Who am I?

I had the privilege of reading to Sam's 3-4 year old class at the end of a recent school day. When everyone was seated around the rug next to the reader's chair, Sam's wonderful teacher Mrs. Rhodes asked Sam to stand up and introduce me. He said, simply, "This is my Daddy!"

Mrs. Rhodes followed up with, "Sam, is his name Mr. Hutton?" In all seriousness, Sam responded, "No, his name is Coach Ames."

I don't think that Sam had ever introduced me before. It's always interesting to see how your kids think of you: first, as Daddy (or Mommy), and then, as other kids see (or refer to) you. I am known to a lot of kids--Jack's soccer team, the Dragons, and their siblings especially--as Coach Ames, which I think is great. I love not being "Mr. Hutton," because whenever I hear that I think my dad is there! In fact, there's one notorious *cool* kid in Annie's class who, since Kindergarten, has just called me Ames. And that's just fine with me.

It is my hope as a parent that my kids' friends will be comfortable enough with me to speak with me casually and share things with me...maybe even the things they don't feel that they can share with their parents. And for what it's worth, I think that the title "Coach" is a very special one indeed. Those who know me well know that I had several coaches in my brief athletic career, but for me there will only be one Coach with a capital "C." I can only hope that I can live up to his example.

PS--I was very properly reminded after I originally posted this, as I should have been, that I am even more proud and honored to be Daddy to Annie, Jack, Will and Sam. And I have a pretty great example to look up to in that role, as well.

Arrrgh.

Ahoy, you scurvy dogs! It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Have a bloody good ferocious day, me swashbucklin' maties!

Recycled posts: the Asheville trip series.

As I mentioned in Inspired a few nights ago, some of the inspiration for this blog came from this summer's driving trip to see Uncle Sambo and Aunt Kendra in Asheville, NC. During the trip, I amused myself (but few others) by sending e-mail updates about our progress across the country and what we were experiencing. I've decided to re-publish those here, and I've back-dated them with the original dates I sent the e-mails. So if you choose to scroll down, I'll be posting those notes and recaps as I get to them, and I'll add some pics to accompany the text as well.

In addition, we put all of our trip pics on Shutterfly, and the link to those pics is here.

Introductions.

With the beginning of the blog, it probably makes sense to introduce the primary cast of characters as well as those making frequent appearances...

THE HUTTONS: Ames thinks he's the head of the house but everyone knows that Cathy's the boss. She's fond of telling everyone that she has 5 kids. Annie, the oldest, has been warped by her parents' love of 80s music and knows the soundtrack to Mamma Mia by heart. Jack, the oldest boy, wants to be either Jeff Corwin or Indiana Jones when he grows up. (Together, Annie and Jack are "the Bigs.") Will, our blond bomber, is the middle boy, and he's known for full contact hugs and preschool politics. Sam, the youngest (Hi Dr. Cochran!), is anything but the baby, and he loves the movie Cars. (Will and Sam make up "the Littles." But don't tell them they're little.)

THE GRANDPARENTS: Grammy, Mimi and Big Mike are a big part of our lives. Until they tell us otherwise, their true identities will be kept secret.

THE GRAHAMS: What could we do without the Grahams? Kyle and Sarah are our neighbors, our friends, our role models...and they have four great kids who we love to have as a part of our lives! You can follow their equally crazy life at http://grahamhalfdozen.blogspot.com/.

THE AUNTS AND UNCLES: Aunt Tita and Uncle Andy live too far away in Indiana, and Uncle Jason lives too far away near Denton. In addition to our biological kin, we have a host of other aunts and uncles who are near and dear to us all. Embarassing pictures of all to follow.

Inspired.

Finally, it's time for the Huttons to jump into the Internet age! Inspired by our good friends the Grahams (Hi Kyle, Sarah, Mason, Garrett, Reed and Wagner!), we've decided to set up a blog to share our experiences and stories about living with four very smart and determined children!

Cathy has been writing down her adventures with the kids off and on for years. Given the fast pace of this house, her writing is more stream of consciousness and funny, matter of fact vignettes of daily life in this very crazy home. Ames cannot let go of grammar, spelling and punctuation (thanks for that, law skool) and tends to write in more epic form. Together, we make an anal retentive Homer (not Simpson, but his influences are there) meets James Joyce (?).

Since Ames had a critically acclaimed travel writing series that was well received by a very friendly audience this past summer, some of those travelogues will be posted and back dated in the near future. We'll try--but don't promise--to make you laugh, make you cringe, and keep you entertained with the stories of our life.

Enjoy!