g is for greta

I love a good festival. My hometown has one every year, and I love to head back just to go. It’s different since the school building was torn down, but I still like to support it.

The kids played on the 4-wheelers all morning with the Sharpes. They drove from Pittsburg to meet us for a day of fun. I love this picture of Corinne in her farm boots working like a man!

Here’s Corinne waiting her turn for another ride. Ha!

Mom was working in the garden with a little help from her friends.

When the rides opened, we headed down to the festival. Mason went through this fun house so many times that I lost count. Kids are funny.

Corinne, Reagan, and Eli won a fish. They are still swimming around in my parents’ pond.

After hours of riding, we headed home for dinner and the parade.

Corinne and I were lucky enough to be in the parade. The sun was in an awkward spot so the pictures aren’t the best. Plus, we were in candy throwing mode.

It was a good time had by all! My favorite part…

-g.

It has made us nervous for quite some time watching the kids jump from higher and higher stairs. Yesterday, just as we were finishing up dinner, Mason jumped from the 4th stair up. I happened to look up and watch him land. You know those videos on YouTube that people post and say things like, “DON’T WATCH THIS MOVIE!” because it is so sickening? Yeah…it was like that. Made worse by the popping sound I heard. There was a small delay before the realization of pain set in but then the screams came on full force. I thought he had really messed up his ankle. Tony and I scooped him up and headed to Urgent Care while Steph and James stayed behind to feed/care for the other rugrats.

The parking lot at Urgent Care was PACKED! When I commented to Tony, he said the two words that quicken the pulse of any parent: swine flu. He was right. There were kids in mini surgical masks everywhere. Seats were a premium so I had him scope out the most secluded spot he could find to prevent cross contamination. I don’t think a single kid actually got their vomit into the container they were given but did see it hit the floor, chairs, clothes, etc. It will be a miracle if we don’t get it. Once we got to a room, I scoped out the antibacterial hand stuff and tried to bathe Mason in it. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed. Anywho…

After waiting for about an hour, it was our turn. The mean x-ray tech lady made Mason scream in a way that I can only describe as primal. Poor boy. It was literally torture. Here’s what we found out:

Not his ankle at all. He broke his left tibia. He was lucky that it didn’t need to be reset. Now our boy is the lucky owner of a camo cast from his hip to his toes. They escorted us out a backdoor since Mason was only wearing his Wolverine undies and t-shirt. He’s still in alot of pain, but everyone says that is only for the first few days until the bone starts to heal. I sure hope so.

Tuesday is his first appointment with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. He’ll be monitoring his healing. I feel lucky that the doctor is actually a friend from church. I’m hoping that will help Mason relax some.

Pray for my boy. He’s sad.

-g.

I am a cookie snob. I want them thick with a crunchy exterior and soft interior. We are foodies in this household. During one of our countless times watching Food Network, we watched a Bobby Flay throwdown centering on chocolate chip cookies. While Bobby’s didn’t do it for me, his competitors’ cookies made my mouth water! I’ve searched the internet and found a new favorite recipe. I’m only going to give the link because it explains how to make them perfectly on the website. Here’s some incentive to check it out:

I piled the dough high like haystacks. I figured that might help with the thickness. I also refrigerated the dough for about 20 minutes before baking just to harden it up some.

I could barely wait for them to bake. I did eat some dough to help hold me over until they were finished.

Sweet darling…

It makes me happy just LOOKING at the picture of that delicious morsel. Make some when you need to feel loved. (Which should be NOW!) Yum.

-g.

Tony’s dad offered us 4 tickets to an Indians game while his mom bought all the munchkins Tribe shirts. We thought the kids would really like it so we headed north. Ethan stayed behind for an evening of being spoiled by Abueltia and Papa Tom. Tony and I headed to the rapids with the kids. Who can resist a ride on a train? This may have been Mason’s favorite part.

The game was a big lackluster. There weren’t many hits. The kids were distracted by the vendors selling food so we ended up eating more than watching the game.

Shortly after this picture, we figured it was time to visit the kid zone. The kids played on the toys and played the claw game. Tony won a hat for Mason. He was much happier for this picture with Slider:

I’m glad we went. Family time is the best time!

-g.