The Hazard Chronicles

First of all, a couple of random things:

Jackson totally just walked into the house grinning and giggling, followed by Evelyn and Adalie who are also beaming. As soon as he saw us he said "Mamma, Papa- look what we found!" We looked. He was holding a dead bird. By the neck.

The other day Rachel was just finishing her shopping at Walmart and was about to leave. Suddenly, a stranger politely asked her if she was missing one of her children. That's when she turned around just in time to see Jackson on one of the motorized shopping carts, cool as can be, zooming out the door.

About a week ago, Addy brought a toy to Rachel and said it was broken. It was one of those pop-up type toys where you have to either push a button, or pull a lever, or turn a key, or something to make the animal pop up. Anyway, the tiger wouldn't pop up. A while later, Evelyn came with the same toy to report the same problem. After some investigation into the matter Rachel declared the toy broken and said there was nothing she could do. Then Jack got up and said "look at me." He then performed a complicated set of maneuvers that involved pushing, turning, and pounding in a very deliberate pattern. Suddenly the tiger popped up. Jackson calmly said "I fixed it," set the toy down, and walked away.

Jack has a mechanical toy truck that was recently ripped apart in one of our kids' "sprees of destruction." Afterwords, Jackson and Evelyn went to assess the damage. It was in several small pieces. In a very loving voice, Evelyn told Jackson that it was unfixable. Jack tried to fix it anyway. Evelyn became a little bit upset and said "No Jack. It's broken. We have to throw it away," and walked away from him. Jack sat with his toy, tinkering for the next several minutes. Finally, he picked up his totally re-assembled toy, brought it to Evelyn, set it in her lap, and walked away. He did'n't say anything, but I swear I saw a little smirk on his face.

Jack, Evelyn, and Addy were finger painting at the table. Jackson started getting close to Evelyn and Evelyn warned him not to touch her with his dirty hands. Jack then proceeded to bring both hands as close to her as he could without touching her. Evelyn started freaking out and running away. Jack started chasing her, careful never to actually touch her. He was laughing. She was not. He is mastering the art of taunting his sisters.

We love our Jackson.

Oh- another random thing. About a month ago I got a "smart-phone." It is amazing! How did I ever live without this thing?  It has actually been REALLY helpful in the establishment of this new practice. Really.

Speaking of the new practice, things are moving forward at breakneck speed. Within the next 7 days we will have totally torn down all the wallpaper and repainted all the walls, ripped up all the carpet and installed new carpet in the waiting room, office, and hallways, and new "wood" floors in the treatment rooms, removed a large mounted robotic looking microscope from the ceiling and built a wall in its stead, built from scratch a totally awesome computer server, installed 8 new computers, and equipped them with all new software, gotten rid of all the film-based x-ray stuff they had and installed digital x-rays in all treatment areas, changed all the signs to reflect the new practice name, put brand new furniture and decorations in the office, printed business cards and other promotional materials, sent mailers to over 30,000 people, printed our ad in the paper, hired a new assistant, said goodbye to an office manager, trained a new team, and opened the doors to the public. And that's not even touching all the behind-the-scenes paperwork that's involved with taxes, bookkeeping,  accounting, regulations, systems, licenses, financing, etc. Oh, and we already have patients on the schedule for the following Monday, so let's hope this works. Woo Hoo!

Yesterday, Addy and Jack had their official birthday party. We did it in the backyard and had a decent turnout of parents and kids. We played games, decorated cupcakes, ate pizza, and opened presents. It's fun having three-year-olds. They are good kids.

By the way, the weather is becoming very crisp and "Fall-like." I LOVE IT! I love it, I love it, I love it. I love the smell of burning fields in the morning. I love that the trees are starting to change colors. I love the still, quiet feeling of potential energy that seems to resonate in the air. I love the wildlife that is busy getting ready for winter. I love it all. Earlier this week I drove myself to a nearby trailhead and just walked alone in the woods that surround our beautiful little town. While I was out I was thinking about everything that was happening and was just totally filled with hope and with energy and with optimism and I started to run on the trail and...well, it was just a good morning. Have I mentioned that I love this time of year?

Well, that's pretty much it for this week. Sorry it was all over the place, but that's also a pretty good representation of how we have been lately. Here are some pictures:

 Addy's Doctor Set.

 The Pirate Treasure Hunt

Addy, trying to get a peak at her next present.

Jackson got "power tools." He has been playing with these non-stop. That's my little man!