I ran across a story this morning about a school district in South Dakota that goes out of its way – to the tune of paying an extra $40 for a case of cookies …
Children’s shows have felled many a strong person. With me, the waltz scene in “Beauty and the Beast” used to do it. I knew that, and used it to my advantage, popping the tape into …
We really should have sent a tooth brush with this one. Or, at the least, labeled it with a warning. Caution: Most of the contents will do severe dental damage.
I picked out the Oreo Cakesters, …
Big Guy’s shorts have been in a wad since late last week, when I came home with a t-shirt featuring a baseball and bats arranged into an American flag. “No fair! I need a Fourth …
Kimberly Sands had a new Tweety Bird swim suit and a good times ahead of her when she woke up that June morning. She was ready to go swimming and eat ice cream at a …
I can’t complain about the 3D, because I saw it at a drive-in.
I won’t critique the CGI, other than to say it’s amazing how much emotion filmmakers can pack into characters that exist only in …
In the past month, Big Guy has proclaimed fish sticks “delicious” and watermelon “yummy.” He’s swooned over apple cobbler and eaten a rainbow-colored salad packed with greens, tomatoes, zucchini and carrots. He wasn’t wild about …
I’d been lucky in my lifetime to have never run into a truly bad doctor. Sure, there was the guy when I was in high school who told me my nose was definitely broken but …
Due largely to the fact that Best Friend was watching and he didn’t want to lose face, Boots agreed to get in the pool the first day of swim class. He wouldn’t consent to go …
It was more than 20 years ago when I met U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, but I recall two things vividly about that day.
The first was how ill at ease he appeared at what was …
Are you the photographer we hired, a woman asked at Big Guy’s school as I checked in during the final week.
No, I just carry enough gear to power a small television station, I said. His …
It didn’t really hit Big Guy for almost a full day after I broke the news about his latest allergy test results. He figured it out while we were standing in the food court at …
Given that Big Guy was fearlessly toddling to the top of tall structures by the time he was 14-months-old, I’ve long known that the day would come when he would surpass me athletically.
I didn’t expect …
It never occurred to me that my Father’s Day post was whiny, let alone grating, until a commenter labeled it as such after a friend posted a link to it on Facebook.
In fact, I was …
“When fathers are not present, their children and families cope with an absence government cannot fill.” – President Barack Obama, Father’s Day proclamation.
If there’s one thing the Army does that scrapes fingernails down my mental …
We pulled out hair out for an idea for Father’s Day before we finally wound up in the crafts shop on post. I wish we’d wound up there a week earlier, because it was too …
These kids just don’t know how easy they have it.
Back in the day when I was walking four miles to the bus stop, up hill both ways, I needed a radio, a tape recorder, cassettes, …
With an energy level that makes coffee nervous and a comedic style that coaxes even the most reticent into the water, Miss S is the best swim instructor on the planet.
This morning, she also was …
I’ll confess: I bribed Boots this morning, and it worked.
During Day One of swimming class, he did great until the instructor wanted them to bob in the water.
“No,” he insisted quietly but firmly, with the …
If you ask the guys, they’ll happily complain loudly about it. They’re the last kids at Fort Irwin, maybe even the world, who don’t have Nintendo DSes, and it’s all because their mom is mean, …
Baseball is my native language, but I’m fluent in basketball, football and figure skating.
I can hold a conversation in NASCAR fake my way through several other sports, including hockey and golf. It’s the equivalent of …
Welcome to the summer vacation edition of care packages, where both guys are in tow during shopping trips and they bicker all the way through the commissary about what Dad’s going to like best.
“I’m getting …
There are teams, and then there are teams.
I grew up a Cincinnati fan, so the Big Red Machine era, of course, is one of my favorites in sports. But the 1990 Reds, who swept the …
It used to happen every time I went to the salon: The stylist would manhandle my unruly mop into a sleek, fashionable ‘do. She’d lament that I never fix it that way myself, assuring me …
I watched “The Tooth Fairy” this weekend, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. After all, seeing Dwayne Johnson in fairy wings actually is far more believable his previous gig as a pro wrestler.
I’m also …
It’s funny how sometimes two wildly separate segments of your life can create a deja vu-type pattern.
When I was a kid there was miner’s vacation, that period in late July and early August when Appalachia …
This package fell in a week when we had six baseball games, a preschool “congraduation,” a first-grade party, a baseball party and four karate classes. My brain was fried, so I turned the shopping over …
I was there for the preparation but had to leave before the feast began, so I was curious to hear Big Guy’s reaction to the lunch that was part of his end-of-school party.
“Oh. My. God,” …
