Friday, December 6, 2013

Nerf Cannons, OrthoIndy, and Wise Men. They Have Nothing to Do With Each Other, But Imagine if They Did.

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It is 11:55pm, and I just sat down to write today's post.  I am putting all my eggs in the "This is a real storm and school will be cancelled" basket and staying up late, in hopes I will be staying in bed in the morning.  Despite the weathermen getting all excited with the talk of snow and ice and wind and general horribleness, it is not a good gamble.  Even if school is canceled, I'll still have to get up to get that info.  Plus, regardless of whether school is cancelled or not, COW will still want to go to work.  I won't be able to go back to sleep.
Only consolation is, COW parked facing down the driveway.  At least I won't be getting him out of a snow bank.

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I may be heading to OrthoIndy again tomorrow.  This injury made me cringe more than any other yet this year.  Cuckoo was leaning up over the kitchen island to look over Turken's shoulder when the heavy, metal stool slid out from under him.  Somehow his foot landed first, and the stool came down across the toes of one of his feet.

Take a minute to cringe and gag and suck in some air.  I need it, too.

After icing it and elevating it and icing some more and elevating some more and giving him some Tylenol, he is still in pain.  There isn't much swelling or discoloration, even 3 hours later.  We'll see what it looks like in the morning.

Yeah, this whole staying up late is probably a really bad idea.

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Before I forget, the FTSF prompt is "One of my favorite childhood memories is..."

The year we got Nerf cannons for Christmas.  Nerf used to be a much better company, making a great variety of products.  We didn't have guns back then.  We had cannon-like things you shot by smacking a bubble-thing of air.  The force of air shot that Nerf bullet a good long distance.  I will always remember my siblings and I stationed on opposite sides of the room, laughing our heads off, shooting the cannon, then fast-crawling into the line of fire to retrieve another bullet.  The best part of the memory, though, is the image of my mom. She was there, in her floor-length robe, laughing harder and louder than any of us, as she shot at us.

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Just a little reminder for those who missed the announcement.  There's a new book out this week talking about friendship.  I have an essay in it about my best friend, Amy.  You can just click that little button in the sidebar to read more about it.

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Our chickens are giving us 4 eggs a day.  Sometimes we don't actually get to bring 4 eggs into the house, but there are 4 chickens laying eggs.  Sometimes an egg gets lost along the way.  Like when someone slips on her way out of the coop and lands on her knee and then her butt, carrying all 4 eggs in one hand.  On those days, we only get to bring three eggs into the house.

Since our one white-egg laying chicken passed, only brown eggs are being laid.  Those Americaunas are slacking.  Big time.  I want some green and blue eggs, dagnabbit!

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The Christmas card has been giving me fits this year.  It took forever to come up with a theme, and now that I have one, it's taking forever to write.  This whole blogging thing is really putting a damper on my creative writing ability when I have to sum up the entire year in four pages or less.  And I've already told the stories with hilarious posts and drawings.  And there's so much pressure to make it good and funny.  I've already had several people tell me they are looking forward to getting our card this year.

Oh, the pressure!!!

********** 7 **********

Talking about pressure, we've begun the three wise men activity.  Each night, the wise men go looking for Jesus around the house, and in the morning the kids look for him.  Even the big kids are getting into this.  It's been fun for them.  It's been worrisome for me.  I'm not good at remembering to do it, first of all.  Secondly, I'm not good at finding new places to put them.  So far, our wise men have been here:

Day 1: a random crock decoration someone made for me 10 years ago.

Day 2:  They were distracted and played a game.

Day 3:  They tried to get on the Bible app to read about where Jesus was born, but they didn't know the kids' passwords.

Day 4:  I forgot to set them up.  I literally took my hand off of one of the wise men's heads as Turken walked in the room.  I panicked, jumped, and pointed, "Look where they are?" while Giant stood behind me and laughed his head off.

Day 5:  I was inspired by Melody.  She showed a photo of her wise men getting into a bag of M&Ms.  While I liked the idea, I wasn't about to sacrifice my M&Ms.  Our wise men are making off with the animal crackers.

Goodness, I'm the queen of link-ups today.  This covered three of them.

Stephanie and the gang host the Finish the sentence Friday, Jen has been hosting the 7 Quick Takes since time began, and Jennifer Marie is the one who started the Wise Men activity.

This weekend, as usual, will be the 10 Things of Thankful blog hop.  I hear it's a big one.  Lizzi is having a co-host quiz and contest, with the winner receiving an actual gift!  Mailed to her from England!

Bring on the snow!!

I can't believe I just said that.

Have a lovely day!

55 comments:

  1. SNOW! WOOHOO! I so wish I still had a kid small enough for the wise men...so cute! Of course then again....the year Baby Jesus caught fire in the toaster oven was no fun. Funny how that nostalgic thing can pass so quickly! Hope you get a snow day and feet are okay!

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    1. Not only did we NOT get a snow day, we got a 2 hour delay. 2 hour delays don't make me happy, as it means I have to take the kids to school. Bah humbug.
      You put Baby Jesus in the toaster oven?!?! Whatever for??

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    2. well I didn't do it! The same kid who wanted to see if a grilled cheese would fit into the VCR did it.

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  2. Your Wise Men game looks like SO much fun, but a total pain to manage! That's some commitment! Good for you, though, because it sounds like the whole flock are getting into it and enjoying the loveliness.

    Your Nerf guns game sounds like a lot of fun. I don't think we ever did anything like that, but it sounds hilarious - perhaps one advantage of having more than the one sibling, and ones you get on with, at that :) What fun.

    I hope the trip to OrthoIndy proves helpful, and that Cuckoo isn't broken. Sounds like a really sucky injury, poor kiddo!

    Also, I have absolutely utterly completely NO LEG TO STAND ON to tell you off for being so late to bed, snow or no snow. But just know that any and everything you've ever said to me when you caught me online at stupid'o'clock on a 'school night' comes back at you rightnow.

    *hugs* Hope you make it through the day okay.

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    1. It is some big commitment, especially since it goes not until Christmas, but the Epiphany. Yes, even the big kids are having fun finding them each morning.
      It was loads of fun. It helped that so many people were involved.

      Staying up late was a baaaaaad idea. The schools started a new thing where they call the families when there is a delay or cancellation. We were rudely awoken at 5:25, and I never got to go back to sleep. Lesson learned the hard way.
      Might be a day where I drink some Coke.

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  3. " This whole blogging thing is really putting a damper on my creative writing ability when I have to sum up the entire year in four pages or less."

    I can identify with that, however, if I may, I will suggest a very simple solution to your problem in 2 words: 'reprint'!
    what the hell, all those Posts sitting in cyberspace… remember the flashback posts we did a few weeks ago? there you go… 'cut n paste', my darling, 'cut n paste'.

    ( I am one of the tardy ones… trying to decide what information I should divulge … yeah, no dog there!)

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    1. I thought of trying to put things from posts verbatim, but there was just too much I wanted to include. I finally came up with something. Now I just need to finish it.

      (You, trying to decide what to divulge? Shocking. (I said that completely deadpan and sarcastically.))

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  4. Im just shocked that Ya'll do those letter thingies at all! Wow ... you are better folks than I... I say send them your blog address....

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    1. Unfortunately, a good number of our recipients don't have computers. A link to the blog would not be helpful for them. Plus, I don't promote the blog to people I actually know. I'm fine if they read it, but I'm uncomfortable telling people to come read it. I have issues. I know.

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    2. oh shoot I do that too. I didn't realize I had issues. Crap.

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  5. You are so right about Nerf and must admit loved them back in the day, but so not the same now. And contrast on being in the Her Stories project and truly so happy for you. Also, I have our Christmas card all done, but now I need to address and stamp them, which I keep putting off! Thanks so much for joining and linking up with us again this week!! :)

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  6. I sure hope Cuckoo's foot will be okay. Poor little guy. :(

    I've missed a few of your posts; since then your chickens are laying eggs! Yes! Now if they can only make it into the house in one piece! ;)

    LOVE the Three Kings "game".

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  7. I hope Cuckoo's toes aren't broken! I totally had to suck in some air...I recently (on Thanksgiving) broke my hand. Not fun!
    I remember those cool nerf cannons! What a fun memory. The Wise Men game is awesome. They're so much cuter than that ugly creepy elf. I haven't done our Christmas card, either...

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    1. Official diagnosis: Can't tell. His bones are too young with lots of growth plate areas we can't see.
      As my daughter told my husband when he broke his foot, "At least Cuckoo's injury was legitimate." You slipped off a trundle bed. :)
      They were awesome. Why don't they make them anymore?
      I like them MUCH better than the elf.
      You've got time.

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  8. Oh my gosh! LOVE the wisemen looking for Jesus...so fabulous. Even with me being "too religious" I didn't think to do that. ;)

    So sorry to hear about Cuckoo...hope his foot is better today. Poor guy. I think he was just jealous to never go to OrthoIndy for himself...

    BTW when is your Christmas letter coming in the mail?!? I can't wait to read it...it's always so funny! :)

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    1. You're probably too religious for this activity anyway. Putting wise men in a fuseball table doesn't seem exactly proper. :)

      He will be fine, but it will be a while. Hopefully only a week until he's back to normal, but it could be 2. We just don't know how bad the injury is, since his bones are so young.

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    2. Oh I think it is a fabulous idea...in fact, my 10yo was reading your blog (ok, looking at th epictures mostly) and he asked if we could do it for our foster kids. We have to have kids placed with us first, but I thought it was sweet that it even occured to him. :) All that to say...thanks for the idea. :)

      Glad Cuckoo will be ok...poor baby!

      Also, I noticed that you completely ignored my Christmas letter inquiry... ;)

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    3. Aw, that is sweet. Proof that even boys can be thoughtful. :)

      The worst is when he forgets that his foot is hurt. With the boot, he's actually mobile. He can't reach the light switches in the house unless he jumps, and when he did it tonight, he came back down with a scream. He cried for 15 minutes it hurt so bad.

      Moi? No. You'll get it when you get it. :)

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  9. Poor Cuckoo!! Although after reading about Turken living with only one lung....I had a hard time concentrating on anything else. ;) Hope Cuckoo's toes are okay this morning.

    I grew up in the early days of Nerf. They only had things like Nerf frisbee and ping pong size balls...have no idea WTH those were for?!?!? Yes...I am THAT old!
    I absolutely LOVE the three wise men activity!!!

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    1. NOt exactly OK, He wouldn't put any weight on his foot at all. Off to the doctor we went. He got a boot. A teeny tiny adorable boot.

      Hahaha! Just a plain, old, ping pong ball? That's hilarious. And weird.

      Me, too! I'm glad Melody found it.

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  10. Hope the foot is okay this morning. Kids hurt themselves a lot. I remember spending a great deal of time in the ER with injuries my son suffered. Always, always in the middle of the night or late at least. Two hours sleep before I had to go to work. Bless their hearts.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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    1. Kids always hurt themselves or get sick at the WORST times. And yes, we've been to clinics and ERs too many times to count.

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  11. When we were kids we would soak the Nerf stuff in water and then freeze them before we threw or shot them. My son got a Nerf gun for his birthday and my husband and I looked at each other but then realized we may be the ones getting hit or worse having to explain the kids' injuries to other people.

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    1. Hahaha!! I once heard a comedian talk about doing this. His mom handed him and his brothers a nerf ball and said, "There. You can't hurt anyone with that." They took it as a challenge and did exactly what you described. That had to HURT!! Very good choice to not tell your kids. :)

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  12. If I follow your M & M approach, I'll end up setting up the wise men around cold, leftover asparagus. Generosity, Christine! Let it go! 'Tis the season for forgetting ourselves and... our M & M's! (Incidentally, they only got a few of the candies before I stuffed the rest back into the bag and hid them in my closet.)

    I hope Cuckoo's foot is feeling better soon and that no serious damage has been done!

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    1. Thank you for setting me straight. Putting them around asparagus is a great idea! :)
      You are right, of course. Although, I am glad to hear the M&Ms were put back in hiding.

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  13. Love that your Mom shot Nerf Cannons with you guys!! OK, so have I been living under a rock, or what? I never heard of the Elf on the Shelf until just a few years ago, now the Wise Men are at it too? Judging by your comment about Melody's Wise Men, I'm assuming that's a "real thing" and not some sort of family tradition. How have I never heard of these things???

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    1. My mom is a fun lady.
      I just heard of Elf on the Shelf in the last couple years, too, but apparently it was a thing in the southern states for decades. The Wise Men thing was thought up by a mom last year (I think. Could be two.) for her own family. She was kind enough to share the idea on her blog and set up a link for it.

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  14. That wise men thing is great! My eldest just asked me about Elf on the Shelf yesterday (NOOOOOOOOO!!) and I said, well, we don't do that. This is clever, and still keeps the meaning in the season. I'll have to tuck that one away for next year.

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    1. It is a great idea, isn't it? That mom who thought of it is brilliant.
      My kindergartener came home yesterday asking about the Elf. Oh yes, do the wise men next year. There are quite a few families doing it this year, so plenty ideas of new places to put them.

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  15. I am delighted by your wise men. How totally clever and cute and terrific!
    Hope your boy's foot is okay.

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    1. We've been having fun with them. I wish I could claim them as my idea, but alas, I'm not that clever.

      The foot will be fine in no time.

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  16. I loved your memory, what a fun mom! Those photos are HILARIOUS! You could make some serious memes with those - that one of them with the phones - awesome. I love those! Your kids are growing like crazy by the way...and I've only been reading your blog for like a year/year and a half - they just look so much bigger/older.

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    1. She really is a fun mom, and now a fun grandma.
      Ha! I never once won your Caption That. I don't think I'd be very good at memes.
      The kids are getting huge. Fast. Phoenix towers over me now.

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  17. Love the Wise Men! Are they PlayMobil...not sure how to spell that!? I changed up the "holiday letter" this year and it's a "holiday postcard"...not near as much news this year...but I only have 2 kids and both are in college and we don't raise chickens or live on a farm :)! Glad I don't have the added expectation for humor, bc I'd fail miserably.

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    1. Yes, they are Playmobil. I was told they were the best ones to use, since one can move their arms and legs.
      A postcard? I look forward to those days. :)
      With the things that go one around here, we have to laugh. Humor comes easily when your husband accidentally drops a 50 pound bag of chicken feed on an opossum sitting in the bottom of the feed can in the dark. :)

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  18. Just read your comment above...This is sooo me, too! I did briefly mention it on my postcard this year, but it's in very small print. "Plus, I don't promote the blog to people I actually know. I'm fine if they read it, but I'm uncomfortable telling people to come read it. I have issues. I know."

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    1. How ironic is that? Why are we happy to have strangers read everything, yet way too uncomfortable to let people we know and even love??

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  19. Ugh, Christine- you can have some of OUR snow! We got a good foot and a half this week, resulting in 3 snow days from school. ;)

    Your post made me laugh, especially your Nerf gun story. I too remember those cannons! And your mom sounds like a blast- I'm pretty sure I'm the same type of mom- haha!!

    Thanks so much for the smile this evening :) And thanks so much for stopping by my blog with your kind words, they are appreciated greatly,

    Erin
    http://yellowbirchhobbyfarm.blogspot.com

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    1. I'm very picky about our snow days. While I love one, I'd be annoyed by three days in a row. That would mean make up days added to the end of the year. And a foot and a half is a crazy amount of snow!
      Those cannons were awesome! When my mom read this post, she immediately got online to find some. Nerf doesn't make them, so she's been on eBay. :)
      I"m glad you liked the post. I meant every word I said over at your blog. :)

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  20. Writing our Christmas letter was a bit weird for me too now that I'm a blogger, but I think I have a pretty decent draft going now. The next challenge is hoping it doesn't rain tomorrow so we can get some family pictures taken. We take pictures all the time, but more formal pictures, especially of all four of us, is a rarity, and a friend offered to help us out tomorrow.

    Love the wiseman pics! Too funny!

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    1. Have mercy! I completely forgot about taking a photo of the kids for the Christmas card!!! Guess we'll be snapping one tomorrow. We haven't had a formal photo taken of our family since we moved to the farm 8 years ago. Before we had the two youngest kids. Thinking I should add that to the list of things to do in the spring. :)

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  21. I feel ripped off. We never had a Nerf gun. And I really need to get on board with the whole creative photography of figurine thing. It never ceases to amuse me. :)

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    1. WHAT?!?! No Nerf gun??!?!? I thought it was a law that all kids had to have one!
      I never would have done the posing of the creatures, but the wise men is something I can get behind.

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  22. Okay your Wiseman search is hilarious and I love it!! Rivals the whole elf thing with having to come up with places to put them each night. Very cute, clever ideas you've come up with so far - I had to giggle at them at the cell phones but with no passwords!

    Hope Cuckoo is okay....OUCH!!!! Poor baby. :(

    You are the Queen of link ups! Impressive. It will take a miracle for me to make TTot as I get pressure to be off the computer on the weekends....BOO. What's that about? I'm only on right now cuz the boys are upstairs and hubs is in the shower...he he. But not enough time to do a ginormous post. Shoulda done it last night but only had energy to play around on FB whilst sipping on wine. :)

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    1. Thanks! I was quite pleased with the iPod photo, too. :)
      He will be just fine.

      I am this week! I don't know what's come over me with all the hops this week.
      The thought of you sneaking around and getting on the computer while everyone is in other rooms made me laugh. :)

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  23. I know what to do for your Christmas cards. Put a link to your blog in there with a big arrow that says "want to know what happened this year? Type this in...." Baha! Problem solved.

    We got a pretty crazy snow and icing, made it hard for any of us to get to work. Since it isn't supposed to get above freezing for a few days, I have a feeling it will be around for a while!

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    1. Ha! I've thought about it, believe me. Unfortunately, there are quite a few people on the list who don't have computers. Plus, when soooo many people tell me each year how much they like the cards, I can't just stop. Although one year, I am just going to send out postcards that say, "Nothing happened." :)
      Our snow is here to stay, too, for a while. Plenty of time for it to get nice and brown and ugly.

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  24. Hope little man is ok!! This is for elf on the shelf ( I love the three wise man idea) but when I can across this I thought brilliant! Maybe it can give you some ideas.

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/33-genius-elf-on-the-shelf-ideas?bffb

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    1. I will certainly look at that site for ideas. I'm going to be running out of ideas real quick.

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  25. Poor Cuckoo! It kills me when my kids get hurt, can't stand to see them in pain. I sure hope the little man mends quickly.

    I love the Wise Men...what a great idea. It does seem like a lot of work though which is why I probably won't do it. Just like I don't do the elf!

    Why don't I remember those Nerf cannons? Nerf guns and marshmallow shooters are on both boys' lists this year! Yay me!
    I find those darts all over the house and now I guess I'll be finding marshmallows too!

    I hear folks talking about snow days a lot lately. Must be winter somewhere in the US!

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    1. It depends on the injury for me. Some I don't have too much sympathy for. Others make me horribly upset. This one makes me cringe every time I think about it. Although, hearing him and seeing him run around with the boot on (the clunk-step is hilarious) eases my mind.
      The wise men haven't been nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Of course, I do need to start looking for some ideas.

      Ha! We had a marshmallow shooter, too. It is a perfect OUTSIDE gift. :)

      Oh, winter weather is here, and it's fierce!

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  26. love the wisemen hunt! They look pretty small...might be easy to lose in my house! Hope the injury heals with nothing major needed, like surgery or a cast or such. Sounds like a terrible tumble. :-(

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    1. Ha! I have to be careful about which room I place them in. :)
      The toes should be fine without any more visits to the doctor. Thank goodness.

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  27. Hope Cuckoo's foot is better!

    I really wanted to do the Wise Men search thing with Kidzilla, but my week-long bout with the stomach virus followed by her three day one kind of got in the way and we just never started. Too bad - she would just love it. Maybe we'll start late and do it next week...I dunno. Seems kind of late and half-assed at this point. Sigh.

    I love that you got three linkups in one post - way to go!

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Thank you for taking the time to tell me what you're thinking!