Tuesday December 22, 2009

To be quite honest, I am surprised I was able to get a second one of these up this month. I have been a little, more like a lot, lazy when it comes to this lately. One more day or work and my Christmas vacation begins. A nice benefit of working at the University and being on salary, I am off when it closes. No complaints here, even though I am pretty sure I will lose this privilege next year. Something about lack of supervision, not my crew anymore but others, tend to have some problems.

Anyway, Christmas has been fun and its still three days away. Brianna is really into it this year, except she asked me who baby Jesus was. That followed a game of 20 questions that ended with me telling her we better take her to church next year to answer all these questions.

We keep telling her she needs to stop being naughty or Santa Claus will turn all her gifts into rocks or he wont come to our house at all. This threat has not worked at all. Last week when I picked her up from school, she was horrible the whole day. It was her first day after the snow we had and there was snow a foot and a half high next to the sidewalks. We are walking out and she kicked the snow. I told her to stop because she didn't have her snow boots on. She continued to do this with her right foot the whole way to the car. This continued in the car when it was -3 degrees out and she wanted to take her coat off. The whining was non stop even when we got home. She wanted nothing we had to eat for lunch. While at lunch she kept leaning back on the chair. When lunch was over, she whined about having a snack. I could not have gone to work soon enough. Thankfully her good days prevent me from putting her up for sale on eBay.

Speaking of naughty and eBay, here's a story about this guy!

I will start off with the good. One night last week while I was at work, Kristy and Bri had gone to bed. Around 9:00 PM or so, the door bell rings. I guess he took off and freaked out. Loud barks and so on. It was just the UPS man at a very odd hour. I wont be too mad at this because he was protecting his house and family.

Now the bad. He is becoming very protective of Brianna. Not that bad, but when he nips at people, it gets bad. We were staying the night at Katie's because I had to work last Saturday morning. I was ready for work and let him out of the kennel when he took off up the stairs with Katie's boxer, Jackson. All I could hear is two grumpy dogs barking and growling. I get upstairs and Jeremy was in the garage with some friends having beverages and Reagan supposedly bit one of them. Bri and Evan were playing and I guess this person just walked into the house form the garage and Reagan did not like that. He knew he was wrong, because I grabbed him immediately and his tail was between his legs and his head was almost on the ground. He definitely needs to stop this or I will be looking for the magic needle for his Christmas present.

He is not only protective of Brianna, he is now protective of Tim and Brooke's boxer puppy Paige. The same night as the previous incident, Paige came over to visit. I guess Jackson decided to sniff around Paige and Reagan did not like that either. He started to fight with Jackson and took him to the ground. Its hard to believe this momma's boy of a dog, that I have not yet seen today because he has been in the bed with Kristy since she got home from work, can be such a jerk. I guess when we should have listened when we were told he should repeat puppy school.

Bri has been learned her Christmas songs really well. Below is a little video of her during clean up time.

It started out with her favorite song, "Frosty the Snowman". She knows only three words to the song, Frosty the Snowman. The second was a nice version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Then the bi-polar version takes place. The nasty Brianna. That's the Bri we see too often. I guess if you have seen any of the previous posts, you have seen her this way before.

Too bad we are bad and never have a video camera available, because we found this website, http://portablenorthpole.tv/home. Its a site where you can answer some questions and it plays a personalized video from Santa Claus. When Santa Claus mentioned Brianna's name her mouth dropped open and was shocked. It was fun, but once gain, too bad we didn't get it on video.

By looking at the weather, it sounds like it could be an interesting travel for any of us in the Midwest. We had planned on having Santa Claus make his visit to us in Omaha on Wednesday morning, then head to my parents in Harlan for a night, and then go to Baxter for Christmas Eve. That would have been three visits from Santa Claus! Definitely a spoiled little kid. We will see how the weather goes, if we get stuck in Omaha, as well as our friends, it wont be too bad. We will all pile in a four wheel drive vehicle and find one house to stay at for a few days. We better stock up in booze and video games if that's the case.

Everyone have a Merry Christmas from the Winfield's!!!

Friday December 11, 2009

The Christmas season is definitely in full force here. Brianna is really enjoying it this year. In a tribute to the movie Bad Santa, we bought Bri an Advent calender. Not really like the movie, it doesn't give the story of Christmas, but a My Little Pony calender. It is filled with tons of very small ponies and pony accessories. They will all be chewed up, not by Reagan, and lost by the first of the year. It keeps her occupied and that is half the battle.

Bri still is liking Santa Claus a lot. She has been to see him twice already. The first visit we took her and her Aunt Morgan to see him in Des Moines. They were pretty good. The second time we took her to the same Santa Claus for the past four years here in Omaha. This Santa Claus definitely plays the role very well, I wonder how he prepares for the Easter Bunny? No fake beard either. We showed up early and were waiting on a bench for him and the "Elf" to show up. He came right up to her on the bench and talked to her. Bri was kind of shy and that doesn't happen too often. Here are a couple pictures with Bri and Santa Claus.

We also got hammered with snow this week. Thank God Tim let me borrow his 25 year old snow blower. That things is a beast. On the first day of the storm, before we got snowed in, I took Bri and Reagan out while I shoveled. Bri absolutely loves the snow, even though she was eating it most of the time. Reagan on the other hand, couldn't stand it. He is an 85 pound wuss. He just stood there with his coat on and was ready to go back in. He was also being annoyed by Bri. Somewhere on TV, bri got the idea that throwing snow is fun. Reagan kept getting his face full of snow. Kind of funny, but definitely mean. Below is the best picture we could get of Bri and Reagan together.

On a final note, we have a new addition on the way to the family. I had searched all over for a new puppy. There were some good ones to choose, but we decided to go with a more expensive pick, a kid. Brianna will be a big sister this June. She is pretty excited. Kristy had a doctor appointment a few weeks ago and Bri and I went. Bri thought the baby was going to be here that day. She has been pretty funny. During one of the sick moments for Kristy, Bri walked up and told her to be careful so she doesn't puke the baby out. I think she is ready to have someone other than Reagan to boss around. I am sure it will start this June. Below is a one of the ultrasound pictures. It didn't turn out so well, but I thought I would give it a try.

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.

Wednesday September 9, 2009

I guess I have been neglecting the select few that even read this thing. My phone has been non-stop with messages about the next update. OK, so that's a lie, but here goes another addition.

I guess not a whole lot has happened since the last installment. I will start off on a big life lesson for all married guys; don't go to Vegas without the wife, unless you are looking at getting your own place and losing half your stuff. I think I will leave it at that.

The little monster has turned into a monster, again. She has decided to continue this whining business and completely disregard anything her parents say. I have looked at her in the eyes and told her not to do something about 100 times and she just looks up and does what shes not suppose to do. To make matters worse, spankings have no effect on her. We will tell her no and spank her butt, then she will look at us and laugh. We spank her again, and she continues to laugh. I don't think I can hit her any harder without child services knocking on our door. I really think she's bipolar or something. As you will below, she was playing with Evan and Drew, Katie's little ones. She was talking to baby Drew and then you can tell from there the confirmation of her condition. The more kiddie narcotics she can be on, the happier her parents will be.

Now that he has new found attitude, she has started preschool. Now I have this fear she is going to act like she does for us at preschool. These poor kids in her class. They have no idea what they are in for. I can see her now, bossing the crap out of these 3 year old kids. So far the teachers say she is really good, I find that hard to believe, but we will take it. I arrived early one day and was watching the kids line of to come inside from recces. I couldn't hear, but it looked like she was yelling at some boy to get into line. I guess it all starts at a young age.

Here is little monster Bri and her first day.So I will end with the start of fall. Football season is upon us and its hard a OK start so far. One, its tough living in Nebraska. Even though Nebraska played some crappy team, its still front page news. We could have a serious even taking place in Omaha, but the opening news story is the Huskers and the scroll that runs throughout the whole newscast are the game statistics. Its very rough, but we can only hope for the best, many Husker loses.

Secondly on the sports scene, its been 4 days since the UNI/Iowa game and I am still sick about it. UNI had a chance to beat the Felons from Iowa City, (I cant give Iowa too much crap anymore because UNI had a ton of arrestees suspended so far this year) but they fell one point and two field goal attempts short. The biggest thing about the game is this, UNI still has a great shot at a National Championship with an 0-1 record and Iowa has absolutely no shot at a National Championship at a 1-0 record. As strong as UNI's offensive and defensive lines looked with a very talented quarterback that Iowa and Iowa State would love to have, they should not lose many games at all until the National Championship in Chattanooga this December. It should be a fun ride.

To end on a side note, it will be a fun time this weekend in Ames. Iowa State/Iowa tailgating begins at 4:00 am!!! Breakfast burritos and an assortment of alcohol 7 hours before kick off. Hopefully I can get some redemption after UNI lost to Iowa and see the Cyclones beat Iowa.

Go Panthers and Cyclones!!!!!

Monday July 20, 2009

Wow, its really been a long time. I forgot I even started this thing. So lets turn back the clock and see whats happened.

1. Brianna turned 3!! That's crazy. It was over 3 and a half years ago this surprise sprung on us. She has really been pretty good lately. I thought the terrible two's would run into the terrible teenage years. I took her to Dairy Queen to pick out her birthday cake. I should have only given her two choices of a design, but instead I showed her the book. She first picked out Cinderella. Then she really wanted Hello Kitty. Once the worker got the Hello Kitty design, she wants Shrek. Then she wanted Hello Kitty again but then she settled for Shrek. Wow, that was almost as exhausting to write as it was to pick out. We threw a little party for her. We had the swimming pool and small pool for under the slide. She really enjoyed it.

2. We went to Okoboji for a week. I found out a few years ago what its like to be the "Black Sheep" of the family. I wont go into details, but it resulted in e msleeping in the bathroom. Lately it has been common for the first night to be the most "productive" night of the week. I decided to take one for the team and put the kid to bed. Kristy continued the fun fest and somehow convinced her cousin Jeff and Uncle Randy to go to the bar. It all started when she brought her own beer into the bar. I guess the bartender didn't like that, mostly because she insisted she got the beer from the bar. Then as usual, she lost her balance. As she laid on the ground the bartender had enough and told her to leave. I almost wish I was there to witness this great sight. So Jeff and Randy had to practically carry her out of the bar and back to the resort. On the way back she fell and drug both of them to the ground, in the middle of the road. To sum this great tale up, she didn't feel so good the next day.

3. Baxter Fun Days. It all started out late Friday night. I was unfortunate enough to have had to work Friday night, so I missed the first night of fun. Katie and I left Omaha around 11:30 pm and a couple hours later the fun began.

I rode in Katie's car so I did not have any transportation. When I got to John and Peg's I was offered a vehicle to take to Baxter. Above is the Shitation. Other known as a 19-something, assumed to be late 70's early 80's Chevrolet Citation. The picture above does not do the proper justice to this car. This thing is more of a dirty brown with a rust coloration. I was grateful for the ride so how can I refuse this ride. I get in and I immediately scheduled a tetanus shot. Then the smell kicked in. There are no words to describe this odor. So I continue. After I left the roadway I nearly stopped to check and see where the muffler went. I later found out, its still attached. Now to some positives, it drove well. The cruise control worked and the radio worked. Not bad, but it was stuck on AM radio. After 15 minutes, I made it with no problem. The excitement was when I turned onto Main Street after 2:30 AM. This place is a ghost town, so I gun the Shitation and attempted to wake everyone up. Those results are not yet in if it worked.

Now we fast forward to Saturday night. It was a little too early to go to the festivities that are had at Baxter Fun Days. We thought a joy ride in the Shitation should be an order. We turn down one of the city streets and we are heading straight toward a T-intersection and Kristy's aunt and uncle's house. He Uncle Bruce is standing outside by the curb on his phone. We floor it and drive straight at him. The look on his eyes were priceless. I thought he would going to have to change his shorts. So we continued this fun just to be able to say we received a citation in the Shitation. It didn't happen and the Shitation is now safe and sound back on the far.

All in all its been a good summer. Its definitely going way too fast. Before we know it Bri will be heading off to Pre-School. She is really excited for it, lets just hope she plays nice and wont be the class bully.

Monday June 8, 2009

Another couple weeks have gone by and I am finally sitting down thinking of something to write. The biggest task in our latest adventure in Omaha is an addition to our deck. Here is what our deck looked like.

This was not a very practical deck. We just bought some patio furniture and it didn't fit, so why not add on. After a few trips back to Baxter, I was able to recruit some assistance. Kristy's uncles Bruce and Randy and her Dad volunteered to help. I have never built anything, so I was thinking I may be way over my head on this project. I looked at a couple of decks Randy just built and I got a feel of what to do.

I went to Menard's a week prior to get get a quote. I put everything into their computer and the quote they gave me was over $1,100. I even talked to a worker and he gave me the same price. I, of course left, thinking this project may be over before it starts. I then used the non-existent construction skills to draw up some plans. I went into Home Depot and told them what I wanted. To make a long story short, Menard's was way off. We were able to finish the deck under half of what Menard's quoted me. When Bruce and I started digging the holes for the post, I thought this would take a couple days. When sundown hit the first day, we had it all done by the step. Here is the finished produce

I thought I would add a couple more pictures from the past few weeks. Since our bowling league is over, a top 10 finish out of 40, there is a large void in our Sundays. We took Brianna bowling for her first time. She didn't do too bad, she beat Kristy on her first game!!!
The bumpers help of course, but she looked pretty funny rolling the ball down the lane. On her second time rolling it down the lane, she found out the oil is pretty slippery. In the end, Bri and Kaitlin had a pretty good time. After about the fourth frame, they began running around the alley and lost interest. They are getting close to turning 3, so four frames or interest is good for me.