Green Me

Do you want a receipt? Up to now I've always replied "Yes" at the gas station when prompted with this question at the end of a tank fill-up. Truth be told I was motivated more by conspiracy theory than sound accounting practices. My logic: if I print a receipt then THEY won't try and overcharge me with what shows up on my credit card bill. I thought of some person sifting through gas station for transactions where no receipt was requested and targeting those stiffs. I nickel here, a dime there and a million customers later some conspirators have skimmed a hefty sum off us blokes!

Well, as exciting as that might be I've renounced my belief in a grand gas station no receipt skimming conspiracy. Now I say "No" to gas station receipts and consider myself a little friendlier to the environment.

Jetpacks

Recently Caleb asked me, "Dad, how do you make a jetpack?" I replied, "I don't know." Caleb exclaimed, "Dad! You're 41 years old and you don't know how to make a jetpack?!"

blog or die

Okay, "I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who . . . " said Rob Dixon is giving me an ultimatum to publish a fresh blog post here at Stinky Like Beautiful. If I don't produce he's threatening to remove me from the blog roll. I made the grave error last time I was searching for blog material to ask Rob for some tips on what I might write about. He happened to be with some other IV staff yahoos who came up with a top ten questions list for me. They asked questions like, "Why is Mike's head so big?" and "Why am I always a half-step behind Rob in the humor department?" and "Why does Mike only wear carpenter pants?", etc., etc. Well, needless to say I'm not writing about any of those popular topics. They already cost me $600 in counseling fees to even begin to think about blogging again.

So, what could I write about. I could write about how much I appreciate Barack Obama's speech in response to his former pastor's infammatory remarks. I have never heard a politician address the racial realties/tensions so directly and accurately. Will I vote for him? Maybe. Either way he (and his speech writers) earned many respect points with his courage and candor.

But this blog is primarily devoted to Nalley kid stuff. Our 16 month old, Linnea or Nay-Nay, has affectionately earned the label Menace to Society. Even the older two sometimes call her that. She is a wild one! Here is a list of a few of her antics -

* regularly turns off the power strip which controls the phone & modem

* turns off and on the desktop computer tower

* takes clean clothes from the to-be-folded pile and puts them into the bathtub

* stands on the dishwasher door and throws clean silverware out onto the floor

* pinches our neck skin between her sharp fingernails when being held to sleep

* climbs up on the table and gets into other people's food

* pounds on any computer keyboard within reach

* has dove headfirst fully clothed into a full bathtub

* eats dirt (photo above)

* is so dang cute we love her to pieces!

No Way

Open . . . open. Brushing my kids teeth requires focused concentration on my part while my kids practice focused distraction. Caleb has been brushing his own teeth for awhile but Elise is as squirrely as ever at teeth time. The other night I was, once again, attempting to brush her teeth and had to use my most potent weapon. I asker Elise, "Do you want to this the easy way or the hard way." Elise replied, "No way."

The Life

The other night Kirsten was tucking Caleb into bed. He climbed into his bed, manuevered under his covers and as he lay his head down on his pillow with his doggie and mouth bound thumb he proclaimed, "Ah . . . this is the life."

Bear at the Door

I drive through the airport I-215 tunnel with Caleb and Elise on the way to preschool. They like to pretend the tunnel is the bear cave in the children's book, We're Going on a Bear Hunt. In the book the bear chases the adventuring family all the way back to thier front door. Caleb asked me, "Daddy, what should we do if a bear comes to our front door?" I seized the opportunity to coach he and Elise about door answering caution etiquette. "Caleb, that is a good question. That is why you should not open the door but ask, 'Who's there?'. If you find out the person at the door is someone safe that you know you can open it." Caleb followed with the painfully obvious question, "Daddy, why would a bear ever come to our door?"

Elise likes dirt and gak and floam and sand and . . .

Very tactile she is.

With the Greatest of Ease

Caleb soaring into the warm springs of Sunny Side, Nevada. WSBC camping trip - Oct. '06.

Jimmy . . .

Neutron. Negatron. Neutron. Negatron.

We've Been TP'ed

We are hoping toilet papering is one of the love languages of the neighborhood kids. Turns out it was. One mom called to apologize and sent her kids over to clean it up. Good kids.

Lounging Linnea

Here is Linnea enjoying the Vegas Spring weather.

Warm Water + Storage Bin

I've been wanting a jacuzzi in our backyard for sometime now. Our kids have much simpler tastes. Caleb, whom we often call the negotiator, persauded me to fill up a storage bin with warm water and bring it outside. I had no idea two kids could fit in there and have such a good time.

Can't Get Enough of That Tomato Soup

Campbell's Soup would be proud. In order to get the desired quantity at the desired rate of tomato soup into her tummy, Elise ate double fisted.

One More Thing Daddy . . .

Caleb and Elise have a real talent for stretching out their bedtime routine. Even before getting into bed Elise will claim, "I can't sleep." Or, like tonight, she will say she needs to go pee pee then try to small talk her way through several minutes in the bathroom with no pee pee in sight. Last night monsters was the reason she gave for needing to go to our bed instead of her own. Tonight after trips to the kitchen for warm milk and then bagel I was finally about to gain what was left of our kid-free evening time. Caleb interjected, "Daddy, one last thing. The way to get rid of hiccups is to pull a chicken in the butt and drink a lot of milk." Thank you son. Now go to bed.

Practicing w/Photos & Links

Ah ha! My blog mentor, R Dixon showed me how to add photos. Let's try it out.
There they are! Elise and Caleb getting jiggy wid it at the Jimi/Janyl wedding. Okay, how about a link? I subscribe to BreakPoints daily email broadcasts for insight and formation of my worldview. Thanks Rob!

Musical Beds

There was clean unfolded laundry all over my side of the bed so I lay down on my wife's side to read. I fell asleep. I woke up around 2 a.m. and saw that she was asleep in the living room recliner. Figuring she would eventually want to go our real bed I went into the guest room to sleep. Our 4 year old son wet his bed so he hopped into the spot in our bed I had vacated. When my wife finally headed to real bed she saw her spot was occupied by a drying halfling so she also headed to the guest room. Just as she was settling in with me at about 5:00 a.m. we saw our 2 year old daughter heading out of her bedroom and down the hall into our room. We weren't in our bedroom; only our son was. Our daughter found us, climbed into the guest bed with us and sent me to get her some warm milk. Musical beds. By the way, who's on first?

Fear and Loving in Las Vegas

This past Sunday was Launch Sunday at my church. For the first time in years the entire congregation was together for one service to launch us into the Fall. I am grateful for each of the ministry staff leaders. They spoke from theirs heart to us. One pastor said, "I've come up with one word that captures what we need more of in our church. Fear. Fear of God." If fear means to honor, worship, trust and serve our one true God in love and joy then yes, Amen, crank up the fear. If fear means to try and honor, worship, trust and serve our one true God out of duty then no thanks. He went on to say that worship is not about us, it is about God. I'm sure he was aiming at the complaining hearts we so easily drift toward but I felt some important counter comments were in order. John Piper in his book Desiring God makes the point that worship is for us . . . and the glory of God . . . together! Removing our self interest from worship or the whole of Christian life makes Jack a dull dutiful Christian. God invites way more of us than just our duty. He offers abundant life! God, not Snickers, truly satisfies. He invites us to enter into His joy. Trying to worship God without self interest is like kissing your spouse simply because you are supposed to. How flattering - thanks for smacker . . . I guess! My wife wants a kiss freely given in love, joy and honor. And, the more I enjoy her and the kiss the more she is wife-glorified. What a complement to her! What joy for me! Win win! God is most glorified when we find our joy in him for that is what he wants from us - freely given love, admiration and surrender. What a compliment to God when we worship with our hearts full of joy not just self-mustered duty. In a Kingdom way, Jesus invites us to be selfish. Whoa . . . that sure sounds heretical but it is true. Is fear what we really need more of? Maybe, depending on the definition. What I say is that we need Christians to be more selfish. For when we are most satisfied in God He is most glorified.

Water Fight at the Pink House 

Rock Band or Sermon Title?

Caleb smelled Kirsten's hairspray and said, "You smell stinky like beautiful." What a phrase; sounds like a rock band or song title or a way to somehow encapsulate the smell of our sin and the beauty of God's grace.