Sticker

A few weeks ago I posted that I'd done something I've never done before: put a sticker on our car. Sorry to leave you hanging, I was just a little busy getting to know every single nurse in the ER on a personal first-name basis. Here it is...

CP for Cal Poly SLO, my alma mater. Go Mustangs!

What next... a tattoo?

I live a very wild life.

Rachel: 10 Weeks

Love, love, love our baby girl.

Sidewalk Art

Shots and Rainbow Sprinkles

A while back Josh turned 5. That meant the dreaded doctor visit where you get immunization shots, ouch. Any 5 year old who gets shots needs frozen yogurt. It's a new law. And a Froyo's just opened up right near our house. Dangerous, I know.

Josh eyes the topping bar. The kids usually head straight for the rainbow sprinkles. What is it about rainbow sprinkles? They just make you happy when you eat them.

My two personal recent fav flavors. Mmmmm.

Sarah, Josh, Zac and I all played a few games of Connect 4.

Rachel was there too, you know, doin' her thing. (Sleeping.)

Wordless Wednesday: Little Sister

Zac, Rachel and Josh.

Camping

Sarah, Josh and Zac peeking thru the bridge slats to see if their pooh stick is winning the river race.

Naptime in the Garland Tent. Josh and Zac konked out in the far corners, and Rachel in her pack-n-play, wide awake.

Zac and Daddy.

Hiking.

Breakfast: Made-at-home pancakes, warmed up in a pan. I'll do that again for sure.

Bike parade!

Campfire time with good friends, our last activity before Sarah breaks her arm and we head to the ER.

Stitches for Josh

It has been a rough week for Team Garland.

To recap, Sarah broke her arm last weekend while we were camping with friends from church. I still need to post photos of that, when I can catch my breath.

This weekend Josh was riding his bike out in the front yard, like he does every day, and fell and hit his chin hard on the concrete sidewalk. We headed to the ER, and he got stitches for a big gash just under his chin. The ER doc was concerned for his jawbone, so Josh also got a CAT scan and x-rays to check for any fractures. Actually, the ER physician looked right at the jawbone, in the gash. I saw the fracture as well. Yes, folks, I saw my son's jawbone, the real, white bone, without the use of an x-ray. It was a big gash.

It turns out his jaw has a slight crack and chip, but it doesn't require surgery (surgery would have been to wire Josh's jaw closed to let the bone heal). Praise God! So, Josh is doing much better today. I don't know how many stitches he got (I haven't had a chance to count them yet) but I'm guessing around 12. His mouth is still very tender and he will be eating only soft foods (bring on the yogurt, applesauce and ice cream) for a week. Poor guy. But he was such a trooper through the whole ordeal.

Josh's bike. (The evil culprit.) This bike used to be purple, it's a hand-me-down from Sarah, and the devoted Mr. Garland painted it red.

Josh loves to ride his bike. Every day. Many times a day.

Josh listening to Veggietales in the ER. He loved being able to borrow Sarah's CD player.

X-rays of Josh's jawbone.

Who needs a wheel chair when you've got a snazzy stroller?

Red lights align Josh's head with the cat scan.

Enough with the ER visits already! Some of the nurses actually recognized me from my visit with Sarah last week. I don't want to go to the hospital again for a very, very long time.

(big sigh and grin)

Pretty in Pink

Sarah got the cast of her dreams today.

Looking up into the big scary x-ray machine.

Meeting Mr. Skeleton in the hall, and identifying which bone she broke.

Which color should I choose?

(Like she even had to think a second to decide. Our girl is all about pink right now.)

My girls: One getting a cast, the other taking a nap in the stroller.

The final wrap-up. I swear the cast color has a hidden battery pack attached somewhere. The thing glows in the dark.

One happy 7 year old girl with a broken arm and a very pink cast.

Break-your-arm Camping Trip.

Sarah with friend Aidan riding their decorated bikes.

We had an awesome camping trip with our church this weekend at Dos Picos, about an hour away from home. It was cut short Saturday night, however, when Sarah was playing at campfire time, tripped over a tent line that she didn't see, and hurt her arm. We headed to the ER and sure enough, Sarah's has a broken left arm. She's in a sling now until the swelling goes down, and she'll be casted on Tuesday (put good money on the color pink for her cast). Ouch, poor sweet girl.

So, all 6 of us are at home now, and Jeff will head back to the camp ground to collect our tent, bikes, etc. this morning (Sunday).

What a night... but God is so faithful. We were blessed by so many yesterday: we had a nurse and a military doctor with us at the campground who examined Sarah, and at the hospital, her x-rays and exam were very quick, so we were able to get everyone home to bed.

Whew! Is life ever boring with 4 kids?

Nope.

More photos to come later... and happy 66th birthday to my dad today!

Midnight trip to the ER for x-rays and a temporary cast for Sarah's broken arm.

Brody

Our neighbor Brody has a ferocious snake appropriately named "Snakey." I'm glad Brody has a snake, and is willing to share. I would not do well with a reptile living in our home.

Zac, Brody, and Josh.

These boys have a great time playing together.

Brody also recently got a trampoline in his backyard.

We're really glad we're friends with Brody. He comes with lots of perks.

Ramble

We attend an amazing bible study every week and this year we're studying Genesis. It's been wonderful. I go mostly because the kids love it. They love their teachers and have such a great time. My core group (about 12 gals I meet with to discuss our lessons) is also phenomenal. Sylvia is my core group leader and the gals in our group are just so awesome. Sarah is in the K-2 homeschooling class. She has homework every week, and it goes along with my Genesis study. Studying the same chapters has been so great because we can work on our homework at the same time. Josh loves his 4-5 year old class with teachers Alexa and Kayla. Zac had issues at drop-off a few times this year, but for the most part he recovers quickly. His teachers Tanya and Denee have been wonderful with him. I've loved studying Genesis this year... such classic storylines about Abraham/Sarah, Jacob/Rachel, and now Joseph. I checked out Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat at the library this week so we can listen to the tunes from the musical.

Rachel continues to do great at 2 months old. She sleeps from about 9:30pm until 6:30am like clockwork. I nurse 5-6 times a day.

Jeff's been handing out allowance (spending, saving and tithe) to Sarah, Josh, and Zac regularly for the last year and a half, and we often take the kids' spending money to Saturday garage sales. It's amazing the deals they can get. They also get ripped off (Sarah paid $1 for a purse that was probably worth no more than a quarter. Hey, it's her money.). Sarah's saved up quite a bit of money recently, so we opened a bank account for her. She's got her own personalized checks and a register, so she's ready to start keeping an accurate account balance. Putting her math skills to work, in real life.

Finally, my dad sent this video to us:

Man, I wish my back were that flexible.

Thanks for letting me ramble on a bit.

Wordless Wednesday: Josh... formerly known as "G2"

Triplets

Art, a friend and former co-worker of Jeff's, is a brand new daddy of triplets!!! Can you imagine? So excited for Art and his wife, they've been waiting a long time for these 3 little ones (1 girl and 2 boys). Having been in the hospital recently myself, I'm in awe of how many bracelets Art has on. He needs a longer arm. Or maybe 3 sets of arms. His life just got extra busy. Three sweet beautiful bundles of love.

Debby's Quilt

Jeff's cousin Debby has faithfully made quilts for each of our children. Here's a photo of each kid with the quilt Debby made specifically for each of them. She didn't disappoint with Rachel's quilt. It's beautiful, of course. Thank you once again, Debby!

Eggapalooza

Our church hosts an amazing outreach each Spring called Eggapalooza. It's on the Saturday before Easter, and the kids look forward to it every year. This year the devoted Mr. Garland and I volunteered with the egg hunt. Everything is free so there are usually plenty of people. This year the snow cones, cotton candy, petting zoo and jump houses were highlights for us.

Sarah with a calico rabbit.

Josh with his chick.

The egg hunt. 10,000 eggs (and half of them wanted to pop open after being stuffed with candy) scattered about.

Brothers with blue snow cones.