Friday afternoon excitement

Well, Will's basketball season is over and maybe his baseball season too.  Why?  He broke his leg/ankle after school on Friday!!  

Caroline called me at work around 3:40 (something she never does) telling me Will had fallen and hurt his ankle.  I told her to have him elevate it and put an ice pack on it.  Then I hurried home.  I came in took one look at Will laying on the sofa and told him it was broken and we were going to the ER (he was still very pale).  Then I checked his ankle out!  It was swollen and very tender.  I didn't take his sock off to look.  I helped him hop to the car, Caroline and Eric helped grab his jacket and book, and I called Justin to let him know what had happened.  

We got to the local ER (were the only ones there!) and were immediately taken back and checked.  He got an x-ray and then the waiting and waiting and waiting happened.  It took over an hour to get discharge papers! 

He has a hairline fracture.

 Just waiting for the initial eval.

 Got a splint and waiting to see the Dr.

 All told we were gone for 4 hours!  He is adjusting just fine.  He is ready to go to school though.  Today the weather was warm-ish (mid 50's) and he hated missing out on the fun going on outside so we set him up a chair in the garage so he could be the judge!

If you can believe it this is the first broken bone for any on our kids!

Shooting Rockets

Saturday was a beautiful day.  Bright blue skies with a hint of spring in the air.  It was even above 50*!  Will finally convinced Justin to take him to the field to shoot off his new rocket.  We took a few extra kids with us as well.  7 kids to be exact and each one got an opportunity to press the igniter switch.  

Justin and his entourage getting set up.

 Jackson and Caroline getting excited about rockets.

 After shooting each rocket the kids would all chase after it trying to catch it!!  Will caught one and Eric caught another.

 Lots of good teaching/learning opportunities!

 Eric shooting one off.  You can see the smoke stream!

Ice Day

School was cancelled today due to ice.  And ice it did, along with thunder and lightening!  It was an exciting morning.

The kids were excited to have another day off of school, but not excited when I said we were going to do chores and clean out dresser drawers!  If only I knew when and where we were going to move next I could really make some good progress on getting ready and organized.  But, we won't know anything until March 1st and with Justin traveling for spring break it looks like the kids and I can use that week to prep some if we need to.

In the mean time the kids (boys mainly) have strung up balloons to use a nerf gun target practice in the basement!  They are loving it.  My basement is a disaster but that's what it's for and I don't have to go down there if I don't want too!

 Our windows are a sheet of ice on the outside.

 That's all ice.  No snow at all.

So far we haven't lost power.  But the temps aren't supposed to get above freezing, so we'll see if we go to school at all this week.

The Art of the Brick

Yesterday we went to eat lunch at Q39.  It's a BBQ restaurant that has won many awards for it's BBQ.  It was delicious!  The uncles and Grandaddy took Caroline there when they were in town.  Then after lunch we headed to Union Station to the Art of the Brick exhibit.  We all really enjoyed Nathan Sawaya's creations and marveled at them.  I surely was never that creative in my lego playing days!

 Will wants to try and recreate this hand.  I'll be sure to let you know if he ever does!

 Since KC is known as the "fountain city" below is a model of the fountain Nathan Sawaya is gifting to the city.

Visitors

We had a house full of visitors (back in January) and we all really loved having them.  Caroline and I were severely out numbered with my dad and 3 of his brothers in the house.

In the picture below they were discussing ID cards.

 Miles loved the company as much or more than the kids did!  He would take turns visiting everyone.

 One morning Eric asked Uncle Kelly to teach him how to play chess.  Eric was a fast learner and has continued to practice with Justin.

 Then Uncle Paul and Will worked on a presentation for his class.

 Uncle Eric got in on the action as well and kept Eric on task with his homework.

 Then to have some balance the next morning Uncle Kelly and Eric watched cat videos on youtube!!

Caroline also went to the WW1 museum with all the guys.  Yes, we let her miss school.  She went for about an hour in the morning and with all the assignments posted online she did her work in the car and didn't miss anything or fall behind.  

When it was time for them to leave the kids kept begging them to stay for the weekend!  We enjoy visitors and hate to see them go!  

Thanks for coming!!

First Jr High dance

Tonight is a BIG night in the Redfern household!  Caroline is going to her first dance.  This isn't the first dance at the school but the first one she has been free to attend.  

It was a busy (as usual) lead up with taekwondo Thursday night and she had to volunteer at a festival as part of being on the Odyssey of the Mind team from school today from 4-6.  With the dance starting at 6:30 that didn't leave much time to get ready, so she decided on a hair do and we did hair on Thursday night.  

 The hair do survived the night and day at school.  I just needed to add some hair spray and bobby pins and voila!!

 She went with 2 other girls from her class.  They both were in 6th grade with her last year and the one in the middle is her very best friend Maddie.

As if we needed more assurance that holding Caroline back was the best decision we could make for her, both those girls are younger than her!!  She's a tad of a late bloomer, just like her mom and dad. lol

I also need to brag on my lovely girl.  She again made the principal list at school for having a 4.0 GPA.  Her math average is almost a 100!  I am constantly amazed at her!!