Warning...this post for strong stomaches only...

Alright everyone, I am jumping back in here to start back up with the blog. I have tons of pictures to share in the next week after I get a new computer...this one is not working so well, so be patient with me. I want to share all about our wonderful & busy summer, Paul leaving for his deployment, and the kids starting school & all their activities. This will be a slow process at first until I get my new computer up & going.

We are doing ok, missing Daddy bunches & staying very busy!

So, Saturday we headed downtown to get Ben outfitted for Hockey. it took some time to find the right sizes b/c Ben is so small. Jakob helped out quit a bit, telling me what I needed to get Ben. And, Rachel helped entertain Sam. Ben is so ready & excited to play. Every time he tried on a piece of equipment he goes over and starts wailing on Jakob and says, "You want a piece of me?" ...poor Jakob, the human punching bag! Ben says repeatedly on the way home, "Are we going to my hockey game now? I want to play hockey like Jakob. Where's my stick?"



So here is my cute, tired little critter. He would not take off the practice jersey!

So we get home. Jakob runs into the house puts on his Cub Scout uniform so we can go over to Blockbuster for him to sell popcorn to the customers. Here is Ben using Jakob as a punching bag just before we leave the house.

So, with about 20 minutes left on our shift the other Mom says, "If you want to go get them something to eat you can & I will watch Jakob." I hesitated at first b/c we only had 20 minutes left. But, the kids had been asking for food for the past hour! It was now 6:40. So, I drive over to McDonald's. I start to go thur. the drive-thur but then I thought, "No, I should let Rachel & Ben play for about 15 minutes & we need to all go to the restroom anyway." Rachel & I head into the restroom. Ben heads toward the playground. I yell, "Ben, we have to go in here first. Come here please." As I hear that he is running I yell, "And don't run!" But, because when Ben runs he goes FULL SPEED AHEAD, it was already too late! I heard his SKULL hit the door jam so quickly & loudly (I can NOT get the sound & image out of my head!). I am not proud of this fact but, I threw Sam down...ok, ok...before you flip out on me...he was strapped into his car seat & remember I am 5'1'' so he fell, buckled in, about a foot...again, I am not proud, but, when you here that sound you just react so quickly!!! So, I threw Sam out of one hand, threw the diaper bag out of the other hand, and scooped up my poor little Ben & slammed my hand against his forehead to hold the bleeding & then proceeded to act like a COMPLETE CRAZY woman. "Help, Help! Help, Help!" I was crying & screaming, Rachel was crying & screaming. We both picked up the car seat...Sam just looking at us like,"what is going on!?" I yelled at myself to calm down. I did!! We filled up 4 stacks of napkins with blood before we could leave for the hospital! Rachel was such a big helper to me!!! She held the napkins on Ben's head the whole drive to the hospital. And then while at the hospital she entertained Sam. Jakob stayed with my friend to finish up with the popcorn. Ben, what can I say...I had stitches when I was 7, 8, and 22...I was no where near as brave as he was...and he is 4!!!! I mean really, he was such a champ! Me...well, I did alright...not without first hyper ventilating! I do NOT do blood! I do NOT deal well with the knowledge that someone is going to stick a needle in my munchkin's head! 6 broken arms I dealt with just fine...5 for Jakob, 1 for Rachel...I did not flip out at all with them. But, blood...ahhhhhhhhhh! But, I put on a brave front, held Ben's hands & talked to him in a nice calm voice bribbing him with the thoughts of chocolate and lollipops!

He is about to give me a heart attack though. Right after being stitched up, he & Rachel are running around the room almost running right into the edge of the sink. I look at the doctor & say, "I honestly don't know how he hasn't had stitches before now!" And then yesterday, he puts on a blanket to act like a ghost walks right into the corner of the desk! Then he runs across the playroom and dives right into the bookshelf. He starts screaming. I run over thinking he has just reopened his head! Thank goodness it was just his nose! Ugh. That crazy boy!

So here is my brave, CRAZY little monkey with his 4 stitches!
(if you feel brave you can click on the picture to enlarge it!)

At the hospital Rachel said a cute little phrase. We had not eaten since lunch & like I said we had gone to get dinner but for the obvious reason descibed above we did not pick up any food. So we are sitting there waiting to hear Ben's name called and she says, "Mom, my hunger meter is turned off now because we need to take care of Ben." So cute!! While we were at Blockbuster she was going to "starve to death". I'm glad to see she knows how to deal with an emergency and knows how to put others first!!!