Mommy had her BFF’s bachelorette party Saturday night and I wasn’t invited because mommy said it was where a bunch of girls got together to read Bible verses and sing hymns all night and that I wouldn’t have that much fun. So daddy and I had a guy’s night. First we started off at Chuck E. Cheese – video games, pizza, prizes – so choice. Then we came home and watched UFC 148, drank a few cold ones (root beer), rough-housed, live tweeted, and stayed up late acting like guys. It wasn’t very intellectually challenging, but we’re dudes – we grunt and scratch – the bar is kind of low. And in the morning we’re going to top it off with some Waffle House – scattered, smothered, covered please.
Just like Katy Perry sings – I am a firework, but this week was about the 4th of July and not just me. For the holiday, I went with my folks to my uncle David’s lake house for our Cousins Retreat 2012 and had a blast. I got to spend a lot of time with cousins I don’t get to see very often – not that I talked to them, I just got to spend time with them.
We spent a lot of time at the lake – they have a beach where all the boats park and we get out and play in the water. I also got to drive the Sea Doo – this time it didn’t break down on us. And when I say I got to drive, I mean I actually pressed the gas and steered us. Daddy said I did awesome, but that I may want to hold off on going so fast just yet. That was definitely the highlight of the water fun for me.
Later that night we were able to see the fireworks show at the lake and also fire off some of our very own. The video below is some of our work.
Classic P – if I don’t know you, I don’t like you taking my picture
Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there, especially my daddy.
Just like moms, dads are important to making sure all of us kids grow up to be a a positive influence on the world. Below is an interesting article on the importance of daddy’s love and support followed by some stats that further support this assertion.
Children in father-absent homes are five times more likely to be poor. In 2002, 7.8 percent of children in married-couple families were living in poverty, compared to 38.4 percent of children in female-householder families.
Based on birth and death data for 217,798 children born in Georgia in 1989 and 1990, infants without a father’s name on their birth certificate (17.9 percent of the total) were 2.3 times more likely to die in the first year of life compared to infants with a father’s name on their birth certificate.
Children who live apart from their fathers are more likely to be diagnosed with asthma and experience an asthma-related emergency even after taking into account demographic and socioeconomic conditions.
Even after controlling for income, youths in father-absent households still had significantly higher odds of incarceration than those in mother-father families. Youths who never had a father in the household experienced the highest odds.
A 2002 Department of Justice survey of 7,000 inmates revealed that 39% of jail inmates lived in mother-only households. Approximately forty-six percent of jail inmates in 2002 had a previously incarcerated family member. One-fifth experienced a father in prison or jail.
A study of 13,986 women in prison showed that more than half grew up without their father.
Youths are more at risk of first substance use without a highly involved father. Each unit increase in father involvement is associated with 1% reduction in substance use.
Fatherless children are twice as likely to drop out of school.
Father involvement in schools is associated with the higher likelihood of a student getting mostly A’s.
Students living in father-absent homes are twice as likely to repeat a grade in school; 10 percent of children living with both parents have ever repeated a grade, compared to 20 percent of children in stepfather families and 18 percent in mother-only families.
Half of all children with highly involved fathers in two-parent families reported getting mostly A’s through 12th grade, compared to 35.2% of children of nonresident father families.
So what have I been up to since I am out of school for the summer – whatever I want bitches! That may have been a bad word, but not sure because mommy uses it all the time and it seemed like it fit there. Daddy would never talk that way….
Anyway, the summer started with me doing all kinds of work around the house. In fact, Grannie and I planted flowers the first weekend I was out and they still look good. After the initial bit of work, I’ve been staying up super late – sometimes later than mommy and daddy. I have been waking up super late which mommy and daddy like on the weekend. I’ve also been getting chocolate wasted as much as possible.
My buddy Greyson came over and we had a blast. Seems like that 8 hours of non-stop play flew by for us. We played inside, outside, inside again, and outside again. We had toys out everywhere. He is coming over again next week – can’t wait.
The other thing I have been doing is working on my tan at the beach club and pool. Relax – I’m not being raised by the Tanning Mom. The sun has to get through my SPF 65 before it damages my delicate epidermis. I have also started swimming under water. I’n pretty good at holding my breath. And I wear a mask that covers my nose so I don’t get any water up my nose – that helps give me confidence.
I have big plans for the rest of the summer so you will have to check back to find out what your favorite 5-year old is up to.
Just wanted to give a shout out from the Class of 2025 to a couple members of the Class of 2012 – congrats on your accomplishment. Katelyn and Jamie you should be proud – your parents, family, and friends are.
Cousin Katelyn
Future Texas A&M Aggie
Jamielyn
With Nelda (mom) and Brandon (brother)
And here are some insightful life lessons for your future – attributed to Bill Gates, but that may be an urban legend.
Rule 1: Life is not fair -- get used to it!
Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping -- they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
So it has been a month since I last posted – too long – apologies. That being said, I will catch you guys up on what has gone on for the past month as quickly as possible so we can get back on track…..
Hip Hop And I Don’t Stop
Easter was so awesome. Obviously, there is a larger importance than egg hunts and candy, but beyond that, it is pretty cool to get an basket full of goodies from the Easter Bunny. You can see in the pics below that the Easter Bunny wrote me a message on our patio when he left me my basket. That afternoon, we went to my Papa Dupree’s house. I got to egg hunt with a few of my cousins and I really cleaned up. Daddy and mommy were really proud of me for not trying to find all the easy eggs – my cousins are younger than me so I had to give them a chance. Anyway, I found plenty of eggs and they all had plenty of candy to eat.
“Parker – This is for you. You are such a good boy. ❤ E.B.”
Ahoy, Matie
Daddy decided to hit the high seas on a cruise without mommy and me. It actually wasn’t all his doing. Papa Kolias actually won a trip through his work and he asked daddy to go with him. Who can blame him for ditching us, right? I would have left mommy and daddy if I was asked. Papa and daddy went to the Bahamas and had a good time. Daddy said he missed me and mommy a lot, but he said he was glad I gave him daddy lion to keep him company. I told him I missed him so bad and I also told him I couldn’t be me without him here. He totally bought it and was like putty in my hand.
Much more happened over the past month, but those were a couple of the highlights. I’ll try to be more current, but I’m almost 6 years old and there is just so much going on for a guy my age.
The other day we went to the MONSTER JAM (said in my best over-the-top announcer voice) and it was UN….wait for it….BELIEVABLE!! Thundering engines and destruction – just good ‘ol fun. The cool part was that we got there early enough (perhaps way too early – bygones) to go down on the track before the races and see all of the trucks. All of our favorites were there – Grave Digger (my fav), Son-Uva Digger, Monster Mutt Dalmation (mommy’s fav because it looks like a puppy), El Toro Loco (daddy’s fav), Superman, Iron Man, Mohawk Warrior (a lot of kids had their hair in mohawks because of this one), etc.
Now there is more to a Monster Jam than just big trucks rolling over a bunch of cars and doing crazy looking stuff – they actually race. No each of us had our favorite car for the races. Mommy’s Monster Mutt was out of the competition pretty quickly while daddy’s truck and my truck kept advancing. Before we knew it, both of our trucks were in the finals racing against each other. After some smack talk between me and my dad – you’re going down clown….you’re truck is so slow it takes 2 hours to watch 60 Minutes (this one is kind of funny to me since I’m learning how to tell time now) – it was time for our trucks to race. The race was literally a photo finish and the winner was…..GRAVE DIGGER!!!! It couldn’t have been more perfect.
After the races, all the trucks did tricks and jumps and all that cool stuff. Daddy’s truck actually lost a wheel and kept going on 3 wheels – too cool. You can see on the video below. We also saw several of the trucks catch fire which was pretty exciting – being in the stands and not the truck that is.
One of the other cool things about the day was that we got to sign our names to one of the old cars that race between truck rounds. Our car didn’t make it once around the track, but it was cool to write on it at least. Overall, it was great day – kinda loud so you want to bring some ear plugs, but awesome!
I haven’t had time to write because I’ve been so busy with seeing family, enjoying the season, and PLAYING WITH ALL MY PRESENTS! Santa is either a forgiving soul or he doesn’t do a lot of research when determining who has been naughty or nice. I mean I was like 90% nice and all, but I did have my moments of shall we say less than nice. But Santa sure did treat me good. Bicycles, dinosaurs, super heroes, AND a pretty little kitty. I was totally hoping I would get a kitty and Santa came through for me. I know what you’re probably thinking – I should have asked for a pony. If I had known it was going to be that easy, I probably would have. There are still more Christmases in my future so I need to practice saying giddy-up!
On a somewhat sad note, I had to say goodbye to Buddy – my elf on the shelf. Santa said that he would check in on me from time to time to say hi and see how I’m doing. I sure was hoping he could stick around forever because I really liked trying to find him every morning.
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