Whhhooooaaaaa!!

Kids always keep you on your toes. Parents know this from the day they are born. On any given day, a child will have bumps, bruises, scrapes, cuts, something that shows they haven't slowed down any. And of course it multiplies with each extra child you have.

My house is certainly no different.

Last Tuesday, Bryce decided that he needed to split the end of a stick so that it would be an arrow and decided to use my good kitchen knife to do it. Of course he cut himself. Good. It required a trip to the emergency room. I loaded up all three of my kids plus my neighbors baby who I was babysitting and drove the ten minutes to the hospital. And then waited 45 minutes just to get into triage.

Forty-five minutes. For triage. It was a really good thing he didn't cut the entire finger off.

The nurse then sent us back into the waiting room with the information that the doctors were changing shifts and they would be with us shortly. Shortly was another 15 minutes of waiting. About the time we finally got into a cubby to be seen, my neighbor showed up to pick up her son and stuck around while mine got stitched. Once we got back into the cubby, the waiting time was practically nil. They swooped in, stitched him up and sent him on his way. Bryce has had stitches once before, when he was about 18 months but Brady has never been around anything like it. So he watched in awe as they gave Bryce the shot to numb the finger. Then, as the practitioner stuck the needle in with the first stitch, Brady just let out this big long "Whhhoooooaaaaaaa!"

A proud point in my parenting, let me tell ya.

My neighbor is laughing hard by this point, the nurse is trying not to react and I'm telling him "you're gonna think "whoa" if you do anything that requires stitches any time soon!" Brady kept trying to move up next to the nurse to get a closer look and I kept having to put him back at the end of the cot so she would have room to work. He was just amazed by everything going on. Even with the idea that iodine on the floor must be blood because it looked like it to him. Almost two hours after walking into the e.r., we finally got to leave, all kids back in tact but it will be a night that will be hard to forget.

We Had a Visitor

A week ago today we had a visitor from someone named Ike. He blew in, without the fierceness of a hurricane, but as a remnant with 75 mph winds. It was not pretty. He left behind plenty of serious damage throughout the state of Kentucky. It's been reported that over half a million people were without power at some point Sunday. Our damage is displayed proudly by the missing shingles on our roof (upwards of 20), the fallen limbs out if our tree (which is now almost completely cut down thanks to Hubby) and the loss of electricity, telephone and internet.

I was beside myself.

It really wasn't as bad as I make it sound. We lost power about 9am Sunday morning. I dropped Hubby off at his truck so that he could get a head start out in the winds as he headed north. When the kids and I returned, I found two sets of lines down across one end of our road (both are still across the street as of this afternoon). Phone calls from the emergency system started coming in telling us to stay in our homes to avoid downed limbs, trees and power lines. Eventually we received calls from the same system that schools were canceled county wide the next day. One less thing to worry about (especially since i hadn't washed all the clothes yet and would have a hard time dressing them). We spent the day without power, trying to entertain the kids while my neighbor and I attempted to not go crazy. She spent the afternoon with us watching the winds die down, hoping (with us) that the power came back on soon.

No such luck.

There was areas of town that was up and running. Stores. By Sunday afternoon, Wal-mart and many of the restaurants all had power because the city had fewer outages than the county. So for supper on Sunday night, neighbor sprung for Wal-mart deli chicken, cabbage for slaw (before the salad dressing spoiled in the fridge) and chips. After dinner, as the darkness set in, I lit every candle that I could find as well as my oil lamp. A total of eight candles glowed across my mantel. We had flashlights to run to the bathrooms and to find anything that was needed outside the living room. Oh and have I mentioned that Bryce is scared of the dark. Deathly. As in he worried me to death about how he was going to sleep. All. Afternoon. At bedtime, I laid a pallet out in the living room floor, blew out all of the candles and left the oil lamp burning as I put the kids to bed. Brady was out in under 10 minutes. A short time later, I told Bryce and Belle to hush and go to sleep. They were out in under 10 minutes, too. Unfortunately Bryce woke me up every few hours.

By Monday morning, my phone was out. We were up with the sun (at least I was) as the dogs started to bark and the early bedtime kicked in. All of the kids were up by 7:30. Cell phone service was sporadic on Sunday, signals bouncing, and often calls just blatantly failing. Monday it had improved so I did have access to a phone when I needed it. I went to Wal-Mart first thing to get non-perishable breakfast stuff as well as lunch. I had running water (we're on city) and hot water (thankful for my natural gas water heater that we considered changing to electric) so I washed dishes and cleaned up my kitchen. The kids played outside most of the day. For supper, my neighbor joined us for pizza (from the local Papa Johns). It had been announced earlier in the day that school was being held the next day so the kids took their showers and dressed for bed so that they would be able to get up on Tuesday. I was lighting candles when something behind me flickered. My neighbor asked if I had seen it. Then it kicked in. We had power just in time for bed. I turned on my computer, excited at the prospect to look at the local news headlines only to find that my modem was not receiving a signal. I took that as a sign and washed clothes so that the kids had something presentable to wear to school the next morning.

Tuesday, I called about the internet and found that the tower we receive our signal from did not have power yet. I had internet for 15 minutes on Wednesday morning, long enough to check an email account and find the phone number to our telephone provider. As fast as the internet appeared, it disappeared. I called the phone provider to find that a fiber optic line was down and that Bellsouth was promising to have it repaired by Monday. Yep, Monday the 22nd. Thursday morning, I got up to find that I had a strong internet signal and 150 email messages. Life was returning to somewhat normal. My phone was returned to working order last night.

While the week has been an inconvenience, we were lucky. We didn't have any major damage (such as a tree falling on our house like the one down the street). The weather cooled off enough on Sunday that it was comfortable for most of the time the power was down as long as the windows were open. We were lucky enough to have power restored after 36 hours while many were without power for 3, 4 and 5 days. We didn't have to worry about losing water and had hot water which was way more than most. The kids played outside more in those two days than they did. All. Summer. Long. It was a long week, but it could've been much, much worse.

Eight

This little man turned eight years old yesterday. It's hard to believe that my baby is already eight. On Saturday morning, Hubby gave him the option of taking his booster seat out of the car. He was so ready that he wasted no time getting it out. I personally was not ready for this step. It meant admitting that he's getting older, that it's one more step away from being the baby (even though he hasn't been a baby for a very long time).

He decided he wanted a strawberry cake with strawberry icing and halloween decorations. He also chose the yellow icing to go with it.
Not so long ago he was a baby in my arms. Now he's a boy trying to grow into a man. But no matter how big he gets, he will always be my baby.

A Meme

I was tagged at the end of last week by Ladybird. One of my next posts will have all the details of why it took me so long to get it done but here it is!

Here are the rules:
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Write 6 random things about yourself.
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
4. If you’re tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag.

1. I have a hard time enjoying time without the kids. Don't get me wrong, I live for school. I worry about them when they spend the night with others and aren't home with me.

2. I'm very hesitant to try new foods. It took six years of marriage before Hubby could get me to try something as simple as sweet and sour chicken or stir fry.

3. I am a sympathy crier. In a funk and need someone to cry with? Come see me. I can cry with you.

4. I often find myself longing for the passion others have about their faiths.

5. I think that most of the comedies found on television today aren't funny. Most are actually crude.

6. I have so much to do that I don't feel like doing that if you gave me all the time in the world to complete it I probably would never get it finished.

Be sure to check out 100 more things about me here.

Can Pain Really Be Good?

My legs are throbbing and my feet are aching. The kids have been bugging me the last few weeks to walk around the block. What that doesn't tell you is I walk. They ride bikes. I clocked that distance last week in my van and found it to be about a mile and a half. It's been a year or better since Hubby and I took the kids on this trek. They love the freedom of being able to ride their bikes outside of the area we designated for them. When I say we I mean me. Hubby thinks that I have too tight a hold on the kids but that's a topic for another day. While I enjoyed my walk I am certainly paying for it. In all honesty, can you actually put yourself through this pain and feel better about it tomorrow? I'm about to find out.

More Firsts and a Surprise

Belle cheered at her first football game yesterday. Both the beginning and older teams won their games and the girls seemed to have a good time. I didn't get a picture of her in her uniform prior to the game because we were literally racing out the door to get her there on time. Hubby tried to get a picture of her when we got back only for me to find that the memory card had ejected itself from its slot when the boys knocked the camera off my lap at the game. Of course the pictures he took didn't save. I will be getting a picture of her next Saturday unless she comes home tomorrow from school pictures wearing her uniform. In that case, I'll be getting her then.Brady went to a birthday party yesterday and jumped off a diving board for the first time. Unfortunately, I wasn't there to capture this event (just as I wasn't there to capture Bryce's first time either). He has talked about it non-stop since he came home this morning. That and the fact he ate shrimp at a chinese restaurant and he liked it. He's evening pining for Hubby to come home and ask who wants chinese for supper so that he can say "I do! I do!" and request that we eat at the restaurant instead of bringing it home like we usually do.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was in the market for dishes (at the time). I never did go about buying any and have just been watching to see if the ones I liked would go on sale. Just so happens that our local Wal-Mart is remodeling and marked the set on sale. They were over half off! I happened to mention (ok i was griping!!!) to my neighbor last week that they had finally put the darn things on sale but unfortunately my budget would just not budge right now for any extras. To my surprise, she picked up the last set they had and gave them to me as a thank you gift. To say I was shocked was an understatement.
I loved the color of these dishes. They have a more yellow tone to them they they show here but I thought they gave off a warm feeling. Thanks could not express my gratitude to her enough. Thanks again MA!

Positive Thinking

Over at another blog I'm addicted to, I read a post about it seems everyone is negative lately. I came to realize that she was so completely right in that aspect. Everyone one around me has had complaints about something and I am certainly no different. I find myself griping about everything going on around me, from the political ads on tv to the kids not wanting to listen. Her remedy was to only talk about the good things that have happened to her lately and I was so ready to comment! But then I couldn't think of one thing that has gone my way lately. Not one! So I'm trying to look at things in a different perspective.

Belle is participating in her class's "mad scientist" program in which she gets to be one of the two scientists this week. This means she has to come up with a science experiment and perform it for the class. She even gets to wear the cool goggles and lab coat and you know it's all about being able to look the part! She decided she was going to build a volcano and spent the afternoon perfecting the ingredients she needed to get the results she desired. Out of everything she wanted to use to make the volcano, the only thing I actually needed to purchase was at fifty cent box of baking soda! I certainly like a cheap science project!

Bryce came home yesterday with the announcement he had to draw a poster for a book as if he were designing a movie poster for it. Of course, I don't keep poster board around the house so I told him I would pick it up today and he could do it tonight. Unfortunately, our Wal-Mart is the middle of remodeling and aren't completely stocking their shelves. They were out of plain white poster board and not one other store in town carried it that I could find. So I had to drive 20 miles to the next town to buy it. They were also out of the single sheets but had a package of 10 sheets for less than $4. Not only did I get the extra I had intended on buying for future projects, but I got it at a lower price than I would've if I had bought individual pieces! Bryce was prepared when he got home and already had a sketch of how he wanted it to look drawn out on paper. I now have an indian with some serious abs sitting on my couch!

Brady has been busy lately trying to perfect his flip on the trampoline. He finally realized this weekend that he was using too much power to flip and was going over to far. He adjusted his power and actually landed a few of his flips! He was ecstatic! This afternoon after homework was finished, I sent all the kids outside to play. Brady didn't like that idea, he wanted to play the Wii but decided he would work on his flips some more. I can only hope that my son is not the only one who manages to injure his face the night before picture day. Apparently, he misjudged his power again only to slide across the trampoline mat. On his face. He's already informed me he does not want to go to school tomorrow, that his picture will be bad that the other kids will laugh. I told him the kids will not laugh but I'll enjoy having a picture that I'll be able to show his kids one day. I'm also hoping for his sake that the picture will be shot from his right side as they have been the last two years. We'll see.