I was so sad.

Jeff and the boys went over to his parents' today since the whole family is in town. A statement was made, "Everyone's here." I was at work. Thankfully, Jeff noticed and mentioned my absence. He then asked the boys why I wasn't there, to which Liam replied "Mom has to work." Jeff asked, "Can't I work?" When Liam replied no, Jeff asked why, and Liam said "because you weren't trained to be a doctor."

Cole was recounting the conversation for me and mentioned that he had come home and he was alone with Liam and Daddy. I think he said, "but you were not here. I was so sad." It was so very cute. It's nice to know that I'm occasionally missed.

My Favorite Goalie

It's no secret that I have a thing for goalies. My sons are named after two of my favorites: Liam (unwavering protector) Patrick (Roy) and Cole (victory of the people) Martin (Brodeur). My favorite goalie, by far, though, is Jeff. He has had a very good week. His team won last Wednesday night. He got to play with his little brother at the Barn on Sunday, and today he got to play twice!

His first game today was the alumni game in LeSueur. It was the recent (<5 years) grads versus the old guys, and Jeff was the second oldest there. His team smoked the other one, winning by 7 or 8 or some especially large margin. Jeff had some beautiful saves, including the one pictured, for which he needed to skate back from right field (or so it seemed).

His second game was his usual Wednesday evening game. I thought his team would kick the Sewer Dogs' butts, since they had twice as many players, but it was reasonably close. Jeff's team won 7-3 or so.

People assume that we want our boys to play in the NHL. Why anyone would want that or even dream of it for children is beyond me, so no, that's not our goal. Mine is for our boys to develop a love of activity or exercise or sport. Jeff's is to someday play bar league hockey with his boys. What a lovely idea.

Naughty Cole!

It was so nice this morning to just lay in bed. School was cancelled due to the wind. I didn't have to get up for an admission. The boys woke up and asked to go play downstairs and they were being remarkably quiet. Then Liam came up and ratted out Cole.

Our lovely younger son decided this morning to see what was in all the bags in the den/craft room. Yes, that's a pretty stupid place to put presents, but with the guest room in use for the weekend and paltry closet space, it was the best place. They had also been there for weeks. I wouldn't have minded so much if he just wanted to look, but no, he wanted them all open! We came in to find the puzzle boxes torn open, the plastic part of one of Olivia's present cut open (and I still haven't found the missing piece), the Lego stocking stuffers apart and even started.

I had planned to start wrapping the gifts and putting them under the tree, but I suspect that would be a recipe for disaster. Do they build houses with gift-wrapping/gift storage rooms?

Miraculous!

Liam was perfectly fine this morning, but then started complaining of belly pain after climbing on the bed. At first, he should winced a bit, but still ate breakfast okay. We tried Motrin, ice, and lying around, but when he started not being able to walk except slowly on tiptoes, and didn't want to be bumped, we figured it was time he saw a doctor. (Why does this happen on Sundays?)

So we headed off to the ER. He complained about the bumps, didn't want to walk at all, and even the triage nurse thought he didn't look right. The very kind ER doctor saw him, thought he probably knew what it was, and went out to order the X-ray. Within a couple minutes, Liam was again perfectly fine. What do you think the ER will charge for spontaneous improvement?

I broke my clavicle.

Liam was having a pretty good day today until recess. He was playing football with some other kids when an older kid tackled him. He fell onto his right shoulder and hit it on a rock (but not one with points, which would have been bad). He didn't want to move his shoulder or have anyone touch him, so his teacher called me.

This is the first time I'd been to his classroom during school, and it's a pretty busy place. He was tearful when I first arrived, but that didn't last. I checked him out while a few other kids hovered. His friend Alex seemed quite concerned, especially when I decided to bring him to clinic for a visit.

Dr Solaiman saw him and ordered some x-rays. Liam did great and was very interested in what the pictures looked like. We really only would have needed the first one, which showed a greenstick fracture of his right clavicle. Jeff wasn't back in town yet, so we plopped Liam in between Nurse Angie and Nurse Roz. He had a great time eating pudding, popcorn, and chocolate, and really didn't seem all that bothered by having a broken bone. On the way out, his favorite nurse Renee asked how he was. He told her, "I broke my clavicle." What a cutie!

I am so proud of my little guy! He's wearing a sling, but using his hand to play and eat. He's been working on writing left-handed. He won't get to play hockey for a while, but he's okay with that. He's drinking lots of milk to help the healing, and was very surprised to learn that it started healing as soon as it broke. We moved his mattress onto the floor so he doesn't have to climb into his bunk and he seems pretty delighted by that.

Five little speckled frogs

Since Liam returned home from tae kwon do this evening, he has mostly been singing the same song: "Five little speckled frogs Sitting on a speckled log Eating the most delicious bugs Yum yum. One jumped into the pool Where it was nice and cool Now there's only four speckled frogs . . ." After one round, I asked him what 5-4 was and 4-3, etcetera. He got them all right, not surprisingly. I then asked him some addition questions, because we've done them before. I first asked, using my fingers to help, "What is 1 plus 1?" His response? "Eleven."

Celebrating Grandpa & Grandma's 60th Anniversary

Today, we celebrated my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. How cool is that? When they were married (at age 20), they had a party line (with a rotary phone), lap-style seat belts (3-points didn't come out until ten years later and then only in Volvos originally), and black-and-white photography. They raised 5 kids in a succession of communities, camped for real (tarps spread over a clothesline for a tent sometimes), traveled when they could, spent frugally, saved wisely and loved immensely.

Grandma now owns a digital camera (a gift from the grandkids), but couldn't believe how well she could hear me when I called her this summer from Alaska. They have 15 grandkids (plus spouses) and 10 great-grandkids (and of course their 5 kids and spouses) who spend as much time as possible hanging out with them, because they're really cool.

I think it's safe to say that each of us hopes to one day be just like them, having spent decades with the one they love, surrounded by the family they raised.