Everyone is up to something

This week found us with a lot going on.  I have things to report on everyone but in this post you will find Isaac mostly absent and that is because I will do a post on him after this one.  I took lots of pictures of his friend birthday party so I'll reserve a post just for that.  So, let's get started, shall we?

At the end of March Colorado Springs was put on water restrictions.  It was so dry and everything was dead.  We could only water our lawns between certain hours and only twice a week.  There were other restrictions put in place too and our yard was so sad.  Especially our fruit trees and backyard.  Our backyard was essentially a dirt pit.  But the last month or so it has rained almost every day.  It's not too odd for Colorado Springs in the summer--the first summer we were here it did the same thing.  I guess last year it wasn't like this.  Anyway, it is sunny in the morning and then by about 3ish the clouds roll in and we have a good storm and then it moves out.  This year there have been some flash flooding in the mountains because of the Waldo Canyon fire last summer.  The boys have been loving the rain.  They have built a dam and go check it out every day.  Thankfully, our lawns are green again.  But sadly, only one apple grew this year.  

 On Monday we went swimming for Family Home Evening.  We were all having a great time when things went sour.  The pool we go to has a splash pad as part of the pool and Eli was under one of the sprayers and he was spinning with his eyes closed and slipped and whacked his head on the metal part of the sprayer resulting in a nice gash on his eyebrow.  We knew immediately he would need stitches.  We gathered everyone and quickly went home, changed him out of his swimming suit and into pj's and then Mike took him to the hospital.  He got five stitches on the same eyebrow as his last stitches.  That makes three accidents requiring stitches in eight months for our family.  Crazy.  Boys are so crazy.

 Will got glasses!  He mentioned a few times that things seemed blurry over the summer so I got him into the doctor and she said he was borderline for needing glasses and sent us to a specialist.  He was nervous about wearing glasses, saying that he was afraid he'd get made fun of.  But he also said he really wanted to see things clearly again.  After his check-up they said he did need glasses but his eye sight wasn't terrible.  He can wear his glasses only during class time if he wants but we decided that being only eight that if he takes the glasses on and off multiple times a day they are sure to get lost or scratched so he's just going to wear them all day.  We let him choose his glasses and he chose two pair--a nice, more expensive pair and then a cheap backup pair in case something happens to his other glasses.  I think he's cute with glasses.  He met some kid at school that he said is "popular" and he has glasses so now he thinks it will be ok.  He decided that if his friend could have glasses and still be liked that it would be fine to have glasses.  He seems happy to have them and be able to see now.

 Piper is officially a stander.  She is trying to cruise now too.  It's her new favorite trick and she practices any chance she can get.

 This morning instead of taking a nap before church she decided to practice standing.  I found her like this:

 How can you be mad about her not sleeping when she greets you like this?  Oh she is so cute!  You may wonder why there is a pile of books next to her bed.  We used them to prop her bed up when she had reflux problems.  Mike just took them out this week and I just need to get them put away.  And the blanket that is weaved in and out of her spindles is because when she isn't standing she is sticking her feet out of the spindles and then she gets stuck.  So we put the blanket up as a barrier.

Ready (but not rested) for church.  She was so tired at church...

 Now that Mike is back he is back to making cheese.  He bought some little molds so he could make cute little individual cheeses.  He hopes to have enough to give away some as Christmas gifts to neighbors and friends.  This particular activity took forever on Saturday.  I expected him to be done by 2 but it was five and he was still at it.  I hope it won't take that long the next time he makes them in two weeks.

But the exciting news is that he got a slot for his PhD!  He has some schools he is interested in but isn't sure yet where he will go.  We will keep you updated when we figure it out.

As for me, I'm just trying to prepare for my surgery.  I have made some progress in getting some planning done.  It makes things less worrisome for me.  I have some freezer meals to make this week and the next and I need to figure out the physical therapy schedule after surgery so I can get some rides or babysitting set up.  I also need to get something to help me get off the toilet and so I can take a shower--I know, cool right?  I can't even get off the toilet without help.  Sigh.  But, in the meantime I'm taking swimming lessons from my friend.  She is a great swimmer and has been swimming since she was on the swim team in high school.  I can tell that I've made vast improvements since I began three weeks ago.  I'm amazed actually.  I still don't feel comfortable swimming but I'm getting there.  I actually never thought I'd be a swimmer or even enjoy the activity so that makes me happy.  Truthfully, it is going to take some getting used to the fact that I won't be a runner.  I haven't been a great runner since I've had kids but I ran track in junior high and cross country in high school and every time I have a baby I eventually begin running again and that is how I've always lost the baby weight.  This time I was working with my trainer doing interval training to get me back to running.  I was finally getting to where I felt ready to start running again.  And now I realize that I won't ever be a runner.  I guess it's taking me awhile to accept this new information.  I just fully intended to begin running and keep running.  I guess I'm supposed to start swimming or biking now.  And even though I haven't enjoyed either of those activities, I guess it's time to learn to like them if I intend to keep exercising--which I do.  But, another positive of this injury is that since I can't exercise like I was, I now have to really focus more on my food intake.  I've always been better at the exercise part of being healthy so it's good for me to focus more of my energy on the food part now.  And in doing so, I've lost two pounds.  Hopefully I can keep it up.

That's about it.  More going on this week to prepare for the surgery.  Life just keeps going on.  The boys and Piper keep growing and we just learn to make adjustments as unexpected things happen.  But also, we realize we are so blessed in so many ways.