"I'm A Lumberjack and I'm Okay"

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
If any of you males out there are feeling a little too sensitive, maybe not very manly for some reason, I have a suggestion for you. Go out and buy a chain saw, find some trees, and cut them up. It'll put hair on your chest. I haven't felt as MANLY as I did today. Got up early this morning thinking I would cut up some trees in my yard with my new CraftsMAN chainsaw I bought at Sears the other day. I was actually hoping to clear a few to let some more light into the backyard to try to dry it up some. With all the moisture we've gotten, it is quite a muddy mess. And for all of the bashing that I do on Marcos, he really is a pretty good little brother. He hasn't been feeling good for the last couple of days, but he still came out and helped me move logs for a couple of hours. I worked from about 9:00 - 2:30 or so. I certainly am a lightweight when it comes to manual labor. I know I am going to be sore tomorrow. I was getting cramps in my legs as I took off my dirty clothes to get into the shower. Anyway, we cleared the trees that were already cut down, made two piles (one logs, one branches to be chipped later), and then cut down several more. The biggest one that we cut down (pictures to be posted later) was kind of exhilarating in a weird, sick sort of way. I couldn't help but notice my heart beating faster as the tree was falling. I analyzed it afterwards, and decided it was the uncertainty of what was going to happen. I was about 99% sure that the tree was going to fall where it did, but there was still a little doubt in my mind...and once it started falling, there was nothing I could do about it. That is what made my heartbeat increase. Knowing that as the tree started leaning and falling, there was nothing I could do to stop it, and whatever happened from there on out, was going to happen no matter what. I made Shena and Cade go outside the house and watch from a safe distance, just in case my calculations were completely off and the tree came down on the house. That would have been bad enough, but to have it come down on my house with my family in it would be a million times worse. Moral of the story, cutting down trees is dangerous and hardwork, but kind of fun (in a "I've never done this before, it's kind of cool, but I wouldn't want to do it for a living" kind of way).

After I was too tired and sore to do any more cutting, we went to mom's to have dinner with her and Marcos before he had to get on the plane to go back to NYU. We watched a little basketball, then came home and watched some more basketball before going to bed.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena had to clean the house on her own this week, since I was outside doing "Manly" stuff (grunt, grunt). She was just as tired as I was after cleaning and fighting with the boys. She is feeling much, much better physically, and doing much, much better emotionally. I think she is past the hard parts, and will now just think about the loss on occasion as opposed to hourly, like she had been doing the last week or so.

Cade rode his new bike some more today at Grandma's house. We are keeping it there for now since we really don't have a place for it at our house...and there isn't really a good place for him to ride his bike at our house either. Our driveway is too steep, and the road isn't busy, but it is pretty narrow. Mom's road is on a cul-de-sac and plenty wide and much safer for him. He fell off for the first time today, too. He took a bad angle coming in towards mom's driveway, which is a steep uphill climb, and the bike tipped over on him. He wasn't going fast or anything..more just fell to the ground than anything. Of course he cried for a few minutes, but Shena did a good job of getting him back on and giving him a pep talk about getting back on after falling off. He said he hurt his hands, but they weren't even scratched, really, so he was fine. There will be MANY more of those accidents in the years to come.

Kelson said prayers for the first time today. We asked him if he wanted to say family prayer just before we went to bed and he said "Uh-huh." I helped him, and he tried, but we couldn't understand much of what he was saying but "Amen." Point is he tried, he tried to repeat what I said, and he was excited after he was done. He had a big grin on his face and Cade got excited too, told him "Good job, buddy. Give me five!" It was funny.

Arellano Update
As mentioned earlier, Marcos headed back to NY this evening. He doesn't enjoy transitions as much as the rest of us Arellano's (with the exception of Dad). The rest of us kind of take things as they come, get excited for new experiences and moving to new things (even when they are sometimes "old"). I have to admit, he is doing much better in NY that I thought he would. I thought he might have a hard time being away from NC for so long, but he likes it up there and I think he is enjoying school as much as can be expected (it is school, after all).

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 1:20 am - 7:45 - couldn't get to sleep for some reason. Watched basketball until late, but then just couldn't fall asleep. It was like my body knew it was Saturday and that I wasn't going to have to go to work today or something.

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted flakes

Lunch: egg, bean and cheese burritos (2) - apple juice - Shena made them for Marcos and I while we were working. We stopped for about 10 minutes to eat.

Dinner: Tracy's chicken (marinated in Italian dressing), funeral potatoes (really cheesy...the best kind), green beans and bread, Sprite