Monthly Archives: February 2022

Beau Turns 2

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If the terrible twos start today, what the heck were the past 365 days?

Beau can be a little challenging at times but we sure love him!

Of course I say that with the utmost endearment. Beau turns 2 today and it officially ends a year where we experienced firsthand the difference between girl 1-year-olds and boy 1-year-olds. Sloan didn’t keep us on the run half as much as Beau did. Needless to say, Sid and I have a pretty good suspicion that Beau as a 2-year-old is also going to be a much more “involved” experience than Sloan as a 2-year-old.

This kid always has a smile on his face.

And we can’t wait. Although I joke about the patience and stamina it takes to parent Beau, it makes him who he is. He is our little man who won’t stay still but will throw food. The crazy boy who will push limits and pull hair. The buddy boy who will refuse naps but accept any chance to drive his sister bonkers.

It is such a privilege to be Beau’s dad.

But he is also the sweet little guy who will give hugs and kisses. The angel in disguise who will say sorry while making a circular motion on his chest. The mama’s boy who will shriek “Mommy!” and run to Sid when she enters the room.

This might be my favorite photo of Beau from the past year. His sister was taking her first day of school photos on the porch so he went over and sat down and demanded that one be taken of him as well.

It has been special to watch Beau’s personality develop throughout the year. He has a mischievous side and an affectionate side. He is outgoing yet sensitive. His social prowess matched with an early onset of FOMO causes him to follow his sister and cousins everywhere while attempting to do everything that they do.

Can’t wait to watch you thrive as a 2-year-old, Beau!

We are challenging Beau as a 2-year-old to keep out of the damn emergency room (he made multiple trips as a 1-year-old). We also want to see him continue to develop his speech and learn how to practice diplomacy with his sister. But what we want to see most of all is absolutely no change whatsoever in his loving and carefree spirit. We are so blessed to have Beau and we look forward to witnessing the many strides that will be made between now and when he turns 3. Happy birthday, Beau Bear. Don’t Blink.

So Casual Thursday Rundown

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Sorry to everyone disappointed by yesterday’s events with Punxsutawney Phil. He saw his shadow and that means we must deal with six more weeks of winter. Hopefully my latest Thursday Rundown can lift your spirits. Here come five topics…

New Donut Shop – Our family started our own tradition of bringing donuts home on our birthdays. Unfortunately, our go-to donut shop shuttered because of the pandemic. When we celebrated Sid’s birthday last Friday we tried the Casual Friday Donuts location in Spokane Valley. I tried to sample a little bit of each donut and I think the classic maple bar was my favorite. That one donut you see in the bottom right was filled with a peanut butter icing that naturally appealed to me.

These were the donuts we tried from Casual Friday Donuts last week.

Celebrity Big Brother 3 – Many of you are well aware that I am a “Big Brother” fan and that extends to the celebrity version as well. To compete with the Winter Olympics, CBS launched the third ever season of Celebrity Big Brother. The first episode aired last night and many more will follow this month because a winner will be crowned on February 23. I am cheering for Todd Bridges!

The season premiere of the third season of Celebrity Big Brother aired last night.

Home Team – One of the top 10 Netflix selections right now is “Home Team,” a very loosely based “true story” about Sean Payton coaching his son’s middle school football team while he was suspended from the NFL for Bountygate. The part I liked about the movie was the performance of Kevin James as Sean Payton. James had to be somewhat serious at times and it was quite the departure from his usual roles. The movie itself though is pretty bad. The football scenes are horrendous and some of the antics in the film (i.e. vomit scene) are so juvenile it hurts. I definitely laughed throughout the movie but I can’t say that I would recommend it.

I would not recommend “Home Team.”

More Football – Okay, let’s move from the fictional Sean Payton to the real Tom Brady. Two days ago, Brady officially announced his retirement. As I have documented, I disliked the quarterback for the first 20 years of his career and discounted some of his accomplishments. But after he signed with Tampa Bay and led that team to a Super Bowl victory, what more could I say? I wish him well in retirement. As for this year’s Super Bowl, I could flip a coin. Once kickoff approaches though, I think I will pull for Cincinnati. I don’t think I have ever watched less NFL football than I have this season.

My attitude toward Tom Brady changed a lot over the past year. (photo courtesy of the NFL).

When You Know You Failed – Below is the expression that no husband wants to see when his wife opens a birthday gift. One of the presents I gave Sid was a leg pillow and her initial reaction wasn’t exactly what I was going for. Oh well, I think Sidney said it was more confusion than anything as she didn’t know precisely what it was at first (I will keep telling myself that). With all that said, I am happy to report that she actually does use it.

This was Sidney’s reaction when she opened up the leg pillow I gave her for her birthday. Perhaps she just didn’t like the wrapping paper.

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Time for me to stop writing and return to the “Gabby’s Dollhouse” binge my children are on. Enjoy your Thursday evening. Don’t Blink.

Let Sid Eat Cake

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Remember the time when Costco sheet cakes were all the rage? When I was a kid, it seemed like every birthday or special occasion required a Costco cake to make it legit. I remember when my family would purchase a cake we would always have so much remaining that we would freeze the leftovers and have a steady dessert option for about a month.

Well, it seemed like Costco cakes fell out of favor, at least in my inner circle. In fact, I kind of forgot all about them. However, that changed last week when I ordered a cake for Sidney. I put together a little surprise party for her milestone birthday and needed to order a cake that would feed more than just our family of four. This made me think about Costco but I ended up going a different direction.

I ordered a quarter sheet cake from Rosauers, a supermarket chain in the western United States. The bakeries in these grocery stores always receive high marks and Sidney even mentioned that she would like to try one of their cakes. I ordered one over the phone in the middle of the week as they happily accommodated my short turnaround time for a Friday pick up.

This was the cake that Rosauers created for my wife.

When I approached the bakery at our Spokane Valley Rosauers with Sloan and Beau, we received the royal treatment. The woman who greeted us brought us to a corner of the bakery and removed the top of the box so we could view the cake. Once we expressed our approval, she brought over the person who baked and decorated it. I thought it was kind of cool to meet and thank the woman who did such a fantastic job on Sid’s cake.

Later that night, after Sid was genuinely surprised by our friends, I took out the cake and placed a “3” candle and a “0” candle on it. As I lit the candles, one of our friends excitedly told us that she enjoys Rosauers’ cakes so much that she ordered her wedding cake from them! Talk about a ringing endorsement!

Sidney with her Rosauers cake prior to us singing “Happy Birthday.”

All the hype was legit. Our chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling and chocolate frosting was delicious (of course we needed a scoop of vanilla ice cream with each serving). The price was extremely fair too. If you like fresh cake and live in Washington or another nearby state, consider giving Rosauers your business. Don’t Blink.

“The Book Hog” and Cory Lux

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Last night, Sloan and I got a little more than usual out of our nightly reading routine. We picked up our first book of the evening, a seemingly normal story titled “The Book Hog” by Greg Pizzoli.

We read “The Book Hog” last night. When we opened the book something caught our eye.

We opened to the inside cover and noticed something…

We noticed a sticker inside the book.

There was a Spokane County Library District sticker placed inside the book. Out of the hundreds of library books we have read together, we had never seen a sticker like it before. We zeroed in on what it said…

The sticker read “In memory of employee Cory Lux.”

In memory of employee Cory Lux. I read it aloud to Sloan and asked her what she thought it meant. Being the intelligent little girl that she is, it didn’t take her long to say, “I think he might have died.” Sidney, who was sitting right next to us, Googled Cory. In a couple seconds she had his obituary. Before we got to “The Book Hog,” we were going to do some different reading.

We learned that Cory was born in 1973 and died in 2009. I pointed out to Sloan that he was just a little older than me when he passed away. He was born in Montana and moved to Spokane a few years later. Things started to get interesting from there. He attended Farwell Elementary, the same grade school that I did. We were also both Mead High School Panthers. While at Mead, Cory was a sought after manager for the athletics teams, delivering not just water and towels but inspiration as well.

I know the photo is a little blurry but this was Cory Lux. We felt fortunate to learn about his impactful life last night.

He attended Spokane Falls Community College and, according to his obituary, received a standing ovation at his commencement ceremony when he was presented with his Associate’s Degree in Library Science. From there he started his career with the Spokane County Library District, making a positive impact on the customers and his co-workers until his death after a second battle with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

As I read the inspirational obituary I could tell Cory faced many challenges in his life. Learning about his special character coupled with the loss that we are currently dealing with made me tear up a bit as I finished the last couple paragraphs.

When we concluded the obituary I read her “The Book Hog.” It wasn’t a long book but by the time I had finished reading it she was asleep on my shoulder. That little girl sure has learned a lot about life over the past 10 days.

Tonight I am thinking about the Lux family and praying for Cory. I am glad that Sloan, Sid, and I got to learn about his life. Don’t Blink.