Rough Night

Scott decided to make things interesting for us last night. He was a little tired yesterday afternoon so he took a nap. The big problem with kids taking naps is that they don't like to go to bed, and that always causes problems. Typically when he takes a nap he stays up a little bit later or sits in his bed and read books until he falls asleep. Last night he was kind of fussy/tired so we tried to have him read books. Scott really didn't like that idea so he started climbing around on his bed, unfortunately, things didn't turn out so well.
A little bit after 9 o'clock I heard a thud from upstairs, and then I heard Amber's voice shouting my name. I raced upstairs to see Amber holding Scott and blood literally flowing out of his mouth. There was a trail of blood on the floor, and a bunch of blood on Amber's shirt and hands. Amber may have felt pretty frantic at the time, but to be honest she handled it very well. At first he thought he knocked out some teeth or bit through his lip, but when we got the bleeding to stop we saw the big gash in his tongue and decided to take into the hospital.
Unfortunately, we decided to take him to the closest emergency room. In hindsight it would've been smarter to take into the pediatric hospital was another 20 minutes away, since after all is done, that is where we ended up taking him anyway. The first emergency room had a long wait, and when Amber and Scott finally got in they didn't have the things needed to take care of the pediatric emergency like Scott's problem. At first we thought we might be overreacting since most tongue problems I left alone to heal by themselves. And after our visit to the emergency room we realized it was a little bit worse than we thought. At the first hospital they thought Scott needed about three stitches to fix his tongue, but they didn't have a bite block to help him keep his mouth open. When we took him to the pediatric emergency room the doctor took one look and said she needed to get the ENT to take this. Finally, at about three in the morning they took into the OR intubated him and put two layers of stitches (about 11 total) into his tongue. After that things went smoothly. Scott wasn't too excited when he woke up. He didn't really like having his tongue numb. He didn't get much rest of the hospital, but he was a trooper and he got released from the hospital around lunchtime.
Fortunately we have good friends in town they came over to our house and watched our other children through the night. It was kind of a tricky situation manage since our van was in the shop, but it all worked out in the end. The girls were very concerned for their little brother. They didn't like seeing him sad. Sammi was even kind enough to give her special necklace that she got a school that day to Scott so that he could have something nice when he went to the hospital. Her necklace made him very happy since it was a special flashing ball necklace.
All in all it was exciting night, but not exciting enough that I would want to do it again. I'm pretty sure if you asked Amber she would say the same thing especially since she braved the first hospital all by herself.

A Glimpse into Scott

Scott and I are having lots of fun while the girls are at school. We like to go on errands together and he loves it when we get to go to the park in the mornings.

His most recent fascination is with pulling toys. We have a pink wooden duck from when Sammi was his age, but its back legs keep breaking. The other day Brent came home with an old school Little People bus. Scott insisted on holding on to the string with two fingers at the very end. It kept slipping through his fingers so Brent found a large heart from a broken necklace and tied it to the end. Now he pulls it happily everywhere! Here's a video:

Turns out, Scott also likes crafts. Something he has in common with Sammi! Here are a few pics of his crafting adventures:

And lastly, the kid loves, LOVES books. He won't consent to sleeping unless he has every book he can see added to his crib. It's usually about 8 books, sometimes more, rarely fewer. His favorite right now is The Chimpansneeze. It has a chimpanzee and a kinkajou who are friends and lose, then find each other, through their sneezing adventures. When Scott wants this book he does the cutest pretend sneeze. We spend a lot of time pretend sneezing these days!

Cute Picture Round Up

Went through my phone tonight and found these gems. Enjoy the adorableness of our three. Biased? Me? Nah!

I almost forgot! Brent and I have new callings. He's a ward missionary and I'm the Bear den leader. Go Scouts! Sammi is still adjusting to first grade. She loves riding the bus but doesn't like the cafeteria food. So I guess I'll be packing lunches. Elli also did not like lunch when she went to preschool last week. Make that two lunches I'll be packing! Sammi had her first test on Friday and has another one tomorrow. It's mostly review stuff right now. I hope they move quickly before she gets bored with the novelty of the classroom, worksheets, and what not. Surprisingly she doesn't like art very much but I'm hoping once they get the class rules down and the teacher trusts them more they'll be able to do more of the things she likes. Elli doesn't get up early so I'm afraid how this week will go as she has to get up at 7 every morning for preschool. Though she is excited to go. Usually. Especially once I promised to make her lunch :) Scott did very well his first day without sisters. He played with a train for over two hours! Such dedication. He loves books and scissors. Fortunately the two interests have not collided yet! Knock on wood. Now I'm rambling. Good night.

New Family Picture

We had pictures taken just after Easter in the girls' new dresses and Scott's stylish tie. Our friend Heather took them. She did a great job capturing our family style. Thanks, Heather!

February 2012

 Here's a glimpse of February. We had a lot of fun celebrating Valentine's Day, taking a pottery class at the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, painting, shopping, dressing up and losing a tooth.

Scott getting sleepy after filling up on a yummy dinner.

 Super Scott saving the world one milk jug at a time.

 Playing in the kitchen at the Children's Museum.

 Sammi dressing up in the Pioneer room at the Children's Museum.

 Elli dressing up in the Pioneer room at the Children's Museum.

 Sammi lost tooth number 3. She worked a long time on loosening it and finally letting Mom pull it out. The Tooth Fairy knew how hard she worked and how patient she was and rewarded her with 2 dollars!

 Scott discovering fingerpaints. He loved squishing it through his fingers. By the end it was all over his head.

Wearing hearts for Valentine's Day. They picked different shirts with hearts every day for the week before Valentine's Day. Sammi is making a heart with her arms.

 On a shopping trip to Hobby Lobby. These three are such cuties all together when we are out.

I went through a box of papers from graduate school and found this paper where I doodled my name and Brent's. I think this was before we were engaged. It even has Scott up there in the top right corner. 

February went by so quickly and I can hardly believe it's April already. The children are growing fast and learning so quickly. Sammi is starting to read more fluently. She's moved into first grade math. She's learning to roller skate at our homeschool co-op. Elli is also learning to roller skate. She writes her name. She knows all her letters and tells me frequently that she'll learn to read tomorrow (already a procrastinator!) Her favorite song is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Scott loves all sorts of balls. He loves for me to bounce a ball off his forehead. He's started stacking blocks instead of knocking them over.

January 2012

January was a busy month. We started it off with Scott's birthday and ended it with Brent's birthday. Both celebrated their golden birthdays (where they turned the age of their date: Scott turned 1 on the 1st and Brent turned 31 on the 31st). I meant for there to be great amounts of celebrating, but alas, life was busy and we didn't do much.

Scott turned one and ate a marshmallow! No cake for this gluten-free boy. It still seems to bother him. Scott has become so playful. He loves to follow his sisters around and play with them. He loves fruits and veggies, especially mixed together in a smoothie. He's now in 18 month clothes, though some long 12 month pants still fit.

Elli started the new year of with lots of crafts. She is not a fan of formal school time so we do lots of songs and imaginative play. She knows all her letters and their sounds but isn't ready to sound out words yet. She does like to play with Sammi's school supplies so we have fun all together doing school. Elli loves her ballet class and often sachets around the house to her own soundtrack.

Sammi is continuing to grow at a very quick rate. She's lost her bottom two teeth and by the end of January another was getting loose. Sammi is also learning at a quick rate. She is reading early readers but doesn't really like to read. She'd rather I read a more complex book to her. She's also spelling like a champ and a whiz with numbers. But her true love is art. She must do art projects everyday. She enjoyed Grandma Devine's visit where we learned to doodle and she got to watch tons of art videos with Grandma.

Brent went back to school on the last day of his month, a.k.a. his birthday. After having been out of school for 9 months he was glad to get back. We celebrated his birthday during family home evening the night before his birthday. At church Brent is still teaching the gospel principles class, now on his third time

I'm busy with the joys and fun of homeschooling, having three little ones and all the other responsibilities that pop up throughout the days and weeks. At church I am still the Primary President. We started the year by giving the children a journal to keep track of what they learn during sharing time this year and to help them memorize the scriptures that go with each month. The kids love them! We also participate in a homeschool co-op and I volunteered to teach two classes this semester: art to 3-5th graders and an animal science class to the K-2nd graders. My part of the animal science class is to do a craft each week related to the animals we discuss. I love all the focus on art! And Sammi loves to help me plan and prep the lessons, too.

Family Photos 2011

It was time to do family photos again. The last time we did this, Elli was barely older than Scott is now. Hard to believe it was that long ago! These ones were done by a fabulous friend here in Tennessee. We love how they turned out.






The best part, they are already hanging on my wall. It feels great to have all the empty frames filled. Our family picture was is Elli's favorite wall in our house. She loves naming everyone and gets SO excited when she sees all the people she loves.

Pre-Spring Break

We got to go to Colorado again this year for Brent's convocation for OMT. I look forward to this trip to see my dad, Kim, brothers and nephew and niece. Not to mention my fave friends from my high school days. We had so much fun! Here are some pictures to show just how great the trip was.

All the cousins.
It was such a fun dinner seeing them all interact together.

I love sleeping pictures! This is Elli when we arrived at Julie's house.

I went to bed with this beautiful sight.
I had to turn on the light just to get the picture. So glad they didn't wake up!

It's always so hard to get a good family picture. This one epitomizes the trial of parents to get everyone looking at the camera with a pretty smile.

Sammi's first kite-flying experience. She loved it! I love that I got to share it with her. Thanks Julie for having awesome kites and thanks to the Colorado plains for all the wind.

Isn't he the cutest? I needed a place to set him down while I took off my jacket and shoes. It struck me as so comical that I just had to take the picture. They were kind enough to stop the conveyor belt and let me get a good picture.

We had a fun but very exhausting trip. I didn't realize how adjusted we are to the humidity of Tennessee nor how much drier the climate in Colorado is. Poor Scott was stuffy the whole week. But from the moment we left the airport in Louisville, he has been clear and gunk-free. It's good to be "home!"