A bunny

I saw a young bunny in the driveway when I was taking the trash out the other night. Rachael is absolutely crazy about bunnies, so I stopped and caught it to show her. She nearly went into cute overload when I brought it in and of course asked to keep it. I convinced her that a wild bunny wouldn't make the best pet, but it looks like I'd better start working on a hutch, because she is set on having a pet now. I have to admit, the little guy was pretty cute.

Hot Springs

We took a week off last week in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Despite being the birhtplace of Bill Clinton, Arkansas is a beautiful place. It was great to spend time away from the work enjoying time with my family. We went hiking, visited an alligator farm where we all got to pet a live gator, played in the river, and collected a ton of rocks. We even went to a diamond field where Derek was convinced he would strike it rich. We spent about 5 hours panning, but about all we got for our trouble was a lot of clean dirt.

Kevin's Birthday Cake

Kevin has always loved alligators and crocodiles (or as he calls them, chomp-chomps). This year, he asked for a chomp-chomp cake for his bithday. Virginia has gotten really good at creating unusual cake designs for the kids. Maybe she should go into business so I can retire...

Rachael's Recital

Rachael danced in her sixth recital this weekend. This year they did a production of Pocahontas. She had four roles; an indian, a baby bobcat, a snowflake, and a pearl. In this picture, she is dancing as a pearl. The first time I saw it, I couldn't believe it was my little girl. She is growing up so fast.

Chicken Pox Part II

So Derek apparently got off with a pretty light case. Rachael's is similar, though she's not very happy about it all. Kevin, however, has it pretty bad. Yesterday was his 7th birthday and he was pretty miserable the whole day. About the only thing that seems to help is oatmeal baths, and he never wants to get out of them. I can't say I blame him.

The "Chicken Pops" Strike

Two weeks ago, Derek broke out with Chicken Pox. The illness has a 10-21 day incubation period, and this morning Kevin woke up broken out. We are hoping Rachael will be spared, at least until her recital next weekend is over. If not, I guess she could be a leopard instead of a bobcat.

Baron

Rosie finally calved this morning. Another boy, unfortunately. Rachael is quite sad, since thes means he's destined for the freezer. We named him Baron in keeping with the nobility title theme.

I had to laugh when I saw this in the kitchen tonight. I think maybe Derek is getting tired of taking antibiotics. I'm pretty sure that isn't even all of his pill bottles. He's been a real trooper all through this, but after taking 3 capsules, 3 times a day for over 2 months, he's bound to be getting sick of them. We still don't know for sure how long he'll continue to be on them. The biggest complaint he makes is about how nasty his antibiotic burps taste. It is really good to see him off his crutches fianlly. He is able to walk around the house without his walking boot, and he gets to take that off for good in a couple of weeks.

It's amazing how quickly life can turn on a dime. One minute everything is great, the next, you are being told your son might lose his leg. It looks like it will all be fine eventually, but man, what a couple of months.

Hiking Deep Creek

Rachael immediately knew how she wanted to spend her coupon. She wanted to go hiking. You have to remember, though, that we live in North Central Texas, not Colorado where scenic hiking trails lurk around every bend in the road. Anyway, I started trying to think of any place pretty to hike that didn't involve a 6+ hour drive. We live off a road called Deep Creek Road, named for an unusually deep creek that runs through the area. There's a bridge over the creek a few miles north of here where the creek is in a cut about 40 feet below the level of the road. Rachael and I drove there and climbed down to the creek. We walked a mile or so along the creek and it was gorgeous. I couldn't believe I'd never climbed down and walked it before. We had a great time, but Virginia would have had a heart attack if she'd seen some of the climbing we had to do. I am sure we'll be heading back soon. Rachael is already making plans for her next coupon.

Kevin, likewise, knew exactly what he wasnted to do with his coupon and never deviated for a second. He wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese's. I don't think he cared half as much about the pizza as he did the games. We had a great time, though.

Derek had a much harder time. His first choice was to go geocaching ("treasure hunting," as he calls it). Unfortunatley in this case, that often requires "hoofing it" over some fairly rough terrain, something not terribly practical for someone on crutches. I convinced him to defer that to a later date. So instead we went to Cabella's. This is not so much a shopping trip as an adventure. We looked at the stuffed animals, including a full-size elephant, the tank full of native Texas fish and turtles, and all kind of goodies. In the end, Derek decided he really needed a wrist rocket, and he is having a blast with it. He keeps hoping to sneak up on a wild rabbit in the evening when they come out in abundance, but so far, he hasn't managed to get a clean shot at one. Rachael will be mortified if he ever gets one of her cute, little bunnies.

Time Management

I've been struggling with prioritizing my time lately. I can't accomplish everything I want/need, so I'm trying to make sure I do the most importnat things first and leave the lesser stuff for later (never?). Of course, scheduled things like work always seem to come first since I am committed to them at a given time each day. Time with my family is not scheduled, so it sometimes doesn't get the priority it deserves.

All that to explain my little experiment. I've given all three of the kids a coupon like the one above. They get to pick the activity of their choice (within reason; I already had to nix Medieval Times for Derek as being a little out of my price range). It will be really interesting to see what they all come up with.

Rachael lost a friend

This weekend, Jennifer Stephens was killed in an automobile accident. The car Jennifer was riding in was in a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler Sunday. Jennifer played Rachael's mother in their ballet performance of Anastasia two years ago. She was a very sweet and quiet girl and I know she will be missed.

Rachael has had to deal with death before, but it's always been pets or great-grandparents that lived far away. This was the first time it's struck a person that was part of her normal life. She is sad but is handling it very well.

So long, Duke

This morning, we loaded Duke onto my brother-in-law, Jim's trailer to head off to west Texas where he'll live a life of leisure as a stud bull to a number of herds out there. Jim's friend, Robin has several hundred head of mostly Angus cattle. Duke is a Hereford. The result of the cross breeding is known as a Black Baldie.

The American Angus Association has pulled off an incredible marketing coupe with the Certified Angus Beef program that has convinced the American public that Angus beef is somehow inherently superior to beef from other cattle breeds. Since the Black Baldie puts on weight quickly and yet still qualifies as Angus, it is a very desirable mix.

I wish Duke all the best in his new life.

Addendum: Duke weighed in at 1590 pounds. No wonder it hurt when he stepped on my foot!

Derek got his cast off

Derek got his cast off today! We had expected him to be in it for at least two months, but the orthopedist said his x-rays looked good and sent him home in one of those orthopedic walking boots. He has some pressure spots from the dressing and some seriously scaly skin. His calf muscle has shriveled to almost nothing and his ankle is still swollen. He asked why he doesn't have an ankle anymore. I told him he looked like a pregnant woman.

He is soaking in a bath right now to get the dead skin off and is supremely happy to be able to scratch again. He'll go back to the doctor in a month to see how it is progressing. The doctor said that mild activity, putting partial weight on it, will stimulate bone regrowth and help it to heal faster. We are just happy that everything is going so well for him.

Karate Family

We were asked to take a picture to provide as an example of a family that participates in karate together. Of course with Derek in a cast, our "karate" posing ability was limited. As you can see above, we got pretty creative with the assignment.

Spidey sets sail on The Black Pearl

I'm not sure what I find more odd about this, Spiderman, the dog, or the Aardvark. In any case, Kevin certainly doesn't lack in the imagination department.

Here Kevin is working on his Leap Pad while Spidey and company sail The Black Pearl into who-knows-what adventure. This (the Leap Pad, not the sailing adventure) is one of his daily school work exercises where he gets to spend time alone working with one of his books. He has an amazing capacity for entertaining himself and always handles this "alone time" very well.