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2017–week 15

spring break week. i have a TON of pictures from this week, and i’m not entirely sure how i’m going to get them all in the book, but we shall see…

sunday: getting the second coat of paint on our chairs.001 (2)

also sunday: it was an exceptionally nice day, so we decided that dinner should be cook-out style. hot dogs and s’mores. healthy!2017-04-17

monday: micah has decided that what he wants to do for spring break is camp… in the living room. this is where he slept all week. 010 (2)

also monday: on spring break, we walk the cat… apparently. also, this is your one and only shane sighting for the week. he was off doing this and that all week long.

and, layla had an appointment for an MRI at childrens, trying to sort out what’s going on with her jaw pain, and if it is or isn’t arthritis. post-MRI frappuccino – dripping with caramel. we met with her rheumatologist afterward to go over results. yes, it’s arthritis in her jaw. so we went over the new treatment plan, which includes adding injections of methotrexate and enbrel. not what we had hoped to hear.012 (2)  013 (2)

tuesday: chairs are dry, and yesterday’s costco run resulted in some awesome cushions that were about half the price of ones we were finding elsewhere! i love them! so i got rid of the old, nasty, faded chairs that had been there, and added in all my cool dairy-themed antiques and such. love love love.2017-04-176

also tuesday: micah’s big request for spring break was a trip to the zoo. we hadn’t been in years, so it was a fun trip. the fighting grizzly bears, the “randy” otters, the wallaby w/ a baby in it’s pouch, and the idiot-proof porcupine warning signage were awesome…2017-04-171

the aviary was fun. micah had a little trouble interesting any birds in his seed stick at first, so i helped him lure this guy. and then he wouldn’t leave! micah named him “jacky” since he was nipping at his jacket, and he sat there for about 5 minutes!2017-04-173

the second half of the zoo (that we saw… we burned out before getting through it all) was fun, too. the orangutans were hilarious. one kept covering himself with blankets and the other kept trying to steal the blankets, the super comfy sloth bear, the jaguar that was acting just like a house cat trying to hack up a hairball (meant to research if jaguars do that), and the ring-tailed lemurs we only could spot because of their seemingly disembodied tails!2017-04-172

wednesday: we met some friends at the gym for an open gym session. layla was a little miffed about slumming at an open gym, but it turned out well for her. her coach was there and gave her some stuff to work on, and she wound up putting together her round off, 2 back handsprings on the in-ground while we were there.2017-04-174

thursday: micah had been harassing me to make blueberry muffins all week, and i had banana bread on my to-do list, so i spent the afternoon baking. super yummy.

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friday: a little bit of time at cottage lake park. i totally did not dress warmly enough and the kids were a little mad when i wimped out sooner than they wanted to. 2017-04-175

also friday: since layla was sick most of the previous week she had a ton of math homework to make up that she didn’t understand how to do. this was a source of great stress for her, so dave sat down and tried to sort it all out with her.020

more friday: this was the day we’d been waiting for. it had been looming all week. one of layla’s new prescriptions was ready to start. it’s given by injection, once a week, and i have to do it! this was super-sucky. i had practiced on monday, giving a nurse a shot of saline, but this was still nerve-wracking. the syringes i got from the pharmacy were different from the ones i’d practiced on, and this time it was on layla. she was not happy about it. none of us were. micah was so upset he had to leave the room, and there were many tears all around. although not fun, the actual injection went okay. she said it hurt most when the medicine went in. but we survived and then had to wait and see how she was going to react to it. the most common side effects are stomach pain or nausea – usually within the first 6-12 hours. after it was all over, we snuggled up to watch a movie. her stomach hurt a little bit about 1/2 hour afterward, but after that she was fine. she slept great all night and felt decent in the morning. so relieved!!!!018021

saturday: after our old riding lawnmower burnt up last year, we’ve been using the push mower, just fine. but my dad wanted a new rider (and shane was lobbying for the cause), so the two of them went out and bought one. we still need a new bagger attachment for it, since the one off the old mower doesn’t fit, but mulching works fine as long as the grass isn’t too long. shane had to go to work on saturday morning, and dave wasn’t going to waste a dry day, so he got to mow first, much to shane’s chagrin!022

also saturday: cartwheels on the rock.IMG_20170415_193749

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