Joshua's Class Christmas Party

Well, here's the last one of the bunch. Joshua had his class party and
the cookies flowed like wine. Josh enjoyed his party ... And his cookie.

Jason's Class Christmas Party

Jason enjoying his cookie creation during his class Christmas party.

Jon-Jon's Class Christmas Party

I attended Jonathan's class Christmas party today. There was Bingo
with M&Ms, burritos and games. Oh, and there were cookies. Each child
frosted and sprinkled their own cookies before digging in. Needless to
say, Jon enjoyed his.

Kitchen Remodel - The Continuing Saga

Here are the latest pictures of the remodel. Three people asked me in the last day or so about the progress and why I haven't posted any pictures in a while. Honestly, I've been so busy working I haven't felt the time to stop and do another entry on this page.

But, I'm here at the house waiting on the countertop people to arrive so I thought I would take a few minutes and post two more pictures.

The kitchen is moving along but not finished. I'm down to the details and you know how slowly that goes. Its hard to live in the middle of the construction but it was even harder to wash dishes in the bathroom for three weeks.

We hope to have the countertops in soon. I will get some more pictures when that happens.

Where's Joshua? Where's Jonathan?

Kitchen Remodel - End of Day 3965

Well, its starting to feel like its been that long! It is actually the end of Day 5. Progress continues to be slow although the kitchen is starting to look like a room again instead of a natural disaster area. Most of the studs are now covered by sheetrock and the the taping and mudding process has begun. The only area still uncovered is the area around the sink. The plumber will come out on Saturday and do his thing so I can get that area covered also. Today will consist of more taping and mudding and the start of the cabinets. I will go to Lowe's today and by the plywood for the upper cabinets and the sink cabinet. My goal for the end of the weekend is still to have a functional kitchen, albeit one that still needs alot of work. We're getting tired of living out of a small corner of the living area and washing our dished in the bathroom.

Karen and I are going to a counter-top store this morning. I'd like to go ahead and put some good counter-tops in place while we're in this process but we'll have to see what we can afford.

Jon-Jon is still sick but seems to be getting better. No fever or vomiting today but he is very lethargic. We're worried about strep (sp) so we have another call into the doctor.

Kitchen Remodel - Days 3 and 4

I'm not sure if the title of this post is correct or not. There hasn't been a good deal of remodeling going on the last two days. Karen, Jon-Jon and I came down with a stomach virus of some type. Jon-Jon took it the hardest and has missed two days of school. Karen slept alot the first day. I continued to work on the kitchen but progress was very slow. I just didn't have the energy I needed to keep things on schedule. Right now I'm about two days behind schedule because of the sickness. I started coming out of it about 1PM today. I got so tired around 10AM this morning that I had to lay down. I slept like I haven't in a long time until 1PM and woke feeling much better. This allowed me to get most of the sheetrock hung in the kitchen. Tomorrow's plan is to rent a sheetrock lift and install the ceiling plywood. That will take most of the day but I hope to get some taping and bedding done, let Karen start priming and painting the ceiling and getting the last few electrical items in place. That's pretty aggressive but ya gotta have goals. If things go well, I should start on the cabinet on Thursday. Again, that's a good two days later than I had hoped but when you're sick, you're sick. What's really important is to get enough of the kitchen in place so we can start using it again. That means a sink, the appliances and a few other items.

Hopefully, tomorrow's report will be better. We are all feeling better now. Jon-Jon will go to school tomorrow. Karen is feeling better but still tired. Unfortunately for her, she is my sheetrock helper and that stuff is heavy.

More to come.

Kitchen Remodel - End of Day 2

Doesn't look like much happened today but there was a bunch of wire pulled and several electrical fixtures put in today. Jamie, Karen's brother, came over and did most of the thinking (OK, he did it all but I have to save some of my dignity here) and some of the worst attic work in the process. The only things left to do are to hook up the rest of the recessed lighting kits (see the kits in the second image - at least the two I was able to connect in today) and to pull the telephone wire through the attic. Both of these will take some serious attic gyrations but shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. After that is completed, I have a few boxes to hang. Jamie will stop by this afternoon and do the rest of the hookups and we will be finished with the electrical.

After I pull the telephone wire through the wall and the attic, I'm ready to sheetrock the kitchen. After that, the much dreaded taping and bedding. I don't know how those sheetrock guys do that so well but I'll give it another try.

If you've never had the pleasure of working with a "real electrician," it is quite amazing. As much as I try, I can't seem to get a mental picture of how electricity works and moves through wires. I've tried to used the "water flowing" metaphor but it only helped a little. Its interesting to watch Jamie look around and think, knowing that he is creating this picture in his mind of how it all fits together. It helps me realize how people feel when I talk about computers, a discipline I have been involved in for 25 years and can easily make a mental picture of.

Hopefully, I can get the wiring and the sheetrock work completed today.

Kitchen Remodel - End of Day 1

These are pictures of the kitchen remodel after the first day of work. I was able to gut the entire kitchen. Today's tasks include getting all the electrical wiring completed as well as getting the recessed kits for the kitchen lighting completed. Other things to add is a separate switch for the light over the sick and the wiring for under-the-cabinet lighting. Jamie, Karen's brother who is an electrician by vocation will be coming over to help (read as "do all the hard electrical stuff").

I have called a plumber in also to cut back the various pipes and drains so I can hang the sheet rock. Once the sheet rock is hung, he can put the water fixtures back in place.

Thanksgiving in Dallas

We spent Thanksgiving Day in Dallas with my sister, Sharon, and her husband, Mike. The day was exactly what you want on Thanksgiving day: lots of food and nothing to do but watch football. The next day before we left, we had the boys sit on Uncle Mike's Big Dog motorcycle for a picture. They felt really big sitting on such a cool motorcycle.

The last picture has the boys, Mike, Sharon and their dog, Mandy.

The Kitchen Remodel Begins

OK, so its a bit of a lie since I've already started the project. But, at the end of this week I will start the bulk of the kitchen remodel project and try to complete as much as I can by 12/3/2007. This first phase involves removing all existing cabinet, sheet rock and lighting. From there I will re-sheet rock (is that a word?), redo the lighting and wiring, including under the counter lighting if I can impose on Jamie for some help with that. Then I will rebuild the cabinets focusing first on the ones we need for the sink and other essentials. All this in about 9 days. I don't really think I will get all of this done but you gotta have a goal ... and there it is.

Here are a few pictures of how the kitchen looks at inception. I will post updates daily or more often if they're warranted. And, yes, you are welcome to come help if you have the time and the inclination. If nothing else, stopping by will be good for a laugh!

We don't know what we are going to do for countertops yet. That will come after all the cabinets are in place. In the interim, I will put plywood or MDF down as a temporary countertop.

Wish me luck.

Joshua at Safety City

I spent part of the afternoon with Joshua and his 3rd grade class from Taylor Elementary at Safety City. For those of you that may not be familiar with Safety City, it is a center here in Abilene that teaches kids about pedestrian, bicycle and car safety. They get to walk, ride a bike and drive a car on small roads that have all the traffic controls they would see if they were doing any of these on a real city street. Joshua did really well with the walking and biking part, naturally, but also did a great job with the car. It was a little cool today but we both had a good time: Joshua liked the biking and car driving especially and I enjoyed watching him and taking a few pictures.

Jonathan's Art Work

Here are two pictures that Jonathan, our 2nd grader, drew. He is very proud of them. He did not trace these out of a book. He checked out a book from the school library that showed how to draw these pictures and did these free-hand. He did the picture of the dog first because he said it reminded him of Junior.

He said, "I'm a pretty good illustrator!" Then he said, "I bet I can write a book with these pictures" and added the captions.

So, here is the first rough draft of Jonathan's new children's book. No name for the book yet but stay posted.

Jason at Enterprise City

Each year, the 5th grade class at Taylor Elementary participates in an event they call "Enterprise City." In this event, each student takes turn buying and selling goods or services like they would in a real city or town, just on a smaller scale. Each child is given a checkbook and register with $5 in it and are required to buy items that fit into their budgeted $5 or sell items if they need or want more money for another item. They are divided up into teams with each team taking their turn at buying, selling, banking or any number of other services normally provided by a town.

When I arrived, Jason still had his $5. When he saw the Snickers bars, however, that changed. Jason loves Snickers bars and couldn't wait to buy one and eat it.

Our hope is that experiences like this help Jason realize the value of saving and budgeting his money. The Lord knows his parents are the best example in the world.

Karen Teaches 2nd Graders on Wednesday Evening

If you've never done it, its hard for a person that has to describe to you the challenge of teaching 8 - 10 2nd graders Bible lessons on a Wednesday night after they've been in real school all day. But, bless her heart, Karen does try and they do seem to get most of the information she is teaching them. Tonight we spent the first 35 minutes covering the lesson about the annointing of David and the last part playing over at ACU. I had the kids of the class stop running long enough to get this picture on the steps of the Administration Building at the university.

Joshua Just Can't Wake Up in the Morning

The truth is I wish I could sleep as well as Joshua does. The fact that I'm up at 10:40PM writing a blog entry says it all. Joshua does sleep well. The problem seems to be getting him up in the morning for school. On this particular morning he looked particularly sweet with the sheet wrapped around his head. So, I couldn't refuse a quick picture with the cell phone. What a cutey!

Jason - Service Patrol

The 5th grade class at Taylor Elementary has responsibility throughout the year for "patrolling" the campus each morning. Duties include monitoring the walk-ways for proper behavior, meaning no running or excessively loud noises, opening doors and helping wherever its needed. Jason is the co-captain of the squad this month. I dropped him off at school this morning at 7:25 for his first day of duty. He looked like such a trooper in his red vest that I had to grab a picture. Thought I'd share it with you.

Just a Beautiful Sunset

We were at church Wednesday evening having dinner, going to class and talking with friends. Karen taught her 2nd grade class. The boys went to their respective class. I was on guard duty. I put on one of the church walkie-talkies and monitor the grounds, parking lots and buildings. There were storms all around us but no rain on my head. This cloud formation due south of the church was just worth capturing and sharing. A cell phone camera can only do so much but I hope you get the idea.

A Football Day

Saturday was a perfect day. Not too hot or too cold. At the sake of sounding to "Three Bearish" it was just right. The boys were actually grounded from playing on the computer all weekend so they had to find other things to occupy themselves. As the day progressed, football became the activity of choice.

All the boys really like playing football but Joshua is especially fond of the sport. So, the boys put on their uniforms and played a full four quarters of football in the backyard. In fact, they had started their "football camp," as they called it, the night before. But Saturday morning, the real game began and went on for a few hours. There was even a break around noon for halftime and a round of Sunny-D. I can't really tell you who won the game but they had a really good time and worked up quite a sweat in the process.

We spent that evening at the ACU football game at Shotwell Stadium, across the street from the house. It was a perfect night. It was cool, a slight breeze. ACU won the game handedly against Eastern New Mexico University with a final score of 45-20. But, the real win may have been when Joshua came within a few feet of the ACU football team. You can't see Joshua's eyes in this picture because I missed the moment but they were as round as saucer plates. And the smile on his face was ear to ear. So I snapped this final picture of him looking at the team as they came out of the locker room for the second half.

We finished the day around 10:30 that night. The moral of the story: I guess we should ground the boys from the computer more often. They seem to find really good and interesting things to occupy themselves.

Karen and David in Florida

I, David, do solemly swear that I really am in Florida on business. I can't help it if the conference is taking place at one of the nicest hotels in the contiguous 50 states: The Westin Diplomat in Fort Lauderdale. This is a shot of the pool area at the hotel from the 18th floor balcony. The best part of all is that Karen was able to come with me. She needed some time away and we both wanted a little time together. The trip in was good (in aviation terms that means uneventful) and the hotel, as you can see, is very nice.
Karen will return to Abilene on Monday. I, on the other hand, will have to continue to suffer in this vacation purgatory until the end of the week. More later.

The Results of A Night at the Fair

After four hours of walking around in the dust, smelling cow and goat dung and spending $100 on tickets, food and games, here is the result. We ended up with a toy cartoon fish. Ironically, the boys and Karen named him "Ripoff." The name came from the $2 darts we bought at one of the game shacks. With that $5 (he gave us 3 darts for $5 instead of $6 -- Wow! What a guy!) we acquired Ripoff. So, the next time you come to the house be sure to say "Hi" to Ripoff, the newest member of the family.

Jason Writings - The Wooden Race

As I enter the building I stare at the track I greet my friends and head over to the officals table to enter my car in the PINEWOOD DERBY RACE. Soon after, the race begins and after 5 min of racing, its my turn.

I set my car up and race down to the end of the track to see who wins. In this race I’d be V.S. (see editor's note below) Hatus’s car. 3, 2, 1, and the cars were off. My car trailed and lost to Hatus’s car the 1st part of the round. But then my dad told me to put washers on my car to weigh it down. I tried it but, my car ended flying off the track and crashing. THUNK, CLANK, SSSS. I raced to my car to pick it up. But it was fine. After that my dad told me to tape the washers down. So I tried it. The judges called a re-run. 3, 2, 1, and there they down the track. But suprisingly my car WON! Then incredibly my car beat him to win the round!!!

After that for about 5 or 6 rounds against Hatus’s older brother Matheaus Then before the last race Matheaus accidently dropped his car. SMASH!!!! everyone rushed over to fix it and they did. Soon after, the final race began. The two cars went down the track but, the judges say, Matheaus car won. So I get second place But I was more proud then I’d ever been in my life.


*editor's note: the V.S. means 'versing,' which is Jason's way of saying 'versus' or 'competing against'. I've never heard this neologism until Jason used it. Kinda cool!

Hatus is a friend of Jason's at school whose parents are from somewhere in South America, although I can't remember where. Matheaus is actually Hatus' older brother.

Sometimes ya plan well and ...

We took Jason to a pediatric neurologist at Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth today. This was a followup to the EEG we had done after his last pair of seizures. Along the road, oh say around Putnam, Jason decides he should have used the bathroom before we left. I, being the dad that I am, couldn't refuse the moment.

Another Story from Jason - History and Me

I thought it was time for another story from Jason. This one is near and dear to my heart since I enjoy reading and studying history so much myself. Well, enough about me. Here's Jason.


History and Me

The Alamo, the battle of San Jacinto, the Louisianna Purchase, what do these things remind you of HISTORY!!!! History is so interesting to me because.
Well, for starters, you never know what one person will do and how another will react. Second of all, you learn something new every time you read a bit of history. Also you learn about very important people like, Sam Houston, George Washington, and Davy Crockett. But then, you can lean about the culture and language of different from long ago. Say the Indian. As well you could learn about great things that happened to different people. Maybe for instance, the fight for Mexican independence, or the war for Texan independence. Plus, you could take a guess with the scientist about things like, how the Indians got to North America. But one more thing, everything you’ve done in the past is history What I’m trying to say is you don’t have to do something that will change the world forever to make history. History is being made every second that passes. So anyone can make history by just having a past.
Well that is pretty much it, history and all it’s aspects. If you want to learn more, you’ll have find out for yourself. But wait, one more thing, history never stops.

The Hard Side of the Trip to Austin

As Paul Harvey used to say, "Now, the rest of the story."

Jason had two seizures this weekend. I kept hoping we were out of line of fire on his health but this weekend showed we are not. The worst of it for us was Sunday night/Monday morning. We went to sleep in the hotel room around 11PM on Sunday night. Somewhere around 12:30AM or 1:00AM on Monday morning, Jason had another attack. It was the first time Karen and I have witnessed the seizure from the beginning to the end. The actual seizure lasted around 10 minutes (it just seemed like a long time to Karen and me). There's not much to do but keep Jason safe from himself. I put my arms around him and try to keep him from dropping off the bed or falling into something that could hurt him. According to the doctors, its important to not restrain someone having seizures like this. You just have to keep the safe. You are not supposed to put your fingers in their mouth. There is no risk of him swallowing his tongue. There is also little to no chance that he will stop breathing.

I think seeing this phase of the seizure scared Karen and me so we called 9-1-1. They responded to the hotel and recommended Jason be taken to the emergency room. Karen stayed in the hotel room with Joshua and Jonathan and I went with the EMT and Jason to the hospital. He was very sick to his stomach so it took awhile to get that settled down. The Emergency nurses and doctor worked with Jason for two or more hours. From 3:00AM until 4:00AM I gave him sips of Gatorade to get him re-hydrated.

We got back to the hotel sometime before 5:00AM. Both of us were completely exhausted. Karen was glad to see us again.

It was decided that we would take Jason to a pediatric neurologist associated with the hospital there in Austin. After a lengthy discussion with her, it was decided to put Jason on medication for his seizures. The doctor felt that his fatigue and some other factors pointed to the possibility that he was having seizures more often than we thought but they were just not as severe so he didn't always scream out loud. In other words, he was having milder seizures some nights that did not cause him as much pain so we never knew it.

Tonight's plan is for one of us to sleep in his room with him to see how well the medication helps with the seizures. If it works as planned, it should stop them completely after one or two doses.

Needless to say, after two nights of seizures in a row, we are all very tired and are praying the medicine with help. Jason needs sleep and mom needs some peace of mind. Being so close to this kind of issue makes you realize how fragile things are. How easily it can all slip away.

I'm really proud of the way Jason is dealing with all of this, the maturity he shows at the hospital and the nurses. I know Karen is too.

Next steps are to have another EEG done to check that dad-gummed rolandic area of the brain to make sure we are diagnosing the seizures correctly as Benign Rolandic Epilepsy. We have an appointment with his pediatrician tomorrow for the EEG. Then we will need to visit with the neurologist in Austin or switch to one in Fort Worth for a checkup in four to six weeks.

We'll keep you posted via this blog, email and phone calls.

Jon-Jon at the Cheesecake Factory

On the way out of town, we stopped at the Cheesecake Factory. We promised the boys a piece of the best cheesecake they will ever eat. Jon-Jon decided he wanted to eat like a hillbilly so I told him to tuck his napkin in the front of his shirt. Which he did! I think Josh was a little embarassed.

A Snack to the State Capital

Its been a long day (more about that later) so we decided to take a break while touring the State Capital Building.

Quick stop by the state capital

We're on our way back to the hotel and decided to stop by the capital building and see it at night. It is quite a sight.

Dinner in Austin wasa great!!!

The dinner was a success! Jason had a pizza. Jon had macaroni and cheese. Josh had grilled chicken and broccoli. We were proud of him for picking good food. They all shared what they had. Jason stated,"This was the best Italian food I've ever had ...uh ... Except for mom's" (as an after thought). Then we had Krispy Kreme donuts for desert.

We learned that when you go to a Krispy Kreme and the red "Hot Donuts: light is lit, each person that walks into KK gets a free glazed donut. They give you one hot off the grill. They are soooo good like that.

Jason in Austin

Well, we made it to Austin. First order of business after getting to our hotel room was to find food. We found a Macaroni Grill. That was Karen's favorite restaurant while we lived in Houston. Hopefully, the boys will find something on the menu they can endure.

Jason Writings - The Funky Uncle

Jason wrote a few stories while attending school at Taylor Elementary. Here is one of those stories. The story is presented here exactly as it was on the paper.


THE FUNKY UNCLE
Who’s the funkiest uncle? Do you know? Well, I can tell you right here and now. It’s my uncle! I think.
Um, well, It all started like this. I met him when I was 1. But I didn’t have much to do with him till I was 5. Then I stated to play a game with him called yu-gi-oh. I’ve been playing the game for 4 years! The game is simple. Wipe out your opponent’s life points starting, at 8000. Well, after I learned yu-gi-oh, he taught me about gaming and graphics. Then after about a year, me and him played video games all the time. But then, came the move. My uncle moved all the way to Houston. I wasn’t happy for a whole day. But one day, my mom and dad agreed that we could go visit him!!!!! For a week I was planning what we’d do. Then when we got there (after 8 hours of driving). I tried to spend as much time with him as possible. Well, I guess its time to tell you his name, Uncle Derek. But I will tell you one thing. He is the funniest funkiest uncle, who ever lived. P.S. When I’m around him, he gets the funky mojo going in me to.

Birthday Pool Party

We spent the day at Uncle Mike's and Aunt Robin's house. The reason for the party was Kaitlyn's 15th birthday. All the usual suspects were there: Ma-maw, Pa-paw, Uncle Andy, Jamie, Jane, all of us, and, of course, Makenzie. As the saying goes, "The cake and ice cream flowed like wine." Or something like that. And there were some good brownies.

After treats came the gifts. Kaitlyn mostly received gift cards but got some clothes. Finally, it came down to pool time. The kids are in the pool right now playing Marco Polo. I think the kids had a good time. Thanks Mike and Robin for a good party.

An Evening at Willow Creek Golf Course

Lord knows, we try! We took the boys out to Willow Creek Golf Course. It is a par-3, nine hole course here in Abilene. We managed to lose something like 6 balls, most of them in the water. Anyhow, the boys had a good time for the most part. We need to work on two areas: their golf safety, being defined as not walking up to someone who is swinging a golf club and being courteous, being defined as not rushing to be the first one to hit off the tee box. There were some really good hits. And then there was number 9. Did you know there are 3,246,547 blades of grass between the number 9 tee box and the green? Well, we had plenty of time to count them. The boys got tired around this point of the evening. Every hit was 2 - 3 inches behind the ball and when they hit the ball, it would travel 10 yards.

We were all tired and thirsty at the end so we went to Sonic and had cool drink.

My First Drawer

This may look like a simple drawer to the untrained eye. But, it is not. It is, in fact, the first drawer I have ever built myself. It is, therfore, an achievement equal to if not greater than the building of the pyramids or one of the other great wonders of the world. And, just in case you are wondering, it fits and works perfectly. On to the next drawer!

Vacation 2007 - Hiking on a Mountain

We spent the morning hiking on the Fort Davis Historic Site in ... Uh ... Fort Davis. It was a cloudy day so the trip was very comfortable. The hike at the fort is about 2 miles and involves going up the side of the mountain, across it and back down.

We are all hungry so we're headed into town for lunch.

Vacation 2007 - Rock Hunting

We spent a majority of the day on a ranch about 15 miles south of Alpine. On this ranch, one can search for and collect agate rocks. Particularly, there is a rock called Red Plum Agate that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Karen actually found one of these rocks in very good condition. The boys also found some very nice rocks.

After the rock hunt, we went to Alpine to eat at a good little restaurant called La Casita. The food was very tasty.

After that, we returned to the cabin for a swim.

Right now, the boys and I are in town (Fort Davis, of course) having ice cream at The Caboose.

That's it for today.

Vacation 2007 - Time on the Range

We spent time on the driving range, not the open range, yesterday. Jason and Joshua hit golf balls at the flags. I made a deal with them: if they made it within a few feet of the red flag, I would buy them a new game for their Game Boy. I still have my money. But there are two more days for them to try. I really hope they make it.