How I spent my Wednesday

Two and a half hours in the Rochester General ED:

Matt had a mishap while riding a scooter over at Patti's (our babysitter). I had just gotten there to pick the kids up. If you look close at that second picture and the circular imprint on his mouth, you can pretty much see what happened: when he fell, his mouth hit the end of the handle. All his teeth are intact though, thank goodness, but there was a TON of blood!!

He was a trooper though! Obviously he was VERY upset when it happened (and frankly, so was I--you would not BELIEVE how much blood there was. The picture of his shirt does not do it justice), and it was so cute how, as Patti and her daughter Lyndsey and I were packing him into the van to head to the hospital, he said through his tears "I didn't want to have this day." =} But at the hospital he was very brave as they put in the IV line (so they could sedate him while they stitched him up), and he really was great through the whole thing. We got home a little after 8:00 and he was asking for Scooby Doo macaroni and cheese for dinner. And this morning, other than the 5 stitches in his face, he's doing fine. He was on the computer doing PlayhouseDisney.com when I left for work.

BIG HUGE thanks to Patti and Lyndsey for (A) coming to the hospital with us to help keep Matt (and me!) calm, (B) leaving when Mike got there to go take care of Jonathan and Graceanne, and (C) taking the kids to McDonald's for dinner and then back to our house, where they ate dinner and played and were in their jammies ready for bed when we got home from the hospital. I say once again...we are so blessed to have them!

Happy Anniversary!

Yes, I know this day is a sad anniversary for many many people. But before September 11th became a noun unto itself, it was simply the anniversary of the happiest day of our lives.

We were married on September 11th, 1993, and today is our 15th anniversary. FIFTEEN years! Good grief! Do we look young and innocent? (Apologies for the picture quality--I've never thought to sit down and scan our wedding pictures, so this was the best I could do by laying the proofs out on the bed and angling my camera to avoid glare from the flash.)

Anyway, yes, we were young and innocent. Now we're...still young!...but we've definitely become more seasoned. We've had our ups and downs (now THERE'S a cliche!), more downs than some people, more ups than others, but I think we'd both agree that everything has balanced out pretty well so far.

Not to get all sappy, but I want to leave off with my favorite verse from Joshua Kadison's Beautiful in My Eyes, the song that would likely have been our wedding song had we been more familiar with that album at the time we got married. Mike sings this song to me all the time (NOW I've embarrased him), and I just want him to know that the feeling is mutual.

The world will turn and the seasons will change,
and all the lessons we will learn will be beautiful and strange.
We'll have our fill of tears, our share of sighs.
And my only prayer is that you realize
you'll always be beautiful in my eyes.

Thanks for 15 wonderful years Mike. I'm looking forward to many many more.

Multimedia Friday

Okay, this week's multimedia Friday is a video of Matthew's current favorite song in the car, which he asks for by saying "Mom, play the one that goes 'you promised you'd be there, whenever I call your name'," otherwise known as Endless Night from the Broadway version of The Lion King (if you haven't had the pleasure of seeing this, seize the first opportunity--it's AWESOME!).



(I was so please when this song replaced Matthew's previous favorite off that soundtrack, Morning Report.)

School Daze

Today was the busiest First Day of School we've had so far. First, we sent Jonathan off on the bus to second grade (and the first time Mommy did not accompany him to his classroom--*SNIFF*). Then, in the afternoon, we had Matthew's preschool orientation/open house. This was just an opportunity for the kids and parents to come in and meet the teacher, find the classroom, and get the "lay of the land" so to speak. Tomorrow will be his first real day there (preschool is half days--Matty will be going from 12:15 to 2:45). Here are a few choice shots of the day:

Ummm, could we look any happier guys?

Okay, that's a little better...

Matt tries for a smile (that's our neighbor Victoriah...she's the same age as Jonathan)

Off they go!

Matthew and Daddy at Preschool Orientation

Matthew--Man of Mystery

While I was getting Grace dressed for Church on Sunday, Matthew decided he wanted to play hide-and-seek:

"Mom! You have to find me. I'll give you a hint: I'm in...Grace's...closet."

English as a second (or third) language

I was recently introduced to a funny little website called Engrish.com, which highlights the rather amusing results when Japanese companies put English text on their products. Here's a couple of choice examples for this week's Multimedia Friday (hey--pictures are multimedia too...)

This one would make a good t-shirt:

Another Multimedia Friday

I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't change the name of this item to "Flashback Friday." Today's feature was inspired by the boys' current favorite CD to listen to in the van, the one they call "The Faces CD":

Mike and I are doing a pretty good job of making our kids "grandchildren of the 80s," don't you think? Despite being thoroughly 21st century children, they are going to have a solid indoctrination in 80s pop (and other obscure stuff).

So, for your listening enjoyment, here's a little OMD.