Pesky Little Leprchauns

The kids made their traditional Leprechaun traps.

Hannah's

Aaron's

Rachel's...She was trying to attract the "bad" teen Leprechauns.

The kids' traps failed yet again this year. The Leprechauns rearranged the furniture in the living room and dining room, changed the milk and toilet water in all three bathrooms green and hung green ribbon around Aaron's and Hannah's rooms and the hallway.

Things of Spring

Spring weather has finally arrived in our neck of the woods. We have been in the new house for less than a year, so it is fun to see what blooms.

These trees line our driveway. The house in the photo is actually our neighbor's, but the trees are ours. They have started to green out now, but when they were full of little pinkish white blooms they made me smile every time I saw them. Last Wednesday night when we came home from church I stopped at the top of the driveway and made the entire family enjoy the trees. They probably weren't as thrilled as I was.

Just as I started to feel sad that the pretty little flowers were falling off and making way for green leaves, a tree in my front yard bloomed...a Dogwood. It is so pretty. It isn't as full as my neighbor's Dogwood, but it is still pretty.

There is a Tulip Poplar in the backyard that is just about to bloom. I can't wait for it to fill in.

Now if I can just get the grass in the front to grow!

My Valentines

This was the first year since kindergarten that Rachel didn't give Valentines to all her classmates. That didn't stop Aaron and Hannah from getting in on the fun. Here they are filling out a Valentine for everyone.

I pulled out our traditional heart shaped plates for the day. Each of the kids got a little stuffed leopard with Hershey's Kisses and an animal shaped box with cookies. Hannah and I celebrated in her class with an afternoon party. The kids decorated cookies and opened their Valentines.

The plates made a return for our spaghetti dinner.

Pinewood Derby

Ya Think?

We took Holly for her first visit to our vet yesterday. She is a healthy little puppy and weighed in at 2.4 pounds. She yelped when she got her shots. It was so sad.

When we were checking out at the front desk, a lady came in and was talking to another employee at the desk. The lady was carrying a disposable plastic container with a "yellow liquid." Here is the conversation:

(PO=pet owner LD=Lady at Desk)

PO - I called about my dog having a possible UTI and was told to bring in a urine sample.

Me - (I glance over and see her disposable container with a rather large amount of "sample." I immediately flash back to trying to get urine samples for the kids in those little paper cups when they were smaller. I am drawing a mental picture of this lady trying to get the dog to pee in the bowl. I am also trying not to laugh out loud.)

LD - OK. (She places an empty file folder on the desk.) Just set it down here. (She gets the pet's name and the owner's name.) I have to collect payment for the test before it is performed even though from the looks of that, you will have to pay for some medicine after the test.

PO - OK. (She makes payment.) You can just throw the container away.

ME - (Ya think? Seriously trying not to laugh out loud now!! I don't care if it is your grandmother's fine china, you should not have to tell someone to throw it away. EWWWWW!!!)

How High?

We took Rachel to the orthopedic surgeon on Monday. Thankfully, she did not require surgery. The doctor said he has to perform surgery on 85% of his cases. He reviewed her x-rays and said the next step was to place a cast on her leg. She had a splint that was wrapped up and really looked like a cast from the ER. The actual break is in her tibia which is the shinbone. We were all surprised when the doctor said she would have to wear a cast up to her thigh for two weeks. He said it is important to stabilize the joints above and below the break.

The doctor was much more cooperative on prescribing pain medication than the ER doc was. I just asked for something to help her sleep at night since that seemed to be when she was having the most discomfort, but he gave her enough for around the clock until we see him again. Bless that man! However, she has not needed it.

There was some confusion because the nurse was prepping her for a knee high cast. Although, that probably would have been easier for her to get around on, I asked if it was supposed to be higher. She went to ask the doctor and came back with a second nurse which in her words was to act as "reinforcements." I was glad because the second nurse seemed to be much more experienced. P.K. helped Rachel support her leg while we waited for the nurse to return.

This is the look I got when I asked her to look at the camera. She was less than amused. She was able to choose the color she wanted her cast to be.

Purple! That made it kind of fun for her. Here she is maneuvering out of the doctor's office.

Once we got out of the office we got her back in a wheelchair for the ride to the car. She was starting to get into the picture taking by now.

I got to be the first person to sign her cast. I can envision Aaron having a tattoo just like this when he is a Navy Seal (ha, ha!)!

Then the rest of the family had a turn.

Here she is ready to go back to her first day of school since the accident which coincidentally was the first day back from Christmas break. Her sweatpants look blue in the picture, but they are purple as is her toenail polish. She put on her purple scarf and earrings......the little fashionista that she is.

She had a good first day back. In one of her most humiliating middle school moments, I walked her to her homeroom and talked to two of her teachers. We all tried to convince her to stay just half a day, but she insisted on staying at school. I so would have milked it for all it was worth. I think she was tired of sitting home. Really she is sitting at school a lot during the day. She was able to leave each class five minutes early to get to the next class and have a friend help her with her books. I was surprised she wasn't exhausted.

That girl has some stamina and determination. Like eveything else she sets her mind to, she is figuring out how to make this work.

WWF Papaw Stlye

My dad always wrestles with the kids when they get together. He is really a big kid himself. This time the kids talked him into wrestling on the trampoline. These shots don't do the session justice because Hannah was really catching some air before coming down on Papaw.