The Megows: A-Z

A - Awesomest Kids on the Planet

It's no secret that I think my kids are legit the coolest humans on the planet, but I wanted to talk about this more in depth. It's hard to put into words how awesome they are because sometimes they literally leave me speechless. hahahaha. For example, tonight after dinner I walked into the kitchen to find Titus and Olive sitting on the floor, randomly wearing swimsuits and googles, and both chugging ice water out of sand bucket pails. Meanwhile, Neela was laying on the couch with her bearded dragon on her chest watching How to Train Your Dragon because "she needs to learn more about her own kind". Finally, Stevie was sitting in her room drawing little pictures to give our friends at school and singing "Strawberry Fields Forever" quietly to herself.

They are just all so unique and full of life. I love how they randomly pair up sometimes and at other instances, they sit by themselves to dive into something that interests them. They are the most kind, helpful, hilarious, cheerful, and loving humans that I have ever met. I freaking love those four little people :)

B - Birthdays

With four kids, there's always a birthday around the corner. And that's pretty ok with me. We love us some birthdays. From the planning to the actual event, there's just so much to enjoy. I love putting in time to make them feel special. As my kids get older, they are all chipping it in help with each others' parties as well. It melts my heart to see them get genuinely excited about making their siblings feel special. It's hard to do big things for just one kid with the way our family is setup, but birthdays are the perfect opportunity for that. I've written some posts about all of our past birthday parties. You can read about them here! 

C - Cats

 

Because... Duh. Cats

D -Dirty kids

I love when my kids come in muddy and their clothes are just so filthy from exploring, playing, and experimenting. This is a good thing since they seem to stay coated in an exoskeleton of dirt.

E - Excitable

Seth: "Hey guys. Do you want me to hook up the sprinkler and fill up th..."
Kids *before I can finish*: "AAAAHHHH  YYEESSS!!" (as they sprint to the backyard stripping off their clothes)

F - Frog Hunts

Maybe we've just got frog huntin' on our brains because the season to catch our favorite amphibians is approaching fast. If you visit our house on a steaming hot South GA summer night, there's a high likely hood that you'll catch us in the ditch.

"Prepping for a hunt"

"One of our frogs.

Dont worry we catch and release :) "

G - Good Lookin'

Not trying to brag but Geez Louise do I have some good looking youngins.

H - How did you make someone smile today?

This one might be my favorite. For a few years now, we go around the dinner table and we each have to say "How did you make someone smile today?" It's just one of those little things I love about my family so much.


I - It's gonna be a great day

Our family song. I made it up one morning a few years ago. It's now just become a normal part of our mornings :)

J - Jokes

All of us love to tell a good joke. Olive will tell you an endless amount of nonsense Knock Knock Joke, while Stevie might go with her staple "Why can't you get Elsa a balloon?" - "Because she will let it go." :D I prefer to embrace my role as a father by annoying everyone around me with classic dad jokes.

K - Kids

I love kids. They are so much cooler than adults. We have sleepovers and friends over quite frequently. In my opinion, once you are quadruple outnumbered, who's even counting anymore :)

L - Lunch trays

School lunch trays are served about every night at dinner. It helps me remember to fill each slot with healthy foods. Plus, aren't they just so fun! :D

M - Mr Rogers

Duh. M would be Mr. Rogers. If you follow my instagram or facebook, I'm constantly sharing Mr. Rogers quotes. He's my personal hero. I simply loved his view on life. I've even wrote a post specifically about why I love him so much.

N - Nature

Yay for outside, bugs, hiking, rainstorms, camping, critters, mud, climbing trees, exploring, flowers, clouds, and adventures!!

O - Odor

I'm not gonna lie. My kids can do activities and have fun that produce smells that are undescribable. Just imagine "little kid after playing outside for a few hours" mixed with farts and hummus breathe. I love these kids, but wow. Two words: Bath Time ;)

P - Parks

My crew are park connoisseurs. We know about every park within 20 miles. I mean why wouldn't we? It's free fun, and I hate the idea of getting into a rut of activities... For instance going to the same park over and over and over and doing the same things time and time again. I like that my kids love to switch it up. However, they each have their own favorites.

Q - Quiet Time

Wait... What's quiet time?

R - Rambunctious

This Megow characteristic is why I never get the "Quiet Time" previously mentioned... :)

Hahaha. Side note: My kids love Frozen Yogurt.

S - Single parenting

Yup. Just me and my kiddos. They are why I smile. They are my drive to succeed. They are the reason I'm happy to lose sleep. They are the joy in my heart.

T - Talented

Whether it's art, magic tricks, talking to "aminals", or fashion. Each of them shines in their own special talents.

My gorgeous little artist lost in thought...  

U - Untidy

Megows are a naturally untidy people. My office desk is a wreck and our house is usually not much better. HOWEVER!! Me and the kids have been trying ultra hard lately to turn this around!! I must say I'm pretty proud of the progress we have made. :)

The Patented Megow Mopping Method

V - VSU 

My job... Valdosta State University. My co-workers have pretty much adopted my kids as part of our team up there. I can't say it enough how grateful I am for my job, bosses, and co-workers.

My kids are PROFESSIONALS at sitting quietly and ultra well behaved at college events :)

W - Waffles

Because Waffles is the most important word to start with "w"

X - X marks the spot

Treasure Hunts! Scavenger Hunts! Clue Hunts! Challenge Hunts! My kids love looking for treasure, and I love to plan them out! :)

Y - Yes!!

I hear it all the time. "People need to learn to say No". While that can be good advice, I try to instill the desire to say "Yes!". When people are in need, just help! If you have a neat idea on how to bless someone, just do it! We stay pretty busy, but I pray that when my kids get older they will always remember their childhood was spent serving others.

Z - Zelda 

Each of my kids have special time with dad at various nights of the week. We call this alone time. It's so hard to get these one on one moments. The kids and I thoroughly enjoy it. And it all started with Stevie's love of Zelda. We started carving out time for us to sit alone and play her favorite game of all time. Zelda. I love how those few minutes playing that game (I don't really play video games btw) turned into such a rich tradition for our family.

My princess Zelda :)

Well that's the Megows A-Z. Hope you enjoyed and have a great day!

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing,

Seth 

Mr. Rogers and Me

Hello neighbor! If you know me at all or follow me on social media, it’s no surprise that I love Fred Rogers. I’m constantly posting his quotes on my Facebook and Instagram. I have Mr. Rogers shirts. I photoshopped on one my favorite quotes as my office door sign at work. Even the my kids’ bed times songs are two of his originals. So this post I want to explain why I admire this man’s life work.

 

Growing up Mr. Rogers was a staple to me. I remember turning the knob the Channel 8 and watching him for 30 minutes. My favorite part was when he went outside and played in his sandbox. I used to just love that. My parents loved it too. Just from his television show demeanor, the viewer could sense that this was no run-of-the-mill television host. Mr. Rogers was clearly a genuine man who mission was also clear; he wanted to spread love, comfort, and acceptance in world fueled by greed and discontentment. Even as a small child, I could sense this over the airwaves. Of course, Mr. Rogers soon came to be my favorite tv program. However, time passes and we grow up. I moved on to Ninja Turtles and Darkwing Duck (both good shows I might add). But Mr. Rogers just kind of drifted off into memory as I outgrew his ultra-simple and routine show.

It wasn’t until many years passed that I thought of him again. To this day I have no idea why he popped into my head, but I can remember when and why. It was a long lonely night when my life seemed upside down. The kids were asleep, and I was just lying in bed trying to think of something to pick me up. I prayed constantly, listened to uplifting music every night, and kept a clear mind. That night though, I felt like I just needed something I could see or hear. I just felt so down and discarded. Pretty much, I felt unloved and unliked. Out of the blue, a Mr. Rogers song popped in my head. I hadn’t heard it decades, but I could still remember the simple lyrics.

“It’s you I like.

It’s not the things you wear.

It’s not the way you do your hair.

But it’s you I like.

The way you are right now.

The way down deep inside you…”

Immediately I jumped on my laptop and started searching about Fred Rogers. This is where the new chapter kind of turned started. I read everything I could find on him. I read books and watched documentaries. One thing became clear to me; I just felt this connection with this man. I was in awe of the manner in which he lived his life. I’m gonna give a ultra-quick bio in my own words real quick:

He was an ordained minister. He was a Christian that loved the Lord and was serious about his Walk. He was deeply committed to his family and friends. The way he made into television was he saw people throwing pies at other’s faces. It made him realize that television was becoming sort of mean and not kind. He saw the potential it had to change lives for the better. Instead of sitting idly by & ignoring it or simply complaining, he set out to make a difference. That’s what he did, and he did it successfully. When public television funding was being threatened to be cut, he lobbied and persuaded the members of the Congressional Committee to not only get rid of the budget drop, but the committee actually allocated MORE money that the original amount was. Are you curious how he did this? He talked softly and briefly and then sang them a song from his television program. From this, I learned that screaming or arguing isn’t necessary for a heart change in someone else.  Fred Rogers was also amazing talented and motivated. He wrote every song on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. He would spend countless hours and takes doing the same scene over again, to get it perfect. He thought that the children deserved the best he had to offer. Mr. Rogers was transparent. Although technically, Mr. Rogers was a tv character; you won’t find many differences between Mr. Rogers (the tv show host) and Fred Rogers (the man). He was a man full of integrity. Which is pretty much one of my favorite traits to see in people.

Here’s probably the main I love him so much. However, it’s also a reason he got ridiculed by some. Never on his show did he plug any sort of religious bend on things or talk about spiritual matters. He never had an agenda, not tried to sway anyone on a particular topic. He just loved and accepted people. Instead of telling people all of the things they need to be, Fred would tell us that he likes us just the way we are. Instead of striving for giant feats, he focused on the small ones. For example, if you notice in the show when he’s feeding his fish, he will also announce to the audience that he is feeding them. This is because a blind girl’s parent once wrote the show and said her daughter was worried about him forgetting to feed them. Since she was blind she couldn’t see him doing it. So even decades later, each time he would feed the fish, he was verbally confirm this to the audience. Seriously, the man personally read and replied to every single piece of mail that was sent in to the show. He didn’t play favorites. Mr. Rogers just literally loved everyone for who they were and the way they were.

His show was based in a home to give kids that didn’t save a stable home life some sort of hope, stability, and positive place to escape to. In all of the things I’ve read about him, one of the main things people would say about Mr. Rogers is they could tell he genuinely cared about each and every one of them. Many adults now recall a sense of safety and security seeing this skinny, fragile looking man putting on sweaters that his mom knitted for him while he greets them hello. However, a lot of his work pouring into people’s hearts took place outside of the show. He was approached all of the time by letter or in person about people’s personal situations or questions. People could just sense something real about him. Really what they were sensing was Jesus living in that man. Even off of the show, he wasn’t quick to ram his beliefs down people’s throats. He just loved them and eventually they would want to know just want made him so joy and peace filled. He would then have the opportunity to share the Good News or pray with/for these people.  He wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed of his faith at all. I think he just understood that we need to win people’s trust before they soften their hearts to what we have to say.

Actually Mr. Rogers was one of the reasons I started this whole blog in the first place. Before all of the stuff happened, I was super involved in church activities, volunteering, visiting with people, etc. Suddenly, I was a solo parent of four with so many time restraints and much time being spent alone after the kids went to sleep. So I became a little depressed not being able to help or do what I felt called to you, help and encourage people. So I would stay up at night, just browsing the internet. I discovered that there is just so much negativity and meanness out there. It would just be a constant stream of things that weren’t positive or good for anyone’s heart... Then it kind of hit me. What if I tried to do what Mr. Rogers did? Instead of just watching it go by or complaining, maybe it’s time to roll up my sleeves and try to make a difference. So I started this blog. Hahahaha, by no means is it Mr. Rogers neighborhood or as great as that show was. It’s just my little way to brighten up the corner where I am. Does it make a difference? I like to think so. Because I feel it’s my calling. Like Mr. Rogers and his show, I don’t view this blog as a vehicle for constantly mentioning Jesus. I view it as a way to present the peace and love of the Lord without immediately turning people off to what God is doing in my life by jamming my beliefs down their throats. I truly love the way that God build my heart to encourage and evangelize. It’s not for everyone. Some people don’t care for the subtle approach. Honestly, I love that! We are all wired differently. Let’s embrace our uniqueness :)

I think that’s why I just love that man so much. On one of my darkest nights God put a tiny little song he wrote probably 40 years in my head, and I can safely say it kind of flipped my view on things. I remembered that people DID like me. He not only changed my life and impacted so many lives across the world, but is a constant reminder that sometimes it’s the tiny little things that matter most. We can’t even imagine the ripple effect of our actions and words. So let’s make decisions out of love. Because even the tiniest of interactions tomorrow at the coffee pot, a little song you make up in the car, or a kind deed for someone else could have such an astounding impact on someone’s life.

So in the words of Fred Rogers:

“You always make it a special day by just your being yourself."

-Seth

Get to know Seth (second attempt)

Recently, I was thinking about a new blog post. One of my friends suggested I do one about myself. Immediately, I shuttered at the thought. Hahahaha.  (I love to talk and write, just not about myself).  But then I was thinking about all of the new friends I have made, especially within the past year. Many of my new friends have never actually met my family in person. At first it was kind of strange to me, but now I think it’s neat. Like internet penpals or something. Then I thought a little deeper, I love telling stories about and discussing my kids on the blog. It’s just so easy to do for me and probably why most people read this thing anyways :) So I feel that people know a lot about my kids, but I never really described myself. I did a post when I first started the blog titled “About Seth”. Secretly, I’ve always hated that post. It was mostly just something to post so I could get started talking about my kids. In that post, I think I just talked about “enjoying peeing outside, my first car, my afro in high school, and that I was a divorced single parent.” Nothing that descriptive.  So back to my point, I wanted to describe myself a little more in detail for friends who I never really physically met. Just a real “get to know me and my personality” post.

Disclaimer: Again. I really don’t like talking about myself like this. I find it awkward and uncomfortable.  Mostly, I just want to kind of introduce myself to all of my new friends. However, I’m really bad at this, so let’s see where it goes.

Well hello Seth. Nice to finally meet you.

Hmmm… where to start. I am a sibling of 4. We grew up in the country and had goats, cows, chickens, two gardens. My dad instilled work ethic is us at a young age. Which at the time I was not happy about, now though I’m extremely grateful. Whenever I’m having a bad day at work I just stop and think “At least I’m not scooping out 2 foot of compacted animal poop out of the goat shed in the middle of summer in South Georgia. Hahaha. That was a smell.

I was forced to wear that sweater by the way.

Or was I...

If I had to describe myself socially, I would say I’m kind of a “shy extrovert.” I pretty much recently discovered this. It’s definitely a unique combo. I love entertaining a crowd, being around people, doing impressions, etc. Internally though, I get super nervous just meeting someone for the first time. It’s one of the main things I don’t like about my personality. It’s weird. I would rather be given a mic in front of a big group of people and told “just talk” than to meet a new person for lunch at a restaurant. I don’t view it as a lack of confidence; I think I’m pretty confident in myself. For some reason, I just draw a complete blank in those situations. I’ve overcome a lot of it,  and while I have learned tricks to “fake it till I make it” with new people. It still is quite awkward a large percentage of the time. hahaha

I think I’m pretty perceptive of people and can read others fairly accurate. This combined with all of the God given empathy, I gained during the low times of my divorce I think has really opened my personality up for the better. On the flip side, I struggle with perceiving myself. I’m not really introspective at all. I like to think of myself like an open book; the first time you meet me, I think I’m pretty genuinely myself. I don’t really keep secrets about myself or bottle up a lot inside. It’s just pretty much out there. So when it comes to understanding why I do the things I do, I really can’t say. Or when people ask me to describe myself or my hobbies, I don’t really know what to say. Normally in those situations, I will just spurt out some random nonsense or send a funny joke I have on my phone if it’s a digital exchange.

This is kind of how it goes when I’m meeting a new person and they start asking those questions.

New Person - “So Seth, describe yourself a little.”

Me – “Um. I have a hairy stomach, my favorite day of the week is Thursday, and I enjoy breakfast foods?”

New Person – “Ok…Can you expand on that?”

Me – “I’m not wearing socks.”

New Person – “Huh?”

Me – “I brought a Santa hat. Want to wear it?”

New Person - *silence*

Me - *My brain starts to panic.*

My Brain - "Just say something normal about yourself dummy."

Me - Sometimes my tongue feels bumpy.

One thing I do enjoy talking about is humor. I absolutely love seeing people laugh. Ever since I was a little, little kid, I can remember loving the feeling of diffusing a tense or dull situation with laughter. Now, I don’t really view myself as super hilarious. I’m not super good at telling jokes or thinking of hilarious things on the fly. I have friends that are and I love being around them :) Mostly, I would describe my humor as a storyteller. I just love to tell stories. I enjoy milking every awkward detail of a particular event to make something absolutely hilarious. Plus, I’m not afraid to look like a complete idiot in public to get a laugh. A lot of times, it comes off as weird. I don’t really care though. 

Here’s my thoughts on being “weird”.

Again, a lot of this post is to give people I haven’t officially physically met a look at what makes “me” me. So let’s wrap up the humor theme with a pretty good example of Seth humor…hahahaha. This memory literally just came to me as I was thinking of a good way to describe what I think is “Seth humor”.  I have this shirt that I like to call my “wedding shirt”. I have worn it to countless wedding. It’s really not fancy at all. It’s a plaid pattern, and I am always extremely underdressed for the occasion when I wear it. But I like adorning it to weddings for a specific purpose. There are a lot of buttons, and they are snap buttons not the kind you have to tuck into the hole. Upon arrival at the wedding, I like to explain the purpose of the shirt to friends and just random people that I meet there. The purpose of the shirt is to measure the awesomeness of the wedding reception. I always start with the shirt completely button up. Like all the way to my neck, which looks completely ridiculous and absolutely hilarious. Everytime, I feel the reception getting a little more fun, I unbutton one button. I like to view the shirt as a party meter. It gives people a relative gauge on how fun the reception is actually getting. I’ve been to some and never unbuttoned once; others I’ve gotten down to about 3 or 4 (That’s stomach hair territory).  Hence the snap buttons. I love dramatically tearing apart each button when I feel the moment come.

However, one specific wedding I guess my gauge was off.  This is where my story begins. I remember it was an afternoon wedding/reception. The bride and groom were sitting at their little cute “newly married” table and people were walking up and congratulating them. I can’t remember it being a super crunk reception, more the opposite. Just a normal low key, yet formal reception. Although I was completely sober (I’m not a huge drinker btw), my memory is just fuzzy except for one clear vision. I recall winding up sitting with some random woman (probably in her 60’s and dressed to the nines), meanwhile I was completely shirtless by this point of the reception for some unknown reason. I remember egging her on to dare me random things to do. Thinking back, I probably explained my shirt and she probably dared me to unbutton it all the way, so I probably ended up just taking it completely off. Anyways, for some reason, she dared me to take the entire tray of petit four pastries and sneak the back to our seats. I didn’t want to upstage the wedding, but she seemed so sweet that if she thought it was funny then I figured most everyone else would. So I just got up, made my way through everyone seated at the tables eating, grabbed the tray, and calmly walked back to the back of the room where she was sitting there laughing hysterically. We just sat there eating them and laughing, when I noticed other guests walking back and forth of the food table looking for them. I felt bad, so I got up and start walking the tray back to the table for other people to enjoy. Suddenly, I hear her little sweet voice coming up from behind me saying “You should just walk around serving them to people. That would be funny.” So I did. I just walked around the reception for the next few minutes shirtless and serving little desserts to men (in shirt/ties) and women (in formal dresses) at the wedding. I remember I couldn’t even get out the words “Would you like a petit four?” each time I walked up to a person, because I kept looking at my friend who was kneeled over and laughing so hard she looked completely ridiculous. This in turn made me laugh even harder. So I was just kind of sticking the tray of food in people’s faces and hoping they would take one. I think I only made it around 2 tables before someone didn't think it was funny at all. So I just set the tray back on the food buffet and ran back to my chair laughing like a 7 year old. I have no clue who that lady was and but I’m 92% sure she was probably an angel.  

 To me, there is nothing funnier than taking off my shirt at random times in random places.

 

 This is our family portrait at our friends’ daughter’s 1^st birthday party.

Browsing through my facebook pictures looking for this image, 

I actually found quite a few shirtless pictures of myself at random kids' birthday parties. 

"Seth. Showing skin since 1984".

Ok, this post is kind of long. I feel so accomplished actually writing things about myself :D But I want to touch on one more thing. I also love little tools to help me understand people. The main two that come to mind are the Myers-Briggs personality test and the Love Languages. I just find them so neat and a great way to get to know people and show them love in the way they desire it. In the Myers Briggs, I’m an ENTJ. I love being one. But I think everyone should love themselves, so I guess that’s healthy that I enjoy my own personality :)

Click on the picture of an explanation of my personality type and to find out yours!

It’s really so so interesting. If you don't know yours, I think you should try :D

My love languages are different when I am receiving or giving love. When I’m receiving love, I really enjoy physical touch, quality time, and words of encouragement. I like those things. However, when I’m showing love, I love the buckshot approach. There’s nothing better than showing up to a friend’s house to help them with a project and surprising them with a little gift and a note saying how awesome they are. Then after finishing the project, just hanging out for a bit together and ending with a solid high five or hug :) I like love blasting people on all fronts.

 

PS. Mr Rogers is my personal hero if you haven’t noticed, 

but I’m saving that topic for a different post ;)

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing,

Seth 

Decisions, Decisions...

It’s been a busy week. Decisions, Decisions. From little to big, life is just full of decisions. This post I want to talk about decisions and how decision making is handled in the Megow house.

One major decision I tend to face every night is “Do I stay up late and get everything set out and ready for in the morning or Do I get up early and get it in the morning?” 

The things I need to do are:

Find and set out school clothes, socks, and shoes

Pick out and iron my work clothes

Tidy up the kitchen

Wash dishes

Get school stuff together (homework, book bags, library books, etc.)

About once or twice a week, I do it all at night. I always feel bomb dot com on those nights. However, a lot of the time, I’m just too tired or have other things I need to get done at night, so I tell myself I’ll get up extra early, jump in the shower, and then do all of this stuff. Unfortunately, a lot of those mornings actually end up looking something like this.

I woke up around 4:30am like every morning. I go pee and get a drink of ice water. I double check my alarm. Yes, it’s set for 6am. That will give me enough time to get everything I need to do accomplished. So I try to maneuver between all of my children’s arms and legs to try to find somewhere I can somewhat comfortably go back to sleep.

Trying to find a spot in my bed in the middle of the night

 is pretty much similar to taking on GUT’s Aggro Crag

So I found a somewhat comfortable position and fell back asleep. I normally always wake up before my alarm, so when my eyes cracked open without hearing an alarm I wasn’t “alarmed” (pretty sweet pun, huh?) Anyways, I keep my room dark with thick curtains over the blinds. However, Wednesday morning I felt sheer terror because when I picked up my head, I saw this little streak of light shooting out from behind the curtain. Every parent knows that feeling. Immediately, I jumped up and threw open the curtains. This was pretty much my reaction…

Yep, I figured out how to put GIF's into my blog. Uh-oh ;)

I frantically searched for my phone to see the time and to figure out what happened to my alarm. I couldn’t find it. So I ran to the kitchen and looked that the clock… “7:34am”. I’ve overslept before but never that late. Suddenly, I hear my kids dying laughing over my shoulder. In my house, if the kids are laughing and super chipper before 8am, there are either two scenarios playing out.

Scenario 1) A baby fawn has found its way into our living room and is letting my children feed it baby carrots from our fridge.

Scenario 2) I’m about to find a giant mess

Unfortunately, there were no tiny deer in my living room on Wednesday morning. It was like slow motion, I turned my head to find Olive covered head to toe in chocolate frosting. (We were given a chocolate cake Saturday night, so I stuck it in the fridge and was slowly giving it to them piece by piece. Well, Titus thought “bump that” and just drug the entire cake to the living room carpet apparently around 6am that morning.) Titus who had already filled up on chocolate cake had moved onto being thirsty and you can’t have cake without milk. However this particular morning, he was apparently craving strawberry flavored milk. Since we didn’t have any strawberry syrup, he just dumped a strawberry Kool-Aid packet in our brand new gallon of milk I bought the night before. Again, this is just what I’m guessing happened. But I think when he dumped the Kool aid packet in, he was thrown by the narrow pouring spout of the milk jug. So he just decided to shake the milk jug around. I walked out to find him (butt naked) and my kitchen table covered in pinkish, grainy looking milk.

By now it’s 7:38. Since we live across the street from the school, we can leave the house by 7:52am and make it to school on time. We have 14 minutes. I run a shallow bath and put my two younger ones in. I finally found Stevie and Neela (playing on my phone) in their room. There’s where the alarm went… I’m gritting my teeth trying to stay calm about the importance of NOT playing with dad’s phone since it’s the alarm clock. I ask them to get dressed and brush their teeth… quickly! I run back to the bathtub. Titus and Olive have bathed themselves enough to avoid a phone call from the school social worker, so I quickly dried them off and run to put on the clothes I set out for them the night before. "Oh yeah… I didn’t set out any. Double crap. I didn’t set out any for me either." So I sprint across the house trying to find clothes for them while at the same time brushing my teeth and yelling across the house for the big girls to brush theirs as well.  I get Olive and Titus dressed and run to the laundry room frantically trying to iron something for me to wear. I glance at the clock “7:46- Triple Crap. I suck at mornings.” So I found a shirt and pants. I start ironing in the laundry room, while yelling for everyone to sit down and eat a quick breakfast like a banana and some milk. “Dad, this milk looks like barf”. Oh yeah, the Kool-Aid… Ok just drink something and eat something. “Dad, we’re not hungry. Titus gave us all cake for breakfast”, Stevie yells from the dining room. “Fine, just drink some water and get on your shoes & socks and get your book bags on”, while finishing up my ironing in the laundry room. I put on my clothes and sprint to the kitchen. “7:50! I can do this!”  Of course, Stevie is still in her underwear because all of the clothes in her drawer have tags and she does not want to wear them. I kind of just stand their completely stunned. I have Neela help Olive with her shoes, Titus round up book bags, and Stevie find some clothes and bring them to me for de-tagging. We rush out the door, jump in the car, and make it to the older 3’s school before the tardy bell. I turn around and Olive is wearing mis-match shoes. So I just drive back home, change her shoes, drop her off, and head to work. It was a good day J However, since Wednesday, I’ve been a little more motivated to set everything out the night before.

Also, I like to try to give the kids a choice when it comes to small choices around the house. Mostly we make the choice “Do you guys want to do grocery shopping or stay at home and scrounge around for dinner?” They always choose scrounge (expect for Titus. That boy ALWAYS is down for a trip to the store.) I like it too. It gives me a chance to clean out my freezer/fridge/cabinets and allows for creativity when cooking meals. Normally for dinner, I would make something regular like spaghetti with broccoli or breakfast for dinner. They have pretty simple tastes. I know I should press them to try new and exciting things, but as long as they eat somewhat healthy and actually eat the food they are given, I figure they will eventually expand their cuisine horizons as they mature. Shoot my best friend ate nothing but Jelly sandwiches and French fries growing up, now he’s a pediatrician and his wife cooks fancy, organic healthy meals all the time. I’m guessing he likes them. Maybe he fakes it. I bet Megan could throw down if he refused to eat a meal she prepared. ;)

Anyways, back to the dinner choice. I love the idea of “Apollo 13ing” dinner.

I have to make dinner...for my kids to actually eat... using nothing but this.

This is what we have to work with and this was what we have to create. Maybe it’s just the challenge of creating something I know the kids will eat, but it healthy and filling. I will say after my last for “scrouching dinner” attempts, I think they kids will start choosing going to the grocery store more. My last dinner creation kind of resembled this.

Just think “Shrek’s Wedding Reception Menu Item”

I try to teach my kids about decision making. One effective way I’ve found is letting them have complete control over their spending money. Blowing through money they have earned on cheap crap instead of saving it for quality things isn’t smart, but after a few crap rip-off’s they’ve started listening to old dad about saving up for one good quality thing rather than 3 el cheapo’s.

“Yes, Stevie. You can spend your money on that art set, but it’s not Lisa Frank… It’s more like Lisa’s deranged sister Linda Frank got commissioned by Dollar General to create a line of art sets.”

“Titus… dude. Please don’t buy this thing… Ok… So you had a dream you bought this toy?...
This is the coolest toy you have ever seen?... Ok man, it’s your money.”

1 hour later – “Dude, I’m sorry your toy broke… What?...
No. I cannot drive you to China to trade it out”

We all make bad decisions sometimes. But no matter what, let's just own them, keep smiling, and be the people Mr. Rogers knew we could be ;)

-Seth

How am I still single? "Don't miss the disclaimer at the bottom" :)

So I was talking to my buddy (what up Corrie) and we were joking about what we were eating for dinner. 
That let to the "How am I still single?" conversation.

- I ate rolled up deli ham with koolaid for dinner.

- I haven't looked in the mirror in 3 days.

- My kids say I'm an "ok" dancer

- I own one pair of socks (to run in)
       1) I haven't ran in over a year
       2) I can't find said socks
       3) I actually do own one additional pair of dress socks,
         but I keep them in my desk at work in case someone important decides to pop in
       3.5) Those dress socks don't match

- There are currently more clothes on my floor than in my dresser.

- I caught 3 crickets today and I have 2 email accounts. Mad skills.

- The current CD is my car is full of Mr. Rogers songs. Yep, I listen to it even when it's just me and no kids. (No shame in my game.)

- Neela and me are currently having a popcorn eating contest. Living it up on a Friday night.

- I'm hoping to get a new car soon... a church van. (soak it in ladies)

- Our family is well traveled. We drove to Quitman about a month ago.

- I am "too" good looking

- My decor theme of my house is a combination of a bachelor pad and a My Little Pony Convention.

-The "miscellaneous" portion of our budget is typically reserved for purchasing supplies birthday parties for inanimate objects around our house. Recently, we threw Stevie's blanket a party and invited guests (other blankets). Before that, is was no joke, the floor... We had the floor a birthday party which included cake and party activities.

- The other morning before we left for school, Olive walked up to me and motioned for me to lean down. I thought she wanted a kiss. Nope, she wanted to wipe some poop from her hand onto my necktie. 

- I know how to spice up a one year old's birthday party

Disclaimer: This was for fun. The world can't handle Seth on a date.... Yet ;)

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