Ankles - In the spring, I fell on rocks, while holding Jacob (who was barefoot and wanted to be carried) and folded/bent/twisted my right ankle in ways it should never be folded/bent/twisted. It wasn't broken, but it has taken all summer to heal and really be usable again - after visits to the chiropractor, exercises and carefully practicing on uneven ground like grass and woodchips and gravel, and an awesome pair of boots which I wear everywhere now. Then at the end of July, I stepped wrong off a curb and did nearly the same thing to my left ankle. All I could think of was, "I don't want to do yard duty on crutches anymore!" but it was just swollen and tender for a week and is fine now.
Birthdays - Jessica turned 8 in July and is SO excited about her baptism! She has grown a mile this summer, outgrowing her new school clothes well before school even started again. Thank goodness for thrift stores and hand-me-downs. All the kids are growing like weeds, Michael is taller than me, and Nathan will be soon. The final for my Summer Semester Intermediate Algebra class was on my birthday (I got a "B"!) and later, we spent the evening in the ER because, I guess my children just have a need to create situations where we must go there on a regular basis. (everyone is fine)
Camp Nauvoo – the kids and I spent a few glorious days there with some extended family at the end of Summer, swimming, "rafting", making smores, picking and eating berries, playing, relaxing, visiting, and just being in that beautiful peaceful place together, before going back to the "chaos" of life.
Dirt and mud – Michael has been working for Mrs. Tomb’s who used to work at the school. He took care of her firewood through the winter and is taking care of her garden through the summer. On hot days (and smoky days), he has the sprinklers going while he works out there and you can guess what he looks like when I pick him up. He’ll have the biggest grin on his face though and I just put a tarp on the seat and floor and give him STRICT instructions to not touch anything. Also, when he and Nathan came back from each camping and hiking trip, they’d be caked in dust, which I guess, is how they didn’t get sunburned too bad, since they hardly used any of the sunscreen I sent with them. Jacob, however, has stayed relatively clean this summer. Probably because he was inside so much because of the smoke – I’m not taking any chances with his breathing.
ER – oh the joys of visiting the ER. What’s funny is that I am a volunteer for Marshall Medical and am trained to help in the ER. It’s a way to pay back all the kindness from the various hospitals and medical staff who helped us when Jacob was born early, had all those difficulties, stopped breathing, rode in ambulances (plus all the help for the other kids with their various illnesses and injuries over the years). It also helps me fulfill my required hours for my college/work program. Between being snowed-in, and then being sick and having sick kids, and then having a bum ankle, I haven’t volunteered in the ER in months. But my children must lay awake at nights coming up with new and creative ways to need trips to the ER. (everyone is fine)
Fires - Lightning sparked fires all over Northern California in June and later, fires started in the south too. The air was heavy with THICK smoke for weeks. (see earlier post) We'd dash to the air-conditioned van, then into air-conditioned classrooms, stores, library, church, movie theater, etc. then back to the air-conditioned van and then we'd go in Grandma and Grandpa's empty house and sit by their swamp cooler which filtered out the smoke pretty good. We were lucky though. Our county was one of the few places in California NOT burning. We said a lot of prayers for the fire fighters and all those who lived near the fires. It was a scary summer, emergency preparedness IS very important.
Grandma Jim was gone the end of spring and all of summer (sometimes out of state, sometimes out of the country) and we missed her! But we have to learn to share her with her other kids and grandkids and her sisters. On a lot of the weekends though, we got Grandpa Jim ALL to ourselves! when he wasn't gone during the night-working and we weren't gone during the day.
Holidays – On Memorial Day, our ward had a special family day at the Sacramento Temple. Michael and Nathan and some of the Youth helped the Bishopric give Jessica and Jacob and the Primary kids a tour around the grounds and helped them work on projects they could share with their families at family night. The rest of the Youth, the other parents, Dad and I were able to work in the temple. Then we all had a picnic together and each family got their picture taken by the temple. It was a special and wonderful day. On Independence Day, we had a pancake breakfast and a parade at the church. (see earlier post) For Pioneer Day, the whole Stake met at a park and we had dinner and games and demonstrations and "covered wagon" rides (pulled by a 4-wheeler) and cotton candy and snow cones. We met up with Rachelle and Tim and the boys. Jacob and Jared grabbed hands and played so cute together, just like when they were little (little-er). Jessica immediately claimed Mathias as her own and mothered him the rest of the evening. It was cheap and simple and a lot of fun.
Ice Cream – we entered, and saw, everything (free or cheap) we could at the Fair, including an ice cream throwing contest. The cream and the other ingredients are put in a small ziplock bag. Then, that bag, and a lot of ice and salt, are put in a big ziplock bag. Then in teams of 2 or 3, we tossed our bags back and forth until we had ice cream. Everyone wins because everyone got to eat their ice cream, AND because it was air-conditioned in that building AND because we got to handle those wonderfully cold bags on such a hot day. Nathan also won a buble-gum blowing contest and Jacob won a (gummy) worm eating contest. We watched farm animals racing, horses prancing, and jungle animals leaping. We rode the little train, the bumper cars and the Gravitron. We sang and performed with the Kids' Band, watched some of the Pageant, and laughed with the "cow"median and the hypnotist, and drank LOTS of lemonade. It was another great year at the fair, I just had to plan lots of sit and rest times for my ankle.
Just the girls - Jessica got to visit her cousins Sarah and Bekah, without her brothers, and visit her Aunt Marcia, also without her brothers, (see earlier post) and soon, she and I will have our precious annual day for "just us girls". It was postponed first due to smoky air, then again due to another messed up ankle, then AGAIN due to another trip to the ER. (everyone is fine) Jessica is also in Primary Girls now and gets to work on projects and activities with her leaders and the other girls in the areas of "Learning and Living the Gospel," "Serving Others," "Developing Talents" and "Preparing for Young Women."
Kindergarten – several times this summer, I bewilderedly, and politely, asked my Algebra Professor, why I needed logarithms, or negative exponents under cube roots, or to know how to calculate when a rocket would reach a certain distance from the Earth to teach Kindergarten. The answer boils down to it’s a required class, to get to the required class I need to go on to Sac State. This summer I substitute in some of the Junior Primary classes when their teachers were out of town. It reminded me of how much I love that age (about 3-7 years old) their innocence, their faith, their wonder at the beautiful world God created for them. Of course in Primary I had them in fairly small groups. The new school year has just started and I get to be the Kindergarteners' Yard Duty for their lunch and recess this year, a LARGE group. They are adorable and ACTIVE! Let me just say that at the end of the first day, I went to the Yard Duty who has had the Kinders for the past several years, and told her she deserved a medal, and then I sank into a chair in the staff room. I was able to keep up with them and walk on the woodchips though, and NO crutches!
Laundromats - especially with all the big sleeping bags and camping gear we've used this summer. Jessica and Jacob loved "feeding" the change machine and then "feeding" the washers and dryers. Between the extra laundry and the gasoline prices, it was an expensive summer.
Movies - a grocery store had an awesome deal, buy certain amounts of certain groceries and products and get free movie tickets! We just planned meals around their list and chose the ones that were also on sale or 2-for-1, and we got enough tickets for each of us to see a couple movies! Plus, some of the items had vouchers for free movie tickets! I love deals like that. (Wish they’d bring back the one from a few years ago where you buy certain items and it adds up for free gasoline vouchers!) And family and friends invited the kids to see some movies too. Also, the kids got A LOT of video store gift certificates as prizes at school last year, so we saw a lot of movies this summer, which really helped when we couldn’t play outside.
Nathan’s sweet guinea pig, Moe-Hawk, passed away this summer. We buried him beneath an apple tree that faces the eastern sunrises, near the field where the kids fly kites, run in sprinklers, or build snowmen. He is missed.
On to Fall Semester – Seminary and the kids’ school started this last week. My college classes start week after next. New classes, new teachers, old and new friends, juggling schedules, homework and projects, text books, back packs, Cross Country, sports, bus rides, Science, Math, Reading, Computers, recess, whistles and hall passes, assemblies, PTO, Back to School Night. Jacob came running up to me after his first day of 1st Grade with the biggest grin and said, "I had the best day!"
Prayers for Calum and watching him grow and grow and grow in the pictures on his blog. Jacob especially has been so concerned about Calum and says the sweetest prayers for him to grow and "be healthy and strong."
Queen Jessica is a sweet, helpful, loving, smart, talented kid most of the time. Every so often though, the overly dramatic side of her comes out. It did a lot this summer. Let's just leave it at that. We were all FAR from perfect this summer though, especially me. I think the smoke just really messed with our tempers and attitudes. That, and Jessica missed Grandma. She LOVES to sing and her brothers are constantly telling her to stop (the meanies) and Nathan loves to tease her about anything, which then sends her into drama-queen mode. Nathan also loves to fill Jacob's head with "facts" which Michael and I then have to staighten poor Jacob out on. Nathan and Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes) are a little too much alike. Jacob had a hard time with being stuck indoors so much. I've already warned his teacher about his NEED to use up his vast supply of energy so he can sit still when need be. Michael enjoyed having no homework or school projects due and he liked visiting my college class a few times where he knew everything already.
Rockets – at the Pioneer Day Celebration, the kids got to see and help with some rockets. They were made from heavy paper and foam and shot off using an air compressor. Jacob loved it and told Grandpa Jim all about it. Michael had studied it and Grandpa Jim made his own version of a rocket launcher. Dad’s power-paraglider is "in the shop," poor Dad, but his trike is really coming together.
Scouts - Michael and Nathan got to each go on some great trips this spring and summer. They did a lot of hard work raising $ for them. Nathan went to PEEC (Pacific Environment Education Camp) for a week with his 6th Grade in April and went hiking and camping with his Big Brother, Bob, this summer. Michael and the older Scouts did a few preparatory hikes in the spring and then in July, spent a week hiking and camping in Yosemite. (They were there just before the fires started in that area.) Grandpa Jim took Michael, Nathan and Jacob on the Priesthood Campout again. Jacob is SO excited to start Cub Scouts. This was Nathan's first year for Scout Camp and Michael's last. They headed north for Camp the day after the first lightning strikes and by the next day, they were evacuated. Their troop decided to finish on their own and headed east and south, away from the smoke. They didn't get to work on as many merit badges as they'd hoped but still had fun, got dirty, and had "just the guys" time. (see earlier post) Michael and Nathan (the new Deacon’s Quorum President) also went to Youth Conference and to Sons of Liberty Camp where Elder Perry and John Bytheway spoke and they got to ride zip-lines, scuba, work on service projects and eat all the watermelon they wanted. They have some awesome Youth and Scout Leaders who volunteer so much of their time and talents and have made this a great summer for the boys.
T-shirts – Uncle Todd and Aunt Kristy, both amazing artists, have been making one-of-a-kind Superhero T-shirts for their kids and their nieces and nephews. They ask each of the kids what the superhero should look like, what his/her powers are and what his/her name is. Then, "Rockin Todd" designs and draws each of their unique heroes, puts the drawings into the computer, then onto iron-on-paper and finally, onto shirts. Jacob received his "Ice Boy" shirt in April for his birthday and Jessica just received her "Zazanna" shirt for her birthday in July. THANK YOU!
Unable to post video – I got a really cute video of Jessica and Jacob talking about their new Superhero shirts and thanking Todd and Kristy for them, but I can’t seem to make it get on the blog. I also need to learn how to put those slideshow things on because there are a TON of pictures I’d like to post but I have never been able to get more than 5 at a time and it takes forever if I add pictures. It’s probably something simple I just don’t know of. I need lessons.
(got it! finally! that took forever!)
Vision - from comments Jessica was making last May, I had her vision checked. It's 20/40 and she needs glasses to see the board in class, watch movies or the computer screen and to play the alphabet game in the car. She doesn't need them to read books she's holding, to play or swim. She picked them out herself (I started to narrow the selection but she picked one of my top 3 favorites anyway). She looks SO cute and mature with them on. They arrived just after school ended and she's had the summer to get used to taking care of them. The eye doctor gave her a cute pink case that looks like a tiny purse.
Water - Each summer, we spend as much time in the water as we possibly can. Lakes, creeks, pools, sprinklers. With my ankles, I only got in a few careful times (with the help of borrowed high-top water shoes). Jessica and Jacob took a set of swim lessons early in June and have really turned into fish like their older brothers. Jacob can now do a quick handstand in the shallow end and "flip" underwater. Jessica swims back and forth across the deep end, jumps fearlessly feet first from the diving board and is working on diving in. Michael and Nathan were junior volunteers this summer and assisted with swim lessons. Nathan especially got into it, learning all the kids names and really encouraging them. Michael’s Scout troop has given him a new nick-name, "Otter". (I like that one so much better than his old one, "Pyro").
X-rays - let's see, in the past few months, my ankles have been x-rayed, Michael's collarbone has been x-rayed, Nathan's toe has been x-rayed, Jacob's ribs have been x-rayed, we even had x-rays at the dentist. And Jessica had drops in her eye and the doctor shined a special light on it (which made it glow neon-green) to see the scratch on her cornea. (everyone is fine-I keep joking with them though that they NEED to keep their protective bubble wrap on and quit wanting to visit the ER and doctor's office - just so Jacob can flirt with the pretty doctors and nurses again?)
Yosemite – splendor, beauty, majestic, awesome, green, crisp, wonder – and Michael got to spend a week there and climb Half Dome. Before Michael started Cub Scouts, he was jumping out of his skin excited to be a Scout. After a few weeks, and some fun simple activities, he looked so sad and said he didn’t want to go anymore. "Why?!? You were so excited." "Because we don’t DO anything. We just sit and make stuff out of paper and read out of our books. I thought I’d get to go mountain climbing and cool stuff like in the stories." (I’d read him and told him stories and he’d seen movies about cool stuff OLDER Scouts got to do.) I had to explain that at 8 years old, he was going to do some simple things, on the ground, but have a lot of fun and learn a lot, and when he was older, he’d do the BIG stuff. He has had some great Leaders, learned and accomplished a lot and now, he’s finally doing the BIG stuff. (Although Grandpa Jim already took Peter and Michael and Nathan up Mt. Whitney 3 years ago.)
ZZZZZs - a few precious wonderful really good nights sleep at Camp Nauvoo. No nightmares, the sound of the creek, the stars. Heaven
