Up to Summer and so on so far

As always, I am playing catch up again. Here is what you may have missed since the last time.

Near the end of every school year, the elementary puts on an enrichment fair. Basically they get volunteers from parents and others around the community who do cool jobs and such, and the kids get to come learn about them all and do fun activities.  For example to name a few: there were policeman doing police dog demo's, nurses helping kids do check ups, taking ultrasounds, etc., veterinarians with dogs, scientists doing cool experiments, a magician, dance instructors teaching moves, and one of Zacks favorites and also one of his past career aspirations...

Firemen!

Zack loved trying on the fireman gear.

 

Also, June wrapped up our spring season of soccer for K, A, and Z. 

Zack is still getting the hang of it. Usually you would see him doing stuff like this...

 (Notice who the referee is in the background.) Madi earned a little spending money by referring the cute 4-6 year olds.

 

Speaking of Madi...she finished up another successful year of track. She ran the 800 again and they added the mile for her this year as well.

Its hard and exhausting work, but it paid off for her since she broke the school record for the fastest JV mile. After that, they finally noticed her and moved her up to Varsity!

 

Another kid is defying my wishes to stop growing up and went and graduated from elementary school anyway. Here is Katelins class (along with man with a hairy arm).

 The graduation theme this year was renaissance.

 With her teacher of two years. No, she didn't get held back...the teacher loved her so much, she moved up grades with her. ;)

 And a couple of friends.

 

Before Zack could successfully finish Kindergarten, he had to lose a tooth. I have to mention that he was so much easier to work with than the girls when it came time to pull it out. See...no tears!

Just a big toothless smile!

Finally Summer arrived!

Time to be creative and entertain the 5 little rugrats. Here are some of our favorite activites so far.

 

Outdoor Fort Building,

  Snaps.

 Silly String Fight!

 

A good place to dispose of the used string.

 

Madi and I got to do the 5K color run. It was a blast! Definitely the one to do if you had to choose only one! We had a pretty good size group, so we made matching shirts with our team logo on them. We were the "Sole Sisters".

Heres the back.

 

Some of our group...pre-race....all white and clean!

After the finish line. 

And just in case you didn't get colorful enough during the run, they had a big color mosh pit party afterwards. Hundreds of people throwing packets of color in the air all at once, several times? That did the trick!

 

Our new home teacher happens to be a big motorcycle fanatic. He brought this one by for Zack to check out.

A boy in Heaven!

 

The Stake put on a princess ball for girls 8-13 and their Dad's. Guess Madi got to go to one more after all. 

 

Katelin grows stubborn teeth (one in particular) that don't like to grow where they are supposed to, so we had to get her braces started a little earlier than planned to get that sucker moved out of the way. Only the front ones for now, but as soon as she loses the rest of her permanent molars, she will get the full treatment. It will be a lengthy process. Say goodbye to our summer vacation plans this year! 

 

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Now, if you are just a picture lovin person and not so much a reader...I would skip over this next part. Believe me, I totally get it! Its going to be a bit lengthy, but it will explain the next picture which I have to warn is a bit gross. Im going to backtrack a bit and expound on the part of summer you didn't just see. The dreaded part of June I will always remember...the June of 2013! Hey, every good story has a villain right. Its not all fun and roses around here. Im not ashamed to admit it! ( well maybe a little)

 

 Backstory: Im not a bug lover. Especially when they are in my house. I try to remain tough for the kids and tell them its not a big deal, but I am crawling inside when I have to kill a spider or anything else with more than 2 legs. I have always told people one of my biggest fears is my girls getting lice. Picking through 4 heads of long hair for bugs?...NO THANK YOU! I threatened to jump off a cliff if I ever had to deal with that. You can see where this is going.

The last week of school, (on a Monday) I discovered a bug in Katelins hair when I was fixing it before school. I picked it out with tweasers, but then...there was another one. I started to worry, but didn't want to panic. I moved on to Alissa. She had one too. More panic set in. Alissa started to panic too and asked if it was lice. Refusing to admit it, I tell her I don't think so, but Madi went and pulled up pictures of lice online. Sure enough, the bugs matched the pictures. I checked Madi too, just as a precaution hoping not to find anything...but I did. Then Brylee. At this point, lice was all I could see. I thought I found one on her too, but wasn't positive. It could have been my panicked state fooling me. I made the call of shame to the schools to break it to them, then messaged all the parents of the kids who had been around my kids the night before to warn them. Then I headed to the store to buy lice killing supplies. Now that the kids weren't around I could start to cry. I bought every box they had....and that stuff isn't cheap! It would never be enough in my opinion.

After taking apart all our bedding and washing the first kids hair, I got a phone call from my friend, LeShel, whos son was in Alissa's class. I didn't want to talk to anyone, let alone let anyone else know about this nightmare. I know what my reaction was to hearing peoples kids had lice, and I didn't want to be shunned. I know its bad, but I really didn't want my kids to get it! So I would keep them away from lice infested kids for weeks! That's how paranoid I was about getting it. Anyway, it was all I could do to keep from breaking down in front of the kids. So I let the call go to voicemail, then listened to see if it was more important than what I was dealing with. LeShel had said she was helping at the school in the morning and noticed Alissa was absent. Then said something to the effect of "the school was doing lice checks for her class today because a couple cases had been reported so I should be glad she was absent...unless of course it was my kids who had lice....oh my I hope not! Well, let me know if I can do anything for you!"  After I composed myself the best I could, I decided to call her back and confirm her fear of the worst. She's also my visiting teacher, so I figured it was appropriate to let her know the stress I was under and warn her not to come visiting for a while. Of course the moment I said "it is us that has lice", I started to cry again. Being the kind of awesome person she is, she rushed over to help me. She actually helped wash and pick through my kids hair! She had been through this before so gave me a few pointers then went on her way. I spent the whole day washing clothes, bedding, couches, carpets...everything! Leshel came back around dinner and dropped off some food. What an awesome friend! And a lifesaver. I hadn't taken a break all day to eat. I couldn't bring myself to stop!

Well, to make a long story longer, I spent the next day picking through hair trying to get all the nits out so they could return to school the next day. Alissa had a field trip she didn't want to miss. The office told me they could return if I got them all and they would have to check them everyday before school the rest of the week. Alissa freaked about the possibility of having her friends see her go in and get checked, and worried they wouldn't want to be her friend anymore. I was sure after hours of checking and double checking, she would be clean. When they found 3 more I started to cry again. I was at the end of my rope. The lady must have felt bad for me, and seeing it was her field trip day, let her go anyway as long as she kept her ponytail in. Comforting right. This is how other kids get lice! At least I reported it and took 2 days off before sending her back, unlike a lot of parents. I spent the next two weeks picking through 4 girls hair twice a day. I was so meticulous, I was sure each time I got it all, but then I would find more the next time. It was never ending! I was sure I had it as well after seeing how many they had. I had Ryan, Madi two other friends go through my hair, as well as myself where I could see in a mirror. In total they found maybe 15-20 nits on me. (Trust me, thats nothing! I found hundreds on the girls Im sure!) My friend who had been through this a couple times said she didn't even use the lice shampoo anymore. She found that sleeping in olive oil with a shower cap on every night took care of it. So that's what I did. I lice shampooed, slept in olive oil every night and after a couple weeks, colored my hair, because I read that kills them as well. The thought of me having it and not being able to go through it all was pushing me over the edge even more! I was seriously considering shaving my head, and if Ryan hadn't been around to calm me down, I probably would have done it. I seriously had a mental breakdown! After about 10 days, they must have started hatching! I found a couple tiny live ones, so we shampooed again. After that, I didn't find anymore, but maybe a couple empty shells. To this day...two months later...I am still paranoid its not gone! Everyone has their own brushes labeled with their names now. No more sharing allowed! I still do quick checks on them, but so far, so good.

And in case you still don't believe how stressed I was, listen to what happened next...I got shingles...on my face...and in my eye! Apparently, stress can bring that out. Wait...theres more! This happened the week before girls camp. Not a big deal, except I was called as a camp director! I spent the first week thinking it was just allergies, and a couple zits or bug bites on my head. It got to the point that I wanted it resolved before camp, so I finally dragged myself into the walk in clinic. I laughed when the doctor said he thought it was shingles. Then he said there was no way I would be able to go to camp. I had to get to an ophthalmologist ASAP, because this was too close to my eye. But this was Friday afternoon, after hours. The ophthalmologist in the hospital wouldn't be able to see me until Monday morning. Monday morning was camp. I told him I wasn't going to miss camp (because I didn't think that's what it was). He advised against it, but left it up to me and sent me on my way with 3 prescriptions. When I got to the pharmacy, they told me it was going to be $40.00 for the shingles meds. Yeah right. That's not even what it is! Im soo not paying for that! I left with one of the 3 prescriptions. That night, I got a blessing in hopes this would just go away and I would be able to go to camp on Monday. The next morning, I looked like this... 

I was in a lot of pain. Ryan remembered that he had an optometrist who he loved that wasn't a part of the hospital system, and worked on Saturdays. He called in a favor and they agreed to see me that morning. The optometrist confirmed that it was shingles and I was in fact going to buy the $40.00 medication...no question about it. Apparently, she didn't want me going blind. She wanted me to come back on Tuesday to get re-checked. I told her about camp, and she was a bit more understanding, so she agreed to check me on Monday so I could go up late (with the agreement that I have a backup optometrist ready in the area of camp if I got feeling worse). I know you are thinking Im crazy at this point to still want to go, but seriously... I put forth so much planning and work and stress (which probably added to the getting of shingles), that I really didn't want to miss it! I went back and forth trying to decide if and when I should go, most of the morning. Finally I decided to suck it up and go. I spent the whole week of camp applying eye drops 3 times a day, icing my eye and taking multiple drugs. The girls and other leaders were surprisingly understanding and un-judgmental. By the end of the week, you could hardly tell there was anything wrong. I enjoyed camp, and being able to be with Madi and get to know the other girls from the ward better. Turns out that was a good thing since I finally got released from my primary secretary calling of 4+ years and got called as a Laurel advisor/personal progress assistant this week.

So, shingles update today...I have to go back to the optometrist 1 more time next week (hopefully its the last time). I did develop a lesion on my eye, but it was not in my field of vision so Im lucky that way. It was however, right where my top eyelid rubs when I blink, so it was painful. I will probably have a scar from it, but it wont be noticeable. Could have been worse.

Now my lesson learned/spiritual thought in all this...

Its amazing to me that whenever I need a hand, there is always someone there willing to help. Even when I don't even ask for it, and even when its picking through lice infested hair! Its one of the things I love about this church. I am touched by the unselfish service that others are constantly giving to one another. I admire those who are receptive to the promptings of the spirit when it is telling them to do something. Whether is was making a phone call, dropping off dinner, giving a blessing, or bringing flowers to me for no reason that they know of at all. Overall its being inspired with ideas and decisions that I believe would not have been thought of without spiritual guidance, which was no doubt an answer to a prayer or blessing. The Lord works through the hands of his people. We are meant to be each others angels, and serve one another. That's what ultimately makes us happy. Being the one who serves and the one who is the receiver of the service. To all those who might happen to have made it through this very long, drawn out novel of a post...thank you for being there for me! It means more than I can express! Now I don't have to be committed to a mental institution. It was close! 

 

Now back to the rest of summer so far!

(4th of July and Katelins Birthday would go here...included in another post.)

 

Once all was back to normal and the stresses were gone, we could resume having fun. I came up with little activity inspired by Pinterest, but tweaked it a bit.

 

 It actually got hot enough here for about 2 weeks, to play in the water outside! We checked out the newly renovated splash pad downtown.  

That lasted about maybe 5 minutes, then the kids wanted to go to the beach. Up this week is Lake Michigan. 

 Afterwards we dried off with a little stroll through the park.

 The next week, we went to a smaller private beach in a friends neighborhood. The kids kept trying to catch the little fish that were swimming everywhere.

This week we went to another beach at Paddock Lake. And now our beach tour is on hold because it got cold and rainy again.

So that's our summer so far. We have a couple small trips planned next month. Im sure you will be updated about those before the new year starts. I know how you love the suspense! :)