March 23, 2017

It's been a busy few weeks. I've either been busy at home or not been home able to write.

Two weeks ago on Tuesday after Classical Conversations (school), William decided to try to copy one of his friends on the playground and fell off the top of the monkey bars. I knew right away something wasn't right. He couldn't move his arm at all. I very calmly gathered up the kids and our stuff and headed to the car. I called Francis on the walk and by the time we were all buckled in, he had found the closest urgent care that both carried our insurance and does x-rays. We headed over and were seen pretty quickly. The kids were very good especially considering this was during nap/rest time. They took William back to x-ray his limp right arm, and they had to place it for him since he couldn't do it. In doing so, they inadvertently pop his dislocated elbow back in place. When he returned, he was feeling much better and was able to life and move his arm. The doctor (who was a specialist in sports medicine and was miraculously in that day) checked William out along with the x-rays and decided the best and safest course of action was a splint for a week. He said that William's elbow had obviously been dislocated. He saw no sign of a break, but one could easily be hiding so if there was still pain in a week, we needed to come back in. William did not love the splint and we had to keep adjusting it to get him comfortable. I am happy to say that it's been more than a week since it's removal and he seems to be doing well!

Last week was Spring Break. My mother, sisters, and the twins and my in-laws all took turns being sick with a nasty virus and cold respectively, but amazingly my kids and I dodged the bullets. We were able to go to the Dallas Aquarium with Francis's mom, the mall many times, Legoland (with the twins, Christian and my mom) in Grapevine, parks and the Heard Museum and Animal Sanctuary (also with my mom). Even with all of the sickness, we still managed to have fun. Francis had to spend spring break in College Station working on his paper for his Preliminaries coming up in a couple of weeks (pray for him!). He will be in Portland, OR starting on Friday for a conference, so he will get a trip of his own. We'll miss him! Friday evening my amazing Father-in-law brought my kids back to College Station and I got to spend time with my best friend since the 3rd grade: Ashley. We went to see Beauty and the Beast and then I spent the night at her house. I  can't tell you how precious that time was. Saturday was another special time. At Ashley's house, we had my sister Danielle's first bridal shower. It went so so well, and I would not have missed it for the world. I'm so thankful she has found the man God has for her!

Funny story while we were in Dallas: Danielle came over one night and was talking about how she was teaching her kids the equations to find the area of shapes. William chimes in how he already knows them and proceeds to rattle off the equations for areas of squares, triangles, rectangles, circles and the circumference of a circle. Danielle manages to get the circle equations on video to show her students (he wouldn't do the rest right then). Her students tell Danielle that William is just smarter than them. I laugh and tell William and he responds with "Definitely!" I cock my head to one side and look at him confused. "How do you figure?" I ask. "Well, they are older than me so they must know if I'm smarter. Why would they lie about something like that?" I really didn't have a response. His logic was pretty solid, haha. I did go on to explain that everyone knows different things, etc... but inside I was laughing so hard I was holding back tears. He may be too smart for his own good.

This week we've been getting back into school. Robert has finished his work and knows his letters and numbers and can more or less write most of them. Pretty good for a 3 and a half year old! William only has 3 or so more weeks and he'll be done with Kindergarten. That's just crazy! Hannah is also learning so much, though most of her learning is not through her "school work". She is talking so much and her brothers keep teaching her new words (I do too, but theirs seem to stick better). We have resume our evening walks now that the time has changed. The kids love it and ask for it as soon as Francis gets home. It's a special time. I've been meeting new people at the park almost every night (and seen a few familiar faces too). Overall, it's one of my favorite parts of the day.


Today we had a lady come talk about healthy nutrition at MOMS. So, this afternoon I dug out a blender and made the kids a smoothie with only fruit and a tad of milk. they loved it. Yay for a healthy choice. I try to make them as often as possible, so this was not as huge of a step as it may sound. I was just happy the kids liked it without me adding sugar. They love their fruit though, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

Till next time!

March 3, 2017

It has been a week. I'm tired and everyone is cranky. I fell getting out of the car yesterday and shredded my favorite pair of pants, and scratched up my knee significantly... That's just a taste of this week.

And while I'm not enjoying this week, I can take comfort in the fact that this restlessness it is creating is forcing me back to relying on the Father. i would have quit a thousand times over if that were an option, but because it isn't, I have to lean on Him. I find myself thanking Him for even small successes as they have been few and far between this week.

But enough unhappy. No need for everyone else to be unhappy with us. Hannah is growing and knowing her own mind more. She is playing more and more with her brothers as an equal partner and participant. Robert is also making known his thoughts about life known. He is starting to write things if I will spell them for him. I see that his practicing of letters this year is paying off as he recognizes them on signs everywhere. William is speeding through his work these days. He is becoming more self-motivated and likes to know all he has to do and then power through it. I'm impressed at how he is already becoming a semi-autonomous learner. He already reads the math word problems without me and answers them. At nap-time the other day, William read through 8 or 9 Clifford books with Robert with no help.

So in conclusion, it's true what they say: The days go slowly but the years go quickly. This week has seemed like a thousand years, but 6 years have passed in a blink.

Till next time!