time to catch up!

First things first...I am overwhelmed with emotion reading your sweet comments to my last post - thank you for lifting my spirits! 

I've let it go and moved on. There's too much good in this world waiting to be revealed to us to be caught in a net of negativity. To each and every one of you who took the time to drop me a line...my life is richer for having you in it. THANK YOU doesn't seem quite adequate, but I hope you will be able to somehow feel my heart behind those two little words.

I never intended to be gone for this long, but life has a way of getting in the way, you know?? I knew you could relate! 

Right after my last post, we had two back to back crazy things happen and well, you know the rest!! First, Grace had a rainbow loom incident. She begged me to take the rainbow loom bracelet kit in the car to pass the time and even though I hesitated, I said yes. Well, lo and behold, that was NOT a good idea!! 

As we were rushing to get out the door on time one morning, I heard blood-curling screams coming from the garage. In full Olympic sprint mode, I raced to see what was going on, only to find the little pumpkin mouth agape, with the rainbow loom needle sticking STRAIGHT OUT!!  She said she didn't have it in her mouth as she was getting in the car, but my mama intuition says otherwise. Seems she lost her balance somehow and the needle went straight in her mouth and pierced the inside of the roof of her mouth, at the very back of the soft palate. IT.WAS.STUCK!

{This is when 10 minutes seem to go on forever.}  It was buried in a way that I couldn't see which way the hook was facing to be able to pull it out in the opposite direction. I called Lance, who had already left for work, and couldn't get him. Finally, called my mom and luckily she was in town and was able to come over to assist me. I just knew there was no way I could drive her to the ER like that. I needed another adult to drive so I could hold her. 

She was being so brave. I had to leave her alone in our room to go dig for a flashlight {figures!}. I was simultaneously trying to calm her down and saying a prayer. I decided to try one more time after asking her to swallow all the yucky blood and spit {she was a trooper, I tell ya!}. When she did that, I was able to gently tug and see a tiny point of the hook, so I twisted and pulled in the opposite direction and voila, the darn needle came out...yes, along with lots more blood and saliva!!  YUCK! 

Pic has nothing to do with that morning...but it does have 3 of my favorite people in it!! :)

Noonie examined her and said it would heal on its own - that she didn't need other emergency medical care - that was a huge relief! So after some mama cuddles and ibuprofen, we managed to make it to both schools on time. Talk about a crAzY morning!!

And if that wasn't enough, the next day, one of our bathrooms flooded...while we were gone to ballet and dinner...luckily it was CLEAN water!! {count your blessings!}. Water got into our hall {wood floors}, living room, and Grace's room. We spent the next 4 days with 8 industrial size fans and some crazy looking machine the water damage crew brought in. The damage was minimal, thank goodness, and I can't tell you enough how HAPPY I was when they came to get the last of the fans out. Living in an "airport runway" is NOT for me - ha!

So as you can see, blogging took a step back...waaaaay back! But stay tuned for some fun pics from the little pumpkin's first Daddy-Daughter Dance!! A couple of days before the dance, I asked her what she thought about the whole thing and she struck this little pose. Soooooo sweet! I made her recreate it just so I could grab my phone and take a pic - ha!

She stole my heart. As did this little fella when he gave me the valentine he made me at school. I am one lucky mama to be able to call these two little people mine.