Sumer Reading Spectacular Awards

Today the school had a program to acknowledge the kids for taking part in the Summer Reading Spectacular.
I brought Ry up to school (he's been home all week recovering) so he could attend the assembly and get his award.
Annie, Julia, Ry and Andrew proudly let me take a photo with their awards.

Ry's Bike Accident

This afternoon started off to be a fun family adventure to the library.  When we were almost back to our subdivision, Ry had a bike accident.  Thank God for helmets!  We didn't realize the extent of Ry's injuries at first.  There was a ton of blood, but I know that mouth injuries do come with lots of blood, and the rest of his scrapes/road rash seemed fairly superficial.  Our little guy was having a tough time with balance, so Jeff carried him home.  By the time we had him back in the house, it was evident this was way more serious than we'd imagined.  He kept saying, "Where am I?" and "What happened?"  We would tell him, "You're in the kitchen at our house. You just had a bike accident." And then he'd repeat those same questions all over again.  So Jeff put Ry in the car and headed for St. Louis Children's Hospital.  Our FANTASTIC pediatrician, Dr. Stahl, called to let them know we were on our way, and texted me nearly every hour we were at the hospital for updates.  Did I mention how much I adore her??!
Thanks also to my amazing dad who made it over to our house in under 10 minutes to stay with the girls so I could hop in the car and meet the boys at the hospital.  I even forgive you, Dad, for feeding them cookies for dinner. =)

Juls is super happy to have her brother home.
Gram (and so many others, but I have been terrible with taking pics lately!)
stopped by to give our little patient well wishes!
At the hospital we learned he lost a tooth through his lip in the accident, and due to the swelling in his mouth (and hanging lip...seriously, not sure how I didn't manage to get a pic of that!!) we had to feed him liquids through a syringe the first few days post-accident.

Ry was ordered to stay home from school for a week to let his brain recover.  No video games, no reading, no thinking, no tv.  I was totally running out of stuff to entertain him!  So, after he was feeling better, I loaded him and Emerson up in the double stroller and we'd blow some time walking the neighborhood.
As the week went on, the memories that Ry had lost slowly started coming back to him, which of course, was a TOTAL relief to us!  Dr. Stahl assured me he was "classic concussion case" and that he should all come back, although he probably would never remember the actual accident.  It was sooo tempting though when he would forget something to start "quizzing" him to make sure he knew other stuff.  For example, one day he told me like three times, "Oh, Mom! Emerson has her front teeth!" as if that was something that had just happened.  Or, "Oh look, a Halloween magazine. I want to be Captain Jack Sparrow!" as if he hadn't already told me that 30 minutes before. Freaky!
So. Glad. He's. Back.
Crazy boundless energy and all!!!

First Day Jitters

I miss my mom.
I cried a little sad.
But I love it.

Ryan, regarding the first day of school.
I was flooded with emotions when he came home with this note..especially because I assume he is such a "big" boy he doesn't need me and I was so consumed with Julia's first day of kindergarten that he was very much overlooked. Jeff and I didn't even stop by his classroom the morning we went to check in on Julia! Geesch!

First Day of School 2012

This is one of my all time favorite pics of my monkeys.
Captures their personalities so perfectly!

My big 2nd grader is all smiles when he hops off the bus at school.
(Yes, they rode the bus and we totally followed them in the car!)
The sweet girl behind him is Eman. You might remember her from a post last year where she sent a note home with him declaring that he is her "BFF" and he is "so funny!" Love her!

Juls hops off the bus looking a little nervous.

And now she spots us - horray!

Someone is pretty excited to have a locker for themselves!

We are soo excited to have Mrs. Kraus in our lives again.
We were lucky enough for Ry to have her, and now Jul.
 I'm holding my breath she doesn't retire in time for Emerson! =)