Another weekend gone

It just flabbergasts me at how quickly the two days that comprise a weekend fly by when compared to the five weekdays that occur before. This weekend, of course, was no exception. I spent too much money on entertainment and food and not enough time with Kelsey. I did however, get to see Kelsey's face light up almost all day long as we attented the Bridal Expo at Dallas Market Hall on Saturday, as well as watch some great football (AFC & NFC conference playoffs).

First, the Expo. Kels convinced me that we needed to go, if for nothing else than getting some leads on places to have our wedding & reception (for those of you just tuning in, we got engaged on Christmas Eve) and get some ideas for how to "do" the whole thing. We headed downtown, stood in line to get in, and then walked around for three hours -- sampling cake, picking up scads of info on limos, locations, flowers, etc. The highlight of the trip was watching Kels put on wedding gowns. Oh my! She makes such a beautiful bride. It just made everything so REAL...and I'm extremely excited about it! We also, after some discussion, have set a tenative date of July 1st for the "hitchin" -- that is dependent on a number of factors and we're working to nail it down ASAP.

Now on to football. All I can say is "Wow! I certainly wouldn't have picked the winners like they turned out, but the games were fabulous to watch. So...for the AFC Championship it'll be Pittsburgh at Denver and the NFC Championship will put Carolina at Seattle. Whodathunkit?

Yet another weekend is gone, but this week should be good and keep me plenty busy. Here's to a good week!

*edited because Kelsey felt the original post was a bit "heavy" on the football talk. After reading it again, I had to agree. I mean in the battle between wedding stuff or football stuff -- wedding stuff obviously wins!.*

It's official: I have smart kids!

In my usually-nightly call with my kids, the first thing out of my daughter's mouth -- she's six and in kindergarten -- was "I got straight S's on my report card!" In kindergarten, that's excellent. S equals "Satisfies", which means that Baylie Hannah is meeting all the requirements for her level. Her vocabulary amazes me. Everything that Hayden has done, she has done earlier and with more accuracy. Plus, she's cute as a button and doesn't like boys, so I'm set until she's atleast twelve. I love hearing what new things she learned each night that we talk -- "We learned our vowels today!" makes my heart glad. Not being there to see her face light up as she actually says it -- although I can see it through the phone -- sucks. Such is the life of a divorced father...*sigh*

Hayden got straight "A's" on his report card. This from the kid who never learns anything new at school. Fortunately and unfortunately, Hay is a lot like I was in grade school -- bored. He's reading at a 4th grade level in 2nd grade, he's thinking of grand engineering feats while his school chums are trying to piece together lego blocks. But, he'll find like I did in about 6th or 7th grade, all that boredom turns into actual learning and preparing for the future. Strangely, what I'm doing now for an occupation is what I was doing in 7th-9th grade -- programming. I'm guessing that he too will discover what it is that he wants to do right about the same time, so that he can gear his mind accordingly. He's my first-born, and I love him so much it hurts. My hope is that I can provide -- from distance -- the motivation he needs to keep his head on straight, be smart and apply all those brains to his education.

So...my kids are like me and I'm the proudest dad in the world as a result. I really need to work on figuring out how I can see them more often, so that I can be the "happiest" dad in the world too.

Welcome New Year!

As much as I hate the hustle-and-bustle of the holiday season, I absolutely love the renewal that it brings. Reconnecting with old friends, reviewing the year that has just passed by and establishing a plan for the new year ahead.

Looking back, despite some of the "bumps" that we faced, Kelsey and I had a great year. Lots of travelling (just about every month or two it seemed), great visits with my kids, lots of fantastic memories to last us a good long while. Kelsey took tons of pictures to chronicle our entire year and those that didn't make it to this blog's Image Gallery are out on ringo.com. If you're not already on our "friends" list, just email me and I'll make sure you get on it. I also was able to reconnect with friends that I had lost touch with in the multiples moves from Illinois to Missouri to Texas -- Ryan & Lisa Stough and their baby girl Sophia, Ben & Lisa Brooks and their boy Patrick, John Farrell (a co-worker from ADM), and Dave Burrus -- just to name a few.

To top of our 2005, I asked Kelsey to marry me on Christmas Eve. High atop the Reunion Tower here in Dallas, at the Antares Restaurant, I got down on one knee, read a poem to Kelsey and asked her for her hand in marriage. She, of course, said "yes". We've not yet set a date, but we're hoping to pull off a wedding sometime within the year.

Then, we trekked off to Mississippi (to get the kids) and then to Florida (by way of Alabama) to visit Kelsey's grandparents, who live just south of Tampa Bay. It was a fantastic trip, even with all the driving and we had a fantastic time with the kids. I miss them already...

So, welcome 2006 -- I'm really looking forward to what you have in store!