This tiny Polly Pocket doll shoe got firmly lodged in the upper reaches of Helen's nose this morning. It took a trip to urgent care and $273 to get it out. With 20/20 hindsight it was very foolish of me to buy the girls a set of scented Polly Pocket clothes. The various skirts and tops smell like watermelon, etc. Needless to say, Helen was trying to see what the tiny shoe smelled like when it got sucked up into her nose. Her attempts to get it out with her finger only pushed it further up to where it could not be removed without the proper medical equipment. The removal procedure was quick, painless and very expensive. On the way home Helen said she wished Grandma and Grandad were here. When I told her that they think of her all the time she said "I know. It's because they love us so much."

This afternoon when David had a few problems with the kids' computer he declared that it had a virus. We contradicted him, saying that we had one once but we haven't had any since. To which he replied: "Well, it keeps saying 'virus updated'"! (He was referring to the anti-virus software which periodically displays a pop-up saying 'virus database updated'.)