November. National Break a Finger Month

Okay. I totally made that up.

But we have had two broken fingers in our family in the past month.

***** Break 1 *****

It all started with a story... And a story it ended up being. Liam came home from school complaining that his finger hurt. He "APPARENTLY" had been tapping his finger on his desk, you know, playing a little finger drums while he should have been learning about distributive properties when suddenly he got a pinching sensation in the back of his finger. He immediately sought medical attention at the nurses office. According to him she told him it might be a pinched nerve. Sent him back to his class. I informed him he would probably survive. The next morning he woke up and his finger was HUGE and bruised pretty bad. We decided to take him to the doctor. Diagnosis Proximal interphalangeal joint dorsal avulsion fracture. If he had broken his finger from tapping it we needed to have him evaluated for either brittle bone disorder OR bone crushing strength...

The next day his school called me to inform me that he had a few unexcused absences and I told the "counselor" that he had broken his finger at school and that is why he had missed yesterday. She was shocked. Surprised. Usually they fill out incident reports if a child gets hurt at school. Okay, not usually, ALWAYS. 5 minutes later the school nurse calls me. Apologizing. She HAD seen him in her office, right after he had gotten in trouble at lunch for messing around. Truth came out. Incident report was filed. We received a copy of it. He wasn't tapping his finger. Lesson learned. Don't stick your finger in places it doesn't belong. EVER.

****** Break 2 ******

Remember when I said that cute little 2 year old was a handful? Case in point... It all started with a 2 year old and a plastic toggle...

I was standing talking to my parents. Noah was playing beside me. I was wearing a jacket that has elastic cording around the bottom. The elastic is coming out of the casing a little. He was pulling and playing with this. He pulled the elastic a little harder then he should have and then fell backwards taking the cording with him. At about 6 feet away he released the cording from his sweet little cherub hands. At which point it SHOT back at me. The little plastic toggle SMASHED into my hand. Immediately I said a few words... (insert your choice of cuss words here)... I have never been shot. I hope to never get shot. I am not making light of people who have been shot but I swear it felt like I had been shot. In the finger. By a 2 year old. With a plastic toggle. HURT SO DAMN BAD! It took 2 days to get into the doctor. Sure enough. It was broken. In the exact spot the toggle had hit. The upside? (because yes there is one) For the next 3-4 weeks I get to flip everyone off.

Marathon.

Matt ran his first marathon a few weeks back. 4:36. 26.2 miles.

my baby is 2...

I cannot get over his cuteness. But do not let that face fool you. He is crazy. loud. opinionated. bossy. demanding. He draws on everything. He can destroy a clean room in seconds flat. He can be a shit. He's 2. And we absolutely adore him.

halloween

gutting a pumpkin with a broken finger

...The finished products...

...the costumes...

Football Season 2011

Our cheering section (lucy, grandpa, matt, jessie and jessica)

James, Brady, Coach Smith, Andrew, & Darius (MVP)

Football has been a pretty big part of our lives the past 10+ years. It seems like every fall is welcomed in by Friday night football games. It has been a crazy emotional season knowing this would be our last high school football season for a while. James did awesome this year. He came back from a pretty bad injury and played amazing all season. His team had a varsity banquet at the end of the season and James, along with two of his friends, won the Coaches Award. We are very proud of him.

18...

James is 18. I cried most of the day. I cannot believe that he is that old. It seemed like only yesterday...

Calling all SUPERHEROES!

This guy turned 5. He is pretty super.

He has been so excited for his birthday. 5 has been sounding pretty spectacular for a while now. Apparently 5 is what it is all about. He has been counting down the days. Not only was turning 5 a huge prize but this year was his first official birthday party. And we partied big time!!

We invited these friends.

Everyone knows a true superhero must conceal their identity.

Masks and capes for everyone.

Save the Civilian

Squirt the Villain

Games. Because superheros like to play.

And cupcakes.

"This was the bestest birthday EVER"

~Myles age 5

And just as a sweet side note...

"Of course I want to invite Noah. He's practically my best friend."

12

I can't believe that this guy is 12.

We celebrated.
We bowled.
We ate steaks.
We had cake.
He opened presents.

I hope your 12th years ROCKS Liam!!

June, it happened in the blink of an eye...

june is over. july is here. we were so busy last month. we had some great memories. here is the condensed version

(i took about 2000 pictures so here are just a few).

we started june off with a trip to lynchburg to see susan, dennis and hans. we visited poplar forest. we relaxed on the lake. myles caught his first fish. matt and james had a lot of fish stories to tell.

(but no actual fish were caught).

school ended. thank goodness. another school year down. we were so ready for some break in the schedule around here. we live about a block from our neighborhood pool. so far we have spent a lot of time there.

grandma & grandpa stopped by on their 50th anniversary trip. we drove down to Monticello with them and spent the day touring. it is quite lovely there. very peaceful.

mom, dad, matt and i had a special night out. dinner at mike's. great food. then we saw Wicked at the Kennedy Center. it was in AMAZING! we loved every minute of it.

then they went off on their trip up the east coast.

noah got another haircut. he was super thrilled.

it had to happen.

his dad is anti-mullet.

then our awesome friends from arkansas came to visit. they brought us our doggie (another post for another day). they spent a week with us. we hope that they still want to be friends after this experience. we can be a lot to handle. anywho. we showed them the town and had a blast spending time with them.

first stop the Newseum. the museum where news comes to life. we saw a section of the berlin wall, made our own news reports, saw artifacts from hurricane katrina, viewed the radio tower from the top of the world trade center, saw a fun 4-d movie, viewed the pulitzer prize gallery. moving. funny. sad. heroic. tears. laughs.

then we had a birthday. a 15th

birthday. she was thrilled.

while they were here we also toured the national mall. went to the smithsonian. visited arlington. toured the bureau of engraving and printing. saw the white house. went to the top of the washington monument. you know, the usual touristy washington dc stuff...

we also

toured the national cathedral.

it was pretty spectacular.

i cannot even imagine going to services there.

the stain glass was amazing.

we were able to spot darth vader.

the stonework incredible.

just spectacular.

then on our last day together, the Krenzslips headed out of the city and journeyed south. to a land the natives call KINGS DOMINION.

it was the perfect day. the lines were short. the weather was not too hot. the rides didn't disappoint. the drinks were overpriced. the fireworks were short but the perfect way to end the day.

so that was our month.

things not blogged: we got a new car. we had 4 rounds of pink eye which meant 4 trips to the doctor. birthday parties. play dates. james got a job. matt started school again for his mba. we dog sat copper. jessie had her fourth year excursion.

july is looking just as busy. bring it on...