Brave Girl

Carolyn, Joel and Anna were rough housing and Anna hit the hearth! She needed 4 stitches, but did amazingly well. She indicated the numbing shot hurt and was hot, but then sat still while they put the stitches in....I am her mother and I was truly amazed that ANY child would do so well. They were great at the urgent care. They put us ahead of all the people waiting (sorry guys) and we were home w/in an hour of the accident. I think we got precidence because there is a window of time before you have to worry about infection etc. The doctor (who was great) said there should be no scar - and even a little one won't be seen in her eyebrow. The stitches come out on Friday.

Halloween 2011

Here is Anna, pretending it is Halloween (on the actual day, her clothes actually matched her costume - one that she received from her Godmother Aunt Sue!). The camera was forgotten that night, but you were able to see Carolyn's costume and a taste of Joel's on a different post. Joel had reddish-hair for trick-or-treating....which is only appropriate for a Weasley! (He was Ron Weasley from Harry Potter and all the Weasleys have red hair!) I never actually saw Joel in his full costume because I joined Matthew and the church youth ministry "trick-or-treating for canned goods". The group filled 6-7 grocery carts with cans and boxes!!!

Maybe next year I will take a picture of ME in my Halloween costume. (I was named Juliet by one of the girls in my group....how is that for a teaser!)

Pumpkin Fun

Carolyn has wanted to make a story book pumpkin for years and finally we got it done! Ok - it was Sunday night around bedtime, but at least we weren't trying to finish Monday morning. Here is pumpkin-Luna Lovegood (from Harry Potter, Carolyn also was Luna for Halloween)
While looking at other story-book pumpkins in the library, Anna and I saw a Rainbow fish one and decided that was our goal for the morning.
Joel had Daddy's help for his pumkin. The kids then planted some seeds and we roasted the rest. (Matthew's pumpkin supplied some seed that will be more likely to grow if we plant them next spring...his pumpkin is still in the works....update "better luck next year pumpkin #4" :)

Only a blogger would take a picture

I hope that everyone likes this costume:


I do. (Note the Ravenclaw patch and other special Luna Lovegood touches (she is a Harry Potter character for those who don't know))

THIS is this costume that required me to visit my local veterinarian:




Ok - so the story is that I made Carolyn's costume and was getting cocky (and obviously distracted). I was doing some seams for Joel's (Ron Weasley) costume and was looking over my shoulder at the kids and sewed right through my finger.

The veterinarian joke is because I was quickly trying to figure out who could pull the needle out before pain (and infection) set in. I remembered our neighbor was a labor and delivery nurse and so I went to her home. Her hubby (a veterinarian) was home and he did the honors! What nice neighbors - I need to make them cookies - but they both work out a bunch so I might need to think of something more healthy to make them.

Good as new:

Matthew is now a teenager

Yesterday was Matthew's golden birthday. He was 13 on the 13th! He celebrated by bringing candy to his Advisory (aka Home-room) and we ate Godfather's pizza. Because we love science around here, I made him Pi instead of cake. We all thought it was funny, except Anna who said, "this doesn't taste like pie".
To prove that Matthew is a science-nut, here he is demonstrating that he can cause fire to move toward him because of low pressure.

Update

I know I haven't posted in a long time. Here is Anna on her first day of pre-school this year. She loves it and asks if she can eat lunch almost as soon as she wakes up, because I have told her she doesn't go to preschool until after lunch. She is in a class with just 7 other kiddos and I love seeing what she learns and brings home.


This is one of those "keep your eyes open in the bright sun" pictures. It is just funny, but note the beautiful Eucharistic Chapel in the background. We renovated our church last year and after we raised enough money to do the "needs", someone donated the entire $300,000 in order to build this chapel. It is lovely and peaceful inside and out. It is a frequent destination when bringing kids to church for various activities for simple prayer time. I love it.



Anyway...back to the update....
Things are in full swing...church choir, scouts, soccer. Matthew went to his first Social yesterday and LOVED it. His dad needs to give him a few pointers in the dancing department, but I am so happy he had fun.

I JUST finished my last assignment for my Balance Disorder's and Treatment class. It was WAY more work than I anticipated, but I learned a fantastic amount. Despite the fact that I won't probably do balance testing in the near future, this class taught me a lot about the vestibular and auditory system that I can use professionally as well as a ton regarding disorders that I encounter in life with friends and family. My "local" group for class is fantastic and I am glad I chose the University of Florida (they have had so many experts in the field lecture - great decision to pick this university over the other choice). (I put "local" in quotes because my group is a hodge-podge from across North America - other groups tend to be geographically clustered, but not mine....we have people from Canada, Arkansas, New York...you get the picture. There are 11 in this class, but there will be 8 in the next.)

I also have had 2 interviews, to return to clinical audiology. Jury is still out on those. One was last week and the other was awhile ago, but their audiology dept. hasn't had anyone for 2 years, so they indicated that there was a lot to be done before they would get back to me. The joy is I am good if I get a job, or don't right now. My current job goes through 2011 and my schooling would keep be busy into 2012.

Better get back to work - I need to get in a few hours and then study for my final! My stress level is pretty low now that I have gotten through most of the work. 2 classes (almost) down and 8 to go. (1st class...was a required public health class, but finished it before officially starting my "real" classes.)

Next class: Auditory Rehabilitation and Central Auditory Processing Disorders...bring it on!!!

Happy Birthday Cowgirl

Carolyn turned 10 last Thursday and had her party on Friday. She and her friends and sister decorated cupcakes and picture frames, had a photo shoot at Target and knocked a pinata out of the sky. (see Jane the pinata below)

If the level of noise was any indication, they had a great time. Like one girl commented, "everything is funny to girls our age"....clearly :)