The remainder of August

So much of August was spent home/going to appointments.  At the beginning, I was taking Eli to the doctor and physical therapy three times a week.  It dominated my days and week.  Mike also had a trip to Korea in August.  He was gone for a week and was able to spend a day with his brother Andy and Andy's family.  Will spent the majority of the summer going on two hour long walks, coming home drenched in sweat.  Isaac spent his days preparing to take the SAT.  The girls spent way too much time watching TV.  I often felt bad about it until I reminded myself that they don't live near any friends, don't have a backyard, and I was not available to do much with them since I spent so much time driving Eli to and from appointments.  I tried to take them to get treats, and tried to plan one day a week where we went exploring or something like that.  Late nights, lazy mornings, it wasn't a terrible summer for them even if there were a lot of boring moments mixed in there.  

School started late this year--the last week of August.  It is definitely easier in some ways this year but we are all so tired.  The days are so long and we see so little of each other.  I feel so sad about it.  Having gone from seeing one another all day to hardly at all, it feels me with sadness.  I miss my people.  Eli started early morning seminary this year so all three boys wake up at 5, followed by Piper at 5:45, and Felicity not too much later.  They leave for the bus at 6:45.  The bus comes a few minutes earlier this year and the two older boys are bus monitors so they have to be at the bus stop early for their shift.  I'm glad they got jobs as bus monitors.  I probably already mentioned it but they applied last year before school got out, took the safety class, and started getting shifts before the summer.  They enjoy their job and enjoy the money they make.  

Both Isaac and Eli started school on crutches.  Isaac stopped using crutches this week but his ankle is still not healed so I am taking him back in this week to see if he needs physical therapy or if we just need to be patient.  It's been over a month.  Eli got to set his crutches aside today.  He still has physical therapy once a week but he is finally able to walk without the crutches.  He gets tired and doesn't like to walk far but he is making really good progress.  

Piper is already having a better year so far. Last year there were so many problems with friends and this year seems so much better.  The girls mostly got split up but Piper was able to have her bestie in her class again and I never hear of any girl fights, unlike last year where they were constant.  She has chosen to do soccer after school and after school recreation so she gets home late three nights a week, not walking in the door until almost 6:30 each night.  Then, reading/math for 30 minutes, dinner, scriptures and bed.  She is tired and I feel sad for her that she has such long days.  

Felicity started school too this year!  She loves it.  She is more emotional lately, which isn't terribly surprising to me.  We had the choice to send her to the main campus with her siblings or keep her closer this year and we decided that it was just too long of a day at the main campus so we chose to send her to the Early Learning Center.  We leave at 8:15 for an 8:35 start. She gets done at 2:35 and we usually stop at the park next to her school for a few minutes to let her play with her little school friends.  I'd rather just walk home but I'm happy for her to be making friends.  It's such a change from last year.  The other moms are nice and way more social than me.  I have the most kids of any of the other moms.  Felicity is the only student with more than one other sibling in her class so having five kids is blowing the other mom's minds.

So far I don't have as much time for myself as I'd have hoped.  I started a Japanese class on Fridays and have my therapy sessions on Tuesdays.  My weeks have been full and busy and I mostly just want to be home right now to exercise and read a book and organize closets.  I think it's just been so many years since I've had time to just myself that I am craving all the quiet and time alone.  So far, I haven't had a ton of time for that but I'm hoping to do better at planning my weeks so that I don't have to be away from the apartment too much.  I was able to finish my goal of reading the Book of Mormon three times this year.  It was a hard and I honestly did not think I would finish but I was able to finish with one day to spare.  I feel happy to have stuck to it and I'm sure there have been blessings available to me through doing it.