Not to be dramatic...

...but Lorelei did break her arm. It’s broken in two places, near her wrist and near her elbow. 

The wrist area isn’t a bad break—it could be fixed with a splint.

But the area near the elbow needed immediate manipulation back into place. She will be casted nearly to her armpit for six weeks.

It’s a bit of a bummer...but we still have much to be thankful for! Quality medical care at our fingertips, neighbors who take charge the rest of our children with no notice, and a manageable injury. Also, she’ll be healed before prime pool season!

I’ll post a picture soon of Lorelei with her cast.

Not to be an alarmist...

 ...but I am currently sitting in the ER with Lorelei for a possibly broken arm.

Ugh.

She was pushed while playing outside, and used her left arm to break her fall, similar to the way she broke her arm in 2018.

She’s already had x-rays, and we spoke to the doctor, but we are waiting to hear what the radiologist has to say.

Chet is still out of town, but thankfully my neighbor took the other three kids and is feeding them dinner.

I will keep you posted.

Spring Break

Today we met with our homeschool group, and and next Tuesday we are off, so I guess this technically means we are on spring break.

We will not be going on any trips. We WILL use this time to make sure Sydney is on track with her end-of-year paper, and that Sydney and Lorelei both have ample time to study for their end-of-year oral exam.

Perhaps that sounds like a no-fun spring break...but these kids lead quite the charmed homeschool life, with hour-long recesses, audiobooks at lunch, and the freedom to complete math assignments wherever they choose (on their bed? outside? sure!). So no need to feel sorry for them.

Happy Tuesday!

Ford (and Lorelei) Funnies

This afternoon Ford was asking when he would get something in the mail. I replied, "Well, you get a Clubhouse Jr. magazine each month. And Didi sent all of you something last week. And Grammy told me she sent an Easter box for all of you that will arrive soon."

Ford: "No, when will I get something addressed to 'Mr. Ford Wyckoff.'"

Lorelei chimed in with, "When you're a grownup and you have your own Amazon account."

This evening I announced I was putting everyone to bed early (which really just means on time). Ford informed me, "It's good you're putting us to bed early, because Benjamin Franklin said, 'Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.'"

Clearly he is 7-years old, going on 87.

Happy Monday!

Palm Sunday (and Sydney)

Our church started in-person Sunday school again four weeks ago, and we are all SO thankful. 

I am helping out in the 2-year old Sunday school classroom, assisting Sydney's preschool teacher from the last time we lived here.

The kids love their Sunday school classes, and came home today with some amazing Palm Sunday crafts to kick off Holy Week.

Also, Sydney and Monster (can you see him?) sorted the Mount Everest of laundry this evening.

Lorelei

Lorelei's tutor from our homeschool group needed a picture of Lorelei with a light background -- so I snapped this one of her right before bed:

Despite the dim lighting, I really like this picture. 

Lorelei recently participated in a local piano festival (the Gulf Coast Music Festival). They decided to hold the festival virtually, so I submitted a video to her piano teacher, who submitted it to the festival committee. Any participants who received a score of 95% or higher were included in the "honors recital," which was a YouTube compilation of all the submitted videos of those who received the 95%+ score. Lorelei received a 100%! She played a song called "Roumanian Rhapsody" by James Bastien.

Happy Saturday!

Ford

Ford asked (RIGHT before bedtime) if I had anything for him to fix.

I told him he could take the batteries out of Ruthie's alarm clock, because they needed to be replaced.

He said he would, and that he would also test the batteries with the multimeter:

When he realized I took a picture he said, "You should also take a picture of this wood plane."

He's so funny.

Tuesday (and Ruthie)

Chet is in D.C. for two weeks for some classes, and I've forgotten how tricky it is to manage life without him here. (But we ARE managing.)

He and Ruthie took a walk a few days ago, on the nature trail boardwalk behind our house:

She was tired this evening after a long day with our homeschool group. She was crying and said, "I had a HUGE day!"

I hear you, sister.

Happy Tuesday!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Did you do anything special for St. Patrick's Day? This morning I collected all our our green dishes (which is more than you might think, because we have quite the Fiestaware collection) and cups and put them in the middle of the kitchen table for us to use throughout the day. I added green sprinkles to their buttered toast this morning, and also hung these streamers from the chandelier:

Sydney and Ford wore St. Patrick's Day shirts, but Lorelei apparently doesn't own a single stitch of green clothing. Ruthie wore a green St. Patrick's Day shirt AND green cotton shorts.

I saw this on Facebook today and loved it:

Christ beside me, 

Christ before me, 

Christ behind me,

Christ within me,

Christ above me.

~St. Patrick

Happy 5th birthday, Ruthie!

Ruthie is five! It feels like she was just born, and also like she's been with us forever.

She had a low-key birthday, but it was very enjoyable (it's always nice when it falls on a weekend!). She ate off the red "You Are Special" plate today:

(Our house looks like a DISASTER zone in the background of this picture. But I digress...)

She opened her cards and presents after breakfast:

She helped me make her cake (chocolate cake with vanilla icing and one million sprinkles, which she administered herself):

Her neighborhood friend joined us in eating that cake after dinner, which was Ruthie's favorite part of the day.

Happy birthday, Ruthie! We love you!