a conversation with Little Mr. went like this...

"Have you ever seen Diego Buffalo?"

"No. What's it about?"

"There is a scary horse and a big bad fox and they run into the pyramid and run and run and run and run!"

"Really?"

"They find Bobo."

"Who's Bobo?"

"Bobo the Monkey. They stopped Bobo and Baby Jaguar got his growl back!"

"Is that like when Stella Got Her Groove Back?"

"No, no, no. And then Buffalo Lightening McQueen Bumpers and Mater the Lunch Bump turn left to scare somebody else and then they turn right and scare the Scary Cow!"

"Oh. Okay, then."

our house was being overthrown.

Children have a way of taking over the world we live in. For example, six years ago when we looked at the house we currently own, my wife was excited about the idea of relaxing in the large garden tub in the master bathroom. I don’t think she ever imagined it would turn into a monster truck water park racetrack.

My next article for Because I Said So is up at...

instead of going to bed...

I thought I would stay up a little longer and write some stuff. It helps that the Australian Open is on ESPN2. Unlike most people I can sit and watch an entire tennis match, maybe two, without changing the channel. Okay, I surf during commercials but I always go back. I love the challenge of the game and for some reason I keep playing even when I lose...which is pretty much every time I play. It's not like I'm not good at the sport, I've just been mostly playing my arch nemesis from high school who happens to be my best man and finally lives 10 minutes away again. He kicks my butt and I have sworn not to give up. I have beaten him twice in 16 years - both in high school and I believe the second time he had a mild heat stroke or the flu. He insisted on playing so I beat him. It felt kind of like cheating but I needed a win!

We have easily played 250+ matches since we met. The summer after our senior year we were tennis bums before we left for college. My parents still remember those days fondly. Sometimes we would play at one o'clock in the morning by sneaking through the fence at the public tennis center and turning on the court lights. We played there many times and the police never stopped to see why we were there after hours! If I were to try that monkey business now I would surely be facing a judge on a trespassing violation.

I made a bet this month that I would beat him before the end of 2007. We have to play at least 25 matches for it to be legit. If I fail to win a match I have to shave my head bald. Not much of a stretch from where I am now, but also not a haircut I'm ready to don. I think it's time to invest in some tennis lessons.

Frank Warren from PostSecret.com...

was in Austin! Quirkee was there and I brought my camera. I took many photos of his presentation and book signing. Some are posted on the Image Gallery at Quirkee.com. You have to be a registered user to view the special stuff - so get to registering!


After the book signing we met up at Manuel's on 4th and Congress for some late grub and a couple of drinks with Frank. He really has a great project with PostSecret and you can tell that it is something very important to him. He is now the owner of over 100,000 secrets that he keeps in a safe place. The project is not only for the art value, it is also for the value of releasing your secret to someone in secret so that you don't have to carry it around with you for the rest of your life.


Some of the postcard secrets he receives are funny ones, some are not. You can find links to purchase the books of secrets at Quirkee if you want to see some of what he knows. You can view the new secrets every Sunday on his blog PostSecret.

If you have a secret you want to tell, here's the address:



Thanks for coming to Austin, Frank. We hope you had a good time and will stop back by someday.

I read a blog post...

that I wanted to share. This is from The Happy Husband blog. The post is about a six word story that Ernest Hemingway supposedly wrote for a $10.00 bet.

The Happy Husband.com blog.

When you are done reading see if you can write a six word story, too. I won't give you $10.00 for it but I will read it.

on a Thursday in January...

it was Quirkee time! Football season has come to an end...in Dallas. Read more about it here...

On Saturday at 7:00 pm, I will be photographing Frank Warren from PostSecret.com for the Quirkee site. He will be in downtown Austin at BookPeople. If you haven't checked out PostSecret you should. People mail him their secrets anonymously on postcards, which he then posts on his blog. As of August 2006 if was the 7th most popular blog (according to Technorati) on the Internet. I think mine ranks 8th. Okay, maybe 28,000,008th.

Next week's Quirkee edition will feature a follow-up interview from the Quirkee publisher and some photos from your truly.

I made a deal...

with my in-laws. They live in Louisiana and thought it would be fun to get Coan and me New Orleans Saints t-shirts for Christmas. I told them we would wear them only if the Dallas Cowboys lost before they did in the playoffs. Yesterday we put them on and went to Target on the way up to church. A few people looked at us but none acted like they were going to beat us up. Probably because we had a super cute baby with us.



I tried to get our picture in them so we could show Crawdaddy and Mitzi, but I think the shirt was giving Coan an itchy rash...

GO SAINTS! Sorry Cowboys, maybe next year.

Adios 2006!

Here is a recap of 2006 at Casa de Grayson!

In January, Julia was born. Life will never be the same. She has grown so fast in the last year.

Also in January, 11 days after Julia was born, we had to put Cohiba down. She was getting crazier by the week and finally bit Coan on the hand. No blood from the bite on him, but Maddie required two staples in her neck a week later from one of her attacks. She may have been a little off-kilter but was sweet when she wasn't in 80 pound attack mode. Unfortunately, I think the abuse she suffered in her first 6 months of life (before we rescued her) scarred her forever. Here she is getting one last run around the yard with Maddie about an hour before I took her to the vet.

Those two pups were together for 10 years. R.I.P. Cohiba. Maddie found new friends, Tigger and Woof Woof. They are stuffed and do not attack her, so she's happy now.

I picked up writing by joining the blogosphere and Quirkee. There are big plans in the works for the future of Quirkee and I'm really excited about being a part of the team. Tell your friends and have them tell their friends about the site. They will thank you.

We got a big kid swing for the tree in the front yard. Coan didn't fit in the little one anymore and now he can go REALLY HIGH! Julia got a new baby car swing that we switch out.

With all that was going on this year we still made time to stop and smell the flowers...

and play with cows...

In April we went up to Nana & Papa's house to meet up with my sister's family and ride with Thomas the Tank Engine! Coan was a little aprehensive at first...

but boarded the train (not by choice) anyway. He soon warmed up to the idea of riding a train and proudly showed off his ticket!

Sometime at the beginning of May we lost another pet. Lula the cat disappeared one day and never came back. In 14 1/2 years she never wandered farther than a couple of houses away. We think she left us for greener pastures (aka Kitty Heaven). R.I.P. Mama Kitty.

In June we had a family reunion in Fredricksburg, TX, at a 300 acre ranch. The owners turned the old houses and buildings into cabins. They have pet deer, turkeys, a peacock, cows, and about a dozen elk like this one...

Here is Coan doing his best elk impersonation...

July was his 3rd birthday and what fun it is having a 3 year-old! Really, I mean it. Okay, most of the time it's fun. He now challenges our patience and I'm sure it has something to do with karma. Coan has learned how to be independent by using the potty, changing his clothes, bathing, and more. He is a sweet and loving brother to his baby sister...until she jumps on him while he's watching Curious George.

July was also the month that Julia was baptized by her Crawdaddy. She looked beautiful in her little dress...

She is walking now and can communicate with her hands and voice. Mostly her voice. Screaming loud means she's frustrated. Screaming louder means she's hungry. Screaming even louder means that Coan took a toy from her. Julia is also very good at laughing and loves to play chase around the house with her brother. We capped off the summer with our first baseball game at the Dell Diamond - home of the Round Rock Express...

The fall brought on cooler weather, my 34th birthday, our first trip to the pumpkin patch, Thanksgiving in Tyler, and the completion of another semester of graduate school for Stephanie. She continues to prove she is the smartest one in the house by making all A's....in FINANCE CLASSES! One more year to go and she'll be done! I know she's ready to have some free time.

We ended the year with a trip to Nana & Papa's house for Christmas, a trip back home on Christmas Day to celebrate here, and a trip up to north Austin for a New Year's Eve party with friends. December was the busiest month of all 2006!

There you have it. 2006 was a great year! 2007 can only be better and you can read all about it right here.

2007 came with a bang!

Well, not so much a "bang". More like a "pop". It was our 8th wedding anniversary! With two little kids and no babysitter, we went up to the north side of town to ring in the new year with some friends that also have young kids. We all ate and drank adult beverages while the kids had juice boxes. We popped champagne at midnight and by 1:00 am Stephanie was asleep with Coan. We decided it would be best to spend the night instead of playing alcohol roulette with all of the crazy drivers on the road after midnight.

2006 was a great year. I'm working on a recap of the year's events. Don't go too far...