Today was Amanda’s birthday, and although I spent the lion’s share of the day moving mulch in 90 degree heat, after all the kids arrived (and I had a shower) we were able to have a cookout and enjoy a birthday celebration.  She seemed pretty pleased by the day and handled it pretty well.

Yes, she used to not handle her birthday well at all.  It was like we were to wear black bands on our arms or something.  But now she seems much more comfortable with the idea of another year passed.  My general belief is that the ice cream cake always helps, but what do I know.

So the yard is mulched, the birthday is done, and I did it all without an emergency trip to see a cardiologist.  I would say that is a pretty successful day!  God Willing, I hope to have another one tomorrow!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Today was the Indianapolis 500 and I must confess, I had to work.  My dad however has tickets and did not want to go in the blazing heat, so Amanda, Steph, Scott, and their foreign exchange student (Yu) went to the race.  They all had a great time too.  My dad has had quite a few students stay with them a school year at a time, and Yu has been my favorite.  She seems the most like family, and really is…..but I digress.

The big deal was that apparently 4 year old children are not allowed to be home alone in Indiana.  (Yeah, if I just lived in Ohio it would all be okay)  So Ben and I set off on an adventure together.  He went with me to Nashville today and we left bright and early, although he wasn’t feeling that bright.  He attended TWO church services, and during the first one he actually sat up in one of the clergy chairs next to me.  And when I mentioned him a few times in my sermon, he RESPONDED, or more aptly defended himself.  It was all a great time, and he really did a stellar job.

I then changed into some “regular clothes” and we went off for a father son lunch.  No, we were not having the fun of people sitting in 150 degree heat with missiles flying by just feet away and eating $7 hot dogs.  We had to suffer in the air conditioned “Holy Cow” restaurant eating out lunch and playing “Angry Birds.” (actually HE was playing it)

After all this suffering, we walked around a few shops in downtown Nashville before heading to Brown County State Park to take a “hike.”  We stopped a very special spot to take a picture (it was posed) at an overlook where I proposed to his mom.  You can see from BOTH pictures why the “pose” was important.  Scott hasn’t seen it, but Steph had a good laugh.  Now I have all three of them being birds on that same table in that same meaningful place.  It was pretty cool.

We then headed to get Amanda’s birthday gift, as her birthday is tomorrow.  I bought it WITH him, yet he does not remember what it is, nor does he remember buying it.  He is a total goofball.

And to prove my point as we were almost home (it is close to a 2 hour drive each way) I asked him what his favorite part of this VERY MEANINGFUL day was.  And without hesitation it was when I bought him a Spiderman action figure at the Walmart for being so good all day.  So I said “No Ben, not the toy, what was the favorite part of our adventure together.”  And he said “The hike.”  The hike we never took because it was too hot…..unless you count getting out of the car and walking to 50 feet to the picnic table. But no, to him the hike was the drive in the state park, and I have to agree.  It was beautiful scenery, it was air conditioned, and all and all, it was worth it.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I am not quite sure why he doesn’t know his name, Lord knows he hears it all the time.  But such is the life of a four year old.  They are off in their own worlds most of the time (as he always has been – see this old picture where he was already in the Space Cadets at an early age), and everyone just keeps calling to get him back into theirs.

Of course I love it.  It is fun watching them try, yet it is about as effective as herding cats.  He just always seems up for the challenge and seems to win more than he loses.  He is a real pro I swear!

But I know my name, and they all call me too.  I am just thankful I do not hear as well as I used to.  And the reason is that your kids generally want something from you, and your wife either has a project or is complaining about something the kids need to do……and Ben is just still wandering around having fun!  It’s no wonder I envy him!

My hearing means I may miss some bad things, but I miss some good things too. Ben however is just Ben, with no apologies.  He has a heart of gold and just enjoys his life.  I could learn a lot from him.

In fact I already have.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Today was a monumental day for me, as I went today to a NEW dentist.  My former dentist, who I have been seeing for just shy of 15 years, is 15 miles away, and I wanted to find someone in the community we now live in….since we have been here for a year and a half.  What is hard is that I really like Dr. Green (my former dentist), but with 5 of us, it seemed a lot to drive 30 miles each time, when there was likely a good dentist here.

But I had another reason as well.  If I was going to move here, I told Amanda that it would be the last move I would make in this life short of the funeral home or a facility if I need one.  But as a former ice hockey player, and therefore an experienced dental patient, I also wanted to make sure that this dentist would be young enough to see me through all my dental needs until the end or until I lose all my teeth! (not an issue…I am keeping all the ones I have!)

And I actually found one!  It is a dentist that went into practice with her father, and who is my wife’s age (approximately 18)….. It is the very first female dentist I have ever had, and I have to confess, she is stuck with me.  The kids and Amanda will now schedule with her too, and I am just happy today is over.  I really wanted to be happy with this, and I am.  I never have a bad check up, and since I have given up hockey, my visits there have never involved pain!!  So she can watch me grow old (older) over the next 50 years, and I can walk to her office after they take away my license.  It is the best of all worlds!

So it’s just another thing off my list, and one I am quite thankful for.  I love where we live and love that I can hang out here locally.  And all of it with great teeth too!

Goodnight and God Bless!

Tommy+

(This is just an old picture of my dad and I at a dinner together….I could not find a picture for tonight’s blog, but I thought both he and I would appreciate a picture that we looked a little younger in.  I think he is about 95 in the picture and I have to be about 27 and weight just 150 pounds…..I could be wrong though.)

But as for what want to say……all of the sudden there just seems as if there are not enough hours in the day to get done all the things I need to get done.  I am currently backed up more than the traffic in Chicago, and it is not due to any adverse conditions……I am just behind.

And for those of you expecting emails and calls, I intend to try and catch up on all of those TOMORROW.  Of course I will also head to the dentist…..a NEW one since we have moved and it will be different as I have been with my old dentist for close to 15 years. It just doesn’t make sense to drive 20 miles to and 20 miles home to get a check up.  Don’t get me wrong I LOVE my old dentist, it is just not good stewardship of my time or resources as my new dentist is within walking distance of my house.

But around all this intended good dental hygiene, I intend to be productive.  I really DO want to catch up. If I were just thinner, younger, more energetic, and there were three of me, I might just get it done.

Oh well, I will get up early and do the best I can.  I really do think I am going to have a stellar day tomorrow!!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Wow I wish my memory were better.  There were three or four things I KNEW I wanted to write my blog about today and I thought I would trust my memory on all of them…..sadly, I am recalling ZERO.  I am not too upset about not remembering them, because I often do not write them down intentionally as a way to exercise my brain.  Of course today’s verdict is that my brain is “out of shape,” but I am trying nonetheless.

All this is too bad too, as Ben shared something with me this morning that was hilarious, but that was ll that I can remember.  Of course I could ask Ben, but asking a 4 year old to remember something, even from a minute earlier, is like finding a needle in a haystack.  And this of course brings up yet another thing to ponder, WHY would anyone be sewing near a haystack, and why would you be searching for a needle if you lost one there?  GET ANOTHER NEEDLE!

But anyway, I will probably remember what I forgot just after I post this, but who cares?  My day way funny at the time, and it made me laugh.  There will be plenty of additional opportunities for me to remember again…..in the future!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I suppose in German we might call it fledermåusegarten, or “garden of bats,” although as far as I could see there was just the one…..the little deranged one wearing a cape and rain boots.  

That’s right, tonight Amanda finally got her garden in, and she was protected by the Dark Knight himself. I suppose you cannot as for more than that, and I cannot argue with her as the garden went in pretty smoothly.  We already have a fake owl with a spinning head that seems creepy enough to scare off intruders.  But it is far more responsible to have the Caped Crusader guarding you lest the fake owl fails in his duty.

In all honesty. I really do not care about how he protected things, I am just glad her garden is in.  She LOVES to do this and every day we will get reports on what she sees.  Soon we will be reaping its benefits as well.  She does a great job of it and it really brightens her spirit.  It is a blessing to us all.

But for now, I am going to say goodnight to Batman and remind him that school starts bright and early.  He will fight no crime there, but he will learn the skills he will need to protect our gardens for many years to come.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I am without a car for two days and I have to confess that it is pretty weird.  This morning I had to ask my daughter for a ride, which she was happy to provide, but did mention about 756 times how “tired she was.”  I tend to forget that college students are nocturnal, and perhaps the need to drop my car off so early was a bit too much for such a creature.

Scott of course is not nearly as nocturnal, as he works everyday beginning as early as 5:30 am most days. But he too comes with his own quirks.  He is heading off to the Marines this year, no later now that December 10, and trains incessantly for his time in boot camp.  He runs, he lifts, and he diets.  He is never without a USMC shirt of some kind, and wears them proudly.  But apparently what is too much for THIS creature is developing the ability to pick up the towels he uses in the bathroom that he and Ben share.  I am pretty sure it is too soft for him.  I have heard the USMC uses sandpaper rather than soft bath towels….after all it is the Marines.

And there then is the wunderkind, Ben.  I read yesterday that the average 4 year old asks about 437 questions a day, and all that I can say about that is that I am happy he will be turning 5 in June.  He well exceeds that!  He is convinced that the world is his, and he expects all of us to believe it too.  He just has no concepts of seniority or height and weight advantage.  And his habit of never finishing his dinner always bothered me until I realized he was using it as a way to save food and bribe the dog onto his side.  He is a 4 year old genius.

All of them however live with me, and it is a total blessing for sure.  I love them all and I know they love me….and I just hope they love me enough to give me a ride for one more day.  I will not be getting my car back until late tomorrow afternoon!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

We spent a good part of the day working on moving all the dirt and mulch we had delivered into the right spots.  We didn’t do this last year, so we had no idea of how much we needed, but our former home used about 5 yards of mulch so we ordered 8……it was nowhere near enough.

But Ben spent much of the day in a kiddie pool shooting all of us (and all the cars, as well as the dog) with a water gun as we went by him to get loads of mulch to put in the yard.  And although I could do that all day, apparently he tired of it and wanted to change into dry clothes.  Scott was the closest, and volunteered to help him.

Ben however, now that he had claimed stake to the “Ruler” of the yard, gave Scott a hard time about what he wanted to wear.  So….Scott told him to pick it out himself, which as you can see from this lovely picture that Steph took, Ben did.  The lack of a fashion gene is apparent in him, and we will save this photo for a slide show at his wedding rehearsal dinner someday (as long as we have his bride to be sign an agreement that she will not leave if she sees this).

But really, this is one of the reasons I became a priest.  I open my closet and have black shoes, black socks, black pants and black shirts, which I rarely screw up.  And I have gotten so good at it now that Amanda will sometimes actually leave before I do because she trusts (although not fully) that I can get that right.

But for now, we clearly cannot trust Ben in this.  Even two weeks ago when he was to dress as a famous person for school he went as Ironman.

He’s apparently pretty confident, albeit delusional.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Yes, Ben got the movie “Puss in Boots” tonight and I didn’t even know about it as I was working.  It peeved me in a way, as I want to watch it and watch it with him.  Tonight’s picture is of him watching it by himself in his bed.

And this is a big thing, as I am not really a movie buff by any means.  In fact, I hardly watch any movies at all unless I am dragged to them.  Sadly, this is a problem of mine that is pretty obvious to me.  And this is because when I SEE movies, I generally enjoy them.  I saw “Moneyball” two weeks ago with a clergy group, and I saw “The Avengers” with my family on Mother’s Day.  I thought they were both good.  But somehow I just choose to not take the time to go see them.

I did see that “The Three Stooges” was playing when we went to see “The Avengers” and I am a BIG FAN.  So we will see…..

But for tonight I will just have to resign myself to the fact that I will be seeing neither.

Of course there is always tomorrow……

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+