Where does the time go?

It seems like I run run run and clean clean clean and you can't tell I do either! Oh well...

In the last week, I have had the scare of one child breaking a nose, one child that shocked me beyond belief in school work, and one that just seems to grow 3 inches every night in her sleep.

The nose:

I really wish I had pictures of this. However, it seems that a soon to be nine year old doesn't see the same humor in a swollen face as a mother might. Let me rephrase that. She doesn't see the humor in the story like I do. I didn't laugh at the wound, just the story. I digress.

Some friends from Norfolk (OM, remember Kathy and Dominick (the ring bearer) from my wedding?) came to stay with us last weekend. They arrived at 9:17 pm on Friday night. Isn't it amazing how you don't notice these things until something big happens??? Kathy and I sat and started chatting and catching up and the kids went downstairs to play, where they could be loud and not interrupt us. Much like Aunt J's house. :) At 9:23, yes just 5 minutes after their arrival, the boys came running upstairs screaming and hollering for me to come downstairs. No sooner did they reach me and I heard blood curdling screams coming from Addison in the basement. I have to be honest here. She is quite the drama queen. So I wasn't overly concerned until I saw her face. She was twirling in the basement, lost her balance, and landed flat on her face (literally) on the concrete floor. Blood EVERYWHERE. Nose so swollen I don't know how she could see, and her upper lip was so swollen that she honestly looked like a bird when she closed her mouth. I cleaned up the blood to find that it wasn't coming from her nose (good sign) it was coming from her lip and a little cut on the bridge of her nose. Oh... I forgot the bruise on her left elbow. She was convinced that her arm was broken and the bone was going to come out because she has never had an actual "goose egg" injury. Yes, she has had bruises, but never one that swelled up like that. She just knew the bone was going to puncture her skin. Rather sad actually.

I called TLC (Telephone line to care. Ask a nurse. GREAT invention!) and as soon as she answered, I started laughing, stating that if I didn't, I was going to cry. She was a wonderful woman that understood exactly where I was coming from and told me exactly what to do. From the call, we decided her nose wasn't broken, only bruised, but if the swelling hadn't gone down the next morning, we needed to take her in.

Needless to say, the swelling went down, the eyes and nose turned that nasty black/blue/purple/yellow/green bruise, and now are back to normal.


Guess this will be a lengthy post.....

Last week, on Tuesday, we went to PT conferences for the two older children. Addison's was first. I have to admit, I had reservations about her teacher this year. Not because I think she is a bad person, I don't even know her to make that claim. It was because her personality is so polar opposite of Addison's previous teachers. I was worried that she would, in a way, scare Addison. I don't really mean scare, but I can't find the word, forgive me. Back to school night, she seemed as though we were all wasting her time, but the night of conferences, she was AWESOME! She talked our legs off and had nothing but good to say about Addison. I think they have hit it off well, and that makes me VERY happy. She had wonderful things to share about Addison and how well she is doing and we left feeling really good about our daughter's education and successes in school. Again.

Then off to Zack's conference. I really was nervous about this one. He is just so..... Zack. He never wants to sit and listen to a book. He never wants to talk about numbers or to be taught anything. He wants to do it ALL on his own and doesn't want help from big people. See why I was nervous? He is my little man that walks to the beat of his own drum. HOWEVER. His teacher is seriously one of the most miraculous women I have ever met in my life. She has figured him out in a matter of days and has him learning at the top of his class!!!!!! I must be clear here. It isn't that I wondered if he is smart. I know he really is very intelligent. Even if he wasn't top of his class, I wouldn't care, but I think you all get what I am saying here. I honestly had no idea he would take off this quickly. I thought he would be.... well.... a boy! LOL! I thought he would be like my brother who didn't really care about the studies, but about P.E. and lunch and recess. Not Zack. WOW. She showed us his journal. This is a book that has blank pages with a large box at the top and 2 lines at the bottom. The idea is for the kids to draw a picture and then "write" their story on the lines. The teacher then comes around to translate the idea below the child's writing. Only one of Zack's had the teacher's writing on it. All of the others, if you looked at his writing and sounded out the sounds, you could honest to Goodness understand exactly what he was saying!!!! For example, he wrote "GOCRT". Guess what the picture was of? A GOCART! He drew a picture of him and Jeremy playing a video game that they have been trying for about a year to beat together. It's called Ratchet and Clank. He spelled it "rtchit and clnk". Seriously?!?!? Zachary?!?!? IN THE SECOND WEEK OF SCHOOL?!?!?! I was elated to tears. I have never thanked a teacher like I thanked Mrs. Shurmann that night. It just amazes me.

This brings me to Jenna. There isn't a lot new with her. She is doing wonderfully in preschool, too. She loves it. She does NOT love the days she doesn't have school, that is for sure. I do have issues with her growing, though. I have, twice since school started, taken her clothes shopping only to have her outgrow everything in a matter of a week or two. The second time I got smart and bought everything a little big so that if she grows again it will still fit. Although, that's a lot easier to do with winter clothes than summer, I think.

One last thought. Kids' jeans really suck man. I mean REALLY suck. I want to meet the children they use for their guidelines. And then I want to take all of those guidelines and flush them down the toilet and line up all the REAL kids in the world and measure them! Uggghhhhh!!!!!