The dolphin cast

The only thing that seemed to cheer S up when she broke her arm was the promise of me decorating her cast with dolphins.

So, I was terrified that something would happen that would prevent me from doing that. I looked for dolphin fabric, since I suspected that would be easier to mod podge on than stickers/paper, but I didn't have much faith. When I made her kaleidoscope quilt, I'd looked for weeks for dolphin fabric with no luck.  I found some great dolphin stickers at Amazon for $2.43, so I bought those, and they arrived today.

When we got to the sports doctor today for followup, he confirmed that it is in fact broken, and showed me one of the other angles of the xray that I think shows the break a little more easily.






S chose a light blue for her cast color, and they told us they had a water resistant base material for the cast, so swimming, sprinkles, etc are NOT forbidden. We're just supposed to try and dry it a bit afterwards.  S made sure to rush home and tell her sister that HER cast is waterproof. Hah! K admitted to being jealous, even though she hasn't broken an arm in years.



When we got home, S wanted to get the dolphins on it right away. She wants to keep the cast forever, even after it's removed, but I told her she couldn't. Because of that, she got a little stingy with the dolphin stickers. She chose four to go on the cast, and is keeping the remaining eight.  I think it needs at least two more; I may talk her in to adding more tomorrow.













I used mod podge to attach the stickers.  I learned a couple things from the experience.  First, I spread some mod podge around the area where the sticker was to go.  I found it very helpful to get the stickers wet prior to applying- they laid a lot more flat that way.  I think that fabric would go on a lot better than paper, but since dolphin fabric with dolphins of the right size is so scarce, we had to make do.  Once we got the four dolphins on (and I may work on her to put more on there; we'll see), I put a light coat of mod podge everywhere, and shook some fine glitter on it.  Unfortunately, that doesn't show up in this picture, but her reaction to her cast is obvious.

A close up of the cast.

Broken!

This week, I've been babysitting a friend's 5 year old while she vacations in Hawaii (lucky girl!). I've had this nagging feeling that *someone* was going to injure themselves, and I was just hoping it wasn't the boy I've been watching.

On Friday, S wore a beautiful long dress and crocs. Of course this is the very best outfit to wear while climbing fences. She fell while doing this. She ran in, crying that she hurt her left arm.  It was not hanging at a funny angle, and she had a very specific spot that hurt the most.

Now, I have to admit that while she's tough compared to the average kid, she's definitely not the toughest of my kids. So her wailing and carrying on is a daily occurrence.  But, it was Friday night, 8:40pm.  My beloved Layton Kidscare closes at 9pm on Friday. So, I decided to take her in.  J felt like I was overreacting, and honestly, I was only about 70% convinced she had genuinely broke her arm.  I am in the "didn't take my kid to the doctor for a broken arm right away" club, and I'd rather not be a multiple entry member, so I decided to err on the safe side.

We got to KidsCare at 8:54pm. Plenty of time!

They got us in right away, and S didn't want to talk to the doctor, even though she was really sweet and nice and being really great with her. I explained what happened.

The doctor did a brief exam, declared her to be a very healthy girl otherwise. She said that S was letting her mash down on her arm pretty hard, but that they'd do xray, just in case.

After the xray, the doctor came back in and said it was a good thing we'd had it xray'd; there was a little buckle fracture.  Upon hearing the news, S dissolved into tears. She was so, so upset to hear that she'd actually broken a bone. It was kind of cute.

They gave us a brace to wear, and we're supposed to go see an orthopedist on Tuesday, where they'll give her a regular cast. I assume they will, anyway.

We were back in the car by 9:25pm. On the drive back home, it dawned on her that swimming is going to be out for a while. She was even more worked up then.  I have promised that when she gets the regular cast, I will mod podge dolphins onto the cast. That really calmed her down and cheered her up a bit. Because of that, I'm worried that when we go to the doctor to get the regular cast, he'll decide not to, that it's not broken badly enough, and the brace is sufficient.

Daisy Bridging Ceremony

It was planned for a couple months.  We were going to have a lovely ceremony for our Daisy Scouts to Bridge into Brownies.

I found a park with a lovely little creek, complete with a little bridge for the girls to cross over.

Invitations were sent. Time off from work requested.

I made three huge pans of brownies that looked delectable. One had chopped up Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and chocolate chips. One had marshmallow cream and crushed oreos. The last simply had chocolate frosting and sprinkles.

Then, the day of bridging came.  It seemed chilly, but ok.  As the day wore on, the wind increased. A wind advisory was issues. From noon to three, the temperature dropped 25 degrees.  An hour before, it started to rain.

Well crap.


I was just about to call the whole thing off and reschedule for later (mentally sobbing over the brownies and the havoc that much chocolate would do to my diet) when one of the moms called. She had access to a church, and could even get a bridge for us!  Woot!

I made the calls to everyone, and got the venue changed. There was a minor hiccup because one parent wasn't crazy about the denomination of the church where the ceremony would be held, but they had their priorities in the right place, and came anyway.

I was a bit disappointed and rattled over my ideal not happening, but I think things went rather smoothly.  I felt awful because the mom who set the whole thing up is someone I have this ridiculous mental name block with. I know exactly who she is. I like her; she's funny, and nice and smart and really great about volunteering. But for some reason, when I first met her, I mentally stuck her with her daughter's name, and have fairly consistently called her by her daughter's name for well over a year now. Usually, when I get a name to stick in my head, it's there for life. I've been lucky up to this point for them to stick with the correct name. But I can't undo it.

So, I was trying to thank this mom for all the work she did. In my head, I was chanting "Don't say T, don't say T, don't say T".  I didn't.  I called her by my co-leader's name instead.  AW, man, SERIOUSLY?!  So now I've managed to not give props to the proper helper. In so doing, I gave props to one co-leader, and not the other. ACK!

S'mores Brownies

I am planning a fancy bridging ceremony for my daisy scouts to commemorate their bridging into brownies. I am going to serve brownies after the ceremony, and I want them to be kind of special. I am daring, but not daring enough where I'm going to do food experiments when serving a group of 50.  So, my family gets to be my guinea pigs. I think this went well.

I used two brownie mixes and prepared according to the box. I lined a 9x13 pan with wax paper (as a side note, this was a TERRIBLE idea. Someone told me it was easier to get them out, but that was LIES LIES LIES. SO don't do that).  I lined the bottom of the pan with graham crackers.  Then smoothed the brownie mix over the top of the graham crackers. Baked at 350 for about 45 minutes.


I then sprinkled a whole bunch of mini marshmallows over the top, along with some semisweet chocolate chips and crumbled graham crackers. Then, I stuck it under the broiler and watched until the marshmallows were toasted on top.

I think it turned out very yummy.

Letter from the teacher

Yesterday, I got a card in the mail from S's teacher. It was such a sweet letter that I just had to share.  I absolutely adored Ms. V, and I'm really, really sad that she is not actually moving up to 2nd grade. In fact, since she's fairly new to teaching, she doesn't even have a contract. She has applied to teach at our elementary school again, but last I heard, she hasn't heard back as to whether or not she'll be back. It's really a shame- she is absolutely amazing, and the school will take a huge loss if she doesn't get to come back. I've been keeping my fingers crossed that she will so that Z will get her when he's old enough.

Teacher Appreciation Week

It's that time of year again- time to show our teachers and auxiliary staff just how much we love and appreciate them. I'm not room mom, but at the beginning of the school year, I signed up for teacher appreciation, which thus far has been sending crockpot meals during conference (this time, without incident).

A couple of weeks ago, I get a phone call from a mom, saying she's part of the PTA and would I be willing to do a door hanging for the school librarian. After confirming which school she was referring to, I cheerfully agreed. My kids all have very fond memories of the librarian. In fact, a few years ago, after parent/teacher conferences, we went to the library to buy them a book at the book fair. While there, the librarian came up to us, and said, "Oh, I just HAVE to meet K's parents!! She is just such a wonderful girl!".  Wow! To know her personally like that was really touching to me. A couple years later, she was doing the same for M. She also knows S by name, which is also pretty amazing. So, I think she's a pretty amazing lady, and was thrilled to do a door for her.

I scoured the internet, looking for cute ideas. I wanted to do something neat, but also unique- I'd hate to have someone else do the same door as I did.  Here's what I finally ended up doing.










Three days later, I get a phone call from a different PTA lady. The conversation starts out the exact same way- Teacher appreciation week coming up, blah blah blah, will you do a door for the librarian?  Talk about deja vu!!!!

First, I confirmed that it was for school #2 (yes, it can get confusing having kids at four different schools!), and then happily agreed. My kids have also spoken very highly of this school librarian, and from what I've heard, she also does a fantastic job with the kids.




I'm not quite as thrilled with the second door, but I did think it was fun. I know it appears that I was drunk when I took this photo. I actually had a preschooler swinging from my arm. If the door is still up, I'll attempt to get a better picture.  But, I had all kinds of symbols of good luck, and in small writing by each thing, I wrote where it was considered a symbol of luck. There was even a lucky penny, held firmly in place by tape.

Lock Box

One of the smartest things I ever did was buy a mechanical lockbox, like this one, and place it in my yard.

I made a copy of the house key, and put it in the box. After that, if we ever accidentally got locked out, getting in was a snap.

My kids are wild enough that I could see them locking me out as toddlers, with them in. Or, them following me out and shutting the door.

My door locks have a "safety feature" where they always feel unlocked on the inside, and unless the door is deadbolted, you can always turn the knob and open the door. The manufacturer says it's so that people can always get out in a hurry if there's an emergency. Personally, I think the locksmiths bribed them.

I used my handy lockbox just this morning. I ran outside to throw something away. I didn't bother unlocking the door- I figured I'd just leave the door open since I'd be going outside for 25 seconds or so. Unfortunately, Z was right behind me, and he shut the door behind him, as we've been trying to train him to do.

So. I was outside in my pajamas with a 5 year old. Awesome. Lucky for me, I had my lockbox, and I was back inside within a minute.

Can you imagine what a hassle it would've been if we hadn't put a lockbox in place? We haven't given a housekey to anyone, so I would've had to call J (I DID have my phone with me), pull him out of a meeting 45 minutes away to come home and rescue us.