Monday night a couple weeks ago was eventful.  We had our monthly combined family home evening over at my sister-in-law’s house.  We headed over and went swimming as a family.  Covey is super excited because this summer he has finally learned how to float on his back.  I counted and he has now been able to float for two minutes straight. We finished swimming, changed into pajamas, and ate some cookies.  The kids were a bit upset when we said it was time to go home, however it was after bedtime already so we needed to leave.  We got home at 9pm (an hour after bed) and were hurrying to try and get the kids tucked in.  Unfortunately as we were kneeling down to say prayer Phoenix, who was dancing around the living room, tripped and fell hitting his head on the bottom of the rocking chair.  I looked as he hit and saw the cut on his head open up.  I grabbed him and shouted to Brandt that he had a head wound as I rushed into the kitchen before the blood got flowing too bad.  I had to hold his hands down as he kept trying to grab the wound that was bleeding all over me and the floor.  Brandt ran into my sewing closet to get some cloth that we could tie around his head.  Once we got the fabric tied tightly he was still crying hard. I looked up and noticed that Jerrica and Covey were both sobbing in the living room.  I wondered for a second if they had been fighting and asked why they were crying.  Covey answered, while crying, that he was just so sad for Phoenix.  I guess all the blood had them freaked out.  We calmed everyone down and cleaned up the mess.  Than once the kids were in bed I found the Neosporin and unbandaged his head so we could see if the bleeding had slowed down or if he needed stitches.  Luckily it had slowed down a lot.  I cleaned and bandaged it, and he slept with the cloth tied around his head.

Jerrica has been begging for violin lessons lately.  She has shown interest in it for the last year and a half.  Now whenever she sees a violin she reminds me how much she wants to learn.  I started looking into violin lessons and was shocked to learn that most places charge $100 a month for lessons.  On top of that I need to rent a violin which is another $16 a month.  That is an awful lot of money for a young child.  Although I would really love for her to have the chance to learn.  I have found a couple places slightly cheaper, but Brandt and I have decided to make her work to have lessons.  I printed up a couple calendars and talked with her to discuss the plan.  She will have to clean her room 6 days a week (Sundays off) for 2 whole months.  If she can do that, we will get her lessons.  If she misses a day, or complains a lot about it than she has to start over and can’t have lessons until she finishes the two months. This gives me time to find out what style of teaching I want for her, and which teacher I will use.

*** Update since I wrote this: She has now kept her bedroom clean including making her bed for 2 weeks…. I have never seen her room this clean – or had her do it so easily!