Happy New Year

Countdown to the New Year.



Join me in welcoming in 2009. I want to wish my fellow bloggers a wonderful and happy New Year. Here's hoping that 2009 is a joyous and profitable year for you and your family.



All the best in the New Year.

The Big Hits in our House

The Christmas gifts have all been unwrapped and thank you notes have been written. Yes, you read that correctly. Thank you notes. The long lost art of letting those who thought of you that you appreciate their gift.

Let the playing begin. There were lots of cool presents. a number of them have been a big hit. The crew has played a number of the games with family and friends. The fun, laughter, togetherness, and joy has been fun to observe.

Clue by Parker Brothers

The classic detective game! In Clue, players move from room to room in a mansion to solve the mystery of: who done it, with what, and where? Players are dealt character, weapon, and location cards after the top card from each card type is secretly placed in the confidential file in the middle of the board. Players must move to a room and then make an accusation against a character saying they did it in that room with a specific weapon. The player to the left must show one of any cards accused to the accuser if in that player's hand. Through deductive reasoning each player must figure out which character, weapon, and location are in the secret file. To do this, each player must uncover what cards are in other players hands by making more and more accusations. Once a player knows what cards the other players are holding they will know what cards are in the secret file. A great game for those who enjoy reasoning and thinking things out.

This has been fun for the kids and adults.

Last Word by Buffalo Games

Be the first player to advance to the Finish by creatively connecting Subjects and Letters, while racing a Random-Interval Timer and the other Players! For example, Subject: "Vegetables"... Letter: "C". Players yell out... Carrots!Cucumbers! Corn! Cauliflower! 'tick-tick' ... The player with the Last Word before the timer sounds advances.

This has been a good thinking game. It also causes lots of discussion about how words are really spelled.

Nintendo Wii

The other hit was my toy. However, the combination of Katherine at Quarterback and Rebecca at receiver has been putting a whooping on the rest of us. On the two on two mode they haven't been beaten. You should hear the laughing and giggling that goes with this game.

All have had a great time playing with our Christmas goodies.

What have your favorites Christmas goodies been?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to All.

Twas the annual reading of the night before Christmas

New pajamas and slippers were had by all on Christmas Eve to assist with the long winters nap.

Christmas morning began in our house at 7:30 a.m. Thank you kids!!! I did hear some movement around 6:00 a.m. but decided that until it got louder all was fine. Our youngest two arrived at 7:30 ready to go.

Twas the day of Christmas and all through the house the people were playing all over the house. The kids all in jammys they receive just last night were working hard making sure all the playing didn't lead to a fight.

Lovely wife was exited to have her new prize. A vest and a red blackberry curve was her surprise.

Ipods, clothes, and a Nintendo DS were some of the items under the tree.

My son received from his Godparents a Hot Wheel race car set that has been a hit. There was a 1555 piece building set, Bakugan battle brawlers, hot wheels cars, and laser tag. He also received two Nerf footballs. There were lots of wonderful gifts. I have only mentioned a few.

Aunt Liz and Aunt Fran gave the kids money, cool gifts and McDonald's gift cards. The kids had a special message during the picture. (See the attached Video)

We have played a couple of rounds of Pictionary and lovely wife is now the proud owner of the game, Clue. I can't wait to see who done it, with what and where they done it.

The best fun is having the family together for a day without any activities to drive the schedule. It's all about having a nice time today with each other. We will also check in with our friends and family who are spread all over the globe.

Merry Christmas to all.

Merry Christmas Eve to All

Have a wonderful Christmas. We are preparing to celebrate the holiday at home this year. Later this evening we will give each of the kids a new set of pajamas. Another Christmas tradition.



We will also have the traditional evening before Christmas bingo. This is a tradition begun many years ago on the eve of Christmas to provide some fun and entertainment with prizes.



This will be the night the kids have a hard time going to sleep.

What is your favorite Holiday Movie?

Let's hear it fellow bloggers? What is your favorite holiday movie?It's getting to that time of year. Are you a National Lampoon, Christmas Vacation fan of Chevy Chase? Or, are you a classic movie fan, A Christmas story?


Let me know your favorite holiday movie? And a little bit of why.


Mine is A Wonderful Life. I've seen it for many years and its a classic. My favorite cartoon is the Frosty the Snowman. By today's standards the graphics are lame. But, the story is cool and the music is fun.



Are you ready to share?

Three snow days. Why can't I be a kid?

I know the jealously is not a virture. But, three snow days in a row? Going to work is hard enough each day. But, when the whole house is quiet, the covers are warm, and there is a blanket of ice and snow outside. I want a snow day. I'm a dedicated employee yet, I like being a kid.

So, off I go. Carefully making sure I don't land on my hind quarters infront of the homestead.

It was nice to hear from my kids on my cellphone. The calls were few. We have been outside playing in the snow. We just came in to have Hot Chocolate. Can you come home early to play in the snow? That one from my son made we a little squishy.

They seemed to enjoy themselves. I did get to make a snowball. They also were able to make a couple of snowmen.

Can't wait till the next time it snows.

Can you say snow day?

Yep, the first snow day of the year occurred this morning. We had an idea last night that it could be a unique morning. We had thunder, lightening, and ice. It was a thunder ice storm.

The sound of the ice hitting the house sounded like someone was outside the house with a garden hose on the windows. Dabba wasn't a fan of the thunder ice.

This morning when I went outside to head to work I slid down my sidewalk to the driveway. It took 30 minutes to thaw my car so I could get in the thing. As I slid down the drive way into the street it was a little unnerving especially since I had only barely touched the accelerator.

My kids were loving the day off. My lovely wife was looking for some reinforcements later in the day.

The kids are excited, the weather doesn't look like it is getting any better soon, the schools cancelled classes for snow day number two. This happened even before bedtime!

So, snow day number two on the way!

Iowa State Names New Auburn Football Coach

The fun continues on the prettiest little village on the plains. It appears that this afternoon the Iowa State's Athletic Director announced that Auburn University had hired Iowa State's football coach, Gene Chizik. I cracked up on how the announcement was, or wasn't handled, depending on who you believe.

They have hired a coach who has a record of 6 and 18 in the last two seasons as a head coach. I'm all about going out on a limb but, sawing the limb off the branch behind oneself is what appears to be going on here.

My question. Why would you hire someone who is a defensive coordinator? Wasn't it Auburn's failed attempt of rolling out a new offense that caused the previous coach to get the pink slip? The high school guy didn't work out. But, at least at the level he played he'd won.

Welcome to the SEC! Coach.

Things will be fun in the South Eastern Conference next year with all the new coaches opening day next year should be lots of fun.

Good Luck Auburn.

St. Mary's Drops first Game

The Seahawks of St. Mary's College of Maryland had reached #14 in Division III Men's Basketball, Top 25 poll, this week. This is also the week that St. Mary's, playing Baruch College this afternoon, were unable to maintain their perfect record. A loss this afternoon has dropped St. Mary's from the ranks of the unbeaten.


The next game for the Seahawks will be in St. John Fisher College Tournament on Monday, December 29 in Rochester, N.Y.

Go Seahawks!

Favorite Christmas Shopping Sites

Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. It's the gift giving time of the year so I'm looking for ideas. My fellow bloggers. How about some hints on your favorite online shopping sites.

Have any hints you want to share?

Asst. Coach Nick and Team Notch Another Win

The Seahawks of St. Mary's College of Maryland are currently ranked 18th in the top 25 of Division III Men's Basketball. They recently beat Marymount University to achieve a record of 7 and 0. This is the team that went to the second round of the Division III playoffs last year.

This blog will be covering the Seahawks from the standpoint of tracking the success of the team having a great interest in the support of Assistant Coach Nick. (My youngest brother!) You go Nick.

The Seahawks next game is Saturday, December 13 when St. Mary's travels to Baruch College in New York for non-conference action. Tip-off for the game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

Another Entry for The Book

We keep a family book of things that the kids say. The Book is maintained for, one, entertainment and two, to help us remember the things that are said. Over the years there have been some classics. Keeping The Book also helps us to communicate the stories to other members of the family.

Dabba our youngest decided that she would like to have input on which member of the family would be putting the angel on the advent calendar. My wife's aunt, I guess making her my aunt-in-law, hand sewed a beautiful large advent calendar with pockets and hand made ornaments for each day of December.

Dabba decided that working with her Mom and providing a suggestion might help the task she would like to perform fall a little closer to home. There are four kids in the house so there is a one in four chance that Dabba would be chosen for the task.

So, The Book, entry sounded like this. "Mom, when we pick who will put the angel on the calender on the 25th who will get to do it? Mom, well we will have to see. What do you suggest?, Mom says, to the five year old. Could you please have us pick a number between one and three? Then, Mom, could you make the number be two?

Okay, there are four kids. But the message was clear. We either have a future ballot box stuffer in the house or this young lady has already learned the art of making your own luck! No pun intended.

When I heard the story I laughed myself silly. What a great way to make things in the world go your way. Thus, another entry to The Book.

Alabama vs. Florida - The SEC Championship Game

Saturday should be a fun day. The Alabama Crimson Tide, fresh from "The Spanking" of Auburn University, will be playing the for Southeastern Conference Championship in Atlanta, Georgia. Roll Tide!

What a difference a year makes. This time last year the season was over except for a possible bowl game. This year. Well, the only major college team that finished the regular season undefeated and playing for a conference championship. So, there are two more games. We play them one at a time so let's not get to far ahead of ourselves. But, it would be nice to be playing later in January 2009? Could it be?

Let's watch the Tide Roll over the Gators.

Hoping that the Tide puts one on the Gators. There are a couple of fans of the Gator Nation that I work with. One of them even has a business trip planned for next week to go get his SEC Championship shirt while in Gainesville. Depending on how the game turns out I might like to be on that trip. I didn't commit to the trip however until after the game.

Holiday Programs Abound

It is time for the holiday programs at school. Yep, the holidays are here so the schools are cranking out the events. We had school parties for Thanksgiving. He have class programs for Christmas. We have had evening singing and visits to Santa. On Saturday there are classmate get togethers and a city parade. On Sunday there is a school sponsored participation in a parade. Its all good and fun. Just a lot going on.



I really enjoy getting to see my kids as they experience the parties, goodies, and crafts. The parades are some of my favorite.


Wednesday evening Dabba had her school program. She marched out on stage with her antlers and red nose while wearing a dress. In front of the throng of parents going crazy with with cameras, videos and shoe phones, making like preschool paparazzi. She was fearless..well kind of. After scanning the crowd and waves to her siblings she was ready to perform.

Fifth little one from the left

We heard jingle bells and a couple of other holiday tunes. Then a bow. Then we all lined up to talk with jolly olde Saint Nick.