A Series of "Firsts"

Wow! What a crazy, fun busy summer its shaping up to be! I would have written a post for this blog last week but I accidentaly deleted all my pictures from my camera and had to have help from a friend to retrieve them. (Thanks, Jake) Over the last few weeks, we've experienced a lot of "firsts" around here.

Garrett is in a band with some guys from church called Torn in Two. They've played at a few youth events and for the First time, they played for an outside group. They played for a small church that was having a revival. They played for an hour and Garrett, who sings lead, led a devotion. I think they're really talented and I hope they get to play a lot. They'll play again on July 23rd in Huntington at The Focus. They're the opening band that evening.

Then, I took Garrett to Jackson's Mill in Weston, WV for the First time. He was selected to attend Mountaineer Boy's State because of his good grades and leadership skills. The week long camp is run like a mock state government. Garrett ran for a seat on the Supreme Court and took the Boys State version of the Bar Exam. He was defeated in the election but ended up as a Circuit Judge. They had mock trials and he said it was cool being called "The Honorable Garrett Gaunch." He learned a lot about government and said he has a new sense of patriotism.

For the First time, Rebecca got a role in a Huntington Outdoor Theater production and Hannah and Garrett aren't in it. Her part is in the pre-show that is a 45 minute performance before the actual play. The pre-show this year is a celebration of Broadway and the play is Annie. One night, she was running across the stage and turning a cartwheel when she slipped and fell on her head and hand. Her head swelled but she was ok. The next day, her finger swelled and we had it x-rayed but it seemed fine...

The next day, we had another First. All three kids went to church camp. They're all been to camp many times, but never at the same time. Becca was a camper at junior camp for 9-11 year olds and Garrett and Hannah were junior counselors. Yep, Louie and I were going to be alone in the house for a week. Another First. We've been away on trips and left the kids at home but they've never all gone away and left US at home.

The week started out great. I had a long to-do list while Louie was at work. But... we got a call Monday that Becca's x-ray had been read. She had broken her right index finger. Well, at first I thought it wouldn't be a big deal. After all, what do you do for a broken finger besides tape them together? But when the pediatrician called with the full report, the right index finger was broken near a joint and in a growth plate... tape wasn't going to cut it. **Seventeen years of parenthood and this is our very First child with a broken bone! So our quiet week without kids was interrupted with a drive to camp, a trip to the orthopedist and back to camp again which totaled 11 hours of driving in less than 24 hours. The good news was, with 3 weeks in a firm splint, she should be good as new. And I even managed to end the week with one of my goals accomplished- another First- a clean and organized garage. It's something I've wanted to do since we moved into the house 6 summers ago!

That just about sums up what's going on around here. But I just had to mention that Becca came home from camp with a new favorite candy- Pretzel M&Ms. (I thought it was ironic that there is a picture of an x-ray on the package!) To make her happy (for no other reason of course) I tried them. While I admit that you can hardly go wrong when you mix salty with sweet, I can't say its my favorite. Hannah like the new coconut M&Ms, Garrett likes any M&Ms, Louie likes peanut butter M&Ms and I'd have to go with good old peanut M&Ms- although if they made a 'dark chocolate peanut M&Ms' it would be perfect!