Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Spike Gets a Bath
Gracie never forgets. Last night at the dinner table I mentioned to her that it might be fun to give Spike a bath. Gracie thought that was a marvelous idea and couldn't wait. We decided we'd do it right before she had her bath. But then one thing led to another and other chores took precedent and before we knew it, it was waaay past everybody's bedtime. So, to Gracie's disappointment, we didn't bathe Spike. And of course, to ease her pain, we assured her we would bathe the puppy "tomorrow".
The first thing Gracie suggests after dinner tonight was for us to bathe Spike. We couldn't let her down two days in a row, so tonight, we bathed Spike.
It's difficult having a kid as sharp as Gracie. I too often find myself trying to trick her so that I won't have to give her the attention she seeks or do the task she's demanding by telling her we'll do it later, hoping she'll forget before later ever comes around. She NEVER forgets. I'm feeling guilty now. I wonder how often she thinks in her little head, "Dad won't ever do the things with me he said he would do. Dad won't follow through."
Ouch. So tonight we bathed Spike.
December 29, Back to Work!
It's good to be back in the office. All is now right with the world again. At least for me. Spike is at the Vet getting things shoved into places where things ought not be shoved. Sorry Spike. Here's the pics from Christmas. Enjoy.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
The Adams Blog Gets Even Better
For loyal followers of The Adams, the blog's about to get even better. Santa (Cindy) gave us a kick-a Olympus digital camera for Christmas. What this means for the blog is more crystal clear, sharp, bright images like the one you see below. It also means you'll be seeing more albums. You may have noticed I put alot of one-shot snaps on the blog. Most of these are taken with my iPhone. Granted the images aren't as great as this one of Addie, but what the iPhone lacks in image-capture it makes up for with it's convenience. When I see a good shot, I don't have to go find the camera, wait until I'm at the computer, download it, then upload it to the blog. I can just point, click, and email it straight to the web. So I'm going to try to continue with daily or semi-daily shots with the iPhone, but expect to see regular albums, too. I have heard some feedback from a few loyal fans that they miss the albums and the captions. Hopefully, you'll be seeing more albums soon. In fact, I have a large stash of Christmas photos to upload as soon as I get to the office. I don't have enough bandwidth to upload all of them here at the house. I'm excited about the camera. Good job, Santa (Cindy).
Today: Anita Beth was a girl on a mission after church today. She has the house clean and in order, save a few decorations upstairs and some boxes ready to be taken to the attic. The main living area downstairs is spic and span. Hardly a remnant of Christmas remains. I wouldn't even know Christmas had happened if it wasn't for Spike the bulldog napping at my feet. It's fun to have a dog in the house again, but he is going to be some work. The little guy is a bottomless pit. Unfortunately, the pit does have a bottom, thus little Spike has to pee about every five minutes and poop every 10. Never thought I'd say this, but I'd rather change a diaper! But, I did it to myself, so I can't complain too much. Speaking of dogs in the house, I took AB to see Marley and Me last night. Two thumbs up. Not only was it funny, but parts of the movie were a mirror image of our home life. Small kids are hard. It was good to see a movie acknowledge that, at least as we live in the midst of it.
Worth Sharing: I saw at least 10 deer from the couch in my living room even as I wrote this.
Snow White World Record: Addie may be on the brink of setting some type of costume record. I can't remember that last day that she didn't wear either her Snow White dress or her Mermaid Princess gown.
UPDATE: It's 10:15 p.m. and I'm tired as a dog. Seems the clean-up job this afternoon wasn't enough to satisfy AB. So, after dinner we took down all the upstairs decorations and I trucked all the boxes up to the attic. Good night.
UPDATE 2: Nearly 30 seconds after the above Update AB informed me that she reads the blog, pulled her covers over her shoulder, huffed up, and turned her back to me. So, to the extent Update 1 seemed like I was dissing on the best Wife and Mom in the world, Update 1 is withdrawn. Sorry AB. I enjoyed spending time with you yesterday, even if it meant I had to help clean up.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Need a Boost?
I'm not one to normally forward things around via mass email. I will put the occasional good read on the blog. The following story takes two minutes to read. I know you have it or you wouldn't be at jakeanitabeth.blogspot.com!
Rick Reilly has the following story on espn.com today:
They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.
It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.
Did you hear that? The other team's fans?
They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.
It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.
"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!"
And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.
But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.
This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.
So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."
Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"
And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."
Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!
"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"
It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"
Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.
After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."
And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.
As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.
The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."
And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.
Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.
Hope.
Monday, December 22, 2008
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACIE!
I love you! Here's my favorite picture of my four-year-old at a much younger 3 1/2. Please don't grow up.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Addie Needing A Nap
Saturday's ballet recital. It's a good shot of my ladies.
Just What I Wanted!
everybody else's. To Addie, every present is her present, from The x-
large flannel shirt Iris gave Roy, to the pink courderoy jacket Iris
gave Gayle.
Cooking For Uncle Roy
with Uncle Roy and Aunt Gayle after church today.
Friday, December 19, 2008
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