Take That, Face Recognition Software

The kids and I made a sand bucket list this summer of things we wanted to do together before school starts.  The list included going to the movies, catching fireflies, making s'mores and getting faces painted.  We still have to get to s'mores and fireflies yet before school starts in two weeks.

Update: hmmm...used a new mobile app to write this post.  Looks like it is having a hard time sizing the pics.  I will see if I can get to the bottom of it.

Melting My Heart

Here is AJ's Mother's Day project from back in May.  The kids all had beautiful projects this year, and I adore every little homegrown flower seed in a plastic cup and handprint that comes home.  That cool lady with the rock-n-roll hair and the crazy eyes is me.  Based on the picture, apparently I need to use my brush more frequently and tone down the "I mean business!" looks (check out those huge eyes).  AJ very affectionately told me it was a beautiful drawing of me, though, so I love it.

Little Miss Sunshine

I filed this one under classic Julia expressions.

Makes Me Smile in July

Well, now.  How did I miss posting this one back in December?

First (and Hopefully Last) Trip to the ER

Well, with three young kids, I figured it was a matter of time before we put in an appearance at the local ER.  Our number came up one Saturday when Joe was at the doctor's office with Julia and the boys were playing "rocket ship" in the family room.  Apparently this involved jumping on the couch for "blast off" and David somehow slipped on AJ's arm, fell off the couch and hit his head on the coffee table.  I know the facts up until this point because AJ has one of the world's best memories and gave me the blow-by-blow repeatedly.

When I heard the crying and got to David, there was blood everywhere.  It looked like a crime scene.  He looked like a crime victim with blood gushing down his face from a gash above his eye.  I managed to get both boys in the car and drive to the ER.  Joe met us there and took the other kids home so that I could focus on Davey, who was such a brave bear but a little worried about all of the blood on the towel.  When they were done with four of the five stitches, he started crying a bit.  I think it was more from fear of the weird sensation of the needle and thread tugging at his skin than pain, but the physician wanted to prevent pain (and I think get Davey to stop crying), so he decided to give Davey a numbing shot.  I have had one of those, and they burn quite a bit.  I can imagine it felt terrible right by his eye.  During and after the shot he really was crying in pain, but the doctor managed to get that last stitch in.

One interesting tidbit that came out of the ER visit was an observation (from the doctor? the nurse?) that children are more prone to balance accidents like this when they have ear infections.  Davey was diagnosed with a bad ear infection just a day or two before this happened.

We went out for ice cream that night and all was better in Davey's world.  As an added bonus, all of the kids now talk quite a bit about how we do not jump on the couch at our house.

Stitches, shortly after being placed.  Boys and girls at home, this is why we do not jump on the furniture!

And out for ice cream post-stitches the night the rocket took off.

Here is a picture with David's resulting black eye and stitches barely visible under his cool big-guy haircut.  The scar is starting to fade now.

Coming to Our Senses

AJ has been getting great reports at school that his patience and concentration are improving.  Hopefully this change just before kindergarten will stick once school starts.  Reports from preschool had been that AJ was always the first one to finish his work, but it often was three or four hasty crayon swipes and "done!"  His teachers reported that AJ always wanted to "win" in turning it in.

Here is a project his teacher says he really focused on and did careful work on writing out all of the words.

Memorial Day

We had a nice outing to a military museum at Camp Dodge, a local military base.  The boys were super excited about the old artillery weapons, tanks, etc. spread out on the lawn for people to climb all over.  Uncle Andy, the history buff, liked it, too.

Gone Fishin'

All of the kids have had so much fun fishing this year.  David crows with delight and a pure thrill each and every time he manages to snag a fish, which can be as often as five times in 30 minutes on the dock.  AJ is competitive and feels the older brother should always catch more fish.  On days when that does not pan out (and David seems to be some sort of fish magnet), AJ focuses on who has caught the biggest fish.  We are working on talking about how fishing is not a competition and it is all about having fun.  Julia is just happy to be old enough this year to get a real turn with the pole.