Snow and Santa

The boys and I have found a new past time to try and keep us from watching TV all day.

 

 

This picture shows it going on into the night.

We spent about 2 hours out there on Friday, because I got home from work early, Evan was still asleep.  I was freezing and the boys were sad because they still wanted to keep going. 

Here are some pictures of the boys with Santa. Evan was so excited to see him.

 

Die hard swingers

That was awesome.

This song is about something that is very disconcerting to me. 

THE BOYS

You know kids are a lot of work.  But as I’ve learned, it doesn't matter how bad my day was Zacky and Evan are always glad to see me when I get home (then after that it’s back to mama’s boys, which is O.K. for now).

Here are some recent pics:

Home Depot

Backyard

Pumpkin Fest (Zacky’s Preschool)

 

Pumpkin Fest

The Mall

Back in July Marci took a few days and went to girls camp.  It was just Dad and the boys.  Here is what we did:

Air Force Museum

(this is one of the first nuclear bombs)

And the ZOO

Something which also amazed me about these two is that no matter where the sprinklers are on in the neighborhood these two seem to find them. (this is not our house)

Swimming Lessons

Not sure what’s going on here

And last but not least.  In one of my posts in March I talked about my old iPod and how proud I was about fixing it. 

Well back in May it gave up the ghost (RIP Old Friend).  The sound card gave out.  So as any music loving soul would do I went out and upgraded.

Now just for the record I’m 100% against the iPhone.  While I do see the greatness of the features, and apps all tied up in one thing I am so against paying $100 a month to get it all to work.  This is a great alternative.  It is truly amazing (to me anyway).  If you are thinking about upgrading this is the best  choice.  It does a million more things than a normal iPod classic.  Anyway enough of that.

Here are Zacky and Evans current favorites.

Green Day - New Music - More Music Videos

Blog Back On

Yes it has been 7 whole months since I last blogged.  Why?  Many have asked this question, and I will explain:

1.  One day Marci decided to sell the house, and buy the neighbors.  As you can imagine this didn’t work.  We sold the house anyway (it only takes about 2 weeks if your willing to give it away), and found something bigger, better, and yes more expensive. 

The house that we found was a bank owned home.  This is a picture of the front yard (which is a lot more work than I like to do).  Because it was a bank owned home it hadn’t been lived in for about 18 months.  This in turn means that no one took care of this yard for about 24 months.  The green grass you see was brown as dirt when we bought it.  So with a little faith, some fertilizer from IFA, some water, a grundel (which is a non-quantifiable term) of flowers, and enough tree bark to significantly deplete my share of the rainforest, we put the yard back together.  This was priority one. 

2.  The house originally had carpet in the dinning room which as any sensible person should know that his combine with Evan does not go well, unless you own significant stock in a carpet cleaning business.  So with a favor from Mark (this is one of 2) we installed a new floor. 

This is the part I actually did by myself.

Thanks Mark.

3.  The next step was to paint EVRYTHING. 

Here is what it looks like now.

 

Kitchen

Living Room

Master (it was messy so you only get the walls).

Evans Old Room (the boys share now, ever since we moved them together to paint they seem to like sharing now).

Sorry those pictures really suck, but it’s night time, and the lighting isn’t great.

The bedrooms were painted by a professional.  I was able to trade some work which I got the better end of that deal (unfortunately).  My old EQP Kevin Garduno needed some work done on his car, and he painted way to much in return.  So I owe him.  I also learned why it’s so much easier for him, a professional, to paint than me.  He has all the tools, and the years of practice.  He is an amazing painter and if you looking for one let me know.  I would recommend him to anyone.

4.  Last I needed a new shed.  Now some people would argue the importance of a shed.  To me it is almost more important than the garage.  The shed to me is more of a shop than a storage shed.  This is the second favor I asked Mark for help with. 

Mark is amazing at what he does.  I would dare say his skills are unmatched.  So is his faith in my skills.  Here is what Mark did for me:

 

After it was framed I stood in awe for about a week admiring the skills of Mark (seriously).  It made me really nervous to try and finish this myself.  What if I messed it up?  Well at the end of the day it is just a shed (not a piano).  I sheeted it, put the roof on including shingles, and hung one door jam myself (with Mark close by on the phone for consulting).  I think it turned out great.  Also thanks to Dad for his help, Richard, and my neighbor.  Labor is always welcome.

 

Here it is in what I like to call liberty blue.  It’s since been painted (thanks again to Kevin’s Coatings) and the remaining trim around the door installed.  I just have to get the windows in, install the front door, and hang the double doors in the back.  Then next spring I will run the power out to it, and start to sheetrock it.  All in all the hardest part has been trying to level the bricks you see around the bottom which we used as the foundation.  That probably took a total of 2 months.

The best things about the new house. First when I finally get rid of my mustang (which is for sale.  If you interested I will sell it to you for cheap), the truck will actually fit in the garage, hopefully with the van in there too.  Second it’s feel big enough for the boys to pay and enough space to run around.  Yeah that might be a little excessive, but the last house you had to go up or down 3 stairs to get anywhere (including the bathroom).  Third the schools.  And fourth while our last yard was an alright sized yard this yard is much bigger.  That does mean more grass to mow, but I’ll manage that somehow.

That and my previous post is the reasons it’s been so long.  Sorry all you dedicated fans.  I understand your pain.  Hopefully you will enjoy this song and forget about my shortcomings (O.K. just the fact that I didn’t post for 7 months, lets not get carried away).

 

Muse - New Music - More Music Videos

THANK YOU