"Man Cave"

Okay, I was joking around a little bit yesterday when I called our bedroom my "Man Cave." I was watching one of the playoff games (Chargers vs Jets, about the only close game of the weekend) and one of the boys wanted to play on the PS3 downstairs (DS#2, he wanted to play FIFA 2010). I said okay, went upstairs and pulled out the big red leather chair so that it faced the TV and watched the game there with my laptop in my lap.

I even brought a drink upstairs as well as some food ;). This is really the time of year I get to watch football and my dear wife took care of a lot of things yesterday and on Saturday enabling me to watch. Club soccer practices start up again this week for the big boys (DD doesn't start until February) and it looks like both will be playing in a tournament the weekend of the Superbowl. The tournament should be over on time for the Superbowl but I don't think I'll be able to offer chili this year. We'll see.

You can see the background of the room, which is a mess, but what you can't see is that my neighbor helped me glue and clamp the broken headboard to the bed yesterday afternoon. The bed broke over 2 weeks ago now when DS#1 and I tried to push it out. You can see more about that on my dear wife's blog here. Basically, it was never set up correctly and we had only moved it a little bit in the past so we didn't know.

The glue has set and I will drill out the holes and re-set the pins and set the bed up again later today. This will be the best day to take care of it because DS#1 will be here to help.

I do need to post more often, and I will try to in the future. DS#3 has been tons of fun (and work) lately and I need to keep the grandparents apprised of the latest developments.

Football Saturday

Yesterday was a "Football" day. DS#1 had a soccer game (football to some) in the morning which actually made things a little bit difficult due to my dear wife being on "back-up call" but we worked it all out. Why did we have to "work it out?" Well, DS#2 received some vouchers for general seating at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, a football game played by the top high-school seniors in the nation here in San Antonio at the Alamo Dome. DS#2 really wanted to go and I knew he'd enjoy it so we worked it out so that I could take him after watching a bit of DS#1's soccer game. Interestingly, DD decided she wanted to come along too.

We had horrible traffic and parking problems and got there a little bit late, but we did get to see the last part of the 1st quarter and didn't leave until there were about 6 minutes left in the 4th so the kids got to see a lot of the game. We were very fortunate because when we got there someone offered us tickets with specific seats (I wasn't clear on what our vouchers were for then) and we accepted them. We ended up in the 8th row on the 40 yard line and got a GREAT view of all of the action. DS#2 LOVED it!

Unfortunately, I forgot to get one of the cameras from my dear wife and had to use my cell phone to take a few pictures. These aren't very good, but you can see how close we were to the field and even how DD had a lot of fun too. DD doesn't really understand football but she enjoyed watching with us, and enjoyed the crowd. I enjoyed seeing the game and I was VERY impressed by how well some of these young men played. One of the quarterbacks clearly showed he has an arm as strong as some pro quarterbacks.

Without major soccer games going on right now, I actually get a chance to watch some NFL football on TV so I closed my "Football Saturday" with more football in the evening while playing internet (facebook) games. DS#1 had some of his high school friends over to finish a project and study, and they all surprised us by actually working on (and finishing) their project and doing some studying. Now I am going to relax a bit more while watching some football this afternoon (Go Packers!)

First Day of Pre-School

Yesterday, DS#3 started day care/pre-school at a location we have used in the past for DD and DS#2. In the morning he was THRILLED to be going to "school" (yes, that is what we are calling it). I think part of his dancing and excitement was the idea of being like his big sister and older brothers. It was fun to see his excitement, and gave me high hopes that he would do well during the day. He wasn't quite as thrilled when he realized that I was leaving him there. He has had plenty of experience being left in the child care area at LifeTime Fitness (the gym I go to) and is adjusted to it, but this was a bit new for him.

When I came to pick him up, he looked like this. He was sitting at the table with everyone else with a snack in front of him crying. The teachers told me that he did great during "free play" but when they had organized snack time, playtime, etc. he did not want to stop playing to come to the table and sit down. Apparently he was screaming so loudly at one point that they moved his chair away from the table so the other kids could focus on what they were doing.

Part of the reason we have him there is to get used to playing with other children and getting used to having more structure in his day. He can sit at a table and color, play, etc., for quite a while for me, but I don't force him to sit down at a particular time of day for special activities. His mood, and our other activities, dictate when he sits and colors, or when we read together, not a special schedule. I am sure he'll adjust to a schedule ... eventually.

He calmed down a bit when I got there, but was still out of sorts for a little while. I tried to get another picture of him with his Thomas Backpack because I didn't get any other pictures in the morning (sorry honey!). Tomorrow he has his second day of "school" (he will only go on Tuesdays and Thursdays) so we'll have to see how that goes. Yesterday, I actually got a lot of work done, including a good amount of writing. Tomorrow I have a rather long list so we'll have to see how much I can manage to get done.