Feeding the Ducks.

Yesterday we went to the park in Olive Branch to have a picnic dinner and feed the ducks. The weather was nice and we are pretty sure the ducks were feed several times that day . They were not interested at all in our food we had for them. Either way the kids had fun throwing it in the water and watching the geese fly away.

Lunch Outside

We have had some pretty nice weather here recently and most days Lucy request that she gets to eat lunch outside. Garrett will join her and they sit at their little table and eat together. It usually is a little bit of eating and then they get up and play and then come back and eat a little more. As long as it all gets eaten it is fine with me. I am looking forward to spring coming and staying a little more regularly. Even if that means my allergies to everything spring go full blown. I have started to see some buds on the trees and several daffodil's blooming. It is exciting to see everything come alive again.

Healing

Lucy's chin has been healing so quickly, which makes us so happy. I am glad that as it has healed we can tell that is wont be as visable, it is more under her chin then we thought.

Here are her stitches on Saturday. The P. A. at the hospital told us to have them taken out on day 3, which was Saturday. So I snapped a picture before she headed to the Dr.. JJ took her in and said the Dr there told them they usually like to leave chin sutures in longer since there is so much skin to move around and re-open the wound. So they came home with them still in.
Lucy likes to go in the bathroom and check on her stitches and see if it is healing quickly. She thinks that it may look 10 x's better from morning to afternoon. Last night she went to bed hoping for a miracle. She said it would be great if she woke up and looked in the mirror and it would be all gone, like it never happened.

So yesterday I took Lucy back to the Dr. to have the stitches out. Even when I showed up they were surprised to hear they already wanted them out. Usually sutures stay in for 7-10 days. (another reason to believe that ER P.A. didn't know what she was doing, telling us to have them out in 3 days?) They looked at her chin and said it looked pretty good and since we were there they went ahead and took them out. Lucy brought her white blanket and favorite princess book to help her be brave. She really was a super brave girl. She sat up on the table all by herself and I didn't even hold her hand. She held really really still and it was no big deal. She said it tickled a little bit but didn't hurt. I was so glad that she was so brave since I had Garrett with me and JJ was at school.

Looking back on the whole thing I am so grateful things turned out the way they did. I am so glad that it was only 3 stitches, it could have been much worse. I hate to think of another injury other then stitches, like a broken bone or if she would have knocked out some teeth! So I am glad she is fine and healing so quick. Also I am SO grateful that JJ's clinic day to the nursing home was canceled that day. He was looking forward to the time to study for boards but was glad that he was able to come home and help out. It was something that I am sure I would have been able to handle if I needed to but something I was so grateful to have JJ there with me for. I am also so glad that I keep my freezer prepared for days like that . We could just come home and make something quick for dinner, and on days that don't go as planned. I am also glad that they are no longer allowing anyone to play on that piece of playground equipment and will most likely have it taken down. I didn't ask them to and I am sure Lucy would stay off of it but I am glad to know that the school cares so much about the kids that they are willing to take some measures to make sure they are safe.

Here is he chin the day after stitches were removed. Tomorrow we can start with some neosporin and maderma to help with the scar.

We are loving this spring weather! We have walked over to our neighborhood playground several times and been playing in the backyard tons! It is great. I am also looking forward to cutting back on some utilities since we have pretty much turned off the heat and opened the window several days.

Saturday at the Zoo

Saturday morning we headed to the Zoo as a family. I feel like I go a lot but I forget that JJ doesn't get to go that often. Also recently Lucy has been at school when I have gone with Garrett. So it was nice to go as a family.

The bears were swimming, I think the first time JJ has seen them in the water. It was fun for the kids to see them up close.

This picture is really funny to me because Garrett makes that face all the time, sticking out his lips. Both kids had a blast running around at the zoo and having some freedom.

Play-Dough

We took it easy on Thursday and stayed home to catch up on all the chores I pushed aside to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. Plus we wanted to make sure things were nice and calm so Lucy could have a break. It was nice to stay home and play with the kids and also be really productive. We got out our play dough faces and they had a lot of fun with those.

The Playground at Preschool

At Lucy's preschool there is a fun playground for the kids to play on. It has been to cold so far for them to go out and play on it. Lucy said to me a little while ago "I bet the playground is really fun to play on". She was excited to get to go play on it when the weather was nice so she could see just how fun the playground was. This week the weather has been really nice and for the first time on Monday they were able to go out and play. This morning we woke up to more really nice weather. I took Lucy to school this morning and then ran an errand with Garrett. When we came home we decided to go on a walk so we meet up with a friend who lives close by and took a nice walk together. It was great to get out and get a little exercise and enjoy the beautiful morning. Just as our walk was finishing my phone rang, I saw it was Lucy's preschool calling. I knew something must be wrong. School was almost over, I was just about to go get her so for them to call there must be something that happened. I answered the phone and they told me that they were outside playing on the playground and Lucy had fallen and cut open her chin. How sad! They told me it was pretty deep and the nurse there thought it would need a few stitches. They told me that Lucy was being really brave and they were cleaning it up. The told me a couple times actually how brave she was being and that she was okay. They then handed the phone to Lucy so I could say hi and tell her I was on my way to come get her. As soon as she got on the phone I could tell she was trying really hard to be brave but she just lost it and started to cry pretty hard. I told her I was on my way and I was so sorry she got hurt. So Garrett and I headed over and she was sitting outside with her teacher. There was blood all over her cute khaki jacket, Lucy apologized to me that her jacket got dirty and told me we would probably have to wash it twice. We looked at the cut and the nurse came out and we all agreed it was pretty deep. I had swapped cars with JJ and he got a ride to school with a classmate so we could take the van in today. So I called JJ and told him it definitely was going to need stitches. I decided to go pick him up from school so he could help me with the situation. We were all hungry since it was lunch time so we stopped quickly at the house and made sandwiches to go. I asked Cara to watch Garrett since I knew Kash was home on Wednesday afternoons and he could help her out. I debated even taking him knowing we could manage maybe with him . I dropped JJ and Lucy off so they could get signed in, then dropped off Garrett and meet back up with them in the waiting room. Lucy was doing fine just watching "Toy Story 3" on her DVD player.

Then they called us back to the triage room and we had to take off the band aid. This was very upsetting to her. It was the first time I had gotten a really good look at the cut and exactly how deep and jagged it was. They agreed stitches were needed and we then just waited for the Dr to come in. They then sent in the Dr who was actually a P.A. who was very young and I wasn't sure she knew exactly what she was doing. I was worried because the cut kind of comes up onto her face a little bit and I didn't want her to have a bad scar. When she left the room I told JJ I was worried she wasn't going to do a good job. When she came back in the room we decided we would ask her if she had done many of these and voice our concern about the scar. When she came in we asked her and she told us she has done tons of them and didn't think the scar would be to bad. We then had to get the stitches put in and Lucy started to get really nervous. She started to cry really bad and when she saw the needle she officially lost it. It was so sad to have to watch her go through it all. It had to be done and we all just had to hold her down the best we could. I was SOOOO glad at this point we didn't have Garrett with us. It took a long time to get it all numb, and when they got it all cleaned up we could see that it pretty much went down to the bone. It took forever to get the 3 stitches in because she was crying so hard and that caused her chin to move a lot. I had to hold her mouth shut and keep it as still as I could while JJ kept her head still. I then realized it could have been the best Dr in the hospital doing this and it would have been just as hard and the scar would be just as bad. This was just a hard suture job! Poor Lucy got through it and was as brave as she could have been. It was hard to watch and it is something as a parent you just hate to do. We talked to Lucy about not doing things on the playground she wasn't sure how to do all that well. She said she got stuck on the top of the jungle gym thing and didn't know how to get down. Hopefully this will teach her to wait until an adult can help her or wait until she has more confidence to be so brave with new playground equipment. Sweet Lucy, she is doing much better--the Popsicle they gave her along with a nice band-aid helped make it all better.

Cookbook Winner

Oh yeah for Lexi--she won the DBA Cookbook. Also yeah for Lexi who just had her 2nd baby yesterday 9 pounds 6 ounces!! Lexi I know you will love this cookbook because you love food! Lexi was my roommate while I lived in Provo. She has a love for my cooking and would always make me feel so good by getting so excited when I was making something. We meet while standing in line trying to sign in and then ended up being random roommates and now are good friends. We always had so much fun making random movies and sledding with no snow clothes on. Congratulations on winning and your new baby boy!

Happy Valentines Day!

We had a fun time celebrating Valentines this year. We had a fun time planning thing to do as a family and also it was supper exciting for Lucy this year having a party at school and just understanding more. She woke up to some hearts all over her door and several "I love you" signs all over the house. She asked me Sunday night if I would paint her fingernails red in the morning so they would be red for Valentines Day. So when we woke up we hurried and got ready so we would have enough time to paint fingernails.

We took Lucy to school and then came home to pick up the house a little bit. We then headed back up to school to help out with Lucy's class party. Garrett likes to hurry and get in the car so he can get into the back seat to play. I usually just press the button for the door to open on the remote and he gets in himself. When I went to buckle him in he was hiding from me in the backseat . It was so funny, he even had his hands on his face like I couldn't see him. It is a fun game for him.

It was fun to see Lucy at school and see the things they do there. When we got there she was still finishing her worksheet for the day. They had gone out to play in the morning since we have had such nice weather. It was nice to sit and observe her for a little while and how she interacts with her teacher and the other kids. It was nice that she was so excited to see me when I got there. She showed me where she usually sits and pointed out a few of the friends she has made.
Here she is with Caroline, they stick together in class and seem to usually sit by each other. How fun to have a friend there with her.
They then sat in a circle and got ready to hand out their valentines. Lucy was so excited because we worked so hard together writing all the names on the valentines for each kid in the class. We had a couple of boxes of valentines and she picked out a special one for each kid.

I helped her hand out her valentines to each kid and then we helped a couple other kids pass out theirs. Since they can't read it took a while to get them all passed out.

Then they sat back down and had snack.

Garrett even got his own snack plate--he at his cupcake first and loved every bite!

Garrett also had fun playing with all the toys while Lucy was finishing up her school things for the day. I am glad I was able to go up and see Lucy at school and help with the party--even if I didn't do much it was fun to be there. It was nice that she was so excited to have me and show me things in her class.

I didn't get JJ anything big this year, since he hasn't even spent his Christmas gift cards yet he told me there wasn't anything he really wanted. So I did a couple of small things for him through out the day. Putting things in his car and in his backpack to find while at school. I even managed to stick an "I love you" note on his computer screen without him seeing. He opened it in class and said the people behind him thought it was cute.

JJ got me these pretty flowers, I am hoping to plant them outside in a couple of months when the ground is warm enough. My rose bushes from last year were great and have grown so much! He also got me an itunes gift card, which I am so excited for since I need some new workout songs--any suggestions? Lucy and Garrett got me a new wallet, which is really great! JJ said Lucy was so excited to get me a gift and new exactly what she wanted to get me and exactly which one I wanted.

Lucy and I spent our afternoon together making sugar cookies for after dinner. She was so excited to help me and make them look all pretty.

That night for dinner we had the Sullengers over to eat. We made a yummy heart shape pizza with white sauce, tomatoes, pepperoni, olives and fresh mozzarella cheese. It was yummy, I also picked up a pizza from the Deli at walmart which was also yummy.

I gave Lucy my extra pizza dough to make her own heart pizza which she was really excited about and wanted to eat the whole thing by herself. She had some for lunch today and is almost done eating it all gone.

We got the kids a Disney Scene it game, some toy story silly bands and a Zoo DVD. They were really excited that they got something too. It was a fun day showing each other how much we love and appreciate one another.

Sunday night we also had fun with our friends doing a little Valentines activity. We organized a little "progressive dinner" type activity with some other students. We rotated houses for appetizers and desserts. We had a good turn out with those who wanted to participate and everyone that came had a great time. We had a fun time eating yummy food and visiting with our friends. We will have to do another one again!