Even though it’s almost a week later, I wanted to write about our idyllic last Sat. afternoon.  It’s really not much to write about I guess.  But it was so nice to have a day when we were all in the house, people were getting work done, and children were lovely with each other for HOURS!  So we weren’t idle, but it was idyllic.  Tim and I were very busy with dishes, laundry, yard work, making food for people, etc.  But we got to talk once in a while, and we felt good about getting stuff done together.  And even though our children seem to love AND like each other, they have frequent "kid" skirmishes.  So how absolutely wonderful for them to play together for hours on end that day, with hardly any issues.  They built Mega Bloks towers and robots together, shoved stuff back and forth to each other under the couch, "played" the piano, colored pictures, and were simply precious.  I remember thinking, "This is the life."  Yes, part of me would like to travel to exotic places, have certain nicer things, drive a minivan or crossover, have a house with maybe one more bedroom, see more movies, eat out more often (esp. places w/o a drive-thru), have a housekeeper, and an always- available babysitter.  I’d even like to have more time to visit friends and go to the park without thinking of what a mess the house is.  And while all of that (on one level) might be nice, would it really enhance what we experienced on Sat.?  I have a great life.  I love my husband, my children, my life.  Sat. afternoon was a nice reminder of it.  

Not to mention the fact that I got a kick out of figuring the total cost of our supper and felt even better.  I don’t do this often, but Sat. I tallied the cost of everything (as close as I could get), including things like the one egg and the butter used for the pork chops and stuffing.  We had breaded pork chops, stove top stuffing, glazed carrots, and applesauce.  There was also a salad of greens, onion, garden tomatoes, and blueberries.  We had cranberry juice and milk to drink, and grasshopper cookies for dessert.  Cost of supper for 4 (with a few leftovers): $7.40    Cost of an idyl afternoon: priceless.

Okay, for those who don’t know, here’s the story of how Caleb broke his right clavicle.    

We were in Colorado for two weeks visiting my family.  My niece has a bunk bed, and I understand the temptation for the little guy.  But he had been told and told and told to NOT get on the bunk bed.  It’s sad, and unfair, I know.  But I didn’t want him falling off (for one thing it’s REALLY tall), and seriously, what’s the point?  You get four kids ages 2-8 up on a bunk bed… what do you THINK is going to happen?  I had also instructed Ethan to stay off of it, unless given special permission — if for no other reason than keep Caleb from feeling too left out.

So for two weeks, somehow, we all managed to keep the boy off the ladder and the bed.  Until the day before we left.  It was about 2-3 hours before we were supposed to pick up Tim from the airport shuttle, I was not in the room with the kids, and in fact I was not even upstairs.  I should have known better.  (Although there were plenty of times when I wasn’t up there.  The other kids were pretty good about "policing" the situation.)  Suddenly there was crying and wailing and gnashing of teeth as Aunt Kristi came flying down the stairs holding my baby.  He actually didn’t even fall off the bed.  He was on the ladder, slipped at some point and crashed hard.  Best guess is he landed on his shoulder and the transferred force broke his collar bone.

Since there was no blood, no bones sticking out, no swelling, no bruising, no obvious trauma, AND he stopped crying in a few minutes, I decided we didn’t need an ER trip away from home.  But by Sat. morning when he still complained about his arm hurting when we picked him up, we thought maybe he had a hairline fracture in his upper arm.  Then by Sunday when he had stopped using his right arm almost entirely, we really thought there was reason to seek medical attention.  But we were in the middle of Kansas, and as long as he was sitting in his car seat and we were gentle with his right side we figured we could make it home and call the dr. Mon. morning.  

Which is what we did.  That’s when we found out it was a broken clavicle, which had not even occurred to us. 

So there’s the basic story.  He has to wear a brace around his shoulders for two weeks (you can’t really cast a clavicle), then go back for a check-up.  He does okay for the most part, as long as we AND he AND his brother are careful.  He’s very cute in the ways that he tries to get out of using it.  

And anyone who wants to tell Tim to lay off… you’re welcome to go for it.    He doesn’t really mean it (I don’t think), but he makes comments about not going back to Colorado anymore because "chairs fall on babies’ heads, people end up getting rabies shots, kids break their collar bones, your parents go to concerts where marijuana is openly sold, and Boulder is really close by — and who knows what kind of crazy ideas are floating around in the air just from Boulder!?"   I mostly just laugh at him and tell him to relax…. maybe I’ll really start annoying him by saying things like, "Hey man… just chillax.  It’s all good."   He’ll LOVE that.   The fact is, I DO have parental guilt about our kids getting hurt when I was the only parent on duty.  But I also know that kids get hurt.  AND that other than the rabies thing, the stuff that’s happened to us in CO is stuff that could have happened in OK too.

Now, as to Mary Jane and Boulder…. well, that’s really a whole separate issue.  And just so I don’t get in BIG trouble for this, I have to defend my parents on the marijuana thing.  They went to a Willie Nelson concert at Red Rocks with Mom’s brother and his wife some time ago.  Red Rocks is a really cool and beautiful amphitheater cut out of the red rock (sandstone?), and the acoustics are amazing.  However, it is well known (locally, at least) for being a great place to purchase some Weed during a concert.  Steven, Kristi, and I knew this.  My uncle’s kids knew this.  Apparently, none of the "old ones" knew this.  But we didn’t know about them buying the tickets to this thing until the tickets were purchased.  So all of us died laughing, "You’re going to see WILLIE NELSON — at RED ROCKS!?  hahahahahaaaaaa…. Don’t get too high to drive!  Oh, and I’m SURE Willie won’t be using the stuff!   hahahaha!"   My Mom: "What?   No, I’m sure that won’t be happening."         Oh man, were the four of them scandalized.  Said it was a good show, though.

 Thus ends my current stream of consciousness.    

Oh man….  just saw the trailer for the Harry Potter 7 (part 1) movie!   Comes out Nov. 19 this year.   Not been overly impressed with the movies for the most part.  The books are just too big for the big screen.  But now I’m excited again and hope to make plans with my friend Alyssa to go see it.     (And whoever else wants to go.) Maybe the last two won’t disappoint.   Maybe.  Hope springs eternal, right?