Thanksgiving

  Nothing crazy has happened!! Nothing terrible, or detrimental to our bodies/minds/health! I am pinching myself right now.

   Well, except Connor has the flu and threw up 4 times yesterday... but he seems fine today!

Our Thanksgiving was small. But it was good. It was my 30th birthday Thursday too! I worked, unfortunately. The store closed at 3, and it took us an hour to clean it up and set it up for the next morning. I had Wednesday off, so I spent that day making Thanksgiving dinner and pies. I put the turkey in before work Thursday to slow cook all day, and left instructions for Rob to throw the prepared side dishes in the oven a couple hrs before I got home.

  We didn't plan on celebrating my birthday that day, since there was enough going on as it was. But when I got home there was a party hat hanging on the door for me, with a 'Birthday Girl' pin. So I popped them on and when I opened the door the kids started screaming Happy Birthday Mommy at me so loudly I almost went deaf! The kitchen was decorated with streamers and balloons and a heart shaped chocolate cake. The kids were so excited!

   I, however, tried to hold back tears when we lit all 30 candles and turned off the lights and it was still bright as day in the house.

   That was a slightly depressing moment.

 But Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, and so were the pies and cake! We all snuggled together and watched Turbo after we ate, and then it was bedtime.

  Now I have to go to work in a few hours and I'm sincerely hoping it's not another crazy day. I'm hoping people spent all their money yesterday and don't want to come out today too. I'm tired. And I'm very thankful I'm not scheduled to work tomorrow!!

Busy

   I'm going to take a break here in a minute. I think I deserve one. I picked up a short shift Thursday night, then I was called in early Friday, worked a double shift Saturday, and barely made it through my regular shift Sunday. We had a buy-one-get-one-free deal going on for Starbucks' holiday drinks over the weekend. It was from 2-5 each day, and those three hours and three days proved to be the most exhausting hours I've ever worked in any job I've ever had!

   Saturday was the hardest and busiest day. I got in at 8:30 that morning, and it was already crazy. (I didn't get done until 8:45 that night.) We have two espresso machines, but usually we are only using one at a time. From the moment I got there I was double-barring (2 of us making drinks, using both machines, or one prepping the syrups/milk for the other person).

   I was crawling by the time Sunday came around! Thankfully it wasn't as busy that day.

  Yesterday was a day off, but I was busy running Connor to school, getting groceries, putting them away, picking Con up, making dinner, etc. Today I planned on being completely lazy. It could have happened if I hadn't gotten a hankering for sugar cookies!

  The kids helped make them, mix them, roll them in sugar... all of us in our jammies. It's a cloudy day and I can see a wave of snow rolling in. I'll make some split pea soup for dinner. But for now, I'm eating delicious cookies, drinking coffee, not getting dressed, and sitting down!!

                 Waiting for the finished product.

Hooligans

   The adventures never stop. A few nights ago I pulled into the drive after a closing shift. When I opened the garage door I discovered a nice little surprise. A toilet. Not a new one, in a box, no. Our toilet. I sighed and left the van in the driveway, came in the house, and asked Rob if I even wanted to know what happened.

    He decided I did, and told me before I could run away.

   I guess the boys got together with the brilliant idea to flush a diaper. It was genius, really! Who wouldn't think that's a great idea?? The sound of the first flush alerted Rob to foul play. By the time he made it to the hallway to see the debacle, Connor was running for the hills and Max was desperately trying to hold the toilet seat down and the water in. Before Rob could make it to the bathroom for damage control, Max decided the wisest thing to do was really get rid of the evidence by flushing again. Rob said it was like watching a movie in slow motion. The water erupted out of the toilet like a fountain! It took him 6 bath towels to clean it up.

   The diaper was stuck in the gooseneck of the toilet and the only solution was to take the toilet out altogether. He would have been able to put it back in, but when he set it in the garage, it busted a bit. So. Brand new toilet!

   We needed one I guess. Thanks boys, for making home improvement immediate. At least they learned how to put in a new toilet.

  In other news! We took the boys bowling for the first time the other night! Connor absolutely loved it. Max liked it for a minute before he was bored out of his mind. We got one game in before we had to leave and make room for a league coming in. But one was enough for Max!

 

Max bumped his eye on a cart in Target and now has a black eye to go with his mushed fingers. The fingers are looking much better now!

 

 

 

This morning Connor came running into the living room. I was at the sink in the kitchen with my back to him, but he yelled, "MOM!! COMMENCE OPERATION I LOVE YOU!!" (They are a little obsessed with the Power Rangers) It was so sweet! So I turned around to give him a kiss, but this is what I saw.

 

 

    This is one of those days I'm incredibly thankful my father is down at the farm and not drinking coffee in my living room.

    So let's just wash all this down with a little cuteness, shall we? I find it helps.
    
            I'm sorry Bobbi, we've officially stolen B's sunglasses...

   Cheesing for the camera. She's actually saying cheeeeeeeeee!

   Really getting into it.

     Cow says moooooooooo.

 

 

WARNING; Graphic bloody pictures ahead.

    Two days ago I was at work and forgot that my phone was in my pants pocket. Of course, we aren't allowed to have our phones while we're on the clock. But it rang. Loudly. I felt bad, pulled it out of my pocket to ignore the call. It was Rob. I was annoyed because he knew better than to call me at work. A few seconds later it rang again. Something was up. So I asked my supervisor for a quick break and ran to the back to answer.
 
    I could barely hear Rob say "We need to go to Instacare!" over the sound of screaming and crying in the background.
 
    We have a heavy wooden garbage can holder in our kitchen. You open it up and the can sits nicely inside. Max pulled it down on himself and smashed his fingers. There was blood everywhere, a fingernail shifted off to the side of the finger, a part of finger hanging off the tip. It was pretty bad.

    I couldn't leave work, but Rob stopped by on his way to the hospital so I could get a few hugs and kisses in. I could hardly stand the sight of the blood covering his shirt.

    I called Rob later that night to see how it went at the hospital. He said the dr would have liked to give him stitches but didn't want to fight to hold Max down while he did it. And he didn't even glue the finger back together. He just wrapped it up, gave a prescription for antibiotics, and sent them on their way.

    Well, alright. Obviously if the doctor didn't think it was too bad, then fine.

   Last night I found myself driving Max back to Instacare in a blinding rage. We were putting fresh bandages on him. When we pulled the old ones off I was sick to my stomach. That was the first time I had seen his fingers and I was shocked that the doctor thought not putting stitches on him was ok! Our fumbling fingers weren't going to be able to wrap his fingers back up without doing more damage, so we did our best and I got him in the car. The rage hit me suddenly on the road. I started seeing flashing lights and had a hard time breathing. I called Rob immediately and he managed to calm me down before I walked into Instacare ready to tear into somebody. It wouldn't have done any good.
 

    We had a very good nurse and a very good (different) doctor. He was really concerned about Max's fingers and agreed that they should have been sutured. But it had been too long now to do it. He x-rayed Max and found a fracture that the other dr had not even taken the time to consider. Unfortunately, nothing more could be done for him now. But they did glue little bandage strips to the tips of his fingers to bring the pieces back together before wrapping him up again.

   This whole time, I couldn't stop being amazed by my sweet Max. He didn't want to go to the doctor, and at first he was scared and crying because he thought he was going to get a shot. But once he was assured he wouldn't, he was a tough kid. He was friendly and curious. He was sweet, and he never once complained when he was being poked and prodded. I was a proud Momma!
       
    He had to soak his fingers for a while, and they gave him some tongue depressors to play in the water with. He has the greatest laugh!

   He got to take his x-ray picture home and show Connor his bones.

   When we got home he got to sleep in bed with Mommy and Daddy. Daddy chose to sleep in Max's bed after a few minutes of getting rolled over and smacked in the face. I got very little sleep as Max had nightmares all night. He talks in his sleep. It was very clear what he was dreaming about. :(  But today he is 100% himself again.

    Now I've had enough of my kids getting hurt. I really hope we can avoid any further trips to Instacare, or even calls into our insurance nurse hotline. Or poison control.