Full Weekend

Sean’s sister and three kids have been here for a visit this weekend. They’re good Southern folks and were excited to see snow. You know, snow: the white stuff we’ve had on the ground here in mid-Michigan every day since January 1. The cold, fluffy, build-a-snowman stuff that I thought would last forever… well, guess what? When the temperature gets above freezing the snow melts and that happened just in time for the arrival of my Georgia kin. They got here Friday afternoon; by Saturday evening most of the snow was gone, leaving only the nasty, gray mounds of formerly white snow piled up in parking lots. Lovely.

Thankfully we took them sledding immediately upon their arrival Friday afternoon; my nephews were really looking forward to sledding. It was icy and the hill was fast. It was too fast for my niece who crashed, causing our first injury of the weekend. It would not be the last.

Saturday morning Amy and Sam were in the basement. We thought all was well until Amy burst into the kitchen, blood covering her shoulder. I had no idea where it was coming from until Amy pointed to her ear. Seems she and Sam were roughhousing in the basement and her head connected with the corner of the window seat which sliced her ear. We’ve had broken bones but all this blood was a first. I took her to the doc-in-a-box where they took one look and immediately started working on her. Thirty minutes and three stitches later we were at Meijer picking up an antibiotic ointment and hydrogen peroxide, both of which must be applied four times a day.

So with injury #2 under our belts we headed to East Lansing to the Dr. Seuss exhibit. I cannot recommend it enough – the gallery owner was so friendly and didn’t bat an eye when we hauled in six kids. Did you know Dr. Seuss started out drawing cartoons for advertisements? Me, neither.

Jill and the kids are leaving today after lunch – I jokingly said we don’t have lunch until Tuesday. It’s been a good visit with lots of laughter despite the injuries. I am not ready for them to leave. Which, my mother-in-law says, is just exactly the right time to go.

Elizabeth before the sledding injury:

Elizabeth after the sledding injury: