Ouch! A lesson learned...

Last night we spent part of the evening in the ER. It started with the night before Alex was holding Billy Jr's hand to bring him inside the house when Billy Jr jerked away from him abruptly (he was trying to throw himself on the ground in a full blown fit). That action either caused his elbow to dislocate or a bad sprain.
We watched him the rest of the night, no swelling or bruising, but he still wouldn't use that arm. The next morning it wasn't better and he wouldn't let anyone even touch his arm. Poor little guy! :(
When Billy got off work, we went to a picnic in the park with family (thanks for the dinner Beki and John - it was fun!). It was raining like crazy and thundering and lightening so we spent most of the picnic under shelter - thank goodness for the covered eating area!
Afterward my mom and I decided to take Billy Jr into the ER because he STILL wasn't using his arm and seemed to be in pain, although no swelling or anything abnormal looking about his arm.
By this time, it was after his bedtime so he was SUPER cranky. He wouldn't let any of the nurses or doctors touch him and he kept yelling "STOP!" at the doctor and the x-ray tech. A couple more nurses had to come in and see what all the fuss and screaming was about...that was just the x-ray.
Unfortunately, the easy fix of just popping his elbow back into place didn't work. Fortunately his x-rays were fine though-nothing broken. So most likely he just has a bad sprain and he's supposed to wear a sling the next couple of days while his elbow/arm heals and any internal swelling goes down. If he still is not using his arm by Monday, then it's back to the doctors. :(
Today he seems to be better, using it a tad more but mostly it just hangs in the sling and he refuses to even try to use it. :(

So lesson learned for Alex, and for us, if Billy Jr or any young child is trying to wrench themselves away from you - DON'T hold on to their arm or hand while they throw a fit, just pick them up...kicking and screaming if need be!

Brayden's first piano lesson

Brayden was SO excited for this day. He woke up bright and early and got dressed in his finest.

He was absolutely glowing after his first lesson, clutching his new piano lesson books and homework in his arms. His teacher said he did well but he was expecting to learn concert level songs the first day! haha

Here he is practicing his piano for today: (I am having video technical difficulties so here is just a direct link to the video)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/bethanbabes/?action=view&current=braydenpiano.flv

What fun! He loves it! And he has surprised me with how much he is learning and retaining already after just one 30 min lesson. :) He can already read music better then me - albeit I can't read any music! haha

Last Day of school - part 2

So my "surprise" to the boys was having Owen jump out and dump water on them, while I took pictures! haha I though it would be a funny kick off to summer joke. However, I didn't realize that Brayden was NOT in a good mood. He was upset about it being the last day and was a little sad. So after he was splashed-he ran inside and layed on his bed crying. :(
Alex however thought it was funny and even posed for pictures-letting Owen splash him.

Owen just starting to splash Brayden...


After the splash and before he stormed inside the house, slamming the door...



Alex letting Owen splash him...



THEN the other "surprise"...



Notice anything missing?


After all my threatening, I finally followed through and picked up ALL their toys into garbage bags. They can't have them back until they sort through the bags themselves. Their room looked like a tornado had gone through it before I confiscated everything! lol

Other fun pix - from yesterday at the park:



And a video of Alex playing with Gabriel today, haha.

School's Out for Summer!

(Turn up your speakers if you don't have them on - I've got a great theme song playing! hah!)

Today is the last day of school! WOOHOO! In some ways I'm scared, lol, but in other ways I'm excited for summer and for sleeping in!

Check in later today, because I'm going to give the boys a little last day of school surprise. hehe (sinister laugh...)

Dancing in the rain

Tonight we had a HUGE downpour. Realizing the great photo-op, I grabbed my camera and sent the boys out into the rain. It was perfect rainstorm weather. Warm, sunny but TONS of rain.
The dog was chasing raindrops even too!

I got lots of great pix - the rainstorm lasted about 15 minutes!

Gabriel's 4 month Photo

First of all - I posted another, longer, update first. However it is posted below this post, so make sure to scroll down and read the new updates!

I haven't posted new pictures of Gabriel lately, however I thought instead of just posting pictures like normal - I would have a little fun this time.

I'm going to post photos of all the boys, at around the same age as Gabriel now, and you have to guess which one Gabriel is! For me, I can see TONS of difference between the boys - but some people swear they all looked the same as babies. hmmm

You decide! Can you tell which baby is which? One is pretty easy...lol but the others are harder.

Baby 1:


Baby 2:


Baby 3:


Baby 4:


Baby 5:

Guy's Weekend

So this weekend, Friday and Saturday, Billy took Alex to Seattle. They had lots of fun while I stayed at home with the four youngest. It was hard work! haha But we had fun too and played in the kiddie pool aka mud bath, rented some movies for a "slumber party" in my room, and just had fun spending time together.

Here are the pix from Guy's weekend first - Alex took the pictures - that's why there is only a couple pictures, and one of a close-up of fish at Pike's Place Market and the other of Billy playing video games at Gameworks! haha

First though, here is a cool video of the roaring rapids at Deception Falls (or is it Deception Pass? I'm not sure...) The water was way high and moving really fast. Alex was too scared to even go out on the overlook thingy.

And now photos:

Pike's Place fish market:

Billy at Gameworks:

Now here's what me and the other four boys did at home:

Too cute photo of baby Billy talking to Lady. She was shaking his hand, wanting attention (like usual!). haha

Then she gives him some puppy love:

Owen in the mud bath:


Brayden, Owen AND Lady playing in the pool:


Brayden made me bet him to lay down in the mud bath:


Owen not being very nice to baby Billy!


Lady LOVES the water!


Watch out! Wet dog!


Brayden warming up in the sun:

Aww brotherly love!