February 2024

Some people at work were talking about their friends who were dating the alphabet. I thought it sounded pretty interesting so I told Jennifer I would like to do it. I changed the rules a little and said that we could pick any letter and we could slowly work our way through the entire alphabet. The goal of this was to try and get us to experience new places and things together. You had to pick at least 2 things that started with that letter to complete it. Jennifer went first and chose the letter E. We went out for eggs and European Delights.  

Eliana turned 2! We weren't able to make it up to Columbus to celebrate, but we made sure to send her a big squishmallow. She really enjoyed playing with Brinley's while they were visiting recently so we had an idea that she would like it. She apparently loved it!

UK game with my little man. That means a stop by Goodfellas for a breadstick. This might be Landon's favorite food. This night we were running a little late so he had to eat as we walked into the arena. 

Little man still working on that Rubix cube. When the SEC regular season games began they started having halftime entertainment which meant they no longer did the thing where you could get on the big screen with your iPhone camera. He still brought it every time and made me scramble it during every timeout. 

My young lady asked if we could go to the Chick-fil-A father daughter dance. Thankfully she asked me back before the sign up date. This is a hot ticket item and if you don't sign up the moment they go on sale then you are usually out of luck. I enjoy getting to spend some time with my little lady. She doesn't like to get all dressed up and neither do I. We dressed a little more casual that previous years. She acted like she didn't want to dance with me because she saw people from her school. I bargained with her and I would take her to Starbucks for each song she danced with me. I think I ended up owing her 3 trips to get her favorite Frappuccino. 

I did another survey at work and we were trying to decide what the favorite Little Debbie snack of the clinic is. After talking with my family I determined that there were a lot that Brinley and Landon hadn't tried. Some of the ones they hadn't tried were some of my childhood favorites. 

Happy 39th birthday to the elder in our family, Jennifer! We both had the day off so I took advantage and we went on an S date. I went overboard on all the things I could think of that we could include on S day. We went to Starbucks, Sam's for samples, Steak, Shrimp, and Salad at Malone's, we played Solitaire, took a Sunset Stroll, had sweet sandwiches (cookie with cream), and finally soup and salad at her favorite Olive Garden. 

Brinley had a home economics class at school and she learned how to make egg in a frame. She was so proud that she could do it on her own. She was telling us all the steps and helped teach us how to do it. 

The kids helped me with this Christmas Vacation puzzle. It is a lot of fun to have help doing one of my favorite past times. 

We were all very sad to see Claudia leave us. She decided to take a work from home job. We are very happy for her but sad for us. 

I invited McKinley for one of his last times in Rupp before having his first child. We got to spend some time catching up on life and talking about parenthood. 

Landon got a special treat from a kindergarten friend, Ari, who is the son of my friend Nick. Pretty nice of Ari and Landon was really excited. 

We had a day off and I asked the kids if they wanted to go to Activate with me. Only Landon wanted to go so we went and played as many games as we could in 75 minutes. We had a lot of fun. 

Well, I had to pay up for Brinley dancing with me a few weeks before. We had a father daughter date to Starbucks. She loves her some strawberry Frappuccino. 

Another puzzle finished. This one was another Christmas gift. It had a lot of the places and National Parks that we traveled to out west on our recent travels. 

I was walking to work one day and I went past the tennis courts. I found 6 tennis balls and I just had to stop and get them for Rupp. Rupp was so excited when I gave them to him later that night. 

Landon and I went to a Saturday basketball game the day that Taylor was in the hospital about to deliver the baby. I knew the visiting hours were not too late into the night, but I also didn't know when they would let family back to see them. Kentucky came out on fire and destroyed Alabama. We were up by 40 at one point in the game. It is one of the only times I have ever left the game early. Landon and I ran to the car and sped across town to make it to the hospital in time. I was about 7 minutes late from making it for visiting hours. 

Thankfully they said that I could come back. I abandoned Landon in the waiting room and rushed back. I passed both sets of grandparents on my way back. Then when I got to the door I heard the nurse say "Hand her to me mom." At that moment I realized that I had a new niece. I then was able to meet Miss Nora Jane. I said hello and talked for a few minutes and then got out of there so they could begin their journey of no sleep for a while.  

Grandpa saw Landon out in the lobby and told him "You're my favorite grandson." So Landon realized that it was a little girl or else Grandpa would have never said that. When we went home McKinley and Taylor face timed the girls so that they could find out and meet Nora for the first time. 

We stopped by the next day so that Aunt Jennifer could meet Nora. This was our first times getting to hold this little girl. Aunt Jennifer even helped answer some questions that Taylor was having. Apparently Miss Nora didn't sleep and seemed extremely hungry all the time.  

If Grandma and Grandpa are here then we need to play some games. Here we were playing Potion Explosion. I believe that I ended up winning this game. 

Brinley and Landon finally got to meet Nora once they had gone home. They were both terrified to hold her, but both did it. Landon had some sniffles and didn't want to pass anything along to Miss Nora so mask just for precaution. 

I got to see Nora for the first six days of her life. Every day after work I would come in to visit for a little while. Rupp seemed to gravitate towards me and always wanted to lay down at my feet and hold my hand. One day he even fell asleep with me holding his hand. I sent this picture to a couple of people at work and they all said that I needed to get a dog of my own. I wouldn't ever get anything done around the house if I had to hold a dog's hand the whole day.