Horsin' around on the 4th of July

Is anyone else like me?  I always feel some sort of relief once the 4th of July is over.  Maybe it's because I am not a crowds person.  And Independence Day seems to be a day of crowds.  But despite my mild dislike of the holiday, it comes every year.

I did make shirts again this year.  I just can't help myself!  It seems that half of what the kids wear are shirts that I've designed in some way.  I hope that they will forgive me for that when they are older.  :)  

I was too lazy to line them up properly for a formal shot of their matchy-matchy shirts.  This is the best I could do.  Sadly, two of my children ended up without faces!

The kids really didn't care about their shirts anyway.  We were at the Bishop's this late afternoon to ride his horse, Shadow.  Leah nearly combusted waiting for the time to get in the van to drive 3 houses down the road.  So we let her go first.

Then it was Rebekah's turn.

Joseph was next.

Doesn't that expression make you wonder just what he is thinking?  I love this shot.  He is gripping that saddle horn pretty tightly.

Next was Daniel's turn.  I tried to tell the Bishop that you can't just throw Daniel on a horse the same way he'd been doing with the first three.  I think I was too far away.  Daniel is short, but he has 12 years of growing packed into that body.  I hope the Bishop's back was OK the next day.

Daniel enjoyed his ride.

We had to force Nathan on the horse.  He's our child that would rather watch life pass him by.  Half of his memories will probably be ones we shoved him into.  Even so, he did enjoy the ride.  He just wouldn't admit it.

This one of Sarah kills me.  I think she should become a jockey.  She sure looks like she wants to go!  The funny thing about Sarah is that she doesn't think she is small.  She had just watched 5 people before her ride this horse and she was going to have her turn.  When she started to slip off the saddle after the horse jumped to the side, she decided she wasn't so brave and let her 2-year-old girl cry out.

Luckily, Sarah's Daddy was there to make the experience positive.  They rode together once the Bishop brought the horses out of the corral.

When it got dark, we lit our fireworks.  We had decided to skip the public show because it wasn't the firework show that had the kids wide-eyed and mesmerized.  We don't need drunks and scantily clad women to complete our holiday!

True to tradition, we were down to 3 empty BBQ lighters to use to light our fireworks.  Our thumbs and fingers were raw by the time we got everything lit.  I guess it just made the show last longer!

HOLY SMOKES!

It would not be a real family celebration if someone didn't cry.  It was way past this little girl's bedtime!

Even now we still have a few sparklers left over.  I can only take so much smoke and burn risk!

June - and what it was.

I've already mentioned Daniel's birthday and ordination.  Those events happened in June.  We also celebrated Chad's birthday in June.  It passed relatively quietly.  I made him a lemon meringue pie, at his request.  We had to have it a day late, for some reason that I can't even recall!  Thirty-nine is not so momentous an occasion as forty, I guess.  So we'll have to really whoop it up next year!  

June was the big start to the summer for us.  We filled it with letter boxing; a little here and there.  The next 4 pictures are from our adventures looking for boxes.

In June, Nathan saw an orthopedic specialist for his leg/hip problems.  That's when he was diagnosed with "spastic hamstrings" which we have since abandoned and moved on to more reasonable explanations.  I am including this picture because I caught Nathan on camera (hard to do) with a severe case of the giggles.  :)

Mid June had us at the Shrine Circus, watching routines that we have started to memorize.

Even so, it still manages to mesmerize!

 OK...so this one looks less like "awe" and more like "yawn", but the circus is not action 100% of the time.

Hey, Daniel.

We anticipated a rush of people leaving all at once and decided to skip the two-elephant finale at the end to get out of the parking lot ahead of the chaos.  It worked and it was worth it!

Chad's maternal grandmother turned 90 in June and the family got together one Saturday to celebrate her.  We visited with cousins a lot.  I gave the camera to Chad to record what was most important to him.  He turned the camera over to the kids.  So we have a lot of pictures that aren't really that important at all.  Here are some of the better ones.

And what about a picture of the honored matron?  We got one.  I doctored it for you so you would be able to pick her out.  Wow.  We did good.

We recently discovered that Chad's something-great grandfather homesteaded in this area (Presto, not Preston).  I used to know how far back but I've forgotten and if you want to hear any of the story, you won't mind that I don't feel obligated to find out before I post.  The delay has been long enough!  Anyway, we tried to do some investigating one Sunday afternoon.  We found a very old stone house built in 1909 - by the people that bought the land from the Colletts. So here is a shot of the land that they used to live on.  Good ol' Idaho; it's easy to picture them out there since the city hasn't found this beautiful piece of earth yet.

And that is (was) June in pictures.

Chad started his new job in June and it has been challenging to be separated so much.  I am having a hard time running a family, a house and a farm while taking care of church responsibilities and trying to keep from giving up all of my "me" time.  I think the hardest part is not having family around; no one to call on and impose upon without feeling like a bother or intruder.  I end up leaving my kids home by themselves a lot and I feel guilty about that.

I have some great neighbors and a few friends that have lightened the burden, but it really isn't the same as family.  Even being able to call home to discuss the challenges and get a pep talk isn't an option.

So I hope our current situation improves soon and that we can just "keep on keeping on" until it does.

New Diagnosis

I took Nathan back to the doctor a couple of weeks ago because I was never really satisfied with the "spastic hamstring" diagnosis and his situation has not been improving enough to ease my concerns.  With him starting in the middle school this year, I wanted to try again to get to the bottom of the problem.

As it turned out, our referring doctor had never even heard back from the specialist that had given us the spastic hamstring diagnosis.  He was concerned when I told him that Nathan lags behind the family when we are out, and that he has a pronounced limp.  Our doctor referred us to another physical therapist, one that is even more specialized.  He said if we couldn't get improvement with him, we'd likely be going to Primary Children's.

So Nathan had his first appointment with the PT yesterday morning.  He asked us some background questions then had Nathan remove his shoes and shirt.  Right away he noticed a problem in his back and said it looked like a compensatory scoliosis...meaning that something was causing a curve in his back.  One side of Nathan's back was higher when he leaned over and one foot was turned in just a little.

He manipulated several spots on Nathan, found several motion restrictions and loosened him up quite a bit.  After a short amount of time, the PT concluded that the scoliosis was not being caused by anything, rather it was causing Nathan's problems.  He said it could explain Nathan's short stature as well because scoliosis can stunt growth.

Usually, this kind of scoliosis is discovered in Jr. High when the government funds health checks to catch it....right at puberty and its accompanying growth spurts.  I feel good that we are aware even before that time.

The PT was very clear that we were not at the stages of this to be overly concerned.  He told me not to look it up on the internet because it would just be a lot of scary stuff that didn't apply right now.  Of course, he didn't know who he was talking to! I looked up a little last night.  ;)

For now, Nathan has two more appts. scheduled over the next two weeks.  I am hopeful that we will now be moving forward and getting Nathan some relief.

Yesterday afternoon, we were meeting Nathan's 5th grade teacher and I mentioned that he'd just been given the diagnosis of scoliosis that morning.  (I wanted her to be aware, just in case he had a bad day in the first few days of school.)  What a surprise we got when she said she also had scoliosis!  Some people would call it a coincidence.  I call it a blessing.  And I said as much to Nathan on the way home.  I told him I knew Heavenly Father was mindful of him and was watching over him.  Really, on the VERY DAY he finds out?  That is a tender mercy from heaven.

HOT Summer...part 2

I complained earlier that it has been extra hot this summer.  We've been in the 90's more than we haven't.  It was 95 today.  Thankfully, it is only supposed to get to 92 for both of the next two days.

This weekend, we had two children end up with heat rash (Daniel and Rebekah).  The discomfort is obvious as they try not to scratch.  We just coated them in hydrocortisone and hope that they feel some relief soon.

I have some concern for the heat next week as school starts.  The elementary school doesn't have air conditioning.  I am hoping for a quick entrance of Fall!

I'll be back to complain about the cold in 5 months.  ;)

A Quiet Moment

After a particularly stressful week (it really wasn't more stressful than most other weeks, but it kind of builds up...you know?), I was making a valiant effort to put my feet up and disappear from the bustle for a time.

The kids were supposed to be doing their dinner chores...at the other end of the house.  I had my book open and was trying to read while fielding constant questions, comments, and complaints from the constant stream of children coming into my room.

When Sarah started climbing up on my lap, taking up space where my book was supposed to be, I finally got frustrated enough to complain out loud.

I sighed and said something like, "Why can't you guys just give me some time to myself?  I just need a quiet moment!"

Then Sarah leans back into my chest, spreads her arms over mine (as if I am the arm chair), rolls her head to the side, sighs, and says in her little squeaky girl voice, "I just need a quiet moment!"

I tried really hard not to laugh. It didn't work.

HOT Summer

This summer has been very hot! There have been more days in the upper 90's this summer than any other summer I can remember.  That makes it very hard to be nice to each other. ;)

On that note, Daniel had a much better day today and only almost got himself in trouble at bed time.  I am hoping that tomorrow will be good as well.  If not, Operation Solitary Confinement will start.

Daniel had a physical therapy appt. today for his jaw.  It was a scheduled visit and he wasn't hurting, but he has been, so we were hoping for just an adjustment.  Then we got a call saying that his PT was sick, but we could get in with another guy. We did that and it may have turned out to be a good thing.  We are trying to watch his posture and strengthening his neck muscles.  Doesn't it sound strange that something like that would affect his jaw?  There is so much about the body that I don't understand.  I am amazed.  And I am hopeful that we will find a way to manage his jaw pains.

Nathan's leg is still really tight and he lags behind when we go out.  He hasn't asked for medicine for a while, so that is something.  He sees an even more specialized PT next week. 

Leah sees the doctor about her sleep walking tomorrow afternoon.  I would love an answer about that, too!

Despite the pain and money it takes to look for relief from the pain, the kids are still robust and healthy.  I know we could have it much worse and I'm thankful for what we don't have to face.  Even so, we are getting very weary with the challenge we've been given.

My kids were introduced to "Kid History" on youtube.com this week.  If you haven't seen it, you should check out the videos.   There are several of them and they are very funny.  (Little kids tell wacky stories and grown-ups act them out, lip syncing to the kids' voices.)

This is a short one...we thought it was funny.  Search "Kid History" on youtube to find them all. :)


I am looking forward to possible rain/thunderstorms tomorrow!!

Summer Cancer

I am looking forward to school starting next week.  We are suffering from a cancer that is eating our family from the inside.  When the kids start school, they will be able to reconnect with friends that they have been missing all summer and use up their energy in more structured activities.

Things have been so crazy around here that we've had very little structure.  Sometimes we had swimming lessons, sometimes we were catching a movie from the summer kid series, there was a week of basketball camp for Daniel and Leah, we've made several trips out of town, there were two different scout camps, and we've been missing our Daddy. 

It's been hot this summer and our house doesn't have air conditioning.  That hasn't helped the temper flare-ups much.

Daniel composed a poem for Leah tonight. 

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Your shoes smell like poo,
And you look like some, too.

She wrote it down and showed it to me while I was working on dishes and they were supposed to be going to bed.  So I composed one of my own and wrote it down for Daniel.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
When you are unkind to others,
They will start to avoid you.
-And you will be sad, mad and lonely.

Daniel is the main source of contention in the house.  I am ready to confine him to areas that we are not in during the day tomorrow.  He won't have to stay in his room the whole day, but he will have to leave whatever area we are in.  He may find himself with a lot of thinking time in the garden, too.  I am to the point of desperation.  (Out of respect for him, I won't go into all the dirty details.  I still believe that he is better than he's showing us.)

So while our family is struggling with getting along and making happy memories, I have the assignment to teach the RS Presidency message/lesson next month.  The topic?  Strengthening families/Making a home where others want to be.  HA HA HA!  I am twitching, laughing hysterically and pretty sure I'm the least qualified to teach this lesson.  I suppose that means I have the most to learn. It should be interesting...right up to the final AMEN.