Fridays Are Reward Time

Well we made to another Friday. Personally I'm rooting for this catch phrase to stick Fridays Are Reward Time cause the acronym is F.A.R.T. and well thats funny. But really I think every Friday we should all set aside a little time to reflect on how the week went. For me and my family it was a great week. My wifes brother came up from Maryland and spent some time with his nieces and nephew. Lucky for him he had some extra time since we have gotten slammed with plenty of spring snow in the Poconos and the kids only had two and a half days of school this week. Monday we all went to dinner at Friendly's for the wifes Birthday.

                                                                                                                                                                                                              
We don't get out much as a family (thank you Mt. Airy Casino) so the experience was different to say the least. Lets just say we don't get out enough for the kids to use their special "Hey were out in PUBLIC manners", we got pretty lucky that we were seated by a friend that manages the place and he put us in what was essentially our own room in the restaurant. Of course, maybe it was not being seated near anyone that could of contributed to all the laughing, giggling and playing of the telephone game while eating dinner. Either way a great time was had by the birthday wife and all.

   We spent a lot of the week listening to people moan about the weather here in North East Pennsylvania. As if you lived in the north east part of the country and never saw snow in March. Duh its not as warm here as it is in Texas or Florida, thats why people who don't like the cold go to those places. If you want 90 degree weather in March move to Texas. Personally I am a huge lover of the 4 seasons in a year thing. Granted the winter can be grueling and it was not all that long ago I was writing about how sick I was of the cold and how I was bursting at the seems for Spring to arrive in the Poconos. Really though, were so close now whats another foot of snow gonna do, keep the kids in school till July , prevent me from raking those pesky - left over from Autumn - leaves just a little longer, maybe hold off the tomato garden a couple of weeks. Winter is really all about making lemonade out of lemons. Its an attitude thats says "Give me 12 inches of snow in March and I'll show you a 12 foot tall snowman". Made by 10 of the happiest kids, even though one is considered an adult, none of them had to go to school on Wednesday.

Finally, my new little nephew got the o.k. to head home from the hospital with his mama. Now it has been a decade since the wife and I brought home an infant. Thinking back to those days, I know how much work it is to have a wee one that you gotta feed every 3-4 hours and change the diapers and you get no sleep and everyone wants to see the baby and it feels so hectic at the beginning. You have to remember that family and friends, even when it sometimes feels inconvenient, are the cornerstone of a life.

So this weeks F.A.R.T. reminds us that our attitude is what makes things fun or miserable in life and that time spent laughing with family and friends is time well spent.  

MY KID IS NO BULLY

Think before you click. This is some brutal footage of a schoolyard bully getting his @#$ whooped.

deadspin.com

Ok if ur lookin for a teachable moment here it is! However you teach your boys not to bully, or how to deal with being bullied,  you may wanna watch this video with them. Thats right I watched this with my son and we had a great discussion about how each kid might of felt and why they were in this situation in the first place. He thought the little guy was pretty stupid for trying to pick on the big Cassey. My advice to my son when it comes to fighting has always been to use it as a last resort, but when you decide that is the road you have to go - then you go full force. I have always subscribed to the peace though strength adage, and have told Cave Boy if someone messes with him to hit them with a chair - kinda my version of shock and awe.
When I was in High School there was a friend of mine who was being picked on by a couple of older kids during gym class. Eventually he got so angry he bashed the back of their skulls with a hockey stick. That kid was never bothered for the next 4 years. Bullying is a hot topic in schools right now and I think that the bigger and stronger kids need to feel as though they are responsible for looking after the smaller kids. I try every day to make Cave Boy bigger ,stronger and more aggressive but not so he can pick on smaller and weaker kids. I want him to be a leader and I tell him all the time that he will grow up to do great things and to be a leader of people. 
Truth is that no one respects a bully, and men may obey a bully but they would never follow one.  I want my son and my nephews to be the next generation of great men, not a gang of hoodlums. A big part of my blog is about how we can mold our sons into the best people they can be, and if we want to do that we have to share the ugly side of human nature with them and explain whats wrong about that.

3-21-11

THE MONDAY MORNING MESS

The weekend was crazy eventful and exhausting. Saturday morning was our 4^th Eastburg Color Guard Tricky Tray of the season. Which means we were up at 6AM. The wife took command of what I like to call the Early Deployment, she was out of the house at 6:30 with the 3 girls, 1 got dropped at practice two went to the lab for blood work they needed to complete their yearly physicals, she dropped them at practice afterwards and came back up the mountain around 8 for the 2^nd assault. Team 2,Cave Boy, Grandpa, and the Boyfriend, and me as its leader, had been busy eating breakfast, cleaning up the kitchen and piling all the Tricky Tray supplies in the mud room. We all headed out right on time and were setting up at the High School by 8:45. The Tricky Tray was pretty successful the Parents Association raised about $700 and more importantly we saw a lot of support from friends and family.It was great to see Little Johnnie And Cass, Buggsy's gang, and my Sister, her husband and their 2 kids(who I will mention a lot, so we can call that group of family the C Clan). After the Tricky Tray the C Clan came back to our house.

The plan was that my girls would babysit their kids and we would go out for dinner for my Wifes birthday. My sister really wanted to go to this Steakhouse at the Mt. Airy casino and well who wouldn't want to try and win some money on their birthday. So we got there at 7 and our dinner reservations were not till 10.(thanks Bill for getting us a reservation at all). We had set aside $400 to bring with us. At 8 PM. we were down to a $140. I told my Wife that it was time to slow down or we were gonna run outta money. So we found my sister and her husband playing 3 card poker at table. My wife only ever plays slots. We sat and watched my Brother-in-Law rack up a healthy pile of chips, including a straight flush that pays out 40 to 1 ,and then my sister hit 3 of a kind which pays out at 30 to 1. So they spotted my wife a few chips and she hit triple 8's. By the time we left that table everyone was feeling happy. Then we sat down at another winning table to eat at Reds Steakhouse. The food at Reds was incredible a 22oz. porterhouse steaks some steamed broccoli a glass of red wine, onion soup, rolls with honey butter. My wife had the fillet with a red wine mushroom sauce that was out of this world. My wife then got the text that my brothers wife was headed to the birthing room to have her baby. Their 3 year old son was dropped off at our house and my 3 teenage daughters were now watching 3 kids under the age of 3. AWESOME JOB GIRLS! Cave Boy went to Grandpa's house

At about 11 PM.. I could be found in the middle of Mt. Airy casino, standing behind my wife screaming at a slot machine “KEEP GOING COME ON ONE MORE ...YES ONE MORE - YES ONE MORE – ONE MORE HAHAHA” She hit the jackpot $1501.00! She was so excited I thought she was gonna cry. People we didn't know came over to congratulate her. I ran to tell my sister. We have never won anything close to that much money. The rest of the night is a little fuzzy due to the amount of celebratory Jack and Cokes. We left the casino with $1600. My Sister-in-Law had a baby. We left cause my middle Daughter text me saying that my nephew, Headbutt, would not stop crying for his Daddy. When we got home I settled Headbutt down by explaining the situation to him. It went something like this:

Me – Headbutt knock it off. You dont need to cry like a little girl.

HB – I wanna go home!

Me – You cant Mommy and Daddy are at the hospital getting your brother out.

HB – Dont care I'm going to my house.

Me – Theres nobody at your house

HB – I go alone

Me – I'm not gonna let you be alone. Go to sleep.

HB – FINE!

In 3 minutes the kid was out cold. 5 minutes later so was I

Sunday Morning I got up just fine ,no headache, 8 AM. Go me. 2^nd fund raiser of the weekend would begin in 6 hours. I came upstairs to Headbutt bouncing up and down on the couch with my sisters 2 year old Mr Dinosaur. Though their own negotiation, my 3 girls decided that my middle daughter would stay home from the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade and help my wife with the preparations for the Lia Sophia Jewelery Party. We got the house cleaned up - the coffee brewing - my Brother stopped by to get Headbutt, who was now having so much fun he didn't want to go with his Dad, so that he could go meet his new brother, my brother-in-law and daughter started making meat balls and sausage for dinner - I ran to the supermarket to get drinks and paper towels, by the time I got back my In-Laws were here, then my Brother-in-Law ran to the supermarket to get cold cuts and bread. Then my wife's friend showed up with her husband and their 2 year old and all her jewelery stuff. My Aunt, my step father, my mother her 3 kids(I'll explain this one in a larger post), some of my wifes friends and a few neighbors...time to abandon house, we took the kids and ran across the street to my brothers house and his swing set.

Kids and a big yard and a swing set is about a perfect setting for me. I loved watching my girls and Cave Boy run around our yard when they were growing up. All the friends that have come over and thrown footballs and baseballs and water balloons and played tag – rode bikes...these are some of our best memories. So yesterday from that point of view was priceless. My 3 little sisters running around my brothers yard with basketballs, yelling look what I found Joe Joe, hide mine behind this rock and bury mine under these leaves and all the kids going down the slide and the feeling of family and friends all laughing under the sunshine of a warm spring day. Grandpa brought Cave Boy home and he ran over to play - the girls got back from the parade and they came over too. My brother, exhausted from not sleeping but excited from just having his 2^nd son, returned home from the hospital with Headbutt to get some rest. When he saw everyone playing in his yard he had to be thinking “just go home”, but he put little Headbutt down and started playing with everyone too. Hitting wiffel balls for all the little kids to chase. He let his dog out to run and all the kids screamed and tried to catch him. It was really a lot of fun. As the sun started to go down and the temperature got chilly Cave Boy and I were the last ones outside, throwing the football till dinner was ready. Almost everyone stayed for dinner. Camped out around the coffee table in our living room was my mom, aunt, wife, sister, and daughters. At the dinning room table my step father and 3 little sisters, my wifes jewelery friend, her husband and daughter. Standing in the kitchen my brother-in-law, my father, my son and me. By the time everyone left and we got cleaned up it was 10PM.  The good news is that we raised more than $1000 for guard in the last 2 days. The great news is that my wife and I now have enough money for our trip to Ohio at the begining of April and for our mini vacation to Wildwood NJ.at the end of April. My family has been blessed with a new member and everyone is healthy. What a week!

The latest Cave Kid