Short Story Long

I saw a quote yesterday on someone's blog to the affect of 'children spell love t-i-m-e,' so when I saw that mine were getting antsy today, I found some things in the closet that had belonged to dear Marie , or g.g., as they called her. (Great-grandma.)  Because I know, summer can seem boring while you're in it, and so fleeting later.  I taught them Chinese Checkers; I hate to tell you that I won but no one would listen to my strategy recommendations!  Then they taught me Pirate Code.  And then two looked through all the wonderful marbles while two of us had a nap. 

Today, the boys and I went garage saleing: $ 4     black stool - never enough chairs here.  .50 tin measuring cup 2    pair of license plates and a vintage childrens' book with great illustrations 2    vintage camera, book for #1 boy, and a present - secret, of course! 0    old stereo cabinet 2    three costumes, a pair of shoes, and they threw in a pair of license plates 4    blue jar We started out with everyone wanting to buy everything at every stop but we worked on being savvy junkers and just looking for specific things we collect, we need, we'd really use.  It was fun to see them getting the hang of it:  a book in a series we were already reading, for example.  Pretty good troopers.  We also got strawberry lemonade from a classmate sitting on the corner.  It is our policy to buy lemonade from kids on corners whenever possible.  ...

Let me just start off by saying I know this is kind of creepy, but we don't know what else to try!  I'm hoping that someone out there will have a good suggestion.  Our oldest kid wakes up every day with a new bite; you know, like bed bugs.  They look like mosquito bites, or possibly spider bites, a small red bump.  He usually has one or two new ones a day, as many as eight, but they are spread out all over his body, not in one spot.  We have washed and changed his sheets and everything on his bed, more than once, covered his mattress in plastic, etc. Finally, we took his whole room apart, washed the sheets, all the stuffed animals, took everything out from under his bed, off the shelves, vacuumed, removed anything suspicious (he has a rock collection and a bottle cap collection).  While we were dismantling his room, he slept in his brothers' room for two nights, and did not get any bites, so therefore, we deduce it is in his room.  We have nev...

Speed broke his arm five weeks ago, a compound, open, fracture. One of my worst days as a parent. But anyway... He got his cast off a week ago and the doctors and medical people who've seen him since the break all swear that nothing is wrong with his arm. It hangs there, limply, not doing any of its jobs - coloring, holding, brushing, and he can't put his thumb up. My friend works for an orthopedic clinic and made an appointment for us with one of their doctors. I was so relieved when he said it was radial nerve damage and most likely will heal completely. He did give us some stretching suggestions, and they made a splint to keep the wrist up; this will help the fingers to be able to hold onto things better. Just in time for school. Sometimes, you just have to trust your instincts, regardless of what the Experts tell you.

I feel like I spent the whole weekend talking my kids into doing things that are good for them: attending your own birthday party, going on the water slides, playing games at Bible school. I just can't figure out what the problem is, sometimes. Urgh. Sorry, Mom, no camera at the water park, today. Sometimes I have to leave my camera at home and remember to participate in life. Although, I did have a big twinge of regret as The Bruise came down the little slide with sheer glee on his face. Luckily, Nat reminded me that my camera would be wet; yes, and I would have spent the whole day worrying about getting good shots, instead of playing with my boys.