Homecoming

Our homecoming parade was a few weeks back.  It was the weekend after my surgery.  Fortunately, my parents were here and I was able to venture out to see the parade.  All four kids were in it this year.  Here are some pics from the day....it was beautiful!

 This is the girls' band...CEC.  John is in band this year too, but only 6th-8th grade marches.

 Ashley led the band.  She is on the color guard and was voted by the fellow members of the color guard to lead them (there is an odd number of them).  She was pretty nervous, but did a great job!

 Here is Sara leading the flutes.

 So I promise that John is on this float.  He is on the other side and if you know him really well you can probably spot the back of his head.  We called his name, but John was in the zone and we all know when he is in the zone he doesn't hear anything!

And, lastly, here is Nathan on his float.  Fortunately, he was on the right side...or maybe I should say we were on the right side!

The agony of de"feet"

So as I mentioned in a previous post, we had a rainy morning the other day.  Joe and I needed to make a trip to the store.  As we were making our list the subject of Nathan's shoes came up.  That boys goes through shoes like crazy and he had developed a hole in his current pair. We checked and he had also grown out of them so we measured to see what size he would need.  A size 8 folks...a men's size 8. And, yes, he has a birthday coming up, but he is 8. Years. Old.  So in the spirit of friendly competition ( because family competition is always friendly, right?😉) we decided to have the kids compare feet.  First up, the eldest son...

Nate is on the right. John is on the left and 21 months older than Nate. Yep...Nate wins. Poor John.

Nate is again on the right.  Big sis is on the left.  This is the oldest sis Sara...she's 13.  Yep...Nate wins again.

And this is Nate on the right with Ashley in the left. While Ashley wanted to claim victory, I think this was officially called a draw by the judges.  And, unfortunately (or fortunately since she is a girl!), Nate has the advantage since she is 12 and her feet haven't grown in a year.

And, finally, the big dog.  Dad is still significantly ahead, but again Nate is 8.  Someday I am sure Nathan will pass him up and Joe will suffer the agony of the de"feet". 

A rainy afternoon and a chuckle....

Today we have all been home with nothing to do.  Do you have any idea how rare that is.  So we measured feet this morning. What? That isn't what you do on a rainy day.  That post will be later.  Sara headed over to our fitness center for a class this afternoon and a joe and I made our way to the grocery store.  Aldi had honeycrisp apples for 99 cents a pound and galas for 50 cents a pound and joe wanted to see how I would do in the car. And Nathan needed a new pair of tennis shoes. Sadly...not good on the car front.  But we have tons of apples. I was able to peel some this afternoon. They are in the crockpot smelling yummy for some applesauce.  Most of the afternoon has been spent reading and listening to some Norah Jones.

We were just settling in for some family time of Once Upon a Time when someone commented on being excited.  I started singing "I'm so excited and I just can't hide it".  Sara say "that should be a song." Obviously we need to expose her to some more of the classics...sigh.

Recovery

So my surgery was Wednesday and I have been in recovery mode since.  I won't go into detail on what all the doc did.  To summarize, he basically put two holes in me...one for the camera and one for tools, did some things and then stitched me up.   The first 36 hours I was flat on my back.  For those who have had laproscopy done before, you may be familiar with shoulder pain afterwards.  Flat on the back is the best way to deal with it.  Now that the shoulder pain is gone, I have been sentenced to the couch.  The sentencing is for my protection....so I don't tear something and then they have to go back in to fix that (according to my protective hubby). So today I have painted my nails, played some Kingdom Chronicles on my iPad, watch some NCIS marathon, gotten text updates on the boys' football game, and am currently introducing Ashley to Ocean's Eleven. We have been super blessed by meals of lasagna and meatloaf.  And my parents have been a huge help in playing taxi for my kids.  It has been awhile since I've had a stay at home vacation, so I plan to enjoy it while it lasts.

And the answer is.....

....we always visit Arby's after I have had a hospital visit.  It started with the birth of my first born.  I had horrendous acid reflux and heartburn and didn't really enjoy food the last trimester.  As we headed home with Sara it was near lunchtime.  Joe asked me what I wanted to eat, we happened to be drivin past an Arby's and it sounded good to me.  And, thus, started a tradition as there just happened to be an Arby's near the hospital where I gave birth to the last three kids.  About 5 years ago I had a benign tumor removed and Joe ran me through Arby's on the way home.  So it has happened 5 times in the last 13 years.

So, tomorrow, as you have probably guessed, I am making another hospital visit.  Evidently that surgery 5 years ago left some scar tissue.  It has really started to bug me so them good doc is going to  go back in and do whatever they do to get rid of it...hopefully without causing more scarring; not really sure how that all works which, as they say, is why my doc gets the big bucks.  And now it is off to bed I go as I get one last refreshing drink of water...no food OR drink after midnight....sigh.

Arby's here we come...

So here is a little blog trivia for your Monday afternoon.   After a certain something happens in my life, my hubby runs me through the Arby's drive thru for a beef 'n cheddar hold the Arby's sauce.  A hint would be that this has happened 5 times in the last 13 years.  It is going to happen again this week. Any guesses?

No practice?!

So this is what happens when my boys have a free evening due to yucky weather and no football practice....

Nathan got a new Kindle because, sadly, his other one was stollen.  As he was trying out his new features, he and John realized they could enter each other's Minecraft worlds.  So while it looks like they are completely consumed and in their own little worlds, they are actually in each other's worlds.  They were having so much fun I couldn't bear to enforce our normal electronic time limit.  Every so often you would hear one of them say "this is so fun!  I love playing this with you!" Seriously, what mom can stop any activity that creates that kind of sibling play enthusiasm?!

The week is almost over....

It has been a fairly normal week here full of practices....football and speech...meetings, homework and, well, life. And sometimes this is what life does to us...

This is where I found sweet Ashley around 4 on Tuesday. And, no, she hadn't been hunting. It is spirit week at school,and Tuesday was camo day.  Evidently camo day wore her out.  Poor thing fell asleep on the kitchen floor.

My new favorite mug...

This is my new favorite mug....

It is from China.  It say "The Foreign Wife" on it. My sister in law Kristen (Joe's sister) happens to be the foreign wife.  "The Foreign Wife" is the name of the restaurant my brother in law James and his wife Kristen have recently opened in China. This mug is in my hand everyday reminding me to pray for James throughout the day.  He begins his chemo and radiation treatments today.  It will be a long few weeks for them and their three girls. The treatment will last until around Thanksgiving. Will you join me in praying for them today and through these weeks of treatment?

If you would like to follow their journey so you can pray more specifically, check out their blog at http://www.followthehes.blogspot.com.  If you live in the Indianapolis area and would like to help out with meals or anything else, there is a link to their care calendar on the blog.

Win! Win!

We had a whirlwind weekend with my sister and her kids visiting.  It was my nephew Luke's birthday and it was so fun for him to be here to get to celebrate with him.  We've never gotten to do that before because of where they have lived.  They came in Saturday to catch the boys' football games.  And both the boys' teams came away with wins!  It was Nathan's teams' first win so it was very exciting. Here are some shots from Saturday....

John lined up on the O line.  He is the second one from the right.

The birthday boy trying on Nathan's pads

And trying on the helmet too

John and his cousins "enjoying" Nathan's game.  In fairness to them, it was pretty warm.

Nathan getting ready to hike the ball. 

Nathan on defense lined up as nose tackle.  (that is across from the center (the opposing team #72)  for those of you who may not know football positions)