Carter's first ER visit, almost.

Everyone who knows Carter knew it was going to happen eventually. I placed a frantic call today to Tim saying "meet me at the ER Carter needs stitches!" He fell from the wrong side of the staircase in the foyer. Yes, he has been told repeatedly not to climb on the wrong side of the stairs. Yes, today he found out why. We feel blessed that his injuries weren't more severe, just stitches and the extraction of his two front teeth. Tim called the surgeon's office he knew here in town and avoided the ER visit (Dad is much more cool in a crisis than Mom) so we'll call it an "almost" ER visit. Papa and Nana watched the other three while Tim and I went through the process with Carter at the surgeon's office and then at the dentist. He went to sleep still numb and likely will be uncomfortable tomorrow. Say a prayer for him. I started to take pictures but decided against it for two reasons: first, it was not a pleasant sight, and second he was just too pitiful. I'll post a toothless pic once he is on the mend. He will be toothless for awhile....

Bible Bowl

Laurel and Matthew competed in Bible Bowl this year with our church. They studied Exodus 1-20 for over 5 months! While everyone really tries to put the focus on having fun and learning the passage it is great when they also do well in the competition. This year they both did extremely well. We are so proud of them. Laurel won 2nd place in her age group. Their team (2nd and 3rd graders from the University church) won 2nd place in the team competition (together as a team they had the 2nd highest score overall)! Yeah!! Here are some photos taken by our youth minister, Roy.

The 2nd and 3rd grade team with their trophy



Laurel making her way to the front as she is named 2nd place winner



Matthew waiting patiently for the competition results.

Indiana Jones

Carter has been eagerly awaiting the arrival of his Indiana Jones hat and whip. After he walked around the house pretending to be "Indy" for days with a shoelace I gave in and helped him order one online with some of his savings. He has had me logging in each day to check the tracking info. We saw it had been delivered and Tim went by and picked it up for him. Despite an earache today he is still enjoying having his new toy. Here he is in his best Indy form:

Katey gets bangs

A little girl look and hopefully less hair in her face.

Catching Up

Its been a busy couple of weeks. There were three big milestones here. Carter finished Kindergarten and began 1st grade--a whole new school schedule for our days. Katey turned four years old!! Laurel and Matthew completed book 1 of the Suzuki Piano Lessons. Of course we had a party for all three. Here are the pics:

A book 1 piano recital at our home and cake, of course:



Carter and Mom after Carter finished his last day of Kindergarten



Katey's 4th Birthday: Everyone loved to see Katey excited for her birthday. This year it was a "book" cake. Katey loves books. Her "book" read:
Once upon a time there was a princess named Katey. She loved books, dolls, coloring, and playing on the computer. She was a happy little girl who was loved by her brothers and sister. One day her all her family came to celebrate with her. Katey was turning four! She had a wonderful birthday and enjoyed all the fun. Then she lived happily ever after as all princesses do.

Snow

Today we have snow. I didn't even know it was coming until an hour or so before it started yesterday afternoon. We estimated about 5 inches, but no ice and warm temps allowed life to go on as usual. No snow day here for our school and MSU was open so Tim held his classes. Two snows in one year...strange for western KY.

Life comes to a screeching halt

Today was a crazy day. Tim and I were on the phone dealing with some pre-travel issues for Germany. We were stressed. Katey has been snotty since Tuesday, but there was an afternoon and evening with things planned so life had to "get done" despite life's issues, until it happened. I loaded up the kids for piano, dropped off the snotty one at Mom and Dad's and arrived astonishingly on time for their lessons. Carter told me in the car he was not feeling well, but I didn't really believe him. He steps out of the van in the street in front of our instructor's home and he is crying. I begin to think maybe he really is not feeling well. As if he realizes he needs to prove it to me he promptly vomits in the road, three times. Wonder what will bring life to a halt? Puke. Our piano instructor who is expecting a baby and the mother of a toddler of course passed on giving us a lesson today. A friend whose daughter I was keeping for the evening had to make other arrangements at the last minute. We were planning to have dinner at Mom and Dad's, Mom sent it home with me. We couldn't expose anyone else to him. Tim met me and took him home, I made the run to Walmart for Sprite and Saltines and we all settled in for an unplanned night at home wondering if anyone else would follow suit. He spent the evening playing Wii and being perfectly well. Who knows. I am just glad I don't feel nauseous. We'll see what tomorrow brings. All I know is that if we have to have an unplanned halt to life's crazy routine, I prefer snow.