What you think does matter

Don’t try to grow up so Fast! I tell my daughter all the time - "don’t worry about growing up, that will happen. Enjoy being a child now, because when you do get old [ grow up ] you’ll wish you were a kid again". This leads me to a conversation I walked in on with my daughter and wife. I walk into the kitchen and bang the conversation stops [ clear sign I should get involved ]. So after poking my nose in - I find out that my eleven year old girl wants to "shave her legs" - so first I get defensive and ask why and throw in a "your too young". Then I get logical - I break it down for her with a series of questions: How old are you? Who are you trying to impress? Are you a model? Are you going somewhere other than school? What hair on your legs? [ still has thin small almost invisible baby hair. ] I told her look, I can’t see any hair to shave and if you start shaving now, the norm is that your baby hair will grow in thicker and then you will need to shave. S...

? ? ? Honey what’s that Smell? So here we are watching TV and the kids are doing what they always do [ argue about something trivial ] and this weird smell hits me. It just seemed to fill the air. I didn’t notice it before so I was a bit confused - ofcourse at first I thought someone let one rip [ you know, silent but deadly ]. After much debate [ it was daddy, no mommy, no Isaac, oh that smell...] we soon realized it was coming from that small little creature called general. Our visitor was starting to smell, it’s normal after all he is a dog [ literally ]. So the time came for my wife to give her first "doggy bath". Hey that’s what you have to do if you have a dog. I expected this to be a disaster, a real nightmare - but it turned out to be a mild inconvenience.. The dog was no trouble at all, my wife on the other hand was acting like the dog was a new born baby and she was a first time mother. Can I do this, will this hurt him, is it the right soap... On and on.... it’s ...

A friend and a blog fan made a request for new material.... read more below, below A Friend and a blog fan asked me to try and do [ use ] new material for the blog. She told me just last Wednesday that she checks her email for my "email updates' with a giddy expectation to see whats new on the blog. She says she loves all the jokes, the pictures of the kids and the dog - but she was wondering if I had anything new, defferent. Well, this put a lot of pressure on me to create something new. after all - the blog is about the insanity that is my world - meaning my kids and the spouse. And if I don't want to sleep with the dog, the spouse is off limits.... So after several hours of thinking and thinking - I cracked, I could not perform under this pressure. So I created the above photo gallery slide show for you, yes you Betsy - hope you like it..... it's something new! See you sunday ...

A lesson in Humility from a King. I am sure we've all done it, I know I have. You sit there upset because you know you deserve better. In fact you expect better - after all - your special. My kids do it all the time - they act like things are a given - they forget and I occasionally have to remind them that my love for them does not make them deserving of everything. You still have to work for things and you can't get everything you want. But I ran across this news video [ posted below - excuse the ad ] - it reports on this African King who is in New York and he drives a bus. Unlike the Eddie Murphy movie "coming to America" he isn't rich - but he is humble. He doesn't want people to know that he is a King. In fact he is here working hard to help 20,000 people that live in his tiny kingdom village - he's trying to build a well for drinking water. Which surprised me. You see, my first thought was - hey a bus driver who learns he's a king - boy he has it...

Oh look out generals back!! Well, guess whose back? Yep that little dog with the big name "general". General is cool but he just has a weird effect on my family. My wife treats him like a baby, probably gives him more attention than me. My daughter - she treats him like a china doll - afraid that everything will hurt the dog. look out here, look out with the dog... no he'll get hurt... leave the dog alone Isaac.. My son is the funniest of them all - this kid of mine spends most of his time calling general to him only to run in fear when general comes near him. It only gets worst in the morning when my wife lets the dog loose, my son does not want an excited pup jumping on him at six thirty in the morning - lord help me. Don't let these pictures fool you - it takes all the nerve my son can muster just to be this close without getting hysterical... Well, general is going to be here for a while [ helping out a friend ] so I better get use to the insanity. Look at me...

Teaching my child the meaning of true friendship? Ok, so my little girl is not so little, after all she’s eleven years old. According to her she’s a pre-teen [ whoopee doodad ]. The problem is that she is to nice for her own good. I don’t think she’s naive or gullible - just innocent. She has this one friend who only seems to want her around when she has no one else- you know the type. The so called friend who doesn’t know you exist until she has no one else to call. It’s bad enough that when she is interested in communicating with my daughter - she calls three or four times a day. They cackle on the phone for ever - But when she has a new “new best friend” - poof, you don’t hear a peep from this girl. It’s the kind of person I call friend but really consider them an acquaintance. Maybe I’m being over protective, or maybe I want my little girl not to be so blind. I guess it’s one of those things kids have to learn on their own - child, pre-teen or teenager and in some cases - adults. W...

The end of the first week of school and his 1st report. If my son is enjoying school, he sure isn’t letting on. I ask him everyday the same question after I pick him up from school. How was school? What did you learn? What is your teachers name? Have you made any friends? What is his response - nothing! The most I get out of the boy is that he eats "coconut cookies" for snack time - whoopee... Ofcourse he has found time to tell his mom that he has made 2 friends at school and has been playing games at school. I finally received his "end of week" school report. I am glad to see that he has a good report on behavior and work habits. I was afraid he was going to run the teacher ragged since he can’t stay still at home. But I am a bit confused with why they have “ability to open and close door” as one of his study units???? I get the games that use grouping and identifying items. I understand using games and play to teach kids their numbers and alphabets… but "abi...