You Were All Wrong

Votes were cast for Danny but Jake was the "bwooder." Erik and the kids were at a sporting goods store, that shall remain nameless, and Jake decided to touch a weight set that was precariously leaning. It fell on his finger, there was screaming, and thankfully we employ a live-in nurse. This is a Day 4 photo so much of the grossness has passed but it basically split open.
Emily, of course, had all the necessary bandaging supplies and irrigation equipment. She fashioned a "finger cast" as Jake likes to call it and he loved it. He cried when it was off and admired it when it was on. Today I made him lose the cast in lieu of a Wall-E band aid, it had to be Wall-E, not Eva, definitely not Eva.

Just for future reference, if you ever have to guess who was injured on the Reynolds team again, go with Jake for the following reasons: fall-induced dead tooth/root canal, broken leg, smashed finger, and the list continues... Jake 3. Danny 0.

Birthdays are Fun

We had a weekend of birthdays. Erik has most of the college students convinced that he turned 40 on Saturday, long story but several have fallen for it and congratulated him for it on Facebook. I wanted to make a cake for our little friend Joshua so Erik got his favorite, cookies 'n cream ice cream cake!
Here is the cake I made Joshua for his first birthday! It was really fun, there was a ton of food and a bounce house and all of our awesome friends.

Jake really didn't want to go eat cake but I forced him. He's never really understood the point of a bounce house before but Saturday he got it. It was torture to be separated from it long enough to sing "Happy Birthday" but he survived and then skipped eating cake to get back in the bounce house. He was really gross and drenched with sweat but even then he's a super cute kiddo.

I've been working three days a week for three weeks now and today was my last day. Nothing like trying the working world for a while to see the blessing of getting to be a stay-at-home mom. I left before the kids were up each morning and got home at 5:30, leaving only 2 and a half hours before bed. How do people do that? That still leaves chores to be done before bed but then no time for Erik.

I am absolutely excited each time I open the paycheck but ultimately is my new camera worth more than the 10 hours a day I was getting to spend with Jake, Dan and Libby? Well, it is a nice camera...but no! I am more than happy to trade more stuff for the priveledge of staying home to raise my children and be a blessing to my husband. I love being home all day playing trucks and trains and being able to have dinner ready and a clean house waiting for Erik. I know he deals with so much at work each day and I like that home is our safe haven.

Well, that was a little sappy for a post from me. I'm too tired for wit. We had a major injury today, pictures will be posted tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow I'll have time to get the new camera out of the box and take good pictures of our latest injury. Can you guess who was "bwooding" today? Cast your vote!

Moms are Mean

They make you wear weird-looking overly protective flotation devices in the pool. Just yesterday I took Libby to the doctor for 3 immunizations and some bloodwork. And... I put the baby in the sink because she was so dirty I didn't know what else to do with her. She didn't like it.

The Day I Went Crazy

You always know a mom has lost her mind when she decides to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese, rather less by herself, rather less in the company of more insane women with all of their children. Just not a brilliant plan. We tried to be smart and went at 10:00 am when the doors opened so it would be "clean"-er and less busy. It was less busy but by the time we got out of our vans and into the store a kid had already peed in the slide and the lucky staff member was inside sterilizing.

But nevertheless we did have fun eating lots of pizza, playing air hockey, skee-ball and just enjoying our friends.


Alright Mom, I posted. Back off. :-)

Latest Picture From Erik

We were blessed with another call and a few emails from Erik today along with this picture of the Qiao Di Mountains somewhere around Xichang. He said it was even more stunning than Yosemite and was in high spirits.

The boys, and even Libby, were excited to have a chance to tell Daddy all of their latest news. Jake relayed the plans for his latest railway setup while Dan told of his recent potty successes. Libby tried to tell him about her doll, Ba-Ba, for Baby I think. That's what we're going with. He has been checking the blog to see the latest pictures of us so...Erik, we love you and can't wait to see you in one week!

Faceball

Our church is doing a softball league this summer and I was encouraged (forcibly coerced) into playing. I don't want to brag but I was the worst player on the team. However, in my 4 times at bat I got three hits, scored on two of those, and struck out once. I'm pretty sure they were just being nice in letting me get on base though. Here is a really marvelous picture. Notice Jake has his mother's lack of photogenic ability.
They started me out as catcher so that I could be closer to the kids. I was quickly demoted for something petty and stupid like my being unable to catch or throw, and was sent into the outfield. I found a couple people and pawned the kids off on them like a good mom though so that I could advance my career in sports. Next week Emily is playing but she doesn't know yet so keep it quiet. By the way, in our house, baseball is pronounced faceball.

Happy Fourth of July

We were graciously invited over to the Lund family home to celebrate the 4th with swimming and hot dogs, they are such great people. They didn't even kick us out when Danny chose to take off his clothes or when he repeatedly "watered" their trees. With plenty of young adults around to facilitate the fun, the boys had a blast in the pool! Dan decided jumping into the water was the most fun for his money. Kirsten and Andrew got quite the workout. Jake opted for floating on the raft in the midst of violent turmoil. He begged Jeremy to toss him around and push his raft throughout the pool and catch him when he decided to bail. Jeremy, you are such a good sport. And that's Jeremy's beautiful new wife of one month and two days, Noel, beneath the raft.
Libby has become much more difficult to photograph with her new found walking skills, all shots are action shots.And here we are being patriotic...

well, sort of.

If You Were Erik...

...and you were going to send one picture home to sum up your experiences in China what would you send? Apparently Erik would choose to send a picture of the "facilities" from a train.
They rode on the train overnight and are probably getting off right about now. He called yesterday and talked to the kids for a few minutes. They were all very excited to hear his voice and actually participated in a phone conversation for once instead of running away. Progress!