Wednesday March 3, 2010

OK, its been way too long. Kristy keeps asking me update this thing even though we live TOGETHER and she knows what happens everyday. So here we go.

As we were minding our own business getting ready to pick up some groceries some 17 year old girl backed into our car. I was in the process of dropping Kristy off in the crosswalk of a Hy-Vee and this girl backed into the rear passenger side door, right next to Bri. No injuries but Bri did say later that "when that girl hit us at Hy-Vee I hit my head". A few days later, she shows no signs of brain damage, just the same old talking all the time, not listening to us, unrolling a whole roll of toilet paper on the bathroom floor (see below), not going to bed on time, being grumpy in the morning, this list could go on for hours.

The insurance companies went to work really fast. Two days later we were notified to go get an estimate and set up a time to get it fixed. Who would have thought a one foot by one foot dent in our door would be over $2,200 in damage. Good thing we weren't at fault. Too bad it will take a month for us to get it in to get worked on and once its there, it will take five days to fix. We better get a Corvette or something fancy for a rental. Somehow, I see them giving us a mini-van.

On a related note to brain damage, Bri had a tough time this morning. I was taking her to pre-school and as I got her out of the car, I reached in a grabbed her back and hat. Bri is standing there looking at me with the bright sun shining in her eyes as I begin to shut the door. For some reason, she sways into the path of the door and I hammered her right above the eye and the impact knocked her on her butt. As I picked her up she had a mark on her face and had a few tears already. She said she wanted to go back home and go to bed. At this point, I thought maybe she is hurt. I walked her inside and dropped her off at her door and informed the teacher that she ran into the path of the closing door, so that mark was not caused by child abuse. I was anxiously awaiting protective services when I picked her up. I guess its time to go find a nice helmet (or helm-hat and Bri would say). Again, no signs of injury.

Here is the picture of Bri and the roll of toilet paper. This potty training is nice, but now she likes to screw around and make us angry at her. This is just one of those moments. Disregard her sitting on the toilet. An finally, back to Reagan. I have said this a million times before, but he has every right to bite, scratch, and fight with her on a daily basis. Below is a picture of her playing veterinarian with him. She bandaged up his paws. We only allowed her to bandage up the front, she wanted to do all four legs. He just sat there and let her do it. Speaking of Reagan, I found a video of him an Bri "playing". He is starting to realize that she is older and can put up with a good fight. He plays rough with me and I have some scratches to prove it. In the video, she is slapping him and he is jumping back at her. But we taught Reagan a good safe word whenever he and I are fighting with each other, "Kisses". In the video, you can hear Bri slap at him then say "kisses" and he stops and starts licking her.

OK, one more video. This was a Saturday when we watched Evan and Drew. They were maniacs. The video was taken around 10 pm, well after they were suppose to be in bed. They just ran and ran in circles. It made me tired just watching it.

And to polish this off this lengthy post, I will plug my cousin Terry's new blog. "The Evans Politick".

http://www.theevanspolitick.blogspot.com/

If any of you want a good view on politics, jump right in. He likes people to respond and post, so if anyone wants to join in, his email is at the top and fire away. If you don't agree with us, we will judge you to the fullest extent possible. (Just kidding, kind of)

Tuesday January 18, 2010

It has been about a month since my last visit and its been busy. Christmas was good. We pushed up the arrival of Santa Claus for Brianna this year due to weather. When she got up, she was excited to see what Santa brought her. She had been asking for a pretend puppy, and that's what she got. We have been having issues with Bri wanting to take pictures with our camera. She will throw a fit if we don't let her, so we bought her a kids digital camera. She loves it. A majority of her pictures are action shots, her running around and snapping pictures, but she has taken a few good ones.

Brianna and her standard action shot.

A grumpy self shot.
And finally one of her better pictures. At least she let Shawn and Morgan pose for this one.

The weather did hit the Omaha area like they predicted. We were able to leave Omaha a day early to beat the weather. We made it to my parents in Harlan without hitting any problems. Just a decent amount of rain. In Harlan the rain was starting to freeze on the city streets, but the interstate was just wet. Once we got to Baxter, the weather was not bad at all. Just foggy and some little freezing rain. When we woke up Christmas morning, it still did not snow like it was in Omaha. I believe it was around 37 degrees when we woke up but it dropped in a hurry.

We needed to make it back to Omaha for Kristy to work the Saturday after Christmas. The roads around Baxter were fine, but the closer we got to Omaha, the interstates were closing. We ended up staying another night in Baxter. We definately did not want to take our chances getting stuck in that maess.

We had no problem driving back, the interstates were good. The problem we ran into was, our driveway. I figured it would be bad, but not this bad. I had been in contact with a co-worker who had offered to bring his snow blower over to clear our driveway. Since we were gone I was not able to at least do some damage control during the storm.

There was around 4 feet of snow throughout the whole driveway, including the mess the County road crews made at the base of the driveway. This prompted us to retire the shovel and purchase a snow blower. I don't care if it doesn't snow again, the snow blower is worth its weight in gold.

Now our back yard, is even worse. 95% of the yard is full of snow, up over the fence in most parts. Poor Reagan had this large back yard that has been reduced to a small strip along the house. He has yet to even try to walk on the snow. This has also caused him to avoid going outside for his bathroom breaks. That lazy, 85 pound house dog, will be making messes at the Humane Society if he keeps this up.

All in all, 2009 has been a good year, minus this snow. Bri is enjoying her first year of preschool. Her teachers seem to enjoy her in class, the obviously do not know the real Brianna. We have a little one on the way. Only time will tell, if he or she will be just like Bri. We cant possibly get another screaming, non-stop talking kid??

I cant forget to add, its great living in Nebraska we have a year to tout an Iowa State win in Lincoln in football and a recent UNI basketball win against Creighton here in Omaha. The more those teams lose, the better it is to be a Nebraskan!!!

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!!!!!