Halloween 2014

Shane and Daniel reunited for Halloween 2014. Shane asked to trick or treat every single day in October. "Is it Halloween today?" Daniel did much the same.

Daniel's mom gave out glow sticks. It was a great idea, because Shane's costume wasn't as visible at night as I thought...unless I was taking a picture. 

Reflective strips reflect. Go figure.

The boys enjoyed running from house to house. I thought I'd enjoy a nice conversation with our friends as we strolled along. Not so. The boys were on the hunt. Daniel wasn't even motivated by the candy. He sometimes was turning around and ready to race off before a treat was in his bucket. People would offer two, but after one he was done and run!

Shane was more candy motivated. He started telling people he wanted lollipops. He would have started searching through bowls and grabbing bonus candy if I wasn't there to remind him of his manners!

Part way through the night, Shane decided he wanted to get "healthy chocolate." One lady made a joke, and Shane misunderstood. Nestle crunch candy bars were deemed healthy. At every following house, Shane dug and stirred through bowls to ferret them out.

When we got home, Carrie was waiting. She hadn't felt well and stayed behind to watch the house. Now that there was candy involved...

And some of the candy was strange indeed!

Someone who could read the wrapper probably wouldn't find it so strange, but we were stumped. I was a wimp, but Carrie summoned up the courage to give it a try.

It ended up in the trash. We're still not sure what it was! Ha! I almost died laughing.

Shane really enjoyed his Halloween. It's a good thing he enjoys the hunt so much, because I'm probably going to transfer the candy to my classroom to use as incentives/bribes. Not only did we have lots of fun running around the neighborhood, but we helped prep me for work, as well!

We're already looking forward to Halloween 2015.

Random Costume Shot

The avatar eats fresh at Subway.

Sports and Me

Sports and I have a long history.

In kindergarten, I was the bottom of my class for gross motor skills. Nana told me that I couldn't walk across a flat board on the ground without falling. She signed me up for Taekwando and gymnastics.

It really helped. I started to become much more coordinated and I learned a lot about being disciplined. I stuck with Taekwando for the next 10 years. 

When we moved to Texas, Pop introduced me to team sports. I played t-ball, baseball, and basketball for several years. I tried soccer one year and bowling another, but neither stuck. My brothers, sisters, and I started a tree climbing club and practiced tricks on roller skates, as well.  Whatever the sport I learned fairly quickly, but I was never the best. I learned less about how to be a superstar and more about how to be part of a team. 

It should be noted: Pop practiced with me throughout all the different sports I tried. We'd play catch in the yard and I always loved when he threw the ball straight up to simulate a pop fly. I want to do the same thing for Shane whatever sport he's interested in.

We moved back to Virginia after 5th grade. Nana tried signing my siblings and I for swim team to make friends. None of us liked the early wake-up calls. We didn't sign up the following summer. Pop worked a lot more and went on frequent business trips to Europe. There were no more organized sports. I stuck with Taekwando, rode bikes, played neighborhood football, frisbee wars, hide and go seek in the dark, and explored the woods and creek instead. Honestly, I spent a lot more time outside and active than I realized as a young teenager. 

Wrestling did not get a hold on me until ninth grade. I took a unit on it in PE during 7th grade and it intrigued me. I tried to tackle Pop, but he tied me in a pretzel. I tried to jump on Uncle Kevin's back and ended up with a bruised rib from a bear hug. It was pretty much laid to rest until a friend, Larry, and I decided to go to the wrestling interest meeting after school one day. I don't really remember what first led me there. It could have been a desire to be connected; To have some sort of worthwhile high school memory outside of classes. Perhaps I just wanted to support a friend. Or maybe I wanted to get a letter jacket and I knew none of the other sports really interested me. I remember the crappy desks and the health room, but not what was said.

Pop was surprised when I told him. I did not expect him to be so supportive or so enthusiastic. That I do remember. I never noticed or realized he even liked wrestling. It turned out he wrestled in high school, too (though it made sense how he manhandled me so easily in 7th grade). I had thought I was on a new path. Pop became my biggest fan. He made sure I got my physical, wrestling shoes, and whatever else I needed. He picked me up from practice and went to all of my matches he could. He recorded and reviewed footage with me. I did not always see eye to eye with him, but I knew he loved and supported me. 

Nana bet me $50 I wouldn't survive the very first season. She probably thought it was a pretty safe bet that first week I came home from practice as a freshman. There were wrestlers throwing up in trash cans from exertion and I literally crawled up the stairs one night. I was beat. I was hurting. I was exhausted and I wondered "Why?" Nana's bet helped, though. I've always been competitive, and I wanted to prove her wrong more badly than I wanted to curl up and die.

It was a great experience for me. It pushed me beyond my limits. I learned, I grew and I will never be in that sort of shape again. There are still days where I think "I survived wrestling, so I can survive this." I was something of a natural at wrestling, too. I made varsity my second year (it helped I was small!). I sometimes wonder how I would have done if I'd started earlier and worked out in the off-season. As it was, I followed my normal recipe. I was decent but never the best. The highest I placed was 6th in Regionals. In the end, I believe God used wrestling to build up my confidence and strengthen my backbone. I think it can do that for anyone who survives the season! I did not try to wrestle in college. Wrestling was an important event in my life, but it was not meant to be my life. 

Throughout all this time, I occasionally snowboarded, played paintball, and climbed up many things I was not supposed to. I discovered Brazilian Jiu Jitsu after I graduated college, but gave it up shortly before I got married. I wrote about my flirtation with the SCA and then a year ago with Muay Thai.

I really enjoy being active and learning something. I'm looking forward to being a coach and hopefully passing some of that on. I'm looking even more forward to seeing what sort of sports Shane will be interested in. I want to support him like Pop supported me.

Videos Galore

I have a few random Shane and Daniel clips to share.

The Rave

Daniel went to see Frozen on Ice and brought back an epilepsy inducing wand of many colors. The boys loved jumping on Daniel's bed in the dark with it.

Pre-Game Excitement

This is what Shane and Daniel looked like before they got to dump water on their heads.

Goofy

My Goofy impressions are that funny.

Learning to Drive

Festival Filled Weekend

Happy TRUNK OR TREAT!!

Shane's daycare threw a fall festival. Admittance was free and Carrie loves an opportunity she can get to flex her creative muscle.  She volunteered our car and dressed it up real nice. 

Shane loves any excuse to dress up. He suited up as a fireman while Carrie put the finishing touches on the Volvo.

And then Shane immediately dressed down to test out the moon bounce.

Maybe I should get Shane an astronaut costume for next year. He could bounce in character!

The coat, ax, and helmet went back on after a bit. Dressing up can be fun! Plenty of kids came in costume, but we were the only family to all dress up!

Shane channeled his fire-fighter spirit and asked for a dalmatian paint job at the face painting station.

He was nervous when he saw his teacher, at first. I think he was afraid we'd leave him or make him do work, but he got over it very quickly.

In the next room, we found a friend, Ganeet! Ganeet and her mom were decorating pumpkins. Shane gushed. He cheered and ran over to her. Toys flew off shelves and the kids had a blast.

Carrie and I introduced ourselves to Ganeet's mom. She grinned ear to ear as Shane called "Ganeet! Ganeet!" and led her around to toy after toy. Ganeet happily chased after. I love that they are friends! I tell Shane that it's our job from God to be kind and friendly to everyone and I think it's wonderful he and Ganeet are friends.

Eventually, Ganeet and her mom moved on to the next activity. Shane and I stayed so that he could decorate a pumpkin with one of his teachers.

At 12:30, Trunk or Treat season began.

I'm not convinced teaching little kids to go up to strangers' cars for candy is the best life lesson, but we had a lot of fun trunk or treating. I manned the car until it became apparent that no one else was.

Then we ate hot dogs.

Then we watched Shane run up a flight of stairs and go down a slide 1,000,000,000 times with Ganeet.

There was a cake walk, too. A chocolate cake was added to our booty, yarrrrr. I'm not worried about the calories for Shane. He ran so much he sweat off his face paint.

He napped well. When he woke, Shane and I went out for Round 2: The community fall festival!

We went fishing for ducks (you were only supposed to catch one)...

again...

and again!

There was ANOTHER moon bounce,

...and the firefighters unofficially voted Shane winner for "Best Costume." I had no idea real firemen and EMTs would be at the festival!

Shane wanted to look at the real version of his plastic axe. Daddy nixed it.

I distracted him by letting him hop into the ambulance. He's really enjoyed those.

After a full day, we still weren't done. Aunt Kim came over for a visit! Shane loved seeing her. He woke up the next morning calling for "Auntie Kim" over the intercom.

It was a very busy night! There's a lot going on this week, as well. It may get too busy to post, so I HAD to get this up tonight! We had a great Fall weekend. This is a fun time of year!

Sunday Sermon Thoughts: Perhaps Today

Today's sermon was on Matthew 25:1-13.

It's late; I'm tired; This will be brief.

This long and short of it is: Live prepared.

In the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids only five brought extra oil. When the groom runs late, five find themselves short. When they go to find more oil the groom comes. When they return, the door is locked and they may not enter.

Jesus ends the parable saying, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour."

The pastor went on to talk about historic wedding traditions. The parable sounds harsh to the modern world, but would have been seen differently in an age passed.

The story brings up a question: "Are you ready if Jesus returned?"

How are you living your life? Would you live it differently if you knew Jesus was returning at the end of the week? Tomorrow? Today? If you don't believe in Jesus, what if you knew the world was ending?

I liked when Pastor Brett mentioned he had a professor who used to sign his emails "Perhaps today."

Personally, I believe the Bible was literal God promised Abraham his descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky. I think that human will take to space. I think we will spread and live out amongst the stars. Why would God create such a vast universe if we weren't supposed to explore it a little?

The again, I'm not God, so there's a good chance I'm wrong, too.

I believe that attitude of living life prepared is necessary. I believe that God doesn't want us to sit around and wait for Armageddon. He wants us to go out and live our lives each and every day, but do it in a way that if everything were to end we wouldn't be found wanting or full of regret.

I don't want to regret staying up all night tomorrow, so I think I'm going to call it here.

What's that mop called?

Shane and I spent 20 minutes playing with a mop at Wahlgreen's today. It's called "The Hurricane."

If you know anything about Shane, you know why he liked it. My son made Nana watch whirlpool videos with him when we visited tonight. She had to ask me how to spell (and translate from Shane) things like moskstraumen, saltsraumen, corryvreckan...

Feel free to Google all of those. I didn't know about any of them either until I became a father! Maybe we'll do a road trip to Old Sow when Shane's older.

Hamster Update

One of our hamsters killed her roommate. Things have been quiet since, but there's not any other potential victims either. There was plenty of food in the bowl then; There was not any food in the bowl today when Shane and I checked in.

The hamster food was spilled in front of the cage. Bucket's the most likely culprit. Shane and I sprinkled some seeds in. The homicidal maniac stuffed her face while a pair of cats and a pair of boys watched from outside her cage.

I can make an astounding number of parallels from this to the Hunger Games. Can you?

We still like planets

Carrie built a model of the solar system out of Play-Doh for Shane again.

She used a marker to black dot their eyes.

Shane would not let me put away the Play-Doh later. He cried and cried when Carrie powered through all his objections. Several of the smaller planets had dried out!

We still love planets!

Flashback! Strolling Along!

Thursday, the moment I sat down Shane ambushed me with a surprise request. "Daddy, I need you to push me in my stroller!"

We haven't gone for a walk in the stroller in....I don't know how long. I removed spiders and spider webs before I let Shane hop in!

After my initial surprise, it turned out well. I always enjoyed going on walks with Shane when he was younger. The autumn leaves made me nostalgic. Carrie called and met us part way.

The stroller was a good idea, Shane!

First Dentist Appointment

Shane had his first dentist appointment yesterday. There was a last second cancellation at work, so Carrie clocked out, grabbed Shane, and filled the slot! Ryan called dibbs. The dentist gave Shane a clean dental bill of health!

Who says watching TV can't be active?

Insert Pixar Reference Here

Have you ever seen or heard of a one man band? Shane was doing his best impression of one.

He worked a drawer with each hand and stomped his foot to make the trash can flap along!

Play-Dough Night

Shane and I played with Play-Dough after dinner tonight. He kept at it until Mommy came home!

First, we made tornadoes. Then we made houses with roofs that the tornadoes could blow off. Our third task was to build a big, swirling, whirlpool.

Later on we rolled the pumpkin around and shaped some letters.

Made for a fairly easy and fun night!

Video Cycle

Nana unearthed a new toy from a garage sale! It's a Fisher Price Smart Cycle. It lets kids enter the sedentary life of video games, but then makes them pedal so it's all okay!

It's the perfect grandparent toy. Shane loved it. He pedaled his brains out. He will only see it at Nana's, so he can't burn out on it and the music can't burn itself into any adult heads from being overplayed.

These first three pictures are from Nana. She posted them online and I re-posted them here.

It's a good thing she posted them, too. My wife hammed it up in all my pics!

Carrie acted normal until the flash went off, the stinker!

The flash whited out things a little, too. Nana's pics look better than mine!

I did not have any flash issues outside when Shane and Pop hopped on the trampoline. I got some action shots of sweeping off Fall leaves,...

...and some of the wrestling that followed! Spin, Shane! Spin!

We visited half of the day Saturday and dropped by Sunday morning for an hour. Family within driving distance is a huge blessing!

Kite Right

Who needs a kite? I have string.

It's a good thing Shane liked the string so much, too. The kite was broken!

Love Languages for Kids

I brought up the Five Love Languages before. They're from a book that Carrie and I read for our premarital counseling.

The five love languages are:

Physical touch
Words of Affirmation
Quality Time
Gifts
Acts of Service

People have different giving and receiving love languages. Love shown in a person's primary love language tends to have the most meaning for them. Showing love in any of the languages can have an effect, though.

It's important to know your spouse's love tendencies and your own. For example, a wife is in the TV room; the husband is cleaning the kitchen. The wife really wants the husband to show he loves her by taking a break from the dishes to watch a show with her first. The husband wants to clean the dishes to show he loves his wife, but would feel very loved by a word of thanks or encouragement. Both love each other, but they're out of sync.

There is a sequel to the Five Love Languages called the Five Love Languages of Children.

It's a good read so far. Children express love differently than adults and since they're constantly growing and changing their primary language can change or be hard to discern. Children need love in all of the languages no matter what their primary language is.

Children who feel loved will respond more appropriately to discipline and to learning. If a child is secure in being loved unconditionally, they can grow up healthier emotionally. Discipline done incorrectly in a child's primary love language will hurt far more even if it does not seem as harsh to the parent.

I can't help but apply this to teaching.

Teaching is part art, part science. When done right, it involves many people skills.

I believe students should feel like they are valued in a classroom as individuals and as part of the class. I believe God also wants his followers to show love to everyone. Students are kids; they'r ejust not biologically mine.

Words of Affirmation - How can I give positive, meaningful feedback?

Quality time - How can I make eye contact and make a student feel like even in a classroom full of other students that I will take the time to work with them? How can I take a moment before or after class to ask a student to show an interest in their life?

Gifts - How can I offer a gift that's not a bribe? They're not the same thing. Plus, how can I do that without going broke and/or kids feeling like I'm playing favorites?

Acts of Service - How can I make the students feel like I am invested in them? That I will go the extra mile to help them if they need it?

There is an application for all of the languages.

Even Physical Touch.

That one's scary.

At ESY when I work with the more severely disabled students, I have to be hands on. If a student runs for a door, or if I had to steer them away from playing in traffic physical touch is par for the course.

It's different with more 'normal' students. I have had plenty of touchy-feely students in the past. They put a hand on my shoulder, or they break into personal space. I don't always reciprocate, because I read the news. My house was raided by the police once when they arrested Lucas based on a (what turned out in court) baseless accusation. It does not take much to end a career. It does not even need to be true.

You can show love with hugs and physical contact within a family, but it's largely hands off culture here.

Yet, if there are kids who really need some physical contact I can understand it. I'm just not very comfortable in giving it. I sometimes try to pat a shoulder, shake a hand, or to do something else fairly impossible to misconstrue. There are some teachers I've met (mostly very maternal and older women) who can sweep kids into hugs or rub hair, but as a non-elderly male I don't feel like I can pull it off. Maybe I feel a little differently after coaching wrestling; that's hands-on by default!

Anyway, this is all based off a train of thought I chugged down during church today. The love languages books are by a Christian author based on his faith and Biblical love. Love makes a difference.

Farm Fun! (work in progress)

Last chance admission is only $4 for the last hour and a half of a weekday, so Carrie, Shane, and I raced from his day-care to the Farm! 

We weren't the only deal-seekers, though.

Shane climbed...

...and jumped...

...while Mommy stood in line!

We made it in with an hour until closing!

"What a deal! I'm so excited!" Mommy said. "Are you excited, Shane?"

"I'm excited, too! We're excited TOGETHER!"

The Farm was a country-fair-esque toddler wonderland. We looked at animals.

We went down slides!

Lots and lots of slides!

Mommy and Daddy partook in the sliding extravaganza.

Shane went down a bunch of slides on his own, too.

He was a happy, happy boy!

The lines were not bad, at all. That could be due to visiting on a Friday after work. Or maybe it's because it's a much laxer, safe atmosphere than an amusement park with million dollar roller coasters.

Shane wanted to run back up several of the slides after he made it to the bottom!

There was a free cider station (albeit with little cups) and Carrie bought Shane a hot dog and some apple cider donuts. There was a free apple station we raided for a couple of apples to bring home.

Shane to bring home one of the giant pumpkins.

Look how big this one is!

And this one!

And that one!

AND THAT ONE!

They're all huge!

On the way out, there was a hay climbing structure. It turned out to be built on a catacombs full of children. Shane ran into the bowels of fun. Daddy could not easily follow. I guarded the exit of the play area instead. It took a little bit for Shane to come up for air where I could nab him (much to Mommy's relief!).

The final part of the day was a free pumpkin per wristband.

We enjoyed our day at the Farm! We'll have to do it again!