Braceface

It is only one more month until my oldest son, Zachary, finally gets his braces off. He can hardly wait. It has been a long 18 months but in the end, it will be well worth the small fortune we paid.

My youngest son, Jeffrey, had braces a while back to correct severe bite issues and has been out of them for over a year. Now, he will begin his ‘second phase’, as the orthodontist calls it, for a few finishing touches. We could wait if we wanted, but as opportunities, go, the longer you wait, the less likely they will stick around. So while we can currently afford it, we will get them put on.

Knowing what to expect, he wants to eat and drink a few things he won’t be able to after he gets his braces. He isn’t looking foreword to another round of Braceface, but he understands why and accepts his fate.

Zachary plans on eating and drinking himself just shy of sick, using those items that have been denied him for so long. He had to watch his siblings enjoy ingesting these tasty items while they made sure to rub it in. He is tough though and has endured the torture like a champ.

The orthodontist is watching our daughter Zoe’s teeth as well but she still has some time before she will need any corrective action…I hope. My youngest is 9 and is also being monitored but things look good for her and she might not need to be a braceface. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

My wife and I could benefit greatly from becoming bracefaces ourselves according to the experts. The chances of that happening or getting the more expensive Invisalign are pretty slim to none. Unless of course, that type of procedure becomes free under the next president or we hit the Powerball jackpot.

The Case of the Dusty DVDs

I am definitely no Sherlock Holms or Jessica Fletcher (for those of you in Rio Linda, she is the main character in a TV show from the 80s called ‘Murder, She Wrote’) so this mystery has got me.

This thing crept up upon us silently while our attention was elsewhere. The DVDs were sitting on the shelf in plain sight for some time when they decided to hide inside some boxes, occasionally showing themselves before we got distracted again. I really started noticing the ‘dust’ on the DVDs just after our last move, into our current residence.

One of my youngest daughters saw a Disney movie in her class and wondered if we had it. After clearing off the dust and looking through all the boxes, she was successful in finding a copy. She and the other kids watched it, a movie they hadn’t seen in some years. They enjoyed it and then over the next week, surprisingly, watched several more.  But then the dust began to accumulate again. And there they sit today, in the dark in several boxes, not knowing if they will ever see the inside of a DVD player again.

Does anyone even use DVDs anymore? Yes? No? Sometimes? When my kids were growing up and really too young to take to the theater, we would purchase them on VHS. When we could afford a DVD player, we started our collection, mostly movies for the kids but occasionally we would get one here and there for ourselves.

We purchased all the animated Disney movies, and the Toy Stories, and the Shreks. We purchased all the Christmas movies, Home Alones, Inspector Gadgets, Hong Kong Fooeys, Land of the Losts, and a myriad, a host, and various kid friendly movies and shows in DVD format thinking that it would provide entertainment for them when needed. Indeed they did, for a time. As they got older, their tastes in movies changed. They still watched the occasional kid movie, but less and less as time went on. Then came their hand held games. But we still continued to purchase DVDs and Blue Ray disks because the price of one was way cheaper than the price of 7 tickets at the movie theater. Then their attention went elsewhere again. Now, this marvelously diverse collection is sitting once more in boxes with a layer of dust.

What caused the dust? Netflix? Hulu? The kids got older? They are involved in things at school like band, sports and drama club? Are the movies not worthy of watching again? Is it time to off load your once glorious collection of video disks? I don’t know. But I am sure that the great Sherlock Holms or Jessica Fletcher would, although I would never invite Jessica to our house. Someone always gets killed wherever she goes.

The Bearded Boy

My oldest son, only 13, started growing facial hair last year and other people at school were noticing, not in a bad way, just making observations. Somewhere between then and now, he formulated a plan for his appearance next year in 8th grade. Aside from wanting a huge afro hair style (he got the idea from watching the scene from Fletch where Chevy Chase is dreaming he is playing basketball for the Lakers and is sporting a huge afro) my goofball son wants to be the only guy in school with a full beard.

His plan, since I gave him my old electric razor/trimmer is to shave every day over the summer and then grow out a full beard so he can make a crowd stunning appearance on the first day of school, confident that n0 one else would be sporting such facial hair.

I don’t know if it is possible, but I did explain to him the skinny on facial hair and the ins and outs of shaving. For some reason he thinks it would give him some street cred or something to transform himself into the bearded boy of his school.

If he could just get that afro he wants, he would reach the pinnacle of existence.

Games Aren’t Just for Fun

For days, my youngest son, Jeffrey, had been bugging me to pay a board game with him called Solar Quest. It is pretty similar to Monopoly but in space, specifically, our solar system. Instead of hotels and property to buy, you purchase planets and moons and fuel stations. Finally, we were able to sit at the table and engage in a contest that would test our mettle, our cunning, our concentration, and ruthless determination to win at all costs, a quest to rule the solar system.

I will admit that I really didn’t want to play this game at the time. Like Monopoloy, this game has a long play time which usually ended before it was actually completed. I was being selfish. Something I hate myself for. But, I saw how much it meant to my son and told him to set up the game. I could see the excitement in his eyes and how happy he was knowing that he would get to play a game with me. Growing up, rarely did my mom play a game with us, and in my best recollection, I can’t remember a time when my dad did. I don’t think we ever asked him either.

Well, after my son quickly set up the game, his older brother (by 11 months) let it be known that he also would like to play with us. Jeff would have none of it. He just wanted it to be him and his dad. With much fussing, he finally accepted that his older brother Zachary would be playing with us. It did not make him happy in the least but he relented.

We started off in good spirits, navigating the board, buying moons and planets, laughing at my inability to get out of the gravitational pull of Jupiter, Zachary getting stuck on earth for an hour, unable to take off because of low fuel. Intermixed in our game, were moments where one or the other of my sons wanted to quit for various reasons. Each time I convinced them to return to the table to finish, despite the thought that they were losing.

Looking at my watch, I discovered that it was already time for me to make dinner. Neither of my sons wanted to quit at that time because in their words, “things were just getting interesting”. But seeing as how it there was school the next day and they had to take showers, I called an end to the festivities. My son Zachary and I didn’t weren’t too interested in who the victor was, but Jeffrey sure was. He stayed behind with a calculated and added up all our properties, fuel stations, and cash. He tried to convince me that he had beat me by only 5 Federons (space dollars for those of you in Rio Linda). I could see the smile on his face and knew he was not being truthful. He knew the jig was and revealed the true figures. I had come out on top, he was second and then Zachary was third.

Usually when I play games with my kids, I don’t hold back so that they can win. They have win on their own accord. I want them to do their best. Some times this philosophy causes them to want to quit, causes them to fuss or cry that they didn’t win. But they have to know how to lose. It is almost as important as being able to win, which they did also. These aren’t just games, but learning opportunities of lessons that they need to learn in life. Take this Solar Quest game. They have to learn how to monitor their cash, properties and fuel level which can be used in the real world, especially knowing how to keep track of their money and giving back change. Also, planning their next move and how to survive on limited resources. I believe that kids who regularly play games that require the child to use their brain like counting, managing resources, planning, teamwork, striving to win and knowing how to lose and learn from mistakes, give them a distinct advantage in life over kids who don't.

Games aren’t just for fun. They are opportunities, for learning, bonding  for father and son, brother and brother, and...also fun.

The Great Science Fair of 2014

Last night was the year’s most anticipated event, the science fair. If the kids that were forced to participate in this grand event were anything like me, it was something they would both fear and loathe. The fear came from the fact that the project that each student would be required to do, would be a large part of their science class grade. The loathing came from the fact that it would require work to complete on time. For kids of a certain age, work is a dirty word, one to avoid at all costs.

My kids were no different. Unfortunately, if it weren’t for my insistence, pushing, prodding and thinly veiled threats, they probably wouldn’t have finished, let alone on time. Sometimes I wonder if I am doing them a disservice by doing this. Would a taste of failure and a bad grade get them to realize the need for them to take responsibility for their own destiny? I often wonder about that in regards to them getting up for school, brushing their teeth and taking showers. If it weren’t for my insistence, these things would probably never enter into their minds. Maybe I should start with getting up for school. When I was their age, we would get up, dressed, breakfast and off to school on our own. My dad was off to work early, and my mom often didn’t get up until after we headed off to school. I am not going to be around for ever to make sure they meed their responsibilities. So, maybe I am doing more harm than good.

OK, back to my story. From the get go, I could tell that my boys were not the least bit interested in this project. I had my work cut out for me especially when they weren’t forthcoming with the due dates and details of each step. Never the less, they persevered and with my having to rush over to the local OfficeMax to print out their pages and pictures for them to cut and paste on their display boards. They struggled, weary from being up way past their normal bed time, but in the end, they finished, put their stuff away and crawled off to bed. I think I was more relieved that they were finished than my sons were.

During the next two weeks, I would see a kid here or there coming or going from the school carrying their display board for their project for the science fair. I asked my sons why they were doing that and they said that they had not finished their projects yet. Either there were a lot of lazy kids or a lot of parents that didn’t push their kids. Later, when the day of the fair arrived, I would see more evidence that would support that theory.

When the day finally arrived, the family and I walked the two blocks to the school. There were lots of kids and parents already walking up and down the isles mostly searching for their child’s project. My sons quickly led us to theirs and I promptly took pictures of them standing in front, careful to include their second place ribbons. As I walked up and down the isles like the other parents, looking at the work of the other students, I couldn’t help but be proud of my sons even though I had pushed them, they had finished their projects and did good jobs. A number of the other projects I saw looked unfinished. Whether it was because the parents didn’t push their kids to do a better job, the student didn’t really care or that was actually the best they could do, I couldn’t help but feel bad for them. But, from looking at the subjects of each student’s “science project”, it was clear that the teacher had not done her job (a reoccurring theme I surmise in most public schools). That thought mad me sad (and angry) the most. Do teachers really care about the kids?

My oldest son never expressed anything about the quality of his science project, but my youngest was sure that he was going to get last place. That is his attitude about most things he does. I don’t know where he got it from or why but it is constantly nagging and eating away at me. To his surprise, he got a second place ribbon. But he didn’t let that stop him. He was back at it while finishing a homework assignment that required him to draw a picture. The fear that what he was doing would be the worst returned. My wife and I try our best to get his spirits up and help him through these incidents, but I don’t know how effective we are. I can only  hope that next year, when my sons will be required to do another project for the Great Science Fair of 2015 that they will be more excited and self starting about it.

Night of the Bats

Living just outside Phoenix in the Valley of the Sun has a lot of advantages. But it has one big and distinct disadvantage. Very hot summers. I am talking like living on the surface of the sun hot. At this time of year, with the kids out of school, it is difficult to find things for them to do during the day since they really can't go out side to play. So, outside activity has to be done in the evening, or very early in the morning. Although, when I was a kid living in Phoenix, I remember playing outside during the day, despite the heat.

Any hoo, last week, the kids kept bugging me to ride their scooters after dinner. I didn't really feel like going around the block so I compromised and said they could play out front under my watchful eye. They agreed.

That night, after dinner, we all went outside in the "cool" evening air. The sun was having its last stand before being overtaken by the night.

Since my wife was at work, there was space on the driveway for them to run around in. They were also going up and down the sidewalk. After a few minutes, I just happened to see a small bat fly past the kids and on toward the community park area. I was able to point it out to them just in time before it flew out of sight. They first thought it was a bird and that I was just joking with them. When they finally realized that I was telling the truth, they ran back up to where I was standing.

My youngest asked me if they were vampire bats. She was worried that they were going to drink her blood. I guess maybe I should cut back on their TV watching.

After I convinced them that they weren't in danger, they resumed their activities. Pretty soon, I saw another bat fly by and head the same direction as the first. My kids looked towards the direction where it had come and pointed out that there were more bats coming. In all, before it got too dark to see, we had seen at least 20 bats. All of them had come from and went towards the same direction. My kids thought it was the coolest thing. I thought it was pretty cool also.

Upon their insistence, we went back out the next two nights, hoping for a repeat of the night of the bats. But, to theirs and my disappointment, it wasn't to be. We did see two or three, but they must have changed their route because we never saw very many after that. The kids got a kick out of seeing the bats so it was all good.

Back From the Grave

So, I have a this old ruby red iMac computer that has been sitting for a few years because it would no longer boot up. The other day, I was looking through a box of old software and found a Norton Utilities CD I forgot I had. I quickly took it along with my external CD drive and dug out my old iMac.

I fired it up and booted off the Norton CD and ran the disk repair tool. Lo and behold, it worked! My old friend was back from the grave. Not only did I regain access to my sorely missed Graphic Design software and files, I also had access to our old family pictures and videos. I felt stupid knowing the solution to fixing it had been within my grasp all along. Several years wasted wishing it had been working put me in a bad mood after just having had my spirits lifted by fixing it.

The re-discovery of the pictures and videos lifted my spirits again. The videos were by far the most interesting. Seeing and hearing my kids when they were little brought me a lot of smiles and laughter.

A while back I was telling my wife how glad I was that our kids were well out of diapers and all that other baby stuff. After seeing the videos from ten years ago, I felt sad in some way that they were older. I miss how cute they were and watching them learning to walk and talk. For me it made the feeling that they have grown up way too fast, that more prevalent. Or maybe it was the realization, and probably the more true reason, that I didn’t fully appreciate them and they joy they brought at the time we were living it, triggering thoughts that I wasn’t a very good parent.

I hope that I am the only one that has encountered this type of situation. I would hate to think that watching old videos and looking at old pictures of your children would illicit such a response in others. It is not a happy thought considering how happy watching them made me.

I guess fixing my old computer was both a blessing and a curse.


This post was written using an Alphasmart 3000

Nature's Timer

My kids love to go to the park, but they hate when I tell them it’s time to go home. They always say that we haven't been at the park long enough and protest the whole way back to the van. I feel bad for one, because they really love to play, two, because sometimes they are right, especially in the summer when it is hot out, especially where we live. Sometimes I do ask them if they want to go, but I know what their answer will be..NO. But in the end, it is my decision.

They are young and don't really understand. I have nothing against taking them to the park or letting them play for a while. But when my two red haired daughters (I am still not sure where the red hair came from) start getting beet red, not from being sunburned, but just from the heat, it is time to leave...now. I have tried to explain it to them, but all they know is that daddy is stopping them from having fun. But, the health and safety of my kids takes precedence over their "fun time" every time.

I feel bad about it sometimes. Not for very long though because I know that I am doing the right thing, something any good  parent would do. So, in a way, I am using my daughters as a timer for how long to let them play at the park, or outside or in general for that matter. At least during the summer anyway.

Unwelcome Lunch Guests

Our lunch time today started well enough. I handed out the kids plates, filled with food appropriate for kids at this noontime meal. But as a change, to be healthier, I decided not to hand out chips. Instead, I substituted them with crackers. The choice was regular plain salteens or fish crackers. Only they were not fish crackers, they were Chickadees from the dollar store. They weren’t bad as crackers go, but as cheese crackers, not so good but you can’t beat them for $1.

Anyhoo, everyone started in on their food. All seemed fine, until my youngest daughter caught sight of a bug on the table near her plate. My oldest son came to the rescue and dispatched the marauder with a Kleenex. An actual Kleenex, not different brand of tissue that we all call Kleenex. He scooped up the bug and deposited it in the trash can. I was quite proud of him for taking the initiative and for saving his little sister.

All was back to normal...So I thought. A minute or so after the sighting and disposing of the unwanted lunch guest, my other daughter cried out about something on her plate. I went over to observe the situation. There on her plate was a small,long, light tan bug slowly making its way across the expanse of the plate. The same species it appeared that was caught near my youngest daughter’s plate. On first inspection, I couldn’t understand where they had come from. Then I happened to look at her pile of saltine crackers. There perched on top were a platoon sized group of similar bugs. She cried out in horror.

I immediately threw their plates in the trash. My son who had the crackers from the dollar store was not infested. I then threw away the rest of the pack and box of the the crackers that were housing these foreign invaders. I checked in the closet and found no sign of any more.

I have had a similar experience with a tub of oatmeal. My wife had purchased it to use in a recipe and then forgot it. After an unknown length of time, we noticed some of the bugs on the shelf. When we started moving things out to get to the source, there they were. Flowing out of the tub of oatmeal.

I guess they are eggs inside of the oats and after being unattended for a while, they decided it was time to hatch. Needless to say, we keep our oats in the freezer now and haven’t had another incident. Now I think we will be putting our crackers in the freezer also...not really, just have to consume them before any bugs can hatch...unless they are in reality mini-Tribbles (see Trouble with Tribbles episode from the original Star Trek series).

In the end, I made them new plates of food but they skeptical of what was on their plates afterward. Hopefully we won’t have anymore unwanted lunch guests anytime soon.

***UPDATE***

My 7yr old daughter asked me if those bugs can get into KoolAid. She and my other kids were relieved to find out that they were not, in fact, in her drink.

Chore-ific!

I finally found out how to get my kids interested in doing their chores. When they get up in the morning, they start right in on their morning chores, and before bed, they are eager to check off all they had done during the day.

No, it is not some magic potion that I use on my kids. Nor is it a whip or paddle. It is a very simple to use online software program called myjobchart.com. Best of all, it is FREE!

You start off by entering your information as a parent then enter all your kids names and you can even add their pictures like I have done. Next, you can pick from a list of predefined chores or create your own to add to each of your kid's chore list.  You can specify that it is something to be done every day, or once a week, AM,PM or both, and how many points it is worth. There is also extra jobs that you can add that aren't part of your child's normal routine but can be done for extra points. I have put several things under this heading that are more difficult than their usual things, and are assigned more points.

After this step, you move on to assigning rewards for each child. As before, you can pick from predefined items or create your own. I asked my kids to write down what they would like as rewards and added the ones I thought were the most appropriate. There is an option to allow for your child to pick things for sale on retail websites if they acquire enough points. I haven't explored this option yet, but I am sure when my kids start accumulating points, they will want something more than "Game Time" or "Movie on School Night".

I believe that the key to this method is getting the appropriate rewards so that your child will be motivated but not too far out of reach.

I will post a follow-up to this in a week or so once they start "cashing in" their points.

There is no Such Thing as a Free Lunch...

…but there is such a thing as a free haircut.

At the beginning of August, my wife saw an advertisement on TV about JCPenny giving free haircut to kids in 6th grade or lower throughout the month of August. I must say that I was skeptical. There are tons of kids out there that fall into that category and I am sure most of them usually get haircuts at the beginning of school at their parent’s request. There must be a catch. There is always a catch.

Well, my wife finally made the appointments for their cuts and we stopped by the school, picked up the kids early and off we went. When we got there, I soon realized why they were giving away free haircuts. The place was like a ghost town. There were at least five hair dressers in their salon and none of them were busy.

They assigned one hair dresser to all four of my kids. She did an OK job on each. My two boys just got their hair buzzed but she took a longer time with them than with my two girls who just got a trim.

Anyway, after all was said and done, our bill was $0.00. Yep. A free lunch. Or in this case, free haircuts. That was great. Can’t beat free unless they had paid us to cut my kids’ hair (like that would ever happen). I started out with t he kids and my wife got the receipt and we all loaded back in the van and were on our merry way.

My wife said how cool it was that we got all four of our kids hair cut for only $20….and there it was. Yep. Nothing is free. Not even a free haircut. She paid the woman $20 as a tip. She probably should have paid a bigger tip, but that is all we had. The reason we were getting free cuts in the first place. Money is almost extinct around our house these days. We still thought it was a good deal.

Please Dad, Step Away From the Brownies!

I wish that my kids would say that to me sometimes. Brownies are one of my biggest vices. The sweet chocolate goodness is impossible for me to resist. That and Dr. Pepper...which is a whole different story. My weight is proof of that.

Ever since I can remember, I have loved brownies...who doesn't for that matter. But for a stay-at-home dad that doesn't get much exercise, it is not a good thing. I admit, I have gained some weight since getting married, but most of it has come since I have been at home with the kids.

It is not fair to my wife or kids to let myself get in this bad shape. As we all know, weight gain and inactivity contribute to heart disease, something stay-at-home dads are more likely to get than those dads that go to work.

I believe it is the job of every dad to be healthy so that they can be there for their family. That is why I have started to do the Wii Fit. I borrowed it from my sister-in-law to see if it was something that I would be able to do, and it is. Now the challenge is to keep with it, and to figure out how to scrape together some money to buy one for myself.

I really wish I could control my brownie urge, but I can't . That is why I wish my kids would tell me to 'step away from the brownies!' (not that I would listen to them though).

She Thinks We're 'Just Fishin'

I hope that country singer Trace Adkins doesn't get mad at me for using the title of one of his best songs as the title of this blog post. He is not one that I would want mad at me. But, the fact is that it is the perfect title, and song for that matter, and is what this post is about.

As the song says so eloquently, on the surface his daughter thinks that they are just having a good time fishing together but on another level, it is much, much more than that. They are actually bonding and creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Yesterday, while playing the classic children's game from Milton Bradley, Don't Spill the Beans, with my five year old daughter, this song came to mind as she just beat me for the second time. Just as in the song, my daughter was happy just playing the game with me, but something much more important was happening. We were creating memories for the both of us that would last a lifetime and increasing the wonderful father-daughter bond between us.

With her, it is especially important to me that we spend this kind of time together. She is the last of my five kids still at home so to speak. She will be off to school with all my other kids all too soon. These moments that we have together will be sorely missed. Once she starts school she will be started on her journey that will take here all through the years of school and eventually out of the nest just as the other kids will do. This is the beginning of my empty nest syndrome I think. I like to get an early start on things, LOL.

I can honestly say that I am really not looking forward to the day when the kids are all gone, on with their own lives. Even though I know that is how things are supposed to be, it will not make it any easier.
Having had the chance to be at home with my kids these past few years while they were growing up has been such an awesome experience and blessing. Despite the many difficult times, I would not change a thing. I consider myself very lucky to have been able to have had this experience. I am a much better person for having been able to do so.

So, I will continue to spend time with my kids '...just fishin' every chance I get.

Really? That's Your Final Answer?

Ever since the Kindle Fire came out, I have had thoughts of getting one. I own a Kindle 3 and really like it. But right now, paying $199 is not possible. But I still like to read reviews about it and compare it to other tablets and ereaders. Some day I may be able to afford one.

Well, while looking through comments on Amazon.com from people who purchased one, it seems that about 20% have it an unfavorable review. I believe that these people thought they were getting a cheap device that operated exactly like an iPad. I guess they don't do their homework before spending $200.

I did come across several reviews that made me laugh. First because of the reason they gave it a bad review, and second because there were several that gave this same reason.

What reason was that you ask? The reason was that their 4-5 year old child had a hard time operating it. I mean, are they for real? I couldn't believe that someone would purchase a Kindle Fire, a device for reading books and other multimedia content, for their young child who pretty much can't even read at that age.

Two scary things about these people. First, they are allowed to vote, second there are probably more out there than they ones I came across.

Haircut Day

This past Saturday was haircut day. It was a long time coming. It was just one of those things that kept getting put off until it couldn't anymore. By this time, my two sons and I were in desperate need of a good trimming. We looked like we had porcupines on our heads. As usual, my sons tried to avoid getting their hair cut like we were trying to get them to eat canned spinach. Maybe that's just my kids that exhibit this behavior every time they get their hair cut, I don't know. I am hoping that as they get older, they will become more enthusiastic about it. They act like it is painful and humiliating.

My wife has been cutting our hair for a number of years now. It came about while trying to save money. The price of clippers was about the same as one visit to the barber for me and my two boys and the clippers could be used many times. I usually had the barber just shave our heads anyway. It seemed a good financial decision. Also, it is not that difficult to shave someone's head.

By having my wife perform this task, it has saved us a lot of money and time waiting for our turn at the chair. Granted we don't get stylish cuts, but it is better than looking like a porcupine head. As with getting any haircut though, we have to take showers after to get all the itchy cut hair off. An inconvenient for sure, but the savings is worth it and it can be done in the comfort of our own home, or as we often do to make clean up easier, the front or back porch.

A Good Gift Doesn't Have to be Expensive

Santa doesn't always give kids new toys for Christmas. He gives the best gifts. At least he tries to anyway. This year, I think that I got really good gifts for my two sons this year for Christmas.

A year or so ago, my youngest son got an old digital camera from his aunt for his birthday. It was a very simple model, low resolution, but he loved it. He takes pictures all the time. It also takes videos. He took a lot of those also. But a few weeks ago, he started trying to make his own movies. He would set out some of his army guys in front of the camera, press record and begin moving around his actors and engage them in an epic battle. Once, I saw him tie strings to a small stuffed dinosaur and try and recreate a Godzilla movie. I couldn't help but laugh and smile. He had the right ideas, but not the right tools.

I wanted him to have a good camera so that he could make his movies that also contained sound. We couldn't afford to buy him a new video camera and used ones would be too complicated I thought. I searched eBay with no luck. Then I remembered a digital camera that I was interested some time back that seemed to fit the situation.

The camera of note is the Kodak MC3. It is actually a bit more than a camera. It wasn't really well received when it came out and didn't have a very long production run. But, the features that it had appealed to me and what I thought would be good for my son. . It isn't big on resolution, but it does take movie clips with sound, pictures, and it is even an MP3 player. It is very easy to operate. No problem for my son, allowing him to concentrate on making movies. I also like the fact that it uses Compact Flash memory cards.

After another search on eBay, I found on for $14 and purchased it. Afterwards, I saw my two sons making another movie. My older son was running the camera at the direction of his younger brother. They made several "movies" this way, both enjoying it immensely. They even made papers with the title and credits on them.

I got to thinking and searched for another Kodak MC3 for my older son. I found another one cheap and ordered it. It came with a case so I found a case for the one I ordered previously plus two high capacity memory cards to hold lots of "movies" and pictures.

They finally came in the mail. I tested them, put in fresh batteries and wrapped them up. I also included a small tri-pod for each that I had purchased for my digital cameras but never used.

I am really excited to see them open their gifts on Christmas and see the look on their faces. I think that they will really like them.

A good Christmas gift doesn't always have to be a new one. Just the right one.

My Sons’ Christmas Program

For several weeks, my sons were telling us about their school Christmas program that was coming up. They would each sing with their respective class and one of them was going to play the cow bell with several other of his class mates. We promised that we would be there and they happily went their merry way.

The day of the program came and my boys were told me they had to be there as such and such a time. I informed them that I had to go out of town for the day and would try and get back in time. They weren't happy about that, but they excepted that I had to go but were still worried that I wouldn’t make it back in time.

On my way home, my wife texted me that they were on their way to the school for the program. She said the my boys were worried that I would not be there in time to see them perform. I checked my watch and realized that I would be cutting it close. It was dark and rainy so I couldn't go any faster because of the driving conditions.

I got another text message that they were at the school and going into the auditorium. Fortunately I made it in time despite the weather. But, as it turned out, it seemed that most of the people in town had showed up also. I found a parking space and rushed in and quickly found my wife and my two youngest daughters and took a seat. My girls were surprised to see me. They didn't think that I would make it in time.

The principal spoke for a few minutes, thanking everyone for being there and supporting the kids. The curtains opened and they started right in with their singing.

After the first two sets, it became painfully obvious that the kids would be performing all the same songs that they had performed the year before, but probably in a different order. I would have thought that they would have chosen different songs. There were many good songs were not sung that could have been. It would have been a better program instead of just a remake of last year.

Don't get me wrong, they kids performed well and the audience enjoyed the evening, but it could have been better with fresh songs.

After the event was over, it seemed like everyone was rushing to exit the building and head to their vehicles, but I and other parents had to go locate their kids before they got lost in the rush. It was not an easy task. People were going in all directions. I finally found my youngest son but could not locate my other one. We looked the place over from one side to another. There were several other parents that were having trouble locating their children and were up on the stage speaking their child's name into the microphone, blasting it all over the whole building.

My youngest son got on the mike and called for his older brother. By that time I was getting very worried that I couldn't find him. With in two minutes, here he came running up the aisle to the stage. It turned out that he was in the lobby with other kids waiting for us to find him. I was so relieved when I saw him. I know, I worry too much, but I can't help it. Anyway, we rushed out to meet my wife who was waiting with our two girls.

My sons told me that when they were up on the stage singing with their class, they both were scanning the crowd looking for me, worried that I wouldn't have made it. They were happy that I did.

After a brief reunion outside the auditorium, my wife took the girls and I took the boys and we made our way to our separate vehicles to head home.

The parking lot was a mess. Everyone trying to get home as fast as possible, it made for stressful situation. I got the boys fastened in started the van and waited and waited for someone nice enough to come along and let me in the line.

As luck would have it, despite being parked in separate parking lots and getting to our vehicles at different times, I pulled out onto the road and headed home, right behind my wife.

Overall, it was a good day. I got to visit with family out of town and made it back in time to see my two sons perform on stage.

The point of this story? There really isn't one except that I didn't know what else to write about.

Next week, my daughter in first grade has her Christmas program. We will attend that one as well. Hopefully they don’t sing the same songs as they did at my sons’ program.

Germs, Germs, and More Germs

For some reason, my almost five year old daughter has become consumed with thinking about germs and washing her hands. Almost single-handedly, she went through a whole bottle of hand soap in a week. Now her hands are getting really chapped in spots. Sometimes, after washing her hands, she wants me to smell them to see if they are OK. Sometimes it is funny, but by the end of the day it becomes annoying.

Last night things came to a head when her older sister, seven years old, didn't wash her hands after going to the bathroom and started playing her Gameboy. My youngest daughter started crying and saying that she wouldn't be able to play the game anymore because it was covered in her older sister's germs. I tried to convince her that it would be OK and the germs would not hurt her to no avail.  Her older brother tried to help by telling her that there are germs on everything but it just made her more upset.

In the end, I think I was able to explain to her about germs. I just don't want it to turn into an OCD.

Losing My Marbles

I thought I lost all my marble yesterday but it turned out I just lost a few. It is a little troubling because I don't have many left at my age and I still have quite a few years left to go before my kids fly the coop.

For some reason the kids decided to annoy the crap out of my. As soon as they got home the started in. Since it was Tuesday, I had to get my daughter ready for her Girl Scout meeting. They were supposed to wear their Halloween costumes. Then I had to pick up my niece also. Everything was in a rush. That is when I think I started to lose some of my marbles.

After dropping the girls off at their meeting, I had the great idea of going to the library so that my sons could work on their homework while we waited to pick up the girls. That wasn't the best idea that I had. A few more marbles fell out. It just so happens that my sons cannot be quiet to save their life and they had to fuss about everything. Not good behavior for the library, especially since it seemed like the whole town was there.

When I picked up my daughter and niece, they were in really good spirits and picked up mine. The rest of the day saw the loss of more marbles until all the kids were in bed and I could finally relax.

While I was about to head off to bed, I heard an odd noise coming from the front porch. The cats heard it too for they ran to cautiously look out the window. When the cats and I peeked out, we saw to our surprise, several javelina foraging for a meal. The cats were too scared and ducked out of the window, but I lingered for a while. It isn't every day that I get to see wildlife up close, despite living in a small mountain community. It was thankful that I had gotten to observe them. And that possibly returned some of my marbles, but there are still some missing that I hope to find soon. I can't afford to lose any more and I am sure that my family doesn't want me to have any turn up missing either.

Despite it all, I hope my kids can forgive me because being my kids dad is the best job in the world. I would hate to get fired because I had no marbles left.

Game Night

For the past week, my son J has been wanting some father/son play time. I haven't really had time or the energy for play time lately. Even when my kids wanted me to read them a story at bed time, I have just been really tired. I know that is not really an excuse, but it is hard to read a story when I am so tired that I can't see the words.

So last night, I decided we would have a family game night. No, television, no video games, no electronic anything. Just plain old games like I used to play when I was their age. The kids were really excited, except for maybe my teenage step-daughter.

After dinner, we all went to the back room where there is plenty of room on the carpet to set up games. Unfortunately, we don't have many games that more than four people can play at a time that my younger kids can play. Monopoly is a little advanced for a five and seven year old. We do have some of the classics like Sorry, Trouble, Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, and two old classics, Smess and Uncle Wiggley,but they are only for four people. We were six last night.

We started off with a game called Hiss that my wife and I found in San Diego a number of years ago. It is perfect for younger kids. You get cards that are parts of a snake, head, body or tail. You draw a card and try and put one together. The body parts are different color so they have to be matched up. The kids really like it.

Next, we played another card game called Hit the Deck. It is similar to Uno but not as fun. It was not a big hit (no pun intended). After that let down, I thought they would enjoy a game of Uncle Wiggley. This was a game that I had found at a yard sale a long time ago. It was a game I used to play in like second or third grade at school so I got it thinking my kids would like it. Well, it wasn't as fun as I remembered it, but the kids were troopers and they finished the game. I doubt that they will be excited about playing it again.

For the last game, my step daughter picked Cars Uno. It basically plays like the original Uno but with different wild cards. One card let you swap cards with another player. The kids liked it with one of my kids throwing a short fit. But what young child doesn't throw a little fit once and a while? That's what I thought.

That took us to past nine in the evening which so happens is their bed time for weekends. I got them all off to bed, my wife was already in bed because she had to get up at five in the morning for work. I really wanted to get the dishes done so that I could watch a movie or work on some writing. But, instead I fell asleep on the couch as usual and woke up around midnight. I felt more tired than when I fell asleep but the dishes had to be done. Then it was off to bed for me.

Despite the fact that fell asleep during my movie time, I did get to play games and have fun with my kids. We all had fun. That is what matters. Doing fun things together. Hopefully they will have good memories of their child hood and will do the same with their kids.