Monday, August 31, 2015

And the Winners Are...

Well, I know I promised to announce the winners Sunday afternoon or evening; however, if you follow me long enough you will soon find out that if I'm doing something, I'm going to dive in full force and try to make it as entertaining (or weird) as humanly possible ;)

So I'm finally finished up my raffle videos. To see the prizes and winners, please watch each of the videos below (don't worry, they are short :D )


Raffle #1 - Prize and Winner


Raffle #2- Prize and Winner



Raffle #3- Prize and Winner


If you were one of the winners, please message me your mailing information and I will mail you your prize ASAP! I know you are each busting at the seams to receive it.

Once I get the prizes out and receive the pictures from each winner, I will post them online and let everyone vote for their favorite :) And remember, the winner with the best "pose with your prize" picture will receive a gift card to the restaurant of his/her choice.

Thanks for playing.
-Seth

PS, check back tomorrow and read all about my little buddy in the post "Who is...Titus"

Friday, August 28, 2015

Who is...Neela?


After writing my post about Stevie, I was busting at the seams to write about Neela Grace. If you have followed me for a while, you probably know Neela is the goofy, loveable, and dreamer of the mix.  She is pretty much ALWAYS doing something hilarious. 

I mean the moment she was born, she was cracking me up. She a big ole red stork bites in the middle of her forehead and the way she held her head and face in a Jabba the Hut fashion. I mean, she was super cute, but the way she carried herself and her little facial expressions cracked me the heck up.

Neela the Hut

Neela is the kind of person who legitimately makes friends with any human she comes in contact with. I promise every single time we go out somewhere, she makes a “best friend” and they just have the best time together. I can’t tell you how many times, I have to literally stop her from walking up to her new friend’s mom and inviting herself over to spend the night. That night.  

Everyone that meets Neela instantly loves her. She is such a little charmer. She is always off in her own little world just daydreaming about being some “aminal” or that she could jump rope with her hair. One time, she did something dangerous like run out in the road or something like that. I remember it was an accident and she wasn’t trying to be bad, so I sat down and talked to her face to face for like 3 or 4 minutes VERY intently about why we DO NOT run in the road. I spoke really slowly and made very clear statements that she would be able to understand; the whole time she was nodding her head and looking me straight in the eye.  I was really happy with our little talk and thinking it really helped. We were still locking eyes, so I asked very calmly “Neela, do you understand why you can’t do that anymore?” She thought for a minute and asked “Daddy, how do squirrels fit so many acorns in their mouth?” hahahaha. I just died laughing.

Neela absolutely LOVES Jesus. Her favorite song is Jesus paid it all and she loves to read the Bible. Sometimes I feel bad, because after Bible/dinner time, she wants to just keep reading and reading, but I have to say no and that we need to get ready for bed because we have school in the morning. Telling your kid that you can’t read her anymore Bible stories makes me feel so bad :/ One of my favorite Neela stories was that she came home one day from school and was just sitting down on the couch thinking quietly. When we asked her what was wrong, she said that someone in her class didn’t love Jesus. We said “Well, you should tell him about Jesus.” She said, “Yep, I was going to do that, because once you know about Jesus you just love Him.” :D

My Neela (or as Stevie would say Neena,  or Olive would say Weewa, or Titus would say “Neewa”) is such a little giver and sacrificer. If we have three of something, she is mostly always the one to volunteer to go without. I think I said before, but she has literally given the shirt to some “best friend” she made at the playground because they liked it. When we were picking out birthday presents, she picked out something. I said “Josie (her friend) would love this.” She responded “Yeah, I know, if I get it I’m going to give it to her.”

However, some people can’t handle her little personality. She is VERY excitable!! :D Her major excitement and natural blondness kind of takes over and she can have a very hard time paying attention or concentrating. Actually, last year she struggled in Kindergarten a little. I know she’s smart and when I talked to her teacher, she said so too. When I approached Neela about why she wasn’t excited about school work or staying focused, she simply replied, “When I grow up, I’m going to be a zoologist in Africa. So I need to go to a school that only teaches me about aminals.”

I made her a zoologist kit and outfit for her birthday. 
She was in heaven!

Needless to say, Neela Grace LOVES being outside and everything nature, hence the nickname “Nature Neela.”  The thing I love about Neela is she loves isn’t the kind of kid that just loves puppies, kitties, or ponies. I mean, yes, she loves them too. But she loves every single creature on earth. She got mad because I wouldn’t let her have a pet wasp. :D On Easter morning when all of the kids were hunting candy eggs, I found Neela deep in some shrubbery and sticks digging around for slugs. When everyone brought in their eggs to let my Mimi (my grandma) what they had found, Neela opened up a plastic egg full of these snotty looking slugs right in her face. Let’s just say, Mimi clearly was not happy to have slugs on her table during Easter lunch. She spent the rest of Easter lunch letting her slugs crawl all over her since they were not allowed on the table. That’s the thing about Neela; she just really assumes everyone loves her critters just as much as her. She is currently begging me to buy her a chinchilla for an inside pet and a peacock for her outside pet.

Easter Slugs. 
Seriously though, there's alot higher probability there was slugs 
in that empty tomb rather than eggs.

Neela's Critter Friends

One other thing I LOVE about her is Neela is Neela. She knows she’s special and different, and just embraces it. I have heard some many adults tell her why she shouldn’t be a vegetarian, but she just does what she feels is right in her own heart. The other day I was picking all the kids up for school and Neela and I had this little conversation.

Yeah, she know she's cool. :)

She absolutely loves to dance. In fact for her birthday she wanted an animal dance party. So we made costumes, a stage, found music, and gave her dream party. Big shout out to my best bud April. She was a big help with this party. She’s the moth in the video ;) However, Neela does things that crack me up. I mean she has zero fear of meeting new people or striking up conversations with complete strangers about how the color of their shoes will probably attract bees and asks them if they can trade shoes, because she wants to start selling honey at school to make money to buy ice cream. Hahaha. Anyways, we did all that prep work and she suddenly developed stage fright. Its funny how Neela can make best friends with anyone in a one on one setting, but is paralyzed with fear on stage, while Stevie is the exact opposite.



I feel like I have special bond with Neela in the simple fact of her birth order. Stevie’s the oldest, Titus is the only boy, and Olive is the youngest. I’m the same thing in my family. Not that I ever felt like a middle child or anything; neither does she I believe. Mostly, it’s just a special little connection that I can relate with her about.



Here’s one funny story about Neela. She always says she has a “boyfriend” in her class. Every time, I explain that we don’t have boyfriends until we are a grown up. And then I ask, “Neela, why do you think this boy is your boyfriend.” Every.single.time., she responds  “Oh, because he has money! He buys me ice cream.” Hahahaha. For some reason that just cracks me up.


Ok last thing. Neela LOVES to go frog hunting. She is a night owl like me, so at night once all of the other kids are asleep, she loves to walk around the front and back yard looking for critters. We have been frog hunting together for years, I think that when she grows up, she is really going to cherish those little frog hunting memories.

41 frogs! That was a record setting night :D

Well, that's my sweet little Neela Grace. And as always, remember to...



Thursday, August 27, 2015

Who is… Stevie?


I have been so excited to start highlighting each of my kids. Besides my Father, my job and my limited time I get to be with close friends, they are pretty much the sole source for my joy. With each of my kiddos (like every parent), I have a special bond with each of my kids. Stevie Joy and I share an extremely tight knit bond which just melts me. It’s clear we both adore each other. The other kids alone time with dad, is usually some activity, however, Stevie always just wants me to hold her and talk to her. It’s pretty obvious her little love language is Quality Time.


Best Buds

One of the things about Stevie that people pick up most about her is her sweetness., now don’t get my wrong, she is also the oldest and can take charge when she needs to ;)  But she is always helping with the other kids and it’s such a blessing. There’s a fine balance I find with letting your kids be kids. In our house there is always something to do, Stevie is so smart and sweet, she does go above and beyond. She really just loves to see me happy. Sometimes she makes it her job to make sure I'm smiling and not overwhelmed. She'll walk over rub my back while I'm sitting down working and ask something like "Daddy, are you having a good day? Do you want a snack?" (Great… now I’m about  to cry. Hahaha. Keep it together Seth. Side note, I can honestly count on one hand how many times I felt really empathy or cried before the marriage fell apart;  that’s one thing God really changed in my heart. It’s funny, but man I legit cry sometimes now. God has really enabled me to see things from other perspectives and with love. I love being like that, but I’m still getting used to having emotions, besides laughing or being hungry. Anyways, back to my sweet Stevie, I feel bad that she feels pressure to help around the house or with her younger siblings or that she is in charge of my happiness and stress levels, so I try my hardest be to not make her feel pressure to help as much and just let her be a silly little girl who takes a million screenshots of toys on the ipad… just so I will be in the know of what to get her on our next Dad/Daughter date. By the way, those dates are awesome.

One of our dates


This video is from one of our dates, we came home early 
because she wanted to make a frozen video. 
She set up the camera and I showed her some basic color keying. 
We only had a ipad and a dark blue bed sheet, so she did pretty good :)

She is extremely spiritual and believes in the power of prayer. Stevie is always happy to tell people about Jesus living in her heart. It makes me so proud when I see her talking to people about Jesus or praying for people. Actually last night, I let her play with my ipad when I was giving everyone else a bath. She loves games and stuff, so I figured I would walk in to find her playing Angry Birds or something, but instead she spend the entire time just reading her little bible stories app.

Stevie praying for people at church

She is very innocent still which I love. I don’t think she is sheltered at all. She knows whats up; however, she is still very sweet and embracing her childhood. I love that she’s not pushing me to let her grow up.  In contrast, she is very matter of fact, which I also enjoy. Sometimes, she will get pretty upset at a silly little statement because of the way she translates things so literally. If something is wrong, she will straight up tell you. If you aren’t looking your best, she will let you know. If you breath stinks, she will say “go brush your teeth or I am going to throw up.” Hahaha.


Stevie Joy is SUPER smart. That’s why she loves being a “tricker buddy”. She can think of these little elaborate schemes and plans. I love her “scheming face”. She’s also super artistic and loves to draw and color. I have seen her sit down by herself for hours at a time writing and illustrating her own little books. I lost my favorite, but let me give you a plot summary. “There was a kitten. The kitten was white. The kitten was hungry. The kitten ate poop. The kitten is brown now.” Hahahaha. There are times, my kids make me fall over laughing.

Right now, she is super interested in playing Zelda. Together, we have played a few games. She absolutely loves them and likes to lay on my back when we play them together.
We made her "Link" costume from stuff laying around the house and duct tape. 
I think it turned out pretty sweet.




She also loves to entertain a crowd. We are alike in that sense. Her and I are extroverted people, but both can get a little shy. However, if it’s a group setting, that kind of relieves the pressure, because we’re sure that we can get at least one person to laugh. She loves to get in front of big crowds and perform. During her first dance recital, her little class did her dance and took their bows and everyone walked off stage while they dimmed the lights. Once the lights came back on Stevie was alone on the stage from and center just smiling and waving to the crowd. The teachers tried to call her off from the side, but she wasn’t having it. That girl loves the spotlight. They physically had to close the curtains on her to get her off. Hahahaha. I dying laughing and so proud. (I have the video somewhere,  if I find it, I’ll post it. It’s hilarious.) Also, every year at church I host the Christmas party. Mostly, it’s about an hour of dumb skits and jokes, that I think of like the day before this thing starts. Stevie wanted to be involved last year, so I let her pick out any video she wanted to show and come up on stage to do the introduction. Let’s just say not many people get her sense of humor, but I don’t think she noticed everyone’s confused faces because me and her were on the stage both dying laughing at this little movie she picked out and showed to the church.

This is pretty much our sense of humor. 
When they make that little cat hop across the snow, I.lose.it.every.time.


However, there are also times I fall over from being so upset as well. Stevie was really the only one who was affected by what happened with her parents because of her age and the fact that she is so observant. She still loves her mom very much and loves to draw her pictures and speaks very well of her. However, she was old enough to see and hear things from both mom and dad. We’ve had a bunch of talks about things and hurts she felt. During that time, I could see little pieces of her that I really loved kind of getting sucked out, mostly her self-confidence. Let’s just say when someone you love so much leaves you, even little kids can feel their value diminished. She kind of withdrew at school and always talked about how no one liked her. It was heartbreaking. However, I’ve made a conscious effort to slowly build up her self-esteem and confidence. She’s starting those things back and it makes me really happy.

Stevie is a very funny little girl; however when I talk about her, for some reason I always tend to talk about how sweet and serene she is. However, just to show she is super silly like the rest of us. Here’s the infamous "cat" video I talked about in an earlier post.  

Don't worry I cut the video before "everything went down" ;)

It’s hard to limit me talking about my kids to an individual post, since we are so tight, I could probably write a book on each of them in about 3 days.  Reading about them is one thing, but seeing the way talk, their mannerisms, and personalities I think will tell a lot more about them then I can explain through written words.  So I’m doing little videos with each of them answering questions to the camera. They should be really fun and are coming soon (Stevie’s should be posted tomorrow)

Be Blessed,

Seth

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Free and Fun Raffle (Megow Style)

I can’t believe all of the support from everyone with this blog. I’m glad people enjoy it. I have a lot of fun stories and topics I think would be really fun to write about. I can't wait to get them written up.  In the meantime, I’ve been receiving super nice texts and messages.  I can't really express how pleased (and somewhat shocked) I am to discover how many people find our life entertaining or got encouragement in things on the blog.

So in order to say thanks, I wanted to do a fun raffle to give away some fun prizes. But… this isn’t really your typical raffle. 

Holy Guacamole! Did he say raffle?!

So let's go over the rules.
  1.   Just enter your name and email, AFTER you have finished reading ALL of the rules.
  2.  You will be entered to win one of three mystery prizes (exciting, isn’t it J)
  3.   The deadline for entries is Sunday, August 30th at 3pm.
  4.    I will declare the winners sometime Sunday evening here on the blog.
HOWEVER, here's the fun part. If you submit a raffle and you win.
The rule is you have to take a selfie with your prize and email it to me:
 sethmegow@gmail.com

(See picture below for inspiration).
This picture oozes coolness

Don’t worry there is nothing gross or inappropriate. Just things my kids and I think are fun

After the winners have been announced and each of the three winners have taken and I have received their photo, I will post all three pictures on the blog. Then you, the readers, will get a chance to vote for the best picture. The person who receives the most votes on their picture will win the grand raffle prize. The grand prize isn’t a surprise though, it is a gift card to the restaurant of your choice.

Hopefully that’s not too confusing. It sounded fun and made sense in my head. If you have any questions, please leave a comment to this post and I will clear anything up.


So, let’s get started. Once you have read all of the rules click the button below to start.






Tuesday, August 25, 2015

"Who is...Seth"

So I think a lot of people that are reading this are a little familiar with the Megow crew, but might not really know us well. So I figured I would just one post each for all 5 of us in these little "Who is..." posts. So just to get it out of the way, I’ll do me. (I love to talk and tell stories, but I really hate talking about myself) Here it goes. I’ll try to make it as brief and entertaining as possible ;)

I really don’t know where to start. I don’t think I will go deep into my childhood. I have a million stories floating around my head, so I might just sit here and wing it. Like always. I’m sure I will go off on a million rabbit trails, so sorry in advance ;)

 Although, I am pretty different and like to do silly things to make people laugh, I mostly enjoy the simple things in life. For example, one of my hobbies is peeing outside. I can’t explain it, I’ve always just really enjoyed peeing outside. In fact, at my parents house if I had to pee, I would run downstairs, past two bathrooms, jump off the porch to pee in my favorite spot. Sadly, my parents had to cover up my pee spot when they added on a mother in law suite for my Mimi to move in. Lucky for me, I got someone to take a picture of me peeing in my favorite spot on my last time. See below.
Ladies, don't hate. You know you would pee outside too... if you don't already ;)

Hmmm… my first car was a VW Bus. I saved up enough to buy it and my parents helped me immensely by paying to get it driveable. I absolutely loved that car. Unfortunately for me, I have absolutely no automotive skills at all. That thing was literally a death trap on wheels. I remember one I was taking it to the shop to get the brakes fixed. The brakes were constantly out because they were drum brakes and I always had a hard time adjusting them. Anyways, since the brakes were always out, I was a pro at coasting, then down shifting, and then using my emergency brake to stop. Anyways,  I was driving down Bemiss (a busy road) to get them fixed, when the transmission and emergency brake went out at the same time. So in order to stop I had to open the door and flintstone stop that bad boy with bare feet.  Side note, I also have a fun story about when I hit three deer at one time with my car. I’ll share that one later.

My 66 bus. I really miss this thing.

My hair is straight up 70’s afro. It never really drops it just keeps growing and growing taller and taller. One time I did let someone put a relaxer in it. Let’s just say I rocked the Lou Ferrigno’s “The Hulk” style for a few months.

My fro is legit

Exactly how my hair looked when I straightened it. hahahaha

Now, I’ll go ahead and address this. Throughout this blog, you might hear me talk about or see a video of my ex-wife Crissy. We got married when we were both 19. We had an absolutely amazing marriage and friendship for a very long time. I really fought the divorce for a long time, but in the end I’m the one that ended up filing. Even though, we aren’t married any longer, we still remain very pleasant towards each other. Considering our situation and what happened over the course of the past two years, it’s a blessing from God that we can still speak in kindness to each other.  And for to prevent any hate mail about divorce, please don’t even try to cast any judgment on my decision. Well, you can feel free to judge me all you want. I really don’t mind at all. I tried my hardest to save it and the marriage was pretty much Biblically shattered and all trust was tossed out the window. God loves me and is proud of me. That’s about all I’m going to say about it.

I will say that divorce is the absolute worst thing I have ever experienced. However, God is good and so faithful. I experienced a lot of peace and comfort through the process through private worship, Divorce care, and family & friends. We have a friendship which I strive and pray to maintain. I will say, it’s a lot easier talking and making conversation without trying to constantly figure things out or trying to control my temper due to observing behaviors that shattered the trust and closeness.  We can both be open and honest. Mostly that’s good for the kids. So if you hear any gossip or talk about “what happened”, just know it’s really no one’s business besides ours and God’s. One request, please please don’t message me with advice about “restoration”. I love Jesus and love people, but I’m not a huge fan of the generic Christianese phrases people say. Support is great and I love getting along and showing Christ’s love to my ex-wife, but please don’t try to encourage me about waiting for her to come back. J Thanks. I mean that in the most loving way I can possibly say. Let’s just say, if you’ve gone through something traumatic, you will understand. People aren’t really keen on unsolicited advice and I promise I’ve had way more than enough to last me a lifetime J  I’m positive God will continue to help us work together for the kids and support us individually through the process, because God can never love us any less; we just become more aware of His Love the closer we draw to Him.

Ok, well that’s enough of that serious stuff. Let me hit a few more things about myself on a lighter note… I love telling stories, making little movies, planning out activities, and entertaining large crowds. If I was actually funny, I might could have been a stand up comedian, but I think my skills are better suited for entertaining my kids by being goofy and doing little skits and videos for my church (Southland Church: which is amazing and full of love for Jesus and diversity). Plus, they are the only church I know that would let me do fart jokes on stage. So far, they haven’t pulled the plug on any of my corny ideas. I’m still waiting on something that crosses the line, but honestly, it’s just about loving Jesus and people there. They are pretty laid back. It’s a good fit for us. I’ve probably done dozens of videos and skits, so I pulled one of the oldest ones I can find.

You can tell the age of this video by me talking about "audio cassettes". 
Also, I clearly had no idea what I was doing :)

As far as my personality, I try to be very relaxed. I’m not extremely deep or complicated. Pretty much, what you see and read is about the extent of me. My personal life goal is to be Jesus to everyone I meet and to make people smile when I see them. I love to encourage and help. It’s my thing. The past two years, I kind of lost myself in depression, but through God’s grace I really found my true self under all the crap I dumped on myself.  Mostly, I just want to be a modern day Mr. Rogers (with a little more fart jokes and a little more sporadic.) Mr Rogers was extremely routine and every episode was scripted down to the word. (Please be my neighbor and don’t test my Mr. Rogers knowledge J).

I don't watch much tv or many movies. I simply don't have time. I am really enjoying blogging, but this pretty much takes all of my alone time (that I'm not working, cleaning, etc.) However, my favorite movie is called "The Legend of 1900". Most people haven't seen it, because it's an Italian film. It's a little cheesy, but it has the most wonderful music. I think because I love to play piano so much that movie just sucks me in everytime. I'm waiting on my best bud to come over and watch it with me- Hint Hint Buddy ;)

So yeah, I’m just a single dad with taking full time care of the four most hilarious, kind, giving, creative, imaginative, and good looking kids anyone could ever ask for. I love my kids. They are my best friends. I’m going to talk a lot more indepth about each of my kids in the upcoming posts. 
And remember, you’re never too old to remind yourself that you are special just being yourself.

I'm telling you, My absolute dream is to start wearing cardigan sweaters
 and start greeting people with "Hello Neighbor"


 -Seth






"Hold on! Let me get you a bowl... nevermind, I guess you can just puke in my hands"

Disclaimer: I figured I would let the world see the full oddness and craziness of the Megow life. Those who can't take it, well, they can move on. However, if you can handle this one, you will probably be fine in the future (hopefully) :D

The past three weeks have been crazy at for the ole' Megow clan. I've had sick kids before. I've also, had sick kids before as a single parent. I have ALSO, cared for sick kids while I was sick myself as a single parent. However... there has never been a month on God's green earth last the past one. I'm pretty convinced my kids figured out school was starting so they all got together to come up with plans to get as many germs as possible for make themselves sick to get out of school, hahaha... But I'm kind of serious. That meeting might have happened: (Spoiler: Each of these these my kids actually did within the past month. Pro parent, I know)

1) Licked a stranger. (My kids love to pretend they are dogs. They get in big trouble for licking, but at least they haven't started humping strangers yet ;)

2) Licked a walmart shelf. (So apparently a bag of sugar busted. I was just looking at the muffins when I turn around and all of my kids are on their hands and knees licking the busted sugar on the shelf.) - Side note, kids like sugar.

3) Licked various animals. 

4) Licked each other's blowpops and dum dums (Going for that rainbow colored tongue look. That's high fashion in the 6 and under category)

Still for the life of me, I can't figure out why they got sick... :) hahaha

But for real, I do try to do a really good job of keeping the house disinfected and sterilized. I think I could have bought stock in bleach and Lysol. Over the past few weeks, my kids caught ringworm (in the hair), a bad stomach bug, summer colds, and impetigo (uuggghhh... thats the devil). Having four that close in age and handling them by myself, germs are bound to get shared no matter how hard to you try.

I was handling it pretty well too, until I caught the stomach bug. Picture this:
Some of my kids with open sores all of their face and body and others with ringworm, but all of them puking. Where am I? Dragging myself across the kitchen floor trying to clean up their puke while at the same time trying to reach the trashcan before I have more chunks to wipe up. At one point, we were all just kind of laying on the cold kitchen tile, when Olive said she was about to throw up again. I got up as fast as I could to find one of our communal vomit bowls. Suddenly she ran up to me, grabbed my hands and cupped them together in front of her face and just hurled a nice, warm, meaty vomit straight into my hands. Needless to say, I just threw up everywhere immediately. Of course, some got on Olive's head, so she threw up again and then just slipped in it, fell on the floor, and got covered in puke. If the other three weren't also staring at the sheer disgust, I could tell they would have been dying laughing. It was pretty gross.

Hey wanna hear another puke story from a few weeks ago? Sure you do!
So I finally got all the kids their nausea medicine and I took mine, hoping to get some much needed sleep. By now, I think I had been up for about 2 days straight caring for the kids and trying to squeeze in some work from home when I felt up to it. Anyways, I stripped my bed and put down some old bed sheets because I knew all of them would end up in or around my bed. When they get sick, they always end up there. Of course, around midnight, I felt them start to trickle in one by one. I only have a queen so it's pretty tight fit with all 4 of my kids. Also, I like them being close when they are puking because I have this horrible and irrational fear that they might choke on their vomit because they might be too tired to wake up and know whats going on. (Breaking Bad anyone???)

That junk was intense

So by around 1am or 2am, all four had made it to Dad's bed and the throw-up party started. I was just holding hair and catching puke (new t-shirt idea?)

You know you'd buy it. ;)

So, I was doing that for a few hours, when finally I felt myself about to literally pass out for exhaustion. So I just flipped all the kids on their stomachs and laid on the floor beside the bed. I keep hearing people throwing up, but by this point, I'm just too tired to even get up to clean it. "I'll just clean it in the morning." I kept thinking to myself. Finally, I hear someone about to blow some mega chunks and told myself no matter what happens, I gotta get some sleep. I don't know if you have ever been that tired, but I was to the point of body shutting down tired. So I just closed my eyes and started to fall asleep, suddenly, I feel this massive dump of warm ooziness get dumped onto my back. Now in this moment, people can say what they want but if you have ever been this exhausted, you might understand. I kind of just laid there half asleep trying to figure out what I should do about this massive pile of chunk on my back. I knew if I stood up it would just drip down my leg. And I was too tired to get some massive brainstorming to try to get it off. So finally, when I couldn't make up my mind on what to do, I just kind of rolled over onto my side and let the puke kind of ooze it's way down the my back onto my covers. I woke up in that same position and kind of stuck to my covers. hahahahaha. Yep. That's my life. 

Anyways, if you are still reading this congratulations. So once the kids started to get better, I felt bad taking them to alot of public places because I didn't want to get anyone else sick. In case you didn't know, we have an on-the-go family. Man, they were starting to go stir crazy being couped up in the house or at my work office. But we survived Praise Jesus! 

If you want to see how stir crazy we got, check out this video me and Neela made. She wanted me to show her how to dance with a flag stick thing, so I rocked that thing. 



Remember to make someone smile today :)
-Seth

Edit: Also, if you have seen my kids in public lately, please don't be concerned about getting any sort of thing from them now. They are all better, completed all their antibiotics, and have been back at school for a few days now. 

Sunday, August 23, 2015

"Laid back sippin' on milk and juice"

It doesn't really take long for people to realize I'm raising four young kids when they get a glimpse of my life. From my constant posting pictures of my kids to the fact that I have my kids artwork plastered all over my office like fine works of art, which they are... duh ;),  it's pretty apparent my life is summarized as a working, single dad.

My office. Fancy, right?

However, I would say the single most identifying trait that captures our little clan of 5 would be "the van". I know what you're thinking. Minivans are pretty cool now. I mean, yeah they are minivans, but at least they are getting a little more stylish and have cool features like rotating seats, build in dvd players, etc. Yep, all that is true, expect for the fact, that when I say I drive a minivan I mean it. We roll in a 2003 Chrysler Town and Country.  No frills here kid, just pure all american dadness.

Not actually my van. It's too dark outside to take a picture of mine. 
This is pretty close, except alot cleaner with less dents and scraped off paint :)

This van was actually my Nana's. She gave it to me when she got too old to drive anymore. (Side note: I miss my nana. She died a few years ago :/) I was and still am super grateful for this van. I mean, is it my dream car? Nope. Does it run super great now? Nope. However, I don't have any car payments. Honestly, though it's the perfect car for us though. It's the perfect mix about "running semi-well enough that I can trust to drive it, but not well enough that if it a grocery cart rams into it in the parking lot or if my driveway developed a sudden sinkhole and it got swallowed into the depths of the earth, I wouldn't be super upset. 

In fact, I kind of love the fact I drive a run down and banged up minivan. There's really no pressure to keep the interior in super good condition. I mean, I've hauled everything from firewood to lawnmowers in this bad boy. The interior carpet is somewhat of an abstract art project of cheez-its, pixie sticks powder, and those little church papers they give your kids when they leave nursery. Seriously though church nursery workers, do you really expect me to read 7 pages of how Tommy learned to forgive his sister for accidentally flushing his baseball card down the toilet? I have a hard enough time trying to keep my kids from wiping their butts on the toilet seat. But I digress, our car is a constant mess. You have absolutely no idea how many dried frogs I've found under Neela's seat. (Speaking of Neela, she just ran into my room to tell me she is starting a pet babysitting business, but wants to specialize in watching baby elephants. So if you are going out of town anytime soon and your trunked pet needs a weekend home, please consider Neela to care for it.)

Another reason, it's nice is I don't have to stress about Stevie decorating her window with My Little Pony stickers or Titus ripping a whole in his seat to make a holder for his power ranger sword. Yeah, they get in trouble and we need to cherish and respect what we have. They get taught that alot, but kids will be kids. In Stevie's eyes, she was just making the van pretty and Titus was just gearing up for a monster attack to protect the family as the blue ranger. 

And yes, I've seen all of the "cool minivan parent" commercials. I'm not buying it, but something about that van was just too clean for me. That's pure Hollywood lies right there :)

Notice how they left out the line about
 "I got 4 old sippy cups baking in the sun, 
it will take me getting on my hands and knees before that smell is gone."


Also, if I happen to meet someone that could accept the fact that they might have to move 7 pounds of littlest pet shop toys and a giant minnie mouse plush out of the front seat, they would be pretty cool in my book. Honestly though, what woman could resist the offer... "What up girl, you wanna grab some Happy Meals in my '03 town and country?" 

Our motto on cleanliness

Fun fact about our van, Titus loves it because on vacation he always gets his own little bathroom. I don't know if anyone out there has someone in your family like this, but I promise that kid pees about every 20 minutes. A four hour trip can easily morph into an all day trek, if I don't play my cards right. Back to the bathroom, it all started when we were driving back from seeing my parents in Alabama and had been on the road a.l.l.d.a.y. Of course he had to pee again, there was no rest stops or exits in sight, so I let him pee in a little sandbucket from the trip while we were driving. Once he did, everyone's bladder was suddenly about to burst. This is the honest truth, my girls were squatting over that little sandbucket driving down the interstate, laughing and making up songs about peeing in the car. Eventually, I found somewhere to dump this thing. However, now when we go on trips Titus is sure to bring a bucket with him when he is loading up. No joke, it's like his favorite part of riding in the car. The other day driving home from church he started to laugh hysterically, so I turned around to find him unbuckled, standing up and peeing in an old Wendy's cup. That kid will pee anywhere. Anywhere. 

From first glance our van is kind of crappy with it's peeling paint and dents; however it's not the outside that matters, it's the inside. Oh yeah, the inside looks even worse. I know we are probably flagged as "that car" at the school drop off line every morning and I could probably walk out there right now and scrape together about 20 old french fries from underneath the seats, but in the grand scheme of things, I love having a "lovingly used" van. It's just something else that I'm sure I will miss when I'm old and my car is clean and boring. 

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Friday Fun Facts 8/20/15


-There is nothing in the entire world that can generate as much excitement in our house more than a box of new bandaids.


-Neela is a vegetarian by choice, but loves to sneak in a corn dog now and then ;)

-One time on vacation, titus hid a jumbo size bag of m&m’s by dumping them in his (clean) diaper and eating them when no one was looking. We caught him because he sounded like maracas when he started to run around.

-Stevie absolutely hates getting her picture taken, but loves taking pictures and making little movies. Her favorite movie she has ever made was one she made of the cat pooping. Don't worry, I won't post it.  ;)

-We have an elite club at our house known as the “Tricker Buddies”. The club consists of playing practical jokes on everyone else in the house. As of right now, Stevie and I are the only members. Stevie is in charge of accepting new members and she has extremely strict standards.  Neela is still on probationary status until she proves her prank value to her big sister. 

-Every night, Titus’s prayer request is to be the Blue Power Ranger when he grows up.

-If Olive isn’t allowed to open the front door when we are coming home from anywhere, she will pretty much lose it and cry for about an hour.  (We’re working on this one)

-Neela's absolute favorite song is "Jesus Paid it All"



-Stevie is constantly trying to find me a wife. “Dad, she’s pretty and I like her hat.” Hahaha

-Titus absolutely loves coating himself in axe body spray. The rule is he has to do it outside and air out before coming back in.

-We don’t have cable tv or a dvd player. Because cable is a total waste of time and money and our last few dvd players got “Megowed”.  Once something is Megowed it’s better just to cut your losses and chunk it.

-Olive is the sweatiest/dirtiest kid I have ever met. That kid will be soaked and filthy by just checking the mail…in February…wearing nothing but a big t-shirt and shorts. Four words for her future: Soap and Baby Powder



-In my opinion, there’s nothing more heartfelt or fun than a hand written letter.


-When I was a kid, my dream job was to be the guy in the video store that sat there rewinding the tapes.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Grocery Shopping like a Boss

I know most people with kids despise going to the grocery store with all of their kids. That's unfortunate, because I honestly think that it's a fun activity that can be loaded with fun. Life is what you make it :)

I'm not really big on giving specific advice or tips on any specific situation or activity. Everyone is different. So instead of talking about how "strategies" for the grocery store, I just want to share a little bit about why I enjoy it.

First, kids are freaking hilarious. Even if I have one or two that are a little grumpy or tired, I still have at least one or two that are in a happy, joking mood. There's something to be said about constantly focusing on the kids that are whining or complaining. It just causes me stress or adds tension to the situation. In my opinion, if that kid is safe and I've tried to cheer them up to no avail, I just let them get over their funk and have fun with whoever is in a good mood.

For example, I remember one time a few weeks ago, we had to run to Dollar General in Hahira for milk or something. The younger two kids were not really feeling that fact that they could not get a bag of Doritos. However, the older two were quietly whispering back and forth with each other giggling. They were being so sweet and well behaved, but all of their attention seemed focused on this little empty Styrofoam cup they were carrying around. I didn't ask what it was for. Honestly, I just figured it was for collecting some kind of bug or making some sort of trap (they like to make traps, hahaha). Anyways, we walked through the entire store and finished getting all of our things. I was loading up all of my stuff at the checkout and I turn around to find Neela and Stevie trying to convince the elderly lady behind us in line to spit in their cup because they really needed her spit to add to their "collection". I literally had sit down from laughing. The lady and the cashier did not find it amusing.

Since I dont have a bunch of time to go shopping, typically I wait until we are "food poor" to go. That being said, usually when we do go to the grocery store, it's a big purchase. Hahaha, here's a funny story. I'm just writing these things as they pop in my head. Well, one time about a month or two ago, I had our cart LOADED DOWN with food. I mean we had been in the store for over an hour. Anyways, we get the check out line and get almost completely done with our groceries being scanned and suddenly Olive has this massive, spewing vomit all over herself, the shopping cart seat, and a little on the conveyor belt. I asked her if she felt ok, she said yes with a smile, but that she had "ate too much grapes at school". So I just kind of wiped her off and continued loading up the food on the checkout conveyor belt. I mean honestly, what else can you do? I'm not leaving without this food because we are out and there's already throw up everywhere, so let's just get this thing done, right? I mean the food was clean and I only had like a few items left. I did feel bad, but I could tell this young teenage girl just kind of in shock. Here's this dude handing her food with one hand, and a kid dripping with puke in the other trying to explain to his six and seven year old to push this cart with our bagged food close to their exit door, so puke isn't just piling up by the register. All the while, I look over and Titus is completely obvious to the entire situation and is running around the front of the store in full power ranger costume doing his karate moves for whoever happens to be walking by. Well, we got through that one. As I walked out I looked back and saw like 4 people cleaning up after us and just staring at me. I would have let it get to me, but we bought brownies that night. No one can be upset when you got some (non puke covered) brownies in your grocery bag.

jackpot


Speaking of carts, I am the only one who really loves those tank looking things at walmart. They are like the golden egg at Easter. I always want to find one, but those things seem to be hidden in some secret spot that you need a map and a cracker jack decoder ring to find. One time, I did have one recently. Yeah, they are pretty much like driving a tank and I love it. You get so much momentum with those things. You can't really steer them, but that's ok. Because when other shoppers see you barreling uncontrollably down the cereal isle with one of these bad boys, they will jump up next to the Apple Jacks to avoid getting pummeled.

"the golden egg"

Now that I'm on the topic of Walmart, let me tell you two fun stories that happened at walmart within the past two weeks. Actually, I think these are my latest two shopping trips at walmart. (Something funny always happens there). The first were my kids were really hungry and I felt bad making them ride all the way that hungry, so we went to the little deli there and ordered some food. When we got it, I finally noticed that there were no more little tables or anything to sit down at, so I let the kids pick a low traffic spot and we set up a walmart picnic. I turned on my phone and played some music and we just sat down around the baby and shoes area just hanging out for about 30 minutes eating our food. I think the reason I enjoyed this so much was because it was pretty much the most redneck thing you could possibly do. Eating walmart deli food in a picnic on the walmart floor and drinking sweet tea and orange soda. That junk is country, son! I love it. hahaaha


Don't worry germ people. The food never touched the floor :)


My last shopping story did take place in walmart too, but I gotta give a little backstory. I've been working for Bouncing Balloons and costumes since I was 18 or 19, so about 12 years. I do kids birthday parties as superheroes, clowns, mascots, etc. However, I think what I am most known for is doing Spiderman. I've done Spiderman probably about 200 times. It's always fun and kids have a blast with Spidey.






However, that spiderman suit is completely spandex. This costume can legitimately be balled up and fit into a mason jar. Needless to say, this suit doesnt leave too much to the imagination. It took me about 3 or 4 years to get the perfect crotch cover wear. If you wear just a pair of boxers or boxer briefs, you won't be leaving much to the imagination. It didn't take me long to figure out how awkward it is having spiderman at birthday party and all the kids pointing and telling their parents "Wanna know how I know Spiderman is a boy?" hahaha. So then I tried, wearing a cup. Ok bad idea. I won't go into that, but the cup just made Spiderman look really excited... I will leave it at that. After all of that, I started just wearing a few different pair of underwear to try to effectively hide the thunder. That approach didn't really work well because it was so bulky it made Spiderman look like he was wearing an adult diaper under his suit. Finally, after much trial and error, I finally found the perfect combo. (I promise I am getting to the Walmart Shopping Story, hahaha). Anyways, the trick is wearing like these little men fashion briefs. Google them if you are curious. I promise you won't be looking long. They arent the most masculine looking things (think male lingerie), but wearing those under some boxer brief really does the trick. I call them my Spiderman underwear since I only wear them for Spiderman. So back to my story, I got off work and I remember it was raining and we were all soaked after I picked up the kids from their summer care at the YMCA. So I had to change everyone's clothes. Well being a single dad, I always feel like people are expecting my kids to look homeless with unkept hair, so I always try to make them look nice. So I get my kids in somewhat nice clothes and I just grab some shorts and a tshirt for me out of the dryer and run out of the door because I know we still gotta go to town, shop, come back, cook, eat, baths, clean, etc. Well, the shopping trip goes fine but Walmart is packed and theres only like two lanes open. So I get to the check out line and just wait there with the kids. I remember bending over and do something like tie a shoe or something and I felt something slip out from the back of my pants. I turned around and find this big guy decked in camo picking up this little black thing off the floor and looking at it. Well, of course. It's my spiderman underwear. I guess they just clung to the inside of my pants while in the dryer and I didn't notice they were wedged between my thigh and my shorts. They must have fallen out when I bend over. Anyways, me and this guy just kind of stand there looking at each other. I can tell he's wondering why these sexy little panty looking things just fell out of my butt and I'm trying to think if I should explain the situation or just take them back & say thanks. I did the latter... So I stuffed them in my pocket and just turned back around. Of course, we stood in line for another 5 minutes it was our turn to checkout. Yeah, that was a funny shopping trip.

Here's a few pictures of some other shopping trips.

Neela bringing her bullfrog (from our last frog hunt) for a little show and tell at Harveys ;)



Shopping with friends.


But hey. When you take your kids shopping, don't stress or get anxious. I promise if you just relax and try to see the fun, it will always just pop up on it's own ;)

-Seth

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Introduction

So I don't really know how this blog will end up. My goal is to give people a slice of my life. I might be biased but believe it would make for some pretty interesting reading. So let's get started...

Hi, My name is Seth Megow. I currently work as the Instructional Technology Specialist for the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Valdosta State University.I absolutely love my job and the people I work with. (Shout out to all my CONHS peeps!) When I got hired in 2013, I was told my job was "Make Faculty Happy". Since this was a new position and there had never been any like it at the university before, I got the pleasure of sort of molding my job description and requirements. Pretty much though, my job entails: online class building and support, graphic design, tech support, database management, tech research and purchasing, video production, etc.

However, I know everyone isn't reading this to find out what I do at work :) Let's explore the other (and most important) part of my life. I have the four best kiddos anyone could ask for: Stevie Joy (age 7), Neela Grace (age 6), Titus Robert (age 5), and Olive Hope (age 3). They are the light of my life and my primary source of my daily laughter. I'll take a little bit to introduce you to each of my kids.
Stevie- My oldest :) She is wise beyond her years. When she was born, my dad called her "serene". That word still fits to this day. I don't know what I would do without her. Stevie is so kind and gentle with her younger siblings. She takes charge when she needs to (or wants to, hahah) and is sweet and patient when she senses the younger kids need some attention. She loves to read, sing silly songs, tell jokes, and can figure any kind of electronic device out almost quicker than her daddy. Although, she is becoming more and more dependent everyday, she is becoming a daddy's girl as well. Every night, she won't go to sleep without me singing "Good Night God" by Mr. Rogers to her while I play with her hair. Stevie, like the rest of my kids, love their one on one time with dad. Stevie typically spends our time together playing Zelda. She is so fascinated with the puzzles in that game. Also, I am seeing an extremely talented little artist brewing up in her. She can sit for hours alone with her little art set just drawing away. I love to watch her face switch from a serious tone (when she is thinking about what to draw) to a huge grin (when he is drawing something like "Fart Dog the superdog".

Neela, a.k.a. "Nature Neela" - I have never met a kid as curious about "aminals" or anything having to do with nature as my Neela Grace. She is a self-appointed vegetarian. She did flip back to being an "omnivore" to be like her bearded dragon, Alabama, for about two days but quickly changed back. This girl is always outside studying something in the dirt. Everyday, she talks about being a zoologist in Africa when she grows up. She is also like my in the fact that she is a night owl. Typically, when all of the other kids are asleep Neela and I have our alone time. This consists of walking around our yard looking for frogs, toads, crawdaddies, bugs, spiders, and pretty much every little critter you can think of. We are well known as the frog hunters around these parts and don't feel like stopping anytime soon. She is also one of the most giving people you will ever meet. She will give away the shirt on her back to a stranger. Literally, she has done it. Everytime she has a friend over, she always makes her to give them a toy. She likes to give away her nicest things because "thats what Jesus would do". This girl might have her heads in the clouds in the classroom, but when it comes to Bible time at home, she knows her stuff. I am so proud of the woman of God and "aminal" lover she is becoming :)

Titus- My little buddy. - As far as guys goes we are outnumbered in our house 3-2. We stick together. This kid is all boy. He is constantly practicing his power ranger moves on his sisters and making messes everywhere he goes :) I love how full of energy and spunk he is. He is constantly on the go. However, my favorite part about his little personality is how much he adopts our family motto of "Make someone smile today". He absolutely loves to give compliments. Words of Encouragement is definitely his love language. Every time we see people, he is always the first to tell them something he likes about their outfit, how pretty their eyes are, how nice their shoes look, how much he loves their hair, etc. He walks into situations and meeting people looking for ways to make people feel good about themselves. At least once or twice a week, he surprises me with "Titus mail". He writes or colors little cards and puts them in the mailbox. He loves sitting with me and watching me open them. He gets so excited watching the smile form on my face. He just focuses on my face, and his little smile mirrors mine and they form together. It's one of my favorite little things in the entire world.

Olive - "The Princess" - Olive is definitely my girliest little girl and I absolutely love that about her. She is recently potty trained. (Can I get an Amen??!!) With that transition of becoming a "big girl" she has decided she needs to start picking out her own clothes. Pretty much, if it's not "pwetty" that girl won't wear it. hahaha. She is so meek and gentle at times, but so talkative and full of energy at others. She is definitely such a little character. She has the sweetest disposition about her. Every morning, she picks a flower for her teacher at school and loves to give people hugs. Her love language is definitely physical touch. Side note, this girl refuses to sleep without getting a full back massage from her daddy EVERY. NIGHT. :D Also, I believe she is extremely empathetic. There were times in the past two years, I would be awake in the middle of night crying and extremely upset. I always did it behind closed doors and the kids were asleep, but several times I would see the door open and Olive would crawl in my bed, give me a giant kiss, and curl up beside me.

Well, that's a basic and quick overview of my kids. I'm sure you will hear alot more of them as I (hopefully) continue with the blog.

I get asked alot about two things: 1) My Schedule and 2) Staying Postive. I would like to address both in the rest of this post.

If you haven't figured out by now. I'm a single parent with full custody. I'm not going to go into my divorce and please don't ask. If I do mention my ex-wife, it will only be how wonderful she was a wife and how much of an amazing mother she was and still is. She's currently sorting out her own stuff and I'm confident that one day, the kids will have their mom more involved in their lives. (as Forrest Gump said "And that's all I have to say about that..." ;) Anyways, back to my schedule

6am: Wake up, shower, get the kids stuff ready, pray and have my quiet time
6:30am: Wake up the kids, get them dressed, fed, and *somewhat awake.
7am: Start our morning routine of singing "Great day", brush teeth, and always attempting to find that last sock.
7:20-8am: Morning dropoff and car chats about things like how Neela's superpower is that she can talk to birds... but only parrots and not if they speak spanish.
8amish-2:30pm- Seth works
2:30-3pm- Pick up Kids
3pm-5:30pm- I work from home (my job is awesome for letting me do this) while the kids have free time, do homework, etc. We can't do many structured things because I'm usually on the phone or sitting at my computer.
5:30-6:30pm- Cook Dinner, Eat, and Bible Time usually while we eat
6:30-7:15-Baths and Brush Teeth
7:15-9pm- One of one time with each kid.
9pm-9:30pm-Getting the kids to bed
9:30-11pm- finishing up work from the day, paying bills, doing other computer related stuff  (graphic design for church and other ministries, stuff for friends, etc.)
11pm-1 or 2amish? - Sweep, mop, dishes, laundry, vaccuum, etc. Pretty much just all of the things around the house I need to do. PS Please don't judge me by the height of my grass. hahaha. It will be cut soon :)
And then get up and repeat.

Our weekends are usually pretty full too. If I'm home, I'm always trying to focus on fun activities for the kids (treasure hunts, games, etc.) Honestly, being a parent can be a lot more inexpensive if you are just a little creative and willing to put in the time. But I'll save some of those things for another blog post.  Or I take them to birthday parties, the park, or just things to get them out of the house. Sundays we have church and typically start planning out the next week that afternoon. At first, this weekly schedule was pretty hectic, but we've got a routine down and the kids are thriving.

Now onto the topic I really want to talk about... "Staying Positive". I can't tell you the number of phone calls, facebook messages, texts, conversations, I get about people wanting to know how I could possibly be this positive with my life. Well... Get ready for the Megow Life Philosophy...

My life pretty much starting falling apart two years ago. I mean, it was bad. My family was being ripped apart and I tried everything I could do to get over the hump. I fell into a deep depression; however, one day, God kind of triggered something in my head. "I'm blessed and I need to be a blessing." It sounds so simple, but it radically transformed my life. So that's how I find my joy. Being a blessing to others. Everyday at dinner, we go around the table and say how we made someone smile today. That's how I started building a culture of service and servanthood in my house. Now don't assume, I'm always smiling or always happy. Shoot, I got 4 kids solo. Checking out at the grocery store can get crunk!

Once I really grasped that idea, joy started to bubble up inside of me. It's an extremely positive and fun cycle. Serve others, find joy. People are attracted to your joy, then you find new people to serve. It's amazing how a smile or quick word of encouragement or giving someone a cold water on a hot day, can brighten someone's day. However, I've also been caught up in the idea of doing for doing sake. Simply going through the motions of being nice or helping someone to cheer yourself up really won't take you anywhere. We have to really become empathetic as a people. Don't do just to do. Do because you want to show Real Love. I promise everyone you meet has something difficult in their life; they also have something remarkable special about them too. Darkness and depression has to run from Light and joy. So I just try to find a way to make each person feel special in every interaction, no matter how short or insignificant it may be.

All that is not trying to sound preachy or braggy. Mostly, people tell me at least once a week how sad or depressed they are. I just like to remind people that true happiness comes from Above :) Taking that love to others produces Joy. Just try it. :)

Also, on the flip side. I have learned to accept help. It's hard to accept it as a single parent and being a man especially. Just remember accepting someone's gift or help can bless someone just as much as giving to someone else. I have the best family and friends in the world!


That's pretty much enough for an introduction post. Please excuse typos or excessive commas or :)'s. I have a habit of using them both in excess. Also, most of these posts are going to written pretty late at night, so please no grammar police.

Thanks everyone. I'll start on some fun (and funnier topics) on my regular posts. Just wanted to give a brief introduction and answer a few questions I have been receiving. Feel free to follow my facebook or instagram :D

Seth