Newsflash!!

Abby just got off the bus looking like this:

I've been waiting 17 years to find a way to put these feelings into words...Leave it to Grey's Anatomy:


"There's a club. A Dead Dads club. You can't be in it til you're in it... I'm sorry you had to join the club."

"I don't know how to exist in a world where my dad doesn't."

"Yeah...that never really changes."

Friday

Got up early (7am is early when you only just when to bed at 2), but that's not when my day began. It actually began with Abby talking in my ear: "Mom, is it time to go yet?" Me: "HUH?? Honey, it's 5:00 in the morning. No, you need to go back to bed."

5:30: "Mom, is it time yet?" Me: "Sweetheart, no. Please go back to bed."

6:00: "Is grandma coming yet?" Me: "No, babe. Not yet."

6:30: "Are we going to be late? Shouldn't grandma be here, because I think it's time to go."

7:00: My alarm goes off and I get up and head toward the bathroom. I hear the TV on in the family room. I go down to check it out. I find Abby sitting the in the recliner, fully dressed in her blue butterfly shirt, jean skirt, pink and green tights and tennis shoes, with her camera purse draped over her shoulder. Me: "Abby, honey, what are you doing down here?" Abby: "Waiting for grandma." Me: "Ok, why don't we get you in the bath? And we're going to need to wear something a little warmer..."

Jacob rolled out of bed around 7:30, then showered and dressed. I was still scrambling to get ready when mom showed up at 8:15 (should have followed Abby's example...). We drove to the South Bend Regional Airport and jumped on the South Shore bound for downtown Chicago and the Shedd Aquarium. A ride, by the way, that takes about 2 and a half hours. Good to know. The kids really enjoyed the ride, but the newness wore out fast and they were ready to get there NOW. Arrived in Chicago and walked a couple of blocks to the Aquarium. Abby was not thrilled with the walking, but it was a beautiful day for January in Chicago - not a bad walk at all.

The first thing we did was watch the diver feed the fish, rays and sharks in the Caribbean Reef just inside - Jacob raised his hand and answered a question asked by the presenter - I was so proud! Jacob and my mom have been studying sharks for a science fair-type project for school, so he knew that the predators in the tank were the sharks! What a smarty!! From there we went directly to the Oceanarium for the dolpin presentation - what Abby had been waiting anxiously for (and losing sleep over) for days. She literally squeeled when the dolphins would jump out of the water - made the whole thing worth while. We grabbed a bite in the cafeteria and then headed for the Shark Reef downstairs where Jacob and grandma read and saw everything there was to know about sharks. Jacob even took out his project notebook and jotted down some notes of things he wanted to remember for his presentation. What a kid!! Finally we tracked down the seahorses and seadragons and the jellyfish before heading to the gift shop on our way out. Jacob got a book about sharks and a plastic shark model for his project - Abby got a little dolphin, a dolphin keychain for her backpack, and a book about sea creatures. They made out like bandits. Grandma is certainly an as-of-yet undetermined species of jellyfish herself.

We caught a cab - the kids very first taxi ride (actually, that's not entirely true...I just remembered that Jacob rode in a cab with me on his first birthday in Nashville, but anyway...) - to Michigan St. for a quick visit to the American Girl store and the Lego store (no purchases) with a quick stop at Garrett's for some carmel corn in between (YUM!!). Then it was a quick cab to the train station for our long, sleepy ride home. Abby was OUT the entire way. I dozed a little myself. Jacob, on the other hand, bounced off every surface he touched. Second wind, I guess. Then it was home, dinner and straight to bed.

Thanks for the awesome day Mom!!

more pictures here

Thursday

After spending the day with 5 kids all day, eating dinner at the mall (tradition), church (awesome job, Jason!!), and a quick stop at Border's for a mocha, I drove to Martin's on Ironwood (by the river) to meet up with some media and fellow drama people to tape for a media that will be shown at church tonight. We were there until they kindly ushered us out the doors at 1am (we, of course, had to do our taping after the store closed at 1o). I'm not going to give anything away, but I just needed to throw this out there - I'm sore.

As I mentioned yesterday, today was a work day. Got up around 7:45 to a silent house - all 5 kids still asleep! Showered, ran a couple of errands, got to work and tried to plan my attack. Unfortunately for me, all plans fell apart as shopper after shopper after shopper entered the store. I spent 90% of my time today running the cash register. Good news for my employers, bad news for my plans. Oh well. There's always tomorrow.

Stopped at Martins on the way home to grab food - been a while since I've been grocery shopping (oops). Next stop: home, and get some dinner thrown together. Not gourmet, but I didn't get any complaints (they know better!). The kids were doing their Christmas-Break-Usual - video games and Disney Channel. If we don't get them back to school soon, all they'll know how to say is "Star Wars Lego" and "Hannah Montana." Forget reading and math - they can run an Xbox 360 and Tivo!

I spent the evening uploading the last of my pictures into my Flickr account - you can see them HERE. Current through 2006 - pretty exciting! Watched a little TV while finishing up some work on the computer, balanced the checkbook and paid some bills (yeehaw), put the kids to bed early (9:30!) and took a bath. Pretty productive night! Still didn't finish a few projects I have in mind, but they'll have to wait. I'm headed to bed early - time for me to start catching up on my sleep, too!! Besides, it's back to work tomorrow...

A New Year

We started out this new year with our immediate family and some of our closest friends - the McMullens and Verduins. The Ruths were MIA due to a nasty virus that has resurfaced and is still attempting to hunt us down. Poor Jami - nothing like being 7 months pregnant and puking your guts out all day long. Fortunately, the Callenders are healthy (at the moment) and looking forward to a terrific 2007. We ended the old and started the new sitting together with kids on laps - the way it should be.

Jacob got up this morning around 10:45 and Noon came and went before Abby crawled out of bed! This coming week is going to be a bear, trying to get them back on their normal schedule and ready to get up for school next Monday morning at 6:30am. Ouch. We've all really enjoyed sleeping in over Christmas break. Even Jacob.

Today was a lazy day - most of us left our jammies on and no one left the house. Watched the Rose Parade (did you see all the Star Wars stuff going on there? AWESOME) and a lot of Disney Channel. The xbox 360 has also gotten it's share of use. Adam and I spent a fair amount of time cleaning up around the house, and then the McMullens arrived to drop off the kids for an overnighter - the kids were ALL squeeling with delight! We'll see how much sleeping will go on - it's already midnight and 4 of the 5 are still awake. Like I said - getting them back on that schedule any day now...

I'm back to work tomorrow. Would much rather stay home with Adam and the kids, but someone has to bring home the bacon around here!! ;) HA! We've still got some fun plans for the rest of the week - another movie, maybe some bowling, and it looks like a train ride to Chicago!

Oh, two small announcements: I just won a pair of NEW Dr. Marten boots on ebay for $41! Woohoo!! AND...I'm going to Anaheim at the end of the month for a trade show and then Jeri and I extending our trip a couple of days to stay with Katie - I can't wait!!!!

Stephen Bryant Holt (Dad)