The Road to Recovery

Two and a half weeks ago my dad had a stroke. He drove himself to the hospital, parked the car and walked in to the ER. 10 hours later they finally got him in for an MRI and on blood thinners. By then the damage was done. He couldn't walk and had no use in his left side. Thankfully my sister, Liesl, was there to oversee his hospital recovery. She stayed by his side and was a great advocate for him between doctors and nurses. Over the next two weeks my dad made great progress. I decided I wanted to be there for stage two of recovery: at home. Rob was very supportive in being willing to manage the 3 older kids at home by himself (which is a handful) while I left for a week. Isaac and I got on a plane and flew to Salt Lake. We got in the day my dad came home from the hospital.

I was happy to find my dad better off that I had hoped and in good spirits. He was walking with a cane and had some use of his left hand. Isaac really enjoyed helping Duke with his cane. Isaac, however, was competing for my attention and getting into trouble in my dad's un-childproofed bachelor pad so Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa Clynn came to the rescue. They took Isaac for a couple days so I could focus on my dad.

As part of his therapy Duke practiced songs and scales on his guitar. That's where he seems most like himself to me.

 It's hard work, though. There have been a few tearful moments when the frustration gets the better of him. Simple tasks like buttoning pants and putting on shoes makes beads of sweat from and can leave him exhausted. But every day I see improvement. The strength and dexterity is returning. It's definitely makes you grateful for the little things.

Favorite dad quote of the day: "My bladder is like a high maintenance girlfriend. I have to listen to it all day and when it says jump I have to do it right then."

Random August Pictures

Maycie designed and cut out her own robot costume out of paper and tape.

Alex and Addie cross dressing.

One of our favorite Saturday morning activities is going to our local farmer's market. I definitely don't save any money, quite the contrary, but it's very satisfying buying produce and fresh pastured eggs from local farmers. 

 Maycie's hair is so smooth and strait it's difficult to get curls to stay. We've tried foam rollers several times, but it never took very well. This time was a success. However, the curls fell out after just a few hours. Oh well. It was pretty while it lasted.

After watching "Soul Surfer" as a family we did a little research about other people who have lost arms or weren't born with any and the obstacles they have had to over come. The kids were particularly impressed (as was I) with a youtube video of a lady with no arms who cared for her young baby. She did everything a normal person did but with her feet. After watching this Alex was inspired to unload the dishwasher with his feet. It took him about 5 minutes just to get one dish put away so it didn't last long (thank goodness), but a valuable lesson about over coming challenges and being grateful was learned.

Do the Beatles wear underwear?

Recently Alex and his buddy, Noah, went through a garage boy band thing. The band started out as being called "Man Pumps" then "Blue Cups" and finally morphed into a Beatles copy cat band. All day long they searched for clothes that looked like Beatles clothes, which fortunately they perceived as preppy. They would listen to the music and mimic it. Alex was Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.

One morning Alex was getting dressed and called down to me, "Mom, I don't have any underwear!" After another minute he said, "Mom, does Ringo Starr even wear underwear?"

Growing up too fast.

On her 9th birthday while riding in the car Addie asked, "Mom, how old do I have to be to go on group  dates?" YIKES! I was expecting that questions in about 4 or 5 years.

Big Boy Envy!

Big boy envy.

What is it about boys and wanting to be like bigger boys? I don't remember my girls being this way.

Alex has had big boy envy for some time, now. If given a choice he will always choose to play with the older boy than one his own age which bothers me a bit. I feel like he's growing up too fast.

This is what our cul-de-sac looks like on any given night. Alex out there playing ball with the teenage neighbors (who, by the way, are so awesome at indulging him) or roller blading with 10 year old Jonathan. His gross motor skills are pretty advanced for his age so he can keep up pretty well, but he's always wanting the toys the big boys have which tend to be much more expensive than the hot wheels and lego sets.  If big boy so-and-so has it than Alex has to get it. Luckily he's doesn't earn money very quickly so by the time he's earned enough he usually looses interest.

Isaac has already started the big boy envy thing. The other day our teenage neighbor, Cameron, was out mowing the lawn. Isaac dragged his little plastic mower from the garage and for 30 minutes just went back and for pushing the mower just like Cameron. 

Back to School Feast and the First Day of School

Back to School Feast 2012

This year I spent a lot of time praying and reading scriptures for inspiration on what our theme for this year should be. The winner is: the 13th Article of Faith (abridged version).

Since flowers, to me, are the epitome of "lovely" I focused on that for the decorations. Thanks to the Farmers Market for amazing fresh flowers.

The kids with their traditional crowns and schultuetes (school cones). 

Since we rarely have mean, the kids were so excited to have chicken legs.

I made the girls a charm necklace to remind them of our theme. I used little metal letter stamps to engrave the words onto charms. Alex got his on a leather bracelet (more masculine).

Maycie - 1st Grade. Addilyn - 3rd Grade.

First Day of School 2012.

Maycie with her teacher, Mrs. McKeen.

Addie with her teacher, Mrs. Rusk.

July Happenings

Rob has always been so good about getting down on the kids' level and playing with them.

This month we got to be a host family for a group of girls from Utah Valley Children's Choir. The group was doing a mission tour in the East singing about Christ's ministry. We attended their concert in the evening, which was fantastic, and then we brought them home for a sleepover. They had to leave early in the morning so they didn't stay long, but the kids thought it was fun to have some teenage girls in the house.

We took a family trip to Ralleigh for an overnighter so Rob could rack up some hotel points. We took the kids miniature golfing and to the arcades. It turned out to be a fun, spontaneous weekend.

Isaac really liked driving the arcade sports car.

Time to shift gears.

There was all sorts of fun at the hotel room. The older kids love jumping from bed to bed, but Isaac was obsessed with the never ending tissues. He'd pull one out and magically another would appear. They just kept coming....

and coming...

and coming. Don't worry. We tipped the cleaning lady!

Fun with the remote control car.

Helping dad wash the car. 

Chocolate smoothie pop.

I've been making these chocolate peanut butter banana smoothies in our blender. I add cocoa powder, almond milk, bananas, peanut butter, spinach, flax and sometimes avocado. They're sweetened with a couple dates and the kids love them. They don't even know how healthy they are.  They'll drink it up or eat them as smoothies pops.