Laughing

This past weekend during the snow blizzard in the Mid Atlantic, I’m really not sure who had the most fun, the boys are myself? There was a lot of laughing that is for sure going on at the house.

The boys asked to do a few things:

  1. Make snow angles
  2. Make snow prints like dinosaurs
  3. Make a snowman
  4. Make snow cream
  5. Have a snowball fight

Well, 4 out of 5 things from that list got completed, which really isn’t a bad odds, especially when we are talking about guys. So, we didn’t make a snowman and it wasn’t for a lack of trying, but the snow was too light to make the base. It was hard even getting a good snowball formed, but with enough pressure, we got those made.

What I’ve learned about being a dad is that sometimes, you just have to live in the moment. Yes, I was working the entire weekend, making updates to our corporate websites, but we were also doing a lot of laughing. And it was during the course of the weekend that I realized how much of that fun that my father missed out on with me. He did have snowball fights with me and he certainty would not have let me win, which is what I did. He wouldn’t have taught me to make snow cream or make gigantic foot prints in the snow like dinosaurs.

What I’m realizing the most about being a parent, is being there in the moment with them. Being able to teach them things, like I showed them how to make scrambled eggs this past weekend. That is an important life skill. And I hope that by sharing some of my knowledge for cooking, which help teach them to focus on details sometimes and other times, through caution into the wind and change things up a little. But what I’ve really learned, is that I hope that my boys have as much fun as I do when we are together and that they pass their love of laughing and having fun when they are fathers.

Parenting is hard work. While my wife was gone, it was just me. Now, I’ve been alone with the boys for up to 5 days before alone, but this time was different. This time, there was an added level of stress with shoveling, extra cooking and cleaning and working, but thinking ahead if we were to lose power, etc.

And something else, I have a new found respect for single parents, as I have no idea how they do it all the time and do everything.

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No, this isn’t a religious post, but more a post about how our Children hear and repeat everything that we say. And what is even funnier, is when they repeat things and say it at the right time and in the right way.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I were goofing off and I was on a role with one liners and quick comments and I had just seen the #Hashtag YouTube video with Jimmy Fallon & Justin Timberlake and started doing #hashtags in everything that I was saying.  Well, one of the #hashtags was The Gospel, meaning, the truth after something that my wife said and she and I laughed and kept on going. Well, last night, I got home and my wife and I were talking about something from work, nothing serious, just a quick conversation that I thought that was funny and I responded by basically saying that I was right and that she was wrong. In no less than 5 seconds that words came out of my mouth, Boy A chimed in with #The Gospel and I thought that I was going to lose it.

The timing was perfect. The way that he said it. I was doubled over at the sink and had tears running down my face from laughing so hard. Our kids listen to us and look for laughs when they can. After a long day, I needed that laugh. I needed to be reminded that life is short and that sometimes we have to laugh. And sometimes that laughing is a way to put life back into perspective. So, today or tomorrow or whenever, remember 2 things as parents: 1) Laugh and laugh as often as you can and 2) your kids are listening and you never know when they are going to repeat you.

#The Gospel

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Last night, I got home, talked with the boys, started fixing dinner and I heard Baby B saying something and I just could not figure it out. But he was excited and serious about what he was saying, because he said it over and over and over again.

Finally, I get him to slow down and I ask him again what he said and looked serious at me and said “I’m a Ninja”. After a long day, I couldn’t stop laughing and I don’t know why it was so funny? Maybe because I wasn’t expecting that? Maybe because in life, you just need to laugh? Maybe it is because we call a good friend of mine Ninja? Who knows, but for a few minutes yesterday, my son thought that he was a Ninja.

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