Something that I want to do from time to time is to post some of my children's school work or drawings that I think are cute or funny. I would say that this piece of artwork easily fits into that framework.
The other day Big Z came home from school with a very interesting piece of art. Sometime during the day he had some spare time and was inspired to draw a diagram of what his brain looks like. Please feel free to click on it to see the bigger version and take some time to soak it all in.
Well, it's Easter time and that can only mean one thing, time to get out the recipe for boiling eggs. (No, I'm not kidding) So let's rip open the Paas egg dying kits, that haven't changed in 100 years, pour the vinegar in the cups and share some old and new Easter memories.
While I was attending Little P's preschool Easter party Thursday I started thinking of some Easter memories from the past and thought of one that made me smile. During the Easter season my Grandfather (Papaw) would take the opportunity several times to tease me about the Easter Bunny. Sample exchange:
Papaw: I just saw the Easter Bunny.
Me: Really?
Papaw: Yeah. And I could swear I just saw ol' Ronnie Cooper going for his shotgun.
Me: What!?! No. You are just teasing, right?
Papaw: I don't know, I guess you'll just have to wait and see.
Now I knew in my heart that he was teasing me but, there was always a just enough sincerity in his voice to put the slightest shadow of doubt in my mind. And of course that shadow would become smaller as the years went by and the same "tale" was repeated each year. (I never saw it coming) But, he had one other trick up his sleeve that would almost always cause me to think that the he was telling me the truth though, and it was a doozy.
In my hometown we had a small local grocery store that carried the produce and beef of local farmers and sometimes even fish that fishermen in the area had caught. Papaw always purchased his beef and chicken there. I always thought that the place smelled funny and the building looked super old. Papaw would just smile at that comment and say, "That's how you know what's inside will be good". We would then proceed back to the meat counter to place Papaw's order and it was at that point that he would drop his bombshell. He would point to down inside the refrigerated case and rock my world. Oh wait, did I forget to mention that the market also sold RABBITS seasonally? My young eyes would then look down into this case of doom and see the words Fresh Rabbits. Then to further cement the deal he would then talk to his friend behind the counter and ask, "Did Ronnie bring that rabbit in here?" It was at that point that the grizzled man behind the counter would look me right in the eyes and say that Ronnie had just brought it in. Game over. Well played Papaw, well played.
As we rode home in the car and I sat in stunned silence, Papaw looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and a smile and say, "You know that wasn't really the Easter Bunny, right?" And mustering all of my dignity I had I would said that of course I knew that. Papaw and I played this game for many Easters, and to this day it still makes me smile.
So a couple of years ago, hoping to continue this Easter tradition with my family, I told Big Z that I had seen the Easter Bunny along side the road about to be hit by a car, and with all sincerity Z looks at me and says, "Daddy, that isn't possible." Puzzled by his answer I ask him why not, and with the wisdom of a double digit aged child he says, "Daddy, come on. The Easter Bunny is a magical creature and doesn't live anywhere near here. That bunny you saw must have just looked like the Easter Bunny. I am surprised that you couldn't tell." I once again sat in stunned silence at Easter time. Where is a market that sells rabbits when you need one?
Here is a slide show from Little P's Easter party. For those that don't know, he is the one in the striped blue shirt.
The family and I had a little fun last night and made a "wrestling promo" featuring Big Z and Little P. Not a typical blog post, but we are not a typical family. And at the end of the day who really is typical?
To my faithful followers (all three of you), I am slowly bringing my Blog back to life. So, with the help of my iPad 2 and a really cool app called Blogsy I hope to be the 24/7 Dad on the go who will bring you stories, tips, and opinions from a life filled with mundane adventures and exciting trivial pursuits. So, keep your browser tuned in and wait with baited breath for my next nugget of wisdom.
Happy Veterans' Day to all of our veterans and those currently serving our Nation to protect all of our freedoms. My 9 year old son (Big Z) brought home some school work that his class had done today in honor of Veterans' Day today and I will be posting it as it is written with no spelling or grammatical corrections. It made me smile, and I hope that it will do the same for you. The assignment was to take the word veteran and make a sentence with each letter. So for you enjoyment I post the written words of Big Z.
_______________________ Volunters are great Eprichiate our Venterans Ten times Veterans, good Eggs are no mach to them, yes Recurts are needed A Venteran is the best, yes No wimps for them all _______________________
On this date 9 years ago Big Z came kicking and screaming into this world, and I was dragged kicking and screaming into fatherhood. And it just hit me today that this will be the last year that I have 2 kids under double digit numbers. Once you start into the double digits the changes will start happening at lightning speed. And it was because of these impending changes that I started to think of all of the changes in myself and things that I have learned over the last 9 years. And since I watch my wife day in and day out compulsively make lists, I thought I would take a crack at list making myself.
9 Years Of Changes In Me & My Life
-Changing poopy diapers no longer makes me want to vomit
-Learned that mac and cheese IS a main course
-I have gained the patience to spend 3 hours looking for an action figure's tiny, tiny gun
-Learning all of names of Ben 10's aliens and their powers is mandatory as the father of boys
-Scooby Doo is still cool
-Diaper Genie is not a magical creature that grants wishes
-It is possible to sleep with a tiny cold foot on your neck
-Dinosaurs are not just extinct creatures, they are a way of life
-Little boys play with their weenies a lot (I might have already known that)
-Hearing "I wuv you Daddy" is the sweetest thing you can ever hear
So thank you Big Z and Little P for an educational 9 years. Lets hope the next 9 years don't go that fast. Daddy wuvs you too.
You may think by today's title I am speaking of Big Z and Little P...I am not. I am talking about the new movie "Where the Wild Things Are". The movie is based on the famous children's book by the same name written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. I took Big Z to see this movie last weekend. What was I thinking? This is in no way shape or form a children's movie.
*Rant off*
Before I go any further let me just say that I am a movie buff. I love all kinds of different films. My family and I own a huge movie collection on DVD and Blu-Ray in almost any genre that you can think of. So this has nothing to do with the movie as a piece of art. The look was very true to the book. It has an all-star voice cast. And the little boy that plays Max (Max Records) does a fantastic job with the boy's ups and downs and really commits to the part.
*Rant on*
So...before we went to the movie I did a little reading about it and saw that some of the reviewers where saying that it was a "different" kids film, but Entertainment Weekly gave it an "A" and rottentomatos.com gives it a 70% positive collection of reviews. A lot of the reviews that I read said that, "If you don't think this is a kids movie, then you must have forgotten what it meant to be a kid." WHAT! I think that I remember being a kid fairly well, and even if I did forget I have a couple of reminders running around my feet all day long. I was afraid that the creators of this movie would have a hard time taking this short magical little book and fill it out enough to be on the big screen. I was right. They decided to fill out the backstory by making the mom a lonely, divorced, overworked and under payed mother, they made Max's sister a cold uncaring soul, and to top it all off they gave Max a mental disorder which causes him to have fits of uncontrollable anger and he apparently is also very lonely and has a hard time making friends because of his disorder. Pass the popcorn and snuggle up with your family, this sounds like the makings of a great kids film doesn't it? The first scene of the film has Max running around on all fours in his wolf outfit barking and growling chasing what appears to be a very small and very scared family dog although we will never know because we never see him again. I think that Max may have eaten him. This dog looked and sounded so scared right before Max pounced on him and grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground. And that was just the first scene! It was at that point that Big Z asked me if the dog was OK, because he was afraid that Max had hurt the dog. I said that he was fine and not to worry. He said "OK, but he sounded like he was crying." These are the kinds of questions that you should expect to here from your kids while you suffer through this film. Look I could go through this movie scene by scene to describe the crazy but that would take to long...let me just hit the highlights. Max destroys his sister's room after a snowball fight does not go his way and she doesn't help. Max then proceeds to wrestle his mother to the ground and then bites her very hard. Then Max runs away leaving his mother crying, worried, and scared. He then goes to the island with the monsters, and guess what? They are just as mentally unstable as Max if not more so. (They ate all of their previous kings...and we get to see the bones.) One of the monsters mirrors Max and his behavior so I assume that Max can see himself through the monster, but we never see Max change, he stays the same crazy wingnut that we have seen the whole film. Look I could go on and on about this, so let me wrap it up for you...
Mom = lonely, sad, uninvolved
Sister = no emotions, cares for only herself
Monsters = violent, scary, vile creatures
Max = batshit crazy
DO NOT TAKE YOUR KIDS TO SEE THIS FILM! And if you do take your kids to see it, I hope you have a bottomless wallet for all the therapy that they (And you) will need to recover from the experience. On a final note, there were some grandparents there with their grandkids and as the film ended and people were leaving with shocked looks on their faces, grandpa could be heard saying, "That was a dud". Dud indeed.
