Cast On, Cast Off

Believe it or not it, has been 4 weeks since Sophie took a tumble off the monkey bars!  Overall, it was much less painful for the rest of us than I thought would be possible.  Hahaha.  Sophie is not usually one to keep her frustration, pain, or anything else to herself, so I had prepared myself for the worst.  I was sure we'd hear whining and complaining and freaking out the entire month due to pain or itching or whatever but in actuality we heard nary a peep!  There were a couple of times she was itchy, but after tapping the cast with a spoon the way the nurse told her to, she was able to get it out of her system.

Two weeks ago she got the original {pink} cast taken off and a shorter, purple cast put on.  Today the casts came off for good and instead she'll have a wrist brace to wear for a little while longer.  She was a bit bummed to hear she can't do the monkey bars for another month or so but overall she's a happy camper.

  

Before leaving, the doctor handed me a packet of "exercises" to do with Sophie to help her gain back strength and mobility in her wrist.   I literally laughed out loud as I flipped through the pages and saw the following illustrations that went along with the movements.   Apparently she'll need to don a leotard while she works out.  Hahahahaha.

After checking Sophie back into school, I headed home with the little ones to settle in for an uneventful afternoon.  And it was fairly uneventful until I decided to make a last minute run to the grocery store to pick up some stuff for dinner.  As we were doing our shopping, I grabbed a sample of chocolate drizzled popcorn for Alex and Jane to eat {side-note -- we don't think Alex is allergic to milk anymore}, when after eating a couple of bites Jane immediately started sticking her fingers in her mouth and crying that her throat was burning.  Great.  I had checked the bag for allergen listings before giving them the treat and there wasn't anything listed that she was allergic to, but it was made in a facility where nuts and other things are handled.  I have no idea if there were trace amounts or what, but I could tell right then that something was not right.  She kept clutching at her mouth and alternating between crying and just looking scared because she thought she was going to throw up.  At this point I could see a rash starting around her mouth and I headed for the pharmacy aisle to grab some Benadryl because I knew we were out at home anyway.  I grabbed a few bottles, opened one up, and gave her a dose right there in the store.  Between the Benadryl and not really sleeping well last night, I knew she'd be a goner as soon as we were in the car.  I don't think we had even left the parking lot before she had already started to fall asleep in her seat!

Once home, I tried to wake her up -- it was already after 3 in the afternoon and I didn't want her to be up all night as a result of such a late nap -- but she was having nothing of it.  After acknowledging defeat, I let her climb on the couch and go back to sleep while I tried to unload groceries and get stuff cleaned up around the house.  Well, 15 or 20 minutes later -- just as I was starting to put groceries away in the kitchen -- I heard the sound that no parent likes to hear: the splattering of puke everywhere.  Jane woke herself up when she started throwing up all over the pillow on the couch, and even though I ran over and grabbed her to bee-line it to the bathroom, there was still quite a mess for me to clean up when she was done.  Yuck!  All's well that ends well, though, and once she got everything out of her system she was as good as new. The kids got home just as I was coming downstairs with clean clothes for Jane and aside from catching Alex standing on the kitchen table a few times during the course of the evening, the rest of the day was problem free.  Here's to hoping it stays that way!

Giving Thanks

This Thanksgiving was one for the record books!  We decided to capitalize on it being a major holiday and scheduled Grace's baptism for the Saturday afterwards in order to accommodate family who were coming into town.  Scott's parents flew in from Utah on Tuesday and his sister Kristin and her family drove down from Indiana on Thanksgiving day.  The kids had a BLAST with their cousins, and it was really nice being surrounded by friends and family for Grace's baptism yesterday morning.

In an effort to maintain a record, here is a brief recap of the goings on of the past month leading up to this weekend -- starting shortly after Grace's birthday with the taking of her birthday pictures for the mantle.  In a very last minute and under-the-wire photo shoot session, I utilized the 15 minutes we had left of sunlight on a Wednesday evening to snap some pictures of my little birthday girl.  I wanted to have a picture to display for Grace's baptism and luckily managed to get a winning shot despite the shortness of our shoot and the silliness of my child.  It was a modern miracle.  Hahaha.

Once the Baptism pictures were done, the main thing left to do was to CLEAN the house.  And boy did it need it.  In the last week leading up to the holiday, I created a day by day itemized list of everything that needed to be done, from the upstairs to the basement and everything in between.  It was intense.  The hardest part of it all may have been containing Alex and Jane!  I can't even tell you how many times over the course of those few days that I would finish cleaning up one mess to turn around and see a brand new one courtesy of the destructo twins.  It was insane.  

A close runner-up in the hardness department was the effort it took to clean up the basement.  I kid you not that it took the better part of an entire Saturday even with everyone in the family pitching in to help out.  I earned my stripes that weekend in the creative mom department by coming up with various "games" to play to make the cleaning fun.  Because as Mary Poppins would say, "In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.  You find the fun and -- SNAP!  The job's a game!"  Hahahaha.  I think every single toy, puzzle, and game we own was lying on the floor of that basement along with tons of books, clothes, dishes and crumbs.  I would have taken a before and after but it was too embarrassing.   And I doubt a photograph could have taken in the scope of the scene and done it any justice.  

By mid-day, I had resorted to out and out bribery by telling the kids I would buy them Just Dance 4 if they would just finish cleaning it all up before the end of the day.  This was sufficiently motivating for Ethan and Grace, but for some reason Sophie got it in her head that she really wanted a sorbet from Maggie Moo's to sweeten the deal for her.  Fine by me!  By 4 o'clock in the afternoon we were FINALLY done.  Oh my goodness was that an ordeal.  Even more of an ordeal?  Getting that Maggie Moo's.  Hahahaha.  After a wild goose chase {and 30 minutes or so} of trying to even find the place we arrived to see THIS:

What a bust!  The kids were all upset {and tired and cranky} and so was I.  We managed to salvage our outing on the return trip home after stopping at the Costco to buy Just Dance 4 and treating the kids to ice cream and smoothies from the food bar on the way out. 

 Just Dancing it up.

Scott's parents got here on Tuesday afternoon and once the kids got home our holiday officially started!  The weather was unusually warm and gorgeous for a few days there and we managed to squeeze in some play time at the park and a few walks as well.  I feel super lame about not taking any pictures of our actual Thanksgiving celebration, but suffice it to say that there was good food and good company in abundance.  Kristin and co.  arrived on Thursday afternoon and the festivities continued to ring out in full force.  Despite a nightly battle of the bedtimes with my kids {particularly Grace} and more than a few meltdowns we still managed to have a really good time with our extra full house.  It's always so much fun to have family in town that we just don't want it to end!

Grace's baptism day dawned bright and early on Saturday morning and was a really wonderful event.  Having so many extra helping hands around was a blessing as we were trying to get everyone ready to go and out the door on time.  Everything went really well aside from the one glitch I had in forgetting to take a picture of Grace and Scott together before the baptism took place.  Actually, I would have liked to have gotten one with me and Grace as well, but you live and learn.  Perhaps by the time Sophie's baptism rolls around it will be old hat and I won't be nearly so frazzled and forgetful.

I did get a family picture taken before everything started but the results were semi-successful.  It is pretty much impossible to get a decent shot with everyone looking at the camera and looking good.  Hahaha.  I was planning on using one of these for our Christmas cards this year, but decided to give it another go this morning before church.  For the record, Jane is entirely too opinionated on what she is willing to wear for pictures and Sophie is not so cooperative in a group photo setting.  Just so you know.

As for the program itself, Ethan had been practicing for the last month to play the piano for the opening song -- "When I am Baptized" -- but at the last minute got a little too nervous and asked me if I would just play instead.  Of course I would.  As a trade-off, he agreed to lead the music for me.  Scott's parents gave the talks on Baptism and the Holy Ghost and Scott baptized and confirmed Grace.  It was really sweet to see her all dressed in white and taking such an important step in her life.   When the time came to be baptized, I could tell she was a bit nervous about being dunked completely underwater.   Nevertheless, I saw her take a deep breath and square her shoulders before entering the water and I was so touched by her courage.  She is my ever-surprising surprise.  I just love her.  She is a beautiful and tender soul.

While Scott and Grace were changing into dry clothes, we had everyone fill out little cards for her with memories of her big day and after the baptismal service was over we busted out the now traditional CTR cookies and oreos for some refreshments for the crowd.  They were a big hit.  

A Group Family Shot

 A present from the Primary.

All in all it was a good day.  The only sad part was when it ended.  The cousins had to go home yesterday evening and there were tears all around.  Grace ended her day by crying in my room that everything was terrible.  Apparently we forgot to have a family birthday party while everyone was still here and I forgot to present her baptism quilt to her at her actual baptism.  She didn't want the journal that I gave her as one last present because she "already has too many journals," and nothing could make her happy.  Oh well.  I'm pretty sure it was the tiredness talking.  She seemed fine enough this morning and was possibly the only child cooperating for Family Photo Shoot: Part 2.

 Look at that angel face. 

As for the rest of the group, Sophie was losing it over her placement in the picture -- she wanted to be right in the middle and someone told her she couldn't so she threw a melt-down fit about it --  Jane just doesn't listen {period} and Alex wanted his plug.  It was not the most ideal setting but it will have to do!  You'll just have to wait until you get your Christmas card from us to discover which one makes the cut.  Hahahaha.

 Our cute little runaway didn't want to sit still.

And that's a wrap.  Church is infinitely easier to handle with two extra adults helping out and we are really going to miss having Grandma and Grandpa around when they go home tomorrow!  It is always such a bummer when vacations end, but at least there are only 4 more weeks until Christmas. 

Flashback Friday -- A Quilt Story

A couple of months ago I had the following text exchange with my little sister Sarah who was about to have her 3rd baby.

{A rough re-enactment of the actual conversation}

Me:  what's your favorite shape?

Sarah:  circle

Me: what's your favorite color

Sarah:  aqua

Me: what color would you pair it with if you had to?

Sarah:  i don't know -- pink or maybe yellow?

Me: okay. perfect.

Sarah: lol.  that was random.

Hahaha.  Random?  Perhaps -- but only to the uninitiated.  You see, I had been trying for a couple of weeks to figure what exactly I wanted to do for the quilt I was going to make for baby Molly.  In the end, I decided to get Sarah's input but I didn't want to spoil any surprises.  As soon as she said her favorite shape was a circle, I knew exactly what pattern I wanted to do for the quilt -- the "Single Girl" pattern by Denise Schmidt.  The actual pattern for this quilt consists of more than one ring, but I kind of liked the way this one looked with the solitary circle floating in the middle.  And then, when she told me her favorite color{s}, I knew exactly what fabric line I wanted to work with -- Bonnie and Camille's Vintage Modern by Moda.  I pulled only the pinks and aquas and greys from the line and used a Kona Snow background and bound it with Kona Meringue {for those who care about fabric details}, and  the backing is a solid piece of fabric from the Vintage Modern line.  I LOVE the way this quilt turned out.  My favorite part is the hand quilting which I did in a concentric circular pattern all over the quilt top.  It really turned out beautifully!  

Close-up of the quilting.

Front.

And back.

And there you have it.  Another bunnysauce creation.  

Day is Done

Whew -- not only is this day done, but so is this past week!  And despite all the posting of various things that have happened this week already, there is still more to catch up on.  Never a dull moment around here! 

Thursday morning I took Sophie in to get her real cast put on.  The swelling had gone down enough to replace the splint with the real deal.  An added bonus for me taking her this time was getting to see her X-Ray up close and personal.  {Or at least a copy of it.}  I've labeled it below for your viewing pleasure as well.  Basically the impact of her fall caused her bone to buckle under the pressure.  That's what that slight bulge is on the side of her wrist. 

After waiting for what seemed like forever {although I'm sure it would have seemed even longer if Alex and Jane would have been there for me to keep occupied and entertained as well}, Sophie was finally able to get that pink cast on like she wanted!

 Waiting for the cast to dry and harden.

As soon as it was ready to go, the nurse was so kind to hunt down a sharpie for Sophie to have for the signing.  I was the lucky one who got to sign her cast first!  She really liked my added touch of a smiley face in the "O" and a heart at the end as well.  Hahahaha.

I checked her in to school as soon as the appointment was over and by the time she got home at the end of the day her cast was pretty much completely filled up.  It's been hilarious to see her with that Sharpie clipped to the front of her shirt everywhere she goes {even up to bed} and to watch her ask everyone she meets if they want to sign her cast, too.   You might say this one likes being the center of attention.   And while we're speaking of attention, there's one last thing I need to document for record's sake.  Sophie came home from school on Thursday with a card and a present from the little boy who pulled her off the monkey bars on Tuesday.  I thought it was a really sweet gesture and Sophie was so excited about the present that I think she's almost convinced herself that he's reformed his spirited ways and they can now be friends.  I'm still trying to convince her that usually when boys pick on girls in elementary school it's because they like them, but I don't think she's buying it.  Yet.  Hahahaha.  Even if she never does, at least she's not harboring any ill feelings for this poor little boy.  And that's a good thing -- accidents happen to the best of us.

Fast asleep at bedtime with her sharpie still in place and her newest junk by her side...

Anatomy of a Birthday Party

The planning of Grace's birthday party has been in the works for a few weeks now, but even so it felt AWFULLY last minute as I threw everything together this afternoon.  The good news is that I survived -- AND it was a success!  I'm a big believer in having the number of guests invited equal the age of the child whose birthday it is.  Thus, Grace invited 8 friends over for her very first all girl party.  That part was really important apparently.  Boys are anathema now {as are little sisters} and Grace was very insistent that only her girl friends were allowed to come.  And since Sophie and Jane didn't make that cut, Scott so graciously took them all off my hands this afternoon so I could run the party without any stress.

My biggest worry going into the party was that we didn't have enough planned to fill the whole hour and a half.  When we had Sophie's birthday party earlier this year we seemed to run into that a lot.  Activities that we thought would keep them occupied for 15 or 20 minutes ended up only lasting 5.  That sort of thing.  But for Grace's party today I was pleasantly surprised to see how long everyone's attention span was for the activities we had on the agenda.  So, without further ado here is the anatomy of an 8-year-old girl's birthday extravaganza.  

Up first?  A little birthday banner.  I bought a roll of banner paper at Michael's this morning and got out our bucket of art supplies -- crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc. -- and set it up in the middle of the living room floor.  I figured this would be a good, open-ended activity to work on while waiting for everyone to get there.  I bubble-lettered out a "Happy Birthday, Grace!" and let the girls get to work.  And color me impressed!  This was one artsy and talented group of girls.  As an added bonus, they spent a dedicated HALF an HOUR on the banner before they were ready to move on to the next item on the agenda.

  

 Mary, Grace, Haela, Amy

 

 The finished sign hanging in the dining room.

The main activity of the party was the decorating of Haunted {Gingerbread} Houses.  If this idea seems familiar, it's because it is -- we totally recycled the idea from Grace's last friend birthday party when she turned 5.  Hahaha.  The benefit of having a birthday right after Halloween is all the discounted junk that can be reused for party items and decor.  I wisely assembled all the houses before the girls got there using graham crackers and royal icing, and boy was I glad I did.  For some reason, year after year, I manage to fool myself into thinking that making these things are not that big a deal and that they're "fun" and "easy" to do.  And then every year I find myself covered in sticky, white {and gross} icing with broken and discarded graham crackers and crumbs all around me as I try to "glue" the houses together to ready them for the decorations.  It's not that easy or fun.  Buying the pre-packaged, ready-to-go kits is really the only way to do it.  Hopefully, I will remember this lesson by the time Christmas rolls around.  All in all, though, I'm glad we did it because the girls REALLY had fun decorating and it used up a lot of that Halloween candy!  I was surprised once again with how long they were able to stick to the activity at hand and how much attention and detail went into their creations.  I should hang around Grace and her friends more often!  Hahaha. 

 Cute little girlie bugs hard at work.  :)

My transitional activity for once the houses were done and I was trying to clean up the dining room was a little nail painting action in the kitchen.  I got down my bucket of nail polish and remover and set it in the middle of the table for the girls to help themselves while I cleaned up the dining room and got things ready for the cake and ice cream and presents.  I was a bit apprehensive leaving this all up to the girls without my immediate supervision, but everything worked out well enough, and once I was done cleaning we moved right along to the present opening without too much trouble.

The girls started to get a little hyper once Grace began opening things up, and I was glad that Scott got home a few minutes into that ordeal and was able to start getting the cake and ice cream ready  for when we were done.  At this point there's was only 15 minutes left in the party and I was shocked to see how well we filled the time!  I managed to snap a picture of the whole group before we moved on, but the lighting in our living room is kind of terrible, and I don't think it came out that well. 

After singing happy birthday and cutting some cake, the first of the parents started to arrive and we were able to visit a bit with them before the party ended.  Overall, I would say it was a big success.  Grace scored in the present department and when I asked her tonight if she had fun she answered with a big, "YES!!!"  Always nice to hear.  And to make everything even better, the kids all went to bed rather easily and fell almost right asleep.  Pretty much a perfect ending to the day!  Hahaha.

Grace is lucky to have such a fun, good group of girls to be friends with.  I was impressed with how sweet and friendly they all were.  I worry sometimes about girls being catty or mean or clique-y, but this group was really great.  It was a good day.  :)

{Made even good-er knowing I won't have to plan another friend party until Jane turns 5 in another couple of years.}