I think Sam needs to find a different show. We watched Scooby Doo before he went to bed tonight. Sam was commenting during the opening montage on whether or not he had seen a given episode. The funny part was he had more yes’s than no’s.

In hindsight, I could probably do that to most of my childhood shows too.

Spent the first serious amount of time outside with the boys today. Sun wasn’t shining too much, but the temperature was in the mid-40’s. Evan hasn’t changed his ways from last year, he went straight for the street as soon as he got in his car. I then spent the next 20 minutes playing goalie for rolling balls that were headed for the sewer across the street. Sam tore through every bin of toys to see what he had missed from last year.

Overall, still the best day in a while because it was spent outside.

Sam gets homework from pre-school where he has to find pictures of certain letters. Monday’s lesson is for words that begin with ‘K’. This is turning out to be tougher than Sam originally thought. He’s found a picture of a card, a computer, and a crayon. He sounds out what he sees in the picture, only to be shot down by the correct spelling.

He finally turned to me and said, ‘Dad, if the they wanted all these words to sound alike, why aren’t they spelled the same?’

I’ve turned comments back on for posts on the blog. If you want to add a comment click on the comment number below the post to open the comments.

Just an FYI, but I have a standing request for either the entire ‘Star Trek – The Next Generation’ or ‘NCIS’ TV shows on DVD. Just in case you needed any ideas for a birthday or upcoming Christmas.

Sam and Dad at my Grandma Olsen’s 100th birthday party.

Sam out sledding.

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas.

Some of you may have already heard, but we had to put Pepper to sleep this past weekend.  Pepper’s health had declined over the past couple of months and we could see his happiness was not what it used to be.  Pepper was the first ‘major’ expense I got as I transitioned from college student to college graduate.  It was in the fall of 1993 that I found him at a local pet shelter in Marshall, MN.  The person at the shelter said Pepper and his brother were found tied to a stop sign near the shelter.  Within two minutes of seeing him in there I knew he was the dog for me.  So with nothing more than a leash and collar from the shelter, I signed the papers, paid his registration feed, and took him to Wal-Mart to get a kennel, dog dish, food, etc. so he would be comfortable at my apartment.  Did I mention that I hadn’t even checked to see if my apartment accepted pets? 

Pepper was with me for over 16 years, which is almost half of my memorable life.  He was the epitome of what defines a great dog.  Thank you Pepper for being such a wonderful companion the past 16 years.  You were always there when I needed a friendly face to cheer me up or be next to me to get through darker times.  There will never be another dog to fill the hole you’ve left in our lives.  You will be sorely missed by all us, especially me.  Take care and I know I’ll see you again someday.