My Poor Baby!

I have never really thought much about this, but after 7 years and 3 boys, I have never taken them to the ER or Urgent Care for stitches or broken bones. That is not too bad of a record. Well now that has changed and I had to take Van in last night for stitches/staples. Here is the exciting story.

At about 4pm I noticed that Van's eyes were starting to get very goopy and after talking with Carrie about Jane I figured that he developed and ear infection and what she had. Well, since I am now a Den mother and Pinewood Derby was that night I was just going to take the boys with me since Walt wasn't going to be home in time. But now with Van being sick I decided not to go and in the morning I was going to take him in to get some antibiotics. Walt called to check in and said he would come home so I could go. As I was getting ready, Van was on a little stool playing with my light switch, the doorbell rang. It was the neighbor girl wanting to play. Walt is pulling in the driveway and I hear the stool bang on the floor and Van crying. I told Hannah she had to go and I went to comfort Van. I gave him a hug and then noticed the blood pouring from his head. I grab a paper towel and yelled for Walt to hurry up.

Luckily there is an Urgent Care just about a mile from our house so I had Walt drive us over. I don't like Urgent Cares because they take forever, but the key is to go in with a bleeding head wound on a child and you go right in. Just a little tip the next time you need to go in with Strep Throat or something like that. Just cut your head and you don't have to wait. Anyway, he needed 3 staples and so we did it right there. It is cruel, but I didn't like the fact that to get him sedated I had to take him to the ER, get an IV when staples would be quick and the pain would be over soon. They did numb the area well and Van was a trooper. They also checked his ears and eyes while we were there and got antibiotics for his infection.

He did have a rough night last night and just woke up. He does look a lot better and the swelling is gone. But the staples are a little creepy. Of course, Max and Ian think it is awsome. On the way to the UC, Walt mentioned how great it was that he had already shaved his head. Way to look for the silver lining honey! Here are some pictures to document this milestone.



We gave him a piece of chocolate, but I wanted you to see the ugly wound and the goopy eyes and running nose. This was definitely not his day. Doesn' your heart just ache for him?

The 4 Bald Men in My Life Whom I Love

This past weekend we took the boys to an air show at Luke Air Force Base here is Phoenix. This was mine and Walt's 2nd date and we try to go every time they have one. And it is something that the boys enjoy. But this year was a pretty bad experience. I don't know if you can blame in on the economy but it seemed like everyone that lived in the valley was there since it is a free event. It took us 2 hours of standing in line to even get in the gate. Now of all the events out there an air show shouldn't be that bad standing in line because you can still see the airplanes flying, but there wasn't that many. Plus it was 90 degrees. We had plenty of water and sunscreen and the boys did surprisingly well. I was just glad that they shortened the show from all day to half a day so we were out of there by 4pm. In my true fashion I forgot my camera so pictures will have to come later when I get them from Walt's brother Sam.

Everyone was so filthy and hot when we got home, Walt decided it was time for the summer haircuts. So out comes the clippers. I do think they are cute. Max's hair is so funky anyway that this is easier. I never know how to comb his hair without it sticking up in the back. Walt gave Ian more of a flat top but since the other 2 didn't have one, Ian wanting his shaved too. It also seems that Van didn't get a guard on his because it is sooooo short. His head is like velcro trying to get a shirt on. And with him being sick, I have started calling him Chemo. It is cute but also sad. And then we have Walt, who just doesn't have hair on top anymore.


Oh, and by the way, they love to have their heads rubbed. Max even washes his hair twice in the shower so it is nice and soft, so he tells me.

My Busy Weekend!

There has been quite a few things going on this weekend. Some significant and others not but it is fun to share all of them. It all began on Wednesday and is now ending Sunday night. The first thing that happened was I was released from my church calling as a teacher and asked to serve as a den mother in the cub scouts. This isn't too bad. I just have to get over my childhood hangups about this calling. I found out that I will be working with the 10 - 11 year olds so that will be fun.

Thursday I spent the day getting ready for the camping trip we would be going on. I wanted to clean my house before we left so I needed a new vacuum. Ours had finally died after about 9 years of use. Since we don't have much carpet we were debating whether to spend a lot on a good one or go cheap. I decided to go cheap and spent $60dollars and I love it. As others of you may know, having a vacuum that doesn't have a powerful suck, really sucks. This one was awesome. I hadn't vacuumed in a week but this is what the container looked like when I was done.

I know that it is weird to take a picture of this but I got a lot of satisfaction knowing my rugs and bedrooms were really clean. So that was exciting. I also needed to pack for camping. I thought we were prepared but I didn't account for the weather being so cold. We could have used a few more blankets. I also realized that we haven't gone camping with all 5 of us yet and no longer fit in our tent. We made some improvises having the boys sleep in the car. Here are a couple of pictures, but if you are interested in more details of the trip you can look at my sister's blog for more info. (Sarah Rowley) We are planning on going camping over Memorial Weekend, so we have a lot of things to get for that trip.







We needed to get back on Saturday afternoon for family festivities in honor of Walt's Grandpa's 90th birthday. Lots of family came down to celebrate this great milestone. We had a bar b que dinner that night and got to visit with Walt's cousins that I have never met and some that I don't see that often. It was fun. I think out of the 14 great grandchildren that they have 13 are boys. I am not sure on the number but I know there is only one girl so far. But there are 3 more on the way and 2 are girls, the other is unknown yet.

Sunday at 7pm was the real party with friends and family. There was great food and entertainment. The boys had a blast playing with all the other boy cousins and made some new friends.


Grandpa Max worked on submarines in CA for many many years starting in the 1940's. Aunt Susan made this cake for him. That is a seal in the lower left had corner.

They had all the great grand sons get up and sing Popcorn Popping. They enjoyed taking turns yelling the song in the microphone.

I had to get a picture of Max with his namesake. They are both alike. They are pests. Often when they come to visit I will have to tell Max to calm down. Grandpa will ask which Max, and I say both of you. He always gets the kids worked up.




These are pictures of Walt's cousins Paul and Katie. Paul is a huge hit with the kids. He is so good with them. As you can see they wouldn't leave him alone. He once looked at me after a couple of hours of this with pleading eyes for help. I just smiled and told him he brought it on himself. He nodded and said I guess you are right. This picture of Katie is what happened to her as she tried to be a good sister and take some of the heat off of Paul. Better them then me.

It was a fun weekend but exhausting. And now I am gearing up for this week being Spring Break. I have a couple of days planned but I just hope that I will survive. The weather is going to be really nice. Maybe it is time to get the suits out and the slip n slide.

Being a Special Someone!

Both Max and Ian had big weeks last week. Max lost his first top front tooth.


This is his third tooth lost but I think this one deserved to make the blog. He never really mentioned that it was loose until it was about to come out. Then I was thinking great, he is going to have one big tooth all alone in his mouth because who knows when the next one is going to be loose. But he informed me a couple of days ago that the other one is loose too. Thank goodness. That is such an awkward time anyway and I didn't want it to be worse.

As for Ian, he is a special boy and it is nice to be acknowledged. In his Kindergarten class, his teacher has set aside one week for each student to share their specialness. Last week was Ian's turn. They get to bring in pictures of their family and anything else they like. Then each classmate and teacher writes and draws a picture in a book why they like Ian. It is really cute. I was also planning on bringing a treat into class of Friday but Ian was sick. I love Ian's teacher. Max had her last year as well and you can tell she loves the kids so much. I wish Van was old enough to be in her class. I just hope she is around in 3 years.