Weekend Recap

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

What a crazy last week and weekend that was! All 3 kids out of school/day care for at least 1 day, coupled with Labor Day meant I ended up coming to work only 1 day. Then the weekend was full with working on Connie's house, although we didn't get as far as we might have wanted to. And the boys had their first games of the season, which both went well actually.

So here it is Tuesday and I am just now getting myself back into the rhythm of things with work, and kids in school/day care. Pretty crazy last week, first Daniel, then James, then Emily then Kim all went down with the creeping crud virus. Being the good Dad (with good benefits and paid time off) I stayed home with the kids when they were sick, taking them to the Dr. etc. So I ended up with a 1 day work week, which wasn't as much fun as it sounds because there was always 1 sick kid.

Saturday Morning we were able to do soccer for both boys though. I have added picture Albums for both boys: James and Daniel. Both games went well. Daniel played, running around, which is all I can expect of him right now, he just doesn't have any where near the same fearlessness and aggression that James has so he tends to only kick the ball if it right in front of him and no one is in his way. But he appeared to have fun. And Brandon did well, playing on Daniel's team. James was probably the best player on the field in his game, from both teams. He scored 1 goal, and might have had more if his team learned to pass the ball accurately. He still has work to do on ball handling, but he is having fun, and is a fun teammate and competitor.

As a kind of birthday present Kim & Dennis had decided to rent a roll off dumpster for Connie and devote a weekend to getting her yard and house cleaned up. So after soccer on Saturday that is where I went. And spent several hours getting her garage cleaned out while Kim and Megan got the yard and parts of the house picked up. And then Kim & I went over again on Sunday afternoon and did the same thing for the back porch. The truly annoying and frustrating part of this was that Tammy was there the whole time, along with her kids. And aside from changing Emily's diaper a couple of times and getting her to lay down for a nap contributed pretty much nothing to the entire effort. By the time we left Sunday afternoon Kim was so upset and tired that I wondered if she was just going to haul off and start beating on Tammy (and I wasn't sure how long I would let her continue until stepping in). I know that we were doing a good thing, and that Connie appreciated it, but I feel deep down in my heart that it is the effort of Sysiphus as long as Tammy and her kids continue to live there and destroy practically everything they touch, without showing any care or remorse.