Frozen Parts and Some Sleds

In all the years we've lived here (7), we have NEVER gone sledding; even though there is a fabulous hill very close by. The reasons are these...the big snowfalls always seem to happen on Sundays (true story) and we have never owned good sleds.

This year we bought sleds to give the kids for Christmas, but then forgot about them since they were hiding in the trunk of Randy's car. But as we drove home from Michelle's house in the snow on Wednesday evening, the kids began to talk about sledding and I surprised by them by saying, "We got you sleds, we just forgot to give them to you!" It was a bonus Christmas really.



So by 9:45am Thursday morning the kids were each calling a friend (on two separate cell phones, which was funny really) to invite them to go sledding with us. It was very fortunate that Parker and Madison were available, because that made the outing much more fun for the kids.

This is Landon's "It's really cold out here" smile.

The girls were even colder because poor Madison was wearing rain boots, but they managed to smile normal.


I spent the hour taking pictures of the kids and of the snow-covered plants nearby. Of course I felt tempted to take a turn sledding down the hill, but then had several "Fun Mom or Stupid Mom" flashbacks from adventures past and opted not to brave it.


Instead I stood contemplating the cold because I only had my foxy pair of rain boots to wear, so even with 2 pairs of socks on I still froze. The boots may keep the wet out, but they seem to celebrate the cold.

The hike up the hill drained them a little more each time.

She's just plain cute.

Landon and Parker tried all kinds of ways to get down the hill, but the girls stuck to sitting down and facing forward. (There's a reason it's almost always boys who end up on America's Funniest Home Videos.)

Now that's a better smile.

At one point, I looked down and saw Whitney just lying at the bottom of the hill...classic Whitney.


The discolored spot on the side of my nose looks oh so magnified these days because the dermatologist used liquid nitrogen on it the other day; apparently when it heals the spot will be gone (woohoo).

After an hour of sledding the kids were icy cold and exhausted, but I was the only one bright enough to take a hot shower when we got home. Hee.

**Have you gone sledding recently?
Did you remember any of those flashbacks?
Do you own snow boots?
Have you ever had liquid nitrogen on your face?**

Comment Window Tidbit: It feels like a Saturday, but it's really only Friday...I love it when that happens!

Not So Happy Anniversary

It has been an entire year since this incident and I still walk with a slight limp, can't stand on my tippy toes and can't run normally (I tried at soccer practice the other day and looked like a wounded rhino). Hopefully now that we have insurance (as of last Tuesday, woohoo) I'll be able to see a specialist and figure what damage I really did to myself and if it's fixable.


This injury has made me think twice about a lot of things and has definitely made me appreciate how amazing the human body is and yet how vulnerable it is too. I'm damaged goods now, and that makes me sad. I often hark back to my nongimpy days and think how foolish I was for not appreciating what I could do then.

**Do you have any permanent injuries?
What do you wish you could still do?
The word cankle is hilarious right?**

Fun Mom or Stupid Mom...You Decide

Today's visit to the pool began just like any other, we packed our bag full of treats, goggles, toys and towels, lathered ourselves liberally with sunscreen and found a spot to set up camp.


It wasn't until the end of the day that some sort of mania came over me. I suggested to Max that we take a few turns on the diving board since this was our last visit to the pool for the season.

My first time down the diving board I did a decent dive, nothing fancy (how fancy can a potato be?), but as Max and I were talking about the back flips we wish we could do I found myself really itching to do a front flip.

I used to do all kinds of tricks off the diving board back in the day, and my body still thinks it can do them. My mind, however, knows I am much heavier than I was back then and that physics now play a more active role in my relationship with the diving board.

But I pressed on, I did a flip which was under rotated and resulted in my ham hock/buttocks area slapping the water painfully, but I was optimistic because I didn't die in the attempt!

My 2nd attempt was great, I got good rotation and was pain free. I think I probably lost points with the imaginary judges for plugging my nose, but so be it, I didn't want to clean out my sinuses in the pool.


Max and I were feeling increasingly confident about our flip prowess and decided to get Michelle to come document them for posterity (which means you). I realize that a girl of my size should not be eager to have photo and video evidence of her rotating corpulence, but my excitement blinded me and I just wanted to have proof that I did it.

Behold...I give you proof!


It wasn't until after Michelle went back to our base camp at the kiddie pool that the real trauma happened. I started thinking I could probably do a back flip. Sure I haven't done one for 20 years, but what the heck, it's like riding a bike right? Oh wait, I haven't done that for 20 years either!

I walked to the end of the diving board and turned around but then panicked and sort of slipped off and did a backward pencil-type entry. It was clearly a mistake, so Max, Landon, Lucas and I laughed (apparently Bella and Whitney witnessed this from a distance as well).

So when it was my turn again I thought I should go back to my proven front flip, no need to be a hero, I wanted to keep my spine in tact. So I did my approach to the end of the diving board and ended up sort of slipping/belly flopping into the water and felt my left Achilles tendon give some sort of rebellion.

I felt it instantly and was praying for it to be nothing serious before I even surfaced from under the water. All I could think was "oh crap, we don't have insurance, I can't be hurt, I can't be hurt, man it really hurts, what have I done, I'm an idiot, what was I thinking, how am I going to get out of the pool, good Hell what an idiot, please don't be hurt, please don't be hurt."

I paddled over to the side of the pool where Max greeted me by saying, "That looked like it hurt!" I asked him which part, and he said, "All of it." Oh dear.

I ended up gingerly making my way over to the shallow end of the pool rather than attempting to use the ladder to get out of the water. Max went over to Michelle and said, "Jill is damaged." So she came over to see if she could help me out. I just sat on the edge of the pool for awhile trying to move my ankle and assess the damage (as if I have any assessing skills!).

She ended up helping me over to a chair, then cleaned up our stuff and pulled my car around so I wouldn't have to hobble down the stairs to the parking lot. It seemed impossible to get out of there at that point so I really thought I might have to live there. I don't know what I would have done if she hadn't been there!

I was able to hobble to the car and drive home (luckily it's my left ankle, not my right), but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to function now. I can get around slowly, but don't see any stretching, dancing, stair climbing, or any normal walking in my near future. What have I done?

**Am I a fun mom or stupid mom?
What you have wanted proof?
Do you plug your nose?
Does your body think it can do things it used to do?
What should I do to fix my ankle?
Do you remember this trauma from last summer?**