Monday, December 20, 2010

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

I am sending this out to anyone who actually reads my blog. Drew I know you look at it once in a while but haven't seen much from you on yours lately.

Anyway, I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. Drink to your hearts content, cherish everyone who has been and still is in your life and try to start the new year on a positive note. I will miss my friends this year as no one will be "home" for Christmas but families grow bigger and everything costs more the bigger they are. I would like to wish Andrew, Sylvia, Olivia & Lexie the best over the holidays from Paul, Nicole, Zoey & Hailey. I would also like to wish Chris & Joanna, Lee & Jayne and Cameron & Beth a happy holidays as well.

Hopefully we can get out and visit some friends over the next year but can't promise. Life is busy with kids and school. Nothing takes up more of your time but is worth it for the rest of your life like children. It does make me sad to think the girls will be out of the house soon (maybe another 15 years) but I hope they will always find their way home if they ever need anything.

I want to share something with you. This year I asked for nothing but clothes. I don't care about what I get because nothing makes me as happy as my girls. The look on their faces on Christmas morning makes my whole year and brings me so much love I can barely keep from crying. I want to make them as happy as possible and to keep them safe. I know we as parents want nothing more than that so I hope you all see as much pleasure in your children this Christmas morning as I see when they see those presents under the tree.

The best thing I could have ever done was to have two wonderful kids who I love more than life itself. Nothing makes me happier than seeing their faces and hearing them laugh. I love their hugs and cherish my time with them because they are my everything. Without Nicole in my life I couldn't have had such amazing girls and I thank her everyday for being the mom and wife that she is.

Cheers!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Growning up faster than we did!

I was watching the girls last night on the computer and how they could navigate and select the websites they want to bring up. I was in high school when I first got onto the Internet. I remember how new it was because I was able to get my last name as my email address for hotmail. Not possible now! The Internet has grown so much and so has technology. The things the kids are asking for Christmas is mind blowing. Zoey wants an ipod and Hailey wants one too. I never asked for anything except for a Nintendo and Super Nintendo because that was the latest and greatest things. The girls can play the Wii without help and can load discs, select characters and play games without me having to help them. Zoey is better at that than Hailey but they are both capable of playing most of the Wii games on Resort, Play and Sports.

They know about texting and like to pretend to send texts on my dead cell phone I gave them. Everything they are learning and picking up is amazing and they are almost at the level Nicole and I are with some of these things. I'm not the most technical guy out there but am trying to grasp hold of the way things are moving but I like the simple and easy. I can't build a computer and have very little knowledge to fix them but can manage on some level. I can't wait to see how advanced the girls will be compared to what we are now. I wonder if this is how my parents felt when my brother, sister and myself were growing up and were telling them about things that they seemed to have very little knowledge of.

I like the simple because it is easier to fix. With everything computerized it is harder to fix and most of the time needs replacing. More money for less thinking. You program it and leave it until it dies or needs to be reprogrammed. I'm not simple by any means but I would rather get dirty and get my hands into fix something. I fixed the air conditioner in the summer when I found a mouse had chewed through the wires. 2 needed to be twisted back together and I fixed the wires and it worked great! If it was chips and processors and boards, I would need to buy a new one instead of using things from around the house to fix it. I just like things to be simpler so I don't have to pay a tech $80/hr to come and fix something I could. Like I did in the air conditioner. I did some exploring and found the problem. I could have said screw it and call someone who would have charged me $80/hr to twist 2 wires together. I could have and did do that for nothing!

Anyway, I know things that can think for themselves are such a nice feature on a fridge or washing machine but when it breaks, how much is it going to cost to fix and can I do it myself? That is the new questions I'm going to start asking when we buy something with that kind of technology. Or what I could do is get the girls to do it because they are getting to that point quickly! I know the girls are growing up faster than I did but I am also immature...which I love! They are doing so well in school and I don't know if that is because we read almost every night to them or because we let them be independent to a degree with some things. Regardless, I know how my parents felt when they looked at each other and realized that we were advancing past what they knew. I won't be hard on them for not knowing certain things anymore because I need to be supportive and hope the girls help us out when everything is over our heads too!!

Cheers!!