Boys happened

Emilia had an appointment with an orthopedic pediatric specialist on Monday because the regular doctor was unsure if the break would affect her growth plate. Fortunately, the orthopedic surgeon said the break touched the growth plate, but didn't cut across it, so he doesn't expect any problems. He also said both fractures were pretty small, so she only has to wear the cast for 3 weeks before they cut it off and re-x-ray it. If it looks good at that point, she won't have to have another cast. Three weeks is way better than I thought it would be. And I was so glad she didn't have to get it above her elbow and she has use of her fingers. She was excited about that, too.

It was funny, when the nurse came in to get the appointment started, she asked, "How'd you break it? Did you fall? What happened?" And Emilia's response was, "Boys happened." The tech laughed so hard and then responded. "Boys happened. That's the best response ever. I should have that tattooed on my forehead." Lol.

Tuesday I helped Julia for a couple of hours, ran to the store, got a haircut, had a counseling appointment, and then was totally peopled out for the day and made Steve put the kids to bed so I could decompress. After the kid craziness was out for the night, I listened to a book while I folded clothes.

Wednesday, Cecily had tumbling and Thursday, Mira had gymnastics. I only moved Cecily's to Wednesdays because I had a friend in my ward whose girls were going Thursdays at the same time as Mira. She was willing to drive Mira, so I would only have to go once a week still. But then, two weeks after this arrangement started, the friend moved her girls to a different day. Ugh. So now I'm driving there twice a week and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to keep it up very long. It's hard on me and the girls.

But other than those two things, we didn't have anything on the schedule. But somehow the week seemed incredibly long. I guess I did decide to clean out the garden that morning. And that turned into me winterizing all the planting beds, too. It took me a few hours. Then I had a presidency meeting that went for a couple of hours. So in between the yard work and the meeting, I had to do a bunch of shopping in order to get the items we were thinking about using for our yearly ward Christmas party service project. This year we're sending supplies to the family of a lady who's from Puerto Rico, so I had to figure out which supplies would fit in a priority mail box and not be too heavy.

The garden after I cleaned it out.

A praying friend I found and moved.

My totally adorable shopping partner.

Thursday Mira stayed home sick with a sore throat and then was fine like an hour later. So I took her and Cecily to a park for a picnic lunch since it was supposed to be the last really warm day of the year. We stayed for a couple hours and the girls had a blast. We gathered horse chestnuts for decorating while we were there, too. That evening I came down with a fever again, but I had to take Mira to gymnastics and Steve had game night, so we had McDonald's for dinner and the girls played video games until bed time.

Before we went to the park, Mira was making "blind bags" for Cecily to open. They are so creative.

Friday I had to go to a training meeting in Salt Lake. I found out that Utah has a free online preschool and I found out there was an opening for her at the beginning of last week. But I had to attend a training meeting in order to qualify, so I took Cecily up to hang out with my mom while I went to the meeting. It seems like a pretty cool deal. Kids who have used the program in the past (it's required they use it 15 minutes a day 5 days a week if you sign up), end up at a 1st grade reading level. I don't care if Cecily can read early, but she seems interested in letters and sounds, and she LOVES screen time, so I thought this would be a great fit for her. They also offer optional math and science readiness through the program, so it will be interesting to see if she chooses to do that part of it, too.

Yesterday Steve and I did a lot of writing. Steve is doing National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, which is a contest to see if you can write 50,000 words in 1 month. For reference, one double-spaced page in microsoft word is about 250 words and to accomplish the goal, you have to write 1667 each day of November. He's doing great and is even a little ahead. He's writing a literary novel about the South. I'm writing a short story for an anthology submission call. It's a sci-fi version of Little Red Riding Hood. Steve also helped a friend move for a good 6 hours. He's a good guy like that. :)

I found Mira asleep in this totally uncomfortable position before going to bed last night. I chuckled over that for a while. :)

Today was a good day filled with food and family and friends and games. We are so lucky that Nick and Wilda are willing to feed us each Sunday and that our kids can hang out with their grandparents from both sides so regularly. What a blessing in their lives!