Waiting for summer!

Not sure if when summer intends to arrive here in the Northwest...guess I'll keep on hoping!

Playing hard has its consequences!

So, I realize this is a bit delayed in posting, but was just going through my camera and found the pics I meant to post and didn't get to it.

A few weeks ago, Brian, Dalton and I were sitting in the living room talking and Tanner comes bounding up the stairs with expediency (as one would if they hurt themselves), flings open the screen door and responds, "I think I broke something! No wait, I think I might be bleeding internally! No wait, I think I really hurt myself".

I did as any good mother would do...I responded, "Are you okay? (cause clearly the grimace on his face wasn't enough to tell me - duh?!) You might get an ice bag out of the freezer and can you keep it down, we're trying to talk here." :0)

Okay so seriously, I did get up and attend to Tanner. As mother/doctor, I assured him that he more than likely wasn't bleeding internally, that possibly he broke a rib and that FOR SURE he bruised something! He really was in quite a bit of pain, but then again Tanner has such a great pain tolerance he didn't really let on HOW much it truly was.

Noah at this point has made it into the house and explains to us that he KNEW Tanner was hurt because he just dropped the bike and left the scene of the accident without saying anything (apparently the 'not saying anything' part is a rarity).

After calming the immediate situation, I made sure Tanner knew that if the pain got too unbearable to wake me up and I'd take him into the ER. Morning arrived and we high-tailed to our Chiropractor (who could perform x-ray's) and sure enough, he broke (clean through - not a fracture or crack) 1 of his back ribs, damaged the one above it and tore the cartilage on the rib-cage in the front.  No activity for 4 weeks! WHAT?!??! you mean I can't go mountain biking?!?!?! UGH!!!

So...at this point, let me tell you how it happened!
Tanner was NOT mountain biking during this accident. He'd been out all morning riding, jumping and doing CRAZY stunts down the mountain. No, no, this was screwing around in our backyard on a BMX bike. Tanner tried to jump over a stack of 2 x 4's and the handle bars didn't cooperate, turning sideways and 'stabbing/spearing' him in the ribs. The impact was so great that the handle grips broke the back rib through the front. YIKES!!!
Okay, so now I fully understand how incredibly painful that was/is for Tanner.

Here we are at 2 weeks and the pain has subsided, but he still needs to be careful cause he'd be in jeopardy of puncturing something internally otherwise - that's how serious the brake was.\
Awww, boys and their sports!

Oh...the story doesn't end there! With Tanner, yes. Let me share a little bit about Dalton. About a week ago (yes a week after Tanner's accident), Dalton heads out in the afternoon to one of their favorite mountain biking spots to do some riding...alone! Not sure if that's his first mistake or not?! I get a call about 1/2 way through dinner from him saying he's crashed and cannot get up. He's hurt his back and had the wind knocked out of him. Now keep in mind, he's about 35 minutes from home in the woods. I ask him the one question that any mother would, "Are you okay?!" First, stupid question if he's calling me to tell me he crashed. What I was really asking was, "how badly are you hurt? Do you need me to come and help you? Should we call an ambulance?" Not being there presently with him I only had to go on, the information he gave me. I decided to instruct him, when he was ready, to see if he could get up and make it to the car. He said he'd call me back and let me know. I waited....and waited....and waited. Finally I called him and he told me he thought he could make it to the car.

Long story even longer... (okay not really) he made it to the car and drove home. Once arriving home we assessed the damage. Bleeding scrapes on his forearm and knee, and a huge abrasion down his back. please PLEASE, don't think badly of me here...after checking out his 'visible' wounds I made my initial diagnosis that he fell down and got scraped up and the "I can't get up" was clearly just the blow of the fall.

MY BAD!!!

He then proceeds to explain to me what happened. He'd been riding down this trail and came upon this jump, accidentally achieving a wheely OVER the jump. He thought that to be so cool that he tried to do it again, this time on purpose. He took off over the jump and this is where it all went wrong and he fell on his back/buttocks, etc.
Now, here's a little important information. Dalton rides with a backpack on that is filled with supplies (tools, water, snacks, etc.). When he landed he crushed the full metal water bottle that he had in his backpack AND completely popped the backpack like a balloon. In case you still are having trouble visualizing this...he landed so hard that he crushed this:

At this point I realized just how serious his crash was; that it was clearly possible that he hurt his back and that we probably should have him checked out. Good news, no broken bones and the kidney seemed to be fine and functioning normal. YEAH!
The next day I decided that the backpack needed to be thrown away as it was clearly un-usable with a split in the side of it. I thought it best to make sure all the stuff was out of it before throwing it into the garbage. I zipped open the outside pouch and about lost it.

Here's why:

 This is exactly how I found this pocket knife - opened and sticking up...ready to stab ~ FLESH of course!

Here's a better angle of just how opened this knife was.
Dalton...it clearly wasn't your time for a serious injury!

Funny too, cause on the way home this day from the eye doctor I asked Dalton if he knew enough not to get up if he crashed and landed on something? You never know, whether to get up or not could be the thing that makes or breaks whether you bleed out or not!

So...clearly the shock has worn off, the bruises are healing, the scabs are falling off and the desire to bike bigger and harder still prevails!  What can I say...I'm a mom to boys who like to play hard ~ and truth be told, I wouldn't have it any other way :0)

Giddy beyond belief

Grandma and Grandpa P stopped by this afternoon to see Abigail. Grandpa had found something really special for her and he wanted to give it to her.

So, once we got her shoes on, walked out to the driveway and behind their car...lo and behold there sat a beautiful hot pink banana seat 'huffy' style bike for Princess. All she could do was smile with pure glee and jump up and down over and over again.

She's been asking for a "Barbie Princess Bike" everyday now for the past several weeks and I have kept putting her off saying that maybe for her bday (in Sept) we could get her one. Let's just say, garage sales are the bomb ~ especially when you choose to stop and look!!!

I guess we get to gladly shop for something else for her bday.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the one I love!

our busy weekend also included Noah taking 4th place at a downhill mountain bike time trials

Here is Noah with his fellow H.S. mountain bike team member Alex who took 1st place!

As well as Princess finally got her BIG big girl bed (super duper garage sale find)

Daddy and his girl!

Hair WAR!

I mentioned quite a while ago (actually during my Beth Moore Daniel study) that I was going to let my hair color go naturally instead of trying to color the grey away! 

So I began to let it grow...and grow...and grow until it became COLOR = 0, GREY = WON! It was really evident, especially when I pulled my hair up in a clip and the top of my hair was a speckled grey/dark brown blend and the bushy 'tail' was a reddish auburn color - yeah not cool!

Yes, I did get a hair cut. Between 6-7 inches and so far...loving it! See for yourself.

 BEFORE (May 2011)

AFTER 2011

So...this will be me for a while (considering all the votes I received :0)

These are a few of my favorite things...

 I LOVE Abigail...

I LOVE gerbera daisies...

what's better than that?

 Abigail wearing a gerbera daisy! 

Summer Lovin' had me a blast....

Summer lovin' happnin so fast!

Well okay, maybe not fast at all considering that it's June and so far last weekend (Saturday to be exact) was the warmest day (only one of 5-6 days above 70 degrees) we've had all year long.

So what does one do when the weather warms up?

 Why run through the sprinkler of course!
And after you've had a full day in the beautiful sunshine, one naturally does this...

Who can take a sunrise...sprinkle it with dew?

Why the Candy Man of course...

Tanner and Noah just starred in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" for their drama class. Noah had the challenging role of playing BOTH Mike Teavee and Mr. Bucket (Charlie's father) and Tanner was Willy Wonka!

Both of the boys did amazing...all their hard work, all their complaining & whining, all their random lines and quotes that would spurt forth from their mouths at voluntary & involuntary times paid off. They were spectacular!

The play was fun and energizing.

Princess enjoying her first play. She did great - only a few outbursts of glee when she say her brother's onstage. When Tanner made his grand appearance, Abigail covered her mouth, with eyes WIDE open and began to giggle with delight. Tanner said it was all he could do to keep it together and not laugh as she was so dang cute!

 

 I also had the privilege and pleasure of spending one of the most spectacularly sunny Seattle days with my Mom-in-law to celebrate her 70th birthday! We spent the day at Pike's Place Market, wandering the vendors, smelling the salty breeze and enjoying a Piroshky for lunch by the waterfront. It was indeed a GRAND day!