A Week in Review...

I have learned this week that I take some simple things in life for granted:

• Kids who can dress themselves.
• Kids who can walk in the grocery store without crutches.
  
• An 8 year old who is a big helper - when he is not on crutches.
• Sleeping in the same bed as my husband. (Somehow Gabe and Jess have switched beds...)
• Water proof casts and Orthopedic Surgeons.
  
• Good friends who show up when least expected but when needed the most.
• Good friends who shower Gabe with attention.
• A husband who is such a "handy man".
  
• Green in my garden.
• A car, even though gas is so expensive.
• Water for my lawn.
• A properly working DVD player - mine broke. VHS what?? Yes, we still own one and still use it...
  

Flashback Friday...

In honor of our little dare devil, Flashback Friday shows cast #1. This was August of 2004. He was climbing UP the slide when someone came down the correct way and knocked him off. Dad and Grandpa Madsen actually cut this cast off. So naughty.

I just have to point out that I LOVE Gabe's big brown eyes, his cute little button nose, his sweet smile...isn't he so darn cute??

Gabe Update...

Gabe has been doing so well, considering what happened to him. He has mastered the crutches already. He figured out to go up and down the stairs outside on his crutches, and scoots on his bum going up and down stairs in the house. We got his cast on today and he picked...



Looks good, huh? Check out the purple bruise on his bicep...

We truly have the greatest friends and neighbors. So many calls to offer to take Emma or come sit with Gabe. He has had a Rootbeer Float (his favorite!), ice cream, shakes, water guns, movies, coloring books....so spoiled! His friends have been super cute. Brady and Nathan from across the street came over Monday with ace bandages wrapped around their arms and legs. Today, Nathan showed up like this...

He said he was awfully sweaty...

Ouch!

Sunday afternoon, our family took a nice walk to a park above our house. Emma rode in the stroller and Gabe strapped on his helmet and rode his bike. It is quite a little hill to climb from our house to the park. We enjoyed talking with neighbors, watching the kids play on the playground, and reading the newspaper. When it was time to head down the hill, Gabe took off on his bike and we followed him with Emma in the stroller. Not too far down the hill a car pulled up asking if we had a little boy riding a bike. Oh, dear...yep, we do. He was at the bottom of the hill and hurt badly. The guy took Jesse to the bottom in his car, and I ran with Emma in the stroller. When we got to the bottom, we found a sobbing Gabe, a wrecked bike, and a rod iron fence that looked like this...

A guy from our ward saw it all happen and called 911....he said Gabe was literally flying down the hill. We don't know if he froze up and couldn't pull the brakes....who knows. But he hit the curb and then the fence. Thank goodness for helmets...his is cracked. Kids - wear your helmets. The ambulance came, and then we took him to the ER to have his leg x-rayed. And...it's broke. This is just a splint. We get the cast on Wednesday for 6-7 weeks. (Any ideas for summer fun with a cast?)

His face is pretty bruised up...

And his arms...
But he gets to do this all day...eat Skittles and watch movies...

Flashback Friday...

Dresden, Germany in front of the Elbe River.

Fourteen years ago, I graduated from High School and then spent a month in Germany with the German Club from school. What a great experience it was for a small town teenager getting ready to venture out on her own. I stayed with a family whose daughter had stayed with my family the year before. What sweet memories...I ate my weight in pastries...good thing we rode bikes everywhere.

Can you find me in the picture? I am in the black shirt on the right. With the pants cinched up above my bellybutton, shirt tucked in, and rolled up shorts. You can't see my feet, but I can guarantee I am wearing black socks (what else - you must match your socks with your shirt) and probably those brown leather lace up boots. You know the ones. You all had a pair.

One regret I have - not being a little older while I was there. I'm sure I would have appreciated the entire experience a little more.

One thing I did right - I gathered lots of postcards, took pictures of people and little details I wanted to remember, then came right home and made a scrapbook while it was all fresh in my mind.

A Week In Review...

A little late, but still...here's what made me smile last week:

• Friends coming to stay with us on their way to Texas. They were our first "married" friends after we were married. It doesn't matter how long it has been since we have seen them, we still pick up right where we left off.
• Bath and Body Works Semi-Annual Sale.
• Jesse taking the kids to see Kung Fu Panda.
• Taking Emma for rides in her birthday wagon.
• Seeing my flowers grow...slowly...
• Another night of Hand and Foot with the Bennett's. We lost...that's okay...winners bought ice cream! Yummy!
  
• Taking a walk at Thanksgiving Point Gardens.
• Eating ice cream from JCW's.
• Signing the family up for the 4th of July Freedom Run. 5K...do you think Gabe can do that?
  

So Tired...

I found Emma like this during lunch the other day...