Send them to school. Duh. The two oldest girls started school this past week. 
Hadley is now in first grade: too old for baby food, too young to work heavy machinery.
And (Rachel sobs) Avery started Kindergarten. As Rachel took her through the classroom door, Avery said, "Bye, Mom," and didn't look back.
As a new tradition (Seriously, why do the Welkers need so many traditions?) for starting the school year, we went to the drive-in to watch G-Force. It was okay for the first hour. Then Rachel and I regretted not bringing leashes and muzzles. And tranquilizers. And a fire hose.
Jamie never left school, really. He's been working his first Ph.D. project with young steers over the summer. These are the same ones he had to bottle feed over the winter. And after all his troubles, he still won't get to eat any of them. Just like having children.
Oh, and Jamie still wants to know if Aaron drew any of his tags. Southern Arizona's too "unique" to do much hunting (cacti hurt, snakes and scorpions make me nervous, illegal immigrants are sneaky), so I have to hunt vicariously through other people. There are birds and coyotes at the feedlot, but that's different.
