So far, so busy

June just flew right by. Cakes happily finished up second grade and got to ride a horse at a friend's birthday party. She was pretty funny on the way to the party, narrating what usually happens on those free pony rides you get at fairs and such. "You get on the horse, and they say 'hi, what's your name' and then they ask you what grade you're in and then you've gone around the circle once and your turn is over." I told her I was pretty sure this wasn't going to be that kind of ride, and I was right. She got to ride a real horse in a real horse ring.

Listening to her instructions

On, but looking a little unsure

Getting the hang of it.

She liked it, but she hasn't asked to do it again. It's possible she just doesn't know that's an option.

Silly had his Joy School Graduation. It went as well as can be expected when trying to get a group of preschoolers to cooperate. The eating part was great and left all of us grownups saying we need to do these things more often.

Our Joy School group

Joy School Pep Song (I meant to tell him to change into shorts before we left, the pants did survive.)

Receiving his diploma



My little graduate

After school let out the kids had more than a week of grand adventures with their grandparents. Bubba had only had his cast on for a day when I turned him over to my parents and he had a few good wipe outs getting used to his new leg, but no permanent damage. Reports I've heard from the kids thus far on their adventures: Papop took them trucking in the woods (Silly thinks he goes trucking every day). Silly said something about running over dead beavers when they were in Papop's truck, I'm assuming those were groundhogs that they're always trying to get rid of. Silly thinks they just left the dead groundhogs there in the dirt forever. Pretty sure that's not true. They were pretty excited to have a party for Papop Sunday for Father's Day. I've also heard that Papop was very impressed with their church behavior, which makes me wonder if they were better than usual, or just their usual selves. They went to the pool with their cousins. And Mamie refilled the sandbox before they came so I'm sure they spent plenty of time out there.

They spent the the second half of the week with Gummy and Grandaddy (Bubba finally learned to say Grandaddy instead of calling both of them Grandma). They went to the zoo and I've heard lots about the baby monkey and the birds. They also went to the children's museum and saw Mr. Popper's Penguins. Scott's parents brought them back Sunday afternoon and Bubba was pretty happy to see me, crawled all over me for pretty much the rest of the day. It's nice to be loved. :-)

Last week Cakes went to art camp and loved every minute. Scott found out about an art program at ODU so we signed her up for the week that was all about clay. I called him after I dropped her off Monday morning and told him I'd dropped Cakes off in a room full of girls just like her. He picked her up Tuesday afternoon and said she was glowing. She brought home her box a treasures on Friday and ever since then she's been creating little homes for them.

Bubba really liked the way his cast thumped and echoed on the stairs of ODU's visual arts building

The kids played at the bottom of the stairwell every time we came and went. Silly kept asking me to come under and look at the pictures on the walls. No thanks.



The bottom of one of her pots



Her piece of the group puzzle





Her favorite pieces. She knew Mamie would like the mushroom.



Houses for her turtle.



And that was June.

Injured Leg

Yesterday at about 4:45 I heard a banshee-like scream from my bedroom and Silly came running to tell me that Bubba had jumped off my bed with no pillows to land on and nobody to catch him (apparently jumping off the bed is safe with pillows or someone playing catcher).

I sat Bubba on the couch and looked him over, his right foot looked the tiniest bit swollen and when I straightened both legs out to compare the two, he kept pulling his leg back. After about 10 minutes of sitting he decided to get up. He limped from the couch to the stairs, tried a step, then gave up. Not good signs. I called my mom for a medical consult. She not only said I'd better take him in, she also informed me that my sister was having pins put in her broken elbow. She fell holding her baby and sacrificed her elbow to save his head.

I called the doctor's office, waited an hour for them to call back (why do the people who answers the phones at the after-hours answering services always have such bad attitudes!?! I have never yet had someone who sounded happy to help.) and for Scott to get home from work then set off for CHKD's Emergency Department. We got there at 6:40. We were in the waiting room until 8:30. We left at 10:30. Really, really made me wish I lived in Richmond so I could just walk right into the ER and declare that I am Dr. Ramsey's daughter and get the royal treatment. Those were the days.

Bubba was quite entertaining in the waiting room. There were two little baby girls there and he was having a good time watching and talking about them. It was pretty cold in that place, but luckily I had thought to bring his blanket, baby and nekkie mole. And we had fun playing with his disposable BP cuff. I kept blowing it up then he would squish it. That was probably an hour of fun.

They took lots of X-rays of his foot and leg. The X-ray tech told me he had to make sure the pictures came out right before we were done. I told him, "Sadly, I know the drill."

Dr. came back and told me there were no visible breaks, but referred us to orthopedics, same one we saw with previous broken arms, and sent someone in to splint his leg. She put a splint up to his knee, but then the Dr said she wanted it all the way up his leg so she had to do it over again. Bubba just sat there watching her.

We got home just before 11 and he slept until about 1:45 then woke up a few times crying. I think mostly he was just uncomfortable and hadn't figured out how to maneuver his big, awkward leg yet. Eventually Scott just put him in our bed. I don't know where Scott went. Bubba slept sideways the rest of the night. This morning he doesn't even want to stand. Poor little dude.

 

Silly playing with the BP cuff

 At least my kids decide to injure themselves in warm weather so I don't have to do things like cut off sleeves and pant legs. But, I'm supposed to be leaving all my kids in Richmond all next week. Having one in a cast will definitely complicate matters.

Kiwi Dreams

The boys were finishing their lunch and I went to fold a load of laundry, which took all of maybe 5 minutes. When I came back, Bubba had zonked out on the couch...

He looks so big! And the kiwi and cutting board match his shorts.

still holding his kiwi, not because he wanted to eat it, but because he didn't want Silly to eat it. That's what happens pretty much every time they ask for kiwi. Silly eats all of his, Bubba eats a few pieces, then Silly finished that kiwi off too.

After I pried the cutting board away from him and put him in bed, I scopped Silly off the floor where he was lounging half-asleep and carried him to bed. While I was carrying him he asked, "Are you going to launch me like a torpedo?" I told him I wasn't planning on it, but since he asked, I would. He didn't like it very much because his bed isn't very soft.

Killer Birds

When we got back from Charlottesville Monday night Scott was watching "The Longest Day" (D-day movie, he watched war movies while we were gone). There was a scene where two guys are opening these little canisters with pigeons in them. Silly sees them and asks, "Are those killer pigeons?"

Good things he's so hilarious when he's not acting like a lunatic.

Tonight he and Cakes switched to different gymnastics classes, he had to switch because he turned 5, and there was a girls class for Cakes at the same time. So now they're in the gym together. His coach is pretty awesome. When Silly was done, he came running out of the gym and crashed right into Bubba, knocking him down on the ground. His coach looked at me and was saying Silly had done a really great job, then he saw him knock Bubba down and added "until just now."