It's the End of the World as We Know It

T'was the night before the end of the world.
Colsen and I sat at home with our brows all a furled.
Could this really be the end of all that we know?
We're all out of time? Where did it go?

Then on Colsen's face grew such a smile.
"C'mon dad, let's not mope. Let's just go wild!
There's snow on the ground, let's go out and play.
Let's make a snowman on our very last day."

So we threw on our coats and ran out to the yard.
We put it together. It wasn't that hard.
"Let's name him Bob and give him a hat made of magic.
He'll live for a night, hope that's not tragic."

Then Colsen said, "Let's make angels in the snow!
Get down on the ground dad. Come on get low."
We laid on the ground and flailed our arms all about.
Colsen started to laugh, then he started to shout.

"This is so fun. Thanks for doing it dad."
The laughs that came out made me feel glad.
I stared up at the stars way up in the sky.
When suddenly a snow ball hit me in the eye.

Colsen just laughed then started running away.
I wiped the snow from my face and yelled out, "Hey!"
I got up and chased him as quick as I could.
I reached out to grab him and caught his coat by the hood.

"It's cold out here, let's go in for a bit.
And make two cups of some hot chocolate."
We sat on the couch and warmed our hands with our mugs.
Then warmed each other with great big hugs.

"I had a great time, you're the best dad of all."
"Right back at you son, I had a ball."
We fell asleep right there, holding each other tight.
Merry end of the world to all, and to all a good night.

Family Craft Night

Also at ISU. This month we made Christmas ornaments out of oranges. Last month was turkeys from toilet paper rolls.

Family Game Night

ISU does this about once a month. You go and play games and they have snacks to eat. It's a good time. Come play with us!

Cupcake Time

The other day when we were at the store, we walked past the cake mixes and Colsen decided that we needed to make cupcakes.

I love that Colsen likes to do everything for me. It was the first time making cupcakes for both us and they turned out great, as you can see.

Speaking of Movies...

Remember that scene from Daddy Daycare when Eddie Murphy goes into the bathroom and just gets this horrified look on his face? And then he looks at the ceiling and cringes even more. I thought it was one of the funnier moments of that movie. Now that I'm the father of a three year old boy, however, I just feel that guy's pain. You would think the ceiling was safe, but then...

I kid, I kid. It's not that bad. But if Colsen is going potty don't talk to him. When you talk to him he wants to look at you. When he wants to look at you, he doesn't just turn his head, he turns his whole body. Parents, you know what I'm talking about.

Tearjerker

I get pretty emotional these days when I watch father/son type movies. It's pretty ridiculous sometimes. Case in point, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I watched this movie recently and fortunately I was at home by myself. The tears flowed freely.

What happened to me? It used to be that Braveheart was the only movie that even got my eyes a little bit watery. But now, it's like, if some kid in a movie even mentions his dad I have to grab a tissue.

I love my little guy. And I guess I just can't stand the fact that one day he's going to have to go on without me. I hope I teach him right. I hope he feels every bit of love I have to give. I hope he can look back and say I was the best dad that I could be.

Yeah, it's either all that or I'm going through menopause.

What's that smell?

When Colsen wore diapers, I could fart in public, then check his diaper like I thought that smell was coming from him. That just doesn't work any more. In fact, when he farts, he blames it on me. My how the tables have turned.

Rest Stop

I am more than willing to sit in the car and wait while Colsen takes a nap. You know if I move him he's going to wake up and not go back to sleep. So here we are. Sitting in the car. In front of the house. I cherish these few and far between moments of peace.

Pumpkin Fun

As part of my attempt to win father of the year, I have been embracing all that the autumn season has to offer. Since Halloween is coming up, this week's adventures have been pumpkin themed. First, our foray to the Swore Farms pumpkin patch. This was my first visit to a pumpkin patch. We were of course on the look out for the Great Pumpkin. I told Colsen about how the Great Pumpkin visits on Halloween bringing presents for all the good boys and girls. Since we didn't find the Great Pumpkin on our visit, Colsen keeps insisting we return to find him.

The purpose of the trip of course was to find awesome pumpkins to take home. By "awesome" I of course mean the first two pumpkins Colsen picked out among the massive heap of orange gourds.

Our next task was to turn our perfect pumpkins into jazzy jack o'lanterns. Colsen thought the insides of the pumpkins were gross and felt he could best help by taking pictures.

This was my first attempt at carving pumpkins. Learned some valuable lessons. Like, cut out the top in a way that it doesn't just fall into the pumpkin. And, get the proper tools so you don't have random knife cuts throughout your jack o'lantern's face. And, those guys who go beyond basic triangle eyes and square noses have way too much time on their hands. But in the end, I think we did okay for our first try.

Although, the other lesson I learned tonight was that whenever a 3 year old sees a candle, even if it's lighting up his awesome jack o'lantern, he will feel the urge to blow it out.

Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs

I'm a Big Kid Now

Ladies and gentlemen, my little boy is all grown up! For the first time ever, Colsen went the whole day without a diaper or pull-up. He's wearing big boy underwear. Now let's just see if we can keep it going through the weekend. Woot!

Mack!

When driving home from Aberdeen tonight, every time Colsen saw a truck up ahead he told me to speed up because we to "catch up to Mack!" Alas, each time we caught up we realized it wasn't Mack. It was a Peterbilt.