I promise I don't abuse my kids

So here is my cute little boy... (by the way, it's way too hot for what he's wearing. I was just trying new clothes on him. Someday it will cool off, maybe.)

And here is my cute little boy with a nice black eye. (Purple, if you ask Natalie)

So it doesn't show up quite as well in the pictures and it's actually already getting better. It happened two days ago. What happened? He fell off the trampoline. But, he didn't fall off by way of the giant hole, he fell out through the opening in the enclosure. So it could/would have happened even if our trampoline wasn't half dead. Anyway, I heard him screaming and when I went out his whole face was covered in blood. I had to spray him off with the hose to even be able to tell where he was bleeding from. Turns out that he must have landed on or somehow hit the existing scar he had up by his eye and popped it open. He got the scar about two months ago. I didn't even know that could happen! He had a little bruise and a bump which then turned into a black eye by morning. It's just funny how little boys bleed a lot more than girls. Natalie also fell off the trampoline through the opening in the enclosure when she was about three. But did she bleed? Nope.

I give in

So our trampoline has issues. The southern Arizona sun has fried it. We've only had this trampoline for a little over 2 years and it's already destroyed. What's happened is that the pieces of material that are sewn onto the mat and then wrap around the metal triangular pieces the springs attach to have been vaporized by the sun. So about half of the mat is hanging off and not connected to anything. I've been keeping the kids away, telling them they can't jump anymore. I've caught Natalie on there a few times and as soon as she hears my voice, she makes a hurried exit. But then Kelton figured out how to get on the other day and he was having so much fun. Natalie has a ton of fun on there to. So Nate and I figured, oh well. When you watch them jump you can tell that they have it under control--it's not quite as imminently dangerous as it looks. But I still hold my breath a bit. Take a look...

This is how they get on now.

This is how they get off. They just sit down and slide right off. Well, Natalie sits. Kelton goes on his belly.

I know this is probably so dangerous. But what can I do? My kids think they have the greatest trampoline in the world! It a trampoline and a slide all in one. Hopefully my next post won't be about yet another trip to the ER. We've been there twice since June. I think that's more than enough.

Kids at the store

So I know all small children are a bit of a pain at the store, but these kids of mine... So Kelton just started doing something that Natalie did when she was his age. He will let out this very loud, piercing scream/shriek at the top of his lungs. Oh, he's not upset or anything. He does it because he likes the way it echoes in the vastness of the store. He lets a new one out at about 5 second intervals. Most people usually ignore grumpy kids in the store, but when Kelton does this, everyone stares at me with a horrified look or gives me the evil eye. To make matters worse, if I try to do anything to make him stop or acknowledge him in any way, he just does it more and even louder. Crazy boy! So I ignore him and people glare. So is this just some genetic thing with my kids or do your kids do stuff like this at the store? Someone please tell me your kids do something like this too. :)

Natalie says

I just love the funny things that little kids say, whether its my own kids or someone else's. It's interresting to see how their little minds work. So here's a funny one from Natalie. Part of what makes the things she says funny is her personality. She is just so expressive. We were eating lunch and and I was asking Natalie about preschool. I told her preschool is going to be at Sister Smith's next week and she looked at me a bit funny. So I started explaining who Sister Smith is because I could tell she was confused by the name, even though she knows who she is.

Me: " You know how you were at Sister Parry's house? Well, Lila's (she is one of the little kids in the preschool) name is Lila Parry. So her momma's name is Sister Parry. And Edison's last name is Smith. His name is Edison Smith. So his mom's name is Sister Smith."

Natalie: her eyes get real big and she starts to smile

Me: "And the next week preschool is at our house. Your name is Natalie Webb. So my name is Sister Webb. So when all your friends come over here, they will call me Sister Webb."

Natalie: "Yeah! And I will call you Sister Momma!!"

Makes sense right?