The Year End Blog 2014 Style

Greetings!

It’s that time, once again, for the year in review. 

All in all 2014 was a good year;

I attended 14 wrestling events including meeting the legendary “Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels and attended the Rhode Island Comic Con with John, Jay, Jonny, Jeremy & Juliana.  I was the only non-J named person in our group to attend.

John and I took in a screening of Return to Nuke ‘Em High Vol 1 at the Nickelodeon in Portland with an appearance by the man himself Lloyd Kaufman!

Kate and I had a weekend getaway to Cape Code and Rhode Island and had a fantastic day trip that took us through the heart of New Hampshire dipping into Vermont.

For our 1^st Anniversary we dined at Chick-fil-A and went to the historic Boston Opera House for a phenomenal production of The Phantom of the Opera.

We took our moms to Fenway Park for a Mother’s Day excursion, sadly the Sox lost to the Toronto Blue Jays.

WWE launched the WWE Network….so friggin’ awesome!

I took Kate to the Cumberland County Civic Center for her 3^rd Tom Petty Concert, fantastic show!

Emma and Caleb got married.

Kate got Pregnant, it’s a boy!

We moved from Randolph to Gardiner.

Addison – she started Kindergarten, participated in Gardiner Youth Cheering, and is currently take Jazz dance class.  She is very excited to become a big sister.  She has grown up a lot this year but she’s still my little girl.

Canaan – big ole 3^rd grader now and still very active in sports playing baseball in the spring, football in the fall, and basketball in the Winter.  Also this year he joined the Boy Scouts and is a Bear Scout.  Canaan is finally at that good age for sports where they play full games with stricter rules and standards.  Baseball was the Minor League where kids only pitch, 3 outs, 3 strikes, and the score counts!  His team swept the playoffs and won the 2014 Gardiner Cal Ripken Minor League Championship.  Football was 3^rd grade & 4^th grade tackle; he was awesome on defense, not so much on offense.  There was not a championship per say that they played for.  However the participated in the BAYFUL round robin against 3 other teams and won all three of their games.  Basketball is just getting underway, they don’t keep score, but they are much stricter on the rules with active play clocks, and calling all rule violations like double dribble and traveling. 

I’m so very proud of both of the kids!

2014 brought some sadness and loss as well.  My grandfather Bump (Raymond Young) became ill over the summer and rapidly deteriorated passing away in August a month shy of 89 years old.  I will miss Bump and miss playing cribbage with him.  The next month in September saw Grammie Connie leave us.   For a while there it looked as though Grampa Hobart was going to join her, but he seems to be doing much better now.

I had made a few declarations and have been able to keep up with most of them.  The biggest one being I would lose 25 pounds this year.  I’m happy to say with diet, exercise, and the constant support of the family and friends in our Facebook weight loss group I have managed to lose those 25 pounds!

My approach was one of just taking it slow and steady, weighing up every Friday and looking for a 1 pound loss.  I cut my portions, and over all decreased the amount of food I eat.  I feel that for the first time in my life I am approaching weight loss the right way and doing it in a way where the weight is staying off even if I stray for a meal or two.   For the coming year my plan is to continue on the path that I have been on and continue to watch the scale creep down. 

One thing I have really enjoyed this year is the almost weekly movie nights with Jonny watching some of the best and worst horror movies out there, and some of the worst!  The bad titles don’t tend to stick with me, however some of good ones that were new to both of us were; Wolf Cop, As Above So Below, and Tusk has stuck with us and was quite disturbing.  That wasn’t the most disturbing film I watched this year, that was a film called “A Serbian Film” which I won’t even bother to talk about here, if you want to know about it do some research but I wouldn’t bother.

We also caught up on a lot of movies he’d never seen or heard of and vice versa.  Off all the movies in that category though the number 1 flick was me introducing him to “Monster Squad” which is basically his new favorite all time flick!

This year had some great movies in the theaters and I managed to take in a couple with my favorites being; “Captain American: Winter Soldier”, “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Oculus”. 

2015 looks to be an exciting year ahead with some fantastic movies in Avengers & Star Wars sequels, The Boston Pro Wrestling Marathon, and of course the birth of our son!!

Take care!

Later Readers!

The Labbe's 8 days of Christmas

Season's Greetings!

 Christmas is never just a one day event, it just couldn’t be considering the size of most people family’s, mine being no different.

Christmas this year started in Sunday 21^st with Church in the morning and the Mueller/ Higgins celebration in the evening.  My day went like this, get out of work at 7am, sleep for about 90 minutes, go to church, drop the kids at their mothers, go home, sleep about 2.5 hours, go to Higgins’, go home and sleep 90 minutes, get up and go to work…I was tired.  The kids were in the Christmas Pageant this year with Canaan as a Shepherd and Addison playing Jesus’ mom Mary.  The kids did a fantastic job, sang wonderfully, and I’m truly very proud of them.  The Muller/Higgin’s shindig was a lot of fun and featured a great meal.  Mama Mueller got a good sized prime rib and cooked it like a roast, it was fantastic!  Jonny really liked his gift of a Colt Cabana shirt, Kate got some Chocolates, and I got a gift card to Target.  Kate’s cousin Thomas, his fiancé Anna, and her daughter Lera are visting from Russia and it was very nice to see/meet them.

Monday the 22^nd Kate and I had dinner with Jay, Amy, & Erin Willoughby at the Liberal Cup in Hallowell.  It was so nice to see them and have that time with them.  The food was delicious, the tar box cream stout was the best, and it was simply a great time!

Tuesday the 23^rd I ended up having the kids for a few hours in the morning.  We ended up watching some great holiday classics with “A Christmas Story”, “Twas the Night Before Christmas” and “Jetsons Christmas Carol” before their mother picked them up.  That evening Kate and I continued the holiday classic’s marathon with “It’s a Wonderful Life” and later while I was wrapping presents I watched the 1938 version of “A Christmas Carol”.  I hadn’t watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” for many years and I must say it’s a darn fine movie from beginning to end.  One of those timeless classics that’s for sure!

Wednesday the 24^th, Christmas Eve was our day to have Christmas with the Kids.  I picked them from their mothers at noonish, Kate got home from work about 1:30 and we commenced with Christmas.  Of course it was over in a blink, but that’s how it is.  The kids really liked what we got them and Addison had everything put away and in its place before you knew it!  Mrs. Mom, Mr. Bob, & AJ came over for a nice visit and to give the kids their gifts.  Mom & Irving got their after mom got out of work and we proceeded to have Christmas with them.  It was a great day and it was nice to have the time with everyone.  I managed to get in a nap before heading into work my shift, where it was quite dead.

Thursday the 25th, Christmas Day, when I got home from work Kate and I exchanged out Christmas stockings were I received a large supply of toiletries that will keep me well supplied in the coming months.  I also got a bad ass Godzilla t-shirt!  We went to Kate's parents for Christmas morning and delicious home made cinnamon rolls!  SO GOOD! Emma & Caleb came over and it was a really nice morning.

We had to go home so Kate could make yeast rolls to take to Aunt Carolynn's that afternoon.  I managed a quick nap.  We got to Aunt Carolynn's for 1pm for a turkey dinner.  Attending was Mrs. Mom, Bob, Andrew, AJ, Emma, Caleb, The Chases, Krista, Seth, Will, and of course Jack & Aunt Carolynn.  The meal was wonderful and we all had a great time.

 

It was absolutely gorgeous outside, and with the sun being out for the first time in days I took the time to head down to the pond and enjoy the crisp fresh air.  I took the time to grab a few photos including this one. 

Saturday December 27th - We traveled to Litchfield to see Gram-Gram and have Christmas with her.  It was really nice to see her and the kids hit the jackpot with some pretty awesome posters for their walls.  Addison got two Frozen and a big Frozen coloring book, Canaan two Star Wars posters and a Star Wars the Clone Wars movie event, The Return of Darth Maul.  Mom and Irving came down and it made for a couple nice photos.  

After Gram-Grams we traveled south towards Topsham for Christmas at Nana's.  The sauce in Nana's meatballs was really, really good this year.  It was nice to see my two Gram-Nana's in the same day. 

Sunday December 28th - Our official last day of Labbe Christmas, and it was spent with Labbe's.  Dad & Linda, and Adam, Nell, & Frederick came over after the kids got back from church.  We had some great food including what I feel is my best batch of meatballs ever.  They were indeed a hit!  It was a really nice afternoon seeing everyone and spending sometime together.  I would like to do it more just to spend some time together. 

After the Labbe's left Canaan and I took the tree down.  As of this writing it  now sits on the front lawn awaiting Bob to pick it up.  

It was a wonderful Christmas this year and doing a little each day was much nicer than trying to cram everything in, in one or two days.  

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

Later Readers!

another blog about Christmas Past

Greetings!

Christmas is almost upon us and like most I tend to get nostalgic this time of year thinking of Christmas past when I was just a youngster.  Christmas morning was always spent at my Mom’s house until my Dad picked me up.  Dad would take me around to various relatives before ending up at Nana’s for the large family gathering and then home to his house where I we would have our Christmas and by that time I was pretty tuckered out.

Because my Dad picked me up Christmas morning I never got to experience the traditions on my Mom’s side of the family.  One year I almost did as I was determined to stay with my Mom for Christmas and see what exactly they did.  Once Christmas Day arrived though, I was super sad that I was not going to be with my Dad or go to Nana’s that I broke down and cried and asked to go to my Dad’s.  I’m still not sure why my Dad didn’t come pick me up, but instead Mom & Irving drove me to my Dad’s house that morning and we had Christmas in reverse starting at my Dad’s and ending at Nana’s. 

Now a days with my family being splintered and big it would be impossible to celebrate with everyone on the same day so we celebrate on and around Christmas when I have the kids and when it works out for everyone’s schedules.

Kate and I are making a conscious effort to establish our own traditions by doing things together that we had not done with anyone else before.  The first one being Kate’s idea last year when we celebrated our first Christmas together being married was making popcorn strands to trim the tree with.  I love this idea because it’s a very old Christmas tradition and they look really good on the tree!  It is a bit time consuming but we can get them done in one evening. 

I have a certain set of Christmas Specials that I like to watch every year, in no certain order;

A Christmas Story – Jean Shepherd’s classic story of Ralphie and his red ryder BB gun, how can you not like this movie!? 

 

Garfield’s Christmas

 Charlie Brown Christmas

 Muppet Family Christmas – It’s the only time the Muppets, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, and Muppet Babies were all in one special, capped with a cameo by Jim Henson at the end it’s THE greatest Muppet production ever!  I have the Canadian bootleg edition with is a complete uncut version.  When it originally aired they only had the rights to use certain songs for the initial broadcast so when they home video version came out they had cut scenes and entire songs while adding in a few scenes.  This version I have someone seamlessly cut together a crisp DVD release with a high quality copy recorded off TV. 

Twas the Night Before Christmas – 1974 Rankin and Bass cartoon that has also suffered over the years from harsh editing.  This time though and entire song was edited out because the lyrics used the word gay to describe happiness. 

Prep & Landing – the newest addition, these tow half hour specials and 1 short are just fantastic!

Love Actually – a British flick featuring a wonderful ensemble cast of multiple intertwining stories of love during the Christmas season.

 

A Christmas Carol - the 1938 version with Reginald Owen as Scrooge.  I first saw watched this in my early teens on Turner Classic Movies and now watch it every year on Christmas Eve.  There have been several other outstanding versions of the classic Dickens story that I truly enjoy, but this one has always been my favorite. 

I try to watch each of these with the kids in hopes that they will also grow to love them as I have.

That’s all for today, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, and until next time,

Later Readers!

Mike

My favorite Christmas Song

Last of November

Greetings,

So a bunch has happened but I’m going to try and keep this short.  As you can see this is my third post in rather quick succession and you’ll know why in a moment. 

Firstly we found a place and moved to Oak St in Gardiner.  I did the majority of the moving but got some great assistance at different times from Irving, Mama Muller, Emma, Bob, Aunt Trish, and Andrew.  We are getting the house situated and are making it our own.   It’s a big home with three bedrooms, dining room, other room, large kitchen, small bathroom, back storage room, and cellar. 

I’m still looking for a record player. 

The biggest pain about the move was dealing with Fairpoint.  I called them several times and was on hold so long I would give up.  Finally on November 5^th I waited on hold for 25 minutes before someone pick up.  Then it took another hour for them to find my account to transfer it over.  Once they were done they told me it should be ready November 13^th.  Awesome.  The 13^th rolled around, no internet working.  I called technical support, where they proceeded to tell me that the DSL isn’t synched.  They need to have a technician come out, but they don’t schedule those.  They gave my number to another department that schedules them and they will call when they have it set up.  So who knows how long that will be. 

So we have been internet less for over a week and it’s getting to me.

Canaan joined the Boy Scouts, he’s a Bear Scout, he is loving it and has even already earned his Bobcat Badge.  Addison joined dance, Jazz dance, and has a recital in May.   Canaan will be starting basketball soon with games on Saturday morning. 

We went for an ultra sound and discovered that our baby is going to be a boy!

What you've read so far I wrote two weeks ago.  It only took Fairpoint 3 weeks to get our internet up and running so I'm finally able to post my blog about the Rhode Island Comic Con.

Once again Kate prepared a delicious Thanksgiving dinner for us.  We were joined this year by Cousin Jonny and the Orions. Now that Thanksgiving is over it is officially the Christmas season to me and of course it'll be over before you know it.

In closing here is a video of Cousin Jonny performing Farewell to Nova Scotia recently

 Later Readers!