Megan's New Snowsuit

Here's Megan's new snowsuit. As you can see she's all ready for the snow.

Mail Time!

Ben is really looking forward to our trip to Texas next week. All he talks about everyday is going to see his cousins in Texas. He's had his toy bag packed for weeks now. (He's got everything packed in it AND the kitchen sink.)
Last week he wanted to make a card for his cousin Jackson so he could take it and give it to him. After he made the card I suggested we put it in an envelope and mail it to him instead of waiting. He was real excited to go through the whole process of making a letter for someone and mailing it in the mailbox.

Priority #1

Forget about the economy! The Iraq War? Pish posh. Formulating a true playoff system in college football is what we Americans REALLY want. Am I right? This is a national emergency!

Here's what was in the news today...

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"President-elect Obama in his first post-election interview held to his campaign promise and said he will push for a college playoff system.

'If you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there's no clear decisive winner. We should be creating a playoff system,' Obama declared.

His plan: 'Eight teams. That would be three rounds to determine a national champion. It would add three extra weeks to the season. You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this,..So, I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do.'"

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It's kind of funny to think about Obama getting involved in this. But the football fan in me is rejoicing that someone is finally putting their foot down and saying enough is enough.

A Silver Lining

If there's a silver lining to all of this economic stress it has to be the falling price of gas. Over the summer it probably got up to about $4.20 or so up here. This morning I got gas and I paid $1.87.
The savings at the pump sure helps with everything else going on.

Fixing the Big 3

Any news about the Big 3 is always the top story up here in Michigan. Columnist Thomas Friedman came out with a very interesting column yesterday about the proposed bailout for General Motors. I tend to enjoy Friedman's columns. Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes I don't...but they're always well written and thought provoking. So when I saw his column yesterday HOW TO FIX A FLAT I obviously paid close attention.

His take on all of this is right on...and I completely agree with his take 100%. In no way should we give $25 million dollars to a failing company with no imagination, a poor business strategy, subpar products, little innovation, and unbelievably high labor costs. If GM gets its way and receives the proposed bailout from the government, Ford and Chrysler will soon be knocking on the door. And what's next after the auto industry? Are we going to see American Airlines and Northwest/Delta speaking before congress as well?

For as long as Jenny and I have been living up here (2000-2003, and 2006 to present) we have always followed the business news coming out of Detroit, and it's never been good. Once in a while I'll pick up a Detroit Free Press Sunday paper, and the business section is about the size of a leaflet. A whopping 4 pages! All we've ever heard about are record quarterly losses and high amounts of job cuts from the Big 3. I can't recall ever hearing anything positive coming out of Detroit as far as job postings, new technology, new labor plans with the unions, etc. These three companies do nothing but burn through cash. In no way should we give them more to burn.

Yes, I do know the sad truth of it all. If GM doesn't get its bailout Michigan will further whither away and lead the nation in unemployment. For that I blame Michigan legislators more than the Big 3. Year after year, election after election legislators and senators in Michigan (from both parties mind you) have used the failing auto industry for their own agendas. Yet all of them have had blinders on regarding the real issue...that Michigan is too dependent on the Big 3. The folks in Lansing have made their bed, so lie in it.

I'm sure Michael Moore wouldn't want to be my friend. Oh well.

In addition to the proposed bailout plan for GM, the other hot rumor around these parts is a proposed merger between GM and Chrysler. The talks seem to be on and off again constantly, so no one knows for sure what's going to happen exactly. But one analyst said that if the two do indeed merge that over 50,000 jobs would be lost. That's a staggering number.

2009 will be a very interesting year for Michigan.

Breaking News Out Of Midland...

Today Megan took her first steps by herself. She finally worked up the confidence to keep walking after she let go of your hand. Here's some video of her big walk tonight. You're literally watching some of her first steps.

We all take the internet for granted, but it's so great that we can share this with everyone...almost as it happens.

(I put the video on both Google and YouTube. Sometimes Google gives me problems, so I thought I'd be safe and post a backup.)

Firefighters On Call

I was cooking dinner tonight and the kids were down in the basement playing. Jenny then came home and peeked downstairs to say hi to the kids. This is what she saw...

Little Kickers!

We signed Ben up for a soccer class at the Community Center. It's kind of like a 4 week soccer camp, where he goes every Sunday for an hour and practices soccer with other boys and girls his age. The first half hour are various drills, and the second half is a long scrimmage. The class is in one of the gyms at the center, and there's about 20 kids total. That's a lot of kids to keep track of. Coincidentally about half of our soccer team (the FIREBALLS) is participating with him, so he has some friends there with him. I was asked to help out with coaching and participating, so I volunteerd. However, it didn't really seem to me that the instructors needed any help. Anyway, it's fun for Ben to continue soccer with his friends for a little while longer.

Color Time!

Once in a while we get out the coloring supplies for Ben, trying to encourage him to draw and color. He's more into it now than he used to be. Anyway, the other day we tried to get Megan to try some scribbling. She was interested for a little bit and then she started eating the crayons. Figures...

Cart Mishap

This is very funny...in a sad sort of way I guess.

Chock Full Of Shopping Carts @ Yahoo! Video

"It's Bootie Time!"

I don't know where this came from, or how it came about. Ben and Megan have this thing now where they stick their butts in the air and bounce around. We call it "the bootie dance." Ben will start it and Megan will see him doing it and join in. Take a look.

Everyone's A Comedian

Ben has been trying to tell us Halloween jokes lately. He starts off with the joke just fine, but then he'll get the punchline all mixed up, or he'll forget it and simply make it up on the spot. I don't think he quite understands what a "joke" really is supposed to be.

Anyway, you'll get a kick out of his jokes. Not because they're funny...but because he seems to think they're a riot. Megan thinks he's hilarious. Enjoy!

Still On Borrowed Time

As I wrote earlier, the weather we're having up here this week is UNCANNY. Warm temperatures and plenty of sunshine. It's really slowed down our fall up here, so now we're still enjoying some color in our trees. The trees in the front yard have now emptied all their leaves, but our backyard is taking its time.
After lunch today, the three of us went out in the backyard and enjoyed the great weather. We also took in all the color in our woods and on the hiking trail.
Ben also introduced the slide to Megan for the first time. She tackled it with no fear (as you can see in the pictures).

Life At Random

Here's some recent pictures that fall under the "miscellaneous" category. Random pictures...but very cute nonetheless.

The Pumpkin Thief

Ben alerted me the other day to a mischievious squirrel on our front porch devouring one of our uncarved pumpkins. The little guy sure made a mess of things. Ben got a kick out of watching him through the window.

Rock The Vote!

Today Ben was out of school...so I had both kids with me at the voting booth. Ben was excited about us voting. On the way there he told me "I love voting." However, when I was at the end of filling out my ballot I heard Ben telling me he was tired of voting and wanted to go home.
He didn't tell me who he voted for, but I bet it was for Buzz Lightyear for President.

On Borrowed Time

This week we've had amazing weather. Not just warm...but FREAKISHLY warm! Yesterday it was in the high 60's with lots of sunshine, and then today the high is supposed to be around 70. It's supposed to be like that all this week. So yesterday we took advantage of the weather and ran over to the park to play. Here we are in November and we're still playing at the park. The snow will be here before we know it, and I feel like we're on borrowed time right now. Got to get out while we still can.

Go Spirit!

Last night was boy's night out. Ben and I went to Saginaw and watched a hockey game. Our local team here is the Saginaw Spirit. Any fans of the "Colbert Report" might recognize that name (he mentions the team once in a while). Ben likes going to the Spirit games, as well as the Loons games in the summer. He doesn't really sit there and watch the game of course, but I think he likes the event of it all. The lights, the sounds, and of course the popcorn. Oh man...he's gotta have the popcorn. HA!
You gotta love minor league sports though...especially in this economy. Here's what we paid for last night's game. We had two tickets, parking, and food....all for $16. Can't complain about that.

Shoo Leaves!

Our fall is almost done here. More leaves are falling down...which means I have the fun of raking them up. Ben rides his bike around the sidewalk while I rake, and then occasionally he'll jump in a pile.
Yesterday I spent almost all day outside raking. This is the only time of year I regret having so many trees. HA!
The snow will be here before you know it.

Halloween 08'

Another Halloween has come and gone. I think all of us think that this year's Halloween was our best ever. We say that partly because Ben ran around all night saying "this is the best Halloween ever." But Jenny and I both agree with him. The weather was warm and dry, it was a Friday night so everyone could take their time with everything, and Ben and his friends are now old enough to know what to do with trick-or-treating and the whole routine. They now understand the holiday and are able to take in all the fun and magic of it.

As for us, we've kind of made Halloween extra special for us. I guess everyone gets into Halloween, but we've kind of made it a bigger deal than normal here at our house. It's kind of a month long thing around here. We have our own little customs and routines. We have our "pumpkin day" at the pumpkin patch, we have our trick-or-treat party on Halloween, we had an "official" Halloween party 2 weeks ago, and of course all sorts of goodies, treats, and decorations.

Jenny and I were talking the other day about it. The kids will always have Christmas, and it will always be a big deal in their lives. But as for Halloween...it's usually only a big deal when you're young, or you have young children. I guess we want to make Halloween as magical as we can, and give them lots of fun memories. I guess it's been working. Last week Ben told me Halloween was his favorite holiday.

The day when the kids will want to trick-or-treat by themselves will be here soon enough...but until then it will be fun while it lasts. Time is so short when they're this age, and I guess I want to do all I can to make the most of it.

By the way, I was going to dress up as "Joe The Plumber" this year...but I ran out of time. Besides, if I answered the door with a plunger in my hand people would have thought we were having an emergency.

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween! Love to all...

Halloween: Trick-or-Treat Party

We invited some friends of ours over for a quick dinner and to go trick-or-treating with us. It's become kind of an annual tradition. I think this was the 3rd year we hosted a trick-or-treat party. It's just more fun doing trick-or-treating with more people. We had Nicholas (Firefighter), William (Dracula), Parker (Football player), Quentin (Bat), and Miles (Power Ranger). Jenny made "Mummy Hot Dogs," and "Worm Jello" for the kids, and I made Chili for all of the adults. After dinner all the kids got their buckets and went out trick-or-treating. This year the weather was fantastic. No one had to wear a coat. So the kids went to more houses this year than they normally do. Afterward, the kids came back to the house where we all hung out for a little while and the kids played downstairs in the basement and watched GREAT PUMPKIN CHARLIE BROWN.
I also got pictures of our pumpkins this year. Megan's pumpkin is the Minnie Mouse, Ben's pumpkins are the Superman one and the Pirate one, and Jenny and I's are the two Jack-o-lanterns.