First day in the 8th, 6th, 3rd, and Kindergarten! (oh my)

School.  It has begun!  And I am still not sure I am ready, but here we go!

 

 

8th grade.  His tie has R2D2 on it.  He started last week, on a Wednesday.

 

He was up, and so ready to go!  My big boy is going to school!  These guys started on Monday.

 

Kindergarten!

 

I have another middle schooler in the house.  Emma is in 6th.  (whaaaa?)

 

And my ever casual, no big deal William is in 3rd.

 

Lucy knows the days will be different.  I think that is why she isn't the happiest in the pictures. 

 

God bless all the teachers, new and old friends, and keep them close to you, Jesus! 

Our Own Backyard Fun

We live so close to so many great historical places.  But we don't often get there as I am not up for traveling to DC alone.

Enter my Superman husband.  I am so lucky to have him!

We hopped on the VRE (Virginia Railway Express that my husband takes to work every day) and rode into DC.  James was so excited to ride on the train!

This day was full of firsts for me and the kids.  First up was the Tidal Basin.  I had never walked all the way around and enjoyed the views, or see all the memorials that are there.

It's a beautiful walk, next to the water, with some lovely trees.  I was kind of irritated by the "warning: low growing branches" sign.  Like, really?  We have to have a warning for everything?  But as we walked, I saw that the beautiful cherry blossoms grow at an angle, over the water.  The view is just lovely!

I just might be convinced to come back when they are all in bloom!  Just maybe. 

Around the basin are 3 memorials (I think only 3).  First up is the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. My cell phone camera cannot come close to catching the size and awesomeness of this!  In the background, on walls on either side, are many of his famous quotes.

   

He was such a powerful speaker.  It was a very somber place, big enough to let the kids wander and expend energy, but it kept a reverent attitude. 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial is the next marker on that walk by the basin, another first for me!

My history is quite rusty, as I didn't realize he was president for so long.  His quotes are practical, and came from a time in history that was a different kind of struggle than MLK Jr.

It's quite a large memorial (with bathrooms at each end of it.  Perhaps it's because they have waterfalls all throughout it.  Rushing water is calming but does give you a certain urgency.) and the kids all loved the noise.  Lucy's exclamations of "WATER!" could almost be heard above the noise.

Our final memorial was Jefferson's. 

This view was from the other side of the Tidal Basin.  It's so lovely across the water.

Now, when we are here reading his words, I am always overcome by his eloquence. I love his quotes, and to see just the contrast of Jefferson to FDR, and many other presidents.  It did make me do a little pause about the upcoming election, and how much I am NOT a fan of either (nope, not getting political) but I have faith that God will always triumph. 

We had lunch on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial, as that was the closest place with shade. 

 Our friends included us in a tour of the Bureau of Engraving (the place where the paper money is made).  We learned some pretty neat tidbits:

 * The $100 is the largest bill now made, but there used to be $100,000 bill!

* The ink goes on the back of the money first, and the green color is always first.  Hence the name "green backs."

 * Bills are made of Cotton and Linen. 

* The machines run all the time.  24 hours a day.

* Tommy is $300,000 taller than me.  :)

 

 

 

Next first: The Washington Monument!  All the way to the top!

 

 

I loved the beautiful walls and floor as we waited for the elevator.  I didn't expect such prettiness inside, as the monument never looks that special to me.  It's always there, and never seems fancy to me.

 

Such incredible views from the top of the building!!  The fact that we were over 500 feet in the air didn't bother me, until I looked at the big bolts in the structure, and saw the red lights that flash through the windows at the top.  There is a observation place with all the windows, then you go down a few steps and they have an exhibit about the monument.  It listed all the places that sent a stone to help build it, and when you went down the elevator, the lights inside went off, and they slowed it down so we could look out the windows of the elevator to see some of the plaques that were sent with the stones. 

 

I can't even imagine tackling this kind of a day on my own.  EVER.  5 kids in tow, super hot day, and no map.  No way.  My husband is the navigator, the planner (albeit spontaneously) and the doer.  This was a great reminder of why God has given me such a spouse! 

 

William's Birthday

Well, I spoke too soon.  As soon as I was done with my pity party, my husband stepped in and took off half a week to be with us and planned some amazing outings. But first:

William turned 8!

 

He was my first child to ask for a home cooked meal specifically for his birthday.  With all the kids usually asking to go out to eat, (which we did for lunch at Red Robin so they would sing to him) it touched me very deeply to have him ask ME to cook!  Did he eat it?  No, but it was the thought that counts.  :)

 

 

We got our first pets in the house!  An ant farm!  It is fascinating to watch the ants dig and move the habitat/food around in the container.  (amazon prime rocks!)  There is even a little light to help us see them even better.

 

Happy Birthday, my Sweet William.  I think I will call you that forever. 

Guilt Runs Strong With This One

Wow.  I totally missed July.  How did that happen?

It's hard for me to blog in the summer.  Not because we are super busy. On the contrary.  We don't take any trips, haven't really done anything exciting at all, and sometimes I struggle in that department. My anxiety and "comparing" gets the better of me in the summer. 

                                          Free chicken, and the crazy kids to go along for the ride.

I have a hard time in the summer, as I don't want to spend my time driving kids back and forth for a camp or something every week, and we don't really have the money to do a huge trip.  Facebook and blogs are sometimes hard as it seems like everyone goes to the beach. We don't belong to a pool, we don't have any beach trips planned, and we just aren't super exciting.  Well, I am not exciting.  And I struggle sharing that with the internet world.  I married a man who is spontaneous and wants to get out and enjoy the time with his family.  He tries to plan things and it is a constant struggle to not be the voice that says "no" all the time, especially in front of the kids.  It's my own anxiety, and my own hang up, and the worry of the logistics of how we manage things. 

                                                   (A photo from the 4th!  Flag shirt and all)

But if I dwell on the things we "don't" do, I will get more depressed, so I try to think about what he HAVE done.  We have a house full of fun, and family nearby.  We have all had some kind of camp: VBS (all but Tommy), Cub Scout camp (Tommy and William), singing camp (Emma), basketball camp (William), and Boy Scout Camp (Tommy and Patrick).  My sister has been generous with her pool guest passes and we do have 5 kids, so it's not like it's quiet in the house.  William and James have been inseparable and have been spending hours together in the corners of the house. Lucy has gotten into everything she shouldn't, as well as climbing, talking, dancing, and just getting cuter than ever.  Emma and Patrick have been reading and enjoying Netflix (oh, I have enjoyed it too.  Too much), and I love that they have played every kind of board game and even some old fun, like fashion plates.  And the library has seen plenty of us.

                                                 (Week long camp for these guys.  Not the little one.)

I realize that this post sounds sour, self-pitying and dreadful.  It isn't all bad right now.  It's just a combination.  I have lots of guilt that we aren't fancy, but I do know that this is the life God has given us.  The kids are very well-behaved (as the lady at the dentist so sweetly told me today) and I don't meant to sound doom and gloom.  I give myself a hard time.  

                                                    (They had a great weekend!)

                                                    (VBS week, where we only made it for some of the week)

We have 3 weeks until school starts for Patrick, and even though I am panicking at that thought, we have time to do some things together, and I know my wonderful husband will be able to take some time to have family fun. So when you put it down on paper, is looks much busier than it is. 

In the meantime, it's time to pull on my big girl pants and get ready for school, when there will be 4 (!) children at school.  Whoa.  Prayers for our family!         

7 QT Notes From the Infirmary

Oh June.  You have not been kind to us in the health department.  I think I need a refund, a do over!

7QT

1). I am going to preface this with a statement. 
I vaccinate.  I have done them all (except that teenager one), but I do them at a little slower pace.  The pediatrician is very sweet and understanding.  I don't like to do too many at one time, but I do them.  I send my kids to school, and I will be sure they are all ready to go. 

So, when my William and James came to me with VERY suspicious looking spots, similar to chicken pox, I was concerned.  This was early June. 

A visit to the doctor where we were "quarantined" in a room, and the doctor says, well, looks like chicken pox.  Though the boys have had their shots (one child has had both doses, the other just one), and maybe we should do a blood test.  Okay.  That, by itself was not fun either.

(For my own remembering: the lesions were just on the trunk, and were not clear filled.  They were more like pus filled.  And not itchy either.  William had a lot more than James.) 

Then, there was the waiting.  Waiting to see what the tests say.  The doctor calls to say that yes, the boys have chicken pox. And "atypical" chicken pox. Treat it as such.  Now, when you look up this disease, it throws these numbers and words at you like "incubation is 2-3 weeks" "contagious 3 days before the spots come out" "not contagious until all the lesions crust over" or even some very conflicting numbers. 

oh-Kaaay.

2).  William stayed home for more than a week, as it took that long for this atypical rash to crust over.  Thankfully, it wasn't too bad.  But, as it would happen, we had family members coming into town.  The difficulty was that we were unsure what would happen.  Our kids (all but Lucy) have had the varicella shot(s).  But this is a mild case, will the others get it too?  Who is next?  how long do we have to wait this out?  The kids, bless their hearts, couldn't understand why we were not able to see any cousins any friends, or do certain things.  It was a cloud hanging over our family.  We felt like we needed a sign to say "unclean" so others would avoid us.

We had some VERY interesting reactions to our disease.  One lady said she was ready to send her daughter over to catch it.  One family said Tommy couldn't come over, as they were worried he (who has already had the chicken pox) was a carrier.  The school had to send out a letter to tell the class.  (Though, in typical William fashion, the kids played Chicken Pox tag the day he came back.  LOL  Love that kid)   It was quite interesting.  We had folks question what the doctor said, how I was handling it, how many days to do what, and it was exhausting and feeling a bit like

3). Fast forward 2-3 weeks later.  James has his birthday, and then a well-checkup.  This doctor is my favorite as he speaks my language, and has known our family for 13 years.  All my kids.  He is trying to figure out about this blood work thing, and if they had the virus.  He says:
"The blood work says they did not have chicken pox."  It showed they had no immunity to it, and showed they never had levels raised like they had the virus in them. 

?? um, what??

Should we be worried that there is some kind of immune disorder?  Is it just the shots?  Why didn't it show up after 2 shots?  My head is spinning.  The doctor says we need to do more research and need more appointments, etc.  Oh my. 

4). So, what did they have?  We are very unsure now.  And, really, I want those 2-3 weeks back!  It was so humbling, and so frustrating.  I was an emotional wreck all those days, and was very hurt by some of the treatment (because I am a highly sensitive person.  I try.  Really but it is VERY tough not to take things personally) we had. 

So.  NOT chicken pox. 

5). Last week, 4 children, over the course of 4 days, threw up at least once.  Sometimes my kids will do that with strep, but it all seemed to behave more like a stomach bug.  Tommy and Patrick had a camping trip to Gettysburg so I was home with 4 kids. 

I have never been invited to so many things in one weekend as I was this past one.  Kids were included, pools were involved, good friends, and family.  All had to be cancelled.  Yes, there is a bit of a pity party going on here about the weekend, but the kids were supposed to have fun too!!!  Another mystery illness.

6). If you have made it this far, thank you.
This week is Vacation Bible School. We are all involved.  James gets to attend with William.  Patrick and Emma get to volunteer with me.  It was supposed to be wonderful. 

I knew things would be different when I had to move from the music station to be a group leader with Patrick as my helper.  Who was Awesome, by the way.  It was a neat day to have a different perspective.  And I think things will go back to normal the rest of the week. 

(Really?  Who am I kidding.  We are already on #6.  I'm done for.) 

Nope.  Tuesday night, James comes down with fever.  I stay home the next day.  Wednesday gets William going to bed at 5, which means he (we) are home again.  We even take James for a strep test, which turns out negative (though I was going to have all 5 checked out right then and there if it was positive).  Anyone else keeping track of the mystery illnesses we have had?  Yeah, me neither.

7).  I think I would like a do over.  I know.  I know.  I am not in charge.  My priority is my children.  To take care of them, and my home.  But I am not doing well in the housekeeping area (21 month old who gets into everything and eats all.day.long will make everything harder) and I am worried that I am not caring for them well as they have been sick all month, or so it seems.  It just has been really stressful.  I am trying to see what (besides getting me to Heaven) He has planned for us for the rest of the summer.  I have become gun shy about accepting any invitations!  Or planning anything anymore.  I can't see how we will do that all summer! 

We have played many games, watched many movies and read many books.  Already.  The kids seemed to have their summer start sooner than it was supposed to, without all the fun that is to go with it. 

Please let July be a little better!  Otherwise, I am going to join Lucy

Take me away!

Join Kelly for more QT.

Last Day of School 2016

Patrick finished school at the beginning of June, which has been a blessing for this mom to run out while the baby is napping.  He did amazing at his new school.  Of course this is the last day, as I couldn't get a photo with his tie on. 

 

Here is the first day of school.  Love seeing how big these kids are now.

All the kids did great!

 

Off to 3rd and 6th grade!