The tree stump

Mr O'Connor came to our house to help Bill replace our attic fan after ours blew to Zimbabwe last weekend during the storm. I took the kids to our neighbor's so they could see his tree that blew down (and to give Mr O a break from his "helpers").

The tree that fell on Mr D's house is huge! It didn't even break a window. He didn't realize the tree had even fallen on his house until the next morning. So amazing!

The picture is of the kids standing at the base. You can see it's bigger around than Hank is tall!

Deja Vue

It's seems just yesterday that Shane got his cast off. Ok, maybe not yesterday, but it was just a few months ago...

Well today we were at the coolest park with our playgroup friends. Kids were running; grownups were chatting; life was great.

Shane, stunt baby extraordinaire, decided to jump from the bottom of the slide to Jake. Great idea except that Jake wasn't looking. Shane did a face/arm plant on the ground.

My little guy cried so hard it was hard to tell if he was hurt or scared. After he settled down and still wasn't moving his arm, I decided to head to the doctor. On the way to the doctor he started to move his arm a little so I was hopeful he'd spring to life and be ok. But each time he moved his hand/arm he'd start crying again.

By the time got to the ER, he had stopped crying and was still trying to use his hand. I should note here that when he broke his wrist in the spring, he hardly cried and could move his hand and fingers. He also did *not* cry when they pressed on his wrist to check for malformations.

We checked in and the nurse told me she didn't think it was broken. Yeah, yeah whatever. The triage nurse takes his vitals and tells us we'll be out in no time. I'll believe that when I see it!

We sat in the waiting room for an hour with me telling Hank and Ella to keep their hands on their tummies so they wouldn't touch anything and pick up any weird germs! My poor little pips! But they did a great job.

They called us back and the PA mashes his arm and wrist, turns it this way and that. No tears from Stunt Baby. I told her he didn't cry the last time he broke it so she decided to go ahead and x-ray him. The nurses were all so surprised when they found he had broken his wrist afterall!

Now he's in a soft cast until Tuesday when we see the ortho doctor for a regular cast.

I have to say that Ella and Hank did a great job. I had to whisk them off the playground while they were in the middle of a game with their friends. And then they had sit - and not touch anything!- for 2 hours. Yes, they were a little crazed at the end, but they were such little troopers. Everyone commented on how good they were doing.

Oh, another exciting thing while we were at the hospital....I was standing so I could see out the front window as well as the main hallway for gurneys, etc. They wheeled a gurney out to the curb by a car but not extremely close to it, and they were all kind of standing around while a nurse was talking to someone in the car. No biggie. Then they wheeled an isolette out to the car. A woman had a baby IN HER CAR in front of the ER!!! Good night Irene! Then the poor woman had to climb out of her car and onto the gurney...not that she cared, I'm sure she was just glad it was over!

Up on the rooftop

I think my kids are all part monkey. Hank only recently has a healthy fear of heights. Ella and Shane? Nope.

Bill was on the roof checking out what was left of the attic fan and making sure everything else was ok.

My monkeys decided to check it out too. No, we didn't let Shane climb all the way up!

Ella kept repeating to herself, "I'm brave. I'm very brave," the whole way up and back down!

Traveling Trampoline

What's missing from this picture?

Oh, there it is! How did it get over there? I took this picture standing dead center where the trampoline was.

We went to the eastern shore Saturday to celebrate the birthdays of DeeDee, Uncle Mark, Uncle Keith and Brett. We drove home through a terrible storm but had no idea what was waiting for us on the other end.

We got home around 11pm to no power. We're on a well so no power = no water. No fun. It was also hot and sticky. Because it was pitch dark we had no idea what the yard looked like.

Bill looked out the window the next morning "uh oh, the trampoline is gone." My heart sank. It was a Christmas gift from Bill's dad to the kids and the best darn money spent. They love to jump. Love, love, love it.

As I'm mentally figuring out how we could possibly replace it, he spotted it in the back corner of the yard, quite a ways from where it originally rested...and it was in pieces...and it appeared to be bent. My heart sank lower and I prayed that we could somehow salvage it.

Bill had to get to church to set up and I had to get the kids dressed so we could pick Jake up from camp so we didn't have time to really look at it. That afternoon we went out to survey the damage. Praise God we were able to put it back together and it's not bent at all! That baby flew a good 20 yards, smacked a tree breaking a good sized limb and apparently fell apart instead of bending and breaking. We were grateful (and amazed) that the mat didn't get hung up on the play fort or a tree limb and tear. I wish I could have seen it because it must have been amazing to see it fly across the yard.

We found part of our attic fan in the lower side yard so we'll be replacing that later today. And other than limbs down, we're in good shape. We get some wicked wind gusts, and after last year's spring storms blew much of our roof away, we replaced the roof with hurricane shingles (yes hurricane shingles in western Maryland!!) so that's in good shape.

Our neighbors (we have 2 within close walking distance) each have at least one big tree down. Bill is secretly hoping they'll wait until later this week to do any major cutting so he can break out his chainsaw and join the fun.

Summer Reading Celebration

Saturday was the finale celebration of summer reading program at our local library. E and H really enjoyed "reading" their books and checking off the list so they could turn in a coupon for a prize each week. They were excited to choose their own books and now have their own dedicated library bag. Very cool stuff when you're little.

So we arrived early Saturday so we didn't miss any of the fun. They had a really good magician, Frank Culler for you local folks. Very funny, even the adults laughed a lot.

The best of the best though...Rita's Ice. I thought Hank was going to mug the lady and steal her cooler of Tropical Punch Yumminess. In the bottom photo you'll notice he is stealing tastes from the cup of the kid behind him! Total stranger, yes, but who cares about germs when you're eating tropical punch ice!!

Afterwards they got to choose some little prizes and a new book. A good time was had by all.

The Keys Game

Bill took the kids to see the Keys last night.

Hank had a blast. Bill said he actually watched the game instead of running like a monkey.

Ella was more interested in her fries and nuggets. Those of you who know Ella, know the girl loves her food. Thankfully she seems to have the metabolism of 12 gerbils so she remains peanut-sized.

Shane, well he loved the music. He jumped and danced almost the whole time. He climbed up on the rail behind the seats and watched the game from there for a bit. He munched his fries and then danced some more.

The pix are from Bill's cell so I don't know how they'll look.

Oh, Jake is at camp this week. We didn't stuff him in a closet or anything. :)

I can't believe I almost forgot this little gem

Jake needed new shoes so for his birthday he used the money Car Grammy and Car Grampy sent him to buy shoes. That means the kids spent a day hearing me say "wiggle your toes."

Fast forward a few days....Hank was digging around in his closet and found an old pair of his flip flops. He put them on and Ella dove at his feet, pinched his big toe and said...."wiggle your toes, Hank!"

Story Time

Ella helped me clean the schoolroom this afternoon. I gave her a handful of books to put away and went about my business.

I realized later one of them didn't make it to the shelf. Instead she got her beloved Piggy and Baby and had story time with them. She set this up all by herself with no help from any of us.

Oil Change

Hank, Ella and Shane helped daddy change the oil in Uncle Potty's truck. Hank and Shane loved it. Ella wasn't so sure about it but hung around since daddy was there, too.

Proper Trampoline Attire

Ella and Hank sporting the latest in hip trampoline wear. I sent them out to jump and they both ran to the playroom to get their "trampoline clothes" on.

Blueberry Picking

We went to Glade-Link Farm in early August; I just never got around to downloading the pix.

It was hot. They were tired. The pictures say it all.