Not again

Yes, again. It happened again. This time it was Brynna.

I was so proud of myself when summer started and the girls pulled out the bikes again. I'm not going to act like an over-protective parent. I'm not going to panic every time a child falls on a bike. After all, breaking a leg is not the usual outcome from that. And we've already used up our allotment of broken legs, right?

Evidently not. Brynna fell riding her bike Monday morning, and turned her ankle in the fall. At first we thought it was just sprained, but after x-rays and and an MRI, she broke her tibia. Sigh.

Fortunately they were able to cast her in office instead under general anesthesia like Hailey needed. But because the doctor was concerned about the bones staying in the proper alignment for the joint to work properly she needs x-rays once a week for the next 6 weeks.

Hey at least we already had the crutches! But I am now convinced that bicycles are inventions of the devil.
Her sisters had toys and coloring books ready for her when she got home from getting the cast.

More Spring Recitals

Aubrey playing Minuet in G (Yes, like in The music Man).



Kora playing Mozart's Fantasy in D Minor.

Brynna's Spring Recital May 2011

Brynna's first spring recital. She's playing "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" from The Nutcracker.

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Part 2 of Birthday Week: Ashlynn

We will never have another 2 year old. Can't decide whether I'm sad about that or not. Either way, Ashlynn is definitely 3 today! I've always said 3 is harder than 2 for us, so we'll see how this year turns out. She is as strong willed, stubborn as ever. She thinks she's way older than she is. In fact last night when I asked her if she was going to be three tomorrow, she told me, "No, eight!" (I informed her that couldn't be possible, since eight year olds are completely potty trained, or words to that effect.)

Happy birthday, Ashlynn Faith!

Happy Birthday, Brynna!

It's another birthday week at our house. Today, Brynna turns double digits: she's 10! Happy Birthday, Brynna!

In Threes

You know the old saying how things always break in threes? Well, we beat that! In the last two months we've had to replace:

4 tires on the Suburban
one broken window in the house
the lawnmower
the grill
a keyboard
a speaker set (these last two are thanks to our puppy chewing the wires)

And of course that's not even counting the "body work" Kelly had to have in February (he had his gall bladder removed).

But since a friend of mine has had to replace her whole life (or at least her laptop, which I'm sure felt like it) I won't complain. Too loudly.

Kora's pictures

Last but not least.

Snow in San Antonio

I guess anything can happen now, 'cause San Antonio froze over! At least Kelly got a snow day 'cause of it!

Sorry for the delay

Kelly's been having health problems of late, so most of my non-schooling, non-cooking, non-grocery-and-necessity-shopping time seems to be taken up with appointments, procedures, prescriptions, insurance companies, etc. But at least, here are Aubrey's pictures!

Brynna's pictures

I was elsewhere when a good many of these pictures were taken. I came back in to see all these pictures of someone I didn't recognize: I almost never see her without her glasses anymore!

More pictures

Hailey, this time. I have to tell a story about the first one. With everyone of the kids my brother-in-law got to a point where he told them to be serious. It made every one of them giggle, like he'd tickled them on the neck, except Hailey. She immediately wiped all vestiges of a smile off her face. She's a pro! I thought Kora would do it too, since she's got that teenaged stoic thing going, but even she laughed before she could get serious.

Lauryn

More pictures. We had individual pictures taken of all 6 kids, and there were some real gems in them. Here's some of Lauryns'.

Ashlynn

Some highlights of the picture taking sessions from last Saturday.

Family picture

Believe it or not, I think this was our first family picture with Ashlynn in it! Complements of Smith Photography of Kyle.

Uhg

I'm potty training this week. Rather, I'm potty training Ashlynn this week. In all the things I have to do as a parent, this ranks right up there in the top 3 of my least favorite. Partly this is because the more kids I have, the harder it is just to concentrate on that. It's harder to have a few days when I don't need to do anything else. So I decided to do it after Christmas but during our Christmas break. The kids aren't doing school yet, except for their co-op classes, and that's just the older two. So this is as close to "free" as I get.

The other reason I think is that it is just constant discouragement at first. I know the accidents teach her, but I always go through a time when I think "this is it. This is the one that will still be in diapers when she's 10." Ridiculous, I know. But I do have some stubborn children...

That said, I am looking forward to not having to buy diapers. Ever. Again. At least not for my kids. I keep reminding myself "last time, last time!" And fortunately I have a few years before I have to start Ashlynn on phonics, so I'll get a break on that one.

Happy Birthday, Kora!

Happy 14th birthday to our oldest child, Kora! Can't believe it's been 14 years since that chubby little girl came into our lives. She's a joy to us.
This was her face when she saw her favorite Christmas gift. She liked it so much we gave her another one for her birthday.
In case you can't see the paper, it just says we're going to pay for some horseback riding lessons. She's a quiet girl, not prone to exuberant shows of emotion, but for her this was ecstatic.

Christmas Choir and Bell Choir

Hope everyone is having a great Christmas! Here's a bit of what we've been up to this season.

The last couple of years, the teens and kids at our church had prepared big dramas. This year, the formed a children's vocal choir and teen bell choir. They've been practicing all fall, and had two performances the week before Christmas.

The first was at a nursing home. Here's the kids warming up beforehand.

Ashlynn keeping an eye on the kids.

The bell choir. They did such a good job!

The kids.

It was such a cute performance. I just wish I had bought a video camera before hand!