why i love my kids even though they manipulated me

by the way, i love being able to watch 'lord of the rings' on my ipod while i blog. technology is cool... so here is the story about how my kids and my wife took advantage of me.

it all started innocently enough about one or two months ago when anita (that's the wife) began asking if the kids could each get a pet. i said nicely, 'no. we have a cat and i am simply waiting for her to move to kitty heaven, then we can begin to talk about another pet.' this went on for several weeks with anita (said wife) giving more and more information as to what kind of pet each kid wanted: madi a hamster, brevin a cockatiel, and elijah a guinea pig. still being the head of the house i held firm in my decision not to have any more pets despite the pleas and begging and the line, 'pets are good for kids because they help teach responsibility.' so does having a job, but i don't have my kids looking for work at mcdonald's or some other fancy restaurant.

then it happened. as i sat down to eat dinner, which i slaved over the stove for at least an hour, there they were; 3 written reports from each of my kids as to why they wanted their pets and how they planned on taking care of them. not only that, they also explained how they would help pay for the cost of each animal. elijah and brevin offered up some of their birthday money and chose to forgo having sodas when we were out at restaurants. madison was simply going to pay for her hamster by herself. all three ended their reports with an, ' i love you daddy'. totally manipulative.

so we got madison her hamster, sylvia. brevin got a cockatiel; actually we paid for it, but don't get me started as to why it is not in our house yet. elijah got his guinea pigs (moses and elisha), that's right pigs. two. don't get me started on that one either.

but now that we have a veritable farm in our house, i must say that it is all pretty cool. i dig the pigs and the hamster and i know it will be fun to see the bird sitting on the shoulders of my kids. sinclair loves all the animals and it has been fun to see her play with them

enjoy the pics of the pigs, the bird and the hamster. more to follow. pictures, not animals. trust me. i've decided.

i'm back...

good to hear from me!

well, it has only been two months since i had the chance to put a few thoughts down. as you can imagine quite a lot has transpired since my last post and i don't think i could sum it all up in one post. however a few highlights are probably appropriate for now.

madison got her braces and unlike a lot kids her age, she really was excited to have them. she knows that in a few short month (18 to be exact) she will have straight teeth and an even more beautiful smile that the one she had before the braces. those good feelings evaporated after the first day when they started to hurt and ache. but she is a total trooper and doing well and taking good care of that investment.

brevin wrapped up anpother season of Upwards basketball and this year his offense really came to life. he averaged 10 points a game and played his usual aggressive defense. he has started his 5th year of baseball and is now in AAA. he is one the padres and i have the joy of being his coach. his defense and his hitting are improving with every practice and every game and he loves being around his teammates.

elijah, well what can i say about this boy of mine. he has started his first year of t-ball and is totally loving it. except for the first practice when he was accidently hit in the face and he refused to continue. however, after that little event, he was all good and had a blast at his first game. all you have to do is look at the video below to see what i mean.

sinclair continues to grow and allow her personality to come out. she is walking, babbling, eating lots of good food; like lollipops and cookies and ice cream, and bonding with our family. she loves being outside, laughing, playing peek-a-boo, and reading books. we are blessed to have this little nugget in our lives.

anita and i wrapped up teaching and leading a parenting class at church and are looking forward to a little less chaos around the house over the next couple of weeks. i won't be able to tell you in this post how my sweet, innocent, and God-fearing children (not to mention my loving wife) manipulated me and took advantage of my kindness and generosity. i am still bitter about the whole thing and might need some therapy to resolve my issues. or, maybe i can just blog about the whole thing and that might make me feel better.