Back Yard Campin'

I took R3 camping last night. It was a blast. We had a little fire going, made smores, and we slept out in a cabin tent. Well, he slept. The neighbors threw a block party from 1:30am to 4:30am. Anyway, R3 had a lot of fun, and we are ready for a lake excursion any time now.



Click on the picture to see the rest of the pics.

R3 Dancing at The Sage Room

We went to dinner with my parents the other night. We headed up to Enid and ate a little place called The Sage Room. The food was quite good. The ambiance was nice, too. The piano player in the corner added quite a nice touch to the overall experience. However, R3 was enjoying himself quite a bit. Maybe too much. Sorry for the poor quality, I was using my camera to capture this.

This is gonna be fun....

Last night, I put R3 to bed. I gave him his bottle for the night, turned Thomas the Tank Engine on and went to tidy a few things up before I read him his Bible story. I finished up pretty soon, and decided it was time to turn the TV off. R3 and I had an interesting conversation:

Me: "Say goodnight, Thomas." As I reach for the TV

R3: "No."

Me: "Ronnie, it's time to go to bed. Say goodnight, Thomas."

R3: "No."

Me: "RONNIE." I raised my voice a bit.

R3: "It's Edward."

Me: "Oh....... Say goodnight, Edward."

R3: "Ok. Goodnight Edward." He then rolls over and snuggles into his bed.

I turn the TV off.

It turns out that as I was asking R3 to say goodnight to Thomas, Edward was the train on the TV at that moment. For someone that isn't 3 years old yet, that's pretty sharp. I'm gonna have to be pretty careful in his teen years...

Easter 2007

Happy Easter everyone. Easter service was very good. It was, of course, about the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This Easter was also special because R3 really did have a clue as to what was going on. He opened his Easter basket at home, and after a lunch at my parents, he opened another. After which, we had an Easter egg hunt. We were also able to share Easter with my sister's husband and in laws, his aunt and uncle, and our good friend Hide. Everyone had a great time. Of course everybody left stuffed and went home to find a cozy spot to nod off and take a nap.

Happy Easter!

Some Easter pics at flickr.

My little teacher

R3 Sandbox.jpg
Originally uploaded by rsnumber2.

I figured as I grew older, that I would better understand my faith. You know, maturity, life experiences, and such. I regularly go to church, I try to keep up a bible study on my own. I read challenging books that test my mental capacity. I really do try to learn from all the materials and people around me.

But the real teacher is the one that is about waist high to me. R3. It's funny how that little heartbeat is completely dependent upon every decision that I make has taught me so much. I have never grown so fast in my understanding of the kind of love and forgiveness that our God grants us, that is until he came into our lives.

Many times, I have wondered why God would remain silent. Why would he not give me this or that. The truth is, I didn't need it. Sure I complained and moaned, but to no avail. God knew that wasn't the best thing for me. Out of ignorance and greed, I didn't see that it would have been detrimental at a later stage in life. Until after the fact. I know I'm not omnipotent, but I can see consequences of R3's action before he can. God sees my consequences, before hand, too. But on a much larger scale. R3 doesn't realize that when I make him go to bed, it's because I want him to feel refreshed in the morning. That why he can play hard. I know what it's like to have a terrible night's sleep. He doesn't. God knows why I shouldn't buy that new camera, or shiny new Mac. In our case, I think it's so that we can try to have another child. That will be revealed later.

My point is, that through a fatherly role, I have learned much about God's role as my heavenly father. A view point that I may have never seen, without two shiny light blue eyes that light up my day. Even if they are only waist high.

Fun Fact: They make blue sand.

R3 Sandbox.jpg
Originally uploaded by rsnumber2.

At least he hasn't figured out how to make mud yet. Blue mud, at that...

Hobbies

I've been thinking lately. I have a lot of cool stuff; Home Theater, Xbox, PS2, ye 'olde trusty Mac, and my GunPla collection. I have several cool hobbies. From electronics, to photography, to watching movies, and home improvement. My question is, do I really need all these hobbies? Do they really make me a happy person?

Or do they take time away from what really makes me feel a sense of accomplishment. My son.

He has his hobbies now. Mostly Thomas, but anything involving trains will do.

I'll admit, sometimes, after a hard day of work all I want to do is veg out. Sitting in front of the TV, or staring at the computer is the easiest thing to do. The problem is, when I'm done zoning out, R3 is already asleep. I missed out on another "guy time." Generally I'll put him to bed 4-5 nights a week out of 7. That is a priority I have tried to keep. I'll change his "doopy," get his jammies on, give him his nightly bottle of milk and finish off by reading him two stories. One train story followed by a Bible story.

When I think about it. R3 is the most fulfilling "hobby" I have. That is what has made me question my priorities lately.

It's Hard to be a kid...

Poor R3. He must run on Lithium Ion batteries. Full blast, and then, stop. The little guy just runs as hard as he can until he runs out of juice. The nice thing is that he can recharge just about anywhere.

Lucky guy...

The Dining Room


The Recliner


The Hallway


The Firetruck Bed

The spirit of Christmas

First off, Merry Christmas to everyone. May God bless all of you in your different adventures this year.

Christmas is about the birth of the Christ. God in human form. But I learned something about myself tonight. We had our first Christmas that R3 knew what was going on. This has been a rough year for anyone who is in the automotive retail business. As such, this was a pretty lean year for Sara and I as far as gift giving went. I wasn't going to let low funds ruin R3's Christmas though. We got him several Thomas train sets and videos (He'll be gettin' some more in the morning, from Santa, too!) I got Sara several cooking tools and a set of DVDs.

I got a CD.

Growing up, I always liked Christmas because I couldn't wait to see what I got. Like I said, this year was pretty slim. Yet, I felt more fulfilled than past years. No, it wasn't the single $8 CD. As good as Agatsuma is, it was something else. My Christmas gift this year was watching my son jump up and down squealing with delight at the new discoveries that lay behind the tightly wrapped paper enveloping the boxes within. That beautiful smile. The "happy dance" he does. That look of confusion that he got from: Do I play with this? Or do I open another one?

No. My greatest gift this Christmas is seeing they joy that I was able to give to my son by sacrificing all the "cool-gotta-have" stuff the retailers told me I needed for myself.

It's too bad it took me 29.5 years to learn that.