Oh the joys of this boy!

We have Mason overnight tonight. It's been quite awhile since we've had any of the kiddos over here for a "sleepover" - too much going on, I guess, which is NOT ok. I'm remembering why it's not ok because even as I sit exhausted at 8:12 p.m., my sides are still aching from laughter. He never stops moving and he never stops talking - he's a living breathing definition of a "running commentary."

First we went to Walmart to pick up milk, and found frozen turkeys on sale super cheap so we picked one of those up too. And then Mason (in the back of the cart) basically bench pressed that turkey repeatedly until we were through the checkout line, growling often "I'm STRONG!" His little hands must have been completely frozen.

He was amazed in the parking lot - "Papa how did you get the car lid to go up automatically?" (He really did say "automatically".)

He raced between the toys and the bedrooms and the stairs and going in the closet with the flashlight while we fixed dinner, then chowed down as usual. I had never thought of dipping dill pickles in ranch dressing.

After dinner, hot wheels abounded. His short little legs were carrying him back and forth, back and forth, as he yelled after each car ... HERE COMES SUPER (supply any word here). For example, we had Super Tink, Super Mighty, Super Dinner, and about 100 others I couldn't understand. The cat likes hot wheels too, as it turns out, and Mr. All-Boy-Forever-Strong-and-Mighty Mason started freaking out because the cat was touching his cars and he was scared to go get them. (She's declawed, by the way.) He was a sweaty mess by the end of the session.

And last but not least, for his bedtime story he picked "Disney Princess - Royal Rooms and Pretty Places."

Wonder what the morning will bring. :)

Edit: When we went to bed at 10:00 he was still in his room talking! I told Greg maybe a "Papa talk" was in order ... Greg came out of there doubled over in laughter. Apparently, Mason was sideways in the bed, blankie stuffed in his mouth as usual, feet up on the wall, and Greg said, "Mason, you need to put your feet under the covers and go to sleep." Eyes wide, mouth full, he nodded his head, maybe mumbled something. Then Greg said, "And if you don't stop talking, I'm going to send the kitty in." Out came the blankie and he sat up and said, "WHAT DID YOU SAY??" We never heard another peep. I'm thinking Greg should write a book called "Useful alternatives to corporal punishment ... how to scare the crap out of your kid."

A ramble ...

I'm pretty sure it will be a ramble. Seeing as how it's 2:10 a.m. and my mind is awhirl. Not stressing about anything, not anxious, worried, or any of those other things that might have me up ... just thinking. About how stinkin' funny it was last night when Mason tried to leave Alex's birthday party with his pockets loaded with little bitty toys from Alex's room - and his only response was, "Well I could have fit MORE!" About the blessings of kids in general. About how sad it is that our hurry-up world has left us with scheduling problems, timing issues, general "busyness" that get our priorities all screwed up and we don't even realize it. About how I choose to spend my time. About a daughter who is a better mother than ... well she blows me away. About keeping the Sabbath day, truly as a day of rest and reflection, and how nearly impossible that is to do in America in 2008. About giving without expecting anything in return. About Lexi sucking her thumb and picking her nose at the same time. About intentionally reaching outside of our comfort zone. About the proverb I found the other night that talks about things being out of balance as an "abomination" to God. About my son in China, wondering. About other family members and friends in crises and pain. About curly Callie toddling across the room, so darn proud of herself. About a precious husband who got me a new watch battery while I was gone this weekend. About the fact that I really should be sleeping ... but I think I'll head to my knees instead.

Stoked - part two

OK here are those pictures I promised. First, the snowmen. I forgot to mention that mine also has a dent in the center of the top of his head that makes him look a little like ET ... and that Charlene was worried about getting home so she could "snip off" the places where the paint smudged? Seriously?



During our "bunko" game every time we moved tables we had to wear one of the "props" at that table - here's one each of Charlene and I. There's some others that are super funny but I decided I better not publish them without permission. Of course I don't have Charlene's permission but she'll get over it. :)

Stoked!

What an incredible weekend. God dropped Charlene and I in the middle of Missouri, among a group of women who are truly connected and their hearts are knitted together in a way that just has to make God smile. We laughed, we cried, we taught, they soaked it up, they shared, we were hugely blessed ... I don't know what could have made it any better. Unless it was a little more heat in our bedroom ... yeah, a bit chilly. But heck, I never sleep the night before I speak anyway so it probably didn't make much difference. And I wasn't having hot flashes, so that's a bonus!

I haven't uploaded my pictures yet, but I will post a couple when I do - we played a very simplified version of bunko on Friday night that was hysterical! Then we had craft time ... do you know me? Am I crafty? Well this was the cutest little stinkin' snowman we were to make, that could have been either an ornament or a pin, just darling. Except for mine. He got two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and a brown scarf ... that was all I could manage. Seriously. Charlene's, on the other hand, had a multicolored and frayed-at-the-end scarf, buttons down the front of his tummy, dual-colored earmuffs ... you get the picture. You should also be getting the picture of why we complement each other so well when we teach together! :)

Short trip, big impact?

I'm off to Warsaw to co-teach another marriage retreat. Please pray for us that God's word on the subject of being godly wives will have lasting and dynamic in the marriages of the women we will be with.

Along the same lines, I'm experimenting with a new blog called Marriage Infusions. (There's a link to it on the left.) I'm not sure where it's going, if anywhere, but would love input and feedback, and suggestions about topics that matter to you. If you get a chance check it out and let me know if it's valuable. If not, no worries ... I'll just start journaling this stuff on my own. Who knows, maybe there'll be book material there someday. :)

My prayer for the weekend: Man makes the plans (we've done that), but God directs our steps (now release it to him)!

Latest call from Lexi...

Well it seems Lexi is quite enamored with calling me! Every night when I'm cooking dinner the phone rings, and I've stopped answering it "Hey there!" (expecting it to be Christa), and just saying hello, so I can hear the sweet "Nini? It's LEXI!" on the other end. Nothing of substance happens in the phone calls ... what are you doing ... playing with Legos ... what is Callie doing ... feeding Tink (the stinky chihuahua) goldfish ... etc.

Last night's exception, however, was when she asked me if I wanted to talk to Mason. Now, normally, Mason declines politely (mostly) when asked if he wants to talk to me on the phone - he's too busy busy busy to be bothered. But for once, I heard him say "YEAH!" Lexi's reply: "Well too bad, Mason, you can't talk to Nini because YOU DON'T HAVE ANY PANTS ON!"



Busy, beautiful, delightful life they are living.

P.S. Although he definitely was sans pants as Lexi reported, he did wiggle into them and talk to me for a minute. So I might have even helped out mommy with one tiny little battle. And I know, I know he has pants on in this picture and it was taken this summer, but it's the closest to naked I could find.

Reaping what I've sown...

I taught Lexi my phone number. It was innocent enough, in fact it was a valuable exercise even ... she was learning to write her numbers so I figured she might as well learn something useful. She even learned what a hyphen was. Good stuff, huh?

My phone rings at 6:00 tonight ... "Hi Nini!" "Uh ... hi Lexi! What are you doing?" "Getting ready to eat dinner, we're having potato soup!" "Sounds good, did your mommy or daddy want you to call me?" "Nope, I just know your phone number now!!" (Giggle.)

Actually, it was very sweet, and I'm NOT sorry I taught her my phone number, at least not yet. I'll let you know if that changes. :)

7,464

No, I have NOT posted that many times, although some of you may think so. :) I found out this morning that God made 7,464 promises in the Bible. To us. For us. 7,464!!!!!!!!!!! I am still trying to digest that. And I am wondering why I go "looking for trouble," why I give in to negativity, discouragement, pessimism, the "cup half empty" mentality that I fall into so easily. I want to be a PROMISE CLAIMER! I hope and pray that this is a nugget that stays with me and sticks in my heart forever ... one I definitely don't want to lose "between the altar and the door."

Amusing ...

Christa called ... she just caught Callie playing in the toilet ... at least it was flushed ;) ... and hey, she won't have to give her a bath tonight!

Visited them today and was surprised to find both Lexi and Mason in LAST year's Halloween costumes ... princess and spiderman came back to visit ... those costumes are the best investsments! Mason's spiderman is getting a little tight around the abs, and I just about ripped Lexi's head off getting the thing over her head, but hey, they didn't complain so why would I worry.

Twick or Tweat!

We had the best fun last night. The weather was beautiful, the time hasn't changed yet, so unlike all the Halloweens I remember when MY kids were little, it was warm, dry, and light, at least for awhile. :) Lexi the fairy (can I say that?) and Mason the pirate ran their little legs off going from house to house - FINALLY Mason found an appropriate outlet for his "outside" voice, yelling 'TWICK OR TWEAT' at the top of his lungs at every house. At one point he ripped his eye patch off, handed it to his daddy and said "I'm done with this." J cracked up laughing - the thing was so sweaty it was sopping wet.



About two blocks from our stopping point, he stopped. Dead in his tracks. Lexi was bounding for the next house with a porch light on, and he just stood there. Remembering ... this is the kid that NEVER stops moving (or talking), he even runs up the stairs to bed! He said, "I'm tired. I'm done twick or tweating. I don't want any more candy." And he rode in the stroller the rest of the way! He looked a little ridiculous in it too, I might add ... he looked like a beached whale getting in and out of it!



Callie was naturally totally unimpressed with the whole thing - she wore her costume exactly long enough to take two pictures and then ripped it off over her head.

Lexi was some sort of very glittery fairy princess, although she abandoned the wings before she even left home. We were all covered in glitter by the end of the evening. Somehow I missed getting a picture of her alone ... but knowing her I'll have another million chances over the next few weeks. I might even get one of MASON wearing her costume. :) They share. By the way, Mason definitely wore his costume (sans makeup and eye patch) to the grocery store today.

I'm B-A-A-A-A-C-K!!

Whew, got my cast off today, and can type with both hands again. That may have been the most annoying thing about the whole three weeks! I got pretty darn good at hunting and pecking, although my punctuation, etc., definitely suffered. I'm still pretty sore, but just that kind of "I haven't moved my arm in three weeks" kind of sore. I'll start physical therapy again soon, and then go back to the orthopedic surgeon to reevaluate in four weeks. BUT for today I'm a happy camper!!

Hmmm, news. Brandon has moved from the Philippines on to China as of Saturday. We think he is in Beijing, although he wasn't positive that's where he was going. We got to talk to him on Skype (camera and microphone on both our computers) right before he went to China, which was awesome. He looked and sounded great. He's "blacked out" the whole time he's in China so we won't hear anything from him again until around Thanksgiving.

Charlene and I are getting the opportunity to do our marriage retreat again, this time in Warsaw, MO, on the 14th and 15th of November. We're fine-tuning and are excited about some of the stuff God has given us. Prayers for us as we prepare and for the women attending are coveted!

Kids, Kids, Kids ... what can I say. They're wonderful, hilarious, adorable, and I love the heck out of them. :)

Patience

Wow. Be careful what you pray for right? Yesterday I was annoyed at standing in line on several errands ... and when I got home I realized just how impatient I was (still, again). Today I am typing this with one hand because I am in cast again from shoulder to & including my hand, palm up! It is completely useless ... so patience needed! The fractures are not healing correctly and I had gone backwards in physical therapy with significantly more pain, so went to the doctor today. It's blue this time - Mason's favorite color - I figured it was only fair. :)

Two Decades

Today we celebrated 20 years of marriage. It was a wonderful day, start to finish. I'll spare you the mush ... suffice it to say I adore him and I thank God for what He has done in and through our marriage.

Going, going ... GONE.

Well, he's off. At least from Kansas. He leaves out of L.A. at 2 a.m. Sunday morning - he'll take the train from San Diego to L.A. tomorrow afternoon. He will have a 14 hour flight to Hong Kong and then on to Manila (Philippines) from there.

You can keep up with him over the next year through his blog - brandonclayton.theworldrace.org (I also put a link to it here on my blog). His travels will take him to China and to Kenya after the Philippines, and nothing beyond those three countries is set yet. He is required to blog once a week - you can click on "updates" on the left column and it will send you an e-mail every time he posts so you don't have to keep checking. :) He will be "blacked out" from all communication while he's in China - very comforting to me, thank you very much.

Actually we're doing fine - it was really hard to send him off yesterday, but out of sadness, not fear. We know that God has truly called him to this mission year, and are excited for his opportunities!

Lessons from Papa

These are precious times. Papa gave Lexi a lesson in how a few of his tools work last week, obviously she was fresh out of the (tiny) swimming pool. The pictures speak for themselves - I must be getting old but the whole encounter brought tears to my eyes. ;)

Callie Anne! Happy Birthday!

I CANNOT believe this precious little girl is a year old already!! She has the sweetest funniest little personality - she definitely has a strong little will too (how could she not?) but she is such a laid back baby most of the time. She functions as a toy for Lexi and Mason regularly! Lexi was trying to jam some big pink socks on her at her birthday party and was seriously manhandling her - I think I would have been bawling! - but she just took it in stride.

Here's some pictures from the party.





This last one totally cracks me up - in the middle of opening presents, Mason squatted down, picked up the green bow, turned around and stuck it on his butt, and then just kept going with the flow!

Homeschool R Us

I've started homeschooling Lexi three days a week, working on kindergarten curriculum - so far she's doing great. I had to video her saying her verses - she is too stinkin' cute reciting them!

Jonah

Last night we took Lexi to see Wall-E (not so good for her age, but some funny adult lines). On the way there, she was excited and told us she went to see a move "a long time ago" at her church. Actually it was like a month ago, but I guess to a four year old that's a long time. :) It was a Veggie Tales, and our conversation went something like this:

Me: What was the movie about?
Lexi: I don't know. (Most irritating regular answer she gives me ...)
Me: Was it about Jonah?
Lexi: OH YEAH JONAH!
Me: What happened to Jonah?
Lexi: He got EATED by a BIG FISH!
Me: What happened before the fish ate him?
Lexi: He was on a boat in a storm, and he jumped off the boat and the storm went away.
Me: Right! Why was he on the boat?
Lexi: I don't know (whine)
Me: Did God want him to do something?
Lexi: OH YEAH! God wanted him to go to Vinegar and he didn't want to go!

Ha ha - I'm still laughting.

Boo boo of the summer award?

So as you know I went to camp last week, as I do every summer. I lost eight pounds, 20 hours of sleep, my blood pressure is 160/100, and I BROKE MY ELBOW!!! How, you ask? Well, on Thursday night after the carnival, I lead the kids all over the campus of Tot Lot singing "I'm in the Lord's Army" and eventually end up gathered around the pool. They we played Simon Says, and the last thing I said was, "Simon says JUMP IN THE POOL!" And I did. The kids are always so shocked and thrilled to see the "time out lady" as they call me jump into the pool fully clothed - and then they jump in too. A highlight of the week ... except this time my feet slipped out from under me (note to self ... do not jump in shallow end next year) and I caught myself with my left arm. It hurt like crazy when I did it, and the nurse took good care of me with an ace bandage and ice packs, but I had to "do camp" and just couldn't focus on it. Once I got home Saturday, it started feeling better but I wasn't using it much - yesterday I leaned on the counter and put some weight on it for the first time - YOW! Decided I should go to doctor ... expecting some anti-inflammatories and maybe a sling for a few days ... got sent to xray instead and found that I fractured my elbow. I asked the nurse, how could that happen when I didn't hit my elbow on anything? Her reply ... well the elbow is just not designed to take that much weight. Ouch. And I was so happy about the 8 lbs I lost.

Anyway, I'm now sporting a pretty pink neon cast (just for Lexi - she signed it this morning) for 4-6 weeks ... of course I'm hoping for 4. I've figured out I can do pretty much everything except shave my right arm pit - Christa will be called into action to help with that. :) Of course I haven't tried any housework or cooking yet - we'll see how that goes!

Camp!

I spent last week at Camp CUMCITO, as I do for a week every summer - a camp for homeless and poor inner city kids in the Ozarks. I direct Tot Lot (4-6 year olds) and this year I had 30 kids! (And 22 staff.) Needless to say it was a crazy week, but a great one, I wouldn't trade it. Lexi went with me as a camper and was an absolute angel, despite being the ONLY white child there - that has never happened before! But I'm convinced kids are color blind at this age.

A cool story for you. Each day after naps, the kids have a "tea party" before they swim. It consists of a paper cup of Koolaid and a couple of (store bought) cookies - not too thrilling. :) On Friday, the kids made cookies in crafts, and we had a special tea party. The boys and girls were separated, and the boys heard a story about being "warriors, super heroes for Jesus" about the kind of men God wants them to be. After the story they each got super capes (they took them home too) and FLEW to the pool! It was so neat to see their big grins and capes flying in the wind behind them.

The girls had a special tea party inside, with pretty pink sheets spread out on the floor, "girly" napkins, and a china tea cup at each girl's place. Sherris Bury (some of you might know her from Westbrooke) read them a story about how valuable and precious they are. Then she made a show of taking the paper cups, pretending to drink out of them and then crumpling them up and throwing them away. She then asked them, "Are we throwaway girls?" The girls all yelled, "NOOOOOOOOOO! Sherris asked, "What are we like?" Lexi shot up to her knees and pointed to her tea cup and said, "We're like THESE cups!" Sherris told her she was right and asked how we were like these cups, and Lexi said, "We're PRECIOUS, and we're BREAKABLE, and we're SHINY, and we have a silver ring around the top!" I wasn't there but I cry every time I tell the story ... that one will stick with me forever.

Unfortunately I did not have time to take one single picture! Hopefully my new camp friends will send me some, and I'll be able to put some on here. It was an amazing week, one which I could not have survived in my own strength, and I am so humbled and grateful to my Heavenly Father upon Whom I depended entirely. Praise His name!

Callie the sucker!

Check out Callie in this video - first, mugging for the camera, then watch for the "sucking" noises she makes especially after she gets a bite - she's will now do it on command, too, which is really funny. She's a little fussy here - sporting a nasty cough so probably wasn't feeling great - but still worth the upload. :)


This is "pure Callie" ...


She always braces her feet on the bottom of her high chair tray like this - to the point that she gets "owies" between her big toe and her foot from trying to grab the tray with her toes.

Lexi in real life

Lexi doing two of her favorite things when she's at our house ... art, art and more art ...


... and watering all the plants, whether they need it or not.




I love these sweet one on one times with her so much ... when she tells me ten times in an hour that she loves me and that I'm the "best Nini ever" ... knowing full well that I need to store it all up somewhere safe because the day will come all too soon when she won't be "in love" with me anymore! Where have the days gone? Seems like a minute ago that she was sleeping on my chest, jumping circles in the johnny jump up in my kitchen, army crawling (forEVER!), unsteady first steps taken in Wisconsin, hours and hours of reading the same books over and over, baths and baby lotion and precious minutes snuggling before sleep, thumb in her mouth and blankie firmly in hand ... love doesn't get any deeper than this. Has anyone heard the song "Cinderella"? Every time I hear it I think of her and the tears flow ... not in a melancholy way, really, just in the knowing how time marches on and wishing that, just for a minute, I could freeze her in time.

More Callie ...

We had Callie for a couple of hours on Sunday night - I got what I thought was a great video of her army-crawling at warp speed, pulling herself up on a basket of books, tipping it over, and slipping on the books every time she tried to stand up ... meanwhile the cat climbed on top of the basket and was popping her on the head (no claws, don't worry) every time she got close to vertical. Very amusing ... unfortunately the video was too dark to see anything. :(

She also was totally infatuated with Papa's beard, kept petting it and grabbing at it like she was trying to scrape it off. Of course I couldn't quite get the picture at the right time. Oh well, I'll get this new camera figured soon enough I suppose.

Here's a few pictures that are cute enough to post anyway. :)

New Camera!

I finally got my camera replaced, so I'm back in business! Hopefully you'll be seeing more from me now.

A Day at the Petting Zoo

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law Julie and I took our grandsons, Fletcher and Mason, to the Deanna Rose Farm petting zoo. It was a blast, just long enough (short enough?) that by the time we, Julie and I, had had enough we were done. :) Then we took them to lunch and watched them eat like teenage boys! Shades of years to come ...


Mason was a little freaked out by feeding the goats at first - "Why do they keep wickin' my hand" - giggle giggle. Fletcher seemed pretty nonchalant about the whole thing.



Both boys went on a pony ride - once again, Fletcher went around the ring without a hitch ... Mason's "leader" had to stop half-way to explain to him that he couldn't get off yet. :)



The event of the day happened while we were feeding the ducks from the bridge - Fletcher leaned over too far and his Scooby Doo hat fell in the water - I squatted down and tried to reach it, dangerous thing for someone like me - and couldn't reach it. I noticed a man and his children with fishing poles down the way, and scooted over to ask him if we could borrow the pole for a minute - he came over himself and fished the hat out of the (green nasty) pond. Behind me I heard someone (his wife?) say, " I guess a fireman's work is never done!"

All in all, it was a VERY fun day!

Better late than never ...

Mason had a birthday May 18th - Big Boy is now three years old! He had a blast with all the new trucks, bulldozers, etc. that he got - and with the snacks Mommy provided. He was so busy filling the bulldozer with Gardetto's snack mix and eating it that he didn't want to blow out his candles ... Christa finally had to pick him up and bodily move him to blow out the candles ... he did ... with a mouthful of Gardetto's ... and then went straight back to the bulldozer!

Happy Endings

Wow. Wow! Blessings abounded in San Diego a couple of weekends ago when we went to see B.J. graduate from Point Loma Nazarene College with a degree in Christian Ministry. And in case you're wondering, yes of course I got quite emotional.




We had a delightful weekend - besides graduation we visited Balboa park (a whole blog entry in and of itself, another time), and went to LaJolla beach most of the day on Sunday. Poor Greg burnt his feet SO BAD he could hardly walk for days.

B.J. will work through the summer, then come home for a couple of weeks, then join the World Race through an organization called Adventures in Missions to go on an 11-month, 11-country, 11-different-mission-objectives trip. He goes to training in Atlanta in July and will find out more about his destinations and the group he'll be traveling with. If you're interested in learning more, go to his World Race blog at:

http://brandonclayton.theworldrace.org

Can I brag here? YES I can it's MY blog! We are just so proud of him on so many levels, and are thrilled to see him stepping out in faith to start the next phase of his journey, wherever that may lead.

Huge transition here ...



Lexi's last day of preschool - another happy ending. Although she definitely wasn't happy that school was over, it certainly appears that she had a fun last day.



And no, none of the other kids ate their cake with their face, just Lexi. I adore that child!

A few parting "shots" ...

Well, my camera started acting goofy so I didn't get any pictures of Mason Tuesday night. :( I will say that I think I've figured out that the big guy makes on average one serious mess or has a major disaster in his life at least once every 10 minutes or so! I ran out of kitchen towels cleaning up the cat's bowl of water that he knocked over ... and knocked over ... you get the picture. Of course, you're also wondering why I didn't just pick it up the first time so that wouldn't happen again ...

Anyway, I thought I'd post some random pictures from the last few months - Easter and Lexi's birthday I think - that are my favorites.


Mason showing his love of shoes - and four legged creatures?


Fun picture of Christa ... happy girls.


And finally, the epitome of Lexi - I'm pretty sure she's holding one of those party horn things that uncurls and makes noise when you blow into the plastic mouthpiece ... very creative use of it, I thought!

We're headed out to see B.J. graduate - if my camera cooperates I'll bring pictures back for you.

Check out Christa and J's Blog!!

Two new videos on there, both funny ... but the one of Lexi is one of the funniest things I've ever seen! Apparently she didn't know J was videotaping her, or I'm sure she wouldn't have given this stellar performance.

Workout time!

Not for me. Nope. Of course not. Lexi spent the night last night and showed me all the exercises she can do ... so here you go.



Later, when Papa got home, I was telling him about it and he asked Lexi what she could do ... situps? Yep. Pushups? Yep. Pullups? ... belly laughter from Lexi ... "NO Papa - Pullups aren't exercises, you WEAR them!!"

And in the "oops" department, she recently gave herself a mini haircut:



At least it wasn't on my watch! It happened during an evening Christa was working, so the next morning when she sternly asked Lexi why she had cut her hair, Lexi said, "So everyone can see my beautiful blue eyes!" Christa claims that by the time the conversation was over she's pretty sure it won't happen again. :) Oh and by the way, Lexi definitely asked me after I took the picture "was that funny?" because she was making a face for me, no clue that I was photographing her haircut!

Speaking of funny, she watched "America's Funniest Home Videos" with us last night, and every time a clip would come on, she would laugh and laugh, and then say, "Why was THAT funny?" Cracked us up.

We'll be having at least one of the kids each Tuesday night, so hopefully I'll have my camera at the ready and give you something to entertain you. Mason comes next week - beware!!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk GO KU!!

The whole (KC) Kuchta fam gathered to watch KU stomp North Carolina on Saturday ...



Notice the "splint" on poor Mason's arm - he fell Friday and was still favoring it and complaining enough that Mom and Dad made a splint out of wooden spoons ... ultimately they took him to the ER on Sunday and found out he had dislocated his elbow. The doctor "popped" it back, Mason yelled "OW!" and then immediately started using his arm again. Whew ... all is well for now.

Callie was clearly more interested in trying to cut more teeth by chewing on Papa's foot than watching the game though.



AND ... psycho kitty predicts that KU is going to win over Memphis tonight! Or is that supposed to be psychic kitty? Seeing as how her nickname is Al Queda for the way she terrorizes us and the house, unfortunately she's WAY closer to psycho than psychic ... but hey, I'm still predicting a win for KU!