Broken

On Friday afternoon I was trying to put Elizabeth down for a nap before her brothers got home from school. (I love that they will ride their scooters almost every day and I don't have to go pick them up!) Every Friday is an early-out day, and if I don't get her settled before they come in, she usually won't fall asleep.

I was reading to her when I heard the door open downstairs. I heard Joshua come in, yelling, "Mom! Nathan says I broke his arm!" I attributed this to normal brotherly fighting and I continued reading to Elizabeth until Joshua came in her room, repeating his previous complaint. I still didn't think much of it.

Nathan came in a minute or two later, and I could hear him crying downstairs. Again, I just assumed that he had gotten hurt and was mad at Joshua. I was stubbornly still trying to finish Elizabeth's book so I could get her in bed. Joshua decided to call Ryan at work and tell him that Nathan might have broken his arm. That's when I realized that maybe the whole situation was more serious than I first realized!

So I went downstairs and saw that Nathan was just laying on the couch, crying, still with his backpack on and everything. He told me that as he and Joshua were coming home (Benjamin was still at school for Ceramics club), Joshua was trying to go straight to a friend's house instead of coming home first. Nathan was trying to be a good big brother, and started chasing Joshua to get him to turn around and come home. (Joshua was on his scooter and Nathan was on roller blades.)  As Nathan was doing so, his backpack caused him to get off-balance and he fell backwards, trying to catch himself with his hands. He thought he broke his wrist and was begging to go to the hospital, so I investigated. It didn't look swollen, the bones didn't feel unusual, and I didn't even see any signs of bruising.

So once again, I chalked it up to an over-reaction on Nathan's part. I told him I needed to finish Elizabeth's book with her, and if it was still hurting by the time I was done, then we would go to Urgent Care. When I came back downstairs after her book, Nathan was still crying and I could tell that he really was in pain. So we all got our coats on and went down to the Urgent Care. They took some x-rays and told us that Nathan had a "buckle" fracture.

This is our first broken bone. Not bad for 3 boys and eleven years!

They put him in a splint and told us to set up a doctor's appointment for the cast after the weekend. When I asked why they don't put the cast on right away, they said it is because they have to wait for swelling to go down. I felt so much better when the doctor then added, "but this one really isn't that swollen." Whew! I'm glad that I didn't miss something obvious!

Today Nathan got his cast on. I think he enjoyed all of the extra attention he got at school, and he loved letting everyone sign it! Unfortunately, he broke his right wrist and he is right-handed! Fortunately, he only has a week and a half of school before Christmas break. And he only has to have it on for 3 weeks, so he is scheduled to get it off the day he goes back to school in January!

Birthday Bash

Today we went to Nickel City for Nathan's birthday party. Nathan has been begging to go there for several years, but we have never gone until now. I just assumed it was a hole-in-the-wall arcade, and so I had avoided going there. When I looked into it while planning his party, I discovered that I was wrong! And after going there today I am very impressed -- it is like a Chuck-E-Cheese but with more arcade games for older kids, laser tag, a nicer atmosphere, and much better pizza!

Two of Nathan's friends were able to come to the party with us. Everyone except Elizabeth and I enjoyed a game of laser tag while we waited for our pizza. Then we did pizza, cheesecake, and presents. Nathan also got to spin the Nickel City prize wheel since he is the birthday boy -- he got 400 extra tickets!

 The pizza was delicious -- I was quite impressed!

More Legos -- his friends know him well!

He won 200 tickets on the wheel, but when they brought his voucher out a few minutes later, they had upgraded it to 400!

Everyone was able to find plenty of games to spend their nickels on. And of course they picked out some small prizes with their tickets before we went home. A good time was had by all, and I am sure that we will be going back to Nickel City in the near future!

The Magic of a Moment

Every year the school participates in the PTA Reflections program. Students can submit entries in different categories like visual art, photography, literature, choreography, and musical composition. This week both Nathan and Joshua submitted their work for the theme, "The Magic of a Moment."

Last month Joshua's teacher had the kids write something for Reflections. He chose to write about a rainbow. When he brought it home, I asked him a few clarifying questions and he added some more details. Just a few months ago, we couldn't get Joshua to write more than the minimum required for an assignment. Now he LOVES to write! Even though he didn't win the contest, Joshua received a certificate and small prize at the Awards Night tonight.

This is what he wrote:

The Magic of a Moment

Rainbow

One time when it was raining, I was standing on my porch. I looked at the mountains and saw a rainbow. It looked like it split in half. That is called a double rainbow. My dad took a picture of it. It looked beautiful. It is magic to me because I have never seen a double rainbow before.

Nathan has been working with his friend, Matthew, on a musical composition for his Reflections entry. Although he complains almost daily about practicing the piano and begs to quit, he has been EXTREMELY excited about writing and performing this piece!

Their song is titled "A Walk in the Forest" and is about two friends (a piano part and a violin part) who start off walking together and then they get separated from each other as a storm comes in. At the end they find each other again (which I believe is the magical moment). They were able to perform their piece at the Awards Night this evening. Although the song is simpler than some of the other music we heard tonight, I am proud that Nathan set a goal and used his new talents to create something new!

Eleven Already!

Nathan turned 11 years old this week! I'm sure I say it every year, but I really am amazed at how quickly he is growing up!

For his birthday dinner, Nathan wanted to do what we did last year -- a one-on-one date with Mom! He still favors Ryan for just about everything, so I was touched that he wanted to go with me. It was no surprise that he picked the Brick Oven!

This picture was taken with my new smartphone. I will have to learn how to hold it better so the pictures aren't so blurry next time!

When we got home from dinner, he opened family presents and we had cake. This weekend he will get a small friend party.

time to start opening presents

Kingdom Keepers books -- he loves to read!

Nathan is a Boy Scout now!

We gave him a small MP3 player -- he didn't see that one coming and was REALLY excited!

More books -- now he's set for the rest of the week :)

Nathan requested the cheesecake we had at Valentine's -- white chocolate raspberry with Oreo crust. Yum!

Webelos Award

Tonight both Benjamin and Nathan received awards at the cub scout Pack Meeting. Benjamin received a silver arrow point for his Wolf.

Benjamin leading the "cheer"

Nathan received his Webelos award! His birthday is in a few weeks, and he is so excited to start 11-year-old scouts. (A lot more excited about boy scouts than he was about finishing up his Webelos requirements, but he got it done anyway!) As part of his award, he got to put his hands in paint and leave his hand print on a canvas that the pack displays at the meetings.

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school! Things went smoothly this morning -- I love that they are excited for school! And everyone had a great day with their new teachers and classmates.

Nathan is in 5th grade

Benjamin is in 3rd grade

Joshua is in 1st grade -- his first year of going all day. Elizabeth and I will miss him!

A Week in Washington D.C.

As we drove home from the family reunion, we stopped by the airport and dropped Mom, Sam, and Nathan off. Many months ago, we planned for Nathan to visit Grandma and Grandpa Anders all by himself for a long week. Ryan and I thought it would be good for him to get that one-on-one time with his grandparents. We also want him to have the chance to see the sites in Washington D.C. before he learns U.S. history in 5th grade this coming school year. He has been so excited!

Since I wasn't there, I'll let him tell us about his trip:

The day I first got there, it was Sunday. I got out some Play-dough and made a sheep. I made it with a yellow body and then put black dots on top for its wool. Later in the week, Grandma taught me how to cross-stitch. I am working on a cross-stitch of Utah for my 4th grade teacher.

On Monday, Grandpa took me to Washington, D.C. We parked near the Jefferson Memorial, so we went there first. I learned that in Thomas Jefferson's time people could challenge each other to a gun duel if they were mad at each other. He won a duel and people still thought of him as a good guy.

There were quotes on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial

Then Grandpa and I got on a tour bus. We drove around for a while, taking many pictures of Washington D.C. The bus took us to the International Spy Museum, which was my favorite museum!

the Lincoln Memorial

another side of the Lincoln Memorial

The tour bus dropped us off and we went to a big grassy field in between the White House and the Washington Monument. After a while we saw a helicopter land in front of the White House. We watched President Obama get in and fly away (we were on the wrong side, so we could only see his feet)!

Back on the bus, we passed a lot more buildings, including the Capitol. It would have been faster to just walk because the bus took an indirect route compared to what we could have walked.

the Smithsonian castle

Washington Monument -- once again we couldn't go inside, this time because there had been an earthquake a few months ago

 There is a big river separating Washington D.C. from Virginia

Later in the week, Grandpa and I visited the Pentagon. We went to the memorial for the victims of the September 11 attacks. While standing at the memorial, you can look at the Pentagon and notice that a lot of the wall is a different color of stone -- that is where they repaired the wall after the attack.

this is the memorial

notice the right side of the building has darker stone than the left -- the right side has been repaired

Later in the week we got to visit Nanee in Norfolk. We spent the night and went to Busch Gardens amusement park. I was too busy having fun to take any pictures!

We spent two more days in Washington D.C. We went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing where they print the money, and we went to the Holocaust Museum. We also went to the Library of Congress . . . I was disappointed that they wouldn't let us go see the books because we didn't have a library card. To qualify for a library card, you need to have a driver's license!

One million dollars in ten dollar bills!

I am glad that I got to visit Grandma and Grandpa. I got lots of ice cream and Diet Coke and tacos and chicken nuggets! I really enjoyed my trip!

State Tournament

Nathan's baseball team, the Twins, had a really good season! They came in second in their league and so they advanced to the state tournament! They played 3 games in Payson earlier this week, and if they won 2 of them, they would advance to the next round.

Last year Nathan's team also went to the tournament, and we got creamed! Even though we were at a different location, I was expecting a similar outcome. Fortunately, this year was much better -- the teams were more of an even match.

We were winning the first game fairly soundly. Then the last inning two of our key players started making some cocky mistakes, and we ended up losing by a run! We won the second game -- it was close the whole time, but we won! The third game was really intense. Both teams had each won a game, so whoever won this game would advance to the next round. The Twins did really well at the beginning, and I was starting to arrange my schedule in my head to work around the next game. And then the momentum shifted, and we lost by a couple of runs.

Nathan got to pitch a little bit. He is also an amazing 3rd baseman, and during the tournament he made a few big plays at 3rd! Congratulations on a great season, Nathan! You have worked hard and it is fun to see your talents growing!