'Nuggle with me!

Abby stood on the floor beside my bed as I nursed baby sister to sleep. She kept trying so hard to tell me something that I simply wasn't understanding. Finally I asked, "Are you saying snuggle?" "YES! You haven't 'nuggled with me in so bery long!" I gladly invited her for a 'nuggle with me. Dashing to the bed and starting to scramble up, she held her thumb and index finger about 1/4 of an inch apart, " Mommy, I dis wittle!"
Sometimes this mommy forgets how little she really is at 3 1/2.

I warm you up!

Me to my girls...  "I know you older ones probably didn't do this... But please leave the heater alone. It was off." Abby declared, "I warm you up mommy! With my little tiny hands!" Then she stopped eating and  clasped my cold hand in both of her tiny ones.

What's a parent to do?.....

3- year old Abby stole in to big brother Lucas' bedroom commandeering a Lego car. Oh how sweet to play with forbidden goods, until.... big brother found her. He nicely requested she return the pieces ( by then she'd disassembled it) of it to him.  Refusing she popped a piece into her mouth.
"Momma! Abby has my Lego piece and won't give it back and I asked her nicely!" he whined at me. I followed him to her bedroom where he was attempting to make a forceful entry. Pushing him aside I went in to talk to her. "Where's the lego piece? " I asked. "In here!" she replied pointing at her mouth. "You got to be kidding me!" I thought. I tried rewording it. "Abby where did you leave brother's Lego piece?" Opening her mouth wide she said, "In here!" Oh boy! What's a parent to do...

She did what?

Daddy bought a pellet gun to teach everybody to shoot.

 For Abrianna's turn she pressed her little eye tightly against the scope and pulled the trigger. Ooops! It kicked her right in the eye! She stumbled back to the house blood smeared and tears falling.

Daddy noticed something was on the scope... bits of Abrianna's eyebrow. Oh well, must've gotten her hairs stuck there some how. He picked it off and resumed practice.

Meanwhile I saw my blood smeared little girl come stumbling up to the  house with a nice deep cute and a impressive looking shiner.

Ought to be interesting to hear the reactions when she tells others what happened to her eye. Oh well. You can guarantee she won't try that trick again anytime soon.

Minnesota Trip.

We stopped of a picnic lunch on the way to Itasca.

Grandpa helping Emmy towards the car.

So happy.

My wonderful parents - 37 years and counting.

A highlight was seeing Grandpa Vernon and Grandma Joan. Its been three years.

Uncle Mitch and Abrianna "braving" the head waters of the Mississippi.

Love... Crossing the mighty Mississippi. 

Cousins by the dozens. Well... almost.

Get that boy! The 5 year olds.

The oldest and youngests.

The 7 year olds.

Babies.

One of the most fun things? Frogs everywhere. 

Wow, check this out!

Jubilee Lake- a family adventure.

Four little cherubs.

Ready to take on the lake...

Or play horsey on daddy's tummy...

To watch the ducks on the little island...

While baby sister quickly slips into the lake fully clothed...

So everybody else joined in the fun.( Emmy was blue lipped, shivering, and having a blast.)

Facing life with no holds barred. 

 Our little "nature" girl, likes water on her terms.

Doesn't it look idyllic? Don't be fooled. 

We fueling up with roasted hot dogs we sett out. Stopping to take pictures.( We'll just pretend that my angry 3 year old didn't intentionally poop in her pants right after the first photos.)

 At our second stop, Abby fearlessly attempted to catch a huge frog. ( she caught a lot of them in MN last week)

We leisurely spent time climbing up the hill picking and eating huckleberries. Both of us thought the other was watching Emmy. (whoops!) I saw something out of the corner of my eye tumble down off the edge of a short bank. Fortunately she was none the worse for wear.

We stopped to visit with some church members,  watching some teenager boys swing out and plunging into the lake.

On the home stretch, we stopped for the kids promised "swim." I pulled off Emmy's shoes and handed her to daddy so I could take a picture of the duck island. He took his eyes off for a few seconds and was surprised to see she had waded into the lake fully clothed. She was so nonchalant.. for a few seconds. Then burst into tears holding her arms and hands out of the water. That quickly stopped  as she happily (shivering and blue lipped) splashed and played. Abby swam in her birthday suit. Lucas took off his shirt so Emmy could have something dry to wear on the rest of the walk. Abrianna managed to come out dry. Not sure how that happened. 

We finished the day off with some ice cream on the way home. Overall some good memories made.

In the news...

Laying on my bed with my two littlest girls, I patted Abby's tummy. "Sounds hollow." I said. She responded with a giggle patting my tummy. "You tummy says "hello" too!"

Lucas swatting flies, "Mom! I just killed two flies on their honeymoon!" "Uhhh, how do you know they are on their honeymoon?" I asked. "Cause we had ducks mom, and that's what they'd do..." he replied. "Ummm ok..."

He's so blessed. The scar isn't too bad, now that the stitches were removed yesterday. The doctor is pleased with how it looks and his teeth are meeting nicely. The challenge remains on how to creatively burn off little boy energy for the next 2 weeks until the bones finish healing.

Face Plant in the Cement. ( not recommended.)

A movie or going and playing at the skate park? In retrospect ( hind sight is 20/20 huh?) I shouldn't have encouraged involving Lucas and going to the skate board park.
Uncle Reggie ( an ER nurse) went along to snap some action shots. As they pulled out the thought crossed my mind, " I bet somebody comes back hurt simply cause Uncle Reggie is here..." Maybe a half an hour later I heard the van pull in. Hmm... That was a quick trip. In stumbled a sobbing Lucas daddy's sweat shirt clutched in his hand pressed tightly against his chin, blood spattering his clothes. A quick glance led me to believe stitches. Wasn't sure we could put that 1 1/2 inch long gash back together here at home. Well, since we had an ER nurse we were gonna try. Laying him back and getting out supplies I noticed that his jaw was not sitting right. Maybe dislocated? I didn't know. We decided to take him in to ER for an x-ray to rule out dislocation or broken bones.

Notice how his chin has been pushed in?

 The doctor was fairly certain it wasn't dislocated mainly cause he was talking, but decided to take and x-ray to be certain.The x-ray did indeed reveal there was no dislocation, instead there was a green stick fracture on the left side up near the head of the joint. The doctor ordered a CT scan to rule out any internal bleeds. Bleeding was minimal. Surprisingly it showed a second break running perpendicular to his chin- right between his teeth on the right side
.
About that time, we had  "knock" on the curtain. And who should walk in but a fellow from the skate park who had ripped up his shirt for Lucas when he connected with the cement wall.  After Lucas was whisked away this person had fallen separating his shoulder. He was headed for surgery. Whew, did it look nasty and painful. Uncle Reggie asked both Lucas and the skate boarder if they'd consider taking up kite boarding as water is more forgiving than cement. The skate boarder declared that once he heals up he's gonna go back and do it some more. ( shudder).

Stitching.

 Lucas was so brave- never cried nor fussed while there. Uncle Reggie helped focus him on other things while his chin received 9 stitches. (I was walking the hall trying not to pass out or lose my supper.)

I gave him a little tyenol at home and tucked him in about 12:30 AM. He slept till I woke him at noon the following day to get some food and water into him before taking him into the oral surgeon.

Nine stitches and over three hours later he's ready to go home.The oral surgeon took a panoramic x-ray, measured how far he could open his mouth. Looked in his mouth for visible bruising, measured the length of the gash. He said if Lucas had been an adult he'd have had to have his jaw wired shut. But thankfully all he has to do is not do rough things,  eat only soft foods. He's on some antibiotics cause of where the break was and also the chin split. I'm praising God it isn't any worse.  Its almost like he's a baby again. The blender and food processor are a must for him at this time.
Oh and for the record he had on all the protective gear when this happened, helmet, knee pads, elbow pad, and wrist guards.

"Abriannaisms"

Standing there thinking, "Hmmmm.... A thought just flashed through my mind!"

While bathing, "Emmy, you shouldn't stand up in the bath tub. If you fall you will have to have your head crocheted back together!"

Returning on  Friday night from a friend's house after a busy week, Abrianna collapsed on the couch clutching her tummy."Mommy, my tummy hurts!" "Did you need to go potty? Do you need to throw up?" I queried. "No. Mommy, I'm homesick!", she declared. "Homesick?" I replied. "Yes, that's when you have been away from home too much and it makes you sick!" ( Actually she had drank too much juice and her little tummy was overfull.)

Sabbath afternoon ( Unleavened Breads week)

With part of his " Harem."

Seeing double?

Hanging out watching the others while chewing grass.

Such different little girls.

Watch the mud fly.

Where the mud landed.

Youngest 2.

Spring Sabbath Pictures.

Toes...

Tasty Toes...

Sleepy Eyes....

What NOT to do....

Day 3 of reaction

Its beginning to heal.

Looking so much better.

Sabbath February 16th Abrianna had a strange looking rash on her arm. Abby had pink stamps from Oriental Trading company marking her arms.
Sunday Rick and Lucas went skiing. Abrianna walked by and I asked to see her arm. To my horror it was angry red and covered in large blisters. Then I noticed on top of the pink stamps on Abby's arm blisters where forming! I applied charcoal to help counter act whatever was going on. But it didn't help. Then came baking soda. No better. So I called their doctor ( who happens to work the Sunday clinic) and took them in. His immediate reaction was that they were burned. Uhhhh... Nooo..... No burns from water anyway. His next thought was impetigo a strep or staph infection. Taking a culture he sent it away to the lab sending me home with instructions to keep triple anti-biotic ointment applied to prevent the spread of infection. The blisters did spread as they burst. Nobody else was affected.  I sent away pictures and a request for reimbursement for medical costs to the company. We'll see what happens. We are hoping that the scars fade away. They still look bad 4 weeks afterwards.