Injured.

This child owns new elbow pads, but they didn't do him much good laying in the garage. He went to the skate park yesterday and came home with his elbow swollen. It looked like his elbow swallowed an orange. He was really fishy about how the injury happened. He kept changing his story.

We still weren't getting the full story this morning when Brock woke up. His elbow was still swollen, I told him we needed to go to the doctor.

Brock: Will I still go to school?

Me: Yes. You should be able to go to school after the appointment. That is, unless they need to amputate it. If that's the case, you'll need to go to the operating room, so you'll probably not make it back to school in time today.

Brock: Really?

Me: Yeah. But I doubt they'll need to operate. You said it happened playing soccer. They will only need to amputate it if it was caused from a skate boarding injury.

Then the truth came out. He did in fact injure it skateboarding, but he wasn't sure how exactly he injured it. Apparently, he fell too many times to pinpoint the exact injury.

A couple xray's later, and he's in a sling. The doctor doesn't think he fractured it, although he's sending the xrays to a radiologist. Brock will need to wear the sling for the next few days. No baseball this weekend.

I'm not sure why he felt he needed to lie about his injury. He's been lying a lot lately. I'm sure it's a developmental thing, but I'm not enjoying this stage. Good thing he's still not a good liar. It makes it so much easier to catch him in his web of lies.

Spring!

The joy of having a sweet, thoughtful husband who works downtown, near Pike Place Market, where these gorgeous bouquets run about $10-$15 each. In the spring and summer, it's always touching to watch people walk off the ferry carrying these colorful flowers, wrapped in brown paper. Who will be the lucky recipient?

Well they're movin' on up....

The coop is completed and the chickens spent their first night in it last night. I am really impressed with the hard work that Brian put into building the deluxe chicken accommodations.





The chickens don't know what to do with all the space. They like to stay huddled next to the door.



Last night was a relatively warm night for us (lows in the upper 40's), but Farmer Brian was worried about his hens. Before going to bed, he set up the heat lamp for his little ladies.



With any luck, we'll be eating fresh eggs in July.

Agonizing for the old mother.

As you walk towards the mound, I get up from the bleachers and move away from the rest of the crowd. I can't be with other people when you're out there. I lean against the fence, grasp my hands and clench my jaw. I can feel the stress in my shoulders. My fingernails dig into my palms. I hardly breathe.

I watch you, while sending you good vibes and cheering. "You can do it bud! Throw it hard." I try to sound relaxed. I don't want you to hear my nervousness in my voice. When I can't take the stress any longer, I watch the umpire behind home plate. it is music to my ears when he calls out "STRIKE".

I go between watching you, the umpire and the score board. Full count. Two outs. YOU CAN DO IT.

You did it.

Concert Update/ Chick Photos

Pre-Black Eyed Peas Concert:



Kate's first ever large venue concert.....She thought it was great, but it took awhile for her to get used to the sound level.


See how I'm leaning to the side a bit.....my darn back was and is still hurting.

The Black Eyed Peas concert was really fun. Really fun, but really loud. Really fun, really loud and something I don't need to do again. I'm so glad we went, and the kids were on cloud nine, but I truly am too old for those types of outings. The highlight of the night, was driving with Anne to the concert and completely missing the Tacoma Dome, and ending up near Ft. Lewis. We even each had a GPS. Here's a picture of my cautious driver with double glasses:



The chicks are doing well and growing larger every week. Mabel is definitely the "clucker" of the group. It's so cute to hear her talk to the others. Tammy~ aren't you proud of me to have these pictures posted in a timely manner?

Mabel:


Mel:


Roxy:


Group Shot:

Hula-hopeless

Yesterday I decided to try out a new hula-hoop fitness class. I loved hula-hooping as a child, and how difficult could it be? I was very smug in the class.....I wasn't the star pupil, but I was a close second. I could ALMOST make it look effortless (for a few minutes), I left the class thinking, "Well, that was a nice work out, but no big deal. I'm not even very sweaty."

I have now spent the past 24 hours in pain. As I type this, I have a heating pad on my lower back. Holy cow! What did I do? My lower back feels like I'm back labor. I can't bend over, when I sneeze, I see stars. To get in and out of the car, I have to rely on breathing exercises.

Getting old sucks.

This weekend we are going to see The Black Eyed Peas. I was fairly sure I'd be one of the older attendees. Now, I will get to be an older attendee with a Ben-Gay patch on her back and ibuprofen in her pocket. If any teeny-booper gives me trouble, I'll fend them off with my Aqua Net and my Polident.

Slowly....very very slowly.

This whole coop building thing is taking a lot longer than I would have guessed. Why? Oh, the fact that my husband has a full-time job and that the kid's schedules take up a lot of free time on the weekends, and the fact that we live in a rainy area so even if there is some free time, it is often wet.


The coop is starting to take shape and Brian has done a terrific job on it. It's almost time to start painting it, if the weather is ever dry and warm enough. The chickens are starting to really look like hens, including their pretty tail feathers. Here's a picture of Kate holding Mabel. Check out her talons.

Paradise found.

The kids and I just returned from a fun week in paradise, aka my aunt's condo in Florida. Thanks to Orbitz Deal Detector, we got a screaming deal on tickets to Florida. (Note to self: the airline trip nearly did Kate in, if we are ever fortunate to go to Europe, she will need to be medicated or will need to fly first class.)


(Jet lag nap.)


Brock was like a different kid in Florida. The reason? Because he spent countless hours doing this:



He has always had a gift and a knack at finding small creatures. He is incredibly gentle with even the smallest bug. I wish there was a school where he could spend all day searching for and learning about animals. He would excel and shine. On this trip, I realized the importance of helping him nurture this passion.



He even found joy in finding grasshoppers.

And the crazy thing is that the animals don't leave him. They rest on him and crawl on him. If I try to hold something, it immediately jumps out of my hand.

Florida was a perfect nature lover's paradise. On one side of my aunt's condo is the Atlantic, on the other side is the Indian River. We searched long and hard for Manatees, but unfortunately didn't see them.






But we did find lizards, fish and interesting birds.

My kids were very brave at sticking their hands in trees trying to capture lizards. With the high snake population in Florida, I wouldn't take part.



But I didn't realize I needed to worry about wild life in my aunt's condo. Look what greeted us after an afternoon of shopping. Thankfully, Brock had brought his Reptile Guidebook with him so we were able to feel fairly confident that this was a rat snake, and not venomous, but we still had to call animal control.



Kate got to fulfill her horse passion and ride on the beach. I went along as well, and it was the LAST TIME I'll ever ride. Even though we were on soft sand, and even though the horses were slow and tame, it scared me to death and I couldn't wait for the ride to end. It didn't help that Kate's horse was kicked by another horse. She handled it way better than I would have. I think I would have gotten off and walked back to the car.



And of course, I enjoyed my time spent with my Aunt. She was an excellent tour guide and host. She put up with hours of Sponge Bob and the fact I have picky eaters. She exposed us to the joy of Publix mint chocolate cookies and Florida's signature chocolate covered coconut candies. She carried on the Brock Family tradition and had pie for breakfast. (Growing up, my Grandma Brock would give me cake for breakfast because it "has milk and eggs in it.") And she provided us a window to my mom....thank you Aunty S for the great time.