Christmas with the Family

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. This year we had the opportunity to visit with the Jones side of the family. Most of my boys have an innate understanding of their special toys, especially of their firearms. (Not sure what happened here!)

Regardless, the boys love their noise-makers. Each boy has his own noise-maker and wasted no time sounding them off.

Michael was very excited about his Mater puzzle. Puzzles are one of Michael's newly discovered passions and Mater is his favorite Cars character.

The boys got some Legos this Christmas. Included in the box was a picture of various things that could be built with the legos. David took the time to recreate several of the characters on the paper. This one was the one he was most proud of.

After playing with the toys we headed over the Grandma and Grandpa Jones' house. We were fortunate this year to have most of the family in town. This is exciting because we don't know when we'll have this many Joneses around for Christmas. (Theoretically we'll be here in 2 years but everyone's lifestyles are getting more crazy!)

The cousins had a great time playing together. Not so surprisingly, the girls played with the girls and the boys played with the boys. David and Tyler played a lot together being the 2 oldest cousins. There was also significant movie watching with the new DVDs this Christmas.

The older kids also played games. You never know what to expect when this many older kids get together but we always have fun.

(Posted 7/24/10)

The Finger

I had to work this Christmas eve. Work was obviously slow but I had a client in at 2:30 pm to look at mortgage options. Because of the time and his limited options our appointment didn't last very long. When I finished with my appointment I checked my messages and discovered a message from Michelle indicating that she had taken Donovan to get stitches and that I needed to get home a quickly as possible to care for our kids!

The boys were being watched by our good neighbor Alin Schoenrock but she had previous obligations which required her attendance at 3:30 pm...about when I discovered the message revealing the dilemma. With no boss at work (already on vacation) I just approved my own leave and raced home.

I discovered what had happened to my Donovan. Apparently he had decided that it would be a good idea to make paper snowflakes. He retrieved the scissors, procured the appropriate snowflake paper and began to create the folds that would develop into magnificent snowflakes. In the meantime, Micheal happened upon the project and thought it would be fun to play with the scissors. While Michael was playing with the scissors Donovan became incensed at the loss of important project equipment and tried to grabbed the scissors and wrest them from the grasp of Michael. However, the reach was ill timed and ill place, almost eliminate his finger tip.

Donovan was a brave little trooper. Michelle was just as brave in handling the situation, getting baby sitting, transporting the injured child and contacting me. Obviously she is the mother of some very active boys.

On side of Donovan's finger wouldn't numb, even after repeated attempts using local anesthetic. So Donovan received 7 stitches and the nurse gave up on the last 2 stitches and just glued it closed. He then received some protective bandaging to prevent this very active boy from bending his finger and breaking open the stitches.

Here is a picture of the finger after it has had a few days to heal. If you look closely you can see the blue surgical threads of the stitches.

Needless to say, that put a cramp in our style for Christmas eve. We were hoping to deliver some neighborly holiday greetings, have some devotional time (reading Luke 2), and be together as a family. Instead, Michelle and Donovan hung out in the after-hours clinic and I was with the other boys at home. We are fortunate, however, that Donovan still has the finger.

Craziness at our house

Things have been very busy for us these past few weeks. We've decided that due to various economic factors beyond our control that a change of career is in order. In order to facilitate this change in occupation we have done quite a bit of research. Our efforts have resulted in the decision for me to become a Physician's Assistant (PA). While we are very excited about this opportunity it is not something that we can do overnight.

In order for me to become a PA I am going to have to return to school. But in order to get into school I have to get qualified. While I have spent the last 8 years in real estate it hasn't helped me to get important pre-requisites accomplished and so I am going to be going back to school for a semester to complete my list of required classes. In addition, I have to gain a certain amount of time with practical experience in the medical field.

To gain experience in the medical field I actually have to get trained for that too. As a result, I have just completed my CNA training through the OrchardCNA program. The program was a 3 week program that basically went from 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm Monday through Friday and from 6:00 am - 2 pm on Saturday. This provided the 80+ hours of training & clinicals that the state requires to qualify for certification. I just completed that program on Thursday and will be scheduling my state exams soon.

Working from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm and then school from 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm and then reading/homework until 11:00 pm doesn't leave a lot of free time. So I don't really know what has been happening with my family over the past few weeks however I do know that they are still here!

Michelle just got back yesterday from a quick trip up to Grandma Petersen's house. They were celebrating "Grandma's Christmas" since they will be traveling this year and it is the "off" year for family visits. From the report they had a wonderful time. Friday night was packing, traveling and seeing the cousins! The packing and traveling part wasn't so much fun but the kids had a blast seeing the cousins. They had so much fun in fact, that they (the kids) didn't get to bed until after 11:00 pm. They just could not be contained.

Saturday morning was filled with all sorts of crafts including gingerbread Christmas tree construction, personalized snowflake assembly, and snowman creations. All of kids did wonderfully but I can't help but notice that Donovan has a certain knack for artistic creations, more so than any of my other boys.

Because of so much busyness during this season I have not been so diligent in maintaining this accounting but I hope to be better. This coming semester is going to be another busy time with full-time school and work but we share persevere.

A Trip To The Dentist

Well, it's that time of year when we go and see the dentist. I'll admit it, there is always a bit of apprehension about this particular visit. While it is only supposed to be a check-up you never know what the dentist will find. It's that bit of unknown that always has me worried. I brush and floss my teeth and we help the kids brush their teeth too. But...
Everything turned out just fine! We are set for at least another 6 months. The boys did great once we got David on the chair. And each boy was excited for his "prize" after their check-ups. Yeah!