Today Clarissa got her eye duct cleared with a needle at the eye doctor. This happened to Lydia when Lydia was a baby, and Abe fainted when it happened. Lydia was looking forward to seeing Abe faint again and gleefully sang a song on the way to the doctor about how “Daddy is going to faint!”
…But Dr. Yeates had other plans. He asked us all to step out of the room while he did the procedure. Abe took Ammon, who was insane, to the waiting room with the girls, and I stood outside the door and listened to Clarissa’s agonized screams. I was grateful not to be in the room, because Clarissa did not see me as complicit in her trauma. The minute Dr. Yeates handed her back, she calmed down. He reported that something popped when he cleared her left eye.
Clarissa was happily oblivious to the trauma that lay ahead of her.Still happily oblivious…
After the procedure Clarissa had a nosebleed and bloody tears for the rest of the day. It was so sad. But she cheered right up and did not seem to be abnormally sad, so we are glad for that.
This morning Clarissa, who became un-sleep-trained on our trips, woke us up at 3am. Abe is sick and this was especially hard for him. Thankfully, we had gone to bed really early so I actually felt perfectly fine. I hopped out of bed, did my clicklist grocery shopping, and went to my 6am bikram yoga class.
My mom covered the gap between when Abe left for work and when I got home. Thank you, Mom!! Then I got the kids ready and folded laundry while I tried to figure out how to make the most of this day. Summer is almost over and I want to enjoy my kids as much as possible, but they are all fairly sick with colds. I decided they hadn’t played with play doh in a while and I had a coupon for the craft store, so after Clarissa’s nap we did errands and I picked up play doh.
Ammon fell asleep in the car and transferred successfully to his bed, and this made it possible for me to cook dinner while Clarissa crawled around and the girls played play-doh happily for hours. They made so many creative things!
I had Abe take this picture. He forgot to get a close-up of their marvelous creations. I will try to remember to take a picture tomorrow of the surviving creatures.
I had fun making Jessica Seinfeld’s chicken parmesan, and then after dinner Abe and Mary practiced piano while Lydia and I practiced harp. It was honestly so fun.
After we put the kids down, Abe and I went to tour a home Carolyn Blosil is flipping. It is fun to see how people flip homes. We learned a lot.
Then we went to Menchie’s for frozen yogurt and came home to collapse. I have now been up for 19 hours and am ready for bed.
I just asked Abe what happened today. He said “The kids were crazy, I was tired, the park was fun (he took them to the park in the evening), church was very good, we love our ward, we’ll miss the Morans (some of our favorite neighbors moved last night. We are heartbroken.), dinner was great, the weather was awesome, and that was about it.”
Oh, and Abe and I had fun sitting outside in the evening air looking at our garden after all the kids were in bed. Also, I spent hours catching the blog up today. Ironically, with all the blog focus, we forgot to take any pictures today. Darn.
Today Abe dropped me off at Bikram Yoga while he and the kids went to visit his mom at Karin’s work. Apparently the kids jumped out and yelled surprise when she got out of her car and then bombarded her with hugs.
shopping with Abe for picnic stuff.
They couldn’t wait to show me the things she gave them when they picked me up from yoga. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning with a stiff neck and couldn’t actually turn my head to see what they were showing me, but I know that whatever it was, they were very excited.
Then we all drove up to Silver Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon for our annual tradition of meeting up with the Sorensons there. We just love their family so much. Rich gave me hope because he has had a stiff neck in the past and it went away within a week. I saw him turn his head this way and that, so I have hope full mobility is in my future.
We had a picnic and the kids had fun visiting together while the grown-ups chatted. Ammon, of course, kept wandering off on his own and getting lost every five minutes. I am so used to this by now that I basically don’t panic at all. That’s probably not ideal, but if I got worked up every time that boy decided to go on an adventure, I’d probably need medication.
Then we did our annual walk around the lake, expressed our deep and abiding love for their family, and drove back home.
By the time we got home, the kids were asleep or tired (all of the kids have colds), and so Abe and I took a nap after transferring everyone to beds and TV.
Ammon actually napped, so this is a post nap picture.
Abe REALLY deserved that sleep because he has been goinggoinggoing without any breaks for weeks. I don’t know the last time he got a good night’s sleep or a nap.
After our naps we got up, chatted with neighbors, and did some errands with the babies while the girls watched more fairy movies. Abe dropped a basket of our garden produce off for one of his friends, we delivered cookies to the family we minister to, and we did some grocery shopping.
Then we came home and ate dinner in the beautiful weather outside. It threatened to rain, but never did. To me, it was absolutely perfect weather and a perfect Saturday (minus the sickness of the kids and my immobile neck).
On Friday morning Mary was sick so I left her home while I took the other kids to swimming lessons. After lessons, we went to the store and got stuff to make cookies to bring to the evening barbecue for the Barnetts in Holladay.
During the baby’s nap, I planted the kids in front of the TV and abandoned them (with my mom responsibly in the house) to get my eyebrows waxed. I have been growing them out for months. I was a little disappointed because the waxer made them more thin than I wanted, but oh well.
It hailed and rained in the afternoon. Ammon had fun running out and collecting hail before it melted. Mary loves using her umbrella, so the two of them went out in the rain and had a blast.
Abe came home early because he was so tired at work he had ceased to function well. He took the shortest nap ever and then we drove to Holladay.
I’m glad I got to see Maria and Lauren! They are wonderful people and lovely friends.
On Thursday morning Abe and I went running at the track together. I ran a mile! I feel my body getting stronger and stronger, even though I still have my annoying groin pain and feet issues. I love feeling strong and energetic and when I jogged around the track, I imagined that I was chasing my strong, energetic self. It was quite motivating. Plus, I adore working out with Abe. It is so wonderful to have my mom with us for lots of reasons–one of them being that Abe and I can actually leave the house and work out in the early morning together!
In the afternoon I took the kids to the Orem Bounce House because I had a Groupon for it. It was our first time there and I did not like it at all. It felt dingy and gross, and I was so tired I was seeing stars. But the kids got a lot of energy out, and Clarissa had a grand time.
Then we came home and I made Swedish meatballs for dinner. I improvised and added red pepper and quinoa to them. It took me a longish time to make them, so they weren’t done before Abe had to take Mary to piano. But they did turn out yummy.
On Wednesday I started planning the school year activities for the kids. I can’t believe the summer is almost over! I know some parents don’t like the summer, and honestly, I would have expected to be one of those parents…but wow, I have discovered that I LOVE the summer. This has been my first summer after having a kid in school full-time, and every single day has felt like a gift. It’s like Christmas every day–but with better weather. I love, love, love it.
At the same time, planning the school schedule was fun because I like thinking about what skills my kids will develop during the year and working on making good schedules for them. We have one dance day a week wherein Mary will have ballet, Lydia will have jazz, and they both will have hip-hop together right after. I found a Groupon for tumbling for Ammon.
While on Groupon, I found a Groupon for bikram yoga in Lehi. Up until now, I have always assumed that was too far away. For a while there, I went to a much closer yoga studio that did hot yoga with some bikram-yoga-esque classes…but it wasn’t the real deal. The studio was never hot or humid enough and the teachers didn’t really respect the integrity of the routine.
So anyway, when I found a groupon for REAL bikram yoga–and since I take my kids to Thanksgiving Point enough that it doesn’t feel far anymore–I freaked out and bought it.
Then I left for my first class soon after Abe came home. IT WAS AMAZING. I poured sweat the whole time and felt absolutely incredible. God lead me to bikram yoga after Lydia was born, and I know this type of exercise just works really well for my body. I love it so much. Plus, the studio was the most beautiful yoga studio I have ever been to. It was awesome.
Thank you to my mom and Abe who let me leave them with the work while I went and had the time of my life. And the sad news for them and selfish news for me is that i get unlimited yoga ALL MONTH. Is that not incredible?!?!?! It’s incredible.
But I did find photographic evidence from this day. Lydia spent much of the day crafting a rocket ship for Ammon, a bus for Mary, and something similar (a boat?) for Clarissa. We were blown away by her creations!
