Storytime

Our friend, Rob, has had two skin cancer scares in the last couple months. He had a big chunk removed from his scalp...and that one made him pass out in the doctor's office. 

This time he's had a section removed from his nose. He had to have an incision from between his eyes, all the way down to his upper lip. And he's in a ton of pain. He's going a little stir crazy and asked if the girls might be able to come read to him to help give him something else to think about. 

Anna rose to the challenge.

NourishKC FHE

Now that all the kids are in school, I have time. So much time!! I am blogging and cleaning and reading and lunching with the ladies. I'm going to the temple and crafting and repairing and visiting and volunteering! It's nothing short of miraculous. 

I knew that when it came to volunteering, I didn't want to bounce all around. I wanted to find a place where I can help and really get involved. After my first time serving the homeless at NourishKC, I knew this was it. 

I go downtown once a week to help out with lunch and I love it so much. It seems to help make sense of all the rest of the stuff I'm doing.  It's hard work and it gets me off of my stupid phone.  Miracles.

Monday nights just happen to be a food prep night, so I signed us up as a family and we headed up. Austin Stecklein and Kylie Flynn tagged along because they are super awesome kids. 

Everyone got to rock a hat or a hairnet.

Even Mark!

My hairnet turns my hair into a perfect lima bean shape. Not attractive. But that's not the point, right?

Right?

Even the little girls got to slip on some plastic gloves and get to work. The did an excellent job deconstructing some donated vegetable shishkabobs.

Kylie and Megan were given the great honor of using the super sharp knives to decob the corn. Austin stuck with the shucking in the background. Oh, we are going to miss our Kylie when she leaves for her mission!

Mathew prepped for the next day's continental breakfast.

The boys pitched in and things went pretty smoothly.

When they were done with their veggie duties, the three littles masterfully wrapped the forks for the next day. These guys are experts with details.

Kenny is the orchestrator of all the madness that comes with delegating dozens of tasks to dozens of people in a short amount of time. Here he is giving the girls a pep talk and reminding them to use their charming personalities to get others to come and help. uh.....ok.

It was hectic and busy and my favorite part was that the kids didn't bother fighting with each other because they were working! I love it! I think we'll make this a tradition.

Puzzles with Seniors

We headed over to Azria Health today to spend some time with the residents there. It took a few minutes, but we eventually got over the awkwardness and settled in to do some puzzles and coloring.

Running buddy

Today was our second Sunrunners practice. I still haven't figured out where in the heck we are supposed to meet and what time and huh?

So far, we are mainly wandering through the halls with a lost look on our faces and then randomly joining in on a sea of running kids. Ah well, we can't do everything perfectly, can we?

The thing about it, though, is that Anna is new and she wants to run with her sister. Laney is not new and she does not want to run with her sister. She prefers to run hand in hand with her bestie, Cassidy. 

This leaves Anna to figure it out on her own, which she will most certainly do, because she is plucky and brave and....Anna. 

But today, a sweet boy named Grant, offered to be her running partner and even though he was only up for one lap (it's still super hot and humid), that was all she needed to get her running legs going.

It was perfect. 

And I officially love Grant. (in the orange)

Window bunny

Ethan has a basement room. Which he earned by attending summer school and pulling his Biology grade up to passing. And there is no doubt that he loves it and we love it. There is a dramatic decrease in brotherly fighting when they don't have to share the same space. 

Also, there is this bunny. 

He fell in the window well a couple weeks ago. And instead of allowing us to help him on his way to freedom, he darts down the water drains at the slightest indication that we are nearby. 

So Ethan puts water out for him and cuts fresh lily branches for him everyday.  (Boy, can that bunny eat.)

And I think they are becoming buddies. 

Eventually we are hoping he'll be too big to fit down the drains and we can set him free. But I'm thinking he might have a hard time adjusting to life on the "outside".

Three squares and a teenage BFF is nothing to complain about.

Service day

Today was Olathe City's service day. Our ward tries to coordinate each year so that we can reach out to people that aren't Mormon. Sometimes that's hard to do when you're so busy taking care of each other's needs.

So we were assigned to go rake leaves for a woman that was home-bound.

I couldn't imagine it taking very long. How many leaves could there possibly be?

There were a lot of leaves. 

But the kids all pitched in and we got it done in good time. Doing service never fails to make a day feel worthwhile.

And Laney found a treasure to bring home.

A heart leaf!

Unexpected trip

On August 2nd, I tripped over Daphne in the kitchen and landed with my arms fully extended out in front of me. I immediately knew that I had hurt myself pretty bad. I sat on the kitchen floor in shock, trying to tell myself that it would be okay and I'd be able to move my arms in a few minutes. 

It wasn't okay. And I couldn't move my arms. 

So Mark took me to the Emergency Room and the x-rays showed two broken arms. 

As the doctor came in and out of the room, the enormity of the situation kept hitting me. I was simultaneously filled with questions and dumbfounded. I would start to laugh because it would all seem so ridiculous and with seconds I would start to cry because....it was all so ridiculous! And then I would realize that I couldn't wipe my own tears or blow my nose. It was all becoming clear.

Who is going to change diapers? do dishes? do laundry? 

Can I drive? feed myself? wash my face? do my hair? make a meal?

DRIVE??

The short answer: not me.

 I wouldn't be doing any of those things. Everybody else was going to do them for me. For six weeks.

Here a few things I learned over the six weeks I was in double slings and completely useless.

People bring food. Lots and lots of food. And I couldn't do a dang thing about it. I had to ask someone to feed it to me and that's a hard thing to do when you want your third mini cheesecake in a half an hour.

Everly did not understand the situation. She wanted to be held. I wanted to hold her too, but I also wanted her to stay as far as possible from my arms because they hurt like heck the first 3 weeks. I was terrified of every bump and jostle. 

I learned that I would need to brush up on my powers of persuasion. Ever tried to talk a child into putting themselves in time out? 

No easy task.

I learned not to take for granted the ability to hold my child's hand. It's a hard thing to walk side by side with your little girl and not be able to save her from tripping and scraping up her knees.

I learned to be content to be a human pillow. It was all I had to give.

I learned more about the kind of man I married. He did everything with kindness, gentleness and good humor. He was doing his work, my work and taking care of me. That involved showering and dressing me every day, brushing my teeth and my hair. He learned how to do a ponytail, shave legs and even apply a little mascara.  And then, occasionally, I would call him at lunchtime to come help me use the bathroom.

Bye, bye pride.

People continued to bring lots and lots of food. And I still had to ask someone to dunk that Oreo in milk and put it in my mouth.

I was completely at the mercy of my children. Human pillow fort? Yes, please. I'll sit right here while you make that happen.

Mark took over a lot of the cooking.

And so did everybody else. Necessity is a fine teacher.

I found ways to participate in life with my kids. One of their favorites was painting my toenails and feet. I loved the way it tickled and they could rinse it off and start all over.

Also, watercolors do not wash off as completely as you might think. I wasn't too concerned, though. I had no plans to wear open toed heels.

I'll stick with my trusty black flats.

I was cared for by my mother for weeks. She cooked and cleaned and played with the kids. She also put together the preschool poster that I was responsible for bringing to Anna's first day of Preschool. She worked so hard to measure everything out and do a nice job.

Jean and Joe also came a stayed for a couple weeks. Jean ran the house and laughed with me as she tried to feed me my dinner without making me feel completely embarrassed. I'll admit, it was tough for me to be in that position. But she made it much easier.

Joe and I had many long conversations about books we were reading. I had lots of time on my hands.

The kids sat down to make Thank You cards for all the people that were helping us (there were a lot).

I learned that help can come from places you least expect it. Dalton John held Everly's hand as we walked to the school to pick up Laney and Megan.

I learned there are lots of ways to contribute. Even if it's being an obedient patient.

And I learned to sit and enjoy life for a little while.  Turns out there was plenty to see. 

Maybe taking a break isn't the worst thing to happen.

But I'll be glad when it is my choice again!