Daddy's Fish BowlA Clear View Of A Father's Family Experiences

Tre has the world figured out, in a quick 4 years on this earth, the boy is ready to take the world by storm and potentially in the words of Rick Ross “be Rich Forever”. Miraculously, he is willing to share his fool proof plan that is guaranteed to having you gaining financial stability in a mere 4 years flat. Does that sound interesting to you? Do want financial independence beyond your wildest dreams? Sure you do, who doesn’t!!! Well let Tre show you the way, let him guide you through his step by step plan that will have you saving money and spending it on the things that are important in life at the same time. To gain access to this once in a lifetime offer, simply write a check for $49.99 out to Tre and check the mail for your copy of “More At Four – Financial Stability Made Simple”.

The Small Things That Make Kids Happy

I looked out my window last night & the Christmas lights were still blaring bright, therefore, the extremely late holiday recap will continue. Today, I’ll give you guys a quick rundown of Tre’s birthday, but more importantly, discuss the difficulties and pitfalls associated with having a birthday that falls in between Christmas and New Year’s.

Happy New Year to all my DFB readers.  It’s that time again, another new year for cheer, another new year for excitement and unlimited possibilities (until Dec 21st that is, joking).  But most importantly, it’s another opportunity to recap the previous year hear at Daddy’s Fish Bowl.  2011 was a great year for us and what better way to get your new year pumping than revisiting some of the great posts that you loved during 2011.  Take a moment to relive the magic of DFB, or if you’re a delinquent reader, think of this opportunity as a second chance at the DFB reader hall of fame.  No matter your motivation, join us as we countdown the top 11 posts of 2011.  What will be number one?  Will it best the top post of 2010? You be the judge. Each entry will be listed with the title and a brief excerpt of the post, click the link to visit the post and memories, laughter, and sentimental moments that kept you coming back all year long.

If you missed part one of this troubled tale, head on over and read it so you’ll have some context for the funny part 2 of this post!

As if the shame of enacting the Santa ClausE wasn’t weighing heavily enough on my conscious, Tre decided to jump in and be my assistant authority figure.  My assistant seemed to take much more pleasure in the naughty list punishment than I did however.  Typically, I don’t let the kids get involved in repercussions of each others disciplinary actions, but when Tre decided to ensure that Ty knew exactly what was looming over his head, I let it go.

“He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice, he’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice. SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN”

To most, those words may sound like a harmless line from a children’s Christmas song, but to others, especially those who have not been on their best behavior, those words can haunt dreams and ruin lives.  Unfortunately, we have one of the “others” in our household this year.  Ty is currently feeling the wrath of Santa’s greatest ability: the ability to single handedly transform a child’s behavior with 3 magic words, “The Naughty List”.

Now that Black Friday is behind us, let’s take a look at some gift ideas that are sure to win over the hearts of your loved ones. Our 3rd annual Holiday Gift Guide Week will feature separate guides for preschoolers, elementary schoolers and gadgets (courtesy of  The Gallant).  The gift guides will feature some items that the boys already own, as well as items that we plan to purchase for them this Christmas.  The items are in no special order, they are all gifts that I find interesting and think the kids will enjoy playing with.  Please feel free to add items to the list in the comment section, or if you already own a particular item, share your experience with it.  I hope you enjoy, talk to you soon.

Growing up I didn’t really understand or value the true meaning of Thanksgiving. To me, it was all about the over abundance of good food & a few extra days off from school, that’s all that really mattered. Sure I had a ton of things to be grateful for: I live in a household with both of my parents, we lived in the better part of the bad side of town (if that makes any sense), and I had a Mom that dedicated every inch of her being to making sure that I had a better life than she did. You see back then, I know all of those things, I guess I just felt that I was entitled to them and didn’t count them as blessings.

A Sample Of Ty's Many Build & Grow Projects

I typically don’t get too excited about specific companies or products, unless it’s Apple, or PS3, or Right Guard deodorant. Okay, so maybe I do get obsessed excited about a few things here or there, but today’s company/product is different, it’s different because it’s totally awesome! Hmmmm, maybe I’ve said that before as well, um, okay, let’s just go with this one: it’s different because I said so! Too strong? Ah, I got it, it’s different because it’s totally FREE!!! Whew, now that that’s out of the way, now I can focus on more important things like explaining why the Lowe’s Build And Grow clinic is so awesome.

When I was a kid, I REFUSED to grow up; point, blank, period.  When my parents told me that I wouldn’t be a child forever, I would pout and fuss until they (usually my Mom) caved and told me that I could be a kid for as long as I wanted to.  I took the “I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys R Us Kid” motto to heart, and felt that Geoffrey the Giraffe would take it as a personal insult if I had broken my promise.  I mean, it was bad folks, I played with my X-men action figures well into the second half of my 8^th grade school year.  You remember the 40yr Old Virgin?  Yeah that could have been me in a hearbeat.  Luckily though, someone sprinkled some fairy dust on me and I went from super nerd to ultra cool kid overnight.  Okay, maybe “fairy” dust wasn’t the best descriptor to use there.  The point is, I grew up real quick and swapped Toys R Us for Gap and other trendy clothing stores of that era.  Now that I’m a parent, I’m realizing that my childhood transformation likely won’t  be replicated by my own kids.  They have completely different outlooks on being a kid and neither of them resemble how I viewed it at their age.

Super Nerd

Last week, we took Tre for a kindergarten assessment in the hopes of getting him enrolled early for school.  Our hopes were quickly eroded, but we’ll get to that later.  The exam was a piece of cake and he aced it in typical Tre fashion, and by that I mean with charm and a ton of personality.  The kid was a natural and it made me extremely proud.  After watching him fly through those questions, I was sure that he was a shoe in for the job.  Unfortunately, even with all of Tre’s style and charisma, he wasn’t able to dazzle his way into a kindergarten seat for next year.