The Crazy Cow Caper

On the Sunday morning of the weekend we spent at my parents' house in June, some of the kids went outside after breakfast before it was time to get ready for Mass.  One of the kids came running in saying there was some animal by our car, and they thought it was a baby cow, and it was outside the fence.  So we all went out to see.  Lo and behold, there was a newborn calf, which had somehow gotten through the fence, sitting down in the corner of the front yard.  The owners of the cows rent my parents' pasture so they have a place to keep their cows.

The kids were entranced by the little calf.

Anthony had no fear.

I think they wanted to sit and play with the calf all day.

We have since had a few requests for a baby cow as a pet!

The poor thing was mooing for its momma.

When the owners came with their ATV, Dan picked up the cow and placed it in the back, with the help of my brother-in-law, Paul.

Paul climbed into the back with the calf to hold it down while they took it out to the momma cow.

Heading out to the cows.

The calf is out and free.

Momma cow and calf are reunited.  A happy ending!

Anthony's "Adventure"

I wanted to write about this, so I wouldn't forget.  So here's the story.

Last Friday morning before school, I was doing a few things in the kitchen, while the girls were reading in the living room and the three boys were playing in Anthony's room.  I finished what I was doing and as I walked into the living room to put something away, I heard a blood-curdling screaming and crying coming from Anthony.  Not the "somebody touched me cry," this one was real.  I rushed into his room to find Anthony sitting on the floor, crying and saying, "Nuh-Nuh." (That's his name for Dominic.)  I picked him up and he was not to be consoled.  I figured out his leg hurt, but it took me a while to get the story of what happened out of the boys. 

Joseph and Anthony were under Anthony's bed, pushing the mattress up with their feet through the slats.  Then Dominic thought it would be fun to jump on the bed and make the mattress go back down, and so he did.  Joseph was fine, but poor little Anthony's leg got hurt by the slats from what I could tell.  All the rest of the day, he would not walk and any time he tried to put weight on his leg, he cried.  When this continued Saturday morning, I took him to an urgent care center to make sure he didn't have a fracture.  Anthony did really well there and even laid still for the x-rays, though he didn't like it.  The x-ray did not show an obvious fracture, but there were a couple of areas of possible concern, so we went home and waited for a call after the radiologist looked at it.  Finally by the late afternoon, I called and found out it was all negative.  Hooray!

Poor Anthony, though, has been hobbling around the last few days, and you can tell his leg hurts him. He tries to run, and falls over.  Yesterday he tried to jump off the couch and that hurt!  It is gradually getting better, however.  It is strange, though, to see a little two year old limping around.   He's been cranky and we've had to carry him around a lot, but we are very happy his leg wasn't broken!  I'm sure he will soon be back to his normal running, jumping little self.

A Friday Adventure

Last Friday afternoon I planned to take the kids to the library.  When we go, we usually spend about an hour there.  The kids play with puzzles, toys, the computer games, and of course, look for and read books.  I always look for and gather books we need for our next week or two of school, while trying to keep track of Anthony at the same time. 

So, we set out for the library, stopping at the bank on the way.  We got to the library, and as I got out of the van, I heard a curious hissing noise.  I quickly realized it was coming from the rear tire on the driver's side.  Bending down, I found a piece of metal stuck in the tire and asked myself, now what do I do?  Taking care of a flat tire is always an inconvenience, but with 5 kids along, this was definitely a challenge. 

First, we hurriedly took our very large stack of books into the library and picked up the three I had on hold.  I called Dan to consult and then, since the tire wasn't all the way flat, I carefully drove 2 miles to the nearest tire place.  Luckily they weren't that busy so they could get us right in.  We went to the customer area and there was a TV with all the channels, there were toys, books, crayons and coloring books, and of course, a candy machine.  I sat down and the kids happily played, read, colored, and watched cartoons.  They each got a quarter to pick out candy.  I even got to read part of a magazine.  In what seemed like a short time, less than 30 minutes, the tire was fixed and we were on our way. 

The best part was when we were driving back home and the kids thanked me for taking them there because they'd had so much fun!  Problem solved and happy kids to boot.  Woo-hoo!