Progress isn't always welcome...

Well, it seems as though Abby Jr, I mean Jonathan, has gotten bored of sliding along the floor and wants to stand before he gives any more effort to crawling.  He must have great hearing because as soon as the dishwasher opens, he is there in a flash.  A few nights ago he decided he could help better if he was standing. 

 
So like any proud mama, I banned him to his cage.  :) 

Don't feel too sad for him.  He loves it.  Hopefully he'll love his leash too in another year or so when he tries to walk. :)

First Break

I figured it would come at some point.  I would have just put my money on Abby.  Our family has now experienced our first broken bone (including Andy and myself).  Poor Charlie took one for the team.  This is a picture I took that evening right before dinner when the kids were rolling the ball to each other.  Wish I had a video of this.  Jonathan actually caught on and would roll it to Charlie when it got to him. 

 

Who would have thought 2 hours later Charlie's little arm would look like this? :(  

I am so thankful that Andy was here to handle it.  I do not deal well with trauma.  Fortunately, he did not seem to be in a lot of pain.  He said he was more scared than hurt when I prayed with him right before they left.  We followed them to the hospital, but once we knew it was going to take awhile, I brought the kids home and Andy stayed for the prep and the set.  Apparently they did not give him enough drugs, or he just fought them off, and he never fell asleep.  Thankful again that Andy was there.  I had the easy job.  By the time I got back to the hospital to switch with Andy, Charlie looked like this.

The set worked great and they got the bones to a 12 degree angle which eliminated the need for surgery.  The drugs were still wearing off when I got there.  He was VERY talkative, which is not totally unusual, but it was now after midnight and he wasn't showing any signs of slowing down.  Also, he would be talking and laughing one minute, and on the turn of a dime be crying over something like finding out the girls would be asleep when he got home.  Then in the middle of consoling him he would just start laughing and talking about something totally different.  It was kind of funny.  Here is one of the videos I took which gives you a taste - and his version of the story.

 

The next morning the girls spoiled him.  Ashley made him tea and Abby made him oatmeal.   They also had cards and a stuffed animal for him. 

He broke his arm on Monday night, and Thursday morning we went to the Orthopedist to get more x-rays and his hard cast.  He chose black - even after Ashley and Abby tried to convince him otherwise.  He got a new monkey too.  Broken arms come with lots of stuffed animals. :)

 

For the most part, he loves his built-in "sword" as he calls it.  He gets his short cast in 2 weeks and will supposedly wear that for 4 more weeks.  That puts us at the end of July and hopefully with one more month of swimming weather!

May pics

Here are some random pictures from May.  Abby took up the hobby of mowing the lawn.  The finished mowing pattern isn't quite as golf-course-like as when Andy does it, but she gets it done.  What you can't really see too well in the picture is Andy in the back corner hitting golf balls.  Her new interest has worked out well for him. :)

I'll just say this is a typical school day.  You can believe it or not.  The fact that I have never before posted a picture like this on the blog might be an indication one way or the other.

I had to put this on here to remember later.  This is Charlie's go-to sweatshirt (i.e. - he wears it most mornings) and he usually has the hood on.  Not sure why.  Sometimes he reminds me of Yoda.  Especially now that he has a built in light saber.  Oops, I'm revealing I'm not in real time here.

 

More Charlie - a friend got him this Cars headset with a mic and glasses.  I woke up the next morning to, "Hello, this is Mr. Charlie.  I need a tow truck."  Repeat 197 times.  Before noon.

 

 

 

This is the car that Abby built for Charlie.  He loves it.  It is my new favorite as well, because when he's done with it, we can break it down and build something totally different!  Now that's my kind of toy.  Destroy and re-build.  This works for a small house. :) 

 

 

 

Wonder if she could to this with beds and tables.  We might be onto something here.  :)

 

Bend

As always, I am behind, but I cringe at the thought at going out of order.  I did combine two Bend trips into one post in order to expedite, but according to my rules, that is allowed. :)  Here are some pics from our most recent visits.  I don't think I've put a picture of Jim and Becky with Jonathan on here yet.  We were able to go to their house for a visit and the kids got to play with cousin Murray.  They had a blast!  Here are Jim and Becky:

 

 

Charlie with Murray. 

 

On the way into town, we picked up these clubs off of Craigslist.   I think Charlie liked carrying them around as much as he did hitting with them.  (he got in less trouble that way too)  :)

 

 

 

Pretty sure this was the 2nd trip, but here is a cute picture of all the cousins together.  I love little Jonny's head poking up next to Murray.

 

 

The boys.

Jonathan with Grandma.

This is a video of a game that Lindy played with the kids.  It was hilarious.  Apparently they have played it multiple times before.  There is something hidden in a sock and you try to guess what is inside by reaching your hand in and feeling it.  The items are the same each time you play, so the kids are very familiar with what it is inside.  This was evident by the fact that they would name the item and the color.  Lindy kept saying that you can't say the color because technically there is no way to know the color just by feeling it - although they clearly do remember what the color of each object was.  Multiple reminders to not say the color failed.  The funny part was, even though Charlie knew what each item was, he was so incredibly elated each time he got it right.  Here is a sampling.  Times this by 15 socks.

 

 

Oh, the simple joys in life.  :)