I just wanted to take a moment and wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and more importantly, say,  ”Happy Birthday Jesus! Do you mind if I open presents on your birthday again? Sweet!”

This gives new meaning to Black Friday:

Click For Full Story Courtesy of FOXNews.com

NEW YORK —  Police were reviewing video from surveillance cameras in an attempt to identify people who trampled on a Wal-Mart worker killed when a crowd of post-Thanksgiving shoppers burst through the doors at a suburban store and knocked him down.

 

Criminal charges were still possible, but identifying anyone in the store’s videos may prove difficult, said Nassau County police spokesman Detective Lt. Michael Fleming on Friday.

Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers stepped over him and became irate when officials said the store was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.

The full article goes on to say that when announced that they were closing the store because of the death people continued to shop and complained that they had waited in line for hours. To think that some people would be more upset about time spent standing in line then the fact that someone had been trampled to death should make us all stop and do a gut check. What would your response be? I know that the economy is rough and these deals were great, but, I think sometimes our priorities get a little out of order.

Recently my wife and I bought a house here in Sandpoint which meant we moved for the sixth time in five years. This was the first time, however, that we’ve moved since having two children. Moving sucks, period. But, moving with two little kids shifts the suckiness in to a new dimension of suck–an uber suck, if you will.

We tried to just power everything out in a few days so that all of the frustration would end quickly. The result was that our kids were attention deprived for a couple of days while we moved and settled in. As I left for work one morning my son, Judah, kept saying, “Daddy, play cars. Daddy, play cars.” I realized how little attention I had been able to give him during the move and decided to have my first heart to heart talk with him.

I was sat him on my lap and said, “Son, I know that I’ve been busy this week and haven’t been able to play with you very much. I’m going to work today to finish up everything for the week and then starting tomorrow everything will be back to normal. I’m really proud of how well you’ve done with all of this and when I get home I’ll play with you right away! Okay?”

I felt like such a good dad at that moment. I acknowledged the situation and explained it to him. I affirmed how well behaved he had been during the move and made plans to meet his need after work. I’ll never forget what my son looked at me and said at that moment: “Mommy, play cars!”

I started laughing as I realized my son was only 2 and wasn’t concerned with any of the things that had transpired over the prior few days. His only concern was who was going to play Hot Wheels with him. I guess the lesson here is that kids are pretty forgiving and if you feel like you’ve been blowing it as a dad lately you can snap that streak by just getting on the floor and playing cars or whatever activity counts as quality time in your family. Start now. It’s never too late.

Have you been feeling like a total doofus lately? Chin up! Even superheroes knock themselves unconscious from time to time.

And just a reminder to anyone owning a full body spandex suit: Just because you DRESS like a ninja, doesn’t mean you ARE a ninja!

I came across this graph and found it pretty interesting…

Listening to people talk this summer it was almost as if the gas prices were indicative of the long awaited rapture! As if God was just waiting until gas prices spiked so he could initiate the second coming of Jesus. Or if you’re a mid-trib’er perhaps the high gas prices were just part of the tribulation.

Regardless, when we look back at the last 30 years we can see that gas prices have spiked and fallen over and over again. Almost makes you want to sing “The Circle of Life” doesn’t it?

It’s not exactly a secret to those who know me that I take laughter very seriously. Usually the benefits of this disposition outweigh the negatives. Sure some people have been offended when I laugh at them for falling down and breaking their femur, but hey, I’m going to live a long stress free life and have a lower blood pressure than the offended person lying there with the bone sticking out of their thigh. It works out great on my end!

However, this affection for laughter came back to haunt my wife and I. My son and daughter like to pretend they are talking on the phone to people. Elliana just yells incoherently since she’s only 10 months old and Judah usually just strings random words together. One day he strung a couple of words together which, with his 2 year old speech impediment, sounded a lot like swear words. We laughed so hard because it had caught us off guard and although he kept saying it that day to get attention we thought we in the clear since a couple months had passed with no relapse. 

Much to our surprise our son was walking around today and just kept repeating the words, “Also fork also fork also fork.” Since his speech is progressing the word “also” no longer sounded like a swear word, but I can’t say the same for “fork”. The lesson here is to be careful what you laugh at, even if it catches you by surprise—those kids don’t forget anything! My wife and I applied this lesson by hiding from my son while we laughed hysterically this time.

My wife and I are buying a house here in Sandpoint and since the close date was pushed back we received permission to get in and paint while we had family in town to watch our children. After all, have you ever tried to paint with two toddlers running around?

My wife said, “Well, pick a room to get started in” and I knew exactly where I was headed: Judah’s room! Tamra and I decided that we were going to paint our kids’ rooms gender colors so Elliana’s room is a girly pink/purple and Judah’s is a manly bright boy blue. Read the rest of this entry »