The only winning move is not to play

While riding in the car, my youngest son is not always good at keeping himself occupied. One way I help him (and me by keeping my mind sharp) is to play tic-tac-toe with him. But, instead of passing a piece of paper back and forth between us, he keeps track of the game on paper and I keep track in my mind. By numbering the grid squares between 1 and 9, I can call out the square number and he applies my X or O to the paper.

I think he's broken the code though. :-( Perhaps he's got this tac-tac-toe book memorized! It's a whole new kind of "Choose your own adventure." I loved those books!

And they're off...!

My two older children left this morning to spend 5 weeks with their grandma in the mountains of North Carolina. I'm still trying to balance the excitement I have for them and the adventures they're going to have, and the fun and activities my wife and I will be able to do with our youngest in that time, with the fact that I will miss them :-( I'm on the excitement side of the pendulum right now because they just left, but I know that soon I will switch to the other side and miss their chaos, humor, and spirit.

For now I'll enjoy the relative peace (two less people for my youngest to argue with) and quiet (two less people running through the house).

Creativity

The creative adult is the child who survived.- U. LeGuin

Batter Up

The kids and I went to the Scrap Box last Friday looking for cool "industrial waste" to play with :-)

In the process we came across a huge tub of baseball cards. For a $4 bag, we walked away with hundreds of great condition, mostly baseball cards, but some other sports as well. I haven't collected cards since I was about 10, and I'm not really into sports now, but I thought it would be fun to sort through with the kids and see if we could find anything worth more than a few pennies.

Now the fun part - finding somewhere to research the values. I recognize a few names from when I was listening to the Tiger's winning streak and a few for other reasons, but I have no idea whose card is really worth something. If you're a collector or have a good place to start, leave a comment. I've been Asking Google and a few friends have recommended Beckett's, but I've not really dug in yet.

Worst case, I package them up in zip locks and sell them to the kids at our garage sale. I can easily make back my $4.00 investment.

Given the condition and quantity, I think the collection came from a divorce, death or someone who left them behind when they went to college. It's interesting to speculate.

Wish me luck!

Is this what we sound like?!

Boys will be boys....

I hate watching American Idol with my sons. We can't get through a song by Pia Toscano without them rolling on the floor laughing about her name. Too bad. They're missing a great singer. I, on the other hand, can rewind the DVR later :-)

I thought Thea Megia was gonna be the one to make them laugh.

Safety Check

My car was in the shop -- again :-( -- yesterday and I got a ride home from a co-worker much earlier than usual. This meant that there was no car in the driveway to give away my presence to my daughter when she came home. My "mother-of-the-year" wife and I conspired to take advantage of that fact and surprise her with a little test.

When I got home I hid upstairs in my bedroom. When she came home I started walking around a bit, creaking the floor. She walked to the base of the bedroom stairs and called the cat's name. When the creaking stopped at her call, and no cat came running, she decided to head back downstairs. I creaked a bit more for emphasis and then waited.

After a few more moments, when I didn't hear anything I started to get concerned that all of our discussions may be paying off and she was downstairs calling 911. I started screaming as I went running down the stairs. I made it down about 5 steps before she yelled, "DA-AD!" She was downstairs in the kitchen on the phone with Mom.

After a bit more of a lecture about scaring her, she called Mom back and told her that it was me who was in the house (though she already knew).

I discussed with my daughter that the right thing to have done would have been to go immediately back outside before calling Mom ... not to trap herself in the kitchen with no escape. Lesson learned. Safely... I told her next time it wouldn't be me, so she should act accordingly.

When my wife took the kids shopping when they were young and had her friend with her, they talked about (and did?) have her friend sneak up behind one of the kids and take them down another aisle. They used that opportunity to discuss the need to stay with Mom as they were shopping and not lag behind her. Again, safely, but it got the message across.

Do your kids know what to do in cases like these? You don't need to go to such extremes as these, but please take a moment and make sure that they know what to do when scared, etc. Take a moment and talk about Stranger Danger and the tricks that they use (including looking for lost pets, etc to lure them closer to the car, asking for directions, etc). They are never too young to start the conversations, but remember to keep them age appropriate and update them and re-discuss them as they grow older. Make sure to include the Internet bad guys in your discussions as well nowadays. Teach them to never use their real name, never give out address or phone number, never talk to (chat, email, etc) anyone that they don't (and YOU don't) know.

Take a few moments today, tomorrow or at least this week and protect your kids.

See National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Is it over yet?

Christmas is a time for family, for religious reflection, for food, for charity, and a time to witness the joy as children (and others) unwrap their presents. For the past several years though, I just haven't been able to get into the Christmas spirit.

Maybe it's the lack of a wintery wonderland that I associate with Christmas from my childhood. Maybe it's the commercialism that's become worse and worse each year as retailers remove the calendar gap between selling fireworks for the 4th of July and selling toys and electronics aimed at the Christmas buyers. Maybe it's because I refuse to listen to Christmas music until AFTER Thanksgiving as opposed to when we get home from trick-or-treating (as one local radio station would have us do). Maybe it's the chaotic scheduling around having a split family with siblings and extended family on both sides to find time to share presence with. Maybe it's the added frustration of all the items that jump out of their hiding spots in closets and the garage once a year to make our living room feel even smaller. Maybe it's just the stress built up at work as projects try to wrap up at year-end. Maybe it's the frustration that I want to be one of those parents that buys my kids something big and flashy for Christmas, but can't afford to.

Or maybe it's something completely different. I don't know.

I enjoy the time with family (immediate and extended), some of whom I only see on holidays, but I'm really glad when I go back to work and return to a "normal" schedule.

I feel bad about feeling bad about Christmas, which just makes me feel worse. I want to get back (?) to a time where Christmas is a fun time. A time I can enjoy without regard to anything else that's going on. A time when I can release the chaos and just enjoy the moment. A time when I can stand outside on the porch with my family on Christmas Eve, look up at the sky and catch a snowflake on my tongue. A time when we all cuddle up by a fire and read 'Twas the night before Christmas and then tuck my little ones and my wife safely in bed before retiring myself in preparation for the excitement of the Christmas morn.

Maybe it's all part of parenting, of growing up, replacing the fun of Christmas with the function of Christmas. But that's not right. I don't want Christmas to be a function. I want Christmas to be a fun time -- to be a worry-free time to enjoy life and family. I want THAT as my Christmas present next year.

Bah Humbug, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours...

RIP Childhood Mysticism

Sorry K. :-(

O Rings

I love it when my kids help with the grocery list... When my wife consolidated the lists from the fridge, she copied it assuming that I had written it (is my handwriting THAT close to a seven-year-old?!). When I questioned her on it, we both had a laugh when I told her he meant "oranges." :-)

Boo!

My wife helps out at the school by recording kids' names and giving them "Hall Passes" when they come in late in the morning. There is one kindergartener who is notoriously late. When she asks his name, he replies "Gregory." "Last name?" "Boo." Uh, ok. So she writes Gregory Boo on the sign in sheet. Then she writes Gregory Boo on his nametag / hall pass. Then she moves on to the next child in line.

This goes on for a couple of weeks. Then today, as they are recording the name in the online attendance program (by teacher), they see that his name is Gregory, but Boo is not his last name. Apparently his mom, likely, calls him "Gregory Boo" as a nickname. He thought Boo was his last name :-)

My wife's first cat used to be called Pierre No! All of our cats must be related. They all have the same last name... And it's not OUR last name :-)

Olivia Newton-John redone...

I remember listening to "Let's Get Physical" when I was much younger, but everything old is new again nowadays. With the inclusion of Let's Get Physical in a recent Glee episode, the song has found a whole new group of fans. Included in that group are my two sons. Well, kinda. They like the tune, but decided it needed to be updated a bit. On their own, they decided to rewrite [part of] it as Let's Get Digital. The chorus has been completed, but they still need to finish each of the verses. When they sing the "digital" part of the chorus, they vibrate their throat with their fingers to give a warbling effect; it adds so much to the song :-)

When they finish the whole thing I'll try to get them to record it and I'll post it here.

Lest there be any doubt...

I am NOT smarter than a 5th grader. Well, that might not be technically true. Maybe I should say 7th grader. No wait. She didn't get it either. I should say that I'm not smarter than some one on my wife's internet buddy list. That much would be true at least.

I called my wife on the way home from work and was confronted with a math problem that she was trying to help my daughter with. It had to do with solving the following equation for a:

a(2x+3) = 9x+12 -x. I got the right answer, but I couldn't show my work. Even the Wizard of the Internet didn't provide an exact answer. It may have provided the answer if we'd dug a little, but nothing came up in the one box :-)

I had the right idea, but couldn't complete my train of thought. I guess that's the first thing to go ... the mind? Maybe that's 'cuz once the mind goes it can't realize what else is already going as well.

Anyway, back to the ice cream story. No wait. Math! Yeah, that's it.

My wife used her own little "Wizard of the Internet" -- the collection of friends she met on-line when she was pregnant with our daughter that have stayed together on an on-line bulletin board. People from all over the world and, apparently with mad math skills. Within a few minutes she had the answer to our problem - factor out a 4 from the right side (after combining the x values). Once we did that, all became clear.

Maybe there is some value in the "social network." Speaking of which, has anyone see that movie - The Social Network? I missed the free screening that I saw on Film Metro. I'm not a Facebook user (I know... I know), but the movie has been getting pretty good reviews.

There's an app for that too?

Back to school humor for/from moms

For those of you sending your rugrats off to school today...

Misconception Number 1: Moms miss their kids when they go back to school.

Seriously. I’ve had enough of you by now. Every morning with the “what are we going to do today, Mom?” is finally over. I’ve had looked at your face twenty-four seven for the last 77 days. It’s time to go learn something.

No more asking me about the pool, when is the next snack or if you can stay up late and watch a movie. It’s over….You’re going back to Hogwarts and I get to have a life again.

There is a Christmas morning for parents and it’s called “back to school”.

Misconception Number 2: Moms like to go school shopping.

Are you freaking kidding me? Why do I pay taxes?…so I can rack up a 200 dollar bill

at Staples for crap that we have laying around my house in junk drawers. Why does it have to be new pencils? What’s wrong with the chewed up, broken strawberry shortcake pencils sitting in the bottom

of the toy box for the last 6 months? And how many subject books can you possibly need?

What happened to reading, writing and arithmetic. If they added a couple of things for parents to that list I wouldn’t mind so much….why not pencils, erasers and vodka…..or some Nyquil.

Misconception Number 3: Moms like back to school night.

Why must we do this every year? I got it already. You’re the teacher…I’m the parent. My kid is either going to be smart or dumb. If he gets a certain number or colored dot on his discipline chart, he can’t get a prize from the prize box.

Pretty simple stuff. Listen, I’m pretty old school. If he doesn’t listen to you…you can throw something at him. I don’t care.

But I got a lot of work to do at home and I’m paying a babysitter right now. Plus, I’m pretty sure you are going to assign some project on wigwams made by some Indian tribe I’ve never heard of, so I need to get home and start my research. So, I got it. We're all here for the betterment of our kids.

Blah blah blah.

Misconception Number 4: Moms like school paperwork.

How many trees are you planning on killing to tell me the same stuff I had to

pay a babysitter to listen to the other night? You know our name, where we live and our emergency phone numbers. He doesn’t have a nickname….call him “stinkbutt” for all I care.

We don’t have any “special circumstances” that you need to know about.

He lives in a home with two parents who may or may not like each other at any given time and they will fight.

If that qualifies as a reason he can’t get his homework done on time then he won’t be able to function as an adult and have a real job so you may want to “educate” him on that life lesson.

Misconception Number 5: Moms like covering books in that annoying sticky paper.

What exactly will you be doing with these books that I have to cover them in a plastic laminate? Do you often teach in the rain? Or while the children are drinking soda and eating soup?

Do you know how long that takes? Has any parent in the history of education been able to do it without any air bubbles in it?

From now on I’m covering it the old way…brown paper bags. That way I can cover the books and pack their lunches at that same time. Who says moms can’t multitask?

PS. Please tell my son if he can’t find his lunch to look in his science book.

Misconception Number 6: Moms like helping you with your homework.

What? I am scared out of my mind. I’m pretty sure that I forgot everything I learned in fifth grade by the time I was in sixth grade. I have no idea what you are talking about most days. I don’t really know my 12 times tables,

I read the cliff notes to all your summer reading and I don’t know how to conjugate anything.

But I do know that song “conjuction junction what’s your function” if that helps at all.

And please don’t even say the words “new math” to me. What the heck was wrong the old one?

Misconception Number 7: Moms can’t wait to pack your lunch every day until we die.

I hate doing laundry. Making dinner every night is the bane of my existence, so making your lunch every day for an entire year, in terms of “mom fun”, lies somewhere between brushing plaque off the dogs teeth

and scheduling my annual pap smear. Listen, as a child I hated what my mom packed me for lunch. But, like every kid before me, and every generation to come you will find a kid to trade with…I’m sure someone likes sardines.

Misconception Number 8: Moms love after school activities.

I don’t know who made up this idea of organized clubs and sports but they should be the ones in charge of carting your ass around. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against all after school programs. I just wish they would offer it

during hours that would work best for me so that dinner wasn’t at 8:30 at night followed by 4 hours of homework.

Why not do it on the weekends and call it “after-hours activities” so mommy and daddy could actually go out one night and pretend that we have a life of our own. Don’t worry about us though I’m sure that me and “what’s his name” will be married a very long time.

Misconception Number 9: Moms don’t mind taking you to school if you miss the bus.

Your bus comes at 7:10 am….which means that you should be standing by the door at 7:05 am. Not eating breakfast,chasing the dog around the house or in the bathroom, asking me to check your homework while I’m taking a shower.

Get it together! I don’t like running down the street in my jammies at 7:12 screaming “Please wait” or “If you stop I’ll show you my boobies.”

Misconception Number 10: Moms cry on your first day of school

We do cry but they are tears of joy. I have done my job. I have successfully kept a human child alive for at least 5 years without doing any major damage. Motherhood is the hardest job in the world!! Sure, doctors save lives and CEO’s run million dollar-businesses but…you teach a kid not to poop their pants and then you can say you’ve made the world a better place.”

A crafty friend... Free. A little time... Free. A little water... (mostly) Free. Several evenings of explosive fun with the kids... PRICELESS!

Last year a friend of mine saw some plans online for a project that he thought his nieces and nephews would enjoy. He gave it a shot and built it. His nieces and nephews had a blast. He refined the project in a few stages and the thing just took off. In the end, he made one for my kids as well.

It was a water rocket! With a few pieces of PVC, a few miscellaneous parts, and a 2 liter soda bottle, he built a contraption that will send a rocket over 100 feet in the air – a FUN, SAFE, REALLY COOL contraption that will SEND A ROCKET INTO THE AIR OVER ONE HUNDRED FEET! FAST!

The kids and I have spent several hours launching the bottle, trying to get it higher, trying to catch it when it falls, showing off to neighbors, talking (if only for a few minutes) about the science behind the project, and generally just having fun – and getting wet!

Thought I haven't built it myself (yet), the plans look pretty straight forward and easy to follow. The parts are inexpensive and easy to find at any Home Depot, Lowes, etc. I think that the kids and I will try to make another rocket (maybe incorporating some of the suggestions listed on the sites) soon. I think that the building process will be almost as much fun, and give them a greater appreciation of how it all works.

Thanks again Jeff -- from all of us!

The original(?) plans can be found here on the This Old House site.

Recession Wallpaper?

My kids are always asking to pick up the paint chips at Home Depot or Meijer or Walmart or wherever we happen to be. Every once in a while I cave, but I generally turn them down because we only end up recycling them as soon as we get home. Every once in a while they use them for some craft (blanket for a creature, etc). I saw this one online the other day and I immediately thought, "Hmmm... Maybe..." :-)

Kinda cool I think.

Happy Father's Day

Say Cheese!

A little girl walked to and from school daily. Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trek to the elementary school.

As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with lightning.

The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school and she feared the electrical storm might harm her child. Full of concern, the mother quickly got into her car and drove along the route to her child's school. As she did, she saw her little girl walking along. At each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up, and smile. Another and another flash of lighting followed quickly and with each, the little girl would look at the streak of light and smile.

When the mother's car drew up beside the child, she lowered the window and called to her, 'What are you doing?'

The child answered, 'I am trying to look pretty because God keeps taking my picture.'

Smile!

Do you know who YOU are?

My wife and I (and the kids too actually) have been watching NBC's Who do you think you are? that follows several celebrities as they explore their genealogical history. It's actually a well done show, mixing the stories of the stars, the aspects of genealogy research and the excitement of "the find." Not everyone who searches their roots will find out that they're related to English royalty, or a commander in the Civil War. Some might actually document their relationship to Kevin Bacon. But whatever the discovery, it's the road, not the destination, that makes it fun.

Ancestry.com sponsors the TV show, and though I've used their site in the past, it had been a while since last I really did anything there. After getting engrossed with the show, my wife decided that we should once again pick up our proverbial digital shovels and go digging for our roots again. This time, we set off in search of her relatives. Through my research in the past, I've documented connections on my side of the tree to Samuel L. Clemens (aka Mark Twain), and a General in the War of 1812, as well as a story about land sale by a relative to Abraham Lincoln's grandfather. I was curious to see where this new journey lead us.

I've used Family Tree Maker in the past for documentation and a number of on-line sources for research, but I was interested to see what, if anything, I could find that would bring me closer to Web 2.0 than the dated version of FTM I had been using. An updated FTM version might be OK, but I wanted to see if there was something that was cloud-based that I could access without the local software install.

A quick Google search yielded a few hits, but nothing really promising...except Ancestry.com. What the hey! Guess I'll give them a try again and see what's new...

Armed with only a couple of recent generations from my wife's tree that we had previously documented, I started inputting her tree. No subscription fee, no commitment. Just an email address and quick registration to track all my work against. I started with her father and then his father. By the time I had entered her grandfather and moved to continue on to her grandmother, I saw a little leaf on her grandfather's entry (literally in less than 1 second). It indicated, I would learn, that the site had already found additional information about her grandfather. Clicking through would yield birth and death records, census data, and other public docs as well as links to other family trees contributed by other members who chose to make their research public (mine is still private for now). BINGO.

Though we had only a couple of generations of her ancestry documented (thought I think I have more that had not been typed in yet), in about 5 hours total work, with great kudos to Ancestry.com we've added 962 people and gotten her lineage traced back to the 1100's! There are many interesting people mixed in there (and we're learning about them via stories others have attached to their trees), but so far, no one that you would know :-(

One interesting thing about Ancestry.com though, is that if you contribute your tree to the OneWorld Tree (and you possibly need to subscribe as well), they'll do the research for you and identify the "famous people" in your tree. What that means, I'm not sure, but once we've gone as far as we want to for this time, I might just see what it spits out.

There are certain things that the FTM client software does much better than the site (full graphic family tree navigation, maps, showing relationships between two specific person, etc), so we'll likely end up upgrading the software as well. But the Ancestry.com site is certain a boost as far as filling out the tree.

With my lineage, finding Twain has led to a stronger interest in history, and Twain himself, for my kids. We've read about William the Conqueror and other figures related to our trees too. I can't wait to see who else we find.

Happy digging!