Teacher Survival Kits

In preparation for the first day of school, the boys and I decided to make "Survival Kits" for their teachers. We collected a wide variety of meaningful items, and they'll deliver them tomorrow morning.

Here's the letter that goes inside, explaining each item's use!

Paperclips: to help you hold it all together

Notepad: so you remember to take note of how awesome your students are

Marbles: to replace the ones you're sure to lose (it's hard to tell from the picture, but those ARE marbles LOL)

LifeSavers: for when you've had one of those days

Laffy Taffy: because laughter is the best medicine

Ghirardelli Squares: because sometimes chocolate is the ONLY medicine!

Sticky Hand: for when you need a high-five

Eyeball Bouncy Ball: for those times when you wish you really DID have eyes in the back of your head

Eraser: to remind you that everybody makes mistakes and they can be erased

Compass: to help you navigate the scenic (and occasionally rocky) terrain of the school year

Clothespins: to help you hang in there

Candle: so you can see all your students in a positive glow

Battery: to help you keep going, and going, and going...

Advil: for growing pains

Snowflake: when all else fails, pray for a snow day!

It was so much fun making these. I hope the teachers enjoy them!

Cody's Broken Arm

Well, it finally happened. We have our first broken bone. With 3 boys, we knew it was only a matter of time.

We were at the DIY carwash and Cody tripped over the vacuum hose. He tried to catch himself on the car door handle, but he ended up falling funny. So he broke his right radius.

It was a nice clean break and they were able to set it right there in the ER with only mild sedation. He wasn't a big fan of them messing with his arm, even with the meds to help, but at least he didn't have to deal with an IV on top of it all.

While he waited for the drugs to kick in, he watched some fun cartoons.

They let me stay in with him while they set his arm. The wrapping part went fine, but when they started pushing the arm (to get the bone back into place), he was really unhappy.

As the meds wore off, he brightened considerably when they gave him a popsicle and a white cherry slushee to enjoy (he hadn't been allowed any food or drink since we'd checked in to the ER in case they needed to sedate him). We were able to go home not long after, and he slept much better than I'd expected him to last night.

Today, Anthony decorated his cast with a dinosaur, a volcano, and some awesome race cars. Cody's very proud of his arm art. :)

Our Vail trip is going to be a little different this year with Cody unable to swim or ride bikes, but we're going to go and at the very least enjoy the weather being 20 degrees cooler. I was a little bit worried about Cody having to start Kindergarten with a cast, but by the end of August, he'll be in a shorter half-cast and hopefully almost out of that, too (recovery time is 5-7 weeks, we think).

He has been SO brave and tough throughout...he is, as one family member so eloquently put it, a warrior. ♥

Need Help, Daddy?

California Part IV

We saved Legoland for the last day of our vacation, because it's what the boys were looking forward to most. Jackson has been obsessed with Legos for 3 years now and Cody has just caught the fever, so they were really excited!

We ran into a few dinosaurs right after we got there.

And then we took a helicopter ride.

I forgot to mention this before, but perhaps the most persistent theme of our trip was: churros! I don't think I'd ever had one before and neither had the boys. Well, we enjoyed them at Disney, the zoo, and at Legoland, too. Yum!

Another helicopter!

And then, off to the cars. First, Cody drove one on the ages 3-5 track. Basically, the cars just have one "go" pedal and they drive around in a small loop.

He was doing just fine until this crazy lady cut him off. Learn how to drive, ya pelican! (For bonus points, name that movie quote!)

But apparently he worked it out with her insurance company, because he emerged smiling.

Then Cody and Jackson went on the track for older kids. This was harder because there were 2 pedals (red and green for brakes and accelerator), as well as stop lights! Cody was very nervous, but he did great! As always, sticking out that tongue for concentration always helps. :)

Jacks was cool as a cucumber, just chugging right along. No worries, mate!

Later, Jacks posed next to this Lego tourist.

We rode in jeeps through a Lego safari park.

Jacks made a tasty little snack for this lion.

This fountain was decorated with different musical instruments, and if you jumped on the different dots on the ground in front of the particular instrument, you could make it play. Here's Luke, trying to make the saxophone rock!

Waiting in line...

Luke was disappointed that this was the only car he was big enough to drive...but it was a police car, which put the smile back on his face.

Jacks kept encountering nasty predators....this time, Jaws got him!

We had such a wonderful vacation, really enjoying ourselves as a family. We didn't get much sleep so we've been catching up since we got home, but it was an amazing experience and we loved every minute. ♥♥♥♥♥

Happy 4th of July!

California Part III

We took a day to visit the San Diego Zoo. The boys were very excited to see the zoo where Marty and Alex were trying to get to in Madagascar. :)

First, we found some koalas. We were able to get really close, and they were so cute, just perched there in their trees. Awww!

We found some meerkats next. I love their "saluting the sun" pose.

And then we saw a baby camel giving his mama a smooch. ♥

Cody liked all the elephants, but he enjoyed this one the most.

We saw this sign as we approached the lions and were a little bit nervous about what lay ahead. LOL

But this big 'ole guy was just hanging out, enjoying the sun. Look at that mane!!

The boys enjoyed climbing all over this giant mammoth, although Cody looks like he might be wishing he had chosen a more comfortable perch! (The extra little boy in the background followed us around for quite a while...guess he figured our family of boys seemed like a good group to join!)

So after the elephants, we saw a dead llama.

Ok he wasn't really dead, but doesn't he look that way in the picture? He kept stretching his feet so I guess he was just enjoying a lazy Sunday, but we were pretty surprised when we first walked up!

Then we visited the polar bears, and Jacks made friends with this seal.

We enjoyed the SD Zoo a lot, but found it a bit too big for us. It's very spread out and has a lot of steep ground and winding trails to get from one exhibit to the next. We're very spoiled by the Dallas Zoo, I guess. :)

Tomorrow, Legoland!