So, the drama over the weekend centered around the fact that within a 15 minute span of time Saturday afternoon, Madison managed to completely lose her brand new glasses. We, along with the help of all the kids and many parents in the neighborhood, searched for a couple of hours, but the glasses were nowhere to be found. It was hard to believe that the new glasses were gone after less than a week of having them, and that we were going to have to shell out more money for a new pair.

Cynthia went to the glasses store on Monday to place the order, and wouldn’t you know it–Madison found them on Wednesday! They were behind a tree in the yard of a neighbor across the street. I was sure we had looked there, but I guess we didn’t look close enough. The best part is they seem to be in almost perfect shape.

I called the glasses store this morning and they were kind enough to not charge us anything for canceling the replacement order!

Yea, Madison!

At our parent-teacher conference with Madison’s teacher a couple of weeks ago, Mrs. Myhre commented that Madison occasionally looked as though one eye was crossed. She asked if we had noticed it, and while we had on occasion thought we had seen something similar, we didn’t really think too much of it. Agreeing with her teacher, we allowed her to send Madison to the school nurse for a simple eye exam.

The nurse reported back that we should have her eyes professionally checked, so we set that appointment up. The ophthalmologist informed us that Madison’s left eye was very bad and we needed to do something about it immediately, in the form of glasses. So last Monday we made a trip to the eyeglasses store and she picked out some pink frames.

Well, the special ordered lens for the left eye finally came in today, so we were able to pick her new glasses up. The right eye is in fine condition, but now with the new glasses, Madison says “things aren’t blurry anymore!” Not that she had complained before, but I think now she realizes that she wasn’t seeing as well as she could’ve been.

She looks very “grown-up” with them on, and was very impressed with all the new instructions she has about how to treat them, not to let others wear them, etc.

And, with luck and prayers, the eye doctor said the sight in the affected eye may improve over the next 3-5 years to the point where she may not require glasses long-term.

There’s been quite a bit of “Dental” happenings around the house this week! On Monday, Madison lost her first tooth. It’s been loose for quite some time, and finally she decided we could try to go ahead and extract it.

Cynthia took hold of it and before Madison knew what was going on, it was out. Madison was most pleased with herself.

On Wednesday, Michael had his orthodontic appointment and they put his braces on! He already looks older, which makes me feel ancient. He’s taking the change very well.

Here are our pictures from this past 2005 Christmas season.

Matthew turned 9 today. Wow. Do I feel old.

So, anyway, after a fun birthday party at Dave and Busters, we came back to the house to open birthday presents. Some Lego, a video game, and what’s this? An AppleCare box? What does that have to do with anything? Michael got Matthew to go upstairs for the remaining gift (what Michael thought was a stand for Matthew’s synthesizer), and lo and behold, a bright new shiny 20″ iMac G5 on the computer table.

Needless to say, he was a little bit surprised.

Of course, the main thing here is I get my G5 back now. Ahh.

Despite the attempts of the weathermen to tell us it was going to rain all day Sunday, it didn’t and the kids did get to go trick-or-treating. Afterwards, we had a party with snacks and games back at the house.

Pictures are here.

We went camping in Dinosaur Valley this past weekend (October 24-26), and although a bit soggy (we got soaked while setting up the tent), it was a good time. Here are the pictures.

Things have been really hoppin’. Too much to allow blogging time.

Cynthia and I took a short trip to Vegas, stayed at the Luxor, saw Blue Man Group, had a blast, but had to come back.

Work is busy. So much so, that I haven’t even had the time to put together a decent website for the new business. Got to get that done. Several projects (happily paying ones) have been keeping my attention.

And yet, the world marches on. Plenty of dumb things happening in the political landscape: Fahrenheit 911 is getting plenty of press, but people seem to be wising up to all the fallacies and deceits of this mockumentary. John Kerry picks a “safe” VP running mate that won’t help him at all. A story leaks today that Homeland Security is investigating the possibility of postponing the election in the event of a terrorist act; something that won’t happen (the postponing, that is). It would be just about the stupidest thing ever to do, giving in to the terrorist threat. Ah, to have more time to comment.

Apple previews Tiger, steps all over a successful developer, introduces marvelous new displays (including a 30″ monster), and sells the 100 millionth song on the iTMS. If they’d only hurry up and release Motion…

O, and it’s hot. But that’s not news, that’s normal for Texas in July.

It was a bit of a surprise that it actually happened, but this morning we woke up to a beautiful white Valentine’s day. The kids had spent the night at the grandparents last night, but they came home early so we had time to play in the snow, build a snowman or two, and generally make a fun mess. Click the picture to the left to see some snaps of the time we had. I took some video as well, but haven’t had a chance to assemble it into anything viewable. Maybe I’ll get a chance to do that tomorrow; I will post it once I have.

The neat thing was that the conditions were just right to create that soft, perfect to make things kind of snow. You know the kind–you start a small snowball rolling and it picks up the snow completely, leaving a clean trail of grass behind you. Pretty soon it’s as big as a pumpkin. The first ball we rolled for our big snowman was easily 4 feet in diameter. No slush or anything.

Unfortunately, the temperature quickly rose to above freezing, so shortly after lunch the snow began a rapid melt. Our big snowman made it until about 1:30, then took a tumble. I expect there’ll be a little remaining in the morning, but it will probably melt off completely by mid-afternoon. It was fun while it lasted.