Fair Fear

We do it every year now, the Wild Mouse ride at the fair.  This year I decided to give in to the terrifying twists and turns and just try to love it as much as the boys do.  Anna is still working on this.  Perhaps she'll have better luck next year.  My favorite part of this annual event is still the wide eyed, sheer exuberant approach the boys have as they take this, and every other, ride on.

Grandma

This is my mom, who I've dubbed the patron saint of all children (but especially my own.)  Her joy and happiness and her unbelievable devotion to young people has been a fact of my life.  Here she is playing bingo with the boys and some friends of theirs, and something they did - though I can't even remember what now- made her laugh so hard.  It's a beautiful photograph of a playful moment in time. 

Good Friends Take 2

Kindergarten friends have grown into first grade friends, 

looking all tough and sassy in this pose.  But they're not. 

They are as sweet as could possibly be.    

Staples Aren't Just For Paper

It was a busy week in our house, open house at school, soccer practice, work events for Anna and...a trip to the Emergency Room.  Anna took the boys to a local orchard after school on Monday to pick apples with another family we know.  The boys were happily playing on the swings with their friends, when another boy whom they didn't know decided to hurl a hand sized rock at Anders.  Anders was twirling on the tire swing and completely unaware that a hard, sharp object was about to whack him on the back of the head.  Impact.  Anders says he staggered off the swing and felt fuzzy headed and surprised, not at all understanding what happened.  He then felt queasy and felt a lot of blood in his hair.  Kuba and friends then ran and got Anna - who was obliviously chatting and picking apples with a friend nearby.  Off they went to the ER, stopping on the way to pick me up.  We got to the hospital and were greeted by the nicest receptionist in the history of the world, who quickly whisked us into the intake room with the nicest nurse in the history of the world, and then we were quickly taken to the "hallway" hospital room for repair.  The doctor (yes, the nicest in the world) came right in and with a resident intern cleaned the wound, administered a local anesthesia with a needle, and then stapled Anders head with one metal staple.  They used what looked just like a long handled stapler...the kind you might see on any desk in any office, the kind you use to staple paper with, the kind you'd never expect to see stapling human skin.   Anders, was REMARKABLY brave the entire time.  He has always been a great patient, and even in the emergency room this remained true.  The whole ER trip took less than 30 minutes and Ta Da...he left with a positive emergency experience and a staple in the head.

Because this blog is meant to be a record keeper of life events for the boys, attaching a photo of the staple in his head feels important.  I always have this vision that when the boys are 40 years old they are going to read this blog and totally enjoy these moments and experiences.  And I too had stiches in my head when I was a kid and I always wanted to see what it looked like.  This one's for you Anders.