On the Hood

I think I've been spending too much time washing my car.

On the Way to Church

With the ducklings...

That's My Girl

Audrey loves the neighborhood pool. We hit it this morning while the wife went to "spin" class. 

Gracie rode her new bike and Addie took the tricycle. The pool is literally a quarter mile from our driveway, but it's always a process getting over there with this crew. Gracie's bike fell over on the way. To her credit, she jumped right back on and didn't shed a tear. Addie always brings up the rear, and slowly. When we finally got over there, Gracie and Addie jumped right in. I eased toward the water, and just as I was about to get in, Addie says, "I'm stinky." And of course, I didn't bring an extra swim diaper. So I dragged Gracie out of the pool and walked them both back to the house to change the 2-year-old's big-time stink. Then we go Back to the pool. 

But it was fun. Gracie met another 4-year-old girl from the neighborhood, using her, "will you be my friend?" method. Worked like a charm. 

Petsmart

See the hamster?

Yippeeee!

Audrey is thrilled to have Gracie back after a week at Granny's.

Pulling for the Rebs this Weekend

I hope the Rebs can win their Regional this weekend. Here's a picture of Addie with Jordan Henry. Henry leads the SEC with 34 stolen bases. He's batting .347 and has 50 walks. And he's also a really nice guy. Addie sure thought so. 

Spike and the Colonel

Sharing a quiet moment together this morning.

How I Spent My Lunch

I added a new blog to to links section. On the Front Porch. This lady and I have the same sense of humor. I think. Anyway, her blog reminded me of this one. Thought it would make a good fit. My nine followers might like it. I'm hoping to add a 10th follower sometime this week. 

How to Make a Friend

One of the bigger annoyances of moving is leaving friends behind. Relationships are like good investments. They take years to build and the longer you hold onto them the more valuable they become. As it takes years of small contributions to build up a big 401K, so it takes years of acts of kindness, patient listening, and shared good times to build lasting friendships. 

So moving is much like starting a new retirement plan, from scratch. And much like a retirement plan, with each beginning contribution, it's hard to predict what will become of your investment. You just have to wait, patiently, continue to invest, and and hope for a high rate of return. The desire to connect with people can create as much anxiety or more, that worrying about the performance of your investment account. 

As humans we want instant acceptance. Each time we attend church, or a new social function, there is this underlying anxiety as to what will be the return on this investment be? Will the ten minutes spent talking to the guy next to the coffee pot be the beginning of a friendship?

This is our third move in 10 years of marriage, so the wife and I know how this works. Gracie, the 4-year-old, however, has never moved. And the other day, she told us her perspective on how this all works. 

As we were coming home from church on Sunday, she asked her mom, from the backseat of the minivan, "Did you make any new friends today?"

AB and I laughed. "No sweetie," she said, "I didn't make any new friends today. You can't just make new friends in one day."

"Sure you can, Mommy," Gracie said. "You just walk up to somebody you like, and ask them to be your friend." 

The sweetness of her naive statement was both heartbreaking and funny. I could just picture Gracie walking up to another cute little boy or girl in her sunday school class and asking him or her to be her friend. The heartbreaking part is the fear that the little boy or girl might ignore her or simply say no. The funny part is, knowing Gracie, most of them would probably say, "Ok. Let's play!"

Her mother and I explained to her that it takes time to build friendships. You have to be nice to people you meet and try to get to know them, or in Gracie's case, play with them. It usually takes more than one meeting. As we explained it to her I couldn't help but relate what we were telling her to our own situation, reminding myself that friendships take time and don't happen overnight. 

Wouldn't it be more simple if we could just walk up to people and ask them to be our friend?

I wonder what would happen if I walked up to a few people this week and said,"Hey. I'm Jake. Will you be my friend?" 

My guess is the reaction would be, "Suuuuure buddy. I'll be your friend. Ooops. Is that my cell phone ringing? I've gotta take this." Followed by months of wondering why everytime I see that person in the hallway he turns and walks the other way. 

Think I'll just stick to the patient method.

Peeeuuuew!

Man my car stinks! I'm not sure what happened, but there's nothing worse than a stinky car. I checked under the seats for cottage-cheese sippy cups and found none. The car is pretty much clean save for a little umbrella stroller that was put in there last Friday when I picked the family up at the neighborhood playground to get them out of the rain. Best I can figure, the stroller mildewed in there over the weekend. Staaanky. Anybody in the market for a Civic? 

I Want My NBA

Watched my first full NBA playoff game of the year tonight, and as you
can see from the score, it was everything I could have hoped for and
more. LeBron really is the King. I have regained the love I had for
the NBA back in the Michael Jordan days. Too bad it looks like the
Magic is going to win.

Bowling!

Took the wife and Audrey bowling tonight. Fannin Lanes was first
class. Clean. Beer. Good snack bar. Automatic scoring. And plenty of
space. We had a good time.

A Night Without ESPN

Granny broke out AB's old dresses. Let the good times roll.

Turns out Gracie would like to marry one day. Much to my dismay.
Luckily, she only wants to marry me. I said yes.

Dress Up

Sooo much more fun than the NBA playoffs.

Wedding Tomorrow

Honeymoon's at Newks. The bride picked the place.

Kill Me Now

Playing Wedding

Granny may not have ESPN, but at least we can play wedding.

Last Picture of the Night

I promise. Maybe.

Same Driveway, One Car Over

Addie's friend John Burton takes his afternoon nap. What did we do to
these kids!

1.5 Hours Later...

Don't worry. I've been outside with her the whole time. Nice night for
an outside nap actually.