A Picnic and the ER

So today started off fairly smoothly. We overslept (and by we I don't mean the children who were up promptly at 6:45 despite or late drive) got ready for the Church memorial picnic by banging down a section of fence, pulling a few weeds, digging in the dirt, making a salad and batch of cookies, then showing up almost early to finalize setup arrangements and drop off the yummy by overly gooey cookies & salad. People showed up, kids had fun with their activities, everyone ate, and we were headed home. Sydney tried to sit down on the bench to get her shoes on when she lost her balance on her hand, slipped and smacked the corner of her eye on the table and got a nasty gash on her cheek/eye socket area.

Luckily for us, not 1 doctor was there, but 3; a surgeon, a pediatric doctor, and an anesthesiologist. It's good to have friends! If you do find yourself in a position to need stictches, do it with lots of doctors on hand to evaluate your case! We debated what could be done, and where, since the two men could not legally work together in one facility, and in the end, we opted for the more immediate option instead of the putting her under to sew it up and waiting until after 8 hours had passed since her last meal. We followed our friend to the office, aka the Naval Hospital and went to the procedure room where Sydney very patiently and bravely allowed him to numb her cheek, poke her with a needle and then tape her eye closed and put in a few stitches. She was not happy, but held still enough that he was able to get everything over and done with relatively quickly.

Here is her little face at bedtime. For the record, except for the initial shock at the park, she has not let it bother her much at all. She even fell asleep while she was getting examined, probably more to do from the night before & lack of sleep than anything else, but it was a good thing she got a little extra rest today.



We had planned to spend the afternoon working in the yard & weeding, with a possible sidetrip to Lowe's to order a replacement door, but instead spent some time at the ER, at ToysR'Us getting the promised consolation prize (promised by Dad not me), at a small True Value Hardware (where we finally got a replacement guard so we won't ever have birds in the bathroom fan vent again), then Lowe's.

We spent then next 3 hours in Lowes. We ordered our door, spec-ed out a deck, almost bought lumber, then changed our mind, then remembered the dirt & mulch we needed for the yard, then a fan for the office, and then a bunch of other little things before we finally returned home to hungry cats. We need to unload the van still, but we got the kids in bed by a lovely 9pm. What a mess. They are still awake at 9:45 whispering to one another. Tomorrow will be awful, but for now I am going to drag my tired self down and get ready for bed & another early day.

Happy Memorial Day to all!

A Picnic and the ER

So today started off fairly smoothly. We overslept (and by we I don't mean the children who were up promptly at 6:45 despite or late drive) got ready for the Church memorial picnic by banging down a section of fence, pulling a few weeds, digging in the dirt, making a salad and batch of cookies, then showing up almost early to finalize setup arrangements and drop off the yummy by overly gooey cookies & salad. People showed up, kids had fun with their activities, everyone ate, and we were headed home. Sydney tried to sit down on the bench to get her shoes on when she lost her balance on her hand, slipped and smacked the corner of her eye on the table and got a nasty gash on her cheek/eye socket area.

Luckily for us, not 1 doctor was there, but 3; a surgeon, a pediatric doctor, and an anesthesiologist. It's good to have friends! If you do find yourself in a position to need stictches, do it with lots of doctors on hand to evaluate your case! We debated what could be done, and where, since the two men could not legally work together in one facility, and in the end, we opted for the more immediate option instead of the putting her under to sew it up and waiting until after 8 hours had passed since her last meal. We followed our friend to the office, aka the Naval Hospital and went to the procedure room where Sydney very patiently and bravely allowed him to numb her cheek, poke her with a needle and then tape her eye closed and put in a few stitches. She was not happy, but held still enough that he was able to get everything over and done with relatively quickly.

Here is her little face at bedtime. For the record, except for the initial shock at the park, she has not let it bother her much at all. She even fell asleep while she was getting examined, probably more to do from the night before & lack of sleep than anything else, but it was a good thing she got a little extra rest today.



We had planned to spend the afternoon working in the yard & weeding, with a possible sidetrip to Lowe's to order a replacement door, but instead spent some time at the ER, at ToysR'Us getting the promised consolation prize (promised by Dad not me), at a small True Value Hardware (where we finally got a replacement guard so we won't ever have birds in the bathroom fan vent again), then Lowe's.

We spent then next 3 hours in Lowes. We ordered our door, spec-ed out a deck, almost bought lumber, then changed our mind, then remembered the dirt & mulch we needed for the yard, then a fan for the office, and then a bunch of other little things before we finally returned home to hungry cats. We need to unload the van still, but we got the kids in bed by a lovely 9pm. What a mess. They are still awake at 9:45 whispering to one another. Tomorrow will be awful, but for now I am going to drag my tired self down and get ready for bed & another early day.

Happy Memorial Day to all!

Weekly Highlights

So this week went by in a bit of a blur! Let me go over some of the highlights...

Sydney and her friend Caden decided to get creative at his mom's work, Our Run A-Round and they practiced their numbers on C's and S's on the glow in the dark mini golf course! What little artists! It took Caden's mom about an hour to clean up the mess. I had caught them drawing one number, and thought that was it, so we left figuring it would not be too bad to clean that little spot up. Sadly they hit almost every hole on the 9 hole course. I came back the next day to touch up the paint if necessary, but she decided it was alright. It is a step more than my initial carving, but not a good step!

We also had a Mom takes toys on the floor to timeout day this week for the playroom. The toys have not earned their way free from time out just yet, but that is fine with me.

Sydney had a field trip with her class to the zoo, which was really fun. We have been there quite a few times, but never with her classmates. She liked being able to tell her friends about her favorite animals. The weather, which looked pretty gross in the morning ended up being helpful. The skies were overcast, so the animals were out and more playful than on hotter days. We got to see all the lions, which is rare because they are usually sleeping in their cave.

Emily had a "pet rapt" on Friday at school to kick off next week which is the SOL or testing week at school. "Pet rapt" is otherwise known as a pep rally. She got an orange school shirt last week and was thrilled to get to wear it again. The whole school was decked out in the school colors Friday, so that was pretty fun to see the range of orange that everyone has at home! She was surprised to learn the actual pronunciation of the rally!

Yesterday was our biggest day. The girls had their last swimming class. Both girls did remarkably well this session. They won't have another class until fall though as the schedules don;t really work for us that well over the summer. I was very proud of their progress. Emily needs to work on her back stroke, but she can actually swim now! Sydney is fine on her back, but goes only about 5 feet before she starts to go down. Then after the swim lessons, we had a few hours to get ready for a birthday party on Saturday for our neighbor's daughter. We went to their gymnastics studio/gym. Both girls had a really wonderful time (as did the rest of the party guests!) I have always suspected that Emily would probably be good at gymnastics given her strength but worried she would be too scared to try. On some of the things they had the kids do, she was not willing to try, but I bet if she went back, it would be a different story. She was able to get up the courage to jump into a foam pit off the vault block, and to run almost full force along a bouncing ramp (imagine the gymnastics vault ramp but a little bouncy) and land on the mats with a flying summersault/flip. I was really amazed when she pulled that off. Sydney had a more laid back style of super hero belly flop. She did get one good summersault in though. The girls also hung like koalas upside down on the balance beam. I had planned to sign just Emily up for an 6 class gymnastics program this summer but I am thinking maybe I should do both girls.







Then in the evening I had a very fun card making class at our house, which was accented nicely by Abby bringing in a good sized pigeon for all the guests. I am amazed at how quickly I caught the bird and got it out of the house. They are training me well I guess. I was most impressed with how quietly she got the bird into the house. No one heard her or the bird until the bird was literally at our feet under the table. I also had another special pet moment when I found a very well done lizard wedged between the dryer wall and the dryer door. Luckily no one else saw that but me!

Karl has started running with a friend of ours from church 3 days a week which means we are trying to get to bed at a reasonable time now. It hasn't really worked too well this week, so we will have to do better this week.

I am also really proud of the fact that I got 3 2 page scrapbook spreads done this week. I decided to get cracking on my pages since I am working with a monthly scrapbooking class. At first my goal was just to get the blank pages we had made in our class done, but this week I finished a class page and two others. I had gotten about 200 pictures printed about a month ago to fill in the first two class projects, but until recently everything sat on a pile on my desk! Yeah for computers so I can add the journaling elements without griping about my less than perfect handwriting! I am a bet of a nut in class since I like to get things lined up just right, so the computer lets me be anal to my heart's content. I am not even stressing over the typo I found after I got the page together. Ok, well I'll be honest, it bothers me, but I am not fixing it today.

And my final confession, I am now the proud owner of a (lightly used) Playstation 2. I told Karl I really wanted to get it for the kids, but I confessed today that I have wanted a game system since I was about 13, so after 16 years of waiting I finally have one. It is not the latest and greatest one like the Wii, but it sure if fun. After my friends left last night I am up for about an hour playing the game I bought for me at the Game store. he he he! It was lots of fun!

So there you have it, my week all at once!

Weekly Highlights

So this week went by in a bit of a blur! Let me go over some of the highlights...

Sydney and her friend Caden decided to get creative at his mom's work, Our Run A-Round and they practiced their numbers on C's and S's on the glow in the dark mini golf course! What little artists! It took Caden's mom about an hour to clean up the mess. I had caught them drawing one number, and thought that was it, so we left figuring it would not be too bad to clean that little spot up. Sadly they hit almost every hole on the 9 hole course. I came back the next day to touch up the paint if necessary, but she decided it was alright. It is a step more than my initial carving, but not a good step!

We also had a Mom takes toys on the floor to timeout day this week for the playroom. The toys have not earned their way free from time out just yet, but that is fine with me.

Sydney had a field trip with her class to the zoo, which was really fun. We have been there quite a few times, but never with her classmates. She liked being able to tell her friends about her favorite animals. The weather, which looked pretty gross in the morning ended up being helpful. The skies were overcast, so the animals were out and more playful than on hotter days. We got to see all the lions, which is rare because they are usually sleeping in their cave.

Emily had a "pet rapt" on Friday at school to kick off next week which is the SOL or testing week at school. "Pet rapt" is otherwise known as a pep rally. She got an orange school shirt last week and was thrilled to get to wear it again. The whole school was decked out in the school colors Friday, so that was pretty fun to see the range of orange that everyone has at home! She was surprised to learn the actual pronunciation of the rally!

Yesterday was our biggest day. The girls had their last swimming class. Both girls did remarkably well this session. They won't have another class until fall though as the schedules don;t really work for us that well over the summer. I was very proud of their progress. Emily needs to work on her back stroke, but she can actually swim now! Sydney is fine on her back, but goes only about 5 feet before she starts to go down. Then after the swim lessons, we had a few hours to get ready for a birthday party on Saturday for our neighbor's daughter. We went to their gymnastics studio/gym. Both girls had a really wonderful time (as did the rest of the party guests!) I have always suspected that Emily would probably be good at gymnastics given her strength but worried she would be too scared to try. On some of the things they had the kids do, she was not willing to try, but I bet if she went back, it would be a different story. She was able to get up the courage to jump into a foam pit off the vault block, and to run almost full force along a bouncing ramp (imagine the gymnastics vault ramp but a little bouncy) and land on the mats with a flying summersault/flip. I was really amazed when she pulled that off. Sydney had a more laid back style of super hero belly flop. She did get one good summersault in though. The girls also hung like koalas upside down on the balance beam. I had planned to sign just Emily up for an 6 class gymnastics program this summer but I am thinking maybe I should do both girls.







Then in the evening I had a very fun card making class at our house, which was accented nicely by Abby bringing in a good sized pigeon for all the guests. I am amazed at how quickly I caught the bird and got it out of the house. They are training me well I guess. I was most impressed with how quietly she got the bird into the house. No one heard her or the bird until the bird was literally at our feet under the table. I also had another special pet moment when I found a very well done lizard wedged between the dryer wall and the dryer door. Luckily no one else saw that but me!

Karl has started running with a friend of ours from church 3 days a week which means we are trying to get to bed at a reasonable time now. It hasn't really worked too well this week, so we will have to do better this week.

I am also really proud of the fact that I got 3 2 page scrapbook spreads done this week. I decided to get cracking on my pages since I am working with a monthly scrapbooking class. At first my goal was just to get the blank pages we had made in our class done, but this week I finished a class page and two others. I had gotten about 200 pictures printed about a month ago to fill in the first two class projects, but until recently everything sat on a pile on my desk! Yeah for computers so I can add the journaling elements without griping about my less than perfect handwriting! I am a bet of a nut in class since I like to get things lined up just right, so the computer lets me be anal to my heart's content. I am not even stressing over the typo I found after I got the page together. Ok, well I'll be honest, it bothers me, but I am not fixing it today.

And my final confession, I am now the proud owner of a (lightly used) Playstation 2. I told Karl I really wanted to get it for the kids, but I confessed today that I have wanted a game system since I was about 13, so after 16 years of waiting I finally have one. It is not the latest and greatest one like the Wii, but it sure if fun. After my friends left last night I am up for about an hour playing the game I bought for me at the Game store. he he he! It was lots of fun!

So there you have it, my week all at once!

Dental Visit

The girls had a long overdue cleaning today, and were exceptionally well behaved! It was a very pleasant change of pace from Emily's last cleaning where she ended up in hysterics and being physically restrained by me. This time, they were perfect quiet little angels. I was very proud of them! I was a little disappointed to learn that the dentist thought both girls would need braces when they get older. We had better start saving up for it!! Emily's baby teeth are fine for now space wise, but her adult teeth won't have nearly enough space. Sydney's on the other hand are crowded now, and the X-ray of the adult teeth was just incredible. There was no space at all and the teeth are just all jumbled in there. I had never seen a whole mouth X-ray before, so that was pretty neat to see. We knew that given Karl's teeth, braces were fairly likely, but I had hoped to skip out on it for one of them. On the other hand, neither girl had a cavity! Yeah!!

The girls did not have school today because it was a staff day at school, so we went strawberry picking today for the second time and had a very yummy strawberry shortcake tonight! With the last batch we had a fresh strawberry pie. The rest of the time, we just munched on berries for breakfast, lunch & dinner! Tomorrow I am thinking about strawberry spinach salad. But the rest just have to be eaten as it. They are too yummy to turn into jam, plus the girls have decided they only like the PB in PB&J, so we just aren't using jam like we used too.

Dental Visit

The girls had a long overdue cleaning today, and were exceptionally well behaved! It was a very pleasant change of pace from Emily's last cleaning where she ended up in hysterics and being physically restrained by me. This time, they were perfect quiet little angels. I was very proud of them! I was a little disappointed to learn that the dentist thought both girls would need braces when they get older. We had better start saving up for it!! Emily's baby teeth are fine for now space wise, but her adult teeth won't have nearly enough space. Sydney's on the other hand are crowded now, and the X-ray of the adult teeth was just incredible. There was no space at all and the teeth are just all jumbled in there. I had never seen a whole mouth X-ray before, so that was pretty neat to see. We knew that given Karl's teeth, braces were fairly likely, but I had hoped to skip out on it for one of them. On the other hand, neither girl had a cavity! Yeah!!

The girls did not have school today because it was a staff day at school, so we went strawberry picking today for the second time and had a very yummy strawberry shortcake tonight! With the last batch we had a fresh strawberry pie. The rest of the time, we just munched on berries for breakfast, lunch & dinner! Tomorrow I am thinking about strawberry spinach salad. But the rest just have to be eaten as it. They are too yummy to turn into jam, plus the girls have decided they only like the PB in PB&J, so we just aren't using jam like we used too.

Nature Channel

I know cats are natural born predators, but I am getting tired of my very active hunting cats right now. I miss the good old days when they missed more than they got! They are loving the spring. They have found bunnies, birds, mice, voles, lizards, and crawdads in the last few weeks. Some I have been able to rescue, and others sadly I have not. The other morning I woke up ready to toss the cats outside for chasing one another around the bedroom only to discover a bird flying around the room followed closely by the cats. Yeah! That will wake you up in a heartbeat! I was able to rescue that bird when it got it's claws (talon?) hooked in the fabric of my curtains. I picked it up thinking it was dead, but felt a very steady pulse. After a little struggle trying to figure out why I could not detach the bird, I turned it on the side and pulled it free from the fabric. When I got to the kitchen door and opened it, the bird shot out of my hands.

It would help cut down on the bird sightings in the house if the little darling had not decided that the bathroom vent would make an ideal nest site. We are now home to a small family of extremely noisy and hungry baby birds. I have never seen parents work as hard to keep babies feed as these birds have! It is amazing. And Loud!

Oh well. As soon as we can (when the babies leave), an eviction notice is going up and we are going to cover up the vent with some extra mesh as the flap just isn't doing much good.

I think it is time to buy a bell for each cat! Maybe that will slow them down if the birds hear them coming.

Nature Channel

I know cats are natural born predators, but I am getting tired of my very active hunting cats right now. I miss the good old days when they missed more than they got! They are loving the spring. They have found bunnies, birds, mice, voles, lizards, and crawdads in the last few weeks. Some I have been able to rescue, and others sadly I have not. The other morning I woke up ready to toss the cats outside for chasing one another around the bedroom only to discover a bird flying around the room followed closely by the cats. Yeah! That will wake you up in a heartbeat! I was able to rescue that bird when it got it's claws (talon?) hooked in the fabric of my curtains. I picked it up thinking it was dead, but felt a very steady pulse. After a little struggle trying to figure out why I could not detach the bird, I turned it on the side and pulled it free from the fabric. When I got to the kitchen door and opened it, the bird shot out of my hands.

It would help cut down on the bird sightings in the house if the little darling had not decided that the bathroom vent would make an ideal nest site. We are now home to a small family of extremely noisy and hungry baby birds. I have never seen parents work as hard to keep babies feed as these birds have! It is amazing. And Loud!

Oh well. As soon as we can (when the babies leave), an eviction notice is going up and we are going to cover up the vent with some extra mesh as the flap just isn't doing much good.

I think it is time to buy a bell for each cat! Maybe that will slow them down if the birds hear them coming.

Let's talk cereal

Karl went shopping at the commissary by himself and came home with about 30 boxes of cereal. I didn't really think much of it at the time, except that they have not been put away yet and that was frustrating, and because this has happened before, never quite on this scale. He loves to find a good deal and only by cereal if it is under $2.00 per lb. He usually brings home 12 to 15 boxes so this was really a big purchase. Well, anyway, this afternoon Sydney had 2 friends over after school, but when their parents came over, we all went through the back door into the kitchen and they saw the cereal collection and they wondered if we were either collecting empty cereal boxes for a massive art project, or setting up a cereal collection for the tornado victims. Nope, just my wonderful husband cruising through the cereal aisle on his own. They were amazed, especially at the fiber content of the cereals!

Let's talk cereal

Karl went shopping at the commissary by himself and came home with about 30 boxes of cereal. I didn't really think much of it at the time, except that they have not been put away yet and that was frustrating, and because this has happened before, never quite on this scale. He loves to find a good deal and only by cereal if it is under $2.00 per lb. He usually brings home 12 to 15 boxes so this was really a big purchase. Well, anyway, this afternoon Sydney had 2 friends over after school, but when their parents came over, we all went through the back door into the kitchen and they saw the cereal collection and they wondered if we were either collecting empty cereal boxes for a massive art project, or setting up a cereal collection for the tornado victims. Nope, just my wonderful husband cruising through the cereal aisle on his own. They were amazed, especially at the fiber content of the cereals!