Winning the Kindergarten Lottery

Emmy just won the kindergarten lottery. We're talking so excited we've talked about it for a week. The big prize won . . . dinner at McDonald's with her teacher. Funny eh? Her teacher told her kids that the first person to pass off 40 books would get to go to McDonald's with her for dinner. And get to bring a friend. Could it get any better?!
So the day Emmy passed off her last book her teacher told her that she would get to go to McDonald's with her. Emmy looked up at her and asked with all the sincerity a 6 year old can have and asked "Will you take care of me there?" (The teacher thought it was so funny she called to tell me!). So we booked a night where Emmy and friend would meet the teacher, and the other kindergarten teacher at the school was also meeting 2 students, at McDonald's.
When I first asked Emmy who she wanted to take with her she said she wanted Logan to go with her. Sorry babe, Logan can't go to McDonald's with you teacher. Then she wanted Bailey, again sorry.
So the anticipated day came last Tuesday and Derek dropped them off - all smiles. Then an hour later I picked them up - Happy Meals and ice cream cones in hand. I picked them up in the Play Land part and I was holding 2 unfinished Happy Meals, trying to get the girls to follow me, and was backing out the exit door . . . or so I think. All of the sudden the alarm goes off, nearly deafening everyone in the restaurant ( . . . cringe . . . ). I totally missed the giant STOP sign on the door warning you that this is an emergency exit door only. The manager had to come over and use his little key to turn it off - all the while Emmy's teacher trying to explain to him why I missed the giant sign.
Then on the way home I told Emmy how nice it was of her teacher to buy her an ice cream cone, to which Emmy says, "Well I asked her for it" ( . . . big cringe . . . ), "Emmy," I say, "you can't ask your teacher for dessert!" "I said 'please'" was all the explanation needed for her. Despite my embarrassing moments, Emmy had a fab time!

Gratitude Attitude

This weekend for Memorial Day we went to my parent's cabin. We had a great time with my parents, and Robb and Catherine. We rode 4-wheelers, had a campfire and made s'mores and played outside enjoying a beautiful long weekend. As we were leaving I said to Tyler, "Go tell Grandma and Grandpa thank you and then get in the car." He obediently went up to my mom and said, "My mom said I'm supposed to thank you but I don't know what for." There's a gratitude attitude for you!

I know . . . it's amazing!

It's amazing I'm posting pictures! I haven't done it since Christmas. Perfectly understandable reason: for Christmas we got a new camera and I didn't know how upload my pictures. So I've just been taking pictures like crazy, never knowing if they're ever going to be seen again. But today is the day - the pictures are off the camera!
These are just a bunch of random pictures that I've taken over the last 5 months: Emmy's birthday - her first friend birthday party, Easter, Derek and my last couple of races - he did the Robie Creek half marathon and I did the 5K Race for the Cure and the 10K Great Potato, Emmy's kindergarten program, including one with her saying in the microphone her part, "We are definitely ready for first grade!", and of course Bay's broken arm. Enjoy our last 5 months in a minute or less!

20 Questions

Today Derek and his friend went on a long bike ride (Derek's doing a half-Ironman triathlon in a few weeks so he logs lots of miles!) - they rode for 30 miles and ended at a nice park, where my friend and I met them, with kids and a picnic. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time. Since I was in the car with the kids for a long time (I can't complain because I was driving, not riding a bike!) we played 20 Questions the whole way there. Here was my favorite dialogue:

Me: Ok, I'm thinking of a person.
Tyler: Is it someone we're related to?
Me: Yes
Emmy: Is it Savannah? (our next door neighbor)
Me: No
Bay: Are we going on a picnic?
Me: Yes
Tyler: Is it a girl?
Me: Yes
Emmy: Is it a horse?
Me: No
Bay: Did we bring lawn chairs?
Me: Yes
Tyler: Do they live in Idaho?
Me: Yes
Emmy: speaking gibberish
Me: No
Bay: Do we live in the temple?
Me: No
Tyler: Do they live close to us?
Me: No
Emmy: -silence- she's quit at this point
Bay: Do we walk on the sidewalk?
Me: Yes
Tyler: Is it Paisley?
Me: No
Emmy: -silence-
Bay: -silence- also quit
Tyler: Is it Johnna?
Me: Yes

Envision that going on for 40 minutes and you've got our trip!

(are you secretely glad this post had nothing to do with casts?!)

Cast Recap

Bailey got her cast last Thursday. It goes from her wrist to her shoulder and is really purple. The doctor asked her if she was going to pick pink or pink, assuming that's what she'd go with, and all she could say is, "purple". For the first few days it seemed to hurt because it was so heavy and she'd ask me to put her sling on her. We're mostly done with her sling now as she's more used lugging it around. She only has to be in it for 4 weeks -amazing how fast little bones heal.
Usually the only upside to a broken bone is how much attention the kid gets - unfortunately Bay hates all of this extra attention. Any time someone asks her about her arm or tells her how cute her cast is, she buries herself into me as much as possible. She hates it so much that when I dropped her off in Primary Sunday I told her teacher to not mention her arm because it makes her so uncomfortable.
This morning she accidentally bumped herself in the forehead with her cast - which obviously hurt. She told me it hurt when she hit her head with her cast, I agreed with her, and then she whacked me in the head with it and said, "see, it hurts." So far we haven't had to have the "your cast is not a weapon" talk, but I sense it coming soon.

Sticks & Stones may break Bay's bones . . .

. . . and so will trampolines!

I'm sad to post our first broken bone story, but here goes.

Sunday night we had a big dinner for Mother's Day. We had my parents, Jen's family, and Robb's family over. It was such a fun night with cousins all over the place, celebrating Moms. Now keep in mind, we have a rule about no jumping on the tramp on Sundays. But . . . the cousins were there, it was a beautiful day, and it was Mother's Day (nice to send those kiddos out on Mother's Day right?) . . . and keep in mind, we've only had our tramp for a month, so it's still new and exciting . . . combine all those, and you get rules thrown out the window!!
The kids had jumped and had a great time with each other and the party was just about over . . . oh so close . . .
Then I see my dad bring Bailey in from the backyard. She wasn't wailing and screaming, but she was definitely hurt. Her arm hurt and she kept it really close to her and guarded. She didn't want anyone to touch it, or look at it. It was obvious something was really wrong, how wrong I didn't know. Afer 10 minutes and a lot of diagnosis on our part, we decided she definitely needed to go to the ER. Luckily my parents were there and offered to put the other kids to bed while Derek and I ran her in.
We got to the ER a little after 8:00 and got in a room pretty quickly. The nurse who came in first gave us a lot of hope - "It's probably just dislocated and we can pop it back in. She'll imediately feel better" he said. Perfect . . . that's what we want. Then the doctor came in, equally pessimistic as the nurse was optimistic. "She might need surgery. These kind of injuries need surgery all the time." he said. "No, we don't want that option." we said.
After nurses, waiting, doctor, waiting, x-rays, waiting, doctor, waiting, follow up, and waiting we got the news - she'd fractured her elbow. Luckily it wasn't near her growth plates and luckily we didn't need surgery. He put her in a splint and a sling and sent us home. We finally got home at 11:00.
She looks pretty sad in her sling - she's just too little to have her arm in a sling! She's been feeling pretty good, as long as pain medicine is on hand! It's so sad because it's her right arm - that means she needs help eating, going to the bathroom, getting on the barstool, getting off the barstool, getting off the couch, getting in bed, getting out of bed and coloring (I have to hold down the paper while she colors with her left hand).
She goes in tomorrow for her cast. She says she wants purple. She'll probably be in it for 6 weeks. I'm hoping she gets it off before swimming lessons start!
She has been pretty spoiled - Jen brought over DVDs, coloring books, crayons, cookies, and candy, Allyson mailed her stickers, nail polish, make-up, and candy, and she's had friends bring over treats. Maybe a broken arm's not so bad after all!