And You Think You Had A Rough Day

Today, Chuck lost his mistress. She sank in the lake by our home. Chuck was off today because he was away on business on his normal day off. He picked up Patrick from school and they went fishing. This was the first time since early June, we have been able to take the boat out because all of the boat ramps have been under water in our area. I opted to stay home with Nicholas as he was napping. This turned out to be a really wise decision. They were going to meet us at church. I called them on my way to church to see where they were at and Chuck said, "Well, we have had a little problem. The tramten(sp?) that holds the motor on to the boat has broken and the motor is barely hanging on. We are puttering back to shore." I was ready to call in a tow, but he thought they could make it. He said that he would need help getting it on the trailer and could I round up some guys to come help him. I called Edie's dad, Bart and went next door and got our neighbor, Ed. We headed down there and when we arrived, the boat's back end was sticking up straight out of the water at the dock! I wish I had brought the video camera. Luckily this nice couple who were coming in just as the boat sank stayed and helped tie up the boat. Then the three men got the boat tied up with rope from all of their collective trucks and the nice man used his truck to pull the boat to the ramp. The three men in the water had to guide the boat while holding up the engine and then hoist it onto the trailer. What a crazy afternoon! We were sad that we lost our digital camera and Chuck's car keys, but, wow, it could have been so much worse! The boat didn't sink until Chuck cut the engine at the dock. If he had turned it off while in the middle of the lake, he and Patrick would have been floating in their life jackets hoping someone would come by. I wish I could have seen the mad dash to get everything off the boat as it was going down. Patrick couldn't stop saying that he had the best time ever and he couldn't wait to tell everyone at school tomorrow. Chuck is still outside now, hoping to nurse his mistress back to life. It is a special boat. It was his dad's boat. Chuck, Sr. died of cancer 3 years ago. I bet he got a kick out of what he saw today.

Happenings Around Our House

Oh, where to begin! This was a fish that Patrick & Chuck caught. Patrick had great fun showing his brother the dead fish with it's mouth open. Then they had the fish for dinner. I have a hard time eating what has been freshly killed. I prefer to think of all meat coming from the grocery store. Even when we go to the ranch, I feel sad for the cows and I want to tell them I am sorry that 1/4 of one of them will be in my freezer very soon.

How do you like my new head??? Nicholas went from 15 points of asymmetry to 9. We could have done another band to get a little better (1 or 2 os normal, by their standards), but that would have been another $3000.00 that we do not have. I ran into a mom at the park the other day who had an older boy in a band and she said it was their third one (luckily their insurance covered 100%). He started out with 32 points of asymmetry and would end up with 8, so that made me feel a little better. He got started late in his band, as well, and can you guess who his doctor was? Hmmm...seems to be a problem with that doctor (our old doctor). Poor kid...8 months of treatment is a long time.We got our band off two weeks ago and I am just now blogging about it because of all of the family trauma as of late. Besides Brandi, my grandmother fell twice and ended up fracturing some vertebrae. She had a procedure in the hospital Friday. More on that later...

We were at the ranch this past weekend to check on Brandi and Baby MacRae. Brandi still looked weak and pale, but her mom was there taking good care of her. I took all of the kids up to my grandmother's old house and we had a sleep over. They had matching pjs and all was fun except for when the kids put Nicholas on the bed and he fell off. Thankfully he was ok.

Patrick has been begging to ride the bus since last year so I finally gave in today as Nicholas was taking a nap. Look how he is racing off of that bus! I think this was our first & last day on the bus. He didn't like the bus driver and he wondered why there weren't seat belts. He is my cautious one.

Some other stories from the past week that are interesting to me.....

* Tuesday* In the morning, I found a puddle of pee in front of the toilet. I guessed it was a cat. It didn't smell like a cat and our two current cats have never done anything like that, but oh well, I thought, and cleaned it up. That night, I was getting Nicholas bath ready, when I heard Patrick say, "Mom, Nicholas is trying to go potty!" I turned around and there he was holding up the lid of the potty and peeing in front of the toilet. I know it was probably a fluke, but I was impressed.

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*Thursday* I was having a marathon cooking day preparing meals to take to Richard & Brandi, so I gave Nicholas some empty sour cream and large yogurt containers to play with. The next thing I knew, her had opened the lid drawer and picked out a Daisy sour cream lid and put it on a Daisy sour cream container. Again, probably a fluke, but I was proud of him!

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*Friday* Chuck made it home by 7, so we waited for him to have dinner with us. I proceeded to tell him about my grandmother's procedure that day and I said "They basically made some little incisions in her back and put cement in there" But I didn't say "cement", I said "see-ment" which our ever questioning six your old cut in to ask "What is semen?" We tried to keep straight faces as I repeated the word correctly. I can just imagine him telling his friends at school. "The doctors put semen in my great grandmother's back."

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*Today* Chuck left this morning for a quick business trip and will be back tomorrow. As he was leaving this morning, Nicholas wouldn't hug him goodbye, so Chuck started to walk toward the garage. Nicholas cried and ran after him, so Chuck came back and they hugged and then he tried to leave again. This time Nicholas went and got a ball and followed Chuck to the door trying to engage him to stay for a quick game. So cute! Then later today, after a long walk at the mall, we drove by my parents house to see if my brother was home, but I decided not to go in because it was close to nap time and there was not any room in the driveway. Nicholas cried when we drove off. I am surprised he recognized my parents house and I think he was sad not to go in and see them. He cries when ever anyone BUT ME leaves him.

My parents have gone to New England for 3 weeks. I am so jealous! I want to be in Vermont camping in the summer, going to New Hampshire in the fall to see the leaves, seeing Boston covered in a blanket of white in the winter and the beautiful budding trees in the spring. I have such an itch to go to NYC, too. It has been 4 years since I have been to the Northeast. I miss living up there! And, I miss my pal, Alisa, too.

Thanks

Thanks for you prayers. Brandi has all of her tubes out and is able to eat solid food. She may get to go home by the end of the week. She is still running fever in the evenings, so she is not completely out of the woods yet, but she has made a lot of progress.

Prayers, Please

Brandi, my sister-n-law, is not doing well. Wedenesday, after 3 days of sickness, they finally did an x-ray of her abdomen and discovered that a sponge had been left inside her abdominal cavity. She had emergency surgery to have it removed and was supposed to be getting better by now, but she is not. She has 101 degree fever and they are worried that when they pulled out the sponge, more damage may have been inflicted. She may have a CT scan tomorrow if her fever does not improve. We are going to Abilene to see her and the baby and my brother Richard tomorrow. Please pray for her.

Welcome to the World, Baby MacRae!!!

We are pleased to announce the birth of our brand new nephew, MacRae Samuel, born Monday, September 10th at 8am. He weighed 9 lbs, 7 oz and he was delivered by C-section 2 weeks early. We are so excited this precious little guy has arrived!