Drums

E wants to start learning the drums this year. I asked him what about the Saxophone, as that is what he had been learning last year. He thought deeply about it and told me if he had a couple more hands he could do both. I had to laugh. I really didn't want him to quit on the one to start the other, but I kinda pushed for the sax last year and in all fairness the school required he was in fifth grade before he could take up drums. He seems genuinely interested and I think intends on working on his sax some too. The good news is, unlike the sax there is not a big outlay of money to get started.

Sunday

Sunday was nice. The kids got me that game for my birthday, so we each took turns playing it a little. After everyone had a turn, I thought we needed to get out for a bit. We decided to mall walk. We just kind of mosied around when we got to the food court all the kids were saying how hungry they were. Kris and I didn't get anything for ourselves but let the kids choose what they wanted. E wanted Teriyaki chicken of course, J wanted pepperoni pizza, K and C wanted cheese pizza. There slices were huge. there were no leftovers though. They were so happy with their treat, I love to see that. Sometimes you just have to get out of the house no matter where you go.

Six Quirky things me-me

All right Calisixpack.blogspot.com you asked for it.
Rules:
Link back to the person who tagged you (Check)
List the rules on your blog
Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of your own
Tag 6 "unsuspecting" bloggers to complete the meme

1. I hate to hear someone "earned" a million dollars or more. Whether a regular person, athlete, star, etc. I DON'T believe anyone ever "earns" this kind of money.

2. I like to wake up several times during the night. It makes the night longer.

3. I hate to misspell words. I hate to see words misspelled. I even spell words in my head as I hear them or say them.

4. I believe teachers should make more than any other professional out there..With this their own training and background checks should be more stringent.

5. I believe most people have "minds of their own", but don't use them. They become puppets, whether of their church, political party, peers, etc.

6. I don't like sun...I love rain. I hate being hot. Doesn't work well for Nor-Cal.

I have noone to tag so I'll get off my soapbox now.

My Birthday

Well, turned 41 yesterday. Kris put together a very nice evening for us. She made low calorie homemade tamales. They were delicious. Her mistake though now I know she can make them so it will become a more regular food around our house. She also made me a yellow cake with chocolate frosting, also one of my favorites. She used cake mix and diet mountain dew to make the cake. 1/15th was a serving, so still a pretty good size serving yet still able to fit it into my diet. It too was delicious. The kids got me Zelda for the Wii...eat your heart out D-13...LOL JK wish you guys were here to play too. Kris got me one of those picture frames that you use an sd chip in so the picture can change. Of course she had a chip loaded wth pics to go with it. It had pics of all the kids when they were real little as well as current pics. All in all a great evening. Thank you babe, Love you.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Big E ....We love you so much and are so proud of you. Can't believe you are 10

OLYMPICS

Just a quick note...Olympics ...By the way...I Don't care...I don't even care who wins...

Just another day

Just another Monday on the work front. We've been selling a few pools lately...Finally. Problem is we can't make much money on the sale because the market is so competitive right now with the blowout prices other builders are offering. I start my days here moving cars around front to look like its busy here. Then I go out to our display area and check for cleanliness as well as for weeds. Turn on a few water features to catch peoples attention as they drive by. Fixed some sprinkles this morning.

To my brother and his family, I do think of you and pray for you all every day. As you well know God always has a reason.

This is the kids last week off til school starts. I don't know whos more excited, Kris or the kids.

Went to a Kenyan party the other day. Lots of fun. The kids were wiped out. I visited with a friend of the homeowners, very nice guy, graduated from MIT...I don't think he truly realizes what a major engineering school that is. I was afraid the kids were going to overheat. We had to keep stopping them and make them get water.

Just me

Been a while I know. The kids are growing so fast. I love to watch there different personalities. Es developing quite a sense of humor. Hes also a lot of help cleaning now. J just loves people, loves to play and have fun. Cay is Mr friendly. At the park we have to watch him he just picks people out and starts talking to them. "Hi I'm Cay" just walks right up and says it. Followed an older couple around yesterday while they were playing with their grandbaby. Then Ki she is a princess and knows it.."watch me dance daddy"..is her favorite greeting. Sometimes I dance with her of course. Ad finally L she'll wait til she catches your eye then grins and turns her head. I'll never need therapy, just thinking on my kids always helps calm me on stressful days.

I have been tearing out shrubs in the back yard one by one. Makes the yard look even bigger. Don't know what we are going to do with that area but helps clean the area up anyway. That many less rotting leaves in the backyard anyway. Plum season winding down so we don't have as many to pick up as usual.

Kris is taking her English Comp class. Shes not thrilled. Other than that shes doin well. Tired I am sure but well.

School starting soon. Boys are lookin forward to it I think. Also means Scouts starts soon. Jarod gets to join. I think he will love it.

Kris and the other two will get a little girl time. Ki will love that.

4th of July

We had a blast. Had a BBQ at Robert and Ginas. Couldn't hardly keep Cay out of the pool. Someone made a delicious blueberry dish. I love blueberries. We played some redneck horseshoes, visited, the went home early and visited with Sheri and the kids. The neighbor called us and we went over there to light fireworks. FULL DAY. Sher and kids were exhausted and of course not adjusted to our time yet. Of course we were missing Charles and CO. Mike, and Mark. Still lot of fun though. Came to work the next day to find someone broke into the yard and stole a $35000.00 work truck. Sac PD is worthless. My salesman and I rebuilt the fences that were destroyed as best as we could. At the same time we were swamped too.

Not enough time

It seems like something always comes up lately when we are trying to plan out our front yard. The smoke kept us in a few days. The lawns were getting to thick so I mowed those yesterday instead of working on the front patio area. I did finally pull out the Gerbera daisies. I don't know why anyone would plant those on purpose. I tried to edge the lawn, but I think my weed edger is broke. I havent been able to find the parts to fix my front sprinkler valves so we have been watering manually. We still haven't built Evans bed. I still have a few bricks left to get out of the back yard from our fireplace and mow strip demolition.
As I was mowing yesterday I looked around the corner at our fruit trees and couldn't believe the sea of plums on the ground, not to mention how loaded the branches were. I see lots of plum butter in dads future...LOL

Happy 70th

Have a very happy 70th dad.

HAPPY 70th

Another month Random thoughts

I can't believe June is almost over. Tomorrow dads gonna be 70. Doesn't look it.
We haven't done any more work on our front patio since Sunday due to the air quality. I also have to figure out what to do with all the rocks that were in there. Its gonna look awesome when finished.
The kids are having a blast with their summer vacation. Last night we all watched Spiderwick. Good movie.
Kris has put in a lot of applications, no call backs yet. Just doing it for a little spending money anyways.
We did discover some really good fried chicken. The chicken that was donated to Evans day camp. Of all places it was Wal-Mart fried chicken.
I need to mow lawns but these dreary days make you feel like you should be inside relaxing.
In case I forget...HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD AND HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD

Evan will be having his third day of cub scout day camp. Hes having a blast. Playin marbles, shootin bb guns, archery, playin games. There is just not enough play time for adults these days. I wanna shoot bb guns and bows and arrows. LOL. The other kids miss him during these times though. I think Kris not only misses having him there but also he is getting more helpful by the day.

Fathers Day

Hope all had a great fathers day. I know I did. We all went to Home Depot and bought 20 more bags of black bark. Also picked up a few plants. Came back home and all of us were in the front yard pouring the bark onto the weed fabric Kris had laid out Friday. Kris raked as we poured out the bark. Then we went and brought the flagstone around to the area. I started laying it out in a path from the sidewalk to the concrete bench. As we laid it out Kris would move and switch rocks so that it had a more natural flow. Once we had the design down, we started moving the bark underneath the stones to make them flush with surrounding grade. I then placed the plants in the area to see how it would look. They are still in their pots of course. It was starting to get hot and it was Fathers day so we put our tools away and all went in and showered. I am sure Kris will get some pics on her blog soon. It looks great. We still have our solar lights to put out too. Just need to get sprinklers fixed and area in front of kitchen window landscaped and front yard will be done. YAY...We will have to get some more plants in the newly barked area too of course.

The cats NOT in the cradle

Its Fathers day weekend. Being a father five times over has to be one of the greatest feelings in the world. It may be work but thats OK, after all I was taught by the best. Thanks dad.

Working in sawmills, fields, etc. made dad a very strong person, yet he is the gentlest man I know. He wouldn't hurt anyone unless it was to protect a weaker person. Even then only as a last resort. Growing up I remember him chopping through a log for firewood in one swing. I could hack at it for ten minutes before it would split.
He also comes from the old school..."men don't cry" Whenever he would get bad news he rubs his forehead for a second and then gets to work on whatever he needs to do whether its funeral or hospital arrangements. Odds are he will even find room to make someone laugh about then.
He is quick to laugh good joke, bad joke doesn't matter. He loves to laugh. When I find times where things just seem to rough all I have to do is think of my dad and his humor and I smile.
He's young at heart. He is gonna be 70 this year but he loves to walk and talk to his grandkids.
He never has a cross thing to say about the ones he loves. He'll laugh at himself all day long and may tease others but he would never purposely hurt their feelings. And he doesn't judge.

They say to be a Christian by definition is to be Christlike. I know no man who is more of a Christian than dad. Christ preferred hanging out with the poor and the sinners people he felt had a true need for him. Dad is the same way. He would rather spend a month with his clients than a day with some arrogant pompous rich man.
I don't believe dad ever forgets where he came from. He was poor and did without a lot growing up. So many people today pass by that beggar in the street because "he's just gonna use the money to buy alcohol...or drugs" dad would tell you thats not for you to decide only God knows the beggars heart. Dad would give his last penny to make sure one would not go hungry.

So on this fathers day weekend dad I hope you have the greatest fathers day. We love you very much. Thank you for all you have done and all you have taught me.

Evan got a realy cool backpack last night. He and another boy are entering their second Webelo year. Since they were the only two not advancing to new rank (Webelos have to work at their rank two years), they both got these expandable backpacks. I am sure Kris will post pics.
Supposed to get to 100 here this week. I am not looking forward to that. Pool weather I guess.

More randomness

We watched a CGI Garfield movie with the kids last night. Cay used to love to watch Garfield with me... I remember him running to the videos yelling "Garfield, Garfield". I also remember to get Ev to sleep I would go to my room with him and put Rugrats on. Time rolls to fast and you feel like your in a tail spin with no control. Evan moves up to his second year of Webelos tonight. Next promotion will be to Boy Scout. Ki is my princess as always. Jar is all smiles...oh to be that carefree...LOL Lei is starting to grasp items . "...and I think to myself, What a wonderful world"

Sunday

Starting to warm up here, I can see the triple digits coming. I HATE heat. I really do. Got up this morning and mowed back yard, then picked up the fallen lemons, and a few fallen plums. The plums are going to be getting ripe soon. By the time I finished the back yard the kids were up. Kris and Evan had some scouting to do. They went and cleaned tables at the hall. The other two boys and Kiara stayed with me and we had a Mario Kart tourney...Winner got to keep playing, usually they have to give up controls after two races. It was fun. Looks like dogs tonight for dinner. Kris cleaned my BBQ yesterday and fixed burgers. Love BBQ. Cleanups great also. I still haven't fixed the front yard sprinklers yet. Been puttin out an old fashioned Oscillating one.

Long Week & random thoughts

Wanna know what I hate about holidays? The shorter week always makes the next full week seem so much longer. Sales are way down here. Kris had a coughing fit for two hours last night. I told her to keep it down but she wouldn't listen. Went outside shot a few baskets with the kids. Tonight I will have to have some Kiara time, she doesnt shoot baskets she likes to swing. To shoot baskets I have her hold the ball and pick her up so she can reach but evertime I pick her up she wants to let go of the ball to keep her balance.