12.27.13 - No Holiday Card...

Every year I enjoy making custom Christmas Cards for us to send out to family and friends.

Every year, except this year.

It just didn't happen.  Crazy family schedules meant we didn't even get a picture as a family until Christmas eve service at church.  I even had a really good idea for this year's card, I just lost the battle to find the time to get it done.  I'm partly really disappointed in myself for not making it a priority, but I think I started skewing in my own head what these cards were for.  Somewhere in the past few years I started pressuring myself to come up with a better card design year after year, as if that was the most important thing.  Obviously that's not the point of a holiday card but just how my crazy mind was skewing this tradition.

Truth is, I think this blog has become a pretty effective holiday card of sorts.  That wasn't the intention when I started writing it, but as more and more of our friends/family are connected online this has been a pretty effective way of sharing with everyone some pictures from the family and the happenings around the Kaopuiki family this past year.

So, my apologies for not sending out holiday cards this year.  We still hope everyone had/has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

12.26.13 - Holiday Music Playlist

One of the ways we enjoy celebrating Christmas is through music.  We officially begin playing Christmas music after Halloween, but we're not shy about playing the music anytime throughout the year.  We also have a pretty significant collection of holiday music we've collected over the years and with great additions like Pandora, Noisetrade, and iTunes Radio we continue to discover new holiday music.  Here's a glimpse at some of the more popular songs in our holiday playlist this year:

• Snow Globe by Matt Wertz
• Our God by Lincoln Brewster
• I Hear (Click, Click, Click) by The Rosebuds
• Winter Snow by Chris Tomlin featuring Audrey Assad
• You're Here by Francesca Battistelli
• Day After Christmas by Matthew West
• I Pray on Christmas by Dave Barnes
• Hope was Born this Night by Sidewalk Prophets
• Maybe this Christmas by Tim Halperin
• Christmas Just Ain't Christmas Without You by Matt Wertz
• Sleigh Ride by Karmin

12.25.13 - A Different Kind of Christmas

The day has come and gone, and we've had a very nice Christmas day.  It was different this year, for sure.  It was just the six of us today, for the first time ever, and it made the entire day seem a little strange.  Nobody surprised us with a knock on the door this year and as much as we all tried to guard our hearts and feelings from the wishing and hoping someone from home would miraculously show up, I could tell all day that everyone was looking for any clue that some big surprise might be in store.

Not this year though, and that's ok.  It just made this Christmas something new and different.  Today,

we all experienced how blessed we are to live in a culture and age where despite thousands of miles of space between us, our family could leverage iPhones and webcams to share family time opening presents and just visiting.  Blessed to have little nephews who get excited at the sound of an excited aunt's voice and face when they see her on the TV screen and hear her voice through the speakers. Blessed that the same aunt can see and hear that excitement in their faces and voices.  Blessed that cousins and friends can compare Christmas gifts and even play new video games with each other from thousands of miles away.  Blessed that we have these resources that can help keep us close despite the physical distance between us.

So, instead of spending my day buried in sadness that we were away from our extended family this holiday season, I spent it thankful that we've been given the ability to stay connected and continue to grow in our relationships as a family, stretched far and wide.

12.24.13 - Birthday Wishes

December 24th is one the the big days in our house we look forward to throughout the year.  Sure, it's Christmas Eve and there's *just a bit* of excitement for that fact alone.  It's also Marcy's birthday and before we celebrate the big day tomorrow, we get to celebrate Marcy's big day today.

For the second year in a row we had a fun, adults only, breakfast out with some close friends.  The rest of the day will be about Marcy's Birthday Wishes, as we're calling them around the house.

Aside from the typical World Peace and Ending World Hunger, here's what we're efforting to accomplish today to help make Marcy's Birthday awesome....

No Fighting between the kids - some days this would feel as insurmountable as the World Peace or Ending World Hunger wishes, but so far so good!  Of course, two of the kids are still in bed...

Making Sugar Cookies - Already done!  The younger boys had fun making sugar cookies with Mom after we got home from breakfast, although Kyron did try to convince Marcy that some Hobbits and Wizards would be good additions to the batch.  She didn't fall for it.

Breakfast with Friends - As mentioned before, we started our day off with this highlight.

Christmas Eve service - we're planning on going to the 3pm service at Northview.  If you don't have plans already, we'll see you there!

Family Movie Night - We've already got our tickets for Saving Mr. Banks later tonight.  I haven't heard much about this movie, but since both Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson are pretty picky with what they choose to do, I imagine this will be somewhere between pretty good and wow! in our rating system.

The Laundry Fairy would show up today and  fold all the laundry - guess where I'm going as soon as I click publish for this post?

Seriously though, we're all so lucky to have an amazing woman and mom like Marcy in our lives.  I know we don't show her enough how much we love her and probably make her feel unappreciated at times, but the truth is that this woman makes our family work.  We'd be lost without her, every one of us.  Our kids will be better adults someday because they have Marcy as a Mom and I'm a better father and all around person because she's been my wife for over 18 years.

Happy Birthday Marcy!  May all these wishes and many more come true!

12.23.13 - Our Indiana Family

Late yesterday we headed to Southern Indiana for a quick visit with our Indiana Family, also known as the Days.

This special friendship started when we met as neighbors almost seven years ago and has grown through the years.  Although we're no longer neighbors, we remain close friends - in fact, they are more than friends, they're our family.  The holidays wouldn't be the holidays if we couldn't spend time with family.  We are so blessed and thankful that these great people have taken us in as their own and when we can't go to Oregon to be with family, we can always head to Jasper.  I love how we can go weeks or even months without spending any time together but once we are together it's as though we've never been apart.  Life just seems to pick up where we last left off.

Another certainty is that trying to get ELEVEN kids to sit still and take a picture is always going to be a challenge, but I look forward to that challenge every time.

12.22.13 - Thankful for my Friends an Ocean Away

The holidays are often a time of the year we are drawn to think of and be thankful for special friends.  Today, I am especially thankful for special friends in Ghana that I have met on the mission trips I have gone on over the past couple years. 

 Just chill in' with Felix

I am thankful for Dr. Seth and his leadership of Manna Mission and his love for the people of Africa; for Deborah & Ronald, newly weds who taught me much about relationships and the importance of keeping God at the center of your marriage; for Isaac and his never ending words of encouragement; for Noah & Joshua, two brothers who were examples for me that 'boys will be boys' and perhaps the only differences between these two boys and my own is where they were born; for Patience and her work at Manna Mission; for the enormous servant heart that Wisdom is blessed with and shares with others; for Felix and his dedication to change the world; for Professor Korley and his work to educate the next generation of young pastors in Western Africa; for Bryce, the little orphan boy who I wanted to squeeze into my luggage and bring home to our family; and for Pastor Ebenezer and his wife Abigail, two more servants dedicating their lives and marriage in service to their God and Savior.

I think of and pray for these people often and I am very thankful that God has blessed me with the opportunity to meet them, work alongside them, and learn from them.

Merry Christmas to my Ghanaian brothers and sisters!

12.21.13 - Basketball Saturday

It's not just a December occurrence, it's a year round ritual in our house - Saturdays are Basketball Saturdays.  All three boys are continuing to play basketball year round with Indiana Primetime Sports which means that Marcy and I seem to live at the Fieldhouse on the weekends to catch all the games, typically at least one per boy.  With three boys playing basketball and Makela with her own activities, it often times means we can't both be at every game. Today was no different as we divided between games and locations. Most years, during the Fall session when basketball is officially in season, the boys play throughout the season and then because of our travel schedule back home to Oregon, they miss out on the end of the session tournament.  This has been a bitter sweet reality as it is always sweet to go home to see family, but the boys always hated missing out on the tournament play. Since we are staying in Indiana this Christmas, the boys were able to play in tournament games this weekend - still bitter sweet, but for opposite reasons now. Caeden's team advanced to tomorrow's games, but while both Kyron and Caleb individually played real well, their teams suffered tough losses and they're out of the tournament. Watching the boys play basketball is really one of my absolute favorite things to do.  I just enjoy watching them do something they love doing.  If that continues to be basketball, great. If it turns to something else, that will be great also.  Regardless, I'll still be in the stands or in the audience or wherever I can get the best view.  For now, it tends to be half court on the top row of the bleachers.

Caleb with an outside jumper Caleb with an easy lay-up Kyron hits a jump shot Kyron drives to the hoop.

12.20.13 - My TCA Anniversary

Today marked the anniversary of my first day with the Chef's Academy.  A year ago I was really excited to start a new job, but I was also admittedly very nervous. Nervous to leave what I had come to know real well (my previous position), nervous to leave a great team, and nervous what was in store for me.  I was also very confident though that I was making the right move.  Fast forward to today and I can look back at this past year and say it has been one of my best years at Harrison and probably in my entire career.  It has absolutely had its share of ups and downs, and there is still so much work we have to do, but it really has been a successful year.

Much of that success is due to the great people I work with.  Great people are at the core of any of

our Harrison College operations and The Chef's Academy has been no different.  I miss my old team a lot and I'm glad I still have the occasion to work with some of them, but my staff and faculty on my team now are also great people and I am blessed to be called their leader.

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge how great it has been to be in an environment around students each day again.  I had been in an online or administration setting for the last ten years and I was really missing student engagement on a more regular basis.  The daily interaction with students face-to-face has been a welcome change and another big plus in this Campus President role.

I am very thankful for all the experiences and people that have contributed to the success this year and I look forward to the many more great years ahead as well.

Oh yeah - my biggest accomplishment..... I didn't gain any weight this year! :-)

12.19.13 - Holiday Puzzle Take 2

Since we blitzed through the first holiday puzzle we decided we'd tackle a second one this year.  This time we chose a true holiday scene and one we've always wanted to do - NYC Christmas! We've never been able to find it in the store and I'm sure that because of its popularity, most of the online sites would jack up the price to around $40.  

Granted, Ravensburger puzzles are good quality puzzles but I've never spent anything close to that much on a puzzle.  We could never bring ourselves to pay that much and were holding out hope that some year we'd find it at a store. So, when Marcy found the ice skating at Rockefeller Center puzzle at Kits & Kaboodle toy store for 1/3 of what Amazon was charging we knew we had our second puzzle of the season!

12.18.13 - My Holiday Drink

Maybe I'm a victim of marketing, but my taste buds get excited every holiday season when the red cups come out at Starbucks every December.  It's my own personal indulgence during the season to order my favorite holiday drink: a Venti, Non-Fat, Peppermint Mocha.  I don't get the drink more than a couple times a week during the season, but over the years it has become one of the foods and flavors I associate with Christmas time.  Sitting in Starbucks tonight as I try and get some extra work done it tastes especially good.  Not that I'm looking to make any changes, but I'm curious what favorite holiday drink others list as their favorite.  Anyone willing to share?

  

12.17.13 - Food Regret

It happens to all of us at one point or another, you eat something you were craving or that sounded good and almost immediately afterwards...you find yourself saying "I shouldn't have eaten that."  Often times the food tastes great and it is a fulfilling and satisfying - maybe even great - meal. The positive experience quickly turns to something less than desirable, however, for any number of reasons ranging from guilt to a bad physiological response to said consumed food. The entire scenario results in Food Regret.

Well, for the past several months I have been driving by a particular fried chicken restaurant boasting Louisiana-style food.  If you don't know which fried chicken chain I'm talking about, let's try some word association: Cartoon, Sailor, Spinach, Olive Oyl..... got it?  I'm generally not a big fast food eater - not that I'm a healthy eater either - and I have been curious about the Louisiana-style fried chicken since a franchise of this chain opened in Carmel.  Caleb has tried it and continues to tell me how good it is, but we've yet to go together.  Then, earlier today I was between appointments and drove past one franchise.  Something inside me said that today was my day to try a little bit of Louisiana in Central Indiana.  

No sooner had I finished my meal was I wishing I had never eaten it.  Perhaps it was the significant

amount of hype that my greasy-food loving teenage son gave the food that it made it impossible to meet the expectations; or maybe I just got a bad batch of food.  Either way, lunch has been haunting me all day...

Chalk it up to a lesson learned and my curiosity resolved.  I'm sure there are many others who feel similar to my son about the food, but for those who have never experienced this particular Louisiana Kitchen, I'd recommend passing until you can visit real Louisiana.

12.16.13 - A picture 16 yrs in the making

We have never been a big Santa house.  My parents scarred me early with a traumatic Santa experience - it's still too painful to write about 35 years later - so when Marcy and I began our family we didn't feel real strongly one way or the other about Santa having a serious role in the celebration of Christmas in our home.

As young parents, we always thought that kids' pictures with Santa were cute and always wanted our kids to get a picture taken with Mr. Claus.  Makela, however, never thought it was cute and has always been scared of Santa.  To the point that as soon as she had words to express thought, she argued and fought against it.  As a result, we have never had a picture taken with Makela sitting on Santa's lap.

All that changed this past weekend!  Makela mustered up the courage that has been building for over 16 years to pose for that picture we have always dreamed of.  Sure, it wasn't the cute little girl in a special Christmas dress with a big holiday smile; or the little baby girl screaming stranger danger; or a little girl with eyes of a believer having just shared a secret Christmas wish with her holiday hero.  Those are all cute and funny scenes, but we got our picture, and this one will go in some scrapbook somewhere labeled as "Makela's First Santa Picture" and it will mean a bit more to us because the line we stood in for Santa was 16 years long.

12.15.13 - Primetime Friends

For the past four plus years we've been fortunate to have had the boys involved with a great youth sports program called Indiana Primetime Sports.  It all started with basketball, but they are usually doing some sort of activity with Primetime year round.

The programs have been great and the coaches are awesome, but the real benefit of being part of
Primetime are all the great families we have gotten to know over the years.  The boys have developed some great friendships that may have started on the basketball court, but extend off the court as well.

Today we headed to do some indoor climbing with some of their teammates.  The boys had a great time hanging out with their friends and trying something new in rock climbing.  I even had to go through my own mini course of learning how to belay.  I suppose I was a good student, because none of the boys dies or even fell...very hard.

Climbing today was a fun time, but made even better because we spent the time with some real Primetime Families.

12.14.13 - Breakfast with Santa

This morning was a special event at The Chef's Academy, designed for us to show our appreciation for our students and their families.  We hosted Breakfast with Santa and it was great to see so many of our students bring their kids and families through.  I'm pretty sure the snow from last night hurt our attendance a little bit, but I was still happy with the turnout and how smooth everything ran.  The latter though, is really a testament to the great people I work with and their ability to pull off these types of events with great planning, teamwork, and follow through.  I really enjoy this group of people and the work we're doing together each day.

A special thank you to Makela for joining us today and helping the little kids who were visiting make Reindeer Food to take home.  I had a great time having her there with me today.

Part of my Super Team at TCA

12.13.13 - Folk Festival

It got overshadowed yesterday by his brother's birthday, but last night was Kyron's music concert, the annual Folk Festival at Mohawk Trails Elementary School.

This concert has actually been a topic of conversation from the beginning of the school year.  Caleb doesn't have many fond memories of music class/programs in grade school, but we all still remember how excited he was when he came home 5 years ago and announced that he was going to be head of the dragon!  That was an exciting night for Caleb, so when Kyron started third grade Caleb told him the best part of the third grade is being the head of the dragon.  That began to build Kyron's hope that he would be able to have the same experience.

We tried to prepare Kyron for the likelihood that he would not get chosen, I mean what are the odds that two of our boys would get such a special spot in this show?  So last week, when Kyron came home from school and announced that he was the head of the dragon, we all thought he was joking.  Turns out, he wasn't!  Kyron and all the kids did a great job last night and I especially liked his performance as the head of the dragon.

12.12.13 - Creating Birthday Memories

Since he was just a little guy, Caleb has always been my movie buddy.  If someone were to ask either of us what our favorite activities are to do together, we would both likely say "go to the movies" as one of our first responses.  So it really came as no surprise when it came time to decide how we would celebrate Caleb's birthday today that he would pick "go to a movie with Dad" as his choice.  The twist to this selection though was that he wanted to go to the midnight showing of second Hobbit movie.

A month or so ago when this idea came up it sounded good, but now faced with the nearly three hour

movie in front of me and the fact that I am already tired, I am beginning to realize that these late late night movies may now be a little much.  I think that means I am getting old....

What I have hoped for all along though is that this birthday would be a great memory for Caleb and I.  It's been a guy's night out, just the two of us. We spent the last couple hours at Buffalo Wild Wings eating wings and pretzels while we watched a football game and now we're in a theater for his first ever midnight showing at a movie theater.  As tired as I am, I know I'll remember tonight as a fun night with my oldest son.

I've spent the day thankful for the past fourteen years that Caleb has been a part of my life, but at 11:56pm tonight, I am thankful for the fun memory tonight will be eventually be - and for the caffeine in my Diet Coke...I've still got a long night in front of me.

Happy Birthday Caleb!

12.11.13 - Another Driver in the Family

One of the most significant changes in our family this past year has been the addition of a new driver to the family.  Makela turned 16 this year, but based on Indiana law, she has to accumulate a certain number of driving hours with her permit and be 16 1/2 before she gets her license.

Time really does fly by because I can't believe Makela is old enough to drive!  She's been doing a great job though and I am certain will be ready for her driver's test when the time comes.  If you were to ask her what the most challenging part of learning to drive has been, I believe she would say her parents.  There is more than a little anxiety in the passenger seat(s) when she is driving, but we do our best to stay calm and let her focus on the road and on learning each time out.  We need to get some snow driving in for practice though, so I think in the next snow fall we may head to a school or church parking lot to practice.

I think she is getting tired of me reminding her that "until she has children of her own, this is probably the biggest responsibility she will have as an adult."  Hopefully she'll hear it so much that she hears that message in her head each time she gets in the car.

Having another driver will certainly help in the logistics of our busy family, but I am nervous about entering this stage of life.  A friend of mine cautioned me that when his daughter started driving he immediately lost a connection with her that he wasn't prepared for.  Those 10 minutes in the car to and from school or practice or anywhere else they would go just disappeared and were no longer necessary. He advised me to be proactive and have a plan for how we can replace those lost encounters.  It was great advice and honestly, not something I had thought about when thinking about Makela driving.  My mind went to questions like "Will she be safe?" - "Is she ready for the responsibility?" - "Is she mature enough?" - "Am I ready to let her drive?" - "Can we afford another driver?"  I never thought about the relational impact if I answered yes to all those questions....

So, she's getting ready to become an official driver and I'm scheming how to hold on to my little girl a little longer...or at the very least figure out how we can spend time with this young woman she is growing to be.

12.10.13 - Not your typical breakfast

Contrary to what my kids may think, just because I work at a culinary school does not mean that I spend my days grazing in the kitchens.  Sometimes, I actually sit down for an actual meal prepared by the students - I mean, standing and eating isn't really good for you or at least I remember some

parent in my life saying something like that.

This term, our Classical Cuisine class starts at 6:30am which means that the weeks they are doing their practicals and producing their full menu they are serving a 7 course meal at 8am.  This is one of our more advanced classes so the quality of food is generally pretty good, although every now and then they try something outside the box that reminds me this is a school and they are still students.  Today, that was the Roasted Red Pepper and Mango Sorbet. I can't say I'll be looking for that recipe in any cookbooks or textbooks anytime soon.

12.9.13 - Fun with Bitstrips

They started off as funny and cool for a lot of people on Facebook and then gradually (or quickly) turned to annoying and stupid for some.  Somehow, I missed all this and had no idea what Bitstrips was when I saw a co-worker begin to use them as a fun way to do student announcements.  So, after learning about the polarizing opinions of the site and Facebook app, I decided I wouldn't share any on Facebook but would have some fun with them as funny messages throughout the day between our family.  Ok, maybe I think they are funny and everyone else thinks I'm annoying but I get a good laugh at least once a day when I send comics to the kids and Marcy. Here are a few of my favorites from the past couple weeks...

12.8.13 - That was quick!

Well, this may be a record.... We're eight days into the month and our Holiday puzzle is already done!  For some reason, this one seemed to be really easy.  I tried to explain to Marcy that it was likely because THIS puzzle was arranged into different pieces that make it easy to put together.  Yes, I said it just like that and received all the sarcastic teasing and joking one would imagine from my family. :-/

What I meant to say was that the puzzle is arranged is definite sections that make it easy to split the puzzle up and complete quickly.  I think we'll be heading back to the store this week for a second puzzle with the goal of still finishing it before the end of the year.  For now though, we'll enjoy our completed Coke puzzle and probably Modge Podge it so we can keep it up year round.

12.7.13 - Haitian Nativity

One of the highlights from this past year was my first trip to Haiti with a small team from Kids Against Hunger.  As I mentioned in a post last December, the Nativity I brought back from my first trip to Ghana was a great reminder of the mission experience and how I was impacted by the experience.  So, when I went to Haiti, I wanted to find a Haitian Nativity scene that I could bring home as both a souvenir and a similar reminder of Haiti.  I didn't think it was going to happen though as the village/mission we stayed in all week was very remote and there souvenirs weren't exactly a high priority in the community.

While we were waiting for our flight at the airport though, I went window shopping through the airport and found this great Nativity.  The painted sandstone and coconut hut is unlike any of our other nativity scenes and I had to get it.

Like my Ghanaian Nativity from my first mission trip, this Nativity is a great reminder of the people of Haiti and the importance of continuing to pray for them, to be thankful for the blessings we have, and to continue to keep an open heart and mind as to how God will use me there in the future.

12.6.13 - Our Guitar Hero

Marcy has always loved the guitar.  She didn't marry a guitar player and hasn't learned how to play it herself, so she's been praying that at least one of her kids would someday take an interest in playing the guitar.  So, I don't know who was more excited last year when Caeden got a guitar and amp for Christmas - Caeden or Marcy.

It's been almost a year of learning and lessons and Caeden is making pretty good progress.  He's got a great (and very talented) teacher that he really enjoys learning from.  It's also pretty cool to see how he hears music differently now.  He can pick out the guitar part in songs he hears and has a growing and deepening appreciation for music in general.

I'm pretty certain that if he keeps at it, his guitar playing may help him make a serious run at the Mom's Favorite status.  ;-)

12.5.13 - Northview Christmas Concert

The Northview Christmas Concert has been well documented  in this blog over the last five years.  It's   the unofficial kick-off to the Christmas season at the church each year and it's our favorite holiday concert to attend each year.  This year was a little different for us though because Marcy didn't perform, so she got to enjoy the concert from our vantage point for the first time in several years.   It was a great show, highlighting an amazing story, by VERY talented performers.

The highlight of the evening for Caeden was getting the chance to watch his guitar teacher take center stage and share the talent God has gifted him with.  He sees him each week as a teacher and some Sundays during the worship service, but he hasn't seen him jam like this before!  This may have been the highlight for most in attendance...it was soooooo Good! Here's a 2 minute teaser of just how good it was....

12.4.13 - A Family Effort

Each December our family picks out a puzzle and we take our time through the holidays to gradually work on it.  It's something that started years ago with our family in Oregon and we've chosen to keep the tradition alive in Indiana.  Throughout the month we'll sit down as individuals or as a group and work on the puzzle for 5 minutes or an hour - whatever we feel like.  It's not uncommon that while the kids are on break, we'll find ourselves sitting at the table way past midnight working on the puzzle together.  I have some great memories from recent years of staying up late with Makela or Caleb just talking and working on our puzzle.  It is really one of my favorite things around the house during the holidays because it represents a retreat from the busyness of our lives.

We do have a couple rules we follow:

1. outside edges first
2. the final piece has to be placed before the end of the year
3. every time a piece is placed, Ryon has to say "Boo-yah!"
4. by the time we're 200 pieces into the puzzle, everyone else is annoyed with Ryon.

We collectively stood in Hobby Lobby last week trying to decide which puzzle we would do this year.  Coca-Cola won out and we are off and running.  I'm sure we'll have a picture of our completed work before the end of the month.

12.3.13 - Marcy's Mantle

Marcy's Mantle is as much a tradition as any other we have in our house during the Christmas season.  I know Marcy begins thinking about it a couple months before the holiday season and we all look forward to see what she comes up with.

I really like the simplicity of this year's version, but I especially like the large reminder in our living room of what this holiday season is about: O COME LET US ADORE HIM, CHRIST THE LORD.

Shout out to her co-worker who made the pallet sign for us. I'm sure this will be a holiday decoration around our house for years to come.

12.2.13 - Double the Fun

One of our *fun* experiences of 2013 has been dealing with injuries in the family.  We have a pretty active and busy family so when Caeden broke his wrist 6 minutes into the first game of his fall basketball season we were immediately concerned with how we were going to keep him busy while he was unable to play basketball.  Ok, that's not entirely true.  Anyone who was at the game when this happened would tell you that I thought Caeden was being overly dramatic and probably needed to fight through whatever pain he was feeling to keep playing.  I was certain the injury was related to a long boarding crash he had earlier in the week after I told him repeatedly to put the board away, so I wasn't real happy to see him injured on the sideline of the basketball game - as though he had somehow intended to get hurt.  It was definitely not my shining moment as a father.  When Caeden and Marcy returned from the ER with x-rays in hand, the arm in a splint, and an appointment with the orthopedic doctor the next Monday I made sure to give Caeden a hug and make sure he was ok.

So, you would think that the next week when Caleb came home from basketball practice and said "I think I broke my finger" I would have remembered the lesson learned from the previous week and responded with a little more sympathy.  (You can see where this is going.....) Instead, I figured that it's only a finger and probably just sprained - Caleb was likely just being dramatic.  Sure it was swollen and starting to turn colors but that's what happens with jammed fingers.  I sent him to bed with a couple advil, some ice, and told him we'd check it in the morning.  When I went in to wake him up in the morning, his finger looked a little puffy from the top of his hand, but not too bad.  When I turned his hand over though, we had all sorts of different shades of blues, purples, and blacks going on.  I think I just said "uh-oh" and went to break (intentional pun) the news to Marcy.

So with both boys in casts, our basketball season has been a little strange so far.  To their credit, the boys have continued to go to practices and games to continue to learn and support their teams, but for us as parents, the games aren't nearly as interesting.

This has created a bit of a bonding experience for the boys though.  We've managed to avoid any punches thrown with the casted arms and they've even discovered a new form of ping pong using their casts instead of paddles. Kyron has felt a little left out of the experience though and is wondering when it will be his turn to have a cast.  I hope it never comes, but if it does, I hope I can respond with a little more compassion than I did with his brothers.

12.1.13 - It's Back!

I suppose the title for this post could have a couple different meanings....

First, "It's Back!" could refer to this blog in general. This is my fifth year blogging through December.  I started this blog after being inspired by an article/idea in one of Marcy's scrapbooking magazines. It is also a way to force myself to s l o w  d o w n during the busy holiday season and take some time to reflect each day on the season and the year coming to a close.  Over the years, it has turned into our own version of a family Christmas newsletter so many of our friends and family bless us with each year.  Ultimately, I hope this blog will be something my kids will be able to look back on and someday share with their own families as memories from their childhood and proof to their own kids that they were indeed kids themselves at one point. Regardless, it's become a bit of a tradition that I don't see ending anytime soon.

The other thing that the it in "It's Back" refers to is the most popular Christmas decoration in our home last year, the Christmas Poof!  It's actually a wreath, but we all think the 'poof' is a more accurate description.  Anyways, the Poof is back on the front door, shouting to the neighborhood that the Christmas season is here!  Our door always has some sort of decoration hanging from it throughout the year, but the Christmas Poof's debut last holiday season set a new standard for door decorations.  It doesn't just greet guests as they come to the door, it attacks them with Christmas Cheer.  It's the type of decoration that Buddy the Elf would be proud of.  I don't know if that's what Marcy was going for when she made this, but it works.