I placed an order for some popcorn kernels, some spicy microgreens and a micro green growing kit from our friends at Finding Eminence Farm, and I enjoyed some beautiful poached egg avocado toast with micro greens this morning for breakfast.  So yummy and pretty!

Sylvia is hanging with her cousins this week, and they are having lots of fun. Sometimes the girls will send us videos and pictures. 

Last weekend, Mom and I checked out the chickens. They are kind of like teenager chicks now. The roosters are starting to try to crow.

The Gordman's in Columbia City is having closing sales, so Erin, Tessa, Annah, Sylvia, and I went over one afternoon last week.  Caeden wanted to go, but there wasn't enough room in the car. So, Sylvia and I shopped for him.  He was pretty stoked about the things we picked out for him, including this denim jacket and Kodak shirt. Uncle Travis explained to him what 24 exp. meant.  

I walked the track with Dawn while the sun set like this around us tonight. Wow!

I came home to these 3 with scripts in hand, acting out the entire show of Guys and Dolls. They even recorded 48 minutes of it. 

There was also some Wii boxing and N64 wrestling.  

Puppy Therapy

It is really tough to be a teenager. Friendships and relationships of all kinds keep getting more complicated. You start to realize there will always be people doing mean things, and it is up to you to react with kindness and forgiveness.  

Ugh. Junior high has been such an emotional and social struggle for Sylvia, and she is so looking forward to going to high school.  However, this past week, Annah has been the one struggling with friendships and not knowing how to express her feelings in words, and feeling like she has been [emotionally] run over by a truck.  It's rough.  

Both girls looked so lovely in their new clothes and shoes yesterday morning, and I wanted a picture of them.  This was their first reaction.  "We don't have time for that, Mom!  We need to get to the bus!" Daughters, if you didn't waste the time protesting and complaining, it would have been over in 20 seconds!

Fortunately, they did decide to cooperate, and now they both are so glad we took this picture!
My precious girls.  So loved.

During the school day today, I got a call from the school counselor.  She was calling about Caeden! Yesterday when he came home visibly upset. He didn't want to talk in great detail about it, but said that basically he lost "all" of his friends.  

With all of the emotional uproar, I decided we needed a little bit of happy distraction!  Kaitlyn, Hunter, and Ainsley had been over for piano lessons in the morning, and repeatedly invited us to come see their 8 puppies before they go off to their new homes. This was perfect timing. I texted Jenee' this afternoon to ask if we could come see their little 3-week-olds for a little bit.  When she said yes, I told the kids to go get in the car immediately!

We enjoyed about an hour of puppy therapy, holding and petting the fluffy sweet little yellow pups, and visiting with Jenee' and the kids.

It was pretty great therapy, and everyone was smiling and much more relaxed after about an hour! 

Puppy kisses!!!

It's a heart full of puppy love!!!

What an incredible blessing!!!
I am so grateful to Jenee' for making time for us in their very busy day!!!

What I didn't realize was that Caeden was still dealing with his emotions about what happened yesterday when he left for school this morning...

Basically, the gist of it is...Junior high girls keep asking him to "go out."  He is 12 and (and more mature than most in this instance) very aware that he is not ready for a romantic relationship. (Thank you, Jesus!) So, when these girls [send other kids to] ask him out, he just says, "No."
Embarrassed, broken-hearted junior high girls freak out, create dramatic stories, spread rumors, get classmates to choose sides and make fun of him...chaos ensues.  

So today in English class he wrote a poem about it his feelings and sent it to everyone in the entire 6th grade as an apology.  He was also "staring off into space" and not talking to anyone in class, and freaked out a substitute teacher who didn't know him.  Another student showed the sub Caeden's poem, and she sent someone immediately to get the counselor.  Caeden was taken to the office to talk with counselor and principal, but didn't want to name names of kids who were picking on him because he didn't think they were doing it on purpose.  The counselor had a good long chat with him, gave him candy, and he said he was fine to go back to class.  Then she called me, and we had a good discussion about how wonderful Caeden is, and how much we love him.  He was fine when he got home.
It really is tough growing up.  I'm so thankful we have good people around us who help us through the icky stuff!

Caeden went to the doctor yesterday afternoon and got 2 vaccines--a shot in each shoulder.  This morning, he was not feeling well, and those shoulders were really hurting him.  I took him to swim practice, but the pool was so cold that the coaches had the kids doing relays and exercises in the grass for the first half hour.  When it was time to get in the pool, Caeden was feeling so badly (stomach upset, headache, blurred vision) that I just took him home to rest for a little bit.

I am not a gardener, but I am pretty excited that this year the cherry wine daylillies in front of our house are big and full and blooming!  (I only have perennial flowers, for low-maintenance, and have been waiting a few years for these to spread out and get big.) 

After Sylvia was done with musical rehearsal at noon today, we picked her up and made our way to Indiana to spend the weekend with family!

We went to watch Tessa play t-ball, then went back to Mom and Dad's for supper--including berry cobbler!  Mmm!

Krampa's baby quail are growing!

We played a very fun family game of wiffle ball in the barnyard!

SaveSave

Kidney Stones and Sheep

Today was an interesting day.  After 4 days of back pain, I was pretty sure I had a kidney stone.  I went to my urologist's office, but they wouldn't help me.  So, I went to the ER.  

After a few hours there--including several bodily fluid samples, an IV, and my first CT scan--it was determined that I have "some kidney stones" in my left kidney.  They sent me home with pain meds and told me to call my urologist.  

I keep thinking of this, and at least it makes me laugh...

Jeremy was so wonderful to take half a day off work today to sit in the ER with me.  Then he ran home to get the kids' instruments, picked them up at school, took them to their lessons, picked up my prescriptions and shopped for Christmas gifts for Sylvia's friends, got the kids supper, brought the kids home, then he and went to run wrestling practice.  And he is quite sick with a respiratory thing this week.  He is my Superman.

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On my way home, I was driving down a less frequently traveled country road, when I saw that all these sheep were escaping their pasture and running down the road ahead of me!  I drove up the driveway of the farm they were escaping from and told the farmer that his sheep were on the road.  He said they had just turned off the electric fence to do some work on it, and the sheep were hungry and broke the fence.  He and another guy jumped on their ATV with the sheepdog and herded those sheep back into another pasture very quickly.  I was amazed at the sheepdog, and never knew sheep could run so fast!  

I took this little video of the sheep escaping.  Just now I realized that the song that was on the radio at the time was about shepherds!  Hahaha!

Recovering

I'm not sure where the last few days went, other than trying to recover from vacation and the flood.  Our chest freezer in the basement died, though we were thankfully able to save all the meat that was in it.  A repair man came today to see why our dryer wasn't drying clothes.  He found that the motor was ruined by the water and it will cost $340 to fix it.  Ouch.  Hopefully the new motor will come in soon so we can dry laundry again.  Drying racks in the living room aren't really cutting it too well.  

Jeremy and Caeden have been busy every night this week with wrestling camp.  There are about 15 kids participating, which is pretty good for the month of July when everyone goes on vacation.  They are having fun.  

In other news...we were nearly attacked by a much-too-friendly (and hopefully not rabid!) squirrel outside Cook Hall while Sylvia had her cello lesson!  Too close for my comfort, crazy squirrel!  

More chicks

Here are a few more photos of Caeden and his classmates with the chicks.  Such a neat thing for them to get to watch the process right in their classroom!

Chick it out

Caeden's class is participating in the UofI Chick It Out program right now.  They all received cool yellow shirts to wear!

Always have to have the silly shot too!

The eggs arrived a couple weeks ago, and the kids have been turning them in the incubator, numbering them, voting on names, and waiting anxiously.  This week, they've begun to hatch!

This first chick was named Fluffy.

Caeden and his friend Denton checking out the baby chicks.

We get to watch at home too, on the 3rd grade teachers' websites.

Mr. Harms

Mrs. House

Snow turkeys

This morning, after I got ready for church, a weather advisory for tomorrow at home popped up on my phone.  The forecast changed and we are to have snow and sleet and dangerous roads tomorrow.  After mulling it over and over for a while, I decided the kids and I needed to head home today to be safe.  

While I was helping Dad explore his new tablet, Mom noticed a group of wild turkeys was walking along the edge of the yard!  I had never seen any so close, but Mom and Dad said they have been around quite a bit over the past few years--sometimes dozens of them!  They are having to walk a lot to find food in all the snow.  It was pretty neat to see them.

The kids were sure to get some time in the snow with Tessa today before we left.  

They were sledding down the pile of snow Travis has built up while clearing his driveway repeatedly this winter!  We assume it will still be there when we come for Spring Break at the end of March!

I made Dad a warm winter hat, and he let take his picture in it.  He says it's very soft and warm.

Mom, Dad, and I watched a little bit of the winter Olympics while the kids played outside.  Finally, we had to get on the road.  I think I managed to get the kids out the door by 3:00-ish.  We had to stop at Walmart because I had only brought the snow boots I was wearing when we left on Friday, and Annah had worn them to play in the snow all weekend!  

The roads were fine all the way home tonight, and we got to drive into a beautiful sunset.  We arrived home around 6:30.  

I wish we could have stayed longer, as we'd planned.  But, I am choosing to be thankful we were able to go at all during this long, wild winter!  We usually try not to travel far in February.  So we are grateful for the Lord's protection while we traveled, and especially thankful for the time with family.