and so it continues...

Yesterday, as Ben and the kids were getting ready to go skiing, Luke decided to go running through the family room full of skis and ski gear.  Somehow, all of the stars aligned just right, and he sliced his toe on the edge of a ski.

When I say slice, I truly mean SLICE.  Parts of his toe that should be inside were pushing their way outside.

It was a nasty sight, and poor Luke was hollering as loud as his little lungs could manage. 

As with Sam's cut just a few days earlier (yeah, I know), the blood was unbelievable!  Talk about deja vu!

I put Luke in the car, along with Mary (for some help with distracting Luke), and we headed to the Urgent Care. 

The got us right in, and had the doctor look at it to make sure we didn't need to go to the ER, or to surgery to put parts of his toe back in.  Yup, it was nasty.

The doctor decided to do the stitches right there in the office, and then we sat and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited.

Luke was happily playing with toys and drinking juice boxes, completely unaware of his severed toe soaking through towel after towel. 

 Finally, the nurse came in and washed his foot.  Unfortunately, between the time the nurse left, and the doctor came in, his foot was soaked in blood again.  So, they had to clean it out again.

Luke was a great sport during the cleaning, and didn't cry.

The stitches were a whole different story.  I had to lie on the table, with Luke on top of me.  I had to bear hug him, so he couldn't thrash around too much. 

He hated the numbing shots, and I don't blame him at all.  He worked his hands free, and was thrashing so hard that he was continuously slapping me in the face over and over and over again.  If it wasn't so sad, it would have been really funny!

The numbing didn't work, so the poor kid felt the first stitch. 

In went two more numbing shots, smack went his hands on my face.

At one point I glanced over at Mary, who was giggling and taking pictures of the nurse with my phone.  Apparently, she was putting the pictures into the fat face app. on my phone, and getting a kick out of it.  I'm glad someone was amused...and obviously, very bored.

The numbing didn't work that time either, so Luke felt the second stitch too. 

The doctor decided to forego a third stitch, to spare Luke.

Finally, it was over. 

They wrapped Luke's foot up all nice and snug, and we headed home, where Luke immediately crashed and slept for a long time.

Today he is up and walking around, but keeps telling us to "look, but don't touch."

What a trooper.  Poor Lukie boy!

Let's hope our stitches streak will take a vacation for a while now!  Geesh!

ouch!

On Sunday evening, Sam came screaming down the stairs, with a trail of blood following him.

He had stepped on this....



yes, the red is blood.  Straight out of a crime scene, huh! gag

 

a big, long piece of glass that came from a picture frame that had broken sometime earlier.

I had seen the glass the previous day, and thought I had cleaned it all up...boy was I wrong!

 

We had our neighbor Kate, who is a nurse, come over and take a look at it.  She said that if we went in, they would probably do a stitch or two, but really, he could be fine if we just wrapped it really well.

 

So, we washed it until the bleeding finally stopped, wrapped it up, and called it a night.

 

The next morning, Sam could not walk on his foot, and was in a lot of pain.  I decided to take a look, and almost lost my breakfast.  Sam's cut was gaping open, and I could see his muscle and tissue inside his foot.  Every time we touched it, it would squirt blood. I was trying not to pass out, Sam was a mix of scared and thinking it was the coolest thing ever.

 

I went next door, and got my other neighbor, who is also a nurse.  (we live in an awesome spot)

 

She said that it looked like the glass had hit an artery, which would explain all of the blood, and the crazy swelling and bruising.  We estimated that the glass went in at least 1/2 inch.  It was too late for stitches, so we just cleaned it out really well, wrapped it up again, and headed off to the store for crutches.   As "cool" as it is to have your foot spray blood every time you step down, we decided to spare everyone's gag reflex, and keep Sam off of it.

 

 

With the crutches, and all of the blood Sam's foot expelled, Sam instantly became the 2nd grade celebrity for a day!  Oh, the things that are cool to 7 year old boys. 

 

Hopefully he is now on the mend, and will be walking on his own in the next day or so.

 

Ouch!

 

 

Oh, and William says hi.

 

two wheeler

The other day, William's buddy, Camden, learned to ride his bike without training wheels. 

The very next day, William walked into the house and announced that he was ready to ride a "two wheeler."  Apparently, a bike with training wheels is a "4 wheeler," and they aren't cool anymore.

So, Ben took of Williams training wheels, and in the few minutes it took for me to get Molly settled and grab the video camera, William was riding a "2 wheeler" up and down the road!!!

William is 4 1/2 years old. 

His adorable chubby face, smashed into his helmet, with his huge grin, and deep laugh, was almost more than we could stand.  It was so awesome!

William loves his new-found activity, and has since been riding his bike all around the sidewalk, and up and down the neighbor's driveways with Camden.

Way to go William!!!

miss molly grace...2 months

Molly is 9 weeks old today! 

She had her 8 week appointment a week early, so her stats at 7 weeks were:
almost 10 pounds, 22 inches, and cute as can be.

She is still on her acid reflux medicine, but with the medicine she is doing just fine.  We haven't had any reflux problems for a while now.

Molly has mastered smiling, and is so quick to smile at her siblings and at Ben and I. 
Her smile is adorable, and completely melts our hearts every single time we see it.

Molly has started cooing and gurgling at us, and she wiggles her legs and arms out of excitement when we talk to her or look at her.

She continues to be a good baby, and sleeps really well at night.  She has even done a few 6 hour stretches! It has been so wonderful!

She got sick this week with a stomach bug, and it was pretty sad.  The poor girl could not keep anything in her, and had a fever of 101.  Hopefully she is over the worst of it now.

Molly continues to have a very special and sweet spirit, and has brought a higher level of spirituality and love into our home. 

She is so very precious and sweet, and we are still overjoyed and so incredibly grateful that she is here in our home.

Love you Molly Grace!

halloween

Our Halloween went something like this...

One beautiful Hermione.
(complete with the Harry Potter Spell Book that she is currently obsessed with)

One dashing Harry Potter, who knows a few spells of his own.

One totally awesome, all in black, ninja (who didn't want to wear the part of his costume that actually made him look like a ninja...haha).

One cute little mini ninja (who could have trick or treated All.Night.Long)!

And one adorable, cuddly, sweet, squishy baby Molly, dressed up as... a cute baby, who still curls her little hands in the way that mommy absolutely loves, and who is sporting the cutest birthmark on her right hand that anyone has ever seen.

One pumpkin throwing up down our steps...thank you Mary.

One sweet parakeet that died.
  We were all very, very sad to say goodbye to our buddy Charlie, especially poor heartbroken Mary, and not quite sure what happened.  Mary is currently working on picking out his replacement.

The traditional roasting of  "Halloweenies" at the neighbors house.

Making and eating Spiders and Worms.

Handing out 4 Costco size bags of candy to over 300 trick or treaters, and running out. Our neighborhood is seriously the trick or treating mecca of Heber.  It rocks!

Trick or Treating for HOURS with friends, and coming home exhausted and happy, with over half a giant pillowcase full of candy!

Sorting the candy.

 

 

And calling it a night well spent.

Happy Halloween!

ben's birthday

Ben is 33! 

We basically split his birthday over the course of three days.  The Saturday before his Birthday, I gave him my present....a date to go see the Warren Miller movie, here in Park City. 

I lined up a babysitter, bought the tickets, and got it all set up. 
It was a lot of fun!  Those movies are pretty awesome. 

We stopped at Dairy Keen on the way, and got some milkshakes.  I think I had the most delicious pumpkin pie cheesecake milkshake that I have ever had in my life!  It was soooo good!

We brought Molly with us, and she slept through the whole thing!  She must be the youngest of 5.

The move was great, and it is always a fun experience to go to those showings.  Happy Birthday Ben!

The next day, Sunday, I made Ben his Birthday Cake.  It is the most delicious chocolate cake with homemade caramel drizzled all over it, that we have ever, and probably will ever have.  The only catch is that it takes about 3 hours to make.  Believe me, it is worth it!

That evening, Ben opened his presents from the kids.  Mary is gone most of the day Monday, and she wanted to be a part of everything, so that is why we did a lot on Sunday.
I told the kids to get creative and make Ben his gifts from them.
They were the most sweet and precious gifts, from the heart.   These kids adore their daddy.


Sam, William, and Mary spent hours cracking big rocks into pieces, with other rocks, until they found "the perfect rock pieces" to give Ben.  It was very sweet of them.

A very sweet and special homemade card from Mary.

And the absolutely most amazing airplane, made by Sam.  He even hammered the nails and broke the boards all by himself.

Luke gave Ben lots of hugs and kisses, and Molly gave him lots of snuggles and a couple of heart melting smiles.

On Monday, Ben's actual Birthday, he woke up to decorations and I left him a card from me.  His work buddies brought him breakfast, and took him out to lunch.  He also got cards and phone calls from loved ones.

I am so lucky to have Ben in my life, and I love any chance I can get to celebrate him.

Happy Birthday Ben!