Learn Something New Everyday

We've been doing lots of learning round these parts. And I'm not talking just long division type learning either, although there's been plenty of that too.

For example, I've learned that an 11 month old can run a 103 degree fever for five days before the doctors get worried. 

I've also learned that one of Max's brand new ear tubes is likely making it's way out of position, causing a pediatrician to once again say, "I've never seen this before."  I have not yet learned whether there is a warranty on ear tubes. Doubtful.

I've relearned that mouth injuries bleed. A lot. 

I'm also relearning long division and double digit multiplication. My poor girls. I don't like it anymore now than when I learned it in elementary school.

I've learned multiple injections of lidocaine and massive amounts of laughing gas aren't enough to keep me from feeling the dentist's drill. Ouch. I'm going to learn about oral sedatives when I go back on Monday to get the rest of my dental work finished. 

I've learned that allowing my 6:30 am violin students to switch lessons is a very bad idea. Inevitably, someone is going to forget about the switch, leaving me awake for no reason on the one day the sick baby actually sleeps in.

I've learned that cancelling my daughter's violin lesson when your baby has a fever of 103 and your toddler is screaming that his ear hurts might be the best possible decision. 

I've also learned that chocolate chip pumpkin bread, some good friends to vent to, and a Saturday afternoon nap will go a long way towards making me feel better after a long week.

Blessed

Things haven't been super easy around here lately. It's nothing big and drastic, but life's little (and not ao little) disasters have been weighing me down a bit.

But you know what? I'm pretty blessed. God must have known how much help I would need, because he sent me some pretty amazing friends.

Like a friend who, after learning I was having a really crappy day yesterday, not only sent me text messages of encouragement, but also let herself into my house, ignored the bags of trash sitting on the stairs, (my husband forgot to take the trash out last week, and these were bags of birthday wrappings and bows waiting for dark so they could be stuffed in some unsuspecting neighbor's trash,) and left me a large Diet Coke, a Krispy Kreme donut, and suckers for the kids on my kitchen counter.

Or then there's the friend who lets me go on and on and on about everything that's bugging me, complain about all the crap that I think I'm going through, when she is dealing with literal crap (I'm not kidding, people!) that the sewer people in her town decided to send up through her toilets.

And then there's another friend, who also happens to be my mom, who opened up her cabin, (which I'm convinced is one of the best places on earth) to us and my four untrained monkeys this week so we could have a few days away. Within minutes of arriving, I felt better. Clearer.

So tonight, I'm grateful. And determined that I need to do better at being that kind of friend.

Well, Since You Asked...

"Hey," I hear you asking, "I haven't heard from Stacy lately. I wonder what's she's been up to."

Well, well, I'm glad you asked.

We've been homeschooling. (Forgive the crappy picture- I believe that Max was the photographer here.)

 Max has been eating the Base-10 blocks that Ashlynn was using to learn multiplication,

And then scattering them all over the house.

We've been field-tripping on Fridays, where we river-walked,

fed the ducks,

and let them nibble on Ian's toes.

We watched General Conference and bottled lots and lots and lots of pears.

We did a little bit of laundry, (Ian is forever after in charge of the laundry. I'm all about training him young and all that. After all, it's about time he started pulling his weight around this place!)

We've been sleeping. Here and there. Ok, maybe they've been sleeping.

We've been chasing after Ian who is walking, and running, shredding toilet paper, squirting toothpaste all over the carpet, and all those other things toddlers do. And talking. (Did I mention he's only ten months old? I don't think he realizes that he's a baby.) He has a vocabulary or two words: "Ma!" which he yells at me approximately 257 times a day, and "Plop!" He has long thought this was the funniest word in the English language, and now amuses us all when he says is repeatedly to anyone who will listen.

We've gotten haircuts,

We've instituted a new excercise regimen,

And we've done a whole lot of practicing. A lot. As in, the whole family can now sing the Fiocco Allegro for memory. Abby is audtioning for the Suzuki Youth Orchestra of America, held in Minneapolis in conjunction with the SAA Conference. If she gets accepted, she'll play in an orchestra of 9 and 10 year olds from all over the Americas at the SAA convention over Memorial Day Weekend in 2012. We recorded this video yesterday.

And yesterday, as an added bonus, I looked around my kitchen to find that all four of my children were crying simultaneously. That takes some serious parenting skills my friends.

So we've been busy. Happy. Tired. Wouldn't change a thing. Except maybe I'll take the crying kids one at a time.