Heath & Rachelle's World

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-21T19:05:00.001-07:00

The kids had a half-day at school today due to conferences, so I picked them up a little early and headed to
the AppleJack Pumpkin Patch.

Rachelle and Zach in the hay maze.

Heath and Brookelle in the hay maze.

Caden getting ready to launch a gourd.

The corn crib was Zach's favorite part of the pumpkin patch. His close second was the bumpy tractor-pulled wagon ride.

Brookelle and Caden- a little "corny". (Ha)

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Serious Zach

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Clowning Zach

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Almost three

2010-10-21T18:48:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken just before Zach's first day of school. He is almost three and not quite old enough for regular preschool, but he gets to go to a "young three's" class at the preschool and has a fabulous time.

First Day of School

2010-10-21T18:43:00.001-07:00

Zach is entering the doors on his first day of preschool. The teachers had to peel him from me for about four or five days, before he suddenly decided he loved school. He greets me each day after school with the same phrase, "Mom, I had a great day at school!"

Lost Teeth

2010-10-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

Caden lost his two front teeth. They even came out on their own, unlike his bottom four which were pulled by the dentist.

Zach's Passions

2010-10-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

Zach's passions include tools and construction vehicles. He will choose a hammer or screwdriver any day over "toys" (unless the toys happen to be loaders, cranes, backhoes, and such). I hooked him up with some golf tees and clay. . . hours of fun! He also likes to use his hammer for demolition on the rotten siding Heath is currently pulling from our chimney.

Stretching at the Pole

2010-10-21T18:23:00.001-07:00

Running has been great for Heath and I, our health, and our sense of well being. We wanted our kids to share in the super benefits of running, so we have been having them run a mile with us each morning after we finish our morning runs. Pole stretching is our half-way point ritual. Zach loves getting in on the action too. We always bring a stroller but he'll run much of the way with us . . . as long as he can do it barefoot and with no pants.

First Haircut

2010-10-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

I gave Toby his first haircut when he was about four months. It took me a long time, but he was still and cooperative for a puppy.

Introducing Toby, our new puppy

2010-08-08T16:32:00.000-07:00

I had a dog for six months when I was a kid. I don't know much about them at all. My requirements before endeavoring the new adventure? Zach must be at least three and potty-trained.

Zach is not three. Zach is not potty-trained. We just got a puppy. How did this happen anyway? Brookelle has been pining for a pet for years. Her preference was a kitten. . . umm that was a "no." She was going to even settle for a little frog if it came to that. She wants to be a vet when she grows up, or actually, a wild animal rescuer. She went to a camp this summer at the humane society and learned a lot about pet care. Her sweet persistence doubled thereafter.

As we considered features for our future (I was thinking the somewhat distant future) dog, Heath and I decided it need to be "non-shedding," sweet, and kid-friendly. Heath almost won a bid for a miniature labradoodle puppy at a fundraiser auction. Luckily that didn't happen. It was too much for us.

I did some searching for dog breeds along with Heath and Brookelle and thought the Bichon Frise looked like a nice, happy, dog. We saw a few in the paper and at the humane society, but they were always gone almost as soon as they were posted. Saved again. I was plenty happy to wait. I figured it was best that way.

Saturday morning, I overheard Heath on the phone asking about a puppy. Next minute, he was asking my permission to schedule an appointment to check it out. It was an hour away. RED FLAG: You don't drive with three kids for an hour to see a puppy and then not come home with it.

To be fair, I knew that if the dog wasn't the right fit for our family, Heath would not have brought it home.

BUT, we all fell in love instantaneously with the little teddy bear. He is a mix between a Bichon Frise and miniature poodle. We were awed by how cuddly, sweet, and calm he was. Now that two days of calm and sweetness have passed, we wonder if he's sick. :) Next step: vet check.

After exhaustive internet searches, brainstorming, list-making and complex negotiations (including arguments, trial runs, and compromises), a night of yelping, a first bath, lots of playing, relaxing and potty outings, nearly twenty four hours after we picked him up we finally agreed on the name Toby. A few other considerations were Basil, Biscuit, Twister, Cracker, Tito, and Turbo. Caden wasn't too keen on Toby but he graciously submitted after the rest of us, including Zach, started calling the puppy Toby. What a good sport!

Brookelle's medieval B-day party

2010-08-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

Brookelle turned nine in February. She requested a medieval b-day party. Thanks to Rachelle's hard work the kids had lots of fun suiting up, fencing, running the gauntlet, slaying the dragon, and eating the castle.

2009 a year in a blog

2010-03-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

Woops. Where did that year go? Oh, here it is. How do you make up for a year without blogging? How about picking one or two pictures from each folder created when you dumped your pictures from the camera to the computer? Here are my selections from 2009. This may take more than one session, so this blog entry may grow as I have time to come back and finish it.

Quick Zach fix

2008-10-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are alive out here in KS. No, I have not developed any sort of blogging rhythm. So here's a quick picture of Zach, a video or two and a promise of more to come! He's a lot of fun right now. He is babbling and crawling super fast all the time. He loves to interact and often fusses if we are not interacting with him.

Fishing Derby 6/7/2008! Brookelle catches first fish and Caden wins!

2008-06-08T18:57:00.000-07:00

For a special weekend adventure we decided to take the kids out to the fishing derby in a nice little town nearby named Augusta. We found a promising spot in a side arm of the lake where the kids could stand on a little bridge and have the strong wind to their back. We loaded the hooks with some worms and helped them cast with their little kids poles. We were worried that we had snagged a log or something because Caden's bobber disappeared and stayed under for a while. Then we noticed that it had resurfaced in a different spot and Rachelle and I shouted excitedly "You've got a fish!" As he tried to start reeling he asked for help because his little pole was bending and he couldn't reel. He'd hooked a monster! We slowly reeled it in as it swam closer and finally could see that it was a great big catfish, much larger than the little net we had brought. So Rachelle ran and emptied out a bucket in the car that we use to organize kleenex and sunglasses and such. We scooped it up and went to have it weighed. 2 1/2 pounds! After all the other fish were weighed he won his age group and beat all the kids from all the other age groups to win the entire derby!

Brookelle was also thrilled to catch her first fish, two nice bluegills.

She was a good sport when Caden won three big prizes, a Spiderman fishing pole, a rocket pole that casts by shooting a pod out shotgun style, and a hat signed by a bunch of professional fishermen. Caden was really sweet and decided to exchange the Spiderman pole for a Barbie pole for Brookelle, which made her day.

Heath did some fishing of his own as he waded in and fished out Caden's prize rubber duck and one of the kids camping chairs that had blown in.

After the prize ceremony and lunch we played on the playground. It was our ten year anniversary this week and I heard this playground was a spectacular castle-style one similar to the one at which I proposed to Rachelle. At one point she got it and almost started crying when she saw our whole family in the rocket tower like where I proposed to her. Then we had icecream at the local place that has been there since 1956. What a great day!

Heath Completes his MBA, finally!

2008-06-07T13:47:00.000-07:00

After three years of night school I finally completed my MBA and graduated on 17 May 2008. Studying at Wichita State University, a short ten minute drive from home and another ten minutes from home to work, helped make it managable and allowed me to be home for dinner even on school nights. I was at school two nights a week and spent a few hours another two nights and on Saturdays doing homework. I probably leaned too heavily on my ability to read things once and remember them and cram for tests, but it helped me keep school time in balance with work and family time.
I enjoyed the mix of professionals, engineers, and international students at WSU. A happy surprise was the excellent professors at the business school. I was worried that the program would not be very good at such a lesser known school, but I found it challenging, interesting, and practical.

I put off a lot of needed home repair jobs and didn't keep in touch with family and friends like I wanted to, but now that I'm done I'll happily spend more time doing both. Special thanks to Rachelle and the kids for being so patient and helpful during this time. Thank you thank you thank you!!!