mending

mid-morning, i got a call from ava's teacher that "a friend knocked ava down.  she's pretty hurt.  can you come get her?"  once i got to the school, i knew her arm was in considerable pain.  though she promised she was fine and she just wanted to go home and lay down (doctor's office avoidance), we went straight to urgent care.

in the patient room waiting for the doctor, i finally asked her what happened.  tough girl told me a kid (let's just not name him!) was running around the classroom and ran right at her, pushed her down, then told her she deserved it.  relaying that last part, she started to cry.  very possibly, he was trying to get out of getting into trouble...again, but those words are what stuck, not the actions that came first.  i witnessed a part of her innocence shatter as her eyes welled up with those crocodile tears.

one of my greatest fears upon sending ava to kindergarten last fall was knowing she was going to get hurt, not necessarily physically.  this world has a lot of dark stuff going on, and human nature isn't always kind.  as much as i believe God is taking care of us, i daily practiced the roll of protector (aka: mom)!  handing that over to God was really hard for me.

so when ava told me what happened, all at once:

1. i wanted to punch push the kid back and say cruel words
2. i wanted to erase the hurt i saw in her eyes
3. i wasn't surprised.  i knew at some point, she'd get hurt

i looked down at my brave girl, and told her the truth.  that very sadly, this isn't going to be the last time someone hurts her feelings.  she has two options.  she can get mad and angry or she can forgive him and let it go.  she chose forgiveness.

which means i needed to forgive him too, even though i'd rather have done #1 up there!!

the story continues with a little more drama/anger surrounding her return to school and whether or not she'd be safe around this kid based on very little information.

did i mention she broke her wrist?  the brightest, most colorful cast wiped away ava's tears (and got her lots of attention).

**update**
she got the cast off four weeks later!  there is still a brace for another couple weeks, but now we can play at the pool!!  within two hours of cast-removal, we were splashing with friends.  ava even decided to be an unassisted swimmer, practically swimming laps and performing somersaults by the end of the day!

nyc

for the second time in his life, preston was gifted a trip to see the yankees for his birthday!  in college, i surprised him with tickets, but that was the old stadium.  he needed to see them in the new stadium.

our friend michael is also a big fan so we took the trip with he and his wife, mandy!  since we flew up friday morning and came back saturday evening and had a long list of things we wanted to see and do, we planned almost every minute we were there.

we began with a walk across the brooklyn bridge...

then checked out lady liberty...

then on our way to the 911 memorial we ate lunch from street vendor carts (this was important to the boys).  

at the memorial, we didn't take any pictures because they couldn't capture the essence of the place.  it's quiet, big and shiny beautiful.  they will soon open a museum on the complex and we peaked into the windows.  standing tall, yet battered are two huge beams from the tower wreckage.  seeing those gave me chills.  i just cannot imagine...

we hopped on a train to grand central terminal, where we whispered at the wall...

at the suggestion of a local on the subway, we walked to bryant park for drinks and a short breather.  bryant park was one of my favorites.  a huge beautiful library guards one side.

we made a quick stop to our hotel to freshen up and then jumped back on a train to the game.

at this point, the boys got giddy excited.

they yankees won!

saturday morning, we grabbed starbucks and the best bagel in the history of bagels (toasted sesame with strawberry cream cheese) from...

next was our bike tour of central park (the highlight of the trip for me!).

then we shopped at fao schwartz and ate lunch at carnegie deli (for the meat-lovers).

with full bellies, we grabbed a cab and caught our plane home.

it was a full two days, but so much fun!!!

the kids loved their souvenirs!

monkey

while eli is playing t-ball, ava is hanging from monkey bars or hanging upside down.

t-ball

we signed eli up for t-ball this spring.

he's a cute little lefty...

we tried to explain gently that catching the ball you just hit is the job for the other team.  he's happy either way!  whatever!

i love watching he and preston hang out together in the outfield.  it makes me wish i was a mind-reader!

jack & annie

ava LOVES the magic tree house series.  she was bouncy, happy to meet jack and annie in person!!  since their meeting, she has decided to read all the books in order from the beginning.  it has been 5 weeks and she's on #29!  way to read, avy!!

tapping ballerina

this year, ava's dance class included both tap and ballet.  

at the performance, ava stunned us with her ballerina twirls!!

and toe-terrific tapping!!

here's the "funny" picture of the group in their tap costume!

most of the girls have been dancing together for three years now, so it is so much fun to compare pictures from year to year.  they are getting so grown up!!  (besides the picture above, of course!)

school pictures

both kids took school pictures this spring that did not look like themselves.

therefore, we went in the backyard for some "real" smiles.

no complaining!

wednesday is laundry day.

by the time ava gets home from school, her clean clothes are in a flat (no wrinkles) pile on her bed.  she is in charge of hanging them up and putting them away.

she started complaining about this so i asked whether she would rather be in charge of the whole process because i don't deserve any lip!  (don't mess with me on wednesday afternoon!)

unknowingly, she agreed happily.

the following wednesday...

she hasn't complained since...