Ava's stitches

Sitting at the Kaiser Urgent Care Clinic in Vancouver tonight, waiting to have a cut under Ava's eye looked at.

She fell and hit our coffee table late this afternoon. 

She got 3 stitches (the scratch on the other side was a previous injury)it was very traumatic for everyone.  Rielee and Harper were so scared when they saw the blood,  all three were hysterical.  Papa cleaned up Ava while I tried to calm the kids down, but they couldn't calm down. At the mention of the word "doctor", Ava and Harper were

hysterical on top of hysterical.  Harper was not going to let us take Ava to the doctor, and Ava wasn't about to go...add to that the fact that just before the accident, both Ava and Harper had stripped down to their panties and were getting ready to dress-up, so we had to somehow get clothes on them. 

We met Charb and Kelly in LaCenter.  The girls calmed down in the car ride there, Ava even fell asleep, which kind of scared us.  She was so happy to see her Mom and Dad.  At the clinic, when she got a shot, we could heard her screaming, I took Harper down the hall because she was upset at the sound.  Then a new round of screaming when they stitched her up, poor Ava, she was so scared.  Such a  tough night for her, and Mom and Dad, they were worn out from having to both calm her down and hold her down, and seeing their baby in pain.  Ava came out with stickers the nurse gave her, she got one for Harper, too.  Papa and I felt just terrible that it happened at our house, terrible seeing the kids all so upset, terrible listening to Ava being treated, but so grateful that she's going to be okay.

Happier times just before, playing at their new desk.

Going to school

The girls posed for a picture before they went in their classroom this morning while their teacher, Mrs. Macindoe, waits at the door.  They're so happy to go to school and usually get themselves ready pretty easily in the morning.  Harper had an issue with the shirt Mom packed for her today though, it just wasn't right. So instead she wore the shirt she didn't want to wear last week...it was left here, amazingly-it was the right one today! 

Ava's blanket

Ava's old blanket is small and threadbare, but it was all she ever wanted to sleep with, even though she had to curl up in a ball for it to cover her.  She never wanted any other blanket to touch her.  Kelly asked if I could somehow enlarge her old blanket but I thought maybe if Ava picked out her own fabric for a new blanket, maybe she would use it.  So today we went to Joann's and she quickly picked out Hello Kitty fleece and I hemmed it as soon as we got home.  She was so excited.  She tried to help me trim the edge and then sat there and watched me sew, asking over and over again if I was done yet.  She loves it, she introduced it to her old blanket so they could be friends and slept with both of them.

Emmy coaching at state/Rielee basketball

We decided to keep our reservation in Yakima Thursday and Friday and watch Emmy help coach the Kalama girls at the state tournament.  She's keeping stats on an iPad in the picture.  Unfortunately, they lost their first 2 matches and were out the first day.  Uncle watched some other local teams until he got his fill of volleyball and we came home this morning.

Rielee had two basketball games this afternoon.  She felt better this week and it showed, she was aggressive, wanted to shoot and made 5 baskets.  We took her to Target between games so she could buy the Elf on a Shelf Reindeer, she was very excited about it and named it "Snowflake".  She spent the night with us and we watched Maleficent, which was good.  She also worked on perfecting her handstand, oh, about a 100+ times,  and is trying to learn to walk on her hands. 

Papa's birthday

 It was Papa's 72nd birthday yesterday, we celebrated before the Seahawks game started with Kelly, the twins, Gabe, Des and the kids and Laury and David.  The little girls blew out Papa's candles for him, (Ava is right behind Rielee) as Parker and Olivia watched.  

They were excited to give him his gifts, each of them made him cute cards, and Rielee made him a special Veteran's Day card also.

Signs for Auna/Rielee's basketball

 The girls painted signs last night to cheer for Auna and the Rockets this morning as they played LaCenter for a trip to the State tournament. 

When Auna was serving in the 5th set, Harper was waving the signs and yelling for her.  Although the Rockets played their hearts out, they ended up losing. We were very proud of Auna, she played a great match and had 10 kills. 

 

Rielee at the free throw line

From there we hurried down to Kelso to watch Rielee's first basketball game.  With only 2 practices under their belt, they got off to a rough start and lost, Rielee played point guard. 

Rielee's Veterans Day Program

 Thursday the 4th and 5th graders at Rielee's school put on a very special Veterans Day program.  They sang, danced, recited poetry, and went through the alphabet with every letter representing a fact about patriotism, the military, and the sacrifices made by our veterans.  When they asked all the veterans to stand, Papa said it brought tears to his eyes to see how big Rielee was smiling at him. 

The kids were all so perfectly behaved, even their music teacher was choked up at the end.

This morning Butler Acres School had their 7th annual Veterans Day parade.  It was so special to see all the kids walking along, singing patriotic songs or chanting "U-S-A, U-S-A!"

Rielee home sick/Auna district volleyball/Emmy coaching

 Rielee had a sore throat this morning so she came and stayed with us.   She was on the couch until after her second dose of Tylenol at 11:30, then she perked up and asked Papa to help her make a zoo with the dominoes.  That was always one of her favorite things to play when she was little.  We hated to see her sick, but it was nice to have her around to spoil.  She said the only thing she felt like eating was potato salad and I was happy to make it for her.

Tonight we first watched Castle Rock beat Elma in 4 at the middle school, then they moved to the high school to play Kalama.  What a strange match that was, with Emmy filling in as assistant coach for Kalama (Castle Rock's arch rivals for years, our Emmy-on the dark side!) as they beat CR in 3.  Not pretty but Kalama has a good team.   The Rockets have to beat LaCenter on Saturday to go to state, doable since they've beat them twice already this year.  

Lexi volleyball

 We went to watch Union play Skyview in district volleyball tonight.  Lexi played in the first set, which they won, coming back from being down 17-23.  But she didn't get back in the match, and they ended up losing the next 3, sadly their season is over.  We didn't understand the way the coach subbed, seemed maybe she was just letting her seniors play out the match.  I didn't even get a picture of Lex since I was waiting until they moved to our side of the court to take one. I snapped these two of the twins near the end, Harper is hugging her Snoopy, they were getting pretty tired by then. 

Balloons

 This was so comical, the twins learning to blow up balloons.  Ava realized she could do it first and of course Harper was right behind her.

 They were concentrating so hard, I was trying not to crack up watching them.

 Once they mastered it though, it was wild, they blew them up and let them go and laughed so hard, over and over again until I forced them to take a break.  I started to explain how they needed to rest their lungs, but Ava flopped on the couch and said she already learned about that from her P.E. teacher..

Harper popped one when she went to write her name on it, and that was the end of balloons until tomorrow.  When they were headed for bed, Harper asked Ava if she was exhausted from blowing up balloons, Ava said she was.  Now they need to learn to tie the balloons.