MOM! look at NICK's Thumb!

I arrived home from work on Thursday afternoon, and I was greeted my daughter and the following "MOM! check out Nick's thumb."  followed by Nick "Yeah Mom look at my thumb, but don't touch it, 'cause it hurts when you touch it".  I looked at his right thumb and NO joke it was more than twice the size of his left thumb.   Now son 3 is very good at getting these types of thumb injuries, we usually wrap it, give him some advil and within a couple of days he is as good as new.  When I looked at his thumb this time, I just had that sinking pit in my stomach...they have never looked that big or had that pretty of a blueish purpleish color.On a positive note at least it was still semi straight, and no bone was sticking out.  I was also pretty sure I didn't want to know the answer to the question "How did that happen?" and I was right, a hackey sack, a jump rope and his sister.  Really that was all I needed and wanted to hear about it.   He didn't seem too upset or whiney about it, so I told him if it still looks like that in the morning I will take you in to see the doctor.  About an hour later the dad got home and I advised son3 "Hey go show your dad your thumb"  I looked at it again too, and the blueish purpleish color had gotten a lot brighter, "hmmm I am sure tht can't be good."  The Dad's response "OOO I think that looks broken" and then he said to me "should we take him in?"  I figure since we have Friday off, we can run him down to the docs in the morning, they do x-rays right at the office, shouldn't be a big deal right?.  Luckily, I called the doctor's office and  the voicemail said "We will be closed Friday December 31st"  Of course, because I have that kind of luck!!  I have this great neighbor who has 7 kids so I trust her "mom" judgement.  "Hey son3 get shoes and a coat and go show Marci your thumb"  He gets back and says "Yup her and Heidi (the teenage daughter) both say it looks broken, and I didn't even get to give them all the details".  Now the parental debate begins.  Do we take him to urgent care tonight or wait until tomorrow when URGENT care will be overflowing with all the people who can't get into see their doctor's because of the impending holiday.  So the kind and wonderful dad put him in the car and off they went to urgent care.  After filling out 10 forms, I am sure in duplicate maybe even triplicate, and then sitting around waiting they finally got the X-ray and sure enough it was broken.  Next comes the splint, I did mention he is right handed and this was his right thumb.  He told the doctor, "Well I did on Wednesday night and when I went to tell my mom she gave me a job to do and then my dad told me to go to bed, so I didn't tell them"  In my defense when he did come to tell me he and Ben both came in screaming at each other about the gum on the floor, not a single mention of hurting himself........Oh won't school be fun!  

When they got home I looked at son3 and had the following conversation:
"I think you get the prize"

"What Prize?"

"The prize for being the first kid in 15 years and 11 months to break a bone"

I think he is still waiting for his prize!

So next week we will be visiting a hand/orthopedic doc to see what if anything else needs to be done.  Never a dull moment when you have kids! 

Happy New Year All!!

The other night I asked son1 to start a fire, of course as usual I was the only one who though it was cold--I always think it is cold-- anyway the topic of conversation changed quickly and Son 1 asked me how I had ever survived Vermont in the winter.  When I told him, I used to where shorts in the house during the winter, I thought he was going to fall over.  I still don't think he believes me...

You have to understand that I have never worked at a place where people have blankets on the backs of there chairs, or are wrapped up in them in the middle of the day, but now that I understand the vicious battle that is raging on at work, it makes a little more sense, I think!...The heat and the air conditioner just can't figure which one is in charge..They each want to be in charge, but they just haven't learned which one needs to be in charge during which season....The heat comes on at 70 degrees and warms things up nicely and when the building temp reaches 73 the air conditioner comes on and cools it down.  This goes on all day. Kind of like that saying if you don't like the weather wait a few minutes.  YUP if you don't like the building temp just wait a few minutes...

Traditions or Things we do??

Our Christmas Traditions:

1. Around Thanksgiving time we put the number 1-4 in a hat and each child draws a number beginning December 1, that is the advent calender opening order.  The order is written on the calender so if there is a question/argument it can be easily solved.

2. On Christmas Eve we have an open house.  We invite all of our friends, family, people who would rather be with us than with there family, Our "homeless" friends (they are not truly "homeless" there family just lives far away and they can't be with them at Christmas).  We eat snacks and visit, people leave, more people come it is a very relaxing and fun time!  Sometimes we give out little bags of treasures to the kids, sometimes Santa has been known to show up.  We have had guests from as far away as Japan and as close as next door.
3.  We don't shower, get dressed or leave the house on Christmas Day, we nap, watch movies, read books play with new toys and eat leftovers. It is one of the quietest laziest days of the year.
4.  Our Christmas Dinner happens the weekend before Christmas, sometimes it is just us and my parents, and my brother sometimes it includes close friends.  It all just depends on how it falls together.
5.  The kids stay up late on Christmas Eve and that means they sleep in on Christmas morning, I think there has only been one year that we have been up at some ridiculous hour of the morning.
6.  Jim and I always watch "It's a Wonderful Life" together at least once.  Last year we watched it Christmas Eve after all the children had gone to bed.  It is one of those movies that we should watch once a month all year long to remind us that it is a Wonderful Life!
7.  Since we have 2 birthdays right out of the blocks in January the tree usually comes down within a day or two of Christmas being over.
8.  We celebrate Grandma's Birthday on January 1st, So she can have a roast beef meal and then on her real birthday (which she shares with Ben) Ben picks the meal and dessert.
     I have never thought of these things as "Traditions" they are just "things we do" but now that I  have had time to think about it, a tradition really is something that you do.  I can only hope that some of the "things we do" will be carried on by my children when they are older.

Today's Post brought to by.....Abraham Lincoln??

"Mom can I play baseball this summer?"
"Well that depends on when you go to Gabriel and Ethans"
"What does Abraham Lincoln have to do with it??"

I think someone needs to get his hearing checked!

The "ToothFairy" hasn't come yet..

Last week all of my children had a break from school.  We had orthodontist appointments on Monday so I decided why not follow that up on Tuesday with appointments at the dentist.  They all needed a good cleaning.  Note to self:  8:30am dentist appointments for 4 children on school break...not one of my better ideas!  We got a lovely ice storm on Monday night so our 15 minute drive took a weeeeee bit longer, as I let the teenager drive...again not one of my more banner plans!!   Anyway, Son3 had to have a tooth pulled.  Apparently the 2nd tooth was in enough to loosen up the baby tooth just enough that food was getting stuck in it and creating an abscess.  The dentist let me know he was going to "help" it a little bit.  Now Son3 has a mark on his lip because his siblings wanted to see if he could feel them pinching his lip.  Anyway, with Thanksgiving and the ice storm the tooth fairy missed our house.  Last night in the kitchen the conversation went something like this..
Son3  "Mom, the "toothfairy" hasn't come yet"  (making little quotation marks each time he said toothfairy)
Mom "Well if you don't believe you don't receive"
Son3 "You said it was because of the weather"
Mom "Well, last week that was the case, now I think it is because you don't believe"
When did they get so smart??

Rub a Dub Get Rid of the chub!  The Weightloss Challenge began today, with weighs from 9am to Noon...now mind you it wasn't as exciting as Biggest Loser their were no competitions for a place on the ranch and the only crying was from those of us who didn't want to face the reality of the scales.  Our team team the "CHUBS AWAY" is made up of 2 men, myself, 1 woman, and Jim.  Their are 20 teams of 5 participating in this wellness campaign.  I am hoping it is the motivation I need to get back on track. (Both the walking track and the healthy eating track!).  Stay Tuned....

Football season is over so our Monday nights from 530-700 will now actually be used for dinner at the table as a family.  It seems that in the past several weeks some of us have forgotten how to sit at the table and use manners and polite dinner conversation...

Soccer has a few more weeks.  We played in McCall this weekend, it was a quick family get a way.  I enjoyed listening to the kids play there DS games in the car.  I guess we need to leave town more often to get them to be civil to each other! 

I have started back to work, at least temporarily.  I was offered a 6 week temp position at the company  Jim works for.  It is also the test to see how working at 30 hour week will affect our home and family.  At the end of last week I was seriously questioning whether it was the right decision.  This week so far seems a little calmer, but then again it is only Monday.

Dear Fred Meyer,
     THANK YOU for the grant money you awarded to Kuna Life Church!!  With this money KLC was able to re-open "The Zone" an after school outreach program.  Now that "The Zone" is open I have something to use as a reward for good behavior and a consequence for bad behavior!  Amazing how quickly the behavior changes!!

Amy