Family Pictures 2008

These are our first professional family pictures…ever! I think its the perfect timing now that we are complete with the 5 of us! The truth is, I refused to have my picture taken because I was self concious when I was 40 pounds over weight. If you saw most of our personal pictures, you would know why, but I also look angry in them because Nicki would catch me off guard and I would not be smiling. Click on the thumbnails below to see the full size picture, then click on that picture to see the whole thing (its complicated 🙂 ). We took several poses, but these are the one’s we puchased.

Conversations With a 5 Year Old

This is a special “Conversation With a 5 year Old” post. These are conversations straight from a 5 year olds heart and brain to his lips. Many times Gavin surprises us with his wisdom and knowledge and other times he melts our hearts with his his child-like innocence and purity, and then there are the embarassing times 🙂
Today I have two conversations to post about:

Conversation #1 Gavin on New Baby Sister…(Nicki is changing Hailey’s diaper)

Gavin: “Mommy!”
Nicki: “What?”

Gavin: “Hailey pee pees just normal…she doesn’t have a wee wee that sticks out when she pees.”
Nicki: “Oh!”

That would be the overly observant Gavin!

__________________________________________________________________________

Conversation #2 Gavin on his favorite and least favorite parts of the Hulk

Me: “So Gavin what was your favorite part of the movie (the Hulk)?
Gavin: “When the bad hulk came out!”

Me: “What was part of the movie did you NOT like?”
Gavin (Less Enthusiastically): “Well, um, I think the part I didn’t like was when that man and that lady started kissing!”

At least I know I don’t have to worry about any girlfriend talk as Gavin starts Kindergarten this year! He’ll be too busy acting like the Hulk beating up the bad Hulk and that is not a bad thing! 🙂

Join the Conversation: Have you had any interesting conversations lately?

Other Conversations with a 5 Year Old Posts HEREHEREHERE

Master Pontiac, Buick, GMC and Archie Hixon

I don’t know about you, but I hate going to car dealerships! I used to sell cars for a short stint of my life while I was in-between jobs. I’ve been in the meetings where the salespeople are trained how to be dishonest and how to lie to gain a sale, so when it comes time to buy a vehicle, I hate it and get serious headaches as well, I get in a bad mood.

On top of having to go purchase a vehicle, this is a horrible time to have an SUV that you are trying to trade-in. It is a great time to be in the market for a SUV. My family and I were in both predicaments. We had a 2005 Nissan X-Terra that we needed to trade-in as our family just grew to the place where we could no longer legally and safely fit in it, but we needed a larger SUV or van to solve our problem. We were siding with the SUV…just because we are not the van kind of people.

Saturday morning we went to our normal breakfast place (Sunrise Grill) before we went to Master Pontiac, Buick, GMC of Augusta. I said a little prayer to myself that God would give us a salesman that would do us right and not play games with us. We pulled into the lot and there he was, the salesman that was going to be our headache for the next several hours or the man that God was going to answer my prayers with. Fortunately, Archie Hixon, was the answer to my earlier prayer. He was a great salesman and a very great guy overall. My wife and I left the lot feeling like we knew a great deal about his family. It turned out that Archie goes to a local church and is very involved in their small groups. When he found out I used to be a full time youth pastor and was praying about God opening a door for me to get back full time, he urged me to check into the opening at his church as their youth pastor just left to start a church. As serious as Archie was, I knew this guy was not about to pull a fast one on us, when he was wanting to see us every weekend.

My wife and I were very pleased with the deal they gave us on our trade and the price that we got our new/used Chevrolet Trailblazer for. We asked for them to lower the price on the Trailblazer but they said it had already been discounted and they were firm on their price, but they easily gave us a new set of tires without any hassle. We were never put under pressure to add anything, Archie wanted to make sure we were offered the extended warranties and the other extras, but once we declined we faced no rebuttals. The bottom line is, we left the dealership $2,000 under what we were expecting to pay, we feel the price for the vehicle we purchased was fair and right, and Archie was a great salesperson. We did not purchase from him because he was a Christian, but a good salesman (trust me I have not bought from people because they were horrible salespeople), however I am glad I found out we were helping provide for a fellow believer with our purchase, as I know the car market is a tough business period, but especially with a tough economy.

If you are in the CSRA or the Augusta area and you are looking for a vehicle, go talk with Archie Hixon at Master Pontiac, Buick, GMC in Augusta on Washington Rd. You’ll be glad you did!

Join the Conversation: Have you had a great experience or a poor experience with a recent purchase? Tell me about it!

Happy Birthday Tristan!!!

Happy Birthday to my little man, Tristan! He turns 2 today! We celebrated last night at Chuck E Cheese with a few family members and had a blast. Thankfully the rides Tristan enjoys weren’t the most popular…it was CRAZY!

Tristan is a personality in himself. He totally demonstrates how two children can be so different. He and his older brother are worlds apart. Fortunately they get along great, both demonstrate their love for each other and for their new sister Hailey. Tristan is wild and crazy and into everything, but he has that special little look that helps him slip by trouble from time to time. One of the most special things that I love about Tristan is his little (but big) hugs. He runs up to us, wraps his short arms as far around our shoulders as he possibly can and then starts patting our backs (usually the top of our shoulders because he has short arms). Its one of the cutest things I’ve ever experienced…he is so genuine. He recently started to learn how to pray when we eat together, he roughly says Jesus, Thank you, Food, and AMEN! He says Amen really good.

So once again, Happy Birthday buddy! Love Mommy and Daddy.

(Click Photos to Enlarge)

Conversations with a 5 Year Old

…about the rusty water from the toilet pipe. Straight from a 5 year old’s mind and heart to his lips. Just keeping it real, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Sometimes you get the sweet like HERE and then you get the…

Gavin: “Daddy!!”

Me: “What Gavin?”

Gavin: “There’s brown water behind the toilet!”

Me: “I know, I’ve got to clean it up and see where it is coming from, I think a pipe is rusted or something.”

Gavin: “Well I think I may know what it is!”

Me: “What do you think it is?”

Gavin: “Well, sometimes, the poopy logs are bigger than the pipe hole, so that could be what is causing it to leak out the brown water!”

Me: (Trying my best to hold back laughter) “Oh! Did you tell your mom your idea about what could be causing the brown water on the floor?” “Give me five for being so smart and go tell her!”

This is the first time I have ever posted “Conversations with a 5 Year Old” so close together, but when Gavin and I had this conversation I could not resist in sharing.

Join the Conversation: What’s the funniest thing you’ve heard from a friend, family member, or perfect stranger of late?