Catch Up

I got blog guilt again. Jeff gives it to me. So now I'm going to play some catch up. Jeff posted a video of the Smith Family Reunion in August so I'm going to pick it up from there. Or maybe a little before. The last post before that was about Jake's broken finger (complicated by a lack of good parenting) so I want to let everyone know that he's fine now. It can bend all the way now even if he has to use his other hand to do it. If you get grossed out easily scroll past the next pics quick.

Just before they cut it off.

These are the pins that freaked Jake out, understandably

After they removed the cast, he saw that there were actually large pins sticking out of his finger and he freaked out. He wouldn't look at his own hand and forbid anyone from saying the "P" word (pin) till he was 12 years old. Twelve must be the magic age because he also wanted them to put the cast back on until he was 12 and then he would be ready to get it off. Didn't happen. The pins came out without much screaming and he spent the next hour peeling off all the dead skin on his hand. EWWWW!

The next month or so was spent swimming and playing.

At the end of July Hannah, Jake, and Jonny went to a week long, all day summer camp at the YMCA in Rockwall. They loved it! They learned archery, canoeing, shot BB guns, went swimming, went on field trips, and learned tons of games and silly songs. I highly recommend it. Rachel was too young so she went to a gymnastics camp. With the kids gone, I was free to shop. Whoo Hoo!

Then came the Smith reunion. A week filled with fun, sun, boating, swimming, and more cousins than the parents knew what to do with.  Once the kids were down the adults stayed up way too late playing Rook, Monopoly and many other games.

Some fun in the sand.

We didn't want to wash a plate for each of them. 

Our only unfortunate event during the summer involved Hannah. Right after our vacation, she was bit by a dog. It got her in two places right under her eye and right in the middle of her cheek. We were in Dallas and luckily Uncle Kurt travels with his ER bag. He and Jeff injected her with Lidocaine inside her mouth and then stitched her up in a bedroom. She actually did pretty well. The stitches came out before school but she still had steri-strips on the first day. If you look close at her face you can the scar under her left eye and the bandages on her cheek.

After all that, we headed back to Sulphur Springs for our last two weeks of summer before school started. They are all in school this year. That's right, you heard me, all of my kids are in public school all day. I know there are plenty of parents out there who dread the thought of school and and their little Tommy being away from them all day. Well, that's not me. My kids like to be doing things out of the house and they were all ready to be back in school and I'm happy to take them there. Even Rachel who told me not to walk her in on the first day "I can handle it myself mom". We are back into a routine now with the boys even riding their bikes to school. I love my quiet days especially when my afternoons and evening are so packed. Each week we have 4 baseball games, 2-4 baseball practices, 2 gymnastics practices, 3 piano lessons, 1 soccer practice, 1 soccer game, boy scouts and achievement days. Everything except the soccer game happens Mon-Thurs. So if you need me at all after school is out, too bad.

We were able to make one last trip down to the beach for some surf and swim before it got too cold a couple of weekends ago. It rained the whole time. So the surf was good but the swim was absent. Oh well. Let's all hope for a very short winter.

Oh yeah, I got to spend a week in Hawaii with a friend for an early birthday present. I have a great husband.

Isn't it soooooo pretty!