The Always Crazy Soderholm Family

Christian turns 6!

We love our Christian so much! You can just tell by these 4 pictures how excited he was for his birthday!

His birthday was on a Friday, so we had a fun day as a family! He started the day waking up to a brand new bike from mom and dad! Next- a donut with candles. Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house! They gave him a build a bear gift card, so we went there next! He made another dog, Lucky, who he loves and plays with just as much as Bruthen. I need to take a picture of his puppy playground(his closet) that he has recently created. He has such a good imagination. Then, we had a great lunch at Friendly's which was super exciting. That evening we had a movie night and ate homemade pizzas. We watched Harry Potter to get in the mood for his party. He had a great day!

Playdate with Tamara and Christopher

A fun playdate with Victoria's classmate and friend, Tamara. She is a cute little girl and she and V love to talk on the phone! Mini teenagers, I tell you. Tamara just turned 8 though, and actually came to play on her birthday. We enjoyed the cupcakes that she brought.

Her brother Christopher came too, so that was especially nice for Christian and Grant.

The kids all played so nicely and we had a great time.

The post knee surgery Ninjas and head trauma

A few weeks ago Danny had knee surgery. He had a cyst removed and they removed a lot of old scared cartilidge. Not fun, but he handled it well and it recovering like a champ. Well, we are pretty silly at our house, so Danny took turns wrapping us up like ninjas in his ace bandage.

Now, notice that there are no picture of V or I as ninjas. Not because we wouldn't. V was in the shower and I was wrapped like a ninja when we all heard a thud and a scream from Victoria in the upstairs bathroom.
Although I had time to unwrap as I ran the the stairs(remember Danny couldn't run/ or even really walk yet), I decided that it might lighten the mood. Well, V was screaming, but the door was locked. I asked her to calmly open the door. Well, she did and she screamed even louder. I didn't scream, but I was equally terrified. I assured her that I was mom and pulled the disquise from my face.

So, why was I terrified- the scream and thud were result of Victoria slipping and falling in our cast iron tub! She grabbed hold of the shower curtain, but that came crashing down on her and she hit her forehead right on the side of the tub! She had a huge (I mean the biggest I have ever seen! ) goose egg that covered most of her forehead.I was terrified that it would pop open or that she had a terrible brain bruise or something. Luckily, Christian speedily got Danny's ice pack from his knee and we put it on her forehead. She couldn't be consoled and kept crying so we called the on-call doctor who told us to take her to the ER. But, Danny quickly hobbled next door to see if one of our neighbors(a doctor and a nurse practitioner) could come check her out.
Luckily, MaryAnn, came over and had a look. The Pruitts are awesome! She told us to continue to ice it on and off through the night, give her medicine and let her sleep(it was bedtime) waking her every hour or 2 to make sure she didn't have a concussion. So, it was a long night, but we iced it on and off 10 minutes for 5 hours and with her lying on her back it got much much better! It wasn't too bad looking the next day, but the swelling started to spread down her nose and face over the next couple, then she had 2 green/black eyes. Here are a couple pictures from the next few days.

She still has a little bruising left and a bit of a bump on her noggin, but you can't notice too much anymore. We are so thankful that she was ok. It was probably my scariest parenting moment to date. And yes, we are still crazy.

FAB Bus ride

We took a fun ride on the Farmville Area Bus a few weeks ago.

Simple fun!

Book Club

We started a book club for Victoria and a few of her friends this summer. The first one was at our house and the girls could read any American Girl book about Kirsten(V's favorite). V read Kirsten Saves the Day.

So, we had a pioneer activity at the house. We wore little aprons, sat on a quilt, made butter to eat on our homemade cornbread, summarized our books for our friends, and the favorite activity was- making yarn dolls. They were pretty cute.
.

Audrey tied long hair on hers.

Annaleigh

And V.

They had fun!

Since, they had a book club about horses. V started Black Beauty, but didn't finish quite in time. She had fun anyway. They did horse artwork, ate apples and carrots, and played a horse game. And last week, the book was Pinkilicious, but V couldn't go because of cousin camp at the same time. We'll meet a couple more times before school starts.

Father's Day!

Danny is a great dad! We hope he had a great Father's Day. Here are a few quick pics of his morning before church.

homemade cinnamon buns for breakfast in bed

surrounded by the kids, he was given, lots of hugs, kisses, and cards.

I thought Christian's card was so cute. He didn't need any help writing it and it says, "Thank you dad for taking care of me and making sure I am safe. You are the best dad ever. Love, Christian"

And a sad, but loving picture sequence of the gift that Victoria made an painted for Danny.

It broke as she was working on it on Saturdayand her heart broke because she wanted so badly to give it to Danny on Father's Day. He assured her that he knew how much she loved him and that he loved her so much too- present or no present.