I'm the first crazy one in the my family

I have been thinking about it for a while, and I finally made the switch from a PC to an Apple.

Kids say the funniest things

Joshua was picking through the trail mix at the table and I interupted him saying, "Josh, you can't just pick though and eat the chocolate chips."

Josh responded, "I'm not, I can't find any."

(that's probably because he already ate them all)

Sammy is two, but he still doesn't talk very well

As you may know, Samuel is a boy of few words. Anna had told Josh a while ago that when Sammy turned two he would start talking more.
Well Sam's birthday rolled around, and after a couple of hours Joshua said with a bit of annoyance in his voice, "Sammy's two but he still doesn't talk very much."

Isn't it funny how kids see things in black and white--of course on September 13th everything should have changed for Sam (but alas, he is but one day older).

A Bath, or two

Maria came bouncing up the stairs with one of her baby dolls and asked cheerfully if she could take a bath. It was very spontanious--tonight is not bath night and she wasn't dirty or anything.

Only a few seconds had passed, I had put the last of the dishes in the dishwasher, and I looked for Maria...she had already stripped down and was in the tub with her doll.  She was prancing around making little pattering sounds with her bare feet and had this amazing look of joy in her eyes. I had never actually said "yes" to her bath request, but she knew I would turn that warm water on for her because I love her.

After the water started flowing I ran down to share this memory in the journal so I would not quickly forget it. Within the time it took to write the first part of the title "A Bath", it suddenly became two. 

Samuel began crying. I ran upstairs to find that the little clothed kid had climbed on the edge of the tub and had fallen in, sweatshirt and all. I guess he was a bit excited to take a bath too.

My new iPhone

Yes, what you may have heard is true. I don't mean to brag or anything, but I have an iPhone. I didn't have to wait in line at the stores--and I got it for free. I didn't steal it, yet it wasn't a gift. Anyhoo, if you want one click here.

The new iPhone. Does it Blend?

I thought this guy was really funny. You should see some of the other things that blend...well what do you know.

Lives filled with lots of BUGS

The kids love bugs. Their favorite thing to do is run around the yard at dusk looking for fire-flies. Joshua has gotten very good at chatching them in his hands, but he also uses his butterfly net. It is so much fun to hear the chorus of voices proclaiming, "there is a fire fly!"

While we were up north we were walking in the woods and for the first time the kids got to see dangerous red ants. Of course we told them how dangerous they are, and Sam who speaks few words was sure to repeat over and over "ow, ow, ow" while pointing at them just to make sure we didn't forget they could hurt us.


Papa Ray found some baby monarch butterfly caterpillars while we were river rafting, we were able to bring them home. It is amazing how fast they grow. One of them was not even a centimeter long when we found him, but within 10 days he was huge. Just look at the two pictures to see how much of the hand-sized leaf he could eat overnight in the course of 10 hours.

Baby Birds in the back yard

Did you know that Mourning Dove couples are faithful and mate for life? Well we have a a neat couple that nest in our wysteria vine every summer. The same pair of birds build a new nest in the same place and every year. The kids think it is really cool, and they were excited when I took them up the ladder to see these two baby doves that you see in this picture right here.

Lots of Eggs

This morning Maria was talking about her special tummy that could hold babies when she gets married. I told her that she had hundreds of special eggs in her tummy right now. That made her so proud, she marched around the house telling Joshua that her tummy was really fat because it was filled with lots of eggs.

Severed Head

Joshua's middle anme is Thomas, we chose it after watching "A Man For All Seasons" before he was born, so we consider June 22nd as Joshua's feast day. Every year on the feast of St. Thomas More we celebrate with a tradition we started a few years ago. We stuff green peppers with spaghetti and turn them into what looks like a severed head. This is to remember that Thomas More was beheaded for his steadfast courage with which he held on to his religious convictions in the face of ruin and death.

Bella

Anna and I were blessed to be able to see this movie recently; it was one of the best movies I have seen. It is trying to get traction so it can be shown across the country. If you get a moment go to youtube and give it a high rating!

www.bellathemovie.com

Sticky hands

This morning after a breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns and waffels, Joshua exclaimed, "my hands are sticky, I'm going to go out and climb trees!"

Hey, that makes sense...but he ran ouside in his underware (his favorite clothing) and said that it didn't help much to have sticky hands.

An innocent prank? Yeah, I think so.

It was a beautiful Memorial day and we decided to stop at Sparbucks and Kellog park in down town Plymouth after mass this morning. We used a gift card to buy some yummy chocolate frapuchinos and walked over to the fountain in the park. To our suprise, and the kids delight, the fountain was full of thick bubbles. Being a male who played a lot of pranks growing up my first thought was some teens put a LOT of bubble bath in to make that many bubbles. Anna, innocent as she is, thought the city must be cleaning out the pump system. We'll the kids took no time at all to jump up on the edge and put their feet in. They played for a while, popping bubbles and getting them all over their hands and feet. I thought the bubbles smelled familiar, some scent from my childhood. Well it turns out I was right all along. on the far side of the fountain, behind, not inside the trash container, was a BIG box of Tide detergent. The culprits left behind evidence of their crime.


I couldn't help but think about hoew much fun it must have been to run to the center of the fountain and dump a box of powdery whiteness into the spashing water and watch the hydrophilic wonders come forth.

A rainy Saturday

Anna found the kids a neat teeter totter at a garage sale a few days ago and the kids have been trying to wear it out.
It's especially cool because one, two or all three kids can play on it.

Joshua the Legislator

This morning while Maria was helping clear the breakfast dishes she grabbed a glass that still had some orange juice in it and carlessly spilled it while she walked. I said something to the effect that I would have to make a new rule that nobody could leave the table until they finished their drink.

Joshua, excited about his new talent at writing words (exceptionally well), immeiatly offered to "write the new rule on a note."

Hopefully he won't end up drafting some bad legislation when he gets older.

Joshua's Story

Every night I tell the kids a story, but they can never seem to get enough so they keep asking for more. Sometimes I'll ask Joshua to tell a story because I am all tired out; normally he'll turn down the offer. But last night he quickly agreed and this is the story he told:



In case you couldn't pick up everything he said it was about dogs chasing after a woman who had a bag of treats. When they got too close she used a "tazer" which is a self defense device that shocks people (or dogs).

If I gave Joshua any ideas about tazers it was a long time ago. It is amazing how long things can remain latent in a childs mind and then pop up at any time. Anna and I laughed so hard after this story I was compelled to run down and get the camera so I could share it with everyone. Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Lots of changes

Sorry it has been so long since our last post...over a month I think. Well lots has been going on and blogging just seemed to be a low priority. Among other things I was sick for 5 consecutive weeks with the flu, cold, pnemonia, and ear infections.

Anna has accepted a job at Providence Hospital as an RN in Oncology. She just started on April 30 and will be in training for the next 6-8 weeks. So far she really likes it and it we are finding it to be a great blessing. You should see her in her cute Navy Blue scrubs.

I am watching the kids a few days a week and doing much of my work from home on the wonderful tool that is the internet.

I really enjoy being with the kids, as you'll see in later posts, there are lots of laughs throughout the day.

Lucky Kid

Samuel is a lucky kid, his mom lets him hang out with her whenever he wants. Even when food preperation would make it inconvenient to carry him Anna finds a way to compromise. He sure is a luckly little one.

Why the heavy hand in promoting the HPV vaccine?

By: Joseph A. D’Agostino,

The efforts to force all American girls to receive a new, unnecessary vaccine with unknown long-term side effects seem to have lost much of their momentum for now. Merck has dropped its campaign to convince states to mandate the vaccine for sixth-grade girls before they can enter school, and strong public resistance has appeared in many states. This curious episode in the history of American public health is likely to be repeated many times over the next decade or two as the health profession grapples with the ever-rising rates of sexually transmitted disease in this country.

Some states are still moving forward with mandatory plans, but generally with allowing parents to opt out of the vaccination program. Even Canada’s provinces have so far decided not to distribute the vaccine at government expense.
Forty-five years ago, only two sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) were known to have firm footholds in the American population, and they were largely confined to high-risk populations such as prostitutes and sailors. Today, there are at least 26.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of those and is very widespread among sexually active girls and women. Scientists think that the four strains (there are others) of HPV included in Merck’s vaccine cause 70% of cervical cancer cases and 90% of the genital warts in the United States.
So what’s the problem with giving this vaccine to girls?

First, it implicitly normalizes the abnormal state of modern girls’ self-destructive sexual practices. It says that girls as young as 11 could be sleeping around and must receive this vaccine, called Gardasil, for protection. Rather than spend hundreds of millions on injecting everyone with this HPV vaccine, a better strategy would be to tackle the culture of promiscuity instead, especially since Gardasil will do nothing to combat all the other dangerous STDs girls and women can catch.

Second, like most medical treatments, Gardasil has side effects. National Vaccine Information Center analyst Vicky Debold, RN, Ph.D., says, "The most frequent serious health events after Gardasil shots are neurological symptoms. These young girls are experiencing severe headaches, dizziness, temporary loss of vision, slurred speech, fainting, involuntary contraction of limbs, muscle weakness, tingling and numbness in the hands and feet and joint pain. Some of the girls have lost consciousness during what appear to be seizures." NVIC says that 82 adverse event reports have been filed between July 2006 and January 2007 for Gardasil, suggesting that serious side effects are rare but hardly unheard of.

Third, no one knows what long-term ill effects Gardasil could cause. It is simply too new, and untried in a large population.
The most curious thing about Gardasil was the attempt to force it on 11- and 12-year-old girls across the country. Why was something so new, so relatively untested, with unknown long-term effects so quickly adopted as mandatory by some such as Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R.)? Virginia’s Gov. Tim Kaine (D.) is also considering mandating it. Both states will allow for parents to opt their children out.

Obviously, there are the lobbyist connections and campaign cash drug companies have. But there is a more fundamental problem: The assumption that youth sexual promiscuity is here to stay and fierce measures must be taken to combat the resulting diseases, and caution cannot be afforded when a promising new treatment comes along. Would that such energy be directed at keeping pornography away from minors or high school students of opposite sexes away from each other when not chaperoned. These measures would combat all STDs at once and reduce teen pregnancy as well.

It might make sense for parents who believe their girls are at high risk of sexual activity to give their daughters the vaccine, and for girls and young women who intend to sleep around to take it (hopefully, at later ages than 12). Then ten or so years down the road, after the vaccine’s effects are better known, perhaps the health profession might encourage—-not mandate—-more widespread use of the vaccine.

But this cautious, common-sense course was not pursued. Instead, the top-down heavy hand came into play immediately. This attitude of our political class and medical establishment does not bode well for future efforts to combat the rising tide of sexual infections among American youth.

Joseph A. D'Agostino is Vice President for Communications at the Population Research Institute.

Test to see a website is blocked in China

CatholicConvert.com is most certainly blocked.