We went to a nearby rodeo recently. Here are some photos and commentary from that.

We start with the horses lined up for the opening cermonies:

which include running the flags around while the anthems are sung:

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It’s been a little while since I shared some of the boys’ schoolwork on the blog, so here are some papers they brought home:

Of all the things mom does, laundry is forefront in a 6-year-old mind.

This one may require some explaining. They read a story about Owen, a child who wanted to bring his blanket to school but the school wouldn’t let him so Owen’s mom cut the blanket into handkerchiefs so that Owen could have a bit of his blanket at school.

Part of Alpha’s assignment was to think of alternate ways to solve the problem. His solution: don’t go to that school anymore. Your solution depends on if you think the problem is the blanket or the school.

If Mary had been homeschooled, her lamb would not have caused any problems.

Two notes on this one:
1. I’m taking that as a good thing that my child doesn’t know what the inside of a court room looks like.
2. The picture of the city council looks suspiciously like the council as depicted in the Star Wars movies. I should confirm if that was his basis.

Photo shoot-type of shots, that is.

Here is what Christmas looked like around here, and at various relatives’ houses too.

First of all, in chronological order at least, was the traditional gingerbread train.

We keep telling the kids that no, they cannot eat it, especially since it is more than a couple of weeks old. But that doesn’t stop them from picking bits o’ candy of it and eating them anyway.
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This year, we participated in Operation Christmas Child (OCC) again.

The kids got to participate twice, since we had our set of boxes that we packed and their grandparents had a set of boxes for them to pack too.

We’ll do the grandparents’ boxes first.

Grandparents’ Boxes

Step 1: Gather Stuff

Go to the dollar store and fill a cart.
Put all the items on your dining room table.

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Now that everyone has forgotten about Halloween and moved on to November stuff, it’s time for me to update you on this year’s pumpkin carving.

The first step in all of this pumpkin-carving business is to select good pumpkins. Pictured here is a perfectly-formed pumpkin. It’s easy for us, because our neighbors grow and sell pumpkins. It’s on a small scale, but we still get a nice selection.

The next step is to cut open the top

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Now that everyone has forgotten about Halloween and moved on to November stuff, it’s time for me to update you on this year’s costumes.

Here are our boys’ costumes:

Alpha:

Toad, from Mario Kart.
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For those interested in the details of the most recent addition to our family:

• 9:00 am – I get a call from my wife. She is calling as she is leaving her doctor appointment for a regular weekly check-up before her due date. She tells me that we have to go to the hospital. The doctor said to be there in an hour because we’re going to have the baby today, even though my wife isn’t feeling any contractions. We decide to wait until lunchtime or she feels contractions, whichever comes first.
• 11:45 – I get home from work and greet my sister, who is over to watch the kids while we’re at the hospital
• 12:25 – We get Alpha off the school bus. They had a half day, so now all the kids are together with some cousins.
• 12:45 – We leave for the hospital
• 1:05 – The nurse chides us for not arriving sooner. “I’ve been waiting since 9:00,” she says.
• 1:15 – They hook up monitors to see how contractions are going. There are some contractions – they’re just slight enough that my wife had been dismissing them or not noticing them.
• 1:30 – two students from a nearby nursing school arrive. It’s their rotation on the maternity floor.
• 2:20 – the doctor comes in and checks things
• 2:30 – the doctor decides she wants to deliver the baby soon, so she breaks the water. The nursing students get to help clean up
• 2:35 – contractions every 3-4 minutes, looks like the doctor will get her wish.
• 3:15 – parents arrive. I greet them and usher them to the waiting room. They do get to peek into the delivery room and say hi.
• 3:30 – epidural is in. Good thing, because the contractions are coming in waves now.
• 3:40 – the doctor checks things again. She brought a resident with her. There are a lot more people in the room this time than for the other 3.
• 3:50 – the doctor and resident get suited up and then the pushing starts
• 4:08 – baby is born. He is silent for the first few seconds, but then he starts crying like one would expect. It’s always amazing how the baby can go from not breathing air one second to breathing air the next second.

For those keeping track:

• Baby #1 – at least 90 minutes of pushing.
• Baby #2 – 20-30 minutes of pushing.
• Baby #3 – 6 minutes of pushing.
• Baby #4 – 5-10 minutes of pushing. I didn’t keep good track this time. Things progressed too quickly and I wasn’t facing a clock.