911 Call for Elizabeth!

Friday, June 15th was supposed to be a quiet night. Tim and Spencer were in the mountains on a campout and I had planned a quiet, rainy evening working on my blog and other projects--I had dinner done early and Liz and Gavin in the tub by 7 p.m.  (Pretty early for a summer night--even if it w)
as rainy!)

Elizabeth was having a little too much fun splashing water and I had asked her to stop getting the floor so wet--but when I left to get the towels, things took a turn for the worse when Levi got upset at Elizabeth for splashing soapy water at Gavin. So he grabbed the nearby Clorox Cleanup bottle (my bad) and squirted her face--the bleach got in her eye. I was so shocked, scared and angry.

Levi felt unjustly punished ("isn't soapy water just as bad for your eyes?") until he realized that the firefighters were coming to check Elizabeth and that we hoped she wasn't going to be blind...he began to cry-no sob- in agony, louder than his sister. To the point that Liz stopped crying and asked why Levi was crying, and I told her "because he is worried about your eyes, because he loves you so much."  That made an impression on her.

Meanwhile, I had decided on calling 911--with Liz screaming, Gavin and Levi too, and me trying to flush her eye--I couldn't really decipher the label on the cleaner for accident procedures. The firefighters were there in a few minutes--Liz wasn't even dressed yet. We slipped something on her and laid her on the bathroom counter where the 'rescue hero' flushed her eye with saline solution for 10 minutes. (It was more a flush, blink, rest, repeat process.) During the process and following it, they determined she was more than likely just fine, but that we should take her to urgent care for a professional checkup. 

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was becoming very enamoured with her rescuers! They really are rescue heroes--coming in with all their muscles and confidence and smiles and just taking over. She immediately calmed down--she would never have allowed me to run water over her eye like that! When it was determined she was ok, the mood was very light and they were friendly and chatty and full of praise for Elizabeth. They even let her sit inside the aid car and told her how the computer helped them find our house, etc. She was basking in the attention. :)   They also asked who sprayed the cleaner...Levi fessed up. They made him promise not to repeat that. I think he has definitely learned the hard way--hopefully all my kids have learned  from this experience not to spray any substance at anyone's face, EVER!

After the firefighters left, putting on their lights for a show and all, I was able to leave the three other kiddos at my dear neighbor, Myfa's home, while I took Elizabeth to the urgent care clinic. We checked in at 8 p.m. and finally saw a doctor at 9:30 or so--the doc put some yellow drops in her eye then turned out the lights and turned on a black light that made her eyes glow yellow--Freaky! The doc was looking for damage from the bleach--but she checked out just fine. At that point I was quite sure she was OK, but is a relief to know for sure.

Elizabeth was feeling so fine during this part of it, that the outing felt to her more like pampered time with Mom--like a Mommy/Daughter date. We colored together and chatted together, etc. And then she even got a sucker from the nurse.

On the way home, she asked me, what if I had squirted Levi with the bleach? Well, he would have had to have his eye flushed out and gone to the doctor (been possibly blinded...) She quickly replied, "Good thing I was the lucky one!"  You don't want to do that again, do you?(I asked, amused but a bit concerned.) "Oh NO!" she replied.

Making Jam with the Girls-July 14th

During the summer we try to pack a lot of fun adventures in...but we also treasure those days spent at home. This particular day we were all grateful for a quiet day after I had spent 2 days helping at cub camp and the kids at playdates with friends and with grandma.

So today I took advantage of our quiet day and taught the girls how to make strawberry jam! We made a batch of freezer jam and a batch of cooked jam. They like the freezer jam style best, of course--much safer process! And it sure tastes good!

We also accomplished a second project...scrapbooking last year's schoolwork (i.e. putting the papers/cards/memorabilia together in 3-ring binders). I have a new organization system that I implemented after a class at Education Week last summer--and it worked! I bought a file drawer that I actually keep in the kitchen corner so that I can easily use it throughout each day. Among other things there is a file for each kiddo where I place the"keepers"--schoolwork and memorabilia that I think they will want to keep. Today I took a file out one at a time and Rachel and I put them into their binders. This was SO much less painless than my previous method of stacking all the papers in the cupboard in one big messy stack! It also helps that I had the help of my wonderful daughter--four hands sure make the work go faster!

July 2, 2011 Levi's Baptism Day!

I guess you might say this is a 'welcome back' to the blog post....it has been a while! I try to keep my journal current, but sharing photos is just so fun--so I'm hoping that if I find time more often, that it will get easier!

A very special event prompts this post--Levi's baptism! It turned out that his baptism fell on a date almost a month following his 8th birthday--which was difficult for him to wait...but was fun for us to share his anticipation and excitment! He glowed the whole month long!

We spent several family home evenings focused on baptism--one of which we talked about the significance of names. We took the opportunity to use an example of Levi's name...opened his baby book and read about why we chose his name ('Levi is from the scriptures, it also means 'to join'-which is applicable for the 3rd of 5 children, the Levites were given charge over temples, and 'Martin' is his Grandpa's middle name). We spent a few extra minutes sharing other cute things we had written about baby Levi. He felt special. Then we tied the discussion into baptism by pointing out that just as Levi's name is special, so is the name of Christ and when we are baptised we promise to take the name of Christ upon us. I'm not sure why I wrote about this...except just to try to remind me down the road of some of the special moments leading up to his baptism.

We were blessed to have many family members attend his baptism and share this milestone with him! Grandma and Grandpa Kovacs from Arizona were able to come, as well as Tim's sister Kirsten and her family from Logan, UT! (more to come on that later!) Grandma Conway and many of my siblings and friends were able to attend also.

The baptismal service was perfect. Beautiful music and thoughtful talks. A highlight for me was that our family was able put together a musical number with lae-night rehearsal with the Bartons (Tim's sister) and Gma and Gpa Kovacs, a Janice Kapp Perry arrangemnt of "I Love to See the Temple." The children sang the traditional music and the adults sang a verse titled 'Teach a Child.' Grandma played the piano. My favorite moments were those spent practicing around the piano at home-but the performance was good, too, I'm sure. :) The other moment that I will always treasure is the one that we shared the night before his baptism when he and his Dad and I met in our bedroom for a quiet moment away from the happy hub-bub of a house full of loved ones. There he and Tim practiced the best way to go under the water, and we gave him a picture of Jesus and a white towel towel to remind him of the Holy Ghost can provide throughout his life, as he lives to be worthy of such a gift. It was 'cream-of-life.' :)

Most memorable, however, was the fact that Levi just glowed at his baptism. His Dad and I are so proud of him! We are so proud of the faith that he has and for the goodness in his heart. We are so pleased when we hear him pray, that we can feel the faith he has in a listening Father in Heaven. Levi has a heart of gold, and a smile that warms our own hearts.

A Letter to Levi:
Levi, I am so proud of you for accepting Christ into your life, by being baptized into Heavenly Father's church, by the same priesthood authority that John the Baptist held. I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of God, restored in its fulness through the prophet, Joseph Smith. I know that this church is led by a prophet of God today, just as in ancient days. I believe in Christ. I believe that he showed us the way and gave us divine guidelines, or commandments, that will bring us peace and comfort and even joy as we journey through life. Choosing to be baptized is the first step in that journey back to our heavenly home. We sincerely pray that you will always find joy in choosing the Lord's way. We love you, Levi. Love, Mom & Dad