Hannah has recovered

Hannah has been off her crutches now for the last couple of weeks. She is back to her normal self. She is playing softbal this season and all is well. Lucky girl. Lucky parents.

You really DO have to look both ways before you cross the road.

Just ask my daughter. She got careless and...got hit by a car. This happened last Thursday, Feb. 24.

I was in the house when my son came home from school. He walked in the door and went to put his back pack in his room. Suddenly, he screamed the longest, most shrill I'd ever heard him scream. Then came the words..."Hannah got hit by a car!" He saw her through his bedroom window, just after she got hit, laying there in the road.

We live in a rural area that has the mailboxes only on one side of the road. Our mailbox is across the street. I would let her check the mail for me every day. The bus would drop her off, then she would cross the street and check the mail. After checking the mail, she walked a few yards down the road, since the mail box isn't directly in front of our driveway. A car was passing her. The driver saw her and slowed down significantly. She was walking straight ahead and he had no reason to believe that she would suddenly turn into the road. Well, without warning, she turned and walked right in front of the car. He slammed on the brakes, but couln't avoid hitting her.

She was in the hospital for 2 days. She suffered several skull fractures, but no bruising of the brain! That means no concussion! She fractured her hip in several places. One fracture is a weight bearing spot. When she stands, it puts pressure directly on the fracture. So she has been on crutches.

Its been almost 2 weeks and she's almost back to normal, except for the crutches.

The children are not allowed to check the mail anymore.

This was a very serious situation that could have had devastating results. We are grateful. So grateful to have our beautiful girl with us.

Wade's Haircut

Wade cut his own hair.













So I had to cut it. I gave him a mullet, just to be funny.


Of course, the mullet didn't last. Now he just has short hair.

Just some ramblings

This post was originally written on Feb. 15 as an email to a friend.

Snow in Arkansas

The weather has been chilly lately, but it is warmish today, in the 50's. We got snow on Friday, and Redfield got more than everyone else, so Hypatia got busy making a snow man and then Sean took the kids to a little hill to do some sledding in these plastic disc thingies that he bought when he saw that it was snowing. I made hot chocolate and we got a fire going in the fireplace when they got home. As you know, snow in AR is a bit of a rarity, so we were geared up for fun. It melted the next day, though.

I really need to finish my education. Sigh.

I never graduated from college. And now, I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking about going to work. But I really need an education so I can get a decent job! I started nursing school in 2002, but I quit after one semester. To say I hated it would be an understatement. Just the thought of going back to nursing school is enough to turn me into a pile of mush, crying, with a sick feeling in my stomach. I just don't think nursing is for me, you know? So now I'm leaning toward teaching school. Having kids and teaching school seems like a perfect combination to me. Sean hated teaching, so he really thinks that I would hate it too. I just don't know. My sister teaches kindergarten and younger, and she won't go any older than that. She says to stay away from the older, middle school and high school aged children, that they are just intolerable. I am a notoriously bad disciplinarian (I pretty much let kids do what they want). So maybe I shouldn't be anywhere near a school! Sean is just convinced that if I just get the intestinal fortitude to make it through nursing school, I won't regret it. He may be right, but I just don't know if I can do it. Academically, I could handle it, but I hated being in the hospital, doing all that nursing stuff.
So, to get some idea of what its like to be in a school as a sort of teacher, I just signed up to do student teaching with our local school district. So, any day now, I'll start doing some subbing. They only pay $50/day, and I'll have to pay a babysitter to watch Wade, so really I won't be making much, but its more for the experience anyway.
I don't know where I'm going with all these ramblings I'm just obsessed with getting this all figured out! I want to start school again in the fall, and whatever I do, its my final choice. No more foolin' around! Good grief, I have about 100 credits!!! And I'm not anywhere near a bachelors degree! This sucks! I have practically no job experience beyond minimum wage jobs, and I've been a stay at home mom now for 10 years. I know I've been a good person, and a great mom and all that jazz, but career-wise, I've just gone nowhere! I'm almost 37 years old, but I feel like I just graduated from high school as far as my employability goes. Ok, I'll stop ranting. :)

Valentine's Day

The kids had Valentine's parties at school yesterday and they all came home loaded with candy. I was busy cooking a fancy Valentine's meal so I just wasn't really paying close attention, and by the time Sean came home, there was candy everywhere all over the house. This candy business just escalates first with Halloween, then Christmas, then Valentine's Day, then Easter! The candy just never ends! We've learned to just start throwing it away. When the children know you have their candy stashed somewhere secret in the house, they just wake up every morning asking for sugar!