Please Write Your Senators - from Matt

The more I read about this stimulus bill and the more economists who come out opposed to it, the more I think we all need to step up and let our representatives know that we don't agree with this bill. There are a huge number of economists who disagree on whether or not government spending is the way out of this, but the majority seemed to be opposed to the current bill as it stands. Cathy and I wrote our senators today and the following is the letter I wrote to Kay Hagan (since Richard Burr has already stated his opposition I just thanked him):

Mrs. Hagan,

I wanted to write you regarding the stimulus bill being passed and discussed there in Washington. While I can agree that something needs to be done, I am opposed to the current bill. Every dollar the government spends is a dollar taken away from the private sector. For that reason every dollar spent by the government should be very carefully considered. While I don't agree with Keynesian economic theory (government spending is the only way out of a recession), I am not naive enough to think that there is any one solution to this current economic problem and that I know what it is. If major government spending is needed (though I have read several economists theories' stating differently; see http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/), then every dollar spent should be accounted for and should generate more than a dollar's worth of actual stimulus (since leaving that money with the private sector would generate dollar for dollar). I want to see that level of accountability for this money. It seems that with the more money involved in the bill, the less concerned everyone is with larger amounts of money (ie, billions in spending seems to make the legislature ignore, or think less important, the "smaller" millions).

Personally I am a firm believer in allowing each individual American the freedom to do with their money what they would. Government exists only to protect those freedoms. That includes protecting our freedom to experience the consequences of our own decisions. If we make poor choices then we should suffer the consequences of those choices. I fully realize that sometimes those choices affect others who had no part of that decision making process (my home has dropped in value too even though I have been paying my mortgage faithfully). It is impossible for government to prevent or fix that, it is a part of life. Also If we make good choices and experience success, we shouldn't be looked down on because we were more successful than others. Saying that the middle class needs to be expanded and that those who have more money than the middle class should have to pay more in taxes is rediculous. I am in the lower middle of the middle class and I plan on moving out of the middle class as defined and move into the upper class. I don't want to push to reach that goal only to be taxed so much that it puts me effectively back into the middle class. To me, that is limiting my freedom.

Please do not support this bill. If it does get signed into law, then please be a leader in demonstrating accountability in the legislature and push for strict reporting. As a taxpayer I want to know, down to my level of every dollar, how the money is spent and its demonstrated effect. Government has already spent $3-400 Billion (not counting the billions spent by the FDIC and Fannie/Freddie) on this crisis with no demonstrated dollar for dollar results. Please don't let another trillion plus (this bill and the rest of TARP funds) be spent with the same lack of accountability.

Matt Hicken

Growing Pains

Our house is very familiar with growing pains. Mary has grown over four inches since midAugust, and she has growing pains again - so you know what that means. At 18 months, she is less than 2 inches shy of 3 feet. Emily and Joe have both gone through that as well, though, suprisingly, Joe not as muh. His growing has slowed a lot (he's only in the 80% for his height). Mary kept waking up last night (like the first time was less than an hour after we went to sleep, and she didn't really soundly sleep until 1:30). At 1:30, I laid down with her in Emily's bed (Emily still has our old queen mattress) and I rubbed her legs. She was finally out about five minutes later. I was a little worried about leaving her in Emily's bed since Emily is a CRAZY sleeper, but I wasn' about to pick her up (Mary is the lightest sleeper ever! In fact, I can't believe I was able to get off the bed without waking her up!).

She slept great, and when I got out of bed at 7:00 (HEAVEN!), I smelled something cooking. I went into the bathroom to grab my glasses, and Emily came in. "Mom, breakfast is ready! Joe made it!" I went downstairs, and Joe had made toast for everyone, set the table, gotten milk in a sippy cup for his sister, set out the juice and milk and jam and was patiently waiting for Matt and I to come downstairs. My turn for growing pains! It was so sweet! He is such a sweet capable boy, and I can't believe how old he's getting!

Totally unrelated. Here's message from my Dove chocolate: "Think of every day as a Sunday" That sure would make a difference, wouldn't it?

Thoughts on Emotions

Matt is reading a book called "Emotional Intelligence". I'm not sure who wrote it, but Matt has shared a lot of really interesting things from it with me. Last night he read this quote: CR Snyder defines hope as "Believing you have both the will and the way of accomplishing your goals, whatever they may be." I think that's one of the most motivating definitions of hope that I have ever heard. Matt pointed out that in a gospel context, the Savior has opened the way for all of us and if we just believe that, and that with His help we will also have the will to do it, that is true hope.

Another idea from the book that has really struck me was regarding the make-up of our brains. He said that our IQ is pretty much set. It is located in one of the most set parts of the brain. Emotions, on the other hand, are in the most malliable part of the brain. We really can change our emotions if we work at it and want it enough. That was so motivating to me. If I want to be a happy person or a caring person or an optimist, that is possible. I can eventually change that part of me. I also think it's interesting that we are not commanded to be brainiacs. We are commanded to bridle our passions, be filled with charity, and many other things that are related to emotions rather than our level of intelligence.

"New" Car!

We finally got our infiniti back today! Yay! It was nice putting miles on a rental car that we didn't have to pay for for the last three weeks, but it's definitely time. It looks great. Not sure how it drives - Matt drove it directly to work after we picked it up this afternoon. Hopefully it's good. Anyway. It's nice to be done with that little chapter!

Bizarre Home Remedies That Actually Work

At church, I was discussing the never ending coughing situation with a friend. She said that she had read on the internet that if you smear Vicks vaporub on their feet and then put socks on before they go to bed, they won't cough all night. I remembered reading something about that on a friends blog as well, so I decided I would try it - since all three have been coughing...ALOT. Mary had already fallen asleep when I remembered, so we just did it to Emily and Joe. For the first half hour after they went to bed they were still coughing, but after that, Joe didn't cough once the entire rest of the night - and yes we were up periodically to verify that. Emily did much much better. She still coughed a little, but I could tell that it had broken it up and she was actually able to sleep. She coughed the first hour and then after about 4:30, which is a huge improvement over the previous night when her coughing kept her up all night. So, if your kids have a miserable cough, try it. I totally don't get it, but it totally worked.

Welcome, welcome healthy baby!

I had my midterm ultrasound today and sweet baby Hicken passed with flying colors. No tags for any birth defects or any issues with me either. So, so far so good!

And...drum roll please...69% of the people who answered our little poll were correct. We are having a BOY!! He wasn't shy at all! I can never tell whether it's a boy or girl, but even I could tell this time. No question!

Joe is so very excited. Because of the snow day, he got to come to the ultrasound. He said that he thought it would be a boy and since Matt and I both said we thought it would be a boy, he said that it was for sure going to be a boy just because the majority of us said so. We told him that it didn't quite work that way, but he was excited nonetheless. He was practically bouncing up and down the rest of the appointment after he found out about his brother. Later he said "It will be fun when his big and we can play!" And he announced several times that now it would be even boys vs girls. So around the 16th of June, we will welcome William Gavin to our family!

I'm infirm

It is snowing!!! I woke up and the world looked a little odd. I took a closer look, and it was "covered" in snow! I am so excited! That is one thing that I really miss. I have always loved the snow. Everything about it. And here's how I know I have a problem that might need medical attention. I had to make a run to the store this morning (stomach flu supplies are running low - joy). I was turning into the roadway that led to the parking lot and my tires lost traction so I slid a little. I was going slow so I easily got back on track, but my initial response was "The roads are snowy enough to be slick. This is AWERSOME!!!" My second response was "Wow, I really am a little messed up."

The other night, we were eating dinner and Joe was throwing chicken nuggets and fries into his mouth. A few minutes later, he threw his rootbeer onto his face and immediately had a startled look on his face. In total bewilderment, Matt said "Joe, what are you doing?" He didn't respond, but looked embarassed. Comprehension dawned, and Matt said "Were you trying to throw it and catch it in your mouth?" Joe nodded. You live, you learn, right?

What is Education?

I was reading a blog post on Shannon Hale's blog and it got me to thinking about education again and exactly what it should and shouldn't entail. It also reminded me of Ken Robinson's talk at the 2006 TED talks. Here's the link. It is 20 minutes long, but worth the time, and very entertaining. My favorite part is a story he tells about a famous dancer. Both of these have reminded me that I need to look at my kids as individuals and watch for their strengths and then help them to become not only productive contributors to society, but able to have the tools to improve themselves on their own. We can only show them so much before they are off on their own, and I don't think we're trying to make sure they are never in the darkness, but rather that when they are, that they know how to find the light again.

Matt and I were talking about the education system a little while ago, and it was frustrating that you couldn't perfectly cater to each child and their own strengths and learning styles. To do that you would almost need a one on one teacher, but the group to teach the things that can only be taught in a group. Matt came to the realization that that system is already set up. The current education system needs a lot of help, and I don't know how to fix it, but the one on one help is already there. Heavenly Father gave us that when he sent us to parents. So, at least half of the problem is theoretically solved!

I know all of you have very different view points on the subject of education, and I would love to get all of your thoughts on this!

Hence the Title of Our Blog

I just thought I'd illustrate a typical night at the Hicken household.

I wonder what they put in that Countrytime Lemonade we had for dinner.

Rag time Gals

Yesterday, I tied the girls' hair in rags just for fun. My friend Susan gave me the idea to thread the rags through sponge curlers. This way you have the best of both worlds - the comfort of the rags and the ease and curl width of the sponge curlers. I'm actually very surprised that Emily let me put her hair in curlers. It has been a battle every day lately to let me do anything with her hair. She is too busy to sit there for more than 30 seconds. Mary was a champ. (except for turning around to take pictures of the curlers. But I guess she's right - her face makes a much more interesting picture!)

So, I didn't get Emily's hair wet enough, and didn't leave the curlers in long enough. Oh well.

I thought Mary's turned out cute, though. I put it in a half pony tail, because I was afraid that the tiny curls all over would be a little over powering. I liked it. I will definitely do it again.

PS This has absolutely nothing to do with the post, but, ya know. I found a new favorite LDS artist. Paul Cardall has the most beautiful piano arrangements of hymns and primary songs. I think he has some originals too, but I just love his arrangement of "Baptism". It is one of my new favorites.

And Another One Bites the Dust

So, when we got rid of Matt's cell phone number, we got rid of my phone and used his because my phone had such extensive water damage that it wasn't working anymore. No, I didn't drop it in the toilet or leave it out in the rain. I unwittingly lent it to our resident Drool Queen. Well, our current cell phone started acting funny about three weeks ago. When we tried to charge it, it said "Unauthorized Charger". So, we put it in a drawer planning to deal with it later. Today I took it out and just decided to try and charge it one more time before I ran to the Verizon store. It charged, albeit slowly. When I got to the store, they said that this phone had bad water damage as well, and would need to be replaced. The Drool Queen strikes again! You'd think I'd learn. But, no.

Lost in Translation

I am sure that everyone with kids has heard all kinds of wierd sayings from them which primarily come because when they hear you say things they just don't quite get it. To compensate they translate what you say into words that they do understand.

Joe recently had a fun one. You see...Mary has been having problems with a diaper rash lately and whenever she has another messy diaper she starts to cry and walk rather funny. We have been explaining to the other two kids that it hurts her because of her rash.

Tonight, all of the kids were upstairs playing until Cathy and I heard Joe yell out:

"Mom, Mary's diaper is full and its hurting her mustache!"

Funny

Matt wrote a post on his blog yesterday that I thought was rather funny, in a rather sad way. Here's the link. http://politicalhicken.blogspot.com/2009/01/you-gotta-love-democrats.html. Gotta love the brain-action disconnect in politics!

Car Update

So, we were hoping to win the lottery and have them total our car so we could just start over. No such luck. They are going to repair it. I suppose it will be a lot less hassel. So, hopefully we will be back in our car in a week or so.

Policeman and Tow Trucks and Rentals, Oh My!

Apparently, the time right before church is our danger zone. It seems like things just seem to happen then. That's when Joe broke his leg, and yesterday we were heading to church early when more fun came along. We were stopped at a stop light when someone came up behind us and rear-ended us going at least 35 mph. The kids were a little frightened, but no one was hurt and baby Hicken is fine, so we are very thankful. The lady who hit us was trying to stop, but her tires weren't getting any traction, or the brakes weren't working, not quite sure which, and then when she tried to swerve into the other lane she couldn't. I feel sorry for her. It was her birthday and she was on her way to church before she had to go to work. She lives 45 minutes from work and that was her only vehicle. Her car doesn't look happy.

After the accident, we called Cyndie and Jeremy who flew to our rescue inspite of us making them horribly late for church! Thank you!!! Dawn and her family also stopped after seeing us on the side of the road when they were on their way to church. We are so lucky to have so many people watching out for us!

Hopefully everything gets resolved quickly with the cars! Neither car is looking great. We're still waiting for the prognosis on that, but in the mean time, her insurance is paying for a rental car for Matt. So, lots and lots of fun at the Hicken household this week!

On Thursday, Emily rediscovered the dress up bin, and she has been dressed up as Jasmine ever since. She drags around our big Tigger stuffed animal and insists that everyone call her "Jasmine" and call her tiger "Raja".

Today she was looking at the other dress up clothes, and decided she wanted to put on her tiger outfit. Matt said that we were going to eat lunch in a little while, so we weren't going to dress up until after lunch. About ten minutes later, Matt went upstairs to check on her, and she was trying to put on her Cinderella dress. Don't you love when something that really isn't that big a deal becomes an obedience issue and so you have to stick with it! Anyway. She came downstairs and stood by me with a totally dejected look on her face and said, "My name is 'Nothing'." She kept repeating it over and over again, and then she said "I don't want my name to be Nothing. I want my name to be Jasmine." Poor girl! Identity crisis at 3 years old.

Christmas pictures

So, I'm only a week and a half late. Here are a few pictures from Christmas. Enjoy!

Pandora

One of my favorite websites is Pandora.com. Matt found it a couple of years ago, and it is now a mainstay at our house. It is a website that allows you to play personalized radio stations. You can creat a station based on a particular artist or even a particular song and Pandora will play songs that fit in that category. You can even refine the stations by rejecting songs that you don't like so it gets more and more closely aligned with your particular tastes. And, since it saves all your stations, you can come back to it any time. And it's free. My favorite stations are MoTab, Josh Groban, and Dave Matthews (which plays Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews and other kicked back artists.). We also had a couple of great Christmas stations - one based on Bing Crosby's White Christmas and one more religious - and I like the Brahams station for really mellow background music. So, I'm expecting my endorsement check any day. Just kidding. I just figure you should share a great thing when you find it. I'm listening to MoTab right now.