Not your average Monday

Today started fairly normally: I got up around 7, Hudson got up around 8, William got up around 8:30. Hudson was downstairs with me, I was fixing their morning OJ, and I could hear William playing upstairs. (side note: William is a perfectionist, and we have been working with him on not getting overly frustrated when things don't work together just the way he envisions it. i.e. trying to teach him self-control so that he doesn't throw tantrums/tear apart his toys when he's frustrated). A few minutes before 9, I hear William stomping down the stairs, so I knew we were going to have to have a discussion about his temper/frustration levels. I was in my room, and I hear him SLAM the pantry door shut on his way through the kitchen. LONG story incredibly short, the entire top shelf of the pantry door (which happens to house 4 large bottles of liquor) came crashing down into the pantry, shattering glass and liquor all over the pantry. It was not a good moment. In fact, I had to call Dave to come home from work so that I could maintain sanity. Only by the grace of God did I manage to keep my cool, but I didn't want to take any chances. :-) I will spare you the details of what ensued after that, but by 10:30, I had a nice, clean sparkly pantry. I'm trying to find the silver lining in the losing of all my favorite booze. :-)

The rest of the morning/afternoon went fairly well. The kids behaved, William maintained self-control (and so did I), and we even managed a trip to McDonalds with friends.

After dinner we decided to go to the neighborhood spray park since our pool is closed on Mondays. It's only about 5 blocks from our house, so the boys rode their bikes while Dave and I walked. About 15 minutes into their playtime, William started crying hysterically. He turned around and we saw lots and lots of blood coming down his face. Dave scooped him up, and we could see that he had a pretty good gash on the upper part of his forehead. Thankfully, there was another dad there that volunteered to drive Dave home to get our car. I got the bleeding to stop just about the time Dave arrived with the car. He loaded up the bikes, and we tossed the kids in the car and headed to Urgent Care.

Because of it being "trauma" they got us in right away. In fact, the whole process was only about an hour, which was MUCH shorter than I anticipated. Another long story short, William ended up with 2 stitches. He was a champ through the whole thing.

the unstitched wound:

 all stitched up:

 a happy little patient!

Since he was so good we took him to get shaved ice across the street. As we sat there enjoying our dessert, I told William that the word of the day for him was "Karma." He asked what that meant. I told him that it meant that he got what was coming. He replied with "Oh, I like that word since I'm having shaved ice right now." Not really the reaction I was looking for, but it was funny nonetheless!

I'm pressing the "restart" button for tomorrow...

1st and 2nd Cousins!

A few weeks ago, my cousin, Tara and her family came to visit. They live in Florida, so we rarely get to see them. In fact, it had been at my brother's wedding, nearly 3 years ago, since we saw them last. So, the boys were much smaller and didn't remember their 1st cousins-once-removed and 2nd cousins. :-)

Even though they are a little older than my boys, all 6 kids go along GREAT. One of the most fun things about them getting together is that my cousin has a son named Hudson too. My Hudson thought that was the best thing ever: to have a cousin with the SAME name. We called them Big Hudson and Little Hudson.

My cousin took this when they were in Oklahoma. I love it because my Grandma looks great, and she's doing what she loves most: FISHING!

The 2 Hudsons:

William, Camille, Hudson, and Hudson:

Checking out the cows. My dad, Hudson, William, and Camille:

Playing with Contraptions. William, Hudson, Hudson, Camille, and Adrianna:

Before the pool one day, we headed to Tutti Frutti (one of our favorite ice cream stores).  Olivia, me, dad, Adrianna, William, Hudson, Camille and Hudson:

It was a great time together, and we are hoping that we won't have to wait that long before we see them again! In fact, we're thinking of making to a trip to Orlando next summer to visit them...and Disney too, of course!

The 4th

While Dave was in Chicago with his cousins and going to the U2 concert, me and the boys were sweating it out in Oklahoma. It's always fun when we're there because the boys are running wild, playing outside, going to Kiddie Park, seeing Great Grandma, staying up late, sleeping in (some of the time), visits to Woolaroc, and long naps...but this time was extra special because Uncle Trent and Aunt Paige were in town! Plus it was the 4th of July, and since we were out in the country we decided to take full advantage and set off our own fireworks. William, being the cautious one, was a little skeptical at first and every time someone lit a firecracker he'd say "hurry, run away!" (again, I apologize for the poor quality...these are phone pics)

the "spectators":

 Great Grandma, Hudson and Uncle Trent:

 silly faces with Grandma (I absolutely LOVE this picture!):

 William (oh, and this was my table when I was a kid...):

 Sparklers!!!

Paige made this YUMMY tart:

In Disguise

On Wednesday night we picked Dave up from the airport (he'd been in Chicago at the U2 concert), and we decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. Nothing particularly unusual, but they did have a face painter there for the kids! Normally, my boys don't like having someone else paint their faces, so they elect for a hand or an arm. But, that night, they were adventurous. Here's what they picked:

Hudson:

William (as usual, he refused to pose):

Grandma Dennison

Dave's paternal grandmother died about 2 weeks ago. It was a sad time, but she was 94 and had lived such an amazing life...and she left an incredible legacy! I admire her so much, and she was a very feisty lady! When she died, she had 18 grandkids and (counting our unborn baby) 34 great-grandkids! She was a very loved lady, and we will miss her greatly. If you've read this blog for awhile, you might remember THIS. We are so thankful that we were able to go visit her. Until about a week before her death, she was still sending out cards (she was SO faithful about acknowledging every birthday and anniversary for every grandkid, their spouse, and great-grandkid), and I got an email from her about a week before she entered the hospital. She didn't let anything get her down!!

So, Dave and I flew to Pittsburgh last week to attend the funeral. It was a special time because we got to see many family members that we rarely get to see, plus I got to meet our newest niece, Zoe (Atria's baby girl). Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me (the one downside to having a big, fancy camera is that it can be a pain to lug on an airplane!!), so these were all taken with my iPhone..please excuse the quality!

Meeting baby Zoe!

 Dave's mom and dad arrived on Pat's birthday, so we got to have a little mini-celebration!

 Dave meet's Zoe, and understandably, she's skeptical...

a pic capturing all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren that were able to attend the funeral.

It was a sad occasion, but we were thankful to get to spend some time with our family from across the country!