Rule #1

If you ask me, there are unwritten rules to motherhood and the first and foremost among them is: "Mom can not get sick or injured for any amount of time longer than 10 minutes." So I felt more than a little annoyed when I broke that rule and tried to break my pinkie toe at the same time on Tuesday.



Too bad this picture is sideways and I don't know how to fix that. The hurt toes are on the bottom foot and it's really much worse looking in real life. :) In the end, I think it is only jammed, although I wondered at first if it was broken. The picture doesn't do justice to the amount of pain and severe inconvenience I've felt the last 3 days. Unfortunately, I can't claim any heroic effort as the cause of my terrible injury. I stubbed all my toes on the heel of Ellie's friend, Kayla. No joke. We were walking towards the table, she stopped, I didn't and my toes smashed into her. I simultaneously heard and felt a loud popping sound. OUCH!! I writhed in pain and she looked at me curiously, completely oblivious. Which is a good thing because I was hoping that she wasn't in as much pain as I was because it would have been hard to console us both at the same time. Besides, it also would have added to my frustration if I had to deal with the guilt of accidentally kicking my friend's daughter!

I've marveled to watch it turn black and blue, limped around feeling sorry for myself at home and at soccer practice, iced it and read a book or two (I didn't mind that part as much!) and managed to keep it mostly of harm's way. Today Grace dropped the soap dispenser on my foot, but it hit the "mamma" toe instead of the bruised ones. Thank goodness she missed or I really might have cried. Still, it was super painful and much too close for comfort. Don't worry about sending flowers and meals yet, though, I'm walking better now and hoping to be out of my flip flops by Sunday. :)

"cheese!"

Carver LOVES to play with bubbles at the sink! It's definitely a full body experience. He had so much fun last week, tasting and dunking his head in the water. What a funny kid!!

Usually I keep my Carver thoughts to Carver's blog, but today I can't help myself. I had to update both. Today he qualified for the special ed preschool in our school district (details here), the moment I've been waiting for these last few months. But instead of feeling thrilled, my heart broke for all those milestones we haven't hit, for all the bumps in our road ahead and for the future that remains so unsure. I ached for the kids who wouldn't understand, for the way that other parents will respond, for the labels associated with riding "the short bus," for the times that kids will be mean, and for the many things ahead that are going to be so hard for Carver. All my emphasis on getting help has been satisfying and I've felt so encouraged and motivated. Today must have been a culmination of all those motherly worries that haven't had a chance to surface in awhile because it was time to cry. I'm feeling better now, though, and ready to tackle this next phase in our efforts to help Carver. We really are so blessed and I know that there are so many parents with bigger challenges than we face. Carver's a fun boy, healthy, full of life and happiness and he can do SO many things well. I'll just take one day at a time and we'll get where we need to be.

Ellie's turn is here!

The big day has come. The day she's been waiting for since precisely the moment she realized that Lydia was going to get to go somewhere without her. We've all be so excited, there wasn't any room left for feeling anything else! The other day in the car she was singing a song of her own invention, as she's known to do, something along the lines of...

"I'm not sad or embarrassed or scared or shy. I'm just excited. That's all I am... Excited, excited, excited."





That pretty much sums it all up. Counting down the days, the hours til her turn to go to school, the minutes we waited and waited and waited at the bus stop (I think I counted THIRTY minutes waiting for that darn bus).



This is Ellie feeling a little grouchy about waiting FOREVER on the corner. "Can't you just drive me to school, Mommy?"



But then the bus finally came!! And there was no looking back for this girl! What a good feeling to send her off completely ready and unafraid. I just wasn't prepared for the amount of my day spent at a bus stop (90 min+ today for all 3 times) or for the lonely feeling of the afternoon without Ellie around to keep me company. Grace slept the whole time, so Carver and I got some long-awaited mom time. We did play-doh and puzzles, books, cars and laundry. It was really a lot of fun in a quiet sort of way. I am still thrilled beyond measure that Ellie can enter into this wonderful chapter of her life, the school years that have been so rewarding to watch Lydia grow into.

Here's the girls getting off the bus together this afternoon, enjoying their Otter Pops from a thoughtful mom at the bus stop. Lydia was sweet enough to be very excited to sit with Ellie on the bus ride home. I can't believe I'm old enough to have two kiddos in school! Look at these grown-up girlies!

Lydia's first day

Lydia was so excited this morning, she was up and dressed by 6:45! Here's to her big day as a 2nd grader. She didn't seem nervous in the least, just excited to sit by her best friend Garrett in her new DESK. No more tables and shared supplies for this girl!! :) And she LOVES her messenger style backpack that is as big as she is.


And Derek shared the big day as he taught seminary for the first time this morning. I'm not going to pretend to really know how he feels about it, but I'm excited for him. He's a great teacher and loves the youth. I'm excited to see how the year unfolds for him and for those lucky freshmen and sophomores!

Rebel

Here it is. I finally decided, bit the bullet and got the Canon Rebel XTi. It's a super guilty pleasure for me, but I'm thrilled. I think I spent an hour at the camera shop yesterday, hemming and hawing while Carver played with his gum (think little bits on his hands and clothes) and Lydia wondered why she volunteered to come along. But in the end, I'm really happy with it and excited to learn how to really use it! Thanks for all the advice and encouragement! :)

Our Last Hurrah

The final day of summer. Like always, it was here before we knew it and bittersweet as I always remember. Good-bye wading pool and slip-n-slide, good-bye popsicles and swimming lessons and carefree days of play. Good-bye taking all 4 kids to the store with me even if I just need milk, good-bye short order cook for lunch since no one agrees on the same thing anymore, good-bye keeping children from fighting and tattling and whining. I'm excited and sad all at the same time. Tomorrow is Lydia's first day of school, Derek's first day of seminary, my first day trying to get up at 6 am. Ellie starts kindergarten Friday. With all those firsts just around the corner, today was the day to play.



Derek had heard about a place not far from here where you can hunt for crystals, that's right - crystals, gems, whatever you want to call them. The girls were SO excited, they've been talking about it for a week, telling anyone who'll listen about our great crystal hunt. We drove out near Snoqualmie pass today with our topo map and wound around a little gravel road til we found it.





We saw a big sign saying you needed permits to gather minerals, but we figured it probably didn't apply to our little family. We hiked up and up, the girls were getting antsy and we were tired of fielding the "are we there yet" question when we didn't have a clue. Finally, a log was blocking the path and Derek went to scout it out. He came back with good news and bad news. Good news was that there was indeed a place to gather crystals. Bad news - a big sign saying it was private land and they'd call the sheriff if we trespassed. Obviously, no one was there to witness our crystal poaching. But we decided we'd better be honest.

Oh, the disappointment! Honestly, Derek and I were pretty bummed because it sounded like the PERFECT family outing and the girls were crushed. We promised them ice cream instead, which cured Ellie instantly. Lydia took a little longer to come around. But after a few rounds of group storytelling and a much quicker walk down to the van, even she had to admit we'd done the right thing and had fun, crystals or no crystals.



Like father like son, eh? I loved this shot! In addition to these funny guys, we saw a couple frogs, a pine hen, and I think I saw a snake hurrying out of our path. The girls even had to use the great outdoor bathroom up there, wipe with a diaper and try (somewhat unsuccessfully) to keep their shorts dry at the same time. I think we're going to need to invest some time training us all in these finer arts. And, as usual, we forgot sweaters.


Carver loves to say "cheese." He was a great sport the whole time, as was Grace.


Grace and her share of ice cream. Yummy!

What a great summer we've had. It's satisfying to have it end and exciting to see what this school year will bring.