....summer frenzy

Wow what a summer it was. It's hard to remember everything if I don't jot it down, but I will try to sum up our summer with a whirlwind of pics.

  

Cars 2!!!! The boys waited so long for it and we took them to watch it at the Drive-in theater, it was a great summer night out. Next summer we will have a Cars marathon (Cars & Cars 2) in the outside amphitheater at the new house.

  

@University of Cincinnati - Hunter was selected from Lynchburg School to be in the Cincinnati children's choir summer program. It was a long week of getting him to and from UC, really neat to see him on the big stage.

What?! You wanna race dad? This was one of the many things we did while vacationing in Sandusky, Ohio.

SPORTS!! This was the min MoNsTeRs Layne had a blast and met some new friends that I can see him growing up with. I really enjoyed coaching these little ones with their monster ROAR!

Didn't realize how long football season is! But we loved watching Hunter in his first year as a Rocket! He played wide receiver, and safety.

Many firsts! First day of preschool. First day of 5th grade. First day of kindergarten.

And last but not least First day at a new job! Yes, that's right first day at TQL. And this is my new space.

I know there was a lot more things that happened that didn't get up on here, but this summer rocked!

....14

 Alright so things been flying by, I didn't get a chance to log on and mention that Sept 12th was mine and Tiffany's 14th anniversary. This year we are celebrating by the building a house, and that is keeping us pretty busy.  Tiff, this year for our anniversary reserved a nice little B&B up in Lebanon, OH. We also went to the Renaissance Festival, which was pretty neat. I got to try the crazy huge turkey leg that I have saw pictures of, not bad but not something I would eat again. It was nice to get a short trip away. The B&B had a lot of antiques that was cool to see.

 

Tiff got me tickets to the Bengals vs. 49ers game, I am a 49ers fan that's why she chose that game. The seats were awesome. Not a whole lot of action during this game as it was a defensive battle but the Niners ended up coming out the victor.

 

Bengals have a rookie quarterback that has brought back the #14 of Sam Wyche, and Kenny Anderson. On the year of our 14 year anniversary.

thanks and love ya Tiff.

...break free

After reading the book Enemy of the Heart, by Andy Stanley, I was amazed. I just first have to say this is a great book for self reflection. You don't realize sometimes your actions, and words sometimes are reflected in the enemies of our heart. Andy describes the four issues we as human beings with emotions face. Those issues include guilt, anger, greed and jealousy. The authors examples to each of these issues, make you identify them in your own life. However the truly amazing part is not only to do recognize these issues in your own life, but how to truly be freed of these hurdles. He also shows us how to look at these issues in a biblical aspect, with direct scripture references. Great easy read, and a great tool to break free of those thing weighing us down.

I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group, in exchange for writing an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. You can click the image below to rank the review.

....Remember the times

Wow, we just moved out of what we have known to be our house for the past 12 years. The only place my boys have ever lived in. So we are getting ready to start building a new one, on our property. In the meantime until it is finished, we are going to be staying with Grandma Laura. The first night there was a little rough. Being in a different atmosphere were the boys are used to living on a quiet country road, and 62 has good bit of traffic. Still trying to figure out the situation with our dogs so they don't get hurt, but also don't tear stuff up.

It was hard leaving the house for the last time, not because I love the place so much. Just because of all the memories we have built there. I can just think back to all the steps of fixing it up, bringing our boys home for their first time, camping in the backyard, Dive in Movie nights. All the great times we had there at that house, but it is just a location. The great memories are about the people that made them great. The house just served as a holding point for bringing them together. I still have my family and we are still going to have more great memories, just at a different place. The possibilities at our new place are what we can make of them, and I am sure when my boys go to move out of it they will feel that connection that they had with the previous place. So here is to the past 1199 S. Gath Rd Sardinia, OH thanks for giving us a place to make such cherished memories for many years.

Onto the future 841 Oak Leaf Rd Mt Orab, OH.
July 18th, 2011

..say a little prayer

Since this was a children's book, who better to review it then a child? Below is a review of the book This Little Prayer of Mine by Anthony DeStefano, written from my sons P.O.V.

This little prayer of mine is an inspirational book about kids making a small prayer. It is a good book, or at least I think so. You also should read this book with a child. It could teach them to say a little prayer to God almost every day to ask for forgiveness and helping them grow the correct way.

Well said from a 9 year old.

I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group, in exchange for writing an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. You can click the image below to rank the review.

....Find your Soul Print

I had heard about this book and it sounded interesting to me. I picked it up and it was a very easy read.

Mark uses the experience of David from the Old Testament to explain how to discover your Soul Print. Here is an example from the book.

"Arming a warrior for battle was a major ritual in David's day. Armor was an extension of the warrior's character. David could have gone into battle dressed like a king. But David said, " I cannot go in these, because I am not used to them." So he took them off. David came to a crossroad he could have gone into battle as Saul - wearing Saul's armor, sword, and shield. Or he could go into battle as himself - a shepherd with a slingshot."

Looking at this, it is true that we often fail because we go into battle pretending to be someone we are not. Instead of embracing what God has molded us to be. Mark also adds this

"At the end of the day, God isn't going to ask, " Why weren't you more like David?" God is going to ask, "Why weren't you more like you?""

I encourage you to pick up this book, there are so many thought provoking subjects. Each can be broken down to help you do a self evaluation, and give a different perspective on life.

I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group, in exchange for writing an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review.

....read about it.

As a busy mom of three boys, I often find it hard to set a side the time for things I enjoy. One of those things being reading. If and when I do have a few moments to spare I like books that are an easy read, and get me interested from the get go. If they don't get my attention right away I find it hard to devote time to reading them when I could find better things to do. I am sure many of you can relate.

I received the book "Living in Love" by James and Betty Robison. I have to say I picked up the book because the title intrigued me. Who wouldn't what to enrich the relationship with your spouse, even when you have a good marriage? I have to say I liked this book in several ways. For one, the authors are both speaking on each topic. So therefore you get both male and female perspective on each topic. Not only that, but it seemed much more personal. The couple both gave examples with their own married journey together. Secondly the book is broken up in 4 key parts: Beginnings, Commitment, Communication, & Challenges. The couple explained why each factor was important for the success of marriage. Thirdly, "Living in Love" had each chapter followed with a group of questions. This was a great place for reflection/discussion about the the topic of the chapter. Even though Ron did not read the book with me, I was able to give a summary about the chapter to him. We were able to ask the questions to each other. Many of the questions we would never have thought of on our own. I feel like they helped us know how we would respond to certain circumstances we have not experienced in our own married life as of yet. Finally, I feel this is a good read because the authors themselves have been married nearly 50 years, and talk about their own struggles within their marriage. It is inspiring to most married couples to hear advice from someone who has been married so long.


I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group, in exchange for writing an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. You can click the image below to rank the review.

....Go Higher

We had a great quick get away on President's Days weekend to Sevierville, TN.

Our boys love going on vacations, and it had been a long time since we had been to Pigeon Forge. Actually Holden has never been there, and Layne was too young to remember it. Since I had President's Day off we thought it be good time to go somewhere. So that Wednesday before the weekend, Tiff looked up several places and got a heck of a deal on this place for booking last minute. We found out that they were still having winter fest down there, which is their Christmas light display.

The first thing we knew we would be doing was putt-putt golfing, we found this one that had 3 different courses in one place, and you could play all three of them on different days if you would like. Plus it was interactive course which had the kids laughing at the displays. We of course went and raced go-karts at the Nascar park. The weather was great; it was nice going from 30 degree weather to 60-70 degree. Not so much fun coming back from it though.

On Saturday we went to the Titanic. They have artifacts from the titanic, stories about the people that were on board. When boarding you are given a person's name and history, and at the end you find out if they survived. It was very cool to check out.
Saturday night we were on our way back to the cabin and thought about breakfast. Of course Pigeon Forge has Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, and that was our choice for breakfast. We were sitting in traffic not moving I thought there must be an accident, because the other lanes were moving so I go out around. No accident, I found out it was just normal Sat. night when Krispy Kreme turns on the Hot Now sign on they have a line and usually takes 1/2 hour to get through. They even sell shirts that say I survive the "Hot Now" line.

Sunday we packed in some more putt-putt one in the morning and one in the evening. Made time for the Daytona 500 Sunday afternoon, with steaks on the grill. Every night enjoyed the hot tub on the deck, awesome way to relax. The boys thought it was a huge bathtub.

Below is the view from Shell Mountain sitting in the hot tub on the back deck. Underneath the fog is Sevierville. Just an amazing view of God's creation, it was worth the crazy drive up the mountain. Just sitting on that deck you could feel weightless, and the time just seemed to move slowly. Looking at the fog I could just picture the ones in they city having trouble seeing, when all they need is to be raised up a little higher and you could see for miles.


Fly away....

....Create, Contemplate and Celebrate

February was jammed packed. I will have to break up several post.

We started the month building the pinewood derby cars which I talked a little about in the last blog.Hunter designed his car, but I could tell he was unsure and second guessing his design. I figured it would run well, but I wanted him to think through if their was anything he could done different. He now has some ideas now for next year. Layne was torn between whether he wanted to do a Indy car or a skateboard. He chose the Indy car which made it easier for me to place the weights in it. Holden didn't care as long as it was something cars and he got to race. Race day finally came the little ones were excited. Layne and Holden were in the outlaw class(Dads or sibling cars). This class has to wait until last to run which makes for a long afternoon for the little ones, but they got a kick out of watching the races.
Hunter would run against his pack. His car was really fast, he had a couple close races in his pack and got first place. Then he ran against all the other pack winners for overall champion. Which came down to a very close finish, but Hunter's car finished in first a half a car ahead of the second place car. Now it came time to run the outlaw class. There were 10 cars in this class. I didn't think Holden's would run that well I just knew he enjoy watching it go. Layne's I thought would be decent. Holden took his up when his name was called and he told them he wanted to run it backwards like 'Mater'. Everyone laughed cause they thought this it was cute. It worked out, he won the race. Layne's rolled way better then I thought it would, and he won his race. They both ran another and won. Then I figured they would face each other. I knew Layne's was faster, but it still was a good race. Holden loved getting to just race against Layne. Then Layne went onto get second place in the class, and Holden finished 4th. After all the races where over Layne wanted to race against Hunter's, and it was a photo finish between the 2 with Hunter's just a wheel in front of Layne's. They had a blast and now they have new toys that they helped create to race at home. Although Hunter has his on display in his room. :-)

race on.....

....Love more

I'm trying to do a better job of jotting down blogs this year.( I have said this before ha ha) Mostly to keep memories for me to look back at. If anyone reads this they might not understand any of it. I know I will, and my kids will have something to read eventually.

This last weekend we spent not going anywhere, with sickness we didn't want spreading. We made the most of it, I helped the boys with their pinewood derby cars and got them finished up. Hunter's looks like a dragster, Layne's looks like and Indy Car, and Holden's is of course Mack from Cars. Played some wii Super mario 3, that is what the little 2 are hooked on right now. Hunter and I played an early Superbowl with Graham Crackers and Steelers on Madden 11. Sunday had a puppet show talking about God's Love, watched some cartoons, then the Superbowl (which ended up being the graham crackers winning just like the wii game)

So now with V-day coming up, can we really love more? I think it's a work in progress, and should be always on your schedule, not just a couple holidays. We need to get away from the way the world views it. They take only these special days to celebrate or show love, then they are back to the daily grind. I went and dug up the link to an ebook that I secretly downloaded onto Tiffany's e-reader last year. Here is the link Love Everyday. It's a nice free ebook, a very quick read, made up from a bunch of different writers. They are just talking about finding ways to do exactly that Love Everyday. So my last thought is, if your a gadget person put a daily reminder in whatever you have. To constantly keep you in check to think about it "Love Everyday", and see how it changes you.

Love Everyday....

....little things

So last night, we are sitting at the table getting ready to eat. When Holden comes out of the computer room with his hands behind his back walking sideways. Me and Tiff look at him and he says "Nuffin happened". We ask several times what do you have behind your back, and he just replies "nothing happened". We can tell he has the DS that was put up. So we just keep teasing him as he trying his hardest to walk all the way to his room without us seeing it. Layne ask Holden why do you have the DS and he says again "Nuffin Happened". When I say I think you mean "I have Nothing." They are so funny.

Just had to post this to remember these awesome moments.

Nuffin happened....

....Make a Better Year

So for my recap of December. We didn't close on our house their loan fell through at last minute. (like the week of Christmas) We are still going ahead and purchasing the land we have a contract on, so when we do sell, we can at least have the land ready to start building on. It was a big let down, but it will work out in time. More on the month. We starred in a Christmas play, it was a lot of fun. Celebrated with Tiffany for her birthday. Christmas was great, loved how excited the kids got. We brought in the New Years with some good friends.

Last Year wasn't what I call great, but still had a lot of great memories, had my eyes opened quite a bit. I don't know the full impact of what God has in store for everything that has changed, but I believe a lot of was God saying I was putting people in places that I shouldn't, and I need to change my perspective.
I think if you are given the chance to celebrate a New Year. You are given the chance to make the coming Year, a better Year then last, using the experiences from years in the past. Can't call last year a bad year because I still got to cherish memories with my kids, wife, and true friends.

The first part of the year is the hardest for me I hate cold weather, it depresses me. I have an even bigger challenge this year along with already trying to battle of a normal year beginning. I have a new 6 month contract where I have to drive and work downtown which I hate. I have to try to make the most of it, cause it's supplying funds. Just makes it a bigger challenge to make it a better year from the start.

Things to at least try or achieve for this year:

- Help my kids in their new sports adventures.

- Build something new with my kids. (all together, and each individually)

- Take my wife out on date at least once a month

- Take a vacation to a new place haven't visited yet

- Start a new tradition

- Take the boys to watch airplanes

- drive only my motorcycle an entire week

- enter a contest

make it count....