Audrey's birthday week

Audrey had a wonderful time this week, celebrating her 8th birthday with family and friends. Her actual birthday was last Tuesday, the 14th. Audrey and I made cupcakes the night before that she took to her class to celebrate at the end of the day. We celebrated that evening with homemade pizza, ice cream sandwiches, and sharing our favorite memory we have of Audrey this past year (post one in the comments if you have one...she'd love to read them all)! Friday night was a Father-Daughter Dance at school, a fun event to land on your birthday week. Randy and Audrey had a blast dancing the night away ('til the late hour of 8) with her classmates and their dads! Saturday was her party. Audrey wanted to go to Storyland for her birthday this year...so storybooks were sent out to invite friends! We had our picnic lunch in Roeding Park, across from the entrance. We set up a storytelling chair, with blankets all around, that Audrey had fun sitting in to read to her guests while they waited for the hot dogs to cook. After lunch she had fun sitting in her chair again to open presents! Then for dessert! Some cupcakes had little books on them that spelled out Happy Birthday; others had marshmallow castles. Audrey made "thank you" bookmarks that she handed out to her guests inside storybooks of their own that they could take home as favors. After that, off to Storyland! I had never even been to Storyland before. It is a wonderful, imaginative playground that is perfect for little kids. All the little houses and slides are just their size (see them peeking out of one of the Little Pigs' houses above). And Audrey brought her key to put in the boxes and hear the stories. As if Storyland weren't fun enough, after leaving the park we got to get on the train that took us a couple hundred feet to Playland! This spring, you can get a "Play all day" bracelet for only $10 (their answer to the recession) that is good for both parks! So we took advantage of the price cut and enjoyed the entire afternoon in the park! The girls ran from ride to ride; it was so fun to see them smile and laugh and feel like "big girls" going on everything without an adult! By 3 o'clock the kids were wearing down and feeling the heat (it got close to 90 degrees). But, no worries, they just jumped into the Splash Station to cool down! And then, sopping wet and exhausted, we headed to our cars for the ride home. Audrey finished her day dressing up and serving tea to her brother and sister as well as trying out her new "Samba Samba Maraca" game on the Wii. What a great day!

Sunday we were ready to relax. After a slow morning, lunch, and big nap, we walked down the block to have dinner with the Wiens' family. After dinner the adults were relaxing in front of the TV, watching some play-off basketball, the kids were enjoying the warm spring weather in the backyard. Isaac was happily climbing the grapefruit tree, collecting the fruit one by one and lining them up by the back door to make some juice. And then comes the scream from the yard that every parent knows means something is just not right. We look outside to see Isaac crying, running to the door and holding the back of his head. As I'm already saying, "You're OK. You're OK." I can see the blood on his hands and the back of his neck. Knowing that head wounds bleed a lot (from unfortunate events with Isaac before, see this post), I calmly took a look at it to quickly assess that this was NOT small. I immediately squeezed the 2 inch gash shut with my palm and gave it some good pressure as we walked back out the door to keep blood from dripping onto the carpet. Aaron was already at my side with an ice pack and first aid kit, Randy was running out the door to get the van, and Christa's asking if it's bad enough to call 9-1-1. Audrey, upon hearing the words 9-1-1 starts screaming and asking "Is the ambulance coming?". So we're calming down two children now, trying to find out what happened. It was a simple slip out of the tree as one of the bottom branches broke off with his weight. If he'd landed on the ground it would have been no big deal. But the tree is really close to the fence, and wood isn't very forgiving when breaking a fall.

Well, Aaron drove Isaac to the emergency room, with Randy keeping pressure on his head in the back seat. I got the girls home (Audrey now calm) and in bed before calling around to find someone to come sit at the house with the girls so I could go to the ER and relieve Aaron (thanks again Mike and Abi). By the time I got there, Isaac was already in a room, head assessed, irrigated, numbed and bandaged. He was playing games on Aaron's phone, just waiting for the doctor to return and staple up the wound. He was a trooper, laying very still as the doctor punched 8 staples into the back of Isaac's head. We were home before 11 and Isaac was asleep within minutes. Whew! What a way to end the week. Auntie Christa lovingly kept the grapefruit on the kitchen windowsill for Isaac to make juice sometime this week. After all that, he should enjoy the fruit juice of his labor!