And the Winner Is...

Can you guess the skyline? It's the city we will be moving to, here in a couple of months. Atlanta! We'll be there for 2 years and I'm actually looking forward to it (I've got some fun trip ideas already and plus they have ikea!). The kids were hoping for a place where it snows, so they are a little disappointed. After schmoozing and being woo-ed, the parasitic branch won out and liked Phil the best so that is where he 'matched' and he is really excited about it. You'll have to ask him what exactly he'll be researching/investigating, but I do know it's stuff you only find in the tropics. He can tell you all of the details. Now to find a place to live, in an area with good schools.

Double the Trouble

Yes that would be 2!!!! casts you see on that crazy kids arms. We had quite the adventure last Thursday night. If it hadn't almost made me pass out, I would post the x-rays of his right arm. Both bones broken and a nasty twist, just to make it a little more complicated. Thank goodness it didn't pop through the skin! Little did we know at the time that the left one was broken as well. After a morning of him saying that his left arm was rather sore and me brushing it off as "Well you did land on that one too, so it probably is sore a little and plus you have to use it more now...", I called the pediatrician, who sent us to Vandy again. This time however, we went right to radiology, where after taking pictures of his arm all three techs, who happened to be 20 something girls, came out and all said at least once, "Bless his heart!" (Insert southern accent). I knew it wasn't good news, but they couldn't tell me and we had to wait for the radiologist to talk to the pediatrician and for him to call me. Just a small break they call a 'green stick' break (think what happens when you bend a green branch--that's what his bone looked like). Luckily, going through our regular dr was a good thing because he got us right in to the orthopedic clinic and they casted both arms, instead of us having to go in on Monday and Ethan missing his field trip.

Lessons learned: Swings can be dangerous, especially for a kid who likes to jump off at the highest point possible. I really want a cell phone (4 kids taken to the ER because I only gave myself 3 phone calls from home until I loaded everyone up--no one was home). You can will yourself not to pass out in a time of crisis, especially if the person that is really effected is really calm--not from shock, it's just the way he is. Once you get yourself together you can even think clearly in times of crisis and remember to turn around at the end of the street so that you can go back and get the credit card that you no longer use or keep in your wallet so that you can pay the ER deductible. Having your kid "in the system" from a previous ER visit that was really benign was/is a good thing and makes things go really fast. If your kid says something hurts, have them check that out too (Ethan said once that his left arm hurt, but it happened to be at the time they were sticking him for the iv and no one really followed up, including me--it would have saved us another 4 hours the next day). We are blessed to have good friends who came to help us out by getting the other 3 and taking them home and putting them to bed. I can do the "medical stuff" without Phil around. I hate hospitals and dealing with that kind of stuff, but I managed quite well. This all happened while he was in Atlanta.

Back to the Stone Age

Phil leaves tomorrow. He's taking the laptop (our only computer) and the cell phone with him. Guess what that means for me? No email. No blogging. No news, unless I listen to the radio. Should I keep going? The kids don't know yet that dad is taking the computer. They are going to revolt. Ethan is going to beg to go to McKay's, the used bookstore where you also buy things like used gameboys. He's been saving up his money and he just got 10 more dollars for being some body's aptitude test guinea pig. He's excited to have earned some money.

Call me if you are bored. I might need some adult conversation come evening after the kids are in bed. We'll know in a week where we are headed.

Question

Maybe somebody can answer this for me: why, when you click on the pictures, do they sometimes open up/enlarge and sometimes they don't? Case in point, the picture of Clara by the window gets big for me, but the one of her holding violets doesn't. What do I do differently?

Room with a view

Here is what we saw out of our window today--all at once. The windows are the 'headboard' for our bed, so to speak, so Clara and I had a comfortable seat to watch the Spring fun.

It's a little blurry because I took the picture through the screen and all of the animals took off(except for the greedy chipmunk--you should have seen his cheeks!), when I opened the window to get a non-glare shot. I'm going to miss our little view.

Broccoli vs Peach

Guess which one won every time?

Everything is coming up Violet

Our yard is full of violets. I know some people consider these little wild things a nuisance, but I love them! I would have a yard full of them if I could and since we rent and our landlord doesn't really do anything to our lawn but mow it once in a while, these little things thrive. Every Spring I marvel at how beautiful and simple they are. They make for some great photos and some great little bouquets.

Clara in purple sitting among the violets and clover.

I'm loving the close up capacity of our camera (and no I didn't become a professional photographer. I was messing around picasa and accidentally left the 'water mark' thing on).

One thing I love about the violets are the little bouquets that get brought in by loving little hands. And thanks to this lovely and talented lady, I have the perfect vase to put the little bouquets in.Little hands that are hardly ever still. This girl is a go getter.

Easter dresses--I went a little over board and they look like flower girls, but the fabric just screamed SPRING to me way back in January, so I bought it with Easter dresses in mind. I think they turned out rather cute and if you are really interested in the making of them see the side bar and check my other site.

Finally, one last violet. This the inside kind and it comforts me in another way than the simple beauty of the outside variety. You see this violet was given to me 2 1/2 years ago by a dear friend when we lost our little baby boy. I think she knew what I needed at the time, something tangible and alive and that would last as a sweet reminder of what had been given and taken, and so this plant was the perfect gift. However, it hasn't bloomed since the time she gave it to me with some blooms on it (probably do to the lack of sunlight in our apartment), till now. Symbolic? Probably not. Just a reminder to be grateful for what we are given, in whatever form and to be grateful for wonderful friends.

Passing it on

I'm going to direct you to here to learn about a little fun to pass on some kindness. Check it out and pass it along.

AND HERE WE ARE NOW

Phil and I thought this was a well done and well put together piece of information. Just wish we weren't the ones paying for being smart enough to realize that we couldn't afford a house and instead stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment with 4 kids. Now how to dig out of this mess, I'd like to see that video

http://www.crisisofcredit.com/