A Year of Change

Good morning.  It is black as night out…that is because it is O’dark hundred in the very early a.m.  I have to get the boys “up and at em” as they say…showered, shampooed, and shined.  I work at 7:15, so the boys are going to the Harris’s at 7:00 to hang out and then head off to school.  Originally they were going to Uncle T and Aunti B.’s, but the Aunti is under the weather and it is no fun to get up early when you are not feeling well.  Get better Aunti B.

Both kiddos went to the dentist yesterday.  They had great check ups…however the youngest has a cavity in one of his baby teeth that needs to be filled.  Bummer.  He told the Dentist that his Dad keeps telling him how much it hurts to have a tooth drilled, but he has had a cavity drilled before and it does not hurt at all.  So there you have it…even the threat of a drill to get that munchkin to brush better has no impact what so ever.

The oldest has mastered his “Math Facts” multiplication…addition…subtraction…and even 4th grade division.  His teacher sent home a note that says he no longer needs to work on “Math Facts” on a daily basis or even a weekly basis…just quiz him once in a while.  That’s great because he was not doing his “Math Facts” daily or weekly….maybe monthly…I didn’t even know that was part of his homework..and I am pretty on top of homework.  The 4th grade is working on Area and Perimeter now…that may be above my pay grade…I’ll search the far reaches of my mind to see if I can’t stir up the forgotten knowledge of “Area and Perimeter”.

The youngest had a play date with his friend Jack.  They had a fun time of course.  Jack just started taking a gymnastics class and our guy has been asking about gymnastics for almost a year now.  We are going to check out the open gym program on Saturday and we’ll go from there. Te oldest is just as interested, so Saturday will be fun for all.

I was scolded by my eldest for throwing his homework project away.  Oops.  In my quest to de-clutter I was a bit over zealous and all papers on the kitchen island were tossed along with coffee grounds, banana peels, and the news paper.  Needless to say..I had to make a quick call to his teacher and a quick drive back to school to pick up new paper work.  I’ll make sure to read the papers next time.

Time to run…more coffee for me…take care and God Bless.

LLF

 Ok, here in Italy I just received a call from the misses (who I miss) to tell me she just slid into a fence and banged up the car! She was quite shaken but apparently ok. Italy is good, great food and productive meetings but I’ll be glad to get home. Call the misses and tell her not to worry about the car, we’ll just put in on the list of things to get fixed, take care, Go Broncos! DBF

You wouldn’t believe the weather, I can see Corsica from my balcony as I’m 1 block from the bright blue ocean. It’s now 10am here, 2am in Denver and I’m headed down for more meetings. Yesterday was a good day capped off by a dinner at a restaurnat 20 minutes away in the hills of Tuscany with a top chef who’s origionally from Russia. he seemed to taking a liking to me (duh) and the food kept coming and coming. Everyhting from stuffed artichoke hearts to the best steak and ribs cooked on an open fire was part of the 3 hour dinner. I’m still stuffed. I have managed to avoid all adult beverages which is good as the calories from the food are enough.

I have to run but just thought I’d chime in to say hi. I miss the kids and the misses but all is going well. Two more days here and then I’m off to Bocelli for a couplwe of days before heading back to Roma for 1 night before I fly home. Take care, God Bless and we’ll see you soon.

OMG!!! Oh my gosh…did everyone see the Broncos game?  What a finish…..the game went into Over Time and with the new rules each team has to have at least one possession…unless they score on the first play.  The pass was perfect, the catch was made in mid-stride, one stiff left arm held out to the two pursuing defenders and a beautiful run into the End Zone……the crowd cheers from home and from the stands…. and we win.  Hurray!!  If you missed the game I am sure the highlight films will play all day

The youngest had a play date at a friends for a couple of hours while the eldest ent shopping with Aunti B. and then stayed with her until I went to pick up his brother.  I finished the living room….back to pre Christmas.  I now only have the paw prints and dog hair to clean up…yea!

I volunteer in the 4th grade class today…it’s the mini book club.  The kids are very sweet and it is a joy to get the perspective of a fourth grader on a book that relates to the depression.

I just spoke with the Mister.  He is overjoyed by the Bronco win.  He is staying on the coast and tells me it is so clear and beautiful that he can see the Island of Sardinia.  I must admit…I am a bit envious…I love the coast.  He has meetings all day and will touch base later this afternoon.

The youngest has D.I. today…back at second grade brainstorming….good times.  I am the driver for three of the five kiddos.  It’s a fun job…the conversations of 7 year olds are priceless.  For instance, on the way to our youngest’s play date yesterday he said life must really be tough for Scott. I asked why he would say that and he replied that Scot has TWOoo sisters and is surrounded by girl stuff and pink stuff and that must be very, very hard to live with.  He then said….”No offence Mom…you know because you were a girl.” I had to giggle, he does say the cutest things.

Anyway, time for breakfast…have a lovely day and God Bless.

LLF

The Mister called at 6:20 this morning to let us know he made it safely to Italy.  He is going to take 2 hour nap and then I’ll call and get all of the details on his flights over.  I already know that he had a mechanical on one of the flights that kept them sitting on the plane for over an hour..bummer.

Did anyone see the sunrise here in the Rocky Mountains this morning? OMG..Oh my gosh….amazing.  The clouds were gigantic rolling plumes of hot pink highlighted by a glowing orange and just the finest etching of deep purple around the curves of the clouds.  The colors changed in a matter of seconds to platinum and gold with an indigo background.  Like I said…amazing.

I took the youngest to a Rollerskating birthday party yesterday and the oldest and Jennifer came along. They all skated for about 2 hours and then enjoyed some pop and pizza followed by cupcakes and ice cream.  The hosts were gracious enough to offer for the older kids to partake in the festivities and the kids happily accepted.

When we came out of the Roller Rink the snow had started.  We came to our house first, but the oldest and Jen were lobbying hard to go to her house and help her mom paint.  They did and my plan was to get going on this mess, but the youngest had other plans for us.  Games and a Movie. The youngest was lobbying for the oldest to sleep over at Jen’s, so that he could have a night alone with mom…not going to happen….

I ate something…coconut or walnuts that a had an allergic reaction to, so at 8 I took an adult dose of benadryl.   I was fast asleep on the couch with the youngest sleeping on top of me.  We did not hear he doorbell or the dogs barking or the oldest coming in through the garage.  Very Scary!  Hopefully the fire alarm would have done the trick.  This morning the oldest told us that while he was sitting next to us on the couch he got an idea…he went to the kitchen, got a bowl of warm water and put his brother’s hand in it.  He thought it would make him pee.  Happily for me the experiment did not have the results he was hoping for.  Whew!!  Can I just say in the future I will only take a child’s dose of benadryl.  The itching in my ears and throat did stop, but so did my hearing and that is never a good thing.

The boys are both up…I thought they might sleep past 7 a.m. but no such luck.  I’ll try to come up with something fun to do in the snow today.  There is enough snow that it must have covered the hill at the school quite well.  Maybe I’ll sled with them and take the dogs..We’ll see.

The house is still a mess although all of the Christmas decorations are put away, the dust bunnies and muddy paw prints are all around.  Bob and Fred…the fish…are in need of clean bowls…every three days…and I have 4 loads of laundry to put away and no drawer space to put it in.  It’s a good day to sort donations.

Time to make breakfast and a couple of pots of coffee to keep me going as fast as the boys. I’ll update you on the Mister tomorrow.

Love to all…Go Broncos…Go Green Bay…Go 49ers…

God Bless;

LLF

Today I take off for Italy but that’s not the most important thing going on right now, it’s the Denver Broncos vs the Pittsburg Steelers tomorrow afternoon. I can’t believe I’m going to miss this game. If I could, I’d cancel my trip for this, that’s how important it is. Oh well, work comes first. Thanks to Aunt Robi who commented yesterday with the following;

I read post everyday that I am at work where I have access to the internet, and on Monday I catch up on the week-end post. GO BRONCOS!

Where are the rest of you? Come on now, it’s not that hard to hit “leave a comment” and type in a few words. We’ll keep hoping to hear from you.

The boys finished up their first week back of school and were excited for the weekend. Today after dropping me at the airport, the youngest has a birthday party for one of his classmates at a roller skating place and I think the oldest and Jennifer are going with Mom and hanging out skating during the party. It’s cooler out this morning and we’re supposed to get snow tonight and tomorrow am. Just my luck, not only am I missing the first playoff game since 2005, but there will also be snow and cold temperatures, my favorite type of game.

I’m excited (and you should be too) to read the misses posts for the next week. She only works one day next week and I think has it covered as far as the kids go. I vacuumed the house yesterday afternoon as I couldn’t stand the dirt anymore. While I was doing this, the misses finished taking down the Christmas tree and putting the boxes of ornaments away until next year. She says,  it sure goes up easier than it comes down! Onto Valentines Day but before that, my Mom’s birthday. That’s right, her big day is coming up January 31st. But, the next big thing around here is of course, the youngest ones birthday on the 17th! We want to make sure he has a great party and day as his brothers was spectacular. He’s quite excited. It’s a week from this coming Tuesday so don’t forget.

I need to get another cup of coffee and then go pack. I think my Mom is always shocked that I’m never packed until a few hours before I go. It’s not that I don’t want to pack early, I just don’t have time. Plus when you travel a lot, it’s not that big of a deal as you get pretty used to packing at the last minute.

One good thing about traveling, especially internationally, is I get a break from all the crap in the news. Missing kids, corrupt politicians, celebrities that aren’t really celebrities on tv, (think Kim Kardashian) and other useless dribble that takes up precious time out of our daily lives.

I just finished my laundry and the paper came so I’m going to run. Give the misses a call now and then this week to say hi. I’ll try to comment from the road and see you all in a bit over a week. Take care and God Bless, and make sure to cheer for the Broncos!

We have to say, we’re disappointed in the lack of participation or comments from our loyal readers. I’m not sure, but I don’t think we received any feedback on resolutions for the new year or much of anything else. Are you still reading? How are you feeling about 2012? Any big plans this year? Anyone taking a cool vacation? We’d like to hear from you so let us know what’s up!

The boys are back in school mode full time as if they never missed  beat. Mom worked yesterday but did get off early as it was dead at the store. I have a lot of last minute errands to run today before heading to Italy. My Mom asked me if I like to travel and the truth is, I do when I get to take the family with me but otherwise, it’s just work. Now don’t get me wrong, going to Italy, eating at great restaurants and hanging out with good friends (my winemakers) is always good, but I’d rather be home with the misses and the kids. As you know, this trip will be a bit more special as I’ll be with Andrea (Bocelli) and his family for a couple of days. I’ll then be with him again February 10th in Austin Texas when he has a concert there and we fly in importers from the UK, Russia, Brasil (correct spelling), Japan and China. After the show we’ll have a reception backstage with him as a perk for our new international partners. It should be a fun time, he’s apparently a really nice genuine person with no ego whatsoever. Luckily I also have business or first class on all my flights which makes traveling much much easier. Still I’d rather be home hanging out with my family but it’s part of my job and this is the time of the year when I have to travel.

Mom just came down and the boys are still sleeping. She just said “she has her work cut out for her” meaning the house is a mess. With it being 60+ degrees, all the snow has been melting so the dogs have been running in the house with muddy feet for a few days now.

Today is Bronco day at school so everyone will be wearing bronco orange. However in the youngest ones class, they have pajama day, as a reward since they did so well on their reading. In fact, the other day the youngest brought home a “Great Reader Award” for his improvement in reading.

Well I’m about 30 minutes late for a call with New York so I should run. The misses is up so I’m handing off to her to write a few words for you all. You will get a whole week of her starting Sunday while I’m gone so get ready. Take care and God Bless.

Good morning, the sky is still dark and the dogs are resting at my feet. The big dog is pawing at my hand so that I will pet him or hold his paw.  He seems to think the more he puts his giant paw on my hand the more likely I am to pet his paw or at the very least hold his hand (paw).

Oh the muddy paw prints.  They are everywhere…around the kitchen table, across the kitchen floor, through the dining room, into the living room, up the stairs across the landing and finally into the oldest’s room. Ugh!   There must be a country western song in there somewhere.

I am volunteering in the 2nd grade class today.  I’ll help out with math testing or reading.  The 2nd graders are so cute.  This class seems so much smaller than the 2nd graders two years ago.  I’ll admit it..I probably have a skewed perspective of this class because the youngest is there. I’ll run it by the teacher today and check out her thoughts on the subject.

I am in charge of the classroom creation again this year for our oldest’s class. There was no parent volunteer for the 4th grade this year, so the mom in charge of the school project asked if I would do it again.  I’ve done it since our oldest was in kindergarten and done it for both classes since the youngest started.  Creatively I thought I was running out of ideas…you see you have to incorporate the whole class into whatever your idea is. For example one year I painted a turkey platter using the kids finger prints to make pilgrims and indians with the kids names under their prospective print.  I did come up with my idea, I am going to check with the school to see if they will let me up on the roof to take an ariel photo.  I spent my years 5 through 12 up on my Elementary School roof, so there shouldn’t be a problem…I hope.  Anyway, I plan to have the kids wear their school colors and blue jeans and form a human peace sign.  I will take the photo from the roof or improvise with a ladder if I must.  I think our friend at the Art Gallery will frame it for us and then I will be done.  Did I mention this project is for the Silent Auction to raise money for the school and they would like to have all projects in by February 1st. Oh well….I’ll get it done.

The youngest and the big dog are both climbing on me, so I am off to make breakfast.

Love to all…God Bless

LLF

Yesterday the kids headed back to school and today Mom heads back to work. The boys had a great day seeing all their friends again but boy were they tired when they got home. The youngest brought his friend Scott home with us for a play date and he stayed until about 5. Meanwhile the oldest and I went outside and worked on riding his Ripstick which is a two wheeled kind of skate board thing. Earlier in the day the misses and I went grocery shopping and stopped into Christy Sports (the ski shop) to rent some snow board boots for the season for both boys. We had met a guy who runs the shop before Christmas and through our new friendship, he just gave us the boots to use for the season. That’s right, no charge, not even any paperwork, just a “don’t worry about it, just take them”. Boy was that a nice surprise. He also runs a web site for family’s who snow board and will be teaching the boys in a few weeks. He and his wife have a 5 year old who’s been boarding for a couple of years. We’re all excited.

Today I need to run up to the DOW (Department of Wildlife) to turn in our landowner preference forms so we can keep getting hunting tags. It was quite the chore to get them filled out as you have to have a lot of information not easily found. I’m going to run them up rather than mail them so I can meet the head guy and strike up a relationship. Did you ever notice how life is made up of relationships? It seems like everything has been all about doing everything on the internet as fast as possible without any contact or interaction with actual people for some time now, but I think we’re slowly returning to the days where people want to do business with people they know and trust which is bringing relationships back into vogue. Personally I never got away from this. I would always rather do business with someone I know and trust than some impersonal web site. In fact, if I’m making a large purchase, I’ll pay a bit more to buy locally rather than save a few bucks on some web site so if I have a problem, I have someone to go to. I’ll save this topic for another day, but trust me, friendships and relationships with people you can trust will become more and more important in the coming years, no doubt about it.

Mom’s making lunch for the boys and the oldest one is on the couch with me as he woke up at 5:30 with bad dreams. The National Western Stock Show starts this Saturday and runs through the 22nd. We’ll have to get down there the week of the 16th. Maybe we can drag my Mom along. The snow is almost gone and it’s supposed to be in the 60’s today. It feels more like April than January. Sooner or later the snow will come, it always does.

Before I go, I want to just take a couple of minutes and put on my boy scout uniform. I know most of you just brush me off but please read below and just do these few simple things for me this year.

1. when you’re grocery shopping, buy a few extra cans of food each trip 2. try to get a month or two supply of extra prescription medicine 3. try to keep your gas tank at least always half full, and 4. buy some bottled water to keep at home

Ok, that’s it for the day. The misses just handed me some old fashioned oatmeal (not the pre-packaged stuff) with some coconut shavings on top, for breakfast. Hope you all have a great day, the youngest ones birthday is coming up on the 17th and he wants and needs a new bike as his is too small. In fact, he was riding his brothers all last year. I’ll need to figure out how to afford this along with his party which is 10 days from Saturday.

Oh well, just another expense to add to the list.

Hope everyone is well, take care and God Bless.

Finally the kids are headed back to school. It seems like they had a second summer vacation without the warmth. Yesterday the misses took them back to Big Time, the trampoline jumping place. It was both boys, and Jennifer who recently returned from Nebraska where she was visiting her dad. I was on the phone most of the day so I really don’t have much input as to what they all did. I do know they had 30 chicken wings when they arrived home and Jen stayed until just about 6pm.

I haven’t been to the gym for about 3 or 4 days since I needed to give my body a rest but this morning, I’m all in. In fact, it’s now 5:28am and I’m going to pause right now and go get my workout in before the kids get up. I don’t think any of you are up this early but if so, I’ll be right back….

Ok did anyone get up? I don’t think so. I’m telling you, you’re missing out on a good part of the day if you sleep in. Maybe it’s just me but I like it at 4 or 5am. I know my Mom’s up a lot at this time, or so she says.

It’s now 6:30 and the youngest is down and Mom’s making lunch for both boys. I don’t know what she has going today so I just asked her and she replied, “this house” and “walk the dogs”. It’s warm here, almost 60, but supposed to cool off just in time for the Bronco game this Sunday. When I came down this morning, Lacey had ripped open a trash bag and strewn trash all over the kitchen. I think she ate 30 chicken wing bones. We had the bag tied up but she got in anyhow. Grease was everywhere. We’ll see how she does today and keep you posted. Normally she doesn’t dig into trash bags anymore but I guess 30 wing bones were too tempting. Frankly we’re surprised she’s still living!

I smell eggs cooking so time to run. Have a great day and a great week, stay safe and take care. God Bless

That’s right, the kiddos go back to school tomorrow. It seems like they’ve been off forever. Of course they’re not excited about it but once they get back, they like it. I think Mom is taking them to the movies (depending on their behavior) today while I work.

I have lots to do since I’m leaving this weekend and I’m planning out the week in my head to make sure I get everything wrapped up. It’s a busy time of the year as we have to make sure we get off to a fast start. In fact, I can’t think of any time of the year that isn’t critical. Maybe I’m too wrapped up in work. One of my partners in New York who reports to me, just asked for the month of February off without pay to take kind of a sabbatical as he says he’s burnt out. My first thoughts were, duh, we’re all burned out but on second thought, I think I’m ok with it as it’s probably a pretty good month for him to be gone and he’s not as critical as someone like “me” being gone from the day to day operations. Boy would I like a month off! I can’t even fathom it. First off I couldn’t do without the income and second, the company would fall apart. He though is from Italy and they (Europeans) are used to taking at least a month off each year. Personally I think this is healthy and we as Americans work too much and make it our number one priority in life which clearly, if you think about it, it is not! Oh well, maybe I can take a few weeks sometime later this year.

I’m really trying to simplify our life this year. We’re going to prioritize what’s important to us like family time, health and happiness and a vacation or two. We’ve been getting less and less materialistic and are not buying things (or even wanting things) that we did a few years ago. We wish it was warmer as we could have one hell of a garage sale with all the stuff we’re cleaning out. Maybe we can get this done sometime in February.

I’m going to sign off now so I can get downstairs and call New York before the kids get up. Maybe the misses will write some more when she’s up. Sometime today I need to get to the gym between my calls at 9, 11:30, 12:30 and a trip to the Department of Wildlife. I also need to drop some clothes at the dry cleaners. Oh yeah, it’s also pay day and I have to pay a bunch of bills. It’s kind of weird writing 2012 on checks. So, God Bless, have a great day and stay safe.

The oldest and I along with his classmate and dad loaded up the car at 12:45 and were off to the football game. I made him bring a hat, gloves, wear running tights under his jeans and threw in a blanket for good measure. Lucky I did as it was right around 30 degrees the whole game with the wind chill about 15. The Broncos didn’t do anything to warm us up either, in fact, they really stunk up the joint. But thanks to the hapless Oakland Raiders losing to the Chargers, we’re in the playoffs. We play the Pittsburg Steelers next Sunday and without a miracle, that will be the end of our season. Oh well, it was a good father son bonding time yesterday and that’s what’s really most important.

The misses and I need to understand that both boys are more mature than we give them credit for. Sure they have their moments that make us think they’re still little kids but if you pay attention, they’re both really young men. The misses and I are making it a point this year to let them have their “kid” moments and still realize that they’re more grown up than we think they are. It’s the old thing, if you treat them like young adults, they’ll act like young adults, treat them like little kids and well, you know.

Today my Mom is all excited as her beloved Wisconsin Badgers are in the Rose Bowl. I hope for her sake that they win. The youngest had his little friend Ben (the neighbor) spend the night and they’re both still sleeping upstairs. In fact, everyone is still sleeping. I was thinking of going to the gym but am still pretty sore from my workout a couple of days ago. I might just do some more cardio and wait until tomorrow, we’ll see what the misses wants to do.

We’re determined to take our family makeover up a notch this year. Last year, just writing about it, forced us to make some changes in our daily lives which were good for all of us. Although some were more subtle than others, we made some good progress. The way we’re looking at it is last year was our “get used to change” year and now we can make some more aggressive serious changes. We’re not going to publicize or write about all the little things but will keep you posted of any meaningful developments or successes.

We have a busy week with the boys going back to school and me getting ready to head to Italy. I also need to continue to clean up and de-clutter my office. Today I hope to get a lot done as most people are off work. We must absolutely get the last Christmas lights off the tree in the front yard. Then the misses can work on the inside while I’m out of town.

So how does it feel being twenty twelve? Do any of you feel any different or is it just another year. How about the big hoopla about December 21st and the Mayan prophecy coming up. Anyone have any thoughts on that one? Hmmm, lots going on this year. That along with a presidential election are enough to put anyone over the edge. Throw in a couple of natural disasters and off we go. I think what’s most important is to stay grounded, believe and trust in God and treat others as you’d like them to treat you. If you do that, you should be ok. I hear the misses stirring upstairs so I’d better run. Here she is now, looking lovely as ever, boy am I a lucky guy. It’s only been 5 days without any adult beverages but we both feel better. Yesterday my buddy at the game bought me a beer but I politely declined staying true to our commitment. For me, it’s all about getting in shape physically. I’m on the path right now and there’s no deterring me, I’m all in.

Time to run with lots to do today. As John Wayne would say, we’re burning daylight. We hope you all are well and happy. Have a great day and stay safe out there, God Bless.