praying for mll at chili's

Jenny and Natalie are at the Revolve Tour in Columbus this weekend. It's just me, Andrew, and Naomi tonight. So when Naomi got home from school, we headed to Canton to do dinner and a movie.

We caught Space Chimps at the dollar theater and then we hit Chili's for a bite. While we were at Chili's, I told the kids that I was speaking at Married Life Live Saturday night. I asked them if they would remember to pray for me.

Andrew spoke up, "Daddy, I'll pray for you right now."

And he did. The three of us bowed our heads at Chili's, in the middle of our dinner, and Andrew asked God, among other things, to help me do a good job at MLL...and to help me be nice to people.

What more could I ask for?

fired up for game day!

The monkey boy emerged from his room a few minutes ago...ready for OSU football.

Go Bucks!

thank-you day!

Friday morning Andrew woke up and quickly declared the day to be "Thank-you day" at the Bunn house. His declaration was for no particular reason other than the fact that he thought it would be a good idea just to tell people "thank you" all day long.

Jenny was at the gym working out when he got up. Upon her return, as she entered through the sliding door by the kitchen, Andrew greeted her loudly by saying, "Thank you Mommy!" And he continued letting the "thank-yous" fly all day long.

Thank-you day. What a great idea. Do you need to declare a thank-you day at your house?

andrew wants to know...

Andrew (age 6) spends most of his daily word count asking questions. It's unbelievable how many questions the dude can come up with throughout the course of the day. The questions range from the ridiculous to the thoughtful, hard-to-answer.

I thought I'd give you a sampling of the stuff he asks me...ALL THE TIME. These questions all came up within the span of about 30 minutes last evening:

• Daddy, have you been 94 yet (as in age)?
• Daddy, when I'm bigger, how am I going to remember your cell phone number?
• Daddy, are there creeks in Sugarcreek?
• Daddy, when I get big, what football team am I going to play for?

can you identify the animal that left this print?

Took the fam to Mohican on Saturday for a picnic and hiking. Andrew, Natalie, Naomi, and I took a three-mile hike through the forest. Along the way, Andrew asked if I thought there might be pumas in these woods. (Pumas?!) I assured him that we wouldn't have to worry about pumas and he was cool with that until Naomi found this paw print in the mud...

We have no idea what animal this could be. The kids put their feet next to it to offer some size perspective. Too big to be a dog. Big claw marks, too. What do YOU think? Bear? In Ohio? Puma? :) Feel free to share your opinion.

the monkey boy's birthday

Saturday was Andrew's sixth birthday. His big gift: a trip to Cleveland for the Reds/Indians game. If you don't already know, we're Reds fans (Jenny and I grew up in Cincy). So Andrew, by default, is also a Reds fan.

We got to the game early in hopes of catching some BP and perhaps an autograph or two.

Andrew took this sign with him. I bet he had 100 people wish him happy birthday at the ballpark...including Reds first baseman, Joey Votto. Joey saw Andrew's sign, came over to the railing, wished him happy birthday, chatted for a moment and then signed a mini-helmet and his ball cap. And get this, Andrew was the only dude in the ballpark that got an autograph that night. There was no BP due to rain...and NOBODY was signing...except one guy...for Andrew.

I couldn't get my camera phone out in time to catch Joey Votto with Andrew...figures. But here's proof of the encounter:

Mommy and Monkey Boy enjoying the game:
In the third inning Andrew was bugging me to use my phone to take a picture. So what does he take a picture of? Me. Here's his handiwork:

A great time, as they say, was had by all. And the icing on the cake? The Reds won 5-0. Happy birthday AJ!

bubba jr.

What my girls do to their little brother when they get bored...

andrew meets trent edwards (part 2)

Part two takes place at my cousin's wedding reception. The hour was approaching ten o'clock. The family and I were ready to head back to the hotel. I asked Andrew if he wanted to say goodbye to Trent before we left.

I didn't have to ask twice. Andrew rushed over to where Trent was standing. Trent bent down, held out his hand for a high-five from the monkey-boy and said, "Hey Andrew, what's up?" (he remembered his name...very cool).

Andrew says, "See you at the picnic tomorrow!"

Trent replied, "Aw, buddy, I'm not going to be at the picnic."

Andrew shot back, "Where you gotta be?" As if to say, "Hey, you're the quarterback of the Bills, you can do whatever you want. And what's more important than a wedding party picnic?...Duh!"

Trent informed Andrew that he had to fly to California for another wedding. Andrew seemed cool with that. Especially after arriving to the picnic to have this waiting for him:

Yes, it's signed by Trent Edwards. Yes, Andrew is now the world's biggest Bills fan. Yes, it looks like I'm going to have to take him to a Bills game this fall (as if I'm complaining).

The hard part was trying to convince Andrew to leave the mini helmet in the display case instead of taking it out and letting his teddy bear wear it (that's really what he wanted to do).

andrew meets trent edwards (part 1)

Last week we went to my cousin's wedding in Buffalo, NY. The guy she married works for the Buffalo Bills. He's good friends with the Bills' starting quarterback, Trent Edwards. In fact, Trent was one of the groomsmen in the wedding.

Andrew has GOT to be the biggest five-year-old football freak on the planet. He LOVES football. He knows all the NFL teams, and he has things pretty much figured out like: love the Bengals, hate the Steelers, and the Browns stink (that's my boy!). He also would tell you he's a fan of the Eagles, Dolphins, Falcons, and Packers (he can't pick ONE favorite). Anyway, you can now add the Bills to the top of that list.

He couldn't wait to meet the Bills' QB...talked about it for weeks. So finally, after the wedding, I say to Andrew, "Do you want to go meet Trent Edwards?" Duh. So we went over and introduced ourselves. Trent was super-cool. Andrew was diggin' it. Here's a pic of Trent, Andrew and me...

Shortly into our conversation, Andrew informed Trent that he had a question for him.

"What do you want to know," asked Trent.

Andrew's question: "DO YOU KNOW BRETT FAVRE?"

Classic.

more wisdom from andrew

I was looking for something on Saturday and not having much success finding it. Andrew's advice to me:

"Daddy, if you think harder, an idea will come."

welcome to kumler field, home of the cougars

Over the weekend we visited the ol' stomping grounds to attend a family wedding. Every time we visit Jenny's folks, we drive by our high school. The football field is visible from the road. And every time Andrew (our little football addict) asks, "Daddy, is that where you played football?" I always answer, "Yes." And Andrew is always so fascinated by that.

This time, we had time, so we decided to stop and let Andrew check things out up close. The gate was open so we helped ourselves to the field of dreams...

Andrew thought it was the coolest thing ever. I had him run a couple of routes to the end zone as I threw passes to him (of course, he already had his football with him).

Home of the Cougars. Home of my glory days. For the record, my senior team was 7-3 (barely missing the playoffs).
Who knows...maybe Andrew will get to play in the state playoffs someday. Hey, a dad can only hope, right?

phrases i heard uttered in my home today

Andrew while bugging his older sister:
I can't make myself stop.

Natalie while instructing Andrew on football:
Try not to tackle yourself.

Andrew while reenacting a football play in slow-mo:
Okay, pretend I'm me.

Is your family weird, too?

t.p. jesus

Tonight the fam was looking at some of the Christmas cards we received this year. Andrew saw this one, brought it to me and said, "Look Daddy, toilet paper Jesus."

the wisdom of andrew bunn (spelling)

Andrew (age 5): Daddy, I know what 'CAR' starts with . . . it starts with "R."

Naomi (age 9): No it doesn't. 'Car' starts with "C."

Andrew: Naomi, you're a genius.

more thoughts from andrew (churches)

I overheard a conversation at the family Christmas gathering Saturday night. It was between Andrew (age 5) and a couple of his aunts. It went something like this:

Aunt #1: Where do you go to church, Andrew?

Andrew: Duh (while rolling his eyes)... NewPointe.

(laughter in the room)

Andrew: Where do you go to church?

Another Aunt: When we go we go with Mamaw and Papaw to the Mennonite church.

Andrew: Mennonite? I'm not into that.

the wisdom of andrew bunn (thoughts on marriage)

Watched The Nativity Story with the fam last night. Three quarters of the way into it, Andrew's curiosity grew and he asked, "If Joseph and Mary are married, how come they don't kiss?" (Because that's what married people do, right?)

Jenny asked him, "Andrew, when you're married are you going to kiss your wife?"

Andrew's response: "Yeah...if I'm brave."

the theology of andrew bunn (part deux)

Today I asked Andrew (age 5) what he's learning in the Reign Forest theses days. This was his response:

"Jesus is powerful. He's strong. And he's the boss."

I'm not convinced that that's the way it was presented to him but hey, if we all believed that and lived our lives like it was true we'd all be better off wouldn't we?

the story of andrew's adoption

I've talked with several of you who have said that you'd like to know more about Andrew's adoption. The story is online. A website called International Adoption Stories picked up our story a few years ago. Here's the link if you're interested in learning how the Monkey Boy became a part of the Bunn family: Guatemala...Our Story.

a tale of 14 snoobies

Our family LOVES snoobies (a.k.a snoobahs, schnoobies, and, schnoobahs--all are acceptable). I guess some explanation is in order. Snoobies are more commonly known as Slurpees, Slushies, Slush Puppies, etc. One day while riding around town, Jenny asked the kids which name they prefer for what Speedway just calls "frozen drinks." After running down the list of options, Andrew decided he liked none of the available choices. So he declared, "I'm just going to call them Snoobies." So snoobies it is.

7-11 has great snoobies. Lots of variety (sour green apple, blue vanilla, sour watermelon, whoopie berry, bubble yum, full-throttle, tangerine-lime, orange cream, berry-pomegranate, etc.). And there are plenty of 7-11's here in Florida. So...one of our vacation goals: a snoobie-a-day. Our family usually shares a giant-sized snoobie. Today is day six of our vacation. The next snoobie we buy will be snoobie #7.

It's good to have goals.

the theology of andrew bunn

Andrew at lunch today: "God doesn't have a mommy......so he just has to babysit himself."