rachel's continued ramblings

week 5 (part 2): this is the second half of the week. the 1st was on wednesday, so the split worked out well. when I don’t have a picture for a particular day, I usually have one of the kids (micah or layla – I asked shane, but he was not interested) will draw me a picture on a 4x6 card to fill the slot. sometimes I journal something about it, sometimes I just stick a filler card there. this week, the big event was layla getting her casts. I had a lot of pictures from that, and a lot of words to tell about it. so I used a small pic of her w/ the casts in the small slot for the day, and included a 8x10 collage. the big slot for the day has one of the big journaling cards (not folded) w/ arrows pointing both to the little picture, and the collage. week 6: this week, it seemed like there were a lot of days that had multiple pictures of a single event. when this is the case, and I don’t want to just include 1, I make a small 4x6 collage of all of them and use that instead. I also have a...

sunday: dave made french toast for dinner on saturday night, so the kids were looking forward to having leftovers of it the next day… in true micah fashion, he didn’t bother to wait for anyone to get him any or even ask for any. nor did he bother with a plate, or warming it up. he did, however, remember the powdered sugar… monday: we have a new piece of ‘equipment’! meet the “power tower”. this is my parents’ birthday gift to dave. it arrived in the evening, so he and shane set right to work putting it together… in the livingroom. it looks so lovely there, and now that it’s together, we’re not sure we can get it out! tuesday: the long-awaited day! layla’s last set of casts came off and no new ones went on! she has these clod-hopper orthotics now, that fit inside REGULAR shoes (with a little bit of effort). she is very excited about her brand new TIE shoes. micah, all stuffed into the doll crib. thursday: being camera-shy as usual, but shane got a new snuggie! we were going to get h...

wow. I just LOVE finding random posts that I wrote a few years ago. and it really confirms for me that all the time I spend blogging, scrapbooking, and in all other ways recording our family’s life is not time wasted. I just happened upon this one from just over two years ago. I love it. love it love it love it! in some ways, so much is the same, and in other ways, so much is different. and, it inspired me to do another one. so, without further ado, here are my children’s current likes and dislikes: shane likes: school. yes, you read that right. shane likes school. shane likes the social aspect of school. he likes his friends, he likes the clubs he’s involved in, he likes band, he likes riding the bus, etc. his cat, toby. AKA, mr. fat pants. and toby is very compliant about snuggling up just about whenever shane wants to impose this on him. he also loves to come and sit on him when he’s doing his homework or laying in bed reading. AFV, heavy metal task force, 19 kids and counting...

well, I’m well past my 8 week elimination diet where I cut out all of the ‘red’ foods that had registered a reaction of some sort on my allergy test. I’ve been back to the doctor and reintroduced a lot of the foods that I had cut out. for the most part, I’m doing fine with it. the first thing to go back in was chicken. that seems fine. I also added back dates and green beans. no problem. I think I’ve had white potatoes once or twice, and didn’t notice any major issues. there are other things on the list that I cut out, but they either were not something I ate very often and still don’t (so therefore I haven’t really gone out of my way to go get them and eat them to try) or I have no intention of adding them back in because I feel great without them in my diet. the two biggest things are wheat and dairy. the reason I had the test in the first place was because I was very suspicious of the wheat. I didn’t want the dairy to be a factor, but after cutting it out, I can now breathe thr...

sunday: when shane is reading at the end of the day, toby almost always sits on him for some cuddle time. this just looked so sweet. like when my babies would fall asleep on me… monday: casts #4. this time she opted for 2 white ones. tuesday: rockin’ playgroup at miina’s. it’s always a good sign when the entry is littered w/ tons of shoes. wednesday: dave and micah playing a little table tennis… yes, those are plastic frying pans. the ball – a plastic plum. thursday: final casting appointment. look at that right foot flex! this is major improvement! friday: micah wrote my name in playdough! saturday: these two were playing fairies. they each have paper wings taped to their backs and a little paper pouch of pixie dust hung around their necks.

lots of stuff this week that required more than one shot for the situation… so we have lots of collages. sunday: nothing, but micah drew me a picture (lots of them, actually) to use in the slot. monday: back for casting appointment #2. this time, it involved getting them cut off with the cast saw – interesting, but not nearly as traumatic as it sounds… then she got a foot bath (hallelujah!), and picked blue and green for her next set. tuesday: just a little glimpse of what it’s like to eat dinner with micah. he is required to take 1 (just ONE) bite of whatever it is we’re having for dinner. this time it was some chicken soup. of course he didn’t want anything to do with it… oh the drama! yes, he eventually swallowed it. yes, he survived. wednesday: micah and I went to a local ‘indoor playground’ at a community center. he had fun running around and playing with all the toys. he decided to try and cram himself into this little boat… notice the knees, which are turned sideways because...

well, sorta. it’s tuesday, and yesterday was a total flop… so we’re doing it today. also because I actually know what we’re having for dinner tonight, AND am in current possession of ALL of the ingredients for it. it’s a miracle! hopefully I’ll manage to pull off cooking it in a somewhat timely fashion… my ‘good luck’ is not running high today. got a ticket this morning, and this afternoon, I plunked a whole load of towels into the dryer and tried to turn it on. key word: tried. I was unsuccessful. so I’m hoping everything else will work tonight. anyway… monday: taco del mar take-out! yup, good planning. tuesday: white chicken chili wednesday: roast beef; carrots; potatoes (sweet, for me!) thursday: leftovers of some sort (casting appt. #3 that afternoon) friday: pizza; green beans (and probably a big salad for me) saturday: paleo chicken parm; gf noodles/sautéed butternut squash; salad sunday: scrambles (eggs, cheese, bacon, sausage, etc…) so, I did some shopping today. st...

interesting week! sunday: dave had to go to work after church. the kids and I came home and I was all set to sit down on the couch and watch some skating. nationals was on and it was men’s and pairs that day. I was feeling sleepy, and apparently I needed a nap because as soon as I hit the couch and pressed play on the dvr remote, I PASSED OUT. woke up FOUR hours later! for real! and the kids didn’t even completely trash the house. at any rate, we met dave in redmond and went out for dinner at red robin. dave signed up for some promo thing and got a free appetizer out of the deal. shane wound up with a ton of onion rings all to himself. I can’t eat them because of the breading; dave avoids onions because of his stomach (and because he doesn’t like sleeping on the couch); and micah and layla didn’t even want to try them. monday: I tried to burn down the house! again. we’ve lived here almost 5 years now, and I STILL can’t seem to get it straight, which knob corresponds with which burner...

what they look like now: and how we wound up bathing her. it worked!

I picked up layla early from school today. the long-awaited day FINALLY arrived! casting day! today, layla got the first of at least 6 sets of casts to help loosen and lengthen her heel cords and surrounding muscles and ligaments, and to hopefully correct the toe-walking. leg 1: leg 2: all done! standing up on them for the first time. walking – a bit awkward at first. practicing balancing and adjusting body position and all sorts of stuff that is now out of whack. after it was all done, we went to target to pick up some metallic sharpies for writing on the casts, and some new nail polish for the toes, which are, for the time being, perpetually exposed… sparkly purple and sparkly blue… overall, she seems to be pretty unfazed by it… although she thinks the ‘no jumping in puddles’ restriction might be more than she can handle. she has a little speech all prepared for those who ask the inevitable, “what happened?” we’ll see how it goes. we go back on monday for the next set.