Lacrae

Growing up as a teenager in the 90's, Rap & Hip Hop was my thing.  I still love to listen to it but don't do it as often any more.  Its a little hard to listen to with the kids around when I'm supposed to be setting a good example. (see more about that in this post Rap Music is my Cigarette) 

When I came across this rapper I was a little hesitant, Christian rap to me is the knock off of rap music and has never really captured me but Lacrae is good.  Maybe its because I'm older now and still want to listen to my rap but this guy is different.  I watched an interview with him, I like his style and love his message, he's got my attention.  

Who Is Joseph Kony

Joseph Kony is the worlds worst war criminal, he abducts children from their homes and forces them to be soldiers and sex slaves, to murder and mutilate their neighbors. The stats on this guy are over the top; 26 years or violence, 30k children abducted & 440k people displaced across 3 countries - Invisible Children

Enough is enough, finally someone is ready to put a stop to it. Invisible Children released these videos, if you haven't seen them yet, please watch;

Part 1

Part 2

The goal is to make him famous to culture makers & policy makers who can help in the effort to take him down. Cover the night, starts tomorrow, so if yo don't know, now you know, join in the effort to make him famous, sign the pledge.

Parenting Tips by Theo

Theo was playing with these stuffed animals all day like they were his kids. Taking care of them and parenting them. We were cracking up about how he was treating them when they were "bad". (This is not how we as parents deal with bad behavior) but I was joking with him that maybe we should start. He insisted that I film him.

Working with Dad

Our baby girl loves to be busy and always have something going on. So naturally when her Dad is doing a project she wants to be right in the mix working too. Here is she "helping" install the new dishwasher.

Photo Shoot

Here is the latest from our photo shoot with aunt Laney, always pleased with what she does.

http://alaynaduran.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/brother-sister-love/

5 Year Old Interview

Theodore turned 5 years old this month.

In celebration of his fifth year, I did an interview with him. If I post the whole interview, I will loose you, so here are just a few of my favorite answers to the questions;

1. Who is your best friend? Josiah & Nathan

1. Who is your role model? My Sister

1. What are your goals in the next year? Ride my bike with no training wheels, ride my skate board

1. What do you want to be when you grow up? Just live in a motor home, drive around and sleep & eat

Stars

Our family likes to use a 5 start rating system. We use it for all kinds of stuff but we started using it to help with mine and Jacobs biggest disagreement "how we spend our time".

The conversation will go something like this, Jacob says "hey will got invited to this thing" and I say "fine but how important is it to you that I go"? He will then give me a star rating. Anything 4-5 star usually means I have to go but if we've had a lot going on, then 4s can be negotiable. If its a 3, I can decide my self if I want to go and below a 3 for get it, I'm not going. It really has made this disagreement a little easier to handle and makes it better for me to get out of things, which is what I love to do.

We use it for other things to base priority or rate things like meals, likes & dislikes.

Try implementing this system into your family, its fun.

Bath Time Fun

Custom Canvas's

For Christmas we got creative and made some canvas's as gifts. One was for a project with the Duran siblings, part of the gift was to be made in a donation and part as a handmade gift for your person. The top picture is Alayna with her gift representing Ephesians 5:25-29. The Communities of Hope was for Jacob's parents and the Fruit of the Spirit tree was for Jacob's grandparents. It was nice to let out some creative juices.

Mud Fun

Mom let us play in the mud.

Putting on our Chapstick

I like to sit on the bathroom sink to do my make up. One day I grabbed Cadence and put her up there with me. I am so pleased that Jacob ran to get the camera. This picture captures such a cute moment; Cady & Mom, with Theo looking on. I love this picture.

Bad Logic of Santa

Call me a crazy, a scrooge, whatever but the whole Santa thing just isn't for me. Because I don't want to lie to my kids or give some made up dude credit for the presents I bought, I choose to tell my kids that Santa is not real and just stick to the true meaning of Christmas. My fear is that one day after dreaming up and playing out Santa, I will be asked by my kids "So is God/Jesus fake too"? That is not a risk I'm willing to take, even for fun.

This month Theo and I started a conversation about Santa. To my delight it has been hilarious. We've come up with a list of items that just flat out bring justice to the bad logic of Santa. So here it goes...

The Bad Logic of Santa

1. Reindeer's don't fly or have red glowing noses.

2. How can a fat guy go down a chimney (let alone anyone?

3. How does Santa know if people are being good or not (he's not God)?

4. How can Santa travel in one day around the whole world, its impossible?

5. How can Santa eat cookies at every house and not get sick?

6. How does Santa get funding to buy presents & pay elves?

7. How come Santa never died, he's old?

8. Could you really fit a present for every kid in the world, in a sleigh?

9. Elves are not real?

10. What the heck does Santa do the other 11 months out of the year?

If you can answer these questions logically for me or provide evidence to prove me wrong, please do. I'm all for having fun but I hope that as much effort as you put into the story of Santa on Christmas you put that much or more into telling the story of Jesus. Bah, humbug!

Count Down

This year we are trying something new for our count down to Christmas. In the past we've done small gifts each day until Christmas. I wanted get a way from that for a couple of reasons; 1. I don't like all the extra junk 2. I don't like encouraging the "what am I getting" attitude.

This year we are doing more of a reflection on Christmas with a line up of stories. Each day has either a Christmas story, bible story or Christmas poem that we will read each night. Theo seems pretty pumped about it, this might be the start of a new tradition.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

Ingredients

• Chicken Breast




• Olive Oil




• Spices (I use garlic salt, thyme & paprika)




• Whole wheat bun




• Cheese




• Tomatoes




• Spinach Leaves




• Condiments (we like to use chipolte ranch dressing)

Put your chicken breast in a zip lock bag, drizzle with Olive oil. Seal bag and pound chicken flat (I use a rolling pin), then spice it up. Put chicken on the grill for about 7 min per side. Grill bun. Add chicken, cheese, tomatoes, spinach leaves and condiments to the bun.

Quick, healthy dinner, Fredricks style.

Cone Cakes

Last year at Christmas my sister and I thought it would be a good idea to make cake balls during our annual cookie making day. After that day, I said that I would never make them again. The process was way too time consuming and not so rewarding for me. Since then a little idea has been brewing in my head.

I've loved cone cakes since I was a kid, so I came up with a little twist. Make the inside just like a cake ball and dip it just like a cake ball but it will be way quicker and much more rewarding. Now this I can handle. I got my first customer too, my sister wants these at her wedding, so I guess my little experiment went over well.

Herman

When I was a kid, every Halloween my BFF and I would decorate her house and build our friend Herman. This was the first Halloween that Theo and I build our own Herman. We've had him around for the last couple weeks and its been really nice. He's low maintenance, positive, good company and a great listener. My kind of people. I might just keep him around all year long.

This is me and Amber with Herman, we were probably in junior high here. I don't know why we had to dress up like old ladies, its was just the thing to do. I have a feeling that Theo and I will be building our friend every Halloween. It gives me a great excuse to have my friend around again. Happy Halloween Herman.

1 Year Old

Just one year ago we added a beautiful daughter to our family. She has been an awesome addition and has brought a completeness to our family.

One of the things we've wanted to give our kids a verse. We gave Theo his early on and Jacob knew exactly what he wanted to give him (Proverbs 2:1-9). For Cadence, a verse took us a little more thought, it seems a bit more of a challenge to raise a daughter and I think that the both of us wanted her verse to be one to reveal beauty and character in her, so today for her birthday...

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12: 1-2

Happy Birthday Cadence Lucy Michelle, we are committed to tackling the challenge of raising you. You are an amazing girl, we love you.

Keep It Forever

I hate clutter, but I love my son, so when he started bringing home a bunch of paperwork from preschool, it was all so special and I couldn't just toss like I normally do. After a pile started to build and I could no longer fit another piece of it on the fridge, I remember something I saw a long time ago.

So, one day while he was at school, I lined up all his school work and took a picture of it, then thew it away. This worked perfect! I got rid of the clutter and it still gave me an awesome way to keep the memories. And if he asks what happened to all his stuff, BAM, I still have it.

Lucha Libre Taco Shop

We celebrated our Anniversary with a date in San Diego.

We eat dinner at Lucha Libre Taco Shop, Jacob had the Surfin California burrito and I had the Tap Out with Chicken and Fries. Thanks to my boy Adam Richman (Man Vs Food) this was another good find that certainly delivered.

Real Men Do Cry

I don't cry that often. In fact, I think I could probably count the times I've cried in the last ten years on my fingers. Not that I think men or adults should not cry I just don't that often, but I cried eight years ago today. It was when Melody walked down the isle to be married to me. It was and is the happiest day of my life by far and I'm am thankful for every one with her since. God has given me a great treasure in her.

I love you, Melody. Happy 8th!!!