The Only Difference by Panic at the Disco

I just thought I would show what David has been working on in his days and nights. He has pretty primitive equipment, hence why the audio and video aren't perfectly aligned. Just think what he could do with some serious stuff. Enjoy! (I would recommend watching in high quality.)

Election Aftermath

Okay, it's over! I never thought we'd make it. Now we have a good four or five weeks before it starts over. I decided to take advantage of this lull to post some of my own reflections on the subject in order to ease the effects of the withdrawal you might be experiencing.

Those of you that know me know that I am passionate and opinionated. I could probably go on forever on a variety of political discussions. For the sake of everyone, including me, I've decided to only touch on the MOST IMPORTANT thing I learned from this election cycle. It's actually been good for me to try and boil all the confusion down to one simple truth. In a minute I'll tell you what it is, but first...

The night of the last presidential debate, I had decided I wasn't going to watch it. I was already suffering from election fatigue and I didn't think I could stomach a couple of hours of argument (particularly while eating dinner). Unfortunately for me, Tom had turned it on, and more out of boredom than anything else I sat down to listen - just for a minute. I expected to hear discussions on topics such as education, health care, the war in Iraq, abortion, gay rights, economics, maybe even judicial review if I was lucky. I already have ideas on all of these subjects, so what I actually heard surprised even me. It was thickly spread across the board, between both candidates, and it was all too familiar. It went something like this:

"Vote for me and I will solve all your problems. You won't have anything to worry about because the government will take care of you and do everything for you. You won't have to make any decisions...heck, we won't even let you make any. Best of all, you'll have me to thank for it." Now, you might wonder if this is such a good plan, why it can't be completely voluntary. In order for this plan to work, it must be forced.

Contrast that plan with the one that goes, "Vote for this plan and you will be free. You will definitely have challenges and life won't be easy. You will actually have to think and work hard - solve your own problems, but you will also have the opportunity for God to bless you because of your faith. Above all else, you will be FREE!"

The obviousness of our situation shocked even me. We spend so much time listening to outside forces confusing people that we often miss the simple truth of the matter. The bottom line is that we already voted on these two plans once. We spend so much time trying to figure out who to vote for and how to approach individual issues that we often miss the simpleness of it all. No matter what happens-no matter what the issues are, in the future, I will always vote for the plan that keeps us FREE! That is my commitment to you. End of story.

SUBJECT: GREETINGS

I know all of you are familiar with the letter that frequently drops in your junk box from someone (??) from somewhere (Africa) asking for your help moving their money out of the country. I used to open these just out of curiosity (and against my better judgement) because I was so intrigued that these people actually thought anyone would fall for this. Well, the other day I was searching the want ads looking for work when I came across an ad for a music teacher. "Perfect", I thought, and I answered right away. Mind you, the ad was pretty simple; enough so that it never entered my mind that I might be falling for the proverbial "oldest trick in the book". Imagine my surprise when I received the response to my email. It went like this:

"Hello,
Thank you for the email,i want my kid for the tutorial. A boy of 14yrs, more so for accepting the offer and its okay by me,I have madecontacts with my son concerning the

arrangement of the tutoring which
he told me piano or guitar is ok by him and i want you to know that iam going to pay
for 2 month,which should be $50.00/hr(which i have in mind) And am
planning that you should be teaching him 2hour, twice a week,so get back to me with the total fee... so i want you to know that i will be sending
you a check for the payment of the tutorial and the rest of thepayment will be sent to the Nanny to take care of him while he isthere for the lesson, so as soon as you get the check cash you

will deduct cost of tutoring of the lesson and send the remainingbalance to my Guardian that will be taking care of the kid Viawestern union. Regarding this, kindly send your full information torecieve the payment so it can be made out on-time. So hope i can trust

you that you will teach my son good academics and some moral respects
so that they can be good to their self in the future, i hope i can
count on you

for the tutorial and the money to be sent to theGuardian.Thanks and waiting to read from you. kindly get back to me with the necessary details needed such as,

NAME:
ADDRESS:
CONTACT PHONE NUMBER:
DIRECT PHONE NUMBER.

Will be waiting to read your mail soon.
Regards,"

No, I'm not kidding. Needless-to-say, I was a little angry that I had wasted my time, but more embarassed that I had fallen into the trap so completely unaware. Luckily, my brilliant husband crafted a reply for me to return. For your reading enjoyment, I'm publishing it here for all to see.

"Thankyou good sir for recent reply of the tutoring of kid. I have experience in teach piano to full extent of talent of skills and instruction. I would gladly forward the requested proceeds but first must comply with recent wishes of Madaam of the house. Her full departure rendered nearly $200.00 daily as a per diem for teaching boy of 14 yrs. I will gladly receive money order or like equivalent in gold bullion for lessons of tutoring music instruction. It is with my warmest regards and best wishes that I hope to teach boy of 14 years and would enjoy further instruction with guardian. (EXPLITIVE - this is a family friendly blog)!

Love, Music Tutor"

There! Now I feel a little better! Thanks, Tom, for defending my honor!

The Perfect Day

For those of you that worry that our kids might be socially deprived, (or worse yet, impaired) due to their homeschooling, I thought I would share an experience in order to ease your minds. A couple of weeks ago, we received an invitation to a homeschool opening social, of sorts. Another mom reserved a park up the canyon and sent out a "Come One, Come All" email. She made simple food assignments and then waited for people to arrive. (In all fairness to her, it wasn't that simple. She had it VERY well thought out, and we were certainly grateful for her effort!)

The morning of the event, I was met with mixed responses from the kids. The little ones were excited to get out of the house. The middle ones were anticipating the time with friends. David, however, was unhappy that his precious time was being imposed on. He tried to talk me into letting him stay home. After all, no one his age would be there. None of his friends would be hanging out with "little" kids. I explained that this was a family activity, so he grudgingly went along.

When we arrived, things were still being set up. Since we were some of the first, the kids willingly jumped in to help. When they were done, they began to explore. A little way from the pavillion was the perfect river; not deep or fast enough to worry about the little ones, and walkable (across, that is) for the rest of the kids. There was also a fair amount of debris (boards, branches, rocks) laying around the river bank. David took one look at the potential, and though he probably won't admit it, I heard the words, "Let's see. What can we build here?" escape his lips. After that, I didn't hear from him again for...4 HOURS!!! He managed to rally the troops and draw them all into his adventure. He's always been a natural leader in that way. He put them all to work.

Meanwhile, Josh found the coolest tree to climb. He kept telling me how "awesome" this day was. Kendall disappeared into the wooded hills with some other cousins. Chamane wandered the vast, open lawn to her hearts delight. Thomas sat and listened to Grandma Allen read stories and teach silly songs to the kids while she played the guitar. They played games on the lawn. We ate and ate and ate. Best of all, I had a great time visiting with my sister, Ellen, and many of my other friends. There was no deadline of when we had to be home. There were no jobs that needed to be done. We were totally free to experience nature and relax.

As far as the kids were concerned, they were super busy. There was no asking when we could go home. There was no whining about not having anything to do. I think they stayed away for fear that if they were seen, I would say it was time to go. As the afternoon wore on and it was time for people to think about leaving, they decided to take a picture of all these kids together (moms included). I didn't think anything of it until I saw the photo later. I must admit that the sheer number of homeschoolers was impressive. I think at last count, 160 people attended the activity, and that was just a handful of those that were invited.

When all was said and done, we all had a great time. I think every one of us made at least one new friend. Most importantly, we all went home refreshed and ready to hit the books. I thought it was cool that we could spend a day like this and call it "school"!

Miss Maney

"You have got a face!"

I've had a request for more pictures of Maney. Since I've always considered myself to be eager to please, I'll go ahead and post some...if you twist my arm...ow...ow.....

I promise this shirt was clean when I put it on her...I think...

All of our kids are great foragers, aided by the kids who dish up BIG bowls of applesauce and just leave them. At least it wasn't wasted.

Maney enjoying some Grandma time while her mom has a bottle with her muffin. YUM!

What kid doesn't know about McDonalds?

Yesterday my husband and I took our 5-year-old on a date. We went to McDonalds to get a bite to eat. On our way in, he squealed with glee at the prospect of going to a restaurant. As we got our food and found a seat, he commented nonchalantly that there was a McDonalds sign outside. He said something like, "Hmm. There's a McDonalds sign out there." We started to ask him questions about his whereabouts. We asked him if he knew where we were. He promptly changed the subject. We asked if he'd ever been to McDonalds. He said, "No." We asked what McDonalds looks like. No answer. As we were starting to chuckle over his lack of comprehension of the situation, he took another bite of the hamburger from his "happy meal" and pointed out that there was a McDonalds sign on the napkin. What do you know. We had to flat out tell him that we were at McDonalds! I wish I had a camera to capture the excitement on his face! Every kid's dream!

Tom's 40th B-Day

My AMAZING husband turned the big 4-0 this week. My super cool sister, Angie, put this video together for the celebration. Tom, here's to the next 40 great years! And here's to more of Angie's cool videos. Ange, thanks for helping me look a lot less lame!