trip #3 to the ER for Samuel

I thought today would be a low key, uneventful day, but I was wrong. Instead of going to the gym this morning I spent my morning at the emergency room, and then the pharmacy getting medication. I was trying to get Nora Kate to come with me upstairs to get dressed and change her diaper and of course she was running from me. So Samuel tries to "save" her from me, the "monster" and he picked her up and started running away from me. I ran after them, noticing that they were going a bit to fast (i.e. Samuel had worked up to a full fledged run.) So, I told him to stop running. I turned out to be a bit to late with the advice because at that moment he stepped off the rug onto the hardwood and began to slip in his new grown up socks. He started falling forward and went right into our entryway table and a plant. Luckily they just missed knocking their heads open on the edge of the table, but unfortunately for Samuel he had hit on his mouth and his tooth went right through his cheek. Just clarify, there were no teeth lost or damaged, but he was left with a hole in his cheek. The inside of his mouth was pretty hurt too with a huge open place. Skip forward past all the panicking to the ER...... At the ER, Josh met us and they ended up only putting some dermabond, a type of 'glue', on the spot on the outside of his cheek, plus a bandage. They didn't do anything to the inside, but we had to get him an antibiotic to take for a few days as a precaution since he has an open wound inside his mouth. He did really well. So, hopefully the rest of the week will prove to be less eventful.

great game

Samuel had his 3rd basketball game today and did great! He paid attention and stayed in the game. He had the ball a lot and did a lot of passing. He even took a shot that almost went in. I wanted it to go in so bad, but I was beaming none the less. It was very close. He got awarded a gray star for great offense today and was very proud of himself. It was nice to see him do so well.

Samuel's 1st basketball game 1-5-08

Samuel's 1st basketball game was last Saturday. He loved it and did pretty good. It was so cute because they had the cheerleaders lined up and they turned off the lights in the gym and had the players run out of the "tunnel" as they were announced. They had a spotlight on them and everything. It was fun. Unfortunately because of the delay on my camera and because of a man who decided to walk right in front of me, I did not get a picture of Samuel as he was running through the tunnel. Luckily, they do this at every game, so I will get another opportunity. Here he is stretching with his team before the game. After running through the tunnel, eager for the game to start!

Here he is gaurding... someone.....(?)!

Here he is with the ball. He is actually a pretty good little rebounder. And he's also very good at being the first one to get to the other end of the court, something he is very proud of.

Samuel's biggest fan!

They give out awards after every game and each player gets an award. This week Samuel got the yellow star for sportsmanship. Way to go buddy!

Creation Museum visit 12-27-08

When we were visiting my parents in OH over Christmas, we had the opportunity to go to the Creation Museum in the Cincinnati/ northern KY area. It opened in May of 2007 and has had great success. I actually went with the kids and Mom in June when we were visiting but this was Josh's first time. It is really neat. It really opened my eyes. I have always believed that the Bible is true, including Genesis. I have never even considered doubting it, so I am not one that needs convincing. That is just who I am. The museum opened my eyes in a different way. It showed me how much scientific evidence there is to back up what the Bible says and that is really cool. It also has opened my eyes to how much opposition there is to the Bible and how controversial it is when evidence to support the Bible is discovered. Very interesting stuff. The museum is run by a group called Answers in Genesis. They have a magazine that we subscribe to called Answers. It is really neat and every issue has a pull out section for kids. Samuel loves it. These first three pictures are from the Garden of Eden section of the museum, complete with Adam and Eve themselves! It is just a walk through replica of what the Garden could have been like. It is really beautiful and I'm sure doesn't even compare to what the real thing must have been like, but it has been my favorite part of the museum both times. If you look up in the top right of the Adam and Eve picture you can see that pesky old serpent.... If you ever get a chance you should definitely go to this place.

This is Samuel standing inside a true size replica of the Ark. (yes, Noah's). Of course it was only a portion, but really neat to see.

This was in an area called Dinosaur Den. It was full of you guessed it, dinosaurs! Samuel was so excited when we went through this part that he had to sit down and take some notes in the notebook he brought. He was extremely impressed. It was very cute.

Samuel and Josh being scared by a dinosaur!

This was in the kids area. They had stuff for the kids to play with and a story time.

I should also mention that we went to the planetarium presentation this time. It was a little overwhelming. When they announced at the beginning of the film "If you begin to feel dizzy or nauseated please place your feet on the ground. If it continues you may exit the theater"... Dad and I were both like 'oh boy, here we go...!' (We both have a tendency to be affected by things like that, oh, and other things too...) Anyway, we both made it fine, although we did have to close our eyes a few times. Back to the presentation... it was unbelievable how our solar system is just a small little speck in the entire universe. I couldn't even grasp the expanse of it. It is amazing. Definitely go if you get the chance.

Thanks Papa and Granna

Thanks Papa and Granna for the Christmas gifts!

Christmas recap ( a little late, I know...)

Wow, I guess I have been on a break from the blog for a while. I really feel like I am just now coming up for air after Christmas. We were so busy this year. I felt like we hardly had time to sit and enjoy the season. Business, just the thing everyone tries to avoid. We had Samuel's school play on the 4th, a Christmas party for Josh's co-workers in our home on the 8th (I cooked for 50), had neighbors over for dinner on the 9th, Santa at Josh's work on the 14th, Polar Express party for the neighbor kids at our house on the 15th (which I forgot to post pictures of), Samuel's school Christmas party on the 19th (which I was one of the 3 moms in charge of it and had to prepare a craft for 22 kids), the photo book my sister and I made for Mom and Dad this year which took hours of work and had to be done by the 18th, and of course all the regular shopping and other regular activities. We left for my parents house in OH on Christmas Day and came back on the 30th. We had to squeeze making Christmas cookies in on Christmas Eve so Santa wouldn't go hungry and then also got caught in another Christmas Eve dilemma. Samuel was off from school from the 20th until yesterday, the 7th, so he had a lot of time off. He decided to make Christmas gifts for everyone in the family and worked very hard on it for the few days leading up to Christmas. When he finished, which was the night before Christmas Eve, he said to Josh and I, "so, what are you guys going to make for me and Kiki?" So guess what we did all Christmas Eve?! We worked on our own craft projects for the kids to give to them as Christmas gifts. I made Samuel a Lightning McQueen bag to hold his cars from the Cars movie and Nora Kate a fairy bag with a ruffle (my first ruffle!). Josh made Samuel a marvel heroes tic tac toe board with a bag to carry it in, and he made Nora Kate a necklace. I should definitely post pictures of those, because it was really a defining memory of this year's festivities. It was funny because we were all squared away, in the best shape we had ever been on Christmas Eve, and then ended up being up til 2am doing our craft projects! It was neat though because we were all most excited to give the gifts we had made for each other. Here are some pictures of Christmas this year. This first picture if of our mantel in the kitchen. I really just posted it because I want to remember what I did for next year. Hopefully next year we'll have some paint on the walls! Nora Kate and Pop at Pop and Gigi's house in OH.

Samuel with Mom watching a movie.

Tim and Rhonda (my sister) getting ready to open gifts.

The Grandkids.... Samuel, Elizabeth, Rachel, and Nora Kate.

Me and Rhonda

Mom and Dad with the Grandkids. Dad was reading the Christmas story from the Bible, a Christmas tradition with our family for as long as I can remember. This was on the 26th.

Mom and Dad with the photo book we made for them.

Samuel Christmas morning.

Nora Kate Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve, we let them sleep together in our guest bedroom so that they would be able to get up together (Nora Kate is still in a crib). They stayed up for a while fighting and laughing, but finally went to sleep and didn't get up until about 6:30, which we thought was pretty good!

The cookies!

Making the cookies!

This the "pop-up nativity" that Samuel worked so hard on making for Nora Kate. He was so proud of it and so excited to give it to her. She really liked it of course.

The kids with Santa at Josh's work.

Hope you all had a nice Christmas. I will be trying to catch up over the next few days!