When my daughter was eight years old, she was diagnosed with leukemia. It was the hardest thing that we have ever had to face and reality set in when we were contacted by the Children’s Wish Foundation, stating that they wanted to give us Disney tickets, as that is where Shayden really wanted to go.

We got our Hopper tickets delivered to our house by registered mail and even the sight of the tickets seemed to make Shay feel better. She was very excited about the trip and I was happy that she was getting the opportunity to make one of her dreams come true.

When I would tuck her in at night she would ask me to read more to her about what she could expect to see when we got there. It was a great experience and it held us all together when things were difficult with her illness. She is better now, but I will never be able be thankful enough for that trip.

Starting out with the first granddaughter, my dad decided that he was going to build all of his grandchildren a unique gift that was just their own. He is can do amazing things with his hands and he is more creative than I can ever hope to be. The things he has made will be wonderful keepsakes for these children.

My oldest son was really into trains and dad made him a black engine toy box out of stovepipe. It is amazing and I am afraid to let him keep his toys in it, as something could happen to it. But, dad said that he made these things for the kids to enjoy, not to put on display. So, reluctantly, I let him keep it in his room.

For my youngest son, dad built a motorized riding tractor, complete with skid steer tires. Both of the boys have gotten so much enjoyment from it and I have had so many people comment on it and ask if dad would sell them one. He wouldn’t, of course, as it was an original design, built solely for Andrew.

Our city hosts and annual twins and triplet’s sale, in which all parents of multiples can try to get rid of things that they no longer need or want. I like to get in on the sale because they usually have some really great deals and I love getting deals.

At the last sale, I bought some Jetsons Halloween costumes and a bicycle for my son. The prices are really amazing and I try to buy clothes for my kids that will last for the whole year. I am usually pretty successful. My kids are always very well dressed and I never have to buy them new clothes.

The people at the sale always joke with me that I definitely should have had a set of twins or triplets because I fit in so well at the club. I don’t mind the teasing because they are really great people and are a lot of fun to hang around with.

I was at the mall with my friend the other day, browsing around at different things. We had her little girl with us in her stroller and we were just having a good day visiting and drinking coffee together. I was enjoying it, as I don’t get out socializing very often between school and work.

We were walking through some children’s clothing stores and I was amazed at some of the prices. I was wondering who would buy expensive designer baby clothes for their baby when they were just going to outgrow them almost as soon as you bought them.

I guess a lot of people must buy them for there to be a market for it, but I think that they are crazy. When I have a baby, I am going to shop at thrift stores and buy cheap clothes. I think it makes much more sense for the mom to buy designer clothes for herself.

My daughter has been dancing since before she was two years old. It started with ballet and evolved from there. She is ten year old now and knows many different forms of dancing. She still enjoys ballet, but she is really into hip hop and that is what she wants to do most of all.

At first, we were not very happy with this decision. We thought that ballet was a much more graceful form of art than hip hop was. Her teacher tuned us in, though, and we are okay with the decision now. She is a hip hop model to these kids and she explained that hip hop contains every bit as much grace as ballet.

We decided she could do this as long as she gave it her all and gave it as much dedication as she had the ballet classes. She promised she would and I have to admit that she is pretty good at it. I love to watch her dance and I know that she will be great one day. In fact, I think she is pretty great now.

My twelve year old son was working on a book report for his Language Arts class and I could tell that he was getting very frustrated. You see, he has always been very smart and has always been a perfectionist and I think for the first time in his life, he was having problems understanding the book he was writing on.

He asked me if I would please help him with it and this surprised me because he never ever wanted help with his homework before this point. I told him I would and asked him what the book was about. He told me it was about a family that was going whaling, but that there was a lot more to it than that.

I decided that I would read the book myself that night, so I could try to help him understand it. When I was talking to him about it the next day, I was sure he had a pretty good grasp as to what it was all about. He wrote the report, with very little help from his mother, and he did very well on it.

I always thought it would be great to have a daughter.  You see, I am a boy (obviously), and I thought it would be neat to see the perspective of a woman growing up.  I would be able to compare my daughter’s life to my childhood experiences and see the differences.

Lucky for me, I have been blessed with that opportunity - twice.  You see, I have two young girls, and I have been able to observe how the grow and interact with myself and the world.  It has definitely been a learning experience for sure, but it has been fun to say the least.

What I found to be an eye opener was the young girls activities that they enjoyed.  They would rather play with dolls and dress up than go fight, or roll around in the mud.  

It is funny now that when I see young girls in art at a gallery, I think of my two little ones.  Speaking of that, I am going to go play with them now.

I remember the day as if it were yesterday. It was bittersweet.  I had to both face the most difficult news that I had ever received. It was also the day that I found out how strong I could be when it was important. This was the day I found out that my three year old had leukemia.

The doctor was very optimistic that she could be cured and I decided that I was going to learn everything that I could about the disease and how to help her overcome it. The first thing we decided to do was to check into our medical insurance to see what kinds of treatments were covered. The second was to take her to a naturopath for his advice on a holistic diet.

This was six years ago. We did put her on a natural diet and skipped the chemicals altogether. She is a very healthy nine year-old and lives a completely normal life. In fact, she barely remembers ever being sick. She is a whiz on the soccer field and loves to read. She is my little girl and will be for years to come.

This year, we thought that we could do something a little more creative for Valentines Day.  We have a couple of children, and in the past all we have done is buy them gifts from the store.  But, now our children are older and we thought that we could get them to make something special for them.

My wife came up with the idea that we could take some of their drawings that they have done and make some custom T shirts for them.  That way, they could have something they could wear around as proud grandparents, and yet it shouldn’t be something that gets put in a closet or stuffed into some drawer somewhere.

Her girlfriend showed us a website that she had used in the past that let you make your own T shirt.  After a couple of tries with their “make your own T shirt” wizard, we finally had the final product – and it looked great.

I can’t wait to see their faces – it will be the best Valentines Day gift our children have given yet!

I did not know that such a thing as organic baby clothes existed until my daughter-in-law decided to use them for my grandson. I was quite appalled at the notion, as I think the whole “organic” era is just a ploy to gouge innocent, naive people into spending tons of money where it is not necessary.

My children certainly didn’t wear organic baby clothing and they all turned out just fine. They also drank water from the garden hose and rode their bicycles without helmets. I really don’t think we are doing kids a favor these days by trying to overprotect them.

When I found out that Spencer also slept with organic baby bedding, I almost lost it. The prices of these things is crazy and people are being scammed. Basically organic clothing contains no bleaches or chemicals. You would think they should be cheaper, as they have less added to them. I don’t know anymore, but I have to bite my tongue way too often.