We went ice skating while we were in Pennsylvania over winter break. It's been a couple of years since Luke has been on the ice, and he decided that he was ready for hockey skates (vs. figure skating skates) this time. Our brave boy didn't want any help, and took off with a safety cone for support. Luke did so well skating, and I couldn't believe how confident he was!
This was Leah's first time ice skating, so Beanie and I held on to her at first. This was just right for Mommy... I wasn't worried about that precious little chin splitting open (again!) when we each had a hand for support:
But soon enough, Leah decided that she wanted to let go and use a cone, just like her brother:
I tried to stay close to that fearless baby, and she shouted at me, "Mommy, I don't NEED help!". I tried to explain to her that it is a "rule" to have someone with you the first time you go ice skating, and she retorted, "I DO have someone with me. GOD is with me, so I DON'T NEED YOU!". Speechless.
Luckily, we made it without any injuries, bumps, or bruises, and the day was a huge success (except for my blood pressure at times!)...
And speaking of injuries, Luke had a doozie last month. School called me to say that he tripped outside at recess and caught the corner of the metal bleachers with his face. It's never a good sign when you can tell that your child's teacher is crying on the phone. I raced to school (so thankful that I was home and we live only a mile away) and found Luke in the office with all of the school's first responders, who were attending to a nasty gash across his nose. (I am not posting pictures due to gore factor). We immediately drove to our wonderful pediatrician (again, only one mile away), who actually answered the phone as I called on our way and was standing at the door of the office waiting for us. We were referred to the ER at Children's Hospital due to the location and large size of Luke's cut, and one plastic surgery referral, 5 hours, and 12 stitches later, we took our first deep breath. In typical Luke fashion, as the MD was preparing to do the stitches, our inquisitive boy had to know every detail about exactly what was going to happen next, why each step was necessary, and if there were other options. At one point, I wasn't sure that Luke was going to be able to sustain the local anesthesia (he was terrified of the thought of a needle), but the plastic surgeon was brilliant and told Luke that he could decide: a small needle to numb the skin on his face, or a giant needle ("ten times as large!")in his arm to put him to sleep. It wasn't pretty, but our brave boy did it, and Leah's biggest disappointment was that she and Mark left the room while Luke was being stitched... "I want to watch, Mommy!" (I am writing this because I am pretty sure that girl has a future in medicine some day...).
Luke received lots of attention the next day at school, is already calling it his "battle scar", and we were surrounded by love from our friends and school staff. He had to take it easy for 2 weeks until our follow up with the doctor, and was sad when he found out that he had activity restrictions: He couldn't go to recess or P.E., and had to take it easy while the stitches were in. The worst part was his absolute devastation that he couldn't play in his basketball game against his best friend's team the next weekend. However, we invited Aiden to come with us to a Wake Forest basketball game while Luke was healing, and this seemed to make up for the fact that these best buds couldn't play each other on the court. Such cuteness!
Luckily, Luke is back on the court now (after minor setbacks of slamming his thumb in the car door two weeks ago and being down for the count with a fever virus most of last week... The poor kid had a rough month!). Daddy's helping to coach this year, and basketball season is our very favorite!
Here's a video of Luke scoring for his team!
And what would winter be without snowmen? Olaf recently visited Leah's classroom to congratulate the students on their wonderful reading. I sent these pictures to Mark with the title, "Day in the Life of a Room Mom". Our friend loves Halloween (even more than we do, if you can imagine!), and her family dressed up as characters from "Frozen" last year, which means that they have an Olaf costume lying around, perfect for a kindergarten Room Mom to borrow and surprise her child's class! In the interest of full disclosure, I drew the lucky straw and got to be photographer for Olaf's visit, while my Co-Room Mom donned the Olaf costume. (She did ask me what mascot we were going to borrow next month when it's my turn to dress up...):
Another recent highlight is Daddy and Leah's first Father-Daughter Dance. This first date included dinner out at Chick Fil A (Leah's choice) and a fun-filled evening of dancing at a wonderful event sponsored by the school's PTO. I can not capture how cute this moment was, when Mark surprised Leah with flowers:
They had a blast, and Leah declared, "This was one of the best nights of my life!". How I love these two so much!
Meanwhile, Luke and I had a great evening together (pizza and a Harry Potter movie were his choices for our Date Night), and we enjoyed record high temperatures this past weekend (it reached 81 yesterday!). We had a picnic on our porch, rode bikes, walked to the park, and played several games of family football, which reminded us how much we love "winter" in the south. Here's to hoping the groundhog continues to be wrong and that spring is right around the corner!
