ROUND THE POOL WITH KAKI

JOEL STEIN ON GENEALOGY

"No one is more interested in himself then I am. And yet even I don't care about my genealogy."

The dude is funny. I'm a huge fan. And even though I'm neck deep in a family history project myself and he basically making fun of me, I still had to share this article.

Don't worry, his articles are usually only 3/4 of a page long and always funny.
This is light reading.

Read Joel Stein's funny article in TIME about the genealogy trend sweeping the nation.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!

Grandma is 59 today. (Yes, I just said her age. Yes, I just betrayed my mother.)

Happy Birthday to a fabulous dancer...

Happy Birthday to a woman who is always (well, most of the time) up for a great adventure...

Happy Birthday to the saint who has been married to this guy for SO LONG...

And Happy Birthday to a woman with a great sense of humor!

(Please note the Mickey Ears)

PLAYING WITH ISABEL

Isabel and her mommy came over for a visit.

Isabel calls all dogs Arthur (that is her dog's name).

C.J., Cassie, even Rollie Doggie were all Arthur.

It was cute.

Joey & Isabel play really well together.

Here they are, tappin' out a beat.

Da me un besito.

I think Mark was intimidated by the wooden spoon.

THE BABIES IN THE MIRROR

Joey is very familiar with the baby in the mirror; one whole wall of our living room is a mirror and it is where she plays most of the time.

But when we visited Mom-Mom's the other day, we let her play in front of her bathroom 3 way mirror.

Too cute!

M--O--U--S--E...

Someone's got MICKEY MOUSE!

She's supposed to dance with him; he has a button. But she would rather just carry him around.

WHERE A KID CAN BE A KID...

Shiloh's 2nd birthday party was at Chuckee Cheese.

Joey had a blast!

(This was the end of Dec. Sorry so late in posting but the pics were on Mark's camera.)

Above posing with the rat. Below posing with Aunti La Shanda.

SHE ISN'T NORMAL... FIX IT.

I took Joey to the doctor's yesterday.
The nurse asked me what was wrong.
"I don't know. She just isn't normal. Please fix her cause' this brat is not my child."

Turns out, she had a bad ear infection.
Her first.
She had not been pulling the ear, when I messed with it- she didn't mind, and her cantankerousness (yes I made that up, sounded better then bitchiness when I'm talking about my own child) would come and go in waves.

On the way to the doctor's office, she was so pleasant and smiling and happy in the back seat I was sure I was one of those paranoid parents who was taking their kid to the doctor for nothing.

But I was going to go crazy unless I found out if I was crazy or not.
And I'm not trying to say that I'm happy my child is sick, but I am happy that I'm not crazy.
And I won't wait so long before taking her to the doctor's next time.

NOTE TO MOTHERS*** Just not being herself is a completely justifiable reason to bring your kid to the doctor's office. Even if it is the only symptom you can name.

POPCORN PEEK-A-BOO

Where's Joey?

There she is!

Where's Joey?

There she is!

Where's Joey?

There she is!

You know this is my screensaver right now, right?

Anyone else want some popcorn?

PRIORITIES

Democrat or Republican?

Conservative or Liberal? Are the same? What do you consider yourself? No one is 100% one or the other. If you fall neatly and completely into one of those two categories then you are a tool. You obviously don't think for yourself, and need to become more informed and think harder about a few things.

Most of us agree with one party on some issues, and the other party on other issues. So how do you decide what to label yourself. I know, I know, some of you might be saying why label at all? Just register as an Independent, or a Libertarian. My answers is we all know damn well that it is going to be a Republican or a Democrat who is elected, so you might as well register yourself as one or the other so you can make more of a difference in the primaries.

You could make two columns, label them D and R and have rows of issues and put and check off down the list. Whichever column you have more checks in, that is what you consider yourself. But that won't necessarily accurately represent your views.

What are your priorities?

Example:

REPUBLICAN:

1. I support the death penalty.
2. I support the right to bear arms (but with obvious restrictions like waiting periods, no felons and no heavy machinery)
3. I think we need to do some DRASTIC overhauls of the welfare system.
4. I would support a constitutional amendment, if necessary, to make it so that we collected fingerprints and samples of DNA during children's doctor's visits to have in a database. It would make police work so much easier, to already have this info. We could also always know who the daddy is and make sure he pays for his children.
5. I think we need to fix our problems here at home for a while before we trying fixing the rest of world.

HOWEVER...

DEMOCRAT

1. I support a women's right to choose (Abortion).
2. Gay's should have to right to do anything they want. Including marry and adopt children.
3. We need to do all we can to protect and save the environment, even at the cost of the economy.
4. There should be a firm separation between church and state. (No prayer in school, no school vouchers, no over governing of moral issues like gambling, drugs and prostitution)
5. We need to increase our education budget and decrease our military budget.
6. I'm okay with increasing taxes to fix our deficit.

Even though it looks like I'm split down the middle. I consider myself to me a strong, liberal Democrat. Why? Because of my priorities. The first 4 on the democrat list are my top 4 priorities. I would very willing compromise capital punishment or the right to bear arms to achieve those goals.

Of course, it isn't as cut and dry as I have listed. I support some restrictions on abortion. I'm okay with increasing taxes but not just for the rich, for everyone. Everything is complicated. But besides taking the time to think about where you stand, it is important to stay abreast of the issues. Your position may change. I know mine has.

I'LL JUST STEP OUTSIDE FOR A MINUTE...

Someone can open doors. Of the 3 in this video, who do you think it is?

Well, C.J has been able to open the gate for years, and Cassie is too stupid to breathe so it must be Joey!

SEX, POLITICS & RELIGION

My parents always told me that you never discuss SEX, POLITICS OR RELIGION, at a dinner party.
Those subjects are taboo. Too interesting. Are certain to lead to disharmony and discord.
Well, I guess I'm a rebel then.

I LOVE to talk about controversial issues. I love to debate. I love the exchange of ideas between intelligent, social conscious individuals.

Please notice I said DEBATE, not fight. Just because people feel strongly about an issue, or have passionate political beliefs doesn't mean you can't have a civil debate about it. Even if a discussion gets "heated" doesn't necessarily make it an argument.

Our attitude towards sex, our political views and our spiritual beliefs help to define who we are. If you can't talk about those things with family and friends, then who?

And not talking about them, I think, is disastrous.
It leads to:
Uneducated teenagers and unhappy marriages.
Uneducated voters and apathetic citizens.
People who "believe" without knowing what they "believe" in.

I want to talk about SEX, POLITICS, & RELIGION.

But lots of people don't. And only part of them don't want to because they fear an ugly argument. Some don't know anything, and don't want people to know how incredibly ignorant they are. Others are afraid they might be convinced to change their minds. There is a large group of people who don't like to question their beliefs.

I married into a family that values peace above all else. I'm not saying that is a bad thing. But it excludes any conversation on the big 3 topics.

My philosophy: There is a peace that can only be found on the other side of war. And I am always ready to fight that war.

My solution: To blog about it. Which I will be doing from time to time from now on. I would love a 2 way conversation, but a monologue is better then no dialogue at all. Please COMMENT if you feel so moved.

FUNNY STORY ABOUT A WOMAN AND A HOSE...

Actually,

Turning hoses on people is kinda a family tradition.

About 32 years ago, my father came to pick up my mother for a date. It was the first time he was going to meet her parents. He was dressed nicely for dinner. He saw Peggy's mother watering the flower garden so he walked up to her and introduced himself.

Jim: "Hello Mrs. Higgins, I'm Jim Craven."

Loretta: "Hmmph. You've got some balls."

Jim: (paused for a second, clearly surprised) "I beg your pardon?"

Loretta: Coming so close to me, when I got a hose in my hand."

Jim: (smiling now) "Oh, you wouldn't squirt me!"

Loretta then turned around and proceeded to spray Jim with the garden hose. So Jim, naturally, took the hose from her and put it down her pants. I must remind you at this point, this is the FIRST TIME THEY MET!

Jim walks inside the house and begins to dry off in the kitchen. Peggy walks in and takes in his appearance.

Peggy: "What happened?!"

Jim: "Your MOTHER turned the hose on me!"

Peggy: (slightly laughing now) "No!"

At about the same time, they turned to look at Loretta, standing on the other side of the kitchen window, on the porch. Loretta takes the hose that is still in her hand and squirts it through her OWN kitchen window, to get them both wet, and a good portion of her kitchen along with them.

That is the first time my Grandma & Father met.

So you see, I come by it quiet naturally.

NEVER GET TO CLOSE TO SOMEONE HOLDING A HOSE.

Joey learned a valuable lesson this day.

Never stand within range of someone holding a hose.

Yes, I turned the hose on my daughter.

And I'm proud of it!

Relax, she got a warm bath directly afterwards.

AND she got to eat chicken nuggets, french fries & ketchup for the first time EVER!

Does she look like she's complaining?

CLIMB ABOUT

Kaki & Papa Rick brought Joey an early birthday present.

That way, she could have it for her Birthday party and share with her friends.

She really likes to slide.

Trouble is she likes to climb up it too.

CHRISTMAS IN JANUARY?

Matt & Mandy and kids spent Christmas in Georgia. Then some of us were sick so we didn't do Christmas between each other (& Mom-mom's special gift) until well into January.

Joey liked the big box of old blocks the best.

Only at Christmas will adults choose a photo moment over fixing the choking hazard.

We gave Austin a Thomas The Train Set.

Madison got Barbie rollerblading / biking safety gear. She rides a big girl bike w/out training wheels now, you know.

Everyone, especially Papa Rick, helped Austin put his train set together.

Then everyone watched him play, cause he didn't want to share.

Notice the feet of the baby monster, Jozilla, in the bottom of the picture. Joey did not understand the concept of a child's right not to share their brand new Christmas toy.

Jozilla.

Someone got a new camera for Christmas. Someone is now a budding photographer.