Doctors wear sneakers and nurses wear boots

Well, it was bound to happen. Sam and I had actually laid bets on which Smith would break the first bone.
TIFFER WON!
Well, actually the sidewalk won.

(adding to this post on Tuesday, these x-rays are the AFTER pictures. If you look closely you can see the crack in the thumb. I was not able to get the BEFORE pictures. Maybe a good thing for those of you with squeamish tummies. )

I had taken Collin and Kaitlynn and several of their friends to the base theater last night to see NANCY DREW. I turned my phone volume down (like all good movie patrons do) so I didn't hear the ring 5 minutes into the movie. Steve Barfield came to the theater to get me and send me home and he stayed with the group so they could finish the movie. Said Tiff had a bad bike wreck and wanted his Mommy.
With everything being so close I was home in 2 minutes. Bad? YES! Thumbs are not meant to be pointed in that direction.

So, off to the ER we went. Again, just 2 minutes down the road. He really really surprised me! He was the most excellent patient any Smith child has EVER been. Didn't cry. Cooperated. Even during the x-rays when they were putting his broken thumb out in angles that made me hurt just to look at it!

Once the doc knew for sure it was broken and how and where, he called Boise for a specialist consult. It is near the growth plate, so we will be following up with a visit to Boise within the next week. He said the ortho doc said to do a closed reduction. Meaning, twist it back into place. We opted to try it once withOUT numbing it, because he said if it worked, the shots to numb it would be worse then the actual reduction procedure. Quick prayers were answered, once YELP from Tiff and the thumb looked normal again. Then more x-rays to make sure the bones were aligned properly, some pain meds, and we got home around 10:30.

He wanted to know eveyones name. He colored a scooby do page. He giggles, talked and asked a MILLION questions. With the curtains drawn all the way around us, we could only see feet. And he quickly figured out and announced that "Doctors wear sneakers and nurses wear boots."

He was right! The docs are always civilians and the nurses are active duty in uniform!

He slept well last night. He hurts this morning and is pretty grumpy. The hard part is going to be keeping him less active and dry and clean! This is ONE ACTIVE four year old! No bike, no water gun / hose fights, no dirt.

Below is a video from Poppa and JuJu's house from last month, just showing you an example of his bike riding. And this was just on the TRIKE!

Just pray for swift healing and no damage to the growth plate. He is calling for another drink refill now so Nurse Mommy needs to go! I hope he doesn't want me to wear boots! :-)

Tiffer "Pops it up"

About the 2 videos below....

Alrighty, I got them uploaded. I WISH they weren't so dark or the ho-down had been better lit!

Turn off all your lights and watch it in the dark and you can make out the shadows. The second video is a little better lit, you should be able to tell who is who.

We will shoot our next mini-videos in the daylight hours! :-)

Kaebrie and the rodeo hat dance

Kaebrie and her rodeo hat dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxE2vnaBPlM

Kaebrie, Kaitlynn and AnnaBrooke dancing at the ho-down!

Idaho Rodeo

What they say about living out west is true. There are real cowboys and real rodeos. Glenns Ferry is a small town about 45 miles from here and we went last night to their annual shin-dig.

Because it is so hot (over 104 every day this week) and because it stays light so late (sun doesn't set until after 10 pm), the rodeo "kicked" off at 8:00!!

We went with our great neighbors, ReNaye Conrow and her kids Morgan and Wyatt, and also took Leigha and AnnaBrooke Barfield with us.

Here are the boys with a front row seat waiting for the action to start!

And the girls!
I don't think Kaebrie looked twice at the action in the arena. She was to busy running back and forth between me and the fence.
The favorite events were the bucking broncos, the barrel racing and the bull riding!

Here is a group shot at 10:15 pm. Sorry about the picture. I put what Collin needed, what Kaebrie needed, and what I needed in one backpack instead of trying to carry multiple bags, and it appears I had a leaky sippy cup, but it was to dark to notice that until I looked at the pictures this morning. :-(
The Jeff Palmer band started their music at 10:15 with a genuine ho-down. That was for me the most fun of the evening! Here is ReNaye dancing with Wyatt. They are good!! Her grandfather taught her, and she explained she grew up going to these. When she was little her mom and dad (who are cattle ranchers) would put her to sleep in the truck and keep on dancing!
Kaebrie IMMEDIATELY ran out and started dancing!

She has some great and unique moves for a two year old!
Daddy asked Kaitlynn to dance to him!

Then Kaebrie wanted a turn with Daddy too!

AnnaBrooke and Kaitlynn finally got up enough nerve, got out on the dance floor together and had a wonderful time.



I could not get Christopher to dance alone, with me, or with anybody else. Granted it is 11:00 at NIGHT and he was getting pretty tired, but he sure enjoyed watching. We couldn't get Collin or Morgan or Leigha to dance either. But Collin didn't have any trouble standing on the edge of the dance floor playing his air guitar to the loud music!

She got a hold of big sisters hat and danced the night away!
More Daddy Dancing!

I did take some videos because it was just so much fun to watch. I am going to try and upload those tomorrow. Now remember, by now it is VERY late, after 11 and VERY dark. So the videos are dark, but you can make out who is who and see how much fun they are having.

A great evening out in the wild wild west! :-)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Daddy, we miss you and wish you were here!
But even though you are gone, we had to have cake on your birthday!
IT WAS YUMMY!

Mommy didn't put all the candles on the cake. She said something about it being to much fire....that is against the base regs to have that much flame in this size house. What did she mean???

We thought about saving you a piece, but I really don't think there will still be any left in 9 more days. Last night Mommy was outside talking to Mrs. Tabitha and Mrs. DeeDee and Kaebrie just grabbed handfuls and was eating it. This morning, before breakfast, Christopher did the same thing, but at least he used a fork. That kind of cake sure does make a mess!! Mommy was not happy about all the mess on the floor and on their clothes.
Mommy also said you were the "age where nobody would believe you." Why would nobody believe you were 39?
We miss you and love you. Hurry home! And we can make you another cake if you want one.
Love, Collin, Kaitlynn, Tiffer, and Kaebrie

Happy Birthday Daddy

July 4th

Happy Fourth of July from Idaho!

This was Kaebrie's first year to really celebrate and her first year to see real fireworks! She totally enjoyed herself, but she usually does anyway!
I tried to get Christopher still enough to let a shot at the 2 of them, but this was the only one he let me take!
The big two have been posing for so long, they have no trouble striking a pose at a moments notice!
Collin and one of his best friends, Leigha.
The Smiths and the Barfields!
Add on the Cates and the Klawitters!
The swing set was the most popular spot in the Cates backyard.
The Barfields! Steve, DeeDee, Leigha, AnnaBrooke, McKenna, and Sara Kate.
Steve deploys in a few weeks so please keep them all in your prayers. Pray for his safety and for his ministry. Pray for DeeDee and the girls as they are here without him for 4 months.

The neighbors started their celebrating a bit early! It was a beautiful sunset that night as well.
Kaebrie with our new neighbors; Sarah, Anna and Naomi
One of the dads brought colored smoke bombs. They thought that was AWESOME!
Emily and Kaebrie sure looked surprised!

Sparklers!!!!!!

Another one of Collin and Leigha!

The swing set gave them the perfect view over the golf course.

Kaebrie reacts to her FIRST real fireworks!!!!!!!
She squealed, screamed, laughed and talked to everyone, giving them a constant running commentary on what she saw.

We had a lot of fun. It doesn't get dark here until AFTER 10pm now, so it was a really late night, but it was worth it!
Thanks to Michelle and Josh for hosting. Can we already RSVP yes for next year?