Give This Christmas Away - More Information

Thanks to everyone visiting the site for more information about Give This Christmas Away by Matthew West and Amy Grant.  Here are a couple videos, a couple links, and to prove it really took me a year to hear the song's message, a bonus video featuring Matthew West's 2010 Christmas song.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for taking the time to learn more about the song.

Here is the original video.  Give This Christmas Away was written for the children's video VeggieTales: Saint Nicholas - A Story of Joyful Giving, which, for those of you new to VeggieTales, will explain the tomato with a stocking cap and the cucumber wearing a wool jacket.

This next video features interviews with both Matthew West and Amy Grant.  They tell the story behind the song including how Matthew West was initially approached about writing it, how Amy Grant came to involved with the performance, and what the song means to them.  Near the end of the video, Matthew West says, "If somebody is out there asking that question, how can I make December look different this year, you don't have to look very far to find somebody who's in need."

To go with the song, Matthew West also wrote a book entitled Give This Christmas Away: 101 Simple and Thoughtful Ways to Give This Christmas Away.

As I searched online for more information on Give This Christmas Away, I discovered that I really was a year behind.  Matthew West has written a new Christmas song called One Last Christmas.  At first glance it may seem very different from the first, but both songs show how simple, thoughtful actions can make a gigantic impact on the lives of those around us.

For more information about Matthew West and his music, including the incredible true story of his latest Christmas song, you can click here to visit his website.

What I Learned This Summer - Wrigley Field Edition

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New newspaper column today all about the education my kids got at Wrigley Field this summer.  We've been to numerous Brewers games at Miller Park, and when the Cubs are in town, we (eh-hem) generously welcome our (cough) friendly guests from the south.

This summer we decided to be the ones cheering the visitors, so we planned a trip to Wrigley Field when the Brewers were in town.  And let me add, for the record and for all the Cubs fans who may read this, it wasn't our fault the Brewers won 18-1 the night we were there.

So what did our kids learn?  Read here.

Thanks for visiting.

The Flower Garden Wiffle Ball Field

Welcome to readers visiting Help Readers Too from the EXCURSIONS Journey To Health Wiffle Ball Newsletter.  I hope you enjoyed reading Two Boys at the Bat.

Here’s a quick tour of The Flower Garden, the backyard field where the story took place, as well as a challenge for careful readers later in the post.

Here's the view of home plate from the pitcher's mound followed by a close up of the batter's box.  There used to be a fire pit where home plate is, but we replaced it with landscaping bricks for the batter's box.  (You know ... priorities.)  Now we have a portable fire pit, so the bricks serve as both batter's box and a campfire location.  The backstop is a bit off center since pretty much everyone who plays here is right handed.

Here's the view from the batter's box down the right field line.  Off the back wall of the house or in the landscaping is a triple.  On the patio or roof is a home run, but woe to anyone who messes up the DirecTV dish.  Too bad we don't have more lefties.  It's a short porch wasted.

Now here's the left field line.  The home run line is at the bottom of the ditch.  The swing set is foul, but the slide is in fair territory and just behind the doubles line which runs behind both trees.  Any hit ball that touches either tree is playable, but if it drops it's only a single. The telephone pole, wires, and cables are also in play.  Every once in a while a ball will reach the road.

The pitcher's mound is just an eight foot piece of leftover particle board, and I'm open to suggestions for a more aesthetic solution.  We don't want anything permanent in the middle of the yard so the landscaping bricks aren't an option ... yet.

Here are three pictures from the patio in right center field.  The second and third images show the triples line which runs from the patio around the telephone pole and the home run line in the ditch.  The home run line is very deep in dead center field, then runs down the lowest part of the ditch.  It's been raining a lot lately, so most of it is under water.  Not good for seeing the line, but great fun for outfielders on deep fly balls, sort of like a squishy warning track.

So that's the field, but here are a couple other parts that make it unique.  We named the field The Flower Garden in honor of Mom.  It originally was going to be called The Brickyard because years ago there used to be a brick factory across the road.  We decided on The Flower Garden instead since Mom has some awesome flowers around the house and to honor of moms everywhere who tell their kids, "Stay out of the flower garden!"  At least we won't have to.

The ball bucket was decorated by neighborhood kids.  We hang it on a shepherd's hook simply because there are flowers like that around the house and we thought it would be funny.  The scoreboard is home made.  In this picture it shows no outs in the bottom of the seventh with the score 15 to 8.  The green clothes pin used to mark the inning is kind of hard to see.

We keep all the bats in a plastic tub along with all the ropes used to line the field.  We always used regular bats before this summer.  We knew Wiffle Ball bats would be light, but when they arrived we were surprised just how light they really were.  We knew that taping them up makes them heavier and more durable, so we decided it we might as well have fun with the taping.

All the kids in the neighborhood have their own bat, and when people from outside the neighborhood come over to play, the kids take great pride when their bat is chosen by someone else.  Here's a close-up of a couple bats.

Most of the bats have a color pattern or design of some sort, basically whatever the owner felt like at the time.  This Fourth of July bat is the only one intentionally designed around a specific theme.

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by after reading Two Boys at the Bat in the EXCURSIONS Journey To Health Wiffle Ball Newsletter.  If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear them.  Leave a comment below or send me an email.

And here's the challenge.  Did anyone notice the inconsistency between the poem and the pictures?  Leave a comment or send me an email if you think you know, and I'll post what it is - along with picture evidence - sometime in the near future.

Where's the Continuity?

Last month I wrote a newspaper column about going outside. Getting the kids from the neighborhood together, running around, making up the rules as you go, faking injuries to trick Dad. You know, playing.

I just realized that the topic of this month's column might be the exact opposite of last month's. How can a writer focus on the joys of playing outside one month and follow that up with video games the next?

Let's just blame winter in Wisconsin. I did shovel snow three times the other day. Does that count?

Let me know. In the meantime, here's the column and here's the printable version.

Remember When We Just Played?

I must be getting old because I remember when play involved other kids, outside, and usually a ball of some sort. We made up rules, changed them to our own advantage, and sometimes quit and took our ball home with us, or at least threatened to.

Now, too often, play involves other kids via wireless connections, inside, and something that must be plugged in, or at least recharged. The rules are embedded into the game's code, and if you threaten to go home, there's always someone else in cyberspace able to take your place.

My latest column is all about the former kind of play and how I introduced it to the kids. Actually, they were already well versed, but a refresher course is always good, especially for a kid getting old like me.

Click here for the column or here for the printable version.

Parents, Vacation, and the Kids

Have you walked into a room and realized that you still had something from the previous activity that has nothing to do with the present one? Something like grabbing the milk out of the fridge and realizing you still hold the dirty spade from working in the flower garden? Once I sat down behind the wheel of the van and noticed I was still holding the book I had been reading.

Gentlemen - I wouldn't think to ask the ladies this question - ever walk into the bathroom and realize you still have the TV remote in your hand?

My wife and I recently enjoyed a childless weekend together. A childless getaway, and we somehow took the children.

New column in the local newspaper today. Click here to read how it happened or click here for the printable version.

Pack It Up and Move It Out

I've got a new newspaper column today all about vacation. Actually, it's about getting ready to go on vacation. Check the list, pile it up, and pack it in. Make sure you have everything and make sure it all fits.

Here's the article, or here's the printable version.

My GPSpert - A New Spring Break Column

For our Spring Break vacation we brought along a GPS device just in case we needed help finding any destinations. We didn't really, but the GPS did provide a few memorable moments for the driver (me), the navigator/map holder (my wife), and the GPSpert (my daughter).

After another hour of uneventful driving, we faced a more serious dilemma.

“Dad! What are you doing? You’re not driving on the road.”

“Look, Kiddo,” I respond confidently, “White lines? Pavement? I’m on the road.”

“That’s not what Gladys says.”

Here's the whole article: Sometimes, old 'technology' trumps new OR the printable version.

The Elementary School Carnival

And then there’s the pop bottle ring toss. One game ticket, three rings, seven hundred bottles of pop. Keep any bottle you ring. My child gets two Mountain Dews in three shots.

That’s not hard, I think, so I hand over a ticket. Nothing.

Another ticket. Nothing.

A third ticket. “Hey, that one’s leaning! A leaner counts, right?”

Wrong. Grudgingly, knowing I can’t quit, I hand over another ticket. Finally, a winner! Yes!

For…a bottle of water?!? The kid gets two Mountain Dews for two-bits, and I spend a buck to win a bottle of water at a game stationed beside the drinking fountain that’s giving it away for free?

Lesson learned: Let the kid toss the rings.

Spring is here! At least, it must be if schools are having their annual Spring carnivals. Sure, as I wrote this last weekend we were under a Winter Storm Warning. Sure, two days before it was published we had snow and freezing rain. High temperatures in the teens?

Bah! If there's an elementary school carnival a-happening, it's Spring. End of story.

Anyways, my latest newspaper column was published on Friday. The above is a little piece that got cut in final editing. Here's a link to the online version and the printable version.

Happy Spring, everyone! Enjoy the snow! (You know there's gotta more coming...)

Newspaper Columns

I've mentioned this over on the mother ship, but I write a parenting column for the local newspaper. Books happen to find their way in quite often. Once my daughter and I had a conversation at the dinner table about Clementine, Judy, and Ramona like they were real kids at our school. (Well they all are, technically, at our school. In book form anyway.) That made the column.

Here's two links to my latest column.

COLUMN: WiiOnes caught up in world of video games, electronics or here's the printable version.