Where have I been?

Wow.

I'm sorry about that. I didn't realize it's been over three months since I last posted. Let's see... what have I been up to?

Well, let's start with the holidays.

I got a nice thick robe for Christmas which I first thought was going to be too warm for me, but it's actually perfect. There are times when I will wear one of my hoodies instead, but that's usually because it has better freedom of movement. I also got a pair of "real" slippers to offset my novelty Ohio State Happy Feet slippers. The kids did well also. We went with the concept of one big gift and a few smaller but related gifts. There was one huge down side... We got the girl a doll house and a few rooms of furniture for her house. When I went to put the house together it was broken. I took it back to Wally World and learned that it had been a seasonal special purchase. Translation: "we don't sell that any more." D'oh! So we looked online and it's not available there either. So that sucked. The boy got some cool Hot Wheels and a track to launch them on. It's a loop that goes into a jump. It starts on a raised level, drops into a loop and that feeds right into a launch ramp. It's pretty cool except one of the cars that came with it is too light and can't get around the loop... it keeps falling. Jen got a new camera and all the toys that come with it. She wanted it. She shopped for it online. I went out and bought it. I have to admit that she made it easy for me, but I kind of feel like I was jipped (sp?) out of the holiday experience of figuring out what to get her and then rushing all over town trying to find it... on Christmas Eve. (jk)

New Year's was fun. Grandma took the kids for a sleep over and we had a couple of friends come to the house. We ate. We drank. We played games like "Boxers or Briefs" and we drank and ate some more. At some point we turned on the TV and watched the tape delayed celebration in New York as the ball dropped and 2009 began. We ate and drank some more and then I crashed. I was the first one to go down and that wasn't until 2:30. That was pretty good considering I'd been up since before 7. I woke up just before 8 on Jan 1 and made it downstairs to turn on the TV and watch the Tournament of Roses Parade. Every year on Jan 1 I like to watch the parade while I'm still in my 'jamas and drinking my coffee. When the Marine band comes marching down the street I look for people that I might know and then I laugh because I didn't have to get up at 3 and march the 5 miles while carrying a 35 pound Sousaphone and playing "The Marine's Hymn" and "Semper Fidelis" over and over. Don't misunderstand me, the five times that I did it were fun, but that's a young man's game. There's nothing like hearing thousands of people cheering just because you came down the street with 100 of your closest friends and wearing the world's most recognizable uniform. Plus, we always got a burger from In-N-Out at the end of the parade. =)

Anyway, that's how the holidays went and the new year got started.

My MIL and I have our birthdays only two days apart so we had combined them up until last year. Last year was a milestone birthday for her so we did a special party and this year she offered to take the kids for another sleep over. We accepted.

Now, it's the day after Valentine's Day and the kids are at Grandma's again. That was my doing. I set it up for her to take them so we didn't have to worry about picking them up on our way home from dinner. We went to our favorite place and had a nice dinner. We had to go because they may not be in business by the time our anniversary rolls around. We'd been invited to hook up with some friends for desert and drinks, but they cancelled so we just added desert to our dinner and enjoyed the time to ourselves. We were going to go look at new phones after dinner, but the store closed at 8. D'oh! So, we'll probably try again after church this morning.

Anyway, that's about it. I have some other stuff to tell, but those stories aren't realy "holiday" specific, so I'll post again later... Hopefully not too much later.

Have a great week!