Almost End of Summer Eval

Wanna see our list of goals for the summer?  Do Ya!?  Do Ya Really?!

OKAY:

1.  Potty Train Ben-- Still not happening.  This kid can do it, but chooses not to.  He will be the first college freshman in pull-ups.  I'm feeling that nihilistic about it.  Do you see the huge wad of hair on the ground by me.  Yes, I have been pulling it out.

2.  Go TV Free-- Yeah, Right!

3.  Daily Chores and workbooks, weekly trips to the library, and afternoons in the pool-- How about the usual summer languor followed by frantic packing episodes right before Disneyland, scout camp, EFY, Boy Scout Jamboree,  Girls Camp, Farewells, 2 reunions and one trip to Lake Powell.    We are lazy except when we are not.

4.  Change Bedrooms Around-- Yay! One victory.  Now all girls are downstairs and all boys upstairs.

THAT pretty much sums up our summer-- Bring on the school Year!

19 Years of AWESOME!

It has been 19 years since this amazing man agreed to spend eternity with me!   Each day he amazes me with his intellect, his wit, his ability to play and bring it out in me, and an incredible testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and an unfailing determination to live what he knows.

I am truly blessed.  

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

It has been decided. The youngsters and mom have decided to BREAK UP with the WORLD.  or at least our fictional worlds experienced through TV.  This is not an easy thing for us.  This is how we feel about TV in our house.

We don't have cable TV, but we have immeasurable content through the following:

Which basically means there is content available ALL the time.  Which means there's never Nothing on.  Which means IT'S. ALWAYS. ON.   Truly,  WE. ARE. ADDICTED.

Hi, My name is Gail and I am an addict.  I am addicted to escape through story and plot, and music, and visual stimulation.  I admit it.  And in close examination of my personality I have realized that I am not a moderator, but an abstainer.  Which means, basically, that when changing habits, etc.  It is better for me to stay away from it altogether then try to eat little bits here and there.  No chocolate for a month-- no problem.  Only one piece of chocolate a day-- never gonna happen.  You can read more about this personality trait here. 

Anyhoo, we now have this little baby

to keep us busy on hot summer days and we have always had these

and these

to fill our time.

We won't be entirely free.  We will still pay for the services, but remove the boxes except for on Fridays (our compromise).  You know who's going to have the hardest time with this, right?

I guess we just have to hope that the odds will be ever in our favor! ;)

Ninja

While enjoying a semi-informational Relief Society night on organization, I get a phone call from home.  I ignore it because I know the kids are with their dad and he can handle stuff.  Then I get a second call-- this time from Robert.  He says, "Nate hurt his arm on the trampoline.  I'm going to instacare. " Oh, Great! a broken arm.  But nothing I haven't seen before.  

"I'll meet you there."

"No, I can handle it.  I got this.  You don't think I can handle it?"

"I'll meet you there."

When I arrived at said Instacare Nate was cradled in his dad's arms not saying a word or making a noise, but everytime we moved, a sharp intake of breath from him.  The nurse at the instacare says, "I'm thinking you'd better just to go the emergency room, the quiet ones are usually hurt really bad."When you ask him what happened he says he was playing ninja on the tramp.  He did not fall off, just fell wrong.  Rethinking that thing, let me tell ya!

So we head over to the ER where they took THIS x-ray`

 No words Needed. I am assuming that no matter your level of medical expertise you can see what's going on here.  I am, at this point so incredibly sad for my little guy.  This is way bad.  Everyone at the hospital said to me, "Wow!  Impressive x-ray."  Apparently impressive is ER Slang for Massive,  unprecedented, Uber-nasty and other such extremes.

 X-ray.  He was so tough.  This, my kid who is often and easily "not tough".

 Prepping for surgery.  The plan was for 45 minute surgery.  The doctor hoped he could set it without having to open the skin.    Nate is alert and asking questions.  What is the O.R.?  Will I be able to ride the rides at Disneyland? (a coming up family vacay) What do you mean I'll set off the alarms at an airport?

 Post-op.  a 45 minute surgery turns into a 2 hour surgery.  This is what my fingernails looked like.
Forget it. You don't need a visual.  Just imagine pacing the waiting room at 2 in the morning.  The silence between us immense as we are afraid to face the chance that something has gone terribly wrong.  Finally, a door opens and Dr. Anderson tells us it was much worse than he thought and this is what he had to do.

Chopsticks. 

LAME: Lame hospital policy states that Pediatric patients must be discharged from the Pediatric unit which is 8 blocks away.  So just barely post op, he has to travel by ambulance to the ped's unit. LAME.

 After arriving home at 4:30, a.m. and more than a little doped up on Lortab, Nate is happy to be awake.  a little bit of time with Katie's ipod is all he needs (inherited from Amy, with a very cracked screen.  Lest you think we just LET our children have these devices).

 THENTHIS HAPPENED:

Super bad timing, but it was already on its way.  Accidents are never convenient.

We laid 10,800 feet of sod in our backyard so now it looks like this...

The next day (Sunday)  I noticed N's hand was VERY swollen.  I had a doctor in our ward look at it and he was pretty concerned so N and I left church and went back to the ER where they removed the Splint and rewrapped it a bit looser.  Happy Mother's Day to me.

Seriously Gross, Huh!!!  The Green balls are beads to help pull out the pins eventually.  Even though the angle is making it bigger than usual, it's a pretty swollen arm. 

So, I made the executive decision to keep N home from school for the rest of the year to protect his arm and monitor his recovery.  It's too impossible to elevate it at school and it needs to be.  So today we've homeschooled.  He counted M&M's to 1000 (thanks to our friend the Bayles') and did multiplication on the ipad & Finished reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  

Words For Teenagers

Thought this was school.

CHANGE OF SCENERY

Our firm, JensenBayles has purchased a new building on the Boulevard.  We are so excited, and have been spending much time in the remodel of it. Wish we had some before pictures for you, but it's probably good we don't.  Not too pretty.  But we are very pleased with the results.

Foyer Lobby

New Stairs.  We are on the 3rd floor, just up these stairs.

January PHOTO Recap

If these are redundant because you follow my facebook/instagram feed, I apologize.  I can make my blogger stuff into a hard copy journal and can't do that with the others. 

Katie is learning how to curl her hair.  And she yearns for a cell phone like the  "big Kids"  This is Maggie's Old one which has no connection.  But she likes pretending.

Per our Tradition, we read the Book of Mormon this Year as a Family.  Every morning at 6:30 we read for 15 or so minutes.  This has been great for our family.  We get family prayer, everyone gets a hug and it seems to work well.  It's taken us a long time to get this down, but now it's habit and we're proud of ourself for doing it. 

Ben is my little Tag-Along.  We had a Region PTA meeting and I brought all the paraphernalia to keep him sweet.  It would have worked had the meeting not been 2 full hours long.  Even still, I'm grateful to be involved in PTA.  I couldn't have asked for a more dedicated board.  I hardly have to do anything and It's a good thing because Ben's favorite refrain is "Why is this taking so long"

Ben's Blanket was literally in shreds and I used my new fancy schmancy sewing Machine

 (new to me.  Thanks Joyce and Robert)

to darn it and resew, reclip and revitalize it.  When Ben was born I made him a number of great blankets and this is the one he chose to be THE BLANKET.  It has received much love.

This is my friend Shelly.  This is what we did one Thursday night getting ready for Harmon's PTA Day.  I taped down the Yellow Brick Road, but did nothing al all in connection with the design.  I am so lucky to work with such dedicated parents at Bloomington.

One night at Grandma's Night was able to get every star block on the Tower at the same time.  He's a great kid.

If you look closely you can see Maggie in the middle of the Frame.  She is playing on the High School Basketball team.  Pretty much that's what we're doing every night.  Here is the Schedule as it relates to Basketball:

MONDAY

Nate Practice 4-5

Matt practice 6-8

Maggie Practice 2:45-5:30

TUESDAY

Maggie game 4-5:30

Matt Practice 7-8

Matt YOUNG MEN's GAME

WEDNESDAY

Maggie Practice 2:30-5:30

Nate Practice 4-5

Matt practice 6-7

Katie PRactice 7-8

THURSDAY

Maggie Game 4-5:30

Katie Game  5-6

Matt Practice 7-8

Girls YW GAME

FRIDAY

Maggie practice 3-5:30

SATURDAY

Matt  1 or two games throughout the afternoon

Nate   1 game in the morning

Now, I do love me some basketball, but this is a bit insane.   

Finally put some bragadoccio on my car.

Katrina at a basketball game. 

WHAT THESE PICTURES DON'T SHOW:

we have all been fighting the flu and I can't seem to get any rest.  Even after the full blown flu seemed to go away, I have been struggling with pain and numbness in my arms.  I am dragging.  Not getting as much done as I'd like, but still doing OK considering.