Christmas 2009: Part 1

Building graham cracker houses...



Colin getting to know his Uncle Patrick better...


Ryan and Jack had a great time with Patrick and Ashley.

Flynn Family 2009

We had some pictures done...here are some of them:

Jack's thoughts

This afternoon after Devin left for work Jack said "When I am a Daddy I will go to work with my daddy. But I will take the car cause I won't feel up to riding my bike. Will you drive me to work because I won't know how to drive a car?" "Sure" I said. "Yeah, then I can ride in the front seat." Jack replied.

He has also told me that he won't get married since you have to love someone to get married.

Ryan's prayer tonight

Here is an excerpt:

"...and please bless us and my friends because they are important, but not the wicked people. And please bless that we won't have any storms and send the storms to the wicked people and not us."

'nuf said.

Cyclocross Pictures...

I will force this upon you guys...I know family hardly ever goes to my cycling blog so here:




Busted my crank arm off on the last lap of this race. It was my first time racing the singlespeed class and my first race on this particular bike that a friend built for me...as in he brazed the frame from a set of steel tubes so that fit me exactly. It was a difficult, slippery, muddy race. Loved it except for the crank arm issue.

Colin Cooking, the Video

He is a funny kid. Good memories here.

Chef Colin

Colin like to help cook whenever we let him. He noisily requests to come up on the counter and wants to stir or pour stuff in to help mix whatever is cooking. He is actually a pretty good stirrer.

And when it comes to eating he likes to eat like everyone else. He uses forks and spoons, even if he has to use his hands to get the food on the utensil. This means it will take him longer to eat than with just hands, but that is not the point with him. He just wants to be a big kid. This morning he was eating waffles and putting four bites at a time in his mouth so that food was nearly bursting out while he was still getting more food on the fork. In the pic below, his mouth was not nearly at its fullest.

Halloween Pictures

Only because Mom asked for it...

A picture of a skinnier me.

Goofy and dorky, yes. Taken before I went riding in the rain this afternoon. Notice that the picture is taken from the side so that you can't see the ol' love handles...

Still waiting on getting one of Bridget.

Size 32 and Size 6

I just tried on and fit into some jeans that were sized 32" waist.

Bridget picked up some size 6 jeans today.

Crazy.

I don't think the both of us have ever been so skinny while together.

Pots and Pans

Colin loves the pots and pans. What kid doesn't?

Totally Random

I was browsing someone's blog and not really reading their posts. I came across this embedded video and clicked start now really knowing what to expect.



Awesome.

The Boys wear me out

My day to watch the boys, and did so solo for the most part. They are exhausting.

I get up and shower.

Weigh myself--lost more weight, cool!

I get Ryan off to school.

Colin needs attention and food.

Jack wants to play games. We play.

Drive with the boys to the post office.

Drive to Target and waste a little time there while picking up a couple of things.

Drive to McDonald's for a sanity break.

Back home to put Colin down for a nap.

Play with Jack.

Get Jack ready to go to preschool.

Drive to preschool.

Turn around halfway there because I forgot Jack's school bag.

Check Jack in at preschool which I have never done before and figure out the procedure.

Hang out with Colin.

Feed Colin.

Try to get Colin to drink which he doesn't like to do.

Somewhere during this time I work on updating my resume.

Figure out a lazy way to watch Colin--lay on the floor of the boys' room and shut the door while he crawls on me, bounces on me, runs little trucks over me while I am am half asleep. (That was a great 15 minutes, seriously needed that break)

More playing with Colin, some in the house and some outside.

Meet Ryan at the bus stop

Immediately race to Jack's preschool to pick him up.

Arrive back home where the boys watch tv and I once again try to keep Colin busy and out of trouble.

Finally it is time to take Ryan and his friend Evan to soccer. Finally, because Colin gets to stay at home with Grandma and soon Bridget will be back home to take over from there.

I am in charge of half the team that is playing a game with the visiting team. The other half of our team travel across the field to be play the other half of the visiting team. 6 year old boys don't listen especially well. Thank goodness it doesn't matter much.

Drive the 20+ minute home listening to diarrhea-related songs and bad knock knock jokes. This is better than the 35 minute traffic-stalled drive to the game though with much of the same but with more energy.

Arrive home where Colin comes and wants on my lap as I finally get to eat dinner. He tries to toss stuff off my plate and then wants to crawl on the table to get the grapes. I give him a grape instead and he smashes it and wants the entire branch or whatever you call it of grapes so that he can pick more by himself without anyone doing it for him. He is very independent.

Kids finally go off to bed

Start working on a cover letter for a job application and realize I don't have all the information.

Bridget becomes frustrated with me because she is very tired.

Additional frustration vented almost unglues me. I would like to toss the computer but realize this is not an effective method of dealing with the issues at hand.

We kiss and make up.

I head out to pick up a pressure washer at Wights' house so that I can clean the deck of the Black Butte home in a couple of days. And then stain the deck. The deck is quite large by the way. And I am doing it by myself. Seriously, there are worse things though.

I return to pack my stuff for my bike commute tomorrow to work. Probably will include rain.

I then return to the cover letter and do the best I can and then cruise the 'net to relax.

Then I write this endless list.

And now I am done.

Dry Heaves and He-Men

Just wondering if anyone else out there pushes themselves physically, voluntarily I must add, to the point where they are doubled over with the dry heaves? Happened to me yesterday trying to keep a guy from passing for the last 1/3 of the final lap at a cyclocross race yesterday. I cross the finish line and immediately started gagging and hurling. Not much other than phlegm came up. And unlike when my friend Dave "pops" like that I haven't had any carbonated drinks or fast food. I just pushed a little past the redline I guess.

Jack is in his new pre-school and he really likes it. This pre-school is quite different than the one that he went to last year. The teachers are pretty good about getting the kids to think and interact instead of just being telling them what to do. We think it will be great for Jack who is much different in some ways from Ryan.

Speaking of Ryan, he was chosen as a Super Star at his elementary school. He had his picture taken so that they can put in a newsletter. Pretty cool. I am not sure what the reason is, but it is cool nonetheless.

I am sure that there is more news, but I am too distracted to think of much else right now.

When I went to the doctor she checked my blood pressure and it was pretty good. 115 over 70. Not too shabby. There was a time when I was in Utah that I was in the mid to upper 130's on the front end of the measurement. I don't remember what the lower one was back then, but it was higher as well. With a little bit of luck and a good lifestyle maybe I will miss or definitely put off the family curses of diabetes and heart disease.

And finally, Bridget was telling me that Jack has a washboard stomach. He showed it off and we got Ryan to go along side him. They are ripped! Bridget and I love this picture. Ryan didn't want us to post this, but we eventually got him to agree since it is mainly family that checks this blog out.

Breathing, Del Taco and Soccer: One Day's Activities

While Ryan was at school we got a few things done. Bridget and I worked out, at the same time but separately. She went to the gym with the boys where they have a day care, and I went to Forest Park to do hill repeats on my cyclocross bike. Hill repeats are exactly that--just going up and down, in this case, a particular dirt road for about an hour straight. It takes me about 5 minutes to go down and about 10 minutes to get back up if I have a fire lit under me or a rabbit to chase down ahead of me. Bridget likes her various workouts she can do indoors. Me, I would rather be outdoors.

Then I went to the doc to see about getting diagnosed with asthma so that I can start treating it. I have had lung issues for the past several weeks and off and on, well let's see, maybe all my life. Usually, it seems like Bronchitis. However, I have been more recently thinking that it is asthma. I won't bore you all with the details, but it makes sense and the recent fact patterns fit. The doctor agreed even though she was surprised with the results of the test she gave me that tests the force of air I can exhale. She had me do it once, looked at the result made a surprised look and made me do it again. Then she said that I had really great flow. I was worried that she would think that I was faking it. I told I don't have a problem getting the air out, it is the getting it in that is often the issue. But she wasn't all that concerned. There are lots of factors and I may not have a severe case of asthma. In fact I am sure that I don't. I did say that this was a good day...but whatever. I go in to a specialist's office to get a comprehensive test done next Wednesday morning. All in all, I am glad I went and I think that I may finally get this lung thing under control.

Oh and I also got a flu shot which for some reason totally wiped me out this afternoon.

After I got back Jack chose where we got to all got to go for lunch. He chose Del Taco. I fully supported that decision. I love the cheap bean burritos. We all went except for Ryan, who was at school. Here is Colin who was loving eating french fries and then dipping his fingers directly into the ketchup to suck on them:


Then we went and picked up some new church clothes for Ryan at Target and stopped at a couple of other places, Famous footwear and Ross Dress for Less. Bridget picked up a really nice dress that would be great if she could where it without her knickers showing. It is sadly going back, too bad because she was look hot!

After arriving back at home, I took a nap. Ryan arrived home with a friend, Reed, they played together until it was close to time for me to take him to soccer at 5:30.

At soccer it rained and Ryan was not a big fan of playing with wet, soupy socks. He complained numerous times during the first half hour of soccer, which is when they have the practice portion. When it came time to play the game I never heard another word about it. He just played hard and scored just 4 of his team's 6 goals. His other best friend, Evan, scored the other two goals. It was a combination of being in the right spot at the right time, playing really well with some great kicks, and that the other team was 75% female. Nothing against the girls, but Ryan and his friend Evan took advantage of them. Well, at least they did in a socially acceptable way.

We arrived back home around 7:30 and had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. Bridget had already put Colin down to sleep. He had only taken on very short 30 minute nap today and he went down early. He can be an handful.

Back to work tomorrow...where I can relax a bit.

Back to School Bar-B-Q: The Second Annual Tug o' War!

***Sorry for the blurry pictures, the iPhone camera doesn't catch action shots very well.****

Ryan was way into this tug o' war. They have two class for most of the grades in the elementary school. They pair the classes from each grade against each other. Ryan's 1st Grade class beat the other class. He was very proud!

Cyclocross Race

Stole this pic from a friends blog. I am of course in the middle.

Finished 23rd out of 49 in my Master C class. Could have been worse. The guy on the left finished 11th and the other on the right finished 2nd.

Colin's First Birthday and What it was

First the entire picture from yesterday's post, I know it was gross Mom.

Here are some more pictures:




Colin had a great time with his birthday ice cream clown cone.

What is it?

End of Summer Updates

Things are well here. School starts next week and Ryan will be off to 1st grade. Bridget has expressed some sadness at having him gone all day. It will be a big change for him to be gone from 8am until around 3 or 3:30. I wonder how he will take it.

Ryan also starts soccer next Wednesday. He gets to be on the same team as two of his best friends and another boy that is in our ward. He should have a great time this fall.

Jack, is doing great. Jack has recently been bringing up Aunt Stephanie quite a bit lately. Over the weekend they were shucking corn and Jack explained the proper way to do it, because that is how Aunt Stephanie said to do it. And he brought her up again tonight in family prayer. Bridget said that maybe he should pray that Uncle Patrick could come out here (Patrick brought this up to me last night and I told the family of the possibility). Jack prayed that Patrick would come out and bring Aunt Stephanie with him.

Colin is a beggar. And downright rude. He asks for food off your plate because his isn't good enough apparently. Then if you don't give it to him on his spoon, or let him try and use his spoon to scoop it off of your plate he throws it. He has to do it his way or no way. But he really is a fun kid. I am very glad he is here. He plays and does lots of interactive things with all of us. He loves Pattycake. He will do the actions. It is cute. He is also pretty tough. Tonight he fell on his face and got a bloody nose. He cried for a minute at most and then was smiling, even while blood was fresh out of his nostril and upper lip.

Bridget is handling Primary pretty well I would say. She had to throw the smack down on a couple in the ward that are teachers. They didn't show on Sunday and didn't call a sub or call Bridget to let her know a sub was needed. This was something that they were told to do only 3 weeks ago when they were called. Somehow it slipped their mind...or something like that. Anyway, she politely let them know that this was not ok in the future. I thought she handled it very well. She continues to work out at 24hr Fitness. She especially likes one particular spin class that works her pretty good. She went out for a little solo bike ride even last Saturday. I went out first for about an hour and then she handed off the responsibility for the kids to me and then she was off. I am pretty happy that she gets out there and doesn't mind riding alone. I think a lot of people don't feel comfortable doing that. I'm glad she does.

Oh, and she has been golfing a couple of times since the last post, mostly with the boys. Ryan's and Jack's interest in the sport continues to grow. Jack especially has taken an interest in it, and he is bummed that he is not old enough to take part in the juniors program at Leroy's country club. Nevertheless, Jack likes to go out in to the backyard with his gold clubs and hit the little golf ball sized wiffle balls. Bridget sees the day--probably a few years in the future--where she can take up golf in earnest again. She said that it is amazing how well she is hitting the ball considering how little she is able to practice.

I am just working and biking. I got business cards printed up for the law firm and I have a website that needs to be uploaded to the web. The guy who is uploading it is in Europe for a couple of weeks, but he hasn't charged me a thing so I can't complain. The domain is www.flynnlawllc.com, nothing is there yet, but soon, very soon. A friend of mine is getting close to finishing a new bike frame for me from scratch. But that has been documented on my other blog and so I won't bore anyone here.

Well, that's about it for now.

Golfin'

The boys came home from church and started watching the PGA Championship on TV. They watched it for a good long while for boys that usually won't watch anything other than things that are animated.

Ryan talked about some of the things that were going on, about the rules and so forth. He had been taking golf lessons once a week for 5 or 6 weeks this summer. Jack wasn't totally captivated, but watched with interest. Then Grandpa arrived with something...new Taylor Made golf bag and clubs for Jack! Very timely! Jack's golf set came with a hat and a towel. Ryan's Nike golf club set, which isn't more than a couple of months old, didn't. Jack told Ryan that it was too bad he wasn't as lucky as he was...nothing like getting something cool and then rubbing your older brother's nose in it. Ryan of course now wants a hat and a towel, too (sigh).

Up in Black Butte they had all gone to the range to hit balls even Jack. And as a result of Jack's recent interest in golf, Grandpa decided to buy this set as a belated birthday gift. Jack had some of Ryan's old clubs that were meant for 2-3 year olds. They were just too short really. He is so excited about this golf set. They immediately went into the backyard and started whacking away at the plastic golf wiffle balls. Tomorrow Bridget, the boys, Granpa and Grandma are all going to the range together to hit balls. Here's some pictures...