January 4, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Time for my once every other week blog post…
Shawna had another ultrasound a few days ago because the last one showed something they were worried about. Everything is just fine and we got some new pictures (the most expensive pictures of Kylee we’ll ever pay for until her wedding). Here’s the best one in 3D of her face (amazing how they can do this):
We had wonderful holidays and hope everyone else did too. We have so much to be thankful for. Here is a picture of all of us:
I’m coming up with some more stuff to write and get back in the swing of this blogging thing. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

https://markasbell.com/222/

Filed Under: Family, Misc

Camping Mirror

November 29, 2007 by Leave a Comment

You know you have a princess when you need a camping mirror.

The other night I was playing with the kids and Shawna was browsing the net for Christmas gift ideas. She said something to me about what did I want for Christmas. A few years ago if I was asked that question I would have a list ready to read off. These days I’m a lot more simple but I find myself throwing different things out at different times to different people instead of a list all at once. I know I’m weird.

So I told Shawna, “The kids and I need some camping equipment so we can go camping.” I’ve seriously been wanting to do that for a while now. I think Devin would love that kind of thing (unlike me who would rather play anything with a ball) so I want to take him camping. We have a tent and sleeping bags but none of the other stuff that makes it a real and exciting camping experience.

Since I was playing with the kids at the moment this conversation was going on with Shawna I got them involved in the conversation. I asked them, “What all do you think we might need to go camping in the woods where there is no light and no water?” That is when the interesting list started to build. I should have written it down.

We talked about everything from a portable table and hot chocolate to the mini Jeep brand TV/Radio gadget that runs on batteries (that was a gift I’ve only used once when I took the kids ‘camping’ in the back yard) and a telescope so we could look at the stars (Devin’s idea). But the funniest one to me was when Skyler said “We’ll need a mirror!” in that prissy tone she uses. You had to be there. It was precious, hilarious, and rotten all in one moment.

Looks like I’ll be taking the princess ‘camping’ at the Holiday Inn Express. 

Filed Under: Family, Stories

Funny Mother-In-Law Story

November 5, 2007 by Leave a Comment

My mother-in-law, Grace (aka GG), came over to help us with the kids and the wedding Shawna was working on the week before the wedding date. So lots of funny quirky mother-in-law stuff happened.
(I’m very blessed to have a wonderful relationship with my ‘in-laws’. They’re not ‘in-laws’ at all. We’re all just family. If we weren’t the following story might not have been so funny…)
One night GG and I were driving the kids home from the rehearsal dinner. Shawna wasn’t with us because she had to stay late to help the bride with flowers and such, so GG was sitting in the front seat beside me and the kids were in the back of course. Sometimes as we’re getting close to our house the kids will say “Drive crazy Daddy!” They like it when I jerk the wheel back and forth and tap the brakes to make the van feel like it’s bouncing all over the place. They get the biggest kick out of it and I love to hear their little laughter, so I like to ‘drive crazy’.
I’m used to having Shawna in the seat beside me when I do this, and I think Shawna is used to what I do and knows to hold on really good. GG – not so much. As I pulled in to our street I gave the wheel one big jerk to the right, so GG swayed really far to the left. The kids are laughing so hard I’m getting tickled. Then I yanked the wheel really fast to the left, causing GG to change directions and sway really really hard to the right. Her head slammed in to the side of the seatbelt thing that is behind your shoulder. If it had been the window it would have broken, but probably wouldn’t have hurt as bad as that knob thing that adjusts the seatbelt height.
It really did hurt her head but she was ok, so I laughed hysterically for about 5 minutes.
Filed Under: Family, Stories

Kids’ Birthdays

October 15, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I’m reading more and more money related blogs – usually because I subscribe to one that sounds interesting and then they link to something else that is interesting. That is how I stumbled upon this post. I love it. I feel the same way but unfortunately I’m not DOING the same thing. My kids are big enough now to know what they got and they’re even starting to pay a little attention to who they got it from. So it’s nice to at least get them a little something from us even though I’d much rather put that money in an interest earning fund for them. But ‘a little something’ seems to get bigger with every birthday. Maybe I’ll get it right with this third one we have on the way and give her a college fund for her birthday. Then I’ll have to play catch up with the other two, and don’t get me started on how much interest I would have earned on Devin’s by now – he’s five years old. We’ve made so many mistakes. Do you ever wish you could go back and just fix stuff? 
Filed Under: Family, Money

Interesting About Porn

October 12, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I guess I’m back on the offensive against porn lately cause here I am posting about it again. Just the other day I recommended a newsletter on http://www.everymansbattle.com/. Here is a good one they sent today. If you’ve read my previous posts on porn this article validates the stories I told of my younger years – I wasn’t so abnormal after all – tons of kids are falling in to porn. This is a good article making the point that we can’t just ignore this problem…

Who Buys Pornography?
by Steve Arterburn

The United States Advisory Board for Social Concerns shows that minors read over 70 percent of all pornographic magazines. Further estimates indicate that most hard-core porn viewers are under twenty years of age. To a large extent, then, our nation’s young people are financing the pornographic industry.

Further still, adults who seek treatment for pornography addiction almost always attest to exposure during childhood. Whether these adults are involved in multiple affairs, self-gratification, or prostitution, they usually share the experience of getting started years earlier with what seemed to be harmless magazines containing nude photographs.

My point is this: if you have a teenager, he or she is a target for the pornography industry. Therefore, you be observant of their behavior, and prepared to take immediate and decisive action if pornography is discovered.

If you discover evidence of porn usage—a phone bill, a book, a magazine, a video—don’t simply take the child’s word that it was a one-time experience. In most cases, it’s the tip of the iceberg.

Adolescents caught up in this problem are usually much too ashamed to ask for help, and too emotionally immature to realize there may be a problem. So even if your child has a history of honesty, it’s much wiser to at least suspect that your child may be trying to hide a bigger problem.
Dad, if you ignore the evidence, you may be ignoring you child’s subconscious attempt to get help. 

Filed Under: Family, Personal Growth

Under 6 Soccer Update

September 25, 2007 by Leave a Comment

We’ve played four games so far and we’re 3-1. We are much better than I anticipated we’d be, but what am I talking about – these kids are 4 and 5 yrs old. The team that beat us last night is very good. They had a kid that was bigger than everyone on the field, faster than all but one kid on the field, and could kick harder than anyone on the field. I asked their coaches if he plays for Clemson and they laughed. They said we are the only team that has given them a close game so far because they’ve been blowing everyone else out.

Devin is going after it much better than last year but Skyler is having the first year timidity that Devin had last year. She just stands there, follows me around (I’m on the field with the kids), or does little dance moves when the ball is on the other side of the field. Even if the ball comes towards here she will stand there til it hits her and then she cries when some other kid bumps in to her. Maybe next year she’ll like it more or maybe she’ll stick to her real passion – dancing.

Devin took a hard spill last night. He was hustling after the ball and some kid cut him off and he went down hard – head to the ground and all – he bit it – ate dirt – however you want to put it so it sounds as bad as it was – like a blind sided blitz in football except this is soccer. The difference is last year that would have been game over for Devin. This year he cried for a minute and was ready to come back in the game.

There are a couple of kids I like to get pumped up and talking tough to theirselves to motivate them to not be scared to get in there after the ball (Devin is one of them). They’ll grit their teeth and flex their muscles before the kickoff that turns them loose. After that I just have to get Devin to focus his agression on going after the ball instead of THE KID closest to the ball.

We don’t have a team name this year like we did last year, but this year our uniforms are solid navy blue. The team name we had last year is more appropriate for the uniforms we have this year – Blue Thunder.

I think Shawna has taken pictures but I’ve been so busy I haven’t even had a chance to look at them. By the end of the season I’m sure I’ll post some pics. 

Filed Under: Family, Misc

Eventful Birthday Party

September 15, 2007 by Leave a Comment

We had an awesome birthday party planned for Devin. It was going to be at the oustide ‘Water Works’ area at the YMCA. When we realized earlier in the week that the water has already gotten too cold outside we decided to do the party in the inside pools with this huge inflatable toy they put in the pool. Then right before the party the thunderstorm started, so we couldn’t get in any of the pools. So we took all the kids in to the gym and lowered the basketball goals. Most of the kids still weren’t big enough to shoot a basketball goal high enough to get it in there. Some dads were helping but most of the kids just decided to run wild all over the place making up their own games as they went. It was all good – nobody cared that we weren’t getting to go swimming. Then there was a tornado warning. Everyone in the building was herded in to the locker rooms to wait out the storm. By the time we got out of there we just went to the party room and had pizza and cake and let kids run wild some more. It was crazy but definitely memorable. The most eventful birthday party I’ve ever been a part of… 
Filed Under: Family, Misc

Baby News & Government

August 27, 2007 by Leave a Comment

We went to the doctor last week. Well actually it’s a midwife. Shawna has decided to take on a new experience this time and give birth to this baby at a midwife center. The biggest difference being there won’t be any anesthesia.

Anyway, all is well. The baby has a healthy heartbeat. The due date is estimated to be February 26th. We should know in about 5 weeks if it is a boy or girl.

The midwife was very nice and has a much different approach to doing things than the typical OB-GYN. Our great friends Lenny & Tathie used this midwife’s services for one of their children and that has a lot to do with Shawna’s choice to go this route. It seems like it will be a good experience.

Of course we’re conscious about the cost but we’re trying to not let that be too much of our focus. There have already been tears in our house because it is just so wrong how much healthcare and insurance costs in this country. A hospital birth with a cash discount would probably cost about the same as the midwife even though we’re probably going to try and get a discount from the midwife’s regular pricing too, but I’ll talk more about those numbers in a later post. (I want to share later some things we’re doing to raise the money to prepare for it since it is what Joe Sangl would call a “known upcoming expense”.) For now I’d like to share something on the humorous and political side.

The midwife is smart. She sends her patients to Greenville Tech for free ultra sounds, so that’s where we’ll go for that. She also uses the public health department for blood work. She drew Shawna’s blood samples last week and we took them to the public health department lab for testing. This is where the political humor comes in. We had to dodge people in the parking lot and walk through several people just hanging around waiting in different doorways and hallways on our way to the lab. We were the only white people in the place. Now I’m all about our free country and cultural diversity and all that so don’t think I’m going down a prejudice trail.

The reason we were the only white people in the place is because everyone else was Mexican. Well I take that back – most of the workers were African-American, but I’m not talking about my fellow citizens. What I want to talk about is all the Spanish-only speaking Mexicans that were there. I say Spanish-only speaking because that’s all they can speak – no Engles (or however they spell it).

Now I don’t want to come across prejudice against any ethnic group because I’m not. Some of my best friends on my soccer team in high school were Mexican – English speaking Mexicans or at least some that were learning English. I’m on a friendly first name basis with the owner of one of my favorite Mexican restaurants here in town – he’s a nice Catholic family man, and he’s Mexican-American. I don’t have a problem with Mexicans in general. I have a problem with the illegal aliens we allow to live in our country and exploit our idiot government programs at we the taxpayers’ expense.

Shawna couldn’t help but laugh as I walked through the place and out loud said “my baby is going to cost me thousands of dollars but I bet his is free” and then as we passed some more people “hey – I bet I’m paying for his baby too”. I was saying it loud enough for them to hear me. You might be thinking what an aweful jerk I am for saying things like that right in front of these people. I have to remind you these were Spanish-only speaking Mexicans. They didn’t understand me and if they did they wouldn’t dare act like it because if they get caught speaking English they might get treated like a citizen.

I’ll stop ranting about this now cause I could go on and on all day, and forgive me if I’m offending someone who is actually trying to become a citizen, speak our language, and work to fund our government for those who really need it. I commend those who are making a better life for themself here without doing it at everyone elses expense. But during those moments the other day I just had to make humor to keep from getting furious that I had to wade through people from another country to get to my own US government funded health department. What is wrong with our leaders?

Filed Under: Family, Money

It’s Soccer Season Again

August 15, 2007 by Leave a Comment

It’s time for the intense competition of 4-6 yr old soccer. The edge of your seat don’t miss a beat high speed action we’ve all been waiting for.

I’m not coaching, at least not “head” coaching this time. Some of Devin’s friends are playing and their dads were already planning on coaching, so I gladly accept the opportunity to watch this season. I’ve offered my assistance wherever it might be needed, but all the calling and planning and scheduling and carrying heavy stuff will be up to the point men.

Some big news for this year is Skyler is playing. Yep. She has decided to extend her summer break from dancing and do soccer season. A couple of girls she knows are playing too so it will be interesting.

All together I think every kid on this team is going to know each other, which is completely different from my experience last year. A couple of kids knew each other but never more than 2 or 3. This year Devin and Skyler know probably 8 of the 12 kids that will be on the team.

Anyway, I’m excited soccer is here. I’ll miss the coaching part I did last year, but maybe the new dads will let me get involved just enough to satisfy my little need for involvement. At least I might be able to take good pictures this year…

Filed Under: Family, Misc

Don’t You Know What Causes That?

July 23, 2007 by Leave a Comment

If you’re a man and you’ve ever had a pregnant wife you’ve had someone ask you this question. Well we’re on pregnancy number four now (that’s right – cause one of them was a miscarriage) and people are still asking me “Don’t you know what causes that”. That’s supposed to be funny or something so I play along. A better cliche line to say to me might be “dang – don’t you know when to quit”. But I’d like to respond with something mean or silly. Here are some of my ideas for how to respond to “Don’t you know what causes that?”:

  • “Yeah, but your momma obviously didn’t” (any response with ‘your momma’ is classic to me and this response inults the listener’s very existence because his momma didn’t know how to prevent him from being born – great comeback I think).
  • “No, but I would really like for you to tell me” (this one would be great when someone asks me that question in a large crowd of people – I would say it as serious as possible and insist on getting an explanation right there in front of everybody – but not just any explanation will do – they’re going to have to put up with me acting stupid like I don’t understand anything they’re saying and they’re going to have to find a more explicit way to make it clear to me).
  • “It seems like they taught something about it in seventh grade but I didn’t take notes” (now that’s just silly and keeps the humor about me).
  • “My parents tried to warn me about kissing and holding hands a long time ago so we’ve just been doing lots of other stuff and she still got pregnant” (my parents didn’t really say that stuff to me but I heard of other parents who told their kids stuff like that).
  • “I’m still trying to figure it out and as long as it’s still working we’re just gonna keep doing everything we’ve been doing until we pinpoint exactly what the cause is”.

I’m sure there are a lot more funny ways to respond. Share your ideas in the comments. 

Filed Under: Family, Relationships
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