5 Kids. 1 Adult.  That’s my beautiful bride right in the middle of it all.  I can’t handle that kind of chaos. My wife can.  She organizes the parties, plans the meal, sets up the tables and makes sure my little girl has the best 4th birthday part ever.

If I were running the show, Jadyn’s birthday party would have been at a movie theatre.

Today’s example: the baby gate. We’ve had this freaking thing for months, I still don’t know how to work this thing. In fact, I don’t even know how to get it “off” the stairs….

“Technically.. this wasn’t a wordless Wednesday post… because umm there are words in it.”

“Technically it wasn’t your photography either, that was mine.”

“So, a plethora of words accompanies wordless wednesday, along with a fantastic photo that Andy skillfully captured. CJ, your blogging skillzzz are becoming questionable. Unless you want kudos for clicking the Upload button correctly”

Fortunately for my self-esteem, I had one friend provide kind words!

In all seriousness, this is one of the many reasons I enjoy blogging.  Friendly interaction.  Relationships.  Meeting new people.  And now I know, next Wednesday, I may need to adjust my “Wordless Wednesday” post title or the peanut gallery may pipe in once again!

Andrea and I stopped celebrating Valentine’s Day several years ago. Not because of the whole "corporate holiday" crap, but for several other reasons….

1) Money - We got married in December. Nothing like spending money on Christmas, anniversary and then Valentines a month and a half later. Trying to survive as poor married college kids (I say kids because we were only 20 when we got married) was hard enough. Buying gifts on a "lovers" holiday wasn’t feasible.

2) Marriage - I know this closely resembles reason #1, but we both felt that our anniversary replaced Valentine’s day. I think its a great thing do due with your boyfriend/girlfriend, but once you get married, all the Valentine’s day rules move to your Anniversary.

3) Stubbornness - I don’t like people telling me what to do. I especially don’t like society telling me when I need to be sweet and loving and when to buy her chocolates and flowers on some random day in February. I learned early on that randomly surprising Andrea with flowers during any month would get me laid make her happier than me delivering her the goods when they were expected.

4) Hatred of Clichés – Roses, dinner, stupid cards – how is any of that romantic or creative? Where’s the though in any of that?

5) We had kids – enough said.

Please understand that this whole anti-valentine’s day thing only works if both parties are on the same page. If Andrea loved V-day, I’d suck it up and bust out all the Valentine’s day musts. But she doesn’t. She’s with me 100% on this and that’s why we don’t need Valentine’s day. It is important to get out and "date" now and then. It is important to bring flowers home on a random Thursday night as a thanks for all the work she does at the home. It is important6 to slip a cheesy card under her pillow that simply say’s "I Love You"….. its not important that all those things happen on the 14th of February.

I could go on, but I wont….

This weekend was particularly fun because I got to watch Jadyn experience life with her cousins.  She is blessed to have a wonderful older cousin (first photo) that acted as her big sister while taking her on all the little kid rides that we couldn’t (she also rode all the other “grown up” rides that I would NEVER EVER EVER get on).  Jadyn is equally blessed to have a crazy, fun-loving cousin (last photo) who acts as her partner in crime as they both ran around kiddie land with wide open eyes screaming, “WANNA GO ON THIS RIDE NEXT?!?!” back and forth to each other.

It was a jammed packed weekend of fun and while I can’t speak for everyone, it was a trip my family needed for sure!

Here is my conversation with the front desk tonight after spending 5 minutes trying to remember my room and testing out my key in 10+ doors….

Front Desk – How can I help you?
Me – Can you tell me what room CJ Mills is staying in?
Front Desk – No, but I can transfer you.
Me – What if I am CJ Mills?
Front Desk – *laughter*
Me – *not laughing*
Front Desk – *clears throat* Can I have your address to confirm?
Me – (after giving my info) Does this happen often?
Front Desk – No.

Please tell me I’m not the only one to forget something like this. Anyone else forget something simple like your room in a hotel or a parking space in a parking garage? Please feel free to lie just to make me feel better….

(I miss my wife)

post sent from my Treo smartphone

I’ve seen a lot of sucessful people today, all with different backgrounds, but all sucessful nonetheless. Amongst all of their different personalities, titles and companies, I noticed that there was one trait they all share – they all bust their butt, and have early on as high school or college kids. I love that about business – if you’re willing to put in the effort, regardless of who you are, you can do well for yourself.

Today, I had dinner at an In-N-Out Burger, a staple food stop for any left-coast visitor. As I was enjoying my double-double burger, I found it interesting that this burger joint started from scratch and, with a little (or a lot) of effort, has become an extremly popular place to eat with locations everywhere out here. In-N-Out is no different than Apple, Wal-Mart or Disney – they all needed someone to execute and idea by putting in the effort.

I love that.

post sent from my Treo smartphone

I have recently come in contact with a few new friends through this blog.  One of them, Scott, posted this comment in response to the news that Asher was not coming home:

I am standing in agreement that this is only a minor delay. I receive that, and am so thankful that this delay is short. Father God come, come down and warm sweet Asher so that he may be home with his family. In Jesus’ Mighty Name – Amen!!!!

I know I’ve said this before about the many people I’ve met and connected with online, but finding this kind of support among people I’ve never met is amazing. Combine that with an amazing support team of family, friends and coworkers, and I quickly realized that ALL OF YOU are helping us in more ways than you’ll ever know.

Why do you (or don’t you) blog?