Another Visit to the ER

Last night brought another visit to the ER. Mike went as a dad instead of a patient this time. Calvin is just absolutely crazy - he climbs everything, falls multiple times a day, and runs into everything. He is very accident prone and moves at high speed all the time. It's no surprise to me that he broke something, I guess what is surprising is how! He fell out of bed last night. He wouldn't stop crying and after some poking and probing Mike guessed his collarbone was broken. So off the boys went to the ER. Luckily it was only a small fracture. Calvin came home with a sling. He should be healed in 1-2 weeks and doesn't need another trip to the Dr unless he doesn't feel better and heal in 2 weeks. Mike took Calvin to Kripsy Kreme donuts on the way home. He went back to bed at around 11:30. He was up screaming at 4:30 - I guess the medicine had worn off. We are keeping him on the good Tylenol all day. He does complain of his arm hurting and he is grouchy from the lack of sleep, but he has been outside playing and swimming most of the day so it probably won't slow him down too much. There is no way we can pull a shirt over his head, so his single button down, short sleeve, shirt will get a lot of use this week! I just want it all healed before our trip out west!

Lessons Learned

We've learned a few lessons around here. Lilah is learning to pull herself up to furniture. She is now standing up waiting for me when she wakes up in her crib. She can pull herself up on the
couch upstairs but not downstairs yet. She is learning that when she tries to pull herself up
on the piano and chair legs, she falls and gets goose eggs on her forehead. Lilah also loves to climb the stairs. She sneaks up them quite often. She has learned that the consequence is either mom or dad quickly coming to get her with concerned looks on their faces...it's fortunate she doesn't know the real consequence and hopefully we can get a lock on our sliding door to keep it that way! She has also learned that teeth can be painful. We are hoping now that the second one has come in she can get back to her normal happy self for a little while.

Calvin learned a hard lesson yesterday. While out doing some clearance shopping for next year
Calvin learned that when Mom says "if you are not good you won't get a treat" that she means it. He cried all the way home when he realized that the girls got ice cream from McDonalds and he didn't.

I am hoping to learn what I can do to help my kids be good while we shop. When we go grocery shopping most of them are strapped into the cart and they are good. It's when we go to Kohls and Old Navy that we get into trouble. I can get 1 or 2 of them into a stroller or cart, but that leaves Calvin and occasionally Madeline free. Is there something I can bring or do that can help them occupy their hands and time? They get bored and then the trouble starts. Any suggestions? I realize leaving them home is the best option, but not always available. Any other suggestions?

On another note, I got some really good deals yesterday. I did get things for the kids, but I found a few things for me as well. Like a cute pair of pants on clearance. I thought they were $8 so I grabbed them. I rarely find pants my size on clearance. Even better was the fact that they rang up at $4! They are so cute, I'm wore them to work today. I also got a new necklace. I'm getting bolder with my jewelry - it's orange! I just had to post a picture to prove I was actually wearing it! Those are my new pants too!

Chaos

Just a short video of all the kids. That's about how life is at our house - just a little bit crazy!

Growing Pains

Lilah has had a tough week! She has learned to crawl, cut teeth, and taken a big
spill. She has been scooting backwards on her bottom using her feet, scooting backwards
on her tummy using her arms, and trying to use her hands and feet! She finally got the crawling thing down this week. Actually in the two days since I filmed this she has gotten twice as fast.
Crawling on hardwood floors can be tough on a little body - she falls on her face a lot! She has
also been teething for a couple of weeks and her first tooth has finally cut through. That was not a pleasant experience for my normally happy baby. Nobody is looking forward to the next one.
She also took a big spill and has quite the scab on her nose, which makes wiping and suctioning
her nose hard on both us. Hopefully next week doesn't hurt so much.



video of Lilah crawling

Bowling

On Monday we went bowling for FHE. There is this great program, it's all over the US, where kids bowl free everyday for the whole summer. Older kids, parents, and extended family can also particpate by buying a family pass for upto 4 people for only $24. We decided to give it a try - you can't beat those prices!
It was an interesting experience. We didn't take the camera so Mike took pictures with his phone - considering the lighting, the camera, and what we were doing, it's amazing you can see anything in these pictures. I apologize for how bad they are...
We had a good time, for the most part. I have to say that Calvin looked the cutest in his shoes! It was a good look for him! Madeline probably exhibted the most enthusiasm - for everything - bowling, going to the bathroom multiple times, using the drinking fountain - it was all exciting! Anna Elise didn't 'need' any help from her dad so she had the S L O W E S T rolls down the lane and consequently the lowest score. Mike killed us all as far as scores go. And me, I get the award for being the dumbest bowler of the day. Who goes bowling (with their right hand) and injures their neck and left shoulder? That would be me. I still hurt. I am very thankful for Ibuprophen.
We can't wait to go back!

Work and More Work

We've been working on our house and it just seems to never end. 2 days after I repaint a wall there are dirty finger prints, smudges, crayon, pen, ect all over it again! It's a losing battle. I have finished my awful utility room. I scraped the peeling paint off, painted the plaster that is still intact, and moved my rug in there. We also moved everything out and put it in our shed, so I have room to do laundry and I can open the freezer door all the way without tripping! Mike has been wanting to get rid of our living room rug, so you can see the hardwoord floors and that rug has been peed and spit up on for 4 years now, so it's probably ok to use it for the utility room now...I'll just have to get a new one, the sacrafices I make... We've also finished fixing the damage we did to our stairs, basically rebuilding the staircase at the bottom, had carpet laid, added more trim and put up a sliding door. I've included pictures of everything. Really, if we can't sell it, I love it, we'll be ok here. I'll just send the kids outside more often =-) I added several pictures since most of our family hasn't ever seen our house.



with the sliding door closed (we will add a handle to open it)

the door partially open

a closeup of all the work Mike did

living/family room

dinning room

weird view of part of my kitchen

half of our upstairs master suite - those doors are our bathroom and closet

the other side of the stairs is our office, small couch, and tv

two views of my new and improved utility room

Harvest, already?

So we've been eating out of our garden - really! It's growing like a weed. I keep thinking I need
to post about it, but then two days later it's grown some more. Everything is living and looks good, I keep waiting for things to die and they don't, so I have started to do a little bit of thinning, it's never going to all fit in that tiny raised bed! My peas that I bought as plants have died, but not before they gave us about 6 or 7 peas to eat (peas, not pods). It was crazy - they had these tiny little pods with anywhere from one to three full size, sweet, peas inside. The kids ate them and loved them! We've also had one strawberry to eat. The kids checked on it's progress 2-3 times a day until it was finally red enough to pick. They all took a bite and declared it tasty! I have three little green tomatoes that they watch faithfully - they want them to turn red so they can pick them. If nothing else, my kids are having a great time with this garden!