Santa

Triton, Rocco and Jake waiting for everyone to settle down. Santa has just arrived and Rocco isn't going to take his eyes off of him! Jake is Sheri's brother. Father to Rocco and Mason.

Every year at the Miles' home (Sheri's Father and Stepmom) Santa shows up to ask the children what they want for Christmas. It is such a nice thing because this allows us to not wait in line waiting for pictures with some sweaty old fake. Triton still doesn't know that he has to be a good boy or he won't receive any presents from this jolly man, but he will next year. This year I think Santa was a bit overwhelmed/surprised. In the picture below there are to two older boys in the front (the one making the weird face and Mason to his right in the brown shirt). Mason is Triton's older cousin and I am not sure who the other boy is. I don't think they are related? Anyway, after each child or family of children had their picture taken with Santa, he (Santa) handed out a gift to everyone. It was the same gift to each child, that being a remote control car that you will see in later pictures. Well, Mason and this other young man were sitting in front of Santa as he was handing each child their unwrapped car. These two young men took it upon themselves to refuse Santa's early gift because it wasn't what they wanted. Santa explained to them that this was an early present, but they would have to behave for another two weeks if they wanted their Christmas wish gift on Christmas morning. Mason reluctantly took his, but this other kid (the second oldest boy) still wasn't happy explaining that he wanted a GI Joe! He finally took his gift after Santa not only explained again that he had to behave for another two weeks, but when he realized Santa was going to give the last car to one of the adults who wanted it. Santa then informed us all that after all of his years as Santa that was a first! Children refusing gifts was a first for him. It was kind of funny, but I hope that Triton never refuses a gift because it isn't what he wanted.

Below are a few pictures of Triton sitting on Santa's lap. Triton was one of the last to have his picture taken. Rocco didn't want to sit on Santa's lap at all so I was a little worried considering he and Triton are only about a week apart in age. Triton wasn't refusing to get near Santa because he was running by him not really paying attention. I think he might have actually been the last to sit on his lap? Anyway, it was so funny each kid or set of siblings sat and smiled for the camera. Most of them knowing that they were up there to see Santa and have their picture taken. Triton, Rocco and Jaxon were the youngest and didn't really know why this fat red suited man was there. Rocco didn't want to have a thing to do with him and Jaxon had his older brother and sister there with him to help him. Triton's turn was up. Santa asked who was next and Triton was next to me, so I pointed to Triton and pushed him toward this stranger. Triton ran up toward Santa, but veered quickly to the left. He was hyper and wanted to run around. Santa grabbed him and yanked him up on his lap. I was afraid that Triton might start crying or squirming, but he didn't. Everyone was trying to get Triton's attention and have him smile. As soon as Triton knew what we wanted he started smiling. The camera I had delayed for the first bit so you can't really see the cheesy smile. Triton was referred to as the Little Ham the rest of the night. He knew that all eyes were on him and after everyone laughed at how he was posing Santa put him down. He then ran laps around the island separating the living room and the kitchen.

This one is a minute or two after pictures.
Santa is passing out the cars and Triton is first in line! Pulling up his sleeves preparing for his fun. Triton hates long sleeves and is always pulling them up. No way Triton is going to ask for help until he figures out he needs it to open his car. Triton must have gotten help and is now waiting for Uncle Jake to put the batteries in.

After Santa departed the children were all included in making their own snowflakes made from paper. Triton was the last child to get bored and was in there some 30 minutes or so after the other kids were done. He was given a set of scissors (real scissors) and was having a hay day just cutting up the paper. Here he is with his grandfather. His cousin Jaxon is seen as well, with Papa(Grandpa)Rick holding him. I don't know if Rick was worried to leave Triton alone with scissors or if he wanted to just spend time with his grandson? I am sure it was the latter of the two. Triton is very independent and is pretty much hassle free when it comes to keeping an eye on him with stuff like scissors. In the next post if I can remember to download the pictures I have Triton's first no no. Okay well his first rebellious venture when home alone with me.

Following

I know only a few people who blog. An ex girlfriend named Jamie who sometimes comments on my postings. Then there is Preston's wife. Preston is a gentleman that I work with. I have only met his wife and seen her a few times, but I know she must be great because of how happy she makes Preston. He has been working at the same hotel as me for maybe 3 years, 2 for sure? Him and his wife were married and I wondered why they didn't have any children. I asked him if they were planning on it and from the way he made is sound they were in no hurry. They are the cutest couple and I was excited when I heard that they were pregnant. Well, if you click on his blog (Payne) and just read the latest post you will learn what happened. His wife wasn't due to have the baby until like December 15th or something like that. There son was born October 12th two months premature! It was sad to hear, but the baby is now home and is doing well.
It is sad to hear stories like that. After having a healthy baby boy it hurts me to think of people who have problems with their pregnancies. My step sister had a miscarriage, my best friend's sister had a miscarriage. An uncle and his girlfriend who would babysit me when they were minors were married. He wasn't really an uncle, my mom's boyfriend's cousin. Him and his girlfriend have married since then and have a little girl. He is a bowler and I talked to him while Sheri was in term with Triton. Come to find out that they had 4 or 5 miscarriages! That is just so sad. My best friend and his wife are unable to have children. I feel for them and wish that they never had to know such pain. Preston's story is a bad one at first, but obviously turned out for the good.
Jamie was a girlfriend from high school. We dated on and off for 4 years until her return missionary (whom she married) came home from serving a full time mission. I can't remember where he went, I think it was stateside. He is a good guy and they have three children of their own. Sheri and I have done a couple of things with them in the past, but not since having children.
I used to go to movies all of the time, and now that Triton "the hinderer" is here we hardly ever go.
Anyway, Jamie was the one who introduced me to the gospel. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I had never gone to church previous to attending with her. She and her family never pushed it on me either, which was a blessing. I imagine if they would have I might have never have learned the truth. I am the only on in my family that is a member. I believe my mom's side were all baptized, but nothing ever solidified for them. My grandma on my mother's side is a member and she knows that it is true, but she let's the worldly things interfere with her progression. I myself was baptized when I was a junior in high school. I believe in the church and know that it is true, but I myself have had trouble simply going to church. I am not prefect, but I know that I would be temple worthy if I simply attended church.
It makes me sad that I don't know how to introduce the church to people. I never went on a mission because I was a convert and felt that I didn't know enough to go on a mission. I wanted to really bad, but never did.
One of my mom's old boyfriends who has been having an extremely tough time with his life has had some people from the church befriend him. They live near him and have had him in their home for dinner once or twice. He admires their willingness to help him in any way possible. I talked with him about this and learned that he might take part in the missionary discussions. I don't think that he has because satan (sorry I don't like to capitalize his name) has of course distracted him. The first night after he went to dinner at these people's home he was excited and wanted to learn about the church because they told him the story of Joseph Smith. This is the sad part of the story, he asked me why I never shared this story with him! It struck me pretty hard and I pray to become a better person and a friend to not just him, but to anyone who knows me. A lot of people, friends and family look up to me because they know I don't drink, they know that I don't smoke, they know that I don't do drugs. They know I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and they respect that. This same friend that is having a tough time in his life right now said the best thing to me one day. Him not knowing anything about the church confronted me when I joked about ordering a beer one night bowling. Everyone there knew that I would never drink, and I shouldn't have joked about it, but he still took it upon him self to threaten me. He said he would slap me silly or something to that effect if he ever caught me drinking. I was probably 24 at the time of him saying this! Thus, it wasn't my age to the reasoning of his reaction to my joke. My work schedule is going to be changing at the beginning of the year and I hope to go with him to these people's home while he partakes in the missionary discussions.
It saddens me that I cannot be a better example to those around me and pray to change that. It saddens me that I know about the one true church on this earth and I am too afraid to share it. I am grateful for Jamie and her family. Their family is the reason that I was interested in hearing about the church. They were great examples to me. Sure I was adolescent and impressionable, but after many years later my love for their whole family has grown stronger. I never see them anymore, but the admiration that we have for each other is still there. I know that I can call Jamie's father and ask him for anything and he would do whatever he could to help. He is one of my most favorite people in the world. I wish that someone would feel the same about me someday, but I know that I have to be willing to share my testimony with them about the church.

Early Present

This is the new bowling ball that Sheri has purchased for me for Christmas. She wasn't able to find a certain area online to ask for a specific type of pin placement. So she reluctantly asked for my help knowing that she would have to give away the surprise. The website is dumb in the way it asks you for this or that and basically hides this area to ask for certain specs, but all is well and the bowling ball is here.

Sheri thinks that the ball is prettier in real life than this picture above. I only looked at it a second before work last night and I was opposite. The quick glance that I took made me think that it is prettier in the picture above. It was only a quick look like I said so I might change my mind. I don't really care what the ball looks like as long as it helps my game.

I bowled with a different bowling ball last week than I had been all year and I was rolling the ball a lot better. I missed some easy spares, but the week gave me a bit of confidence. That is something I haven't had all year and probably a lot of the reason that my average is down almost 20 pins from last year! I had better figure something out soon, because Nationals is going to be here before I know it. Sheri's due date is April 23rd and I have to go to Reno to bowl March 12th or the 13th. She better not have an early delivery or she is on her own!

I had to go and get part of her Christmas early as well, she loves Harry Potter so I had to get the Bluray before she did.

Funny story, last week Terminator Salvation came out on DVD. It wasn't at the redbox so I went to rent it at Hastings. They had the Bluray so I just bought that because to rent a Bluray is like $6 there and the option to buy was $20. I bought my second Bluray of my own. They are of course Sheri's and mine, but we know who's is who's. She bought her Twilight and now has her Harry Potter. I have "I Love You Man" because that is just a movie that I can watch over and over. For some reason I bought Terminator Salvation. I don't usually just buy a movie unless I love it. I believe I was pretty lucky this time though. I liked Terminator Salvation a lot. I made Mikey J come over and watch it last week with me and he said it was his favorite Terminator yet! I like Terminator 2 the best, but wasn't disappointed in purchasing this one. I cranked the speakers and probably ruined Triton's hearing forever, but he watched most of it too and didn't complain about it being too loud. I don't hardly get to watch movies as loud as I want because Sheri doesn't like it that loud. I had it a little softer than I like, so it wasn't going to hurt Triton's ears. It did however try to vibrate the surround sound speaker off the television stand! Triton and I had already watched the movie before, and it was funny because he remembered this one part. When watching it a second time with Mikey J, Triton grabbed my arm and sat close because he remembered a scary part. It wasn't really scary, but it can make you jump and he jumped both times from watching it. It was just way cute how he remembered the exact point of the movie and prepared himself for it.

Pink

Well, as many have known for some time now, Sheri is pregnant again. This is going to be our second child. We found out this last Friday if it was a boy or a girl. I had been expecting a girl because I already have my King Triton. I of course wanted a another boy, but wasn't at all surprised when the person giving us the ultrasound informed us that it was a girl. I was kind of hoping that it would be a girl too because Sheri deserves to have a little girl. She really wanted a girl. I of course wanted all boys that way we could always have only boy stuff around and simply do man sports and such. A little girl isn't going to be bad at all. I am kind of hoping that she will be a daddy's girl since Triton is for sure a mommy's boy. There has been one day in the past three months that Triton was a daddy's boy and wanted me over his mom. Every and all other days he just wants his mommy. Hopefully these next few months where Sheri can't pick Triton up and baby him will be a wake up call for him. Being a momma's boy is a bad thing, but he needs to learn that she isn't going to always be picking him up.
There are days that he won't let me pick him up to simply put him in or get him out of the car. I don't mind him wanting his mom over me it doesn't hurt my feelings at all. It would just be so much quicker if he would let me carry him to and from different locations. I just let her keep babying him because that is the monster she help create. It is her first child and she should be able to pick him up all of the time because he is the baby. She should be able to pick him up because in a few years he is going to be to big for her to pickup anyway. I just can't stand having the both of them freezing in the cold winter because little momma's boy can't have daddy help him out of the car. Well, he is going to have a rude wake up call when her doctor informs her she can't pick him up anymore. I just hope that he gets used to it quickly. There have been a couple of times that he has been left in the car for a while to cry because Sheri wasn't able to get him out because she was carrying something else. Then there have been numerous times that he gets to go in his room because daddy didn't want to wait for either of them. So, I get him out of the car he is being a jerk and pushes my hands away as he is whining.
I am also afraid that Sheri is going to push herself a little too far as well. Not knowing that he is a growing boy or not knowing how fragile a state she herself is going to be in and then she is going to hurt herself.
Right now it is great though, when she is around and we both have the day off I let her do everything. I let her take him out of the car because that is what he wants, so I simply go in the house or where ever we are. I let her do the reprimanding because that is something that needs to be done by her when we are both around, not just me. Triton of course drives me a little too far and I have to help her with that part, but as for now him being a momma's boy makes things so much easier on me.
So, when I say I want this new little princess to be a daddy's boy it isn't to have her like me more than Sheri. I want her to be a daddy's girl so that things can be done in a timely manner, like entering or exiting a vehicle. Like being carried into a store from the parking lot. That angers me to no end. I have to carry Triton because I don't want him to fall on the ice and he is falling from my arms because he is reaching for his mommy. Ewww, that one angers me to no end. Again, not because he is a momma's boy, but because he is a momma's boy all of the time. Wait 10 seconds for me to carry you into the building then your mommy can have your royal bratness!! Okay enough venting about my angel Triton.
You may wonder why I think of him as an angel? Well, when he is alone with me during the days, he is basically an angel. I might have to send him to his room or raise my voice to him once a month during our alone times. When Sheri and I are together on my days off it is the exact opposite. There might be once day a month where I don't have to raise my voice or send him to his room. I am a parent that does believe in spankings as well, and he gets his fair share of swats on the butt, but only when his mom is around. You might think that I simply resent the fact that he is a momma's boy and see things that aren't there because of that fact. That is not the case. Things have gotten a lot better lately. In the past it was him being an angel for me all day. No whining and no fits. As soon as Sheri would walk in the door the whining would begin. Thank goodness that has gotten to be about a thing from the past. He at least waits a few minutes nowadays to start the whining. It is pretty funny because my cousin Josh's girlfriend and him have the same issues. I imagine that everybody who has children has run into this same issue, but it is just something that I had to vent about.
I told you that Kim has two girls of her own (a 4 year old [Bella] and another girl who is a little over a year and a half [Presley]) I did finally meet them a couple of weeks ago when Josh was down for Thanksgiving. They are two gorgeous girls. I guess Kim (Josh's girlfriend) is part Hispanic. I can't remember if the father of the first girl was Hispanic or not, but Bella has long beautiful hair. Then the second girl was fathered by a black man and Presley has pretty long curly hair. Both are cute as can be. Josh for those who don't know him is an albino! He was born a toe head and never grew out of it. His hair has always looked as if he just bleached it. Holly Madison hair his whole life. He isn't really an albino, but he is as white as white comes. So, we kind of throw puns in Kim's direction about how she wanted a kid from every color person. First I think it was another Hispanic that fathered her first child, then a black man that fathered the second, and I am sure she must have just been in awe seeing Josh for the first time. Whitey McWhitey. Maybe she first went with her own ethnicity, then saw a beautiful black man that didn't work out and she wanted to get as far from black as possible. Well, she did it for sure. She again, is supposedly Hispanic, but she doesn't really look it. So her Hispanic genes have to be a bit dormant. Josh's albino (white) gene is for sure a dominant that his baby is going to pop out and be Powder. Powder is a movie in the 90s for those who don't get the joke, watch the movie and then laugh at the joke. It is a pretty good movie.
Sheri hasn't really liked the color pink for a long while? I don't mind the color pink at all, and won't have a problem with everything we get being pink as well. Betty, Sheri's stepmother said she was planning on buying everything pink. I told her that was fine. Sheri wanted to inform her that there were other colors as well that are associated with the female gender, and I smiled at Betty and gave her the go ahead. The go ahead to buy all the pink she wants. As much as I can't stand wasting money on barbies and whatsoever girly things there are I know they are developmental tools. They just aren't golf clubs, footballs, basketballs and all the other great and easy things that boys have. I mean you have a doll (baby) that has a brush and a bottle and a this and a that. Growing up as a boy all you need to have fun is dirt! I remember throwing dirt clods at each other and that was a great day! I know that I will love this girl (whatever Sheri picks her name to be) no matter what, but I am frightened as well. I told Sheri that I picked Triton's name so she can pick the girl name.
She didn't like that idea and said that I would have to like it as well. I just want you to know Sheri that if you find a name and really are in love with it then it is fine with me. I told her that I would still help, which I will, but I would really like it if she would find a name that she loves. A couple of not so original family and friends said why not name her Ariel from The Little Mermaid as well? I liked the movie, loved the name Triton and that is about it. I don't have to love everything about the movie and don't have to love every name in the movie! I made a joke back at a couple of people saying that we would rather name her Flounder over Ariel! After joking back and forth we decided on Scuttles (the seagull) from The Little Mermaid. I kind of wish that Sheri would come up with something that she loves because it reminded her of this or that. I mean Triton reminds me of a great time in my life when I was 10 - 12 and had no care in the world. It reminds me of my grandma and grandpa which in return reminds me of all my grandparents, so it is just a special name because of the great memories it holds. Obviously she doesn't have anything like that, but she did mention a name from a book that I scrunched my nose at when first hearing it. Now that I think of it that name isn't too bad at all. So, Sheri, if you can remember which name that was and you still like it I am a go with it.