Memorial Day Lessons

A friend was just telling me a story about her son's recent school trip to Washington, DC. While they were visiting the Arlington National Cemetery, they happened to cross paths with a funeral procession for a fallen soldier.

Instead of showing respect and honor for this hero's final journey, many of the children began taking pictures and videos of the horse-drawn casket and the grieving family walking behind. Even some of the adults in the group didn't have enough respect for the soldier's family to stand quietly as the procession passed.

My question to you on this Memorial Day is: what are you teaching your children? No matter what your political stance on the war or your own personal feelings about the manner in which these soldiers died, are you teaching your children to have respect for those who have sacrificed their lives for their country?

Pro or anti-war, soldier or civilian, respect is an important issue that should not be ignored when raising our children. Take a few minutes today to remind your children and yourself just what Memorial Day is all about and why honoring those who have died serving our country is important.

Take a few moments to say a little prayer or send positive thoughts to the families who are trying to heal themselves after the loss of a loved one in battle. As you prepare for your Memorial Day festivities with your family, spend a few minutes remembering that this isn't just a convenient day off to start the summer.

A World Without Little Boys

A friend was telling me tonight about a story on Nightline that suggested that in about 125,000 years, men would cease to exist, due to some defect in the Y chromosome. Women would evidently live on, as science has recently proven that it is possible to procreate using the genetic material from two women, however the result would always be girls.

At first, I was amused by this concept. Though I love my husband dearly, there are days when a world without men doesn't sound like such a terrible thing. Not trying to get rid of him for anything in this world, but the fantasy, in and of itself, could occasionally be appealing.

But then my thoughts turned to my kids. For anyone who doesn't know, I have three boys, ages 13, 2, and 1. Life without the male of the species would mean life without little boys. That would be the most horrid world that I could imagine. Occasionally, I complain about the overabundance of testosterone and the sickening balance of power in this house, but honestly I wouldn't change things for the world. Sure, I would like to buy something pink, now and then, or have a tea party with a table full of dolls, but I'll take trains and race cars, any day.

Without boys, the world would be lacking so many little things:

~ No one would pee all over my walls because they want to do it like daddy.
~ No one would hand me boogies, expecting a "thank you" in return.
~ There would be no Hot Wheels cars to slip on or Legos to step on in the dark.
~ I would never have to move furniture to set up a train track or race car set.
~ There would be no more "wet doggie" little boy smell, after coming in from outside.
~ No one would bring wildlife into the house, as if it was a rare treasure.
~ No one would try to "fix" my coffee table with daddy's hammer and screwdriver.
~ No one would crawl into my lap asking for "tisses mama"
~ No one would run to kiss me goodbye, as they headed out to the store with daddy.
~ No one would play with my hair when they were getting sleepy.
~ There would be no one to tuck in at night, or to crawl in my bed at 3 a.m.
~ There would be no one to wake me up after only 3 hours of sleep, saying they're "Hungee"

There are too many things that would be missing from my world if the male species were to disappear. I certainly would have no desire to exist without the excitement, imagination, determination, and love that go along with my little boys.

Kids and Electronics Don't Mix

Ok, so it wasn't wine, it was actually iced tea, but you get the picture.

While the baby was distracting me, the two year old decided to climb up in my chair and knock over half a glass of tea. of course most of it went straight onto the keyboard. Lovely.

Thankfully, hubby was able to clean it up and dry it out. It actually is in better shape now than it was before the tea incident. I had no clue how much ick could collect inside a keyboard. Who knew...

However, this wasn't our only child/computer fiasco of the day. The baby decided to shove my printer off its shelf and onto the floor. I'm hoping its ok, but am a bit nervous of checking it out. Keep your fingers crossed that he didn't do any major damage.

As I just posted on my other blog, I am finally out from under a huge pile of work and deadlines, so I can get back to doing some things for me and not just things that pay. I still have plenty of paying work, but should have some time to blog and get to work on my professional website.

This week I'll be coming up with a plan for the baby's birthday. He's turning one on the 29th. I'm thinking we'll wait until the weekend after to have a small party. Weeknights aren't good for anyone around here. Anyone have any clue if they still sell Toy Story party supplies? He's really into Buzz, for some reason.

Image: Flickr - Siobhan Curran

Happy Easter

The kids are in bed and the Easter Bunny has made his visit. We have baskets full of small toys and a bit of candy and plastic eggs full of M&Ms hidden throughout the living room.

My work for the week is done and I have all of tomorrow free to spend with the kids. Life is good, sometimes.

I'm keeping things brief tonight, as I would love to see the backside of my eyelids before 3 A.M. for once.

Hope all of you have a very Happy Easter!

Peek-A-Boo!

Well, its been an insane week or so around here and between clients and my real life, I haven't had a minute to update things around here.

I have been quite busy trying to keep up with my ever-growing writing business. That has been on the front burner lately and keeping me up nights.

Also, this past week my oldest finally hit thirteen! My baby is all grown up...or so he thinks. Like it or not though, mama still knows best!

We also had a death in the family last week, followed by another yesterday. Two of my great aunts passed away, both from pneumonia. These were the oldest and youngest of 5 sisters, one in her 90's, the other her 80's, and the first of the sisters to pass on. Keep my grandma and her remaining sisters in your prayers, as it has been a very rough couple of weeks for them.

To round out the fun over here, the middle baby had some kind of viral thing going on, which started Saturday and finally finished Tuesday night. Fluctuating fevers, a little bit of stomach stuff, all around good times. Of course, he shared with mommy, but luckily we were the only ones hit, as of right now.

Here's to a better week for us and I hope all of you are having a better beginning of Spring than we are!