Ouch!

Simon is truly his mother's child, as I am my mother's child.  But unfortunately this heredity includes clumsiness, curiosity, and other things which make bodily harm a part of life.  This wasn't his first trip to the ER; he went before for croup.  

On January 31st Simon was kneeling on the couch with with hands on the coffee table.  He was holding a toy in his hand.  Just as I was telling him not to do that and that it wasn't safe, his hand slipped and he landed face first against the edge of the coffee table.  

We dropped Piper off at our friend's house and headed to the ER.  At the ER, we waited in the Pediatric ER.  They gave Simon a doctor teddy bear wearing scrubs, stickers, and a hospital coloring book with crayons.  

Five stitches and three and a half hours later and he's as good as new.  Well, not exactly as good as new; they had a plastic surgeon do the stitches and in the follow-up, Dr. Layke told us to massage the scar to break up the hard tissue and apply a scar-minimizing medicine.  Simon lets me rub it and put the medicine on since "Dr. Layke says..."

Bowling

One afternoon I just decided that it would be a fun way to spend time with the kids by going bowling and having dinner at their cafe (the homemade chicken and rice soup was excellent).  This was Simon's first time bowling.  The kids got bored by around the fifth frame but it was still a good time.

Natural History Museum

Piper's winter break was a little off of other schools so we got to do some things during the break without tons of people with the same idea.  This time we went to the Natural History Museum down by USC.  It was free and we had just enough fun for the afternoon. I don't know if we'd go again though; they're a little too young to appreciate everything there.

Korean BBQ

Such adventures in the city!  Rick suggested one night for all of us to go to a Korean barbecue place.  The restaurant was packed but we didn't have to wait long (when we left it was even more busy, unbelievably).

We enjoyed cooking up some steak, bacon, and pork.  I can't remember everything we got but the kids enjoyed getting to cook it themselves.  We seriously did smell like charcoal after we left.  Fun times!

Football in the park

Just a friendly game of family fall football at the park.  Go long!

So cute together!

New glasses

Simon got new glasses in December.  They had to increase his prescription to avoid having to have do surgery again.  They're Shrek and very cute on him.  He gets a lot of attention because of them.  He'll tell you right away, "They're Shrek."  They match mine a little (though mine aren't Shrek) because they're brown on the front and bright green on the inside.

Christmas Day 2011

Since we didn't have any travel plans and my parents were going to be alone on Christmas, we suggested staying over on Christmas Eve.  My parents were thrilled to have us and the kids there.  

I had told Piper that we weren't going to have time to open all the presents before we had to go to church.  I proposed that we just open stockings and one present (new church clothes) and then after church to open up the rest - since church was only sacrament meeting.  She concurred and would tell everyone our plan on the days leading up to Christmas.  

Church was pretty good - a few talks and a musical number along with some hymn singing.  The highlight was when the little boy in the pew in front of threw up all over the floor.  It took a minute for the stench to hit me because I hadn't seen the actual spewing.  That's what loads of Christmas candy early in the morning will do to a little guy's stomach.  It was a little distracting but quietly taken care of.  It was memorable - that's for sure.

I made new hair clips for Piper and felt slippers for her and my mom.  I also made the kids  reversible superhero capes.  I made my mom some homemade post cards using her photos of Vernazza.  

Simon was more interested in playing with his presents than opening more.  He got a bath basketball hoop from our landlord and we had to hide it so he would open more.  He got a mitt from us too.

The plan for Christmas morning worked with the exception of Piper opening her unicorn Pillowpet from Santa in the living room while we were all eating breakfast.  I think it was  because she could tell what it was and couldn't resist the temptation to open it.

The photos are out of order but anything in pajamas is the pre-church opening and regular clothes are post-church opening.

Waiting for the festivities to begin...

Homemade slippers from Mom

They fit great!

Ready for church (the unicorn Pillowpet didn't accompany us though)

Piper got this Fancy Nancy notebook and plume from our landlord.  It was a big hit!

Yo Gabba Gabba!

Superheroes!

A new apron from Grandma Vicki

A MITT!!

New church clothes - though she hasn't worn the sweater since, declaring it too itchy.

Piper got a TAG reader from us as her "big" present.  It's been fun seeing her reading improve using these books.

To the rescue!

Christmas Eve 2011

We had the traditional Christmas Eve celebration at my mom and dad's house.  We enjoyed ham and all the trimmings.  Our kids had fun playing with their cousins.  

My nephews put together the train under the tree; it was like old times.  Of course there was carol singing and the annual viewing of A Christmas Story.  We did mix things up a little bit with my mom and playing a few Christmas songs on the ukulele.

Thanks Mom & Dad for hosting!