Spook-tacular!

Twas the day before Halloween and all through the house, there was no sign of the season, not even a decapitated mouse.
The costumes were made(mostly) in a pile downstairs as my wife worked to finish the last one for our son, he'll be Pooh Bear.
Our few decorations are still in a box even though our neighbors have lights, jack-o-lanterns and witches in socks.
Our kids are excited and who wouldn't be? They get to go house to house and get candy for free.
Out on our lawn the grass is slowly going yellow. There are no headstones or spiderwebs or arms in wheelbarrows.
With kids in costumes and us in our coats, we'll head out tomorrow among superheros and ghosts.
They'll say "Trick or treat!" as we go door-to-door and somehow I feel they'll wish they got more.
But when all is said and done and they are sound asleep in their beds, hopefully no nightmares filling their heads,
we'll be responsible parents as we know we should, sorting through their candy and taking out what is good.

Being worthy of your spouse

There is a great line in the movie, "An Ideal Husband" at the very end. As he is walking down the isle with his new bride, Lord Arthur Goring's father says, "You don't deserve her." To which Arthur replies, "If we men married the women we deserved, we would have a very hard time of it." And so it is that I come to blog again.

Last Friday night we went to see the musical "The Ark" by Michael McClean. It's a cute musical and very fun about Noah and his sons and their wives on the Ark. There is a lot of interplay about the relationships and how most of the husband's just don't get it one way or another. One is rebellious, one is a gadget freak and one is a momma's boy. Two of them are newly weds. It was so easy to see mistakes of these husbands and I came away laughing and glad I wasn't them. Unfortunately, I am.

This came into sharp relief on Saturday as I made rude and stupid remarks to my wife. I acted without thinking (an age old male custom) and the tension in our house was suffocating. Eventually we talked it through an I apologized for my jerkiness. It took until Sunday for the tension to fade but luckily, the lesson has not....yet. I'm hoping to learn it. I need to think before I speak. Speak before I decide. And decided before I act. A lot of men skip to the last part making a decision in haste with no thought. It makes you wonder why our wives let us have power tools.......

In the end I have been humbled. My ego has been shown it's rightful place and I appreciate my beautiful wife more. I fear that 10 years of me and 5 kids along the way has worn her patience down to almost nothing. So I had better learn this lesson or it will be a long 10 more years sleeping on the couch.

Sick day

Today has been a sick day. Not that I stayed home but I didn't realize I was sick until I was on my way to work and my throat started hurting. I have that flu ache that hurts at your joints and makes moving a real effort. My head is fuzzy. I seem to be fixiated on hippos and umbrellas and tapioca pudding. I'm sure there is good reason. I've had to retype about 15 words since I started...make that 16. Wish I could sleep but here I sit in my computer science class not really paying attention because she is rehashing everything about 10 times. Not only is the horse dead but we buried it 20 minutes ago and she is pounding on the dirt. I have a conference call for my communications class after I get home. Tomorrow, I'm gonna be buried next to the horse. Don't let her beat my dirt.

Over the river and through the traffic

So it's been a while since I bothered to post anything. I should be more diligent but I'm taking 4 classes this semester and I'm swamped, feeling overwhelmed and generally losing more hair. I know it's hard to tell. I'm taking 3 classes online and one at night after work. The hardest part about that for our family has been that Ethan has been doing soccer. He wanted to play so badly there was no way we could say no and we had no idea when we did sign-ups in June what September would be like for us.

I have been able to see the last few minutes of a couple of his games but not much when he has been playing. I have spent virtually no time with him working on his game because I always seem to find other things I need to do. I never was very good about managing my time. But due to "Fall Break" I didn't have class on Thursday and got to watch the entirety of his final game. He played goalie in the second quarter and did really well. I was proud of him. Then he played defender for the 4th quarter. He has really improved and likes playing defense.

The twins are getting more able....and that is some good but mostly bad. They can open the fridge and throw eggs on the floor or dump peach gravy out. They can find pens and crayons that seem to appear out of nowhere and draw all over our walls. They can take toys from each other and scream very loudly when their brother takes a toy away. They can climb up on chairs and table and break ceramic nativities. Good thing they are cute or I'd be in the market for some gypsies.

For my birthday this year I got WII. Yeah, the video games in this house are Dad's. But Ethan wanted to play it so much that I finally decided he needed to read a book before he could play. The best thing I ever did. His reading ability jumped leaps and bounds. Now he is more confident and does so great at reading. Whoever thought getting a video game system would improve my son's reading??

We are having scones for dinner. I found this great recipe here: http://workingwomanfood.blogspot.com/2007/12/christmas-traditions.html. And after too many interuptions for snack and diaper-changes and more hair-losing, I'm out like a 'no down payment, adjustable-rate interest-only mortgage'.