Driving Me Confused

Totally out of the blue today while driving home.
Leah: Mommy why do they drive like idiots?
Me: What? Who?
Leah: The other people.
Me: I don't know, what do you think?
Leah: Because they are dumb.
Me: Hmm. Who told you that?
Leah: Nobody.

Yeah, right.

The Past Few Days...

...have been filled with exciting Christmas activities.

We spent all day on Christmas Eve decorating cookies. Dave instituted the making and coloring of the icing and then the rest of us decorated.

Then that night we went to my Grandma Grell's for her annual party. This ledge is a gathering spot for children year after year. My cute little Great Niece Noa. We got to go to our church on Christmas as a family this year for the first time in, well...ever. Then on Christmas morning we opened presents at home and then went to Dave's parents' for more celebrating and opening.
Trey read the Christmas book this year.
Zach shared a few pages of his 9 page paper he wrote for school that outlined the life of Christ and made the case for him being the Savior. It was very appropriate for Christmastime. We were all imressed with Zach and how well-spoken he is and unafraid to share his faith. From the Bears family to yours-Merry Christmas

Cookies!

We are having a good Christmas break. The kids were done with school on Wed. and had an early out so we made buckeyes!

Then on Thursday we started when we woke up and went until 5:30 p.m.

We made Oatmeal cookies.

And sugar cookies (decorations to come later).

And almond bark with peppermint.

And cinnamon rolls. Lots of cinnamon rolls, but no picture.

I had also started some chicken noodle soup in the crockpot so I wouldn't have to cook supper.

I have to say it was all a little easier thanks to my new toy. Dave couldn't wait and gave me my Christmas present early. He's really bad about that. Can't keep a surprise to save his life. But it did make the cookies easier. I'll admit it!

Fall Family Photo Shoot

I have been wanting to do this for two years.
I've been thinking about our outdoor spaces and visualizing us getting pictures done with different backgrounds.
Something always prevented it coming together but it finally worked.
We had a guest speaker at MOPS who has a photography business and will come to your house.

I said "Sign me up".

We had a lot of fun and got some great shots.

Now for my favorite one of the day:)

We were sitting at supper the other night, talking about teaching Leah to read and how she's not really all that interested in learning.
Dad: Leah, what does d-o-g spell?
Leah: Ummm, probably dog.

Impromptu Craft

Lexi found this pencil holder in a Highlights magazine and decided to make it. She's really good at this. She sees something and goes for it. She went up to our craft area and found all the materials, substituted when we didn't have the exact thing and came up with a really cute little guy.

She took him to school for her desk.

Dave's Northface Endurance Challenge

This was Dave's third year doing the Northface Endurance Challenge in Eagle, WI. It's a trail run that he has done before. The first year, I went with him and volunteered while he ran 31 miles. He did the same race last year. This year, he decided he needed the challenge of running the 50 MILE race!

The 50 milers can have pacers so we decided I would pace him awhile. Then there would be a problem of where the car was parked so he decided we needed another driver. He asked our friends the Adams if they would go to Wisconsin with us for the weekend and Tim could pace us too. They accepted! Our dear, dear friends never complained when we had to get up at 3:30 in the morning, wait for 12 hours in the car and drive all over the countryside for us! They said they had fun but I wonder if they'll ever go with us on a 'vacation' again:)

So Dave started at 5 a.m. in the morning.

We had an hour and a half before we got to see him at the first aid station. Then about another hour before we saw him at aid station #2.
We then had a couple hours to spare so we may or may not have made a Starbucks run.....while Dave was running hills in the woods.

Love, love, love this sweet picture of Tim and Teri.
The first three times we saw him, we were amazed at how fast he was going. He was keeping a 12 mile pace which is pretty amazing considering the terrain. Around mile 28, he was allowed a pacer so I jumped in and ran 7 miles with him. I was pretty nervous about keeping up with him but we ran and walked about half and half so I was fine.

Then it was Tim's turn. He was really nervous too since he doesn't run much but Dave was walking a bunch by that point. Dave took every opportunity to show how grateful he was for having us there to run with him. He feels like he would have given up if we weren't there to be the 'carrot' for him to chase. (I'm not sure he would have quit but I know how much better it is to have a running buddy.)
After Tim's 5 miles, I jumped back in and mostly walked with him about 9 miles to the end. I wasn't planning on doing that but when I realized he was hurting, I wanted to be with him and get him to the end. We just wanted to finish. Finishing was iffy for awhile when we got to mile 49.1 and Dave started feeling like his heart was fluttering. We had come down a really big hill and he said his heart didn't feel right. His heartrate, which had been 130-140 all day long, suddenly jumped to 188 and 190. We stopped running and stood on the highway for awhile, him leaning on my shoulder. I was totally worried and so was he of course. I wanted to flag down the sherriff parked down the highway a bit but he wanted me to wait because if he called the medic, his race would be over. No time. After all that work and it would lost. He could tell his heart was stuck in fibrillation. I looked at him and he was pale as a ghost. He had no color in his face at all. After about 10 min. of that he said "It's done. I feel so much better." Just like that it was over. His heart rate dropped down to 112 and his color came back and he was ready to go again. We walked, slowly to the finish line and we were so happy to be done!!

I am totally proud of him. He doesn't have any desire to do that race again and that's ok with me! But I'm happy for him that he could prove to himself he could do it and I know he's proud of himself too.

Another First Day

Leah's first day at preschool was rather uneventful. She is so used to being at the preschool that she thinks she owns the place so if anything, she was rather upset to know that now she has rules to follow. It definitely is not the novelty that it is for some kids. Although, most kids don't have a mom and two grandmas as teachers:)

Well!

I overheard this conversation between Leah and her Nana at preschool.
Leah: I had to put my dad's cream on my knee.
Nana: That was nice of your dad to share with you.
Leah: He's not at home right now.
Nana: Well, neither are you.
Leah: No kidding.

First Day of School

Since the children have been in school for an entire week now, I feel like it's time to post their first day picture:)

Leah once again decided she better get right in there. And made a comment about her dress.

The middles have enjoyed getting into the swing of school and like their teachers.

A new development for Walcott School this year is air conditioning in the building--everywhere but in the cafeteria and the gym. Dave jokingly made the comment that the people in acedemia wanted it that way so that the kids wouldn't say their favorite subjects are lunch and gym anymore.

Alexis stays after school to practice volleyball while Dave coaches. Next year she will be able to play on a team so this is a good way to expose her to it. Dave says she shows some promise so we shall see.

First Day of School

It's hard to believe but this guy is a sophomore this year. Where has the time gone? I swear just yesterday I was sending him to Kindergarten.

It has been nicer this year because he drives himself to school so he doesn't leave until almost 7 and we have been able to see him more in the mornings. Wait...did I just say he is driving himself to school? I did. Yikes. He has his school permit so he can drive to school if he has sports or other school related activities. This is a huge deal for us to not have to get him to cross country every day. It's awesome.

And he still let me take his picture. I'm loving it:)

Cross country has been kind of a bummer for us this year. He was cleared to start running on his knee that had surgery. He is supposed to take it easy for a few weeks to see how it does. But he has been having pain in both of his knees and now he rides his bike while the others run. We will be returning to IC on mon. to make a decision on what to do about it.

Kitty

I finally got some pictures of the kitty. Yes we named him Ducky. But it's hard to remember.

Zach said, "Can we just call it Kitty? I doesn't respond to Duck."

I still like it though. Duck, duck, duck, ducky!

Exotic Food

Last night we had tacos for dinner. If you know anything about Leah, it's that she's a picky eater. We've struggled from day 1 of solid food with her. But she likes tacos.
Leah: Mom, will you help me roll up my towel?
Me: Towel?
Leah: Oh, I mean my kangaroo thingy!
Me: ???? (everyone laughs)
Leah: I mean my taco!

Dangerous Dreams

Dave had a guys night last night and I guess he told a funny story about us.
It got me thinking I should put it here.
Several years ago, shortly after we got the Hunting Channel on T.V., I woke up to a noise and wondered what it was. I was facing away from Dave so in my groggy, half-asleep state I slowly turned my head to look at him. He was up on all fours on the bed and as I turned my head, he went Whap! and slapped me upside the head. I yelped, of course, in pain. He immediately grabbed me and said, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I thought you were a bear!"

Yesterday we had a significant event happen in our little town.

RAGBRAI came through Walcott! (The Des Moines) Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. It was awesome to see all the riders and get to talk to them, hear their stories and where they are from. The kids and I volunteered in the pop tent at Victory Park. It started off really slow, for the first two hours we didn't see anyone but then it got super busy and we had a ton of fun. We even got cool green shirts to show we were volunteers.

On Friday night, Alexis and I took a photo trip around town to see the sights. Not sure why we had a giant horse and giraffe in our town, but we did.
Tracy and Mark came through with their Tall Dog pack and sat in front of Mom and Dad's house for awhile. It was great to see them and hear stories about this 7 day ride. They did an awesome job and I'm so proud of them:)

The Contest

Pigs must be flying.

Hell must have frozen over.

David Huntley now owns a cat.

Most people won't get the significance, but Heather? Teri? Can you believe it? It's true. Not an indoor cat, but an outdoor cat. (Does that matter?)

We have a mouser!....we hope.

Just getting the thing from the farm where it was born to our house was an adventure.

We weren't sure if it would even stick around but we've been feeding it and it's still here, in our garage!

So after we thought the thing would actually stay around, we figured it needed a name. We decided to set out a jar and some paper and anyone who wanted to, could enter a name. We only had 8 entries. Zach didn't actually write one down but I told him that Kitty Poopy Pants would not be an acceptable entry.

Lexi wanted Cute Cat and Cutie Pie.

Trey thought Scardy Cat would be a good name. True enough.

I entered several. First I wrote down Kitty because that's what Dave has been calling it and I didn't figured he'd write it down himself. Then I wrote down Fraidy because all it does is hide, Tiger because it is striped and The Mumford because I love that name! We could call it Mumsy for short. I also wrote down Silver Bullet because it's gray. All the kids loved that name, we laughed about it for quite sometime.

Leah only said one thing when we asked her what she thought the kitty should be called. Duck. Well okay, then. I wrote it down for her.

Phase Two, they could write down anything, but then the parents would get to pick two names we liked and then the family would vote on those two.

So at supper tonight, we read through all the names and had a good time with it. Dave and I laid out all the names and each took turns picking out one that we didn't like. So in that way, we narrowed it down to two. Fraidy and Duck.

And the winner is... Duck!!!!

I love it. We'll probably call it Ducky. And Trey just couldn't figure out why. It doesn't make sense to call a cat Duck!! But that's what I like about it:)

And someday, when it's not such a Fraidy Cat, I'll get a picture of it.

My Grandmother

My Gramma Grell is an amazing woman. She raised 6 children, has 23 grandchildren and 60+ great-grandchildren. That doesn't make her amazing though, of course. She is amazing to me for being a person I have always looked up to. Her family is super important to her. She sends out birthday cards to EVERYONE in the family and they always arrive on the day (or before). She lived during the depression so she knows the value of saving money, making do with what you have, making food from scratch, growing vegetables and canning them, and so much more. She understands what it's like to not have modern convienences. She used to sew and I will always cherish the things I have that she has made. She taught me how to can tomatoes and pickles and I have the memory of that day that I won't ever forget.

Well, now she's sick. She is 96 so she has been slowly declining. She's had some health problems, been in and out of the hospital and has lived with my parents for the last month. This last weekend, she was visiting my aunt's house in Wisconsin and fell. She had to have surgery today to repair a broken hip and broken elbow. She came through the surgery fine but we are worried about her.

At preschool, where I work with my mom and my MIL, the joke is that my gramma has nine lives. She goes through these major things and just keeps on atickin'. None of us can believe how strong she is.

Please pray for my grandmother...

My Short Story

Decided to do something fun on the fourth with everyone home. So we went to Wild Cat Den. Hadn't been there in a really long time.

Took this family pic.

Took this pic of the girls.
Battery died. But we hiked in spite of it. The end.

Update On My Wrist

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind just trying to get used to be one-handed (not an easy feat) and still keeping everyone and their crazy schedules straight. Luckily we are done with kid ball games now. Dave still has about one a week but that is managable.

Last week I had had it. I was done messing with my stupid hand. I couldn't do ANYTHING with it and it was hurting. A lot. Not at all if I didn't move it. But a ton if I did move it. So I called ORA and told the nurse how much pain I was in. She told me my doc was in surgery that day but I would probably hear back by the next day. Well, later that day I got a call. He wants me in a cast. Like now. Because of my symptoms and the fact that I couldn't rotate my hand without pain.

So I got a cast. A pretty purple cast. How I loved my cast. Aside from the obvious hard to shower/hard to sleep bummer things, I really was happy to have that cast. My hand felt so much better with it so I didn't really mind it.

I went back on monday. Now I have no cast! The x-rays still don't show a break. But I really love my doctor. He really listens and he said he wouldn't discount my symptoms just because no fracture shows up. He said my symptoms point to fracture so he admitted he was a bit stumped. He decided I could wear a splint instead which will keep it immobile just as much as a cast, plus it's removable and washable:) In 4 weeks, I go for a checkup. If at that time, I still have pain, he will order an MRI. In the meantime, I can use it to tolerance and I am back to running(yay!).

I've decided this is my left-handed summer. Not ideal, but it is what it is:)

The Mouths of Babes

I was walking through the store yesterday with Trey and Leah. Some random guy noticed my arm in a huge purple cast and said, "Which one of you kids did that to your mother?"
Trey says, "We didn't do it. My dad did."

Another Camper

Alexis is off to camp this week. Can't believe this is the 3rd year for her! The last two years she went for 3 nights and this year it is 5!! Yikes!

She is with cousin Shelby again so I know she will be fine and love it and all that.

It is just starting to dawn on me that I am losing my little helper. Who will do Leah's hair for me with my injured arm?:(

Bubble Wrap Hopscotch

I came across an idea on the internet the other day. The next day, I came across some bubble wrap. Perfect timing!

I bought a ring at a jewelry party last night. I think it's totally fun and expressive. I know some people just kind of say, "hmmm" when they see it but I love it.
(Never mind my freakishly long looking hand.)




Leah picked it up this morning and asked if it was a necklace. I said no it's a ring. So she asked if she could put it on me. I told her sure. After she got it on my hand she whacked it. I said, "What was that for?!"

Then she whacked it again and said, "Does it light up?"