How To Have A Great Family Weekend!

So the weekend looked like this : My brother was coming to town for a bike event with both of his kids is tow (ages 12 & 14). What do we do? How do we make sure the four boys won't destroy our home?

This is how a little planning made for a great weekend!

Friday Night -
They arrive and we already have the sleeping arrangements figured out. That's step one. One of my kids are going to have to give up their bed for the weekend, so we turn the upstairs into a large campground. We head out for our favorite wing joint for dinner and everybody is happy!

Saturday-
Luckily, our bike ride is set for an early start. The house is still very much asleep when we depart, this means Grandma will only have to worry about breakfast as we will be home shorty after that. After a couple of hours of destroying ourselves on our bikes we return home in time to start working on lunch. Once the kids are fed we are off to a local swimming place that takes us back in time. (It's a lake that acts like a pool) The kids thoroughly enjoy the the lake and are also thoroughly wore out when we leave. Grandma has volunteered for dinner duty this evening and we time it perfectly and arrive home with just enough time to get cleaned up before dinner. After dinner the house is relatively quiet after a day of fun.

Sunday
Another bike event this morning, a short ride while the house is relatively quiet and still. Once that is over the task of packing the car back up, searching the house for left items encompasses our time before we are off to lunch before they leave.

A little planning can make for an enjoyable weekend with four boys in the house.

What are some tricks that you use to make family weekends go well?

Time To Get Back On Track!

Ok, so it's been about 18 months since I posted anything on this. That 18 months has been a roller coaster of events and experiences. In that time I have taken my kids camping to San Antonio, Waco and Oklahoma; we have gone to Galveston three times and gone out to San Angelo to see my brother twice. I have also coached both of their baseball teams twice and survived the holiday season. This all looks good...but what kind of dad have I been?

The reason I stopped posting in February of 2011 wasn't because I forgot; it wasn't because I gave up on the idea. A horrible economy based tragedy happen that affected my coworkers and ex wife. I lost my positive outlook. For quite some time I was able to regain that outlook, but not with the same vigor as before. The last 6 months or so have been a struggle. Many changes have taken place and I have not done my best to work through it.

This is now the time to get back on track. The new school year is quickly approaching, being a high school band director means that it has already started as we started our various camps last week. I look out on the oncoming school year with the same eyes that I look forward to the next stage of parenting...excitement, positive attitude and a clean slate.

It's never too late to improve and make it a great day for everyone around you. Patience and quality time are going to be my credos from now on. These are the two things I have let slip by me.

Join me in this refocusing of energy. Have fun, relax and give others what you want!

SUPER SUNDAY!!!

So how was your Superbowl Sunday?  Mine didn't go as planned, but turned out well in the end.  It also provided a great opportunity to co-parent.

The plan - Get all my chores done and catch up on some work things by 4:00pm.  Cook up some wings and pizza by the time the boys come back to me at 6:00pm, watch the Superbowl with my kids (which just happens to end right at bed time).

What really happened:

I do get most chores done, that's good.  Their mother texts me at 10am to ask if I want to go to Subway Sunday with them!  GREAT!!!  I get a few more hours with my boys.  I go back home and finish up on chores, then the break in the plan happens.  At 3:30pm I get the call that Coleman (my oldest) is not feeling well, his throat is really bothering him.  We head to the local CareNow clinic to get some antibiotics.  It turns out he has strep throat.  Drats.  We get home in time to watch the game, but overall his mood is just not the same.  He will get another day off of school tomorrow (something he really doesn't want or need).

Then the great opportunity for co-parenting.  See in our arrangement, no one pays any child support.  All child care costs are split evenly.  Actually, she pays me $308 a month even out the expenses.  See, I pay for Life Insurance, Auto Insurance, and Afterschool care.  She pays for Health and Dental Insurance.  The difference is $308. 

No here is the co-parenting moment - Take the $308 that she owes me, add $17 for a split in Tax Software, add $20 for a little bet we had that I won.  No take off half of the doctor visit and half of the prescription, now she owes me $305. 

Overall a great day in the end (except for my Coleman who is just not feeling his best), and two great opportunities to put the kids first ahead of our own personal concerns. (Lunch and Medical Payments)

How did you spend your Super Sunday?

SNOW DAY!!!

It's that time of year when we here in Texas get a day off.  Being a teacher, a well positioned snow day can be a great thing.  This year however...let's just say it got out of control.

Snow Day 1

My Snowy House

This was a welcomed day off, at least I didn't want to have to deal with the cold today.  I got to sleep in, do some serious house cleaning, visit the boys for a few hours (they were at their mother's) and get some paperwork for school completed.  Not a bad day.  It will be good to get back to work tomorrow.

Snow Day 2

2nd day of icy streets

Living in Texas means the snow melts almost as fast as it hits the ground, right?  NOT THIS YEAR.  Today we woke up to some really nasty roads.  Worse then the day before, what was snow is now a 2"-3" plate of ice.  I really wish I had learned how to ice skate.  Well, at least I got in a few meetings today about a possible business opportunity.  The boys come back to me this afternoon, but we do little other then watch a few movies.

Snow Day 3

My youngest sliding down a driveway!

Now this is just getting ridiculous.  Three Days!!!  This is my 11th year in this area, we have never had 3 days off of school before.  What a waste educationally this week has become.  The boys do an immense amount of play in the snow today.  Their mother comes over at 4 to work on her taxes, then we take the boys out for our traditional Thursday dinner out.  That was an interesting drive. 

Snow Day 4

The boys and grandma with their creation

Well, school is done for this week.  We got several inches of snow overnight.  The boys built a snowman with their grandmother while I shoveled the snow off the walkways.  They played outside for several hours today.  And other then updating this blog, well, I did NOTHING, and it felt GREAT! 

According to the weather man this will all be gone by the end of the day tomorrow.  We will just be left with a soggy mess.  Bye, Bye to snow days of 2011.  Also bye, bye to Memorial Day holidays, Good Friday and any other holiday we had left this year. 

A great few days off...Hope everyone involved with it had some fun!

Co-Parenting Rule #3 - Compromise

This is such an easy concept, but very hard for some people to accomplish.  Especially someone they have "baggage" with.

Let's look at the situation that brought this post on.

So, about 2 months ago, I mentioned to my ex that I wanted to take the boys camping at the start of our spring break.  Now here is how the custody schedule works out for spring break this year:

         SUN        MON       TUES       WED        THURS       FRI        SAT

         MOM      MOM      MOM        DAD       DAD           MOM     MOM

Typically on spring breaks and the such, we have an agreement to allow the child one more day at the parent's that have only two days of visitation.  So in this case, I would get an extra day.  I wanted to use it on the Sunday (I have them the preceding Friday and Saturday).  This would enable us to go camping Saturday morning and come back Monday afternoon, just in time to go back to Mom's smelling like the great outdoors!!!  She agreed that is sounded fine and to just be careful (just a note, she has sent them back to me injured more times then I have sent them to her injured, kinda funny).

Well, about a week ago, she wanted to know if we could change plans.  At first it kinda pissed me off, I had already planned the trip (hadn't made reservations yet however) and it's kinda become a tradition that we go camping right out of the shoot for spring break.  But, as to not start a fight, I asked her what she had in mind.  She wanted to move my extra day to Friday night, she even offered up them coming to me early on Wednesday.  I was willing to give in then, she gets her dates (based around travel plans) and i get a few extra hours with my boys over the break.  Compromise. 

I am a planner, and I could have dug my heels in.  In the end she could have just said no extra day to you, but instead compromise got me more time!

Have a great day, and if you're in North Texas enjoy the end of the snow!

Check this out!!!

Here is a great blog post by Dan.  Check it out:

"I want it fast and now" syndrome

Reasons to be THANKFUL!!!!

I seem to be surrounded daily by a lot of negative people or at least people that tend to lean toward the negative things.  You know, the ones that the world is always coming to an end.  Every situation becomes tense around them.  So I decided to write down a few things that I am THANKFUL for:

1.  My Boys - They are the best thing in my life.  Even through all of the noise, sicknesses, messy rooms, homework, ect.  they are still the delight of my life everyday.  They make everyday better.

2.  I love my job.  I get to work with some of the most talented kids!

3.  I have great friends.  I would say that I have only a select few great friends, but those that I have are great.  When I have needed someone to lean on, they have been there for me.

4.  Although money is tight, I have been able to make all payments to the house, credit cards, car, ect.  I even have a plan to get out of the mess I have gotten myself into.

This is just a start of this list.  There are many things to be thankful for every day. 

What are you thankful for?