A Year of Change

We headed to the airport to pick up Kristin and Grace (her rescue dog) about 8:45am. Lori ran into baggage claim and it didn’t take long for her to find them. We made it home a bit after 10 in the morning and settled in. The girls decided to go for a pedicure at 12:30 so Gracie (the little dog) stayed with the me and the boys and soon fell asleep under a table. Lacey could care less about our 4 legged house guest but we think Mojo would just as soon eat her as look at her. I had him in and he sniffed and they both growled a bit but then put him out with a treat. No point in taking any chances with my bad back.

We’re skipping the drive to the party in Vail tonight as it’d kill my back. It’s too bad as it’ll be a fun one. The three of us and the Harris’s are going to dinner instead. I keep losing track of what day it is, not the date, but the day as it seems out of whack having Christmas on a Wednesday. Lacey finally slept in until 6am when I woke up or I just didn’t hear her, not sure which one.

Today the girls are going to get a manicure. Lori has a gift card from our friends spa so it’s free but I think they just like getting out to chat, good for them. Kristin says to tell everyone hi. Hope you are all doing well, take care and God Bless.

Here we go, Kristin’s flight was cancelled last night so she’ll now arrive at 9:10am, someone gave me a cold and on top of that, and I threw my back out cleaning up the house yesterday. We’re supposed to go to Vail for a party tomorrow but I’m not so sure. In any case, we’ll have fun with Kristin here.

Yesterday Lori was at the office for most of the day. Meanwhile the boys and I were home and at a few stores returning a few items and exchanging others. The mall was not all that crowded at 10am which surprised us since it opened at 8am. After a quick stop at the grocery store for much needed staples including milk and eggs, we were home by 11.

It’s 7:21 and Lori thankfully got up with the dog a couple of times as I couldn’t do it with my back. The boys are still sleeping and we, or she, needs to leave for the airport in an hour. I just don’t think I can ride in the car for an hour but we’ll see.

Hope everyone is well and is looking forward to New Years. We always stay home and go to sleep early but love the New Year as it’s a new beginning. To us, its amateur night and nothing really good happens on the streets. Lori just reminded me that its trash day so we both hauled out giant bags of trash to the curb which didn’t help my back.

Time to run, have a great day and God Bless

What a big day, it comes so fast and then poof, it’s over. You had a taste of our day in yesterday’s post before we went to Grandma’s. After festivities here, Jag and I washed and fueled up the car before loading up Ty and Lori for the 30 second trip. We arrived and had a quick bite to eat before opening some gifts. A couple hours later we were all done. I took our gifts home before heading back to pick up Aunt Shelly and her gifts to give her a ride home downtown.

Jag came with me and when we arrived a shady looking guy ran out from her government subsidised building and begged to help carry something in exchange for some money. I thought Shelly knew him from the building where he too lived but she didn’t. Anyhow, he carried one small package talking all the time about how he needed some money. I gave him a buck and sent him on his way. Jagger didn’t like the building at all. It smelled like cigarette smoke, there were destitute people, some intoxicated, sitting in the lobby, and Shelly’s room, kitchen, bathroom and all, is not much larger than Jag’s room. It is basically a welfare building where you have to be at a certain income (or lack of) level to qualify to live there. It was good for him to see something different from everyone living their idilic life in the suburbs. I told him this is why he needs to work so hard in school. Basically the work he puts in over the next 10 years will determine how the next 75 years of his life will play out. We’ve said to work hard in school and why before but I think this little trip really hit home!

The rest of the day was spent cleaning up a bit while the boys played with all their new toys and games. Today we’ll clean up some more as Auntie Kristin arrives tonight. Lori and I are a little tired as Lacey woke us up at 11:00, 1:37, 3:15, 5:00 and then at 7am! Each time she wanted to go out or have some food. She’s old and I get that but this will stop! We are not feeding her all night on command or letting her out every other hour. She might end up in a crate in the mud room or garage if I can’t figure anything else out. I’m trying the citrus collar but not sure that’ll do much, anyhow if it wasn’t Christmas, she might be in a kennel somewhere other than here.

Oh well, it’s only sleep right, takes care and God Bless.

The boys slept in until just before 7 which is pretty darn good. I woke up, courtesy of Lacey the Lab, at 5 but managed to get back to sleep. Christmas is in full swing but first to last night.

I picked up our meal yesterday morning and ran a bunch of other errands and by the time it was through I had drove 150 miles! Fast forward to 5pm and Grandma was already here. She, uncharacteristically, was 10 to 15 minutes early. Uncle T and Aunt Ali showed up right at 5. Our goose which was already cooked, supposedly only needed to be warmed up. This didn’t work to well and I eventually de-boned the bird to warm up the meat. Finally we had the food plated and I thought it was good. I think my Mom enjoyed it but Aunt Ali not so much. Of course her and Uncle T were still getting over the crud. Soon Aunt Ali left to get some more rest for today and Uncle T was gracious enough to follow my Mom home to make sure she was in her house ok. We then settled down and were all asleep my 9 or so.

Christmas morning, the boys came down and Jag had a brand new guitar sitting on the couch! He has wanted to take lessons but needed a guitar so Santa must have known. It’s a nice one too! Not the kids type guitar but a real one he can learn on. Mr Ty found a giant Lego, one of many he had asked for. That’s where we’re at now, more to come. Oh wait, Auntie Kristin sent packages that arrived yesterday for both boys that had Dr Dre Beats headphones and I Tunes cards, what a gift, she’s always so good to the boys. We’re looking forward to her arrival tomorrow.

Ok, round 1 is over, meaning our house. Soon we’ll be up at Grandma’s. The boys received Lego’s, some dreaded underwear, Ty got a Casio G Shock watch, and Jag some new slippers and both some PS3 games. Lori opened some new sunglasses, pajama’s, a coat and a brush for washing her face. I too got some headphones and new iron rifle sights I really really wanted. All in all we had a wonderful Christmas. Of course tomorrow we’ll hit the stores to exchange things for the right sizes and return anything anyone is not 100% happy happy happy with. Money is too tight to keep something unless you really love it!

In closing, let’s remember though what Christmas is all about. You see it has nothing to do with gifts but rather with the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It’s a time to reflect on all the blessings we have in life, like Lori being headache free, yea!! Like all of us being healthy, like all of us having a roof over our heads and on and on. So from all of us to all of you, Merry Christmas, and know we love you all very much and wish we could be with each and every one of you on this glorious day, God Bless.

Well it’s here, the night before Christmas, and all through the house, whoa, sorry, I got carried away there! Today I’m sure will go by in a flash, let’s get back to reality. I’ll be across town at the distributor by 8am and then downtown picking up our roast goose by 9 and then home by 10. After a quick pit stop I’ll be back out on the road to Arvada and then back downtown. I’m not sure if Lori has to go to work today or not but I should be home by noon, hopefully!

Meanwhile Lori will somehow have to figure out how to get some presents wrapped for the boys. Tonight we will eat around 5pm. We hope Uncle T and Aunt Ali are well enough to join us as they’ve been really sick for 3 or 4 days now. If not, it’ll be my Mom, Lori and I and the boys.

Both boys desperately need haircuts but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon. We do need to get one last gift (slippers) for Mr. Ty. The kids really are not getting all that much, maybe 5 things each which include the dreaded kid gift, socks and underwear! No kid wants one of his or her gifts to be socks and or underwear, they consider it a big waste of space in what could be a nice new toy or video game!

I hope everyone is doing well and has fun plans tonight and tomorrow. For those of you that haven’t received packages from us as of yet, be watching for the delivery man today! We wish we could be together with all of you but sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. We’ll certainly be calling tonight or tomorrow and coming to California sometime soon.

So take care, God Bless and as they say in England, get ready for Father Christmas!

Not long now, the kids are getting excited, and so are we, especially for them! Today Lori has to go to work and I’ll have the boys. I’ll have a quick conference call at 9am to thank all my employees for a great job this year. Even with the bumps along the way, we had our best year ever and are poised for more greatness in 2014. But first, let’s celebrate the holidays.

Yesterday the Broncos won! What more could I ask for, being able to go to a playoff game here in Denver! Our friends Ty and Amie and their 5 year old daughter Tinsley, came over and watched most of the game. The boys played with Tinsley and had a great time.

Tomorrow I have some last minute errands including getting our meal around 9am. I think we’re eating around 5 or so. It should be good if the paella was any indication as it’s from the same restaurant.

Time to run, lots to do and daylights burning. Take care and God Bless.

Yesterday we mandated that Lori stay on the couch all day long and wear her collar. Not only did she comply with the instructions, we also had her go to bed before 6pm. She slept until a bit after 7am and is feeling good. On top of that, she ate really well yesterday. She had oatmeal, cookies, ice cream, paella and some other goodies. Hopefully she gained a pound or two! I also ate just about everything in sight as that’s what you do the day after a big party, plus I wanted to support my wife!

Late afternoon is started to snow outside. It’s so cold that it was a nice powdery snow that I used a broom on this morning to sweep off the sidewalk. The boys played a bunch and then Ben’s mom took them all to lunch. Today I need to get the boys a few things so I think I’ll run and try to get to the mall before the rest of the hordes do.

Not much time left, better get your house in order. Be watching for deliveries from Santa or the delivery person. A quick health update, Uncle T is now sick along with Aunt Ali so who knows, it might just be my Mom and us for dinner. Take care, God Bless and Merry Christmas.

Ok, if I do say so myself, we do throw the best party’s! Besides us just being great hosts, (ha ha) I think our party’s are so great because of the people who come. Now we do our part which is paying attention to each and every little detail from the best food, drinks, music (thanks Uncle T), and atmosphere. We always go out of our way to do things like driving across town to get the best maraschino cherries direct from Italy for the Manhattans. I had to run to three separate stores for the desserts as one store just doesn’t have all the good things. But last night, the hit of the evening was the paella.

We set up a party tent in the driveway complete with a heater for Megan who was our chef and then earlier in the day Uncle T and I set up a fire pit that Jagger manned for most of the evening. The combination of the smell from the paella, the crackling and warmth of the fire and the cool temperatures in the teens made for a perfect combination.

Meanwhile the hostess with the mostess (Lori) was inside doing too much as usual. She thinks she’s going Christmas shopping today but I’m keeping her in bed all day. We don’t have any money to buy stuff anyhow n’or do we need it. Of course we’ll get the boys some things and I already bought Lori some gifts but as for me, I’m good. Most people haven’t seen Lori since her surgery so to them she looked too thin, which she is. But I’m working on fattening her up with milkshakes and cookies that will dissolve in her mouth. Now don’t worry as she’ll be ok, they told us her throat could be this way for quite a while so we just need to work through it.

Jagger was dressed up in black slacks and a black shirt and politely took everyones coat when they arrived. Somehow he had a system so when guests were leaving, he knew exactly whose coat belonged to each person. He put their scarves in the sleeve of each coat so they wouldn’t get lost.

Everyone was gone by about 10:30 and I began cleaning up. I finished a while later and managed to get everything done before I went to bed. Now all I have to do is put it all away!

It’s frosty and foggy outside and the three boys (yes Ben spent the night) are upstairs playing their video game. I have a tinge of a headache but not too bad as I really didn’t drink much. Lori didn’t drink anything, she just did too much with her neck. Oh well, today will be a day of leftovers for the boys and I and I’m going to get Lori some Ensure. You old people know what that is I’m sure!

Take care and God Bless, 4 days to go, get ready, Santa’s polishing the sleigh!

Ok, a word of advice, don’t have a big party 5 days before Christmas! We’re not sure what we were thinking but we do have a Christmas party every year and everyone we know says “it’s the party of the year” and Lori looks so beautiful all dressed up, that we just had to squeeze one in.

Never ones to go half assed, we’re having (as you know) Paella made here, margarita’s (Lori thought they were Spanish like Paella), Manhattans, (because we have a great whisky collection and these to die for cherries imported from Italy) and of course, a bunch of wine! I spent the afternoon squeezing the juice from 100 limes that are now in the refrigerator in mason jars.

Having a party also forces you to give the house a really good clean and de-clutter. One thing we didn’t anticipate was Lacey the lab grabbing the whole bag of mini marshmallows Lori bought for the school parties and devouring the entire bag within a matter of a couple of minutes. You’d think the sugar alone would kill her. After waking us up 7 times last night you think I might have killed her! She was all bloated right after she ate the bag. We’re not looking forward to cleaning up after her!

The boys had lots of homework and were no help at all in getting the house or even their rooms ready. I’m going to throw out everything, and I mean everything, still on their floors in the morning after they go to school.

We’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow. Lots to do after the celebration to get ready for Christmas. Hope everyone is doing well, take care and God Bless.

Today my little brother is 53 years old, guess that makes me even older! We’ll all get together around 3pm and then I think he and Ali are going out to dinner tonight.

Today is the last real day of school for the boys. Jag had me wake him at 5:30 as he has to finish his homework. He had a lot to do, worked all day and night yesterday and was pretty stressed out about it. I told him to just relax and work hard and it’ll all come together. Ty too had a bunch, guess the teachers are stepping it up a bit.

Yesterday we went to school to watch Ty do a presentation on Black Holes in Space. He created his won Power Point presentation (using Microsoft Power Point) and did really well. Jag too uses Power Point which is a pretty advanced program for kids. I was surprised when I learned they were both using it.

We’ve been cleaning and cleaning around here getting ready for the party tomorrow night. It should be fun although it’ll be a little cold with the temperature in the 20’s or so. I don’t think anyone will notice much or care. Yesterday it felt like Spring but today it’ll be 20 degrees cooler.

A week from today Christmas will be all over so enjoy the next 6 days That’s it for today, Happy Birthday Uncle T and God Bless.