A visit with Leslie

Saturday was a good day.

I got the chance to spend some time with a friend of mine that I don't get to see that often. I have known Leslie since I was three. We used to be neighbors when we were little. We went to the same elementary and jr. high school and had countless sleepovers growing up. It always cracks me up when they tell me stories about when I would come over to their house. In fact, Linda (Leslie's older sister) just told me that they used to love carrying me around in one of those red shopping baskets because I was so little and could fit in it. I honestly don't remember that but it's funny that they do.

Anyway, Leslie moved away to California while we were in jr. high and now lives with her husband and four adorable boys there. Leslie made a trip home this past weekend to visit with family and introduce Price, their newest addition to friends and relatives that hadn't met him yet.

Leslie's dad, stepmother, and sisters threw an open house for her and invited all her girlfriends. We had so much fun! We got to visit, meet Price, and we did A LOT of laughing. It was so good to catch up with Les, meet her gorgeous little boy, and eat some incredible food! They must have cooked all day! There was a ton and it was all so delicious!

It was so fun and I had to include a picture of "the girls" as well as one with Leslie and her little boy. Isn't he cute?

The Hand!!!

Here are some pictures of Noah's hand. We took him yesterday (Tuesday) to have the stitches removed and he is doing pretty darn well! It looks pretty ugly but we are so thankful he is doing well and hope he will regain complete mobility soon!

Thanks to all who sent up prayers for Noah. We sure love this kid and know God had his hand on his!

Eight Inches!

I took huge and drastic measures last week. I got EIGHT INCHES cut off my hair! It is very short. Shorter than any haircut I've had since I was sixteen! I had been thinking about cutting it for awhile but the final straw that broke the camel's back happened last Wednesday.

Wednesday morning, I arrived at school at 7:30 like usual however knowing that today was a little different. You see, today was school picture day. I had spent quite a bit of extra time doing Sydney's hair, picking out the perfect outfit for her, as well as carefully applying my make up and doing my own hair. I was ready and so was my daughter.

One of my duties at school is working the breakfast shift. I take money for breakfast from the students, cross of their names, wipe down tables, help open Captain Crunch cereal boxes and milk containers. After breakfast duty, I head back to the library and do my job in there. However, on this particular morning, after breakfast duty, I had to get my picture taken as well.

I posed, I smiled, I blinked, I posed again, I smiled...perfection! I'm off to the library to shelve books and help students in the world of literacy!

As I'm checking my email, I notice this white stuff in my hair. Blech! What in the world is in my hair? I look at it and think "OH MY GOSH! Was this in my hair for pictures? Are you kidding me? What is this crap! What did I drag my hair through while I was helping Kindergartners open Pop-Tart packages and cleaning up spilled juice?"

I cannot make out this substance. I can't tell what it is. It isn't crusty its more gummy. I feel it and can't make out what it could possibly be. So...being the brave librarian's aide that I am, I bring it to my nose and take a sniff.

HOLY COW! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

It was deodorant! Which means as I was putting on the deo for my b.o. (hahaha!) my hair got into my armpit and I deodorized that as well.

Needless to say, my hair didn't sweat all day and smelled rather like flowers... at least in that particular small section of my strawberry blonde locks.

So, I continue to rule the Land of the Geeks as the most high in geekdom!

I will let you all know how my school picture turns out and if retakes will be necessary.

It should be noted that this was and will be the last known picture of me with super long hair. That evening at 6:30, I got it chopped off.

P.S. The aformentioned appointment had been set for three weeks already. The deodorant in the hair was just the icing on the cake. Boy, did my stylist laugh her butt off! Today isn't a good hair day but I will post a picture soon of the new 'do'!

Very Good News

Noah went to see the specialist on Tuesday. It was good news. He did cut into his tendon but the damage was minimal and will heal on its own. We are THRILLED! He will have to keep it wrapped for another two weeks and then hopefully he will get the stitches removed. He does have very limited mobility right now and it is very tender. He continues to take some pain medication (especially at night) and is now on an antibiotic to help with any infection that could occur. Today we changed his bandage and it was really starting to look good. He returned to school Wednesday and is doing well.

To all of you who were praying for our little guy, thank you. I know that once again, God has his hand on our family.

An eventful Sunday

Well, once again...Noah proves to us that he is our busy boy. We thought maybe we were done with runs to the emergency room but we were wrong.

Early Sunday morning, Chad and I were just getting out of bed, cleaning up the room, making the bed, etc when we heard Noah run through the dining room yelling, "I'm bleeding, I'm bleeding, I'm bleeding!" I ran into the bathroom to see Noah holding his hand over the sink and there was blood everywhere. I couldn't tell exactly where it was all coming from but once he moved his thumb over, I could see that we had a big problem!

To back up a bit, we had just bought some Cutco knives recently. For those of you not familiar with Cutco...these are the knives that can cut pennies and pop cans in half. VERY SHARP! We had always wanted some of these knives. My parents have some and we love using them when we are there helping with big family meals. They are so great! However they are very dangerous because they are so sharp! When our order arrived at our house, we explained to our kids that they were not allowed to use these knives because they are so sharp and we even put them in a separate drawer.

Well, Noah wanted an apple for part of his breakfast and decided to use the aforementioned knives he wasn't supposed to use. The end result: He cut the web of skin between his thumb and forefinger. The cut was so deep that the doctor thinks he damaged some tendons and nerves due to his lack of mobility and the fact that he failed the sensory test they gave him.

However, I have to say that I was very proud of Noah. He was so brave and endured many tests, poking, and prodding. He got approximately eight stitches (4 inside and 4 out) and only winced while they were giving him injections to numb the site.

I am nervous about today. Noah will be seeing a specialist. He will be checking out what kind of damage he endured and what, if anything, we will need to do about that. They will be taking the stitches out today and the doctor will be checking it thoroughly which will probably be pretty painful. If you think about it, say some prayers for him. We are hoping for no little to no damage and a quick recovery.

OH...just an FYI...on the way to the hospital Noah kept saying, "I'm so sorry I used those knives. I know I'm not supposed to. Please don't be mad!" We explained to him that accidents happen and we weren't mad. We also told him that the entire reason we didn't want the kids to use them was because we didn't want anyone to get hurt. I'm pretty sure he learned his lesson (the hard and expensive way, I might add!) I doubt he will get near these knives anytime soon!

This picture was taken this morning. Even with a bandaged hand he's still such a handsome young man!

It doesn't get cuter than this!

Look at this adorable face! I love this puppy. This is Zeus. He is so cute and so fun. I can't believe I got such a good picture of Elijah holding this little sweetie!

Book Fair

One of the biggest reasons why I haven't written much in my blog lately was due to Book Fair. I was very nervous about it because a) it was my first book fair ever b) I was afraid I would do something wrong c) I didn't want to screw up the first big responsibility given to me in my new position.

Anyway, all the stuff arrived a week before. No one except me was excited that it arrived so early. I was thrilled. That just meant more time for me to get things ready. I began setting up and the more boxes I opened the more nervous I got. I swear...this stuff was breeding! There were TONS of books, software, pencils, erasers, pens, games, posters and the list just went on and on and on. What was I going to do with all this stuff?!?!

In the end, I got everything set up, displayed, and decorated. AND...as it turned out, it was a smashing success! Our end dollar amount was more than we had ever made at the book fair. WhooHoo!

I can't say I'm ready for book fair to come around again anytime soon (it was so exhausting) but I am glad my first one is finished and under my belt. At least next year I'll know what to do, what to expect, and what to do different to make it even easier.

The Ladder

I know it's been forever since I've blogged but life keeps moving forward and lately it's been at an incredibly fast pace!

Anyway, I talked in one of my blogs about the ladder I made in my library. Well, here it is. I know you can't see all of it because of all my book fair stuff to the right of it, but you get the idea.