Tree's Up

We put up our tree tonight.  After struggling with the ball of lights for almost a half an hour I finally chucked six strands because I'm not willing to go through and find the lone bulb causing the outage.  So the tree has fewer lights than I'd like but it still looks good.  The kids handled most of the ornaments with a little help from mom.

If you look at the TV in the background you'll see that we turned off the traditional Christmas music and put on a little Jim Gaffigan.  Kathi was remembering his bit about Christmas trees so we thought it would be fun to listen to him while decorating the tree.  It totally worked.  We laughed and giggled along with his jokes as we worked on the tree.  My kids will grow up with some unique memories of Christmas.  I mostly remember Bing Crosby singing while decorating the tree as a kid.

I've posted the video below so you can get a touch of Jim.  He is a funny guy.

Light 'em if you've got 'em

Lego's Are Huge

Friday night as I was trick-or-treating with the kids I noticed one thing - Lego's Are Huge.

Alex was a green Lego block for Halloween.

At one house we went to a 20-something guy answered the door.  All the kids were allowed to grab a handful of candy out of his bowl.  Since Alex's costume was a little cumbersome he was the last one to the door.  As he reached in the bowl and dumped his loot into his bag the guy at the door said "dude, grab another handful, your a Lego block and that is awesome".  It was said like a true Lego-maniac.

At another house a guy answered the door in costume and was playing the role of a psyco-crazy guy while handing out candy.  He moved slow and spoke in a deep and gravely voice to the kids.  Again Alex was the last to the door.  He played his role and as he turned to close the door he yelled up to his friends in his regular voice "Dudes, there's a kid who is a green Lego here."  At the window upstairs three sets of eyes appeared looking down for Alex.  I told Alex to turn and wave, he did and got a cheer we couldn't hear through the closed window.

Alex was a trooper in his box.  We hit an apartment complex that had stairs and it slowed him way down.  He had to sidestep all the way up and then hold his box up to his chin for the climb down.

All the other kids in our group had fun and creative costumes and raked in a load of goodies.  We had a good time.  We even trick-or-treated Burger King where the kids got a slushie, the toy of the month, and a handful of mints.  Brianna thought that it was the best part of the night.

More 4th Fun

There is no questioning our patriotism. Look at this picture. How American can you get? Family of four with their dog, eating BBQ burgers in the backyard on the Fourth of July. Please note the Coke, Henry's beer, corn on the cob, Kettle Chips, Hunt's Ketchup (not Catsup), Walla-walla onions, the generic mustard (not French's), and Bush's baked beans. All American!

Happy 4th

Tonight we'll have the three B's to celebrate the Fourth of July - Burgers, Beer, and Blowing stuff up. Yes!

Our street will be filled with our neighbors doing the same thing. Hopefully this year I won't put my wife in danger. A few years ago I had a stray mortar shoot her way. Fortunately her ninja skills kicked in and she was able to evade the stray as it blew up right under the chair where she was sitting.

I've got some cool double mortars this year which we will light off in honor of Kev's 38th B-day yesterday. Happy Birthday Buddy. There is a card in the mail.