Ballet and the Emergency Room

A little foreshadowing: The night started out great, but we were in for a real adventure.

It was C's night to shine. She was such a good girl while I did her hair and put on some "stage make-up" which was nothing more than 8 lbs of blush and a little lipstick. She looked so precious. She HATES when I do her hair, but it looks so cute. Here is her "princess" pose:


Her recital was held at the local high school auditorium. This picture was taken in the middle of her dance routine. C is the youngest one in her class and she did awesome. She knew her entire routine by heart. It was so fun to watch.


This video is the last couple seconds of her dance. C was singing her heart out. It was funny.

Here is she after the recital. Mimi bought her flowers. She was so thrilled. She loves when all the attention is focused on her.

This has got to be one of my most very favorite pictures ever. C and her Dad look so cute together. J was super proud of his little ballerina.

Here is C with her Mimi. C had quite the cheering section. All her grandparents, her aunt and uncle and even a few friends came to see her.



After making sure we took advantage of all the photo opportunities, we left. It was around 8:00 and I ready to get home and get the kids bathed and into bed. The whole recital excitement was a bit much for F. He was complaining to anyone that would listen. So, there we are walking out of the auditorium, down the cement stairs and to our car. J was holding F and the camera. I was holding my purse, C's backpack and her flowers. C was holding this cool little glow toy thing that came in her flower bouquet. I was about half way down the stairs when J started yelling at C. I just heard J calling her name, really frantically. I turned around just in time to see my little girl somersault down the cement stairs, hitting her face on every one until she hit the bottom step. I dropped everything I was holding and picked her up. She was a bloody mess. Her face was covered in dirt and blood and she was SCREAMING. I carried her over to some grass to assess the damage. As far as I could tell the worst of it was on the bridge of her nose. She was so upset. By the time I got her to the car, her nose was huge. It was swelling up so fast. I told J that I thought we should take her to the ER to make sure her nose wasn't broken. We buckled her in and headed for the hospital.

Apparently, it was a great night to break things because the ER was packed. They made us wait for about an hour or so until they had a bed open up. Once we were in the exam room, C really started to cheer up. She started to act like nothing was wrong and when I touched her nose, she didn't flinch or even say "ow."

By this time it was almost 10:00pm. I took F home to put him to bed and left J with C at the hospital. They finally got home around 10:30. Prognosis? The nose is not broken - just banged up pretty good. The doc said to watch her closely and look for personality changes which would signify a concussion. Well, C was totally hyper, a little bossy and really goofy - so 100% her normal self. Here are some pics of her face. You can't really tell in this pic - but she has this huge goose egg right in the middle of her forehead, underneath her bangs. The right side of her face is all scratched and then her poor nose.

This is C making her super sad face. She is so goofy.


We went to Mimi's house this morning to show her C's owies. Mimi said she looked like pippy long-stocking with her hair in pigtails. I said, no, she looks like the love child of pippy long-stocking and rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.

Anyway - moral of the story? Even if you think your kid can walk down the stairs w/o help - hold their hand!!!!!!!!!!

I was tagged

Here we go:

20 years ago...
1. I was 7 years old.
2. My parents just got divorced.
3. I remember liking the original Nintendo and hating my new eye glasses.

10 years ago...
1. I was 17 - just finishing my jr. year in high school.
2. I worked at the mall and drove a black saab.
3. Got into a lot of mischief with my good friend Carrie. We pulled some pretty crazy pranks.

5 years ago...
1. I was 22 years old and had been married for almost 3 years.
2. J was almost done with his bachelor's degree and i was working at a law firm.
3. J and I went camping all the time, with friends and family. It was so much fun.

3 years ago...
1. I was living in Orange County, California.
2. C was 3.5 months old. Man, that seems like yesterday.
3. I met the neatest people in my church in O.C. Its been fun to keep in touch with them.

1 year ago...
1. I had the worst morning sickness ever. I was puking at least twice a day, everyday.
2. Was living at J's Mom's house while he went back to school to get his MBA.
3. I was trying to imagine what it was going to be like having 2 kids.

This year...
1. We got our own place.
2. We had a baby boy. He is the cutest baby in the world (besides C of course).
3. J will finish the MBA program. Yippee!

Yesterday I...
1. Took C to her dress rehearsal for her ballet class.
2. Ran through the sprinkles with C. It is so hot outside.
3. Got both kids bathed and in bed by 8:00pm. Hooray!


Today I...
1. Went and bought size 4 diapers for F. What the crap! Size 4????? He's not even 6 months old yet!
2. Dropped a bunch of stuff off at Good Will. I am sick of clutter.
3. Am going to C's ballet recital. She is so cute.

Tomorrow I...
1. Have absolutely no plans.
2. Should probably go swimming because its going to be really hot again.
3. Get Baby Mozart from my Netflix. I can't wait to show it to F.

In the next year...
1. I will hopefully own my own home. I am so sick of renting.
2. I will lose 25 lbs. I really need to exercise more.
3. I will completely caught up on both kids' scrapbooks.

I tag Jodi, Carrie & Valerie

She found my make-up

This picture needs no explanation.

My beautiful kids

My kids are so cute. F is starting to really enjoy the jump-a-roo thing. He is all smiles. The picture of C was taken right after I did her hair for her ballet recital pictures. She wasn't too happy with me. She hates getting her hair done, but she looks so cute. She is my princess.

He has garbage on him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I moved the doormat rug thing outside of the front door to sweep. Underneath, I found this little buddy:


I told C to come see. I picked up the worm and she just about had a fit! She started screaming at me: "Mom! He has garbage on him! Put him down! Thats gross!" I told her that worms liked to be dirty. I have never seen C look so disgruntled. I asked her if she wanted to hold him and she totally got so sketched out. She jumped back and got the pee shivers. She is such a girl.

Our Weekend in M

We went to good 'ol M this weekend. Its an annual tradition with my family. I've been going since I could walk. My mom's mom's mom still lives there. That means that C has a great, great grandma still living. 5 generations! That doesn't happen too often. M is in the middle of the nowhere - total desert country. Its hot and there is nothing to see but sagebrush. There are some old ghost towns we visit, some old minings sites and lots of places to shoot guns. Snakes and lizards are everywhere. We had such a fun time hanging out with my extended family. Some pics to document our adventure:

This is a picture of cousin J, helping C hold the lizard he caught. Poor cousin J knelt down on a cactus while trying to catch it. V helped him pull out all the fun little quill things.

Here is cousin J teasing the crap out of this poor lizard. Don't worry - he got what was coming:


His finger was bleeding. He deserved it though.


This is the little Horned Toad that P found. He (the horned toad) was a good sport and let all of us touch him before he scampered off.

Here I am shooting my gat. Yes, I am this tough. And yes, this is a "trucker" hat with my high school's logo on it . . . . circa 1971.


Shooting off rockets. We had a bunch this year. Poor brother J's rocket was so powerful, it completely broke in half. We found both pieces though.

Every night we are in M, we go "rabbit stomping." We wait until dark, usually around 11:00pm and then pile into R's truck. We drive for about 10 minutes until we are in the middle of nowhere and then start off-roading through the sagebrush. We always see jack rabbits within 10 minutes of starting. As soon as we see one, the co-pilot shines the spotlight on the rabbit and then everyone jumps out of the truck, starts screaming and starts running towards the rabbit. The first one to catch it - wins. We have caught a lot of rabbits over the years. The jack rabbits are much harder to catch than the cottontails, but its more exciting. Don't worry - we don't hurt them at all. We just catch 'em, laugh at each other and then let them go. Its some good 'ol fashioned fun. Here is the pic from Friday night. From left to right: cousin B, Brother J, Husband J (holding the rabbit) soon-to-be cousin-in-law V, and Cousin J. I have way too many J's in my life, don't I?

Piggy-in-a-blanket. Uncle R showed C the stunt he used to pull when his kids were little. He had C lay down on the bed on the very edge and then proceeded to wrap her up so tight. Every time he would roll her over, her eyes would get a little bigger. She didn't know what to think. I showed her this picture and she said: "oh my! That uncle R is silly!"

We had a wonderful year and we can't wait until next summer when we can go again. We have such a good time with all my cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Thanks to everyone for making it such a great year!

The battle rages on

F cannot decide if he wants to suck on his thumb or his two fingers. He goes back and forth constantly. I took this video on my cell phone. This is F's solution to life's most difficult question . . . . . .

We have the pictures to prove it

J graduated on Saturday. Hooray! Actually, he still has 3 more classes this summer - but he walked with the rest of the 2008 graduates. He officially will have his MBA by the end of July. Its been an insane last 16 months. Usually it takes people around 3 years to complete the MBA program, but J did it in about half the time. I'm really proud of him. He has worked his butt off. The MBA program was awesome. He met so many neat professors and fellow students. He got to go on the China trip as well. I think J will miss it. . . . . .

The MBA Pinning Ceremony:

After the commencement: