Ice Skating (or Ice Hating)

I asked the boys over the summer if they were interested in taking Ice Skating lessons. Contrary to what they say now, they both said they did (and I double and triple checked before signing them up.) Henry has had 3 lessons and is doing much better, but still refers to it as Ice Hating. He doesn't like falling down, or that he is the only boy in his class. Samuel has had 2 lessons (see weird hip cold entry as to why he missed his first.) Samuel gets to use a bucket in his class, although they do push it away and make them go get it. Samuel seems to like it better (but there are 3 boys in his class and he gets buckets.) Henry has resigned himself to finishing the last 3 classes, since I told him it was his choice to take the classes and he has to finish them or doesn't get to pick different lessons at a later date. He has his eye on tennis lessons.

Pirates

Ben took the boys to a Pittsburgh Pirates game last Friday. Guess who took the pictures?

Sledding in September

This is what I found the kids doing with the neighbors today as a rainy day activity. Actually, they are still at it. Mind you they are the neighbor's sleds, since we are far more likely to own a beach chair than a sled.

If it's weird, one of my kids will get it

Do you ever feel like your kids will catch any old sickness going around? Well, my kids often miss the "bugs" going around, but manage to get sick with things no one but the doctor's have heard of. The latest is Samuel. Monday when I dropped him off at school he told me that his leg hurt and I noticed that he was limping a bit. Of course I thought, whatever, he's a 5 year old boy...go to school. However, Tuesday morning he was in tears just walking from his bed to the bedroom door. Trying to streamline things, and figuring that he would need x-rays, I took him to urgent care rather than the pediatrician. We spent a couple hours there and they did x-rays and couldn't find anything other than swelling in his thigh where it hurt, so they wanted to send him to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. I made the appt for Wed afternoon, but my pediatrician wouldn't give me the referral until I brought Samuel to them. Fine with me, maybe they could figure out what it was and I could skip the specialist. Nope, they didn't know what it was either, but she thought it was the hip, so off for more x-rays. Sure enough, after a nightmare of a parking situation, in which I gave my van to a valet and wasn't sure I would get it back, we were told he has toxic synovitis. Now it sounds horrid, but it really is just a viral infection in the hip (like a cold) and will go away on it's own in a couple of weeks. However, just to make 100% sure it's not bacterial (which would be really bad), Samuel had to go get his blood drawn today. He did very well with this. So...anybody else have kids that get hip colds?

Kids say

Today Ben's brother Matt came home from his mission. I told the kids this because I figured that they would be excited. Henry looked at me in all seriousness and said, "So did he find a wife yet? Did he find one on his mission, or is he still looking?" I think that we would all like to know the answer to this question. Of course if he didn't he has a few weeks to find one if he wants to fine one.

Hey! It's me...

For a really grainy picture of me in my college days go to:
http://www.byuballroom.org/. I am in the first row of standing people 2nd from the left in a black blouse.