Week long absence

"So you're prob'ly sayin' to yerself, 'Why don't he write?'"
Dances With Wolves

We've been constantly on the go.

A couple weeks ago, Ben fell at the park and got himself a big ol' cut on his head, which resulted in a trip to the ER and 7 stitches. 

The doctor at the ER said that after six days, we could come back to have them removed for free, but we weren't really close to home when it happened, so the gas alone would not be worth it.  We could go to a local walk-in clinic and for a long wait and a co-pay, we could get it done locally.  I decided that with some basic first aid training, I could remove them myself.  I swabbed everything liberally with rubbing alcohol and snipped them out myself, then smeared the cut with Neosporin.  Done.  It looks fine.


Last weekend, we went on a day trip to one of our Medieval outings, and I took the kids to a youth play area where Ben spent more than an hour fishing little plastic toys out of a wooden bucket.  I need to find one of these...  The event was small--apparently everyone else was invited to a wedding.


This is another reason I've been too busy to write.  I've been building this little structure for camping.  It's nearly done--I just have a couple of finishing touches (grommets, ties), and to set it up with the canvas for the first time.  If it doesn't work, I have the pop up tent as the emergency back up.  Unfortunately, Avelyn's yurt is suffering dearly, apparently due to the weight of the top ring--the tono.  They're staying up late tonight building a bagaana, which is a lifting tool.


I also finished the yellow socks, a commissioned pair for a friend.  She was so excited that she wrote the check in pencil...and the bank nearly refused to cash it, but said they'd do it "just this once" but I needed to tell her not to do that again.  Sure.  I'll get right on that.

The kids started school yesterday for a half-day, then today for the full day.  While things are going swimmingly for the girls, Ben is still in a no-man's-land in regards to his acceptability.  He attended today, wearing uniform-type clothes so he'd blend in and we had long talks about what was acceptable behavior--particularly "friendly touching"--handshakes, high-fives, fist-bumps, etc.  He went to Mrs. P's class and at lunchtime when I stopped by to give him his meds, she said that he's "blending in nicely".  Miss H in the office had less friendly things to say; she's "concerned" about his behavior since his former teacher rated him low for "respect for other children" and "courtesy/cooperation".  I'm concerned that those marks are going to continue to hold him back.  I think the school is also setting a ridiculously high expection of 7 year old boys. I bet if some of Cammie's classmates had to go through this kind of scrutiny, they wouldn't have been able to attend. Hopefully the "committee" will reason with her and convince her that one more child helps their bottom line and will help keep two others enrolled.  Next year will be insanity on a stick if we end up with three kids attending three different schools (high school, public elementary school and private school).

Emma's birthday is coming up and she's decided that she wants a bike, three PSP games and an iTunes gift card.  She really needs a new Kindle and some new clothes (maybe a Target gift card...for when the Target finally gets itself pulled back together--they decided to remodel just before back-to-school shopping started full swing, and have 75% of their store packed into containers in the parking lot.  Guess I'll go shop their competition).

Off to sleep, then up at the crack of dawn.
K