Loving the Fall

What Now?

I am a HUGE fan of the Fall season. I always have been and always will be. My wife kind of dreads the Fall because of the colder weather. My kids want to blow right past Fall and get to winter. For me, give me Fall anytime. Why do I love it so much, well....let me count the ways:

1. The scenery. Where I live it gets just beautiful this time of year.

2. The start of school. Not only for my kids, but the local university and it's surge of students bring a energy to our town that I love.

3. The soups. Colder weather means more soups at meal time. My wife makes great soup and it's a lot easier to enjoy when there is a nip in the air.

4. The wardrobe. My cold weather wardrobe is so much better than my warm weather one. Sweaters, jeans, cords, jackets....I'm much closer to a J. Crew model in the Fall than I am in any other month.

5. The county fair. Have I mentioned how much I love the fair?

6. Football. Enough said!

7. Halloween. My second favorite holiday during my most favorite time of year. Dressing up, candy, parties....and the kids seem to like it as well.

8. The coffee. I really don't like my coffee on ice, but I sweat like balls if I drink hot coffee in the summer. When the weather cools down I like my coffee HOT, like my wife!

9. The beer. My favorite beer of all time, Kona Brewery's Pipeline Porter is released in the Fall after disappearing from the shelves in the Spring and Summer. I've already gone through two 6 packs...man that was a fun night!

10. The pumpkins. The past couple of years we have grown our very own organic pumpkin patch. It is great fun for the whole family and we take great pride in it. This year we started seeds inside at the tail end of winter, got them in the ground in the spring, and just cut them off last week. I am very proud to report we had our best crop yet, including 3 weighing in at 84, 90 and 104 pounds respectively. Now that is a big pumpkin

For these ten reasons, and many, many more I pronounce my love for the Fall! Now, time for a coffee run!

PEACE OUT DADS!

Break out the tissues, it's back to school time

Fatherhood Friday!

This is my post from last Thursday, but it fits nicely with the new Fatherhood Friday theme going on over at dad-blogs. Go check it out and read a lot of great dad and mom blog posts...and now, the back to school post from WND.

What Now?

Last night my wife and I attended an informational meeting for the K+ program our youngest daughter will be attending before her kindergarten class this upcoming school year. It sounds like a great program that will enrich her kindergarten experience and set her up for a great start to her educational journey. What it means for my wife and I is even bigger....One drop-off and one pick-up. The one-drop off/one pick-up means that instead of driving all over our little town to take each of our children to their school, daycare, babysitter, after school program and snack run we drop them both off at the same time each morning for school and pick them both up at the same time after school.

When you are a parent it's the small things that make up the biggest joys in life. Like not having to make lunches for them anymore. Hot lunches for both kids at school means I have just about 10-15 more minuets each morning to devote to sleep, dishes, laundry or even coming up with my next wonderfully creative idea for this blog.

Another great parent morning time saver is when your kids can make their own breakfast. We are close on that one, but the fear of our oldest attempting to microwave her own bacon keeps us up at night, so it might be a few years before that actually comes to pass.

I think these little time victories are only on my mind as we draw closer to the school year. For my wife I can tell something much bigger is brewing insider her head. I saw it happen two years ago when our oldest child started kindergarten. "How can we have a child starting school, she was just a baby the other day, how will she get along without us for most of her day" are just a few of the verbalized thoughts I heard from my wife back then.

You can take that anxiety and turn it up about 10 notches now as the baby of the family starts school. I am thinking of breaking out the heavy duty sweater that day to help absorb the flood of tears that my wife is sure to expel. It is sure to be a water works show only before seen at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas that could last the better part of the day. My wife has already scheduled a day off from work so she can sit outside the school, stalker style, to make sure everything is safe and sound. Call it a kindergarten stake out, Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez style (there is a reference I bet you wouldn't expect!)

Thankfully my youngest child is more than ready for this and should, if history is any indicator, treat her first day in school like any other.....and if she makes her own breakfast that morning it will be me she sees crying, tears of time victory joy!!!

PEACE OUT DADS!!!

Bad influence

What Now?

My wife and I try so hard to set a good example for our girls. The biggest compliment any parent can get from other people is "your children are so well behaved" or "your child is so caring" or "We just love your child, she is very nice". It's amazing how all of our efforts and hard work can be tossed aside like an AC/DC record at a disco party. Who would dare undermine our efforts to raise the world's perfect children....THEIR FRIENDS!

Yes, like Lex Luther is to Superman....your kids friends are constantly looking for ways to turn your sweet, lovable child into a super villain with the power to whine, pout and throw temper tantrums that shake the foundations to the ground.

Don't take this comment the wrong way, I like my kids' friends. If I didn't I would do everything in my power not to let them see each other. It's just they seem to get away with behavior that they shouldn't, and it's rubbing off on my kids, and it drives me fucking crazy. When I see their friends act like this I have to do everything in my power not to let them have it. It makes things really hard when my girls copy this behavior, because I don't hold it back for them and they get all my rage that is pent up.

The biggest problem I have with it is that my kids know better. They don't act like that until they spend some time with these friends, then they transform into their friends, right before my eyes.

The good news is the friends I speak of go to a different school, so in a month when my children restart their educational journey the time they spend with the "bad influence" will be limited. Of course, my problem increases by 100% when they encounter all those other kids at school. If only other parents were as perfect as us, in the fantasy land we live in anyway.

PEACE OUT DADS!