For now...

Back to work.

Lots of work.

Lots and LOTS of work.

Which inevitably means a lack of posts. And I have so many fun pics from vacation to share!

For now, here is a pic of the kids on Easter. Anna's darling dress was, of course, lovingly made by Nana.

Honestly, I did NOT pose this pic. I told the boys to stand next to Anna. And this is what they did all on their own. Little charmers. I am in SO much trouble.

Love to all!

PS Anna used the potty today! I am not holding my breath nor getting my hopes up for potty training anytime soon BUT, she was quite pleased with herself and anxious to go again later in the day. YES!

Gruesome, but could be worse.

Typical S Family Vacation

SPRING BREAK!! WOOHOO!!!!!

This week you will, or rather SHOULD, find all five members of the S Family lounging, playing and relaxing. And really that was our plan and how we spent most of the day. We spent our day at the zoo, ran into our friend Candace and her kiddos and just had a GREAT day. I have lots of pictures from the zoo and from Easter to share but have not had a change to upload them just yet.

By the way, I have discovered the following life changing equation and plan to live the rest of my life according to its principle. Frankly I am pretty sure that both Einstein and Newton would be quite impressed had they lived to see this day.

Are you ready?

Nathan + Zoo = Catastrophe

Amazingly simple isn't it?

2004 (or maybe 2005, I don't remember)- Nathan falls head first into the sea lion exhibit.

2007 - Nathan proudly demonstrates his nerve by eating an innocent, live rolly polly that he catches at the zoo.

2008- Nathan dangles his imitation crock above the black bear exhibit and OF COURSE it falls in. A kind stranger offers to climb in and retrieve it. I thank him but state firmly that I do not want to end up on the news as part of the most recent zoo mauling story. Zoo employees are summoned and enter the exhibit to retrieve Nathan's shoe.

We are fairly certain that revocation of our membership and a poster warning all zoo patrons and employees that the child pictured above is not to be admitted loom in our near future.

But really, the zoo should just be happy that it was not on their watch that Nathan's next catastrophe occurred.

The S Family has not only a bad reputation at the zoo but also a reputation for spending some portion of every vacation in the emergency room.

2004, Christmas Vacation- Car accident. Honda Civic hit on front right by Dodge Ram running red light at around 45 miles per hour. S mother (aka: me) knocked unconscious, among other issues, and taken by ambulance to ER.

2005 Spring Break, San Diego- Isaac becomes ill about 2.8 seconds after our plane lands. ER trip and diagnosis: double ear infection. Isaac is less than thrilled for the rest of the trip.

2006 and 2007- Vacations cancelled due to child birth, open heart surgeries, etc.

2008 Spring Break- Despite numerous instructions, warnings, consequences, threats, beggings, pleadings, etc, Nathan rides his scooter down a neighbor's drive way WITHOUT his helmet. There are no witnesses to the actual incident, but Nathan is discovered unconscious on the sidewalk, face covered in blood.

His inability to answer simple questions such as, "What did we do today?" and "What is your name?" coupled with his frequent drifting into and out of consciousness during the hour following the accident result in a rapid trip to the nearest ER.

Upon arrival Nathan is virtually non-responsive, prompting expressions of alarm from the evaluating ER doctor. We carry Nathan through the halls while the words, "Pediatric team bravo assemble ER NOW!" blare repeatedly through the hospital PA system.

And let me tell you, it can be a very, VERY long time before I ever hear words like that referencing one of my children again. In fact, I could very happily live the rest of my life and not hear those words again.

To make an already long story as short as possible, Nathan's CT is clear and his nose, while covered in road rash, is not even broken. He has a wicked concussion, road rash all over his poor little face and we have directions to wake him every 4 hours, administer copious amounts of Ibuprofen and slather on Neosporin with abandon.

He looks JUST AWFUL, poor baby.

And thus begins a typical S Family vacation.

The week can only improve from this point on, right?

Palm Sunday

Anna and the boys participated in a palm leaf parade in church this morning. Ok, Anna was less then thrilled with the whole production and left her buddy from the nursery to carry her actual palm leaf, but you get the idea. The boys also performed with the bell choir. Pictures below.

Love to all!

Field Trip!

An important part of schooling at home is taking the occasional day off from written work in favor of leaving the house to actually experience the things you are learning about.

Isaac's kindergarten science lessons have recently revolved around an insect theme.

To that end, we loaded up the car and headed for our local arachnid and arthropod appreciation organization. Or as we affectionately call it, "The Bug Zoo." Yes we have an actual membership, very necessary when you one is raising little boys.

After the zoo we came home and the boys played hockey with daddy and a neighbor for a good hour or two.

In case you are already thinking it, we now appreciate that this might NOT have been the best way to encourage healing in Nathan's knee. After Isaac accidentally planted his hockey stick firmly on Nathan's injured leg we put a stop to the game and set Nathan up with pillows, ice, meds and dinner on a TV tray. Poor guy is REALLY in pain this evening. Tomorrow I will be letting go of all my typical parentisms and parking him in front of the TV and/or computer with whatever I can give him to keep him off his feet. Isaac has already expressed outrage at this plan so I would appreciate prayers, positive thoughts and wishes for peace in the S house.

Pictures below. Love to all!

Someone call the police! Social Services! Hurry!

The S children are in serious danger!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23594474/

Clearly both my and this woman's children will be MUCH safer if all of us lunatic, criminal moms are locked away from our offspring. Quick! Hurry! Are you dialing??

(In case you have never encountered my sarcastic side, which I try to keep to a minimum on the blog, consider yourself initiated.)

Scroll down for today's "real" post.

First Injury

Well not REALLY a first injury, there were those stitches last summer, but the first limb related injury that has required medical attention.

We are discussing Nathan of course.

My little athlete went ripping outside the split second the temperature rose above 40degrees and stayed there for 4 straight days. We convinced him to sleep in the house but that is pretty much it. My boys LOVE to play outside.

Nathan has apparently sprained his knee. It is quite swollen and bruised. It looks fairly gruesome but he insists, "it does not hurt too bad, I can still play mommy."

I heart that boy!

The doctor opted not to immobilize it. He said it is REALLY hard for a young boy to have an immobilized leg and that it will often make the joint stiff. He DID, however, tell us to check frequently with Nathan as to whether or not his knee hurts because, "Little kids will usually ignore pain so that they can keep having fun." Well that pretty much describes Nathan. Even when he WILL admit to pain he won't give up and sit down. The doctor said to keep him off it when the swelling is bad or when he says it hurts.

Um...help! Rare is the day when we can convince Nathan to sit still long enough to eat an actual meal vs a quick snack.

I say again HELP!

PS We had the dog neutered and I also have a piece of paper that says to keep HIM from too much activity for 1 to 2 weeks. HELP!

Updates

I know, I know, I KNOW. Worst blogger on the planet.

I know.

I'm not even going to bore you with more excuses. Let's just say that the recent pattern of one post a week, if that, is likely to continue through the end of May.

SIGH

Jesse is off discovering the wilds of Nebraska. Usually this means that the kids watch a lot more TV, we eat cereal for three meals a day and I try to go to sleep with pepper spray under my pillow, give up and watch food network until the sun starts to come up at which point I finally doze off only to be woken an hour or so later by Nathan, my eternal sunshine, bouncing up and down asking me what today's adventure will be. YAWN

For now I will kill time by sharing some recent pictures and video. Isaac lost another tooth. I just SO love the toothless grin stages. Do they GET any cuter than this? Yes, I am very much aware that he desperately needs a hair cut. I'll get around to it...

Many, many months ago the boys and I decided that it would be fun and educational to grow our own Venus Fly Traps. Allow me to share a bit of newly acquired wisdom with anyone who might need such information. Venus fly traps are REALLY hard to grow and they take FOREVER. If you are trying to interest young science students in the growth of seeds, environmental factors, the scientific method, etc. may I suggest a nice rapidly germinating green onion or bean or any weed you can think of? We have been working on these fly traps since LONG before Halloween of 2007. Our efforts have finally paid off in the form of two TINY leaves, barely noticeable without the help of the crop function in your average every day photo editing software. But still, actual growth has been achieved and we are so pleased with ourselves that we must share the fruits of our labors with you.

Anna is, as always, cute as can be and getting both cuter and more vocal every day. She has started asking me to rock her in the rocking chair before bed while singing Rock a Bye Baby. Occasionally she will ask to have the word baby replaced with the word Anna and she always sings along with me. Pure bliss, really. We now frequently observe her rocking and singing to her own babies, though they don't get quite as tender care as she does, as you will see in the video below. I failed to move the giant box delivered by UPS nor did I put away the blanket and laundry hanging over the stair banister before getting out the video camera. Oh well.

Etu (Esther) helpfully taught her the very useful life skill of impersonating a chicken.

Love to all!

Forbidden

Most of you are aware, or at least those of you who know us in person, that Jesse and I have a very strong, happy marriage.

Truly, we balance each other perfectly in so many ways I am not even going to get into it.

However....

As time goes by and as I am sure is the case in all marriages, we discover certain quirks, little idiosyncrasies if you will, that make life all the more interesting and engaging.

Jesse and I tend towards somewhat opinionated personalities and neither of us is particularly inclined to change those opinions unless presented with a rock solid argument as to why we should. And even in the face of such an argument ONE of us often still refuses to change, alter, tweak or adjust our stance.

To that end, for the sake of our beloved readers and to simply record this ever growing list in a place where I cannot loose it, I present the following list of topics that are currently forbidden conversation topics in the S house.

Illegal Immigration
Birth Control in Public Schools
Hunting: Sport vs a Needless Excuse to Shoot Things
Is the advertising for Smart Balance margarine deceptive?
The Human Body: Designed to digest petroleum products or not?
Spider Man Movies: Too violent for 6 year olds?
Do Scooby Doo cartoons have no redeeming value AND teach bad grammar?
Are video games a contributing factor to the breakdown of the family unit in the United States or harmless entertainment?
Should finding a bug in one's food exclude that restaurant and all associated franchises from our patronage for the rest of our lives?

Love to all! I have to get back to work now.

PS In case you are worried we also agree on MANY things. For example: Alton Brown ROCKS!