Daddy's Helpers

Yesterday, Dr. Mattson came over and we worked bulls.  Clarence and Adina were at school, so we had Cliff and Clancy out helping us.  Clancy woke up with a cold yesterday, but I bundled him up well and he helped for an hour or so.  Matt's so lucky he's got so many great helpers around this place!

He yells, "Hah, hah, c'mon, bull."

"Cheese"

Matt walking the bulls up to the chute...Cliff's watching.

Clancy out helping...he was watching the dogs.

Every hard-working cowboy needs to stop and have a snack break.

Always ready with his paddle...

Dr. Mattson made the comment, "You can tell this is Clarence's younger brother - he doesn't go anywhere without his paddle and he's loving every minute of this."

Cliff had to check in the trailer and make sure the bull was behaving...turns out this was a mean one.  When we put the next bull in, they started fighting in the trailer and we had to let the one back out of the trailer and let it run back into the chute.  

Little Clancy fell asleep and rested in the pickup while we worked the last few bulls.  

What great little helpers we have, and I just love how they (mostly Cliff) want to be so involved with what's going on.  

A visit from the Roseau Great-Grandmas

On Saturday, Matt's mom brought his grandmas over for a visit.  Since both Megan and Mark and us have been redoing our houses, she thought it would be a fun time to show them our houses.  On Friday, I made some caramel rolls and cinnamon rolls for us to have for brunch the next day.  Saturday morning, Matt and I finished speed-cleaning the house for company, and then enjoyed the rest of the day.

Here are some pictures of the kids and two of their great-grandmas:

All of us minus Carmen...

Some of the kids were being difficult taking pictures.

Here's a pretty good one.  Grandma Jeanette brought over handkerchiefs for the kids...The boys all love their new "cowboy scarves"!

Since Mary didn't come, the day wouldn't be complete without the boys calling her to check on her.

Last night the kids were helping in the kitchen...they're adorable!

Saturday afternoon after our company left, we had a great family ranger ride around the pasture.  It was so much fun and such a beautiful day!  We found a pile of gopher holes, so the boys decided to start trapping.  Then we crossed the river, the kids played in it a little bit, and we explored the woods a little bit.

What a fun way to spend a Saturday.  To top the weekend off, Sunday was raining, so we all just napped and watched movies on Sunday afternoon.

Have a super day!

Little Clancy

Here's a recent favorite picture of mine...

This is last Tuesday at Altru.  Clancy had to put on a hospital gown because he had an MRI.  He was born with a sacral dimple.  I don't know all the technical terms, nor do I want to, so here's just what I know and have experienced through all of this.  He was born with a sacral dimple.  At the top of each child's butt is a little dimple...instead of being closed like most other kids', Clancy's is an open hole.  When he was about a month old, we did an ultrasound to see if it was open all the way to his spine or if it was closed.  We didn't find out because he was a squirmy baby that day, and they were a little worried about the bottom of his spinal cord. They thought it might be tethered.  So, they told us that we'll do an MRI when he's 6 months old, see what we find out, and go from there. If it's open/there are problems with his spinal cord, there would be surgery.  If it's closed and all looks well with the spinal cord, nothing would happen.  Well, after a stressful day at Altru (stressful for me...just worries and whatnot), we went home to wait for results.

Wednesday evening the doctor called to say that all is well. He's completely normal, won't have developmental issues related to his spine, and his sacral dimple will eventually just close up.

We're so thankful that all is well and that our little boy is completely healthy.  How lucky and blessed we've been with all our children.

Praise God!