Wednesday November 25, 2009

So Christmas Season is upon us, and it seams to have sprung up a little early this year. Usually Thanksgiving is the gauge of when Christmas decorations should be displayed, but this is definitely not the case this year. The little monster, also known as Brianna, has begun to really enjoy Christmas already. Some people have their lights up outside and she loves them. They have started showing some Christmas shows on TV even, good thing we have DVR. Merry Madagascar may get old by December 1st.

Since we have had some mild November weather, thank you global warming, we decided to install our Christmas lights. We took out two strands of lights and literally threw them in our only tree in the yard. That damn thing has grown since we last threw lights on the tree, two years ago. It took a little more effort this year. Then we have a white tree that lights up and it sits four feet off the ground. Its been in the box for three years. We set it up, and if for some unknown reason, it disappears before next year, we will be ok with it. Especially now that the lights are turned on and the middle of the tree does not light up.

The next task, since I will not go on our roof, is to go buy a strand of lights to go above the garage. Nothing special, but like I just said, I am not going on the roof. Kristy finds the lights she wants, similar to the icicle lights everyone has, but they are snowflakes. Not bad. We hang up the one strand of lights, and they aren't even close to covering the area we need. This was after I stapled the crap out of the lights onto the house.

A day or so pass and we go back to Home Depot to pick up some more Christmas lights. We get home and begin installation. I tear out the staples, and go to the end of area we want them and start the installation. I get them all stapled and hung up, and they still don't cover the area we want. They are uneven and look bad. To make matters worse, half the new strand of lights do not work. Unbelievable.

So after a couple days, we take the lights back. This time, its cold, windy, and not the best time to take down a boatload of staples and lights and re-install them. So it only took five days to put up four strands of lights and one uneven, ugly tree.

The final item for the day also relates to Christmas, gifts. We were all sitting in the living room when Kristy asked Bri is she wanted to help wrap some Christmas gifts. Of course, she thought that was a great idea. I asked if Kristy had any gifts bought, because I am a good month away from even thinking about going shopping, and she said she had a gift for me. I was pretty surprised, and I asked what it was. Without hesitation, Bri replies "Its an Iowa State sweatshirt Dad". The funny thins is, Kristy bought it six weeks ago, and she cant believe Bri even remembered that. So its safe to say, Brianna will not be helping with Christmas shopping or wrapping of presents, shes not very good a keeping secretes.

I guess there is one additional note, I believe I used Christmas ten times. I just need to use it as much as possible before the new America makes us say holiday instead.

Monday November 9, 2009

Since there has been a constant nagging from the significant other, I suppose I should come up with some things to write about. Its been a busy time around these parts since our last visit, so here goes.

1. We talked Bruce and Canice into tailgating for the ISU/Iowa game at 4:30 AM, I think. The game was an embarrassment, and everything that followed. Here is a quick synopsis of the days events: booze, booze, breakfast burritos on the grill (absolutely amazing!!), booze, football game with booze (you have to love those little bottles that fit perfectly in pants pockets or purses), Collins bar, Rhodes bar, Rhodes tank, Rhodes yard of the year, Melbourne bar, then Baxter bar. Here are a couple pictures at the bottom. This was a day the liver really hates us.

Picture #1: The Rhodes Yard of the Year. A classy Winnebago and a fence full of carousel horses.

Picture #2: The Rhodes Tank. Kristy hates this picture, so of course I am going to post it.

Picture #3: The Rhodes Horse. This thing was seriously parked outside the bar. I guess crashing a horse drunk is better than a car.

2. Another football related trip, with a lot less acting stupidly, thanks Obama for this new addition to Websters. This trip was back to the old stomping grounds, UNI. We chose an October game this year because the past 3 years have been November games and all 3 were so cold it made the trip miserable. So an early October game should be a nice warm fall day right? No chance. It was in the 30's the whole weekend with some rain and a ton of wind. The other option we were looking at was November 7th. Yeah, that November 7th we just had that was over 70 degrees out.

3. We traveled to Kansas City for our friends Kiel and Gena's wedding. Bri was the flower girl and she did a great job, bossy as usual, but she did a good job. She even stood up front instead of going back to her seat. We found out a couple things that weekend, Bri's loves cameras, she took two whole rolls of pictures from the disposable camera's on the tables at the reception and she loves to dance. I honestly do not know where she came from, she acts nothing like us. She was non stop the whole night on the dance floor. I am tired just thinking about it. She had to be exhausted, but she didn't show it. The future is going to be rough trying to keep track of this monster.

4. We got lazy with Halloween this year for Bri. We had been talking about going to get costumes for ever and she gave us a thousand options. We won the battle and convinced her to be a cheerleader. We had an old Iowa State cheerleader outfit that was Morgans. It worked perfectly this year, because we could show her off around town after they beat Nebraska. We thought we were going to have to buy something new so she didn't get heckled by the freaks knows as Husker fans.

Everything else has been going good. We are set to have Parent/Teacher Conferences the week of Thanksgiving for Bri, so this ought to be good. I can hear it now, "Brianna is doing really well, but she bosses all the kids around often. Brianna talks good, but she talks ALL THE TIME." I am sure it will be filled with stuff like that. I will definitely have to post the finding of these conferences.