5 Dangerous Things - # 4

A few weeks ago I watched this video that talks about 5 dangerous things you should let your children do. In case you don't have 10 minutes to watch it, here's a summary:

1) Play with fire
2) Own a Pocketknife
3) Throw a spear
4) Deconstruct an appliances
5) Drive a car

Here are some pics of my kids enjoying doing #4 - using cd player/radio that they broke, (although everyone has denied responsibility for it.)

Melodie did the initial unscrewing and wire clipping

Then the boys moved in for the complete destruction,
and I must say they did an excellent and thorough job.

As a side note, Corey as a computer programmer is always telling me how programming and computers are such proof to him that evolution is false. He talked to the kids about it by asking "Which do you think is more complicated? This radio, or your body?" "Body" is right. Well if people think our bodies just evolved, let's say this radio just evolved - is that possible? If lightning struck some metal or a rock and it was given enough time over millions of years, it could make something like this, right?
I highly doubt it. There needs to be a creator, a plan, and execution of that plan by the creator. That is how we were made to. There is a God, he is the Creator, he made this world and all the miraculous things in it, including each of us.

Learning to Ride a Bike

It's been about two years since my kids had their first bikes, which we gave away when we moved across country. At that time they all had training wheels. A month ago, a neighbor gave us a bike that they were no longer using, and much to Joseph and Melodie's surprise, Ethan who is 6 was able to just take of riding. How was this possible that I have a kid who can ride a bike with absolutely no effort on my part? Teaching a kid to ride a bike was on my list of parent burdens, falling into the same column as potty training. Ethan had learned his balance from riding a little razor scooter. So I went out and bought bikes for all the kids at garage sales that weekend. Joe and Mel couldn't ride and were a little jealous of Ethan and embarrassed with themselves. I told Joe to learn the scooter and then he'd be able to ride the bike. Sure enough, he got the scooter down after a few hours and then was able to take off on his bike too. Melodie also recently decided to put the effort into learning balance on the scooter, and after one hour, had the scooter down, and the next morning she was able to ride a bike. It has been the easiest for me and the best way for them to learn to ride a bike - have them practice on a scooter for balance. It's a lot easier for kids to catch themselves from falling off a scooter that's 3 inches off the ground than to stop falling off a bike.

Wesley is too little to go without training wheels, but he is starting to use the scooter!

Abi - too young for a 2 wheeler too. Cute little girl

Hyrum - Four and Feisty

Hyrum. Sweet little Hyrum. He seems like a harmless little boy, right? Smiling, happy, cute, just a timid little guy who's afraid of dogs. But looks can be deceiving. The picture above was taken probably 2 minutes before the following sequence of events. Hyrum was playing with Abi and rolled over on his face somehow and totally tweeked the right side of his glasses. I had a hard time unscrewing it to put the lense back in, but got it unscrewed, got pliers to bend the frame to have it hold the lense and was able to line it up for the screw to fit in. I was feeling rather anxious here because this was a brand spankin' new pair. His other pair just broke the nose pad off 3 weeks ago, a week for the new pair to come, so like 2 weeks new. Breathe Tiffanie. I was able to get it screwed back together, and while I was trying to do all that I heard Abi freaking out cause someone was bugging her. I went in, told Hyrum to knock it off in a firm tone, then told him his glasses were fixed and to come get them. I should have known better that to scold him right before I gave him his glasses, cause he was offended and didn't want to listen to me, thus he replied "NO! I'M NEVER WEARING MY GLASSES AGAIN!" Ok, whatever. I kinda laughed inside at what a feisty 4 year old he is, then went to continue folding the laundry. He started playing nicely with Abi, he was laughing, she was content, I figured things were cool again. After about ten minutes, he came over to the laundry room door, and turning his happy face into a scowl as he told me with defiance "I BEND MY GLASSES INTO A "W"!!!" I went to go see, sure enough, there they were bent in half into a W on the counter, to which I totally freaked out. I spanked him as I yelled "NO NO NO!" as I sent him into his room. What's another hundred bucks down the toilet? (Did I tell you Melodie accidentally flushed her glasses down the toilet a few months ago? I shall have to post that story too...) I might be able to bend them back, seeing as the pliers and tiny screw driver I had just used to repair them were still on the counter. I haven't tried yet. Ethan did this to his glasses once when he was a feisty 4 year old. So Corey says we should let Hyrum just go without glasses for a while, and hopefully he will not like not being able to see and will learn some respect. Breathe.

Update - 1 hour after this journaling therapy to calm myself down, Hyrum came in with his glasses on. They looked a little crooked, but pretty good, and he sweetly said "Mom, my glasses are not in a W now!" He had bent them back himself.

Apology accepted.

P90X

I'm still trying to work off those final 10+ pregnancy pounds. I thought a half marathon would do the trick, but I guess it's such a gradual increase in the training regimen, that my metabolism doesn't get the kick into gear that it needs. So I'm still the same weight as I was during training for that (which was 3 months ago). So after a few friends talked to me about this, and after having Corey around when an informercial for it came on TV and making him step away from his laptop for 10 minutes so he could come be amazed at what it can do for us, we ordered it! It arrived last week, and we began our 90 days on Monday. So here's hoping for P90X to come to my rescue, and so far so good! It's day 3... and I am way sore. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get through an upper body workout today since I was still sore from the workout on Monday (and I didn't even do any of the pull-ups in that workout... we need to go buy a pull-up bar...). It's gonna be good. So, not that I want to raise anybody's expectations, but if you do happen to see me sometime within the next 90 days and you find yourself thinking "WOW! Look at you! What have you been doing to be in such phenomenal shape?!?" I thought I'd let you know now. :)