Let them ask questions.

 I often hear children asking their parents

questions about Angelina and Jude.

 

I also often hear parents telling their children

"Shhh!"

Or reprimanding them for staring.

"Stop Staring! That's so rude!"

 

 

Please let your children ask questions.

 

 

Asking questions is how we learn.

So next time, they will know WHY.

 They won't need to ask again.

They won't need to stare.

 

 

We were at the park last week and a little boy

was asking his Mom what was on Angelina and

Jude's legs. What were those special shoes and leg things.

 

He completely had missed the walkers

and missed even noticing anything different

about them. He just saw the AFO's.

 

The Mom said she didn't know.
And she brought her son over to us.

Her son was about 5 years old.

Along came his siblings and friends.

His Mom asked the question for him...

"My son wants to know what is on your children's legs?"

 

People don't usually ask anything. I was taken by surprise.

Pleasant, wonderful surprise!

We all had a chance to explain what they were.

Jude and Angelina helped explain.
He was able to feel the AFO's

and to learn. And then he lost interest and said...

"You guys want to go on the slide?"

 

That was that.

His curiosity was over.

He just wanted to play.

 

Assume the positive.

Educate your children.

Let them ask questions.

You can ask questions too, its OK!

 

We have follow up appointments for AJ and Jude

next week. AJ for her surgery she had.

And Jude for his legs. The Orthotist and OT feel that

he is going to need surgery on his lower legs.

Its a big deal. I pray for the right answers.

 

Jude can now use his walker to get on the bus

and no longer needs a wheelchair to get on the bus.

But his darn lower legs just turn in so much.

It makes it very difficult for him.

He is such a trooper and fighter.

They both are!

I am so blessed.

 



Excuses for not blogging

Here is a list of my excuses for not blogging:

1. Busy busy busy
2. My children ended all of their soccer seasons last weekend to go right into try out season. Today Alyssa has her second set of try outs for developmental soccer league and Grace starts try outs for both Cheer and Select soccer tonight. She is actually going to miss part of both tryouts as the times overlap tonight... and next week... same story for her. She is stressed to say the least.
3. Sometimes Grace bites off more than she can chew. (This is a follow up from #2) and has offered to make her entire choir hair bows for their concert next week. She is working late into the night to get all the hair bows made. She is also walking in the Diabetes walk in Seattle this weekend with her dear friend who is diabetic. They have a team and are working on making tee shirts too. So cool.
4. David played his very last soccer game of high school. It was bittersweet to watch. He had his soccer team over for a cook out and he is working on his senior project presentation. Its a huge deal. He graduates in just two weeks. Where does the time go?
5. I spent a great deal of time researching summer programs for Dominick. He has been struggling and needs a moving experience this summer. We have applied for him to go on an Outward Bound two week backpacking and rock climbing trip and we are waiting to hear if he gets in or not.
6. Cole was accepted to be a CIT at his summer camp. He will be doing two weeks of camp this summer. One week as a counselor in training and the other week as a camper. He is so excited. Cole was also invited to go camping with a friend her family this summer and he got a job at the berry farm again.
7.  Sophie has been wild busy. She went on a week long camping trip with her school for science to one of the islands. Then she went to the other side of the state for five days to a competition for FFA in Vet Science. She has been gone a lot in the past few weeks and is now playing catch up with her regular classes. She also recently started a book club at her school. Sophie also took a job this summer at the berry farm. Cousin Noah also is going to work there so the three kids will carpool together.
8. Cole and Grace are going on mission trips this summer and have been busy fundraising and volunteering at church to help fund the trips.
9. Sophie and Alyssa are going to my Moms (Nana's) for a month this summer with their cousin Zoe. Sweet Joy is probably going to be coming over to visit them for a week while they are there giving her family a little respite and letting the girls have sometime together. Yea!
10. Izzy now knows the difference between markers and crayons. She won't use crayons anymore. Use your imagination.
11. My very closest friends have had a lot of tragedy lately. A dear friends son died. Terrible. And another friend had to make the brave hard decision to send her daughter to residential care this past week on the other side of the country.
12. I had an awesome Mothers day with a massage from my hubby and an evening out of pedicures and mimosas with my dear friend. It was lovely!
13. Did I mention that Leishan is getting married this July and we have been planning? We have a long way to go!
14. My hubby had a birthday and we have been doing at least once a week dates and trying to hit the gym together two nights a week too. This time together is essential for staying connected. Yea for time together! Last weekend we went to our very first roller derby to watch our friend. It was awesome! I didn't realize what I had been missing!
15. Isaac and Jude are busy planning a summer Mom/Son adventure with me. :) Its going to involve going to visit friends and having some GUY time. I am also trying to find a day camp for Isaac to attend for soccer or something special. Locals, any ideas??
16. Angelina was accepted to a special camp for five nights this summer. She is beyond excited.
17. Alyssa and Angelina will be attending girl scouts day camp right at our local park for a week this summer.
18. We have had the normal stuff of schoolwork, sports, events, commitments, tests, medical and dental appointments etc.
19. We had been spending between $700 and $800 per month on my hubbys commute to and from work. We bit the bullet and bought a hybrid and even with a car payment we are saving money each month. Praise!
20. And the biggest news of all...
I am leaving soon for a GIRLS trip with Sophie, Angelina, Grace, Alyssa and Izzy. Both Sophie and AJ were given an amazing opportunity to attend a dolphin therapy program! So the planning and saving and praying about this very quickly planned adventure has been eating up a lot of time. What a blessing though. :) I have some special surprises in the works too and we will be able to visit my dear Aunt for two nights too!

Phew... I think I need a nap.

Review of the week

 This has been one of the longest emotional weeks of my life. Seriously. I am just spent. Maybe I am hormonal? OR perhaps it was situational?

Two of my dearest friends have had major HUGE things going on in their lives. Both are heavy on my heart. That might be the underlying space I am in with a busy week... its just too much.


Monday:
Sophie left for the islands with her school on a special science trip for the week. While I was so excited for her to go and have this experience her presence here at home was greatly missed.
Then we had David's varsity soccer team over for a cook out. The weather was beautiful. The boys were so nice and respectful and it was a good time had by all. Plus they thought my Texas sheet cake was the best cake that they had ever eaten. :)

Tuesday:
A dear friend came over to go walking with me. Bliss! A break from the norm. MUST DO MORE OFTEN. Tuesday afternoon was the normal business, then I had a board meeting (I am on the Board of Directors for a local adoption agency who had COA this week), and then off to the park for a girl scout meeting (I am AJ's assistant troop leader). The weather was SO nice. We had a snack at the park and let the girls play and then planted flowers with them all. My hubby came and let the kids play while we were there.

Wednesday:
Early release day from school and I had to beg and plead to get a teen home for two hours so I could escape to the gym. Seriously... I was paying too. When the weather is NICE the teens don't want to be HOME. They want to be out having fun. And really... they are all SO BUSY with activities on early release days its a good time for them to have fun. But I was desperate. Grace had a friend over for lunch and kept an eye on the little ones for me. (And for $!) Then in the evening it was youth group and TOP soccer (indoor) started for Jude, AJ and Isaac so we went to that. Isaac was actually double booked for soccer practice this evening and it was Dom's first track meet too!

Thursday:
My hubby's birthday and my meeting for the adoption agency was today. I had to rush the kids on the bus, head down there to meet everyone, rush Dom to his appointment, rush to grab lunch for the kids, rush home, rush to prepare for the interview... and then I waited... and waited... they were late calling me for my portion of the interview process. Ugh. I was grouchy. They were SO nice and SO lovely that I felt better. But then had to rush after the phone call to get things done around the house so that I could go to Davids very last high school soccer game and out with hubby for dinner and his birthday.

Friday:
My husband has a sore runners knee and took today off to go to the doctor and we are having a massive garage sale tomorrow for Grace, Cole and two friends mission trip this summer. Several of our neighbors are also having garage sales. Its supposed to RAIN all DARN day long!! NO!! There is also a bake sale and I am sworn off all sugar (for the 3rd day in the row) so I am trying to get motivated to bake and not eat. (Can I do it?) Sophie came home today! She had a great trip and got sun burnt. (Yes, here in Washington we had a few days of sun and bliss!) Plus Dom had another appointment. I feel grouchy that Grace and Cole blew everything off until the last minute and Grace took a long babysitting job for this evening so you know what that means.... I AM NOT GOING TO do it. I will not be doing the garage sale prep without the teens helping. (Those teens that are raising funds for mission trips need to be putting in the man hours, not me alone!)

 We also have four soccer games this weekend. Two tomorrow, two Sunday. Sophie has a car wash fundraiser tomorrow and theres the blasted garage sale... oh... rain too. Not sure the car wash will happen. Grace is volunteering at the church tomorrow night and on Sunday. I am taking a few teens to help a mommy friend who is struggling keeping up with life clean her home on Sunday with some other local Moms.

 That's the scoop from here.
I am tired.
I need a nap I think.
Re-caffienate and carry on.
Did you enjoy the pictures of Izzy?
Is my computer going to cooperate?

Izzy's entire outfit was found at the local thrift store for under $4, including the shoes.

Less funky

Today is Saturday. That means we super clean. Typically that also means soccer games. Because the local soccer field is too wet the games were canceled for the day. This makes me very happy. Is nice to be able to not be scrambling in fifty different directions on saturday morning. Today we will get things together and ready for the garage sale next weekend that is going to raise funds for four teens to go on mission trips. Tonight is date night, that only makes me feel happier. Woo hoo date night!

I have felt a lot better this week but have a nagging feeling thats there is something stuck in my throat when I swallow. I am not sure if this is some kind of thing happening post strep throat or what. I am hoping it goes away and I don't have to go to the doctor. We will see!
For the most part the kids all are feeling better as well. Yea!

This week is going to be super busy. That's probably helping to keep me out of my funk. I notice being able to get back to the gym really helps with the funk too. Having too much time sitting around being sick does me no good. This week the weather is going to be really nice too. I can not wait. It's about time!

Hopefully I will blog and update you all with some pictures soon, I just didn't like leaving the last post of super funky. :)

Super Funk

I woke up this morning after spending the past two weeks being sick and thought... wow... I feel in a total and complete funk. I have been barely keeping my head above water the past two weeks and I need to figure out how to get out of this place I am. Not only I am physically ill but emotionally ill too. I think that tends to happen to us mothers when we get really sick. We don't really get the time that we need to heal and feel better so we figure out how to get done everything that absolutely needs done while we are trying to intermittently rest and recuperate. Life is busy around here. Way too busy to be sick. I found out last week that I had strep throat. So does Isaac- Sophie and Izzy were also treated as a precaution. Now we disinfect and wait and hope that we don't pass it to everyone else.

I probably shouldn't have waited 10 days of having "cold" symptoms including a sore throat to go to the doctor. I might not have had such a hard time getting over it. I am also one of those people that likes to be at home but not quite so much time at home. I like to go go go. I definitely like to have time at the gym which has been hard with being sick. I have been barely living life. Just enough. And I don't like living life "just enough".

That's my super funk. Here I am in it. Now Boston. So horrific. My Pastor and his wife were both running the race. Both are OK thankfully. What a horror story that can happen in the blink of an eye.

We are praying.

Prayers for tomorrow

I need to figure out something with my pictures. Blogger doesn't seem to want to cooperate with my loading of pictures again and I really don't like writing blog posts without pictures. Boring!

Tomorrow is surgery day for Angelina. It wasn't going to be until next week but the doctor had an opening and its spring break so we figured that we up had better go ahead and get the tubes and possible adenoid re removal done. Angelina is so excited to be able to hear well and I am so nervous. I have a terrible sore throat and izzy seems under the weather as well. I think sometimes that my body has this kind of stress reaction when I can't deal. And even though I put on a tough exterior I hate my kids going through so much surgery and ordeals with their health all the time. Hopefully they will just have the tubes to do and we will be in and out. Remember that because of Angelina's healthcare needs sometimes things that are simple like tonsils me adenoids ended up with a stay in the ICU. They have to give her quite a bit of anesthesia in order to put her under so there are many risk factors that I am trying not to think about.

Angelina is such a strong girl and her good attitude about the whole thing is really keeping us going. I know that's pathetic to admit!

In other family news...We had an amazing Easter with family. My sister had Easter dinner and an egg hunt for us at her house. Then on Monday we met some friends up in Canada for a day at the beach walking and eating fish and chips. Then over for dinner. Two nights in a row of this big family being invited over for dinner and socializing at others homes never happens. I felt like a new woman being able to prolong my grocery shop for a few days and enjoy the company and cooking of others. It's so much better when other people cook isn't it? It always tastes better!

I will post updates tomorrow on the facebook group from the hospital. And hopefully we will be home tomorrow night with miss Angelina in a fast mode of recovery.
Thank you for your prayers!

Sushi Night

 One of the evenings in Florida

we had Sushi night.

I was having mixed feelings about sushi night.

I mean. I like sushi. But I don't love it.

I have never made my own though so just

getting to learn how to make it myself

was going to be fun.

 I don't eat so much fish.

Especially raw fish.

I grew up in Ohio. Come on now.

 

The choices that Cindy (or "Ninny" as Izzy calls her)

had for us were really an endless array of combinations.

So many different veges, dips, fish, chicken, BBQ pork.

Oh My YUM.

 

I have been dreaming of having my

own sushi night here with the kids soon.

 Homemade sushi is 100x better

than what you buy at the grocery store or the Costco.

 

Seriously.

If you haven't tried it..

Try it!

You will like it!

And it wasn't really too hard either!

(Just a lot of prep work.)

 I miss my soul sisters so much.

We each brought things from home.

Either things that are made where we live.

Or meaningful mementos.
Or yummy and fun bath products.

Chocolates and treats.

Bracelets etc.

Even a new book to read!

One of them for each Mom friend in our house.

 

Then we put them into gift bags to share.

Well... Heather (seen below) is by far-

the nicest/sweetest of us all.

 

Cindy decided to play a trick on her.

She put all kinds of extra things in her bag.

Like a seasoning packet.

Bottle of beer.

Dishsoap.

Etc.

Things that no one really wants.

Heather was so gracious pulling one ridiculous

thing out of her bag after another. She kept

a straight face saying "thank you".

Well of course we were all laughing

so hard we were crying.

It was really funny.

 

Might have been the wine too.

We had Middle Sister- Wild Child and

Fancy Pants wine.

 

It fit perfectly with the evening.

I can't wait till our next retreat ladies!!

xoxoxo