Duck Egg, Buying Our Own ENT, and Uniforms Everywhere

You can quit worrying, I figured out what to do for the lunch room door. My plan was to cut out some letters that said, "What's on our plate is really great, thank you!" I brought paper plates to school and had the kids in Josh's class write on them what their favorite thing in the lunch room is. They wrote some adorable things to the "lunch lattys" (my favorite spelling), and since so many participated I had no room for huge letters. So, I decided to print the slogan out and glue it on a plate for the middle of the door . . . but, no computer at that moment, so I wrote it with some markers. I think mine was the only door in the school with no die-cuts, cricut, vinyl, or professional sign-makers involved, so that's embarrassing, but hopefully the lunch ladies felt the love from the kids. Or if nothing else, my kid got some writing practice, so there's that.

I liked this image. To be honest - the reading was required before he could play, but it was so cute to me.

It's #8 up to bat! Josh gets really serious about trying to do the right stance in all situations - batting, fielding. When he's in the game, he's IN the game.

 Monday was a gorgeous day for a baseball game! So nice after the frost-bite we were getting before. I love watching Josh and how into the game he is, but since there is no score, and the outs aren't counted, the games don't have a ton of action. When Josh isn't playing it's like watching other people's kids do batting practice. That's fine, but interesting because I always liked baseball better than soccer until now. Anyway . . . Noah came up to me at the game on Monday and showed me this egg he'd been keeping in the pocket of his cargo shorts. It was a little cracked, and I figured it was an abandoned duck egg since there is a pond nearby. Noah was pretty proud of his find, and it was pretty cool, so I took a picture of him with it. After that he slipped it into his pocket and walked away. 20 minutes later one of my friends came up to me with her son that Noah had been playing with. One side of his denim shorts was all wet and gooey. "Noah tried to put an egg in Ephraim's pocket," I was told. Oh, my! I felt terrible, the kid's shorts looked so yucky. I found Noah hiding under a picnic table and he didn't want to talk about eggs at all.

Noah, proud of his awesome find, pre-incident.

One afternoon this week Noah and Andrew made cozy beds under the trampoline. They invited me to get under there with them, so I did, and we talked about the sun and the planets and the perfection of the moment.

 I got allergy testing on Wednesday morning. I was afraid my grass allergies had come back, but quite awesome-ly, I am no longer allergic to it, hooray! Tumbleweed allergy gone, too. I have developed an allergy to cats - which I already suspected - and also a slight allergy to lambs-quarters, which is a weed I only knew by sight before looking it up. Yeah, we have those, all over our yard. So, the allergies are nothing to go nuts over. The doctor was curious as to why I'm still feeling so congested and tight, and after looking up my nose for one second he knew the answer. My turbinates are huge. Last time they were small because I had taken so much Prednisone, but now they need to be operated on - June 6. Shouldn't be a big deal; they are doing much less than what they did to Gary. Now that I know I'm not congested and there is an actual blockage in my nose, it's way more annoying.

After the doctor I went to Winco with the 3 not-in-school kids, and really I know it's not of note, but I enjoyed being with my kiddos. They were so cute and good. Not every grocery trip goes that way . . . Meanwhile, back at the ENT, Gary had another follow-up to deal with his scar tissue. Poor guy basically had an in-office surgery. The doctor numbed him up, and then cut stuff, reinforced stuff, and stitched some stuff up. When I saw Gary again he had more packing, a drippy nose, and the ends of his stitches taped to the sides of his face. They look like cat whiskers, though Gary feels the look is reminiscent of a French maitre d'.

Andrew got invited to the first birthday party where only he was invited (and not brothers). Why was his excitement so darn adorable? And why was Noah so jealous when he just went to one a few weeks prior? Let's stick with the adorable narrative.

Gary kept his drippy nose at home on Thursday, but worked the whole day. That was pretty interesting - Gary was here, but pretty much unavailable. But, he was here, and I'd love him to do that a whole lot more often. I took Lissy to her well-child check, and it went great, besides the fact we had to switch doctors andI forgot to transfer the medical records. Oops. That girl weighs 25 pounds now, she's really gained in the last little while! I guess that just puts her in the 75th percentile, along with her height, so she's proportional. And adorable. The doctor asked if she's started climbing . . . oh, my, yes. My brother in law Taylor said I should have replied, "Yeah, she asked for carabiners for her birthday." You should see that girl climbing up really tall slides, it's cause for concern. Sunday was her first day in the nursery. She walked in - then turned around and walked out. It was a new situation for sure, so I took a little bit to show her the big fuzzy purse, and she was good. She is one of only two girls in there, even the teachers are men. But, that's pretty much her life anyway, and the teacher said after I left she was a pro.

Overheard Andrew talking to his brothers: I wish I had a launcher to fly us into the sky, that would be pretty awesome.

Josh and Noah have been spending a lot of time on walmart.com trying to figure out what they can buy if they pool their money. Josh downgraded his iPad dream to going in on a Kindle with Noah, and now they might just pool their money for some legos. We shall see.

Special treat for me on Thursday - my college roommate Anna and I got together in Salt Lake to catch up on life sans kiddos. We ate at the Blue Lemon - I highly recommend, I bought new bras (Dumb? Maybe, but I never get to buy necessary things, so I was very happy), ate cheesecake, and talked and talked. Conversations that started out, then went other directions, then never got finished because there were too many other things to cover. This kind of treat rarely ever happens, so I felt very spoiled. Don't worry chillins, I made dinner for my fam before I left, I wasn't going to leave my nose patient with everything to do.

On Friday I was really due for a workout, so even though I'd stayed up late with some medical issues a few nights in a row, I tackled the step class. It was great fun, and I was really into it, until one of my weary legs didn't kick high enough, and I went sprawling face down onto the step. Surprisingly not painful - maybe because of embarrassment? The risers and step spilled all over everywhere. Smooth. I was able to stay on my feet for almost another hour after that, though, so that's an accomplishment.

Noah started out our Saturday for us by scoring 7 goals in his soccer game (he was on fire!), then we rushed to get to Heber for my nephew's baptism. I love baptisms, I always feel like what's important in life is so front and center. I love for my kids to see them, too. I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures, but then later on this scene was so adorable, I grabbed Gary's phone:

Yeah, Lissy loved swinging with Grandma!

So, you see why I had to get a picture. I'd told Josh to pack something to wear after the baptism, and so he put an outfit in a bag. He dresses himself every day, so I figured he could handle it. I didn't check what he packed, I just threw stuff on top. When it came time to change, I saw what he brought - his baseball uniform, and that's it. Awesome. Noah decided he wanted Grandma to see what he looked like in his soccer uniform, so he put that on, and my kids were the sporty ones, I guess, albeit unnecessarily. We all had a great time eating and chatting, as usual, and the kids loved playing with cousins.

Noah and Luke were pirates.

Luke, Noah in his pirate-pose, and Tessa

Josh got to be the catcher in one of his first games. He loved it, and all that gear sure is cute.

Lissy sat down and folded her arms with everybody else for family prayer. Gary thought it was cute for some reason.

And that's a week, folks! Gary got his cat whiskers removed today, so on to a free-breathing chapter of life. Oh, yes, and on Sunday, a new family in the neighborhood invited us over for dinner. I felt sooo bad, because we had been thinking to invite them over, but had been too busy as of yet to get things ready to have people over. Even though they had to take matters into their own hands, we had a great time, and were glad they called. That's what I'll have to do when I move, though I don't see myself unpacked that quickly. Sigh. How about this - on Tuesday we had no car, so I played with the kids all day, and we had fun. Happy note, for sure.