How much faith do we have?

I am always torn about faith.... how much is enough? As I mentioned in my post (rant) last weekend, there were people in the Bible that came face to face with God/Jesus and they still had doubts. I often think that if I REALLY believed in Heaven vs. Hell, God and Jesus that decisions in my life would be easy. I know, I know, it is the flesh:) But then does that mean my faith is weak?


Take personal/home protection for instance. If you have a gun(s) for protection does that mean that you don't have faith in God? I still have a hard time believing that God protects/heals some people while he lets others suffer and die. That is unless the healing and/or dying is so that his will is done, not about the person. I believe that God can make good come out of bad things but that he does not interfere with our free will; mine or the free will of a criminal.


Or look at saving money... he instructs us to give, Matthew 19:21. But he also says it is wise to save, Proverbs 21:20. Clear as mud:)

I always say that when we finally know I think we will all be surprised:)

You can ALWAYS find something humorous or ironic in any situation if you look hard enough,

Al

Earmuffs...

Being a stay-at-home Dad I am always looking for ways to humor the Triplets AND me. So I taught the kids to cover their ears when I say "earmuffs." Yes, just like in the movie Old School but not for the same reason.

Just wait till they really start talking.... I plan to do a word of the day. Maybe the first word will be plethora:)

Earmuffs!

A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience.
John Updike (1932 - ), Assorted Prose (1965)

Al

Breakfast with the Triplets....

Now that the kids have been getting up earlier (6am) they usually have a say-so in what they eat for breakfast. We are playing around with the idea of having a "Triplet of the day" (TOD). Then the TOD would get to decide things like what they have for meals. But until then I limit their choices and it is a combination of:

1. What two out of three want - they need to learn how to loose sooner or later:)
2. What I want to cook - they need to get use to "The Man" keeping them down:)
3. How much time we have - reheating is quicker than cooking

I know, I have been told by a friend's child that I am "strict" and "tough." Ha! Just wait till they get a teacher, coach and a boss:)

Now they frequently bring their "Peeps" to breakfast with them:)

I can't understand it. I can't even understand the people who can understand it.
Queen Juliana (1909 - 2004), of the Netherlands


Al

Got Blueberries?

Daddy's new nap schedule...

This might not be the best solution but it works.... I now sit in the Triplet's bedroom until they fall asleep. That way they don't get out of bed and they fall asleep FAST. Of course so does Daddy:) I am the type of person that if I stop moving I fall asleep. So now I get a short nap or two each day! Talk about a silver lining:)

Oatmeal for breakfast only on bath days:)

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.

John Adams (1735 - 1826)

Al

Times they are a changing....

Since we took the rails off the kid's cribs we have seen a digression of our nap and bedtime routines. Duct tape is always an option but is often frowned upon by the authorities:) So they get out of bed 2-3 times before going to sleep. They also now wake up at 6am or so. That is messing up my blog posting time:( We are making adjustments but the transition is a little bumpy.

William now likes to sleep under his bed as there is not much room with all of his animals.

The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', meaning 'many', and the word 'ticks', meaning 'blood sucking parasites'.
Larry Hardiman

Al

Is it being open minded or not having strong beliefs?

I consider myself open minded but I wonder if I just don't have strong enough beliefs. I fell that I have the ability to see things from other's point of view most of the time. That would make me empathetic, right? But what if another person's view is just plain wrong in your eyes? Is it OK to agree to disagree?

I mention this as there seems to be a ever greater divide between different "groups" of people.

• Poor - Rich
• Minority - Non Minority (OK, call it what it is... "The Man")
• Christian - Non Christian
• Right to Life - Abortion Rights
• Death Penalty - Non Death Penalty

It seems that more and more people are moving to the wings and not to the center. Is that because you are seen as "selling out" or working with the "enemy" if you actually listen to what the other side has to say?

Take the Death Penalty for instance. I was all for it until College. Then I became a Criminal Justice Major and you find out that it costs around 10x more to execute someone than it would to keep them in prison for 50 years (I know it is the lengthy appeals process). Also, at the time the average life expectancy in a Maximum Security Prison was around 10 years, it is probably longer now. Not to mention that NO ONE with a private lawyer had EVER been put to death (rich people can buy their life) . I believe this is still true. On top of all that I have been reading the Bible - I find it very hard to follow Jesus and support the death penalty but I would probably want revenge if someone attacked me and/or my family. I can see both sides of the issue - so, am I weak in my beliefs or just open minded?

To sum it all up - does a lot of this stuff really matter if we TRULY believe in God? But heck, people in the Bible actually talked to God, God talked to them, they walked with Jesus, saw his miracles and they still had doubts....

Too bad there is not more proof in faith:)
Al

After cooking.....

Like I always tell the kids "each of your decisions has ramifications." I sometimes forget that mine do also:) So after letting them "help" me cook we often have quite a mess on our hands. Another one of my favorite sayings is "it is OK if you make a mess if you clean it up."

So they did just that....

It is bad luck to be superstitious.

Andrew W. Mathis

Al

The Triplets are really cooking now.....

I have taken the bold and misguided step of letting our little triumvirate assist with cooking. Well, not really cooking as burning children is frowned upon, but rather preparing the food. But I only let the mess with the food BEFORE I cook it. That way I figure all the toddler germs have been cooked away in the oven or on the griddle.

They LOVE helping to make pizza!

But they do eat some of the ingredients:)

Everyone rises to their level of incompetence.

Laurence J. Peter (1919 - 1988), "The Peter Principle"

Al

Triplet is not happy when he finds out who made him....

Who is this "11" person?

I was a slacker today....

Sorry I didn't post earlier today. The kids woke up early and the day got away from me.

One thought..... Why is everyone mad at CEO's making big money and no one says a word about all the Movie/TV stars who make the same if not more money? If you want to redistribute some wealth start with California. Oh, wait... that State is broke.

Jackson trying out Daddy's new ear protection.

Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad.

George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

Al

These are days.....

These are days.....

As I have mentioned before I usually have the gift of being able to see how a situation will look in the future. Not that I have better judgement because of it but I can see the humor in almost everything. Unfortunately my "gift" sometimes leaves me and I get wrapped up in the moment and feel a bit overwhelmed. For some reason our Triplet 2 1/2 year olds seem to drag me into their "moments" more and more these days.

Our Nanny from Dallas told me that this was when the tough days were going to start and boy oh boy was she right. I also have this nagging feeling that it will get worse before it gets better. As our friends from Houston call it... willful disobedience. Now they say "No" when we say "go to timeout." So now they get a side helping of loosing their favorite toy for the day or night or sometimes a "tactile reminder":)

Jackson is our most frequent offender. His treasured Glow Worm has been sequestered several times over the past few days. But, like I tell the kids... there are consequences for their actions and their decisions. I tell them what their options are and they choose.

Funny how we all make choices that we know will have adverse consequences. As I told the CFO.. that is the weakness of the flesh isn't it? Like I say, children are a mirror. To which the CFO said "who are you?" :) Needless to say I have grown very much as a Christian during our 11 plus years of marriage.

The Triplets LOVE the bowling set they got from their Aunt Rhonda.

In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these.
Paul Harvey

Al

Funniest thing I have heard lately....

The South gets a bad rap but I do think it is funny that teachers from China came to Birmingham, Alabama to learn how to better teach English. This is their first and only visit to the United States. They will be learnt well before they get on back to China:)

Our table gets full sometimes.....

I can't understand why a person will take a year to write a novel when he can easily buy one for a few dollars.

Fred Allen (1894 - 1956)

Al

The more things stay the same the more they change...

I know my title is bassakwards from the real saying but it makes more sense the way I wrote it. Just when I think I have this thing (being the stay-at-home parent for Triplets) nailed I get a curve ball and things change. Here are just a few of the areas we are experiencing a lot of change in. Some are good and some provide "opportunities" for the Triplets and me:)

• Staying well - we are getting n molars and fighting cold/flu season.
• Sleeping - VERY dependent on staying well.
• Disclipline - having to constantly change tactics to keep up with your foe (children). They adapt to situations quicker than a six man SEAL team.
• Eating - to say their eating habbits change with the wind is an understatement. If you have ever worked in a restaurant you have probably met a guy in the dish pit that eats off other's plates.... I am now that guy:)

The boys having a good old time hanging out on the stairs. Somehow I think they were talking about me:)

Try as hard as we may for perfection, the net result of our labors is an amazing variety of imperfectness. We are surprised at our own versatility in being able to fail in so many different ways.

Samuel McChord Crothers

Al

The tallest toddler on record....

Anything to keep the Triplets laughing

As any parent knows a laughing child is A LOT more fun than a crying and/or whining child. So we do some pretty silly stuff around here to keep all five of us in good spirits. The other day this included "trying on" shower caps....

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.

Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)

Al

Does Willy Wonka have a jail?

Everybody knows I am VERY sarcastic and quite a smarty pants. I also sometimes offend people or make them mad with some of my comments that not everyone finds funny. In the spirit of full disclose I want remind you that my family, my in-laws and a lot of their friends read this blog. So when I comment about anything dealing with family they have already heard what I am writing in the blog.


We are very blessed that the CFO's Mother loves buying cute outfits for the kids. As you may know "cute" outfits are exponentially more expensive than "nice" outfits:) Between her bargain shopping at all the boutiques and my Mom sewing for the kids they have plenty of outfits for special occasions. But I can't help finding the humor in EVERYTHING, even what the kids wear.

One set of clothes the Triplets recently wore are VERY cute but also VERY funny. The first time I saw them all I could think is that "If Willy Wonka had a jail for Oompa Loompas this would be their jail clothes."

I really do think they look cute in them but I still giggle when they wear them:)

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
Jack London (1876 - 1916)


Al

Cleaning out the basement....

The CFO and I finally got everything coordinated to be able to dedicate two days to cleaning out our basement. I have never had a basement before and it is GREAT for storage but when we moved here nine months ago everything that did not have a "place" in the house got put in the basement. Add to that we have been adding to the stuff in the basement over the last nine months and I am not very good at putting things back where the belong.... We have a mess on our hands.


I am starting to come to terms with the fact that I am a bit of a hoarder:) I have enough cables to wire a house with Cat5 cable, phone cable and coaxial cable. Not to mention all the rechargers, splitters, and other assorted AV and computer cables. I keep telling my Mom if you need it don't buy it, I have it:) You will soon see a lot of our things on ebay:)

Who knew that string could be such a great toy... note to self, do not let kids play with string. It quickly becomes a noose around the neck when someone else wants to play tug of war.

The scientific name for an animal that doesn't either run from or fight its enemies is lunch.
Michael Friedman


Al

Am I crazy AND alone?

If you have read my blog before you can probably answer yes to the question in the title. Not crazy in the clinical sense, at least not as of today:), but crazy in that what I do is quite often not "normal." I always say normal is boring:) Also not alone in the sense that I feel like I am missing something and longing to connect with others but alone in that my views are not held by others.

The CFO, friends and family are always saying I need a break from the kids. The weird thing is that when I do "take a break" I feel guilty. Not only that but I do miss the kids too:) But I think the bigger thing is my pride in being a stay-at-home Dad. I mean this is MY job! When I worked outside the home (that still sounds funny to me) I would NEVER let someone else do my job. If things got tough at work, my competitiveness would come out and I would just work harder.

I know, this is weird right? Or maybe it is just because I have only been staying at home with them for eight months and it will wear off with time. But when the kids are at their day out program I can justify it because I am cleaning the house, doing errands, or working in the yard. Or when we are at the YMCA I am using the time to get in shape.

Mimi and Grandaddy are outnumbered at Lunch:)

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.
Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

Al

Who are you punishing?

One lesson I continue to learn is that before I hand down a punishment or tell them what will happen is to carefully consider who actually gets punished. One night that stands out was when Jackson would not do something I asked him to do, like brush his teeth. I told him that if he did not do it he would not get rocked and read to by the CFO (Mommy to him.) I looked up to see the CFO with a look that said "you are punishing me" on her face. Sure enough, he did not do it and she did not get "cuddle" time with him that night.

Or when I say "that's it, no more TV today." It is out there so I can't take it back but I am thinking "OH fiddlesticks (much worse words fly through my brain) what am I going to do during bath time?" See, I bathe one at a time while the other two watch TV. If not I am having to break up altercations between the non-bathing siblings:)

But don't worry, I am just waiting for the day that I can use peer-pressure to my advantage. One does something wrong, everyone pays:) Hey, it worked in Full Metal Jacket.. well, it sort of worked there:) I already have Mini-Mommy (Addison) backing me up. Today I sent Jackson to time out and he yelled "Glowy!" (Glow worm) as usual. I said "If you go to timeout and face the wall I will get you Glowy." He has a habit of turning around and pushing the rules. Addison helped out by grabbing his closest Glow Worm and taking it to him. But when she got there he turned around. She pointed her finger at him and babbled something... he turned to face the wall and she gave him his Glowy. That's my girl!!

The CFO getting some cuddle time with the Triplets.

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
Douglas Adams

Al

Addison, what face do you make when you are cold?

I realize I am playing with fire and I might get burned...

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a unique and usually bassakwards (not a typo) way of doing/looking at things. For instance... if there is a stack of books on the table and someone asks "please hand me the first one" I would grab the one on the bottom of the stack, the first one in the stack. I bet 95% of people would grab the top one. Well, parenting is no different.

So I am trying something new. I let the kids put me in timeout if I am bad. I actually brought this up. One day I lost my temper (yes, it does happen) and yelled at them over something. After I calmed down I asked them "Should Daddy go to time out for yelling?" They all shook their heads yes. So off I went to the corner. No, I did not do one minute for every year of my age:) After about a minute I asked them if I could come out and they said yes. I then told them I was sorry for getting mad and asked if they would forgive me, they did:)

The way I see it if I expect something from them then they should expect it from me. I actually had Addison tell me to say please the other day when I asked one of them to do something. I say yes sir/yes mam and no sir/no mam. I also try my best to say please and thank you, etc... I have always heard that they do as you do, not as you say. I must say, I am taking the road less travelled and I know it will be a rocky one. But when is the easy road the right one?

William using their "Big Truck" to do some Haulin'

He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.

Douglas Adams

Al

What you learn from Christmas gifts

I am amazed how I am always learning and from the strangest places. Recently there was a surprise in an African Safari play set for the Triplets, the elusive African Bear. I thought to myself, this seems weird so I did what any red blooded capitalist American would do, I Googled it:) Yep, there was a bear in Africa but it is now extinct. Not that I am really anal or anything:) But I do like some semblance to reality. Yes, I know kids like bears but they also like robins and cardinals but I think most people would find it silly for them to be included in an African Safari play set.

I always say that it is a good day if I learn one new thing.

If you would be known, and not know, vegetate in a village; If you would know, and not be known, live in a city.
Charles Caleb Colton (1780 - 1832)

Al

Thomas "Toddler Crack" The Train and the Triplets....

We had resisted getting the Triplets Thomas The Train stuff as I have seen this terrible addiction first hand:) Our friends from Houston have a son that is still hooked on Thomas. I think they are looking into rehab centers:) But the kids got their first "fix" from their Mimi this Christmas. It was a starter set of the battery powered Thomas.



So after one day of refereeing the one train we headed to Wal-Mart to get two more. We got another Thomas starter set so we could get more track and we got Addison Rosie, the pink engine. Now we are having to adjust our budget to include a weekly truckload of AA batteries:)



After getting Rosie for Addison I started to wonder why there are more boy addicts than girls. Well, we found out yesterday.....

Click on the pictures and you can see ... Yes, that is Addison's hair that is stuck in Rosie!

He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which.
Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Al

New Year's resolutions....

I have actually never "officially" made any. Here comes the sarcasm so don't take it personally:) My thought has always been that if you want to change something about yourself why wait to start working on it? It just doesn't work if you say "On this date I am going to start or stop doing X." You just have to decide to stop or start then recommit every day to do or not do it. I have several friends in AA and from what I understand that is what they must do. Sometimes it requires recommitting one's self hour to hour or minute to minute.

Look at it this way.... Let's say your boss yells at you all the time. They realize this is a bad behavior but they decide to save that up for their "New Year's Resolution." You would be pretty steamed right? I have also had co-workers/employees say "well, I will work on that when...." Come on, get with it... Believe me, I am not perfect. I just try to do what I believe is right. "Try" is the key word in that:)

I always say "You have two choices in life... do something about it or shut up and deal with it, no whining."

Thank God (literally) for Grace!

Al

Quoter's quotes....

I try to put a quote at the end of each post. This started with some of the saying that I frequently use like "Don't fall down" but I quickly ran out. I now either google what I am looking for like "New Years quotes" or I use The Quotations Page.

I choose based on either the subject of my post, what I think is funny, or it may be directed at something I am thinking/feeling at the time.

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
Douglas Adams

Al

Why blog?

I have often thought about why people (including me) take the time to blog. I mean, come on, is there really a market for the ongoing brain dump that hits the blogosphere every day? The answer, I am reminded of daily, is yes and I am thankful that there is a market.

I periodically receive emails from family, friends and blog readers thanking me for letting them (you) into our lives. The truth is that I should be thanking you. Without you I might as well just keep it all in my head, there is A LOT of room in there:)

So.... THANK YOU! May you have a wonderful and blessed 2009.

Please write again soon. Though my own life is filled with activity, letters encourage momentary escape into others lives and I come back to my own with greater contentment.
Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, 'A Woman of Independent Means'

Al

The gingerbread house....

One of the family traditions we are trying to start is doing a gingerbread house during the holidays. OK, I really want to do it Christmas Eve but with Triplets you have to be flexible:) So we did it with our friends on New Year's Day. It turned out pretty good. Most of the candy even made it onto the house!

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.
Benjamin Franklin

Al