My Son the Documentarian

Henry broke out the parents camera (without permission) and recorded a classic documentary of what the Ohio cousins do to pass the time during a Browns Sunday.

A couple of plot twists to watch for:

- Caroline's dollhouse is so "yesterday".
- Maura and Henry have a baby named Josephine?
- Josephine may have been attached to a Doodle-Pro.
- Speaking of Josie, did Maddy drop her or was that just me?
- Henry breaks off the show before facing certain punishment upstairs.

Enjoy!

The First Snow

Black Friday turned white for Holmans-North.  What were supposed to be flurries turned into 2 inches of heavy wet snow on the day after Thanksgiving.

So much for shopping.

Erica and the kids were giddy.  You would have thought school was canceled.  I hated to break it to them that we were already on vacation.

The kids were quickly outfitted in last year's snowsuits and hustled outside.  It's fun to see how much your kids have grown over the course of one year by comparing them to last year's snowsuit.

Unfortunately, it also increases their chances of frostbite, self-imposed wedgies and being pummeled by bullies for looking ridiculous.

The kids and I used the unusually wet snow to make the fastest melting snowman in neighborhood history.  Using half of the backyard for snowman material, we managed to finish a giant snowman only to watch it fall over in less than twenty minutes.

I'm happy to point out that the base of the snowman is still going strong more than 48 hours after construction.  Unfortunately, it's going to be in the upper 50's today. 

I don't think it'll make it to December.

A Poogie Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving in the books here in Poogieville.  This year's edition included Uncle Chris, Aunt Holly, Tyler and Autumn who joined us for the feast. 

The turkey was deep-fried for the fourth consecutive year.  Erica shot some footage of me from the kitchen.

 

In case you were wondering, I always fry turkeys in full flame retardant gear and I always invite the local media to watch me set the neighborhood on fire.

The weather was fantastic this year.  For those of you who have braved a Thanksgiving over at Holmans-North, it's either going to be sunny and in the 60's or windy and snowing sideways. 

There are no "in-betweens" in NE Ohio.

Here are the kids before the cousins arrived.  They waited nearly fifteen minutes at the front door for the fun to start.  I love their dedication.

Here's a picture of the deep-fried bird.  She topped the scales at roughly ninteen pounds and took an hour or so to fry.

Here's a picture of the fryor.  He topped in at 200 lbs. with the walking boots and November scruff.  I have no clue how long I would take to crisp up, but in 2001 it only took about three hours in the Sarasota sun.

(A note about Erica: she did another fantastic job putting together some all-star sides and putting up with me.)

Caroline was Mom's kitchen helper this year.  She even stirred the corn casserole and sunk the butter patties with a butter knife.

And then Caroline proceeded to "plant" the butter knife in the corn casserole and it was thoroughly baked into the side dish at 350 degrees.  A thank you to Holly for finding the knife during dinner.

If anyone in our family ever does time, have Caroline send you her version of "Corn Casserole".  You'll be out in no time.  I'm sure she can also fit a shiv into a Dora book, if you need it.

We used our red wine glasses this year.  Ironically, our red wine glasses are actually white wine glasses.   Thus, if someone asks you if you want red wine glasses for a gift, make sure you specify whether it is a red wine glass or a Red Wine glass.

Don't make me explain the difference.

(We love you, Nana.)

And speaking of parents.  The Big Guy and Grandma were on the shelf with BG's version of alien childbirth -- kidney stones.

Erica made two meals for the grandparents and I ran slowly walked it over.  Here's me and my dad on Thanksgiving enjoying the view from the medical ward.

I'd try to spin a funny story about kidney stones, but I don't think there is one.

Here's a picture of me and BG's "nurse" before they broke into costume.  C'mon, you know they totally did.

Finally, we concluded Thanksgiving with a visit from the neighbors who are back from nearly two months in Arizona.  The homecoming was bittersweet for us.  I mean, those late-night parties we hosted at their house were wild and fun.  I had no idea how we were going to get zebra dung off the carpet or the midget out of their dishwasher.

Thank God for Goo-Gone and a crowbar.

(Yes, I know the correct term is "little person.")

Anyway, the kids made up for lost time and were put in trance by our movie theater popcorn popper.  If Mason ever asks you to eat his popcorn, take my advice.  Don't. 

Mason believes in warming the popcorn kernels to about 75 degrees, then dumping them straight into a bowl. 

He's probably going to loose some teeth that way.

Running in Your Mid-30's: A Cautionary Tale

It's been a slow go for the Mayor of Poogieville.

The picture below helps describe the situation.

Nope. It isn't the fact that I'm watching E! entertainment television clips of Johnny Depp. Although, that's weird in and of itself.

Nope. The consequence of starting an unsupervised running regimen in your mid-30's is that you might end up doing what I did. You see, those are my feet.

Two broken ankles.

At least two torn tendons.

And six weeks of humiliation sporting not one, but two walking boots.

Can someone get me a beer from the fridge? This sucks.

No Theme Required: Randomness in Poogieville

Here's the answer to the question: "What we do on a Friday night?"

More random pictures below.

Caroline (photo by Josie, 2009)

Erica (photo by Erica, 2009)

[Editor's Note: Makeup by Caroline]

Anti-Gravity Josie (photo by Caroline, 2009)

Happy Henry (photo by Caroline, 2009)

And lastly, the Two Peg.

More on that in a minute...

Me. (photo by Caroline, 2009)