We Did Something Right

Tonight my son was a little extra moody and arguementative with us (gasp, shock, surprise).  No biggie, but when I was heading down the hallway at 9:30ish and he was sitting on the edge of his bed looking mopey, that was a pretty clear sign that there was something wrong (and not just that he didn't get a bedtime snack).

Turns out that some of the kids at school are trying to impress him by saying that they have a PS4, which wasn't that impressive for a kid who's had a PS4 since launch.  Then they got miffed that he wasn't impressed.  And they made fun of one of Garrett's friends.

Not only that, but they're the 'popular' kids (in Grade 5) and wanted Garrett to be one of the popular kids, which involves swearing and beating other kids up.  Garrett told them that he didn't want any of that (in so many words).

I have to say, I'm impressed.  It's a lot easier (and fun) to do all that bad stuff and fit in and here's Garrett, at the tender age of 10, standing up for what's right.

It's always interesting to see what sticks when it comes to raising the kidlets and tonight was proof that we must have done something right along the way.  I guess I'll have to let Santa know that he can cancel that order of coal :)

Adventures In Aquariuming

We got a new 13 gallon tank for our adventures in aquarium maintenance.  It was looking pretty sparse yesterday with 3 tiny neon tetras and some gravel, but it's looking much more vibrant today now that there are lots more fish and some decorations!

And Then There Were None

Alas, I have sad news to report.

This morning I went out to check the robin nest because it didn't seem too lively and there was only one chick in there.  I figured it was a bit too early for the other three to have flown the nest but at least there was still one little guy left in there and maybe it would get big and fat since its brothers and/or sisters weren't fighting for worms.

Well, that dream is over.  Julie just called me up because the mama robin was having a freakout and when she turned on the light outside, there was a cat on the railing who quickly zoomed away when Julie yelled at it.  Unfortunately, when the nest was checked, there was nothing in there except a few pieces of straw and a streak of bird poo. 

It's a little sad.  Sure, they were just a few little robin chicks that happened to be growing up on our back porch, but they were OUR little robin chicks.  There's going to be a little something missing from our morning and evenings when we look out at the empty nest and don't see a beak or two poking out of it, looking for worms. 

The upside of this whole thing is that at least they made it a lot further than the brood from last year.  Those poor buggers didn't even make it out of the eggs. 

Next year we're posting guards...

Robin Has Babies!

Last spring, we had a robin decide that building a nest on our back porch railing is a super smart choice when it comes to survival of her brood.  Sadly, this proved to be an unsuccessful tactic for the passing on of her genes as something got into the next one day and smashed the eggs long before they had a chance to hatch.

Well, she's back again this year and this time her eggs have hatched!  Yesterday there were only a couple of babies in the nest but as of today, all four eggs have hatched.  The mom is a very protective bird and gives us the stink-eye whenever we're in our kitchen, but it's worth it to see the kids staring out the window as she feeds the babies.

Happy *mmph mmph*th Birthday, Julie!

It's Julie's (redacted) birthday today! Hooray!

We didn't do anything too crazy except go out to eat at Wok Of Fame (so yummy).  She also got to stand out on a lake watching the kids skate in the afternoon and I think she may have knit (or crocheted) a scarf.

Wooo!

15 WONDERFUL Years

Holy cow.  I can't believe that 15 years ago, I was able to somehow convince Julie to say, "I do" when we said our vows.  It has been a very wild ride since then and she's still sticking around, so I must be doing something right!

15 years ago we had the blizzard to end all blizzards and this year we had the crazy ice storm.  It appears that the 15 year gift is crystal, so I'm going to claim that I ordered all of that ice for our anniversary :)

Anyway, thank you to everyone who was part of our special day lo those many years ago, even if we don't see half of you nearly as often as we'd like to.

And Julie, I may not say it nearly enough, but I love you and can't imagine what I would have done without you in my life all these years.  Thanks for putting up with me and all of my shenanigans, work-related and otherwise!  It takes a special woman to deal with my crazy schedule and bad jokes. 

Happy New Year! (RIP 2013)

Well, 2013 was an... interesting year. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was a great year by any stretch, but then again, it wasn't a particularly bad one for us either, especially not compared to the crap we had to deal with in 2012. Let's just say that 2013 was an educational year. And in Julie's case, a year that she left far too many pieces of herself behind in (unintentionally in most cases).

 I've got some big plans for work in 2014 that should see me with a few less gray hairs by the end of the year if I can implement them all. And hopefully this year the kids will get out and learn even more crazy things (like skiing and how transdimensional phase shifters work) and Julie will end 2014 with all of her body parts attached!

I say this every time, but hopefully I'll get a few new pictures posted shortly. I got Julie a new camera for Christmas and it's actually resulting in pictures that look great. I just need to figure out how to get them off the camera!