Good news, bad news

This seemed to be the theme for our family this August. I'll start with the good news.

First, Ezra turned four! We had a wonderful birthday party for him with some friends and neighbors. I made a cake once again for him, and he loved it. Several months before his birthday, he had already decided that he wanted a Curious George cake. In fact, every time someone would ask him how old he was, his response was, "Three. August, four (as in, he would turn four in August). Curious George cake." Well, it took me about two hours to decorate it, but it turned out beautifully, and I am quite proud of it. :)


My second piece of good news is the development of Lydia's language skills (among all of her other amazing growth and changes). She is talking up a storm. Just a month ago, she would basically just say one word at a time and would often ask one-word questions (very cute!). Now, she has started putting more words together. It's an exciting time in her language development, and we are really enjoying hearing her speak.

Another piece of good news: we have been enjoying lots of fresh veggies from the garden. We only have tomatoes and basil in our garden this year, but we have some friends who have shared a lot of veggies from theirs. I've been making lots of tomato sauce, pizza sauce and salsa. And I had eggplant parmigiana for the first time--it was delicious and I can't wait to have it again!

The third piece of good news is the success I've been having with couponing. My sister-in-law started couponing a few months ago, and I decided I should really start doing that to save some money on groceries. I've been keeping track of my savings from the coupons, and since I started at the end of July, I've saved $133.13! Now, I'm even more excited to continue using them!

Now for the bad news. Recently, we took the van in to the shop because it was doing a bit of shaking/vibrating when I would slow down or sit at a stoplight. When John called after dropping it off, he said, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is it won't cost $1500 to fix the van." "What's the bad news?" I asked. "It's going to be $900 instead." :( Not long after that, I was in a very minor car accident. The other driver didn't see me and pulled out of an alley, hitting the side of the van. Unfortunately, we got false information from the other driver (partly my fault because I didn't ask for enough information) and now we will have to meet the deductible to have the car fixed. So, the good news is that none of us were hurt, and the bad news is that the other driver lied and we got stuck with the at least part of the bill.

On the day of the accident, my mom had been visiting but was leaving for home that afternoon. John had been out of town for a week taking a CPE (continuing professional education, for anyone unsure of the initials). He was flying in that night, so I was alone with the kids that afternoon and evening. I was on the computer checking email and the kids were upstairs playing. I heard them fighting at one point, but they worked it out and continued playing. A little while later, I heard thump, thump, thump, thump...wailing that sounded little very hearty laughter. Lydia had fallen down the steps with some help from Ezra. I ran and picked up Lydia and tried to comfort her even though she was just beside herself. I tried to get her to tell me where she hurt and she kept saying, "Finger," while pointing to her right hand index finger. Her hand was shaky and she avoided using it. She seemed to be pretty with it, but she was very shaken by this. I spoke with a nurse from our hospital, and she advised me to take Lydia to an ER or an urgent care clinic. So, since John wasn't home, my neighbor graciously came with me to help with the kids and give me moral support. After taking xrays, we found out the Lydia had a buckle fracture and had to wear a too-big brace since they didn't have any that fit on hand. After seeing an orthopedic doctor, she was given an appropriately-sized, very cute and colorful brace, and we were told she would heal in about 2 or three weeks. So, the bad news in this situation is obvious and the good news is that she was not hurt in a worse way than her fracture. We are so thankful that she had no head injuries or a bigger break!

Two days later, Ezra was trying to catch a balloon and landed with his cheek hitting the top of a little child-sized chair. His cheek immediately swelled and later turned into a black eye. The next morning, when I went in to get him up, he declared with excitement, "Mama! I have a big cheek!" He has been having fun seeing the development of his bruise and change in color. And he has gotten a lot of attention from the black eye. Again, I think the good news and bad news are obvious. I just wish that he would grow out of his clumsiness, but I see many more bruises, cuts, blood in the future because of his combination of wildness and clumsiness (not a good combination!).

Here are some picture of the kids and their injuries:


Some other recent pictures:

In case you're wondering from the pictures, Paint the Pavement is a neighborhood activity where you paint an intersection of your neighborhood. It takes a lot of planning and preparation, but it is so worthwhile in the end. We did this with our neighbors this summer, and the end result was beautiful. We met and got to know more of our wonderful neighbors and really enjoyed our time. Ezra had a blast painting and was very disappointed when it was all done. I was disappointed too because I thought it would take longer and I never got a chance to paint anything. At least some of my family can take credit!