Kid Speak 8

So, Jaclyn and I are tag teaming the kids into bed tonight. She is putting Hunter to bed and I am putting Hudson. As I was getting Hudson tucked in and telling him good night I hear Jaclyn hollering for me from Hunter’s room. Apparently, Hunter, who has been becoming very verbal lately, has added a brand bit of vocab to his collection. As I walked into the room he was pulling Jaclyn’s shirt collar out and looking down her shirt. When he did this he would promptly say, “boobies!”

I really don’t have anything to add to that. I think it just kind of speaks for itself. I am pretty sure, at least, that he didn’t learn that one on Noggin.

Texas Crappie

Went fishing because the crappie are starting to come back shallow around the marinas out here. Caught these guys in about 6 feet on minnows at Eagle Mountain.

If it helps on the size, I stand 8 feet tall.

Kid Speak ~ 7

Jaclyn and I got to go out on a romantic little evening Monday in the Stockyards. Yeah, I know, romance is smelling cow dung in the air. Woohoo! Anyway, during our dinner conversation we got on the subject of high maintenance. She related the story of telling our oldest that he is high maintenance, primarily because she has to purchase a particular brand of chicken nugget for him at the store because the others are too “peppery.” At this point my mouth is wide open with my jaw on the floor that one my son has a brand of preferred nugget (what is he a rock star? No no no! I demand Tyson brand chicken products in my dressing room. These are Banquet brand. How dare you! Don’t you know who I am!) and two that she actually purchased the kid Tyson nuggets because of it.

So Harrison responds, “What’s “high maintenance” mean?”

Jaclyn: “It is like when you always want it your way.”

Harrison: “Oh, you mean like you mom.”

God bless the little children. Now, if we could just figure out who is the highest maintenance one.

Brian and Jaclyn go to Yuppie World

So, Friday Jaclyn and I got up, I think technically I got up a little later than her, and got Harrison off to school. Jaclyn was having a particularly good hair day so we just knew we must take advantage of such fortunes. We still had some credit left on a Cheesecake Factory gift card.

Cheesecake Factory at Town Square

We packed up Hudson and Hunter to head off to Yuppie World (otherwise know as Southlake Town Square) and the location of the closest restaurant. This is a place where snobbery is common, silicone is required, and shopping is secondary to being seen. Little did we know that our adventures were only about to begin.

Now, don’t take my cynicism wrong. I grew up in Southlake, north side in fact. Of course, by the time I graduated high school the north side was the wrong side of the highway. Anyway, when I was a kid 1709 was barely two lanes, no shoulders, and fields filled with cows. Now, it is 6 lanes wide, no fields, but there are still a lot of cows oddly enough. Anyway, we get in, park, and head straight to James Avery where I had a ring resized. Funny, Jaclyn bought it for me our first Christmas together while dating for $30. It cost $27 to have it up-sized one size 13 years later. Thank you boomer generation. We headed immediately to the Cheesecake Factory, which was a short 3 mile hike to the back end of the town SQUARE. We asked to be seated on the patio in order to catch a glimpse of someone I surely thought was Paris Hilton, but sadly she had only paid a good deal of money to make herself look just like her.

As we quietly sat at our table, at least as quietly as you can with our two boys who did a great job at first being quiet which was amazing (perhaps they were awed by the awesome imitation star power of the Paris Hilton look alike), trying to decide what we would like to order a gaggle of tennis moms came in. Now, when you are as high-powered as the Southlake elite soccermomdom is below your standard. A group of 7-8 ladies came in in coordinating tennis outfits, yes I did write “coordinating tennis outfits”. Unfortunately, they probably should spend some more time playing tennis rather than stopping for lunch at the CHEESECAKE Factory. At this point, I just tried to tame my sharp sarcasm rather than letting it all out as Jaclyn looked at me with a look telling me to shut up while smirking at the glorious Seinfeld material that these ladies were. I will leave the story of the silicone quads for Jaclyn to tell as she had the better view than I did. Oh what a fabulous day in Yuppie World that day.

After eating we ventured out into the bonanza of shopping available. We marveled at the offerings at stores like The Paper Closet, Jos. A Banks, Baby Bliss, and more. And so our few hours at Yuppie World came to a close. We got back in our van and came back home. I then took a long shower to wash the cooties off of me. Until our next adventure, stay grounded my friends.

Kid Speak ~ 6

Hudson and I took some time in preparation for my upcoming dove hunting trip to clean up the ole 12 gauge. Actually, I cleaned it and Hudson sat at the table with me in fascination. I took the chance to pass along some good fatherly type advice to my budding young son. We talked a little about guns and how they can be very dangerous. I also told him about making sure to handle them with care and so on. So, I wrapped it up with a good summary question, “Hudson, what should we do with guns?”

Hudson, not even hesitating or thinking twice, “We never shoot people, just animals.”

That’s my future hunter right there. If it’s brown it’s down baby!!!!!

Funny searches

I just thought it was funny that someone found my blog by googling the phrase “nipple daddy.” I also don’t think I want to know just what that person was looking for either.

Kid Speak 5

Well, this time Harrison was at it. There is a little bit of back story to catch you up.

Harrison post staples

First: We are coming up on a year since Jaclyn had a partial hysterectomy (that means she had some girl parts removed). She had dealt with some health things that made it necessary. She’s feeling much better now.

Second: Harrison and I went over to our church warehouse to look for something a week ago today. While over there, Harrison’s tennis ball rolled under an industrial rack. While coming out from under the rack he stood up too fast and too soon, which led to 4 staples in the top of his head to put it back together and close the gaping wound. It was our second hospital visit of the year, knock on wood.

So, this leads us to today when our friend Tomi’s son Chandler is over while she is at jury duty. Harrison offered to show him his staples, such a boy thing to do.

“Dude, awesome scar, how’d you get that one?” “Sweet, I got this one in pre-K. It was a jungle out there.”

Anyway, Chandler doesn’t like things such as that so he said no. Then he told Harrison that he couldn’t even look at their dog’s stitches when she got fixed. It grossed him out. Harrison, ever the inquisitive, asked why their dog Zoey had stitches. Chandler told him that she got fixed. Harrison wondered what that was, so Chandler explained that she had her girl parts removed so that she couldn’t get pregnant anymore. Harrison then politely pointed out that his mom got fixed last year.

Gotta love kids.

Family Pics

My wife’s friend is beginning a photography business. She took some new family shots of us this past weekend and the samples look great so far. We can’t wait to see the finished product. Here is a link to check out the ones she posted on her blog.

The Hatcher Fam

Check out the pics!

Kid Speak 4

Okay, so my 4 year old Hudson is at it again. I was laying in bed this morning and he came in to lay down with me. I still dig sleeping in a little and watching some cartoon violence on tv in the morning. I don’t want to be a Toy R Us kid anymore though, their prices are high. Anyway, so Hudson is laying there next to me and he notices my chest. He points to a particular decorative region and asks, “Is that your button?” as he poked at my nipple.

“No, that’s my nipple,” I replied.

“Your nipple Daddy?” (actually it came out more like “nibple.”

“Yeah, my nipple.”

At this point my wife chimes in between spurts of laughter and says, “Hudson, you have a nipple too.”

“I do” as he pulled his shirt up.

He then proceeded to point out that he had two nipples and Daddy only had one. I was forced to point out nipple number two sheepishly hiding behind the hair. Somehow I think he felt better knowing that both he and Daddy have two nipples on our tummies. We’re still working on that part. At least he didn’t ask if mommy had two nipples. We will save that for later.

Hudson on the trampoline

God is Love?

There are all sorts of arguments for and against the existence of God (big G) or even a god (little g). People look at the suffering in our world and typically question how a God, who is love, could allow such a thing. It is tough, I admit, to really defend God against a person who already has their mind made up and is filled with bias because they lost a loved one, or didn’t get the promotion, or sees the violence of the world and decides that there couldn’t possibly be a god involved in all that. However, I would venture to guess that they don’t really know the God I know.

In my life I realize more than anything else that I am fundamentally flawed. I am not what I was intended to be. My life is a living testimony to the Creator”ness” of God.That and His incredible patience with screw-ups. Anyway, it would be easy to look at all the evil, strife, and general badness that surrounds our existence and explain away the existence of a loving, or even personal Creator. When hurricane Katrina wiped out most of New Orleans, or the Midwest was ravaged by floods, or even the war we continue to wage against terrorism it is the easy way out to sit back and blame God or the lack thereof. Guys like Dawkins want you to think they have it all figured out, yet have simply elevated their own sense of reason and rationality to deity status. Hardly a convincing argument against God’s existence. His reasoning isn’t even considered logical anymore.

The God I serve recognized my need for Him before I ever did. In fact, my fundamental flaws in which I consistently sought to replace the emptiness in my life with other things prevented me from really recognizing the reality of God. Yet, my flaws, while separating me from God, didn’t prevent God from loving me or working to let me know Him. How can we proclaim that God is anything but love when faced with the reality that He would sacrifice His own Son in order to transcend the very flaws that keep us from Him? Is God love? Does He love His creation? Yes! He allowed His own Son to give His life in order for us to freely receive grace for our screw-ups! He recognized the fundamental flawed nature that each of us possess and gives us grace through His Son. How can we not call Him love?