Rock Throwing? Yes, please!

Summer is going well for us.  I love the slowness of our summer schedule.  We do not pack activities on our calendar during anytime of the year.  But I truly love the laid-backness (is that a word?) of summer at our house.

We got to take a family vacation.  We rented a cottage on Lake Superior up in northern Minnesota.  What a blessing to be able to unplug with our whole family and just enjoy nature and each other's company.  So much rock climbing and rock throwing!  Rock-skipping is an awesome skill for every kid to have!

 Thank goodness for Brynna!  She carried Nora in our baby backpack for much of our hiking so that Brian could carry Graysen on his shoulders! 

 The kids loved going to Gooseberry Falls and climbing on all the rocks!  

Graysen got his own pair of 'ginoculars'!  He loved looking out at Crocodile Lake (that's what he called Lake Superior).

What a blessing to have these awesome kids!

The Freshman

There are a LOT of things running through my mind.  It's 4:44am.  No, I did not just get up for the day.  I have not gone to sleep yet.  :(  It's been a long week.  

The biggest thing on my mind at this moment is that I now have a freshman in college.  That's right, college.  The emotions that go along with that last sentence are hard for me.  It makes me feel old.  It makes me sad that our oldest will be leaving the nest soon.  This mama's heart is NOT ready for that.  Maybe it's because Bryn is a great kid.  I know lots of parents say that about their kids (or maybe the don't).  But honestly, in the world of parenting she has been a fairly easy kid.  The teenage years had some drama, but nothing too over the top.  She is so even-keeled (most days).  She has a great group of friends.  She doesn't drink (no I am not being naive).  She's honest.  She's responsible.  She's funny and loud.  She has a very old soul.  She is MUCH more grounded at 17 than I was at 30.  She has a good head on her shoulders and does not conform just because everyone else is doing it.

I really just want more time with her.  More full-time time with her at home with us.  More time for her at home with her youngest siblings.  More time to teach her things about the world.  Maybe in my heart of hearts some more time to do some things over with her. We were so young when we had her.  I feel like I failed her on some levels.  Not that I have it all figured out in the parenting world now, but I do feel a little wiser.

It has been fun watching her grow up.  Sometimes I just miss the days when she was little.  I asked her today if she was ready to go to college.  She replied with, 'I'm not sure how I feel about that yet'.  

I know parenting does not end just because they go off to college.  It's just a different stage of parenting.  

I know God has great plans for her!  Love you, baby girl!

Prom and Chuck E Cheese!

Sorry for the length of this post!  Lots of pics to share this week!

A couple of our kids have behavior charts.  I am not a huge fan of charts.  That means I have to another thing to try and remember.  Well, Ella earned her 'big reward' last week.  We have small rewards along the way.  But we try to give them a 'big goal' to earn also.  Much T\to my chagrin, her 'big reward' was to go play at Chuck E Cheese.  Notice I said play.  I refuse to eat there.  :) We don't take the kids to Chuck E Cheese very often.  The last time we were there was probably 2-3 years ago.  The good news:  when you homeschool you can go in the afternoon during the week so you don't have to deal with the craziness!    The kids were extra excited because we went on an afternoon that Daddy was off so he got to come play too!

This was their favorite thing to do!  It was a machine that showed a 'movie' type scene (i.e roller coaster, haunted house, etc).  You lay back in this chair and it's like a 3-D ride!  Look at those faces!

Big brother playing a game!

 Nora wanted to play Skee-ball too!

Daddy and Graysen playing a game

 Carly riding in the teacup!

 And riding the horse!

 Quality sibling time!

 We were excited because we got to go out to eat after Chuck E Cheese (and have some GOOD pizza) at Old Chicago!  Sissy (Bryn) was done with school by then so she joined us!

The 'best' toy Carly got with her Chuck E Cheese tickets was a Best Friends necklace that she shared with Ella.  If only they could be 'best friends' all of the time!  :)

Our happy baby!  Love those big blue eyes!

SENIOR PROM

Last weekend was Brynna's senior prom.  She went with her friend Matt.  There were about 10 couples that all went together.  The wanted the parents to make them dinner.  So we did!  It was very economical (I love that she is frugal!)  

Nails and hair are VERY important!  Bryn's friend McKenzie did her nails!  The purple matched her dress!

 She got her hair down at a local salon.  Jessie did a great job with all of her hair.  The final count on bobby pins......see the picture at the end.

Final do!

Bryn and Sarah had to wear 'hats' because it was raining when it was time to leave.

Little sisters LOVE to watch Sissy get ready for special events!

Sparkly TOMS!

Jewelry!

Almost ready!

 Grandma helped put flowers in her hair.

Dad helping Matt tie his bowtie (thank goodness for YouTube)

The cute couple!

It was a rainy day, but they wanted the top down in the convertible (even it was just for a few minutes)!

The whole gang!

Funny pics

Weirdos! 

The purple group!

The next morning!

Bobby pins and rubber bands!  Oh my!

They had a wonderful time and made another lasting memory for their senior year!

Newest member of our family

No, I am NOT pregnant!  No, we are not getting any new four-legged friends! 

 It's something much cooler than that!

This is Rose-Kattie.  She turned 1 a couple of weeks ago.  She is a precious baby that is at an orphanage in Haiti.  We sponsor her through the Hands and Feet project (http://www.handsandfeetproject.org/jacmel).  I would LOVE to meet and hold this dear little one someday.  I would love for her and Nora to get to play together.  So precious!  We heard of Hands and Feet through our church.  The couple that runs this orphanage used to attend our church before they moved their young family to Haiti.  

Brian and I have always talked about doing mission trips.  He would love to do medical mission trips.  I would love to do mission trips to orphanages.  I know it would be extremely difficult for me.  I know I am truly clueless and naive to the conditions that some children (many children) live in. 

I know it would break my heart. 

 To hold, love, rock and remind these precious children that Jesus loves them would be a gift to me.

We've talked about taking our older kids.  To give them a different worldview.  To teach them compassion.

We also sponsor another girl named Nandhini.  We sponsor her through Compassion International (www.compassion.com) .  She is close to Ethan's age.  It has been wonderful writing to her over the years and hearing about her schooling, family and her love for Jesus!  She lives in India with her parents.

 What blessings all of our 'kids' are!

Kansas City Here We Come!

Last weekend I had the joy of spending time with two great ladies at a great conference in Kansas City.  They are two gals from a women's Bible study and a couple's small group that I am in.  The conference was put on by Beth Moore.  We have done 2 studies in our women's group by Beth Moore.  We were so excited to be able to see Beth in person!  She is so dynamic and real!  Very uplifting!   The even better part was being able to spend some quality time with these awesome ladies!  It was great food and community!  We learned a lot about each other.  Sometimes I forget what it feels like to just be Alana.  Not wife, mommy, caretaker, teacher,  etc.  I love my  life, but need to remember that I need to make time for friends too!  We had some scrumptious food at Oklahoma Joe's (a BBQ restaurant in a gas station) and The Melting Pot (fondue galore).

We are gearing up for graduation here.  I cannot believe that Brynna is going to graduate.  I know it's cliche to say ' I don't know where the time went'.  But I really don't.  I want 18 more years with her at home (my husband is not advocating for this  :)).  I know God has great things planned for her.  But this mama's heart aches thinking about her not being home every day.  Right after graduation we have her college orientation.  Seriously?  Where did the time go?

We have another play to attend this weekend.  Ethan has taken a role behind the curtain for Alice in Wonderland being performed at the children's theater.  He is part of the props crew.  He really loves the behind the scenes stuff!

Ella is still a little mama!  She lugs the baby around and bosses the other littles around. :)  She loves reading and drawing.  Nancy Drew is a favorite right now.  She even made a shirt for herself for Easter.  She wanted to wear it to church, but opted for a pretty dress instead.

Carly has a dance recital coming up.  She really loves her dancing class.  She takes a combo class of tap/jazz/ballet.  Their number for the recital is a jazz number to Dancing Queen by Abba.  Their outfits are adorable!  Hopefully the final production will not be a disaster!

We are working on potty training with Graysen.  All of our kids potty trained right around 3 years old.  Graysen turned 3 at the end of December and could really care less about going in the toilet.  We try hard to bribe him with Cheetos.  I think we have had a total of 5 successful potties in the potty.  At least I don't have to worry about him not getting to go to preschool if it still does not happen for a while.  :)

(I am sure years down the road he will be thrilled that I posted this pic on my blog!)

Nora is going to be one in 3 weeks!  Seriously, where does the time go?  :)  I have been blessed to be at home with her.  The rest of the kids all went to daycare since I was still working outside the home then.  Nora loves hanging out with her brothers and sisters.  She can already hold her own with them!  She loves pancakes and french toast!  She so far is just rolling to get places.  She gets up like she is going to crawl, but no movement yet.  Honestly, that is fine with me.  That is one less little one I have to chase for now!  No teeth yet either!  She still wears size 1 shoes!  Such tiny feet.  She is up to 17 pounds!  We have been so thankful for her first year being such a healthy one!

Post-surgery thoughts

I am 5 days post surgery.

Random thoughts:

1) I have no idea how people are addicted to pain medication.  Honestly, I don't.  I am not making fun here.  I did really well on my pain meds until late Wednesday and then my stomach started giving me fits.  I have been so close to barfing so many times. Ugh.  Luckily, I had some nausea meds left over from my last bout with kidney stones.  Of course, I did not remember that until late tonight, but at least I don't feel like I am going to yak at the moment!

2)  I have the greatest mom ever!  She had just gotten home from a trip to Georgia on Sunday night and she turned around and came down here on Monday morning to take care of me and the kids.  I am so thankful that she blends right in at our house.  She knows our schedules (or lack there of), she read a TON of books to the kids so we could still get school done while I was down for a few days, and she loves on the kids as much as they will let her.  :)

3)  I have awesome kids!  My big kids have really stepped up (even more than usual) this week and helped out.  I am blessed as a mom!

4)  My husband is pretty great too!  Somehow he always manages to stay very even keeled even when our world is tilting just a bit.

5)  I had surgery on my other arm when I was 4 and 5 years old (a story for a different day) and it's amazing how your body remembers those same 'pain'  feelings.  My shoulder felt eerily similar to those surgeries I had when I was 4 and 5 years old.

6) It really stresses me out when I have to rely on other people to help me with the simplest things (i.e. hooking my bra strap).

7) I couldn't feel my right arm for about 12 hours.  That is a very bizarre feeling. I felt like I had a lead appendage.

8)  I had an allergic reaction to the tape they used on the bandage to cover my shoulder.  I was begging after the first day to have it taken off.  Brian took off the bandage and I had to put Benadryl cream on it for several days.  It's still inflamed and red, but not itching as much.  It's great having sensitive skin.  :(

9) I am blessed to live in a country that has easy access to healthcare.  My surgeon is super nice.  All of the nurses and surgery techs I encountered were very kind also.  My physical therapist is a peach!

I truly hope this surgery fixes the pain issues with my shoulder.  I am already able to lift the baby again so for that I am truly thankful.  Certain movements still cause me some pain, but I am on the mend. Thank you for all of the prayers!

This weekend we will celebrate our risen Son!  We have family and friends joining us.  Again, so many blessings in my life. Happy Easter to you all!