Ankle Update

As it turned out, I really did break my ankle. I also sprained it. I went to Urgent Care the weekend that I injured myself and saw an orthopedic doctor a few days later. He couldn't tell from my Xrays if the bone was fractured but he thought it was. To be sure, he sent me for a CT scan.

He said it didn't really matter because treatment was the same. Stay off of it, elevate and ice. 

The CT scan was weird! I didn't have to have my whole body in the gigantic tube, just the knee down. Then I went back to the orthopedic doctor.

He showed me the CT scan images on his smart phone, and told me that he would email the little video clip to me (never did). In the CT images, you can clearly see that the tip of the tibia bone is broken off. Not fractured, not chipped, broken.  At least I didn't break my leg bone in half and develop a new bend in the middle, right?

Since I am a trustworthy grown-up (doc's words and I didn't pay him extra to say that), I was given a choice of a boot or a cast. After three weeks in the splint, I got a tall walking boot. It is so big and heavy, I'm not sure if it was the right choice. But, the 100 degree weather keeps reminding me that indeed, the boot was a good decision.

With the boot, I can scratch my itches. I can use lotion. I can strap an ice pack on. I can air out. And best of all, I can take it off and have a nice bath!  I wear the splint at night because the boot is to cumbersome for sleeping and the doctor suggested switching to the splint for night use too.

I had xrays done again the day I received my boot. The dr said I'm healing nicely. Yay for healing!  It doesn't feel like I'm healing at all, so I'll take his word for it. My ankle and foot are still swollen, still can't wiggle my toes, and still have a lot of pain. The bruising is starting to go away.

I have to stay off of that foot until August 8th, and if all is well at that point then I can start to apply pressure and begin to walk on it. I will have to wear the boot until mid-September, again, that 's if it heals well. After that, I will have to invest in a decent pair of shoes and stick to my promise to never jump off my bed again.

I can't wait for mid-September!

Spider Killing Ninja, That's Me

Last night at midnight I was finally getting to bed. It had been a long day of beach and sunshine with three of my daughters and all three of my grandsons. Wonderful day well spent!

Of course, the littles fell asleep in the car and traffic was slow, so they napped good and hard. This totally destroyed bedtime!  I got them to bed very late and I was still up at midnight, just settling myself into bed.

I did my nightly visual scan of the room to check for spiders on the walls. What? Don't you? I saw one! It was in the middle of my room at the peak of the vaulted ceiling. I can't reach to squish it up there, but I'm quick thinker and immediately had a solution!

I'll kill it with the swiffer!

I bolted down stairs to grab my swiffer mop. The flat head on it will be the perfect spider squisher. I ran back up to my room and the spider had moved a bit, closer to being right over my bed. I know the game... Spider gets directly over the bed, releases his ceiling grip diving for the bed and attacks! Yeah, that's not gonna happen. This spider will die.

I stood on the bed armed with my swiffer. The spider was sitting on the ceiling taunting me. I could almost reach with it, but not quite. So close! I wanted to kill it before it got over the bed.

Like a ninja, I jumped up and lunged at the spider with my weapon and I flattened that thing smearing spider guts on the ceiling. Triumph!

What goes up must come down. Which I did. I fell down to the floor, swiffer in hand, and landed on the floor. Hard! Feet first. Whack! And then a massive thud as the rest of my body hit the floor.

There was instant agonizing pain in both of my ankles and lower legs. I screamed in pain. I laid there dying of excruciating pain, screaming and crying and wondering if I broke both of my legs or what just happened. After a few minutes it was clear that my left leg may have just snapped I half but the right one was probably OK.

I got brave enough to look, both feet were still attached, legs looked normal, no blood, but horrible pain!

I should lay on my bed and get off the floor. I couldn't! It hurt so bad! I could not get up! I did some more screaming and crying. I missed my husband very much right then. He picked a bad night to be out of town!

Finally, I composed myself and tried to get up. The right ankle hurt a lot but I could stand up on it. The left foot couldn't touch the floor without shooting sharp pain. I got into bed and took a look. Lefty was swollen and not looking too good.

I couldn't sleep. It hurt so much! And I was worried about how to function the next day. Home alone with the little kids. I had my nexus on my nightstand so I googled.

Google diagnosed me with a fractured ankle. Great.

I dozed off and on waking up in pain often. When 6am rolled around, I decided to get up for the day. I still couldn't put any pressure on my left foot.

I crawled to the bathroom, and then I scooted down the stairs on my hiney. The dog was by my side the whole time. She laid next to me each time I took a break from crawling. A great idea came to me, at this point I understand if you have doubts about how great my ideas are.

I crawled into the garage. You know, the floor in there is really dirty! Anna's crutches were in here somewhere. I almost threw them out a few months ago. I crawled over and retrieved them but I couldn't stand up.

After I got back into the living room, I was able to hang onto furniture and pull myself up. The crutches are gonna work! I hobbled into the kitchen and got a cup of coffee and made an ice-pack.

I stuck the ice back in the pocket of my pajamas and I repoured my coffee into a to-go cup with a tight lid. I carried that in my teeth and I made it back to the easy chair.

That took me an hour! I was in a lot of pain now, but feeling accomplished.

The ice was helpful but the hour long phone call to my mom was the best medicine! Once 8 am rolled around I started calling my daughters, friends and neighbors for help.

My grandson came down the stairs and told me very matter-of-fact like, "No, Grandma. You can't be hurt. No."

My daughter took me to Urgent Care and they sent me to radiology for x-rays, then it was back to urgent care. They let me use a wheelchair in the building which was very handy.

The doctor looked at the xrays and he thought there was a possible fracture of the end of my fibula. It was his opinion that it is fractured, but he will defer to an official diagnosis later. The orthopedic doctor would say for sure, but that will take a few days. In the meantime, I was put in a splint and sent home.

Got to keep my x-rays!

Charlie goes to Disneyland

Finally! The day came to take Charlie to Disneyland! Our annual passes block us out for the summer months and we won't be allowed back in until after Charlie's 3rd birthday. We had to go now! After he's three years old, he would need a ticket of his own. Luckily, it all worked out so that we could go for the day. Exciting!

We left Gracie at home to have a Daddy & Gracie day. They had a blast and didn't miss us.

 I also took along a wonderful babysitter to help with these two kids. Libby is a clingy one and Charlie is a runner. Bringing the babysitter was probably the best idea I've ever had. I had two strollers but I wasn't sure if we really needed both, so we took both out of the trunk and decided that we would use them to the gates to keep the kids contained in the parking structure and through the gate crowd, then park one and go from there. I also brought my toddler-leash for Charlie. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to use it but I might need to show him that I have it and its an option.

Libby promised to wear her Rapunzel dress, but she changed her mind and wore an outfit that her cousin handed down to her, a Bambi shirt and cute little skirt. I stuffed that dress in my bag anyway. Charlie wore a handed down shirt too. He had a Mater shirt and he looked adorable.

Charlie was very happy to go to Disneyland. He fell asleep on the way there and got in a good carseat nap. Luckily, he woke up  happy! We were in the parking structure and he said "Where is Disneyland?"

The babysitter, Brit, and I made a gameplan for the day. We decided to hit up California Adventure first because Charlie can relate more to the modern Disney and Pixar attractions. We agreed to do what he would find most interesting and exciting first and then call the rest of the day a bonus. We would just leave whenever Charlie was done. Charlie immediately started asking to see Woody, so we made that the number one priority and were happy with anything else that happened.

We also decided to use two strollers in parking structure and to at least get us through the gate. We could always park one and come back to it later. My strollers are aging and they have a lot of miles on them, so I'm not too concerned about stroller theft. Especially since the kids are outgrowing the stroller phase. At this point, if the stroller disappears, then someone must need it more than I do. We ended up using both strollers all day. Both kids rode happily in the strollers and they were easy to manage this way, so we just went with that.

We entered California Adventure and made our way down Buena Vista Street. At the end, we found Mickey Mouse waiting for us! Charlie had a big hug for Mickey. Mickey was equally excited to see Charlie! Like a couple of long lost buddies, they hugged and hugged. What a great way to start the day!

Next, we saw Goofy dancing with the Five and Dime group. Charlie wanted to stop and watch Goofy. Once Goofy left the group, we went on our way. There wasn't any appeal to the live entertainment without the big dog.

We strolled down the way and came upon another street performance: Phineas and Ferb's Dance Party. Charlie loved it! He hopped out of the stroller and gave Phineas a fist-bump. Then he joined the Fireside Girls and danced with them and other children from the audience as well. Libby wouldn't leave her stroller, but she enjoyed watching Charlie. His dance moves were subtle; he was more in awe than anything. But he has a great time! Again, we only stayed for a short portion of the performance, just until the interest in it waned. On to the next.

Charlie was happy to see the other characters so far, but he kept asking "Where's Woody?" We went down to Paradise Pier to see if we could find Woody in his usual meet and greet spot. We got there and Jessie was there! Charlie was excited to see any Toy Story character, so he was pretty excited to see Jessie. We hopped in line right away, only to get halfway through and Buzz Lightyear took her place. Buzz! Libby was a little disappointed, but both were excited to see Buzz.

Because Brit is super awesome, she offered to get right back in the same line and wait for the next character. She is a Disneyland super hero and knows her stuff. Every 20 minutes Buzz, Woody and Jessie take turns in this meet and greet spot. By the time Brit would get to the front of the line again, it should be Woody's turn. Smart move! While she stood in line with Libby, I took Charlie across the way to King Tritan's Carrousel. The wait time on this ride is always minimal and it's fun. Charlie rode a lovely colored fish and he really enjoyed it. While we rode, I saw that Woody came and took Buzz's place. Awesome!

Sure enough, Brit had a place in line and she was more than halfway through so we joined her and the kids got to see Woody! Charlie and Woody really had a great visit. He asked Woody if he had a snake in his boot. They hugged, they compared boots, and Woody signed our autograph book too. It was the best Woody encounter!

Brit and I celebrated a little with some high fiving and congratulating each other with excited "Mission Accomplished" chatter. It felt great to fulfill the one and only wish that Charlie had for the day. The rest of the day is cake!  Brit took a picture of Charlie and me to document the moment.

We decided to head to the Ariel ride for Libby's enjoyment since she was being such a good girl and tagging along so nicely on Charlie's Disneyland Day without any complaints so far. She was happy to let Charlie choose what he wanted to do. Along the way, we happened upon another Toy Story experience: The Army Men performance. They drummed and chanted and entertained Charlie for a bit.

Off we went to the Little Mermaid ride. We decided to separate here. I'm sure Charlie would have enjoyed it quite a bit, but he and I walked over to Cars Land while Brit and Libby went under the sea. I thought he would enjoy extra time in Cars Land more than in Ariel's world. Brit said they would catch up with us.

Since Charlie was enjoying the characters so much, I thought our first stop should be a visit with a car rather than a ride. But first, we stopped to see one of Mater's tractors. So cute!

Down the street we went to visit with Lightning McQueen! Another of Charlie's favorite Disney characters!

If you are wondering why he isn't smiling, it's because he was too busy enjoying his visit with Lightning McQueen to be bothered with turning around for me to take a picture. He finally turned to face me for a split second and then spun back around to enjoy his time with Lightning. Lighting revved his engines, rocked back and forth a bit, and talked to Charlie. What an exciting visit!

I walked him over to see the Radiator Springs Racer ride and enjoy the stroll down the Main Street of Radiator Springs. He loved it! It's just like you plopped right into the movie, so he was loving being there and just seeing the sights. While we were viewing Ornament Valley, a cast member thought we were waiting to line up for the RSR ride and he offered to measure Charlie to see if he was tall enough to ride. I wasn't going to force the kid into a line that had a 120 minute wait, and I didn't think he was tall enough, but I let the guy measure him. He was closer to the mark than I thought! Must be the boots. I know he would love the ride but I also know that he has no idea what he's missing and we are on toddler time.

Cars Land was very cool and exciting! But, Charlie was ready for a snack. I treated him to a Lightning McQueen cookie, which he only nibbled at. It wasn't as tasty as it was fun. He ate almost half of it and then I gave him healthy snacks from our lunch tote that we brought from home. The red frosting stuck around all day though!

Brit and Libby found us. They had a great time riding the Ariel ride and Brit said the air conditioning was especially refreshing. Lucky Duck! Since Charlie had seen most everything in Cars Land and he was still going strong, we decided to walk through Bugs Land. But, wait! We found Red!

In Bugs Land we rode a couple of rides. We've seen a lot of wonderful characters but hadn't taken him on any rides yet. First stop was a favorite of ours: Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. It's just adorable.

When that ride was over, he was hooked. He wanted to ride something else too! We moved on to the spinning ladybug ride. I do not enjoy spinning, but Charlie wanted to ride. Brit and I had a little stare-down to see who had to go with him, she's as big a fan of spinning as I am. I lost. I had to spin. Libby wasn't even having any of that nonsense. Aside from the nauseating spinning, it was great! He was so excited and happy on that ride! He just loved it! What fun!

He was doing great, so we kept going. We decided to hit another attraction of one of his favorite movies: Monsters, Inc. He'll love that!  Along the way, we ran into Mr. Frozone from The Incredibles. Freeze!

Charlie then tried to find his way into Monsters University, but he couldn't get the door open. Apparently, he's too young for college. This was a photo spot and I'm anxious to see the movie with the kids. I think they'll love it! Again, Libby was stuck like glue to her stroller. She was just enjoying the ride. I'm so glad I brought Brit along to push her around while I was having fun with Charlie.

We went to the Monsters, Inc ride and Charlie was super excited. He wanted to ride in the cars and Libby kept telling him they were taxis and we will be riding in them! She was pretty happy to be telling him what to expect all day long. She's such a pro.

He loved the Monsters, Inc ride! That's no surprise since he loves the movie so much. He thought Randall was scary, but he was brave enough to handle it and in the end, Randall wasn't a threat to anyone, just like the movie.

We came out of the ride and guess who we saw in front of the Monsters University set? Mike!

We didn't wait in line to hug him. Charlie didn't want to, and I don't blame him. Mike's arms are creepy.  We waved and yelled hello to him from a bit of a distance, which was fun enough.

Charlie was having such a fun day! Brit and I reevaluated our plan. The plan at this point was merely: Stay for more or go home.  We've seen Woody, and really anything else is not important to Charlie. We decided to feed them (and us) and then decide. Food. Always a good idea!

All day long I had been fielding calls and texts from my local mommy friends who were also at Disneyland that day. It seemed like we could all go on the same day and they all wanted to get together while we were all there. I wanted to, but everyone was scattered and I really wanted to focus on Charlie.

I met up for about two minutes with my friend, Kristin and her two lovely girls. They just ate and we needed to grab a bite, so our schedules didn't sync up very well, but we promised to find each other again in an hour or so. Unfortunately, that never happened.

Like their dresses? Look familiar? They look so lovely in them! I was thrilled to see them! I whipped Libby's Rapunzel dress out of the bag under the stroller and tried to shove it on over her head so the three of them would match, but Libby wasn't having it. She claims that she grew and it no longer fits. Darn. Charlie was very excited to see the girls. He knows them well and always loves to see them, but to see them at Disneyland was very cool!

Onward. We went to Downtown Disney to find the taco place that I love. Brit loves that type of food too and Charlie is always a good eater no matter what you give him. Libby only likes churros.  We got our delicious food and Libby threw a crying fit. I was hoping that she would be hungry enough to eat, but no, she only wanted a churro and she was not happy about watching us eat while she waited. This kid!  She wants what she wants when it comes to eating. She was born stubborn like that. We inhaled our food, laughed about that, and Libby fell asleep.

We decided to ride the monorail, or as the kids call it: The Bullet Train. The monorail drops you into Disneyland at Tomorrowland, which means we don't have to go through the crowd at the front gate.

Since Libby was asleep we decided to swap strollers and move Libby to the bigger more comfortable one and Brit walked her into Disneyland while I took Charlie to the Lego store for fun. He loved it. And, he remembered it from a year ago when he went there with his Mom. Up until now, he really didn't have many memories to share of his trip to Disneyland with Lexie, but she didn't take him into California Adventure and that's where we spent our day so far. He loved looking around the Lego Store.

After a quick tour of the Lego store, I took Charlie to the restroom to change a very smelly diaper. But, I quickly discovered that I left the diaper bag in the larger stroller and I didn't have a diaper or wipes with me! Eww, oh no! I couldn't change him. I had to take a super stinky boy on the Bullet Train.

When we got to the Bullet Train, we were put in the first car with the driver. Cool!  Well, it was cool until she blew the horn. I'm sure she appreciated when we got to Tomorrow Land and vacated her little space. I'm betting the smell lingered on.

We saw the Star Wars Jedi Training show as we started our short walk to meet up with Brit and the diaper bag. Charlie was very excited to see Darth Vader!

We found Brit and Libby, who was happily eating a churro. Once we got Charlie changed and happy again, we tried to figure out what to do next. It seemed that he was just about done and we had accomplished a lot. We weren't sure if a train ride would put him over the edge or just be more fun for him. Deciding against the risk of a full on two-year old temper tantrum on a train, we strolled down Main Street toward the exit.

Our tour of Disneyland was brief, but good enough. It was actually too crowded to be enjoyable anyway. Once we left Main Street and entered the front entryway between the ticket gates and the train station, we were happy to discover Ariel the Little Mermaid turned princess!  How exciting!

Libby wanted to see her and Charlie did too. Libby didn't get to go to the Princess Fantasy Faire like she wanted to, so this was a special treat to have Ariel right there. We stood in line to see her, but by the time it was our turn, Libby changed her mind and hid in the stroller. Charlie was ready for a princess hug though. He ran right to her and hugged her like they were long lost friends. Such a sweet hug! She loved him right back and it was beyond adorable!

I think we made the right decision to leave at this point. We were at the resort for over 6 hours, the kids were good but getting tired. They smiled their little faces off and they were done. Brit and I were done too, we both felt great about the day. A person can't do everything in one day but we did the best we could and we did pretty well. Its best to leave on a high note rather than leave with a crying screaming kid, so we did just that. Back to the parking lot tram for our last ride of the day.

It was such a wonderful feeling to take my grandson to Disneyland and enjoy this special day with him. I'm very happy that Libby and Brit came along to make it more fun! I think bringing Babysitter Brit along was the ideal way to spend the day. Thank you, Brit!

The Neglected One

It was recently brought to my attention that my blog is all about me. I looked back and it's true, I am the center of my own little world.  There are other people in my little world; they don't call me "Mom" for nothing!  This post is all about my blog-neglected teenager, Fenna.

Sometimes I forget that Fenna isn't really mine. She fits so well into our family that the family dynamic doesn't feel like it changed, it all just fits. She slipped into our family and found her place immediately and we're all quite comfortable.  I do not encourage her to call me "Mom" but rather by my first name because I am not really her mom, I'm her host-parent. Exchange students are often told to call their host parents "Mom and Dad", but I like the distance that using first names provides. We are her hosts, not her parents.

Having her call us "Mom and Dad" would emphasize the  a parent/child relationship in which she'd be the child. I already have enough of those! I think when a teenager is old enough and responsible enough to travel abroad for a year, she's old enough to be treated like a young adult rather than a child. So, we start with the names. I hope that using names instead of parenting titles is a good reminder that she is doing her own thing, independent, older, wiser, and all that jazz.

Of course, I am the mom of the house and I am her parent while she's here. I'm not shirking my duties by much just using my first name, just playing a little headgame with myself.

I think I neglect her in my blog because I don't want to spoil her fun of telling her parents and other stalkers about her grand adventures in America. So, I give her plenty of time to post on her own blog, or tell her people back home what she's been doing. By the time I have given her a chance to tell people before they hear it from me, then its old news and we've all moved on. That's my excuse anyway, and it sounds good so I'm going with it. 

A typical day with Fenna starts like it always did with my older girls and our last exchange student.  She gets up super early and gets herself ready for school, fends for herself for breakfast, packs her own lunch or snacks, takes her medicine and does her nebulizer treatment, finds her jacket where she tossed it the day before, gets her homework out of the printer and stuffs it in her bag... or not.  I roll out of bed when she's almost ready, just looking for her shoes and trying to decide if it is an A or a B day; I slide into my slippers, grab my coffee and we head out the door.  She looks fabulously awake and ready for the day (sometimes) and I am in my pajamas with my eyes barely open.  We leave for school shortly after 7am and she's there by 7:15ish. Classes start at 7:30 so we are doing pretty good considering I'm not awake yet and getting anywhere on time is a life-long challenge for me.

According to the teen, this is very different from how her days started at home. She says that her mom kept her organized, laid out her breakfast, reminded her to take her meds, and made her the best sandwiches ever to take for lunch. This is what happens when a kid from a Type A family comes to live with a Type B family. I might even qualify as a Type B- personality. I try to pass it off as a cultural norm. "Yes, American moms drive their kids to school while wearing pajamas and pillow-hair." I think she's buying it.

I hear a lot of wonderful things about her mom. She sounds like the most wonderful lady in the Netherlands! I am not in the Netherlands which makes me exempt from any form of mom competition. Good thing too, I wouldn't win many awards. I hear that Fenna's mom is a wonderful chef, spotless housekeeper, has a successful career, did well in college, makes financially responsible decisions, is hyper-organized, generous, charitable, loving and kind. I'm fun.

To Fenna's mom:  I promise to only believe half of what Fenna tells me about you if you promise to only believe half of what she tells you about me. Deal?  The hard part of this deal will be wondering which half to believe!

Usually, I have a van full of runts when I pick Fenna up from school. As soon as we are on the street in front of the school, they are all pointing and screaming "Fenna's school!".  They search for her in the mob of teenagers that pour out of the campus gates and when they see her they all bounce in their carseats screaming her name. The second she opens the door, there is complete silence. Every time! They are super excited to have her back with us and she misses out on all of it. Maybe they don't want her to know how happy they are to see her again. Six hours is a long time to the little ones. I think they miss her.

This kid has the lightest school schedule! I'm sure all of her friends are jealous. She really only has two classes, the rest of her schedule is fluff.  Pretty nice since she's not interested in studying for hours every day after school. And, the fluffy classes give her a chance to learn life skills and develop interests in other areas besides lectures. She seems like a creative person and a hands-on type of  student. I applaud her school counselor who recognized her personality right away and gave her a class schedule that fits.  She has American Lit, American History, Video Production, Digital Photography, Foods, Drama and Dance. She had Colorguard too, recently she switched that class to Foods. The high school here provides a PE class period to all athletic teams so Colorguard was an actual class as well as an after school activity.  She's having fun being an American High School student. I think she'll have a lot of fond memories of school.

Fenna has some pretty cool friends. They are a worldly bunch. Really! There are six official exchange students in the high school, and a few unofficial kids from various countries, their host siblings, native Californian friends, and kids from other local schools.  They all like to hang out together, especially at the mall and the movies. They all seem like great young people so I'm not at all worried when she is hanging with her homies.  I'm happy that we don't have a parade of boys knocking on the door. Fenna is cute, but the boys are keeping their distance. Maybe she took my "kick 'em in the balls" advice. They might be frightened. That's ok.  She isn't a wild party girl neither. I can't even tell you all how much I appreciate her lack of a crazy irresponsible wild side! Whew!

When she's not in school or at the mall with her friends, she's mine mine mine all mine! What a lucky girl!  She gets to tag along with me on my many adventures, or not. I leave it up to her but she usually comes along even when we are going somewhere that isn't very exciting for a teenager. She's really a good sport. We go to the park several times a week. Guess how many pictures I have of Fenna going down slides? No. More. More. You are getting closer, but I'll bet it's more.

Aside from visiting an outrageous number of parks, she's come with us on other outings too. Places we've been together include: Disneyland (6 times!), Knott's Berry Farm, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Safari Park, Balboa Park, Seaport Village, Scripps Aquarium, La Jolla beach, Sea World, Pumpkin Farm, Queen Califia's Magic Garden, Bainbridge Circle, hmm... that's about it. Unless you count the malls: Escondido Mall, Fashion Valley Mall, Promenade Mall, Dos Lagos, La Jolla UTC Mall... there may be more. We have more places to explore, more adventures ahead! 

Since we are out and about a lot, we eat out a lot. I hear that people in Europe do not eat out very often. She loves to eat! I do too, so we're having fun trying lots of different eating establishments. We've been to Starbucks more times than I have been in all the years I've been in California. We've hit up every food court in every mall, ice cream shops, fast food, and my favorite the sit-down restaurants. We haven't been to a buffet yet; I'll be sure to take her so that she has a complete American dining experience.

It's fun having a teenager in the house again. I miss the teen girls being around. Keith and I both enjoy discussing the homework topics, hearing the quick-wit of a teen mind, and those one-liners just crack us up! She helps me out a lot too, which wasn't part of her exchange deal, but she does it anyway. Homework and chores aren't her favorite activities, but she makes up for it by helping me with the little kids. And when I thank her for helping, she usually doesn't realize she did much. Those little things are so nice though! She stays with the kids in the van while I hop out and run to the ATM, she opens the bathroom door for Libby when I 'm in the kitchen, she tells Charlie "No!" when my back is turned, she plays dolls, she watches Gracie when she is yelling "Watch this!" and she tells them "You can do it" when they are trying something new. I wanna keep her.

None of us are looking forward to June. We have to let her go back to the Netherlands whether we want her to go or not. Of course we don't want her to leave us! She's fun and funny and we love her! She loves us too. This has been the best exchange student experience we could have imagined, even better. I'm not just saying that because she's going to read this, we are all genuinely loving this year of having Fenna in our family.  Now, if we could just get a decent family photo before she leaves, we'll be able to say we had the perfect year.

High Fiving Myself!

I fixed my mini-van! ALL BY MYSELF!!!  Woot!

Wonder when my husband will notice? I'm not going to tell him, I'll just wait it out. Back in November, my left tail light went out. I haven't had a rear left blinker since! Santa put new bulbs in my Christmas stocking and Keith said he would change them.

In fact, my husband said he would fix my blinker at least once a week since November. It is February now, and I no longer believe him. I told him I was going to do it myself and he laughed.

I figured this repair was complicated. After all, my husband hasn't had time to devote to the project in months (and he had a 2.5 week break over the holidays from work).  Curiosity got the best of me though, and I googled. The first thing that came up was a youtube video.



I watched it once, ran to the garage and got the tools and scurried out to the driveway.

Ten seconds later (give or take) I came back in the house rejoicing and high fiving myself! I did it! And it barely took any time at all. I can't believe it was so easy. My husband was home, but in his "man room" so he has no idea.

My tail light works again! My blinker works too! I fixed my van!