I never really intended to quit updating the blog, I just sort of ran out of motivation and ideas for a while. It's been sitting in the back of my head for a while as one of those things that I really ought to get back to one of these days. A lot has happened in the 7 and a half years since my last post. A LOT. Biggest of these is that we moved to Spring, TX (just north of Houston) in 2014. I'm in a different job that I really love. The kids have gotten so much bigger. And all this time, the entry sitting at the top of my blog is one about a bad day Jack had in preschool. I'm really pleased to tell you that he no longer removes his shoes, poops in his pants, or pulls friends' ears at school.
Like most of you, we've spent most of 2020 pretty much locked down. Several months into quarantine, Blake asked me if I remembered making Project Gastronome videos together. I mean, that's not something you just forget... Last summer, he went to the Boy Scout World Jamboree and met other kids from all over the world. He especially enjoyed trying some of the snacks and candies that the Japanese scouts carried with them, so he asked if we could order some and try them together on camera.
I don't know if this is the start of a blog revival, but the results were fun and I thought I'd share them. If the last time you saw Blake was in 2011 during the original Project Gastronome, you're going to flip when you see the enormous person he is now.
Man, I have really been struggling this month with a lack of motivation. Not just motivation to sit down and blog, but motivation to do much of anything except eat chips and play Skyrim. I can't blame it on winter doldrums, since it's pretty consistently been in the 70s, and I can't blame it on a lack of things that need to be done, since there are still three children who live in my house. Gotta shake it off.
One thing that I've kept doing, though, is going to All Saints every Wednesday to volunteer with the chess club there. Sometimes Blake brings his lunch to the library, and we'll eat together. While I was there this week, he suddenly gasped and looked down at his food, and then pointed out to me the tooth that had popped out when he took a bite, and which was sitting right on top. He was excited because he knows, after losing six other teeth, that a visit from the tooth fairy means fifty cents. I was excited because I didn't have to pull it out myself.
The nurse at All Saints keeps a stash of little plastic treasure chests for kids to put their teeth into to make sure that they get home safely, and Blake was really eager to go get one.
We have this little tooth pillow that used to be mine when I was a kid. He put his tooth into it, went to bed, and his unmotivated dad completely forgot about it until the next morning.
"My tooth is still here!"
"Ooohhh... You know what? Um... I forgot to let the Tooth Fairy know."
"She doesn't just know?"
"Well, um, they give you her email address once you become a parent, and you're supposed to let her know. I'll be sure she gets the message today."
I say these things, and then think that surely, SURELY, he must be on to the game, and is only playing along because he knows he gets money out of it. But last night convinced me that Blake is still a true believer.
It was time for bed, and I was trying to get him to follow me into his room, knowing that Jack wouldn't get into bed until he saw Blake do the same thing. Blake kept hanging back by the chair where his coat and school bag were, digging around his coat pocket.
"What are you doing?"
"I just need to check my coat pocket real quick!"
He walked into his room with a slip of paper hidden in his hands, held close to his body where he thought I wouldn't see it. I asked him what it was, and he told me it was nothing.
"Well, what's written on it?"
And then he just dissolved into sobs and tears.
"I took the tooth back to school to show my friends, and I lost it there, but I knew that you were going to send a note to the Tooth Fairy today, and I didn't want her to think that I was lying about losing a tooth!"
Here's what the paper said:
I disguised my handwriting the best I could, wrote "I Love You" on it, and tucked it back into the tooth pillow along with two quarters after he was asleep.
December's a busy month, and I know in advance that I just may not be
able to do this every day, so I'm giving myself an out. I took the
amount of my annual salary, divided it by 2,080, and came up with the
amount that I'm paid per hour. To get out of an hour of service will
cost me a donation of one hour's pay.
Today was exactly the day that I had in mind when I typed that. Courtney's still out of town, and Blake had his first chess tournament ever. He's been excited about this all week long. I was, too, but, with four rounds of play, it was going to take up a pretty substantial part of the day. The two younger kids had a special Kids Day Out at church from 9 to 1, and then my mom was kind enough to keep them at her house until the tourney finished.
Blake played well! He lost his first match, but won the remaining three. Even though he was playing in the K-2 division, there were some strong competitors, and his 3-1 finish wasn't enough to win an individual recognition. However, the All Saints K-2 team won first place in that age bracket! Blake got to bring the team trophy home with him for the weekend, and they're going to present it to their principal during Monday morning's chapel service.
Anyway, between the tournament, picking up the little two, getting them home and fed, and playing with them some before bed, this just was not a day where I could fit the hour in. Instead, I mailed a check to my church to contribute to the annual Christmas Food Box ministry. Each year, the church works with the South Plains Food Bank to put together food boxes for needy families in our community. There's enough food in the box to last a family nearly a week, something especially important at a time when kids are home out of school for the holiday. The weekend before Christmas is when the boxes are distributed, and I'll be helping with that when the time comes.
If YOU are interested in making a contribution towards these food boxes, you can mail a check to:
First United Methodist Church
1411 Broadway Avenue
Lubbock, TX 79401
Make the check payable to FUMC, and put Christmas Food Box in the memo line.
Gratitude Project: Between Courtney's four nights at work this week, and now her trip, I've had lots of solo time with the kids this week. I'm starting to reach my frazzle point... There are some things that I really needed to run to the store and get; nothing big, but it was a trip that would be a lot more simple and pleasant if I could just get out by myself for a few minutes. I love the kids and, like I said yesterday, we have some really special outings together, but there are times when just the thought of loading them into the car and taking them someplace makes me want to collapse into a quivering heap in the corner.
I called my friends Clay and Marcy (you may remember Clay from when he joined me during Project Horror) and asked if one of them would mind coming over for just a little while tonight after the kids went to bed. They had a Christmas party to go to, but came to my house afterward, just so I could run out for a while. This was even though their own beautiful daughter was home with a sitter. They were so friendly and gracious and cool about it, and insisted it was no big deal, but it really was to me.
I am so thankful to have thoughtful, wonderful friends like these. I singled out Marcy and Clay by name, but they are only two of the many people who fill my life with the joy of friendship.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” John 21:15
Each year, on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, our church hosts the Community Thanksgiving Meal. Anybody at all who is hungry is welcome. It's a really well-run project, and several thousand people get fed. Even though we've gone to FUMC for eight years, I've only had the chance to work at it one other time, with my dad two years ago. We seated people as they arrived. It was a really good morning together.
Blake was sitting with me in service last Sunday when they made an announcement about this year's meal, and he asked me if we could work at it. I said yes, and it should have been as simple as that, but it wasn't that simple in my head. As with so many things in the last three months, I found myself thinking about the last time I'd done a thing with Papa.
I'm glad that Blake asked, though. He's got a good heart. He wanted to do this. As it turned out, we had a really great time, busing tables and working alongside our friends. Blake was a little restless at first, since there were no tables to bus until the first few tables of folks had eaten and left, but as soon as we started, he went all out, zeroing in on any spots that needed to be cleaned and picking up all of the trash.
As we were leaving...
"Daddy?"
"Yes, Blake?"
"There were a lot of people there today."
"Yes, there were."
"There's a lot of hungry people in Lubbock."
"Yes, there are."
A couple of minutes later...
"Daddy?"
"Yes, Blake?"
"Who's going to feed them tomorrow?"
My oldest son Blake is my lucky charm. He's not perfect, and I can't pretend that we don't have our moments, but he is this really interesting little person who just grows more each day. Today he is seven years old.
I love all of my kids, of course, but something about Blake has just fascinated me ever since the day he was born. Before he was mobile enough to make this impossible, I used to spend hours just watching him.
I'm trying not to push Blake in any direction, but it's incredible to me to see the ways that he is so much like me. He loves to read. He loves monsters. He loves being able to tell jokes and make people laugh. He hates when things don't go according to plan. He wants to know how things work, and he is intrigued by gadgets and things that light up. He likes to be surrounded by people. He's already got a lanky body that is going to make most sports an interesting challenge for him. Ask him what he wants to do, and watching a movie will always be on the short list. The things that give him joy are the same things that give me joy, and that gives me an entirely new kind of joy.
Our kids are so, so happy at their new school, All Saints Episcopal. On October 14th, there was a special Grandparents Day chapel service, and Blake was one of a small handful of students who was selected to read something they'd written about their grandparents to the whole assembly. I apologize for the shakiness of the video, but I wanted to share it with you anyway.
We practiced and practiced this beforehand, and he was brimming with confidence. Then he got up there in front of that huge crowd, and had to be the first one to read, and you can tell that his nerves kicked in. He did such a great job, and I was so proud of him. Courtney and my mom were sitting on either side of me, and they were both bursting with pride, too. I was especially touched that he still talks about my dad in the present tense: "My Papa teaches me how to play chess."
Happy Birthday, Blake. I hope the year ahead is your best one yet. Maybe I'll help you set up your own blog to document it.
I have seriously slipped on keeping you posted about what's going on, since I've been so busy with Return of Project Horror. Here's some of what we did in October.
Instead of flowers, some of our friends honored Papa's memory by sending us a pine sapling, which we planted in Mom's backyard.
Ava started dance lessons! It's exactly as cute as it sounds.
We visited my in-laws in Dallas on Columbus Day Weekend, and I ate at In N Out Burgers twice.
I took my kids to a bajillion birthday parties for their classmates. Here is the street sign for one of the parties Blake went to. Click on it to zoom, if you need to. If you are an urban planner, and you make streets that are dead ends at both ends, you are a dick.
My friends Jason and Kerri Winter brought their family to town for Texas Tech's homecoming, and asked if my family would like to join them for the parade. We also met the Burgess family there.
Jack is happy as long as there's food.
Blake with the Winter boys. They were fast friends!
All of the kids loved the parade.
The Winters wanted to take the kids for some pictures on campus, near the Will Rogers statue and the fountain, so we joined them.
And that is how Jack ended up taking a bath in the fountain when I had my back turned.
Poor kid probably doesn't have a chance now - he's been baptized as a Red Raider.
You may remember this about Jack, but he is fond of getting into the water when he isn't supposed to. The Winters also presented me with a really cool, really touching gift, but it's one that I'm going to give its own post very soon.
Every year since we first started dating, Courtney and I have gone to the Fair when it comes to town. When we were younger and had no kids with us, we'd make a leisurely evening of it, go on a few rides together, maybe stick around to watch a show after eating. It's more of a challenge with three kids, and we don't really go on any of the rides ourselves anymore, but it's also a lot more fun. I'm not going to write a lot about it other than to caption the pictures, but here's some shots of the family at the Fair tonight!
Jack chowed down on a corndog.
Ava enjoying her corndog
Ava and Jack went on a spinning ride that looked like hot air balloons. They were both happy at first.
But this is how they looked after a few spins.
The race cars left everybody happy.
And Blake loved the Indiana Jones obstacle course.
"Fly, fly, Lil' Sebastian!"
He holds one of these every year, and every year he has the same look on his face.
Inside the petting zoo area
This was as close as Jack wanted to get to any of the animals. Maybe he's more like me than I imagine.
I love his sweet face so much in this one. Lord, guide and protect these, thy sheep.
On the way out, we stopped at a booth where the kids made power bands, those bracelets with the colored beads that give a visual of salvation.
And last, but not least, Ava turned four years old on September 25th! I didn't get many pictures, but I did get one of her opening her favorite present, a CD player for her room. She'd been asking for one for a while, and was so excited to have music at bedtime now!
Ava was born while the Fair was in town, four years ago. The day after Ava was born, while Courtney was still recovering in the hospital, Courtney asked me if I'd go to the Fair and bring her back a fried cheese on a stick. Of course I would! If you go to the Fair before 1 PM, it's free to park and go in. I got there at ten after one. I pulled the phone out of my pocket, showed a photo of my beautiful newborn daughter to the man at the parking booth, and told him I had just enough money in my pocket for a cheese on a stick for my wife. He let me in. At the gate, I had the same conversation with the ticket taker, and showed her a different picture of the little girl who took my breath away from the first moment I saw her. She let me in, too. Then I got to the booth that sells the fried cheese, and was so excited that I made everybody inside look at a picture, too, with a smile that never left my face. I'm smiling even now, just thinking of it. I smile every day that I am with her.
(PS - I have a new comment system installed, and I want you all to try it out!)
(PPS - Return of Project Horror begins this weekend!)
I haven't had much chance to get back to the blog in the last two weeks. After I posted the wrap-up article for Enter The Danny, I spent the rest of the week scrambling to get stuff for the examiners who were at the bank, and that's where my mind was. This week I've been on vacation, which has been awesome, and which has also had me on the road away from my computer. I'll have some more about all of that in a day or two.
Although I've still got the weekend ahead of me, today was my last day of vacation. *Sigh...* Like my sister, I am really good at being on vacation. After I dropped off Jack and Ava, Blake and I had some breakfast at Burrito Tower, hit the gym for a while, and then went swimming after lunch. Most of my swimming trips this summer have been far from relaxing, since I've usually got all three kids with me, and Courtney is asleep after working the night before. Since there is no shallow end, this means that I spend the whole time in the pool holding on to Jack (who wants nothing more than to escape my grasp) and Ava (who wants nothing more than to wrap her arms and legs as tightly as possible around me the second water touches her body). Today, though, was my chance to kick back by the side of the pool with a magazine and soak up some sunshine, jumping in sometimes to play with Blake.
I've complimented Blake on these pages before for his advanced mojo, and I got another glimpse of it today.
When it was time to go, I motioned to Blake; he dried off, put on his shoes and shirt, and then told me he had to do one more thing before we left. There were some white wildflowers growing at the base of the fence behind our chairs. He plucked one of them, stood up, and walked to the other end of the pool, where he reached up to the lifeguard sitting in her chair and handed her the flower. From where I sat, I could only see all of this, not hear it, so of course I had to ask him how it went as we were walking out.
"What did you say to her?"
"I told her that I picked a flower for her, and I think her ponytail is pretty."
"Nice. What did she say?"
"She said, 'Thank you! That's really sweet!' Do girls really like getting flowers?"
"Yeah, they do. That was a smooth move, son."
"Daddy, no! I just wanted to do something nice for her."
I looked back over my shoulder to see her smiling and holding the flower up to show to the lifeguard on the other side of the pool. Both of them had their eyes on Blake as we left.
"Well, I think you did something very nice. I think you made her very happy. And you're right, her ponytail is pretty."
All school year long, Blake's stories from school have centered around two names in particular. One is his best friend, Amari (I think I'm spelling that right. It's pronounced uh-MAR-ee.), a little boy who he also played basketball with last year. The other is Madeline. I'm trying to think of a cute, kindergarten-appropriate euphemism, but I think I just have to come out and say that Blake loves Madeline.
To Rachel and Kelley, I apologize. I know that this kind of steps on the plans that we've tried to make between Blake and your daughters. The heart wants what it wants.
Here is the note that Blake gave to Madeline on the last day of school.
Transcription, in case you can't read it:
Madlen i like you vury much.
i like your backpack.
Frum BlAke to Madlen
Complimenting a woman on her bag? You guys, that is advanced stuff. That didn't even occur to me until college. My boy flirts on a college level. I guess it worked, too, based on what he told me happened afterward. On the last day of school, his class was picking up trash around the campus, and he picked a "wishing flower" (a dandelion seed pod) to give to her. She told him that her wish was for them to get married when they get older. My advice to him is to get out there and compliment a few more backpacks first.
Since I didn't have to choke anything down for Project Gastronome this weekend, I had to figure out other ways to keep the kids entertained. Here's a quick recap of the weekend that was.
FRIDAY - Blake recently found a CD of Peter and the Wolf, and has been listening to it nonstop. He loves this piece of music. I'm happy that he's finally requesting something to listen to in the car other than Kidz Bop. I found a really great stop motion animated version of PATW available to stream instantly on Netflix, and after the kids had dinner and kissed Mommy goodbye for a night of work, we got in pajamas and watched it. It was a hit!
That night, long after all of them should have been asleep, Ava got up and was crying by her door. I usually give her a few minutes to work it out, because usually when she wakes up to cry it's because her lip hurts, or she forgot to tell her teacher that she loves her when she said goodbye. When she was still crying several minutes later, I went to check and found out that it was because she had seen a ghost. Here was one of those moments where I realized that I could either catch the fish for her (turn on the lights, check under the bed, etc.), or teach her to fish (let her dispel the fear on her own). I brought her a slotted spoon from the kitchen and told her it was magic - if you slap ghosts with it, they will die! I gave her a kiss and smoothed her hair, and as I walked away, I heard a grunt, a swish, and a triumphant laugh, and then she went right to sleep.
Here she is the next day, looking intimidating with the magic spoon.
I ain't 'fraid of no ghosts
SATURDAY - Lubbock's arts festival was this weekend, so I took the bambinos and met my sister Kristen and the junior Lewises there. This event has really grown since I was a kid. There's so much there now for the children to do, and they had a great time doing different art projects, checking out the model train layouts that the railroaders club set up (not sure what it has to do with the arts, but whatever...), and playing with cousins. Jack was the only one who I could convince to get within two yards of a guy in a Cat in the Hat costume, and only because he was strapped into a stroller.
His face shows his uncertainty about this whole thing
Linda, one of my coworkers, gave us a very generous invitation for Saturday night. Her boyfriend, Charlie Thompson, organizes and promotes rodeos, and she often works the door. She told me that if I wanted to bring the kids, she'd let us in for free, so I took her up on that offer. The kids have never been to one, and I haven't been to one since grade school, so it was exciting for all of us. I aked Blake if he'd be interested in trying the Mutton Bustin' event (where young kids ride a sheep), and he excitedly agreed. Here he is in his self-selected cowboy outfit (cut the kid some slack, we're not really western wear types).
Ava insisted that she needed to change clothes for the rodeo, too, which is why she's wearing different pants above. Once we got there, the kids were completely fascinated by everything going on.
Then they called the mutton busters down to the arena, and here is where I had another parenting moment. You guys, Blake is entirely like me. This makes him both easier for me to read and harder for me to watch, because his hopes and hurts are so much like mine. He and I both dream a dream all the way, the only difference is that I've learned to temper mine with reality. Blake walked into that arena fully believing that he'd be walking out as King Of The Rodeo. Here is his ride.
Considering that the longest ride was about three seconds, I was awfully proud of his 1.5, especially because he had tried something new. The landing was kind of hard, and he climbed out covered in dirt, a bruise on his back, and tears in his eyes. He was trying SO HARD not to let those tears come out in front of the cowboys. I brushed him off, hugged him tight, and told him how much I had enjoyed watching him. Then I got some popcorn for all three kids to share and let Blake play with the video camera for a while.
Ava told me that she reaaaally wanted to talk to one of the cowgirls who competed in the barrel race, so I held her hand and walked over there with her. The girl was so nice to Ava, asked her name and age, and listened as Ava told her that she thought the cowgirl's shirt was pretty and that Santa had brought her a kitchen for Christmas.
As it turns out, Jack also had an eye for cowgirls. Once we had popcorn, I could not keep him close to me to save my life. He took his little box of popcorn, found two cute teenagers to sit next to, and offered them popcorn and conversation for like the next ten minutes. Both of my boys love attention, they just seek it differently, I guess.
SUNDAY - After church and naps, my kids were begging me to go to the Texas Tech Museum. It's been about six months since our last visit (at which time, I just noticed, Blake was again wearing his favorite orange striped shirt). Usually, the kids are the most interested in the dinosaur exhibit. This weekend it seemed like they were mostly interested in telling me about all of the nipples they could see in the gallery of African tribal sculptures.
There is a temporary exhibit about eugenics called Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race, produced by the Holocaust Memorial Museum. I fully recognize that this is not funny subject matter, but this picture still makes me laugh.
Blake certainly looks like a "healthy seed" here, doesn't he?
Lots of pictures to share today! You may remember about two weeks ago when I posted my kids' NCAA tournament picks. At the time, I picked on them for favoring underdogs so heavily, and yet here we are with Butler and VCU playing in the Final Four. More amazingly, Ava actually picked one of the Final Four teams correctly! Sure, it's UConn, and they aren't exactly a shocker, but she doesn't know that. Blake, on the other hand, is out. His bracket is busted. Here they are again (click them to view full-size).
Ava's bracket
Blake's bracket
This weekend was too busy with other things for us to watch much basketball, though. We decided to take the kids to get some photos done in their Easter outfits. Now, the last time we did studio portraits was almost two years ago. The experience left us so battle-scarred that it's taken us this long to try it again. This time, though, nobody was in tears until after the shoot, which was progress, and I think the photos speak for themselves! (I'm going to put more of them up on my Facebook page later, if you're interested.)
After being so great for the pictures, the kids needed to air out some. Swords have always been one of Blake's favorite things to play, as I imagine they are for lots of boys, but what cracks me up lately is how much the terms of the game have changed for him. Three years ago, he was all about pirates, but now he spends the whole time talking about how if you get hit like *this*, you lose one heart, but if you get hit like *that*, you'll lose two hearts. Yep, my boy has become a videogamer like dad. Look at the intensity on that face - he's bracing himself for a boss battle, scanning me for weaknesses.
Jack busied himself with the sandbox. We have a chiminea on the back porch which has never actually been used, and which is full of sand that Blake has shoveled in there over the years. Jack decided to move it back to the sandbox... with a sieve. Then he just got sidetracked and dumped it into my lap. He's special, that one.
With spring here, and a few warm days to go along with it, we realized that Ava has grown a lot since this time last year. The poor girl had only one pair of shorts that fit her, so we went to Target last night to get her some warm weather clothes. Of course, she's my daughter so she looks great in everything, so this post isn't really about her.
Blake saw a hat and tried it on, and just lit up. He likes shopping for clothes about as much as any other six year-old boy, which is to say not at all. So when he liked this hat that much, we decided to get it for him.
Jack has one main interest in life, and that is "whatever Blake is interested in." This morning when he found the hat unattended for a second, he grabbed it and put it on. I just had to put a side-by-side photo of them both on here, because sometimes I'm still amazed by what very different people my two sons are, even at such an early age.
Blake looks like a little hipster, about to jump on his fixed-gear bike and go to a Decemberists show or something. Jack is just a popped collar and fist pump away from looking like he should be picking a bar fight on "Jersey Shore."
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