We had another really nice spring day again today so I took the chance to play with the camera and take a couple of pictures of the boys playing outside. I also got a couple of really good ones of Andrew playing in the house this morning. You can find them all here.

Auntie D and Uncle Doug’s Christmas package arrived just over a week ago and the gift that topped the list of greatness for Alex was “The Polar Express” movie. Since that time he has watched the movie every single day and one of the days using his super human three year old powers of persuasion he manged to convince us to let him watch it twice. Not only has he watched the movie every day on the majority of those days he has
also watched the special features on the making of the movie or played the Polar Express Challenge game.

When he finished watching the movie yesterday Jen had finally had enough and said “That’s it. No more Polar Express, turn off the TV. Lets go find something else to do like read a book or a game to play.” Alex figured he could handle reading a book as an acceptable substitute and headed off to find one. He returned a while later not having found anything he really wanted so Jen offered to go look with him.

“What book are you looking for” Jen asked.

“The Polar Express!”

Race Day: 10 weeks from now.  April 2nd 2006.

This week I should have done three runs but I only managed two.  I figure that it’s not too big a deal yet since the longest run was supposed to be 4 miles according to the training schedule but I did a long run of 6.6 miles last Wednesday morning and one that was slightly more then 4 on Saturday.  I figure I went a total of just less then 11 miles this week.  Both of the runs were pretty fast too.  On the 6.6 mile loop I was running just under 7:40 per mile and on the Saturday run I figure I was around 7:50 to 7:55.

On my two non-running days last week I got in the pool and managed to get some good swimming in.  This week I won’t be able to slack off on the running since I really need to get in three runs this week.

I’ve started this week off strong and swam 4600 yards this morning.  Feeling good, if not a little tired at the moment.

I’ve posted a couple of pictures we took last weekend of our trip to the park. We had some really warm weather so we picked up some Popeye’s chicken, had ourself a picnic, and let the kids play outside. In fact it was so warm that we were able to wear shorts and a t-shirt. It’s not that warm this weekend so good thing we took advantage of it while we did.

Happy New Year! (Ok fine, I’m a couple of days late.) Of course my New Year’s Resolution was to get the web site up to date and post the Christmas pictures but it’s pretty obvious that I haven’t been right on top of that.

But fear not, I’ve posted the Christmas pictures and it’s only the 8th of January so I can still work on trying to keep that resolution. (I’m pretty sure I resolved to do the same thing last year too. I guess if at first you don’t succeed, make it next years resolution.)

I actually mucked with the blog home page a bit the other day and added two new “rolls” on the right. I’ve been experimenting with del.icio.us web bookmarking/tagging tool and added a list blog sites that I’ve recently visited or visit on a frequent basis and I also added a rolling list of sites that I tag as I come across them. The D and D Blog was already bookmarked by someone else so you guys have at least one more fan out there. Who knows what will come of it.

I hate to admit it but our tree really is a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. At night when it dark and the lights are on it really doesn’t look so bad but during the day it’s like a whole different tree. There are sections of it that you can see right through to the other side. I sear it didn’t look so bad when we picked it out. Oh well.

On top of all this Alex has been pretty sick the last couple of days. I seems that lately I’ve been writing a lot about being sick. It started as a small cough and then just started getting worse until he would end up coughing for the better part of an hour at a time. Also, he wasn’t getting much sleep because everytime he would manage to get asleep he would wake himself up coughing. Jen took him to the doctor and he gave Alex on some codeine cough syrup to help him get through the night. He said it was really unusual to give this type of medicine to young kids but Alex was in bad enough shape that he needed it. It’s worked really well and Alex has managed to get some sleep the last couple of nights. In fact the other night Alex and I fell asleep on the couch while watching the hockey game. (I don’t have the excuse of taking medicine I was just tired. )

Slowly he’s been getting better but this morning Andrew woke up with the same cough too so we are crossing our fingers that he doesn’t get it too bad.

Besides the sickness things are all gearing up for Christmas. Jen’s family has arrived and it seems that things have been going a crazy with everyone doing last minute shopping, wrapping the remaining gifts, and the kitchen has been busy with all kinds of cooking and baking. It’s going to be potato salad and sausage for dinner tonight…mmmmmmm

Today was a busy day getting the house all decorated for Christmas. This morning I finally traipsed up into the attic and got out all the boxes of Christmas stuff so we could get the house looking a little more festive then it has been. It’s rather embarrassing to admit but until just the other day there was still a rogue pumpkin decoration sitting on the table, but not anymore, it’s Christmas in here now.

In the afternoon we also went out and picked out our tree as well so no only is it starting to look like Christmas in here it’s starting to smell like Christmas. We just have to let the branches fall and tomorrow night we can decorate it.

Last night we were invited to a family Christmas party where there was a white elephant gift exchange. We brought a really fantastic white elephant gift but apparently everyone else missed the memo on “white elephant” so we were a little embarrassed by our crap offering. (I should have taken a picture of it since it was a classic so close you eyes and try and picture this. Well ok keep them open them until you’ve read this. Picture a mannequin hand including the wrist and about half of the forearm and where the forearm ended was the base so it could sit on the table. On the palm of the hand which was facing up was glued a plastic rose. You could even see the dolop of glue holding the rose in place. On the base was a switch and when turned on the rose would light up and it would play a cheesy rendition of Lady in Red or some such song. )

Anyway getting back to the gift exchange each of the kids had a number and when it was their turn they could either pick a gift from the pile or they could steal a gift from someone who already had one. Kids were opening Christmas ornaments and M&M; candy dispensers and when it was Alex’s turn to pick a gift he opted to take one from one of the other kids, a dancing, Bermuda short wearing, saxophone playing Santa Clause. Kind of the Bill Clinton kind of Santa. (This was the only other gift that even came close to the white elephant definition in my opinion.)

So as we were leaving Alex was all excited about his new Santa he says,

“It’s really exciting to steal gifts.” Doh…

“But that’s not the Christmas Spirit Son”

“Yeah, but it’s still fun.”

So we now own a dancing Santa and I hope the people that ended up with the rose hand aren’t too upset.

Ice Skating
I didn’t manage to rush right home after our skating experience last week to update the web site but I think I’ve talked with everyone so I’m sure no one is just sitting on the edge of their seats anxiously waiting for a post. If you have been, my apologies. I would say it went much better then I expected, Alex had a fantastic time (I had a fantastic time too) and you could see between the time we got there and the end that he had started improving. So it looks like the skating lesson that Santa is going to get him for Christmas are going to be a hit.

During out time there he did come out with some great lines though. We had just got on the ice and gone about 30 feet, I was holding his hand to keep him from falling over and he said. “Ok Dad, lets do a hockey stop!”

He did fall down hard at one point and conked his head pretty good and I thought we were going to have to leave since he was so upset but Jen managed to calm him down and stuck a deal with him to get back on the ice. It involved skating to the other side of the rink to sit in the penalty box. Well, that was all he needed to get back out there. The prospect of being able to sit in an actual penalty box was just too much. While they were sitting there I went out on the ice to skate a couple of laps and Alex said to Jen, “When do you think you’ll be ready to go back out there?” As if she was the one holding up the show.

We took some pictures and when I have a couple of minutes to spare I’ll try and get those posted along with the Philadelphia pictures that I haven’t finished yet.

Piece of your Heart
Alex goes to school three times a week, nothing too strenuous, just 9:00 to 2:00. On occasion he stays late for the after care or goes in early depending on Jen’s or my work schedule. Now after care means he ends up having to stay until 3:00 or 3:30, hardly a life sentence. So the other day on the way to school Alex said to Jen, “Please don’t pick me up late from school today.” It was a day he was scheduled to go to the aftercare program so she told him,

“Well, I have a meeting after school today so I’m going to be picking you up after nap time.” He then came back with,

“Christopher’s mommy always picks him up quickly.” Ahhhh, where did that come from? Just rip a piece of your heart out, shove the knife of guilt in a little more and twist it around. How is it at three he knows just what to say to make you feel horrible?

NBC Nightly News
I blogged last month about Jen’s dad who was supposed to on the NBC Nightly News but they never aired the story. Well last night on the Nightly News with John Seigenthaler he finally made it on. At the end of the newscast where they do the human interest story of the day they focused on New Orleans City Park and the recovery efforts. The Park just opened a scaled down version of Celebration In the Oaks so they used that as the angle and showed pre and post Katrina pictures and Bob welcoming people to the park who had come to see the lights.

I taped it but since I still haven’t even put the previous CNN performance up I’m certainty not going to promise anything on this one. NBC has online video of each broadcast so if you hunt around long enough on their site you might be able to find it there.

Last night after giving Andrew a bath I had him wrapped up in his towel and he started playing his first game of peek-a-boo with us. He would pull the towel over his eyes and then lift it back over his head. What made it all the more funny was that he did this for about four or five minutes solid and not once did he ever crack a smile. I was totally laughing at him but he just kept staring at me like I was out of my mind.

Anyway, this afternoon, probably in an hour or so, we are going to take Alex ice skating for the first time. This could be an adventure. I haven’t been on skates since grade six and Jen hasn’t been on in who knows how long and we are supposed to be helping Alex. He already assured us that if we fall down he’ll help us out.

So, if I haven’t broken any bones by tonight I’ll let you know how it went.

Tried some peaches for the first time today. Apparently we’re not a fan.