Valentine's Day Crafts (Thanks Grandma!)

A little package arrived this week from California. Of course, it was Valentine's cards and a little craft from Grandma! The little animal masks were exactly the right level of difficulty for the girls. That is, they were pre-cut, came with all the pieces in one bag, and the instructions were pictures showing what each one should look like. There's also an adorable mouse hanging decoration, but I'm saving that to entertain them another time.

Anyway, here are the girls wearing the finished products. (Please excuse Penny's refusal to wear clothes. She is, apparently, "not cold!!")

Blurry, but both almost sort of smiling.

Penny, the shirtless, vaguely contemplative elephant. 

Norah and her lion claws.

First Cast, Twice Removed

When I took Norah to the appointment where the orthopedist decided to put her in a short-term cast, he warned me. He said that as the swelling went down, kids Norah's size can sometimes "shuck the cast like an oyster shell". Maybe he's originally from the east coast, because that analogy didn't make any sense to me, but I sure am glad he warned me that it could happen!
On Monday night - just one week after getting her cast in the first place - Mark was helping Norah get her shirt off for bed and sure enough, the cast slid right off with her shirt sleeve! We decided to make her put it back on until I could talk to the doctor. I spoke with his nurse on Tuesday evening and she said that as long as Norah wasn't complaining of any pain I not only didn't have to make her wear the thing, I didn't even have to bring her in again! Hooray for (slightly) smaller doctor bills!!
We officially removed the cast on Wednesday before nap time. By that evening, Norah was doing handstands against the wall of the living room. I think she's all in one piece again. The cast is also all in one piece, which means Norah will have a memento of her time as an "invalid" and the myriad of signatures she accumulated will remain in tact.
She'll have to find a hiding place to keep it away from her little sister, though. Penny has already taken to slipping it on (almost up to her shoulder) and running through the house yelling, "Oh nooo! My arm is brokened!!"

Guess Who Turned Two!

In the spirit of randomly catching up on stuff that happened while I was on blogging hiatus, here are some photos of Penny's second birthday party. Since her birthday is December 28th, her "party decorations" will probably include a Christmas tree until she's old enough to care. This year we did manage to get a cake she loved. It was a snowman - which she just happens to be obsessed with this Winter. This year, we had family up to our house for a small party. The highlight (for me at least) was that she managed to blow out both candles all by herself!

Not Exactly an Award...

...but it could be considered a trophy.

I took Norah for her follow-up appointment on Monday after having her "temporary" splint on for a whole week. Ugh!

The doctor still wasn't sure that he could see any growth plate damage, but he decided to put her in a cast for two weeks just to be safe. He said that he could put her in a plastic wrist guard but that kids her age tend to get uncomfortable and take off the guard.

The good news is that it's a short cast. She can bend her elbow, which makes getting dressed much easier. The other good news is that the cast is water proof, so she can take baths and go swimming. The final good news is that she only has to wear it for two weeks.

All in all, it's a pretty low-pain injury with a huge story telling upside. Just the way it should be.

It's an Honor Just to be Nominated

Every Monday evening we have dinner with a group of families from our church. We get a sitter for the kids and they eat and play in the back of the house.

At some point after dinner last night Norah, in a display of all the grace and coordination I passed down to her, tripped and hurt her wrist. After she stopped crying, she sat down and read some books until dinner was over.

She seemed fine once we came to get her except that she was holding her left arm a little close to her body. When I tried to turn it over to look at it, she cried and said it hurt really bad. I called the pediatrician's 24 hour hotline and we decided to send her with Mark to get an X-ray.


























She was an angel the whole time. I think she enjoyed the attention and the alone time with her daddy. They didn't see any breaks, but put her in a splint just in case. She has an appointment next week to see if there's any possible damage to the growth plate. If so, she'll have to have a longer term splint or a cast.

For her part, Norah seems to be enjoying the drama about as much as can be expected. I can tell that it still hurts when she tries to do certain things, but she's handling it well. She overheard the growth plate conversation last night and is now asking me to compare her arm lengths, as she's certain that her hurt arm is "getting shorter". We are trying to get her nominated for Best Actress in a Self Imposed Drama. This will be her head shot:

As for me, I'm thinking that between the flu last week and the splint this week, my nomination for Mother of the Year should be coming in the mail any day.

Snow Angels

Growing up in California, snow was a novelty. I remember wishing we could go play in it, thinking about how much fun it would be, and lasting about three minutes in the 30* "cold" before I was ready for a nice cup of hot chocolate and some dry socks.
It's probably a combination of growing up used to the cold and having better snow gear, but my kids can't get enough of the snow! Here are a few pictures of Penny's first time playing in the snow with her sister in full gear. The only time she cried was when (against my advice) she took her gloves off to feel the snow with her bare hands and when it was time to go inside.