Happy Birthday, Dad

This is my dad, here on the right. Don't you love it when kids guess ages of their grandparents and say stuff like "20" or "100"?? Well, my dad is 59 today and I think he looks great. He recently lost a lot of weight. Ladies, stay away ... he's married.

Oh, and he says stuff like how he's going to send a "twit" from his "spacebook" or "my face" accounts.

If you are a writer or wannabe writer, check out my writing blog, Mother Writer, today for an interview with Christina Katz, author of Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform & Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids.

Naming a Boy

I’m telling you this baby is a boy.

On Pokemon there’s a kid named Brock, and I thought of Brach’s candy.

Then I thought I could name my kid Hershey or Nestle.

Lately I really like a name we had picked out for Joel:

Ryan Maxwell.

But we’d call him Max.

My great aunt Eva’s husband and soulmate’s name was Max, so wouldn’t that be so cute to have a little tiny Max and Eva?!

Kids and Sports Part 2: I Salute Sports Parents

You know how people always say to me, “Gee, Kerrie, how do you handle so many kids? Taking care of one wears me out!”?

Well, I am in awe of the people who have 1 or 2 kids and are at a different sporting event or activity every night. How do they do it? How do they remember it all? How do they keep straight where to be when? What if there are scheduling conflicts or one spouse goes out of town and one parent has to be in two places at once? And if they both work during the day or have more than 2 kids, they are like rock star freaks in my book.

I signed Joel up for the Johnson County Parks and Recreation Baseball … a 7-week deal only twice a week for kids entering 1st and 2nd grade. I figured since we homeschool, I could technically call him 2nd grade and get away with it. He’s a pretty good hitter, runner and thrower, so I got over my sports aversion and gave it a shot.

First of all, he doesn’t enjoy it. Of course I’m making him finish the whole thing, but unless he asks to do a sport in the fall, I’m not bringing it up. Some parents make sure their kid picks one activity per season. That parent isn’t me. I’m too cheap and too busy (read: a husband who will be going out of town soon while I’m handling a newborn plus 4 other kids). Joel and Michael will have religious education in the fall plus Cub Scouts, and in my world that’s PLENTY.

You’d think a stay-at-home mom could get her crap together enough to get a GAME SHIRT washed between Tuesday night and Thursday night, but no. And even though 6:30 comes at the same time every baseball practice night, we are always rushing out the door, sandwiches in hand, yelling about did we pack his glove, do we have chairs, do we have enough water, I gotta get my tennis shoes on so Preggie can chase Eva around, and so on.

Activities are stressful. I know they are worth it for lots of kids, and I just hope the kids appreciate the sacrifices on the part of the parents.

Soccer, gymnastics, music, Cub Scouts, 4-H, swimming, football, etc. Moms and Dads: I salute you.

Wisdom from my Husband

Quotes from husband ...

“I like this stroganoff, but the pasta isn’t al dente. It’s more al mushé.”

“Instead of getting a 12-passenger van, let’s just drive my truck around with the boat hooked up to it.” Can you picture a truck with a few kids in it, then me and a few more kids sitting in the fishing boat seats while being driven around on the highway?

Pool Drains

When we were in Branson in June at the Vickery Resort, we couldn’t use their pool. They told my cousin it was because some kid had died (sometime, somewhere) when a pool drain sucked her underwater and wouldn’t let her go, and so they had to replace their pool drain. It was out of commission the entire 4 days we were there.

Sounds like a safe place, right? Very proactive.

WRONG.

I never get to watch morning news shows, but on the 6th I happened to turn on the TV for 5 minutes and caught the Today Show. This pool drain thing was on. Many kids have died from being sucked under. Why now? Why hasn’t this been happening since the beginning of pools?

Turns out a law was passed (only because the granddaughter of a congressman died being sucked underwater by a pool drain … she may have been the one who had her intestines sucked out … not sure).

ALL POOLS (except private backyard pools) were supposed to have replaced their drain covers by the end of 2008. Most pools in the country have not done it yet.

1. Please teach your kids to stay away from pool drains … don’t go diving for a diving stick near one, for God’s sake.

2. Check out every pool you go to or ask the manager. A flat drain is a DEAD giveaway. Some looked curved but are not the new drains.

You bet your butt I called my local pools, and they say they’ve replaced the old drains.

Here’s the problem: there isn’t enough money or enough people to enforce the law. I will totally be a Drain Checker … I’ll start in California and Hawaii. All you have to do is pay my way there. Aron could be the Head Drain Checker for the United States and we could travel all over in our Duggar-like RV that the government would buy us. We’d force pools to close for days and be very unpopular and mean.