10 Essential Rules for the Summer Road Trip

There is a sense of romance about the open road.  A full tank of gas and nothing but the highway in front of you.  The problem is that it doesn't always work out that way... especially if you are a parent. I used to love going on car rides.  Now with two kids who do nothing but ask, "How much longer?" you just want to get to your destination.  You pick a destination for a reason; because the destination is way better than anything on the journey getting there.

I've learned a few things in the last ten years of being a parent and one of them is about how to survive the summer road trip.  It's not about having games or puzzles or an iPod... it's about everything else.  Head over to the  TRUSTED CHOICE BLOG to find out everything you need to know in order to survive your next cross country road trip.

CLICK HERE

Don't let these kids get the better of you

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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My Son is a Melon Head

"If you eat too much of that, you are going to turn into a melon."

We as parents are guilty of saying some pretty stupid things.  How many times have you threatened the cops on your kids, or tried to get them to behave at a restaurant by saying that the manager was watching, as if the manager of a restaurant actually has some sort of power, and the ability to make your child behave.  If he did, I am bringing that guy to my house to get my kids in line.  That's the best we can come up with?  The manager?  Personally I would be more scared of the guy in the kitchen that you don't see, like the dishwasher.  Anyway, you get my point, we ALL say some strange things to our kids and a lot of it is used as a last resort, when all else fails.

I caught myself using the line about the police coming last night.  Carter was in one of those crying fits and just would not shut up.  Instead of saying that the police were going to get him though, I said that they were going to take me away, I certainly could have used the break.  Of course it didn't work and I was stuck with a screaming four year old for another twenty minutes until he forgot about what he was crying about in the first place.  I think at this point my kids are terrified of the police, and would never harm a fly or steal anything in their lives, so I guess that some good has probably come from it.  Of course, that being said, police are now bad guys coming to haul people off to jail.

Lego jail can be a hard cruel place

I don't know why I said that Carter was going to turn into a melon.  I just wanted him to eat the rest of his food.  Its not like melon is a bad thing, but when you put a plate of food in front of somebody, you would rather them eat some of everything, not all of one thing.  Of course Carter wasn't going to turn into a melon, but what does he know, he very well could.  Maybe the idea would trigger something in his brain to start focusing on his other food.

He likes melons... so does daddy;)

In the end though, Carter kept on eating the melon and you know what happened, nothing.  He didn't turn into a melon.  Just like the cops have never come to our house and the manager of the Applebees could care less that my son is causing a scene.  When all is said and done, we are basically lying to our kids and if we keep doing that you know what is going to happen, our noses are going to grow just like Pinocchios.

If you liked what you read you can like me on facebook too.  Come join the party!

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John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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10 Things you Need to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse

The Zombie Apocalypse is upon us.

As a parent it's my job to protect my kids at all costs.  If that means the world is being overrun by zombies, then I will destroy EVERY ZOMBIE IN MY PATH. I'm not the toughest guy around, but when it comes to my kids I will do everything in my power to protect them.  If it means I have to kill all the zombies, so be it.  If it means I have to run, we will run fast.  If it means that I have to put a plan in place to protect my family, I will.

Like with any disaster it's important to be prepared.  The good Boy Scout that I was is ALWAYS prepared. So naturally I have a plan in place just like the Pentagon does. From hoarding things, to knowing where to go I have it all covered over at TRUSTED CHOICE.

Please click on the photo above an you can find out all the rest.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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22 Things I Don't Want For Father's Day

I'm a pretty simple guy. 

Father's Day is never a day that I have really cared about much. I don't need anyone to celebrate me or put me on a pedestal.  I find it all awkward. Whenever I am asked what I want for Father's Day or what I want to do, I always respond that it doesn't matter.  I honestly don't care.  We could go to a ball game, watch the boys play ball, head to the beach, whatever we would normally do on any given Sunday in the summer is fine by me.  All I ask is that you don't go crazy buying things.  I have enough stuff and if I want anymore, I can go get it myself.  Here are 22 things I don't want to get on Father's Day:

1. One of those "Hands Down Best Dad" Shirts. I'll never wear it and besides being a dad is not a competition.
2. Breakfast in bed. I would be too worried about spilling coffee all over the bed.
3. Flavored popcorn. I have a microwave. I can pop it myself.
4. Some sort of golf gadget. I have clubs, it's all I need to play golf
5. Fruit of the Month Club membership. They have grocery stores I can go to. I don't need overpriced produce.
6. Coffee. I can't tell the difference between good and bad coffee.
7. A blender. That's for my wife.
8. A personalized calendar. There is an app on my phone for that.
9. Flowers. They die.
10. A spatula.  I can't tell you how many of these I have in my house.
11. Tickets to a show/game/play/anything.  The last thing I want is to be forced to make future plans.
12. Scotch.  It makes me gag.
13. Chocolate.  I will eat too much and get fat.
14. A wallet.  The one I have has perfectly conformed to my butt.  A new one would be too uncomfortable.
15. Anything from a drug store. 
16. A store bought card.  Save the $3.99 and buy yourself some gum. (Just don't chew it around me)
17. Car wax. Who the hell has time to wash their own car?
18. A photo book.  That's my thing for Mother's Day.
19. A watch. My phone tells time.
20. A tie. The last time I wore a suit was a Bar Mitzvah three years ago.
21. A Roomba. I have a robotic vacuum cleaner in my garage that has never seen the light of day.
22. Something in a picture frame.  I don't have a desk to display it.

You could just buy me beer, or head to Sears and get anything off their Destination Dad list. While you are there enter their "Snap you 'stache contest and beat these photos.

Anything like this stuff I MIGHT allow

*I was chosen by Sears and Life of Dad to be a brand ambassador this Father's Day.  I was compensated for this post.  All opinions are my own, unless my wife tells me otherwise.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Power of Dad

I have never considered myself a good dad.

I am not one to put myself on a pedestal just because I have taken an active role in helping to raise my kids.  It's what any normal person would do.  It just so happens that I have a blog, so it's a little more noticeable than the millions of other dads that are doing the same thing.  Whether it's waking up and commuting to a job before the kids are even awake, being a stay at home dad, or even being deployed overseas, dads everywhere are doing whatever they have to to make their family run.

My dad was no different.

My dad woke up everyday at 2:00 in the morning to start the first of his three jobs.  He would deliver newspapers for four hours, then drive the school bus, and then deliver mail the rest of the day.  He was probably the hardest working man that I knew.  Of course this left him exhausted and time spent playing with him was limited, but he was present in my life. If I had a baseball or football game he was there.  At every single one of them.  Sometimes he even drove the bus to away game.  At the time this annoyed me, but looking back now, I totally get it.

I don't know what my boys are learning from me aside from their love of things like baseball and football, but I hope they see me as present in their lives.  I may spend some time on my phone (maybe too much at times) but I want them to know that I am there.  Whether it's lounging around or playing in the yard, their dad is playing an active role in their lives and is something that they should be doing when they become parents someday (though not TOO soon, I'm not grandpa material yet.)





When I was asked to share Oral-B's message about the #PowerofDad I jumped at the chance.  There are few companies that seem to get what being a father is all about, and they are one of them.  No longer are dads that bumbling idiots that only take out the garbage; they are the guys that are making dinner, reading to their kids at bedtime, and of course making sure that their teeth are clean.  I've had a lot of titles in my life, but the best one by far has been that of dad.   When it comes to being a dad, it’s the little moments that power the biggest smiles. So this Father’s Day, Oral-B is celebrating fatherhood’s little moments and the dads that bring smiles to their families every day.



In its second year of this Father’s Day program, P&G Oral Care has partnered with March of Dimes, a leading organization for healthy, happy families that celebrates mothers and fathers every day.

P&G Oral Care is also joining forces with members of “Football’s First Family,” New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning, his father Archie and his daughter Ava – to celebrate fatherhood’s little moments.

What better way to celebrate those little moments that bring a smile to dads face by giving him a new Oral-B Black toothbrush?  You can find a coupon for the new Oral B Black brush RIGHT HERE.  What tech obsessed dad wouldn't love something like this? Trust me, once you go Black you... well, I won't go there.

**I was asked to be a brand ambassador by Oral-B.  I was compensated for this post, but all opinions are my own unless told otherwise by my wife.**

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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The Importance of Travel Insurance

Our family likes to travel... a lot.

Whenever the boys are off of school, instead of staying at home, we go SOMEWHERE, anywhere. Whether it's the beach, the mountains, Disney, or even Europe it seems we are always on the run.  One of our favorite vacations is a cruise.

I was never a cruise guy when I was younger.  The largest boat that I was ever on was probably 25 feet if you don't include the Cape May/ Lewes Ferry.  I started cruising with my wife before we had kids and noticed all that there was to do for families. It only made sense that when we did have kids we would continue to travel that way.

We've been on a lot of different lines.  Norwegian, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Disney.  Right now we are partial to Disney for a lot of reasons.  The food, the service, and the attention to detail can't be beat.  But it was a trip that we made when my oldest son was one and a half that really sealed the deal for us.

Some of you may know that I have started writing for an insurance company and you can read all about why we LOVE going on Disney Cruises and the importance of travel insurance at the following link:

https://www.trustedchoice.com/insurance-articles/life-health/vacation-insurance/

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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A Toy Story

I've been putting toys away that the kids no longer play with since seemingly the day they were born. No sooner you get them a toy to play with and they grow out of it and move on to something else.  My kids have always gone through phases where they like something so much that they have to have every toy ever made.  Then as soon as they do, they find something else that piques their interest and the process starts all over.

Long since forgotten

The truth is I have a lot of stuff sitting around that I know they will never play with again.  My boys, it seems, have outgrown playing with toys all together.  Tyler will be 10 in a couple of months and Carter just turned seven and their interests right now lie in video games and sports.  That's not necessarily a bad thing as it is something that we can all enjoy together, but the memories wrapped up in those toys sitting in boxes is what keeps a lot of them around.

I can just imagine the toys, like in the movie Toy Story, are just sitting there waiting to get played with one more time.  Chances are they won't, but I kind of would like them to remember the fun they had with their Sheriff Woody doll or their Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger.

There is something magical about kids playing with toys.  They use their imaginations to create these complex story lines that only they and the toy would understand. Then somewhere a long the way they lose interest and the world of imagination disappears. Why do they have to get older?  Why can't they just stay a certain age forever?  Why can't this fantasy world be the world in which we live?

As I put these toys in storage boxes, I don't know what is going to become of them.  I haven't fully decided if I want to donate them to some needy kids or hold onto them to let my grandkids play with them.  Our old toys deserve the best because they are the best. The ending of our toy story hasn't been written yet, but I hope they don't mind waiting around to find out.  

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Bus Stop Pajamas

There is a growing problem in this country.  It doesn't involve poverty or lack of clean drinking water or even climate change.  The big problem with society now is that some parents feel it is OK to wear pajamas to the bus stop. It's not.  Wearing pajamas out of the house sets a bad example for the kids.  I have stopped countless teens at the mall that were wearing pajamas and asked why they feel it is OK to wear them out in public.  Their overwhelming response is that if it's OK for their dad to take them to the bus wearing pajamas then it is OK for them to wear them when they go shopping.

Pajamas at the bus can be blamed on many things.  It caused the downfall of the Mayan Empire, wiped out the dinosaurs, and was even the reason why World War I started.  Franz Ferdinand brought his son to the bus stop one morning wearing his pajamas and the next thing you know he gets assassinated and war spreads throughout the continent.

Pajamas at the bus stop are bad, and they just look ridiculous.

Where do you stand on this issue of great importance?

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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The Stories We Tell

Whenever I get together with my friends we always tell the same jokes.  One guy is a year older than the rest of us, and we never let him forget that.  One didn't graduate college until five years after us even though he walked in the graduation ceremonies. Another has a part of his body that, well we will just leave it to your imagination.

Every single time we get together these stories get brought up and they never cease to be funny.

Depending on the situation my wife is the same way.  She has stories that I know she will tell based on the conversation that she is in.  I guess it's part of being together for almost 18(!) years, but I can tell when a story is rattling around in her head.

Her go to story goes back 18 years to when she was working in television news in Elmira, NY.  She did a story about a bee apiary and how they use bee venom therapy to cure a variety of aches and pains.  I don't think that it cures cancer, but by the way she tells the story it might as well.  She has never had the procedure done since the time she did that story, but it never fails that when she is in a conversation with someone about aches or illnesses - a common conversation when you get older - that bee venom therapy gets brought up.

That's my wife 18 years ago working her bee story for WENY

I have probably heard this story about 100 times and every time I have to roll my eyes.

Not that it's a bad thing, I find it kind of funny, but the point is that we all have stories that we tell ALL OF THE TIME.  Some just might be told more than others.

What is the story that you or your spouse tells all the time?

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Banned

There are a lot of things that people want to ban nowadays.

Cigarette smoking, oversized sodas, socks with sandals, the list goes on and on.  Last week it was that a mom wanted all of us to take a stand and not let our kids use handheld devices.  This week everyone is taking a stand against the word "bossy."  Every week there is something that someone just has to take a stand against.

Of course then all kinds of celebrities have to rally for the issue, because it really legitimizes something when Bono or Tina Fey gets behind it.  I base how much I don't care about something on who shows support for it.  If someone like Beyonce rallies for an issue then I have a tendency to look the other way.  It's not that I don't like Beyonce (I actually don't, I am sure she is really nice though) it's just that I don't think her opinion matters.  Nobody listens to me, why should I listen to her?  I know celebrities have a platform, but when they try to sound smart they really sound so dumb.

I applaud the average person when they take a stand against something.  When that lady wrote her article about banning handheld devices I could certain see where she was coming from, BUT she was totally wrong.  Things like handheld devices NEED to be embraced.  We have the technology, why wouldn't we use it.  Adults use these things for everything that they do, why can't a kid use it?  I am not going to give my son a pencil and a piece of paper and have that be his only form of entertainment.  We don't live in the dark ages anymore.

When they discovered fire were people up in arms that nobody was eating raw food anymore?  When they invented the wheel were there cavemen celebrities that said how wheels were going to ruin how things got done?  When electricity was discovered was there rioting in the streets over how we weren't using candles anymore? No.  No there was not.  We embraced technology and grew with it.

And now we want to ban words like bossy.  I can understand banning words like retard or the "N" word.  Those words hurt.  But a word like bossy?  I can see the point, but I don't necessarily agree.  Maybe it's because I am not a girl and never have been, but I don't see how bossy can be a bad word.  Everyone can be bossy, men and women.  I don't necessarily look at a "bossy" man and think that he is assertive or strong, if he comes across as an ass hole, he's an ass hole.  Same can be said of a woman.  I don't look at a "bossy" woman and look at that as a negative thing.  If she is acting like a bitch then she is a bitch.

Let's ban people being bitches and ass holes before we start banning bossy. Better yet, lets ban banning things.  

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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To the Lady in Aisle 12

You don't know me, but I sure as heck know who you are.

I was walking through the grocery store picking up all kinds of food that my kids won't eat and will most likely rot in my refrigerator in the next week.  Judging by your mountain of organic and all natural foods in your cart, you were most likely doing the same.  I had just picked up three dozen eggs and was heading to find the rice and that's when you came into my life.

I was checking Facebook and Twitter like I always do, not really paying attention to where I was going but in the middle of aisle 12, you moved out of the way for me.  I can't even begin to tell you what that act of selflessness means to me.  I could have crashed right into and and cracked my eggs, but instead I was able to find the right kind of rice completely unscathed.  It's people like you that make this world a better place.

This picture has nothing to do with this post

While I am at it, I would like to thank the lady on the airplane that will one day give up her seat so I can sit across the aisle from my family.  My wife does all the work on the plane with the kids, but because of you, I can sleep near them with my headphones on.  Perhaps it will make it easier when one of the kids needs to go to the bathroom just as the plane is starting to touchdown.

I would also like to thank the guy at the post office that is going to pick up my pen that I dropped.  The fact that I won't have bend down and pick it up myself is something that I will forever be grateful for.  I would hate for that to be the moment when my back goes out, so you saved me from a lifetime of chronic back pains and I can't thank you enough.

There are others as well.

To the guy that will hold the door for me as I am half a mile across the parking lot I say, God bless you.  I probably should walk a little faster and since you are holding the door, I will.  I don't know how you see me all the way over by the Friendly's but I am so thankful that you do.  The fact that there is an automatic door right next to the door that you are holding means nothing to me.  You sir are a gentleman.

To the people writing open letters to strangers I salute you.  You will probably never meet that person again and they will go completely unnoticed because nobody else knows who the heck they are, but who cares.  Your letters give us all a sense that there are nice people in this world.  Or at the very least your letters let us know that you can't just offer up a simple "Thank you" to someone and be done with it.

Who exactly are we trying to draw attention to?

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Disney… Still the One

They probably won't remember this trip, but we will

My kids are spoiled rotten.

They have been to Disney World more that most kids have ever been on vacation period.  We started them young; Tyler was around four months old and Carter was around three months at his first visit.  I'm not going to get into the whole nonsense about how our kids would never remember such a trip so why would we do such a thing.  Do we really think that an eight year old or a 10 year is going to look back some day when they are 50 and think so highly of the trip that they took to Disney 40 years prior?

Of course they aren't.

The trips when they were young were for their selfish parents who really enjoyed seeing the kids interact with the characters when they still gave a crap.  The excited looks from a three year old are way more amazing than they are from a nine year old who really hasn't watched anything Disney in the past couple of years.  He's probably excited, but he was more so five years ago.

But I digress, remember I wasn't going to go there.

I thought we hit a spell a couple of years ago where the boys could really care less about Disney.  Turns out it wasn't the case.  They had just outgrown certain things like TV shows and all of their toys, but as far as the parks were concerned, they still very much wanted to go.

Disney has been evolving for us.  The kids are getting bigger so they can go on more rides like Space Mountain and Splash Mountain and we don't need to go on rides like the highly overrated Goofy's Barnstormer anymore.  More and more of the rides in Hollywood Studios are accessible now and we don't have to go to any of the Disney Junior shows.  We used to have to sneak off and go on a lot of the rides by ourselves, but now we can ride most as a family. And that is pretty cool.

The excitement of the parks has changed over the years.  It's not so much about seeing the characters anymore as it is trading pins and finding Hidden Mickeys.  A lot of what we used to do, we no longer need to do because it just doesn't appeal to the boys anymore.  But there is so much more that does.

I don't know how long Disney will remain a part of our lives, but right now it's still the one.  

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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What was Dad 2.0?

The full meaning of Dad 2.0 (the annual dad conference held this year in New Orleans) didn't hit me until the morning after I arrived home.  I had a feeling going in that this would be a very beneficial event for my blog, my website, and for me as a dad.  I thought that maybe I would make some connections, meet up with the right people, and hopefully that would then turn into some sort of future relationships with brands, most notably Lego.

Image courtesy DesignerDaddy.com no idea who the lady is

While all of that was my initial my initial focus and something that I will have to wait and see on, when I got my first friend request on Facebook from someone who I met at the conference the next morning it really hit me.  This was a event that was so much more than I thought I was going to.  It wasn't about relationships with brands, or getting to know the RIGHT people.  It was about relationships with the people that were there. Namely the other dads.

I'd known some of these guys for a long time and had only met a few of them in person.  I met Aaron Gouveia and Jeff Bogle in Las Vegas, my wife and Lance Somerfeld's wife went to college together, and I first met Oren Miller at a Stay at Home Dads Convention in Washington DC.  Everyone else, I have only known them by looking at pictures of them online or reading their blogs.

That's not to say I didn't know them at all.  Far from it.  You get to know a lot about a person when they pour their heart and soul into a blog post every single day.  I had an emotional attachment to a lot of these guys, it's just that I had never met them in person.  My wife jokes that everyone that I have ever met online isn't real.  I couldn't possibly develop a connection with someone without ever actually talking to them face to face. That couldn't be farther from the truth. I didn't know these guys, but I knew them.

Ever have a reunion with people that you've never met?  Ever walk into a room of strangers and know every single person there?

THAT to me was Dad 2.0.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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The Touchdown Dance

Congratualtions, you just scored a touchdown!

Now what?  Personally I don't care for the over the top celebrations you see nowadays. The way I see it, you should act like you've been there and and that you are coming back for more.  When you start dancing you are making the moment about you, and not the ten other guys that helped to get you there.

It's something I've stressed with my kids… but it's not easy.

Carter is by all accounts the best player on his flag football scoring 15 touchdowns and being a threat to go the distance every time he touched the ball.  But what did he do when he scored?  He gave the ball to the ref.      

While I don't care for it, the touchdown dance has been around as long people have been scoring touchdowns.  Whether it's the Ickey Shuffle, the Lambeau Leap, or something stupid that Terrell Owens comes up with, players have been celebrating the score in some very unique ways.

What is your Touchdown dance?

StubHub wants you to share yours with them by entering their StubHub Touchdown Dance Contest.  All you have to do is post a video of you doing your dance on Vine, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube using the hashtag #StubHubTD.  One lucky winner will win a trip to next years Big Game in Arizona. There is no purchase necessary to enter and the contest runs through February 3rd. Dance away.

Since I don't dance, here is Carters.  He's just never allowed to do it in a game.

This is a sponsored post on behalf of StubHub.  All opinions and expressions are my own

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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How to Store Legos… for easy access

If your family is anything like mine, your kids got MORE Legos for Christmas.  Just when I thought that my kids were done playing with them, along comes The Hobbit and my house is a complete mess once again.

I don't think that I have ever had a clean dining room table in the nine years that I have lived in my current home.  A dining room is one of those things we look for when we are buying a house with the idea that we will have family dinners there every night.  What we really want the room for is a place to dump everything that we don't use anymore so the rest of our house isn't a complete disaster. THAT is where we play with Legos.

I have vowed to get that room in order though.  Not because I want to eat in there, but because it houses the nicest furniture that we own and I would like to see it.  It's kind of crazy that we have this beautiful dining room set, and it's covered in Lego body parts.  I clean that room every now and then when I know that we are getting a new batch of Legos.  Usually around the holidays and birthdays I clear out space so we can go through the motions all over again.

So what happens to the Legos.

For the most part they get shoved in plastic bins and get put away in the closets in the basement never to be heard from again.  I am starting to run out of room and am thinking about adding an extension on my home just to house the hundreds upon hundreds of mini-figures that I own.  I guess I could stop buying Legos, but where is the fun in that?

Let's be honest though, once the Legos go into a bin in the closet they get forgotten about.  Nobody wants to take out one of those bins and dump it onto the floor because it's just too much of a hassle to clean up again. You can't play with them in the bin because you can't spread them out to find all the pieces that you are looking for.  It's such a pain.

When we go to my moms house she lays a blanket on the floor and then dumps a bucket of Legos in the middle of it for the boys to play on.  It's actually quite ingenious of her and it keeps the mess at bay. BUT its not the easiest thing to pack up at the end of the day and you can't really carry it anywhere so it hasn't been something that we have used at our house.  I of course would need about 17 king sized blankets to store them all in.

I recently found a product that I absolutely love and it solves a lot of our Lego cleanup problem and gives us easy access to play with them in the future.  It's called Lay-n-Go.  It takes a lot of what my mom was doing with her blanket idea but perfects it.  Lay-n-Go does exactly what it sounds like it should do.  You can lay it on the ground and spread it out giving you a giant mat to play on, or you can pull the draw strings together and turn it into a bag that you can go somewhere else with.

It really makes the whole playing with Legos thing that much more enjoyable, because at the end of the day you can clean up your mess in a matter of seconds and take the bag wherever you want to go.

The only problem with the product is that there isn't one big enough to store ALL of my Legos in.  Of course there probably isn't anything that could do that anyway.  The five foot wide LARGE one that I used was very capable of holding a lot of Legos.  Probably as many Legos as the average person owns, but my house is anything but average.

The fine people at Lay-n-Go were kind enough to let me use one of their products to try out.  They have also been so generous to offer you the chance at owning one as well.  Their Lite one is perfect for building a set on or carrying a bunch of action figures around, all you have to do is enter for your chance to win below.

For more of their products, please check out their website layngo.com or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Even though I was supplied with a Lay-n-Go bag all opinions about this product are my own because it's a great.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Timber!

It's my least favorite time of the year.

The house seems so barren now and not quite as cozy as it was the previous month. The sun shines through the living room window a little brighter now, but the nighttime darkness is what I focus on. The warm glow has been replaced by the emptiness of the outside world.

It will be 11 months until we get that all back, but how much are we going to lose in the process?  How much of the boys innocence and belief in magic will wane in the coming year.  I can already see it, the looks of wonder and the huge smiles are being replaced by looks of indifference and non-caring grins. The truth is it all peaked a few years ago and now we just hold on to what's left.

Will they even care next year?

So down it comes. Packed in the basement for another year having no idea what lies ahead. Farewell oh Christmas Tree… such pleasure do you bring me.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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What Color is Santa Claus?

Not surprisingly a TV anchor put her foot her mouth by telling the world to just accept the fact that Santa Claus is white.

There are obviously some that will believe her and say that she is right.  Myself I have never seen a Santa at the mall that was anything other than caucasion, but that doesn't mean that I don't think that Santa could be any other race.  It's really a stupid thing to say to tell someone what they should or should not believe.

Some might think one way, and others might think another way.  As for my kids, their thinking is entirely different.

Whatever color your Santa is, Merry Christmas.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Jeans For the Modern Man… Starring Legos

I will be the first to admit that I know nothing about fashion.

I will put on a pair of jeans and wear them for weeks on end without washing them.  I know it sounds disgusting, but I like the feel of dirty well worn jeans more than I do a pair that has spent time in dryer somewhere.  Honestly, as soon as you wash a pair of jeans it takes a couple of days of wearing them until they feel "right" again.

Certainly I am not alone and since I do the laundry in my house, I can make that decision.  If my wife did the laundry, perhaps my jeans would be clean all of the time and none of them would fit.

Lee jeans may be the pants I'm looking for

I have tried all different brands of jeans… Old Navy, Levis, Wrangler, and now Lee.  I am admittedly cheap when it comes to buying a pair.  For years I would only buy Old Navy jeans because they only cost $19.99.  I was never concerned about how they looked (my wife hated them) or how long they lasted.  They would usually fall off of me and be torn to shreds in less than a years time.  All of them are now covered house paint because I wouldn't want ruin a good pair.

So I have been on the look out for a new brand.  Admittedly there are few styles that fit.  I have bigger thighs and a small butt so all of these straight leg kinds are out.  Nobody I know wears skinny jeans and I hope to never meet a man that does.  Relaxed fit is my jean of choice, but not the tapered leg variety because once again my wife does get her say every now and then.  What is the phrase, "If you look good in jeans your wife won't be so mean?" Something like that.

I was approached by Lee Jeans to give their pants a try.  I was a little skeptical at first because I automatically flashed back to elementary school and my first thought was that people were going to come up and "brand" me.  It's all I could think of.  I would walk around and people would come up to me and poke my Lee Jeans with the sound of a branding iron.  I only assume that you get that reference.

But I was also intrigued.  Maybe I was being to harsh in my assessment of the old brand thing and Lee Jeans would be just the pair of pants I would want to wear.

The Lee Modern Series might just be the style of jeans that I am looking for, but the truth is I won't know for sure for some time.  I need to wear them without washing them for a few more weeks.  I'll keep you posted.

Lee was kind enough to offer me a couple of pairs of jeans to try out in exchange for this post. Now they want to give you the opportunity to try them out for yourself.  They are being kind enough to give away any one item of your choice from Lee.com.  All you have to do is enter below.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Lee compensated me for this post, but all opinions are my own unless my wife tells me otherwise

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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The Last First

I'm usually pretty good with milestones.

I'm not one to get choked up every time that my kids accomplish something for the first time.  Most of them just happen so quickly that you really don't have time to react.  I can remember vividly when Tyler rolled over for the first time, it was over nine years ago now.  I can also remember when Carter took his first steps six years ago this March.  Those firsts were great.  But I've noticed something though as my kids get older.

While the first firsts were met with excitement, it's the last firsts that leave me with sadness.

This smile is changing forever

Every time that Tyler passed a milestone I knew that it wouldn't be the last time that it happened.  With a younger brother we would be going through the same thing a couple of years later. As Carter gets older though it's beginning to hit me that certain things just aren't going to happen ever again.

Carter is about to lose his two front teeth.

When it happened to Tyler, I did feel like he was getting older but nothing like I am feeling with Carter. Maybe it would be different if there was a third kid, but there isn't going to be a third kid.  Every time something happens to Carter, it's going to be the last time it happens in our family.

There will be a lot more last firsts - girlfriends, college, getting married, having kids of their own - I just don't know that I am ready for them quite yet.    

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Giving Away Old Memories and Starting New Ones

My basement doesn't look like this anymore

There has been a lot of stuff just taking up space in my house for a few years.

Bins of old clothes, old broken toys, and a lot of stuff that can just be considered junk at this point have been sitting idle in my storage room for a long time.  One of the realities as a parent is that your kids are not getting any younger and as much as I try to hold on to pieces of the past, we aren't going backwards.

I started to run out of space.

As much as I would love to see Carter wear his 3T clothes one more time, it's time to move on.  And Tyler's old stuffed animals haven't been played with in seemingly forever; perhaps they would be better suited with someone else.

I don't know why it's taken me so long to get this done.  Perhaps part of me is just not ready to turn the page on this chapter of our lives.  If I hold on to the memories of the past, maybe the future won't arrive so soon?  I don't think anyone is ready to have their kids grow up, especially me.

I got rid of seven giant garbage bags full of clothes the other day and I have a mound of perfectly good toys just waiting to find an owner.  The truth is I will miss all of those things, but it's time to start making new memories.

Now that my storage room has space, I won't have to go through this again for another couple of years.

It's not an easy thing to do.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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