Hero of the Week... My Mom

I am going to try a new concept here at Daddy's in Charge and offer you a weekly look at someone I consider to be a hero of the week.  Now heroes exist in many forms; firefighters, police officers, soldiers, and also everyday people who we come across that make our lives easier.  If you have a kid, I am assuming that you do if you read my blog, you might have might have heard of the TV show "Higglytown Heroes".  It was one of my sons favorite shows a few years ago, and every now and then the theme song pops in my head.   Sometimes I catch myself making up some stupid song about the cashier at the local Kohls.  In fact I still call my sons swim teacher Fran the Squirrel.  Anyway, you get the idea, there will be someone during the week that I come across who has affected us in a positive way.

This weeks hero is my mother Bonnie.  Now we didn't get to see her this week, so right off the bat I am changing my own rules, but for a very good reason, today is her BIRTHDAY.  I won't mention how old she is but you probably wouldn't believe me if I did.  My boys don't get to see her that much unfortunately, as she lives about six hours away, but I can tell you that doesn't change their love for her.

On the beach in Florida with Tyler

In Geneseo last Memorial Day

Happy Birthday Mom!  For being the BEST Grandmother in the world, I offer you this week's "Hero of the Week"

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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A Day Dream Starring Legos

Being a stay at home dad can be a very tiring job.  I find myself dozing off at all hours.  With the boys constantly on the move it's hard to keep up sometimes and I find myself needing to sit down.  When I do sit down, THAT'S when I find myself falling asleep.  Sometimes the day dreams that I have can be pretty ridiculous.  In fact just the other day I had the most vivid dream imaginable.

Clearly I have been playing with the boys TOO much.  It's time for adult interaction.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Grape Ape

There are many things at an amusement park that can leave you scratching your head, none more so than the prizes people win playing those stupid games at the midway. You know the ones like ring toss, knock the bottles down, or everyones favorite, fill the clowns nose with water.  It's like your taking a huge hose full of Nasanex and blasting out the clowns sinuses.  I am sure he really appreciates it.  And what do you win if you fill the clowns brain with water?  Well to start you could win the MEDIUM prize which of course is some stupid little stuffed animal worth usually about 25 cents, this is a great deal considering you spent $5.00 in the first place to play the game.  Now in order to win the large prize you have to win AGAIN, and the Jumbo, yet again, but do you really want to, lets take look.

You can barely see the people behind it

Nothing says you are a winner more than having a giant purple ape.  I have no idea what you would do with one of these and I am sure that  at the time it was thought of as a good idea to win this prize, but as you are driving on the Turnpike with this thing in the back of your pickup, it has to go through your mind what a giant ASS you must feel like.  I don't even know if something like this would fit through the door of your house.  The dump has to be littered with these things.

woo, WOOF

If a giant purple ape is not your thing then maybe an oversized dog could do the trick.  I guess this thing would make more sense, but still WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?  It must cost you upwards of $50 to win this stupid prize, unless you just happen to be the greatest softball thrower in the world.  Maybe you could park this in front of your house to guard against thieves.  Certainly if they are not scared off by thought of an enormous guard dog, they will soon realize that your house has nothing of real value.

Who is up for some calamari

So you have crossed those two off the list and what are you stuck with, you have a choice between a jalpeno pepper with a chefs hat on, or this squid.  Well obviously a pepper with a hat makes no sense so you have to take a squid, its a no brainer, as in if you try to win something like this YOU HAVE NO BRAIN.  I once spent $50 dollars at ring toss at a carnival trying to win my kid the grand prize.  When a friend actually hit the grand prize we were told that we needed to actually hit something else, so we stole a bucket full of rings and walked away.  They were probably worth more than the Zebra I was trying to win in the first place.

Shh

Any trip to the amusement park would be incomplete if you didn't find your in-laws sleeping on some bench in the middle of the park.  Sometimes I am tempted to put a little cup in front of them just to see how much money they could make.  After all we could use the money to walk out of there with something totally awesome like a Rastabanana.

One love, One life... lets get together and feel alright

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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I am a Garbage Man

Somewhere along the way, on top of everything else, I became a garbage man. Now I don't drive a truck and I have never been to the dump but everyday my pockets are full of junk. It's like I am a chipmunk shoving nuts in my mouth, that sounds pretty bad I know, but in this case I am just filling my pockets with garbage.


These shorts used to be great when the kids were little and I could throw in binkies, diapers, wipes, and whatever else I needed. I didn't carry around a big diaper bag, I would just throw everything in my cargo shorts. I used to have like three or four binkies and whenever one got dirty out came another one clean as my mouth would allow it.


I have no need for all that diaper changing stuff anymore, so my pockets are now filled mostly with candy wrappers and straws from the various juice boxes my kids suck down. Try digging into your pockets at the 7/11 looking for money, I pull out everything but. Unfortunately they don't accept Reese's Pieces wrappers as currency, who knew?


If it's not the wrappers it the receipts that prove I paid for the candy in the first place. I might as well have one pocket for garbage and the other for recycling although I don't know if I would be able to separate my plastics and my bottles.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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A Hot Day Starring Legos

We all know the effects of the heat on us, but what about Lego minifigures?  When the temperature rises it can be life threatening in their world.

The Movie

Disclaimer: no legos were harmed in the filming of this video

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Tickle me Elmo

I tickle when I get mad. Not with everyone, just my kids. I think that would be weird if I got pulled over by a cop and I got out of the car and started to tickle him. It probably would cause a few more problems than what I was already facing in the first place.

Carter midtickle

The way I figure, I can take out some of my frustration and change the behavior at the same time. Maybe it's a little illogical but it works for me. I know my kids weaknesses, and can take them down with only one finger. That's a pretty powerful ability, one that not even a lot of superheroes can master.

Sometimes as a parent you can just get so frustrated you really have no option. I can honestly see why people hit their kids, I don't condone that in any way but I can certainly see why they would. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted throw my kids out a window or up against a wall, I think we all have at times. In the end though I remind myself that these are kids and I was just as annoying if not more than they were when I was their age. I am sure that I should have been smacked around a few times, if not then, definitely now.

Lets just say he gets tickled a lot

So what am I left with? I tickle. I am ticklish myself and I can't stand it. I know the feeling of being tickled is on an equal level of some of the most severe torture techniques that the CIA can come up with. I don't tickle long, just enough in just the right places, or wrong places I guess until they stop or I feel better. It might not be the best way to get the kids in line and I am sure that people would take issue with it, but I have yet to see anyone rally to stop parents from tickling their kids, and I don't think that DYFS is heading to my house anytime soon.

As for Elmo himself, I don't think anyone would have an issue with me if I happened to punch HIM in the nose? Would you?

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Memorial Day

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Don't Lose Sight

A couple of songs for you as we enjoy our Memorial Day weekends.
 Take sometime this weekend to remember what it stands for. Try to honor those that have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. It's more than just hot dogs and hamburgers, its about brave men and women who died protecting us and our way of life.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Don't Wake a Sleeping Giant

Don't let the peacefulness of this little boy fool you...

...If you wake him up, he will probably punch you in the nose.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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My Life in Legos... a Back Story

In today's episode we are having a backstory... watch the movie!

I met Jenn working in TV

We got married

She was beautiful

Tyler was born

Carter was born

The Movie

 For those with an IOS devive

If you like what you saw you can also "like" my facebook page by clicking here!

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Home

Think for a minute about where you live. Do you consider that your hometown? I know that I don't. If you are like me you can see it in your Facebook profile, there is the place where you currently live, and then there is your hometown. At some point I am going to have to face facts and realize that my hometown is Old Bridge, New Jersey. Although I am not sure how that day will actually come about.

Downtown Geneseo, complete with a fountain

I grew up in rural upstate New York in a town called Geneseo. It was at the time a one stop light town, one and a half if you count the flashing yellow at one end of Main Street. It was one of those beautiful Rockwellian type places where most of the houses dated to the early 19th century. Its two biggest claims to fame are that it's the home of SUNY Geneseo and it has a fountain with a bronze bear smack in the middle of Main Street.  Life was very simple. As a kid I don't think I fully appreciated what the town had to offer and I know a lot kids couldn't wait to get out and see what the rest of the world was like.

The annual Memorial Day parade

I am headed to Geneseo this Memorial Day weekend. My family and I have made it yearly tradition that we visit grandma and grandpa to help them plant their garden, and to take in one of the nicest Memorial Day parades that you will find. It's so nice in fact, they do it twice, once each way down Main Street. It's one of those small town traditions that I just don't get where I live now. I love taking my boys to where I grew up and I know they love going there as well.

Tyler helping Grandma plant the garden

My mom and dad have lived in the same house for the past 43 years so it's easy for me to call the place home. I know there will be a day when they no longer live there, unfortunately we know how life works. I would like to think that there would still be a reason for me to get back to Geneseo, but I know that probably wouldn't be the case. Sure there would be the occasional high school reunion but it just wouldn't be the same anymore. I am not prepared yet to change the status of my hometown and hopefully I don't have to worry about it for many more years to come. I might not have fully appreciated it when I was a kid and I haven't lived there for over half my life, but it's always nice to know that wherever I am there is a place that I can call home.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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My Last Post?

This would be a really cool sight

Today is the day. It seems like I can do nothing to control it as I am certainly NOT in charge of what happens today. It's been a great run, I had a wonderful life. I have an amazing wife and two awesome kids, I only wish that it could have been longer. It would have been nice to see my boys grow up and be President of the United States or a fireman, but I will just have to be satisfied with them being great little kids and remember them as that. It would have been nice to finally buy that lake house that my wife and I have been talking about for the past 10 years, but I guess I can be happy with our humble suburban home here in central New Jersey.

I have met a lot of great people in my 37 years, from everyone in High School that I was looking forward to seeing in July at my 20th reunion, to all my awesome friends that I met in college who to this day remain some of my best friends. I have to thank my parents for their guidance over the years and not even they can tell me what to do today. Sometimes no one has the answers and you just have to wait it out and see what happens. There will be things I won't miss like laundry, doing the dishes, or yanking weeds out of my yard. Those three things drive me crazy as they are a constant battle, but I won't have to do them anymore. And no more Legos to pull out of every corner of my house, I guess I can thank the Lord for that.


So I'll be sitting here at 6:00, beer in hand waiting to see what happens. That reminds me, I have to thaw some chicken for dinner tonight. Screw it, we'll just go get sushi, we can have the chicken tomorrow.

They have been wrong before

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Time... It Does Go By Fast

"Time sure goes by fast huh daddy?" - My son Tyler this morning

Yeah Tyler, it sure does.

It seems just like like yesterday I was sitting outside the operating room crying hysterically both scared to death and happy all in the same moment.  Scared to death that your mother was having an emergency C section but also happy because it meant that you were on your way out.  I was also scared to death because my life would change forever, I was now going to be a dad, and I had no idea what that was actually going to mean.  Time sure does go by fast, I remember the first night you were home from the hospital, you were crying your little eyes out and we had no idea what the problem was.  The only thing that we could think of was to put a binky in your mouth, it worked wonders.  It still took you a long time until you slept through the night, but look at you now, you sleep like such a big kid, although you could go to bed on your own sometimes.

Time sure goes by fast, I can remember sitting in your bedroom late one night and you rolled yourself from your back to your front.  It was just you and me and I thought that nothing could be better than that moment.  Then you started to crawl, albeit like a wounded army man, and you could now get around on your own.  You didn't need me to carry you everywhere.  Look at you now, you are faster than a speeding bullet and you run everywhere you go.  We have had a lot of nights like that one in your bedroom, a lot of great moments.

Time sure does go by fast, you used to need us to read everything to you.  You didn't know your ABC's or how to count to ten.  But you figured that all out, you turned into such a smart little kid.  The smartest in fact!  You used to just scribble everything, before you knew how to write or draw.  But look at you now, look at what in incredible artist you are.  You amaze me everyday with that little brain of yours.

Time does go by fast, you used to be the only baby that we had.  It used to be only you, but then along came Carter.  We had an idea that you would be a great big brother, but seeing how you are with him, you really turned into the best big brother in the whole world.  He loves you so much!  You have gotten to be such an awesome little kid in these past seven years and you grew up so fast, it makes me wonder sometimes where it all went.

"Time sure goes by fast huh daddy?  I came into your room at 6:30, (fell back asleep) and now its already 7:45.  How did that happen?"

I have no idea Tyler, I have no idea.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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