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Sparky Daniels

12-year old's To Do List

Jacob informed me that he was very productive today. When I asked him about his day and what he did, he proudly informed me (first and foremost) that he completed a robot-arm for his Cave Troll!

Achievable goals my friend, the secret is achievable goals.

- ERIC

Getting a Cast

It's summer 2012.  I've survived forty-something years with ZERO broken bones.  Although, there was this time back in Elementary school where I was running from a big St. Bernard (not Michael's as it was thirty-something years ago) ... I ran through the door jam, but WHAM!!  At full speed, I crushed my foot - only the last, little pinky toe didn't make it through the door.  That hurt ... but never went to the doctor, so ZERO broken bones.

My oldest daughter has made it fifteen-years with ZERO broken bones.  Jacob's survived twelve-years without so much as a serious sprain.  Alas, the youngest, Barbara and mine's nemesis has chalked up our families FIRST official broken bone.  We'll have a separate entry for the "story" for how it happened.

Step #1 to getting a TRUE broken bone diagnosis...
You've gotta decide to go to the hospital.  If they don't confirm the brokenness with an X-Ray, it doesn't count.  God writes it down as a serious sprain.  You'd think going to the hospital would be easy, but unless the bone is like sticking out of the skin at some disgusting angle, you're likely gonna think it's "just a sprain."  And let's face it, nobody wants to go to the ER - it really eats into your day.  Anyway, when Steph's forearm was still hurting the next day, I decided to bite the bullet and take her to the ER.
Step #1 - Goto hospital: COMPLETE

Step #2 to getting a TRUE broken bone diagnosis...
Get checked in to the ER.  The trick is letting the kid do most of the talking.  Be sure to prep the child to moan, groan and appear "in pain," when speaking to the admitting nurse.  If you fail to appear like "emergency" material, you'll end up sitting in the waiting room all afternoon.
Step #2 - Convince Admitting Nurse child is in pain ... life is at stake: COMPLETE

Step #3 to getting a TRUE broken bone diagnosis...
Continue pained expressions and moaning until doctor sees you and orders the X-Ray.
Here's Stephanie, in obvious pain, with the X-Ray machine hanging over her.

Unfortunately, I didn't shoot any video, so you don't get a sense of her moaning and audible expressions of intense agony.
Step #3 - Show obvious pain to X-Ray technician: COMPLETE

Step #4 to getting a TRUE broken bone diagnosis...
This step is the most CRITICAL.  With the X-Rays taken, Step #4 is often the most daunting.  You can't really "fool," an X-Ray, so to get the TRUE broken bone diagnosis you need to have an actual broken bone.  Which, fortunately for us, Stephanie did.
Step #4 - Actually have a broken bone: COMPLETE

Now, here comes the best part - your BADGE of HONOR.  With the doctor appropriately diagnosing your child with a broken bone, you now get a temporary splint/cast.  Apparently, you have to make a separate appointment with an Orthopedicts specialist to get the actual cast.  Here's Stephanie getting her temporary splint/cast-

As you can see from the smile, Stephanie has ceased the act of agony.

Here we have the splint completely assembled on her arm... again, very little agony.

Lastly, the sling.

Thanks for the Happy Birthday presents

It's Texas ... summertime ... June to be exact.  Now that I think about it, June isn't exactly the APEX of heat that will hit Texas in a matter of a few weeks.

Anyways, to clarify - it's Texas, it's Summer, June to be exact, and it's Jacob's Birthday.  Now, what does an athletic, handsome, turning twelve, pre-pubescent boy want for his birthday?  He wants to run around for hours on end with a bunch of football coaches perfecting his skills at the game of football - the game he loves.  Oh, did I mention that Jacob also like LaDainian Tomlinson?

Put it all together and we have Jacob signed up for the LaDainian Tomlinson Prepatory Academy in Waco, TX in June.  It was pretty AWESOME!  A boy, his father, roadtrip to Waco, TX.  We talked man stuff, and Jacob was a little uncomfortable.  Put he talked man stuff nevertheless.  The night before his camp, while Jacob and I were staying in the hotel, we watched Field of Dreams.  One of the greatest father-son movies EVER.

Back to camp ... below is a picture of all the participants and the coaches-

Lavish lifestyle

I'm sure all of you are wondering what type of lavish lifestyle a guy like me lives.  I mean, here I am, the father of TWO wonderful children ... and another child.  Husband with a trophy wife and great job in technology.  And, a great head of hair.

When I wake up in the morning, what is one of my wonderful children doing for me?  Here's a shot of Stephanie's special yogurt parfee.

Mmmm GOOD!!

Texas Cup Champions

I believe I mentioned previously how Stephanie, the most amazing soccer player - male or female, on planet earth (or any other planet, for that matter).  Well, an event like the Texas Cup doesn't just get covered by the Daniels' BLOG.  It makes FIRST PAGE news (it was the first page I read...).

I don't want to spoil the "mainstream news" experience for those of you in Cyber space, so below is a pixelized rendering of the actual article seen by MILLIONS in the newspaper.

The Rockies take out the Braves with help from Daniels, 10-6

Jacob played baseball this year - U12 (that's up to 12-year olds, and includes some kids that recently turn 13-years old this Spring).  The team was called the Rockies.  For most of the season, Jake played first base.  That's where you put the big kid who can mash the ball.  On most other teams, Jake would be considered young, but this team is mostly 11-year olds.  So Jake is on the older/bigger side.

The Rockies finished the season 10-8-1, and were seeded #5 for the End of Season Tournament (which is going on now).  Long story short, Jacob had a great game last night.  I happen to keep the stats on my iPhone - scoring the game.  This also provides a GAMECAST on the web that almost anyone can follow.  One of the cool things is that the scoring application provides an end of game recap that reads like a real newspaper article.  Jacob had a huge game and factored prominently in the newspaper recap the game scoring application generated (I've pasted what it assembled about Jacob below).

I want to point out that after Jake hit a triple his first time up, he technically "singled" the second time up, but I have to provide a little color.  Jake crushed the ball and blasted it out to left field.  It was clutch because there were 2-outs and we needed to get a hit to prevent the umps from starting another inning.  Jacob, like any highly paid athlete, crushed the ball and then jogged to first admiring his work as the ball blasted off towards the fence in left field.  He thought it was going to easily clear the fence and didn't seem to be in any hurry to run.  Instead wanting to watch the ball clear the left field fence for a HR.  Sadly, the ball caught the top part of the fence and fell in play.  The left fielder picked up the ball and threw it in to hold Jake to a meager single.

Here's the recap from the scoring application-
Jacob Daniels went 2-2, helping the Rockies to a 10-6 victory over the Braves on Wednesday at Fenway.

He tripled in the second inning and singled in the fourth inning. The Rockies never surrendered the lead after the first inning, scoring two runs on an RBI double by Matt Freeman and an error.

After pushing across one run in the top of the second, the Braves faced just a 2-1 deficit. An error fueled the Braves' comeback.

The Rockies answered the Braves' top inning with five runs of their own in the second. The Rockies scored on an RBI single by Jason Malmquist, an RBI triple by Daniels, a passed ball, a steal of home by Rashad Carter, and an error.

After a quick strike from the Braves, the Rockies responded with one run in the third. The Rockies scored on a steal of home by Aydon Holley.

Four runs in the top of the fourth helped the Braves close their deficit to 8-6. A passed ball, an RBI single by Ellysa B, a passed ball, and a steal of home by Nico G gave the Braves life.

The Rockies added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. The inning looked promising, as Daniels singled, scoring John Lerma to kick things off. That was followed up by a steal of home by Daniels that scored Daniels

https://www.gamechanger.io/game-4fbd7d9138ad005e0a000023/recap-story

Easter 2012

We celebrated Easter this year too - 2012.  What Easter celebration would be complete without candy, chocolate bunnies, Peeps, Easter dresses and (of course) dyed Easter Eggs.

Here we have Jacob hard at work, preparing camouflauge Easter Eggs - I mean seriously, what boy in his right mind likes pastels???

But we have girls in this family too.  Here's Stephanie showing off her Easter Egg dying skillz.  She's a bit of a show-off, but when you're as talented as she, it isn't bragging.

Here's the last iPhone shot I took of the Easter Egg dying shananigans this year.

A couple of current close-ups

In case you haven't seen Jacob or Jessica or Stephanie, here are some close-ups

Jacob's a KILLER ... Stone Cold

No bling ... no flash ... nothing but GRIT!

Jacob was able to participate in some warfare.  Alright, so it's simulated warfare, but it's the best an 11-year old is going to get.  As a dad, let's hope this is as close to warfare as any of us get.  Jacob celebrated his friend's Jack birthday at Texas Paintball.

Yes, it's all about Jessica

In addition to Freshman Princess (pictures available on the BLOG), Jessica also attended her Freshman prom/dance/party at Hyde Park.  I'm not exactly sure what it was called ... I know it involved all of us (students and parents) meeting for dinner and then the "High schoolers" aka Adolescents meeting at the school gym to "dance."

You're correct if you noticed - NO BOYS.

It's all about Jessica

Some developments on Jessica and her brief yet storied high school career at Hyde Park...

Freshman Princess pictures-

Yeah, I know, pretty nice pictures.  You can see where Jessica gets her good looks - she should thank her mother for those beautiful delicate features.  Nothing like my chiselled good looks.

Somebody lost a tooth

Here's a picture of somebody's mouth, MINUS a tooth.  Here's a little test for you on your Daniels recognitiation skills-

Do you think that's Jacob (I've posted lost tooth photos of him in the past) or Stephanie (she's probably still losing teeth) or Jessica (probably not a great guess)...

OU ... The University we love in Austin, TX

Nothin' beats cuddling

Even though kids are getting older, nothing beats a good cuddling session-

Jessica (book up) has a phobia about pictures and BLOGS...

Stephanie's 10th Birthday - 2011

LAST AUGUST ... we celebrated Stephanie's birthday.  Funny, cause we just celebrated Jessica's birthday (she's FIFTEEN) and pressing for a Driver's License.  Yeah, you heard me right - a driver's license.  Jessica is so intent about it that she had Barbara take her down to the Texas Department of Safety for a Learner's Permit.  Seem's like the state of Texas has misnamed their little department ... any organization charged with distributing learner's permits or driver's licenses to teens is DEFINITELY NOT the Department of Public SAFETY.  Definitely not SAFETY ... definitely not.

But back to the task at hand - Stephanie's birthday last year - her 10th.  Ya know, it seems like just last year that we were celebrating Jessica's "10th birthday."  I guess it's like Ferris says ... "Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop to smell the roses you just might miss it..."

As you can see, she had some great friends over for a slumber party.  They don't have some horrendous skin condition, instead, they did each other's make-up.  Here are some close-ups (Stephanie first, then her friends)-

Now for her friends ---

While Mom's away the Dad will play...

As many of you already know, Barbara traveled on a mission trip to Amman (the capital city of Jordan).  This is especially cool, as she is following up in ministry with many of the same YWAMers that I worked with years ago on my trip to Jordan.  Unlike construction (the focus years ago), Barbara's trip is focused on prayer ministry.

The key thing everyone needs to realize is that this leaves me alone with the kids for a week.  One of the traditions we established on a past trip Barbara took is to break out the cook book and hand select meals that we would prepare and eat together.

Here's a shot of Stephanie with her completed twice-baked potatoe topping-

Stephanie hand grated the cheese, cut the green onions and (most importantly) hand-dolliped the mayonaise.  I should also add that Stephanie handled all the measurements.

Not to be out done, Jacob handled the marinade and other "surprise" side dish.

Jacob was a measuring and pouring machine.  From the look on his face, he may enjoy cooking more than football.  Not a problem, his Dad enjoys eating more than football...

Here's a shot of the finished product.  The potatoes turned into a joint effort as Jacob handled halving the red potatoes and then Stephanie added twice-baked mixture.  Of course the potatoes went back in the oven for the full twice-baked effect.

 The meal complete, Jacob and Stephanie were not shy about posing.  What was the main dish you ask?  What special, mom's away let's fill the cracks of the heart, dish did we cook up?

Here's a closer look-

 That's right - lamb chops!  This is a special dish as it's the exact recipe we cooked up last time mom was away.  Nothing satisfies like a fluffy white lamb... chop.  We have another little piece to the tradition.  Last year, I had never watched an episode of Man v. Food... last year we ate lamb chops and watched about 5 and a half hours of Man v. Food.  We popped the Netflix disc in the Wii and watched another few episodes of Adam in Man v. Food.

The wine, lamb chops and red potatoes were excellent - Ruth Criss couldn't have done any better.  And the company was EXQUISITE.

Jacob's name in LIGHTS!

So his name isn't in lights - it was in the newspaper (the Oakhill Gazette).

The mainstream media wanted to make sure that Jacob received his proper due for making it this season as an Academic All-American.

And I know what you're thinking, even thousands of miles away, it won't be the last time we read his name in the newspaper.

Jessica's Performance

This weekend is the school's dress rehearsal for, The Music Man.

Jessica, who will be in High School next year, is in the play and I CAN'T WAIT to see her perform.  The performance will be the last weekend of the school year, like May 19th through the 21st.

I said "like" May 19th... the ACTUAL date is May 12th through 14th.  What's a week amongst friends?

And yes, you read my note correctly.  Jessica will be in HIGH SCHOOL next year.  That means I will be the unfortunate parent of a High Schooler.  I say unfortunate not because there's anything wrong with Jessica - she's amazing.  I just remember when I was in High School, and hanging out with friends.  Their parents would come by... and well... I won't share with you the thoughts I had about their parents, but some words that might have been in my mind as the High Schooler were nerdy, stiff, old... and now, well, I'm the parent.

Stephanie will also be in the play, but absolutely not in HIGH SCHOOL next year.