The Brady Christmas Rhyme

I'm not exactly certian when I started to do a Christmas Letter as a rhyme, but I think it was actually pre-2K. It has been one of those traditions that people seem to like so here is this year's edition. **writers note - I've done better, but I'm tired!!***

2006 With the Brady’s – Now THIS is Living
(It’s the Christmas Rhyme that keeps on giving)

Fear not all you worriers; you’ll get your fix,
It’s the Brady Christmas letter of two thousand and six!
Only a few days until Christmas and Kevin’s behind in his quest,
To bring you a letter that’s one of the best!
No boring letters here, so sit back this time
And enjoy the Brady Family Christmas-time rhyme!
Let’s start at the top, with the boss of this clan,
Thanks to last Christmas, she’s had quite a plan.
Since our gift that keeps giving, a nice massage table,
She’s enrolled in massage therapy school and she’s really quite able!
Already licensed in South Dakota, her certificate up,
So let us all fill our glasses and raise up our cup.
When not working or with family, Kevin usually has a bicycle ride planned,
This summer the biking of our MS Team raised over fourteen grand!
We are so proud to be a part of this charity as we bike on with ease,
But life is not so easy for those who endure this disease.
Austin is now ten and his interests are vastly growing
His work at school is important to him, his maturity’s showing.
He dabbles in so many things it’s hard to mention them all at this time
It would take up the remaining space of our Brady Christmas Rhyme.
In a world that seems so caught up in hate
Enter our ray of sunshine, Marissa, now eight.
She loves to include others that are often left out on the side,
For this we are proud, a fact we won’t hide.
During this holiday season it helps keep this in mind too:
Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.
Carson is now three and is at such a cute stage,
But is more of a challenge than the two others at this age.
He pushes the limits, but usually knows when to stop,
What might push with Mum, he won’t push with Pop!
Church is busy for us, from the praise band to even preaching a time or two,
There’s almost nothing in our church that a family member doesn’t do.
That’s the abbreviated version of our life through this year,
But if you want more frequent updates don’t shed a tear.
Kevin keeps random thoughts about things on a blogging site,
Go to bikingbrady.blogspot.com when you can’t sleep at night.
I was told that I must stop when this rhyme hit the bottom of the page,
I tend to ramble on as I get “up there” in age.
So we bid you great things from our corner of Heaven,
We wish you the best for two thousand seven!

Stupid Ice...

My dislike of rain this time of year is for obvious reasons. It nearly instantly turns to ice. It had misted/lightly rained Monday afternoon as it was above freezing. It didn't *seem* bad as I left work to go home. I turned from a stop sign and got a few good pedal strokes in before BAM! down goes Kevin. Not just down mind you, skating on an icy surface at about 15 mph. Oh well, I shook it off and rode VERY CAREFULLY home.

The next morning I told Laura that the kids better not ride their bike to school and that she better give them a ride. I should have taken my own advice. I looked out and seen that the streets had been graveled so I would have some traction on the street. Well, unfortunately, the driveway was no so forgiving. As I coasted down the driveway to the street…you guessed it….BAM! It happened so fast this time that it was nearly funny, just not to my butt.

I am toying with the idea of getting out the studded tires, but with 50 degree weather in the forecast, that seems a little silly at this point. I am happy to report that it’s not nearly as icy now so I’m “up to speed” biking around town again.

Tour de Vermillion with my Garmin 301

I had an hour to kill before going to the USD Women's Basketball game so I decided to do a "tour de Vermillion" on my mountain bike. I also wanted to try to put my Garmin to the test by not constantly going in a straight line. Well, it did "okay" but I wouldn't say it did a great job. There are a couple points where it looks like I drove over a church and a couple houses. I still love it as it seems to be real accurate with total mileage ridden, but I wish that it was more accurate on the mapping side of life!

Buddy is Getting Old

Our dog of 10 years is starting to show his age. He had been really whiny as of late so Laura took him to the vet yesterday. Poor Buddy has arthritis. He seems a little better, but it's tough to coming to the realization that your pet is getting old.

OFFICIALLY a Massage Therapist

Okay, a short, but important post: My wife is now a licensed Massage Therapist in the State of South Dakota. Not only is she licensed, but due to the fact that licensing in the State of South Dakota is new, she is one of the first! WAY TO GO LAURA!

Eventually you will be able to visit her on the web as we get time to get a page up at http://www.body-in-balance-massage.com or by click on "The Best Massage" link on the side of my blog :-)

USD Theatre Department - Urinetown

I'm by no means an aficionado when it comes to plays and/or musicals, so it wasn't surprising when I had never heard of the musical "Urinetown". It seems that nobody else had heard of it either though. A graduate student from the Student Christian Community was in charge of the set, our church organist/pianist was playing piano for it, and the musical director recently sang at our church, so I had to check it out.

Sunday afternoon Laura and I sat FRONT AND CENTER (QUITE figuratively might I add)for the musical. I have to tell you, not only was I impressed with the play, but it was one of the best plays that I've ever seen here at USD. They always do a great job, but this one was just plain fantastic. Kudos on such a great presentation! For those who didn't get to see it, if you ever get the chance, see Urinetown!

Baker's (Popliteal) Cyst

Yesterday (Dec 4th) about 2:00 in the afternoon I got one of those heart stopping phone calls from one of my Mother's friends: "Your Mom was in the Doctor's office and she passed out so they took her by ambulance to the hospital. You should come as soon as you can, but drive carefully."

Wow, talk about putting a guy into a panic. I finished up the last update on a call I was working on, let everybody know I was leaving and I was on my bike to home, grabbed the car, and was on my way to Yankton. So many thoughts were racing through my brain on the way over: Did something happen with the mechanical valve in her heart? Is she having trouble with her meds?

When I got there, Mom was getting X-rays and some other tests done. She had been having some severe leg pain (second time now) and she was getting that checked when she passed out. When she got back to the room she was her usual happy self and acted like nothing major was going on. The doctor was supposed to be in by 5:00 to give us some kind of word but he wasn't and I had to get back to the USD Women's and Men's Basketball games (they won both by the way!). I called back during the games and Mom said that he had never come in, but that she was resting comfortably. When I checked in today she told me that the doctor had informed her she has a Baker's Cyst. I had to look that one up as I admit I hadn't heard of that, but it's not as serious as it may sound. I let you read about it from the link provided as I'm far too lazy to type all that.

At any rate, Mom is doing fine and will be back to her normal ornery self in no time I'm sure. Sure puts a scare in you when you get a phone call like that though.