Happy Birthday?

Today is Avey’s birthday, but I’m not so sure it’s been a happy one. On the way to church this morning, a woman was waiting to turn left coming toward Kira in the van. The woman apparently did not see that Kira was there (we’re not sure if there was a car in front of Kira or what it was), and so she hit our van, causing it to go off the road, where it spun around and hit a wood fence on the side of the road. Everyone is okay, thankfully. Carver was sitting on the opposite side of where the impact happened, and he hit the side of his head on Hakan’s car seat or something. He’s got a bit of a bruise, but he’s going to be okay, though he’s a little shaken up. 

Hakan has had a bad cough at night, so we were on the fence about what to do with him, but ultimately decided to keep him home from church. That was a fortunate move, because the part of the car that got the worst of the impact was right where his seat was, so he may have been injured. Merritt’s window shattered, but he does not seem to have been harmed, although there was broken glass in his car seat and around him. 

We’re so glad that everyone is okay. We’re sad to see our van go, also, as we’ve had it for about 6 years and it’s served us well. I’m particularly annoyed that I had literally renewed the registration 2 weeks ago, and last week paid $350 to have a coolant leak repaired, but I suppose that’s how these things always go. 

Hakan and I got the call from Hannah, so we rushed out in her car to help get stuff out of it and get people home. Because her car seats only 5, we had to have some of us ride with the police officer who helped us get home. Hopefully the boys won’t get a taste for riding in the back of police cars.

Avey is in good spirits generally, although she was a bit scared by how much worse it all could have turned out. It’s put a slight damper on today’s celebrations, so we’re glad that we got some of it done yesterday. Avey wanted a s’mores pie, so she actually made all of it with my supervision on Friday night. It tastes amazing, though we’ll need to make a few changes next time.

As if to signal that she’s getting older, she lost another of her baby teeth on Friday also, just while we were sitting and watching a movie.

Saturday is when we planned to do most of the celebration. Avey really wanted to see It: Chapter 2 in the theater. She’s been reading the book for a few weeks. I took her to the first show of the day so that it wouldn’t keep her up at night, and we both had a good time, and enjoyed discussing it on the way home.

We needed to get home quickly so that she could have some lunch and pick up Kira to take to her next appointment, which was to get her ears pierced. She decided to go with the piercing place that partners with a tattoo place, and she said that it went really well, and felt clean and everything. She’s now anxiously waiting for the time when she can switch out the studs they put in and try some different styles.

We opened just a few of her presents yesterday and are planning to do the rest today. She was very thoughtful and chose to have a gluten free chocolate cake (so that Carver wouldn’t feel left out), in addition to the pie. So that’s in the oven right now.

The boys had a special day this week where they could dress up like the career they want. Carver wanted either a paleontologist, a chef, or a scientist, but we just didn’t have great costume stuff for those, so he wore a t-shirt with a dinosaur skeleton on it, and an apron. Hakan chose a cowboy, so we decked him out much easier:

Hakan’s really felt bad for a couple of days. His cough mostly comes at night, but he had a couple of afternoons where he laid down to nap. One day where he was on the fence, he decided he wanted to go to school, and both Kira and I told him that if he was feeling bad he could tell his teacher he needed to go home. Of course, he didn’t say anything and when he got home that day he looked and felt terrible. Poor guy. He seems in good shape today, though he was up coughing for a long time last night, so we’ll see how he feels tomorrow. Merritt was up for a bit last night, too, so we worry that he’s getting it.

Kira went to an RS activity early in the week and made this craft. The “O” is replaced with the silhouette of Indiana. We’ll need to find a good place for that. She got an email from a potential client early in the week, but the client hasn’t followed up, so maybe she’ll get some more business soon.

I had a typical week, except that I had to go into campus for some Friday meetings. At the afternoon one, I was chatting briefly with the dean over the college of arts and sciences (my boss’s boss), who told me a story about when she was talking about career ideas with a student who said that my course was her favorite at the time, and then confided in the dean that I was her favorite professor. The dean told me that the student then leaned in and said, “Dr. Ricks is everyone’s favorite professor.” So that really made my day, and was especially nice to hear from my superior.

I’m sure this next week will be a nightmare of trying to keep up with normal life and lots of run-around with insurance issues while we try to get a new set of wheels. We’ll see what happens by next week…

#Happenings