Could the Apple Fall Just a bit Further from the Tree Please....

So Hami's kindergarten had "A One Hundred Things for The One Hundredth Day of School". The kids were to wear something (stickers, buttons, pins etc...) to commemorate the hundredth day of school. As always Hami had an open canvass to do what he wanted (within reason of course).

What did he choose? "Dad I want one hundreds stickers, all over my body!"

mmm, maybe we need to start buying him calculators and pencils or doctor stuff. Get him in another direction....

Has it really been a year....

Wow. Has it really been a year since we started this blog? I may not have updated as much as some BUT I have kept it going all year, pats on the back for me! This was a great year for our house. Everything gelled (for the most part). Hamilton got big and all "growned" up. We saw our friends a lot more then we have in the past and as Jamie and I said in reflecting on the past year, we actually took time to smell some of the roses. I hope that it was good for all of you and that your goals for the coming year are a stretch but reachable!

As for me finishing out the blog for the year, I'm about 7 days late but I'm still here. The holidays were really great. I'll give you a blow by blow of the last quarter where we left off...

Hami was hoping, begging, even being "extra good" for this gift all year!

"Santa is the man!"- Hami

Using what he can to get to the good stuff...

On Christmas Eve we sit around drink, eat and have fun, waiting for Santa. Hami obviously went a little loopy waiting on the big guy!

My Boy!!!

I love seeing Hami want to be like his old man sometimes (even though he's more like his Mom). Nana got him a New Orleans (NFL) Saints bean bag AND a Drew Brees jersey! Very cool.

Somewhat of a Cul-de-sak tradition, Hami, Blake and "Little E" build Gingerbread Houses the first week-end of December.

It's good to see that Hami understands the need to live up to the "Ham" in Hamilton.

Houston's "Lights in The Heights" is another fun, cool tradition we do for the holidays. this year we took Kevin and "Big E" with us to check out all the crazy lights.

Hami was amazed that Santa showed up, it being so close to Christmas and all.

A funky Limo at the Lights in The Heights. Kids thought it was the coolest.

Time to load up the tree! Jamie and Hami dig doing this.

I'm sitting on the couch drinking!

Hami will always be punished for being born so close to Thanksgiving. No one is ever in town for a party so we have to schedule it the following week-end that everyone gets back. This year Hami wanted a G.I.Joe party and he wanted it at Rocket City (a pizza and video game center).

Hami is into speed! It was hard getting him off these bikes. he thought he could really ride a bike since he "now know how to lean a real bike to make it turn!"

"Not 'till your 35!" as Jamie will say.

The Gang! Led by the Hip Hop Gangster Birthday Boy!

Peace to his peeps!

Really?

We left Chicago because of the snow. It's not suppose to snow in Houston (uh Dallas, we got snow first!)

The Dude & his Dude, Buck....

Every Birthday Jamie makes Hami Cinnamon Rolls for Breakfast. He actually remembered them this year and couldn't wait for them.

Birthday Dinner for Hami with the family.

"Chips & Cheese please!"

(That's what Hami refers to as Mexican Food).

Hami's school had a Thanksgiving Party and the parents were invited.

Hami was scared of himself for Halloween. He loved making his costume. For me that's what Halloween is all about.

This is some of the crew on the Cul-de-sak! It's like a parade when the Sak hits the trail for treats! The Dad's stay back in The Sak and line up the chairs, crack the beer, and hand out candy in assembly line fashion. I like making gumbo for the adult trick-or-treaters.

Two wild and crazy Ghoulish Goons!

So it really was a good year. Goals for next year? There are a few. I hope to get a camera that will take pictures so I can blog more (because that's what was holding me back). We hope that this year will be as good if not better then the last and that the three of us can keep on keepin' on...

Blog ya soon, y'all!

Grandparents Day!!!!

I don't know if it's the schools in our area or what but school is nothing like when I went that's for sure. Jamie and I have gone up to school with Chic-Fil-A to have lunch with Hami. One of us is volunteering once a week for something up there. Every time I walk the halls it's nothing but parents up there. Crazy...

Then they have Grandparents Day for lunch time. In our neighborhood we had Grandparents come in from out of town for this. Little nuts if you ask me but we are raising a different type of kid these days aren't we?

Nana doesn't work too far away and was happy to come in. She said there were Grandparents EVERYWHERE and she loved the fact that there were "very old people and very young people there. Nothing in between". Hami loved it too. All in all school is going good.

nice look on the kid next to Nana (that's actually our neighbor Aiden). He's looking like "how come my Grandmother isn't crazy like that?"

First Day of School....

Well it has finally come. The day I think that Jamie has been looking forward to and dreading since we brought him home from the hospital as a baby. Hami's first day of school. Yes, he did go to "private kindergarten" for most of last year BUT... This is the real thing (to us at least!!!).

Nana came over to help see him off and we really don't think Hami cared that we were there at all. With about a dozen kids getting on the bus in our cul-du-sak, us as parents really only got in the way. He shared his bus seat with his buddies Aiden and Keven (yeah three dudes in one seat) and they were off not even noticing at us waving and crying.

Next week it's college!!!!!

The Summer Recap...

One of the things that has kept me from updating the blog is that we have the hardest time to remember walking out of the house with the camera. We went to San Antonio and had to buy a disposable because we forgot. Any way I'll always have some sort of Blah, blah, blah...

We had a great summer. Jamie worked her butt off selling houses and did a great job. I closed some loans but mostly focused on the Summer of Nate and my golf game. Hami is starting school next week and the summer is over but I think all in all it was a great summer. We had something going on almost every week.

We went to Atlanta to visit Uncle Ross and Jenn. We had a great time there. Nope, not one picture. We went to Schlitterbahn and had a blast. Hami road all the slides and loved the downhill racer the best. We rode it 7 times. Nope not one picture. For Jamie's Memaw 80th Birthday we went up to Dallas a day early to visit with Uncle Mike (Dallas Mike) and the gang. There is always a good time to be had when the two families get together. Nope not one picture. There was this place out in the middle of nowhere that was a VERY small water park called Splashway. It was a fun day and it was sort of an adventure just getting there, but you guessed it. Not one picture. Hami went to Lost Pines for a week-end with his Nana but they didn't bring back any pictures either.

We weren't complete idiots and did bring the camera to a couple of things. We went to the circus and that was really cool. We got to go down before the show and hang out with the clowns and get "up close" shows. I even got hit on by one of the babe clowns. No really I did. Jamie even confirmed it for me. I took Hami and his buddy Kevin to an Astro's game and that was a lot of fun. The guys lasted the whole game surprisingly. One day we loaded up some of the neighborhood kids and headed for Brenham to visit the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory. It was o.k. and we did get free ice cream at the end. Me? I had Mint Chocolate Chip, Cookies and Cream, and Mega-nut Chocolate. Me belly be full. everyone else just had one scoop. The kids had a good time together.

San Antonio was a really good time. It was HOT as a mother though. I wanted to dive into the river and start tubing. Hami really dug it. The Dallas Cowboys (Pro-Football) have their training camp in San Antonio and our friends Ben and Theresa got some field passes to go down onto the field. Hami loved that. He ran around chasing Ben's boys and met a handful of the players. Two things of note for me. The players are HUGE and they all looked so young. Am I really that old?

Jamie had a girls week with the girls in Panama City Florida. She said that was much needed and came back saying that that's where the family is going next year so I'd say it was a hit. I headed to Tahoe/ Reno to help (Dallas) Mike with a 100 mile Ultra. It was cool to get out and V. and I had a blast at the casinos.So that's it. Maybe for the rest of the year we can take the camera with us when we go somewhere (but I doubt it). V. does little post and I love them. Here are some pictures of the summer:

Beach Trip: (these are in here because I thought I screwed something up. I'm not taking them out becuase I'd have to retype EVERYTHING and at my pace, well it would be Christmas before I got to it again). Just enjoy!

The Dudes

The bigger dudes

Dinner is served....

Tahoe/Reno (Mike's Run):

Walking up and down these 2 lane roads in the mountains. It was really amazing scenery looking out and up into nothing but sky and wilderness. I'll go back to this race.

The Circus: The Baseball Game:

Ready to go!

In the dug out with the players (no not really, silly!)

The boys had a great time at the game but I think getting a ride in a bike taxi back to the car was the highlight for the day.

San Antonio:

Two cool kids...

Hami thought this semi would look good in our driveway.

Blue Bell Ice Cream:

Man, I have got to take better pictures..... till next time!

Meet the Teacher...

So it's been a whole summer since I've blogged. I actually thought I did once but you know it's easy to forget. My laziness is for another time though. Today I am writing to talk about my Dude Hami's meet the teacher last night.

It was odd to me all the hoop-la that went into the meet the teacher night but everyone, kindergarten through 5th grade were there meeting the teachers running around and having fun. It was a social minus the beer and wine.

Me personally, I had waves of feelings of my school days come over me from time to time. I really just wanted to grab Hami and run out of there BUT I put on my game face and smiled for everyone. It's a cool looking school and his teacher seemed really nice. Her name is Ms. Snow. Our neighbor and one of Hami's good friends Aden got the same class and their seats are night next to each other so I thought that was good. The mom's for some reason don't.

Hami & Ms. Snow

The apple lays close to the tree....

Hami Just "graduated" private kindergarten. Why this has turned into a big thing I'm not sure BUT... we did our part in celebrating his accomplishment.

We told him around spring break that if he was able to get good conduct grades (there's another apple) for the rest of the year that he could get anything he wanted (within reason of course). His goal was a Wii video game and he stayed pretty focused on this for most of the time we dangled the caret. About a month before summer though he changed his mind. "I want drums like the rock stars play" (as apposed to the wimpy small ones). We kept asking him if he was sure he didn't want the Wii. No changing him, his mind was made up. With a chest full of pride I set out to find him his kit. I think I did pretty good in my hunting and actually spent less then we would have on the Wii so Jamie was even happy.

A Rock God in the making...

(I didn't set this pose up. When he saw the camera he struck it like he'd been doing it for years).

The Beach House....

So Uncle Mike's (Dallas Mike) family has had a beach house outside of Galveston for many years. Fran (Mike's mom) has been super generous to allow our family to use the house as well and we have truly enjoyed this access. The Beach House is also the usual meeting place for our two families to get together every couple of months.

Quick history of the beach and Mike and I- I'm sure our first road trip when we were 16 was to the beach. We would drive and sleep in our car to go fishing or sleep on the fishing pier pulling an all nighter down there. As teenage memories go, some of my favorite one's are just Mike and I fishing around Galveston.

Anyway, this past week Jamie went off to Florida for a girls get-a-way and it just so happened that Mike, V. and the kids were down at The Beach House for a couple of nights. Hami, Buck (our dog) and I headed down there to join them.

As always it was a great time. Everyone jumped on the boat in the afternoon and the kids crabbed off the sides. Hami and I did a little fishing in between. V. and I just sat around and gabbed the whole time while Mike was is usual "mega deckhand" for the kids. We cooked the crab for an appetizer. Had some steak and potatoes for dinner and Uncle Mike even convinced Hami to try a crab claw AND a piece of fillet. I live in hope my son, I live in hope. After dinner we headed to the beach and the kids swam while Aunt V. built a bonfire. When it got dark we lit the fuse on about 3 dozen fire works. We almost lost Hami, Joe, and Aunt V. to a firework mishap and we were on the road back home for a birthday party by 7:30AM the next morning.

Here are some highlights:

There are too many things to say about this image...Good friends Hami caught this Croaker and Joe scooped it up. Good team work boys! Hami loves him some Uncle Mike and he was all over helping out. This is one of about 3 rounds of crab. So good, (lots of work though). Boogie boarding dudes You guys look like you've been on a deserted island for a week (they really were...)

Friends+sand= fun (and a bath when we get home)

Give me FIRE......