Little Boys and the ER

So Tuesday I made a dumb comment and said that we have only made one trip to the ER for pneumonia and that we have been lucky. Time to update. Last night Cam was in the shower, slipped on Diego, and cracked the back of his head wide open to the point that we have now seen our son's skull. It was so bad that it actually cut his hair. The doctor thought we had tried to cut his hair around the laceration. Yeah, no time for that really. Dennis was the one who walked in and saw what looked like a murder scene (one in which I will be bleaching floors to get rid of the evidence...doesn't that always work, ha-ha). Apparently head wounds bleed like a stuck pig. So we called my mom, who lives close, thankfully, to come watch Brodan and Piper and headed on down to the hospital on the longest, most red-light ridden ride of our lives. I have to give props to Georgetown hospital, which you most certainly don't hear of very much, because they got us in and out in about an hour and a half and they were great with us and Camden. He has 4 stitches inside his head and 8 staples on the outside. He will forever have a scar in his hair. I am so proud of him, too. He was very brave. So I need to change my statement from Tuesday to say that little boys make me laugh AND cry.

These pictures are just a day in the life of little boys. How either one didn't end up with a complete black eye, I don't know. So far we haven't had any ER runs, with the exception of pneumonia (of course it had to be a Saturday), so I guess we are lucky. Although, they are still pretty little. Little boys just make me laugh. It is either a mile a minute or a snail's pace for these two.

For Camden's 5th birthday, instead of having a big party, Dennis and I took just him to SeaWorld for the day. It was the first time that he had ever done anything with just him and mom and dad. That made me sad. Now, he has done lots of stuff with just me or just dad, but never together. It was such a great experience that we decided that that is the 5th birthday-deal from here on out. I will make it a point, though, that Dennis and I do something with each child, on a smaller, less expensive scale, every year. Why is this such a difficult thing to do? When I write it down, it sounds terrible of us. And I really think that we are a very family oriented family, especially at this point with everyone so young, but to do that seems like a huge ordeal to undertake. It will be so worth it, though. Cam had the best day and so did we!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY, CAMDEN! WE ALL LOVE YOU!

The Mek Tribe

I am so sad. Last week, I discovered "Living With The Mek Tribe" on the travel channel and watched 3/4 of the day's marathon. Yesterday, I finished watching it and the season finale. And now, I have nothing. It was the most interesting show. I would be dead in 2 days, or at least dropped like a hot potato and ditched quickly because I would never make it and would be such a detriment to anyone who had to deal with me. What a hard life. Watching the show made my mission trips to Haiti seem like a vacation, although, I don't quite "live" completely the way the Haitians do when I go. However, it is still roughing it! Tribal life was such an amazing thing to watch and it is funny, even though we have "advanced" over centuries, our relationships are just as messed up and/or wonderful as an indigenous tribe of people's in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I hope they do a "reunion" show. Just joking. What a great show.

Camden turns 5 this week. I.can.not.believe.it.

The Elliott team

Camden has begun T-ball. For those who have seen 4-6 year olds play T-Ball, you know that it is a complete joke. Well, at least for those parents who don't think that their child's career is at stake anyway. Cam has had a few games, and he absolutely LOVES it! That said, poor baby is not a natural. He has the batting thing, running the bases thing down, but playing out in the field? Uh. No. It doesn't matter where he is playing, he chases the ball while it is in motion. Or, if he is playing a base, and there happens to be a coach standing close to tell him to stay by the bag, he stands on it and puts his hand out like he is directing traffic to tell the runner to stop. His birthday is next week and we are seriously getting him a video game thingy(that is daddy territory) with a baseball game, so that he can see and learn the rules better. The boy is freaky about rules, so hopefully this will help. We try and explain at home, but there isn't enough people for him to get the gist of it all, so we just practice catching, fielding grounders, batting, and that type of thing. Now, I say that we aren't parents who think that our kids will live,eat, sleep the sport at 5 years old, but it is hard to watch your kid shooting imaginary spider webs and having imaginary conversations with his glove without yelling out his name to pay attention once in awhile. And can we pee while we are in the dugout waiting to bat or does it have to be out on the field, where EVERYONE gets to hear about it? Of course, he isn't the only one, but definitely one that you can count on for entertainment EVERY TIME. Just like I am sure his violin teacher refers to him as the kid who farts every lesson when she talks about her day. It is only 30 minutes for crying out loud, can you hold it please?! Does anyone know what age children begin to be embarrassed about everything, 'cause I'm waiting! I am learning, though. I don't cringe as much as I used to.

And a Brodan story? About a month ago we passed a lady coming out of the restroom at HEB(because we always have to go check out every bathroom) who smiled at the kids. Unfortunately, she was missing a couple of teeth. So Brodan, in his very loud bellowy voice, screams, while pointing, "hers don't have her teef, Mama!" and again, "hers don't have her teef!" She stopped smiling.

Piper hasn't done anything embarrassing yet, except pitch fits, and give go to hell looks to strangers who try to smile and talk to her. She can't help it, she's 2 and her face is either hot or cold, smiling or eat my shorts.

Ahh, kids. I am so glad that we are ripping the band-aid off, so to speak. It is a very challenging time right now with everyone home and these ages, but definitely entertaining. People who homeschool are saints.