Christmas letter 2014

Christmas letter 2014

Well it looks like we had another big year at the Ponderosa. There’s a lot to cover so let’s get to it!

1.     Unemployed. Well as I hinted last year, Dell offered a voluntary severance package in December to become effective in February.  Obviously I couldn’t mention it then, but I took it.  And I am thankful I spent 15 years there.  What I learned, the people I met, and the places I was able to visit are immeasurable.  So in February I began my Kwai Chang Caine journey to discover myself and decide what would be the next big thing.  I figured with two young’uns and being 45 and all, this was probably my last chance for rediscovery/reinvention.  So I really took some time (not as much as advised from mentors) to do some soul searching.  And frankly it was awesome taking the kids to school and picking them up in my golf cart most days.  I really enjoyed being so involved.  Spoiler alert, I definitely see the attraction of SAHM. One thing I was mindful to do was trust in the Lord.  We have a motto that God has always pulled us through; why would we doubt this time?  He didn’t let us down.

2.      New Dog.  Our neighbor sent Nita a text.  She said, “We’re going to pick up these adorable puppies, they are free…don’t you want a dog?”  Nita has been stalling me for a long time now.  As most of you know there is never a “right” time for anything anymore.  You just do. Execute. Make it happen.  Plus, I figured with me not having a job, it’d be the perfect time to train it. So off we go to our two hour drive.  We get there and Josie immediately picks up a dog and carries her around.  Well hello, Brownie Brown Dog, welcome to the family!  Of course she has torn up everything from toys to our outdoor furniture cushions, hoses, has dug big holes, etc.  There is a company that advertises “rip proof dog toys with a squeaker.”  It took Brownie a week.  Her mother was a champion border collie and her dad was a mangy lab who jumped the fence.  But we do love us some Brownie and she is still a little hyper but she is a very smart and good dog.  She was house broken in two weeks. The kids have even written a song about her.

3.      Josie dance recital.  Nita signed Josie up for dance tap and toe.  It was adorable.  Her instructor was a dance purist so much so that all dancers were required to wear “cover ups” outside of dance class.  Also dance shoes were for the studio only.  They also had to have their hair in a “dancer’s bun.”  Josie was fantastic, her class was during my job search and I was able to take her and watch her class.  Josie and Connor are definitely different people.  Josie is a rule follower and she has laser-like focus.  She follows instructions and is very competitive. She also doesn’t melt under pressure.  The studio held the recital at a home for the elderly and I think Josie nailed her routine and of course thought she was the best dancer.  And then she said she didn’t want to do it anymore.  What a shame because she looked ADOREABLE in her tutu. Luckily we were able to put her in Connor’s gymnastics class (because he lost interest in it) and she is thriving there.  She even asked if we could buy some of the apparatus to have in the back yard to practice.  Although I also love watching her in gymnastics, I miss seeing her hopping around in her little tutu.

4.      Beachin’.  Once I finalized my offer for the new job, we took two quick vacations.  One to an awesome safari place (more on this later) and the second to our annual trip to Port Aransas.  A friend who also took the Dell package had a condo down there with a golf cart and a pool.  We met a couple of friends and two little girls that were in Connor and Josie’s preschool class.  One of them was totally in love with Connor and it was so sweet. She even drew a little picture of herself and Connor on the beach…red hair and all.  We had a great time and that boy is a total water bug.  He’d spend hours in the ocean, just body surfing, looking for crabs, shrimp (of course he caught one – Shrimpy).  Meanwhile Josie wore her little cover up in the tent and ate her weight in watermelon.  They love the water. We spent a good portion of the summer going to the club pool where Connor and Josie really grew in both size and bravery.  Josie is a veteran diving board jumper and can retrieve diving sticks.  Connor can do the dive stick thing, snorkel, and kind of protect himself.  I taught him a little thing about the thumb and well, some kid at the pool tried to push his head under. Connor grabbed his thumb and yanked it backwards.  The kid let go and ran off.  I was very proud of him.  I figure he’ll get bullied plenty as a red head…but it’ll be my fault if he doesn’t know how to handle it. So we’ll work on some stuff and maybe turn him into a wrestler (foreshadow).

5.      New Job.  While figuring out what I was going to do after Dell, I stumbled into a great opportunity.  I looked at options from buying a franchise, to starting a business, to helping a Belgian company create a U.S. affiliate.  I also looked at other large corporations and some medium-sized start-ups.  I blew up my network and asked for and received a lot of great advice from friends and mentors.  As I was narrowing my list I called a friend from our golf club to seek his advice on starting a new business.  We talked about his businesses and my aspirations and as luck would have it he needed a new sales and marketing leader for his company.  And I have been lucky enough to have found a great home in this new company and am really enjoying the challenges and problem solving opportunities.  All is going very well. One thing I can tell you is that small business and large corporations have VERY different cultures and dynamics. This has been my biggest learning curve.

6.      Nita stay at home mom (SAHM).  Nita’s company had been having less and less success over the last years and she was having even less fun.  Well the kids aren’t getting any younger right?  She and I discussed it and we decided that she should pack it in, take the buyout and be a full time stay at home mom.  She LOVES it and the kids do too.  I think she is also finding this as a way to re-live some of her childhood and do all the things she’d always wanted to do.  I swear if Connor ever says something like, “we never do anything” I’m going to put him in timeout forever.  They do everything.  Sometimes I even have to remind them that they can actually stay home and play in the back yard once in a while.  Her nickname is “our lady of the perpetual field trip.”  But as I was downloading all her iphone pics (she got a new phone) she had some amazing pictures of the kids doing EVERYTHING.

7.      Lizard, lizard, snake, snake, frogs.  Two years ago Nita took Connor and Josie to a herpetology show.  Connor loved it; Josie was “meh.” So Connor asked if I would take him the following day.  I figured okay, what’s the big deal?  He touched and held every snake they would allow him to hold.  This spring we went back.  The crowd even recognized him but this year he could tell them all about his new snake.  Oh, did I forget to mention? We have/had a snake.  Earlier this spring he caught a little anole lizard (Pita).  We bought him some crickets and they attacked him and even ate a hole in his side.  So we let him go.  Then two weeks later Connor caught a Texas spiny lizard (Spiny). Spiny was a very efficient hunter and the crickets never had a chance.  So we let him go to hunt free in the wild.  We had just put up the terrarium and as luck would have it Connor found a checkered garter snake in the back yard.  This is the downside of Nita being a SAHM.  Any baby sitter including the grandparents would have made Connor put the snake down.  Nope, we have a snake now (Paco).  Paco lived in the terrarium, ate earthworms and minnows, and was living pretty large.  He grew so fast that he shed his skin three times.  And then, Connor lost him…in the house.  We have no idea, but Nita did spot him once in the kitchen scurrying under the fridge. He caught another snake (black scales) but that one escaped while Josie was playing with it.  For his birthday Uncle Pete brought us two aquatic frogs (Nemo and Swimmy), so that’s where we are with our reptiles.

8.      Dove Hunt. We have a Wii at home but very rarely play it. When we do, it is usually the old version of duck hunt.  Connor is actually a decent shot.  We have a friend who is a Navy SEAL and offered to help us with firearm safety and technique for the kids (and who are we kidding, Pete and I were giddy about it too).  So we went out to their land and Curtis helped us out and the kids had a blast (intended).  Connor is a big time animal lover, but he also likes to fish.  So I took a shot in the dark and asked him if he wanted to go Dove hunting this year.  He said he did.  So another friend has about 500 acres a few miles south of us and offered to host us.  Said he even had a cut down .410 for Connor to try.  The morning of the hunt came and we got up super early, put on our cammo, and headed out.  I even got Connor a little shell pouch and gave him the Barney Fife treatment.  But at least he had a couple of shells to hold and have at the ready.  As luck would have it I hit the first bird I aimed at.  Connor ran over and got it…the moment of truth.  He smiled the biggest smile and played with that dove the rest of the morning.  He’d put it in his vest pouch and pull it out again.  Once while retrieving one of my ejected hulls he held it up to his nose and took a big whiff.  My boy!  At the end he even wanted to help me breast them out, which he did.  We went straight to the store and bought some toothpicks and a red bell pepper.  He told everyone who would listen that we’d been dove hunting that morning.  And let’s face it, with that red hair he’s pretty adorable anyway, but put him in head-to-toe cammo?  Please.

That evening for supper we had BBQ bacon wrapped dove breast with a red bell pepper and cream cheese middle. Everyone loved them.  We reinforced that we eat what we shoot.  Connor asked to go the next week and of course we did.  I had some injuries this spring and summer that kept me from playing much golf, but this is something we could do forever together.  I am very happy how much fun he had.  Now he wants to go deer hunting and Josie wants to come with us next year.  I think they are both a couple of years out from that, but I love the interest. My new job has given me the ability to reconnect with old friends many of whom have hunting land.  There have been offers left and right for the kids to come out and camp, hunt, fish, etc.  All this from one little decision to take the package.

9.      Connor Kinder. Connor started kindergarten this year at a private school (he has focus issues). This is his first year of five day school.  He is doing very well…but it turns out that he might be the class clown.  I know right?  We have no idea either?!  I’m demanding a paternity test.  Seriously, he is learning so much, and socially he has broken out of his shell.  His first years of school he would play by himself most of the time (parallel play).  Last year he started playing tag and chase.  This year, he seeks out kids and they seek him out to be part of their activities.  The little girls in his class love him and the boys do too.  He has also really expanded his love of the outdoors. He hunts, fishes, loves to run, dig, and generally play outside, but he is currently uninterested in sports.  I have to trick him into playing catch with me, which is a shame because he has a cannon for an arm and he is a big kid.  But I know better than to push him (see gymnastics above), so I’ll just “bet he can’t throw the ball through the tire swing” for the time being.  Josie on the other hand will hit, throw, catch and wrestle even when you don’t want her to.  It is not uncommon for Nita to be cooking, me to be in my office and all of a sudden you hear Connor screaming for help.  Josie is invariably trying out a new wrestling move Daddy taught her. 

One day I took both kids to hit golf balls at our club driving range.  They were going just fine for a while and then Josie asked if she was going to get a trophy.  At first I said, “No sweetheart, you get trophies BECAUSE you practice and get better than everyone.”  And then I thought…she’s three she wants something shiny. So I said, “YES of course you get a trophy.”  We got home and I had some old golf trophies and I made a big deal presenting them to Josie and Connor while Nita cheered and clapped.  I went straight to an on-line trophy shop and ordered 15 trophies each of a girl and a boy golfer with caption “Josie Martinez- practicing with daddy, Connor Martinez practicing with dad.”  *takes a bow* Thank you, thank you very much. 

Thanksgiving addendum. A friend gave me two tickets to the hockey game the day before Thanksgiving. I took Connor and he LOVED it.  He said it was so much fun, when Nita was putting him to bed that night he asked, “Do you think Daddy will take me to a football game?”  Hell yes I will, and baseball, and basketball, and wrestling matches (HS). This could turn out to be a game changer.  Previously he wouldn’t even watch a game on TV with me, once he even mentioned that he “hated sports.” I had hoped we’d play tee ball next spring, but he was showing no interest.  So we may not make it, but we might actually have a fighting chance now, we’ll see. After Thanksgiving addendum. Speaking of fighting chance, Connor asked if I wanted to wrestle after Sunday dinner.  We wrestled for 20 minutes, just working on “getting to your base” and breaking some hand holds.  When Nita took him upstairs to be, he begged her to let him come and wrestle for five more minutes. The next day after dinner, same thing.  “Let’s wrestle dad!”  We did, and he wants to make it the after dinner routine now. Three weeks later, we still wrestle every day and he now knows sequences, take downs, and pins.  We went to a high school dual meet and the coach let us wrestle on the mat before the matches started.  Connor is actually getting good and Josie is even getting in on it.  Can it be? A Christmas Miracle?!

10.   Josie big bed.  Remember the princess bed drama that almost led to a divorce last year?  Okay so maybe that’s being a little over dramatic. J  Anyway, Nita decided Josie needed a new bed, so she bought it.  Josie loves it. No muss no fuss…but I did put a disco ball on it.  So now we have little dance parties in her room and we use the disco light to read her bedtime stories.  In school she is also a big hit.  She is a class leader and has a vocabulary that is peerless.  In fact, last May we took the kids to Fossil Rim in Glen Rose, Texas.  It is like a feeding zoo safari place.  My old high school friend Lynn set us up with accommodations in the big house and we got to eat breakfast by the animal’s watering hole, feed all kinds of giraffes, ostriches, deer, zebra, exotics, etc.  The highlight was during a private safari our guide was asking what you call animals that come out during the night.  She answered her own question (nocturnal).  She then asked what you call animals that come out in the day…before she could answer Josie yelled out, “Diurnal!”  We all looked at each other in shock. The guide stopped the jeep and turned around to let us know that no one ever gets that right.  Josie was very pleased with herself (as were we).

11.   Petting zoo frost alert. We scheduled the kid’s petting zoo birthday party and Nita checked the weather relentlessly.  However, it kept delivering bad news, cold and rain.  Nita came to me 9 days before the event and said, let’s move it to this Sunday!  I said, “Sunday like two days from now?” She said yes.  Okay so, I’ve been told that when I am presented with a time sensitive challenge or problem to solve that has a significant sense of urgency, I no longer regard feelings.  I essentially start moving pieces, giving commands, and getting the job done.  Not unlike last year’s princess bed moment.  Nita did not appreciate problem-solving-Marco in this moment.  My very take-charge response to her “thinking out loud” moment went over like a lead balloon.  We decided that kids love petting zoos and playing outside in the cold and wet. Only adults are annoyed.  So we said whatever was going to happen was going to happen. Long story short, it went great.  We borrowed outdoor heaters from some friends, set up a hospitality tent, had some hot cocoa in a big urn, some cocktails, and the petting zoo went off brilliantly.  We then had Queen Elsa show up which absolutely made Josie’s day and then went on to beating piñatas.  The funny thing about poor Queen Elsa, was that of course she couldn’t wear a jacket…because…say it…say it…”The Cold doesn’t bother her anyway!” Oh, on that front, the kids bought a piñata and then later found two more that they preferred instead.  I thought, “Who returns a piñata?”  So I went to Raj at Oak Liquor and picked up a bunch of those little one ounce spirit bottles.  I stuffed them in the piñata and we had one station for adults this year.  Watching grownups wail away on a little pink pony filled with liquor was a hoot.  Second only to watching them scrounge on the ground for the bottles. *takes a bow* Thank you, thank you very much. So our cold, wet, outdoor children’s party actually ran for three hours.  I’d call that a success.

Well friends, another year jam packed with events and blessings.  We have had a lot of moving parts and some highs and lows, but as we say around the Martinez house…all first world problems.  We would like to wish you the best of holidays, a very Merry Christmas, all of God’s blessings, and a Happy New Year.

Marco, Nita, Connor, Josie, and Brownie (maybe Paco, still haven’t found him)!

Crown and Diet Please

I just got back from the dentist having had a crown put in and a filling replaced.  I am not a fan of going to the dentist.  I take that back, I love my dentist but I loathe everything about what happens in his office. He became my dentist after I had the worst crown experience you could possibly have (except possibly swallowing it and having to reuse the same crown).

It all started when my dentist of 30 years retired while I was dating my wife Nita.  I asked if she had someone she liked and she told me about her dentist.  I went to go see him for my cleaning and he informed me that I needed a crown.  Okay, no problem, just gas me.  Well he did.  I went in and he did the required drilling, stuffed my gum line with floss, and sent me home with my temporary crown.  At the time I was an account executive and my territory included the North East.  So, three days later I was on a plane to Boston.  I don’t know if it was the altitude, pressure, or what, but my crown popped out on the flight from DFW to Boston.  I called the dentist office and was informed that since I couldn’t return immediately to get it re-cemented I should just to get some Vaseline to pack the temporary and push it back in.

Now picture the single traveler checking into his hotel asking the nice young desk clerk where he could acquire some Vaseline.  I’m pretty sure she wasn’t buying the “it’s for my tooth” story.  To avoid swallowing it, I was also advised to take it out each time I ate.  Which of course is awesome when you are having lunch or dinner with customers.  So the rest of my week goes like this and I hop on my flight for home Thursday afternoon.  I was executive platinum on American Airlines back which means you are almost always upgraded.  Also if you remember or flew a lot in the mid-2000s they still served decent scotch up front.  So I drank both of the Glenlivits and ordered a crown and diet.  At this point I’m still miserable/annoyed and order another…and then another.  The flight attendant politely tells me that there are no more crowns with a very judgmental look about her.  At this point I remove my tooth and tell her my story.  “Jack Daniels be okay Mr. Martinez?”

So I get back to my former dentist. And as he pops it back in.  A week or so later my permanent crown comes in.  As he’s fitting it, he breaks it.  So we put the temp back on and order a new one.  Two more weeks and he’s putting the newest one on when my mouth is now inflamed.  He sends me to another guy who states I now need a root canal.  So I get the root canal.  I then get the new perm reseated and it doesn’t fit correctly.  My bite is off.  Now we already know I don’t like going in a building in which a dentist resides, much less all this nonsense for the same tooth.  I’ve already fired this guy but didn’t want to go to a new dentist and have to pay all over again.  

As luck would have it, while complaining about this whole thing in my golf club someone informs me that one of the members is a dentist and has an office just around the corner.  So I go see my new dentist and friend Daren Evans.  He sees the bad crown and says he’ll help me.  I think he even got the other dentist to pop for it.  In any case, he has been my dentist for about ten years and is a pretty good dude, even though my mouth is throbbing right now.  And since I’m currently not among the employed… Gentleman Jack should be just fine for Mr. Martinez.

Martinez Christmas Letter 2013

 

When did you stop beating your kids?  This year we decided our big vacation would be a Disney cruise.  We kind of went all out.  I wasn’t sure how the kids would do on a boat for that long, so we did the four night cruise and booked an extended stay in Miami for three additional nights.  Two nights before our flight we were getting Connor ready for bed and he buried himself in our pillows to “hide in his habitat.”  I reached under to get him and he exploded out to “surprise me.” The poor boy hit the headboard so hard that I thought we were going to get stitches.  His eye swelled up so quickly it was kind of scary.  In fact I would guess it was one or two foot pounds away from about five stiches, it looked pretty thin and tight (for those of you to whom that would make sense).  We iced him pretty heavy for the next two days.  We arrived at the airport, took the first leg of our flight, and the kids were doing great.  I booked an extended layover in case we needed costume (diaper) changes, lunch, or just needed to run the kids to tucker them out for the Dallas to Miami hop.  As the kids were running around the play area Josie ran into the corner of the table...eye first. I now have two children with black eyes. So here we are about to board a boat for a swanky cruise and I am obviously an abusive father.  I was praying that Nita wouldn’t stumble into a door to complete the trifecta.  In fact it reminded me of when I had gone to Houston to ask Nita’s Uncle Sammy for permission to marry her.  He recommended that I “never lay a hand on her” in a way that hinted that they might not find the body should I ignore his advice.  Two weeks later we were house shopping and Nita hit her eye on a spring loaded gate.  I told her we couldn’t go to Houston for two months.  She thought I was overreacting. 

 

Disney and Miami. We made it on the boat and the kids were pretty excited.  We toured some of the kids clubs and got some lunch.  We had a really large suite on the boat and it included a dining room.  So instead of trying to get the kids bathed, dressed, to hurry down and stand in lines to then sit quietly and wait an hour for breakfast…we had the majority of our breakfasts and lunches in our suite; mostly in pajamas. The funny thing we learned was that Josie is a night owl and Connor goes full speed until he hits the wall and then goes down.  Connor fell asleep at the dinner table all but one night and while I entertained Josie at the table, poor Nita ate her dinner in the suite almost every night.  We also learned that even though NO ONE loves animals as much as Connor does; humans in animal costumes…not so much.  Meanwhile Josie loves characters in costume…and she can eat her weight in macaroni and cheese. We visited the Bahamas, did a submarine ride, and played on the beach; where Josie ate almost two whole mangos in one sitting.  That girl can eat. Kids and parents had a wonderful time.

Miami was wonderful.  We went to the Miami Seaquarium which is like a 1950s version of SeaWorld complete with the injection mold plastic animals (Remember Mold-A-Rama?).  The next day we went to Jungle Island which is a VERY interactive zoo. Connor fed parrots, a lemur, kangaroos, and goats.  He also held snakes, turtles, and an alligator. The kid is fearless.

The flight home was great and I even had a flight attendant tell me how well the kids behaved.  However, I made one “princess bed” (you’ll see).  After our lunch the stewardess came by with warm cookies.  Nita had to go the restroom, Connor was watching a movie and was fine so I slid next to Josie and started tearing her cookie into pieces to cool it off.  I mean it was just-out-of-the-oven hot and I was helping, right?  Josie was nearing nap time and we’d been on the plane for a couple of hours and well the coup de gras was when I took a bite of one of the pieces to see if it was cool enough.  Well Josie lost her mind.  Not only did she not want her cookie “broken” but actually consuming a portion was just plain unforgivable.  Nita came back and looked at me like, “what’d you do, I was only gone for two minutes?”  Even the flight attendant chastised me.  I switched Connor’s whole cookie for Josie’s “broken” cookie and the world continued turning.

 

Saturdays with Nita.  During the spring and summer I usually play golf on Saturdays and during football season, well my time belongs to Texas A&M football.  So Nita has been very creative on what there is to do around town for the kids.  One time she found a reptile expo. Connor loved it so much I had to take him back the next day.  He held everything.  In fact this year (if you include the petting zoo, circus animal rides, and jungle island) Connor and Josie have pet, fed, held or ridden: a camel, elephant, horse, donkey, cow, parrots, tarantula, black scorpion, python, reticulated python, milk snake, corn snake, grass snake, boa constrictor, alligator, lemur, kangaroos, turtles, dog, cat, caterpillar, butterfly, largemouth bass, catfish, frog, worms, ants, praying mantis, rat, monkey, lizard, bearded dragon, basilisk, chickens, chicks, sloth, ducks, geese, lambs, goats, pony, sting ray, starfish, sea urchin, crab, snails, pigs, and bunnies.  It probably is no surprise that Connor originally wanted to be a “snake hunter” for Halloween.  In fact, he sometimes introduces himself as “snake hunter” when asked his name.

 

New Door.  We have a new door.  If you remember 10 years ago when we were shopping for granite for the countertops and how long it took, well once we decided to get one it only took us 9 months, five trips, 10 designs, 200 emails, and three arguments.  We have a new door.

 

Josie’s princess bed.  Josie learned to both climb out of her crib and also into it.  She used items from around her room and (even though she’s more coordinated than Connor) I just knew a big fall was inevitable.  Nita purchased a princess bed for her six months prior from a friend whose daughter had grown out of and we put it in Connor’s closet.  So to set it up it would have to be at a time when Connor and obviously Josie weren’t napping, I was home, and I had a couple of hours.  Well the perfect storm hit.  I went to check on Josie as she got her arm stuck between the rails trying to move her toy riding horse closer so she could climb out.  About 10 minutes later Connor woke up and went downstairs and Nita was going to coax him into getting in bed with her to continue the nap.  We had a date night planned with another couple in four hours.  I saw my window.  So I took apart the crib.  I then went into Connor’s closet and got all the parts and went online to download the assembly instructions.  Nita came upstairs and gave me the “home alone” look and shouted, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” I thought it was obvious but I answered her anyway. She flipped out.  “Put it back together right now!” I said I was too far along that I preferred to go ahead and assemble the princess bed, besides it was a drop side and disassembly is a one man job, but assembly is a two man job.  Nita was inconsolable. I’m not exaggerating, she was furious with me. The faux pas that I had committed was the sin of omission.  Apparently I was supposed to check with Nita first.  The real problem was logically we both knew that Josie had outgrown the crib.  The emotional problem was I robbed Nita of the process to accept that there would be no more cribs in the house.  Her baby had just passed a milestone.  I’m sure all you moms out there got that right away, and all you dads were kind of like me “WTF, problem - solution, you’re welcome!”  She was so mad at me, when we pulled into the valet stand and he said, “You got a sitter, awesome… my wife and I celebrated our 26th anniversary.”  She replied, “We MIGHT make it to 10.”  Well the date night went on and we managed to have fun.  She accepted that it was time and I accepted my failure in protocol.  And Josie LOVES her bed.  Now when she’s ready to get up she gets out, knocks on her door, and then opens it just about six inches…so the zombies don’t come in. We laugh about this a lot now.  Currently a violation of etiquette is known as “the princess bed.”

 

MHP 80.  Around February Nita told me, mom is turning 80 this year, I’m going to throw her a surprise party.  So she planned and planned and covertly contacted folks.  She smuggled some photo albums out of Mary Helen’s house so I could put together a video/slideshow.  She worked with the chef, planner, and bartenders at our club to make sure everything was perfect.  She even went out and got special decorations.  Finally, she set up special hotel rates for incoming family…during ACL music fest week no less.  And two weeks prior to the event, Mary Helen said, “Nita, I really do not want a party okay?”  Pause, blink blink, “Uh, okay mom.”  She was almost in tears and asked me what she should do.  I said, “Proceed.  Put all your remaining energy into the outcome, not worrying about how you got here.”  She did, and the party rocked.  Mary Helen was so surprised, and overwhelmed with all the folks who came from everywhere to celebrate with her.  The food was perfect, cake was perfect, and we even hired a couple of teenagers to take pictures of the event.  Mary Helen was still on cloud 9 days later. Happy 80^th to Mary Helen, and great job Nita.

 

Halloween.  Josie’s favorite holiday is Halloween.  Bigger than Christmas, bigger than birthday.  Presents be damned, that girl loves zombies, “ghoulies,” and decorations.  Luckily much like during Christmas, our neighborhood goes pretty Griswold for Halloween as well. She made me take her around the neighborhood almost every other day to see if any new decorations, graveyards, or blowups had been put up.  Her favorite so far is a pretty disturbing zombie mother rocking a zombie baby on this guy’s front porch. Connor likes Halloween, Josie LOVES Halloween.  Last year we did the family theme, I’m afraid that ship may have sailed. Connor was a jaguar (of course Abuelita sewed his costume) and Josie wanted to be a “pink goblin.”

 

Entomology. This was definitely the year of the science experiment.  It started off when I read that the praying mantis was the most efficient hunter in the animal kingdom, parlay that with the fact that they LOVE to eat mosquitos.  We all know how much Marco loves flying biting/stinging insects don’t we?  Well Marco ordered two praying mantis pods.  We were told that each pod would hatch around 200 little mantids.  So we cleaned out a couple of little cherub tomato trays and put a pod in each one.  And then one morning I heard, “Daddy! Daddy!  Come quickly they are hatching.”  I ran to the kitchen and then saw about 200 little baby mantids hopping around.  It took me about 30 minutes to gently scoop them up and take them outside.  The next day…it happened to the other pod.  It was awesome. The kids were amazed.  We put the pics on facebook and several of our neighbors would call or write us that they found one of our little hatchlings.

Connor and Josie’s school had a school visit from the butterfly guy.  Long story short we ended up with a caterpillar attached to a milkweed plant.  For two weeks we watched that little dude munch and munch and munch.  Then, “Pita” started to curl up, turn into a chrysalis, and finally emerge as a monarch butterfly.  The kids loved it.

We then had our fifth annual petting zoo birthday party with all the farm animals you can think of.  The kids had a great time, petting, wrestling, riding, and holding them all.  Also, this year we decided to let the kids each choose a cake.  Josie chose rainbow sheet cake…Connor asked for a doughnut cake.  Yes, Krispy Kreme makes one. Finally after everyone went home we started to open gifts.  Connor’s Godfather and Godmother sent him a….wait for it….an ant farm.  Those little harvester ants made some great tunnels and Connor and Josie both loved getting right up to the glass with magnifying glasses. Those guys work let me tell you.

 

 

Phew, what a year.  The kids are growing like weeds.  Nita and Marco are healthy and happy, and our blessings are too numerous to even list.  Every year when I write this I look back and laugh at all the fun and wonder how we were able to squeeze all of these activities and experiences in a single year.  I also reflect on the times where maybe I lost a little faith, hope, or let my guard down.  It’s kind of embarrassing to go back over all the wonderful friends and family in our lives, the health and well-being of our kids, and in spite of all those things to allow stress, worry, frustration, and doubt creep in.  So this little recap is therapeutic for me.  I hope you find it similarly entertaining, therapeutic, and a way to grow closer to God.

So here we are at the close of 2013.  I wish you all health, happiness, and all the blessings you deserve (and a few you don’t). God bless you and Merry Christmas.  May 2014 be your best year ever.  Stay tuned, there are big changes coming soon.  And Nita isn’t pregnant.

Marco, Nita, Connor, and Josie (didn’t pull off the dog this year, but Nita this is a hint, this won’t read the same way next year).