It was a very merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas! The boys loved it. Stacy loved it. I loved it.

There were presents galore. Here are some of the high points from our present opening:

Santa's gifts to the boys, including the sign that directs the boys to the trampoline! (no picture of that included)

Jackson's big pile of gifts:

Alex's big pile of gifts:

Stacy's small pile of gifts:

Michael's small pile of gifts:

My boys love costumes. Here are a few of the one's they received from Santa.

The reason I'm happy about Christmas!


Christmas morning was fun at home. Then it was off to Greenville to have Christmas with Stacy's parents...unfortunately the camera never made it out.

Then on Friday (after work) it was off to my parents house for more Christmas. Here is my brother Matthew (flexing what he thinks are large arms...) Laura also made the picture...taking a picture of the boys.

Matthew again with Deuce.

Wow! That is a lot of presents for the boys!

They can't wait for their turn to open more presents!

Finally, time to open!

And of course, you have to do a funky pose at least once.

Now to be selfish for a moment. Stacy gave me two great presents that...well, dont really go together but I love them both. First.... The Big Nasty! When we were at Furman, we used t go our for Mexican food and the perfect companion for Mexican food is the Big Nasty...other wise known as the 32 oz beer mug. I love those and mentioned it to Stacy. She remembered and I got a set of two for Christmas. Of course I had to give them a test drive today during the football game...and yes. I approve.

The other gift is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I'll post more about this later in more detail, but this cool gadget is a watch. But not just a watch. This is the Garmin Forerunner 405; one of the coolest watches I have ever seen. It's so cool that I did my research and bought her the SAME THING! I was elated to find out that she got me the same awesome gift that I got for her. Anyway, It is cool and I'll post more about it later, as I learn even more about it myself.

My boys

How about some pictures of boys...



Jackson before school.





Alex at his Thanksgiving program.










Christmas tree decorating night.










Alex happy and hamming it up.




Alex not happy and bummed in the corner.




Jackson showing his mad skills on the skate board.




Stacy and the boys.




Me and my boys!

BBall picks

A few of the boys getting ready pregame. Notice Jackson is the smaller one in green.




A shot of the bench featuring a few players and yours truly, Coach Owings.




A shot of the kids in a layup line during pregame. Of course Jackson is hamming it up.

Arrrrrgh, I'm a Pirate!

My boys love movies and love to pretend. One of their favorites of both of those things is Pirates of the Caribbean. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard them talk about jack Sparrow and Will Turner, I'd be one year closer to retirement.

Earlier, I knew they were in their art room doing art: coloring, putting on some of those washable tattoos, and just playing. After they cleaned up and left the room, I checked it out to make sure it was clean and saw this and thought it was great. All I could think was "Arrrgh, I'm a pirate!".

Everyone is Running

Lately, the boys have showed interest in our running. They did participate in two kids races last year, but did no preparation prior to the race dates. Both Stacy and I really enjoy running and the boys have taken notice and want to do it too. Last night we discussed doing a short run together. We clocked a short track from our house, around the local park and back to our house. It turns out that the route is just over a half mile.

I had forgotten our planned run, but this morning when Jackson got out of bed he started putting on his clothes...including shoes. I asked why he was putting his shoes on. He said that he was getting ready for our run. Kids don't forget anything you say, so watch out!

We all got ready for the run and the boys both took off too fast. We warned them to slow down and they listened. About .2 mile in Alex was beat and said he needed a rest. I told him to slow down but not to walk. He fussed, but continued. Jackson and Stacy ran a little ahead of us and Jackson really looked like a runner. I was proud. Jackson was cruising and Alex was pushing through.

About .4 mile in, Stacy turned to cheer Alex on, after which he kicked it up a notch. Both Jackson and Alex finished strong and were pumped about it. Then they decided they were going to run some more so they ran laps around the front yard (while Stacy and I took turns going for a short run).

It is awesome that are kids are actually interested in being healthy. We set a good example and they really do want to follow it. It makes me feel good.... about myself, about the example Stacy and I set, and about my boys.

Game 2 highlight

We were lucky enough to have "Uncle Pooh" visiting on the day of Jackson's second game. Uncle Pooh is Stacy's brother, Andrew. Although we have not captured any video of the games yet, Andrew did capture one highlight on his phone and I've attached a link to the clip. It's very small, but enough to see how fun the games are. In the video, the big kid on the other team easily scores, then Jackson gets ready to receive the inbound pass, catches it and goes coast to coast for the score. Check it out.

Click here for the highlight.


"That's my boy!"

Movies

I haven't stopped by Blockbuster in a while, but I'm one of those people that rent in bunches. It's been a few months since renting anything, but we stopped by this weekend and picked up 2 for the kids and 3 for me. I say me, because Stacy usually doesn't have much interest in them. Anyway, I watched all three of them. Here are my reviews:

(1) X Files - I have to say that I was a HUGE fan back in the day. I loved the show and the first movie. It took them long enough to make the sequel. I would not say that this installment lived up to the first one. Rather, I'd compare it to one of the regular episodes, just stretched to movie length. It wasn't bad, and I was glad I watched, but also glad that I didn't rush to the theater to see it. I'd rate it a C+/B-.

(2) War of the Worlds - I heard no good reviews, but to me the previews looked good so I knew I'd eventually see it. Perhaps due to the my expectations, perhaps due to the movie content, I really enjoyed it. It was exciting and kept my attention for the entire movie. It shouldn't win any award but worth seeing. I'd give it a B.

(3) Step Brothers - If you like Will Ferrell and John C Reilly, you'll love it. If not, you wont. It's crude and stupid and in my opinion, pretty damned funny. I laughed out loud so many times during the movie. I Love this sort of comedy. In part due to the movie and in part due to this movie bringing Ferrell back from the depths of Talladega Nights, I have to rate it A-. I'm glad to see he is back in true form and that he was funny for the entire movie. He and John C Reilly were hilarious together. If you haven't seen it (and you dont mind crude humor and language), you have to check this one out.

Game # 2

I'm a slacker and haven't updated this in a while, so here is a quick update on basketball. We had another practice and in addition to that I worked with Jackson at home to keep him from double dribbling. It paid off. The team looked good and Jackson looked awesome! Unlike the previous week, when he would pick up his dribble immediately and then either double dribble or pass, this week he picked up the ball and drove to the basket. He did wonderfully, scoring 10 points and having numerous steals. I was proud of the team and as you can tell, very proud of Jackson and how well he took to coaching. I see a bright athletic future for him!

Game # 1

Jackson's first game. Upward Basketball. 5 practices so far. 1 game. It was great. This league doesn't keep score, so there are no winners or loser... it's like the old saying that "everyone is a winner".

I was very proud of my team. Of all of the things I taught them, they employed about 1/2 of 1 percent of it... but otherwise, they played and had fun. And they where very fun to watch. We have a few kids that are catching on to the basics pretty well and a few that would be picking flowers if flowers grew on the court. :-)

Jackson had a blast and I was very excited for him. He scored one basket and did a little dance to celebrate. If you put the celebrating in slow motion it would have looked like a commercial and finished with his pose in mid air when he jumped to celebrate; perhaps with a little slogan like "Mentos, the fresh maker" afterward or something like that.. It was both awesome and hilarious.

He also had the lone block. Of course he was super aggressive and blocked it wish both hands...hitting the kid's arm to causing a foul. It was almost a great block, but it did send the kid to the line. I didn't even realize this league had shooting fouls. The score keeper told me they only call those when it is a blatant shooting foul. They only called 3 all of last season. Lol. Jackson had teh first one this year. So aggressive. That's my boy!

We have 7 games to go. I cant wait to see how much fun we have and how much better we all get.

Chillin at Home

After a week of running around with the boys, it's nice to sit at home for a while. Stacy is home from her travels. We've done what needed to be done this weekend. Jackson had his first basketball game yesterday (more on that in another post), we had breakfast at IHOP this morning, finished the outdoor Christmas decorating, and the rest of today is the time to veg out on the couch and watch football. Ah.... relaxing....

New Gear

I don't mind running when it's chilly, but lately it's been a little too cold. With the changes in the weather, if I wanted to keep up with my running, it was time to get some cold gear. Stacy and I went to Dick's Sporting Goods and did just that. After trying out both Nike and Under Armour, I went with Under Amour. It's not exactly what I'm used to since it's skin tight, but I really like it. I've worn it for one run so far and it felt great and kept me warm. I'm already sold on it. So much so that I've gone back and purchased one more top. I'd post a pic of myself, but I'd hate to put the under armour models to shame... so just trust that I look something like this... :-)



Also, my shoes had plenty of miles on them. We were in Greenville last weekend, so I decided to visit the infamous Run In running store. I've been wanting to go there for a while, but I was waiting until I had a couple hundred miles on my current shoes. I was interested in what they would suggest for me since I'd always just picked what I liked and I had never been truly fit for a pair of shoes. Also, I was very interested in their "shoe surgery", or what they call "Natural Motion Engineering". Basically they use razors to cut up the soles of shoes so that your movements are not restricted. It supposedly helps shin splints, plantar fasciitis, iliotibial band syndrome, etc... I know it sounds weird, but many people swear by it, so I figured I'd at least check into it. Especially since I do suffer from iliotibial band issues, also known as runner's knee.

As it turns out, the shoes I had before were fine. They were a neutral shoe and that was what I needed. That meant two things. First, my shoes didn't cause my knees issues and secondly that I had a lot of options for a new shoe since most shoes are in fact neutral. After trying on 5 pair, I decided on the funkiest looking ones. They felt great; almost like running flats, but with padded heels. On top of that they were extremely light. Still, as good as they felt, they looked very odd.

In addition to the odd looking shoe, I also opted to have them cut up. It's really an awesome offer. After you decide to buy, they'll cut them for you, allow you to run around the block, and if you don't like the cuts, they'll keep the shoes and sell you an uncut pair. It's a great deal, but I didn't have to take them up on the offer to take the cut shoes back. I liked the feel of the cuts. It made me feel less restricted and I liked that....so I got two pair.

Between my new cold gear and new running shoes, I'm ready to tackle winter running. Oh, and one quick follow-up. I've run once with my new shoes and rocked my best 4 mile time by over a minute!

Finally, check out the shoes!

The Nike Luna Trainer+