Doctors Vs. Gun Owners

My friend, Desiree, had this posted on her blog and I thought it was too funny not to pass on. I've been reading a book called "Complications" that was written by an eighth year surgical resident. It discusses the fallibilty of Doctors, the guesswork of medicine, and the neverending learning curve that Doctors ride on. It makes you want to stay home the next time you're sick, that's for sure! But it also helps you appreciate their profession and the decisions they have to make and the responsibility they carry on their shoulders. Anyway, this went perfectly with it!

Doctors vs. Gun Owners

DOCTORS:
(1) The number of physicians in the U.S. Is 700,000.

(2) Accidental deaths caused by Physicians Per year are 120,000.

(3) Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171.

Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services.

GUNS:
(1)The number of gun owners in the U.S. 80,000,000. (Yes, that's 80 million)

(2) The number of accidental gun deaths Per year, all age groups, is 1,500.

(3) The number of accidental deaths Per gun owner is .000188.

Statistics courtesy of FBI.

So, statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners. Remember, 'Guns don't kill people, doctors do.'

FACT: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE DOCTOR. Please alert your friends to this alarming threat. We must ban doctors before this gets completely out of hand!!!!!

Watch out...Eric will be one of those in three and a half months!

Standing guard.....

You know how hungry your husband is by the lengths he'll go for food. Sunday was a one-person prep meal, so there wasn't much to do to help, so he took it upon himself to keep the kids out of the kitchen. He tried to play with them, but Ashlyn kept sneaking past and distracting me from the goal, so he stood at the entrance of the kitchen the whole prep time to insure that no needy children got by. What a guy! :)

That's just the beginning of January's little random happenings. My favorite this month was when Ashlyn found the courage of a dinosaur. Eric was wrestling with her and when she finally escaped, she took off for the other side of the room. He called her a chicken, to which she responded with a "Bak, Bak" and hid her face against the wall. That was cute enough, but then she noticed a small toy dinosaur on the floor, which she quickly picked up and turned with all the fury she could muster and ROARED! The house shook, Dad trembled, and fear was struck in the hearts of all who were around. Fierce as that sounds, she really is a scary girl that we are all slightly afraid of!

Every now and then I get these pangs of guilt at how much Ashlyn is neglected...especially compared to when Isaac was her age. We were watching home movies which tripled the pangs, so I got out some paint with water books and let her go. She loved it and it was so easy to get out, so I have tried to be better at doing those kinds of things with her and Carter while Isaac is at school. I'm still far from where I should be, but we've been enjoying painting, glueing, play doh, and games a lot more lately.


Eric and the boys always have a good time with tinker toys. A couple of Sundays ago, the boys requested that Dad help them build a tinker bot. They were pretty proud of it and insisted on a picture. Can't you tell how thrilled they are? I'm not sure what's with their serious faces, but we think they look like the next Wright brothers.

Ashlyn has it pretty rough with two older brothers. She gets her fair share of abuse and Carter doesn't seem to care that she's smaller, that she's a girl, or that he's supposed to be her protector. But....

...she's pretty good at holding her own! She has just as much fun as they do (most of the time) and starts most of the whomping. I'll admit that I'm her biggest fan and love watching her get her brothers. Her favorite pester, and the thing that irritates the boys the most is pulling their ears. I try not to let it go too long before I intervene, but I'm not the first to jump in. They usually deserve it!

Eric's parents have a black lab named Mandy that the boys have been terrified of for most of their years. She's the gentlest dog in the world, and never even barks, but her size has been

quite intimidating to them. They are fine with her now, but are still cautious. Ashlyn is our first true animal lover. She has no problem with Mandy and loves to pet and talk to her. Finally Nana and Papa have a grandbaby that likes their dog!

Most of the posts and pictures are of Ashlyn, but she is the one who is growing and changing the most right now. She is our most defiant, yet helpful child. She loves playing messenger - whether we ask her to or not. She mimics everything we say and then usually adds her own two cents. She's always singing and uses "Jingle Bells" as her punchline for every situation. Whether we're all laughing, she's getting scolded, or there's an awkward silence, she throws out "JINGLE BELLS!" and then cracks up laughing.

Carter has become Eric's right hand man. With Eric's schedule being so easy, he and Carter hang out a lot. Their current mission is to hit every pawn shop in Temple. They both just like to look at "stuff."

Isaac feels the burden of a school aged child. He hates missing out. With school and homework and basketball, he doesn't have a lot of free time. We try to make the most of what he does have, though. Today after school, Eric took him to the field across the street to shoot his bow. He's getting pretty good. Must take after his Dad!

Great to meet you, Cecilia!

Eric's sister, Jennifer, came down two weeks ago so that everyone could meet her new baby, Cecilia. She's ADORABLE! Carter took to her instantly and wanted to hold her every second he got. I thought it was interesting, since he doesn't give other babies the time of day. Isaac and Ashlyn loved her, too. We got to spend Thursday with her here in Temple, and then we went to Lexington for the weekend. Saturday, Debbie invited family to their house to meet her new grandbaby. Aunt Beverly and Uncle George, Aunt Liz, and Aunt Elaine, plus some cousins were able to make it from Deb's side. Meemaw and Uncle Mickey were able to come from Bill's side. Somehow I never got any pictures from Deb's side (sorry), but I got some great ones of Mickey and Meemaw! Here are a few pictures with our beautiful niece...

Ashlyn had quite the jealous heart. It was a new thing for her to have to share Nana with another baby.

It was great seeing you, Jennifer! We're sorry we missed Anton, but we LOVED Cecilia!

Isaac turned 7!

Isaac is 7! Like most parents, I'm still not sure how it has happened, where the time has gone, and will be repeating these sentiments next year! Isaac has never had a friend party before. His birthday is in January and almost always ends up on the coldest day of the month. Since we never have room in our apartment and outside isn't an option, he has just always missed out. Carter's birthday, in September, is always beautiful, so he got his first friends party this last year. Since Isaac is the older brother and Carter got one first, I PROMISED him that he could have one this year. I faithfully watched the weather, picked a mild day, and a party we had! He wanted a Ninja party, which turned out to be a lot of fun.

We started out with some "Ninja, Ninja, Master" while we waited for all of the guests to arrive. Then they donned their Ninja belts and began their quest to discover all the Ninja scrolls. They had to do a task and follow the clues to find and receive each scroll. They broke boards (styrofoam and spray paint have a chemical reaction...just in case you ever wanted to know!), did somersaults, broke through a box wall, manuevered ninja swords, completed an obstacle course, and finally they each had their own chinese lantern to kick down and break open for their candy prize.

After their quest, we played "red rover" while the pizza cooked. Carter was by far the smallest boy and held tough for a few rounds, but opted out after a while. It was fun watching those boys charge through each other.

We ate pizza while watching "Kung Fu Panda" then blew out the candles and opened presents.

I got a lot of video, but not very many pictures. We all had a blast. I owe my fun to Starla. She watched Ashlyn, cooked the pizzas, served the food and cake, cleaned the kitchen, etc., so I could enjoy the party and not worry about the other stuff. She was a lifesaver! Thank you!

One of my favorite parts of the quest was when they broke the boards. It all happened so fast I didn't get any pictures, but I had a couple left over, so I had Isaac and Carter reinact it for me.

Watch out, Starla!

Isaac received some great gifts from his friends. They had much better ideas than I did! That evening we opened up an ultimate fighting game that one of his friends gave him. We all had fun, but I think Ashlyn loved it the most. I'm just having a hard time trying to not take over his Webkinz...

We celebrated his actual birthday at my in-laws house while Jennifer was here. It was on MLK Day, so he didn't have school, much to his relief. When I told him he had school on his birthday (before I realized it was a holiday) he cried. He excels in school, but it's not his favorite place. He'd rather be home.

He requested donuts for breakfast, but couldn't quite take down all seven that I gave him - plus holes.

He raked in a few more gifts, then spent the day playing with them, his Webkinz, and as much Wii as he wanted.

I strongly believe you can never blow out too many candles on your birthday, so we lit up another cake and he made another wish. Thanks Nana for the cake!

We headed home and finished off the day with some happy meals. Happy Birthday, Isaac!

Basketball

Isaac is playing basketball this season. I've tried to get some awesome pictures of him in action, but the best picture I've gotten is of his fans. I'll keep trying, though!

Here is his team. I always go back and forth on these time commitments. Two practices a week, plus a game on Saturday is pretty painful for me, but he is really enjoying himself. It's fun watching him. Youth sports are great for entertainment!

"Life has just begun!"

Eric is 30! Hooray! It was a pretty exciting day. The kids and I started the morning out with a quick trip to H.E.B. to get the requested birthday donuts and some candles. NEVER take young children who are very excited about a birthday with you if that's all you expect to come out with! We also picked up balloons, birthday horns, plates, and a card, which really wasn't too much compared to what I had to bargain down! The day before Isaac and Carter made Eric a big birthday banner that we hung and we decorated the dining room and the "birthday" tree.

Ashlyn helped herself to the donuts. After gnawing off the top of one, she was ready to go after another, but I just flipped it over for her. She got very excited and said "Thank you, Mommy!"

We had Eric's traditional "birthday" tree decorated beautifully until Ashlyn got a hold of it. Notice there are no balloons on the bottom half of the tree. Ashlyn thought it was hilarious to take them off and bite them until they popped.

After breakfast, Eric and the boys went and shot bows, and then we took the boys shopping and to the movies. When we got home, I desperately tried to frost Eric's cake and clean the house in an hour. Yes, I procrastinate, but we had planned on an earlier movie and no shopping! Anyway, I had to try and have everything nice before we met Eric's parents for dinner for the big SURPRISE party afterward. Thanks Amanda for saving me after a panicked call of "Please help!" Dinner was great and then we headed home. I haven't been able to surprise Eric for ANYTHING lately (not even his Christmas and Birthday presents), so I was feeling pretty smug that he didn't have a clue about what was waiting for him. Well, he of course had to drive in a different entrance to our apartment complex then he usually does and just started laughing when he saw all of our friends' minivans lined up in a row. He told me not to feel bad, though. "It's just like finding out what you're having at the ultrasound instead of waiting until the baby is born. It's still exciting!"

We can't all get together without our youngest party goers. As the four years have gone, it has gotten harder and harder for all of us to fit in one apartment!

Not just anyone can do it, I'm sure - but Eric blew out all 30 candles like a champ!

Can you find him through the haze?

I've been a little nervous about how Eric would take the big 3-0. He's not one for growing old. But as people teased him about his ANCIENT age, his best response was "Life ending? Are you kidding? I'm getting my first real job this year. Life has just begun!" Happy Birthday!

Welcome to the Family, Tureeko!

For Christmas, Isaac got a robot from Santa Claus, which he named "Tureeko." Santa and I had many discussions over how well Tureeko would fit into the family, but Santa prevailed, and Tureeko has been a huge success. Isaac loves him, and so does everyone else. He's a regular part of the family in every way.

He's not a voice activated robot, but we all swear he reacts to his name. He ignores me until I get stern and call him by name, and then he'll respond. Carter put him in "time-out" the other day for being disobedient, he has regular nap times, and I caught Ashlyn with him on the stairs rocking him saying "Shhh, shhh, shhh" and then covering him up with a blanket.



Best of all, I don't have to feed him, clean up after him, or get any one to watch him when we are away. This is my kind of pet!