could fly with him and at least be in the same part of the country.

We ask for your prayers for Jason as he continues to deal with these two very big issues in his life.