Beautiful view out my bedroom window yesterday morning...

Such goofies, getting ready for school...

Still goofy when they get home from school...

A little friendly Saturday Xbox fun...

So nice to just have a little time at home.

3 kids on a couch

Sitting around on the couch is not really something our kids usually do all that much, but they have been enjoying the opportunity more than usual since school has been out.

Here they are watching a movie. They made stress balls with balloons and flour to keep in their hands while they watch tv.

They continue to take ridiculous pictures of each other.

Annah and Caeden are playing XBOX here while Sylvia reads. It's good to relax sometimes!

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!

Rest

I'm so much more out of commission than I expected to be after the lithotripsy.  Spending lots of time in the recliner with my fuzzy robe and blankie, resting.

In fact, we all relaxed at home last night.  We watched both of the Despicable Me movies.  Well, the kids watched all of them.  Jeremy and I didn't quite see every bit of both movies.

This morning, the kids stayed in bed a bit later than usual, but it wasn't necessarily that they were sleeping in.  They have more time allowance on their Kindles on weekends, so they tried to use it up right away.

SF Park Swim

It's nice to be home.  I think Jeremy feels like he needs a vacation from our vacation before he goes back to work tomorrow though.  We dropped Annah off at youth group this afternoon and the rest of us spent a couple hours at the pool.  Ahhhhhhhhh!