Reflection 2014

The wife and child both fell asleep and here I am. 

Happy New Year whenever the clock dings! I'll probably be sleeping.

I just checked up on my goals and update for the year. 

Winter Break: The Road Home

The road home lead through a stable. Shane rode Frodo! Mommy trotted, too, while I took pics.

Winter Break: Ice-Skating

Carrie and I had a short afternoon date on Monday. We grabbed lunch and hit an ice-rink. Carrie was a big fan of ice-skating growing up. She still has her old hockey skates in a box upstairs.

We didn't have much ice in Beaumont. We did have roller-rinks. Some of it transfers, but not all of it!

Winter Break: Exploring a New Town

Lots of pics from our day trip Saturday. I'll add text later. Time to sleep for now. 

Winter Break: Allergies

I have two cats in a house half the size of her, but one cat in a house twice as large as I'm accustomed to has had my head swimming since the start.

How's that math work out?

Winter Break: Grandma and Grandpa's House Day 1 and 2

Christmas Day meant Christmas Road Trip! There was NO traffic on I-95. Carrie stopped and got us Wawa, too. Merry Christmas, indeed! Driving on Christmas Day should become the new tradition if we don't move.

If Shane was happy to see his Grandpa and Grandma, he was extra happy to see their new playroom for grandkids.

Grandpa converted his old office from his Granger days into a toy wonderland.

Shane will be spending the next several days sleeping on an air mattress surrounding by 95% of the toys in the house. I don't anticipate any complaints.

After some play, we went downstairs to open presents.

I could have killed Shane.

He opened his first present, looked at it, and said "I don't want this."

Grandpa and Grandma bought him a set of Cars bath toys. However, they bought two sets. One for their house and one for ours. Shane saw the set upstairs and he pouted hardcore. He acted like someone had smashed every gift under the tree.

I was ready to pull the plug on the presents operation until Shane apologized. From the look on Carrie's face, she agreed.

Grandma, however, wanted to talk to him a second and then continue.

It's her house, so we went with her rules. Shane perked up a little when he saw there were more presents. Some of which weren't clothes!

The minion backpack was probably his (and my) favorite.

It was a lot of fun once we got going.

I haven't forgotten Shane's complete lack of gratitude. Selfishness is natural. Any other behavior has to be learned or grown within. I talked to Shane about what we should do when someone gives us a gift, but he's only four. Who knows how much that'll stick.

For now, I'm concentrating on trying to be a good example myself.

Like by building Lego garbage trucks.

After Shane's nap Day 2 here he 'helped' me to convert his flying garbage cruncher into a standard garbage truck.

He's played with that thing all day long. I think it's officially his favorite gift.

And what trip to Grandma and Grandpa's is complete without a visit to Grandpa's train room?

There's a lot of works in progress, but it's still a very impressive layout.

One day, it'd be great if Shane and I helped out. I think Grandpa would be all for it; Shane just needs to put on some years. 

That sums up our first pair of days with Carrie's folks. It's been fun and we'lll be here for a while yet! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Winter Break: Lego Morning

I showed Shane his Legos first thing in the morning. The rest of the house was asleep, so we had to be very quiet.

Be sure to watch until the end for the surprise ending.

Winter Break: Christmas Legos

When Ryan and Kim visited Shane for his birthday they brought his Christmas presents, too. Shane went bonkers when he saw this one.

What's not to like? It's Lego and can a garbage truck!

However, Ryan did not pay much attention to the label.

The last thing I wanted was to have a newly-turned four year old "help" me sort out 389 pieces varying from tiny to 'small and hurts to step on.' I told Shane that Santa would bring the Legos back for Christmas, assembled. 

Shane was upset. He asked every day about them. The only day he forgot to ask (ironically) was Christmas morning. I still had not assembled it, though.

Shane spent the rest of Christmas day asking to put it together. When I put him to bed he said, "You can put the garbage truck together now, Daddy."

So, I sat down to get at it. There were a lot of pieces.

There wasn't any rhyme or reason to how the pieces were bagged either. The legs for one Lego man was in one bag while the head, torso, and hat were all in others! The things I do for my son.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this task, though. Legos are cool.

I am going to kill Ryan if this thing breaks into a kajillion little pieces the first time Shane picks it up.

I loved the random "don't get frustrated and throw this at anyone" symbol that appeared later.

I'm not sure that's exactly what it stood for. I don't care. I like my interpretation.

It took a while, but I got everything assembled. I took some pictures in case they don't stay assembled more than a couple of minutes.

You may have noticed the garbage truck doesn't look like a garbage truck. The box contained instructions for two variants: a vanilla garbage truck and a flying trash-gobbling one. The instructions and builds are totally different. One is 78 pages and the other is 71 pages. If I built the wrong one it will NOT be a quick fix. Shane asked for the "flying garbage truck" earlier in the day, so I gambled and went with that one. I told Grandpa he could build the garbage truck if Shane decided I did it wrong. He likes this sort of thing, too...I think!

I look forward to seeing Shane's reaction when he wakes up. Daddy followed through with what he said he'd do!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas 2014!

I feel much better today. I lost about 4 lbs being sick, so there's no need to count any calories today! WOOO!!!

Carrie is in work mode. She's packing and prepping the car while I watch Shane. She had a migraine yesterday and this morning.

We plan to stop by my parents and then continue on to her parents. I'll post pictures and stories eventually!

Winter Break: Christmas Eve

I spent my Christmas Eve morning hunched over a toilet hurling. I hope yours went better!

Texas Trashed

Texas Trash is Jama's famous trail mix. It's got more than a little heat to it, too. The secret ingredient is Tabasco.

Jama gave me a container full of Texas Trash for the holidays. It's long since gone, but not before a story came of it.

I called home one day after wrestling.

"Hey, Love. How goes it?" I said.

"It goes!" Carrie replied. We talked for a little bit, and then...

"Shane, you're not going to like that." Carrie said.

I heard a little boy giggle over the line.

"Shane, I'm warning you. It's very spicy."

More toddler giggles followed.

Then it got quiet.

Carrie started to laugh. Shane started to cry!

"It's HOT! It's HOT!" Shane yelled.

"That's called spicy, Shane!" Carrie laughed.

"Did Shane just try the Texas Trash?" I asked.

"Yup!" Carrie laughed.

Shane likes to push boundaries, but that time he got burned!

Winter Break: Before Christmas 2

After a raucous family night, a quiet and slow Tuesday was warranted.

Not that things are always quiet when Shane's got a volcano!

He loves Kathleen and Stu's gift!

John also came over for a round of x-wing. Shane enjoyed showing off his tornado in a bottle...

...and his volcano. We're officially out of baking soda!

There was still plenty of time for the Rebels and Imperials to duke it out afterwards.

All in all, it was a much quieter day than Monday. I did have wrestling practice, so it wasn't all play. I learned a fun move off a Russian Tie.

Winter Break: Before Christmas

Winter Break is finally here! We started it in time-honored fashion: sleeping in and a nap.

Carrie and the cat were all about it.

After nap-time, we went over to Nana and Pop's to visit family. Everyone was mostly recovered from being sick. Cole still had a projectile cough.

Jama was highly nauseous and spent almost our entire visit in the bathroom. I hope she'll feel better soon!

Carrie posed for a few pictures with Baby Evelyn, Nana, and a huge African avocado.00

She retreated upstairs soon after. Things get pretty loud an chaotic whenever the McRuari fellowship gathers. My wife can get a little overwhelmed with it all, but that's what other rooms and cell phones are for. Growing up, my siblings and I would duck into a nook with a book if we needed a break.

Cole and Shane got along fabulously. For example, Kathleen and Stu gave Shane a Christmas surprise.

Then the boys worked together to unwrap it.

There was no fussing or fighting. It was GREAT! Kathleen and Stu really nailed it with the gift, too. It was a weather experiment kit for kids! They knew their demographic! Shane and Cole attempted to pronounce 'tsunami' and make a tornado in a bottle together.

The mini-baking soda volcano was a huge hit, as well.

Taking care of Shane was a breeze. Whatever Stu did with Cole, Shane wanted to do to. The boys played really really really well together. I sat back, watched, and enjoyed!

The boys enjoyed dumping all of the markers out together. They morally opposed putting them back in the bucket, but loved to shove them in a box. Cole was so excited he jumped in the box himself. Stu had idea to put the bucket under the box for clean-up. Worked like a charm.

Later, the boys migrated upstairs to play with the next set of toys...and Pop!

Love the fashion statement, Cole!

We went home soon after. Shane was worn out enough he slept in until 7 AM! It was great hanging out with the family. We'll see more of them over the break.

Winter Break Wrestling Practice

I saw an NCAA wrestling national runner-up accidentally break a 50-year old man's ankle in practice today.

It's been an interesting year.

Home Improvements: A New View

Carrie's new bathroom and closet dropped our master bedroom down to one window. My wife said this would make it hard to sell. She had an idea on how to address the issue and she did.

We have a new window. It was scheduled to go in back in November, but multiple rain days pushed it back to last Monday.

Shane likes it.

He discovered the bed-frame made a good diving board onto the bed shortly thereafter.

UPDATE:

Here's an outside shot.

I'll have to follow up on the buckle in the siding. Looks good otherwise. It's our first southward window.

Varsity Wrestling Weekend

Friday, I traveled with most of the varsity team to a 15 team duals tournament in the mountains. Coach P and I were in charge. We brought our starters in 11 weight classes, two managers, and a group of five backups. Coach Z and Coach T took our top two wrestlers to a high-level competition in Delaware. 

Santa Visit

Santa visited Shane's school last week. There were no tears. Only lots and lots of requests!

Wrestling Meet

Shane likes my headgear.

At a JV wrestling meet tonight. No post.

Cards

Carrie and I have been on a Rummy kick. We even played on our date night. She's the official shuffler. She just kicked my butt twice in a row before I wrote this, too. Jama (the card shark I'm descended from) would be proud....of Carrie, not me.

Mattress Sale

Before trains and before Grandpa and Grandma, Shane and I went to a mattress sale.

It's not what you think, though.

My wrestling team does a yearly mattress sale fundraiser. I would not have thought that to be an effective fundraiser. It is.

Shane preferred running around on the wrestling mats.

He would not stop moving.

We have the wrestlers run the circle as part of their warm-up.

Ironically, Shane moves more fluidly than some of our JV kids. He can do better forward and backward rolls, too.

The fundraiser was held in the cafeteria. Not as exciting as mats, but funky art.

Each class gets to decorate a spot somewhere in the building. I still haven't seen the Class of 2000s mural.

Shane and I played on our own at first.

The pictures tell it all.

We sampled numerous beds and pillows.

Unfortunately, my phone battery died. I don't have any pictures from when I started to throw Shane on top of wrestlers. A few of the guys pulled him over and sat him on a bed where they were all playing cell phone games (Fun Run?). Shane told them the names of all of the planets. At least two guys learned something.

And....no pictures! Drat!

A wrestler hoisted Shane up on his shoulders for the group picture. Shane waved a sign left, right, up, down, and in the kid's face. We would have stayed and helped longer, but Carrie shot me a warning text before the phone died: Grandpa and Grandma were 45 minutes out!

We beat them to the house by ten minutes. Then the boys all went to play with trains, but that's another story!