Spring Break 2008

Ever notice how it's so much harder to write about something when more and more time elapses? So, highlights. We journeyed down to Austin with Jon on business and then onto San Antonio.

Austin: Happy to see Angela and company. Only the VanD's are worth that much traffic. Fun times include the children's museum, playing with the VDW's rabbit, and spending an inordinate amount of time at Lifetime. What can I say? I was staying in a small hotel room with 3 kids and a dog; you bet I took my kids to free child care for a little bit!!! And, do you know how I know Angela is a good friend? She VOLUNTARILY changed a Calvin diaper. A poopy one. Anyone who has read this blog knows that can be pretty risky.

San Antonio: We crashed at the McKinlay pad while in San Antonio - dog and all. Highlights include: a super delicious Easter dinner complete with homemade rolls (my kids didn't know that rolls came from anywhere outside a tube I bang against the counter) and Easter egg hunt, Alex's retelling of 'a black box' that those 'computer guys' left in his house for his discovery a month later, and a late night involving Alex, Jon, and I trying to figure out how to sync Alex and my iPods...which quickly disinterested Alex and I (for photo albums instead) while Jon tinkered for hours. Jon later commented that he felt like the geek doing the cool kids' homework. Perhaps a 'had to be there' moment. And, yeah, I don't know WHAT happened to my hair that Sunday - total Whitesnake hair.

April Fools

I'm looking for a fun gag for my kids this year...Any ideas out there? I looked online at Family Fun, but I figured that y'all would be my best source... Jessie - you must do something with all those boys of yours????!!!

Mom Dys

We are visiting Austin, TX for part of our Spring ‘Break’ road trip 2008. We’re tagging along while Jon does some work down here, so we’re enjoying Jon’s expense account. Tonight, since we couldn’t do an aforementioned-to-the-kids activity of going to the Bat Bridge, we took them to Red Robin. By this time of night, Mackey’s NAUGHTY, NO BOUNDARIES, SHOW ON THE ROAD (this is why I NEVER say that I’m vacationing when I have kids with me!!!) behavior deprived him of his treat and dessert privileges…among other things. Lucy, on the other hand having earned an ‘extra’ today, got to have dessert, and we made sure she had it in spades. She got the Mudslide all to herself (no mom tax even!). Midway through dessert, I had to take Calvin out to roam before we got kicked out.
Fast forward.
At the end of the night when we say family prayers, our family also does compliments and gratitude. Tonight, after everyone said one thing that they were grateful for, Mackey was in charge of giving each member of the family – including himself – a compliment. He started with Lucy:
Mackey: Lucy, I’d like to compliment you on giving me some of your dessert.
(Funny look from me…lots of sputtering and ‘esplaining to do’ from Lucy and Jon.)
Mackey: Daddy, I’d like to compliment you for moving the plate closer to me and saying it was okay.
(More feigned looks from me and ‘esplaining to do’ from the peanut gallery.)
Mackey: Mommy, I’d like to compliment you on not being there to say ‘no’.
(Chagrinned Mommy face.)

Reflections

Do you ever look at your children and see a reflection of yourself? Maybe in the curly hair, grey eyes... For those of you who have seen our family, you know I have little claim on their outward appearance as all three are variations of my husband. However, I'm constantly aware of my influence on their inward appearance. And, of course, I have multiple cases in point.

Incidentally, Mackey's preschool just held their parent teacher conferences. In anticipation, I recall my experience with preschool conferences for Lucy; her teachers lauded her accomplishments, intelligence, and behavior (all inherited from Jon)...in her little 2 year old class, her teacher even commented that if she needed to be absent, she was confident that Lucy could take over. I remember Mackey's past conferences have been a little different - which is fine. In the past, I went eagerly and naively, expecting to hear Lucy-brand praise for a not Lucy-brand child. Instead:

Me (a little too confidently): "So, how's it going with Mackey?"

Teacher (a little uncomfortable with my over-confidence): "Well..."

Fast forward to this past Thursday...

So, positioned as we were in chairs made for tiny behineys, I wasn't sure what to expect from this conference. Micky opened with praise for Mack's accomplishments, intellectual brilliance (Dawn, if you're reading, you were absolutely right about Mackey!), charisma, and kind-heartedness. Sensing a "but", I probed...(kindof an alien encounter pun, there. Sorry.) We then discussed her concern about Mackey's manipulating and bossing his peers - clearly using super powers for wrong - and how he is Teflon about taking responsibility for his negative behavior. I immediately saw the reflection of myself in his Teflon-like behavior and blushed at having the evidence of my own bad example laid before me.

As I write this, I catch myself - does anyone else do this? - taking responsibility for the negative behaviors my children may exhibit (nurture) while attributing their good ones to nature? During the praise part, I smile and nod giddily, not connecting the good with the me. But the minute preschool humanity rears its less-than-pretty head...

And while Lucy more closely reflects Jon in behavior, I can take credit for some influence. Just not in the forum of my choosing. For example, I went to Lucy's Open House on that same Thursday. In the hallway outside the classroom, a couple of students' "If I Were President" projects were hanging on the wall. I found Lucy's among them and read (with great supporting reasons): "If I were President, I would bomb Iraq, make kids be homeschooled, and imprison people that used potty talk outside of the bathroom." I guess I have more influence than I think!

In the same political vein, I was listening to talk radio (some things never change - at least these are syndicated so I don't call in) when some remark got me all fired up. Just Calvin - not quite a chatterbox yet - was in the car and an errant "IDIOT" escaped my lips. Yes, yes, the echo came jumbled out through the holes of the pacifier-stuffed mouth behind me. And, as evidenced in the picture, you can never underestimate the influence of an older brother who loves Nerf dart guns.

The Proper Care and Keeping of You Part II

Oh, it gets better. I happened to look up the accompanying pictures that go along with the 'Breast' chapter? Excellent. Borderline cartoon porn. And the best? I picked Lucy up from school and one of the teachers (who is hilarious...and happened to be sitting 2 rows behind us with her 3 boys!) in our ward obviously saw the HUGE print and told some teachers at lunch - including Lucy's! She also told me how half the guys passing sacrament saw it, too. Oh, and a high councilman...that I work with. Awesome. Apparently the talk of church, but no one mentioned it to me for fear of embarrassing me...Ha! Little do they know that this is just PAR for my parenting course!
Confused? See prior post...
Can someone - possibly, PLEASE - share another such story? Has anyone else been this widely and publicly embarrassed?

The Proper Care and Keeping of You

As many of you may be aware, American Girl puts out a series of excellent books about girls and girl-specific dealings. I picked this one up for Lucy with the intent of reading it together to discuss good hygiene. Perhaps my purchase was premature in that part of the book deals with more...er...delicate maturing issues. Issues that aren't relevant to a 7 year old girl. Alas, unbeknownst to me, this is the book that Lucy brought to church yesterday to read during sacrament meeting. Sigh. We were about 3/4 of the way through the entire meeting when I looked down to see the topic of PERIODS in gigantic bold letters big enough to see from outer space. Bad enough. The next page shows a fairly detailed CARTOON showing how certain aspects of a period are dealt with. Not to be indelicate here. Worse. We put the book away (for now) and turned our attention to the speaker. Yes, the worst was yet to come. A good friend of mine came up to me afterwards and mentioned how about 1/2 through the meeting her husband (from several rows back) pointed to the book Lucy was reading and asked: "Did I just see the word breasts in the middle of church?"

Things I learned yesterday: more closely monitor my children's reading material...and a close second, I'm going to try out a seating chart for church next Sunday. Does anyone have any ideas that have worked for them regarding kids sitting in one place (let alone still) at church?

Between breasts, periods, and corralling Calvin, I worked up a sweat.

My New Word

Cromagnasome. That's it. Think: cro-magnan + totally opposite from me chromosomes. And it would sum up the level and quality of testosterone in my house right now. Use in a sentence? "Hopefully Jon can watch the cromagnasomes so I can jet to Target."

Mackey's a Jumper

I just came home from a date with my dad, and we went to see Jumper with Hayden Christensen. All I could think of the whole movie was how much Mackey resembled the actor (the aforementioned Hayden Christensen). Ok, even as I post these, the resemblence isn't quite what it was in the movie. But I tell you, during the film, it was like a fast forward picture of Mackey.

(Not) Sexy Pillow Talk

Do you know what kept Jon and I up late last night? (Great intro, huh. And, no, it isn't THAT kind of post...) The demise of the United States as a super power. Here is a list, in no particular order, of the things that are keeping me up (night 2 - it's currently 12:13 am):

1. Political correctness: The fear of offending a few in the name of the greater good is preventing real dialogue and therefore real solutions to economic and domestic security issues. Seriously. Thumb through An Inconvenient Book and Freakonomics.


2. Social security: I am NO expert, but it does NOT take a genius to recognize that burying our heads in the sand is not a viable solution. Over the next 15 years, baby boomers are going to be retiring...like flies. Between social security benefits and medicare (and myriad other social care programs that may be enacted if - breathe in, breathe out - Hillary or Obama is elected), our nation, particularly the middle class - sorry Hillary - will be bankrupt.


3. Universal health care: Jon and I differ on this one. I'm afraid that the people who will be most adversely affected by universal health coverage are the ones who will be footing the bill either without the benefits of said program or with lower overall benefits. Less for more. And for whom? The middle class. Jon is okay with a lowered standard of care because he thinks that Americans are too obsessed with living forever anyway. "So what if I don't a get a liver transplant? I die. So what? IT'S THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS," he says. Health care is sticky, sticky.
   
4. NAFTA: Will someone, ANYONE, please explain to me how it makes sense for the overall health of OUR nation's economy to have our exports disproportionately taxed compared to our imports from reciprocating nations? Aside from creating a nation of consumers?


5. Border security: The terrorist argument on this one is what finally won me over. The porous nature of our borders make us susceptible to a wide range of foreign threats from disgruntled Jihadists to waves of illegal immigrants burdening underfunded hospitals and schools. Yes, like the revocation of NAFTA, decreasing illegal immigration would increase the cost of living (or...perhaps...consuming?) in the US. However, those costs - I think - could EVENTUALLY be recuperated from lowered costs in social programs.


6. Educating to Death: And the whole college for all thing? It makes me crazy. It reminds of a line in a movie classic: "...when everyone is special, no one is." (The Incredibles.) And it seems to me that if our nation's children need YET ANOTHER 4 years of education to prepare them for successful life in America, then maybe we should be taking a closer look at what is going so amiss in elementary and secondary education.


7. Flat Tax: Again, will someone cite a reason - other than the special interest lobby for tax attorneys - why we haven't gone this route?


8. The fall of the Roman Empire: If you want your blood to run cold - and aren't up for a movie in the Saw series (ew) - read about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Then compare to what you see in the United States. Special interest groups, pandering to the masses, greater good undermined by self-interest, insecure borders/military over diversification...it's all there.


9. Fuel: No solutions here...only abject fear.


10. United Nations: Seriously, why do we bother? Check the UN voting record as it relates to supporting the United States.


11. Criminal justice: Don't even get me started. In a sociology class I took, there were deterrent elements that are lacking in current system: public, swift, certain, and severe.

Really, I think that our nation's demise will come from a combination of sources: outsourcing jobs - see The World is Flat (cheaper today can be really expensive tomorrow)/NAFTA (goods), oil shortages especially as China and India gain critical mass and the middle east continues to be unstable, gutting the middle class by over-taxation and skilled job loss, and short-sighted, self-interested government. Ok, I got that off my chest. I guess I'll be off to J. Crew now...