Funny for the week- One evening Hurricane started to cry out in a panic. It
was not his typical, common whining. There was true fear in his voice. I
came in to our bedroom to find him clinging to the side of the dresser.
He was about 3 feet off the ground, one hand clutching a bag of
chocolates, the other clinging to the drawer. He couldn't hold on for
much longer, and he wasn't about to let go of his prize.
Underfoot
and Hurricane have been very kind and tender to us. They have not
fought much
and when apart they constantly ask when we will go get their brother.
Hurricane would crawl on the couch and say, "Hold me. Just hold me."
Underfoot
has been thrilled about going to Joy School and having his LAST music
class. He was so excited to share what he had learned at music class. He
sees it as one step closer to kindergarten.
On Thursday,
Underfoot had a talent show at Joy School and wanted to read Marvin Mouse,
an oral family story made into a book. He tried to read the book like a
librarian would with showing the pictures but would get confused about
which way to turn the pages and turn them the wrong direction. The
children started to crowd around him to see the pictures. When there was
something funny, he would add his own "laughing" because he thought it
was funny. I was so happy to see him read. He loved to add his own
dramatic voice to the story.
Our chicks have started to grow. We parceled out the other chicks to their new owners. We only have 11 now.
Author switch. Sweetheart writing now.
This
week has tested our faith and pulled at our heart strings. We learned
several weeks ago that Mama was pregnant. This would be the sixth time
since Hurricane was born. At the start of the week she knew that something
wasn't right. On Tuesday morning she had an unscheduled ultrasound. I
met her at the doctor's office. The doctor could not find a heartbeat
and indicated that the pregnancy would not go to full term. I took the
rest of the day off. That evening we took the boys to the county fair,
as we had promised. It was hard day.
It is hard to know what to
say when something like this happens. We trust that we will have more
children, but we don't know when or how more children will come to our
family. We have talked about adoption and foster care. We don't feel
comfortable with either option at this stage.
I worked on
Wednesday. A friend spent the day with Mama. I took Thursday off. I
worked on Friday. On Saturday I took the boys to the Titan Missile Museum so Mama could have a few hours to herself. A friend invited us to go
swimming late that afternoon, and the boys and I went swimming. Mama
spent most of the day reading a book. We enjoyed food that people
brought to us.
Miscarriage isn't something that people talk about
in casual conversation. It is something that we have quietly dealt with
for several years now. Mama isn't looking for sympathy. I'm tired of
not being able to tell people what is really going on. It has been hard.
It is hard. There are no good words to make it any better. But, we
believe that God will hear our prayers and send us more children. (Hurricane
frequently prays for 5 babies and counts them "1, 2, 3, 4, 5- 5
babies.") How he makes that happen, and when, are up to Him, but we
trust that it will happen. A few years ago, we heard a message about dealing with adversity that has been helpful. The title of the message is "Hope Ya know, We had a Hard Time."
There was a time when we felt very alone in our community. We realized
tonight that those feelings of loneliness have been replaced with
genuine friendships. Mama and I both feel like there are people here
who care about us like family. Perhaps the silver lining in this
difficult experience is the realization that we are not alone.
Be Well.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
April 22
On Friday I prepared for a
Scout camp out all day. We went to Mount Lemmon. It was a lot of fun. I
didn't sleep well. (I've never really slept well while camping.) We as
the leaders are trying to do what is asked to have a boy led program.
Hurricane had swimming lessons all week. On Friday (just before I headed to the camp out) I was able to watch Hurricane have his lesson. Before Hurricane's lesson, the instructor went through a lesson with Underfoot (even though he is done with lessons) as part of her re-certification. The lesson was recorded and will be available for download (if you're interested.) It was fun to watch both Underfoot and Hurricane swim. Underfoot stayed in the water while Hurricane practiced his skills at floating and swimming. I had fun picking up and throwing Underfoot. He enjoyed it too.
I got home from the camp out in the late afternoon on Saturday. I scurried around to put away gear, get cleaned up, and prepare for a date with Wendy. She'd made arrangements for a babysitter. We headed out for a quick supper and went to a high school play entitled The Drowsy Chaperone.
Our laptop computer died this week (or was it last week?) We purchased it shortly after we married. We've hauled it all over the world. The monitor was going bad. The battery was completely dead (even after I 'replaced' it with a cheap one from Amazon that died after only a couple months...) Fortunately, I'm slated to get a surplus one from work this week.
Wendy has been taking each day at a time. It is hard sometimes for her because there are so many things she'd like to do, and just not enough time in the day to do them all. Wendy had a training on Thursday night.
In closing, today we received a special package. 31 baby chicks. We got together with some friends and ordered a bunch. They will spend the night in our living room (in a large plastic tub) and the new owners will pick them up tomorrow. Underfoot and Hurricane love to look at the baby chicks. Hurricane has only broken 2 light bulbs so far for their heating. Amazing how much they are loved.
Be well.
Hurricane had swimming lessons all week. On Friday (just before I headed to the camp out) I was able to watch Hurricane have his lesson. Before Hurricane's lesson, the instructor went through a lesson with Underfoot (even though he is done with lessons) as part of her re-certification. The lesson was recorded and will be available for download (if you're interested.) It was fun to watch both Underfoot and Hurricane swim. Underfoot stayed in the water while Hurricane practiced his skills at floating and swimming. I had fun picking up and throwing Underfoot. He enjoyed it too.
I got home from the camp out in the late afternoon on Saturday. I scurried around to put away gear, get cleaned up, and prepare for a date with Wendy. She'd made arrangements for a babysitter. We headed out for a quick supper and went to a high school play entitled The Drowsy Chaperone.
Our laptop computer died this week (or was it last week?) We purchased it shortly after we married. We've hauled it all over the world. The monitor was going bad. The battery was completely dead (even after I 'replaced' it with a cheap one from Amazon that died after only a couple months...) Fortunately, I'm slated to get a surplus one from work this week.
Wendy has been taking each day at a time. It is hard sometimes for her because there are so many things she'd like to do, and just not enough time in the day to do them all. Wendy had a training on Thursday night.
In closing, today we received a special package. 31 baby chicks. We got together with some friends and ordered a bunch. They will spend the night in our living room (in a large plastic tub) and the new owners will pick them up tomorrow. Underfoot and Hurricane love to look at the baby chicks. Hurricane has only broken 2 light bulbs so far for their heating. Amazing how much they are loved.
Be well.
April 18 - Late
Pictures
We hope you are well on this Wednesday. We hope you are well most days. We're late and so it will done in a bullet form. I'm sure it will end up being just as long.
Be well.
We hope you are well on this Wednesday. We hope you are well most days. We're late and so it will done in a bullet form. I'm sure it will end up being just as long.
- Underfoot became a swimming champion. He has not really cared to swim much until this last year. He finished his swim lesson and has no desire to get out of the water (much to my delight.) He now has better coordination with his arms. It was suggested that we join a swim team. We need to consider if that would be the best thing for Hurricane. The time in the car and such...decisions decisions.
- Hurricane is our car aficionado. He loves cars, tractors, trains, and the vision of driving all of them. His prayers are filled with protecting the tractors and trains. Sunday he decided that he needed to drive.Sweetheart and I were saying goodbyes with a family in their driveway while the boys had gone to get into the car. The husband said, "They're rolling away." Sweetheart has been exercising more lately good thing because he caught the car, opened the door, jumped in and stopped the car. Sweetheart was panicked. Hurricane was quite pleased with himself. He had climbed in the front seat, taken off the emergency brake, and pulled the stick shift out of gear. Hurricane had also locked the doors expect the driver's door. There was nothing behind them for at least 300 feet. Then it was a house. I laughed because if I thought about it too much I would have been terrified that my sons were rolling down a hit in a car.
- We went to a home show. The most interesting thing to Sweetheart was a start-up company that is building cement walls and then storing water inside the wall. We entered contests but most likely won't win one thing. It was interesting and not sure if we would return.
- The HOA had their annual meeting. A few people came to it. Also they had a big enough voting forum to pass a proposal about using only one sanitation company and reduce the number of trucks on our roads. Apparently garbage and recycling trucks weight a lot and wear down roads quickly. The wear and tear has had the water company in front our own house for busted water lines at least 4 times. Sweetheart was happy about that. Our HOA owns our roads so it is up to the home owners to maintain and eventually replace the roads.
Be well.
April 8 - Happy Easter
The boys started their refresher course with swimming lessons. Hurricane screams the whole time. He is not a fan at all! Underfoot really likes
the lessons and thrives with new challenges. He is working on opening
his eyes while swimming. The instructor holds up several fingers under
water and Underfoot has to report how many she was holding out for him to
see.
Early in the week I decided to try an experiment. I took a 1 gallon plastic bucket (the kind you get when you buy cheap ice cream in bulk) and wrote on the lid ''Save the Planet- Recycle used coffee grounds and filter'' I then left the bucket at the coffee station at work. Each evening I swapped out the filled bucket with a fresh, clean, (empty!) bucket. I've come home with three buckets full of wonderful coffee grounds. They have promptly been assimilated into my compost pile. The result is a noticeable difference in the smell of the compost- it is not nearly as potent as it was just a few days ago. It is also growing much faster (because of all the grounds...)
Mama picked me up with the boys on Thursday evening after work. We headed up the Phoenix for the Mesa Temple Pageant. After the pageant we spent the night at my sister's house. Friday morning we left our boys with their cousins and headed to the temple. We were able to take some extra time at the temple because our boys were with my sister.
We came back to Tucson for swimming lessons and then to the house. We celebrated Passover with the traditional meal. Wendy invited two families from our congregation to join us. It was a lot of fun.
On Saturday we did all sorts of chores. Grocery shopping, Bountiful Baskets, cleaning house, budgeting, laundry, etc. We enjoyed a pot luck supper at a friends house. They put on an annual Easter Egg Hunt. It was lots of fun. The boys had a wonderful time. It was nice to visit with some friends we hadn't see in a while. We learned that one of our cherry trees is dead. It was likely dead when I planted it, as it had no growth on it whatsoever. It is unfortunate, but at least the other two are doing well. Hopefully I'll be able to get another planted either this fall or next year.
Mama got me a book entitled ''Hobby Farming''. It is very interesting. Hopefully someday we'll be able to have a little farm.
Be well.
Early in the week I decided to try an experiment. I took a 1 gallon plastic bucket (the kind you get when you buy cheap ice cream in bulk) and wrote on the lid ''Save the Planet- Recycle used coffee grounds and filter'' I then left the bucket at the coffee station at work. Each evening I swapped out the filled bucket with a fresh, clean, (empty!) bucket. I've come home with three buckets full of wonderful coffee grounds. They have promptly been assimilated into my compost pile. The result is a noticeable difference in the smell of the compost- it is not nearly as potent as it was just a few days ago. It is also growing much faster (because of all the grounds...)
Mama picked me up with the boys on Thursday evening after work. We headed up the Phoenix for the Mesa Temple Pageant. After the pageant we spent the night at my sister's house. Friday morning we left our boys with their cousins and headed to the temple. We were able to take some extra time at the temple because our boys were with my sister.
We came back to Tucson for swimming lessons and then to the house. We celebrated Passover with the traditional meal. Wendy invited two families from our congregation to join us. It was a lot of fun.
On Saturday we did all sorts of chores. Grocery shopping, Bountiful Baskets, cleaning house, budgeting, laundry, etc. We enjoyed a pot luck supper at a friends house. They put on an annual Easter Egg Hunt. It was lots of fun. The boys had a wonderful time. It was nice to visit with some friends we hadn't see in a while. We learned that one of our cherry trees is dead. It was likely dead when I planted it, as it had no growth on it whatsoever. It is unfortunate, but at least the other two are doing well. Hopefully I'll be able to get another planted either this fall or next year.
Mama got me a book entitled ''Hobby Farming''. It is very interesting. Hopefully someday we'll be able to have a little farm.
Be well.
April 1
Underfoot tried to be mature and helpful by
cutting his own watermelon. The downside was he also tried to cut his
finger off. Sweetheart and I retired to check our email correspondence and
were startled by the screams of a little boy in panic. He held his
finger out in front of him and dripped blood from the kitchen to our
library (approximately 7 yards). We found drops of blood on the wall and
floor when we cleaned up. First aid skills kicked in as pressure was
applied to the oozing finger. Panic causes that more blood comes out.
When Underfoot stopped crying, the blood stopped flowing. When he started to
cry again, the blood started to flow. The irony was while both parents
were helping Underfoot, Hurricane decided to mimic Underfoot's example and cut the
same finger about 1/4 of an inch higher. Except Hurricane didn't panic. He
just asked for a band aid. Underfoot has not touched a knife since. Hurricane on
the other hand must be watched like a hawk.
Underfoot registered for kindergarten on Wednesday. The school did a presentation with a video, teachers, and time in the classroom. The PTA (or PTO) gave each in-coming student a t-shirt. Underfoot didn't take the shirt off for 2 days. He has only talked about going since. We will start school July 16th. I filled in the paperwork during the parent orientation meeting. Afterwards I gave Underfoot all the legal and registration paperwork to register himself. Hurricane spent time with a friend so it was a Underfoot-Mama event. He talked and talked about it.
Sweetheart did his usual going to work and getting up almost as early as the sun. He did try something new this week - yoga. The jury is still out if he will do it again. On Friday night Sweetheart bought a new vacuum because we learned after he took the other vacuum apart the power switch had gone bad. I really didn't want the vacuum any more so Sweetheart broke it in his taking it apart for me.Or something like that.
I did normal things like clean house, run errands, prepare for General Conference, and tried to be a good Mom. We had a potluck on Saturday night for families so the men could carpool to priesthood meeting and the women and children could talk and play.
We enjoyed General Conference talks (summary with the link) with our treats and the learning. We learned that happiness comes from service, forgiveness, and work. Two of our favorite quotes were:
Underfoot registered for kindergarten on Wednesday. The school did a presentation with a video, teachers, and time in the classroom. The PTA (or PTO) gave each in-coming student a t-shirt. Underfoot didn't take the shirt off for 2 days. He has only talked about going since. We will start school July 16th. I filled in the paperwork during the parent orientation meeting. Afterwards I gave Underfoot all the legal and registration paperwork to register himself. Hurricane spent time with a friend so it was a Underfoot-Mama event. He talked and talked about it.
Sweetheart did his usual going to work and getting up almost as early as the sun. He did try something new this week - yoga. The jury is still out if he will do it again. On Friday night Sweetheart bought a new vacuum because we learned after he took the other vacuum apart the power switch had gone bad. I really didn't want the vacuum any more so Sweetheart broke it in his taking it apart for me.Or something like that.
I did normal things like clean house, run errands, prepare for General Conference, and tried to be a good Mom. We had a potluck on Saturday night for families so the men could carpool to priesthood meeting and the women and children could talk and play.
We enjoyed General Conference talks (summary with the link) with our treats and the learning. We learned that happiness comes from service, forgiveness, and work. Two of our favorite quotes were:
- A bumper sticker that said: "Don't judge me because I sin differently than you." (Uchtdorf)
- In reference to the parable of the laborers of the vineyard in Matthew, the question asked to the labors who began at the beginning of the day from the master of the vineyard "Why are you jealous when I choose to be kind?" (Holland)
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
March 25
Picture link
This week has been a blur. The big news is that Mama has been sick most of the week. She has a sore throat. We have taken it easy all weekend long. No major projects.
We found a new doctor this week for the boys. Mama didn't like the fact that the old doctor's office would not answer the phone. When they did call back it was usually 2-4 hours later and then wouldn't have appointments.
A funny for the week: Mama spent Monday and Tuesday getting ready for a friend to come in from out of town. She had the house all clean and ready for our guests to arrive. She made a fancy dinner of ribs, baked beans from scratch, and other delicious items- not to mention TWO cakes (because she didn't like how the first one turned out- my coworkers were so happy about the cake that they called her about it on Wednesday!) So that afternoon she sent a text message to her friend, asking when they'd arrive. Her friend replied that they were still in Oklahoma and weren't coming until next week! We shared our feast with some neighbors down the street.
Thursday Mama and the boys went to a local butterfly exhibit. They enjoyed themselves. After Thursday afternoon Mama has been done for the count. She is really hard to pin down so she will get better. Especially when the boys are active and busy. After attempting to keep the boys busy and doing a few household tasks, I was exhausted. I said to Mama that I didn't know how she does it every day.
Be well.
This week has been a blur. The big news is that Mama has been sick most of the week. She has a sore throat. We have taken it easy all weekend long. No major projects.
We found a new doctor this week for the boys. Mama didn't like the fact that the old doctor's office would not answer the phone. When they did call back it was usually 2-4 hours later and then wouldn't have appointments.
A funny for the week: Mama spent Monday and Tuesday getting ready for a friend to come in from out of town. She had the house all clean and ready for our guests to arrive. She made a fancy dinner of ribs, baked beans from scratch, and other delicious items- not to mention TWO cakes (because she didn't like how the first one turned out- my coworkers were so happy about the cake that they called her about it on Wednesday!) So that afternoon she sent a text message to her friend, asking when they'd arrive. Her friend replied that they were still in Oklahoma and weren't coming until next week! We shared our feast with some neighbors down the street.
Thursday Mama and the boys went to a local butterfly exhibit. They enjoyed themselves. After Thursday afternoon Mama has been done for the count. She is really hard to pin down so she will get better. Especially when the boys are active and busy. After attempting to keep the boys busy and doing a few household tasks, I was exhausted. I said to Mama that I didn't know how she does it every day.
Be well.
April 1
Underfoot tried to be mature and helpful by cutting his own watermelon. The
downside was he also tried to cut his finger off. Sweetheart and I retired to
check our email correspondence and were startled by the screams of a
little boy in panic. He held his finger out in front of him and dripped
blood from the kitchen to our library (approximately 7 yards). We found
drops of blood on the wall and floor when we cleaned up. First aid
skills kicked in as pressure was applied to the oozing finger. Panic
causes that more blood comes out. When Underfoot stopped crying, the blood
stopped flowing. When he started to cry again, the blood started to
flow. The irony was while both parents were helping Underfoot, Hurricane decided
to mimic Underfoot's example and cut the same finger about 1/4 of an inch
higher. Except Hurricane didn't panic. He just asked for a band aid. Underfoot
has not touched a knife since. Hurricane on the other hand must be watched
like a hawk.
Underfoot registered for kindergarten on Wednesday. The school did a presentation with a video, teachers, and time in the classroom. The PTA (or PTO) gave each in-coming student a t-shirt. Underfoot didn't take the shirt off for 2 days. He has only talked about going since. We will start school July 16th. I filled in the paperwork during the parent orientation meeting. Afterwards I gave Underfoot all the legal and registration paperwork to register himself. Hurricane spent time with a friend so it was a Underfoot-Mama event. He talked and talked about it.
Sweetheart did his usual going to work and getting up almost as early as the sun. He did try something new this week - yoga. The jury is still out if he will do it again. On Friday night Sweetheart bought a new vacuum because we learned after he took the other vacuum apart the power switch had gone bad. I really didn't want the vacuum any more so Sweetheart broke it in his taking it apart for me.Or something like that.
I did normal things like clean house, run errands, prepare for General Conference, and tried to be a good Mom. We had a potluck on Saturday night for families so the men could carpool to priesthood meeting and the women and children could talk and play.
We enjoyed General Conference talks (summary with the link) with our treats and the learning. We learned that happiness comes from service, forgiveness, and work. Two of our favorite quotes were:
Underfoot registered for kindergarten on Wednesday. The school did a presentation with a video, teachers, and time in the classroom. The PTA (or PTO) gave each in-coming student a t-shirt. Underfoot didn't take the shirt off for 2 days. He has only talked about going since. We will start school July 16th. I filled in the paperwork during the parent orientation meeting. Afterwards I gave Underfoot all the legal and registration paperwork to register himself. Hurricane spent time with a friend so it was a Underfoot-Mama event. He talked and talked about it.
Sweetheart did his usual going to work and getting up almost as early as the sun. He did try something new this week - yoga. The jury is still out if he will do it again. On Friday night Sweetheart bought a new vacuum because we learned after he took the other vacuum apart the power switch had gone bad. I really didn't want the vacuum any more so Sweetheart broke it in his taking it apart for me.Or something like that.
I did normal things like clean house, run errands, prepare for General Conference, and tried to be a good Mom. We had a potluck on Saturday night for families so the men could carpool to priesthood meeting and the women and children could talk and play.
We enjoyed General Conference talks (summary with the link) with our treats and the learning. We learned that happiness comes from service, forgiveness, and work. Two of our favorite quotes were:
- A bumper sticker that said: "Don't judge me because I sin differently than you." (Uchtdorf)
- In reference to the parable of the laborers of the vineyard in Matthew, the question asked to the labors who began at the beginning of the day from the master of the vineyard "Why are you jealous when I choose to be kind?" (Holland)
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