Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Funny ... Me ...


This picture was taken on Halloween 2007. David is by far one of the cutest clowns I've ever seen. He was a whopping three (3) months old in this picture. He seemed very pleased to have his picture taken and he clearly didn't seem annoyed by Mom applying makeup to his face.

He has become quite a funny little boy. He loves following his big brother around. He and Cameron make quite a duo. When they are together, they rival the Tasmanian Devil. Their path of destruction leaves no doubt that they have been here. You've heard that a school of piranha can deskeletonize a cow in under two (2) minutes; they can destroy a house in just under three (3). Not quite as efficient as a school of piranha, but still pretty impressive. It sure makes keeping the house clean a difficult task at best.

Lately, the roles of their little "gang" have changed. David now seems to lead the pair on their conquest of demolition. Cameron seems more than happy to follow. The day will soon come when David will be considered the "big" brother and Cameron will be looking up to him.

David has recently developed a fun personality. If he's in an unfamiliar place, or with unfamiliar people, he clams up. But, when he's comfortable with his environment, he really comes out of his shell and shows off his true colors. Lately, he says things or does things that are hysterical and we all laugh, of course. After we settle down a little bit, he smiles and says with a laugh, "Funny ... me ..." And he is. He reminds me a lot of Riley at this age. I look forward to the next couple of years when he really comes into his own. What a cutie!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Is that Mowgli?




This picture was taken in May of 2005. This is a sample of Cameron's style of walking. He looked just like Mowgli from Disney's The Jungle Book. It was amazing He incredibly efficient he was at this style of mobility. He was very excited to be able to go places without scratching his belly (although, truthfully, he didn't seem to mind that so much either).
A couple of months after this picture was taken, he was whisked away to Phoenix Children's Hospital for open heart surgery to repair his ventricular septal defect. It wasn't long after his surgery that he was Mowgli walking again. He bounced back amazingly quickly. As soon as he was back to this style of walking, he started walking like a normal biped. It was quite interesting how he started walking upright. He would get in the Mowgli position and back himself against a solid object (e.g. wall, chair, couch, parent's leg, etc.). He would lean against the object and stand himself up. Then he could walk away from the object and take a few steps. He finally mastered the art of standing on his own, but it didn't take long!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Eggs for Sale ...


This picture captures a typical day in September of 2004 when we had our first batch of chickens. Brittney, in all her cuteness, would put on her trusty boots (apparently, pants were optional - boots, however, strictly required) and make the daily trip to the chicken coop to collect the days treasures left by our hard working hens. She was so adorable (all two-and-a-half years of her) with her little Dalmatian boots and curly blonde hair. She absolutely loved getting the eggs from the chicken coop each day and reporting back to Mom how many eggs there were. I believe at the time we only had three (3) chickens, but when we moved shortly thereafter we got rid of them and started fresh with a new batch of chickens.

Presently, we have one (1) full chicken laying an egg a day and we just bought fourteen (14) chicks that will start laying as early as August. Hopefully, we won't lose any during the raising process like we have in the past. This time we're taking extra precautions to avoid touching them. Some friends of ours said that they tried that and they didn't have any fatalities. It's worth a shot.

With this latest batch of chickens it'll be David that goes out to the chicken coop and collects the eggs. He'll be just as cute ... and we still have the boots!