Toy hairballs and the trip to the ER

Monday was our first official day of Summer vacation. I decided that we really need to have some sort of framework for our day, otherwise it will be complete chaos all summer. The only problem is I'm not really all that good with structure. So I started small. Lunch, all together. Then story time. Then 10 minute tidy. OK, this was a good start and I was happy with that. I figure as the summer goes on, we can add a little more structure until school starts and it will be structured enough for us.

Monday and Tuesday were great. The girls played peacefully in the house or outside until lunch. They LOVE story time and they were actually quite cooperative when it came to the 10 minute tidy. The rule, by the way, is you either clean for 10 minutes and then you can go outside and play, or you stay in for 30 minutes.

Day 3. I'm busy cutting coupons, procrastinating about going to the grocery story (as I was proofreading this, I realized that I had written story instead of store. But that's what my girls call it, so I'm leaving it like that!) and trying to get organized. Oh and I'm also throwing in some laundry every now and again. The girls are busy playing inside...although not always peacefully. Rachel falls asleep...of course. Rena and Riley are playing upstair in their bedroom. Lunch is postponed due to an overconsumption of frozen gogurts and early nap. So already, my structured day is failing. So anyway, I walk upstairs to change a load of laundry and this is what greets me at the top of the steps.

It looks like the girls bedroom has coughed out a giant toy hairball! All this random stuff hawked up from the depths of the bedroom floor. Oh, the humanity!

But the fun doesn't stop there on this first Wednesday. Eventually, I give up on any hope of the grocery store and/or a 10 minute tidy...although by this point, the kitchen needs a 60 minute tidy. One of my neighbors calls and says "are you busy?" ehhh, NO. So we go sit outside for about an hour or so and socialize. These have become known as happy hours. And other neighbors join in.

But now it's dinnertime and I have porkchops that have to be cooked. So I bid my neighbors goodnight....they have other stuff they need to do too...and head inside to Shake and Bake. The twins are watching TV and Rena was sitting outside coloring with sidewalk chalk when I walked in. Well, not 5 minutes later, Rena comes in crying. And I know immediately that we will be taking a trip to the ER tonight.

Rena has fallen off her bike and split her chin open. OUCH. Poor things. She's really hurt. So, I slap a wad of paper towels on her chin to stop the bleeding. I tell the twins "Go to Miss Cheryl's house" (this is not something I need to say twice. They LOVE going to Miss Cheryl's house and playing with her and her 2 children. So, off they went without another word.) I start trying to call the pediatrician. Of course it's after hours so I have to wade through voice mail hell. I finally leave a callback number. Then I call the Children's Immediate healthcare center....and also get stuck in voice mail hell. But I need to start heading that way, because it will take me at least 25 minutes to get to the emergency room, which is my closest option. Then I call Miss Cheryl. She doesn't answer the house phone. Doesn't answer her cell phone. By this point I am cussing all phones in general.

So, I load Rena into the car with a red washcloth now controlling the bleeding (fyi, I picked a red washcloth so the blood wouldn't show and freak her out even more than she was already.) and head over to Miss Cheryl's. I park and go to the front door and knock. Eventually, I see my girls upstairs where the playroom is. They scream 'Mommy!' and head downstairs to let me in, the family dog in tandem. They unlock the door and the first thing they say is "nobody's here!" "What do you mean no one is here?" Turns out, my neighbors aren't home! The twins had crawled under the garage door and let themselves in! Yikes! 'Alright, come on', I tell them and shuffle them off to the car. But now I can't lock my neighbor's house back and I really don't have time to explain to the twins all that was wrong with what they did.

Luckily, one of the neighbors that had been at my house earlier had been watching the whole scene unfold, so she took the twins without question and fed them dinner. I have GREAT neighbors. And now Rena and I are off. We immediately pass my neighbor who's house the twins just broke into. So I flag him down and explain the situation. Turns out he doesn't get what I'm saying and thinks I've left the twins at his house (his wife was suppose to be watching them for me a little later this day). So he gets home, their bikes are their, but he can't find them OR his wife and he's totally confused! Poor guy.

Finally the doctor's office calls me back and directs me to the emergency room instead of the Immediate care center. Of course, I've already passed the exit, so I have to backtrack and head back to the ER. So an hour after Rena fell off the bike, we finally arrive at the ER. Rena was a real trooper. She was scared, but she did great. The PA comes in and says 'we can glue that'. Let me just say, Dermabond ROCKS! It's quick and painless and we were out of there in no time.

Back home. Picked up the girls who were back at Miss Cheryl's house. Everyone was tired. Especially Riley, who fell asleep in this position watching Southpark.

Fear not. I don't really let the kids watch Southpark. That's why I have the TV positioned so that I can see it.

Rachel just pretended to be asleep so that I would take a picture of her too.

Rena wasn't in the mood to mug for the camera last night, but she's feeling better this morning and is willing to show off her battle scar.

She had been talking about what she did wrong on her bike that caused the accident, so I'm glad she learned from her mistake. I'm just so sorry it hurt so much.

One eventful day of summer behind us already. And now we're off to the Georgia Aquarium!