Our first kid's black eye!

Carson has found some good friends in the neighborhood.  His best friend, Kailey is in his class, and her older sister Kirsten is in Dillon's class.  They've all been playing together and having nerf wars at the neighborhood park.  Carson and Kailey play more days than not, usually running between houses.  Well, one day they were playing at the park and Carson whacked his head against the slide.  He developed a beautiful black eye.  It looked like he was wearing eye shadow when his eyes were open.  He was pretty self-conscious about it at first.  He is our first kiddo to get a black eye.  Quite the accomplishment!

More of Carson

So I found a few more pictures from Carson's 4th birthday.  He got a couple of playdoh toys so I made a triple batch of playdoh so everyone could play together.  Surprisingly they didn't play with it as much as i anticipated.  

 Carson LOVES workbooks and so once the craziness of opening gifts calmed down he snuggled up next to me to work on the workbook Grandma H gave him.

 So early in the trip the cousins were playing tag and Carson got pushed off the patio.  He of course was freaking out because he fell down onto the stone path.  He wouldn't move him arm.  Eventually he calmed down and seemed ok.  Well he kept periodically crying that his arm hurt along his forearm.  Finally after about a week I was super concerned so we left reptile gardens (I'll post about that later) and went to the urgent care.  He ended up getting x-rays just to be safe.  He was a total champ!  They didn't have to retake them because he stayed exactly how he was supposed to.  Fortunately there was no break but the doctor said it was probably a strained tendon and to keep some anti-inflammatory meds in him as well as ice it.  Of course after seeing the doctor it didn't seem to bug him again.  Isn't that how it always works?

The pharmacy in town was called "Carson Drugs" so of course we had to get a picture with his name!

Carson's a pirate!

Carson and Dillon decided to sword fight with straws today.  Carson got hit in the eye.  After crying episodes every 5-10 minutes I took him to urgent care.  They put in special drops to glow in black light if there are scratches. 

 See the gouge?

So now he will wear an eye patch for two days and have antibiotic eye drops.

Random, random and SWIMMING...again

Way back in August a monumental thing occurred.  Something that I do not want to forget, and will be faced with for the next 5 years or so.  Yet, I forgot to put it in this, my family journal.  So I guess it's time I brought everyone up to speed.  In August, the end of August my two wonderful children were entertaining themselves in the bath which they love to do.  While I was getting Kayda dried off and dressed I heard a "bang" and suddenly had a screaming little boy.  So I stood Kayda up out of the way and rushed over.  Dillon had chipped his tooth, his front tooth, on the drain lever thing.  Of course I didn't know if there was something I should do so what do I do?  I call Grandma G, she's my mom so of course that's where I'll go but I was being somewhat logical in that she used to be a dental hygienist.  Since I couldn't tell if there was a nerve exposed Grandma and Papa G came over around 9 pm (late for them) to check on the little munchkin.  Fortunately the nerve is still safely tucked away inside his tooth.  We went to the dentist the next day to see if they could smooth it off at all.  Unfortunately Dillon wouldn't cooperate so it will wear itself down with time. So for the next 5-6 years he will have a chipped front tooth.  Charming isn't it? 

 

Now for more recent events.  Yesterday Daddy was mowing the lawn.  I was back with kiddos in the "eventually will be a nursery again" room, which we recently repainted and moved a bed into (the kids are FASCINATED) with that room now.  I heard Daddy yelling so I went out and what did he need to show me?

Our best guess is that a rock was kicked up by the lawn mower.  If you look carefully you can see where all the cracks started just a few inches from the handle.  The kids thought it was pretty cool so we sat and looked at it.  As we watched we could hear the glass crackling and see, right before our very eyes, new cracks forming.  Fortunately it just shattered the one pane of glass.  Here's Daddy taking it down.

So we now have another lovely, unexpected job, that goes along with being a home owner.  Considering it's starting to get chilly we'd better get it done quick!

Now on to the fun stuff.  Today is the second to last swim lesson with Kyoko.  The kids have loved it!  I'll probably end up with a few more pictures Wednesday since it's "safety day"  but I'll overload you again then!

 Launching for a front glide. 

 Attempting to roll over onto her back from a front glide.  It was a new skill for the class and neither Kayda nor Dillon were able to figure it out.  Kayda kept trying to roll over as she was pushing off the table like you see below.

 What a lovely front glide!

 Kayda's the blurr on the right under the water.

 Barbells!

 It looks like Kayda and Brianna are sharing a secret or something.  The were kicking and randomly looked over at each other at the exact same time, then looked away at the exact same time. 

 Dillon was rolling the barbell on the top of the water, he did this for a good couple of minutes waiting for his turn.

 Jumping!  No fear!  Of course it's great form, looks like she's going for a dive, just to land on her back! They are trying to learn to jump in, push off the bottom and move into a back float.  She goes straight from the air to her back float.

 High fives!  The kiddos get a kick out of this, they "miss" several times then when the get a good high five Kyoko goes flying backwards into the water.

Easter Prep... on time for once!

After lunch today we decorated Easter eggs.  Grandma H came over for the fun before she had to run off to the store.  We stuck the kids in towels (we used clothes pins to hold them on) so we didn't have to worry about staining their clothes, I thought their togas were charming.  We tried putting the eggs in whisks to help prevent broken eggs and such.  It worked wonderfully for Kayda but Dillon decided to was great fun to just keep putting the whisk in and out of the dye, thus splashing it all over the place.  They had a good time but they definitely weren't ready to be done when we ran out of hard boiled eggs.  Kayda is very excited for the Easter bunny to come and hide her eggs, Dillon doesn't understand the concept quite as well. 

When we were finished coloring the eggs we took a break for them to dry so we could do stickers on the eggs.  During that time Dillon took a nap and we ran over to Grandma and Grandpa G's for their strawberries.  Kayda was bundled up real good in her jacket, hood up, hands in pockets..and she tripped.  Poor girl, her hands were stuck so she ended up scraping up her chin, lips and nose real good. 

Finally we were able to put the stickers on the eggs.  They didn't want to stay on but the kids had fun anyway.  They ended up sticking more of them on themselves than the eggs.

He loves to show off!

She tried so hard to smile for us... but you can tell it hurt.

Kiss it all better...

When Kayda gets hurt Brian and I act like the typical parents. We snatch her up, snuggle her in and smother her with kisses until she feels better. Well, apparently Kayda has picked up on it and enjoys it. She pinched her finger and it hurt just enough for her to whimper a little, not enough for me to come running for our ouchie routine. When I didn't come running she walked over to me, still whimpering and stuck her finger to my lips so that I would kiss it. Once I'd given it a few kisses she stopped whimpering and went right back to playing. I guess mom's really do have the power to kiss it all better! Needless to say I was very pleased with myself that she wanted me to do that for her. At least she knows we love her! Hopefully Dillon will learn this too, it's one of those things that just makes you feel all warm and gooshy inside!