Swimming Lessons

 After we got back from Intensives in Colorado, my kids started swimming lessons.  Malea did the class on her own and I did a mommy-and-me class with Isaac.  Malea absolutely loved it, but surprisingly Isaac hated it at first!  The whole first week he would just cry the whole time when I got him in the water.  Swimming lessons were M-Th for 2 weeks, and for the first week I could hardly get him in the water.  By the second week he did better though.:)  I kind of think he was traumatized a little bit by the pond incident we had a couple of months ago.

Most of the pictures are of Isaac crying :/

My little stubborn cutie :)

I'm just glad we got swimming lessons out of the way in June considering Malea ended up breaking her leg in July!

Colorado Trip

 As part of my graduate program, I am required to go to Colorado once a year for a summer intensive residency for a week.  I couldn't bear the thought of being away from my babies for a whole week, so I made asked Keith to take off work so that we could all go down together and make a trip out of it. I was in classes from 8am to 4pm everyday, so he was a trooper and watched the kids. :) We were planning on staying in a hotel but then a friend of Keith's that he used to work with at Nu Skin graciously opened her home to us for a whole week (thanks again so much Fallon & Brice!).  It not only saved us a butt load of money but they have two kids close in age to our kids that they could play with, as well as a yard.  It definitely made the week much easier!

This was on the drive down, because of all the fires the sunset looked pretty cool (this picture doesn't give it justice)

 The first day was registration and then we had to come back later for a mandatory Orientation dinner.  We took a few photos while exploring campus.

Malea and me in front of the Counselor Ed department

The kids were such little troopers on the trip and did a lot of their napping in the car 

Here is a pic of Malea and their little girl Claire, they were good little buddies the whole week we were there 

There's not a whole heck of a lot to do in Alamosa, Colorado, but they do have some really cool sand dunes that we went to a couple of times.  Keith took the kids once by himself and they played in the water, and then we went again another time all together.  The weird/cool thing about the sand dunes is that there is water that runs through them in the morning and then by the afternoon the water stops so its dry again.

Malea & Isaac playing in the wet sand :)

Mmmm sand boogers :P

 

Me in front of the Adams State sign

Malea and Claire playing outside....we sure miss them already!  I'm sad I didn't get a picture of their cute little boy

Intensives was a great experience. The first day I had to take the MAT exam that I had been studying for for about the last 6 weeks.  Thankfully I passed with a high enough score for the program requirement, so that was a relief.  In the morning each day I had a Pre-Practicum class, which was where we practiced counseling techniques with our classmates.  The first day the professor walked in with two boxes of tissues and said "you guys are going to need these".  Boy was he right!  This was definitely the toughest part of the week because we had to be graded on certain techniques. He compared the week to boot camp and said that he would start out by "tearing us down" and then by the end of the week he would build us back up.  I had to grow a thicker skin that week, but I am so glad I did because I learned so much. After lunch we had our growth group, which was basically just group therapy for us as students (this was my favorite). It was a really great experience.  I learned so much about myself and feel like I became a better version of myself.

After Intensives were over we stayed for an extra couple of days and went up to the Denver area to visit some family.  We stayed with Keith's aunt and uncle, and it was so great to see them!  They had never even seen Isaac before so that was great.  Their poor dog Scout took a lot of Isaac's abuse but he knew who to hang around when there was food involved :)

We got to go visit Keith's grandma who is in a nursing home there.  She is legally blind now and her health is deteriorating so I'm glad we took the extra couple of days to go see family. 

We also stopped by to visit Keith's grandpa....it was so good to see him too and listen to his great stories

Keith's sister Jenn also lives in the area so we were able to go see them as well.  The kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins.

We ended up driving home on Father's Day, so poor Keith didn't get much of a celebration.  Malea did decorate a card though and I snuck off Saturday night to get him the new "Sherlock Holmes" movie :)

We had a great experience in Colorado!  We ended up being gone for about 10 days, which was the longest trip we had ever taken with the kids.  They did so well though, and didn't start to burn out until the day before we left.  We were sure happy to get home! 

Dang Trampoline....

So once again I am way behind on blogging, and I have lots of posts to catch up on, but I wanted to do a quick post about Malea's leg.  So last Wednesday (the 11th) Malea was jumping on the neighbor's trampoline....I am usually pretty strict about not letting her jump when there are a lot of kids on there or when there are bigger kids jumping, but this particular day I didn't check in advance before letting her go over to jump.  The next thing I know I hear her crying really hard outside so I went out there and one of the other neighbor girls was helping her limp back home. At first I thought she hurt her ankle but once I got her inside and finally got her to tell me where it hurt she pointed to her left knee. I found out after talking to some of the other kids that an older kid bounced her really high and she landed weird on it. I got her some ice for it and she just stayed on the couch for the rest of the evening.  I didn't rush her right in to the doctor because I didn't want to overreact if it was just a sprain or a bad bruise or something.  She went to bed that night and slept horrible.  She woke up in the morning and refused to walk on it, and if you tried to move her or even get close to her knee she freaked out.  I mentioned something about it on facebook, and someone commented saying that it is actually really common for kids to break their legs right below the knee on trampolines, and I should probably take her in.  After reading that, and watching her sit on the couch all day refusing to walk on it, we decided to take her in to Instacare.  She had x-rays done and then the doctor came in and told us that she had indeed had a buckle fracture right below her left knee :(  Of course after that I felt horrible for not taking her in right away, but the doctor said that sometimes parents will bring their kids in and it turns out that its nothing, so that made me feel a little better.  He wrapped her leg in a splint and told us that she needed to go in to get a cast on Monday after the swelling has gone down a little bit.

 

 

 Malea after we got back from Instacare and after a tricky sponge bath :(

 Some of the neighbor kids have come and played with her outside on our bench, it has been fun for her

  Eating family dinner at the card table with Malea

The worst news he told us was that she couldn't walk on it for 2-3 weeks, at which point she could get a walking cast but she would have to have a cast for 6 weeks total :(  My first thought was, goodbye summer! :'(  I was so bummed out that this happened right in the heart of summer, and that she would be getting it off right when summer was over.  I was also bummed because I am only a few days away from being done with summer semester and then I have a month off of school.  I had big plans to do all kinds of fun stuff with the kids during my month off.  I was especially frustrated because she is the most cautious child, I for sure thought her little brother would have broken a bone before her!

 Grandpa Dave came by and brought her a Magnadoodle that she can sit and play with, it was so nice!

They're also letting us borrow their wagon for the next few weeks too :)

Malea with her cast, she was excited to get a pink one

  So now we are just trying to survive the next couple of weeks until the 31st when she goes in to get her walking cast.  She can't put any weight on her leg at all so we have to carry her everywhere. We didn't realize how much she does for herself and for Isaac until she can't walk!  We were excited to hear that they had waterproof casts so she can still go swimming and stuff.  And of course she got a pink one. :)  We have had to get creative with things for her to do, and you can tell she is getting bored, but she has been such a good sport about the whole thing.  Hopefully summer is not completely lost ;) 

Perspective

  I came across this quote today on a friend's blog and it could not have been better timing or more well-said:

 

"Be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled, will disappear all too soon... and that you will, to your surprise, miss them, profoundly."

 

- President Thomas S. Monson 

 

Life the last few months has been insanely busy....I have been truckin' along in graduate school while also working part-time (graveyards no less) and also trying to be a good wife and mom to my swiftly growing kids.  I have been trying so hard to make sure and spend the time I'm not working/schooling with the kids and making sure that I am a good mom, that my house work has gone downhill pretty fast.  I feel like I am always just barely keeping up and things have definitely gotten behind.  Usually the laundry gets so piled up that I can barely get the last load(s) folded and put away by the time we run out of clothes again.  Or the clean clothes just sit in baskets until they run out and I need to do laundry again.  Most of the time the house is so messy that I would not allow even my closest friends and family (that probably wouldn't judge me because they love me unconditionally) see my house.  Then I try and spend nap time cleaning up but it never quite looks as good as it could.

 

HOWEVER, in a situation like this when there are just not enough hours in a day and something has to give, I have realized that if anything needs to give, it should be the things that are really not THAT important in the grand scheme of things.  As much as I would love to have a clean house and laundry perfectly folded and put away all the time, its not as important as spending time with my family and being there for my kids.  I have been working lately on making sure that I am "present" with my kids, not just there physically but there with them mentally as well.  There are days when one of the kids will do or say something so stinking adorable that I just have to stop and look at them for a minute to just bask in it before the moment is gone.  I feel sometimes like it is the first time I have really "seen" them all day.  Of course there are those days when I just have to go through the motions and survive for that day, but those days for the most part are rare.

 

I decided to make a list of all the little things I am going to miss one day, so that I can remember to enjoy them right now in the moment.

 

One day I will miss:

 

*Malea wanting me to snuggle with her when she goes to bed (even though at the end of the day I am just so done and want to snuggle up in my own bed with a good book)

*Not being able to go to the bathroom without an audience

*Always having a child as my shadow

*Malea coming in our room half asleep in the middle of the night to snuggle, 

and having to put her back in her bed

*Folding endless loads of little socks, onesies, rompers, Disney princess night gowns, and skirts w/ leggings (all that Malea will wear these days)

*Isaac standing up in his crib waiting for me to come get him out when he wakes up

*Malea beaming when I go to pick her up from pre-school, and how excited she is to show me the cute little craft she made that day

*My kids thinking I am just the coolest person ever

*Isaac's wild and crazy curls

*Playing "Cars" cars or Thomas the train with Isaac

*Hearing Malea say "Mommy, will you do a craft with me?"

*Isaac's mischievous little smile behind his binky as I am chasing him anywhere and everywhere

*Even the frustrating things like the tantrums/fighting/throwing food/nighttime waking (but I'm thinking I will probably miss those things a lot less :))

 

I'm sure there are endless more that I will miss.  I just hope that on those days when I am feeling overwhelmed and stressed and my kids are driving me nuts that I can remember these things, and say "Yes" to the kids when they ask me to play with them outside instead of cleaning or doing the other million things I could be doing. 

 

 

Thanks President Monsen for a great reminder :)