What you think does matter

My son is always saying he wants to be a soldier. He is only four years old. His mom cringes when he proudly says it - for fear of lossing her little boy. Let us Honor all those who have given much in service - In service to you, to me, to thier children. Sacrificing thier lives, family, and so much more. In honor of those who have gone before, and those in the present. Thank you for what you have sacrificed. I recieved these photos via email and thought to share it with all.

I love video games, no really. I love videos games, I’ve always been a fan. I could play for hours and when I was a kid - it was a normal thing for me to play all night in my pursuit to save the princess, destroy the evil monster or capture the prize. There were many a sleepless nights where just me, my game console and several cups of coffee was what I had in the wee hours of the night. I once played “Zelda” for three nights and three days straight. No sleep for me, I was going to save the princess - I did by the way. So what’s my point - Do you want to know why today’s parents love game consoles, why they are willing to pay three hundred dollars or more on a simple game console. Why they do not find it a waste of money to pay $129 dollars for a DS or other hand held game… let me give you a clue: Listen, do you hear that.. The silence .......... I was wondering why the house was so quite. The spouse was taking a nap and the kids - well, not a peep. I thought they were a sleep but when...

Lazy Summer Days I remember when I was a kid I would stay up late watching TV and my mom may have liked it - but hey, there was no school to worry about the next day. Ofcourse my daughter has taken staying up late watching TV to a whole new level. She likes to watch George Lopez - but since they give it at 11 pm, it’s usually out of the question during school time. But the minute school was out she slowly got accustomed to first staying up that late and second - getting comfortable. She’s turned it into an art form - just take a look at the video below… it will explain it all ……

Children are crazy - or at least maybe only mine. With all the possible places they can sit - sofa, couch, love chair, stools - they have to bring into the house a fold up lawn / beach chair to sit on. But it’s not enough that they have to bring it in - they start arguing and fighting over who will sit in it. Give me a break - you have the entire sofa to sit on but they both want to sit on this one fold up chair. Here I am just trying to enjoy some down time, and all "hell" breaks out in my living room. Over what - a stupid fold up chair. Come on, when I was a kid 90 percent of the time we sat on the floor. First it began because we couldn’t afford a sofa, then it was just habit to sit on the floor. But not my children, they want to fight over one fold up chair. Sometimes I think they do just to drive me mad. But what they forget - that just like the HULK ..... "They don’t want to see me Angry....."

I was sent this photo via email. A sign that God still loves America. The question remains - Do you Love America ?

I have always found an interesting way to respond to some of my children’s ... lets say "questions". You know, they ask you "Dad, why can't I play with matches"? And your stuck trying to figure out how to answer it with out going to the usual response: "Cause I said so".... I have to admit, with my daughter, I tried my best to answer her questions, to give the why, the how, the reason why I say what i say. But after six years of why, why, why, why, why ... I figure I would do the opposite with my son. Sure, I use the tried and true response - Because I said so. But I also try to bring a funny twist to my response. It doesn't always work and sometimes it it is pure inspiration that comes to me like the one I shared with my son who asked me why was it wrong to fart in public...... Let me know what you use and what you think.

Happy Birthday - KIKI When my little girl was a bit younger - I tried to make her time exciting. She didn't have her brother back then and I sort of felt guilty that she had no one to play with. So I made sure I played with her and helped make play time fun. I would play McDonalds with her in her kitchen play set or create these elaborate treasure hunts for her to find a prize. I started doing it on her birthdays to make opening her present from me and mom more special, surprising and build up that excited expectation. After her brother was born, I sort of slowed down with the treasure hunt because - well, as she grew she acted [ let’s say ] less surprise. You know kids think their to grown up to do fun things they consider - kiddie like. But I try to teach her to stay a kid, enjoy it while it last because when you grow up - it gets harder to enjoy the simple things….. but this birthday I decided to surprise her with a mini-treasure hunt. first I tortured her - I gave her a birthd...

The House of Mouse - NOT! I love Mickey Mouse, especially visiting the "House of Mouse" at Walt Disney World. It's been hard to take a trip to see Mickey Mouse because everything is so darn expensive. I feel bad because my son hasn't been to see Walt Disney world and he is already four - a perfect time to build memories. Ofcourse I bring this all up because we had a new visitor come to the house. yes, a furry little creature - a mouse, mice - what ever is the correct word to use. It scared the living daylight out of me. There I was sleeping in my bed when my daughter called saying there was a strange noise in her room [ probably thought it was a monster .. lol ] but it turned out to be the mouse. apparently my son had hidden some of "Generals" [ dog my wife was baby sitting for friend ] doggie treats around the house. For the next three nights i had to wake up to fears of my wife and children because the mouse was making noise crunching on doggie treats. Wh...

My son is a blast - I took the family to go see "Kunfu Panda". It was a Blast! We made a night of it, we we and had dinner, walked over to fairmont cinema and we all luaghed durring the movie. It was funny, exciting, it was great. But for some reason my son calls it "Shampoo Fighting" If you want to take the family out to see a movie or [ if it's in dvd by the time you read this ] you have to see this funny, cute movie.

Ok, who doesn't think this is over the top. This could explain why so many cartoon [anime] male characters look like girls - or maybe the cartoons is what's confusing the boys in this country. To the point, I am not a homo hater, gay basher, or homo-phobic. I just don't agree. I think it is also a stupid idea to continually cow down to making gays more comfortable. Let me see - the boys were being picked on because they were gay or transvestites... so they went to the girls bathroom. The principal felt bad that some girls felt uncomfortable with the "confused" gender boys so he gave them a private gay bathroom...???? And how is that supposes to stop them from being picked on? let me see, if the other boys think it's wrong and make fun of them, wouldn't a gay bathroom provide more fuel for ridicule? But hey, maybe by the time were done with gay marriages and gay bathrooms and even here in America we had a school that allowed a boy to dress as a girl - who ...

Love is a strange fickle thing I grew up with seven brothers and sisters - and as much as we loved each other, we also hated each other. Ok, hate might be too strong a word but - we fought just as much as we loved each other. The funny thing is, my children are the same way. For as much as they love each other - they fight like cats and dogs. They seem to want to get on each others nerves. Yesterday they were watching TV in the living room and it seemed like they were bitter rivals. Everything was a challenge. They couldn’t go twenty seconds without something to snicker and fight about. My son who seems to be the more “sneaky” of the two - found pleasure in ratting his sister out when he found some spilled juice in the frig. He came running to us with this happy grin as he said “ooh KIKI spilled a lot of juice all over the floor.... come, hurry, look”. But what makes me laugh is that as much as they fight - they can’t be separated. A perfect example was this morning. I wake up early an...

I just want to share a comment with you all. The reason, becuase I can relate. I myself often find myself scrouging and debating weather is it even worth the effort to go out - considering the price of gas. life sure has changed for me and many other americans. here is a comment i recieved yesterday: comment: Hello, Ive been trying to find help with finances for a while now. I have a 4 yr old boy in day care and a new baby girl , born MAY 13th. I work full time and so does my significant other. We both have even taken on over time. Its been hard on us considering that I work 12-8am 6 days a week and then stay home with my infant during the day. YOU can call me zombie!...Anyway, even with all the overtime it seems like there is always a bill that is late. I guess nobody realized they had to budget for gas being 4 dollars a gallon! I am currently trying to find new employment so that I CAN PAY my bills, but its virtually impossible to run around town in my car and drop off applica...

The day after the dog was gone... Well the sleepy long days of summer have arrived. The first day after the Dog was gone - my kids did what every kid does durring the summer - Slept in ... I can't blame them, I know some people might say - thats lazy or teaching your kids to be lazy... But thats the point. They are kids. I say let them enjoy it. They going to grow up. And I teach them and train them to do a lot of things. heck my duaghter has been working on a mathbook for the last four days. shes been practicing her math skills and this is a book i used in collegde. Did you know that if you wanted to find the answer to any math questin that dealt with dividing a number by five - all you had to do is multi by the number by two and you have your answer.... This is what shes doing - learn strong math skills. So why would i argue about her waking up late. as long as she washes the dishes, cleans her room and helps around the house and ofcourse does some learning during the summer - ...

General is His name.... Well the day came, general [ the dog we were caring for our friends ] is gone, yesterday was his last day. And while I know everyone knows I wont miss him [ no I did not hate him - just to much unwanted work caring for pets and kids ]. I will say this - I was surprised. I expected my kids to whimper and cry. To shout and pout about general leaving - but they didn't. in fact they almost seemed happy about it. ??? maybe it's because my daughter wont have to wake up at six thirty in the morning to walk him. or because my wife wont have to clean up after him. or maybe it's because my son lost his fear around the dog and the dog became - you know, part of the furniture as he lost interest in touching and petting and following that dog around the house. I do know this.. I will not miss the screams of my children fighting over who can sit closest to the dog. So to say my farewell to my four legged little friend - I wrote a song.... Oh happy days are here ag...

I was talking with a friend - who would kill me if I mention her name, so I wont. And she was telling me how she has a friend who wants life insurance. I sell life insurance so she wanted to know if I could help. The sad part of this story is - thats it's to late to help these peopl. You see, This couple both lost thier parents one right after the other. Since thier parents didn't have life insurance, it fell upon them to cover the cost. most people don't realize that not only do you have to pay for funeral cost that can range from $6,000 to $10,000 dollars but you have to cover debts and ofcourse - death tax [ call it estate tax, death tax - it's just the government getting your money even after death ]. estate tax could be upto 50% of what your worth [ that includes savings, investments, even a business or house ]... This couple had both her parents and both his parents pass away. so they were pretty much left with no savings and when they realized that they didn'...

Sometimes I wonder, No matter what you do - kids just have a way of getting everything mixed up. Tell me - what do you think my son said to me in this picture...... After all I do to teach my son right from wrong. Yes, I let him play video games and some of these games involve "armymen shooting" and even halo. But when it comes to tv, movies, etc.. I make sure he sticks to kiddy stuff and that I teach him "bad is Bad" and "good is Good". Well, today he woke up and ate breakfast, kissed mom goodbye and then disappeared into his room. He then emerged with his snow gloves and hat on. What did he say - "Dad, I'm gonna go steal like that guy on tv.".... What???? I assume he means the guy on the tv show where they show people how unsecure they are in thier homes and they prove it by breaking in. Then they supply them with better updated security systems. But ofcourse - what he remembers is - "the guy stealing ???????? " Help me lord.........

Oh the Hypocrisy of fathers Day ! I hate Days like Fathers day - it’s so fake, so hypocritical. You know, the one day out of the 365 day year where your family takes the time to show you how much they care for you as a Dad. Well, the hypocrisy goes toward all days - mothers day, valentines day, even birth days. I love my family and they love me. I know this not because they gave me a nice fathers day card and some very nice cloths [ better than a tie .....] But because they show it too me every day of the year. On fathers day, my wife went out shopping for five hours with the kids, ate lunch out at Paneras restaurant and came home and didn’t have to cook. What was my reward - that I had peace and quite for five hours and had to cook my own meal. yea, like I said I got the fathers day card and nice clothing. But I think my wife got the better end of this deal. My point - I hate it when I am obligated to give someone something on a particular day - and if I don’t, it’s taken as a sign of...

I just have to laugh , no really. I don’t think my wife did it intentionally but it is ironic. Let me explain - - My sister-in-law came over yesterday and she noticed a red Elmo child seat by the coach. Being the overly excited ELMO fan she grabbed the seat up in her arms and jokingly hugged, kissed and exclaimed how cute and lovely the seat was… My wife just stood quite. Then my sister stopped and embarrassingly said - “you know, this smells funny…” she took a good sniff and said “hey, this smells !” and my wife with a straight face said “ I’m sorry, that chair belongs to the Dog .....”. Ofcourse my sister-in-law dropped the chair quickly and went running..... OH, I wish I had the camera with me, it would have made a great video. But hey - that will teach her, next time she will stop and think before she acts. The dog probably thought it was rude of her to grab his chair - but then again he probably was surprise to see a human sniffing his chair. . . .....

Day 6 th of Summer Oh the joy of being right.. I told you so............................ This morning [ as early as it is ] I arose to the sweet smell of victory. And all I could think to say was " I told You...} But I didn't. It seems that my wife is a bit upset becuase my duaghters room smells bad - ofcourse it does. The dog has been sleeping in her room and it's dog she smells. *** Surprise *** Not happy at all she orders my dughter to clean her room and spray that smelly princess stuff called Freebreez ???? Oh then she orders her to walk the dog. Oh joy what a wonderful morning this is! Now my duaghter is upset becuase [ already used to waking up late in the day ] she has to get up at 7 am to walk the dog [ well it wasn't going to be me ]. Ofcourse I couldn't help but document the disgruntle little girl walking the dog. Ofcourse this only means that I have to put up with a "angry little girl" for a couple of hours early in my morning - but since I...

5 th Summer Day Things are getting hectic around here, but what can you expect when you have an eleven year old, a four year old and a yapping little dog running around your house. I think I’m going crazy. Today is not a good day. Last month I had a pin hole leak in the pipes and had to break part of the wall to get in there and fix it. Then the next day after that - the garage door “spring” broke. I mean broke, and it cost me almost $150 to get it replaced [ couldn’t do that on my own ]. Well, today the garage door opener broke. The gear inside apparently striped…??? First, I don’t understand why a gear that is used to raise a 200 pound or so garage door would be made of plastic - but it was. And boy did it get eaten up. I thought I could replace it, but once I opened it up - lets just say I don’t have those kinds of skills. So I had to convert the garage door back to opening and locking manually [ you know your lazy when you cringe at just of the thought of opening a door manually ]....

Day 4 of Summer I came home to find an uninvited guest. or atleast not invited by me. This guest was smelly, sad looking and of the four legged variety. Yes a dog. My daughter and wife consented to babysit a friends little pooch and now I have four children to take care of, the son, my daughter, the dog and my wife..... It's funny because this dog looks more like a rodent than he [ i think it's a he ] he does as a dog. I ofcourse put my foot down, almost stepping on the small china doll like dog. I told the family ... well, I swore that I was not going to walk it, bath it, feed it, care for it or worry about. That they would have to watch this "thing" and make sure it wasn't going to break, chew, piss or poop on anything in the house. And they said fine - not like I could kick the dog out, my friends would not like me much - it's just that I didn't get to vote. And since they underhandedly sneaked the dog into my [ our ] house with out my consent - I didn...

You ever notice - you give your children all the things you never had as a child. You buy game consoles, swing sets, a backyard [ God I lived in a apartment complex - I didn't know people had back yards....]. you have all day cartoon chanels, DVD's coming out of the wazu and board games, radios, and things you can't even mention [ toys invented for this yougn generation ] - you have the internet, social sites dedicated to children. You buy them paint, chalh boards, dry erase boards, remote control cars you name it and what do they say.... dad, I'm bored. There's nothing to do ????????

Summer is Hot ! As I stated in last post, Summer doesn't officially begin until school is out. Well, this is the second day of no school and my air conditioner went out. Well - it didn't break down, but it was badly leaking to the point where water was dripping down thru the ceiling. No it wasn't a flood, but enough to wet the floor with about a cup of water. To make it worse - the leak was right above a light fixture in the kitchen - I didn't want an electrical fire so off went the "air conditioner"... I haven't experienced this much hot air since we went camping last march for spring break. And the hot air wasn't from the heat but from my family. My wife was complaining, my daughter was hot - and my son was sweaty but didn't complain. All this and I had to play the supportive "It's not so bad" role. Not that it help calm the family down. You would think that it was 100 degrees in the house. The funny thing is - that these are the sa...

Today is the first official day of Summer here at my house... Why, becuase it's the first day of "NO SCHOOL" for my duaghter. Just take a sneak peek at what we did when she woke up around 9:30 in the morning. Normally she has to get up at 6 am to get ready for school. I thought that it was going to be easier to watch my son now during the summer becuase my duaghter was home and she could help me when needed... but i can't even get her to make me a cup of coffee.... so much for help.....

I just spent $4 dollars a gallon for gas - what the hel, #$@^**&#@!! is going on. Man things are getting desperate - I have to choose between a bag of expensive [ mostly air ] chips or being able to drive home..........