Sticks and Stones....

Well, I feel like we are definitely entering into the world of boys these days. In the last few months, Peter has had 2 "incidents."

A couple of months ago we went to the park and there were a bunch of big sticks laying around. Peter and the other kids started to play with them. I started feeling uneasy as they were pretty big and eventually I broke all of the sticks up into smaller ones and told them that they shouldn't play with the sticks anymore.

I started talking to my friends and the next thing I know out of the corner of my eye, I see Peter climbing up a small slide. He had not listened to me and found a enormous stick in the bushes. He had taken it and put it on top of the slide. He was climbing up to grab it, but because of his position on the slide and the position of the stick, he couldn't see the stick was about to poke him in the eye. Before I could say anything, his eye already connected with the stick.

He started screaming and screaming and clutching his eye. It was clamped shut and I was really scared that he had scratched his cornea. It was not getting any better, so I decided to take him to the nearest urgent care location (thanks to the input of the other mamas with me. Thanks, mamas!). The whole way to urgent care, he was screaming, "I don't want to go to the doctor, I don't want to the doctor." And when he wasn't screaming that, he was screaming, "I don't want to wear a patch. I don't want to wear a patch." It was actually very providential that he kept saying "I don't want to wear a patch" because it made me chuckle a little. I found out later that he thought he was going to need a patch like the one Gramps got after having a cataract removed. Here I thought he was thinking of pirates!

Urgent care said that they didn't think it was serious but they weren't really equipped to deal with kids, so they said we should go to the ER. At that point it was getting close to nap time, so I decided to head home and put Matthew down for a nap.

By the time we got home 15 minutes later, Peter was calming down a bit. I gave him some ibuprofen for the pain and about 5 minutes after arriving home, his eye started opening up. Thankfully he had not scratched his cornea. I think the stick just nicked the outside of his eye, but scared him enough that he clamped it shut.

I was so thankful that he was okay. It was really a horrible sight to see him crawling up the slide and hitting the stick. Moral of the story: Don't play with sticks. Duh!

The second incident occurred right after his 4th birthday. He had gone to preschool with cupcakes and the kids were going to sing happy birthday to him and give him a crown and all that good stuff. Thankfully, they were able to do all of that!

He helped me decorate these the day before....

Here he is, decorating his crown

He was so excited to celebrate his birthday with his friends at school!

so were they...

 After the cupcakes, they all went outside for play time. The preschool has these tandem tricycles that the boys like to ride around on. I guess Peter was riding one of these tricycles and another boy, S***, was pedaling. They went through the tunnel that is on the playground and I think another boy, S***, was racing/chasing them on his bike. I think they took a turn too fast or Peter got scared because they were going fast and he let go and fell onto the ground. I think S****'s bike may have hit Peter in the face. ***Names taken out to protect the innocent. :)

According to one of his classmates, Benson, "Peter's head got run over by a bike and he was bleeding."

I happened to be at a work meeting, my mom was at the library with Matthew, and Mike was off work. Mike got the initial call from the preschool and asked my mom (the one with the carseat) to go get Peter. She was quite nervous as she wasn't sure what she was going to see....all they had said was that he fell off the trike and was "refusing medical attention" and that he wanted to go home.

When she arrived, he was sitting in Ms. Colleen's lap. He had refused a cold compress.....He was quite the trooper....as was Omi for picking him up.

day of accident

couple of days after...

It was a lame thing to happen amidst birthday celebrations...oh well. Peter ended up getting a high fever and double ear infections the next day! We had to postpone his birthday party with his friends.

All in all, we were very fortunate in both situations.

Visit with D Greggs

Before I start blogging about more current events, I wanted to do a quick recap of our visit to our family up north. 

We went back in December for 1 week and had a great time. Mike's twin brother is friends with a veterinarian. Their last name is McDonald. And they live on a farm. I'm not kidding! 

They had some animals so we thought it would be fun to go check it out.

 

I normally don't post pictures of my boys looking sad because it makes me sad to look at them. But this kind of cracks me up. Matthew LOVED every moment of this little visit to a small farm. He loved the horses, the goats, the chickens, all of it. Peter HATED it. He wanted to stay in the car, he didn't want to come and look at the horses at all. 

I carried Peter over to this little pen where the goats were and he was doing better. But then when I took their picture, he saw a horse--100 feet away mind you--and he freaked out again. I found it fascinating that the 2 of them could have such different reactions. I will be interested to see how much of it has to do with Matthew's age and how much of it is his personality. Peter told us later that he had thought the horses were going to eat him. I reassured him that horses only eat hay and apples. Poor guy. 

My nieces had fun riding around.....

 

Matthew and Auntie KP enjoying a horse....

Doing what Gregg men do best....

We enjoyed 2 Christmases while we were there--one with Mike's twin and one with his older brother

Not a lot to do in Oakdale (no offense)...this is an abandoned paper mill.

I got a new camera for Christmas....Here I am testing my panoramic setting...

Here I am being artsy:

Our 2nd Christmas with the Mike's older brother's family

So cute. Hannah wanted to put on a "circus" for the boys. They sat and watched....

One of the many fun meals around the table

Here is another fun moment. It was a lot of fun to have all the cousins together!

So much so, that we thought it important to take a picture! It is pretty difficult to get 8 kids to look at a camera, but our friend Mallory did an excellent job! 

last minute primping

Here are some of my favorite shots:

Everytime we go visit I make my nieces and nephews sit on a couch in the D Greggs place....Needless to say, after having to take pictures for an hour they weren't really into it, but they humored me. It is fun to compare pictures from past visits!

We had a very mellow New Year's Eve. The kids tried to watch Tangled but my boys got too scared so they settled for Toy Story 2. Always a favorite. I had seen these silly little marshmallow things on Pinterest, so I whipped those up for a fun New Year's treat.

 

wearing silly party hats and using noise makers...basically just for this picture...

It was a great visit! The boys did great in the car--it was about a six hour drive. Looking forward to seeing everybody again sometime soon...

Where Have I Been?

Well, this blog got pretty neglected. January I was busy working and when I wasn't working and taking care of the family, I was working on my sister-in-law's 40th birthday album. It was a fun project, but since I procrastinated a bit too much, I was burning the midnight oil.

 February is a blur. I had to fly up to Oakland for work one day....and Mike got to go to Winter Camp with the high schoolers from church.

March arrived and we celebrated Peter's birthday. Because of his tricycle accident, his birthday celebrations seemed to take up the whole month. More on that later.

Now we are in April and I am feeling like a horrible blogger. But that's okay. I shall attempt to resume regular posting....

resolutions

my latest favorite family picture

The older I get, the bigger fan I have become of January. One of my teachers in high school always used to say that he felt like September was his "new year," when things started anew. I always used to identify with him because I felt the same way.The farther I get from school, the more January has started to feel like a fresh start for me.

And geez, I have been out of college now for (gasp) 11 years. So...yeah. there's that.

I thought I would share my resolutions here just as a way of keeping myself accountable.....

1) Be purposeful. 

Normally when I make a resolution it is very clear like, "exercise more" or "eat less dessert." This year I felt like being a little crazy and creating a general resolution of being more purposeful in my living.

I don't want to go through the motions everyday. I want to start the day in prayer and reading Scripture and thinking about my goals for the day. I want to be able to experience the day, and not feel like I am just eeking by. I am not sure if that all makes sense. But that's my resolution.

One of the ways I am going to work on this is by participating in a Scripture Memorization Blog. I always intend to memorize some verses but it never really happens. I am hoping this blog will be a great way to memorize Scripture and it will also provide some fun online fellowship with other ladies.

2) Focus on the Family

No, I am not trying to copy James Dobson....but I would like to really focus on my nuclear family this year. I want to really reflect on what it means to be a godly and respectful wife and I want to try to serve my husband AND children as much as I can....with a gracious attitude.

I have read, Debi Pearl's, "Created to be His Helpmeet" before but I plan to re-read it this year as a refresher. The first time I read it, it made a huge impact on me. And I made a mental note that I wanted to read it again in a couple of years to refresh my mind on what it means to be a godly wife. Can't believe it has been a couple of years.

I also plan on participating in another online blog book study and will read a book called, "5 Conversations You Must Have With Your Son." 

3) The simple but basic ones: exercise more frequently (once I can figure this pesky sprained ankle thing) and eat a balanced diet.

I am excited to participate in all of these various things and I am looking forward to a fresh start for the year.

Of course, I have no idea how I am going to squeeze all of these things in....but for me that is the fun and challenge of creating resolutions.

Merry Christmas!

It is crazy to think that the past month and a half of preparations for Christmas are leading up to the actual day quite soon. We've had a wonderful Christmas season.

From taking our family Christmas pictures to hosting the Women's Ornament and Cookie Exchange, attending the church Christmas Party, attending the Preschool Christmas Party, hosting our own Ugly Sweater Party, and attending the church Youth Group Party--we have been busy celebrating Christ's birth.

I've tried to remind the boys about why we are doing all of this--to celebrate the birth of Christ. At ages 3 and a half and 2, I am sure they are not quite piecing it together, but we have enjoyed laying the foundations.

We've spent time eating Jelly Belly Jelly Beans and chocolates from our Advent Calendars. We've been reading The Crippled Lamb and watching the Christmas Lamb....we've watched Mickey's Christmas Carol, Peanuts' Christmas, and of course we have watched the Thomas related Christmas episodes.

We've eaten a lot of Christmas cookies. A lot. My mom and I got to enjoy some quality time together and attended a home tour in Manhattan Beach.

We went to see the Christmas lights in the neighborhood nearby. And Mike and I have enjoyed some nice quiet dinners with various close friends.

We feel like we have been going full steam since December 1! So you will have to excuse me for just posting these pics and not making more comments about them.

I think I would rather dwell on what Linus explains is the reason for this time of celebration.

Women's Ornament and Cookie Exchange

someone estimated that we had 700 cookies (there were more on our kitchen island)

Manhattan Beach Home Tour with my mom

Angel Breakfast with Mike and Peter

Preschool Christmas Party

Looking at Christmas lights

appetizers for our Ugly Sweater Party

deep conversations....

decorating/eating Gingerbread Houses

deep concentration....