August: week two

 Here is a mix of photos from the second week of August.  This was the last week of Park and the final week before our time in MN and MO with family! 

Can't get enough of these sweet photos.

 

 

Some day I might forget that I talk to deer most days on my walks  I say, "Hi, girls.  Stay where you are."

 

Brandon was impressed with my catlike curiosity.

 

We got and early morning text dear friends who moved away in 2019 were in the area for the morning.  We jumped at the chance to get together with them!  These somewhat awkward photos make me smile.

 

The first photo.

 

The posed photo

We set up a Chinese jump rope and realized we didn't remember how to do it.  We texted our neighbor/friend X and she stopped by on the way to the pool to give us a quick refresher.

 

She went so fast her dress was flying!

 

Every six months our kids have therapy team meetings.  This time T did hers over zoom  while on rollerblades.  She was so focused (while constantly moving) that I think we found the perfect strategy for future meetings. 

Our strong girl!

 

 

Our strong (and competing for attention) son

 

I was washing my face and Brandon was holding both cats.  I saw the funniest thing in the mirror!!!

 

I had to zoom in!  He had no idea he was doing this and was just chatting with me.

 

 

Two girls in robes!

 

We found it!!

For the past 4-5 years we have been trying to find this book at the library.  M has requested many books over the years  hoping for the right one and was so excited when we realized it was the long sought after book.  We decided to take a pic so we would never forget the title again!

He is TWELVE!!!!

Time keeps marching along and I am not the only one getting older.  M turned twelve on August 8th!  How can this boy who was a baby two days ago be 12?! M's Birthday was on a Sunday this year which meant he had to patiently wait through a typical Sunday morning of church before opening presents.  

Thankfully for him, his BIG present came a bit early.  M has grown so much in the last year and was in need of a new bike.  Brandon was very unimpressed at the quality of the bikes from big box stores.  Not only was the quality poor, the price was still high.  We decided to spend (quite) a bit more and get a good bike that will last for a long time.  We went to a bike shop and found the perfect bike!  We were all very excited for M! 

The twelve year old!

 

The new bike!

 

His old glove needed an upgrade too!

 

So grown up!

 

 

 After lunch of his choice, probably Culvers or another local place, we went to the local pool.  There were a bunch of kids he knew and he had a great time.  It was like a party with zero cost or planning!!!

 

A Birthday smile!

After an hour or two at the pool we stopped swimming and headed to Walgreens for M's first dose of the covid vaccine!  He was finally old enough and we were not going to wait a single extra day!

M: I might not look happy, but I was super excited to get it!

 

On the way home from Walgreens M decided he wanted to go back to the pool and since it was his day, that is what we did!!!!

 

M: The second time I played with another whole set of friends!

After our time at the pool we had pizza and then watched a movie and had Birthday cake!  It was a wonderful Birthday for M!.  

12 year olds light their own candles!

 

Birthday boy!

 

 

Aww

Wishing for a wonderful 12th year!

 A little update on M:
As I said above, he is growing so much!  He is getting very close to five feet!  When he started the growth hormone shots in the summer of 2019 his Dr told us that without them he would not make it to 5 feet tall.  The Dr now believes he could grow to 5'5" or 5'6" which is incredible.  

 

M is really enjoying most parts of in person 6th grade.  He loves getting to know many new people and playing football at recess.  History is by far his favorite class.  Percussion is his instrument of choice.  Chatting with friends is far better than getting work done in class.  Weekends filled with homework would be the major downside of sixth grade!  The fact that he doesn't have text books or easy ways for me to understand what he is learning or assigned is the other tricky part. M also really struggles to keep tabs on his water bottles and hoodies.  I think all the 6th grade teachers can identify his water bottle and find it all over the school and return it to him!

This fall M participated in middle school cross country.  I am not sure he will go out again next year as he felt like it was a lot of running.  Haha!  M is meeting weekly with a person trainer for cardio, weight lifting, and even some martial arts.  He continues to meet each week with his therapist and mentor and realizes he won the lottery with each of them as they buy him Culvers every single time!  

M enjoys having more independence and going for bike rides on his own.  He also walks home from school on occasion.  He is a part of the middle school chess club, but mainly just wants to play chess rather than learning new strategy.  

He continues to love to read books by the armful!  He is very smitten with our cats and has many daily cuddle sessions.  He is involved in youth group at church and will be in the Christmas program next week. 

There are still many tricky areas for him, but we celebrate so many areas where he is thriving. We love you very much, M!!!

August begins

These are pictures from the first week in August. The kids summer school finished on my Birthday.  They still had two weeks of Park once summer school ended. This meant that we had free mornings to do fun things.  One day we headed to a library we used to go to all the time for virtual reality and LEGO.  We were very impressed with their chicken coop made of egg cartons!

 

M: It was a lot of egg cartons.

 

T: Our first zucchini!

 

T: This is as fancy as my mom can do.

 

When a dog comes to play group, we all get excited!

 

In early August Charissa and I got serious about talking with the boys about cross country.  We decided that they needed to do a practice mile to see if they were actually interested in running at all.  The managed to enjoy it and that sealed the deal so we signed them both up for cross country! 

Before the run we took the "11 year old photo" as we have a tradition of taking a pic each year during the 6 weeks they are both the same age.  M sure is growing and they look pretty even in this picture.

 

Two 11 year olds ready to run!

 

One evening while M was at youth group Brandon and T went on an adventure downtown.  Apparently the shoes were not as comfortable as T was sure they would be.

 

T: I like going barefoot.

 

It looks like they made a stop for ice cream!

T: Look what my tongue can do!

Brandon was searching everywhere for Sunshine at bedtime.  I went to bed early and he curled up on me for the first time ever.  I am glad Brandon captured this moment. 

Sunshine:  This is a pretty nice place to sleep.

 

 

Cutest gardener I know!

The marathon and turning 40!!

When Charissa broke her foot I was a bit worried about how I would manage to do my walking marathon.  My friend K was willing and eager to fill in for Charissa!  She did a practice route and I joined her for some of it.  

 I mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to walk around a large lake (over a marathon length) before my 40th Birthday.  I have been hearing about this hike since Brandon was in seminary as the lake is actually much closer to where we used to live than it is to where we currently live. The lake technically has a trail all the way around it with property owners maintaining the part in front of their home.  Some parts were really nice, some were just grass, some were hilly, some were wet and muddy, some were rocky.  It was a big mix of terrain.  It was not as maintained as we imagined it would be.  There were MANY huge mansions around this lake.  It was fun to see them and marvel at how huge they were.  There were also many flowers.  I regret not taking a few photos of the houses and flowers.

We had an incredible day walking, talking, and praying.  We received encouraging texts throughout the day from family and friends. We finished the route in 7.5 hours I think.  This included; a couple bathroom stops, a few course detours, and getting lost and having to call for help. 

Getting lost was a bit of a God story.  Part of the trail requires you to simply walk along a road.  We did that and then realized we were leaving the lake farther and farther behind.  We decided to stop at the top of a hill if we didn't see a sign of the path.  Well it just so happened that the place we stopped had a big sign for a youth camp I actually went to with a group of girls years ago while Brandon was in seminary.  I asked Siri for the phone number and called the camp.  I explained that I had stayed there in the past and had a strange question.  The person figured out exactly where I was and explained how to get back to the path.  It is so cool how God provided.  

Another tricky part was the water situation.  We had heard from others who did the walk in the past that there are water stations every where.  Because of this, I only took one small water bottle, as I was sure I could fill it up often. We did see drinking fountains but none of them were turned on, possibly due to covid.  Anyway, I was feeling a bit woozy at times.  Thankfully K had huge amounts of water and shared some with me.  If I do it again I will be more prepared. 

Ready to walk!

 

Finished!!!

 

 

Dirty Legs! Look at that sock line.

 

On the way home I stopped at Trader Joes to grab some almond butter for me.  I was REALLY looking forward to my version of Chocolate Moose Tracks ice cream.  It is actually frozen bananas, almond butter, cocoa powder, raw chocolate chunks, sea salt, and almond milk.  It is SO GOOD! Hmmm, I could go for some right now!

 

The first thing I did when I got home was hop in the shower.  

 

 

One more picture of the sock line!

Amazingly, I was not sore at all the following day.  I woke up and did my walk as usual.  I couldn't believe how totally unaffected I was by the big walk.  I guess my body is in good walking shape.

The only "injury" from the walk was a blister on my baby toe.  It was actually a triple blister.  It was filled with water so I popped it with a needle before taking this picture.

The deflated blister!

On the very last day of my 30's I decided to do some major weeding at church.  I spend the entire morning pulling weeds.  I had no idea there were so many!

Clearly the weeding was needed!

Interestingly, the hours of weeding were much harder on my body than the walk was.  Apparently I am not in good squatting shape!  When I woke up on my 40th Birthday I was in SO MUCH PAIN from weeding.  I felt like an old woman.  I had to laugh because it was from the weeding and not from the new age, but the timing made it feel like I was aging poorly. 

 

My Birthday was lovely.  I was greeted with gifts left on my front porch as I headed out for my morning walk! The kids had summer school and Park so I was free all day.  I took the day off of work (home and church) for the first time since before the pandemic.   It was glorious to take time to journal and read.  I even watched a Hallmark movie and cuddled with the cats. 

 

My party guests!

 

Brandon surprised me with one of the most incredible gifts I have ever gotten.  It was this book he made of 40 reasons why he loves and values me.  If you know me well you know that "words of affirmation" are my primary love language.  This gift meant so much to me.  He sat with me as I read them and we talked about them.

Once the kids came home we T made some grilled PB and J and Brandon made some grilled fajitas.  We try not to make too big of a deal about Birthdays as it can be hard on the kids.  

The only other pic from the day of the chef at the end of her summer school cooking class.

 

My 40th Birthday was not what I have imagined in my head for years.  I sort of imagined a big party with everyone celebrating this milestone.  The pandemic changed things, but I am very thankful for the way the day turned out and thankful to be over the milestone.  Just as 100% of people promised (once the aches from weeding went away), I felt just like I did at 39.  I still struggle to identify as someone in her 40's, but it doesn't sound as scary as it did a year ago.  I am thankful to be alive and for good health and a strong body that can still move well! I am not sure if I can really believe I am 40, but there isn't a single year I would want to leave out so I am thankful for each one!

A very bad day!

July 19th was a rough day for me!  The kids had summer school and Park and Rec and we went to softball games that night, so you would think it would be a great day.  I don't remember everything about the day, but I did take the picture below so I could remember the big stories!

I worked in the morning and met the kids at school to grab backpacks, bring lunch, and walk them to Park and Rec.  While I waited for the kids I sat on a rock under a tree.  I didn't realize that the rock was full of ants.  Suddenly I could feel them crawling in my underwear.  I started hitting myself all over and was probably hitting places where there were not even ants.  I shook myself like a crazy person and many fell out.  I plucked a couple off on the way home and then stripped down once I got home.  I wore a swim suit cover up for a while as I had bite marks on my underwear line.  Not fun. (see below: clothes on the bath tub) I was killing ants in the bathroom for days after this episode.

Later that day I was prepping spaghetti for dinner.  I somehow bumped the scraper which was in a can of tomato sauce and sent the can and contents flying all over the kitchen and all over my lower half.  It took a long time to get all the surfaces clean and meant another clothing change for me (see below: capris on curtain rod).

Something else rough happened before the softball game because I know there were three rough things that I shared with the other fans. We all laughed and the mishaps.  Little did I know, the day wasn't over yet. At the game T was given some turkey sticks to snack on and played on MANY spinning things.  

On the way home she said she didn't feel well and once home she threw up on her robe and the bathroom floor and rug.  Since Brandon can't see well he naturally stepped in the vomit and got it on his sock.  (shhe below: rug, robe etc in tub and sock on rod)

I could have dealt with everything that night, but I just decided to go to bed!  

Thankfully,  T was not actually sick and was able to go to summer school the next day while I washed the tomato, ant, and vomit filled clothes.  I am also thankful that most days are not this messy.  In fact, I usually manage to wear one set of clothes all day :)

Evidence of a rough day!

The 14.5 mile "practice" walk!

 On July 10th Charissa and I took the longest walk we have ever taken.  We walked 14.5 miles.  I had also walked my normal 4.4 morning miles, so I did a lot of walking that day.  We were in training for a walking marathon.  There is a lake near us that is 26 miles around and has walking paths for the whole distance. Because the path goes away from the lake at times, walkers walk over a marathon when they go all the way around.  It has been a goal of mine to do this before turning 40.  Time was running out and Charissa agreed to be my partner.  We decided that we should do a practice training route and I sure am glad we did!

The walk started great.  Charissa and I always have 456 things to talk about so it seemed like we blinked and we were already at the turn around point.

We made it to her community!

Yahoo!!!!

 

Things were quite a bit different on the way home.  Charissa started to have foot pain.  We stopped many times to stretch and take breaks, but it didn't seem to get better. Our last couple of miles took a LONG time.  I kept asking her if we should call someone to pick us up.  She wanted to continue.  She did mention crawling at one point and I really should have just called someone to rescue us. Since Brandon wasn't driving I didn't have a super convenient person to call.  Charissa knows how to finish well and we did!  It was dark when we got home, but we did it!!!!  

 

This is not accurate to the distance (we went farther) and probably not to the steps either, but it is impressive at any rate. 

 

Sadly, Charissa's foot continued to hurt and she ended up going to the Dr where she learned she actually had a stress fracture.  Interestingly, Charissa fell and broke her arm while walking with me several years ago.  I promise I am not trying to hurt my friend!  She likes to remind people that walking is actually a pretty dangerous sport!

Zooming through July!

 *It has been a while - I decided to take a couple of hours and work on the blog.  About 20 seconds after opening the blog M came into the room and has asked me 100 questions. 

---

Three hours later... The kids are now doing their weekly screen time so perhaps I will get something published today!

 

Once our 4th of July trip was complete, the crazy summer schedule began.  This year the kids did 4 weeks of Summer School in the morning and the Park and Rec program in the afternoon.  I would meet them at school each day for lunch, but they had activities from 8:00am until 5:00pm.  They also were doing horseback riding, therapy, and meeting with their mentors.  This meant that after SIXTEEN MONTHS of having children with me almost every waking moment, I finally had time without kids.  It was wild.  

On the weekends we tried to get to the pool as much as possible.  Sadly, I don't have many photos of the way we spent most of our July.  I am going to do one big post of several July events and then a few additional posts about specific events. 

While the kids were busy away from home I was working as fast a possible on recruiting ministry volunteers.  It was a slow and long battle, but it was victorious and every spot was filled.

The boys (cats) love it when work from home and they snuggle in!

My first time with only one Aldi cart since 2019! (I have done 2 carts since... I love stocking up)

 M spread out all the comic pages to read them and Sunshine walked along them like a little path!

Sunshine:  This is a fun sidewalk that is just my size!

M: Sunshine needed a break so I gave him cuddles.

Leaning on each other... when the kids are away I take pics of the cats haha!

 

Blurry, but precious!

One day T came down for summer school wearing a puffy winter vest.  After a bit of investigating we learned this shirt was one under the vest.  You might not be able to tell from the pic, but it is a size 6 month top that T wore in China and was in a keepsake bin! 

 

T: What mom?  I can wear 6 month clothes, right?

 

T: Life is better upside down!

 

Speaking of life being flipped upside down... it happened to us again in mid July!  After the eye scare over the 4th, Brandon saw all the warning signs that his retina was detaching.  This was all happening as our new youth pastor was candidating.  It was a wild few days, and incredible church people helped with driving Brandon to and from the hospital on several occasions.  On the day his retina was detaching he sat in the waiting room all day in hopes of being seen before his late afternoon appointment.  By the time he finally got in, the retina was so detached (macula fully detached) that they said the surgery was no longer urgent and he should come back the following day.  Poor guy.  

The surgery went well and Brandon again had to be face down for several days.  Thankfully we still have the massage chair, so the set up was pretty easy.  Brandon worked all through his head down time.  In fact, the picture below was taken within 2 hours of coming home from the hospital.  Normally this would be intense even for Brandon, but with all the youth pastor decisions, a zoom meeting needed to happen.

 

A tipped computer with a keyboard below is the ticket to productive face down time.

I wanted to go make dinner, but was trapped by the cat.

I had a very important video announcement about nursery recruiting to make.  I worked on the power point for it for days.  I practiced a lot.  Brandon recorded me and said it was the best announcement ever.  Sadly, it was also the longest announcement ever at over ten minutes.  Oops!  I was able to cut out several parts and record again. 

The view that the camera doesn't see.

During Brandon's head down days we decided to make a big meal to add a little fun to our life.  M insisted we buy several hams at Easter time.  It turns out it is fun to have ham in July!   Thanks for insisting, M!

M: This is fun to cut and amazing to eat!

 

The teacher of M's summer school fishing class sent me a few pics during his class.  I continue to feel so thankful for the unique summer school options for kids.

 

M: Look at this beauty!

As I said, we spent a lot of weekends at the pool!  M liked to hang out with me when he couldn't locate friends.  T was always ready to find new friends or play alone. 

M: I am not sure why Mom likes just laying on these chairs.

 

 

M: I can wrap my hair just like T.

 

The picture below shows the beginning of a new era.  Brandon's detachment has really limited his vision and he is no longer able to view a phone without an additional magnifying glass.  He also has transitioned to reading on the iPad (no more print books).  He has not been able to drive since the detachment.  These changes might be permanent, though we are praying that after two more surgeries he will have some additional vision restored.  We are so thankful to modern technology that allowed the surgeries to happen so that he still has some vision.  We are also thankful for electronics that make reading possible, especially with a large font and black mode.

Still head down, still learning the ropes!

 

Extreme church snacks!

 

Brandon snapped this pic on the first head up morning after surgery.  He can grow quite a beard in 5 days.  It is also interesting to see the swelling that happens when one has to have their head down so long. 

Brandon with a beard!

 

Sunshine:  I discovered a new "happy place" where I can hide and not miss the action.

 

 

Sunshine:  I don't know how Buttercup lays like this.

 

T: I made a new hairstyle.

A weekend game of Uno.

Our parade loving family finally made it to a parade after about 18 months without one.  We typically go to several each year so this was a pretty big deal for us!

Ready for candy!

 

I love watching her watch parades!

 

After the parade, we headed to the pool!

 

I forgot to mention that we also were watching a lot of Olympics during July.  In fact, the kids were late for summer school one morning so we could watch Suni Lee win the gold live!Chewing gum and blowing bubbles is a great way for T to avoid sucking her thumb.

Can you see the bubble inside the other bubble? I can do double bubbles!

 

 

M: Another nice one.

 

When the kids are away, the cats will lay! 

 

July 27th, our first garden harvest.  We were picking until almost Halloween, but it always starts slowly.

 

Three cheers for ice cream (or the dairy free variety)!

 

 

M: I was at fishing class and saw some church friends!

I still have a couple more July posts to create because July 2021 was a pretty big month for me.