Jonny's Toe Update

We have just returned from a fabulous trip to Utah, thanks to all who made it possible. I am still unpacking and will be sharing photos and kid memories in the next week. I just wanted to give a quick update on Jonny's toe for those who would like to know the resolution. Here's a a brief synopsis for those who were not present.
Last Friday we were at Lagoon (amusement park.) Jonny said that his little toe hurt, but I didn't see anything wrong with it. Sunday morning, Jonny said something to Gary about his "hurting toe." Gary checked it out and immediately saw that the bottom of his little toe was swollen purple/gray and the rest of the toe was bright red. I drove him to the urgent care/drop in clinic, and they drained the toe, took a culture, and gave a prescription. They also pointed out the infection was spreading up his foot and ankle (a visible red line.) The urgent care place called last night and said that it was a staph infection. The medicine is working fine. Jonny's toe and foot are looking much better and he should be fully recovered before long.

Entrepreneur

I thought Jimmy was playing video games on our computer when he called upstairs:
"Mom? What's our zipcode?"
I answered, not thinking too much about it. Then he called up:
"Mom? How do you spell our street?"
I froze. What was he up to?
"Jimmy what are you doing?" I called down
"I'm just signing up for Ebay."
"Why?"
"I'm trying to sell my yellow coat."

Yes, his heavy, nicest winter coat that he HATES and fought about wearing everyday last winter. That yellow coat.

Memory Game

I saw this on my friend Holly's site and thought this might be a fun opportunity to see who actually looks at this blog!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Thirsty Girl

Last week or the week before we journeyed up to Pennsylvania to see my brother, his wife and their new baby Elizabeth. We stayed overnight on this visit in a local hotel. My dad (grandpa-diddo I suppose you could call him) came along for this trip and stayed with us. He generously stayed with the kids in the room so Gary and I could have a late night swim (THANKS!). As I finished tucking the kids in bed, Amelia started sobbing uncontrollably. As I was looking forward to the late night swim, I was perhaps not as patient as I should have been.
"what's wrong?"
"I'm thirsty"
"What could you do about that?" I wanted her to realize she was not powerless in this situation. She could get a drink or ask for one. She just kept screaming. So I continued "you could maybe ask for a drink?"
"NO! THIS IS A HOTEL AND THERE'S ONLY COFFEE IN HOTELS!"

I gave her a cup of water. And then joined Gary for a late night swim. I tried the butterfly stroke which I have only ever seen on TV. I got water up my nose but it was loads of fun anyway.

And the new baby, Elizabeth? She's just the cutest little baby that I've seen in a while. Maybe one day I'll get the pictures off of the camera phone and prove it.

One weird apocalypse movie

The other day at dinner, Jimmy told us all about the new movie Wall-E. He has not seen it, but he knows all about it because of its kid-centric Web site.

According to Jimmy, this movie takes place in "the future." To clarify, he specified that Wall-E takes place:

1. Before the Second Coming

BUT

2. After everyone on Earth has died.

I got a good chuckle out of this. Although that sequence is incompatible, I am impressed that Jimmy saw fit to include the Second Coming when thinking about the temporal setting of an animated movie. He's a smart kid and knows the gospel very well, for a seven-year-old.

Ruth's Art Challenge

My niece Ruth got bored this summer and decided to come up with a weekly art challenge for herself to complete. She (or her mom) invited the rest of the family to j0in in. This week's challenge was to draw yourself in a mood. Here's what we came up with, working with paint.

Silly Amelia

This is Amelia, sticking out her tongue and waving her fists. Her eyes shift from blue to green so she calls them "mystery eyes."

Silly Jimmy
Although I caught the kids at different times to do their art work, they both chose "silly" as their mood. Here is Jimmy saying silly words.

Can you guess my mood?! This is a reproduction of a drawing I did last year. Amelia was in a foul mood and had just bitten me really hard. So I suggested we both draw pictures of how we were feeling at that moment, just to air things out. I drew something similar to this, although I think I had bulging eyes in the original. Notice the really big teeth because I hate getting bit. Amelia's was a wobbly circle with lines coming out in every direction. "this is me with a thousand tongues and every tongue is spitting at you" she explained. We then talked about how we can have self control. Even though I felt like a wild woman on the inside, I did not act that way. Even though she FELT like spitting at me, she did not.

Genius (updated 7/3 to include the link)

A few months ago, Jonny was sitting on my lap at church and manged to break off one of the decorative loops of my necklace. For Mother's Day, Gary and the kids gave me a pretty heart necklace. It now has teeth marks going through it. Simon only has 3 teeth but made good use of them all.
When I saw this ad online, I thought "Genius!" While I don't have any of this jewelry, and I don't know if it looks good in real life, I am in love with the idea.
http://www.smartmomjewelry.com/